REVIEW / HellSign (PC)

 

You know what I really love? I really love horror games. Said me never. I just don’t see the point in being scared. I genuinely don’t get why anyone needs that kind of adrenaline rush. This isn’t just videogames, I have exactly the same issue with movies and to an extent books as well. Basically I’m fully aware that I have an over-active imagination and those little pixels on the screen, the ones that I know aren’t real can become a serious problem in my head. This is why I have some very mixed views about the game we’ll be looking at today. Against my better judgement, (and the mirth of some of my team mates,) I’ve been playing Ballistic Interactive’s HellSign. Is it any good? Well let’s find out shall we?

 

 

Before I go any further I think it only fair to put in a little disclaimer and make it clear that I haven’t played a massive amount of this game. The first reason for this is simply that I’m not a horror fan and, therefore, wasn’t jumping through hoops to put huge amounts of time in. With this being said I also wanted to be fair to the game so played enough to give me an idea what was going on, a good feel for the game and a general view of the controls etc. The second reason is simply that I spent a large proportion of my time being killed by even the most low level enemies and having to play levels over again. Please take this as more of an educated overview than a really in depth, gritty review. This is purely based on my own experience.  You may very well have a different one.

As I’ve just made abundantly clear, being scared is absolutely not my thing so this was a really difficult game for me to play and get any genuine enjoyment out of. The thing is, I really love the idea behind HellSign and it was this that kept me going even when I didn’t necessarily want to. HellSign isn’t your run of the mill survival horror game in that you aren’t the prey.

 

Levels are dimly lit and very fitting for the theme

 

Unlike other games of this ilk, you take on the role of a paranormal investigator or hunter. It’s your job to actively go out and stop the supernatural menace that’s haunting your town. This gives you a sense that you’re on at least a bit of an even playing field and the fact that you’re armed with a variety of weapons and traps makes you feel like you stand a chance. This is important for me because it reduces some of the fear that comes from the helpless feeling created by other games.

In your paranormal role you have to investigate various locations and find clues as to what may be haunting or infesting them. These missions start at forensic level in which only one or two clues exist but very little threat is present up through scouting, sweeping and so on. Each of these types effectively adds a star of difficulty and raises the threat and of course reward accordingly. The clues you find can be paired with your journal to give you a better idea what you’re facing and also illuminate some of that creature’s strengths and weaknesses.

 

This is your best friend. The clues you gather may save your life.

 

Importantly, each of these levels is procedurally generated. The fact that you don’t know what you’re facing and absolutely don’t know where it is really ramps up the tension. Every time you open a closed or locked door in a house you don’t know whether you’re facing an empty room or you’re about to get jumped. For the type of game HellSign is this can only be noted as a really big plus.

The clues you find in the levels aren’t just useful for yielding information, they can also be sold. You’ll need currency not only for weapons and ammo, something you seriously don’t want to go running out of, but also armor, traps and other tools of the trade. You can also buy journal entries and crafting schematics. I’d love to tell you how crafting works within the game but I didn’t get far enough to experience it. The same, incidentally, goes for your character’s skills. You have a skill tree but I never really got anything unlocked because I couldn’t stay alive for long enough to gain the points I needed to spend. Character progression is definitely present but how your skills really effect the game are sadly a bit of a mystery.

 

Why does everything always have to have too many legs?

 

So why couldn’t I stay alive then? Well there’s two reasons for this. The first is that the controls for me felt a bit twitchy. In combat it felt like the enemies were a lot quicker than I was and this made aiming a bit on the tough side. The game goes for realism and expects you to dodge as much as it does aim and fire. This absolutely isn’t a bad thing but I didn’t feel like I was accurate enough to hit anything standing still never mind bouncing about all over the place.

Secondly, and this isn’t the game’s fault, I was a bit twitchy. When you go from being in an empty space that’s creepily calm to something being right on top of you it’s hard to aim and fire successfully because you’ve just had a bit of a jump and are suddenly having to defend yourself. My reactions clearly weren’t quick enough and I couldn’t steady myself fast enough to be any good in combat. This just led to me getting eaten a lot. As combat is clearly a big part of this title it made getting anywhere for me virtually impossible.

 

You’ll be coming here alot. Just make sure you have cash.

 

HellSign’s atmosphere is something that really stands out. The devs have done a superb job of creating an air of tension right from the very beginning. This doesn’t just come in the random nature of the levels but also the graphical choices that have been made. The lighting is very well used. The levels are dim with a dull greenish hue save for your flashlight. This definitely aids the tense feeling and has you jumping at shadows. The sound is also really effective. It’s minimal and heavily reliant on effects which can range from eerie background noises to the little pitter-patter of legs. Eight legs, this is not a game for an arachnophobe.

The thing I noticed from the very beginning and something that I really didn’t like so much is the amount of foul language straight from the get-go. I’m an adult and have no issues with a well placed “fuck” here and there. I do have a problem when the first thing I’m called by one of the NPCs is a C?@t and this is pretty much the tone that’s being set. This is a pretty extreme expletive to  be using from the off and the general language being used felt a bit unnecessary. This isn’t something I’d usually note but, for me, it didn’t help the story any and although this is an adult game just made some of the dialogue feel a bit cheap.

 

The story is there. Some of the language needs a bit of work.

 

This is a game that’s in Early Access and with any Early Access release comes bugs. With this being said I’m not going too hard on the technical aspects of the HellSign. I didn’t come across anything game-breaking in the time I played but this doesn’t mean other players won’t have issues. The devs are definitely still working in the background and have taken note of issues people have had thus far. Basically, if you have issues don’t assume that nothing is being done about them, from what I’ve read everything is being readied and tinkered with for final release. More levels and enemies are also coming in the future. The game isn’t finished yet but there’s definitely enough meat there to get you going and give you a really good amount of playtime.

All in all I enjoyed the thought behind this title more than I did playing the game. The graphics are good and it all plays very nicely apart from the controls which I think could maybe simplified just a touch. What I saw of the story seemed well written I just didn’t see the need for the level of language and the investigation side of the game is clever and a really nice change from the norm. I didn’t enjoy it purely because I’m not a horror fan. I you are and you like the paranormal aspect of horror gaming I really think this might be worth you giving it a try. If you don’t like being scared do what I’ll be doing a grab something else.

 

 

 

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

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REVIEW / A Gummy’s Life (PC)

 

When I first heard about A Gummy’s Life, I hoped from the title of this game that it would be a cutesy candy-themed sim a la Slime Rancher or Spore. The trailer, however, immediately corrected my expectations. A Gummy’s Life is a cutesy, candy-themed fighting game.

 

 

Boasting some adorable (if goofy looking) character designs based on favorite snacks like gummy sharks, gummy bears, and licorice twists, among others, the game offers a variety of ways to play, in both local and online multiplayer modes. Standard free-for-all mode is supplemented by “king of the hill”, “team deathmatch”, and “hot potato” games, each mode further complicated by the unique challenges of the chosen arenas.

 

 

I particularly enjoyed the “Zombarn” level, which released zombie gummies every few seconds until every player had been infected, ending in a draw almost every time I played it. There are also subtle nods to other popular games, such as the “A Frog’s Life” with a busy street to cross and a river with logs floating past at varying speeds, and “DaKongo”, which is a bamboo platform that occasionally drops barrels on you.

 

 

While the theme and environmental features are definite points in this game’s favor, there are a few drawbacks. The main one is that this game is the opposite of hand-holding; while its mechanics are fairly simple, and a “Training Mode” is available, there are no tutorials and no instructions beyond the Controls screen in the Game Settings. Additionally, these controls are not customizable, although the developer has responded by promising an update with customizable controls via the game’s Steam page.

 

 

Additionally, there is a notice on the game’s Steam page that recommend A Gummy’s Life be played with a controller rather than with keyboard and mouse. There are also some actions described in the Controls that seem ineffective or are just a little harder to figure out the correct use of without any kind of guide; punching and moving at the same time took me a minute to figure out, and I was never quite able to lift and toss my opponents in any effective way.

 

 

However, with minimal effort gameplay is easy to understand within the first few rounds, and AI opponents mean that you can get plenty of practice before playing with friends or online. The environmental factors can be leveraged to a player’s advantage, meaning that even if you can’t quite aim your attacks effectively, you can dodge and outlast the other players through things as simple as jumping between logs or waiting for the zombies to eat them all. And you will quickly discover that the “taunts” featured include the ability to dab. So take that as you will.

 

 

There may not be a true storyline and some players may feel as though they’ve been thrown in the deep end while mastering the controls, but the replay value is fairly high. It’s a creative take on fighting games that is really a feast for the eyes and can definitely kill some time when you’re hanging out with relatives you only see once a year. If you’re loading up on games during the Steam winter sale, this is definitely one to check out.

 

 

 

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

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REVIEW / Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales (PS4)

 

While I was a fan of The Witcher 3, I never anticipated that I’d be playing Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales. My boyfriend was already deep into it, but I hadn’t really given it a proper look. All I knew about Thronebreaker was that it appeared to be point-and-click and visual novel style, with all the battles being carried out via games of Gwent. Gwent, for the uninitiated, is the insanely fun and addictive card minigame that originated in The Witcher 3. It was so popular that it spawned its own standalone Gwent game (Gwent: The Witcher Card Game) which rebuilt the humble minigame into something much more complex and allowed for in-depth deck building and manipulation of  new and interesting card effects. This version of Gwent is the one which has been brought to Thronebreaker.

 

 

In Thronebreaker, you play as Meve, Queen of Lyria and Rivia. In the original Witcher novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, Queen Meve’s story is no more than an interesting footnote. It appears that CD Projekt Red grew interested in Meve’s story and saw an opportunity for expansion and further storytelling, and so we have Thronebreaker. Tensions have grown between power-hungry Nilfgaard and the Northern Realms. Invasion is imminent, and so war veteren Meve sets out on the warpath. However, certain events conspire and she is stripped of her Crown and title.

Staunchly proud of her land and people, Meve sets out on a dark journey of revenge, full of difficult, and at times haunting, choices. Accompanied by an ever-growing and eclectic army, the player will get the chance to explore realms and areas which have never been seen before in any of the previous Witcher titles. To name just a few, you’ll visit Lyria, Aedirn and Mahakam, all with their own unique  and beautifully crafted environments.

 

 

Thronebreaker is split into a few different modes of play. Obviously, one is the Gwent battles, but there’s more than just your standard best-of-three battles here. There are no longer three rows on each side – only two (ranged and melee). Standard battles carry out in the best-of-three format, where you try to do the obvious either by destroying your opponent’s cards or simply winning by having a greater army and buffing until the cows come home.

There are also shortened battles, which only last one round. These can sometimes have special rules, but are often played out with the same strategies seen in standard battles. I really liked the addition of shortened battles because it allows both careful strategy and going all out, whereas standard battles require at least some restraint, lest you end up with no cards in the second and third rounds.

 

 

Further to standard and shortened battles, there are also puzzles which typically provide you with a custom deck. The first puzzle battle I encountered made me laugh, because I was battling against some falling rocks. However, the puzzles, while sometimes absolute head-scratchers, are a fun departure from normal battles. Further to that, they teach you strategies that you may not have considered that can later be integrated into your normal battles. For example, for whatever reason I had not considered that two Wagenburgs (cards which increase their Armour with each new card placed on their row and then use their Order ability to attack an entire enemy row for that Armour value) could be stacked on the same row.

In addition to normal cards, there are also Meve cards, trinkets, and resilient cards. Meve cards act in the same way that Leader Cards worked in standalone and The Witcher 3 games of Gwent. Meve cards offer different abilities that Meve can use during battle to bolster her troops or attack the enemy, each with varying cooldowns. Which Meve card to have equipped is a vital part of deck building and strategy.

 

 

Trinkets are one-use-per-battle (in most cases) unique cards which offer devastating effects for either side (e.g. The Morana Runestone, which heals all damaged units on your side and boosts all units by two). Resilient cards, for lack of a better term, are other unique cards which appear on the battlefield before the battle begins and have interesting passive and Order effects. The Lyrian Banner card, which is the first of these cards that you acquire, has an Order ability which allows the card to move between rows and also reduces Meve’s ability cooldown by one.

Much like with original Gwent and the standalone version, there are countless ways to build decks and decide how you wish to play. Often you will need to reassess how you’re playing for certain battles, as in some cases an attack-based deck simply won’t be powerful enough, or playing purely based on boosting via Loyalty won’t work. In truth, despite the internet’s insistence on how easy the game is, I had a lot of trouble finding my groove in the first area of the game.

 

 

It was only late in the first area and early in the second area that something really clicked and things became a lot easier. I was playing on Normal difficulty, but if the game is too easy you can move up to a harder difficulty, or if it’s too hard you can knock it down to Easy. I moved down to Easy for one battle and can confirm that the values of enemy cards are marginally reduced, while yours are similarly improved. That’s it. Easy mode does allow you the option to simply skip battles, but to my mind that would defeat the purpose of the game unless you were purely running through and making different story choices.

Visual novel sections are another aspect of the gameplay, where either at camp or in the field, you move to a screen where you are discussing events with friends or foes. Often dialogue choices will pop up where you must decide how to react, which can have effects on your party setup, army morale, and resources. As you are traversing the map, you will come across unexpected events or approach points of interest will trigger similar choices. I really have to commend CD Projekt Red for the moral choices and decision-making that is required in Thronebreaker, as a lot of the choices are really, truly choosing one evil over another.

 

 

If I look back over my personal gaming history in games where difficult choices have to be made, I have usually chosen based on what I, personally, would do in that situation. Thronebreaker is the first game where I have really sunken into the roleplaying aspect and taken into consideration what Meve would do, rather than what I thought was right. This style of gameplay developed over time for me. I would make choices that seemed fair which would then come back to bite me. I began to feel, as Meve, that I had been too soft in the past and needed to be more pragmatic here and there, and began to make choices that aligned that way in future.  This is a wholly different style of gameplay for me and it has been really enjoyable and really made me think about the choices I was making.

When walking around the field, you will encounter loot which contributes to your coin and wood/general resources. You can also find banners and talk to townspeople who wish to join your army, which will increase your number of recruits. All three resources come into play when encountering points of interest (e.g. wood is needed to repair a bridge, coin is required to get information out of people), but their primary use is found in camp. You can access your camp at any time. In the Mess Tent you can speak, visual novel style, to your main party members and find out more about them. In the Royal Tent you can check up on your notes, letters, maps and reports. You can also build a Training Ground, which gives access to more options in the Workshop as well as allowing you to fight against AI to test your skills.

 

 

The Workshop and the Command Tent are probably the most frequently visited camp sections in Thronebreaker. In the Command Tent, you build your deck and spend resources to recruit more of certain cards that you have unlocked. In the Workshop, you can use resources to unlock all number of things, including passive post-battle effects (e.g. more recruits, more gold), unlocking upgraded versions of cards or brand new ones and even more. At first it feels like you have no money, but then money becomes absolutely trivial and you’re clamoring for more wood. I don’t think this is unbalanced in any way, but it is your limiting factor for progression later in the game.

Most of the music that you hear in Thronebreaker is hidden in Gwent battles. There are different themes for different factions and I really enjoy all of them. There are also special themes for certain story battles. I’m definitely buying the soundtrack once I’m satisfied that I’ve completed the game. While wandering the field there isn’t a great deal of music, mainly sound effects and ambient noise. I’ve noticed more games doing this lately and I actually really enjoy it. While I’m a big fan of unique themes for each area I visit (see: Final Fantasy), I sometimes enjoy effective use of silence and ambient sound much more, as it makes the music stand out and feel more like a treat.

 

 

The art style in Thronebreaker, which I will admit I saw in an early trailer and dismissed because of its simplicity (I thought it looked like a mobile game at first glance), is full of detail and looks really good. All of the card art is absolutely delicious, especially some of the animated ones. I will say that the way that the character’s mouths move during visual novel segments really reminded me of Archer, which makes things seem a little silly until you can push that out of your head a bit.

Speaking of silly – the story, down to the small side-events, is really detailed and is a really wonderful example of a narrative with strong pacing and minimal filler. With that in mind, it wouldn’t be a CD Projekt Red or Witcher game without some cheek, and there are cute and fun references scattered around the place which will delight existing Witcher fans, as well as general fans of gaming and pop culture (a Dark Souls reference and a Monty Python reference were spied in our house, just to name two). The silliness is never overdone, and the tone generally remains quite dark and dramatic, but it’s always refreshing to have some levity peppered in. Thankfully you have at least one party member as a mainstay who doesn’t subscribe to the constant seriousness of the rest of the party, which keeps things light and amusing.

 

 

Now for the gripes: There’s definitely some lag during battles which occurs when the enemy is making decisions or starting their turn. I’ve checked with players of the PC version of the game and this is consistent across the board, so I think it may be an optimization issue rather than a power issue. I’ve also had the game freeze on me about eight times, usually during transitions between screens, but also before a battle has actually started. I’m hoping future patches will tidy this up a bit, because while the lag can be annoying, the freezing is not ideal. Thankfully, the game auto-saves very often.

I also have some small complaints, one of which wouldn’t exist in the PC version. For items like the Dazhbog Runestone which can be used to target an enemy and attack eight individual times, the target sometimes remembers the last place you attacked and sometimes it resets back over to your row. As a result, I’ve attacked my own units on occasion because I was expecting the target to return to where I had been attacking previously. While cursor memory isn’t always the best way to go, consistency would be appreciated. Another small complaint is that most dialogue can be fast-forwarded with the square button so that all of the text appears but the voice acting continues. A further press of square will then skip the dialogue entirely. Occasionally in battle or on the field there will be some environmental chatter, but these will be skipped entirely, voice acting included, if you press square. This sometimes happens by accident if you’re collecting resources at the same time that the dialogue is underway.

 

 

One thing that Thronebreaker has proven to me is that CD Projekt Red are perfectly capable of using the world of the Witcher for more than just tales of Geralt, Yen, Ciri, and all the other well-known characters. I’ve honestly never had a narrative experience in a game that so strongly changed my usual play style of “what would I do?” to “what would this character do?” and I really enjoyed that departure. While I do have some small quibbles about the optimisation of the game, this was honestly such a rewarding and novel experience, and I wouldn’t have expected it at all at first blush. It’s also absolutely huge, so just when you think you’re done, there’s always more to enjoy.

Are you a fan of Gwent? Are you a fan of The Witcher? Even if you’re not, you need to play Thronebreaker.

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is available now on PC , Xbox One and PS4. Go out and get it!

 

 

 

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

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REVIEW / TSIOQUE (PC)

 

What do you do with a tar covered carrot? It took me over an hour to answer that question. There’s something about moon logic that I totally miss in videogames. If we’re on the subject of moon logic we can only be referring to one gaming genre – the point and click adventure genre, of course. Games such as Broken Sword, Terry Pratchet’s Disc World and The Day of the Tentacle were bursting with puzzles whose solutions defied both logic and sanity. These games were brilliantly funny and known for being head-scratchingly hard, and we haven’t seen a good one in a while. This is a bit sad in my opinion as I’m all about good story writing and this genre had some of the best. With this being said, I was really pleased to see Tsioque, the new offering by OhNoo Studio, and absolutely had to have a go. As I don’t write these introductions for a laugh this is obviously what we’ll be discussing today.

 

 

Tsioque is a point and click adventure with a bit of a twist that I’ll come back to shortly. This is a game about a little girl called Tsioque, pronounced Chock for those of you that don’t like odd collections of letters, who has to escape from the clutches of an evil wizard. To give you a very brief overview of the plot, your mother, the queen, has to leave you behind and lead the kingdom’s army into war. This would be all well and good but for the fact that the court wizard decides he’s going to raise an evil army and take over the castle. On a side note if you’re a monarch in a fantasy setting and you’re looking for a court wizard or advisor it might be best to put, “can’t be evil” in the job description. It would save so much heartache and unnecessary questing. Saying that we wouldn’t have most of our great games either.

You find yourself in the castle dungeon in the company of a rather inept guard and something with tentacles. From here you must find your way out of prison and escape the castle. As the whole place is crawling with evil minions this job is absolutely easier said than done. Something else hampering you is that you’re a little girl. Being a little girl means that you can’t reach anything above head height without issue, can’t carry anything heavy and absolutely can’t fight. This means finding other, more ingenious, solutions to the problems that you face and this to a degree is where a lot of the moon logic I mentioned earlier comes into play.

 

This is where your tale begins. Get out of that cell or you won’t be going anywhere.

 

For those of you that don’t remember many games in the genre or don’t know what moon logic is … the best way I can describe it is finding the most unusual way to solve a problem. Generally in games  such as Tsioque if the solution seems to be straightforward then you’re probably going about things the wrong way. The carrot I mentioned earlier here is a very good example of this. You come into a room above the castle’s main gate. You can see the wheels that move the portcullis and appear to open the door below you. These are way to heavy for you to move and appear to be rusted up. Nearby you find a barrel full of tar with its lid missing. You have a cup in your inventory.

So you need to put tar in the cup and use that on the wheels right? Wrong! The tar in that barrel is to be used on a carrot which in turn is for a totally different puzzle. Why do you need a tar covered carrot? Excellent question. Play the game and find out. Tsioque is riddled with puzzles like this and this is one of the things I think I love most about the game. I’ve played a lot of games in the point and click genre so I was fully expecting moon logic. If you’ve never played anything like this before, good luck; it can be maddening.

 

You will revisit areas many times. Never assume that finding a puzzle and solving it straight away are possible.

 

So you move around the castle collecting items and solving puzzles as you go. You can’t die in Tsioque which is a definite plus but you’ll know if you’ve done something wrong because you’ll get a bit of a cut scene then be dumped back just before you fouled up. This brings me to the part of the game that I don’t like so much. A certain element of this title has Dragon’s Lair-esque puzzles mixed in with the rest. I won’t quite call these quick time events because they don’t necessarily rely on you inputting certain commands in short succession. You will, however, find yourself either having to use items or click certain areas of the screen quickly to avoid repeating a scene over again. This might happen when you are being hunted by guards or in one notable scene where if you don’t use something in your inventory at just the right time you’ll get eaten.

Personally I like puzzles that I’m given the time to solve and I absolutely hate repeating myself. If you don’t know what you have to do next you’ll just repeat the same scene over and over until you figure it out. Some of these particular areas have to be completed to move forward, you can’t just do something else until you’ve nailed a solution. This can make playing really infuriating when you have a bunch of areas like this back to back. This is a personal gripe, it’s not game breaking but I’d have been happier with the usual slow puzzling pace.

 

The guards aren’t very smart but they’re brilliant at getting in your way.

 

Coming back to Dragon’s Lair you can see that someone on the Dev team must have really liked that game or at least the artwork. That late 80s, early 90s drawn out cartoon style is definitely present in Tsioque and I’m all for it. Playing this game is like watching a cartoon from all those years ago. With this being my youth there’s something about this title that really scratches the nostalgia bone in my body. Personal feelings aside, the entire aethetic this game is going for is absolutely beautifully created and the sound is also very fitting. When it comes to look and feel it really is like playing through a cartoon and this is awesome.

Tsioque is a lovely title to control, as long as you know what you’re doing. Everything is point and click so there’s really no reason why anyone should have difficulty getting to grips with the interface. The only problem I found comes back to the puzzles I’ve just mentioned. Some areas of the game require you to think on a dime and if your timing is out you’ll find yourself repeating a lot. This isn’t a comment against the controls as such but one miss-click is all it will take to see you starting over.

 

 

All in all this is a great little game. The story draws you in, the puzzles are fun if a little aggravating at times and it all plays very nicely indeed. With this being said there is one big thing that is going to put players off. Very simply you have to like this sort of game. This isn’t the sort of thing where I’d say pick it up, give it a crack and see what you think, you may well warm to it. If you don’t like puzzles that make you think laterally you’re going to get very frustrated. This isn’t the sort of puzzler that you can get good at with practice.

There is obviously a theme running throughout the game in that you’re finding and using items but because everything needs to be used differently each puzzle requires a slightly different set of thinking. Some of you will find the moon logic that’s present here downright annoying, this is going to make the whole game a no-go for you. Personally, I really like a bit of point and click puzzling so this is all right up my alley but I can definitely see why other gamers wouldn’t be as enthused. This is also game that takes a bit of time to think things through. This means that the pace my not be to everyone’s liking either. If you want something fast and frantic definitely look elsewhere.

 

 

If you happen to be a puzzle fan and a fan of games that seriously test your brainpower, (and sanity,) this is a great choice for you. If you’re entering the point and click genre for the first time this might also be a good choice. One thing I will definitely say is that Tsioque isn’t as hard as other titles I’ve played, Discworld for instance had me pulling my hair out and I was a veteran of this type of game by the time I played it. With Tsioque everything feels doable with a bit of thought and this is really important in helping you absorb the story and get into the flow. To put it all simply, if you like puzzles, play it, if you don’t steer clear. That probably sounds like a cop out but there is really no other reason not to give this game a try.

 

 

 

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

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REVIEW / Kenshi (PC)

 

Loading Kenshi for the first time without any sort of research on the game is a mistake. I made it. Others will likely make it. We’ve become accustomed to a level of hand holding in games that when you encounter an experience like Kenshi, you won’t know what to do.

 

 

Kenshi is a “free-roaming squad based RPG” from Lo-Fi Games. It’s a giant sandbox (both literally and figuratively) that beckons you to explore its world while smacking you in the face for doing so. I died a lot my first few runs until I quit out and read through some wikis online, which were somewhat helpful. The reality is that this world has a lot going on and you and your party are just a small part of it. I applaud the scale of this game and can see why it took a long while to get out of early access.

 

 

Kenshi offers different play modes from RPG to RTS: your character’s background affects the type of game you are playing and its difficulty. Character customization offers 4 playable races that effect skill bonuses and faction relations. Humans are the characters that offer the least resistance throughout the world, but their bonuses are uninspiring. The Shek, Hive, and Skeletons offer more interesting statistical advantages, but they also come with counterbalancing to other skillsets (ie, your big boy Shek can carry a lot of gear, but he won’t be sneaking around town at night stealing from shops without getting caught).

 

 

Leveling is similar to Morrowind in that your character and squad mates become more proficient in their skills by using them. You will start as a blank slate in the game, so its important in the early goings to get proficient in something. This reminded me a lot of Morrowind and starting out in Seyda Neen missing a lot of sword swings on mud crabs and dying. Gaining proficiency early is critical to your survival in Kenshi and also because you need to put some food on the table, because your characters need to eat!

 

 

I don’t think there is much of a story here, but that’s okay. The world is your oyster and your story will be completely unique. Besides, sandbox games shouldn’t try to pigeonhole you into something you don’t want to engage with them. The difficult curve is steep, but once you start understanding Kenshi, I can see why people have invested a ton of hours into this game. Kenshi does a little bit of everything, but I don’t know if it does all of those things right and/or satisfyingly; the map is huge (rivaling Daggerfall in size) and there are plenty of NPCs to interact with, but don’t expect much charisma from them.

 

 

Yet, all the different skills and systems within this game offer you seemingly endless play depending on the type of game you want here. Trial and error of trying to fight hordes of bandits led me to a life of being a miner/trader. I recruited a squad to help mine around one of the main towns and was eventually buying and building a house in the city to run my mining/trading company from. I engaged in combat to help the city guards, but never sought out raiders. Eventually, I can build up my own town and prosper if I so choose. The game offers you the ability to build and create your own slice of home in the world, and then choose how you want to integrate into it.

 

 

Graphically, the game is rough around the edges. After playing through games like Mount & Blade and its sequel, graphics can become an afterthought if the game is engaging and keeps you coming back for more. Much like the graphics, the music and sound effects get the job done. But hey, if you are called Lo-Fi Games, I expect nothing more! Seriously though, I am cool with this, but I get it if others are turned off by the dated look and feel.

 

 

Kenshi is one of the most difficult games that I have ever had the pleasure of reviewing. There is so much here to see and do that I feel like I barely scratched the surface with any of my characters. But what I see is a game that you can spend hours upon hours playing, which is something I would have loved as a kid with no money and lots of free time to kill. If games like Morrowind and Mount & Blade bring back fond memories of engaging gameplay and a sense of wanderlust, then I think you would jump into a game like Kenshi head first and love it.

 

 

 

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

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Fresh Prince star suing over Fortnite dance moves

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star, Alfonzo Ribeiro, is suing Epic Games over dance moves used within the game.

The Carlton

Aptly named, ‘the Carlton’ after Ribeiro’s character Carlton Banks. First airing on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air the dance has remained iconic to the show and Ribeiro. Swinging those hips and arms from side-to-side, bopping merrily along to Tom Jones. What’s not to love? For many, the dance is a new pop culture experience that has come from playing Fortnite.

Ribeiro is the process of having the move copyrighted and is suing Epic Games for their use of the dance in Fortnite Battle Royale. Where players have the option to purchase the in-game emote titled the ‘fresh’ emote.

Ribeiro is also suing 2K for their use of ‘the Carlton’ in NBA 2K16. Prior to Ribeiro, 2 Milly filed against 2K for their use of his dance ‘The Milly’ in the game.

The Floss

Russell [The Backpack Kid] Horning’s mother also come forward and is suing Epic for the use of her sons move “the floss” as a buyable emote.

Ribeiro’s lawyer has stated,

“It is widely recognized that Mr. Ribeiro’s likeness and intellectual property have been misappropriated by Epic Games in the most popular video game currently in the world, Fortnite.”

Going on to say, “Epic has earned record profits off of downloadable content in the game, including emotes like “Fresh.” Yet Epic has failed to compensate or even ask permission from Mr. Ribeiro for the use of his likeness and iconic intellectual property.”

 

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The Maestros – latest game update

 

Fans of The Maestros team vs team action strategy, can unwrap their new content early this Christmas. Developers Systence Games have just released the whopper update that aims at enhancing competitors gameplay.

For those who are new to The Maestros, the game is a team vs team action-strategy. Players choose their commander and lead them in an arena battle against various opponents, with varied level of skill. The overall goal is to transform cute animals and robots into upgraded beasts and bots. Forge your squad, then deliver to the enemy opponents a solid strategic beat-down. 

The Maestros is a story centred around the dieselpunk Knights of Teutonia and the alchemists of Regalis. Battles between these two rivals carry across several maps, each with their own objectives, AI controlled enemies and boss enemies to defeat. All seeking the rare Arkanium needed to fuel their wars progression and save their people. 

Fans can expect this update to bring with it improved bot behaviours and new ways for players to enhance their skills. Beginner bots now have more advancements towards challenging the opponent to overcome new threats. While these beginner bots are now less threatening to new players, the update did provide them with a few new tricks. Developers have also introduced intermediate bots in an effort to help players level up their skills in game. 

The Maestros is currently available on Steam early access.

Follow The Maestros on Twitter and Facebook for live updates.

 

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The Spy Who Shrunk Me set for imminent Early Access release

 

One thing I think many gamers can be accused of is taking things too seriously. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have rage quitters or people suffering from disappointment thanks to over-hyped releases. I think that we forget sometimes that we game and that the nature of this should be lighthearted and fun. It’s not just us on the receiving end that can be accused of this, however; devs can be just as bad for being a bit on the serious side. With this in mind, it’s always nice to be given something to play that has a genuine amount of hunour running through it. This can be expected in the imminent release from the lads and lasses over at Catland Ltd. who are readying their game, The Spy Who Shrunk Me.

The Spy Who Shrunk Me is a stealth game that will be coming to our PC screens in just a few scant days time. You will find yourself in the shoes of Audrey Smoothspy, an agent with her own shrink ray (obviously), as well as a host of other exotic and unusual spy gadgets, including banana peels.  It is your mission to unravel a dangerous secret while being placed in the backdrop of 1980s Moscow. If you don’t succeed, there is a very good chance the Cold War will be getting an awful lot warmer.

As I’ve mentioned, this is a stealth game. Armed with your shrink ray, you will be able to minimize enemy guards to your heart’s content. Have you heard the term, “Having your career flushed down the toilet?” In this case, that can be taken a bit more literally. We’ll leave that up to your own imaginations, shall we? If you aren’t planning on toying with your foes, you can just use your skill and guile to creep past them. If you’re smart enough, you can actually get through the entire game without harming a single soul.

This is a first-person romp that is said to combine a good dose of humour with a brilliantly drawn 80s aesthetic. “The Spy Who Shrunk Me is a fully voice acted narrative experience where you get to drive a minature car, drop people down paper shredders, and do other crazy stuff in the 80s Moscow!,” commented Tomi Toikka, CEO of Catland. “Missions range fom hacking servers, sabotaging equipment, extracting targets and taking out key personnel to saving the world itself from the Soviet menace! Fans of the old classic No One Lives Forever games can rejoice – the game is a huge love letter to the legendary spy game series.”

If you fancy doing a bit of sneaky spying and having a chuckle at the same time, The Spy Who Shrunk Me will be hitting Steam Early Access today. It will be staying there until the beginning of next year when a VR version of this title is set for release. To be able to enjoy this game in full VR, you’ll need motion controllers and a room-scale setup to play. The Spy Who Shrunk Me will be compatible with both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive with Touch controllers. It will also support Microsoft Mixed Reality headsets.

So there you have it. If you want to play this in VR, you might have a little while to wait. Why not just get stuck in and see what it’s all about, first? You’ll only have another day or two before release and it’ll give you something fun to do in the run up to getting a knock from Santa. Please don’t think about shrinking him, though; he might be needed elsewhere.

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Trainer battles finally added to Pokemon Go

 

 

It’s finally time, trainers! After years of fan requests, Niantic has finally added trainer battles to Pokemon Go. As with trading in the game, PvP battles will mostly be limited to players in the same physical location; this is meant to keep with the social nature of Pokemon Go. However, you can battle friends remotely if your friendship level is high enough. If you want to give the new feature a try but don’t have any fellow players nearby, you can also practice against the three team leader characters. You can earn rewards through these battles just as you can through PvP battles, so it’s worth a shot.

Before you fight, you’ll need to prepare your teams. Trainer battles take place within one of three leagues, each with a different CP limit so that even weaker Pokemon and lower-level trainers have a shot at victory. You can set up multiple teams of 3 for each league, then choose which one you want to use when it’s time to battle. The CP limit of the league is the only restriction; you can put together a team of 3 Mewtwo if you really want to. But the battle system is still simplified, and although a couple of extra mechanics have been added to make trainer battles more strategy-based than raids and gyms, type advantages are still a huge factor.

There are a couple of other changes and events hitting the game as well. For one, owners of Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee will now have an easier time catching the Mythical Pokemon Meltan, as using the Mysterious Box in Go will now cause many more Meltan to appear. This will be a big help to players trying to gather the 400 candies required to evolve Meltan into Melmetal.

For now, trainers level 10 or higher can start battling right away. Go to your Pokemon list, then click the new Battle tab. From here you can put together a team, fight the team leaders, or exchange battle codes to fight a nearby trainer. Victory can net you some great rewards, including the elusive Sinnoh Stone, but there do seem to be some technical glitches getting in the way of a good fight. When I tried to battle my friend, my Pokemon didn’t seem to do much, getting hit by three or more Charge Attacks before ever using one themselves. Hopefully this will all be patched up soon.

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REVIEW / Iris.Fall (PC)

 

Iris.Fall is an indie puzzle adventure game by NEXT Studios that utilities light and shadow as its core concept. You play as Iris, a girl who awakens from a strange dream and follows a black cat to a dilapidated theater. Here she travels back and forth between a strange land of light and shadow, utilizing special books that allow her to become her own shadow and traverse on a 2D plane rather than the regular 3D plane to progress.

 

 

The three key parts of Iris.Fall are the story, the art style and design, and the story. The first thing that struck me about Iris.Fall was the monochromatic color scheme – occasionally peppered with small, deliberate bits of yellow or blue as the story progresses – and the exceptional design and art style. Iris has a sort of manga-style character design, and it’s honestly really cute. Her whole design is absolutely gorgeous and looks…soft. With her billowy dress and cute little satchel and bow, she’s really endearing to play as and watch move through her idle animations, even though she remains pretty expressionless throughout the whole game. She doesn’t display a lot of personality, but as you progress further through the story that makes more sense.

The environments in the game, in addition to often being part of the puzzle room du jour, are so complex and deliciously crafted. There’s so much variation between each of the rooms, but so much detail crammed into each one without being too loud or excessive. Some of the animated sequences, of which there are few, lean on the side of being a little too rough, but given that it’s an indie game, it can be forgiven.

 

 

While I’ll touch on this point more when I cover gameplay, I would love to acknowledge the masterful use of light and shadow in the puzzles and the set design. Light and shadow puzzles are nothing new (and if I’m being honest, light-based puzzles are some of my most hated in regular games), but I was surprised to find that NEXT Studios were able to consistently provide varied and interesting puzzles that all relied on this concept.

While I didn’t include the music in the three key parts mentioned above, it would be a disservice to Iris.Fall to not mention its clever use of music and ambient noise. There isn’t a lot of music in Iris.Fall, and when there is, it’s lovely pondering, deliberate piano pieces that aren’t overly complex. The game largely relies on ambient noise, even down to just Iris’ footsteps as she paces around the room, or the sound of puzzle pieces grinding together. Despite all that, Iris.Fall never feels too quiet or devoid of meaningful music and sound. There are a few parts where the ambient and mechanical sounds have intentionally been harmonized to create a rhythm in the background, and that was a really, really nice touch.

 

 

Moving on to gameplay, Iris.Fall is still very clearly an indie game, as the movement isn’t as smooth as you’d expect from a big name release. However, once you accept that the pace is going to be a bit more slow and plodding – without being irritating – you begin to settle back into a slower pace. It helps that Iris.Fall isn’t a game where you’re ever pursued or have to run away from anything. I’ve played indie games in the past which had that slightly slow plod to them, which is absolutely terrifying in an action or horror game. Transferring back and forth between 2D and 3D plane feels smooth and natural and the points in which you can make this change are well signposted by the books that allow you to turn into your shadow.

Iris.Fall was the first puzzle game  I’ve encountered where I’ve changed my tune from “I’m not very good at puzzle games” to “I’m pretty good at this, but it takes a while for it to click”, so I have to thank NEXT Studios for changing my tune on this point. If you think that means that the game is a cakewalk, you would be wrong. I managed to get through all but three puzzles in the game without assistance, but some really took some time to figure out. I think that the puzzles in this game are some of the best and most varied that I’ve seen in my recent history of playing indie puzzler games, so I really can’t fault it there.

 

 

I honestly think that the story is the only other place, besides the sometimes slow speed and lack of smooth movement, where Iris.Fall loses points. The story isn’t bad, it’s just…not really there? Iris.Fall has fallen into that indie trap where the story is so fill-in-the-gaps and mysteriously left up to interpretation that it loses itself a bit.

There’s a “reveal” at the end that more or less explains what was going on, but because of the mute nature of all of the characters and the lack of any meaningful explanation as to Iris’ background and how she came to be where she was before the events of the game. The other main character and her magical background also have no real explanation and I had to try and figure out whether I was looking at a witch or a cultist or a madwoman or something else entirely. It’s hard to explain without playing the game, but I think that a little more backstory for Iris would have made the whole story a little more cohesive.

 

 

Iris.Fall is a game you can complete in five hours or less, and it’s absolutely worth those five hours of your life.  If you don’t think you’re a puzzle gamer, you’ll feel immense satisfaction from working your way through the clever puzzles in the game. If you are a puzzle gamer, you’re still likely to feel suitably challenged. The design and music are impeccable and while the story misses a few notes, this is still a game you should support.

Iris.Fall is now available on Steam for PC for $19.99AUD (currently on sale for $15.99AUD at the time of writing)

 

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

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REVIEW / Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden (PS4)

 

Way, way off in the distant future, bombs have dropped and countries have been destroyed. Oh, and ducks and pigs have gained sentience, bipedal movement, and the ability to fire weaponry. Everything you know is just a long forgotten memory, there’s a new order to society and it starts with doing anything to survive. This is the world we’re living in with Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden by The Bearded Ladies.

 

 

Mutant Year Zero is a strategic RPG that takes a hybrid approach, mixing combat styles reminiscent of Firaxis’ XCOM and the free exploration of a third person action-adventure. Year Zero pulls this off fantastically by prioritizing stealth as the best way to approach an enemy encounter. For example, you could sneak around the perimeter of a wasteland ghoul camp and ambush the sentries one by one before surrounding the remaining enemies and wiping them out with an ambush. The ways that an encounter can be won utilizing the different mutants strengths is truly satisfying and makes you feel like a bad ass road warrior.

The ability to move around freely when not engaged with an enemy makes the planning stage of the encounters much more fluid than its contemporaries. You can spin the camera around and see different features or blips on the terrain and just run point to point on the map getting a lay of the land before starting a fight. In games such as XCOM the map is on a consistent grid and getting to the other side could be a slog. This makes Mutant Year Zero just a bit easier to plan and anticipate enemy actions which can be a godsend in this style of tactical RPG.

 

 

However that’s not to say that Mutant Year Zero is an easy game. In fact the only difficulty options are normal, hard, and very hard with an iron man toggle for all three. I found that even at the lowest difficulty and with high level characters you can still wind up in impossible situations if you don’t have a solid plan. If you don’t plan, you die. It’s that simple.

There is permadeath in this game so you can lose your mutants for good. It’s entirely possible that you could be tasked with finishing out the game with one character, as there are only a small amount of distinct mutants to be found and recruited. The game starts you out with two of the best though; Bormin, a no nonsense Boar survivalist, and Dux, a wisecracking duck that looks out for himself.

 

 

These characters share banter with each other while exploring the ruins of the world and you can learn a lot about them and get a feel for their personalities. Each character feels unique and makes it that much more of a crippling blow if you were to lose them. The personality of your mutants is even represented in their skill sets as well. For example, Bormin is more brash and hard headed, his skill-set is that of a tank-y shotgunner that can absorb damage and dish it out twice as hard. If you lost Bormin you lost the best tank in the game and have to get really creative with encounters.

In Mutant Year Zero the free exploration out of combat comes in handy especially when collecting materials, reading datapads, or just absorbing the way that the mutants interact with the remnants of the old world. One of my favorites was when one of the members of my crew was telling a legend about “Izza & Fala” and their castle, but it ended up just being a sign on a bombed out restaurant that sold pizza & falafel.These charming touches go a long way in establishing the characters and lore of the new world.

 

 

The game is packed with similar moments that pop up on each map on the surprisingly short titular Road to Eden. Mutant year Zero is a fantastic concept and what it delivers is a blast to play, but the content is lacking and it’s immediately noticeable. I finished the entire game in a few play sessions, but in my first long look I felt like I had seen a lot of what the game had to offer.

It’s actually a good thing that the game came out as short as it is considering the amount of variety that was put in play. There isn’t much in the way of unlockable gear, new mutants, or enemy varieties. For the most part, you get the whole experience of the gameplay in the first few hours. It’s a steady ramp up that feels like it finishes before the climax. When the story ended I sat confused staring at the screen from the abruptness of the ending. I had fought the final battle and it felt like any other fight I had found out in the wild, but now there were end credits.

 

 

The pieces are there for this to become a series, and if that’s the case, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a solid foundation. The Bearded Ladies do a lot of things right in this game, the atmosphere, characters, and moment to moment gameplay are all very rich and worth the price of admission. However, there is a lot to be desired in the narrative as well as the breadth of content and variety of said content. Mutant Year Zero is fantastic as an episode of something larger to come, but as a full standalone game it falls just short of the mark.

 

 

 

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

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Kingdom Hearts III opening movie trailer

 

Square Enix have released the opening trailer for Kingdom Hearts III. With the game set to release just after Christmas, this is no-doubt a final glimpse for fans.

That trailer though

As for the opening trailer, well…it’s got fans of the series very excited. Sora is back, with the support of his animated pals. Teaming-up once more in their aid to defeat the heartless within their enemies and Xehanort, in all of his forms. With the trailer breaching well over two-million views, it is clear that Kingdom Hearts III fans have long anticipated this game’s release. The song, a perfect fit. Hikaru Utada is back with her vocals for the trailer, teaming with Skrillex to create ‘Face my fears’. 

 

 

The story

“KINGDOM HEARTS III tells the story of the power of friendship as Sora and his friends embark on a perilous adventure. Set in a vast array of Disney and Pixar worlds, KINGDOM HEARTS follows the journey of Sora, a young boy and unknowing heir to a spectacular power. Sora is joined by Donald Duck and Goofy to stop an evil force known as the Heartless from invading and overtaking the universe.

Through the power of friendship, Sora, Donald and Goofy unite with iconic Disney-Pixar characters old and new to overcome tremendous challenges and persevere against the darkness threatening their worlds.” – www.kingdomhearts.com.

 

Release

It’s been a while since Square Enix announced the Kingdom Hearts III release date. Longer still, for those fans anticipating a Kingdom Hearts III game announcement. Since the announcement, the trailers and rumours surrounding the game have rolled in. While the pallet has been dampened, fans are still thirsty. This trailer is just one…last…drop before the deluge. Thankfully, the long wait is drawing to a close as January 29th 2019 approaches.

Kingdom Hearts III is available now for pre-order.

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