UHQBot
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Hello JuggaloMemnoch,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
JuggaloMemnoch joined on the 07/28/2019.
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Hello emadtnt,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
emadtnt joined on the 07/28/2019.
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Hello srcallah,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
srcallah joined on the 07/27/2019.
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Hello ascambyak,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
ascambyak joined on the 07/27/2019.
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Publisher: Bethesda SoftworksRelease: November 22, 2019Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PCThis year's QuakeCon wouldn't have been complete without some new gameplay of Doom Eternal, and during the con's keynote presentation, that's exactly what we got. The extended presentation of the game included the introduction of new enemy type and multiplayer mode.
The presentation first introduced the doom hunter, a new type of demon fused to a metallic chassis that allows it to float around the battlefield. It's also got a heated chainsaw, blaster, and missile barrage at its disposal, making it look like a pretty fearsome opponent.
Next, we were shown battlemode, a new multiplayer mode. While the previous game's multiplayer suite was lacking compared to its single-player mode (in part because it delayed on a different developer and gameplay), Bethesda promises battlemode is "build from the same Doom combat DNA you know and love."
In battle mode, one player plays as the Doom Slayer, while another two players fight him as one of a handful of demons. In order to win, either the Doomslayer or both demons must die; the Doomslayer only has one life, while demons can respawn in 20 seconds, and both demons must be dead for the Doomslayer to win. However, every time a demon respawns, they come back with half health, making it that much easier for the Doomslayer to kill them again.
The classic revenant, pain elemental, mancubus, arch-vile, and marauder enemies are the playable demons at launch; along with having different toolkits and properties (the revenant has a good mix of flight and close-range options, the pain elemental is more of hands-off flyer, and the mancubus is a close-range brute), these demons can summon other fodder enemies and traps to try to take the Doomslayer down, and can even use a limited ability to deny him access to health, ammo, and shield pickups for a short time.
Maps are also designed to let the Doomslayer evade the demons, use a pair of portals to cut off flanks, and maneuver around them through corridors and plenty of jump pads and other aerial options.
The mode is also round-based, with both demons and the Doomslayer equipping upgrades across rounds. You can watch the mode in action below.
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Publisher: Sony Interactive EntertainmentDeveloper: Kojima ProductionsRelease: November 8, 2019Rating: Rating PendingPlatform: PlayStation 4
Death Stranding has a lot of oddly-named characters, with Heartman among them. Heartman is just a weird thing to call someone, even if it's somewhat appropriate here.
In the latest trailer for Death Stranding, we learn a bit more about Heartman, who must live his live in 21-minute cycles due to an issue with his heart that essentially kills him and lets him cross over to another world and search for his family for three minutes before being resuscitated by defibrillator strapped to his chest.
It's an interesting setup for a character, and we even see a glimpse into his personal life, as explains that he has a collection of books, music, and films (he doesn't mention games, oddly enough), that can be enjoyed in his short cycles.
It explains the name, sure, but just because I have an omelette for breakfast every morning doesn't mean I call myself "Omeletteman."
Click here to watch embedded mediaDeath Stranding is out PS4 November 8.
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Hello Guy,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Guy joined on the 07/27/2019.
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Hello Yavena,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Yavena joined on the 07/27/2019.
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Publisher: NintendoDeveloper: Platinum GamesRelease: August 30, 2019Platform: Switch
Nintendo has been hitting the online marketing for Astral Chain fairly hard for its announcement, making sure players understand exactly what the upcoming Platinum Games title is fully about. They have released more than one explanation video of the mechanics in the game and have now put out a second deep dive into the action-police game.
The video is a little strangely presented and comes off like an Astral Chain-specific Direct that for some reason just doesn't have a narrator, but you can judge for yourself below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe video goes into pretty much every public aspect of the game, from capturing new partners to raising them to using them to teleport around the level to solving crimes. It's ten minutes long, but you will not have many questions about the game after watching it.
Astral Chain is being directed by Takahisa Taura, gameplay director of Nier Automata, and is being overseen by Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya. It releases exclusively on Switch on August 30.
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Click here to watch embedded mediaDeveloper: Bloober TeamRelease: August 30, 2019Platform: Xbox One, PC
Yesterday, we took an extensive video look at Blair Witch, the new horror game from Bloober Team, the developers of Layers of Fear. Today, we have an exclusive new trailer from the game to give a better idea of the kind of content you'll be facing down and cowering from later in the game.
Take a look at the new trailer at the top of the page.
Blair Witch is releasing on Xbox One and PC next month on August 30. Check out the New Gameplay Today to get a sense of how the game plays. Also maybe don't go into the woods at night.
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Hello MZBen,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
MZBen joined on the 07/26/2019.
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Click here to watch embedded media
Publisher: EA SportsDeveloper: EA VancouverRelease: September 13, 2019Rating: Everyone 10+Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One
The beta for NHL 19 opened a can of gameplay worms after the final release of that title changed what some fans liked during the beta. So it'll be interesting to see what NHL 20 looks and feels like at launch on September 13, and if any changes are made after the new NHL 20 beta.
We recently played the game, experiencing new wrinkles like improved one-timers and stick handling (read more about NHL 20's gameplay here), and so far it feels like a mix of helpful tweaks and some familiar issues from NHL 19.
You can judge for yourself, however, by taking a look at some raw gameplay footage – including the new presentation package – in our video above.
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Publisher: EA SportsDeveloper: EA VancouverRelease: September 13, 2019Rating: Everyone 10+Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One
It may still be the middle of summer, but NHL players are sharpening their skates, taping their sticks, and organizing tune-up get-togethers like Da Beauty League in anticipation of the October 3rd puck drop. This means EA’s NHL series is also getting ready for prime time. Today, EA is releasing the NHL 20 beta.
We got a couple of hours with the game in advance of the beta kicking off, and were able to glean some more details about how the changes EA makes in NHL 20 affect the gameplay. Here are our biggest takeaways thus far.
One-Timers Are Easier To Execute
NHL 20 introduces new contextual shot animations to help shooters better connect when the puck comes at them from all angles. To test this new feature, I spent a good deal of my time on the ice lining up one-timers, and shooters definitely get their shots off at a higher frequency with more realistic animations given the context. Sometimes they just tap the puck past the outstretched netminder. Other times they drop to one knee to generate more power. I even saw my defender square up to the net and pull his stick back in anticipation for unleashing a bomb from the point. All signs point to this being the year of the one-timer; there seemed to be a lot more goals.
Expect A Faster Pace Across the Ice
EA Vancouver once again put in work to improve puck pickups, and this year’s tweak changes the pace of play. In previous NHL games, the players had to enter a glide state to receive a pass. Now, they can preserve their full momentum and pick up the puck in stride, another change that tilts the ice in favor of the attackers. In the few games we played, it was easier to throw a headman pass, get a step on the A.I. defenders, and break clear to the net. The puck raced up and down the ice when playing versus as well thanks to these puck pickups. Once you play with this subtle but important change for a while, it’s hard to go back to the slower transition game of NHL 19.
Checking Is Tuned To Deliver More Big Hits
Maybe it was because we were still getting used to the quicker pace of play, but it seemed like there was a much higher frequency of limb-sprawling hits during our NHL 20 gameplay session. Even interactions between players that normally should result in slight jostling were resulting in players getting dropped to the ice. We’re curious to see if this gets toned down so it doesn’t feel so arcadey.
Net Battles Are Stickier
This could be one of EA’s attempts to curb the effectiveness of one-timers, but I noticed net battles seemed to break out at a much higher frequency in front of the net. It would take more testing to confirm, but it also seemed like there was a wider radius of where a defenseman could trigger a net battle.
Commentary Keeps Up With The Action Better
This year EA dumped legendary broadcast team Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, who never seemed to deliver their same level of excitement in the video game as they did in real life. The transition to Vancouver-based James Cybulski has allowed EA to record a lot more dialogue, and the result is noticeable; Cybulski seems to stay on top of the action better. However, his booth partner Ray Ferraro seems absent at times, letting Cybulski carry the commentary. As we play more games through the beta, I hope he’s a bigger contributor in the commentary and delivers more anecdotes to lead the conversation because right now the balance feels a little off.
Better Broadcast Packages
Alongside the commentary change, EA has updated its broadcast packages. So far, I like what I’m seeing. Many of the replays take much better angles, even going super slo-mo at times and rotating around the highlighted player. When scoring in HUT, the replay shows the cards of the goal scorer and assist men, which is a nice touch. In regular games this is replaced by a large headshot. You also get a player-specific highlight reel between periods, which should be a nice touch in EASHL. Goal scorers certainly get prominent placement here, but we also saw highlights built around patrolling defenders delivering bone-crushing hits.
A.I. Still Feels Like A Trouble Spot
Many of the changes in NHL 20 feel like steps in the right direction, but we won’t know for sure until we spend a lot more time with the game. At the same time, some frustration points from past games reared their ugly heads as well. The A.I. is still a problem area, as defenders inexplicably move away from puck carriers during transition and forwards bunch too closely to puck carriers at times. We already know NHL 20 doesn’t make any major changes to the A.I. underpinnings, but we hope something can be done to at least make these boneheaded decisions less frequent.
Ones Now Is Fun
Last year, we lamented that EA didn’t include the ability to play Ones with your buddies on a couch. NHL 20 corrects this oversight, and we can confirm the mode is a great way to kill some time and talk trash with your friends. EA keeps track of each person’s performance over the duration of the session, which adds more fuel for chirping. Instead of using your EASHL players, Ones Now features a handful of NHL superstars, who are given NBA Jam-style ratings from 1 to 10 in various categories. The roster is limited, so we hope EA adds more in the future, and the current lineup needs to be better balanced. Right now, there’s no incentive to play with diminutive snipers like Patrick Kane because you can get the same offensive output from a player like Brent Burns and still bully players around the ice given his superior physicality.
To learn more about NHL 20, read our previous coverage breaking down the 16 biggest changes coming to the game. NHL 20 comes to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this September. The Play First trial for EA Access members begins September 5. Those who pre-order the Deluxe or Ultimate editions can jump on the ice September 10, and the worldwide launch happens on September 13.
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Hello Mauricio,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Mauricio joined on the 07/25/2019.
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Developer: Bloober TeamRelease: August 30, 2019Platform: Xbox One, PC
This year marks the 20th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project, a found-footage horror film that debuted in theaters in 1999. At this past E3, Bloober Team (Observer, Layers of Fear) announced at Microsoft's press conference it is releasing a Blair Witch game in partnership with Lionsgate Games.
The Blair Witch Project tells the story of a small group of film students that enter Black Hills Forest, a woodland area in Burkittsville, Maryland. Blair Witch the game, however, brings its own spin on those grisly events with an all-new cast and plot. You play as an ex-cop named Ellis Lynch who, just like those young adults in the original film, is tormented by the supernatural perils of the forest.
We've already had a chance to sit down with writer Barbara Kciuk and developer Maciek Glomb during E3 for a quick chat, and we spoke to them again for an even deeper dive on what we can expect from the upcoming psychological horror title. Here's everything we learned.
Solve Puzzles With Your Camcorder
In Blair Witch, you aren't just running from the witch or trying to get your head around psychological horrors; you also spend a good chunk of time solving puzzles to better understand the world around you or to progress further. During this journey in the woods, you find several tapes scattered around in old cabins or elsewhere in the forest. These bits of footage can be played back on your camcorder, but what's most fascinating is that the world will change around you as you watch the video. For example, rewinding a video of a tree falling to make it stand up again would do the same to the fallen tree in real life, granting you access to a new path.
The Witch Sends Her Minions After You
In the movie The Blair Witch Project, you never actually see the witch or any other supernatural beings. Bizarre happenings occur around the protagonists, but it isn't clear why this is happening or who is responsible. The implication is it is the witch, since that's the urban legend the students are chasing, but what if in reality they're just going mad?
Blair Witch the game has a different and more direct approach. I wasn't told whether we would see the witch herself, but what you will face are her minions. In some gameplay footage I saw, there were glowing-red monsters that looked as if they were made out of twigs, and another creature I could never get a good look at since it zoomed around Ellis at full speed. These are the witch's minions; she sends them after you to try and take you down. Luckily, you have a flashlight that can momentarily blind foes and fend them off, but be careful, because they'll eventually come back. Some enemies, however, aren't susceptible to your flashlight's glow and you will instead have to sneak around them.
Your Choices Matter
Story plays a big part in Blair Witch, and choices do too. However, decisions you make won't be similar to Telltale fare or RPGs with dialogue options; instead, your choices will be much more organic and without distracting gameplay systems. Your actions, such as where you investigate and how you treat your dog Bullet, will have consequences that shape who Ellis is as a person and even the fate of your animal companion.
The witch may also play tricks on you to cloud your judgment with certain decisions. Sometimes you will hear familiar voices echoing off trees and lulling you towards them, and you may think it's the rest of the search party. But is it really? Following said voices could pose as a risk, since the witch enjoys toying with you.
Follow A Furry Best Friend
Bullet is your loyal dog who is an absolute asset to you during your treacherous journey in the woods. You can give him certain commands, such as instructing him to investigate something ahead before you go there yourself. Your relationship with Bullet is significant to both the game and story; if you gain his trust, he is more willing to help you and get you out of dangerous situations. This isn't as simple as petting your dog frequently enough; these behind-the-scenes relationship systems are more complicated, Bloober explained. If you don't try to maintain a strong bond, you may end up in trouble and so could Bullet. Your furry companion may also follow scents of items you've just collected or even find things himself (like the aforementioned tapes) to bring back to you.
Blair Witch releases for Xbox One and PC on August 30.
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Publisher: NintendoRelease: July 26, 2019Reviewed on: Switch
Fire Emblem has always been about going to war and managing comrades along the way. Making the necessary sacrifices on the battlefield while minimizing these losses is the series’ heart and soul, but Fire Emblem: Three Houses goes even further, providing the ability to shape and mentor allies. You play as a professor trying to guide and prepare students for the cruelty of the world; their successes and failures hit hard, and you hope you’ve imparted the right wisdom and focused your students in the right areas of study. This is how Three Houses entrenches you in the role of a mentor, inserting you directly into student life, which enhances the experience in a memorable way.
Everything feels personal in Three Houses, from selecting a house to deciding what side you favor in the unfolding political war. Your house choice shapes the experience, much like the allegiances in the Harry Potter series. Every house has a unique roster of students who represent the noble and commoner classes alike, and your guidance can help them grow in their social interactions and in battle. These students have their own backgrounds that have shaped who they are, and watching them grow is a highlight, but it can also be downright devastating. After all, you can only provide wisdom, and sometimes they need to make their own mistakes.
The three houses also have very disparate leaders, from The Yellow Deer’s laid back Claude to The Blue Lions’ by-the-book Dmitri. Then there’s The Black Eagles’ Edelgard, who seeks to challenge the status quo. All three play an intriguing role in the world of Fódlan's future. The threads for these characters keep you engaged, especially seeing what brings them together... or tears them apart.
The school lifestyle plays an equally important role in your investment with the characters. You become immersed in all aspects of your students’ lives. You pair up which students you want to bond on and off the battlefield by doing things like sharing a meal, giving them gifts, or inviting them to tea (my least favorite thanks to an observe feature that makes it feel like you’re ogling your students). You even have control over their lessons for the skills and classes you want to foster. The only time the game strikes out with this aspect is when it gives you the option to romance your students, which feels creepy. I preferred when my students would build their bonds in combat and it more naturally turned intimate between them.
When you’re not teaching or hanging around the school, you’re on the battlefield helping your students grow their skills so they can take their exam to advance their chosen class. Fire Emblem is still a strategy/RPG through and through, which means every character has a limited movement radius and you must pick the best placement for them each turn. The biggest change is Three Houses’ removal of the classic-but-strict weapon triangle. Weapon choice is still important, but damage is determined by the enemy type you’re facing (such as heavy armor or flying) and what material they’re most susceptible to, rather than a basic rock-paper-scissors setup. For instance, sometimes a steel bow and arrow will pack a greater punch than an iron bow and arrow on certain enemies.
I like this system because it encourages you to constantly weigh your options. Some weapons and skills are better suited for certain situations and a wrong move could be costly, especially if you have permadeath enabled. I also appreciate other new elements that help avoid frustrating deaths, like a limited-use ability to rewind time that reverses mistakes without reloading.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
Other new tools also keep things fresh. For each combatant, you can hire and level up battalions, which are a group of soldiers that block damage, while providing special abilities and attack power. These deadly assaults are comprised of different classes, such as mages and archery, and can cause status effects, such as poisoning or staggering foes. Battalions quickly became one of my favorite mechanics due to how they improve your odds against tougher threats like beasts and dragons. While they're risky because of their reduced accuracy, they are equally valuable because you're not risking a counter-attack. They became essential to my strategy as the battles progressed.
Combat arts, special attacks that take more weapon durability, also add some variety to your battle options, though I felt they lost their value as your power grew through your class type. They were one of my least favorite additions.
The battlefields themselves get repetitive, and I was disappointed to see the creativity in terms of terrain diminish as the game goes on. Even so, the thrill of watching your students get stronger and obtain new skills is hard to top, especially as you see the rate of their criticals rise. A memorable final battle gives you a place to prove your combat prowess as it pulls out all the stops, from traps to heaps of enemies filling your screen, giving you a fun opportunity to overcome the odds.
Three Houses has plenty of mysteries to uncover, and despite some predictable twists, you get big payoffs from the relationships you build. The story has shades of gray that pervade branching story paths, and the consequences of your choices are rarely clear-cut. I kept multiple save files and experimented with two of the houses, and while I only played Edelgard’s arc to completion, I saw a lot of variation between the houses and narrative branches. I was surprised at how quickly I wanted to load up a new game after completing the 55-hour main campaign, and was impressed at how different each experience feels.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is ambitious, and takes more chances than previous entries in the series. The way it lets your role as professor play into both the narrative and gameplay is nothing short of fantastic. This is the most I’ve ever cared about my Fire Emblem characters, and that’s incredibly high praise.
Score: 9.5
Summary: Ambitious risk-taking makes Fire Emblem: Three Houses a must-play.
Concept: Pick a group of students to lead through political turmoil while solving mysteries about your hero’s origin
Graphics: The anime art style and beautifully illustrated cutscenes look fantastic. Just don’t expect the environments to pack the same punch
Sound: Great voice acting and a solid soundtrack both help enhance moments, but some of the music gets repetitive
Playability: Smooth controls and easy-to-grasp mechanics provide a low barrier to entry for newcomers. Features like an ability to turn back time in case you make a bad move with a turn help, too
Entertainment: Fire Emblem: Three Houses combines fun social elements and tense strategy combat wonderfully, making it hard to put down
Replay: High
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Publisher: Bethesda SoftworksDeveloper: Machine GamesRelease: July 26, 2019Reviewed on: PCAlso on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One
MachineGames’ mainline Wolfenstein titles have both taken risks, either endearing or repulsing gamers with a focus on challenging, resource-fraught gameplay as well as a narrative that glues together aching emotional trauma with slapstick pulp. Youngblood is a side-story that opts for something different than what’s come before by embracing spongier combat, skill trees, cosmetics, and even live-service aspects like daily challenges. These smart changes make Youngblood an immensely enjoyable co-op first-person shooter about bashing in Nazi skulls.
When we last left protagonist B.J. and the crew in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, they were leading a full-on revolution to take back America from its Nazi overlords. Now, nearly 20 years have passed. America is Nazi-free, Europe is not, and B.J. is missing. His teenage daughters Jess and Soph are searching for him in Paris, carrying out operations for the local resistance to beat back the fascist stranglehold over the city. At the start, you choose either Jess or Soph, with an A.I. partner taking over the role of the other if you don’t have a co-op partner. Who you choose is ultimately cosmetic, since each sister has access to the same skill tree, weapons, and stats-boosting emotes players can deploy to get out of tricky situations.
Youngblood plays like a conventional shooter on the surface, with you mowing down waves of Nazi foes as they rush, flank, and otherwise try to annihilate you. In this entry, enemies have health and armor bars you have to knock down, but once you start leveling up (and you level up fast), you become every Nazi’s worst nightmare. For every level, you gain an attack power boost as well as points to purchase nodes on your skill tree. These nodes range from maximum health boosters to powerful abilities like being able to tackle a foe with such force you reduce them to a human slushee. You can also collect coins to buy upgrades for your weapons that include scopes, damage-increasing barrel modifications, stocks, and ammo extenders. I loved going off the beaten path in search of coins just to outfit my weapons with more doodads and even cosmetics.
Click here to watch embedded mediaAll of these options give you and your partner a lot of leeway when it comes to deciding how to tackle your problems. You can customize both your skills to let you play as stealthy ninjas capable of slitting throats for a bit before the violence goes loud, for example. You can also modify your abilities to turn you into a shotgun-wielding tank of doom while your partner stands in the back with their rifle, mopping up the enemies you miss. The variety in choice makes combat satisfying on a tactical level, and every weapon in your arsenal is fun, from your starting pistol to a laser rifle capable of disintegrating enemies. The variety of tools at your disposal makes every combat encounter feel fresh and interesting all the way to the end. In the mid-game and onward, my partner and I were regularly massacring wave after wave of foes due to our ridiculous power – but that isn’t to say that combat isn’t ever challenging.
Higher-tier enemies like Panzerhunds and massive robots roam the streets of Paris. To take down these baddies (not to mention bosses), you have to work together, often with one player acting as bait to lure the enemy around while the other focuses fire on the foe. Every enemy has one of two different armor types, meaning certain weapons work better against them, so it’s also helpful to be able to communicate and prioritize over microphone chat who’s doing what. Throughout the 10-hour story campaign, I had several dramatic clutch moments where a partner used an emote that restored a bit of my health and gave me a chance to escape, or blew up an entire squadron of Nazis surging on my position with a well-placed grenade. The co-op and coordination don’t detract from Wolfenstein’s combat; they enhance the best moments to great effect.
For those who are averse to playing with other people, the A.I. option bounces between competent and surprisingly vicious. I once stood back and watched my computer partner hunt down an entire apartment filled with foes with swift ease. However, there was never any point where I felt my entertainment was tarnished by the performance of the A.I., especially given how tough later encounters can be.
Youngblood’s world is a series of open spaces like Dishonored (which is fitting given that Arkane Studios co-developed the game), with you and your squadmate unlocking districts around Paris filled with apartments, stores, guard outposts, and secret areas. You often have to think vertically to progress and reach your objectives, like hopping into a second-story apartment window to bypass a barricaded alleyway. While Neu Paris doesn’t quite rise to the level of Dunwall or Karnaca, it’s still a beautiful and disturbing place that’s worth exploring for secret areas.
My only gripe with the world is that sometimes the plentiful optional missions are clumsily designed for it. For example, several missions require you to fetch an item in one district, fast travel to another to use that item to get yet another item, and then fast travel back to your home base to complete the mission and get your reward of XP. This sort of thing doesn’t happen frequently, but feels like a chore when it does.
Youngblood excels as an entertaining shooter with the right kind of RPG elements and choices. However, when compared to the stellar and shocking storytelling of previous Wolfensteins, this entry comes up short. It has a few interesting breadcrumbs about what happened in the aftermath of Wolfenstein II, including the fates of a couple characters, but this outing is mainly focused on the exploits of its dynamic duo. As far as protagonists go, Jess and Soph are likeable goofballs – a detour from their sad-sack papa – but they don’t have any real character development. As someone who adores the saga MachineGames has constructed, I didn’t mind the lack of an engaging story that much because Youngblood is such a generously entertaining romp.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
Score: 8.5
Summary: Youngblood takes some new risks for the series that pay off handsomely.
Concept: Take back Nazi-controlled Paris with a friend and a lot of guns
Graphics: The environmental designs are the series’ most colorful and eye-catching yet, from city districts to subterranean military bases. However, character animations are still noticeably stiff
Sound: The soundtrack bounces back and forth between synthwave and heavy metal, providing a nice beat to battles large and small
Playability: Like previous Wolfenstein titles, Youngblood’s systems and controls are easy to grasp
Entertainment: This side chapter provides a steady dollop of Nazi-massacring fun, especially if you have a pal along for the ride
Replay: Moderately High
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Publisher: Viz MediaDeveloper: Rose City GamesRelease: 2019Platform: PC
Today, manga publishing company Viz media revealed Cat Lady, a side-scrolling dungeon crawler involving, well, being a lady with cats. The game is minimalist on colors, but not not minimalist on art, and it definitely has a fun style that is pleasant to look at.
You can take a look at Cat Lady in the trailer below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe game stars a girl named Ally Marie who has to work her through with different cats of various skills to save her grandmother from dangerous dungeons. It came about as part of an initiative from Viz Media to work with developers to make games with anime and manga artstyles in the indie space. The first game in his plan was The World Next Door released earlier this year, with Cat Lady being the second.
There have been no platforms beyond PC or a release date announced yet other than this year, so it's still shrouded a bit in mystery. But with Gamescom and PAX coming up, there are certainly opportunities for more details soon.
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Publisher: Bethesda SoftworksDeveloper: Machine GamesRelease: July 26, 2019Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
We're just a day out from the PC release of Wolfenstein: Youngblood and two days out from the console releases, which means it's launch trailer time. The new trailer consists mostly of co-op gameplay between the two sisters, but has a few cutscenes in there for people eager to absorb more of the game's story before release.
Check out the Wolfenstein: Youngblood launch trailer below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaWolfenstein: Youngblood, which tells the story of BJ Blazkowicz's daughters in the 1980s after America has been liberated from nazi rule, was announced last year at Bethesda's E3 conference. It is releasing on PC on July 25 and on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch on July 26.
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Publisher: NintendoRelease: July 26, 2019Platform: Switch
With Fire Emblem: Three Houses just a few days away now, fans of the series might be looking to maximize their experience with the game from the get-go. If you are looking to play Fire Emblem at its absolute hardest difficulty, long known as "Lunatic" mode, you will have to wait until after the game releases, as it's coming in a post-launch patch.
Genki Yokota, the director of the game, revealed this in an interview with Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu earlier this week. While Yokota apologized for the delay, he said they have been working hard on the extra difficulty and that they hope to get it up soon after launch, though was not specific if that meant days or weeks. In previous games, Lunatic mode would fill in empty locations on the map with more enemies, improve stats for both enemies and their weapons, and massively improve enemy AI.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses releases on July 26 on Nintendo Switch. If you're not sure which of the eponymous three houses you might want to side with, we have a handy guide filling in some blank spots you might have.
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Publisher: CapcomDeveloper: CapcomRelease: September 6, 2019Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Variations are a core part of any Monster Hunter experience. It's a good way to create more varied challenges, monster types, and needs for different loadouts without fundamentally having to design completely new monsters. We get our first look at a new variation today and one that will presumably require you to carry more healing items with you.
In Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, you'll be introduced to the Acidic Glavenus. Check out gameplay of the monster below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaGlavenus, which was first introduced in Monster Hunter Generations, is making a return in Iceborne. The acidic variation is new to the game, however, and was revealed at the San Diego Comic-Con panel. The monster imbues its tail with a corrosive acid by biting it, debuffing the hunter upon contact. It really just beats the heck out of the hunter in the gameplay video.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is releasing on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6. The PC version will release later in the year.
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Publisher: Numantian GamesDeveloper: Numantian GamesRelease: June 18, 2019Rating: TeenReviewed on: Xbox One, PlayStation 4Also on: PC
Many days into your survival campaign, the restless undead await outside your fortifications. It’s okay – you’ve prepared with a slew of stalwart defenses, snipers at the ready, and battlements ready to stave off any attack. The intruders come, banging on the gates, and you repel them all neatly. More are sure to arrive, but you have time to rebuild your resistance…or so you thought. With your gaze and efforts focused on the front line, a single zombie slipped through the cracks on your south wall and gained access to your hapless colonists. Because of that small oversight, an outbreak ripples through your entire settlement, spreading from within and turning your own forces against you. In moments, your once-great city lies in ashes. What do you do? Start again, of course! This time, you’ll be ready.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThey Are Billions has a challenging, randomized loop that places you as master and commander of a fledgling city in a variety of environments. In this captivating cycle, you continually refine your old strategies and develop new ones to handle the threat of invasion. The survival mode is the core avenue of play – building up a thriving colony from scratch, teching up, and expanding to take on greater looming threats.
You have a variety of dials to tune before each game, allowing you to select the right difficulty for you, including how many days of preparation you have and how many undead (there aren’t actually billions, but there are enough) you must stave off. The game can be challenging even with a modest amount of difficulty selected, and with permadeath in play it can leave a bitter taste in your mouth after spending hours working on an impenetrable bastion. But if you’re like me, They Are Billions will make you hungry for even more punishment and perfection.
A wide variety of units and buildings are available as you expand, and every outing is a different-yet-delightful deluge of the dead. Raise an army of rangers and clockwork titans to complement defensive ballistas and shock towers as you move through the tech tree. Once you master fending off the standard shuffling and slow zombies, variable types get thrown into the mix, forcing you to prepare for speedy threats and colossal terrors. Most games become a delicate balancing act of expansion, economy, and military might; you must be careful not to overextend and put your expansive holdings at risk for a zombie incursion. Building up your fort is fun, even if your attempts end in failure most of the time.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
At the time of this writing, the PS4 and Xbox One versions lack the campaign mode you can find in the PC iteration. While this isn’t a huge detriment (the campaign is not the main draw), the control schemes are unwieldy on a console controller. You can alleviate this by using a mouse and keyboard on your console setup, but your goal should be to experience the title on PC.
They Are Billions is an interesting mashup of classic RTS, tower defense, and survival that successfully conjures up that “one more game” feel, assuming you can persevere through countless defeats.
Check out our review of the PC edition of the game here.
Score: 7
Summary: Defend yourself from swarms of vicious zombies, but use a mouse and keyboard.
Concept: Build a colony and survive against a horde of zombies in a real-time strategy experience
Graphics: While not mind-blowing, the graphics do a nice job of showing the scale and scope of the denizens threatening to destroy all you’ve worked for
Sound: Fun unit barks and atmospheric music keep things rolling nicely
Playability: Anyone can pick up the key factors to survival after a few games, but the game’s controls are unwieldy a controller
Entertainment: With permadeath and razor-sharp margins for error, the title caters to RTS veterans and survivalists hungry for challenge
Replay: High
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Publisher: Bethesda SoftworksDeveloper: Machine GamesRelease: July 26, 2019Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Wolfenstein: Youngblood, the co-op first-person-shooter that takes place in the generational future of the Wolfenstein universe, is coming out in just a few days. However, if you are on PC or are desperate to play the game early, it appears to be coming out one day early on that platform.
The news comes from a tweet on Bethesda's account, kind of matter-of-factly announcing that the PC version will release on July 25, a day before the other versions.
https://twitter.com/bethesda/status/1153395459244920832It's not made clear why specifically this is the case, as the replies seem to mostly be people upset about Fallout 76. As July 25 is the opening day of Quakecon, in which Wolfenstein would clearly have some relation, so maybe Bethesda plans to just have it available for attendees and thus launch it globally for everyone. It's not clear, but it does mean that PC players will get through the story a day earlier than everyone else, so beware of spoilers.
For everyone else, Wolfenstein: Youngblood launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch on July 26.
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Publisher: Numantian GamesDeveloper: Numantian GamesRelease: June 18, 2019Rating: TeenReviewed on: PCAlso on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Many days into your survival campaign, the restless undead await outside your fortifications. It’s okay – you’ve prepared with a slew of stalwart defenses, snipers at the ready, and battlements ready to stave off any attack. The intruders come, banging on the gates, and you repel them all neatly. More are sure to arrive, but you have time to rebuild your resistance…or so you thought. With your gaze and efforts focused on the front line, a single zombie slipped through the cracks on your south wall and gained access to your hapless colonists. Because of that small oversight, an virulent outbreak ripples through your entire settlement, spreading from within and turning your own forces against you. In moments, your once-great city lies in ashes. What do you do? Start again, of course! This time, you’ll be ready.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThey Are Billions has a challenging, randomized loop that places you as master and commander of a fledgling city in a variety of environments. In this captivating cycle, you continually refine your old strategies and develop new ones to handle the threat of invasion. The survival mode is the core avenue of play – building up a thriving colony from scratch, teching up, and expanding to take on greater looming threats.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
You have a variety of dials to tune before each game, allowing you to select the right difficulty for you, including how many days of preparation you have and how many undead (there aren’t actually billions, but there are enough) you must stave off. The game can be challenging even with a modest amount of difficulty selected, and with permadeath in play it can leave a bitter taste in your mouth after spending hours working on an impenetrable bastion. But if you’re like me, They Are Billions will make you hungry for even more punishment and perfection.
A wide variety of units and buildings are available as you expand, and every outing is a different-yet-delightful deluge of the dead. Raise an army of rangers and clockwork titans to complement defensive ballistas and shock towers as you move through the tech tree. Once you master fending off the standard shuffling and slow zombies, variable types get thrown into the mix, forcing you to prepare for speedy threats and colossal terrors. Most games become a delicate balancing act of expansion, economy, and military might; you must be careful not to overextend and put your expansive holdings at risk for a zombie incursion. Building up your fort is fun, even if your attempts end in failure most of the time.
The campaign mode is far less of a draw, featuring a slew of missions and several different styles of play, including “hero” sessions where your focus is on a single unit, but it takes a serious backseat to the survival experience. The missions are curated and often feature aspects that feel like they require trial and error to know where things happen, leading to an unsatisfying series of maps that are incredibly light on story. The campaign’s lack of appeal is mostly forgivable given the vast replayability of the survival mode, but you shouldn’t pick this game up in the hopes of a compelling journey.
They Are Billions is an interesting mashup of classic RTS, tower defense, and survival that successfully conjures up that “one more game” feel, assuming you can persevere through countless defeats.
Check out our review of the console edition of the game here.
Score: 8
Summary: Defend your colony against an endless supply of the dangerous dead.
Concept: Build a colony and survive against a horde of zombies in a real-time strategy experience
Graphics: While not mind-blowing, the graphics do a nice job of showing the scale and scope of the denizens threatening to destroy all you’ve worked for
Sound: Sound Fun unit barks and atmospheric music keep things rolling nicely
Playability: Anyone can pick up the key factors to survival after a few games, but console players should be way about playing on a controller
Entertainment: With permadeath and razor-sharp margins for error, the title caters to RTS veterans and survivalists hungry for challenge
Replay: High
Gorgeous Metroidvania Designed By Nintendo, Sierra, And LucasArts Veterans
in Game Previews
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Savior is an upcoming parkour metroidvania game designed by development team Starsoft which is filled with individuals who previously worked for Nintendo, Sierra, and LucasArts.
You play as a young woman named Sam, who is in the midst of a conflict between two ancient belief systems. Savior focuses on exploration, and it also features story beat moments where you use dialogue options when interacting with NPCs.
Most striking of all is the game's art direction, which features breathtaking sprites, animations, and pixel art. You can watch the video below to see for yourself.
Click here to watch embedded mediaSavior will release for PC, though the developer has not yet specified a release date.
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