Monthly Archives: April 2015

Dying Light Developer Tools Released

Dying Light Developer Tools Released

Today Dying Light just got infinitely bigger as Techland released free Developer Tools for its award-winning action survival game. All PC players can now take on the role of game designers and build their own quarantine zones. The Dying Light Developer Tools allow for the creation of brand-new maps, custom stories, and insane scenarios limited only by the imagination of the author. All content created with the Developer Tools can then be shared and downloaded via the Steam Workshop platform.

To give all beginner game designers a helping hand, Techland prepared a six-part video guide that explains the basic ins and outs of the Developer Tools. To showcase more advanced capabilities of the editor, additional in-depth tutorial videos will be released soon.

Techland plans to regularly expand and update the Developer Tools with new features, assets and functionalities so all users are encouraged to share their feedback and suggestions at the official Dying Light forum.

Nexon Korean Unveils New Mobile Game Fantasy War Tactics

Nexon Korean Unveils New Mobile Game Fantasy War Tactics

International game developer and publisher NEXON Korea has revealed Fantasy War Tactics, a deep and tactical strategy role-playing game (SRPG) developed by NEXON GT that will be the company’s next step into entering the mobile gaming market in the US and other international territories. Like classic SRPGs before it, the game will offer turn-based tactical battles and a huge variety of playable characters, though the game will also offer competitive battles.

 

To kick off the announcement, NEXON Korea is looking for prospective adventurers to join a beta test for Android users in North America and Europe starting April 21 and ending on April 30. Players can pre-register and qualify for future in-game rewards (up to 250 in-game currency) here: https://promo.nexon.com/fwar

“With Fantasy War Tactics, we’re looking to make a real impact in the US and international mobile gaming markets. We’ve watched the mobile market grow beyond casual games to really be ready for full-featured game experiences with tons of depth, beautiful graphics, and cooperative battles – social elements that let players borrow additional forces from their friends.” said Daehwon Kim, Creative Director of NEXON GT. “This is why we’re choosing to make a strong start with Fantasy War Tactics as one of our flagship titles in 2015.”

 

In Fantasy War Tactics, players will make their way through a single-player adventure as an ambitious wizard bent on conquering the world-only to find that another wizard has beaten them to the punch. Over the course of the campaign, players will unlock new heroes and items that will aid them in both single-player and multiplayer battles. Players will need to use smart tactics on the battlefield that take advantage of movement, terrain, ranges, and hero skills, while strategizing about the best teams to build from their ever-growing roster.


Fantasy War Tactics
will draw upon the engaging, isometric, turn-based gameplay of classic SRPGs, offering a stacked roster of 50 playable hero characters that players can recruit completely free of charge, in-depth character development, and challenging turn-based battles. Players can also use the game’s social features to gain extra support by adding friends online, which lets them borrow additional heroes for their own adventuring party.

International developer and publisher NEXON Korea is producing Fantasy War Tactics, and is proud to add it to a long list of worldwide hit games such as Combat Arms, Vindictus, and Maple Story. The game is scheduled for release later this year for both iOS and Android, with a beta test scheduled for April. For more information, please visit the official Fantasy War Tactics website.

 

Fantasy War Tactics beta sign-ups begin today. Sign up for beta now.

Age of Wonders III: Eternal Lords Expansion & V1.5 Out Now

Age of Wonders III: Eternal Lords Expansion & V1.5 Out Now

Welcome to the all-new Age of Wonders III, as today Triumph Studios releases both the Eternal Lords expansion and the massive free V1.5 Update to the main game.

Eternal Lords is the major, second expansion for the acclaimed strategy game Age of Wonders III, marking one year of continuous development since its release. With the introduction of the Tigran and Frostling races, and the new Necromancer class, players must adapt to a world on the brink of cataclysmic change.  New mechanics include the Race Governance system, which allows players to tailor the features of each race in their empire to meet their strategic needs, add new layers of depth to empire development and diplomacy.   Embrace forbidden powers and reign for eternity!

Eternal Lords content includes:

  • The Necromancer Player Class: The Necromancer’s legions are on the march to establish an eternal kingdom, unifying all the world’s races in death.  The Necromancer creates spectacular undead units in its cities, such as the Bone Collector, a crablike monstrosity which eats corpses to strengthen itself.  Other units are summoned, such as the Banshee, which invokes despair in the hearts of the living.  The Necromancer’s dark magic allows players to convert towns to cities of the dead, filled obedient Ghoul minions.
  • Keeper, Grey Guard and Shadow Born Leader Specializations:  Champions of Good, Neutrality and Evil respectively, these three new specializations deepen the alignment mechanics and provide players of all classes powers to withstand the challenges of the new age. Learn spells to summon mighty Angels, end game units who embody the essence of each alignment.
  • Frostling Player RaceFrostlings are a race of humanoids that emerged from the frozen north. Lead by their Ice Queens, they embark on frequent raids into warmer lands. Their seafaring skills, offensive fighting style and frost magic spread fear among the coastline villages they pillage.  Frostings are even more deadly in their home arctic clime, where they build cities carved into the very glaciers they hope will someday grow to cover the earth.
  • Tigran Player Race:  These feline humanoids hail from remote desert lands. They worship the sun and track the cycle of day and night; life and death. Their natural curiosity about necromancy and the passing of regal souls into kingdoms of glory in the afterlife inspires them to construct massive tombs. Tigrans are natural sprinters, capable of moving far faster in combat than members of the other races, and are familiar with shape changing magic, allowing their mystics to transform into Dire Panthers.
  • Eternal Lords Story CampaignAn epic battle of the forces of creation: fire versus ice, life versus death.  As Arvik, heir to a broken Frostling kingdom, you awaken forbidden necromantic powers to reclaim your realm. You will find unlikely allies, and must choose between your Frostling roots and the full potential of your new found powers.
  • Cosmic Happenings:  The dawn of the Eternal Lords has triggered cataclysmic events that can radically shift fortunes. These events occur as the game progresses, disrupting the best laid plans and providing opportunities for cunning players to gain an advantage. Falling Clouds can fill the world with mist, giving shock weakness to machine and armored units and reducing sight range, while the March of the Troll King can summon armies of trolls to rampage across the map.
  • Race Governance: Relations are now tracked per race, allowing you to make careful decisions who to make war with.  Declaring war on an Elven city might give you a quick conquest, but don’t expect your Elven citizens to be happy about it afterwards! As your relations with each race improve, you will be able to earn unique racial perks that boost your armies and economy.
  • Unifier Victory Condition. As you unlock more perks with a race, the production of a Unity Beacon is unlocked in cities of that race. Building Unity Beacons for the number of races set in the victory condition will make you the Great Unifier, and let you win the game
  • A dozen new Mysterious Map Locations: Capture the Reef Colony Dwelling, home to horrors of the deep, and discover new treasure sites such as the Lich’s Castle, Temple of the Sands and the Hall of the Forefathers to benefit your empire.
  • Plus New Hero Items, Standalone Scenarios and more!  Eternal Lords incorporates feedback from the community and coincides with the massive free V1.5 update, the biggest since release. Major new features include:
  • The Vassal city mechanics system, giving an alternative to expansion through conquest
  • Race Relations system, be careful who you make war with.
  • More diversity among core racial units.
  • Improved strategic and tactical AI
  • Random Map Generator Overhaul
  • Mac/Linux support, also available for all existing customers.
  • “Play by Email”, a new asynchronous Multiplayer Mode. In PBEM games, a player takes their turn in their own time and then uploads it to Triumph’s servers. Once it is uploaded, an email is sent to the next player in the game, who may then take their turn. This allows players to play when they like, without needing to set aside a large amount of time with other people to play a game all at once.

Eternal Lords and the Mac and Linux versions of the game are set for an April 14th 2015 release and available via online stores such as Steam and GoG. The expansion will cost EUR/USD 19.99.  New comers can buy the Age of Wonders III:  Collection Bundle with includes all DLC.

Read our full expansion review!

Alliance of Valiant Arms Announce eSports Series with ESL

Alliance of Valiant Arms Announce eSports Series with ESL

Aeria Games and ESL (eSports League) have announced two new eSports events for the popular free-to-play first-person shooter, Alliance of Valiant Arms (A.V.A.). The A.V.A. World Championship and the A.V.A. International Championship will give A.V.A. players the chance to test their skills and win some fantastic prizes.

 

A.V.A. World Championship (AWC) – The World Championship is the ultimate ESL event for A.V.A., with a prize pool of $100,000! Qualifiers kick off on April 25 and will culminate in the December finals in Japan. Flights and accommodation for the winning teams will be paid for and free gear will be provided by Zowie.

 

A.V.A. International Championship (AIC) – Beginning on May 16, the AIC offers standalone tournament qualifiers challenging the best A.V.A. players. The winning team at the AIC qualifiers will travel to Taiwan to compete in the AIC Finals in July. Victory at the finals means automatic seeding for the A.V.A. World Championship in December!

 

More information on the upcoming schedule is available on the ESL website, with additional details about the event series on the A.V.A. AWC page.

Zombies Monsters Robots Game of Drones Update Takes to the Skies

 Zombies Monsters Robots Game of Drones Update Takes to the Skies Banner

En Masse Entertainment, a player-driven publisher focused on delivering great games and exceptional service, today announced the launch of Game of Drones, an update for its free-to-play, third-person shooter, Zombies Monsters Robots (ZMR). The update introduces a fleet of drone companions that provide backup in ZMR’s many challenging co-op scenarios, in addition to five new maps, a new competitive game mode, and a new improved leveling-rewards system. The Game of Drones update is available now.

 

The update’s defining feature, the drone system, allows players to unlock mechanical companions that fight alongside them in co-op modes. Players can unlock four unique drone types, each with their own unique attacks and appearance. Players can also customize their drone with abilities and modifications to best suit their play style and the operation at hand.

The Gatling Gundrone trades a higher fire rate for lower damage per hit, making it ideal for controlling crowds and taking down airborne enemies. The Thunderdrone launches powerful, high-impact grenades, making it well suited against larger, slow-moving creatures. The Lazerdrone fires powerful laser beams and is ideal as an all-purpose companion for its high single-target damage. Finally, there’s the Dragondrone, which fires electric bursts that can damage multiple targets at once.

 

In addition, Game of Drones also introduces five new maps to the game, including the meaty new Assault Ops co-op campaign, “Occupied Earth,” which includes an extremely challenging Nightmare difficulty mode. For competitive mercenaries, the update debuts “Charnel Halls,” a new multi-level map for ZMR’s exclusive Mercs vs. Monsters mode, in which players assume control of one of more than 20 unique playable character classes, including a demonic emperor, a stealthy witch, or a destructive mech-suit.

 

But perhaps the biggest and most impactful change in the Game of Drones update is a complete overhaul of ZMR’s leveling rewards. With more free unlocks—including permanent weapons and weapon modifications, drones, turrets, and costumes—players will now reap fantastic rewards just for leveling up. These new rewards will be delivered to the in-game mailboxes of any existing players, meaning players have a lot to look forward to!

Grinding Gear Games Reveals Details on Path of Exile: The Awakening

Grinding Gear Games Reveals Details on Path of Exile: The Awakening

 

Since the game’s release in October 2013, Path of Exile has exploded into more than just a community of 11.2 million players worldwide, it has become a massive RPG phenomenon… and it is about to get even bigger! Grinding Gear Games today reveals details on Path of Exile: The Awakening. Scheduled to release in June, the World of Wraeclast changes forever.

 

Path of Exile: The Awakening takes the player on a dark journey as they descend into the depths of nightmare. Great secrets about the world of Wraeclast will be discovered and even greater battles will be fought.

In parallel development alongside Path of Exile‘s previous expansions, Path of Exile: The Awakening is more than just Path of Exile‘s fourth act – it improves and expands upon every aspect of the game. With a crazy new twist on the iconic Passive Skill Tree and numerous systems changes, this expansion has been internally dubbed Path of Exile Version 2.0.0. The Awakening completely changes the Path of Exile experience and includes new items, monsters, maps, skills, and many quality of life improvements suggested by the Path of Exile community.

Grinding Gear Games Reveals Details on Path of Exile: The Awakening

Path of Exile: The Awakening Features:

  • The Beast Awakens: Act Four continues Path of Exile’s storyline. The time has finally come to venture into the center of corruption itself and drive a blade through its black heart.
  • Explore Beyond Highgate: For the first time since launch, The Awakening introduces completely new areas, monsters and end-game maps to expand the world of Wraeclast.
  • Defeat Legendary Bosses: Experience climactic boss encounters with characters from Wraeclast’s past such as Voll, Daresso, Kaom and many more.
  • Powerful New Skill Gems: With new classes of skills such as elemental Golems that fight by your side, warcries, and several new support gems, players are able to create new clever and intricate builds.
  • Socketable Passive Tree: Collect and craft Jewels that can be socketed into the Passive Tree to drastically change the tree itself.
  • Masses of New Gear: Find more than 70 new Unique Items and discover an entirely new set of equipment – the Maraketh Weapons.
  • User Experience Improvements: We’ve made extensive user interface improvements, added more customization options and implemented many community-suggested changes.
  • Complete Rebalance: We’ve reconsidered every core game system and rebalanced Path of Exile from the very first level. With these enhancements, both new and experienced players will enjoy The Awakening.

Players can jump into the new content with Path of Exile: The Awakening Closed Beta beginning April 20. An international launch, including traditional Chinese and Russian localization, along with more languages and countries will be added throughout 2015.

See the expansion in action in our special preview video!

Age of Wonders III Eternal Lords Review: Halfings, Frostlings, and Tigran!

By Jason Parker (Ragachak)

 

Age of Wonders III Review

Lords of Heroes of Might and Magic

For those unaware, I have previously written on Age of Wonders III, a turn-based strategy game that follows the 4X Principle: Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate. It is similar to the gameplay style of titles like Civilization. In it, you control a Warlord with your choice of race and class (with additional races being added in the two expansions I will be covering) with a typical goal of destroying your enemies.  Of course, in the campaign you have a variety of tasks, such as keeping someone alive, building a certain number of Metropolis-sized cities, resurrecting cities from the ashes with dark magic, and much more. There are also scenarios to complete, with additional faction-specific scenarios added in these expansions.  The scenarios will feel very familiar if you have played Heroes of Might and Magic or Warcraft, as they are structured similarly: X Map, Y characters/players, Z goals.

Age of Wonders III Review

I love this style of gameplay. It’s challenging, but always offers a nice broad world to explore and dozens of ways to accomplish your goals.  Plus with the forthcoming expansion, Eternal Lords, two races from prior Age of Wonders games (Frostling and Tigran) are coming back for another go around. Each race feels unique and special, and not a generic reskin of each other, which is a credit to this style of game. It will ultimately offer more replay value in the scenarios and online multiplayer.  Age of Wonders III is no walk in the park and the expansions are proof of this. The game doesn’t slack nor does it give quarter.  You work for every victory, and I love every moment of it.

 

Age of Wonders III Review

A Golden Age for Hobbits. . .Halflings

The Golden Realm offers up Halfings, happy-go-lucky (literally!), clever, and peaceful demihumans who just want a tranquil existence. Even their units express their want for a life of jocularity, with Halfing Jesters being their ranged ground unit and their support unit being the Brew Brother. Much like the original AoW III, there is a campaign exclusive to this expansion that follows the tale of Ernest Thistlewood, a Halfing Warlord out to make his way in the world. One of the most interesting things to come to Golden Realms is the “Mystical City” upgrade system. As you explore, you will find treasure sites/ruins, and successfully acquiring these will either upgrade your buildings in unique ways, or make your forces stronger in a plethora of ways. Empire Quests make their appearance as well, which also come into Eternal Lords, proving they were at least interesting enough to keep around. Empire Quests are quests that are global; anyone can take part in them, and the first to complete it reaps the benefits. Some of the bonuses can be acquired even if another faction gained it first, for instance, if you defeat someone with the Imperial Residence and opt to not raze it to the ground.

Age of Wonders III Review

Magic! That is one of the driving forces of any fantasy game, and Age of Wonders III offers a new focus in Wild Magic.  Wild Magic embraces the luck factor that Halfings use and grants fairly random magic effects, such as a type of elemental or a buff/debuff that comes from a list of potential ones. Halfings are not physically dominant like the Orcs or many other races, but they are very Lucky. Luck is a stat that comes in Golden Realms, and the “Lucky” ability gives a unit a chance to avoid the effects of incoming attacks. Having it twice does stack, making them “Very Lucky!” Luck and happiness are the keys to success in a Halfing faction, and can make for a very frustrating enemy to encounter in multiplayer. While luck is important to a Halfing, another specialization comes to light in “Partisan.” Think guerilla warfare, stealth, and cunning. There are a small pile of skills that come with this specialization such as “Folk Hero” and “Hide Out,” making it quite useful. I was leery, given that while I love fantasy, I’m not such a big fan of Halfing type races, but I found their campaign to be clever and interesting, and I found myself swiftly immersed in their lore.

 

Age of Wonders III Review

Eternal Lords, Limited Time Only

Not really limited time . . . Eternal Lords is the expansion on the way for the Age of Wonders III title. In it we get to play a campaign focused around the Frostlings, and a Necromancer, starting with Arvik the Dark, a Necromancer getting his feet wet in the frozen realm he calls home. I feel like his name is more than a little silly, but the silliness stops there. The coolest feature (no pun intended, I swear) is the Necromancer spell “Animate Ruins.” Casting this spell on a ruined/razed city will turn it into an Undead city, which will allow them to produce Necromancer-exclusive units instead of whatever they had formerly. In multiplayer games this can be key, since you may not want the other units and instead, would rather have an army of ghouls to send to their undeaths; this can save a lot of money on Settlers, if you’d rather simply annihilate a city and take their smoldering ruins to make your own. You can also cast “Corrupt the Source” to corrupt Great Farms or Springs in your domain, making them another source for your undead powers. However you cannot normally absorb living cities. Instead, you destroy your opponents, or utilize your powers to corrupt. It’s all very grim and evil, but I do feel like I should note that outside of the campaign, more than Frostlings can play as Necromancers.

Age of Wonders III Review

Another new concept in Eternal Lords is the idea of Race Governance. I really like this concept, quite frankly. The idea is that the longer you spend with a particular race in your empire, the stronger your bond/control over them grows. As this happens, there are tiers that provide particular abilities to enhance your units in different ways, stronger with each tier. It can be little things like enhancing your ability to siege, and more. Once you hit that final tier, you can create a Unifying Beacon, and if you build enough of them (depending on the game mode), you can win with Unity instead of simply conquering.  Cosmic Occurrences or Happenings also exist now, which can devastate the course of the game, or set events in motion that will allow you to win rather handily! They will not literally change the game in one turn, but interesting things happen when the planets align…There are quite a few new places to explore, and considerably powerful new Specializations based on the three alignments (Torch Bearer, Grey Guard, Shadow Born). I’m excited to see what the high level play of Necromancers bring to the table, being one of my favorite fantasy archetypes!

 

Age of Wonders III Review

Is The Same Old Really So Bad?  4/5 Great

I’m in love with Age of Wonders III all over again.  It’s a terrific fantasy strategy game with something new and fresh being offered in both expansions. New victory conditions, new classes (or returns of old favorites), new characters, lore areas, lengthy and challenging campaigns!  Sure, the game is unforgiving and difficult, but it’s a nice hearken back to older strategy games of my youth such as Heroes of Might and Magic, as I have probably said before.  Kudos to AoWIII, they are really offering something unique, fun and suitably difficult. And I have to say, I love resurrecting cities in my own grim visage. That was one of the coolest points to be offered in the new expansion. Though I have to say that I still hate the controls. I do not feel they have gotten any better. Sometimes simply clicking on a unit is not enough and that drives me mad, but not enough to hate this title.

 

Graphics: 5/5

It’s a beautiful game, all told. The two expansions look radically different, and I found it pretty easy to immerse myself in the beautiful, lush forests and plains as swiftly as the dead, cold frozen wastelands.  The units all look interesting, the heroes are well designed.  All told, it’s a very pretty game.

 

Controls: 3/5

The controls however, drive me absolutely damned batty. Sometimes (most of the time) simply clicking on one of my units does nothing. I’ll have to click again, or sometimes a third time, simply to get them to start moving. I also feel having a key to confirm auto movement is a little redundant. It’s supposed to be auto-move, not confirm-move. Other than that, controls are fine, but that one little thing can be maddening all on its own.

 

Features: 4/5

While there are just scenarios, campaign, and online multiplayer, the various abilities and general uniqueness of the factions really make up for that. Each group will feel different, and it will show in repeated gameplay.

 

Sound/Music: 4/5

I do like the sounds and sensations of this game. From the rowing of boats into the frozen waters, the hungry flapping of wings of dragons, and the thundering, rolling beats of the music, I really enjoy simply listening to this game. It feels epic and profound somehow, and that’s quite alright with me.

 

Want more Age of Wonders III? Check out my video on the Golden Realm!