UHQBot

May 23, 2019

Hello christofferjahren,

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.

christofferjahren joined on the 05/23/2019.

May 22, 2019

Publisher: Frontier Developments

Developer: Frontier Developments

Release: 2016

Rating: Rating Pending

Platform: PC

Frontier has just announced its ambitious Planet Coaster: Ghostbusters DLC for PC. The studio seems to be going all out for the new content pack to bring players an authentic Ghostbusters experience.

The content pack is said to include a fully-voiced, narrative campaign, featuring Dan Aykroyd and William Atherton themselves. It also comes with new in-game items such as, the interactive ghostbusting ride called 'The Ghostbusting Experience' and a slimer-themed kiddie coaster called the 'RollerGhoster'.

Classic Ghostbuster characters also make an appearance, including Raymond Stantz, Slimer, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and a few more surprise faces. Lastly, it includes authentic scenery pieces and sounds right out of the original film, such as the Ghostbusters HQ, Ecto-1, and Ray Parker J's unforgettable Ghostbusters theme.

Throughout the campaign, Dan Aykroyd mentors the players and helps them build their park and fight off ghostly issues that are thrown their way. Though nostalgia is a key factor in this DLC, players who have grown up without the classic movie can still find satisfaction in the campaign and build a strong coaster park with the new items.

Planet Coaster is no stranger to creating eccentrically themed parks, check out our cover of YouTuber Brad Hamilton's Dishonored Planet Coaster build.

May 22, 2019

Hello kostek,

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.

kostek joined on the 05/22/2019.

May 22, 2019

We haven't heard much about Nioh 2 since its announcement at last year's E3, so it was a pleasant surprise to see Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja release new footage of its highly anticipated sequel today. This is our first big look at the gameplay, which shows plenty of quick dodging, cool special moves, and larger-than-life bosses. Oh yeah, and expect to see a lot of a bloodshed, but that's a given at this point.

Alongside the trailer, which you can watch in full above, Team Ninja also announced a Closed Alpha via Twitter to gather feedback. It starts on 5/24 and goes through 6/2, but details are scarce on how to get in on it as the tweet says only "some PS4 users" will be invited. You can read the full tweet below.

https://twitter.com/TeamNINJAStudio/status/1131228228868292608

The original Nioh turned heads for its punishing difficulty alongside its fast and fluid combat. Our own Dan Tack said in his review: "Nioh will break you down (and note this clearly, this is an uncompromising game that does not mind crushing your dreams) before it lifts you up, but you soon crave the thrill of mastering a new weapon or toppling a titanic boss."

May 22, 2019

Publisher: Bigben Interactive

Developer: Frogwares

Release: June 27, 2019

Rating: Rating Pending

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Detective Charles Reed travels to the water-logged town of Oakmont looking for answers, but all he finds are hallucinations and the town's particular terror. In the latest trailer for The Sinking City (out June 27 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC) Reed reaches through the fog and the madness.

The trailer not only gives you the unsettling atmosphere of Oakmont, but also a look at some of the puzzle-solving, investigative, underwater, and weapon gameplay.

For more from the title, check out this episode of New Gameplay Today where we wade through some of the mysteries of The Sinking City.

May 22, 2019

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Tokyo RPG Factory

Release: 2019

Platform: Switch

Even lost souls have their use in Oninaki, Square Enix's action-RPG from Tokyo RPG Factory and Chrono Trigger director Takashi Tokita. The game comes out this summer (PS4, Switch, and PC) and its latest trailer shows off how protagonist Kagachi uses souls as powerful weapons known as Daemons.

Daemons are lost souls that cannot be reincarnated. Kagachi, who is a Watcher ferrying souls to the next world, puts them to work on his behalf in battle. Each one can be used as a different type of weapon (as well as assist Kagachi defensively) and they can be swapped in and out in real time.

For more on Oninaki, check out the game's debut trailer.

May 21, 2019

Hello HmmBrd,

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.

HmmBrd joined on the 05/21/2019.

May 21, 2019

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Developer: Media Molecule

Release: April 16, 2019

Rating: Teen

Reviewed on: PlayStation 4

More than any developer, Media Molecule has been driven by a singular goal: to empower players to make and share their own games. LittleBigPlanet focused this concept on the 2D platformer, but clever players spent years devising ways to stretch and twist their creations beyond the genre’s confines. With the release of Dreams, Media Molecule obliterates those confines completely, giving players a broad and flexible suite of development tools to create whatever their hearts desire. Dreams may not strictly be a game, but the tools are easy and intuitive enough to make the creation process fun for everyone, which delivers a wealth of entertaining experiences noncreators can enjoy.

As someone who spent hours tinkering with LittleBigPlanet’s editors but never published a single level, I didn’t hold a lot of hope for what I could create in Dreams. At best, I figured I’d muddle my way through the myriad tutorials, then spend most of my time “surfing” the creations of other more talented players. Instead, the reality has been the reverse, my skepticism replaced by continual astonishment at the possibilities Dreams offers.

Dreams Review – Bringing Your Imagination To Life

Foundational controls make sculpting and moving objects in 3D space a breeze, a visual programming language eases novices into computer logic, and a streamlined interface lets you hop between editing and playing prototypes instantaneously. You still need to devote several sessions to learning the ropes from Media Molecule’s video tutorials, but I can’t overstate how smartly designed everything is, and it makes the creation process feel less like work and more like experimental play.

Not only can anyone piece together a prototype out of primitive shapes, they can also make it beautiful with Dreams’ ground-breaking art tools. Much of the magic lies in Flecks, small artistic brush strokes applied to the surface of every object that result in the game’s evocative, dream-like aesthetic. These Flecks can be colored, unraveled, and animated as you see fit, and can turn a simple hemisphere into a lush, grassy knoll in seconds. If you’ve ever felt the frustrating sting of having a drawing fail to live up to your imagination, Dreams delivers the opposite sensation – I’ve routinely been surprised by how much better my creations turn out than I expected. Every facet of Dreams, from sculpting to painting to the application of animations and effects, features this same ease of use.

No matter how easy Media Molecule makes it, more people will want to just play games than create them. Again I was skeptical of what Dreams would have to offer, and again I was pleasantly proven wrong.

Part of the entertainment of playing other people’s games stems from the novelty of knowing they used the same tools as you (“How did they make that?!”), but I’ve also played plenty that are fun in their own right, from simple puzzle games to clever platformers to throwback arcade games. One user’s riff on Geometry Wars is so polished you could easily mistake it for the real thing. A 3D Bomberman prototype already looks better than any official title Konami released in years. At this point, most offerings are bite-sized experiences or works-in-progress, but Dreams has only been in early access a few weeks, and the amount of content is expanding exponentially.

All Dreams creations are uploaded to the Dreamiverse, which is essentially Media Molecule’s take on what the Internet should be: a communal space full of positivity, sharing, and collaboration. Media Molecule tries to surface the best content for surfers via tags and filters, but more important is the ability to make and share collections. Once you find a creation you like, you can see what collections users have added it to, then jump directly into their other picks. I’ve spent hours falling down rabbit holes within rabbits holes this way, and other players’ creations are more than just entertaining; they are inspiring.

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

Even with a healthy selection of tutorials, Dreams pushes you out of the nest a little too early, leaving you to figure out some of the more advanced gadgets and variables on your own. Media Molecule also offers little guidance in the way of actual game design lessons, a role the studio is uniquely qualified to provide. It’s no wonder many players have focused on creating clones of other games instead of tackling their own ideas. Dreams’ ongoing development may very well fix this, as Media Molecule says it intends to add more tutorials and masterclasses, but I hope it also fleshes out the number of gameplay templates, genre examples, and design exercises.

Dreams is an idealistic vision of game development, where people create, collaborate, and share games purely for the love of gaming. No Dreams game may ever reach the polish of a triple-A title, but they also lack the cynical business side of game development, where test groups and microtransactions take precedence over unbridled creativity. The prospect that we’ll someday see future developers who got their start in Dreams seems inevitable, but also moot – in a very real sense, Dreams players already are game developers. We may have longer to wait for the official release and Media Molecule’s single-player story levels, but Dreams is already a magnificent wellspring for those who love playing, creating, and thinking about games in all their many forms.

Score: 9.5

Summary: Dreams’ robust design and sharing tools offer endless possibilities to creators and a growing tidal wave of fun, hilarious, and moving gameplay experiences for players.

Concept: Give players a robust toolset to create and share their own games, or specialize in one aspect of game development

Graphics: Dreams’ ingenious Fleck system allows non-artists to create visually arresting scenes in minutes

Sound: The included library of instruments and effects provides plenty of flexibility, but the ability to record and upload your own sound banks is next-level

Playability: Dreams’ gyroscopic controls massively simplify the movement of objects in 3D space, but they have raised accessibility concerns for some players

Entertainment: With an ever-growing wealth of content, few games continually surprise or amaze like Dreams

Replay: High

May 21, 2019

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Dontnod Entertainment

Release: May 9, 2019

Rating: Mature

Reviewed on: PlayStation 4

Also on: Xbox One, PC

On their way toward Mexico, brothers Sean and Daniel have had harrowing experiences change their lives and complicate their relationship. This episode continues following the ups and downs of their bond as the boys take refuge at a hippie camp and marijuana farm. It’s a wild premise, but new characters are boxed-in stereotypes and the episode struggles with poor pacing.

While the last episode focused on harnessing control over Daniel’s telekinesis power, this episode is more about embracing freedom and individuality. Among the hippies, Sean is discovering more about himself, and his younger brother resents him for it. Your decisions, particularly how you interact with Daniel, have been crucial this whole journey, and this episode is a fascinating culmination of the web of choices with a thrilling conclusion. However, the road to that end is sloppy and forgettable.

It starts off on a good foot, with a flashback taking place three months prior to the incident that led the brothers to flee home. I enjoyed trying to make amends with Daniel after treating him unfairly, as well as understanding the weight Sean bears by acting as a second parent after their mother’s departure. The flashback does a good job of showing some of the roots of the boys’ relationship, giving the impression that their core bond can overcome anything.

Unfortunately, the middle parts of the episode aren’t as compelling. The setting, which takes place in a Californian forest and on a weed farm, is much more interesting than the events that occur within it. You spend most of your time doing painfully boring tasks; washing dishes, carrying water tanks, and trimming marijuana buds. That last chore is performed through a minigame where you perform timed button presses to continue onto the next plant. The minigame isn’t interesting, and the chatter from other characters during it is equally mundane.

I continue to care deeply for Sean and Daniel, but their new hippie friends are forgettable, predictable, and painfully stereotypical. They are a group of dreadlocked young adults with tragic backstories who follow alternative lifestyles, but they come across superficial rather than deep. Two antagonists who run the weed farm are problematic as well, fitting neatly into their cruel archetypes without offering anything more substantial. They’re villains who are nothing more than narrative devices to push the story toward conflict.

Despite poor characters, I enjoyed some of the thematic moments of the episode, including its juxtaposition between freedom and oppression. Sean tries to tell himself he feels free, but the monotony of the weed farm feels like a prison. Daniel also struggles with who he is and what he wants, and the two butt heads about it throughout the episode. While Daniel wants more time with his brother, you can decide whether Sean goes along with that or follows his own path. Both choices come with big consequences, and the growing rift between the brothers is intriguing and dangerous – especially since Daniel’s gift is uncontrollable during emotional turmoil.

The episode also does a great job of handling Sean’s sexuality and letting players decide how (or if) he explores it. You can choose from two different love interests: a young girl named Cassidy or a young man named Finn. You can opt out of both, but pursuing a relationship brings added complexity and tension to the final scene. Furthermore, because Sean has identified as straight his whole life, exploring his sexuality through Finn can, for now, only go so far. This creates some agency for the player without sacrificing Sean’s established sexual identity – something we don’t see often in video games. Sean’s queerness is a fascinating layer that Dontnod balances realistically as the young boy fumbles through his journey of self-discovery.

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

While the last episode lacked gripping choices, this episode is the exact opposite – at least in the last 20 minutes. Your choices, not just from this episode but from the journey as a whole, impact an explosive cliffhanger with multiple variables. I can’t spoil anything, but I was glued to the screen during these moments, though I was also disappointed that it took so long for the episode to get there.

Sean and Daniel’s relationship continues to be the best part of Life is Strange 2. Will they continue to grow apart or will they find common ground despite their differences? I’m eager to leave behind the hippies and weed farm, and see what comes next for the Diaz brothers.

Score: 7.25

Summary: This new chapter in the Diaz brothers' journey has an explosive conclusion, but suffers from painfully stereotypical characters and poor pacing along the way.

Concept: Sean and Daniel continue their tumultuous journey to Mexico while making a pitstop at a camp run by hippies

Graphics: Beautiful redwood trees and gorgeous Californian landscapes make this episode aesthetically pleasing

Sound: A blend of folk and indie music continues to bring a good balance of emotion to heartfelt scenes

Playability: Navigating through environments, playing quick-time event minigames, and drawing in Sean’s notebook are all easy to control

Entertainment: Despite a thrilling conclusion, this episode suffers from imbalanced pacing and annoying characters

Replay: Moderately High

May 21, 2019

Today on Highlight Reel we have VR guns in Blade & Sorcery, carriage stops in Red Dead Online, difficult climbing in Rage 2, Days Gone bike trouble and much more!

May 21, 2019

Publisher: 505 Games

Developer: Starbreeze Studios

Release: August 7, 2013

Rating: Teen

Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons has been available for nearly every platform imaginable since its launch in 2013, and now it's coming to Nintendo's latest console. Directed by Josef Fares, the action adventure title tells the story of two brothers going on an emotional fantasy journey.

Exclusive to the Switch version of the game is a new co-op mode, where each player controls one brother with one Joy-Con. In all previous games, the player would control both brothers with each analog stick, an option that also returns for the Switch version. The game will also feature director commentary and a concept-art gallery, both of which were also present in the PS4 and Xbox One versions.

Brothers will run at 30 FPS, with a 720p resolution in handheld mode and 1080p resolution docked. The game has previously been available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iOS, Andriod, and PC.

The game lands on Nintendo Switch next week, on May 28. The game retails for $14.99, but there's a 10% discount for those who pre-order. For more on Brothers, check out our review for the game, or Fares' subsequent project, A Way Out.

[Source: 505 Games, Nintendo via Nintendo Life]

May 21, 2019

Publisher: Bandai Namco

Developer: Supermassive Games

Release: August 30, 2019

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Man of Medan is the first installment of Supermassive's upcoming anthology series, The Dark Pictures. Today the Until Dawn creators released a new trailer for the game, alongside the announcement that Man of Medan releases on August 30.

Like Until Dawn, Man of Medan is filled with a plethora of choices, ranging from simple to intense. But no matter how little the decision seems, there will always be consequences, and the new trailer from Supermassive stresses just how important they are.

For more information on Man of Medan, check out Kim's preview for it here.

May 21, 2019

Publisher: Annapurna Interactive

Developer: Mobius Digital

Rating: Rating Pending

Platform: PC

The release of the kooky space adventure The Outer Wilds is nearly upon us, with the game launching on both Xbox One and Epic Game Store on May 30. I've been spacefaring within the game in the meantime, discovering sights both awe-inspiring and bizarre, as well as meeting my demise. Uh, quite frequently, truth be told.

The Outer Wilds revels in its dark humor, often giving you more than enough tools for you to dig your own grave. Instead of being a source of frustration, it left me laughing at the memorable and grisly results of my own stupidity.

Come with me, reader, on a journey through the mangled, suffocated corpses of myself that I've left through time and space and in the belly of massive fishes.

1. I forgot to put on my spacesuit before I left the ship for the cold embrace of space. I promptly asphyxiated like a champ. Go me.

2. I flew into the sun by accident. It hurt.

3. I carefully navigated a series of asteroids only to find myself staring down the face of a literal angler fish the size of the moon. Reader, he ate me.

4. I was spelunking into the heart of a planet filled with many caverns. I miscalculated a jump and promptly fell to the bottom. The crack of my helmet and skull announced my doom.

5. I set my autopilot to lead me to a planet. It collided with another planet on the way there and bounced off, severely damaging my spaceship. I got out to fix my spaceship without turning off the autopilot only to watch my ship continue to zoom away, leaving me adrift in space. Crap.

6. I went in for a rough landing on a small moon. I got out before we came to a full stop but my spaceship kept going. It bounced around the moon, came back, and somehow knocked me out into the further reaches of space where, once again, I died.

7. I boarded a mysterious shuttle on an alien planet. Messing with some levers, I somehow initiated the shuttle's autopilot. With much ceremony, it lifted off the planet and into the stars... shortly before flying directly into the path of a flaming asteroid. Given I just straight up committed some interstellar grand theft auto, I probably deserved this.

8. While exploring the belly of a mysterious planet, I uncovered a big dark sphere. I got too close and it sucked me in and teleported me to the other side of the planetary system, where I floated helplessly until I smashed into some space debris and died.

9. While I was walking around a small cavern filled ancient stone texts to decipher, some insect things on the floor electrocuted me to death.

10. I found a volcano that my scanner said was hiding a secret within. I slammed into the side of it, damaging my landing gear and camera systems. I went to leave my ship to repair said systems only to find that my door was hovering above the abyss next to the volcano: my ship hadn't landed fully on the rim. I fell fast and far and soon was still and dead. R.I.P. me.

I've still got quite a bit more exploring to do before I'm anywhere near done with Outer Wilds. I'm sure that all of the above are just a grisly appetizer of what's to come for my poor space-faring fellow.

For more on The Outer Wilds, check out our preview here.

May 21, 2019

Codemasters has announced it is rebooting the Grid racing franchise, with a new title expected on September 13 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. This is the series' debut on this generation of consoles after starting out as story-based racer TOCA Race Driver in 2002.

The game's reveal trailer (which you can see over at IGN) highlights extensive car damage as well as a nighttime street circuit involving different types of cars/racing disciplines. The Grid franchise has always been about multi-discipline racing involving sponsorships and teammates (check out the review for the last one, Grid Autosport), and the reveal trailer suggests it is continuing on this course.

The race is on. GRID - coming September 2019.

Head over to IGN to watch the announcement trailer now https://t.co/KfVAqUs1jj pic.twitter.com/2dGlb9Mstw
— GRID (@gridgame) May 21, 2019

[Source: Codemasters, IGN]

May 21, 2019

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Developer: No Code

Release: Spring 2019

Rating: Rating Pending

Reviewed on: PlayStation 4

Also on: PC

Horror games are often loud and immediate when it comes to the shocks they deliver. Even the more restrained of the genre’s offerings, like Soma and Amnesia, often have indestructible hunters that consistently instill smaller jolts of fright pursuing you. Observation is different, trading pulse-pounding scares for a sense of creeping fear. You play a space station’s artificial intelligence in the aftermath of a disaster, and this angle on puzzles and exploration produces a unique kind of horror – one that takes the time it needs to tell an ambitious story without interruption, letting players marinate in its lake of dread before unveiling the terrors at its core.

You awaken on the station (itself called Observation) to find a scientist, Emma Fisher, begging you for help as the structure groans and burns all around you. S.A.M. (an acronym for “Systems, Administration, and Maintenance”) is the A.I. in charge of taking care of the crew of Observation. S.A.M.’s memory cores and most of its functionalities have been wiped in the wake of whatever catastrophe has struck the station, meaning that as S.A.M., you have no idea what has happened and are at the mercy of Emma as she works to help you get all your functions back online.

Uncovering what happened to Observation is the heart of the game, and it’s a hell of a plot, packed with constant twists that leave a trail intriguing and unsettling questions. What is the role of Observation’s crew? Are any of them still alive? Is S.A.M. a victim in all of this, or is it responsible for the disaster? And what else is lurking on the station beside you two? While these plot points all have satisfying resolutions, my favorite part of the narrative was watching Emma and S.A.M.’s relationship develop as the story creeps along. Emma fluctuates between trusting and suspicious, and who can blame her when S.A.M. can’t even verify that it’s not responsible for damaging the station?

The pair’s symbiotic relationship is reinforced neatly in the gameplay as well, with Emma needing S.A.M. to restore functions to the station and open doors for her to reach new places. In turn, Emma gives you power-ups that grant you more maneuverability and access to the station’s various functions. Initially you can only manually operate various cameras in different wings of the station (think Five Nights at Freddy’s), zooming in on laptops and documents to obtain useful, story-progressing data. Eventually, you gain the ability to move throughout the station as a drone in order to conduct repairs and help Emma get where she needs to go. While these tasks sound mundane, they’re fun puzzles that help set Observation apart from horror-based walking simulators. For example, to bring back the power in one wing of the station, you need to restart various generators around the room. Jumping from camera to camera to access laptops and folders around the room gives you access to the schematics that you can use to dive in to the generators themselves and reboot them via a quick memorization puzzle. Other obstacles you have to overcome include time trials, math problems, and line puzzles. Observation is satisfying because its constant and well-designed puzzles make you an activate participant in the action as opposed to just an avatar wandering around. I needed a notepad to get me through a number of the harder puzzles, so you can expect to be challenged – but not to an unfair degree.

While there are no game-over states, failing to solve certain puzzles alters segments of the story in subtle and neat ways I won’t spoil here. Besides progressing through the plot, solving puzzles also helps S.A.M. The further you get, the more access to different wings of the (giant) space station you gain, eventually letting you jump from place to place like the eye of an all-seeing god. Outside of some fantastic plot-specific moments, this function is useful for exploring the station in search of optional collectibles like audio logs, photos, and journals that help flesh out the crew and take in some of the impressive architecture both in and outside the station.

Observation (the space station) is a strong setting. Instead of a techno-haunted-house aesthetic, it uses realistic NASA-style construction with blue panels, sterile white walls, and constrained tunnels adorned with posters and family photos that serve as a cramped home for the crew. These trappings make the station feel eerily familiar; watching such a realistic space shift into something more horrific over time is an unnerving experience, with the literal structure of the station changing depending on what happens to it throughout the story. Even the act of moving through that space in either camera mode or as the drone is disturbing, as you never know what gruesome scene might be around the bend.

I ripped through Observation in one six-hour sitting, propelled forward by the novel blend of challenging puzzles and gripping storytelling. Though at first glance, Observation may appear to be your traditional first-person horror game, I’ve never played anything quite like it. Challenging and unnerving in equal measure, Observation shouldn’t be missed by anyone in search of a mind-bending and unsettling thrill.

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

Score: 9

Summary: Challenging puzzles and a fantastic plot make this horror adventure an unmissable game for fans of the genre.

Concept: You and your colleague are trying to figure out what’s gone wrong aboard a space station. Plot twist: You are the space station

Graphics: The memorable setting and characters are brought to life with impressive textures and lighting that heightens the dread

Sound: From its creepy electronic score to all the station’s creaks and terrifying noises, Observation sounds as good as it looks

Playability: Navigating the station is easy thanks to a snappy interface and simple controls

Entertainment: Observation is a fantastic horror game thanks to its twisting plot, well-realized setting, and challenging puzzles

Replay: Moderately high

May 21, 2019

Hello Pangex,

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.

Pangex joined on the 05/21/2019.

May 20, 2019

Hello joel,

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.

joel joined on the 05/20/2019.

May 20, 2019

Publisher: SEGA

Developer: Creative Assembly

Release: May 23, 2019

Rating: Teen

Reviewed on: PC

As a franchise, Total War is known for realism, with lowly axemen eating barrages of arrows as trebuchets tear into city walls. Then the Total War: Warhammer games bent those rules, and now that bending continues with Total War: Three Kingdoms, albeit in a less extreme fashion. This installment embraces Chinese fantasy in the era of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with larger-than-life commanders and their reigns. History-driven battles take a backseat to lively hero duels and big personalities. The experience is more enjoyable if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief and engage in a massive rise to power with a bit of wondrous awe – as if someone was regaling a crowded feasting hall with an embellished tale, rather than coldly narrating from the annals of a historical text.

On the real-time battlefield, the moment-to-moment tactics are a bit underplayed because of the focus on the legendary commanders and their skills. With various commander types to pick from, hooking them up with weapons, armor, and horses and tapping into their special abilities to turn the tide of battle feels flavorful and suitably epic. Watching two magnificent lords tear each other apart in a crazy one-on-one in the middle of a huge fight doesn’t feel like traditional Total War, but it’s pretty satisfying all the same. Battles are often won and lost on the backs of these epic encounters, which can leave the little men out.

One of the ways to play, called Romance mode, also has less of a realistic emphasis on how your armies consume resources and supplies; it’s more about letting you get in and play around with your whimsical warriors of note. A separate option, Records mode, lets franchise purists dial back on the fantasy elements, with none of the insane powers and more realistic resource management for armies, but the major draw (and the place where the interesting innovation is happening) is on the fantasy-tinged side of the battlefield.

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

Three Kingdoms is beautiful on the turn-based map and beyond. Cherry blossoms bloom on your development tree, snow splashes softly across the land, and awesome animated cutscenes punctuate world events and major occurrences, capturing the pure romantic notion of ancient China. Your road to emperor through a combination of military might, city-building and expansion, and shrewd diplomacy is paved with elegant and exquisite detail that make it one of the most aesthetically appealing titles in the entire series.

Diplomacy, espionage, and trading are easy to work with and essential to ruling your ever-growing sphere of power off the battlefield. A streamlined system allows for single-click dealing and negotiations if you just want to get on with the next turn. Managing your relationships is critical, and it feels good to be held to your alliances and contracts or face fairly significant consequences. Myriad opportunities arise to make fun choices outside of your standard building and battling – faking my own assassination attempt to boost my image was a fun little side moment. Your characters also build and destroy reputation with each other in battle, so you can separate those that don’t get along and put friends and family together. Your court is always ready to give you bonuses by installing commanders in various roles and positions.

While those looking for the pure historical war experience may find themselves wanting a bit more, with such a critical emphasis on the commanders and their supreme battlefield presence, those willing to indulge in a more prodigious past have lots to enjoy. With strict historical adherence out the window and a bit of a streamlined tactical combat experience, Three Kingdoms still has a lot to offer the strategy enthusiast.

Score: 8.5

Summary: A captivating dive into warfare and political intrigue.

Concept: Unite the kingdom and become emperor in a world based on the Chinese epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Graphics: From snow-scattered landscapes to beautiful cutscenes and animations, the graphics immerse you in a captivating and compelling land

Sound: The sounds of clashing swords and prolonged sieges are standard, and solid music accompanies the brutal battles and political intrigue

Playability: With countless choices to make (some even a game begins), the game is inherently complex with many layers of customization and strategy, despite massive onboarding options

Entertainment: Three Kingdoms is a striking addition to the Total War series with plenty to love, though it takes a slight dip in on-the-field tactical choice

Replay: Moderate

May 20, 2019

Publisher: Annapurna Interactive

Developer: Mobius Digital

Rating: Rating Pending

Platform: PC

Ever since Annapurna Interactive announced Outer Wilds, an adventure title that charts a middle path between Majora's Mask and No Man's Sky, we have been eagerly awaiting the chance to take the full game for a spin. It seems we'll get out chance sooner than we thought, as Outer Wilds releases in just ten days, May 30, on Xbox One and PC via the Epic Games Store.

The game is about all about exploring a pre-designed galaxy with planets that take different shapes, forms, and environments. As an alien explorer, the protagonist is eager to get off his small backwater rock and explore the galaxy in a spacecraft, but space is as dangerous as it is vast. We have played the game at a number of events over the last year and it always manages to surprise us and pique our curiosity.

You can check out the launch trailer below.

Annapurna Interactive is releasing Outer Wilds as a console exclusive on Xbox One and a timed exclusive on the Epic Games Store, though it will eventually filter out to other storefronts. On the Xbox One, it will be a day-one Game Pass title, so subscribers to Microsoft's game download service can start playing it for no extra cost on that first day.

Hopefully you do not get caught in a time loop between now and May 30.

May 20, 2019

AUDIO FIXES AND IMPROVEMENTS

One of our biggest issues to tackle was improving the audio performance to address issues reported of sounds dropping out, sounds missing for extended time, or distortion for a period of time. We have made improvements both in our code and with our content that will hopefully fix these issues for many players, and for others, at least lower the amount and length of time they encounter audio issues.

We have also addressed some of the other mix issues with the game, including increasing the volume of close proximity enemy footsteps and lowering the overall volume of the game from the character select screen to the end of the drop sequence. We will continue to monitor mix issues and address them as necessary. Below are the notes of improvements we’ve included in today’s patch and we’re continuing to work on future improvements.

PERFORMANCE

Improved audio engine to be around 30% more CPU efficient, lessening the chance of distortion or dropouts.
Lowered impact on data loading through code and content changes to improve potential dropout issues.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Lowered the master volume of all sounds during the character select screen through the end of the drop sequence.
Lowered the volume of Wraith's ambient kunai knife sound for those who are sensitive to the sound. If it is still bothersome we will remove it in a later patch.
Increased the volume of close proximity enemy footsteps for all Legends.
Increased the priority of enemy footsteps to ensure the sounds play even in heavy combat situations.
Slightly lowered the volume of Pathfinder footstep sounds heard from the first person view.
Fixed missing or quiet dryfire (out of ammo trigger click sound) and low ammo (the progressive change in sound that the gun makes as the magazine approaches empty) sounds for the R301, Hemlok, Flatline and RE45.
Increased the volume of the music that plays when winning a match.
Added more detailed audio to the Training mission.

BUG FIXES

Fixed occlusion bug for the "wind down" sound for the Havoc.
Fixed issue with automatic weapon fire sounds occasionally getting stuck on, usually after a Legend respawns.
Fixed bug with RE45 missing tail sounds (the echo in the environment after the shot) when in close proximity.

HIT DETECTION FIXES AND IMPROVEMENTS

As we talked about last week, in this patch we’ve pushed some fixes that should eliminate many cases of incorrect hit registration. This patch also includes some behind-the-scenes tracking of bullet damage logic. We expect there will still be some remaining hit registration problems, but with these fixes and diagnostic information, we are better equipped to track them down.

One potential cause of hit registration bugs can be simple internet connection problems. In order to determine how much of a factor this is in reality, we have put some time into refining the functionality behind our network problem indicator icons in the upper right of the screen. These icons are now pickier about your connection quality and may show up more frequently than they did before. These icon changes will be useful for us in narrowing down the cause of any bugs that we continue to see. Please continue to share videos and report hit registration issues you still encounter after the patch.

FIX FOR LIFELINE “PICK ME UP” BANNER BUG ON PS4

The issue has been resolved and we will be re-enabling the banner after the patch is live.
- NOTE: We made changes to client and backend to address this and it’ll take a little time to take full effect. We’re expecting the error to resolve within a few hours after the patch is live.

[PC ONLY] CRASHES SPECIFIC TO INTEL CPUs

We investigated the crash reports from many people who were crashing frequently and found that Intel CPUs sometimes were not executing the instructions properly in one particular function. A common example was an instruction that only reads a register crashed on writing to invalid memory. With the help of many forum users, we found that lowering the clock speed always fixed the crashes, even if the CPU wasn't overclocked or overheating. Thanks everyone, with a big shout out to @Falkentyne , @TEZZ0FIN0 , @JorPorCorTTV and @MrDakk!

This has been by far the most commonly reported PC crash over the last month or so and we’ve notified Intel about the issue. In the meantime, we’ve put a workaround in this patch to avoid the crashing at your original clock speeds just by changing the instructions used by that one function. Please continue to send your crash logs to our forums so we can analyze and fix any issues you encounter!

ADDITIONAL BUG FIXES AND CHANGES

Fixed issue with the Fortified Passive ability for Gibraltar and Caustic where they would take damage through shields.
Fixed the bug that allowed players to stick objects to Gibraltar’s Gun Shield.
- Admittedly it’s been fun to see the results of this but the behavior is not intended by design and could get out of control. Items will no longer stick to Gibraltar’s Gun Shield, however, it will now deflect Arc Stars.
We have identified some issues with -novid, and will be disabling the flag until we can address the issues. Thank you for your patience.

(Source) (AHQ Discussion)

May 20, 2019

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Team Ninja

Release: July 19, 2019

Rating: Rating Pending

Platform: Switch

For many fans, part of the fun of the previous Marvel Ultimate Alliance games is seeing all the character cameos, in-jokes, and other nods to the expanded Marvel fiction. From what we’ve seen of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, that kind of encyclopedic knowledge of the fiction certainly isn’t necessary to have a good time. But, if you’d like to tap into that part of the experience, your go-to source is a deep dive into the backlog of the many comic stories referenced within the game.

We asked Marvel to help us curate a list that would help you do exactly that. Rather than trying to add in our two cents, we’d like to let Marvel’s team speak for themselves to introduce their suggested reading list.

But before we pass the baton to their prepared written thoughts on the subject, it’s worth sharing that all of the titles below can be tracked down through your local comic shop, often in either single issue or trade paperback format. In addition, you can find any and all of these entries available as digital comics, or you can purchase a subscription to Marvel Unlimited; that app is available on the App Store and Google Play, and opens up access to over 25,000 comics for a regular monthly subscription fee.

Here’s what Marvel Games VP and creative director Bill Rosemann had to share to introduce the reading list. “Just as the huge roster of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order unites characters from across our sprawling universe, the game’s story similarly assembles and remixes awesome scenes, locations, and moments from throughout Marvel’s 80 years of storytelling. Packed with Easter Eggs and character rich dialogue, the swiftly moving story is both accessible to new fans and deeply rewarding for longtime True Believers. But if you want to earn bragging rights by dropping Marvel knowledge on fans and noobs alike, may we humbly suggest you dive into our Recommended Reading List (selected by game writer Marc Sumerak and arranged in suggested devouring order by Yours Truly)? From the mean streets of Hell’s Kitchen to the gleaming spires of Asgard, these classic tales by Marvel’s best creators will make you feel worthy enough to lift Mjolnir itself!“

And here’s the full reading list, as written and summarized by Marc Sumerak:

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, & Paul Pelletier

In the wake of Annihilation, a team of unlikely heroes unites to protect the cosmos.

SPIDER-VERSE
by Dan Slott, Olivier Coipel & Giuseppe Canumcoli

Spider-Men (and Women) from every alternate Earth join forces to save all of reality.

DEFENDERS
by Brian Michael Bendis & David Marquez

To keep the streets of Manhattan safe, Marvel's street-level heroes must band together to become a new force for justice.

DAREDEVIL SHADOWLAND
by Andy Diggle & Billy Tan

When Daredevil turns to the dark side, his fellow heroes must return him to the light.

AVENGERS
by Kurt Busiek & George Perez

The Avengers must shut down their android arch-nemesis, Ultron, and his army of mechanical soldiers.

UNCANNY X-FORCE
by Rick Remender & Jerome Opena

Wolverine assembles an elite team of X-Men willing to do whatever it takes to save mutantkind.

DOCTOR STRANGE
by Donny Cates, Nick Spencer & Rod Reis

A new group of Midnight Sons must rise to stop a literal Hell-on-Earth scenario.

INHUMANS
by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee

Explore the wonders of Attilan with Marvel's most mysterious royal family.

BLACK PANTHER
by Ta-Nehisi Coates & Brian Stelfreeze

A new age is dawning in Wakanda, and the Panther must find his place in it.

INFINITY GAUNTLET
by Jim Starlin, George Perez, & Ron Lim

The legendary battle between Thanos and all of Marvel's mightiest heroes!

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE
by Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Bagley

The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy team up to defeat Thanos once again.

NEW AVENGERS
by Jonathan Hickman & Steve Epting

Marvel's heroes form a secret alliance to prevent the end of all that is.

INFINITY
by Jonathan Hickman, Jim Cheung, Jerome Opena & Dustin Weaver

The mad titan Thanos makes his world-shattering return, in a galactic war that will be fought both on Earth and in deep space, with our heroes caught between both battles!

THE BLACK ORDER
by Derek Landy & Philip Tan

Thanos's own ultimate alliance takes the spotlight in a tale of death and deceit.

For more on Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, check out our dedicated gaming hub by clicking on the banner below for gameplay impressions and video, exclusive character profiles, and more.

May 20, 2019

Hey all, we have a patch scheduled to go live early next week. We’ll do a follow up post when we’ve confirmed it’s available for download on all platforms and in the meantime, below are the patch notes with some dev context:

AUDIO FIXES AND IMPROVEMENTS

One of our biggest issues to tackle was improving the audio performance to address issues reported of sounds dropping out, sounds missing for extended time, or distortion for a period of time. We have made improvements both in our code and with our content that will hopefully fix these issues for many players, and for others, at least lower the amount and length of time they encounter audio issues.

We have also addressed some of the other mix issues with the game, including increasing the volume of close proximity enemy footsteps and lowering the overall volume of the game from the character select screen to the end of the drop sequence. We will continue to monitor mix issues and address them as necessary. Below are the notes of improvements we’ve included in today’s patch and we’re continuing to work on future improvements.

PERFORMANCE

Improved audio engine to be around 30% more CPU efficient, lessening the chance of distortion or dropouts.
Lowered impact on data loading through code and content changes to improve potential dropout issues.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Lowered the master volume of all sounds during the character select screen through the end of the drop sequence.
Lowered the volume of Wraith's ambient kunai knife sound for those who are sensitive to the sound. If it is still bothersome we will remove it in a later patch.
Increased the volume of close proximity enemy footsteps for all Legends.
Increased the priority of enemy footsteps to ensure the sounds play even in heavy combat situations.
Slightly lowered the volume of Pathfinder footstep sounds heard from the first person view.
Fixed missing or quiet dryfire (out of ammo trigger click sound) and low ammo (the progressive change in sound that the gun makes as the magazine approaches empty) sounds for the R301, Hemlok, Flatline and RE45.
Increased the volume of the music that plays when winning a match.
Added more detailed audio to the Training mission.

BUG FIXES

Fixed occlusion bug for the "wind down" sound for the Havoc.
Fixed issue with automatic weapon fire sounds occasionally getting stuck on, usually after a Legend respawns.
Fixed bug with RE45 missing tail sounds (the echo in the environment after the shot) when in close proximity.

HIT DETECTION FIXES AND IMPROVEMENTS

As we talked about last week, in this patch we’ve pushed some fixes that should eliminate many cases of incorrect hit registration. This patch also includes some behind-the-scenes tracking of bullet damage logic. We expect there will still be some remaining hit registration problems, but with these fixes and diagnostic information, we are better equipped to track them down.

One potential cause of hit registration bugs can be simple internet connection problems. In order to determine how much of a factor this is in reality, we have put some time into refining the functionality behind our network problem indicator icons in the upper right of the screen. These icons are now pickier about your connection quality and may show up more frequently than they did before. These icon changes will be useful for us in narrowing down the cause of any bugs that we continue to see. Please continue to share videos and report hit registration issues you still encounter after the patch.

FIX FOR LIFELINE “PICK ME UP” BANNER BUG ON PS4

The issue has been resolved and we will be re-enabling the banner after the patch is live.
- NOTE: We made changes to client and backend to address this and it’ll take a little time to take full effect. We’re expecting the error to resolve within a few hours after the patch is live.

[PC ONLY] CRASHES SPECIFIC TO INTEL CPUs

We investigated the crash reports from many people who were crashing frequently and found that Intel CPUs sometimes were not executing the instructions properly in one particular function. A common example was an instruction that only reads a register crashed on writing to invalid memory. With the help of many forum users, we found that lowering the clock speed always fixed the crashes, even if the CPU wasn't overclocked or overheating. Thanks everyone, with a big shout out to Falkentyne, TEZZ0FIN0, JorPorCorTTV and MrDakk!

This has been by far the most commonly reported PC crash over the last month or so and we’ve notified Intel about the issue. In the meantime, we’ve put a workaround in this patch to avoid the crashing at your original clock speeds just by changing the instructions used by that one function. Please continue to send your crash logs to our forums so we can analyze and fix any issues you encounter!

ADDITIONAL BUG FIXES AND CHANGES

Fixed issue with the Fortified Passive ability for Gibraltar and Caustic where they would take damage through shields.
Fixed the bug that allowed players to stick objects to Gibraltar’s Gun Shield.
- Admittedly it’s been fun to see the results of this but the behavior is not intended by design and could get out of control. Items will no longer stick to Gibraltar’s Gun Shield, however, it will now deflect Arc Stars.
We have identified some issues with -novid, and will be disabling the flag until we can address the issues. Thank you for your patience.

Source.

You can find the AHQ discussion thread for this here.

May 20, 2019

Hello NZaine,

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.

NZaine joined on the 05/19/2019.

May 19, 2019

Hello antk8,

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.

antk8 joined on the 05/19/2019.