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Hello TheHoelnz,
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.
TheHoelnz joined on the 06/04/2019.
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Click here to watch embedded media
Publisher: Bandai NamcoDeveloper: Outright GamesRelease: November 15, 2019Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PCThe movie, based on the children's book, which had a sequel in 2017, which was about a board game, that turned into a video game, is getting a video game adaptation. The game is being described as an "adventure in laughter" that will offer cooperative play for up to four players as they look for jewels while avoiding marauders and exotic creatures. The game is coming November 15 to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was one of those weirdly successful movies that exceeded all commercial expectations and a sequel film was quickly greenlit. It's rare to see licensed games like this in 2019, especially ones that appear to have acquired the likenesses of the actors in the film.
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Publisher: ActivisionDeveloper: Bungie, High Moon StudiosRelease: September 4, 2018Rating: TeenPlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Raids are the beating heart of Games As A Service, because it lets players get together and essentially have a midterm exam for their character and their party. Destiny itself has had great success with this model, but it leaves designers having to figure out how to up the ante each time. That ante looks sufficiently upped with the new trailer for Crown of Sorrow, the newest raid for Destiny 2: Forsaken.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThis time, six guardians go into an abandoned Leviathan for the only good reason to investigate anything abandoned: stuff. Treasures and riches and stuff. Crown of Sorrow is part of Destiny 2's Season of Opulence, which they detailed a few days ago. It's also the last bit of Destiny 2's current annual pass, which means a new one will be coming fairly soon if Bungie plans to continue making Destiny 2 the live game they seemingly intend it to be.
Fittingly, Bungie has said they plan to talk about the next phase of Destiny 2 content this Thursday at 10:00 a.m. PT.
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Publisher: Annapurna InteractiveDeveloper: Mobius DigitalRating: Rating PendingReviewed on: PC
Outer Wilds’ premise is deliciously devious. As a newly minted astronaut in a fantastical solar system, your first day of space exploration ends on a dire note: The sun explodes, killing everyone. Bummer. Luckily, you’re caught in a time loop; each attempt gives you 20 minutes to explore the galaxy in the hopes of preventing the catastrophe from happening again. With a rich world to match its setup, Outer Wilds is an adventure ripe with memorable moments of discovery, but it is maligned by a bad control scheme and overly obtuse progress-gating puzzles.
The time loop is the foundation on which the entire experience rests. Those 20 minutes are a timer for you and all the locations you explore in the solar system. At the five-minute mark during one loop, you might be exploring the insides of a moon teleporting its way around the system while a planet nearby is bombarded into piecemeal oblivion by asteroids, literally falling to pieces. Learning what events are happening where and when (and how they interact with each other) is a key part of unraveling the mystery. It’s a fascinating design that calls to mind the innards of a pocket watch, with gears moving harmoniously in accordance with the flow of time.
Every location you can visit is essentially a dungeon, requiring you to explore and occasionally solve puzzles with lateral thinking. All of these places are meticulously constructed and unique. My personal favorite are the Ash & EmberTwins, two moons in orbit of one another that circle the sun, feeding sand into each other and transforming the layout of explorable areas on each as the loop timer ticks on. The Dark Bramble, a twisted vine of portals and fog, is also memorably claustrophobic and confusing – Outer Wilds’ own spooky hall of mirrors. All these places house a treasure trove of discoveries: intriguing lore, dusty archeological behemoths, occasional fellow astronauts, and caches of information offering new and dangerous directions for you to pursue. Though you die every 20 minutes (or less), each attempt can provide a new snippet of information that carries over to the next loop and brings you closer to solving the puzzle.
The exploding sun isn’t the only way for you to meet your demise during your travels. Death is a hilarious, educational experience here. I’ve been crushed by shifting walls, flown into crunchy doom by my autopilot, asphyxiated floating in space, and even been eaten by a massive angler fish. The hilarity of these demises does a lot to alleviate the frustrations of being lost in this galaxy – at least, for a time.
Click here to watch embedded mediaI’ve had a lot of fun taking in beautiful vistas of meteors shooting across the sky or watching the ground shake as a place rises up from the sand. However, these dollops of wonder are easily outnumbered by the frustrations I’ve had at the hands of clunky navigation and half-baked systems. Outer Wilds opts for a semi-realistic control scheme when it comes to flying your ship (think Kerbal Space Program). You must account for weight, gravity, and force all while manipulating multiple thrusters. Even after hours of playing, I was only able to pull off a handful of graceful landings. A rocky landing doesn’t hurt anything other you’re your pride most of the time, but particularly bad ones can result in explosive death and a reset of the loop. Moreover, certain puzzles require precise navigation through dangerous spaces, which is a nightmare to pull off because of the convoluted complexity of the controls. Even supposedly helpful systems like autopilot have a habit of veering you into the path of giant space rocks. Though losing five minutes of progress might not seem like a big deal in the grand scheme of things, a continual stacking of such loss thanks to misadventures (which don’t even feel like your fault) wears down your patience, especially since the only way to can track your progress is a confusing chart system that just corrals all the clues you’ve found.
The various puzzles littering interstellar space are also vexing in a way that inspires more exasperation than enjoyable challenge. Some of them might sound nifty on paper, but they’re often laborious in execution. One requires that you be at a certain place at a certain moment during the time loop to gain access to one of those information caches. What this amounts to is you waiting around for a long time until that area is accessible, kicking up space dust or twiddling your thumbs until the window arrives. Other puzzles give way to annoying platforming sequences that require nimble dexterity, and where a single mistake means you have to restart the loop all over again. I rarely felt any sense of accomplishment from overcoming these obstacles, just relief that I had earned a brief reprieve from the worst part of experience.
At the end of it all, I admire a lot about Outer Wilds. The entire world operating on that 20-minute timer is a fascinating theatrical accomplishment of craftsmanship, but I find it more fun to think about than to play. A lot of ideas linger here, some of them beautifully executed, others slipshod and pushing against each other. I love roaming inside the bellies of mysterious planets, but don’t like how the urgency of the timer undercuts my exploration. I have left Outer Wilds’ galaxy feeling as much exhaustion as satisfaction, but also with a list of several enchanting interstellar moments.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
Score: 7.75
Summary: Outer Wilds is an ambitious adventure filled with wondrous sights and annoyances galore.
Concept: Explore a solar system as you try to escape a time loop and prevent a sun from exploding
Graphics: From its landscapes to its oddly shaped characters, the art style is gorgeous and memorable
Sound: The soundtrack balances twangy Americana with full-on orchestra, capturing the wonders of this zany universe
Playability: Even after hours of experimentation, the controls and navigation are frustrating and can even impede progress
Entertainment: Outer Wilds offers an incredible world filled with memorable moments, but the experience is hamstrung by poorly implemented puzzles and wonky systems
Replay: Moderate
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Developer: TechlandPlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
As we approach E3 next week, one of the games we're really looking forward to learning more about is Dying Light 2. We don't know much outside of what we saw at our demo at last year's E3 and Gamescom, which includes better parkour, deadlier zombies, and more complex combat. Another big change coming to this sequel is that your choices will make a difference within the city. Ahead of E3, we obtained an exclusive piece of concept art that hints at what the team will be showing at the expo.
The above image shows the wide range of outcomes throughout the city. As you play through Dying Light 2, your choices affect the rebuilding of society in major ways; do you hand over your newly reclaimed water tower to a less-than-reputable group of entrepreneurs in exchange for added security, or do you let water-stealing bandits have it, enabling the civilians to keep their freedom? These choices can range so broadly that some players may miss as much as half of the game's content in a single playthrough.
The left side of the above image above shows how the survivors have united to rebuild the city, while the right shows what can see what happens if you back the factions over the civilian survivor groups.
Click to see full-size image
You can see a description of the art from Techland creative director Adrian Ciszewski below.
"This panorama of The City shows the potential effects of player decisions that will have to be made in Dying Light 2. Who you support – the survivors, regular people trying to carry on with their lives, one of the faction groups, motivated by their own agenda, or act in your own best interests – is entirely up to you, and your actions can impact all of those lives. The European ex-metropolis is a familiar city with cathedrals, parks, restaurants, shopping malls, different districts – modern, past, artistic, industrial – that reflect its rich history. From a safe distance, you can see the layers of the city: on the ground level, the threat of death, and up top, the struggle to survive. The City is a constant reminder of what used to be, what could have been, but leaves out what there is to come."Dying Light 2 will reveal new details at E3 next week, where it will appear during Square Enix's press conference.
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Publisher: 11 Bit StudiosDeveloper: 11 Bit StudiosRelease: April 24, 2018Rating: Rating PendingPlatform: PC
We first played Frostpunk more than a year ago, but its chilling examination of tough moral choices in impossible leadership circumstances still sticks with us. Many players felt the same way, as the game slowly and steadily built up a following on the way to selling 1.4 million copies in its first year.
For those unfamiliar with the setup, Frostpunk takes place in an alternate-history 19th Century where the onset of an ice age exterminates the vast majority of the human race, and players must lead a small and fragile group of survivors as they prepare for an even worse deep freeze. Building their settlement and sending out explorers to scavenge for vital supplies, commanders must deal with a cascading series of difficult decisions that test the limits of human rights in no-win situations.
This summer, console players will finally have a chance to see why we named Frostpunk the best simulation game of 2018 and called its uncompromising finale one of the best gaming moments of last year. We recently spoke with 11 Bit Studios to see how the experience is changing in the migration to the new platforms.
All The Content From The PC Version Makes The Migration
The console version of Frostpunk will not look deficient in comparison to its PC predecessor when it launches later this year. Developer 11 Bit Studios says the PS4 and Xbox One versions will release with every piece of content that has been delivered to the PC version thus far. This includes all the free content updates, gameplay balances, customization options, and difficulty settings. Most importantly, the post-launch Fall of Winterhome scenario and popular Endless mode make the transition as well.
Completely Reworked The Controls For Gamepad
Successful strategy games are notorious for crashing and burning on consoles to the point that many big franchises like Total War and Civilization don't even bother. Many times, the culprit for the unsuccessful ports is poorly translating the point-and-click controls and menu-heavy interfaces to a gamepad. 11 Bit Studios ran into the same issues when exploring bringing Frostpunk to consoles.
"It took us some time to get the console version going, but there's a good reason for it," says project lead and senior lead designer Jakub Stokalski. "When we got the game out and it did as well as it did, we started the usual porting process just to try a virtual cursor and see how it how the game played. It played really badly. That's when we realized that we can't really do a port of this game."
From there, the team looked at other control schemes being used by recent console strategy conversions like Cities: Skylines and the Tropico series, but still didn't feel any of them felt truly comfortable on a controller. "That used to be the case with shooter games as well, right?" Stokalski says. "I mean, you wouldn't have played a shooter a couple of years back, but then Halo came along. We have to do some things differently, but it can feel like a native experience."
To find that native experience, the team redesigned a vast majority of the interface. Fonts and menus were changed to be readable from a couch. Camera sensitivity needed to be adjusted so the virtual cursor moves quickly across the map, but snaps naturally to interactive objects like buildings. The developers integrated a top-down view to allow players to more easily place buildings. When that wasn't quite good enough, 11 Bit added a new left-trigger modifier that makes movement even more precise in building mode.
Click here to watch embedded mediaUsing streamlining as its guiding principle, 11 Bit developed a gamepad control scheme to make oft-used functions easily accessible. The d-pad controls the speed of passing time. The left trigger opens a command hub that gets you to any menu you need to be in, and the right trigger gives you contextual control of workplaces to make sure you have quick access to all the macros like toggling overtime and emergency shifts. The goal? Make every important and frequently used command accessible within two clicks. Stokalski thinks their work has paid off.
"I think of myself mostly as a PC player, but playing these two builds of the game like daily, I actually prefer to play with the controller right now," he says. "This is reinforced with the usability testing that we do with all of our titles before release. The PC version got scores in the range of like 8-8.5 as far as usability and ease of use goes, and this version is running up to 9 out of 10 among our [testers]."
The Console Version Will Be Supported Moving Forward
Sounds like a no brainer, right? But not every console version of a PC game gets the same treatment. While updates won't necessarily come day and date with the PC improvements, Stokalski says they will all make their way to the console eventually. Most importantly, this includes the company's plans to launch new paid DLC in the near future. While 11 Bit wouldn't share major details about what sort of new content is coming our way outside of reaffirming it stays true to the bleak tonal spirit of Frostpunk, Stokalski says it's going to be on par with the length of the original game's main scenario.
The Frostpunk Console Edition comes to PlayStation 4 and Xbox this summer.
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Publisher: 11 Bit StudiosDeveloper: Dead MageRelease: Summer 2019Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Most dungeon-crawlers introduce fierce warriors who can mow down enemies with ease for noble reasons. Children of Morta, an upcoming roguelite from developer Dead Mage, brings a very different approach to the genre by offering a selection of playable family members who, at first glance, may not look like mighty heroes at all.
“It’s a game about love, friendship, and supporting each other," Grzeszczuk says. "But also anger that comes from grief and loss."
You play as a family of six made up of parental figures, relatives, and siblings. However, don't be fooled - the family dynamic doesn't make this story any less sinister and it doesn't make its heroes any less daring. Before each run, you select which family members to play as (through single-player or co-op). The gameplay has a hack 'n slash vibe, where you conquer overwhelming swarms of enemies through ranged or close combat as well as explore the dungeons for loot.
Children of Morta tells the story of a family who must stop a growing and deadly corruption that stems from Mount Morta. You journey through three different biomes (caverns, middle-eastern inspired lands, and a steampunk world) to rescue the gods of each area to borrow their power and make your way towards Mount Morta to clear the corruption completely.
“Family is the backbone of the experience,” says 11-bit marketing director Patryk Grzeszczuk. “We’re working on making the story meaningful and to let you as a player not only understand those characters and their motivations, but also to get attached to them and invest in them.”
Your time is split up between dungeon runs and moments of respite at the family home. The house is where you can upgrade your gear, skills, or gain insight into the family members' personalities in-between your travels. For example, you may see someone smoking a pipe near the bottom of the stairs, or the youngest happily sketching on papers scattered across the floor. Some family members don't travel with you on runs and instead stay behind, like your alchemist grandmother who gives you different concoctions for your journeys, or uncle Ben who beefs up your gear.
Children of Morta's gameplay isn't just dependent on your reflexes; it also takes time to build your own tactics and strategy. For example, you can't keep playing as the same character over and over again. I really enjoyed playing as Linda, a fragile-but-skilled ranged archer, but characters need rest and some handle certain dungeons or situations better than others.
"The more you play with the characters of your choice, the more they are being affected by this force, so you have to switch characters from time to time," Grzeszczuk says. "You cannot finish the game by playing with one character only."
During my time with Children of Morta, I also played as the father, John, who also acts as a tank character. He wields a sword and shield and easily cuts through foes in close combat. I enjoyed playing as Linda more than I did John, mostly because her controls feel smoother. Linda is controllable with twin sticks - one for navigating and the other for aiming and shooting. While John is brutal in combat, he is more sluggish and suffers from some imprecise controls.
Unlike other roguelike and roguelites out there, Children of Morta doesn't have permadeath and doesn't take away any of your loot if you perish. It's still challenging, forcing you to restart a dungeon after you die, but is more forgiving in other ways. For example, after dying inside a cave-styled dungeon, I was able to spend my accumulated funds on buying new gear at the Bergson family home.
The game does, however, have procedurally generated dungeons (and some handcrafted worlds to explore), meaning each run won't be the same as the last. As you progress, you will have to return to some previous dungeons, but this shouldn't be too annoying thanks to the randomization. You also may experience randomized story events that didn't appear the first time or side quests you may have missed.
Children of Morta launches later this year for Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, though no specific date has been announced. With its familial story themes and fun gameplay, I'm eager to see how it fares.
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Publisher: AtlusDeveloper: AtlusRelease: June 4, 2019Rating: MatureReviewed on: 3DS
Back in 2014, Atlus introduced a unique crossover featuring its Persona and Etrian Odyssey franchises. Persona Q combined the best elements from both properties to craft a fantastic hybrid role-playing experience. The Etrian Odyssey games cater to the hardcore dungeon-crawling crowd while the Persona series injects the fun and personality long missing from Etrian Odyssey’s stock characters and well-worn story. Persona Q2 continues on the path its predecessor forged, but it brings in the Persona 5 cast for a memorable trip to the movies.
Persona 3, 4, and 5 have greatly grown recognition for the series, and Persona Q2 feels like a tribute to these characters and their stories. While the narrative and perspective are centered on the Persona 5 cast, the Persona 3 and 4 teams also make their way into the story, which focuses on a strange theater – and our heroes must transport themselves into actual movies to find a way out. Here you’ll engage in tactical turn-based battles, dungeon exploration with cinematic themes, and strengthening bonds between the party members.
While the mystery does enough to propel the action forward, the real beating heart of Persona Q2 is the character interactions. Seeing which members from the different casts mesh well is a highlight, as it’s not always who you’d expect – like model Ann and tomboy Chie bonding over their similarities. You also see more predictable pairings, such as the two former student council presidents, Mitsuru and Makoto. Atlus put an extensive amount of detail and care into the character interactions, providing little nods for longtime fans, such as jokes about Chie and Yukiko’s bad cooking. I loved spotting the references to past games and seeing how they were inserted into Persona Q2’s world. You don’t need to play the past games to understand what’s going on, but the familiarity provides some extra smiles for longtime fans.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
While Atlus does a good job of giving every character screen time, sometimes they all feel shoehorned in. Getting all your party members is also a slow burn; unlike its predecessor, you’re not picking a cast or meeting all your party members early on. I didn’t even encounter all the main casts until well past the 20-hour mark, which is when the Persona 3 crew finally enters the story. The expansive cast also makes constructing your team more complicated. As with any Etrian Odyssey game, you need to find the right balance of unique skills, strengths, and weaknesses to be successful, which gets harder and more time consuming with so many options to weigh. Experimentation is encouraged, with side quests that require specific party members. Certain characters also randomly receive motivation, which increases their chances of critical hits and experience bonuses, making it a no-brainer to put them on your team. Unfortunately, if a character isn’t in your main party, they don’t receive experience. This makes it feel like you’re taking a hit when you stray from your established team because you’re either at a disadvantage by using an under-leveled combatant or must accept that you have to grind to get that member up to speed.
Each other system in Persona Q2 has depth to explore. The turn-based battle system requires exploiting enemy weaknesses to get all-out attacks (a powerful team combo) and boosts that make your next skill free. Persona fusion also returns, with trips to the Velvet room to one-up your last creation. Every party member has their main persona with its unique skills to level up, but you can also equip them with a sub-persona, increasing your power and skill options in battle. Creating a superior persona and passing on your favorite techniques feel great. I enjoyed changing up my party members’ skills on the fly with sub-personas, which lends some variety into battles.
Persona Q2 also melds its social systems with combat. You can do side quests called “special screenings,” which are similar to social links where characters bond. They unlock powerful unison attacks that randomly activate and can unleash criticals or deal devastating damage. This was one of my favorite additions, as it adds what I love about Persona: the social aspect. The missions are cute and give characters a chance to interact on a more intimate level. Doing these special screenings always felt worth my time for the character-focused content, not to mention that they reward you with attacks that come in handy during desperate times in battle.
Using all the tools at your disposal is essential as you explore huge labyrinths with dead ends, switch puzzles, dangerous mini-bosses, and hidden treasures. As you move from one floor to the next, mapping out your path using the stylus is a necessity until you reach the final boss. In your pursuit to get there, you’re fighting to survive the onslaught of enemies that get progressively more deadly and challenging; the A.I. is smart, casting spells your members are weak to and focusing on characters who are low on health. While the game is more difficult than a core Persona entry, it is more forgiving than the core Etrian Odyssey series, and I never felt like any death I had was unfair. The satisfaction from downing a huge boss or totally annihilating a group of enemies who gave you trouble two floors ago is hard to top.But don’t expect to get through this game without having to grind. Some short side quests dissipate this, but for the most part you are going back and forth between areas quite a bit, whether to return to base to clear out your inventory for space or because you need to restore your health. I tolerated this, but it’s not exactly engaging. Instead, it felt like an annoying barrier to my progress and it often took me out of the experience. Many times, I’d be just about to reach a staircase to gain access to a new starting point but then I’d have to turn around due to a full inventory or because I needed to replenish my health and skill points.
Persona is known for its themed dungeons, and Persona Q2 follows suit, basing each dungeon off a movie theme or genre, ranging from superheroes to sci-fi. These also feature elements straight out of Persona 5, such as avoiding searchlights and sneaking past enemies. My main complaint with the dungeons is their repetition and lack of creativity. I enjoyed the idea of using cinema themes, but every floor looks the same and has similar puzzles and traps. The designs themselves are nothing special, either. Even something that should feel exciting, such as one that is a clear homage to Jurassic Park, is disappointing with bland backdrops and few actual interactions with dinosaurs. Thankfully, the fun of the battle system and Persona casts interacting keep these dungeons from becoming too much of a bore.
If you liked the original Persona Q, Persona Q2 checks the same boxes while adding a few new wrinkles to the formula. As a Persona fan, it feels like the ultimate tribute to the last 13 years of the series, with nostalgic music and callbacks to previous events. When I wasn’t chuckling over a joke between the cast members, I was reveling in fusing new personas and finally besting a long, punishing boss battle. Persona Q2 is a worthy last hurrah for the 3DS, and helps the system go out on a high note.
Score: 8.5
Summary: Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is the ultimate tribute to the series' last 13 years with Etrian Odyssey elements thrown in for good measure.
Concept: Unite beloved Persona casts for a challenging journey through dungeons inspired by cinema
Graphics: The chibi art style gives you a mostly adorable way to view your favorite Persona characters. The dungeons, however, are bland and repetitive
Sound: The music has always been a highlight of the Persona games, and this soundtrack is an enjoyable “greatest hits” from the last three games. The Japanese-only voice acting doesn’t take away from the experience
Playability: Persona Q2 does a great job of easing you into its mechanics. You can expect a challenge, but it’s gratifying to master the intricacies
Entertainment: Whether it’s the adrenaline rush from a hard-fought boss encounter or the thrill of watching the characters bond, this is a delightful journey in and out of battle
Replay: Moderate
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Hello Kestrel73,
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.
Kestrel73 joined on the 06/02/2019.
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Hello Peter,
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.
Peter joined on the 06/02/2019.
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Hello Laneman,
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.
Laneman joined on the 06/01/2019.
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Hello roheline77,
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.
roheline77 joined on the 06/01/2019.
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Hello Alvids,
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Alvids joined on the 06/01/2019.
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Hello durak007,
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Publisher: Warner Bros. InteractiveDeveloper: NetherRealm StudiosRelease: April 23, 2019Rating: MaturePlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
A new trailer for Mortal Kombat 11's Kombat Pass, which contains six DLC characters for the recently released Mortal Kombat game, focuses primarily on Shang Tsung. However, at the end we get a listing of names for some of the remaining character pass, which includes Nightwolf, Sindel, and Todd McFarlane's antihero Spawn.
You can check out the Shang Tsung video, in which he is portrayed by the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who lends his voice and likeness to the MK11 character.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe Spawn confirmation isn't shocking, since Todd McFarlane outright said that Spawn would be coming to the game in December in a Reddit AMA. This makes Spawn a guest character in two fighting games: this, and Soulcalibur II.
The remaining two characters in the character pass have yet to be named, but the trailer does categorize them as guests rather than returning combatants, er, kombatants. It does somewhat sound like a chainsaw noise when the tease comes up, which definitely would hint at the supposedly datamined Evil Dead's Ash, though actor Bruce Campbell has vehemently denied that to be the case.
Shang Tsung releases in just a few weeks on June 18. Mortal Kombat 11 is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.
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Publisher: NintendoDeveloper: Brace Yourself GamesRelease: SpringRating: Rating PendingPlatform: Switch
The incredibly wordy title of Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring the Legend of Zelda, which we'll just call Cadence of Hyrule, was announced as a surprise during Nintendo's Nindies show in March. The game was given a Spring release window, but Nintendo and developer Brace Yourself Games have not been making much noise about the rhythm adventure since.
Last night, Nintendo aired an Indie World presentation in Japan, which is not entirely unlike the Nindies showcase here. During the show, there was a small segment on Cadence of Hyrule, which showed new footage while the Indie World hosts talked over it using pixelated avatars. At the end of the segment, they confirm that the game will launch in June at least in Japan, but presumably also in the west.
You can check out the video below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThat's not a galloping shock, considering the game's Spring release date and we are quickly running out of time that could be defined as Spring. The game uses the Crypt of the Necro-Dancer mechanics, but with a Zelda skin and playable characters in the form of Necro-Dancer protagonist Cadence, Link, and Zelda herself.
Considering the June release date, my suspicion would be a drop during E3, maybe even during Nintendo's E3 presentation. You can make sure to watch Nintendo livestream their show on Tuesday, June 11 at 9:00 a.m. PT.
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Hello Solid84,
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Solid84 joined on the 05/31/2019.
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Publisher: NintendoDeveloper: Sora, LtdRelease: December 7, 2018Platform: Switch
Nintendo has released the latest Super Smash Bros. Ultimate patch which, much like Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey before it, adds VR support using the Labo VR mode.
The Ver. 3.1.0 update for Super #SmashBrosUltimate is available now! Visit the website for the full breakdown on what’s been added. https://t.co/20OyKanIvY pic.twitter.com/De3VhEJeme
— Nintendo Versus (@NintendoVS) May 31, 2019It is not a particularly extensive addition. The VR mode is single player only, so don't expect to go online and be playing Smash Bros. in VR anytime soon. You can just sort of look around stages while battles are going on, either by watching the CPU battle it out or by having a single player fight it out against the CPU. You can check out the trailer for it below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaOf course, like most Nintendo patch notes, this doesn't go into a whole lot of detail about much else, but it appears some balancing changes have been made that we'll find out about in the future.
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Publisher: 505 GamesDeveloper: ArtPlayRelease: June 18, 2019Rating: Rating PendingPlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
In the newest footage for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the newest Castlevania-like from former series chief Koji Igarashi, we're introduced to another one of the game's playable character. If you played the prequel game, Curse of the Moon, you might remember the story of the swordsman Zangetsu who ended up meeting other characters, including RotN's Miriam, and eventually succumbing to dark power himself.
Now he has been introduced as a playable character, voiced by the former (and sometimes current) voice of Solid Snake, David Hayter. Check out the new trailer below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe katana-wielding demon hunter is no less rigid about how much he hates demons in this game than he was before, but he does seem to have the skills to back it up. Zangetsu will be added to the game post-launch, with a third character "no one will guess," according to Igarashi, somewhere after that.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night will release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on June 18 and on Switch on June 25.
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Hello gauchi,
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.
gauchi joined on the 05/30/2019.
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Hey Legends,
As we approach June, we want to give you a heads-up on a fun in-game event coming next week, as well as just some of the first details on Season 2 Battle Pass.
The Hunt Begins . . .
Compete in Legendary Hunt challenges to earn this Epic Master of the Hunt Bloodhound skin and more.
The Legendary Honored Prey R-301 skin and the Legendary Night Terror Wraith skin.
We’ll have more details to share with you next week Tuesday, but for now, get ready for the hunt!
Starting next Tuesday, we’ll be kicking off a new event called The Legendary Hunt. This limited-time event will last two weeks, and with it brings all this to Kings Canyon:
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Apex Elite Queue
- Test yourself against the best with the Apex Elite queue. Make it to the Top 5 in any match to earn your way into a select queue full of other Top 5 winners.
- Here’s the catch: in order to continue playing in the queue you will have to keep placing in the Top 5.
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Legendary Hunt Challenge Rewards
- Complete a set of limited-time challenges and earn new Rare, Epic, and Legendary skins.
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Double XP Weekend
- From Friday, June 7 at 10 a.m. PST through Monday, June 10 at 10 a.m. PST, earn double XP on base progression and Battle Pass progression.
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Battle Pass Bonus XP
- Finish Top 5 in any match and earn an entire Battle Pass level (once per day).
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Legendary Hunt Store Skins
- Every three to four days during the event, we’ll have new Legendary Hunt themed skins rotating through the in-game store for direct purchase.
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Two Additional Legendary Skins for all Battle Pass Owners
- Players who have the Wild Frontier Battle Pass will automatically get the Legendary Honored Prey R-301 skin.
- Players who reach Battle Pass level 15 before the end of the event will get the Wraith Night Terror Legendary skin.
First Details on Season 2 Battle Pass
At 10:00 a.m. PST on Saturday, June 8, we’ll be sharing some of the first details on Apex Legends Season 2 as part of our EA PLAY livestream. Today, we want to tell you about just a few of the high-level improvements you can expect from our second Battle Pass. So, without further ado, we'll let our Lead Product Manager, Lee Horn, tell you more. Take it away, Lee!
Leeeeeee-RSPN here, with an update on Battle Pass Season 2. We’ve been listening to the community discussion regarding the Season 1 Battle Pass and have gotten a ton of great feedback from players. Today, we’re excited to share just some of the changes and improvements you can expect with the Season 2 Battle Pass, so y’all can know that we’re headed in the right direction.
TL;DR on Just Some of the Coming Improvements
- Level up via Daily and Weekly Challenges.
- Time to Battle Pass level 100 should be significantly reduced.
- Three additional Legendary skins added to the rewards track.
- Three entirely new content categories replace badge and stat tracker rewards.
- You’ll earn enough Crafting Metal rewards from the full reward track to craft a Legendary item, or whatever your heart desires.
Daily/Weekly Challenges and Improving the Grind
Starting in Season 2, you’ll be able to complete a mix of Daily and Weekly Challenges to level up your Battle Pass. If you miss a few weeks or start late, your Weekly Challenges will still be around for you when you return, and you can complete them all at once.
While we don’t want to introduce wacky challenges that drastically warp the way you play the game, these challenges should provide some interesting variation from game-to-game. This means all players should feel more rapid Battle Pass progression and the journey will hopefully be more fun and interesting. Also, this addition should allow players who can only dedicate a few hours a week to the game to make a very deep cut into their Battle Pass progression.
Moar Legendaries!
We’re adding three Legendary items to the Battle Pass and there will now be a Legendary item every 25 Battle Pass levels in the premium track, including at purchase (that’s level 1, level 25, level 50, level 75, and level 100). Our goal is to have a nice balance of cool character exclusives and cosmetics for everyone (like weapon skins). The level 100 reward will be an evolving weapon skin with a special recolor version for those players who make it to level 110.
New Cosmetic Types and No Badge or Stat Tracker Rewards on Premium Path
We removed badges and basic stat trackers completely from the premium Battle Pass rewards track for Season 2. You’ll still get a seasonal badge, but it’ll be a single, evolving badge that won’t take up any additional reward slots! We’ve kept seasonal win trackers in the free path, and they will all be earnable in the first 10 levels.
You’ll also be able to earn items from three new content categories in place of badges/trackers. We’ll be revealing details about these categories closer to the launch of Season 2.
Earn Enough Crafting Metals for a Legendary Item
We’re replacing the Voice Lines with Crafting Metal rewards. You’ll now be able to earn enough Crafting Metals (1,200) to craft the Legendary item of your choosing. So, if there’s an existing item you’ve been coveting, you’ll be able to get it in Season 2. You can still get additional Crafting Metals from the various Apex Pack rewards in the Battle Pass as well.
We have a lot more to tell you about what you can expect in Season 2, so make sure you tune into our livestream on Saturday, June 8 to hear what else we have in store.
- Lee Horn
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Apex Elite Queue
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Publisher: Devolver DigitalDeveloper: DoinksoftRelease: May 30, 2019Rating: EveryoneReviewed on: SwitchAlso on: PC
As soon as you start playing Gato Roboto, you know what kind of game you’re in for. From the moment you have control of Kiki (the “gato” from title), the action is clearly inspired by Metroid. The soundtrack, enemies, map, and even the visuals of the world are all drawn from that classic well. And in drawing from that well it manages to hit some of Metroid’s high points, but also struggles to find a unique identity.
After responding to a distress signal on an alien planet, Kiki and her human captain crash land. Injured from the impact, your human is unable to move, so Kiki must save the day by exploring and acquiring new abilities and weapons. You can climb walls and jump as a cat, but hopping into a robot suit gives you access to weapons and health that provide a fighting chance. The story is charming, as your captain gives you orders while commenting to himself that he doesn’t know if Kiki even understands him. You learn about the alien planet by discovering assorted recordings detailing what happened, and it sets up a final confrontation that leads to a satisfying narrative conclusion.
Click here to watch embedded mediaKiki jumps and shoots well, which is good because the handful of boss battles depend on having a good grasp of your abilities. The platforming between bosses is never challenging, but I had a good time sprinting through the assorted areas and tracking my progress, even though the map has a few shortcomings. Seeing the full map is not an option; it only shows your current location, and it also hides its secrets a little too well. I completed the map in its entirety, but struggled to find the last few secrets without any hints or teases for where they might be.
Beyond that frustration, the world of Gato Roboto is well-designed. You don’t backtrack too much, and the upgrades are all worthwhile, but you’ve seen them before. The staples are present, like missiles, a double jump, and upgrades to your core weapon, and they are delivered fast enough that it keeps the experience moving along. The only truly novel upgrade is a mid-air dash that gives you temporary invincibility, which helps tremendously with boss fights and speeds up general navigation.
Boss battles are a highlight, with each one serving as an exciting test of platforming and shooting skill. They are challenging enough that each took me a few tries, but not so hard that I ever got frustrated, which is an admirable balance to strike.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
You receive fair warning when you hit the point of no return leading to the finale, but I was bummed I couldn’t continue exploring after the final boss or even return to a save prior to the ending. The journey is ultimately a short one, clocking in at under four hours even with excessive exploring, which is also disappointing. The short length gives the game a fun and brisk pace, but it ends before it has a chance to establish an interesting identity beyond “It’s Metroid, except with a cat.”
Gato Roboto’s main shortcoming isn’t in its gameplay or design, but rather in that it all feels very familiar. Metroid is an often-used video game mold for a reason: It’s an incredibly rewarding template for exploring an interactive world. Gato Roboto imitates some of the best parts of Metroid, but it also comes up short in important elements like exciting upgrades that make it fall short of comparable games. Apart from the cute twist of playing as a cat, Gato Roboto does little to innovate and feels like a decent game you’ve already played.
Score: 7.75
Summary: Apart from the cute twist of playing as a cat, Gato Roboto does little to separate itself from its Metroid inspirations and feels like a decent game you’ve already played.
Concept: Explore a Metroid-inspired world as a cat named Kiki in a robo-suit
Graphics: Minimalist to the extreme, the visuals use very few pixels and colors. The result is cute, if not unique
Sound: The music is appropriately eerie and alien, and Kiki’s 8-bit meow is adorable
Playability: Controlling Kiki feels great, and the boss battles challenge you to have a good grasp on your abilities
Entertainment: With its heavy Metroid inspirations, Gato Roboto can feel derivative. However, it plays well and the world and combat encounters are well-designed
Replay: Low
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Publisher: Double Fine ProductionsDeveloper: PlayablesRelease: May 28, 2019Rating: Not ratedReviewed on: PC
Kids doesn’t tell a story so much as it explores the concept of groupthink. As you manage larger and larger crowds of hand-drawn, faceless young people, you probably won’t piece together a coherent plot. However, its theme isn’t subtle; going along with others can be inviting, dangerous, and sometimes your only option. The way Kids uses interactivity to get across its themes is amusing while it lasts, even if it doesn’t hit any particular high points along the way.
Click here to watch embedded mediaDuring its extremely short runtime (15-30 minutes), you click your way through a series of scenes with groups of children, such as one in which a single child is pointing in a certain direction, and your goal is to get everyone else to follow suit. Another has you dragging your cursor through a massive crowd to get them into a clapping posture, then clicking to create an enormous clap-wave.
I wouldn’t exactly call these segments “puzzles,” since they aren’t very involved, but they’re satisfying to work through. Some of them, such as one in which you’re guiding kids through an esophagus-like tunnel by stroking it with your cursor (it’s as strange as it sounds) have a fun physicality to them.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
More importantly, they effectively communicate the ideas Kids wants to convey. The concepts aren’t too complex; click among a group of kids to create a chorus, and the joys of working with others to create something larger than yourself comes across. Control a single kid the rest of the crowd is repelled by, and you feel ostracized. The narrative thread that binds these segments is pretty loose, however, and there isn’t a single moment that elevates the experience above its premise. I related to the feelings and ideas Kids deals with, but it focuses merely on presenting them; it doesn’t explore them with any revelatory twists or insights.
Kids is a fascinating example of conveying ideas through game mechanics. You won’t get much out of it if you’re trying to put together its disparate pieces beyond vague notions. But it’s undeniably clever in places, which makes it a curious look into how people can both uplift and hurt each other just by grouping up.
Score: 6.75
Summary: Kids is a brief-but-effective example of using game mechanics to impart concepts and ideas, even if those ideas are simple.
Concept: Control groups of children in various ways while getting a crash course in crowd dynamics and peer pressure
Graphics: Simple, black-and-white backgrounds and characters are plain but well-animated, with some effective use of contrast to build dynamic scenes
Sound: The soundscape is mostly silent, but the patter of feet and splashing of water stand out all the more for it
Playability: Manipulating people is simple, and most of the scenes feature intuitive mechanics that quickly become second-nature
Entertainment: Kids is a brief-but-effective example of using game mechanics to impart concepts and ideas, even if those ideas are simple
Replay: Moderately Low
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Hello svarx,
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.
svarx joined on the 05/30/2019.
Is Code Vein “Anime Dark Souls”?
in Game Previews
Posted
Whenever Code Vein comes up in the office and someone pauses and asks, “What game is that again?” I reflexively refer to it as anime Dark Souls and it instantly clicks into place and others remember exactly what I am talking about.
Referring to something as being like Dark Souls has become a joke at this point. It's comedic shorthand when we want to reference a game being difficult and as a result the comparison, it is often brushed off as being inaccurate. Code Vein has garnered Dark Souls comparisons since its reveal, but just how Dark Souls is it really? Is the comparison inaccurate and unfair? Is the game just hard and dark? Or does it really borrow like From Software’s signature style? We’ve had limited hands-on time with the game in the past, and of course we’ve reference Dark Souls in our own coverage, but the recent online beta (or closed network test, as Bandai Namco referred to it) gave us an opportunity to hone in and really answer the question, how truly Dark Souls is Code Vein?
You can check out the video above to hear intern Blake Woog and me show off some gameplay and talk about its From Software inspirations.
View the full article