Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare DLC Revealed & Thoughts

     Dotemu, Guardcrush, and Lizardcube have finally released the trailer for their brilliant Streets of Rage 4's first DLC titled Mr. X Nightmare.

     According to the Steam page:

"The fight continues in Wood Oak City.

After the events of Streets of Rage 4, our heroes wanted to prepare themselves for future threats. Axel, Blaze and their mates will start a very special deranged training with the help of Dr. Zan, who built an AI program from the remnants of Mister X’s brain that simulates every kind of danger they could be facing."

     The trailer reveals that not only will we be getting more gameplay, but it includes new special moves, new weapons, new enemies, and 3 new playable characters- of which we only currently see the highly anticipated Estel Aguirre!  Though the silhouettes at the end appear to hint at new Max and possibly the updated Shiva.  Many of us are also hoping to see long time fan-favorites join like Dr. Zan, Skate, and Roo so perhaps we'll eventually see a second DLC released further down the road with them as well..  

     They've stated that the DLC will allow players to customize their move sets giving players the ability to build the characters to their own kind of playstyles.  Dotemu has gathered a crew that seems to have given 200% in updating this beloved franchise.  Keep up the great work!

     Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare is listed as "Coming Soon." [ Steam ]

Borderlands 3: NEW DLC for Borderlands 2: Commander Lilith & the Fight for Sanctuary

     As has been speculated for the last year or so, it looks as if there will be an absolutely new story DLC for Borderlands 2 coming.  It's been almost 7 years since the game originally launched and this appears to be a bridge between the last game and its highly anticipated sequel.

     According to a post on ResetEra, Twitter user @RobotBrush had spotted the Steam page leak.  Some of the details included things like a level cap raise to 80, new enemies, vehicle skins, rainbow rarity weapons, a major new villain, and a wonderful little fact that it'll be 100% free.  The Steam page has since been taken down but not before having things been screencapped, saved, and noted.

     The leaked description reads:

     "Return to the award winning shooter-looter for a new adventure that sets the stage for the upcoming Borderlands 3. Sanctuary is under siege, the Vault's map has been stolen and a toxic gas is poisoning Pandora. Fight new bosses, explore new zones, get new loot (including an entirely new tier beyond Legendary) and join up with Lilith and the Crimson Raiders to take on a deranged villain hell-bent on ruling the planet. 

     Returning players can pursue an increased level cap of 80, while newcomers can automatically boost to level 30 and dive straight into the action."

     With the HD remasters, new Borderlands 2 DLC, and Borderlands 3 all hitting this year- it's truly the year of the Borderlands.  Now we can only wait and see what other goodies Gearbox might be cooking up for fans.  Personally I hope we get a mobile tie in game, and a plethora of entertainment merchandise like comics and toys.

     And probably the best part of the leak is that...

       ...it claims that Commander Lilith & The Fight for Sanctuary drops June 9th!

     Proof of Steam redaction [ Here ]

     Borderlands 3 launches on Sept. 13th.

     Related posts [ Borderlands ]

Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered Coming Later this Year!

     #JoinTheGhostbusters!

     It looks like Ghostbusters fans are in for quite a treat.  This year marks both the 35th anniversary of the franchise and the 10th anniversary of The Video Game itself.
     In recent years there's been a plethora of Ghostbusters mobile games and a few console games, but none of them have truly captured the spirit of the franchise so special in the first place, and this fact is made so much more obvious as when playing Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

     According to the official Saber Interactive announcement:

     Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered delivers a unique story from Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis that captures the supernatural comedic fun and fright fans love from the franchise, which celebrates the 35th anniversary of Ghostbusters this year. 

     As the new rookie on the Ghostbusters crew, you’ll team up with your favorite characters from the films, reunited by the voices of Aykroyd, Ramis, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson as Stantz, Spengler, Venkman and Zeddemore, alongside Annie Potts, Brian Doyle-Murray, William Atherton, and Max von Sydow. Manhattan is overrun once more by ghosts, demons, and other paranormal creatures unleashed by a mysterious force, and only the Ghostbusters can drive this evil back to whatever dimension it crawled from and save the Big Apple. 

     Hunt, fight and trap a variety of new and familiar ghouls and phantasms, all remastered in HD resolution. Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered equips you with cool gadgets and upgradeable weapons to play with in huge boss fights and destructible environments. Scan and analyze targets with the P.K.E. Meter and Paragoggles, then strap on your Proton Pack to wear ghosts down with the blast stream before wrangling them with the capture stream.

     There's a reason many fans consider The Video Game as third film despite it being removed from official canon.  It plays well, it's got a great story, and it was made by the original crew.
     The 2016 Ghostbusters game was a mere reskin of 2011's Sanctum of Slime, the Ghostbusters: Lego Dimensions game is the standard LEGO game kind of fun, there's a generic puzzle game Ghostbusters: Puzzle Fighter, for a time the small side-scrolling, gem of a platformer titled Little Ghostbusters was available, and a low key kids game PLAYMOBIL Ghostbusters, then there was the mediocre Ghostbusters: Slime City, as well as the strange augmented reality game Ghostbusters: Paranormal Blast which was essentially remade by a better company into Ghostbusters World.  There's even an augmented reality VR game by Sony Interactive called Ghostbusters: Now Hiring, which is yet another mundane game for mobile devices.  In addition there was a bunch of content added to the Respawnables from the Ghostbusters franchise that was surprisingly well done.

     Sadly, the best game the franchise has ever produced was Ghostbusters: The Video Game, and now we get it as a wonderful remaster by Saber Interactive.  We can only hope that as we close in on Jason Reitman's new Ghostbusters film (slated to release on July 10th, 2020) we might see some new games, mobile or otherwise, that are up to the high quality of The Video Game.

Good news Ray, the Remaster is staring right at me.

     Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered is coming to PS4, XBox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via the Epic Game Store later this year.

     The official site [ Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered ]

     Related Posts [ Ghostbusters ]

Borderlands 3: Official Announce Trailer: Launch Day & Epic Games Exclusivity

     Well, today is a momentous occasion- we get both great news with the official launch date (Sept. 13th, 2019), alongside some pretty crap news.  We have official confirmation that Borderlands 3 will not launch on Steam, but instead will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store for 6 months.

     I don't like to be a naysayer, but this is not a move people like.  The Epic Game Store has been in some serious controversies (primarily the spyware potential and privacy policies/data protection problems- as seen in this wonderful explanation video by Yong Yea).  Steam having competition is a very good thing, but the way things are being handled are not.  Making this worse is the limited features of the store in general.

     I've been a Borderlands supporter since the original launched a decade ago, and this is the first time I will not be buying it on PC.  I will not support it on the Epic Game Store, I absolutely refuse to use it and will wait the 6 months of exclusivity to get it on Steam with my other Borderlands games.  That said, I'll still be purchasing it on Playstation 4 as that is my primary console (outside of PC).

     To read how displeased many, MANY fans are just scan through the responses on the official @Borderlands tweet.  And for even more, the link to the official trailer has a plethora of disapproval throughout the comments section.  It isn't the best idea to crap on Steam users.  Sorry 2K, but this was not a good decision at all.

     For related posts [ Borderlands ]

Dark Souls Remaster: Officially Announced!!!

     The original Dark Souls has been a game fans have enjoyed in and out since its arrival in late 2011, and after years of asking and rumors culminating in an insider leak last month of a Remaster on the way, we finally have the first official teaser trailer and announcement.
     Series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki previously stated that his Dark Souls saga was complete with part 3's DLC The Ringed City, but left some potential openings for remasters and even new installments long down the line.

     Praise the Sun fellow travelers.  According to the official site:

     DARK SOULS: REMASTERED allows players to explore the twisted ancient land of Lordran in the first title of the critically acclaimed action role-playing series like never before. Experience the rich world of DARK SOULS in upscaled 4K resolution with 60FPS when playing on a PlayStation 4 Pro system, Xbox One X, and PC.  Also, 1080p resolution with 30FPS is available when playing the game on Nintendo Switch with its TV mode. 

     We've also been promised a much-needed multiplayer experience, with the move from Player-to-player connectivity to dedicated servers, as well as the change from 4 players to 6.  Now, many of us are waiting to see if we'll also receive the ability to play with friends that Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne had with the password system.
     Personally, I'm curious to see if they'll clean up the combat a bit (NOT sped up, just not as clunky)- with things like better hit boxes, omni-directional rolling, and the like.  Fextralife claims to have been working with Fromsoft on fixing a lot of these issues and the multitude of bugs in the game since 2016.  Perhaps we may even see some changes to Lost Izalith, as Miyazaki has voiced his displeasure many times about how it wasn't up to standards.

     This return to Lordran is going to be great.

     Dark Souls Remastered is slated to arrive May 5th, 2018.

     Related posts [ Dark Souls ]

     Dark Souls official [ Website ] [ Twitter ] [ Facebook ]

Dark Souls Remastered: Might Actually be Happening (Confirmed by Original Reporter)

[ UPDATE ] Apparently there's been some more confirmations to Original Tweet (& Deleted link), and Sellers also noted that two games were specifically the Dark Souls Remaster and Soul Calibur 6- as well as the fact they are NOT exclusives to the Switch.

     Dark Souls as a series might be over, but many fans (including myself) have been begging for a remastered version of the original (as well as one for Demon's Souls) for a very long time over on Reddit and elsewhere.
     Over the last few months there have been rumors circulating that one indeed may be on the way, and recently we got news of the Demon's Souls servers finally closing down after almost a decade.  Then yesterday Nintendo Switch Network writer Marcus Sellers accidentally revealed some juicy news.

     In a tweet he posted, he let it slip that at a December 15th Bandai-Namco event that "5 unannounced games would be shown off." In addition Nintendo would be featured heavily.
     What makes this even better is he replied to another person's tweet revealing the news of the Dark Souls Remaster- which has since been deleted, but thanks to the ever vigilant internet dwellers, it was screen-capped and saved.

     The tweet mentioned the fact that the 2011 game re-released in Remastered form would be coming to not only the Playstation 4 and Xbox One, but the Nintendo Switch as well.  If Seller's tweet is true, then all of us Souls fans can once again return to Lordran in all of its glory and splendor with a completely new and beautiful journey into darkness.*

     I'm sure many are hoping to also hear an official announcement of a Bloodborne sequel (personally if they do, I hope it's in a far futuristic setting like a Dead Space game), some Armored Core news, and the like, but for me- a Dark Souls Remaster is exactly the news I've been waiting for.  Improved graphics, a more balanced PvP connectivity, and better controls would be a godsend for the game.  When I say better controls- I do NOT mean the infinite rolling of the 3rd game, just a smoother flow and slightly less clunky as the methodical combat of the first game is still unmatched in its perfection.  This remaster could revitalize the entire Souls community.

     Related posts [ Dark Souls ]

     Source [ Seasoned Gaming ] via [ ComicBook ] & [ Reddit ]

*My Ps3 trophies from when DS1 first arrived. Such great memories.

Marvel Heroes Omega: My Thoughts on Disney Officially Shutting it Down

THE OFFICIAL NEWS

     After 4 and a half years of having some serious ups and downs, Marvel Heroes is finally being closed.  Over the last month many of us long time players have been speculating about this possibility on the forums, the first news broke from Kotaku letting them know Disney/Marvel is parting ways with Gazillion.

     As a Marvel representative stated in an email to them:

“We regret to inform our Marvel Heroes fans that we have ended our relationship with Gazillion Entertainment, and that the Marvel Heroes games will be shut down. We would like to sincerely thank the players who joined the Marvel Heroes community, and will provide any further updates as they become available.”

     Later AgentPilot posted an official statement from Gazillion on their forums:

"We’re sad to inform our players and our entire Marvel Heroes family that Marvel Heroes Omega will be shutting down. The Marvel Heroes servers will stay on until Dec 31, 2017, and we’ll be removing real money purchases as soon as possible. Players will be able to play the game entirely for free once this sunset period commences. We will share the exact date things go completely free as soon as we can. 

We’ve had the privilege of entertaining and collaborating with our players for over four years. We’re extremely humbled by that privilege and wanted to get this message out: Thank you. Thank you to our players, our tireless employees, and everyone involved in the life of Marvel Heroes, Marvel Heroes 2015, Marvel Heroes 2016, and Marvel Heroes Omega."

THE PROBLEMS

     Gazillion has been in a very turbulent times ever since David Brevik (of Diablo 2 fame) departed the company in January 2016 (check out these threads, the tone of the forums drastically shifted), and having other Gaz employees like Doomsaw and Ryolnir go was another huge hit- resulting in a quick downhill slide of the game.  Former long-time Gaz Community Agent Fenixion posted his own decision to leave on the forums on Halloween definitely gave us more worries, as well as Agent Vapor's departure.
     Really, the only good to come out of this was the surprise return of former Gaz employee Doomsaw to the forums.  He swung through and found he still had moderator privileges, but they were quickly stripped even with no other Gaz members posting anything.  Since no Gaz employees were doing or saying anything, he voluntarily went and tried to raise hope and bring levity to the forums.
     Much more recently is the highly inappropriate sexual misconduct issues concerning Gazillion's CEO Dave Dohrmann, and the fallout it's having on the rest of the staff and company. [ More references: 1, 2, 3, 4 (at about the 1.5hr mark) ]  And then Gazillion going completely silent shortly after this. [ Great video by DisKingdom about companies (Gaz particularly) going silent. ]  The long awaited and promised Omega patch, along with numerous other things like the costume closet, the Halloween event, and Thor Ragnarok tie-in pack, never arrived for the scheduled Oct. 27th date.

MY THOUGHTS
   
     It's extremely disappointing to hear, but honestly the PC player base had been dwindling from being essentially neglected for the console ports after the "Biggest Update Ever" shit all over the game (the BUE essentially prepped and simplified the game to be ported)- while it made a lot of good starts, it completely ruined the way a great many of the characters could be played, eliminating the vast variety of character play styles and shoe-horned them into essentially only one viable build for each character.
     Gaz pretty much ditched the extremely loyal PC player base for the potential for new console players and it was an absolutely terrible choice.

     I'd previously written that, "It's the only game I've made an effort to play at least a half hour a day for the last year.  It's just amazing and it keeps getting better.  Thank you Gazillion.  Marvel Heroes 2016 is a must play for fans of any Marvel properties."  In all reality, I probably put in a thousand plus hours.  The original launch was a mess, but the game progressively made it amazing by the 2016 iteration, and until the Biggest Update Ever, was easily, without-a-doubt the best Marvel game ever made.  Sadly, after the BUE (and the changes in leadership and direction) the game never got back to what it was and what it could've been.

     It'll be very sad to see this game go, but honestly they could still make a few bucks by compressing what they can and makingthe game able to play on disc or download with private servers.  Sell the game as old games were, a whole item, playable without an internet connection.  Hell, just the Danger Room section itself could be sold (obviously we'd need to be able to keep all the crap we've already unlocked/bought) as a game in itself.  It'd also need to have the Hydra damage bugs toned WAY down, which should've been fixed a year ago.
     Though it makes me wonder if Disney and Marvel will still hold all the programming and assets and whatnot, and if they might bring in a new team to possibly relaunch the game somewhere down the line.
     As for me, I'll probably get a good couple weekends of play in on this, and go back to hyping the only other Marvel game I play every day- Marvel Future Fight.

     My own Marvel Heroes account link [ MrJRB ]

     Related-ish posts [ Future Fight ]

     Sources [ Massively OP & 2, 3 ] [ Kotaku ] [ HiMyNameIsLeo ] [ MMORPG ]

Red Dead Redemption 2: Trailer 2 is Here

     Rockstar Games' highly anticipated sequel to Red Dead Redemption has released a glorious new trailer to remind us that 2018 can't come fast enough.

     In this new trailer we get a little bit of the story- it follows the trail of outlaw Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang as they're pursued across the American heartland.  It looks like there'll be plenty of fighting and stealing along the way.  Red Dead Redemption 2 seems to improve upon the last installment in every possible facet.  Better graphics, a bigger world, and presumably another epic western tale of blood and glory.

     We'll need to ready our rifles and revolvers in preparation for this wonderful prequel.

     Red Dead Redemption is set to arrive in spring 2018 on PS4 and XBox One.

Jurassic World Evolution: Trailer & Thoughts

     I heard there was a new Jurassic Park game on the way and I got immediately excited, unfortunately that excitement was swiftly quashed when I found out it was just another world builder game.

     According to the developer's official press release:

     "Jurassic World Evolution evolves players’ relationship with the Jurassic World film franchise, placing them in control of operations on the legendary island of Isla Nublar and the surrounding islands of the Muertes Archipelago. 

     Players will build their own Jurassic World as they bioengineer new dinosaur breeds and construct attractions, containment and research facilities. Every choice leads to a different path and spectacular challenges arise when ‘life finds a way.’"

     I'm not going to lie, though the developer has over a decade of world/city building, management, and simulation games experience, I just feel they could've done better for the Jurassic Park legacy than this genre of game.  The old Sega Genesis game was a great platformer, the Sega CD version was a point-and-click mystery (as was the far superior, and much more recent Telltale version), and this honestly feels like an upscaled version of Ludia's mobile tie-in Jurassic World: The Game.  The mobile game was a good time-waster, overloaded with IAPs and the like with an interesting dinosaur evolving and battling sub-game- but it was also a mobile game, and not a full console game.  While I don't like this type of game, I'm sure it'll have a bunch of people hyped.

     All I'd like to see, and have wanted to see for decades, is a 3rd person action-adventure game like Uncharted 4 or Rise of the Tomb Raider that takes place in the Jurassic Park universe.  If they could get a company like Naughty Dog or Crystal Dynamics/Eidos Montreal to make it, the game would top the charts instantly.  The closest we got to it is the LEGO Jurassic World game, it wasn't the best, but it was still pretty damned fun despite the flaws (that plague all the LEGO games).

     Jurassic World Evolution will arrive on PC, PS4, and XBox One in Summer 2018, in time for the theatrical release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom on June 22, 2018.

     SOURCE [ Frontier ]

Morphite: A Second Trailer Arrives and a Release Date Announced

     I've been following Morphite for over a year.  It's one of the best looking games that is heading to mobile, and it is slated to arrive in about a month and a half.  Developers Crescent Moon Games and We're Five Games had originally planned a late spring release, but announced a delay so they could port the game to other systems, and now we have a release date for all but Android devices.

     Morphite is a gorgeous sci fi action-exploration game described as:

     "Myrah Kale will voyage to the furthest corners of space and explore uncharted procedurally- generated planets, each with diverse landscapes and teeming with exotic flora and fauna. With the help of a scanner, Myrah will sell biological information for ship, suit and weapon upgrades. She will explore hand-crafted worlds as part of the main storyline.  

     Inside Myrah’s vessel, players will engage in random encounters with real-time space combat, trade with other travelers across the galaxy and navigate outer space with Morphite’s easy-to- use Starmap system."

     Morphite releases on September 7th for the Nintendo Switch, X Box One, PS4, iOS, and Srtam.
     Of course, Android is left behind, and will release "A little bit later."

     My previous Morphite coverage [ 1 & 2 ] and on Droidgamers [ 1 & 2 ]

RiME Gets a Release Date!

     RiME has had a rocky production since its announcement at the at Sony's Gamescom 2013 Press Conference, but Tequila Works' game has finally received a set release date!

     Rime appears to be an amalgam of Journey, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and the Team Ico games and set on a strange Myst-like island.  The story is of a boy needing to find a way off the island and away from its terrible curse.

     What has me most excited is that it sounds like the game has a few procedurally generated elements, or it may change depending on how you play it.  In an interview with Polygon, the game's creator, Raúl Rubio Munárriz, said, "-"Every time you explore this island or islands you are going to experience it differently."  So not only might there be more than just one island, but it changes.
     Going on he says:

     "The island is a paradise, but that does not mean that what you see at the start is the same as what you see at the end. This is not a game about black and white. It is not about good and evil. We are trying to play with what the player takes for granted. This is a puzzle adventure game but that doesn't mean that you are going to enter houses and start gathering stuff. I see this environment, it is beautiful, but something is wrong. Who built this?"

     RiME will arrive on PC, PS4, and XBox One on May 26th, and at a later date for the Nintendo Switch.

     I also wonder if odd capitalization on the name probably has ties to the tower featured in the game.

     For related posts [ Rime ]

STYX: Shards of Darkness Launch Trailer!

    The highly anticipated follow up to the tremendous Styx: Master of Shadows, Shards of Darkness, is finally arriving next week and we get an all new launch trailer to whet our appetites!

     Cyanide Studios' stealthy goblin assassin returns with a new mission- steal the scepter of an ambassador for a mysterious new human named Helledryn.  The reward for this dangerous task?  An absurd amount of Amber- the highly addictive source of his strange powers.

     Armed with his trusty blade, creative new ways to kill people, some reliable old supernatural skills, and even some new co-op play- Styx will need all the stealth and snark he can muster to achieve his goal to make it through a web of deadly intrigue in this world of dark fantasy cloak-and-dagger.

     Styx: Shards of Darkness launches Tues. Mar. 14th.

     Related posts [ STYX ]

Cover Up for Killers in Serial Cleaner Coming to PS4 Summer 2017

     I stumbled across this trailer this morning and really am excited for it.  Serial Cleaner is what happens when killers need their tracks covered by a specialist.

     "Serial Cleaner is a story-driven, fast-paced stealth/action game, characterized by a 1970s theme and aesthetics. You are a professional cleaner. Your job is to clean up murder scenes by disposing bodies, covering up blood stains and hiding murder weapons and other incriminating evidence."

     The stylized take on art and setting it in the 1970's is brilliant.  It definitely looks like a tremendous little game with hilarity.

     Serial Cleaner will be launching on PS4 in summer 2017.
          (But can be currently found in Early Access on Steam for $9.99)

Dark Souls 3: Descend into the Depths of The Ringed City DLC: NEW Gameplay Footage Trailer & Thoughts

     The last portion of the Dark Souls era is coming to a close, and the end of the Age of Fire is upon us.  This new gameplay trailer gives us a ton of little clues about what we can expect from The Ringed City DLC.

!!!TRAILER MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!

     I'm strangely intrigued by the notion of the fading flames.  With all the Londor story making huge leaps forward, and the fires receding we get nice bits like the last witness of Izalith, the Old Demon King, dying, and then the last of the Demons of the Choas Flame, it makes me wonder if the new game From Software is working on will be a series in the Age of Water- being spiritual successors to this series.

     There's a bunch of things hidden in the trailer, but I won't go over them all- just note that there's probably a good reason they hide the health bars and stuff- maybe enemies using poison or curse or something.  I'm also really hoping they've been hiding whole areas of the game from the video.  Bandai-Namco doesn't want From Soft's series to go out with something small, they'll want a lucrative DLC like Bloodborne's Old Hunters, which was, to me, a bit too small and short, but on the other hand completely perfect at the same time.  Seriously, in Old Hunters, you travel backwards in time through the zones from the time period you begin the main game in- something they never actually say, but you have to realize on your own.  Absolutely brilliant.

     With The Ringed City, I'm thinking with all the rings forming an amalgamation of time and space, that you are descending through this "City of Pygmies" to help Gael find the original Dark Soul- and maybe we'll find the Furtive Pygmy along the way.

     In addition they've announced there will be more multiplayer maps coming, so we won't be stuck in just the bland Hollow Arena.  I wouldn't mind an arena that was more vertical and labyrinthine.  Perhaps even a kind of procedurally generated arena even to keep things interesting.
     Although, still no word on whether they'll finally bring back Cracked Blue Eye Orbs to help out all the Darkmoon Blades.  It would add a whole new layer to the multiplayer base.  They should also bring back the Covenant reward auras as a neat little badge of honor (that would also need to be able to be turned on or off if you didn't always want the visual effect on).

     Still hoping for Velka as well, hell, she could even be the Furtive Pygmy...

     Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City will be available March 28th.

RiME: Finally Arrives in May 2017!

     I've had my eye on Tequila Work's gorgeous game RIME since 2014.  Through the last couple years, RiME has gone through some changes behind the scenes and now the game will be coming to more than just the PS4, it'll also be arriving on Xbox One, Steam, and the upcoming Nintendo Switch.  Which is great, a wider audience to share the experience.  RiME looks to be a wonderful amalgam of the games Journey, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Ico all placed on a strange and mysterious island like Myst.

     The 3rd person puzzle-platforming will help the shipwrecked boy unravel the mystery of this island he finds himself stranded on.  You are an interloper on this island, and it will react to your presence- the island IS a character in that way.  To find meaning, you'll need to delve in and try to solve the questions of who built this place, where is everyone else, and how the island changes.

     That last part is what really peaks my curiosity as the game's creator, Raúl Rubio Munárriz, mentioned something that immediately caught my eye in an old interview with Polygon, "Every time you explore this island or islands you are going to experience it differently."  It makes me think there will be an element of procedural generation, and then further question exactly how reactive will the world be.  Will every decision you make really change how the entire world around you functions?  Can you alter how animals populating the island react by changing what you do to them?  Will the island actively try to assist you in doing good, and try to thwart you from harming stuff?  Can the island fight against your goal?  I look forward to seeing if this is truly how the game is built.  A real reactionary world.

     Experience the subtle beauty of RiME in May 2017.

STYX: Shards of Darkness: 2nd Gameplay Trailer

     Cyanide Studios' curmudgeonly amber-addicted goblin assassin Styx has gotten a whole new gameplay trailer for the highly anticipated sequel to Master of Shadows called Shards of Darkness.
     After the fall of the tower of Akenash, rumor of an impregnable diplomatic summit has lured Styx out of hiding.  Infiltrating the Dark Elf city of Korrangar, he sneaks his way in to find the event is just a deception...

     In Shards of Darkness, Styx's arsenal has been expanded greatly.  New weapons, such as a crossbow that can kill, tranquilize, and set off traps, and skills like a teleport to clone are fully at his disposal.  He's got new moves such as more fluid climbing abilities like zip-lining and rope-swinging.  There is also an awesome and useful new craftable item called the Acid Trap that can help dissolve armored enemies and eliminate those pesky hard-to-hide dead bodies.
     New bestiary, new enemies, and new side-missions to complete have also been included.  Probably the most notable new addition to the sequel is a co-operative mode, allowing players to join friend's games and play together.  And of course a lot of new story with actually animated cinematics.

     This looks to be a case of taking an awesome game and making a sequel better in every way possible.

     Styx: Shards of Darkness sneaks onto PS4, Xbox One, and PC in March 2017.

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The Last of Us 2: Official Trailer and Thoughts

     Naughty Dog has brought us back to the lives of Ellie and Joel with the highly anticipated announcement of The Last of Us part 2.  They have yet to disappoint with a game, and I'd expressed hope that any sequels to this series would leave both Ellie and Joel out and go with other stories in the same world, but this does have me intrigued despite that fact.

     Before the Left Behind DLC dropped, I had talked about the ending being quite clear- Joel wasn't just selfishly lying for himself, he was giving Ellie a choice, and I think that simple fact will tie directly into this sequel.  Honestly, Naughty Dog will have a lot to live up to, and perhaps they can find a way to balance the intense emotional journey with some of the irritating game mechanics of the first game.  A good shiv shouldn't break after 2 damn uses.  It's a damned annoying mechanic in every single survival game made.

     I also wonder, but very much doubt, if they'll give us a small PS Vita game tie in.  Maybe some other stories in the world of The Last of Us, but done in a manner as Uncharted: The Golden Abyss was.

     The Last of Us 2 has no release date, and is "still in early development."

Shakedown Hawaii: A 16-Bit Upgrade from Retro City Rampage: PSX 2016 Trailer

     It's been an entire year since the last bit of news about indie game developer Brian Provinciano's homage-fueled follow-up to the tremendous Retro City Rampage, called Shakedown: Hawaii, but low- yesterday we received the gloriously pixelated PSX 2016 trailer.

     This game evolves it mayhem from the 8-Bit world to that of the 16-Bit, moving from the era of NES to that of the Super NES.  The story follows "The Player," the same protagonist from Retro City Rampage, and moves him 30 years into his future.  He's become older, fatter, and balder as he steps out of his corporate empire's boardroom and on to the streets in an effort to destroy the rising competition.

     Shakedown: Hawaii will be coming to Nintendo, Steam, and Playstation in 2017.

Ginger: Beyond the Crystal: Review

     Ginger: Beyond The Crystal is a new 3D platforming adventure game brought to us by Drakhar Studios, an indie game developer out of Spain.  The game hearkens back to a time when Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, and Conker's Bad Fur Day reigned at the top of the charts.

     It's the story of Ginger, a small blue being tasked by a mysterious goddess with restoring a world beset by the destruction and corruption of the world's crystals by an unnamed menace.  The main game itself is broken into 3 major hub worlds that each contain 5 core side-scrolling levels and another 5 smaller red crystal platforming levels, as well as a bunch of miscellaneous fetch quests, some time trials, and so on that add some extra gameplay substance.

     To restore balance back to the world you must go from town to town clearing the map by not only purifying the red crystals into blue ones (via the platforming red crystal levels), but also by collecting the smaller blue crystals to be used as currency.  The first way this is done is spending them at each hub world town's giant main crystal to bring back the townspeople that had been transported to somewhere far away.  Upon their return however, they are less than pleased with things that've happened, which leads to the second way the small crystals are used- to buy vanity items for the people to use to increase their happiness.  A pair of Groucho glasses with their silly nose, moustache, and eyebrows can add quite a bit of joy to a waning public opinion.
     There's also a small additional building game where you slowly gather supplies through the other levels and tasks and use them to build structures of your choice throughout the towns. I haven't been able to discern exactly what they do other than take up space, but for city-building fans it may be a highlight.

     Ginger combines elements from multiple game genres such as platforming, collecting, and some city-building and then adds the Metroidvania staple of unlocking new abilities (via costumes that give extra skills) you can use to access more regions and items.  There's a mouse suit that lets you shrink through tiny areas, a lizard suit that spews fire, and a bard's outfit that opens a mini-game where you have to play back a button combination song on your instrument.  The exploration of the main hub worlds is extremely entertaining as there's always something you can do, and is probably the highlight of the game.

     The controls are very responsive and my only complaint about it is with the combat.  There's a lot of enemies that need to be dispatched and the normal attack is useless resulting in taking damage every time you deal damage.  The dash attack is tough to aim or land properly, and that leaves us with the only effective way to eliminate bad guys being the jump-and-stomp attack that gives out a shock wave you can see.  Sadly, that's the only attack I used because it was the only reliable one that didn't get me killed.

     In the essence of honesty I have to say that there were a few other annoyances as well.  Not being able to skip (or speed through text) was a big one.  It's very sluggish and having to sit for so long after reading each piece got irritating.  I also noticed that in the red crystal purification levels, there was a tendency to occasionally fall through the ground.  It didn't set me back too far, but it did bother me when it occurred seconds before the final crystal of the level.  Lastly is the camera.  Often, I found myself plagued by a camera that was obscured by objects in the way and trying to adjust it constantly was a pain.  Having things go consistently transparent so I could see would've been a massive benefit in those cases.  But, as I said, these were really just annoyances and not too awful in the bigger scheme of things.

     It may be a little glitchy at times, but falling through the floors and death never set you back more than a couple minutes and that fact is far outweighed by the sheer fun factor, which is all of what my younger self would want out of a game.  Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is a decent game with a lot of heart and charm to fill in where it lacks.  It should be clear this game may appear shallow and repetitive for adults, but the game's whole design is pretty clearly aimed at a younger audiences, and that's exactly where it shines.  The graphics and music are fitting, the world is designed with plenty of creativity, the characters are all uniquely made, and the world itself has a lot of options for exploration.
     Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is a game made purely for simple enjoyment, with many nods to its 3D platforming predecessors.  It's a delightful homage to the games of yesteryear, and it offers an imaginative world that is quite immersive and highly entertaining despite its few flaws.

*Review copy provided, Thank you!

Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today: PS4 Review

     Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today is a great post-apocalyptic point-and-click adventure blending post-apocalyptic science fiction peppered with religious elements to tell a harrowing story.  This is the tale of Michael, an amnesiac man waking in a dystopian future after a cataclysm called the "Great Wave" has destroyed much of the populace of the world and left a scar across the sky.  What remains is a ruined society plagued by a sickness of a dying world.  With many of its inhabitants coming down with a disease that causes people to dissolve and those with power (such as guns or fuel) use it for dark intent.

THE BAD

     The puzzles of the game can be a bit frustrating at times, but for the most part they are decently balanced and the game has a kind of dual hint system.  One is by holding L2/R2 and anything interactable becomes marked, and the second is Michael will make a remark that assists players as to where they should go.  When I said some puzzles can be frustrating it's because they don't follow a logical pattern or the challenge is so absurd you'll rely on pure trial-and-error of using items on anything you can.  In one notable case you need to fix a machine with a piece of a tooth.  Of all the possible things you could fix it with, why a tooth?  Or another requires you shred a cloth for a bandage instead of just using the cloth.  No reason other than adding an additional step in the process.
     Though, this is a problem with many point-and-click games.  Often confusion takes first place in attempting to figure out what you are supposed to be doing.  Finding a good balance between difficulty and creativity is extremely difficult to manage and is really an issue of the genre and not the game.

THE GOOD

     What the game gets right, though, is the atmosphere.  They got it very right.  The sound design and score are extremely effective in evoking the dark tones of a gritty decaying world.  They compliment the distinctly comic-bookish art style perfectly and together act as a large redeeming factor for playing this game.  The visual art designs work hand in hand with the sound and music to create a suspenseful and grim ambiance.

     This world they've built is intriguing in that it gives you no happy endings.  Many characters in the game are given disturbing or unsettling story arcs.  There's a family torn apart by a sick child, a young woman forced into service, and an entire park overflowing with corpses.  Your choices and decisions don't alter the endings at all, each leads to the same bleak despair laden conclusions regardless of what you say or do.  The main thread itself comes to a very sudden end, which feels very rushed and out of nowhere- like there might be something extra, but there wasn't.  It is foreshadowed, but the way it's done could've been worked towards and not just dumped on us all at once.  The game could've used a bit more work on the end to make the journey really pack an emotional punch at the end.

THE VERDICT 

     Overall, Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today on Playstation 4 is a game that is both really good in many ways and has some serious flaws.  It has a very fitting and unique art style with fantastic world building, but that is offset by some of the confoundingly strange puzzle designs.  That being said, if you are a fan of point-and-click games, or of psychological post-apocalyptic horror stories, this is worth playing because despite its problems there's still a lot to appreciate.

*Review copy provided, thank you!