Hardsuit Labs, the new developer for Blacklight Retribution, has announced that the long-awaited release of its parity update is now scheduled for July 29.
The parity update is designed to bring all versions of Blacklight Retribution onto the same development page, with a single source code that will make it easier for the developers to update and maintain the game moving forward.
An FAQ on the Parity update is available here.
In a new dev blog, Perfect World Entertainment showcases the two defensive towers for its upcoming Neverwinter expansion, Stronghold: the Archer Tower and the Sorceror’s Tower.
Defensive towers provide extra firepower in combat. There are seven plots where the towers can be constructed: two in the top lane, three in the center lane, and two in the bottom lane. Each plot is located near an important location such as a bridge, supply depot, or siege point. Towers can be improved just like other plots on your Stronghold map. A tower’s attack becomes more powerful each time it increases in rank.
You can read more about these towers on Neverwinter’s official blog.
Warframe has released a new teaser site for Echoes of the Sentient, a new update coming to Warframe’s PC version soon.
The teaser site hints at some massive movement upgrades for Tenno, including Bulletjump, AimGliding, DoubleJump, WallJump, and WallLatch, giving players more combat control and agility overall.
By Jordan Hall (ApocaRUFF)
Introduction
Victor Vran is the latest title to come from Haemimont Games, known for their strategy games and Tropico series. It is set in a sort of Gothic-Fairytale world where man, science, monsters, and magic clash. As an action RPG, you can expect intense combat and hordes of enemies to come at you. Playing as Victor Vran, you will make use of a plethora of weapon and demonic magics to take on your foes and save the city of Zagoravia of its demon infestation. Let’s take a look and see how well Haemimont Games has done with this new title.
Customization
Despite having a leveling system, all of the customization available comes to you in the form of equipment. The weapon you have equipped dictates one portion of the abilities available to you, while your equipped demon powers dictate the rest. A hammer weapon will have abilities that take a while to charge or have large AOE effects, while a rapier will have abilities that offer quick charges or single-target high damage attacks. So, while there is no traditional skill or stat system, customization options are abound and you can play the game you like and give Victor Vran your own twist.
Leveling up brings you two things. Your choice of a piece of equipment, and some kind of “bump” to some of your stats. For example, when you level up you might get more Health or you might find yourself able to equip more cards. These tarot-like cards are split into various levels of power and offer you bonuses, such as increased critical hit damage. Often times you can choose to take a box that will give you a decent weapon. You can use that box for just that, or you can save and accumulate them to transmute into a box that will drop a weapon with even better stats and bonuses. It’s stuff like this that offers you a decent amount of customization without making use of the traditional methods of stat points distribution and skill-buying.
I love the designs of the cards.
Graphics
Graphics quality isn’t the highest, but is more than adequate. And what the game lacks in highly-detailed models and textures, it more than makes up with atmosphere. Foggy, creepy city covered in demons, undead, spiders, and other monsters that lurk at every corner. This helps suck you into the game, letting the hours fly by as you thoroughly enjoy the game. Needless to say, graphics will be getting a high score from me.
Just dancing with some friends.
Controls
Victor Vran is one of those games that you get the impression was meant to be played with gamepad, as evident by the fact that you’re asked which method of control you would prefer almost as soon as you launch the game. While you can play perfectly fine with keyboard and mouse, the experience felt much richer when sitting back and playing with my PS3 controller. I never encountered any issues with the controls, so there are no complaints from me. Definitely a 5/5 experience, at least where the controls are concerned.
Gameplay
The game, while having a strong story that is enticing and fully voice acted, doesn’t take itself completely seriously. Most of the characters have ‘extreme’ personalities, which can come off as silly at times and endearing at others. Some monsters you’ll destroy will have you laughing, such as a small horde of Psy-look-a-alike skeletons, doing the Gangnam Style dance as they approach you. If you fail to keep your distance, you may find yourself joining their infectious dance. It’s light-hearted comedy like this that help keep the game from being overly depressing and more than makes up for any of the (very few) short-comings that it has.
“Tactical Retreat.” AKA running away.
Combat is fast-paced with a lot of movement and twitch-reactions involved. And, despite the perspective, the devs have managed to give each attack a “weight” that you can almost feel. As an example, when you swing your hammer, it will take a bit to get the momentum going but once it’s going it doesn’t stop. Speaking of weapons, there is a decent variety. From shotguns that excel at taking on groups of enemies at range, to rapiers that are perfect if you love fast-paced attacks that are meant for a single target at a time. No matter your play-style, there is a weapon that will enable it in Victor Vran.
I love the shotguns in this game.
If you like to loot things, you’re in luck. When you kill an enemy it has a chance of dropping gold or various items. The same goes for every single crate, urn, tomb, box, or anything else that is made of wood or stone and might have something inside. Plenty of chests around to loot which often explode into showers of gold, too. Heck, even some of the map objectives (which I’ll get into later) require you to murder these destructible objects. And everything falls to the ground and you collect it by simply running over it, which can be quite satisfying.
Like a lot of top-down and isometric RPGs, Victor Vran has a hub format. That is, there is a “Hub” location where you can advance the story, store items, trade with merchants, and head out to various parts of the demon-infested city. You might get the impression that with this format, the story takes a back seat. Fortunately, that is absolutely not the case. While offering freedom to “grind” loot and experience, the story of the game is still the central feature. So you get to develop Victor to fit your needs and enjoy some intense dungeon crawling, while at the same time experiencing an intense (and at times comedic) story.
As you play the game you’ll follow a main story line, which can sometimes branch a bit. To be honest, the game is mostly linear. You go through an area, complete the objectives of the story mission, and move onto the next. To help relieve this linearity and perhaps to satisfy the “Completion Hunters” each map you go to will have various objectives that can be completed for item boxes, gold, or experience. When one of these objectives is completed, a glowing flag will drop from the sky and land wherever you stand; the standard explosion of rewards falling all over the ground ensues. You will also gain a star towards completing that map that you can check out whenever you’re in the hub.
The setting of the game is almost straight out of a Gothic nightmare. Demons, spiders, undead, and all other unsavory sorts are abound. Magic contends with technology, as Hunters make use of old-fashioned weaponry and more recent firearms to take on the demons and other things that go bump in the night. Victor Vran is one such hunter, tainted with demon magic that allows him to call down firestorms, create magic shields, and other fantastic feats. I feel in love with the world of Victor Vran immediately, as it provides a very satisfying clash of many different elements that I enjoy.
The developers seem to take pride in the rich world they have created, too. You’re given access to a Codex that will fill out as you discover parts of the game. Each enemy, map, and other such interesting things are recorded into the Codex for you to review whenever you like. This can be helpful when coming against enemies, as (especially early on) you’re never sure what types of abilities an enemy will employ until you fight it. If you happen to come across the enemy again but aren’t completely sure on its abilities, you can just quickly check the Codex. I have to say, though, the format of the Codex isn’t exactly what I hoped. I really wish it had taken the form of an old, weathered and used tome that could be flipped through (almost similar to the ‘Codex’ in games like Ni No Kuni on the PlayStation 3).
Conclusion: Great
Victor Vran has proven to be one of the best action RPGs I’ve ever played, completely blowing past my expectations and raising the bar for all future isometric aRPGs I’ll play. Haemimont has proven that their talents expand much further than helping people realize their dreams of being a Dictator. Everything you could want is there: An awesome demon-hunting hero with a mysterious past, choices to make, intense and fast combat to enjoy, a story that is interesting with a bit of comic relief… It’s all there and it’s all done well. Simply put, Victor Vran was a complete treat to play, and I highly suggest you get it now. Despite the Early Access tag, the game is surprisingly polished at this point and who knows? Maybe the $20 price tag won’t last, they could definitely get away with raising the price. Get it now.
Features: 3/5 – Interesting features, but not so many.
Customization: 3/5 – I liked what was there, but at times I wished for more.
Graphics: 4/5 – Not the highest quality, but very atmospheric.
Controls: 5/5 – No issues, only a lot of fun.
Overall: 4/5 – Probably not the best game I’ve ever played, but definitely a contender.
See the fourth DLC in action in Call of Duty Advanced Warfare‘s gameplay trailer.
Call of Duty®: Advanced Warfare wraps up an extraordinary DLC season with the release of the fourth and final DLC pack, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Reckoning, coming August 4 first on Xbox Live, the world’s premier gaming community from Microsoft for Xbox One and Xbox 360, with other platforms to follow. Reckoning features four all-new maps that takes players from New Baghdad all the way to South Korea as they grapple their way out of ship-fired missile strikes, dodge plasma lamp explosions and boost jump off crumbling glaciers; the return of the Exo Grapple playlist and the thrilling conclusion to Exo Zombies.
“We’ve had an absolute blast supporting the fans throughout the DLC season, and continue to come up with fun new ways to play Advanced Warfare. The support and feedback we’ve received from the community continues to inspire us, and we’ve taken that inspiration to heart with Reckoning to deliver a new set of multiplayer maps and the conclusion to Exo Zombies. We are grateful to all of our fans and hope everyone enjoys playing the new content as much as we enjoyed creating it,” said Michael Condrey, Co-Founder and Studio Head, Sledgehammer Games.
“What an amazing journey this has been. From the moment we began with prototyping Advanced Warfare all the way to the completion of our fourth DLC pack, Reckoning, it’s been an incredible experience. We’ve often said we have the best fans in the world, and we mean it. We look forward to continuing to support our fans,” said Glen Schofield, Co-Founder and Studio Head, Sledgehammer Games.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Reckoning includes four intense new multiplayer maps, all featuring the new Exo Grapple mechanic, which delivers more fast-paced multiplayer combat than ever before.
Closing out the final DLC Pack for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the dramatic conclusion of the Exo Zombies saga with the last episode, Descent. In the last episode, the team – Bill Paxton (Aliens, Titanic, Edge of Tomorrow), Rose McGowan (Planet Terror, Scream), Jon Bernthal (Fury, The Wolf of Wall Street) and new member Bruce Campbell (Army of Darkness, Burn Notice), are about to escape from the Atlas aircraft carrier on which they’ve been stranded. But before they do, they discover their friend and original squad member, John Malkovich (In the Line of Fire, RED, Burn After Reading), has been turned, and is now among the undead. Descent introduces a remote ocean Atlas survival facility, new “fused” exo zombie enemies, and the Trident Reflected Energy Weapon.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Reckoning will be available first on Xbox Live for a suggested retail price of $14.99 on August 4. The Reckoning DLC Pack is also included in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s DLC Season Pass*, featuring all four DLC Packs planned for the year, as part of the discounted bundle offered at a suggested retail price of $49.99 – a discount of $10 off the individual purchase of all four DLC Map Packs.
SMITE tells quite the unusual tale of Vamana, the hideous manbaby.
The Tree of Savior team has announced that the English/International version of the game will begin beta testing in August.
The first beta test will run from August 4 through August 10, and will feature the same client as the third closed beta for Korean testers. Only 5,000 players who have recently logged into the game’s official website will be chosen to participate in the test. Beta keys will be sent out on July 31.
A new era is dawning in Drakensang Online! Bigpoint, one of the world’s leading developers and publishers of online games, today announced the release of the biggest expansion ever for its successful action RPG. The add-on is called “Rise of Balor” and will be available in August 2015. This marks the beginning of a series of new features coming to Drakensang Online through the end of the year.
Meet the Most Powerful Boss in the History of Drakensang Online!
The expansion unveils a whole new continent filled with exciting challenges for advanced heroes. The update raises the maximum level from 45 to 50 and adds 150 brand new quests, NPCs and monsters to the world of Dracania. For the first time since the release of Drakensang Online, players will come face-to-face with a living, breathing dragon! Battling fierce monsters will be rewarded with epic armor, weapons and new item sets. The storyline continues in “Rise of Balor”. Ancient mysteries come to light and an evil being from long-forgotten times reawakens. The task seems clear: vanquish the forces of evil and save the world—but all is not as it seems. Unanticipated twists and turns guarantee excitement and suspense, even for players who think they’ve already seen everything the world of Dracania has to offer.
Tropical Heat and Wild Beasts: Welcome to Lor’Tac!
The unveiling of the new continent Lor’Tac marks a whole new chapter in the story of Drakensang Online. The design of the territory is influenced by the Aztec and Polynesian cultures. The setting: a tropical rainforest in which players will encounter two new tribes and battle monsters on more than ten new maps.
More Tactical Options for Character Development
And that’s not all! The skill system in Drakensang Online has been reworked from the ground up, converted to a skill and talent mastery system for all four character classes. Players can freely distribute their talent points as they like and experiment with specializations. This opens up new strategic possibilities for character development and encourages customized play styles.
The update also includes reimagined graphics and character lightning as well as a range of technical improvements. The experience for first-time players was already massively improved a few months ago, and loads of new content and features will follow through the end of 2015.
Lor’Tac Bound – Harbingers of Corruption – Pre-release Event
To make the wait for the release more bearable, Bigpoint has launched a new world event. It’s called “Lor’Tac Bound – Harbingers of Corruption” and will last until the release of “Rise of Balor”. In the event, sinister rifts and portals appear in Dracania, leaving destruction in their wake. To put an end to these dark forces, players must collect Corrupted Andermagic from special monsters they kill, the only way to enter the rifts and gain access to a Realm Chamber leading in Lor’Tac. Beware, for even more dangerous foes lurk on the other side! Players who defeat these enemies receive Tablet Fragments they can exchange for powerful equipment once they reach Lor’Tac.
Fallout Shelter™, the first-ever mobile game set in the celebrated Fallout® universe from Bethesda Game Studios®, will be available worldwide for FREE on Google Play for Android devices on 13th August. The game will also include all-new updates including the introduction of Mr. Handy – the ultimate robotic companion – as a premium reward. Use him to collect resources inside your Vault, send him into the wasteland to collect loot, or defend your Vault from creatures and disasters, including new threats like Deathclaw invasions and Molerat infestations. This update will also be available on iOS on the same day.
Fallout Shelter is a post-nuclear strategy and simulation experience that puts you in control of a state-of-the-art underground Vault. Build the perfect Vault from a variety of rooms, oversee your very own thriving community of Vault Dwellers, and protect them from the dangers of the Wasteland.
Following its release in June on the Apple App Store, Fallout Shelter achieved global success as the top downloaded game in 48 countries and the top downloaded app of any kind in 25 countries following its release. During E3 2015 Fallout Shelter received praise from some of the industry’s leading outlets, earning ‘Game of the Week’ from Touch Arcade and nominations for ‘Biggest Surprise’ from IGN and ‘Best Handled/Mobile Game’ from the official Game Critics Awards.