Yearly Archives: 2018

NOGALIOUS Arrives on MSX in October

NOGALIOUS, originally released on PC thanks to 246 Kickstarter backers, will be released on an MSX cartridge in October 2018. The 8-bit action platformer will be released in this classic retro-style cartridge specifically for fans of nostalgia. A DLC update containing this version of the game will be on Steam as well so everyone can enjoy it, even if they don’t have MSX access. NOGALIOUS will be sold separately for MSX (here), or in a bundle that includes the box, manual, and original soundtrack (here). Those who have already pre-ordered a single copy of the title can obtain the full bundle just by paying the difference. The promotional code UPGRADE saves them from paying the shipping costs of the remaining assets. The physical copy of the game on PC can currently be acquired independently (https://bit.ly/2oo2xqd), in deluxe format (https://bit.ly/2NaOf6V) or in the summer bundle, which contains the game, the deluxe box, the game manual, and the original soundtrack (https://bit.ly/2NuQ3Ip). People who backed our original campaign on Kickstarter will get the poster and the original soundtrack for free.

Portal Knights Villainous Update is Out Now

The latest update for Portal Knights, The Villainous Update arrives today on Steam, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. It will hit Mobile on September 6 and later on the Nintendo Switch. This update will bring three new mighty bosses: Slime Queen, Knight Hunter, and All-Watcher, and only the bravest will be able to topple these encounters. Also available as part of the “Villainous Update” is The Ranger’s Guild Bodkins Point – an exciting new area for players to explore complete with new quests, NPCs, merchants and more! Players will also benefit from side-by-side chest management improvements, which enable players to quickly move items in their inventory for mass item transfers and stacking, and an unlimited water source while in Creative Mode. Also launching soon is the “Creator’s Update paired with the new “Villainous Update” for Portal Knights players on Nintendo Switch. In addition, Steam is running a 60% off discount for Portal Knights for a week, starting today.

ESRB & Penny Arcade Introduce the #JoinTheConversation Campaign

The ESRB and Penny Arcade are teaming up to launch a series of Public Service Announcements called “Conversations”. This is to help parents #JointheConversation about the importance of ESRB ratings and how they can ensure the video games they purchase are age-appropriate and fun. Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, creators of the Penny Arcade webcomic/Founders of the PAX conventions will be featured in these PSAs. The authentic banter with their children is light-hearted, but illustrates how fast and easy it is to find out what’s in a game by checking the ESRB-assigned rating information. These PSAs will run from August 28th through December 14th and will be unveiled by game streaming services and featured during PAX West.

Details: 

  • Animated video spots featuring the Penny Arcade founders and their children, depicted in their distinctive art style. The campaign will inspire parents to share their own family’s insights about checking the ratings and using other tools to ensure their kids play appropriate games.
  • contest to encourage families to share their conversation for a chance to win a family of four trip to any of the 2019 PAX Game Conventions in the U.S., plus a chance to win one of ten $25 GameStop gift cards awarded monthly.

 

Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle Goes Live on Console

Happinet is proud to announce that their dungeon-crawling RPG, Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle is now live on both the Nintendo Switch and the Playstation 4 for 13.99. A fast-paced challenge awaits in the Edo Period of Japan. Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle is based on the terrifying Hyakki Island, where prisoners were exiled. A mysterious castle suddenly appears on the island bringing a slew of creepy monsters, such as the “Yokai” of ancient Japanese literature, back to life, ready and waiting for any players brave enough to enter the castle. The island imprisons a cunning rebel mastermind who seeks to overthrow the Shogun order and assassinate its leader.

“We’re excited to bring such a challenging real-time RPG to living rooms and on console platforms,” said Masaru Saito, Producer of Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle“We hope to bring out the Dungeon Masters in everyone who plays Haunted Dungeons:Hyakki Castle as the game proudly showcases deep roots of Ancient Japanese folklore and delivers a unique experience like no other.”

Game details:

  • Real-time RPG Action: Execute various tactics such as flanking, distracting, and more for your party in real-time as “Yokai” appear throughout the castle to bring death upon players
  • Twice the Possibilities: Split your group of assassins into two parties at any time to deal with traps, puzzles, and enemies for unparalleled strategy and party options
  • Explore a Monstrous Castle: The enormous castle is filled with cunning traps—some of which can only be solved by dividing your party—and tough boss monsters, testing player instincts and judgement
  • Explore Japanese Character Classes and Races: Choose to play as an Oni, Tengu, Human, or Nekomata with four distinct races on tap to add diverse skillsets to your party
  • Tutorial Mode: Learn to survive and defeat the Yokai and bosses in a tutorial mode that provides an in-depth explanation on all the mechanics and tactics needed to survive
  • Redefined UI Experience: Experience real-time gameplay with improved UI designed for console gameplay and beginners of the real-time dungeon RPG genre

Earth Defense Force 5 Prepares to Deploy in 2018 on Playstation 4

D3 Publisher has announced that the popular Earth Defense Force series is coming back to the US, with Earth Defense Force 5. Already available in Japan, players once again take arms against a hostile alien invasion. But insect aliens aren’t alone, because as a series first, humanoid aliens from the mysterious planet Primer are joining the fight. It’s a non-stop drag-out brawl for the future of the Earth. With wisdom and courage, we can stop these alien threats. Over 100 new missions are here with five difficulty settings, 1,000 usable arms, and two-player co-op with split screen. If that weren’t enough, online co-op with four players will be available as well.

1C Company Reveals September Launch Dates for Three PC Titles

1C Company News

1C Company announced today that three of their PC titles will be arriving on PC this September. Unknown Fate is going to be available on PC and PC VR on September 6th, with Oculus Rift support well on the way. It will also be off for 15% off at launch (14.99 normally) and is a story-driven first-person adventure with puzzles and enemies to take care of. Richard will encounter strange characters, unfamiliar artifacts and glimpses of his former life. Gift of Parthax is next, on September 12th, with an Xbox One release coming later. This will also be 15% off (9.99 normally) and is a 2D top-down arena fighter, with gothic pixel art and has players controlling Arif, a mage on a quest to save his friend.

Receiving the Gift of Parthax by competing in the Grand Arena may be the only way. The third title is Deep Sky Derelicts, on September 26th, for 15% off of the 19.99 price on launch. It is is an award-winning original game of ancient spaceship exploration, startling encounters, incredible loot, and danger behind every corner. The game features turn-based combat with cards in a retro sci-fi setting enriched with roguelike elements. The game launches following its successful Early Access program.

The Bard’s Tale IV Preview

by Andrew Skelton (Outfoxed)

 

For some, The Bard’s Tale series is a storied, treasured classic.  First released in 1985, the game spawned two sequels and a construction kit to make your own adventures.  However, there have been no new developments in the series since 1991, and it’s long been considered a forgotten gem.  In 2004, InXile released a spin-off game titled, unsurprisingly, The Bard’s Tale, on PC and consoles, though it was connected in name only.  InXile, however, successfully crowdfunded a proper sequel to the original title and has released a beta version of The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep.  Being a long time fan of the series, I was curious and eager to see how it felt compared to the series of yore.

Bards Tale IV Preview Screenshot

As you first enter the game, you’re treated to a grisly execution scene.  Okay, that’s a dismal tone straight away, I thought. You then learn, through traveling the city of Skara Brae with an old man named Rabbie (he saw you in a dream once so it’s okay!) that these public executions are the result of the zealous followers of a priest of the Fatherite church.  This bishop’s cult-like following has been on a rampage against all non-conforming groups such as the elves, dwarves, and trow, and even groups of humans labeled as outcasts. Modern political similarities aside, the game sets a tone early on that you’re in for a rather bleak experience.

Following Rabbie to the Adventurer’s Guild, you find out the church isn’t a fan of said guild, and wouldn’t you know it, mere moments after arriving the guild is on fire and you’re forced to flee into Skara Brae Below, where the real adventure begins.  It’s also at this point where you can finally customize your character. See, you initially start as Melody, the Bard, as part of the initial narrative, but once you escape, you’re free to change that storyline. Creation involves choosing race (four human archetypes, elf, dwarf, or trow — goblin-like creatures for those not in the know), gender, class (bard, warrior, rogue, or practitioner, the mage of the group) and then what skills you want to master.  I decided to go with Melody anyway, since it was obvious she was supposed to be the star of this show.

Bards Tale IV Preview Screenshot

Exploration in The Bard’s Tale IV functions like it does in the first three games, rather than the spinoff.  You traverse cities and dungeons in a first-person view and interact with people, places, and things using left click.  In fact, left click can be considered the “do whatever necessary” button, since it’s responsible for so much of the gameplay.  Right click brings up a character action menu, which becomes much more valuable when you get more party members.

Yes, unlike previous installments, you start out alone.  You’ll recruit additional party members as you play, and as you gain more party members, your options in combat increase substantially.  This is one of the complaints I have with the game, though. You can have up to six party members (eventually, not quite that in the beta version), but are limited to three actions total across the entire party.  Not to mention the fact that characters gain access to a large skill tree but can only equip three skills at a time. It seems nonsensical and artificially limited to me. It creates difficulty only for the sake of difficulty.

Bards Tale IV Preview Screenshot

Speaking of combat, this is a turn-based, grid-based system, but not quite like you might expect.  There are no random encounters in the game, for instance. You either get the jump on enemies and act first (guess which mouse button you use!), or the enemies spot you and they act first instead.  The previously mentioned three actions per turn rule does also apply to enemies, so there’s at least some form of balance. Once in battle, you execute your commands based on your character’s position on what’s essentially an invisible 4×4 grid — 2×4 for your party, and 2×4 for your enemies.  Certain attacks can only hit certain rows or columns along this grid, so positioning can be very important. There are also special attacks and conditions that can be inflicted or prevented with other actions, so girding your characters appropriately and balancing their skills becomes half of the challenge, not to mention deciding which abilities to use from round to round.

The difficult combat aside, I definitely enjoyed the exploration and puzzle solving aspect of the game.  Most of the early puzzles seem to be figuring out cog placement to open doors, but there’s some clever use of environment in play too.  For example, there’s a puzzle that involved getting onto a rooftop to fetch a treasure chest nearby. In order to access that chest, however, you have to push blocks below in a particular arrangement first.  I’m a big fan of spatial puzzles like these, especially ones that make use of the environment so well. There are several sidequests I found along the way, too, but I never managed to complete any of them, sadly.  From what I understand, some require further progression than the game currently offers, and some are just challenging to complete at this stage.

Bards Tale IV Preview Screenshot

Overall, The Bard’s Tale IV is showing a lot of promise.  InXile is doing a good job of listening to complaints and fixing reported issues, insofar as I’ve witnessed.  There’s certainly a lack of polish that can be expected with a beta, and the game is most assuredly not optimized at all — the minimum requirements currently call for a GTX 970, for example.  Still, I think the game definitely harkens back to the series of yore. Sure, there’s no Cary Elwes delivering snark as was the case in the 2004 spinoff, but as mechanics get polished and gameplay gets expanded, hopefully The Bard’s Tale IV will have its own tales to weave for everyone.

Note: A game key was provided for preview purposes.

A Bard’s Tale IV Preview Screenshots

Closers: Return of the Beat ’em Up

Wolfgang CG Screenshot

With the arrival of the Wildhüter faction in Closers, I thought it might be time to revisit it and see how things have changed since then. I’ve been fairly active in Closers since it was in Beta, and while I enjoyed the initial release, there were some serious points of contention, like clumsy controller support and the fatigue system. When I first began playing Closers, you could use a controller, but it was awkward, and it was difficult to tell what button did what since the buttons would show a keyboard button instead of a controller icon. Now the UI uses an Xbox One controller scheme (ABXY, LB LT RB RT), even with a Switch controller or Playstation 4 controller, it’s easy to know what buttons I need to be pressing in conjunction with each other to produce results. These controls are tight and responsive, and I no issues with things like following a basic attack up with a jump, so I can turn that attack into a juggle combo, creating very stylish bursts of damage. As a side-scrolling beat ‘em up, I personally want it to feel like something I can play on my couch, mashing out combos of moves and attacks on a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse. Fun action games deserve easy-to-understand controller support. Closers is easily the best side-scrolling beat ’em up online game I’ve played, and it’s nice that the others in the genre have some serious competition.

Then there’s Stamina/Fatigue. The moment I saw it in the game during the beta, I knew there was going to be a backlash. It’s a system that belongs in a mobile game, but not on a PC title. Nothing turned me off faster than only being able to play a certain amount a day before stopping and waiting until tomorrow. I am definitely in the camp of people who believe in supporting the free-to-play games that they believe in and enjoy, as long as I do not feel forced to. Now I don’t feel compelled to spend money simply to play the amount I want to a day, and thus am okay spending money on cosmetics and other facets of the game, so I can help it grow. This, alongside the adjustment of the leveling curve (so players level up a bit faster and can tackle harder content easier), have really made it far more fun.

Wolfgang Knockback

There have been other changes too, such as changes to crafting and achievements to make those systems a bit more streamlined. More rewards are linked to achievements, making them more desirable, and the UI for these systems also makes a lot more sense and is easier to navigate. Those changes happened a bit ago, but we’re right on the heels of a brand new update, and there’s never been a better time to hop in and play. Did you start with the beta and lapse? Well, now there are eleven characters to play, each with their own backstory, motivations, storylines, and adventures. They are very three-dimensional characters, and even if you have hit level cap on say, J, there are so many other options to explore and characters to try out. Personally, most of my time is spent on Harpy or Yuri, but there are quite a few other characters I’m looking at trying after I explore Wolfgang more.

In fact, there are two character-themed events going on until October 1st, 2018. There’s one for Tina to celebrate that she’s reached “Special Operative” status. At level 30 (and every 10 after that) you’ll get a box that gives enhancement items to power up Tina, and then there’s the matter of Rank Promotion Costumes. When your Closer first achieves a new rank, they can craft a permanent version of the Rank Promotion costume is added for you, for a limited time. Players will have until October 29th (10 pm PDT) to do this, and completing stages with her will also grant Special Operative Certificates. These can be used to craft useful items for Tina.

Wolfgang Special

Then there’s the matter of the “Returning/New Player” Event, which will give players temporary, but powerful items to get them back on track. There will also be login rewards every fifteen days after that, ranging from boosts to special event costumes. Closer Coins will also be given for each stage completed, which can also be used in the Crafting System for costumes, accessories and other items.

As the star of this update is Wolfgang, he also has an event to discuss. It’s the same deal as Tina, where you gain tokens instead of certificates, and every 10 levels after 30 will give useful boxes of goods to level more efficiently. Now we have reached the part I’m most excited about: Let’s talk about Wolfgang! As the first Wildhüter, it’s important that he makes a big scene and is worth playing. Wolfgang very much strikes me very much as a very striking character and stands out from the rest of the male cast. Naddic pointed out that he was a challenge to create. They said, “He was the first male character after Nata in Wolfdog, and there have been attractive male characters in Closers already. So it was very challenging to create him with different charming points. We tried many different concepts, and they were resulted in ‘Wolfgang Schneider’. His key concept is ‘a beautiful young man with long hair and a sharp tongue”. With that in mind, let’s discuss Wolfgang, now that I’ve had some time to play him.

Wolfgang Blast

At present, I’m level 30 with Wolfgang, and well into his storyline. I wish I had a little more time to really get into the nitty-gritty with him, but I’m going to continue to level him up and explore his storyline. Wolfgang is a Librarian who is now affiliated with the Wildhuters, a section of the Closers. His weapon is not traditional, and is known as “The Black Book”. Through it, he wields tremendous power and dark magic, conjuring blades of red and black energy, dark fire, and other incredible feats of will. His passive is “Cursed Librarian”, and states that anytime he uses a “Ritual”, he’s empowered with the “Black Book” buff, which stacks three times and lasts twenty seconds. As an example, one of my primary abilities, “Ritual: Sanguine Grasp” has (for me) a 7.7-second cooldown, and my other Ritual is “Ritual: Dark Matter”, which has a skill cooldown of 13.62 seconds. So if you want to stack this buff, you have to be aware of what Rituals you have, where they are, how to stagger them appropriately. It’s not hard, but it may take some getting used to.

With all the red in his abilities, he reminds me of a Blood Mage, channeling vitae to obliterate enemies in front of him. His abilities combo together well, and I noticed that no other characters (other than Wolfgangs) were around me. I learned that this is because he’s the only Wildhuter, so he can’t party with any other characters, except in certain Hubs and of course in Raids. This is because of where he fits in the story presently, as I’ve come to understand it. That’s just fine for me because he obliterates everything in his path with horrific ease. His primary weakness as I’ve seen in gameplay are his cooldowns. So if you can equip gear that fixes that (CD Reduction), and lots of Psi Damage/Psi Crit, he’ll be good to go. These high cooldowns will be a liability in PVP, despite his damage and other positives. His arc of damage is incredibly high, with nice large AOE, and wide swathes no matter what ability he uses. While I love his ability to dump huge numbers, the part I like the most is his counter-play and mobility. On the note to PVP, a key to victory is to be able to disrupt or stall your enemy out. Wolfgang has a few options to be aware of:

  • Sanguine Grasp: Wolfgang charges forward, and any enemies (no matter how many) and pushes them back, interrupting their attacks. In PVE, enemies who are immune to grabs are instead inflicted with Sanguine Infusion.
  • Ritual: Absorption: If used in conjunction with a directional key, he teleports in that direction, to get him out of a potentially sticky situation, and the actual ability pulls enemies closer. If it’s over level 3, Belial will also show up to strike your foes.
  • Ritual: Dark Matter: This super-dense ball of matter draws enemies in and deals damage. With the first activation, it also lifts enemies afflicted with it into the air.
  • Cancellation: You can use your Cancel to temporarily stop attacks from locking you down. Follow this up with Sanguine Grasp into Iron Claws, for a nice pile of damage, and leap out with Dark Portals, so you’re in the air, dealing more damage.

His abilities combo well together, like I said, but in the early going, my bread-and-butter was to pull with Ghost Bow, and when they’re close, Sanguine Grasp, Summon – Eligos, then follow up with Ritual Absorption with whatever’s left. He also has options that vary depending on what direction he is moving/hitting. Summon – Eligos has three attacks for Neutral (Aggressive Strike), Up Arrow (Red Lotus Strike), and Down Arrow (Storm Strike), for when Eligos is actually summoned. The second button press, when coupled with an arrow key (or no arrow key) will use one of those attacks. Since I have not had the opportunity to play Wolfgang with anyone else yet, except other Wolfgangs perhaps, but while he does have some complicated options in when to use summon abilities and rituals, based on the sheer damage he does, he’s very newbie/ user-friendly. Another thing I have noticed that when some of his abilities are active, you can move enemies around and shift them in the other direction if you have someone behind you and want to continue hurling magic with reckless abandon. He’s got a lot of fun tricks and tactics to employ. I can’t wait to see what other people come up with. With the Wolfgang event in play, you absolutely must give him a try. Do you want to see how he handles? Check this stream out where I dive deep with Wolfgang!

Watch MMOHuts Live with Jason: Let’s check out Wolfgang in Closers! from MMOhutsLive on www.twitch.tv

Earthfall: Inferno Update Available Now

Holospark released a new update for their online first-person shooter, Earthfall. This “Inferno Update” brings fire-based content to the game. From the Inferno Level, the Fire Sapper and Fire Spitter enemies, fire-themed weapon skins, it’s definitely a hot update. There’s also the P90 Compact SMG to be excited about. The heat of the Summer might be on the outs, but things are still quite heated in Earthfall.