Frontier Developments is proud to announce that their latest title, Jurassic World Evolution is live on PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Players can now build their own Dinosaur Park, on the legendary Isla Nublar and the surrounding Muretes Archipelago. You are in charge of the area’s destiny, constructing attractions, securing containment and research facilities of your own Jurassic World. Bioengineering new dinosaur species that think, feel, and react intelligently is just one of the many keys to the action-based gameplay. Confronting challenges on the ground and in the air, and every challenge leads to a different path in a land where life finds a way. The game will also feature new content from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, including Dr. Wu’s most fearsome creation – The Indoraptor. It will be available in a content update going live on June 22nd.
Jurassic World Evolution features Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm, who guides players through the moral choices and tactical decisions that will test their building and management skills as they attempt to successfully run their own Jurassic World. He is joined by Bryce Dallas Howard as operations manager Claire Dearing and BD Wong as geneticist Dr. Henry Wu in an all-new story that touches on key characters and events from across the JurassicWorld franchise.
“Jurassic World Evolution immerses players and fans of the movies in the Jurassic World universe,” said Jonny Watts, Frontier’s Chief Creative Officer. “With masses of rich franchise lore, iconic characters, incredible living dinosaurs and islands you can reshape and construct however you choose, Jurassic World Evolution brings the dream of building and running your own Isla Nublar to life. This is YOUR Jurassic World, and we can’t wait to see what players create.”
Behavior Digital is proud to announce that their survival horror title, Dead by Daylight has sold over four million copies worldwide and is still growing. To celebrate, a new chapter launches, “Curtain Call” along with a new in-game store and tutorials for new players. This update also features a new killer, The Clown, who has long used his nomadic lifestyle to cover his horrific murders and past times. He’s fond of “The Afterpiece Tonic” to intoxicate and capture his victims. It also adds a new Survivor, Kate Denson. Awakening to an eternal nightmare in Campbell’s Chapel, there is no longer joy or light. Curtain Call is available for 6.99 on PC through Steam, and will soon be available on console.
The Dead by Daylight economy has been completely overhauled, now giving players the ability to earn new content in addition to buying it. Iridescent Shards are earned with playtime via a new player leveling system. An additional currency called Auric Cells is now available for purchase in packs ranging from 5 USD to 50 USD. Both currencies can be used to unlock characters and skins.
The approach to the store was designed from the ground up to be respectful to players, based on four pillars:
⦁ One Community: Maps will always be free, so the playerbase will never be segmented
⦁ Original Dead by Daylight characters can be earned: the community can now choose between earning or buying new content.
⦁ All in with cosmetic items: players can now personalize their character, adding to their experience
⦁ Transparency: Microtransactions will help support new content development.
Tripwire Interactive sets open season on zeds with the imminent launch of the latest Killing Floor 2 update – The Summer Sideshow: Treacherous Skies. It will be available today across all platforms and brings a wealth of new content to the game. To celebrate this, a 60% off sale will be on Steam starting today, and new players interested in the free Summer Sideshow update can also take advantage of the upcoming Free Weekend, which is slated to run from June 14th through Sunday, June 17th.
New Map: Airship
Help Lockhart reach his home island on the command airship by completing a series of increasingly challenging objectives
New Community Map: Endless Lockdown
Players can look forward to seeing this fan-made community favorite map officially available for the first time in KILLING FLOOR 2
New Weapons
M99 AMR Sniper Rifle for Sharpshooter
Static Strikers for Berserker
Doomstick for Support
Goreshiv Survivalist Knife
Weapon Upgrade System
Upgrade any weapon!
Players can now take any of their favorite weapons and make them viable for late-game play
Prestige System
Players can reset their perk after reaching perk level 25 to get exclusive weapon skin for their perk along with vault dosh rewards
Mrs. Foster
A totally new playable character DLC with her own voice which is localized in all supported languages
Insurgency: Sandstorm is coming in September 2018 to PC and 2019 to consoles, and the latest E3 2018 trailer shows how you get closer to the action than ever in tense, coordinated skirmishes, where skill is rewarded. PC players can also pre-order it with a 10% discount as well as receive access to the beta a few weeks before launch. An additional 10% will be given to players that own the original Insurgency and will be offered until the end of 2018.
Earthfall hits shelves for PS4, Xbox One and PC on July 13th, and it will be time to team-up with a buddy to shoot aliens and defend Earth from their onslaught.
What we have here, is a good ol’ fashioned “Martian Standoff”.
I’m not new to Memories of Mars – I did a press preview a few months back before it burst onto the scene in Early Access. Survival/Sandbox titles aren’t usually my wheelhouse, but I really like the idea of surviving on the Red Planet, with dangers lurking everywhere. You have mechanical organisms, as well as other players vying for resources and control of the planet. However, nothing is permanent, as the occasional solar cataclysm will rock the surface of Mars, obliterating all human life and all man-made structures, in what is their “Season” system. You can clone yourself and save an amount of your progress, but you can’t take it all with you. It’s very important to periodically back yourself up, whether it’s in a structure already created, or in your own base if you can manage to make one. Memories of Mars is certainly an interesting game, that’s for sure. I’ve been on and off all week, and even outside of the occasional bug that stripped me of all of my equipment, I still had quite a bit of fun exploring the Red Planet once again.
Eventually, I got up to about 100 flops saved! Progress!
One of the important things to note is that your character does not cross servers. When you log in, you’ll see a variety of servers to connect to, and you can save your favorite ones to come back to. What is saved is your Skill Tree progress, and I’m incredibly grateful for that. In order to progress in the world, you need “flops”, which is a currency that you spend on the skill tree, as well as the upkeep on your base. You find these in random containers, and on the bodies of players/enemy creatures. This “is” a full PVP game after all. I’m not 100% sure if you can kill members of your Alliance if you even join one (but I highly recommend it). This is a dangerous, unforgiving world, as I learned just a few days ago. It’s very dangerous to carry all of your items on you, because if you are killing, whether by a mechanical beast or another player, you can be looted completely. The only thing you’ll ever keep is your 3D printer because, without it, you’re lost forever. But. . . you can leave it somewhere. That’s another fun thing I learned. Situational awareness is so damn important in Memories of Mars.
Having a look is just as important as success.
I’ve made something like seven or eight fresh characters across various servers to try different approaches to figure out the most likely path to success or at least, some tips to offer interested parties. This is an incredibly challenging survival game, and you’re probably going to die a lot unless you play this style of game frequently. Memories of Mars starts you with virtually nothing. You get a 3D printer, a helmet, and one or two minor items inside of the clone base you start in. From there, you have to head to one of three spawn points (East, South, West), and it’s time to survive. There are no real “objectives” per se’, but I have devised a list of personal objectives to determine if a character will be a success or not. This, of course, won’t apply to everyone (like people who are actually good at this genre of games), but this is the general route I took as a beginner. Steps Taken:
There’s Ore in them thar hills. Oh, and death. Death awaits too.
Farm: You need a LOT of Nitrate/Iron Ore from the little pebbles on the ground. It’s going to take a considerable length of time (hours likely) to get the Pulse Excavator. The idea is that you’ll pick up a pistol in the starting area, and one of the items you start with the ability to make is standard pistol ammo. I made at least 100-200 rounds of ammo before I even considered doing anything else. This was after a few deaths when I was caught unawares.
There’s danger in bigger settlements, but the rewards can be great.
Fight: Find a pre-constructed area to loot/fight enemies in. Those little spider mechanical beasts are annoying but they provide flops, which you need, as do some of the containers. I personally avoid the mechanical snakes which appear mostly on large, flat areas of land. You’ll see them coming from a mile away. These bases will have lots of mechanical spiders hiding. The ones with a green glow are a bit more passive, and the ones with a red glow hop around and are incredibly aggressive. Be aware of their annoying acid spit. Farm them for flops, loot all the chests (they’ll glow white. The red glow means they have been looted). You may have to run after one or two kills and wait for your health to regenerate. It will, but it’s slow.
This “Extractor” was my absolute best friend.
Craft: First thing you want to build is the item that lets you mine for ore: Pulse Excavator. Now start farming the larger iron ore, or magnesium if you’re near it. But iron ore is infinitely more important in the early going. I took this time to craft body armor, make as much ammo as I could possibly need, and then worried about a base. Hopefully after a few base raids, you found you could craft some nutrients because starving to death is very bad. While farming, keep a close eye on your surroundings. If you see a long pipeline, you can follow it for Oxygen refills. You’ll probably have to do some monster farming in the basebuilding process, since you’ll want walls, a door, maybe some lights. This became the hardest step for me, less about the combat, and more about my hubris, or simply being ganked and looted.
With skill, patience, skill, luck, and a lot of bullets, you can survive and thrive.
Several deaths and a restart later, I also had to spend time farming up for an assault rifle and assault rifle ammo. I think the standard ammo should come with the ability to craft the gun, but that’s neither here nor there. Speaking of things I think may improve the game a bit, make it a little easier to find items for food crafting. You start with the ability to “make” it, but while iron is plentiful, the actual “food content” of the equation seems to be much harder to find, unless you risk more dangerous bases. I know I said that I farmed for most of my flops, and that’s true, but there’s another thing players ought to be aware of. There are larger bases that will occasionally have “flop events” where you can command a system that will, over the course of a period of time, will grant flops to you. But while it’s active, everyone will likely know, and the local enemies definitely will, as they rush to attack you. Enemies are also smart, and can definitely hear you when you’re making noise. So running across metal and rock will definitely attract them (but I run anyway when it’s time to flee). I learned a lot playing Memories of Mars, like if you’re looted, the Skull where you died no longer appears, so you know not to run and waste your time heading back.
I was killed, looted, and the victor lives in that estate off in the dance. I never did get revenge.
Memories of Mars is definitely an interesting game and a challenging survival title. I avoided huge fiery meteors falling from the sky, that awoke all the mechanical life in the area, battled players, died to said players, built bases and tried my best to survive the Red Planet. Though I did not succeed by most metrics, I did by my own – I learned, I grew and got a little better each time I made a character. I do think there are some things that could be tweaked just a little, such as the speed at which you gain flops, perhaps some of the earlier skill tree costs, but I am grateful that your progress carries across servers. If you’re being camped and obliterated, but want to start somewhere quieter to get some skills done, that seems to be an option. I definitely feel like Memories of Mars would be far more enjoyable with friends, so you can have an Alliance on, playing at the same time and working together. It can be incredibly frustrating to play alone on a packed server, but I still relished the challenge of getting a little better with each attempt. I enjoyed routing out the map and figuring out the safest/smartest places to go. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing Memories of Mars grow.
Coming December 7th, 2018: Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nintendo has come out swinging this year, making virtually every Smash fans dream come true, with Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Nintendo has officially given the fans what they want on the Nintendo Switch, bringing back every single character that has appeared as a fighter in any Smash Bros. game ever. Whether it’s one appearance or more, everyone’s here. They also introduced a new fighter, Inkling! Though I think Waluigi would have been a better choice, but it’s not too late. That brings the total characters playable up to 64. There have been a ton of changes, such as Assist Trophies being able to be KOed and count towards your numbers – though some cannot be beaten. From Waluigi to Bomberman, over 50 assist trophies will be usable. Another feature that should be interesting is that virtually every character has had adjustments to gameplay, from Final Smashes on down. There are potentially tens of thousands of updates to the game, and the Gamecube Controller will be compatible.
The stage list is huge as well, from returning stages to brand new ones, with the old stages getting visual overhauls to be on par with the Nintendo Switch’s graphics engine. So far we have seen Spirit Tracks, Frigate Orpheon, Green Hill Zone, New Pork City, Wrecking Crew, Tortimer Island, Moray Towers, Great Plateau Tower, and all Stages have Battlefield/Omega forms. They also discussed new/returning techniques, like directional air dodges, short hop, smash attacks and perfect shield. 1-on-1 matches will also have higher damage than group matches. You’ll be able to see who is in the lead as they will occasionally glow with light. Smash Bros. Amiibo figures will also be usable, and data from previous titles will be transferable. If Inkling wasn’t enough, RIDLEY also makes an appearance as a playable character.
You win, Nintendo. I’m excited for Smash Bros. Ultimate. You win E3 2018. – Ragachak and MissyS
Thanks for checking out the OnRPG coverage of the Sony Playstation conference at the 2018 E3 convention! After Sunday’s presentation from Microsoft’s XBox, Sony had a pretty tough act to follow! How did they fare? Read on to find out!
Shawn Layden started off the show thanking his “congregation” in a church-like stage. Where many presenters this E3 have been talking about the creative aspects and lots of new reveals, Sony took the route of going deeper into many of the titles that they’ve told us were coming. In general, Sony broke the mold with their conference and decided to do things their own way, focusing heavily on storytelling. As with any good writer, Sony does this not through telling, but by showing.
First up was Gustavo Santaolalla. Gustavo opened with a haunting live version of the original “Last of Us” theme song that managed to yank our heart strings anew. Bethesda, take note, THIS is how you do a musical introduction.
After the song, the lights dimmed and the crowd cheered as we were led into our first video presentation. We see Ellie, all grown up, surrounded by people at a ho-down. That delightful banjo twang filling the air. Sony first shows off their prowess with storytelling, allowing us to engage with their characters in a way that we cannot resist. Then, into the stunning eye candy that is the “Last of Us II” gameplay. Watch Ellie fight her way through enemies seamlessly. Notice the way she flinches when glass is broken near her head. Make sure to pick your jaw up after the video.
We had a bit of boring desk talk here, as the audience was ferried from one stage to the next. The biggest reveal during this portion being that the massively acclaimed “God of War” is getting a “New Game+” mode, largely due to prompting from the community on social media. Layden once again cautioned audiences not to be expecting anything big and new, but instead to walk deep into the heart of some of the titles that we’ve all been anticipating, such as “Spider Man”, “Ghost of Tsushima”, and the mind boggling “Death Stranding”.
Veteran “Call of Duty: Black Ops” fans may be pleased to see that some of the most popular maps from Black Ops 1-2 are being remastered and added not only to Black Ops 4, but also to Black Ops 3 for those who pre-order Black Ops 4 from the Playstation store. If you don’t have Black Ops 3 yet, don’t worry, it’s coming to Playstation Plus for free for all members.
Next the hosts recapped the countdown to E3 reveals over the last week, including “Tetris: Effect” (which will have a PSVR version), Zombie apocalypse game “Days Gone”, Psychological thriller “Twin Mirror”, “Ghost Giant” for PSVR which you’ll have to see for yourself, and the delightful to watch “Beat Saber”. We also got a story peek at the upcoming DLC for the Destiny franchise: “Forsaken” which players can get their hands on September 4th of 2018.
Here Sony took us back to a musical interlude, bravely defying the world to accuse them of cultural appropriation as a very not-Japanese man played a Japanese flute in feudal Japanese garb, in front of a scene of animated rice blowing in the breeze. Real talk, the guy was good, and the song was beautiful. Maybe unnecessary, but hey, it was a lead-in for a gameplay video of Sucker Punch Productions new title, “Ghost of Tsushima”. I personally found the video to be beautiful overall, with amazing detail and gorgeous graphics. Really though, I also felt like the combat animations were a bit stiff. It was more like watching Virtua Fighter 2, with a really snazzy graphics upgrade, which made me sad.
Our next video trailer was for “Control”, by Remedy games, developers of Alan Wake. We see the main character moving through a surreal and protean landscape. Something like if you took “The Force Unleashed” and dropped it into an M.C. Escher painting is what we get to see in the video, and yet somehow it works.
January 25th of 2019 will satisfy many fans of the Resident Evil series, giving them a gorgeous remake of one of their favorite titles in the franchise, “Resident Evil 2”, this time, with an over the shoulder camera style reminiscent of “Resident Evil 4”.
“Trover Saves the Universe” is uh… well.. it’s a thing. A platform thing. I can’t help but think drugs were involved. Maybe it’s your thing though. Do you like platform things? Okay, well, here you go.
Now, get ready for the mashup you’ve been waiting for! Sony in their infinite wisdom takes Kingdom Heart’s Sora, and drops him into the world of “Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag” and calls it, Kingdom Hearts 3! Okay, maybe that’s just while he’s in the world of “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Check out the video, but keep an eye on the end. Not only do we get a release date for the game, January 29th, 2019, but we also get a glimpse of the PS4 Pro “Kingdom Hearts III Limited Edition” console and controller. Plus, HD Remixes of Kingdom Hearts 1.5, 2.5, and 2.8, all in one package, only available on PS4.
If you’ve been following the next title, then nothing I can say will explain it any better. If you haven’t, anything I say will just confuse you more. Death Stranding is a cerebral mindfuck that doesn’t respect you in the morning, and is never going to call. But Norman Reedus is in it, and he does a lot of walking. The Walking Reedus.
“Defy death, death defies you”. These words and a demon-filled fight sequence are the teasers we receive for “Nioh 2”, sequel to the 2017 action RPG from Team Ninja.
The end of the main showcase featured a look at the intro to the upcoming “Spider-Man” title being released by Insomniac in September of this year. The footage shows everyone’s favorite smart mouthed web slinger swinging through the Raft lockup facility chasing Electro, who is busy releasing Spider-Man’s rogue gallery of foes; Negative Man, Rhino, Vulture, and the Scorpion. Who is behind this breakout remains to be seen!
Not only are the graphics stellar on this new Spider-Man game, but it boasts a sandbox style and open world gameplay that make me think of titles like “Prototype”. Players swing through New York City slinging webs, taking out goons, and completing heroic challenges. The combat appears fluid and dynamic, and I won’t deny being jealous of the folks at E3 who got to play.
Towards the end of the show we got to see the very first footage of From Software’s new PSVR game “Déraciné”. We really only get a taste of the style, and it’s hard to tell what sort of game it will be, but I definitely get the sense it will be atmosphere heavy, in a good way. Given the mention of going to the realm of fairies, and the definition of Déraciné (To be uprooted from ones natural environment) it seems that perhaps this will be an exploration game of some sort. Pure speculation there however.
Media Molecule wrapped up the showcase talking about their upcoming “Dreams”. Since Sony didn’t seem to want to bother actually telling us anything about the game, here’s a bit from a Wikipedia page: “In Dreams, players control an “imp”, which is used to interact with the game’s world (like a mouse cursor), create new items and characters, and manipulate objects by grabbing and pulling them. Players move the imp by using the [controller]. The imp is customizable, and players can change the emotion of the imp by drawing on the controller’s touchpad. The imp has the ability to possess characters featured in a dream, allowing players to take direct control of these characters.
Dreams‘s levels are separated by different segments known as “dreams”, and these dreams are connected by different gateways such as doors. Players encounter different puzzles in the game, which must be solved by using the abilities of the imp and the possessed characters, as well as the objects players retrieved in a dream. Items collected by players can be used to alter and modify the state of the game’s world.
Players can create their own levels in the game by using custom and pre-built objects. Players can then share their completed levels online. Cooperative multiplayer is also featured in the game, allowing players to create and manipulate their custom dreams together.”
We then got to see a video of creative mode, where two people use the imps to create a small landscape.
That’s all we’ve got for today’s Sony presentation. Not a bad offering all in all. The highlights were definitely “Last of Us 2”, “Spider-Man” and “Resident Evil 2” for me. If you’d like to share your thoughts on this year’s Sony press-conference, or anything else, head on over to https://www.onrpg.com/boards/index.php and tell us what’s on your mind!
MY HERO ONE’S JUSTICE is the 3D arena fighter set in the Shonen Jump manga/anime universe of My Hero Academia. Players will pick as quad of three characters, from Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, Tsuyu Asui and more. Squads can also include Pro Heroes, from All Might, Eraserhead and even villains like Stain, Dabi, and Toga. The Squad will feature a primary fighter and two sidekicks, mirroring how Pro Hero teams are structured. MY HERO ONE’S JUSTICE is coming in October, 2018.
During combat, fighters can call upon their sidekicks, as well as utilize their signature Quirks (the defining superpower of every hero and villain), to land explosive combination attacks to turn the tides of battle or finish off an opponent. As each character’s Quirk and support attack is unique and can be executed on the ground, in the air, or even on buildings, MY HERO ONE’S JUSTICE affords players the opportunity to “GO BEYOND” like only the MY HERO universe can.
On the PC Gaming Show at E3 2018, SEGA Europe announced that some of their most beloved Japanese franchises are coming to PC: Yakuza and Valkyria Chronicles. Specifically, Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Valkyria Chronicles 4 will be receiving the PC conversion to join Vanquish, Bayonetta, and Valkyria Chronicles, already available on PC. Yakuza 0 is going to hit Steam on August 1st, 2018 and the other two later in Autumn. If that weren’t enough, Shining Resonance Refrain and Shenmue I & II will also release in 2018, with the former releasing July 10th. Pre-orders on Steam before July 10th will receive 10% off. PC fans who have missed out on the thrilling Yakuza franchise now have their chance to experience what the Playstation fans already knew, that Yakuza is amazing.