A quick look at gameplay of the upcoming card & sim game Shikihime Garden from Japan.
Monthly Archives: March 2014
Duty of Sentinel Closed Beta Kicks Off Today
Duty of Sentinel Studios today announced the closed beta for Duty of Sentinel kicked off officially. It is a role-playing game merged with turn-based strategy, wrapped into an adventure mini-series about the Epic War between Sentinel and Scourge. Brave heroes willing to answer Sentinel leader Thrall’s call can head to the official website (https://dutyofsentinel.com) to start the journey now!
In Duty of Sentinel, players will embark on a fascinating and perilous journey with Orson heroes to save Orson Land from the corrupting forces of the Evil Dragon Spirit. There are hundreds of heroes with unique abilities and personalities to choose from, and players will not only feel the power of every hero but will also get to know every hero’ legends, as well as some embarrassing things that they secretly wish to be buried forever.
Duty of Sentinel also features rich and creative game systems. If you want more heroes, you can threaten, lure or bribe them to join you through Recruiting; if you prefer DIY, you can revive a legendary hero with required materials in Soulfusing; and if you don’t have so much time, you can get heroes, materials and weapons through Auto Mop-up. More in the game is waiting for you to explore.
Tons of heroes and rich systems can lead to endless ways to play, which pushes the drama and unpredictability of adventures in Duty of Sentinel to the extreme. For example, even two players that choose the same main hero at the beginning will differ once they take their first step out of the Camp, for their different hero-cultivation and team-building strategies. You can approach the game the way you like and create your own adventure stories.
“Duty of Sentinel is a browser-based game that promises console quality gaming experience.” said Alex, the cofounder of Duty of Sentinel Studios, “We think players will be impressed by what we have done.”
Remark: if you’d love to join the game before the official closed beta on March 10, 2014, please go to http://www.dutyofsentinel.com/beta/.
Nosgoth – An Updated Look From Inside the CB
By Jordan Hall (ApocaRUFF)
Back in January, our very own Mikedot took an early peak at the Nosgoth alpha. This time around, I will be taking an updated look at the game during its closed beta testing, letting you in on any improvements or changes I come across. Of course, I’ll be including my own opinions as well. The game has come along quite nicely since the last time we looked at it, and there have been some improvements. As the testing progresses, more and more people are being allowed into the beta as well, which makes for more fun.
For those of you who haven’t heard about the game yet, it is being developed and published by Psyonix and Square Enix. The game is set in the fictional world that is Legacy of Kain, and gameplay is centered around vampire versus human team matches. You play in the third-person perspective and there is a mix of melee and ranged combat. With amazing medieval alchemy tech, you can even have sun-light-in-a-bottle, grenades, and fiery explosions. Basically, it has everything you need for a good time.
The Graphics
First off, I want to talk about the graphics. They’re not exactly mind-blowing, but they are definitely quite nice. I found myself being absorbed by the game because of how atmospheric the maps are. When you and your team are cornered in a half-burning house, with nothing but the flames of destruction and candles to light your way so that you can kill the vampires that are trying to get in… It’s intense. It’s this attention to detail in the maps and character models that make the games graphics nothing to scoff at.
Controls
I have to admit that I found the controls a bit odd at first. It took me a few minutes to get it into my head that spacebar was dodge and not jump, which lead to a few bad situations. Other than a few odd keybindings, the game has a pretty normal control scheme. WASD for movement, left mouse button to attack, stuff such as that. Honestly, if you’ve played a PC game that has been released in the past 5 or so years, you will pick up the controls very quickly.
Gameplay
The two opposing factions are almost completely different to play. Both sides benefit from team work, however the way you play the game is completely different depending which faction you’re playing as. For example, humans are bound to the ground and use mostly ranged weapons and alchemic concoctions to fend off the vampires. While the vampires are the masters of the roof tops and skies and primarily use melee to do damage (with some exceptions). When you realize that each faction has three classes which play completely different from one another as well, with room for more, you’ll find yourself surprised at just how much variety there is.
As I mentioned, the game is played from the third-person perspective. Usually, I find that I don’t like games played from this perspective, as it’s typically inferior to first-person. However, I didn’t have any problems with it in Nosgoth. Currently, the only gamemode is 4v4 team death match, but there will more than likely be more modes further along in the beta (which is hinted at by the grayed out “siege” in the mode selection). Like I said in the graphics section, the game looks great and the maps available in the beta not only look good, but they have a very nice design – they feel quite big and offer a lot of opportunities for some brutal battles.
Each class in the game can be completely customized – from the skin (similar to how it works in games like League of Legends), to their primary ability or weapons, to their secondaries and perks. As you might suspect, you unlock most of this using the shop. As you play the game you’ll gain gold coins which can be used to buy these items and upgrades. Of course, if you have a bit of spare cash you can spend some to get Runestones (the cash currency) to get the stuff as well. When purchasing something, you get the option to rent in for 7 days at a cheaper price, or to buy it permanently for about double the cost. It’s a pretty fair system, in my opinion as (at least in the beta) the gold coins don’t seem very hard to get, and the equipment and abilities seem mostly to change up your gameplay tactics, rather than being completely over-powered.
Vampires
Honestly, vampires are probably my favorite faction to play simply because of the Sentinel class. Who doesn’t like flying around to find victims, and then taking said victims up into the sky just to drop them to their deaths. Plus, being able to turn yourself into a torpedo is fun, too. Past the Sentinel, I didn’t have much fun playing the vampires though. Sure, being what is essentially a demi-god that can crawl up walls, jump huge distances, fly, and suck the blood of the fallen humans is fascinating. But fighting for the survival of your species as a human makes the game more intense (for me).
As a vampire, you will be able to climb walls and stalk the humans from the roof tops. Sentinels are the only ones with wings, so the other two classes have to settle for super leaps and other means of movement. If you enjoy hunting down a target, vampire is the way to go for you. The height advantage combined with the third-person perspective means you are the one that gets to choose when to engage. Having the power of choice innately makes you superior, in my opinion.
The other two classes in the vampire faction are the Reavers and Tyrants. Reavers are the leapers – they will jump a quarter of the way across the map and pin you to the ground while they eat your face. They also make use of poisons and potions, similar to the human alchemist. Tyrants, however, are the living tanks of the vampires and will run at you like a flesh-made-cannonball. There’s a lot of difference between the classes and when you combine their innate abilities with customizable loadouts, you won’t run out of variety any time soon.
Humans
Humans are stuck on the ground, and don’t even have the ability to jump (tho they can dodge). They rely on their technology to take on the vampires, using things such as crossbows, bows, and grenade launchers. You won’t find a human wielding a sword (at least not yet) where a vampire is concerned – keeping your distance and sticking together in a group is a must. The three classes of the human faction are the Hunters – who use crossbows and bolas to attack and snare, Scouts – who are fast-moving and use bows, and the Alchemist – who use potions to create walls of fire or throw down sun-light-in-a-bottle. Just like with the vampires, there’s a decent amount of customization to keep you occupied.
Combat
Depending which faction or class you are playing, you will find combat a very different experience. I prefer playing as a Hunter with a burst-fire crossbow and grenades. More often than not, I’ll find myself as the person dealing the most longed-ranged damage to the vampires due to the accuracy and damage output of the burst-fire. Basically, the name of the game as a human is to find a good corner and hide in it with your buddies, doing your best to stay alive as a horde of vampires slowly whittles you down. Distance and dodging is key to success.
While playing as a vampire Sentinel, however, my gameplay and choices in battle are completely different. My tactics change depending on the size of the group I’m taking on. If I’m facing a single opponent, I will dive down to pick him up and drop him and then introduce his face to my claws. If it’s a larger group, though, I will wait for my teammates to get into place before I torpedo myself down to the center of the group and then use my wings to knock them all down. From there, I usually try to get out of the way while my team finished them off.
There are some similarities between the factions. Such as the use of AOEs, which seem to be a pretty big part of the game. It seems that most of the attacks and abilities are designed to damage more than one person at a time. Both teams need to do health management as well, with humans also having to manage ammo. For humans, they use supply stations (that can be depleted) that are spread out around the maps. Vampires… well, you can imagine how they regain their health. They also get an exp bonus for “eating” their fallen human prey.
Progression
You will progress in levels and gain gold coins as you play. So far, the only purpose of levels seems to be defining a player’s experience level. You can buy anything from the cash shop at any levels (at least for now), as long as you have the gold or Runestones for it. I imagine that later on more progression will be added in. Who knows, maybe even a decent tournament scene will appear in Nosgoth.
Conclusion
Nosgoth seems to be coming along very well. With the interesting setting, intense gameplay, and Steam access, I foresee that the game will be quite successful. I didn’t run into any problems while playing the beta, and it seems like the only thing it needs is a bit more content and some polish. All-in-all, I found myself loving the game and I look forward to seeing how it develops. I definitely plan to keep an eye on it and continue playing the closed beta!
Keep an eye out for our upcoming closed-beta key giveaway and First Look video from JamesBl0nde on our sister site, MMOHuts!
Enemy Front – Teaser
(Age restricted video) – CI Games has released a new teaser for their upcoming title: Enemy Front. Witness an event centered around the Warsaw Uprising, which is of huge national historical importance in Poland (where developer CI Games is based)
Stronghold Kingdoms – Fourth Age Update Introduces Gunpowder
Firefly Studios has just released a new ‘Fourth Age’ gameplay update for Stronghold Kingdoms, introducing gunpowder and a new defensive weapon in the form of the mighty Bombard. The update, which is now available to download, also adds new a building and several changes to the core gameplay rule set.
“With the Age system it has always been our intent to provide each game world with a sense of progression. In previous Ages this meant changing the gameplay rule set to keep Kingdoms fresh for players and evolve the design according to their feedback. With the Fourth Age we have once again introduced new gameplay rules, but for the first time ever the game has also taken a step forward in time.
Other changes include an increase in the total number of castles that can be owned by players, faster army speeds, the disbanding of all in-game Factions and more. A full list of gameplay changes can be found in the developer’s Fourth Age post in the official Stronghold Kingdoms forum: http://forum.strongholdkingdoms.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=27792
EVE: Source, the Guide to EVE Online’s Universe, Now Available
CCP Games and Dark Horse are pleased to announce that the EVE: Source hardcover edition ($39.99) is now available at comic book stores everywhere and available to order online from Things from Another World.
Whether they are new to the EVE Universe or seasoned veterans, the 200-page, full-color hardcover EVE: Source book will immerse readers in the deep history and lore of the EVE Online universe. With stunning artwork and never-before-seen materials, EVE: Source explores the stories of New Eden, its dynamic history, and the factions that span the three games of CCP’s massive, single-shard online universe: EVE Online, DUST 514 and EVE: Valkyrie.
200 copies of the previously sold-out EVE: Source Limited Edition ($89.99) have been reserved by Dark Horse and are available exclusively for sale at their booth at Emerald City Comicon (March 28-30) in Seattle! Look for the book to be available both in finer bookstores, as well as a digital download from Dark Horse Digital and the Amazon.com Kindle Store on March 18.
More information on the EVE: Source book can be found in this blog entry.
Also out recently is the second digital issue of the EVE: True Stories graphic novel, “Thieves Among Us,” available as a free digital download via Dark Horse Digital or on the Dark Horse Android and iOS apps. Issue #2 of “Thieves Among Us” continues the story of New Eden’s greatest conspiracy. Intrigue grows as the ultimate betrayal comes closer to fruition.
PlanetSide 2: War Correspondent – Episode 6
War Correspondent Robert Stoneman takes you deep inside the biggest battles and most epic moments of PlanetSide 2.
Tribal Wars 2: Basic Battle Tactics Video
Innogames explains the basic rules of Multiplayer combat in Tribal Wars 2.
Tribal Wars 2 Battle Tactics: Discipline Makes All the Difference
Today InnoGames released additional information on the battle tactics of its online strategy game Tribal Wars 2. Aside from the raw number of soldiers, successive waves of exactly timed attacks are crucial to victory – but players have to keep an eye on their troops’ discipline. A new video explains how the attacks work, and displays exclusive new footage from the game’s browser-, iOS- and Android-versions. The PvP-heavy game encourages its players to attack their neighbors and conquer their villages, upon which the defeated has to restart in the game world at another location with a new, basic settlement.
Key to overcoming other player’s defenses and conquering their village are the Noblemen and the discipline of the attackers’ troops. Noblemen can be recruited in the academy and have the unique ability to lower a village’s loyalty, when they attack – if it reaches zero, the village has been conquered. Since they are very expensive to recruit, it’s best to make sure an enemies’ village has no more defensive units stationed before sending a Nobleman in. Therefore, successive waves of exactly timed attacks pave the way to victory. The more discipline an army has, the less its time of arrival will derive from what a player planned. Putting too many different unit types in one attacking army reduces discipline significantly. For advanced players, Tribal Wars 2 will also offer the option to create several very specific attack presets.
Planets³ – New voxel-based RPG on Kickstarter
The independent studio ‘Cubical Drift’ has just released details on their new Kickstarter project: Planets³, a new voxel-based RPG.This RPG invites players to shape their own spatial adventure and to visit multiple planets, all composed of nearly 30,000 billions of blocks.
To date, 10% of the game has already been developed including some elements of game design, graphic identity and the long distance display engine.
The contributions that will be given through the KickStarter campaign – whose goal is set at $250,000 – will allow the studio to tackle the remaining 90%, with an important part allocated to R&D and animation.
The game could well be launched on PC in the fall of 2015, with the first part of this adventure: Planets³: Race to Space.
For more information on the project, visit: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1247991467/planets3

















