Farhome to enter Steam Early Access

 

I haven’t done much VR news lately so I think we’ll rectify that with a little tidbit I’ve just come across about Farhome. This new first-person shooter is still in its early stages but will be hitting Steam Early Access on April 5th.

Farhome is coming from some relatively new faces out on the scene in DEVCUBESTUDIO. Designed for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, this unique science fiction game teleports players into the year 2301 where Earth is on the brink of a global catastrophe.

What makes this title interesting is that the devs seem to be focusing on team-based play. This is something that we’ve seen in other VR games but not something that seems to have been explored as deeply as it perhaps should have thus far. The 50 strong team at the studio are combining their experience to not only bring us an entertaining FPS but also treat us to an immersive team-based science fiction adventure. Something else interesting is that DEVCUBESTUDIO are developing tools for the potential of expanding the game by users. This is something they will be developing as the year rolls on and into next year but the idea of user-created levels or other assets is an interesting one, indeed.

As the player you will choose between two distinctive character classes and are then invited to explore a series of different worlds all with their own distinctive environments. During each expedition, players will encounter several unusual inhabitants who will either help or hinder them on their journey.

This isn’t a great deal for you to go off on but the game is still in its very early days. If you’re interested and want to take part in the Early Access you can find them over at Steam here. I’ll leave you with a teaser trailer and if it floats your proverbial boat you’ll have something new to keep an eye on in the coming months.

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TVGB ViveStream releases the beast with King Kaiju and others

 

Welcome back to the TVGB ViveStream! This week we’re taking a look at three different games in the same genre: city destruction games. Specifically, we dive into King Kaiju, Mighty Monster Mayhem, and VRobot. The entire genre is inspired by the classic arcade game, Rampage, but each one brings its own quirks and features to the destruction. Please let me know if there are any games you’d like to see on the show in the future; I really do aim to give you the best and worst the Vive has to offer.

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All-Star Fruit Racing gets some juice this July

 

In my honest opinion racing games fall into two really rough camps. The first of these is the Forza, GT camp of ultra-reality and cars that look like they’ve actually just come off the lot. This isn’t really my thing. If I wanted that kind of realism, I’d learn to drive. The other camp is the one I really like. This is home to games such as Mario-Kart, F Zero and even to a degree Twisted Metal. Let’s leave the uber-reality at home and just have a bit of fun. The game I’m going to tell you about definitely falls into the second of these two stables and involves large amounts of something that we don’t see focused too heavily on in a racing game: Fruit. This game has … fruit. It’s called All-Star Fruit Racing and it’s coming to PS4, Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, and Switch, this July.

All-Star Fruit Racing is a colourful karting romp designed for all ages and abilities. You are invited to drift through looping bends, soar over monumental jumps and defy gravity itself around tubular tracks in a game bursting with championships and various modes of play.

You’ll be taking part in a bumper career mode which will see you pick your favourite character and aim for that elusive first place trophy across a series of grueling championships. In your frantic battle for the top, you will be able to unlock new playable characters, championships and parts for your kart. This, however, is by no means where the fun will stop. Completing this mode will just be the beginning of your journey and besting the game won’t mean you can call yourself champion of champions just yet. You can go on to create your own championships across three different difficulty settings and speeds, allowing you to fine tune your challenge. If you’re looking for more, you can also dive into other game types including Dragster Races, Hill Climbs and time attacks.

This title fully supports both local and online play so you really don’t need to go our there alone. You can take on friends and family in two, three and four split-screen action or take on the world in eight player online showdowns. This online mode appears to be available on all systems but the Switch. Even so, with all this possible, including the other modes I’ve mentioned, there should literally be something for everyone.

All-Star Fruit Racing takes place over twenty-one courses and five stunning worlds. These are based on the four seasons plus a series of Special Islands. While racing through these zones you will speed up volcanoes, around the twisting bodies of giant snakes and between huge, kart crushing snowballs. You won’t be doing any of this unarmed, either. This title sports the innovative Juicer power-up system. By collecting different fruit for your juicer, you will be able to custom-combine your juice-tank’s power to be able to set loose a series of combo-powerups. Whether you unleash a volley of different power-ups or save the juice for one unique Mega-Juice move is entirely up to you. Just remember that if the other racers can’t race, that first place medal suddenly becomes a lot more achievable.

Lastly, there is a really nice level of customisation being promised with this game. As I noted briefly earlier, you can unlock new parts as you play to allow you to redesign, rebuild and recolour your dream kart. Over 32,000 combinations await you in the All-Star Garage, so you should have no trouble looking like the winner that you know you truly are.

This may sound a little bit like some other racers that we’ve seen on the market and know and love very well. Let’s not go judging anything too soon, though. It only takes a game to be just different enough to make it an absolute smash. Whether All-Star Fruit Racing comes out ahead of the pack or falls swiftly into last place remains to be seen. We’ll definitely know either way for sure this coming July.

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Rising Star Games to show off new 2018 lineup at PAX East

 

Rising Star Games, publisher of the 2D platformer 88 Heroes and kid-friendly farming sim Harvest Moon: Lil’ Farmers, announced today that it will be showcasing its 2018 lineup at PAX East. From April 5th to the 8th, attendees of the Boston convention can check out Rising Star’s three new titles Trailblazers, RICO and Decay of Logos, during a public showing at their booth.

As a co-operative, team-based racing title, Trailblazers takes the paint-slinging chaos of Splatoon and brings it to the race track. In teams up to three-versus-three, players must paint the track to their advantage, coating strategic points in their team’s colour so they can boost their way to the finish line. Developed by UK studio Supergonk, Trailblazers encourages players to work in tandem with one another, taking advantage of each character’s strengths and special skill-sets to capture the majority of the track, giving the whole team a winning advantage. And for the lone wolves out there, to whom teamwork just isn’t in your wheelhouse, Trailblazers also boasts the ability to go it alone with a single player story mode that promises a unique set of challenges and objectives to complete.

Going from the pop-coloured, Westworld-style landscapes of Trailblazers, Rising Star’s second title RICO pulls a complete 180, taking players on wild arcade-style, shoot-em-up ride. As a team of exacting police partners, players must utilize their resources as part of an elite task-force to rack the case in twenty four hours in this tactical first-person shooter. Developed by Bristol Games Hub developer Ground Shatter, this game is a run and gun extravaganza, forcing players to adapt and react to shoot-outs as they arise, and features a unique roster of enemies and weapons. RICO offers both online and offline co-operative play with split screen and controller support, so players can team up with friends across the globe, or whoever’s sitting next to you on the couch (if only my cats had opposable thumbs).

And last but not least, the third game on Rising Star’s roster is action-RPG Decay of Logos. Starring a bad-ass, sword swinging young woman in a fantastical world inspired by European folklore, Decay of Logos is the brainchild of lead designer and programmer Andre Constantino, brought to life in conjunction with Amplify Creations. Players have a large, beautiful world to explore and survive in, the latter relying on their ability to manage their inventory and unravel the secrets of Decay’s mysterious kingdom. The combat system is punishing, but rewarding, and there exists a plethora of weapons, armor and items, as well as a level-up system to assist players in developing their own unique play-style.

And did I mention you get a pet Elk? One that you can ride, that helps solve puzzles, reacts to its surroundings and that you can hopefully (for the love of god, please) give chin scratches and treats to? Maybe I should have said that right off the bat.

Rising Star Games can be found at booth #13070 during PAX East, so if any of these games strike your fancy and you’re planning on attending the convention, stop by and check them out during their first ever public showing. And if you do, be sure to ask if you can give the Elk in Decay of Logos treats and pets, and get back to me! Because if not, Rising Star will be receiving a strongly worded letter, penned (anonymously, of course) by this particular animal companion fanatic.

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MMO TERA to be available on consoles in April

 

TERA, an MMORPG with a unique set of precision combat mechanics published by En Masse Entertainment, is bearing down on a console release date. After a successful open beta in early March, the team behind the action MMO (that’s Bluehole, if you were wondering) have announced that the full game will be released on PS4 and Xbox One on April 3rd; those who managed to spend a bit of time on the beta will have access to a host of launch rewards depending on the progress they made.

Veteran players or impatient individuals might also consider getting their hands on the TERA Founder’s Pack; for USD $29.99, you’ll be able to play the game from March 27th, and be treated to a variety of in-game items. Of course, no big announcement would be complete without a shiny new trailer to gawp at, and TERA is no exception. Check it out:

As is the way with fantasy MMOs, you’ll choose from a roster of 13 unique races, each with their own perks and even fully customisable control schemes. Then you’ll be let loose on the enormous world with exorbitant numbers of fellow players, free to fight, craft, and cause general RPG-related mischief.

TERA’s twist comes in the form of its fluid combat system: incorporating a third-person perspective with a locking camera and the attack-dodge formula of games like Dark Souls, fighting Big Ass Monsters – I kid you not – alone or with friends is something of a talking point.

The game has actually been around for quite some time. TERA was released in 2012 in America and Europe, but was exclusive to PC; at the time, it received strong reviews, and was already capable of being played with a keyboard/mouse or console controller. In any case, the graphics hold up pretty darn well, if you ask me.

Oh, and for the record: I’m not just yelling TERA at you. It’s an acronym, standing for The Exiled Realm of Arborea.

TERA is out on PS4 and Xbox One on April 3rd, as a free-to-play MMORPG with the option for paid elements. The Founder’s Packs are available now, and for $29.99 will grant you access to extra content and the chance to play TERA from March 27th.

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REVIEW / The Council: Mad Ones (PS4)

 

When one thinks of an Episodic Narrative Adventure, one usually thinks of The Walking Dead Series from Telltale Games.  Telltale set the bar for what this genre has become yet few have been able to capture the way that TWD games are able to suck you in and keep you wanting more.  Square Enix and Dontnod Entertainment’s Life is Strange series took the formula and put their own stink on it to create a series that reviewers and fans both love.  Taking the genre even further and bending it to their will, developer Big Bad Wolf and publisher Focus Home Interactive has crafted an ENA that is everything that I wish TWD and LIS were.  The Council: Mad Ones takes what works and adds new features that turns the genre on its head by adding RPG elements while crafting an adventure unlike anything that you have played in a long while.

 

 

In The Council, you take on the role of Louis de Richet, a member of a secret society called the Golden Order in the year 1793.  He and his mother, Sarah Faustin de Richet, have been invited to a private island by the enigmatic and mysterious Lord Mortimer.  Joining him at this exclusive soiree are a number of high profile guests, including President of the newly-formed United States of America, George Washington and a young and eager Napoleon Bonaparte.  The strange nature of this private reception goes beyond just the prestigious guests, however, as Richet’s own mother has suddenly and mysteriously gone missing after setting foot on the island.  What makes this event so unnerving is that each and every one of the colorful cast members seems to be jockeying into position to advance their own plans.

 

 

Before you can enjoy what this game has to offer, you must pick the class that you want to belong to in the game.  You can’t change this later, so choose wisely now.  You can still choose abilities from the other classes, however, those abilities will cost more effort points to acquire.  Why these abilities are so important is because having purchased certain abilities will allow you to interact with the other characters in the game without missing out on important bits of information or having the chance to get on someone’s good side so that you can take the route with the least amount of resistance.  This system is called the Social Influence system and comes into play when you are in a confrontation with an NPC.  Skills and limited resources can be used to gain the upper hand to achieve the desired outcome from your specific play-style.  As a general rule, make sure to thoroughly investigate your surroundings because you will be rewarded for your knowledge of each character’s psychological vulnerabilities and immunities.

 

 

In a new twist for the Narrative Adventure genre, players will need to develop Louis de Richet’s character with RPG skills in order to assist his journey.  There are 15 distinct skills that can be developed as you progress in the game, spread across three different classes and these skills can be mixed and matched between any class.  The three classes are Diplomat which contains the Etiquette, Conviction, Politics, Diversion, and Linguistics skills, Occultist, which contains the Science, Subterfuge, Erudition, Occultism, and Manipulation skills and the Detective, which contains the Vigilance, Logic, Psychology, Questioning, and Agility skills.  Balancing these skills with whichever class you choose will be crucial to your advancement in the game.

 

 

There will be times where you will have to choose a response to an NPC’s question or statement and some answers will be straight forward while others will take some consideration. There are times where you can take your time to choose your answer, but there will be times where you will only have a few seconds to pick the suitable answer so you better choose wisely.  All of the decisions that you make are permanent and will affect your abilities throughout the five episodes of the game. What sets this aspect of the game apart from others in the genre is that the decisions that you are asked to make aren’t simple decisions but ones that could effect your physical well-being as well as that of someone else.

 

 

For example, I was forced at one point in the game to choose between helping a frail woman who was afraid that someone was trying to hurt her against the decision to continue a conversation with an influential individual who could potentially become a powerful ally later on.  I could choose to help her at the expense of gaining an ally but what if she was just being paranoid? These are the types of scenarios that you will be confronted with one after the other making for an intense experience.

 

 

Visually, The Council was a big surprise to me.  The environments are so spectacularly modeled where in many games, they seem to take a back seat to the work that is done to make the character models look fantastic.  Candle light gleans off of the seawater that has splashed onto the cobblestone dock of the island.  The leather duster that Louis wears looks appropriately worn and the delicate lace dress of Emily Hillsborrow, one of the aristocrats that was also invited to the island, looks intricate and very expensive.  This game is photo-realistic in the best sense and it is what I hope Telltale does with its next game whether it be TWD or even the Batman series.

 

 

For all of the good things that The Council gets right, there are a few issues that I had that I think need to be tweaked before the next episode is released in order to make the game feel a little more polished.  The first is the fact that there are special sections of the game where you will have a quick timer to choose an aspect either in the environment on on the body of an NPC that will allow you to possibly get the upper hand during a confrontation.  The problem is that the time goes so fast, the cursor moves so slow as well as the fact that it takes some time to even pick out the areas on the screen that corresponds with an area of interest that I ended up missing my opportunity to respond and it hurt the outcome of that encounter.  This happened to me on almost every event of this type that came up and it was definitely frustrating.

 

 

The other issue that I came up against was how I ended up choosing the class that I did (I choose Detective) and how it affected the game moving forward.  This first episode contains instances where just about all of the available skills will be called upon, but being that either you picked a class that doesn’t allow immediate access to that particular skill that is being called upon or you haven’t earned enough effort points to put into those skills, you obviously will take a ding to your confrontation outcomes.  Now, this is obviously going to happen at this stage of the game but the game itself will let you know that you have failed at a particular skill in game with a popup making you feel that you were unsuccessful even though you had no direct control over that at this point.  It would have been better if the game somehow was able to either award more effort points so that you could level up quicker or tailor the game so that only those skills that are associated with your class are needed in order to proceed in the story.  As it stands, after finishing the first episode, I felt like I missed a lot of content because of the class that I initially decided to go with and that’s not a feeling that I like to have when playing a game.

 

 

This first episode can probably be completed in under three hours but I was so enamored by the story, the visuals and the topic of the game that I am eagerly awaiting the next episode, and it can’t get here soon enough.  This is the game that I hope that the next edition of TWD will be visuals-wise and game-play-wise.  Lord Mortimer’s estate is sprawling and getting to hold conversations with George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte was actually very cool and fun.  What really grabbed me was the profound decisions that you have to make while trying to find your mother who, in all possibility, could be deceased.  Big Bad Wolf is taking a huge gamble releasing a game in this genre, because, let’s be completely honest, it is a part of gaming that, thanks to Telltale, is very crowded and a little long in the tooth.  However, I have a feeling that once gamers get their hands on this first episode, they will be as excited about it as I am.  Lets hope the next episode is even better and blows the first out of the water.

 

 

 

This review is based on a copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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REVIEW / Soulblight (PC)

 

“I’m not a hundred percent sure what I’m playing but I think I like it.”  Never before have these words seemed truer than in my current delve into Soulblight, a nifty little roguelike which released last week. Soulblight is the utter hell I can only imagine would be born from an amorous encounter between From Software and a standard roguelike. This game is infuriatingly difficult and maddeningly addictive in equal measure. Am I having fun? Define fun. Am I enjoying playing the game and do I want to keep going back to see if I can get any further? Yes I am and you bet I do. Am I getting nowhere fast because this game makes elements of Dark Souls look like a walk in the park? Agonizingly yes.

 

 

In Soulblight you take the role of a wandering hero (obviously, it’s just that sort of game) heading into The Sanctuary in a bid to remove the blight from the Soultree. This is basically the tree that created man, among other things. Being nice and thankful, man built The Sanctuary to keep the tree safe, but over time they forgot about it. Eventually the tree became blighted and started spawning hideous monsters. There’s obviously more to the tale than that but that would involve spoilers so you can work the rest out for yourselves.

Soulblight‘s difficult comes in layers. This seems to be a game about sin, about testing your own strengths while coping with the dark side that these strengths offer. You actually choose your character’s traits by completing levels; you then go on to face some hideously powerful bosses with these merits and flaws in play. For example, you might choose reckless as your trait. With this trait, you will become stronger the more wounds you receive and gain battlecry which is a nice little bonus for killing multiple enemies at the same time.

 

 

The thing is, a lot of wounds won’t go away unless you do something about them, like applying bandages, so you have to weigh the risk of bleeding against the reward of berserker strength. I actually rather like this as it gives the game the feel of a balancing act. You also have to deal with other things like hunger which makes you weaker. Eating can rectify this unless of course you get food poisoning. For every plus there seems to be a minus and this makes for really fun play. This also makes your character feel human, which I love; you get a bit sick of playing these heroes that become literally invincible as long as you play well after a while.

The next layer of difficulty presented by this game is the obvious one. Soulblight is just plane hard and, as a budding member of the roguelike genre, I wouldn’t expect anything less. I wouldn’t necessarily say the grunts were any more or less tricky than each other, but none of them are going to go down easy if you don’t have the correct gear and tactics in mind. You also need to work on timing and skill to defeat the baddies in this title. Remember how I mentioned Dark Souls earlier? Well we all know exactly how far in that game the “hit and hope” approach is going to get you. The same applies here. Flailing your weapon around in the hopes of murdering things is only going to get you killed. The level of thought you have to put into staying alive is actually a lot more than in many other games of Soulblight’s ilk and this is both welcome and refreshing.

 

 

The last level of difficult is a slightly artificial one. The controls take a bit of getting used to because there are three ways to approach combat. On account of this it can be a bit easy to get button bashy when things get hairy. When you take a breather and stop hitting everything on the pad in an attempt to survive, you get a bit pickier with your tactics. You can go for an all-out assault, which is a good move if you have hard-hitting heavy weapons. This drains your stamina which means you aren’t always attacking as quickly as you’d want to be. This makes sense because you’re swinging a big heavy axe or two handed sword but it doesn’t do you a great deal of good if your foe is nippier than you are. Secondly you have the ability to block which is handy if you have single handed weapons and, of course, a shield. This really takes good timing and just standing there with your shield up isn’t a very good strategy especially because you get absolutely mobbed.

The last way of getting your kill on is to grab your opponent. You have a grip bar. The bigger this meter, the longer you can keep your hands on the enemy. This offers some decent killing strokes. The enemy can do the same thing, however, and they aren’t always the easiest to break free from. Lastly, and really interestingly for a roguelike, you can take the stealthy approach. This requires a lot of patience and timing and one small slip will see you getting a lot more than you bargained for. If you stop creeping too soon you’ll make noise. Do this and everything in your radius will be using you as a pin cushion in no time short.

 

 

Something that struck me as very clever with this game is the way your life works. You don’t have a health bar in Soulblight, you have a “well being” bar. This starts at 100% (as it should), but this is a base level. You want this figure to be going up from here and under no circumstances do you want it dropping. This meter doesn’t just effect your life, it effects your strength and defense as well. The higher it is the harder you hit. This makes absolute sense. The better you feel, the stronger you are both mentally and physically. You’ll also be wanting this to be good and high if you’re going to get at all far in the game. Remember me mentioning that balancing act? This is where all of that comes into play. Your traits offer pluses to this meter depending on what you do but there are plenty of chances to make it drop as well. Getting it all just right is fun an infuriating in good measure.

I always look at the positive things in a game first. I guess this is my attempt at cushioning the blow of the things I don’t like so much. To be honest there aren’t actually that many that I’m seeing so far. The difficulty level is going to drive some players crazy but actually makes me want to go back for more so I’m not going to call this a negative. What is, however, is a transmutation system that doesn’t really seem to work.

 

 

You find transmuters on all of the levels. These need fueling with certain items. You put something in and if you’ve also added enough fuel you get something else out. The thing is, even when the game tells you this process has worked you can’t always see a difference, which makes the whole thing a bit pointless. You’ll find recipes dotted about the world and this will give you hints to what works but I’d much rather be told that my combination just failed rather than it worked but I don’t get the spoils. Whether this works or not you get to keep the item you’ve put in and this is a plus but the whole idea really needs refining.

My other issue with this game is that it isn’t always easy to figure out your stat boosts. Usually when you equip gear it’s very easy to determine as to whether that gear is making you stronger. You’ll see pluses to your stats but it’s not always clear exactly what is going up. I’m just seeing a series of figures getting higher but unless I know exactly what those stats relate to I can’t really hone my character exactly the way I’d like. This kind of just boils down to a series of numbers but those numbers still have to mean something and I’m not sure these meanings are clear enough.

 

 

All in all the game looks nice, the music is good and everything plays relatively smoothly. If you’re a massive masochist like me, I think Soulblight will be right up your alley. The game is definitely fun and addictive with a few rough edges.  These small gripes aside I’m loving that I’m seeing new things being introduced to my favorite genre and will absolutely keep playing this game. Soulblight is going in my, “things to do when I don’t have a lot of time,” pile. As these are the games I usually play the most this is definitely an accolade and a big compliment on my behalf. If you don’t mind ripping your hair and cursing a lot, you may well want this one in your gaming library.

 

 

 

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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Monster Hunter World: Deviljho DLC out now

 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you’ve heard of Monster Hunter World; the Japanese craze became a worldwide phenomenon, selling faster than any other game in the franchise’s long history. The world’s most self-explanatory title has managed to perfect a winning formula of gratifying gameplay and gorgeous visuals, appealing to a much broader range of gamers with its streamlined mechanics and weirdly intoxicating blend of slaying, looting, and crafting. In fact, so many of the TVGB team played the game at launch that we couldn’t decide on who got the honour of reviewing it – I played a bit of the open beta, though, so do check that out.

I actually took this one. Dead chuffed.

To top it all off, the Monster Hunter World DLC season has begun, and the first monster has been released into the New World. Veteran hunters will recognise the Deviljho from 2010’s Monster Hunter Tri; he’s an ugly looking Brute Wyvern with a crazy appetite and no regard for territory. Here’s a close look at the tiny-armed terror:

The Deviljho and associated quests can be found by catching a glimpse of the monster itself in any locale marked with the ‘???’ that indicates an unknown species. This will prompt a tracking quest – collect enough information on the beastie, and you’ll unlock the chance to go toe-to-toe. You’ll need to be High Rank for this (HR 14 and above).

Here he is, looking swole.

With the latest Monster Hunter World DLC comes an onslaught of new stuff. The Deviljho has his own alpha and beta armour set, as well as new choices for each of the 14 weapons; so far, this new gear looks like a worthwhile addition to your arsenal, particularly given their emphasis on Dragon Elemental damage and the Part Breaker ability. On top of this, you’ll also be able to craft the Wyvern Ignition, a fan-designed weapon that kicks off a long-standing Monster Hunter contest and tradition. The Palico half of a Mega Man crossover event has also been released, allowing you to dress your furry friend as a blocky android.

Here he is, eating Great Jagras for snacks.

The most important addition to Monster Hunter World, however, is the chance to completely re-customise your character. The first one is on the house, but any further alterations to gender and physical appearance will be implemented as microtransactions. So if you’re like me, and sick to death of your ugly middle-aged avatar, now is the time to expend some effort and give the guy/girl a make-over/sex change.

Here he is, being worn as armour. Images courtesy of VG247.

The update also includes a variety of bug fixes and performance improvements. Loading times have been reduced, and the option to return to the Gathering Hub at the end of a quest has been added; all 14 weapons have received balance alterations, and you’ll no longer be prevented from carving by a team-mate’s attack. This is just a start: for a full list of patch notes, head to the Wiki here.

Surveying the locale.

Next up for Monster Hunter World is a Spring event that will add daily challenges and redesign the look of the Gathering Hub to feel somewhat more seasonal. This begins on April 6th, and ends on the 20th; in the meantime, get cracking on that Deviljho. He was released on March 22nd, and comes free of charge – do you need any more excuses to hunt something?

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REVIEW / Where the Water Tastes Like Wine (PC)

 

It’s difficult to talk about what you’ll experience in the game Where the Water Tastes Like Wine without spoiling the game because the game is quite literally the story. You play as a hobo traveling around the U.S. in what seems to be the Great Depression era, although the time period isn’t really apparent from the outset or explicitly stated anywhere. After playing (and losing) a card game with an enigmatic dealer, he offers an alternative way to pay what you owe by tasking you to collect stories. The player finds these stories by walking, hitchhiking and train hopping their way around a fairly sizeable scale map of the country.

 

Did I mention this guy is voiced by Sting? Yes, I actually mean THE Sting.

 

Along the way, you’ll encounter fellow travelers eager to share details of their lives, assuming you can tell them a variety of tall tales, tragedies and strange sightings you find while wandering around. Telling them the right type of story during each encounter will encourage them to reveal more about their past or personalities. This will eventually unlock their “true story,” which is what your debt collector wants you to find.

It’s clear a lot of time was spent on the artistic direction of this game, and the effort shows. Every story you encounter comes with gorgeous hand-drawn artwork that feels like it was pulled straight out of an old storybook, supplemented with fantastic voice over performances. The music flows from plucky folk tracks to lively jazz compositions and more as you wander across the rustic-colored landscape, depending on the area.

 

Even the damn pause menu is stunning.

 

The setting especially feels ripe for exploration; developer Dim Bulb Games have created a world that feels vibrant and dynamic. The vignettes peppered throughout the map are a mix of tall tales, slice-of-life snapshots, and mundane interactions, but every story has a chance to grow and change over the course of the game.

Most importantly, the fireside chats you have with other travelers in the game are some of the most engaging interactions I’ve had with a character in a video game. They all touch on simple subjects – love, loss, adventure, regret. But that simplicity provides relatability and connects to the core of what it means to be human.

 

Find a cool story? Chances are you’re not the only one, and people will tell their own version of that story over time.

 

Conceptually, this is one of the most interesting games I’ve played, which is why I almost feel guilty that I couldn’t bring myself to finish it. The one and only thing holding this game back is, ironically, the moment-to-moment gameplay. There are small tasks like managing your health bar and exhaustion level, but it’s so minor it felt like an afterthought by the designers.

What is significant, however, is the game’s movement mechanics. Your skeleton avatar moves painfully slow across the map, and the only way to move faster is to hitch a ride, hop a train, pay for a train ticket or whistle. Yes, whistling makes you walk faster. Hitching a ride is only occasionally useful because cars will only go one direction on each stretch of road, and hopping or paying for a train will only take you to major cities, meaning you miss out on tons of potential stories.

 

You’ll want to collect a variety of stories, because you never know what a fellow traveler might want to hear.

 

Which leaves your main mode of speeding up your travel whistling, which is simultaneously the most charming and frustrating feature of the game. Holding control will bring up a four-direction grid and music notes will pop up randomly. Pressing the correct arrow keys as they appear means your avatar will walk slightly faster across the map.

That means more than half of the game isn’t spent enjoying the wonderful artwork or keeping an eye out for story locations, but instead it’s focused on playing a monotonous mini-game to efficiently get anywhere. For me, they could have eliminated the 3D map navigation altogether. I would have enjoyed it much more.

 

Trains provide a fast travel method, but if you’re hopping and not paying, you’re limited to one option of where to stop.

 

If you are even slightly interested in Where the Water Tastes Like Wine’s core concept, then please don’t let the tedious traveling deter you from giving it a shot. It a shame that the actual gameplay isn’t more engaging, but that won’t stop me from trying to finish it, because I truly want to see where this grand story will take me. I’ll just have to revisit it over time, like slowly sipping a fine wine.

 

 

 

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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Ride a laser-mounted dino on the go with ARK: Survival Evolved, coming soon to Nintendo Switch

 

If befriending a Velociraptor while waiting for the bus sounds like the pipe dream of a person who’s watched Jurassic World one too many times, you’d be right.

Or rather, you would’ve been. But after Epic Games‘ keynote at GDC 2018 yesterday, wherein Studio Wildcard announced ARK: Survival Evolved is coming to the Switch, you can plan on taking your dinosaur pals (you’re my girl, Blue), your tribe of survivors and your tree-top home base with you, on the go!

Created alongside Abstraction Games, ARK: Survival Evolved is scheduled to launch this Fall 2018 to both digital and retail. Taking full advantage of the Switch’s portability, you can expect to take this prehistoric survival game with you wherever you need to be, whether that’s the gym, your couch or stashed away under your desk, for when you’re supposed to be working. With the inclusion of all the games’ original content, Switch users will get to experience the full game with all its features intact, with the added bonus of being able to hop into ARK‘s open-world anytime, anywhere.

ARK: Survival Evolved went live on Steam’s early access in June 2015, and since, over 13 million players have attempted to survive amongst ARK‘s 100+ dinosaurs and creatures. Playing alone, or with others online, survivors can kill or tame the island’s creatures, building bases as a means of defense and developing technology and weapons, ranging from a rock on a stick to dino-mounted laser cannons. ARK: Survival Evolved’s Switch release will mark the last in a long line for the game on console, which has graced both the PS4 and Xbox One, and Studio Wildcard has also announced that invitations for the Closed Beta have been sent out (courtesy of creator War Drum Studios) to iOS players.

If you happen to be at GDC 2018 in San Francisco, take advantage of the limited time left by playing ARK mobile in the Epic Games booth, and keep a look out for ARK: Survival Evolved this fall for some dino-laden, laser shooting, survival game goodness to go!

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Sir Eatsalot launches in Asia next month (PS Vita)

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REVIEW / Attack on Titan 2 (PS4)

 

Here’s to you, 2000 years from now: an age where gigantic humanoids eat people for reasons unknown. In this follow-up to 2016’s Attack on Titan, the fearless scout regimen once more don their omni-directional movement gear and slice some necks in a story closely following the events of the anime series. However, this time around, you aren’t controlling Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, or any of the established heroes from the Attack on Titan world. In Attack on Titan 2, we’re introduced to an all-new perspective through the eyes of a player-created character.

 

 

To call Attack on Titan 2 a sequel doesn’t quite give the game it’s proper due. The story starts at the same point as the manga and anime, with the Colossal Titan attacking Shinganshina, but seen through the eyes of another child in the attack with Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. This gives the player a behind-the-scenes perspective, while the main characters carry out the major story beats of the anime.

For example, while Eren is busy fighting, your character will be working with the other scouts to complete the mission around that event. Despite not being directly involved in the story, your player character is still worked into the events and lives of the cadets and scouts. Make no mistake, even if you’ve never seen the anime you will still get the full story in this game.

 

I can perfectly create a version of me that’s much cooler than me

 

The character creator in Attack on Titan 2 is very robust when compared to gaming contemporaries such as Dragonball Xenoverse. There’s a wide variety of options to assemble a character that perfectly suits you. Parts from every character such as hair and shirts are available to mix and match, as well as a variety of facial features like eyes, noses, and scars. Rest assured, you can create any character and it will perfectly blend with the anime-style that the game perfectly recreates.

Attack on Titan 2 follows the first two seasons of the anime from the viewpoint of a cadet that trains with the main characters and assists them on missions. You build up relationships with the other cadets depending on how much you work with them, talk with them, or give them gifts. It’s essential to lay down a foundation of trust with your teammates so they perform well in the field as well as give your character new abilities and skills. You’ll also be treated to some behind the scenes drama that unfolds between the cadets such as Jean being embarrassed by his mother or Conny lying to other cadets about his battle skills.

 

 

The majority of this character interaction takes place in the daily life overworld. In this section of the game your character can meet with story important characters, craft new equipment, or train their skills up. From this overworld you can choose to continue the narrative along or partake in side missions for the scouts to earn special crafting materials and valuable experience.

In the side missions and narrative missions your character is dropped into a battle zone with an objective such as eliminate abnormal titans or defend the scout team outposts. In these battles you have free range of movement with the omni-directional gear that is intensely satisfying to use as you zoom around buildings and forests and coordinate attacks on the titans. The movement is best described as a faster version of the web swinging from Spider-Man 2. You need to attach to anchor points and use momentum to swing around obstacles.

 

 

While the movement is satisfying the combat and mission structures leave something to be desired. The rules of the anime and manga state that Titans can only be killed by slicing the nape of the neck, which mechanically leaves very few options with how to take them on in a video game. You can slice off legs and arms, but it won’t do much but net some crafting materials which are already in great abundance. Certain boss enemies require a limb to be sliced before you can attack the weak point, but ultimately all battles lead to neck slicing. This very quickly becomes monotonous, especially if you invest time in doing the side missions.  By the end of my time with the game I was just rushing through and getting the minimum requirements for completion because the combat just lost its luster early.

However, if the combat is compelling to you, you can take your skills to Another Mode. This is where you can select from any unlocked character in the story to complete side missions online with other scouts. These provide a bit more interest to the missions as the element of multiplayer draws more out of the experience. Teaming up for take downs feels more robust than tearing across slews of Titans in solo mode one by one.

 

 

If you’re a fan of the anime, you will find a lot to love about the story of Attack on Titan 2. The game puts a unique spin on the first two seasons of the show and tells the story in a way that gives you all the info you need while not just retelling it verbatim. However, if you are like me and read more of the manga than watched the show, you’ll be surprised with how many plot threads are left hanging at the end of the game. Granted, the game works within the confines of the show, but after it’s all said and done almost nothing gets wrapped up or finished that I expected to see. It felt like a very arbitrary stopping point and left a bad impression on me as I exited the game. Attack on Titan 2 gave me the rare reaction of audibly saying “Wait, that’s the end?” as credits rolled.

Attack on Titan 2 has a lot to offer fans of the massively popular anime, but the repetition and bland combat can begin to grind the gears of even the most diehard fan. The movement of the omni-directional gear is incredible and I would absolutely love to see and use more of it. Perhaps an Attack on Titan 3 will surround this wonderful element with more varied gameplay, as Attack on Titan 2 added some great ideas with the character creator and additional story depth. Despite the lack of gameplay variety, Attack on Titan 2 still works as a solid entry point for newcomers to the series as well as providing some interesting character development for longtime fans.

 

 

 

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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West of Loathing makes finalist at IGF, then heads to console with Switch!

 

I don’t know, maybe I spend too much time in the wrong internet places, or maybe I get too emotionally invested in things that I am 100% a spectator in, but dang it’s nice to see nice guys doing well with their ethics and artistic sensibilities intact. Asymmetric Publications’ best-known previous work, Kingdom of Loathing, is an MMORPG that’s got a reputation for a welcoming player community and financial success without using advertising or requiring subscription fees.

West of Loathing is a single player western-themed RPG for PC, Mac, and Linux released last August. It has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and fans, and this week at the International Games Festival, West of Loathing has been named a Finalist for the IGF Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

The game has been praised for its humor and surrealism, such as the first skill the player’s character learns: stupid walking, and its in-game currency: meat. Described as a “slapstick stick figure rendition of the wild frontier,” gameplay is influenced by classic adventure RPGs Paper Mario and Quest for Glory. The game boasts open-world play with more than 100 locations, a wacky twist on RPG class systems with roles such as Snake Oiler, Beanslinger, and Cow Puncher, and “wordplay, dad jokes, several gulches, at least one drunken horse, and liberal use of the Oxford comma.”

As if the praise and acclaim wasn’t exciting enough for Asymmetric Productions, Nintendo just announced the release of a version of West of Loathing for the Switch this Spring! This will be a console exclusive, as announced in Nintendo’s Nindies Showcase broadcast Tuesday.

The iOS version, which was announced to be in development shortly after the game’s initial release, is also anticipated to be out sometime this Spring.

You can find out more at westofloathing.com, check out the game on Steam, or if you happen to be at GDC, head to the IGF Pavilion, North Hall. You’ll be able to play the game and chat with the devs. If you stop by on Thursday or Friday, you can even check out the Nintendo Switch version!

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Fortnite Week 4 Battle Pass challenges have arrived!

 

A new Fortnite update is now available on consoles and PC, but in addition to checking out the new stuff it has to offer, Battle Royale players have some other things they can now do.

Week 4 Challenges

The week 4 Battle Pass challenges have released and some of them might prove to be more tricky than others.

Check out the full list below to see what’s in store for you next time you log in. One requires you getting the right weapon and utilizing it efficiently (dealing a specific amount of damage with a sniper rifle), while another has you tracking down chests in the Flush Factory. The first challenges may seem easy but the difficulty slowly increases as we go down the list.

While this may not be labeled as “hard”, you’re told to visit five different ice cream trucks. These are scattered across the map–there are more than five in total, with a handful located right inside major locations like Tomato Town & Retail Row. Others are in less obvious locations, but imkairu has shared this map on Reddit to help all you Fortnite players out! Check it out below!

 

 

 

Scavenger Hunt

One of the hardest challenges for this week includes “Search between a Vehicle Tower, Rock Sculpture, and a Circle of Hedges.” This vague clue is pointing you toward a point in the southeast corner of the map, in the G9 section. If you are stumped on where to go, Reddit has come to the rescue again! Click here to check out the spot.

You can check out all of the Week 4 challenges below. Keep in mind that, despite being added weekly, you have the entirety of Season 3 to finish these out! The Season 3 Battle Pass also includes new types of items, such as loading screens and Back Bling.  So if you haven’t purchased it yet, what are you waiting for?

 

 

 

Fortnite: Battle Royale Week 4 Challenges

• Deal damage with Sniper Rifles to opponents (500) — 5 Battle Stars
• Search Chests in Flush Factory (7) — 5 Battle Stars
• Search Supply Drops (3) — 5 Battle Stars
• Visit different Ice Cream Trucks (5) — 5 Battle Stars
• Hard: Search between a Vehicle Tower, Rock Sculpture, and a Circle of Hedges (1) — 10 Battle Stars
• Hard: Trap Eliminations (1) — 10 Battle Stars
• Hard: Eliminate opponents in Tomato Town (3) — 10 Battle Stars

 

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