“Stay awhile, and listen!” The full Diablo III experience is coming to the Nintendo Switch this fall! Diablo III: Eternal Collection is on the way.
Monthly Archives: August 2018
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Shadows Over Bogenhafen DLC Teaser
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Shadows Over Bogenhafen DLC is coming to PC and Xbox One on August 28.
Content will be revealed closer to the release on August 28.
Tropico 6 Gamescom Trailer
Tropico 6, the “dictator sim,” launches in January 2019 for desktop and summer 2019 for consoles. Check out the new gamescom trailer!
Warriors Orochi 4 Lets Players Wield the Power of the Gods
Koei Tecmo revealed several of the new characters that will be joining the Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors cast for Warriors Orochi 4! An unknown force threatens these brave warriors, but as they uncover the mystery, they learn they are not alone. Four gods are joining the battle, each equipped with a Sacred Treasure. Perseus demigod son of Zeus, Ares the brutal god of war, Odin the All-Father, and the goddess of wisdom Athena all will be taking to the battlefield. In addition to the four new gods, a number of pre-order bonuses for both physical and digital versions were also announced.
Those who pre-order the physical version, through select retailers, will receive alternate costumes for Xu Shu, Mitsunari Ishida, Da Ji, Wang Yuanji, Wang Yi, Lady Hayakawa, Xingcai, Guo Jia, Takatora Todo, and Yoshitsugu Otani. Players who digitally pre-order on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch will receive those, plus two extra bonuses: an elusive unicorn and the mighty Pegasus. The Playstation 4 pre-orders will receive Pegasus and a special Warriors Orochi 4 theme.
Another Sight to Launch on Steam in September 2018
Lunar Great Wall is an Italian studio working on a surreal fantasy adventure known as Another Sight. They have announced their launch date, which will be on September 6th, 2018 for Steam. Developed in Unreal Engine, this allowed LUnar Great Wall Studios to realize their vision for this adventure, set in London 1899, right at the end of the Victorian era. Another Sight has a strong emphasis on character and culture, as well as the emotional development of the two protagonists relationship.
They are Kit, an intrepid teen, and Hodge, a mysterious, red-furred cat. After meeting in a London Underground construction site, Kit loses her site when the tunnel collapses. Kit will have to rely on Hodge in this surreal adventure, with a world inspired by Neil Gaiman’s urban fantasy, known as Neverwhere. Kit and Hodge encounter a hidden society made up of the world’s greatest inventors and finest artistic minds, including Claude Monet, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison and other historical cultural icons.
Marco Ponte, CEO and Founder of Lunar Great Wall commented: “Another Sight has truly been a labour of love for the team here at Lunar Great Wall. We’re now pleased to be able to share Hodge and Kit with the world and invite players to experience their journey with us.”
UPPERS, Third-Person Brawler Comes to PC and PS4
UPPERS is a third-person brawler originally released in Japan for the Playstation Vita back in 2016. But it’s coming to PC and Playstation 4 this year thanks to Marvelous Europe! It’s remastered in 1080p and 60fps, with native support for even higher resolutions. It also has full-text localization for English, French, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. Last Resort is the deserted island setting for Uppers, and you control up to 13 characters who are constantly in battle against bandits who only seek to cause trouble, who are accompanied by a harm of thrill-seeking girls determined to see their fellows victorious.
The more you succeed, the more popular you will become, winning power ups to help you stand victorious in street battles. The girls also issue challenges in return for reward bonuses, which can be used in the in-game store and gym to dress up or improve your character. It’s time to experience the game like never before, with incredible combos, and insane weapons – throwing cars, bicycles, motorbikes, or simply slam dunk your foe into a manhole. Not extreme enough? Just uppercut them into a passing helicopter!
Hip-Hop Stoner Noir Title Revealed, ‘STONE’
Stone is a Koala. He’s hungover, a dick, and is coming to Steam for PC and Mac later this fall. STONE is a HIp-Hop Stoner Noir Adventure, and I’m not quite sure what to make of that sentence I have just written. Gruff, lovable, fat koala Stone is trying to put the pieces of his fragmented mind together after a rough night out, and if that weren’t bad enough, he receives an ominous call threatening to upheave his entire life, just as he realizes his “chookie” Alex is nowhere to be found. Alex is a lorikeet raver and artist. STONE also features a heavily-curated soundtrack featuring licensed tracks from several upcoming indie artists from around the world, and each track was chosen to reflect the moods in STONE’s story. Expect hip-hop, stoner metal, house and much more.
“Leaving a stable AAA job in pursuit of my dream project STONE certainly wasn’t easy, nor has it become any easier, but knowing our small team at Convict Games faces almost no artistic restrictions is worth it – we have no obligations, no stakeholders, just the freedom to create whatever we want,” said writer, director and Chief Convict Greg Louden of Convict Games. “STONE is the interactive story I’ve always wanted to tell and play. I wrote, direct, programmed and produced the entire project, and it feels incredibly liberating to break free from publisher restraints and to release STONE completely independently.”
“STONE may not be for everyone, but we hope it’s wild, artistic nature, and Australian influences resonate with those craving a narrative unafraid to ‘go there,’” said Louden. “We’ve been working on STONE for nearly two years, tapping into the influential works of counterculture icons including Charles Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson and Thomas Pynchon, classic stoner noir films such as The Big Lebowski and Inherent Vice, and other narrative-driven games including Firewatch and Grim Fandango.”
Stormdivers Teaser Clip Revealed
Finnish studio Housemarque revealed their teaser for the upcoming multiplayer IP from them, Stormdivers. The full trailer will be revealed next week during Gamescom 2018.
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT – The Return of Rinoa Heartlilly
The third character in the Dissidia Season Pass, Rinoa Heartlilly from Final Fantasy VIII officially joins the Dissidia cast today! She brings a new fighting style to the game with her Blaster Edge weapon, allowing her to aid her allies and attack from afar. She also has her loyal dog pal Angelo to disrupt her enemies attacks and keep them at a distance.
Rinoa’s unique EX Skill “Angel Wing” transforms her into a powerful sorceress, completely changing her move set and allowing her to wield powerful magic at the cost of reducing her HP over time. She’s available as a standalone purchase or in the Season Pass, which also has Vayne (FFXII), Locke (VI) and three more unrevealed characters, each with their own skins and weapons.
Total War: Three Kingdoms Press Preview & Interview
by Jason Parker (Ragachak)
Last week I took a trip out to the west coast to preview one of the ambush missions of Total War: Three Kingdoms, as well as chat with one of the developers in an interview (seen above). Now, anyone who has read my work before probably knows this, but I owe my career to the Sanguoyanyi (Three Kingdoms) era of history. When I first started seeing the Total War games, I’d always ask myself, “Why isn’t there a Three Kingdoms Total War game? Isn’t it practically built for this point in time”? Thankfully, those prayers have been answered, and Creative Assembly has an absolute hit on their hands. Now, I only got to play one of the ambush maps from the “Romance Mode”, The Ambush of Sun Ren, but it made a very strong impression. One thing I want to point out that I learned while there, is that there are two main modes. The Romance Mode, which I previewed a battle from, and Historic Mode. The major difference between the two is that Romance Mode offers wildly powerful generals/leaders, that have thousands of hit points and incredible abilities to turn the tide of battle.
This version of the game (which I honestly am more excited for) is the more fantastic, exaggerated mode for Total War: Three Kingdoms, and I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed it. The generals take the field as their own larger-than-life figures and are key to winning in battle, but definitely cannot do it alone. Each one of the generals has their own role to fulfill (commander, duelist, et al), and in this mission, we had a duelist general in Sun Ren, the daughter of the “Tiger of Jiang Dong”, Sun Jian and then her brother, Sun Quan, who would ultimately come to rule the Sun faction. In this mission, Cao Cao’s forces have ambushed Sun Ren and Sun Quan, and the goal is to either defeat all of the enemies or to simply make it to the retreat point. I appreciate that you have these options even in the direst of times. If you are confident you can fight it out, you can weaken their generals, challenge them to a duel and kill them on the battlefield, or you can send some of your troops to die and hold the line so that your important figures can live on.
There isn’t too much that eliminates enemy morale like a successful duel though. The key was to weaken the targeted general with Sun Ren’s attack ability, “Heartseeker”, until they have as little a chance as possible of surviving. That’s when you hit them with the duel challenge. Should they accept, both sides of soldiers surround them while they go into bout after bout. You “can” and should definitely use her melee ability, “Flames of the Phoenix” here, or any dueling general that has one, you should make sure to pop their abilities on cooldown. You can lose your general here because these are not friendly polite duels. These are brutal, scratch-and-claw fights. These are incredibly tactical battles though: Your units can form into special stances and formations, each with their own useful abilities. The battles were ferocious, it was easy to see where you were moving your units (even at night). I’ve played several of the Total War games, but this was the easiest one for me to figure out where my units were going and what they were doing.
Battles are great and all, but we also discussed my personal favorite feature: Being a sneaky bastard. Spies are a huge part of the Three Kingdoms Era, and in this game, when you send out a spy, they’ll come across as a soldier/general that left their lord behind/was fired from their position, and “somehow” wind up in the target lord’s city. The longer they stay and serve that lord, it increases their loyalty and bond with that lord. The downside is, having them perform sneaky acts of treachery have a chance to be found out. You definitely don’t want to get caught with your hand in the pile of Baozi. The really amazing thing is, say you infiltrate Ma Teng’s force, and Ma Teng is on death’s door. Your spy has gotten so close, he’s been adopted by the lord, and is far more useful and powerful compared to Ma Teng’s sons. Now picture your spy having control of the enemy kingdom. Not great enough? Imagine doing this in “online multiplayer”. If that’s not the most salt-inducing thing you can imagine in an online strategy game, I have no idea what to tell you. You can be crafty, cunning, build bonds and break them (and bond with officers does matter), gift officers incredibly valuable items from Chinese history (Red Hare, Sword of the Seven Stars, you name it), all sorts of stuff. I only wish I got to play more of it.
Total War: Three Kingdoms is off to an incredible start, and you can tell that they have put time and effort into making this historically accurate, “and” gorgeous. It’s got a beautiful, unique Chinese visual, from battlefields to the overworld map are stunning to look at. Though I only heard English voice acting so far, I do hope it will have a Chinese dub, so it can really feel like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms TV series. Now, I’m normally not amazing at the Total War games, I’m great at turn-based strategy, but I kind of fall off in the real-time combat. However, this is an era that I know intimately well, I’m vested and ready to tackle some of the sneakier parts of the game. All of the major feudal lords are here, and it begins right when things get good: About the year 190. I’m a little disappointed that the Yellow Turbans aren’t in the game, and that we probably won’t see some of their nutty magic, but I get their explanation. What Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi did wasn’t really magic, but certainly appears that way to the common man. All they did was master meteorology and other sciences. Total War: Three Kingdoms is certainly walking the path towards Hegemony in 2019. I cannot wait to see and play more of it.



