Developer Klabater and Juggler Games, the studio behind My Memory of Us, come together to deliver a unique gaming experience in The Amazing American Circus.
Blending elements of a card game, tycoon, and an adventure game, The Amazing American Circus looks to set itself apart from other titles in each of these genres.
In The Amazing American Circus, players will take on the role of a poverty-stricken circus owner and attempt to build themselves up in order to create the best circus experience in the 19th Century United States. Players will build a circus and travel across the country collecting cards and gathering unique artists and performers along the way, each with their own personal stories to tell.
The action will play out via an original and challenging card game. Battle against enemies, as well as the constant threat of audience boredom. The game will feature over 100 historical figures from the age of the industrial revolution including the likes of Susan B. Anthony and Nikola Tesla. The soundtrack is also inspired by classic circus music.
The Amazing American Circus will be heading to Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC in 2021.
Metroidvania…now there’s a term we don’t hear as often as we used to. Before the roguelike came along to make gamers’ lives far more difficult than necessary, the Metroidvania genre was doing a very good job of it all on its own. In fact, the notion of starting you with virtually nothing and making you work for every last bit of any chance at success may well have been something the roguelike borrowed. So…guns, back-tracking (lots of it), exploration, and hard as nails things wanting to stop you doing the aforementioned. It’s called Outpost Delta and it’s reminding us why Metroidvania was a really clever thing to be part of.
Setting you into the role of Delta, an emergency defense drone located on the outpost of a research station, Outpost Delta will task you with defending the station’s secrets from a bunch of invading aliens called The Klaath. Said lifeforms have invaded the station in a bid to steal its secrets. If you do your job properly, they won’t be stealing anything or leaving, for that matter.
Outpost Delta is a twin-stick shooter with teeth. On top of the run and gun, you’ll encounter some interesting physics-based mechanics. Delta has the ability to control gravity, meaning shooting helpless, floating enemies out of thin air, or bludgeoning them to death with the ground are both very viable options.
It wouldn’t be a Metroidvania without bags of things to find, upgrade, and unlock. Outpost Delta has no shortage of unlockable, upgradable weapons, and armor that can be customized to the player’s liking. Just remember the gun is only half the battle. You’ll need skill and good aim if you’re going to complete your mission and stop the invaders from succeeding.
Outpost Delta released this week for Steam and all major consoles, so you shouldn’t have any issues getting involved if you’re feeling the need to obliterate a few aliens. If you’re new to the Metroidvania style of play, this could definitely be an interesting place to start.
Enlisted, an online squad-based World War II first-person shooter, has been confirmed by developers Gaijin Entertainment to launch alongside the Xbox Series X/S this November. Players will be able to purchase the ‘Founder’s Pack’ to get access to the game as a Game Preview title when the new consoles launch on 10th November.
Enlisted features realistic squad-based combat set across large maps that are accurate representations of real-world WW2 battles, such as the ‘Battle of Moscow’ or the well-known ‘Normandy Invasion’. Players can take control of either infantry soldiers, tank commanders or an aircraft pilot as they battle it out with opposing players on the ground or in the air. All vehicles and weaponry are created with realism in mind as each remains true to their real-world counterparts.
Enlisted boasts a proprietary Ray Tracing system that will make the most of the new ray tracing hardware featured in the new consoles by offering more realistic lighting detail among other graphical enhancements. Further technical details have also been revealed with the Xbox Series X version of the game said to be capable of running at a 4K resolution, while the Xbox Series S will be able to run at a maximum of 1440p. Gaijin Entertainment have also revealed that the game will be targeting a stable 60 frames per second at these resolutions, which will surely make those forays behind enemy lines buttery smooth. No details were given on how long the game will remain exclusive to the Xbox Series X/S or how the game is expected to run on other consoles.
Enlisted will be part of the Xbox Series X/S launch line-up as a Game Preview title this November for players that purchase the ‘Founders Pack’. Further information on the game and its development can be found here.
As a child, I was fascinated by mythology. I loved immersing myself in the tales of gods and humans, learning about the history and life lessons from different cultures. Clearly, I’m not the only one who was heavily influenced by these fairytales. Hades places you in the underworld of the god of the dead while God of War merges Greek and Norse mythology to create an epic action-packed adventure. Videogames based on Greek and Norse mythology have been popular in recent years, but there’s a new game that pays homage to the culture of India. It’s been three years in the making, but Nodding Heads Games finally released Raji: An Ancient Epic.
The stunning trailer brings the magic of Indian lore to players as they become Raji, a young woman in Ancient India who is appointed by the gods to defeat the demon Mahabalasura. Raji’s younger brother is kidnapped, the human world is endangered, and Raji must risk her own life to protect those she loves. With blessings and mysterious powers from the gods, players will guide Raji on an incredible journey, learning combat and tactical skills along the way while choosing from an assortment of weapons to defeat enemies.
This indie action-adventure game provides its audience with a heartfelt story about siblings and a battle against evil set to an original soundtrack with quality design and aesthetics. Featuring artwork resembling the Pahari art style, Raji: An Ancient Epic incorporates beautiful hand-painted textures and lands based on real locations. Already, this game has been awarded for its visuals and game design and earned a spot on “Best of Steam’s Game Festival.” It’s a provocative masterpiece breathing life into the ancient legends of India.
Raji: An Ancient Epic is now available on PlayStation 4,Xbox One, and PC! Originally released on Nintendo Switch, this game continues to gain positive reviews among players. If you have a Steam account, check out the special promotional offer to get the game for 10% off. This offer ends on 10/22/2020. Additionally, if you’re a music lover, don’t forget to check out the soundtrack, which can be purchased as DLC on Steam.
Dorothy, Toto, the Wicked Witch of the West, Munchkinland. These are all familiar words to those of us who grew up watching the iconic fantasy film The Wizard of Oz. This movie was released 81 years ago but it still continues to influence our culture, even within the world of videogames. Imagine a game that mirrors some of the memorable elements from the film, but instead of a checkered blue dress, there’s a red hood and a little fox sidekick instead of a pointy-eared terrier.
Korean-based game developer Devespresso Games premiered the teaser trailer for Scarlet Hood and the Wicked Wood on October 8, 2020, promising fans a fun, adventure-filled, story-driven game that follows the title character on a fantastical journey. Scarlet not only faces the Black Witch, a big bad wolf, and other monsters, she must also relive the same day after being trapped in a time-loop hex. On top of that, she needs to guide her Munchkin troupe through the Wicked Wood without being attacked by enemies.
I remember fiddling around with text-based choose your own adventure games as a kid, excited to see all the different outcomes of the narrative. One path might lead to a bag of coins. Another path might lead to a spider-infested cave. Even with the lack of images, these stories came to life because the creator knew how to fabricate a world that engrossed players. Scarlet Hood takes this concept to the next level by including beautiful visuals similar to those in graphic novels while immersing players in a world that alludes to fairytale stories from childhood.
Scarlet might seem like an innocent girl from Kentucky but she’s got some witchcraft skills she can use while trapped in the Wicked Wood. Throughout your adventure, you’ll help Scarlet solve puzzles and determine her path as you guide her to the end of her journey. Which ending will you choose?
Early Access for Scarlet Hood and the Wicked Wood debuts in December for PC, Mac, and Linux. Don’t forget to set a reminder for yourself on Steam if you want to be one of the first to get your hands on Devespresso’s upcoming game! This puzzle adventure is sure to remind you that there’s no place like home…in front of your computer.
There are certain tropes that flourished in an arcade setting but never caught on as much with us console owners. This is strange really considering all the other games we dumped so much money into in the arcade and would have given an arm and a leg to own ourselves. One of these tropes is the rail shooter. This particular type of game tended to fall into one of two categories, both of which involved a light-gun of some description. The first saw you moving from scene to scene and getting attacked by characters that literally looked like moving cutouts. The other type made your opponents far more lifelike (often using FMV), but still having you move from one fixed location to another.
Some titles did really well on console. If we remember how much fun we had with games such as Virtua Cop and House of the Dead, for instance, there’s no doubting that there were occasions the rail shooter did very well in our own homes. On the whole, though, it’s very much a sub-genre that’s been lost to the passage of time. Now, after that rather lengthy, somewhat nostalgic little set up we come to the game we’re talking about today. It’s called Bartlow’s Dread Machine and it’s giving the rail shooter a much-needed shout out.
Bartlow’s Dread Machine is taking a lot of inspiration from early 20th-century game cabinets. Note I said early? Yes, unbelievably, there was a time we didn’t have videogames. We’re talking about cabinets that had you moving about on real rails, not the imaginary ones I’ve just mentioned. All these great ideas had to come from somewhere you know … so … history.
Set entirely within the confines of the Dread Machine, a relic from the dawn of the technological age, Bartlow’s Dread Machine, casts one or two players as government agents in a series of escapades across New York, San Fransisco, and all across the American continent. Your task will be to rescue president Roosevelt from the forces of evil. You’ll need to be wary, though, there are more sinister elements at work than a few gun-toting goons.
Bound to the clockwork gizmos running the machine, agents are little more than mere metal figures running about on rails. They aren’t just puppets to be pushed around, though, and this is what makes things interesting. The agents still have free will in this bizarre environment and can choose which of the forking paths they wish to take to achieve victory.
Expect sets made of wood and tin to unfold around you as you navigate the strange world of the machine. Here, in this strange puppet-show, you will be introduced to a cast of improbable monsters and historical figures.
Bartlow’s Dread Machine is giving you bags of content to play with. You get a whole six worlds to explore and plenty of fire-power to wield within them. There’s an armory of 52 guns to take into combat. There should be something in that lot for even the most jaded gun-slinger. If aesthetics is your thing you’ll also have a tonne of different outfits to enable you to get your kill on with style.
Something I think we can all agree that we like is the ability to unlock stuff. This is a million times better than stinky loot boxes and skins you have to pay for. We’re harking back to the days when you got rewarded for being good at the game and not having a bit wallet. In the case of Bartlow’s Dread Machine, you’ll be able to unlock interesting new spins on some really well-known characters. Fancy seeing zombie General Custer? Why not, right? Nikolai Tesla? Annie Oakley? The devs in all three cases totally have your back.
“We wanted to create something we haven’t seen beforeand realized there was a little overlap between early 20th Century arcade cabinets and video games, as the latter replaced the former, so we wanted to essentially combine the two. ” Said Matthew Hoseterey, Co-Founder and Director of Design at Tribetoy. “Bartlow’s Dread Machine maintains the aesthetic and tone of the former, while instilling it with the buttery-smooth gameplay and advanced design of the latter – the result being something utterly original. We can’t wait for players to discover it for themselves on Steam and Xbox!”
If Bartlow’s Dread Machine sounds like something that will float your proverbial boat you can indeed discover it right this very second, (as soon as you finish reading this,) for your Steam playing, Xbox owning-selves. I’ll finish rambling and let you go and do just that but let me do you the kindness of leaving you the Steam link right here, and, of course, one for your Xbox and telling you this title will cost you the rather reasonable amount of $14.99, (£11.59 for us British players.) Right … think I’m done now; go have a look and enjoy.
There are many theories about what happens to us after we die in terms of where we end up. This destination is believed to be based on how you lived your life and treated others in the process. But what is not nearly discussed enough is the journey you take between death and arriving at your final destination. Mooneye Games Studio has created an experience that explores just this topic in their new game, Lost Ember. Take a journey to the afterlife, your afterlife, as a wolf with the ability to transform into the other animals of the forest as you explore a beautiful deserted world and discover the final fate of mankind.
You can’t embark on an epic quest without a trusty guide.
In Lost Ember, the wolf form is the main vessel you’ll inhabit in order to travel to the afterlife in the City of Light. As you play, you will discover that you used to be a person that was beloved by many, however, the memory of your death for some reason escapes you. Do not fret, however, as you are soon accompanied by another soul that is also trying to make his way to the City of Light. This guide of sorts looks out for you, helps you to navigate the various landscapes such as grasslands and mountains, and also narrates the story as you go along. You can play the game without the narration if you choose, that way you must depend solely on the visual cues in order to progress, but I would suggest playing with narration the first time you play so that you are getting the full story as it is surprisingly well written and very interesting.
Much of the story is told through the use of memories, or echos of the past, that you will come across as you make your way to the City of Light. These echos will show a scene from a pivotal event in your life and will help in piecing together where all the people have gone. The story is written as a bit of a mystery as to your fate and the fate of everyone else. I found myself wanting to get to the next point in the story just so I could find out what happened next. There were a few plot points that could have been left out or combined to create a more cohesive experience but over all I was able to follow what was going on.
Something incredibly terrible will play out on your journey in memories like these.
Gameplay is very simple and doesn’t take a whole lot of brain power to get used to. As the wolf, you can walk or run your way through the environment. Invariably, you will come across other animals of which you may need their unique abilities in order to progress through the level. For instance, you may come to an area where the wolf is no longer able to proceed further because you’ve come to the side of a sheer cliff. The wolf is ill-equipped to clime up a cliff but there is a bird that you can walk up to, assume its form, and then fly up and over that cliff and continue on your journey. Environmental puzzles like this are built into the game in a way that feels natural and takes advantage of many different types of animals making for multiple ways to traverse the varying terrains.
The visuals in Lost Ember are stunning on both the console itself and also when connected to the television. I have a 65″ Visio 4K TV and it looked amazing. I really couldn’t find one complaint. The environments are bright and vivid and make use of light and shadow masterfully. The views are sweeping and you can see far out into the distance, which was quite unexpected to me for an indy game of this sort. The animal designs do leave a little to be desired and it is very obvious where development focused its time when building this game. Overall, however, I think that it looks amazing and the real star of the show here is definitely the reclaimed-by-nature game-world.
The world is stunning with so many diverse landscapes that the Switch can barely keep up.
The sound design of the game is also a crowning achievement for this small studio out of Berlin and Hamburg. Ambient sounds make the world feel very alive, like it has been totally reclaimed by nature with the wind blowing through the trees, birds singing in the tree tops and the piercing howl of your wolf as it carries through the brisk air. The music is oftentimes haunting and at times uplifting and inspirational. The narration is also very spot on and the voice of the narrator is soothing and strangely comforting. These elements all combine to create an experience unlike anything that I have played in a long time and it was a welcomed distraction from the chaos of this year.
While there are some things that this game does well, it does have its blemishes that will reveal themselves in due time. My particular issue happened as I was exploring a particularly deep canyon in an early part of the game. To my surprise, the game contains a decent amount of different animals that have different abilities, however, if you make the wrong choice of animal and wander into an area of the game that isn’t compatible with that animal, you are stuck.
You can even jump into the bodies of these cute little wombats in order to get to certain parts of the game.
There are several types of birds in the game and the duck is one that can only fly so high above the ground. I flew down into a deep canyon and could not fly back up to the main area of the game. I then tried to transform back into the wolf but the canyon walls were too sheer for him to be able to climb out. My only option at that point was to restart back to a previous checkpoint and try again. Luckily, the game does a great job of having plenty of save spots so I didn’t have to start over too far back.
If you are looking for a game that is high octane and balls-to-the-wall excitement, this ain’t it, playa. This is a laid-back experience when you are looking for something to just relax and not have to think too much about what you are doing. Lone Ember is heavy on story and exploration and light on bullet spray. In fact, there are no bullets at all. You’re running around in lush environments while enjoying the views and being pulled along into an engaging and philosophical story about the choices you must make in life and what comes next.
This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.
Welcome to Elk takes you to an adventure where everyone you meet has a story to tell. All the stories too, by the way, are based on true narratives that the developers have interviewed. To converge all the stories into one, the developers set the game off the North Pole in an area called “Elk Island,” and you take control of a new inhabitant who just landed for work.
In Welcome to Elk you are Frigg, an alternative-looking woman, who has come to Elk Island to help off a local carpenter for experience and work. However, as soon as Frigg lands, she is taken to a party in the local bar, where she meets most of the locals and gets herself embroiled in the town’s drama. Even though Frigg is only there to help them out, the townspeople end up getting close to her and she ends up learning all their deep secrets.
In between her adventure, Frigg comes upon some mini-games that are very lighthearted and fun. One of them is imagining how one of the local’s parents would look and picking a set of eyes, nose, and mouth to put on a balloon. Yeah, some of the mini-games are weird, but sometimes you wonder why it was even necessary. Most of the mini-games do not really serve anything for the narrative, and sometimes are there just to prolong the current scene. However, some may find it fun and would want to replay them again and again.
At the end of each day, the stories Frigg chances upon in Welcome to Elk are transcribed in some weird bottles at her home. Frigg also starts meeting people with their own stories that other locals claim they do not know about. This leaves her trying to figure out where all of these weird phenomena are coming from, and that sets her on her own story that you get to figure out at the end of the game.
All in all, Welcome to Elk is a good heartfelt collection of narratives packaged into a game. You can complete the game in less than four hours, and the mini-games can keep your attention for a while. The main thing though, is that the experiences you will hear about will touch you for a long time.
This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.
First-person shooters are fun but not necessarily the most original things out there. We’ve all played them, we all pretty much know what to expect. Shooter fans looking for a bit of a change might well want to grab Firing Vibes, a new addition to the FPS catalog. What makes the title any different to the mountain of others out there? Well, put simply, it’s musical.
Have you ever picked up an assault rifle, started firing, and noticed that your shots have a rhythm? Probably not, you’re too busy trying not to get gunned down. If you have, however, Firing Vibes takes that notion and makes it into an entire game. In this title, if you aren’t firing along to a melody you probably aren’t going to last very long,
This newly announced indie game is the work of just one ingenious developer based in France. In Firing Vibes the melody starts when you pull the trigger. Damage is then calculated with each note successfully hit. This in turn creates a unique damage pattern depending on the melody. A fast melody may feel like you’re firing an assault rifle, a slow one, a sniper rifle, and so on. It’s not about the weapon you’re wielding, rather the tune you’re playing, which is actually pretty smart.
Firing Vibes is looking for quite a lot of depth and immersion. By combining musical weapons and building mechanics the developer is looking to create a competitive, multi-player online experience that will keep players coming back for more. A minimalist visual approach has also been taken to cut out all the minor details that can hinder the player’s view. This has been done to aid the competitive nature of the game and can only be a good thing.
If you think this might be worth a punt Firing Vibes will be coming to Steam Early Access in the not-to-distant future. If you’d like to be amongst the first batch of players getting involved you’ll find much of what you need to know here.
Personally, I’ve never been much of one for FPS games. Nothing wrong with the genre per-say, it just doesn’t float my boat. Firing Vibes looks interesting and different enough to be worth a download, you never know, it might just become the next big thing.
