Monthly Archives: April 2018

Funcom Reveals Conan Exiles’ Final Form for its Full Launch

“Live. Love. Burn with life. Slay and survive.” These are the wise words of the greatest barbarian, Conan, as he journeys to the open Exiled Lands. Conan Exiles‘ full launch will arrive on May 8th, and players on Xbox One, PLaystation4 and PC will all get to journey back to Hyborea. Conan Exiles has been in Early Access since January 31st, 2017, and is an open-world survival game set in the brutal, unforgiving lands of Conan the Barbarian. Starting with nothing, you must build a kingdom, dominate your enemies, and survive this savage world and somehow thrive.

“We wanted to make sure leaving Early Access is something more than just removing the Early Access label and saying we’re done,” says Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “Besides being the first time it’s available on PlayStation 4, the launch of Conan Exiles brings with it a massive expansion of the game world, game-changing new features such as monster invasions known as the purge and an entirely new action-oriented combat system, as well as many other major additions that truly makes this the ultimate vision of Conan Exiles. If you were ever on the fence, or you are just discovering it for the first time, May 8th is the time to join the adventure.”

Underworld Ascendant Teaser

The next project from Warren Spector (Ultima Underworld, Deus Ex) and Paul Neurath (Ultima Underworld, Thief) has a brand new teaser, as well as a dev diary to show some behind the scenes of Underworld Ascendant. Players will be returning to the fantasy realm of The Stygian Abyss, a realm rife with danger and intrigue in this Action RPG.

Nintendo Switch News – 4/9/18 – 4/13/18

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Quad Fighter K

Ah yes, it’s Friday the 13th, and I’m here with some Nintendo Switch news! Before I get into the stuff that actually came out, I did hear about a few fun games that are coming to this Switch before too long. First, we have a 4-player arcade shooter (done in a retro style) coming out this summer on the Switch. Aksys Games ‘Quad Fighter K” and players join the EDC (Earth Defense Corps) to launch a counter-attack, and with the help of Dr. Akemi, they plan to destroy the heart of the alien stronghold, and I think a game like this with co-op, it will work well with the Switch, being able to take it on the road with you and play with your friends. Now if it only had online co-op. . .It hearkens back to the days of my youth, with the art style and multi-player insane space shooter gameplay. I’m very excited for this one.

Death Road to Canada

Next is Death Road to Canada! The randomly generated, zombie-filled road trip is coming to the Playstation 4, Xbox One, but most importantly, the Nintendo Switch later this month! Slated for an April 25th release, players will journey from Florida to Ontario, enjoying the pixel art as they tackle an undead apocalypse. It’s over the top, hyper-violent and ridiculous, and can be played solo or two player local co-op, it will be live on the Switch with a 20% launch discount for the first two weeks (and I highly, highly recommend it). I could believe that Canada would be the only place free from the zombie apocalypse, but it’s a long and winding road from Florida. Ya’ll Mart, Muscle! Bomb!! Gym!!! are just two of the locales visited on the way, picking up weirdos along the way. Death Road to Canada seems like it would be right up my alley. You can count on some kind of coverage.

Streets of Red: Devil’s Dare Deluxe (4/12/18): Streets of Red is a permadeath multiplayer horror beat ’em up, and that’s one hell of a mouthful. It has unique, interesting characters that may or may not feel awfully familiar to gamers of all ages. Easy to learn but hard to master, you have to balance using cash or saving it to come back to life; if you run out of cash, your save file gets deleted and you have to start all over. It’s action-packed, filled with ridiculous gore and clever creatures, and even features Jim Sterling as one of the bosses! It’s incredibly difficult but incredibly fun. I’m actually working on a playthrough for the PS4 version. However, our very own Colton reviewed it for the Switch, which you can see below (7.19):

Don’t Starve: Nintendo Switch Edition (4/12/18): I haven’t really played Don’t Starve, but pretty much everyone I know has, and seem to enjoy it quite a lot. I do have to say, I adore the art style for it, and it’s pretty fitting for a Friday the 13th news piece. Wilson the Gentleman Scientist is the character you play as, who has been trapped by a demon and transported to a mysterious world. You have to learn to exploit this environment to find your way back home. There’s also the new challenge, Reign of Giants, which expands the world with new characters, seasons, creatures and more. There’s also “Shipwrecked” which will offer a tropical archipelago to explore. Do whatever you must, but most importantly, Don’t Starve. (19.99)

Masters of Anima (4/10/18): The magical world of Spark awaits in Masters of Anima, where you learn to summon an army of magical Guardians, each offering their own powers, abilities, and features that make them useful in certain situations. Learning to master these Guardians, acquiring new powers and using them well will make you a Master of Anima. Up to 100 Guardians can be controlled, and you play as Otto, who is but an apprentice. He aims to be a Master, so he can finally get married to his betrothed, Ana (who was captured by Zahr and his Golems). Since you’re already out to save your girl, you may as well save the world while you’re at it. Masters of Anima has a beautiful art style and tactical gameplay that should fit nicely on the Nintendo Switch. (19.99)

Conquer Online Surging Pirates Expansion Giveaway

Pirate Class will finally have Epic Quest and Epic Weapons in April. The Surging Pirates Expansion will be updated on April 12th. To celebrate the release of new expansion, the Conquer Online (http://co.99.com/) team joins hands with OnRPG to provide wonderful gift packs for new players to challenge numerous martial artists in the world of Conquer!Conquer Online Event

Conquer Online is a free PVP MMORPG which features Free to Play, Skill to Win. In Conquer Online, you can choose from 9 awesome classes and become a martial arts master. While exploring the ancient oriental fantasy world, you also can make friends with other players all over the world, organize a guild, and even get married. Complete quests, challenge fierce monsters, enhance gear and finally you’ll become the conqueror of the world of fighters. Since launched, Conquer Online has attracted over 10 million players worldwide. Join and prove yourself on the world-class stage now!


Players will get a set of level 15 super +3 equipment (B) to start the new journey, there will also be gifts including EXP Balls, Dragon Balls and + stones to support a new player.

Overlord Pirate Pack:

EXP Ball (B) * 10; EXP Potion (B) * 10; 3-Day Mew Accessory Pack * 1; +3 Stone (B) * 7; +3 Steed (B) * 1; Dragon Ball (B) * 5; 30-Day Wild Camel Mount Armor; 30-Day Imperial Robe Garment; Pirate Treasure Box.

Novice Equipment Pack:

Open to get a set of level 15 Super +3 equipment (B) of your class.

Event Rules:

  1. Event Duration: April 12th to May 11th (PDT)
  2. One gift code per account per IP.
  3. Only for the new players who have successfully registered during the event.

How to Redeem Your Gift Code?

Step 1: Sign up for FREE on our Event Page (https://coevent.99.com/mediagiftpack/)

Step 2: Download the game and login to create a new character. Click START TO PLAY CO on the event page to download client.

Step 3: Come back to the Event Page (https://coevent.99.com/mediagiftpack/). Submit your character info and your gift code to claim your gift packs!

Step 4: Login to the game and claim your prizes from your in-game mailbox by clicking on the mailbox button on the top right corner of the game screen.

Note: Unfortunately ad blockers may interfere with our site. If you have any issues claiming a key, please disable them and try again.

Dead in Vinland Review

by Andrew Skelton (Outfoxed)

There’s something positively satisfying about survival games, even if I’m not the best at them.  Maybe it’s the thought that you know better than everyone else, so you’ll do much better. Perhaps it’s learning from prior mistakes to go further each subsequent attempt. Dead in Vinland, developed by CCCP and published by Playdius and Plug In Digital, gives you a chance to prove your survival skills.  A sequel to their previous title, Dead in Bermuda, Vinland expands on the original in several ways, such as more building options, an expanded map, and actual combat to overcome. Can it provide a true survival game experience?

Dead in Vinland Screenshot

Every Viking’s An Island

Dead in Vinland puts you in control of four survivors from the outset.  This family escaped the wrath of the Viking Jarl who sought their demise, only to end up deserted on a strange island.  Almost immediately they’re accosted by the self-proclaimed lord of the isle, who demands tribute every week, or he’ll come and slaughter the lot of them like cattle.

Dead in Vinland Screenshot

Sure, it’s a simple story, but it does work for this narrative.  The family comes to the island with very little, and has to scavenge the longboat they arrived on for sundry to keep them afloat until they can scrounge more from the land they’ve found themselves on.  The game’s tutorial does a good job of showing you the basics of survival in this regard. It shows you how to assign one of your survivors to the various tasks you can complete, such as crafting, exploration, or scavenging.  The tutorial also teaches additional important steps like managing food and water. There are some things the tutorial doesn’t cover in-depth, such as the complex relationship system, but it’s quite adequate for everything else.

Dead in Vinland Screenshot

The Right Job for the Person

As expected from any survival game, Dead in Vinland has you managing the well-being of your survivors.  Each one has five primary stats that must be monitored: fatigue, hunger, sickness, injury, and depression.  If any of these attributes reach 100%, that character will die — if any of the four starting family die, it’s game over.  Fatigue raises just by performing actions, and can be lowered nightly through sleep, or taking a rest in the shelter during the day.  Hunger raises naturally at the end of the day. Sickness is raised by consuming raw foods meant to be cooked, amongst other things. Injuries are sustained through combat, and require medicine to heal.  Finally, depression increases by performing certain tasks. All of these attributes can also be raised or lowered depending on which (if any) random events you encounter through game play.

Dead in Vinland Screenshot

Of course, you can’t just have everyone while away their days in the shelter either.  In order to succeed and survive, you need to build up your resources. You need to keep a constant eye on your water supply.  Characters who spend too long without water will die within days; funny how art imitates life in such subtle ways. The basics of the game then become managing your resources versus managing the needs of your survivors.  Yeah, it sounds like every other survival game out there, I recognize, but each of the survivors have their own relationships with the other characters at the camp, and given the events of the game, these relationships can change and evolve.  For example, even within the first couple of days, I could already see the cracks forming in the otherwise happy family.

Dead in Vinland Screenshot

Construction Woes

When you start, your camp is pretty sparse.  You have a shelter, some water barrels, and an exploration camp.  There’s also your wrecked ship you can salvage, but that has limited gathers before it’s depleted.  The most important, immediate station you can use is the crafting station, which allows you to build over a dozen additional structures.  For example, you can build a lumber yard to increase your stockpile of wood, or a fishing hut in order to catch tasty sea meats. Building another station will require you to spend some of your resources, though, so this becomes yet another resource management section of the game.

Dead in Vinland Screenshot

The camp stations also require upkeep to ensure they’re working efficiently (guess what, this also consumes resources!).  You need to keep your fire stoked at all times too, as its condition drops nightly, and whenever you convert non-potable water into drinking water.  There’s a reason why the game recommends you build a lumber yard first, after all. Thankfully, you’ll also eventually gain access to upgrade your buildings, making them more efficient or enabling multiple people to work on them at once.  That latter facet is where relationship strength really comes into play. Survivors with a higher bond work best together, and will receive more resources or progress working together than those with a lower bond.

Dead in Vinland Screenshot

Twenty Questions

Every character in Dead in Vinland has their own strengths and weaknesses.  Everyone has skills spread out across twenty different options, broken down into four categories:  physical, mental, concentration, and endurance. Physical and mental skills contain what most would consider basic RPG stats such as Strength and Intelligence (respectively), while concentration focuses mostly on crafting skill and endurance on gathering skill.  Every task you set your survivors to is based on these skills, so setting the right person to the right job is very important. Thankfully, as characters perform tasks, they become more proficient in them, so if you’ve nothing else to send someone on, use them to build skills.  Keep in mind, your five primary stats do influence their success significantly, with fatigue affecting them all. Even your best hunter will find it hard to succeed when tired and hungry, for instance.

Dead in Vinland Screenshot

Each character has somewhat random assortment of traits when they start, too, which can influence a lot about the character.  For instance, they may be better at handling animals, but as such, aren’t suited towards gardening. Characters level up by performing tasks, and each level gives them a choice of one of four skills, chosen at random.  This is where RNG can truly doom you, as I had a couple of occasions where the negative aspect of certain perks available really hindered how I was using the character, and I had no truly positive option to take. Still, that can be expected from a survival game, since it’s all about doing better each time.

Dead in Vinland Screenshot

Ruining Their Day

One big difference Dead in Vinland has from its predecessor is a full-fledged combat system.  Up to three survivors can participate in each battle. From what I played, they seem to all fall into one of four archetypes:  tank, melee, ranged, support. If there are additional styles, blame my bad luck! Each unit has a certain amount of health. If that counter goes to 0, they’re removed from battle, and suffer serious wounds after combat.  Some units also have armor, which is removed before health. If a unit still has armor remaining at the end of the fight, they don’t suffer injuries.

Dead in Vinland Screenshot

When combat initiates, enemies and allies will be in one of two rows: melee or ranged.  These aren’t concrete, however, as all units being in the same row, regardless of whether it’s front or back, automatically makes that row melee.  Units have up to four skills they can utilize, each costing a variety of action points. You can move rows at the cost of a single action point, or you can give up any remaining actions you have for the round to gain an additional point the next turn of combat.  Turn order is displayed on the top of the battle screen and is determined by a unit’s initiative. Higher initiative means you get to act before the enemy, so I definitely consider it an important combat stat to hopefully avoid injury.

Dead in Vinland Screenshot

Final Thoughts: Good (3.5/5)

Dead in Vinland surprised me a bit.  I was expecting a robust survival game, for sure, but to have such a robust RPG experience tacked on to it was nothing short of impressive.  As with most of these games, RNG can be particularly brutal though. While it makes sense in the narrative of the story, getting additional survivors from a variety of areas jarred me initially (from Vikings to African poets to Tomoe Gozen, the game has all sorts).  I also highly recommend playing at least on normal, as the game’s easy mode seems to trivialize a lot of the strategy and content. Music and sound were adequate — combat’s Darkest Dungeon-esque sounds were particularly nice — but I definitely felt the characters could be a bit more expressive.  Sure, there’s a lot of emotion packed into this story, but only Eirik (the father) seemed properly capable of showcasing it at times. All in all, though, Dead in Vinland combines survival and role-playing into a very complex package, so fans of either may want to check it out.
Note: A game key was provided for review purposes.

Dead in Vinland Screenshots

Banner Saga 3 Launch Date Announced

Banner Saga 3 officially has a launch date, and on that fated day, July 24th, 2018, PC, Mac, Playstation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch will all receive the final part of the Banner Saga trilogy. Fans who pre-order the PC version through Steam or through other digital retailers will receive the following as an in-game bonus:

  • Dredge Stoneguard Character – Rank 10 Hero called Kivi
  • Unique Combat Ability: Tank
  • Unique Dredge Item – Sculptor’s Tools
  • Exclusive Dredge Heraldry
  • Unique Heroic Title: “Shield Cleaver’
  • Exclusive Banner Saga 3 Overture Track – by Grammy-nominated and two-time BAFTA-winning composer Austin Wintory

The Standard Edition will be 24.99 on PC, and the Deluxe Edition will be priced at 29.99 and include the soundtrack in addition to a digital wallpaper, world map, and ‘Gold Wasp’ in-game title. The Banner Saga 3 Legendary Edition is priced at $39.99 and includes everything that comes in the Deluxe Edition as well as the exclusive ‘Shadow Walker’ Heroic Title, the ‘Petrie Clan Ring’ exclusive legendary item and digital novel ‘Gift of Hadrborg’. 505 Games will also be publishing a physical retail package, The Banner Saga Trilogy: Bonus Edition – for both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 priced at $39.99.  The Bonus Edition will enable RPG fans to dive headlong into the entire Viking adventure and will include Banner Sagas 1, 2 and 3 plus a mini art book, poster, best of the soundtrack and in-game digital item.  It will be available at major game retailers on July 24th in the US and July 27th in Europe. A digital PC Bonus Edition featuring all three games will also be available.

Prepare to embark upon the final journey beyond the wall of Darkness to traverse into a world unlike anything encountered in the previous titles. Story secrets will be brought to light and character motives will be made clear finally. The end has come.

Banner Saga 3 will maintain the legacy created by the previous two games in the series. Even more exciting is the fact that in addition to PC we are bringing Banner Saga 3 to PlayStation 4, Microsoft’s XBox One and the Nintendo Switch simultaneously at launch. Stoic have created a trilogy that will stand the test of time as one of the best RPGs ever created and one that has resonated with fans from all over the world.  This is it! This is the end. If there was ever a time to experience the Banner Saga it is now.” Adds Versus Evil General Manager, Steve Escalante.