Monthly Archives: May 2019

World on Fire

World on Fire is a base building SLG style free to play game available on iOS and Android mobile devices.

Business Model: Free to Play

Microtransactions: Yes – Microtransactions to reduce production times, boost resource gathering, etc.

Key Features:

From the Ashes: You must help to rebuild civilization from the devastation of an alien destruction.

Research: Find alien tech to research, then use it against your foes.

Expand: Conquer territories and make your empire encompass the globe!

Rune II Brings an Age of Darkness in Summer 2019

Inspired by the original Rune (2000), Rune II is set in a Norse universe during the end of days (Ragnarok). Beasts and man alike struggle to survive, and you’re going to do battle with Loki’s minions. This latest teaser shows the brutal chaos at Midgard, with vicious beasts and monsters looming in the shadows during these dark times. As Midgard’s savior, it’s up to you to kneel atop the Divine Summit and receive a blessing and abilities from the god of your choosing. It’s a race against time to prevent  Loki from destroying Midgard! Rune II is still finalizing development but plans on hitting the Epic Games Store in 2019.

For more details on the story, bad guys, quests, and other items players will discover in RUNE IIjoin Human Head on their Twitch Channel May 24 at 3 PM CST/1PM PST for a livestream and Ask Us Anything event to see further reveals and chat with the developers.

“We’ve spent the last few years building a story-driven brutal Viking experience and evolving it with the help of our fan base,” said Human Head Studios Co-founder and CEO Chris Rhinehart. “Players return to Midgard with a sense of familiarity, but with new mechanics such as god-given abilities, open world events, crafting, a full single/co-op campaign, along with UE4 enhanced visuals, making it a true sequel to the original.”

Mechanic Miner has Begun Early Access on Steam

Hello John is a Danish development team and they’re proud to announce their title Mechanic Mineris now available on Steam in Early Access for 17.99 (USD), with a special launch week discount of 15% off. In Mechanic Miner, players are in a sandbox builder where you construct wild steam-powered machines, collect resources, and acquire new technology. With a goal of surviving a hostile planet, players are only limited by their imagination. Whether they want to build submarines, air balloons or spiderbots, they build machines to protect them from the elements and horrific monstrosities.

Players can also take part in Story mode, where procedural environments make each run a different experience. There are challenges to complete, battles to fight, and technologies to discover. There are over 50 physically simulated building parts (with more to come), to make certain player creations are as different as the encounters they face. Your imagination and your ability to source the required components will be the key to your survival.

“In my spare time I began working on a game about engineering… this was seven years ago and it turns out I haven’t been able to stop!” said Finn Nielsen, Game Director and programmer at Hello John. “The team and I wanted to create an authentic world where players can make real, working machines. Once we put out a closed alpha an exceptional community grew around the game that helped us develop it so much. We look forward to the players enjoying the game that we have made with this amazing community.”

Steel Division 2 Receives New Army General Mode Trailer

Steel Division 2 revealed a new game mode for the upcoming strategy title from Eugen Systems – Army General Mode. Focusing on Baranovichi (the fourth campaign in the game), players can choose to control the German or Red army in a single-player, turn-based mode.

The date is July 3, 1944. The German Army finally received reinforcements to set up a defense to stop the Red Army’s progression. But Hitler ordered a counterattack toward Stowbtsy to reopen the road to Minsk. The player objective is to hold Stowbtsy and capture Baranovichi. Today’s video shows a closer look at how the turn-based strategy will work in this 1:1 recreation of World War II theaters of war. It also features a detailed look at selecting battalions, choosing formations, spending action points and other tactical elements.

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest Review (Retro Reviews)

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Castlevania 2 Review - Town

It all starts here, with a bunch of liars.

Okay, so – Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. Often it’s regarded as the worst in the entire franchise, but that’s impossible as long as Castlevania 64 exists. But honestly, Simon’s Quest is a fantastic side-scrolling RPG and is the first “RPG” in the Castlevania franchise. I was thinking of it because it’s a part of the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, and rightly so. I was playing it just this morning, and figured we could talk about Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest this morning. It’s a terrific game, once you understand a little more about it. It doesn’t really tell you much on how to progress, and has what could be considered a “terrible dub”. Some of it is just genuinely bad, but something I want people to consider is this: The common folk absolutely hated the Belmont family. They were trusted with great power and duty, and many people saw their role as a curse and a burden.

Castlevania 2 - Huh?

HUH?!

So, of course, people are going to lie to Simon Belmont! Some of it was just translated literally (and as a result makes no sense to us), making some of the hints downright difficult to figure out. This is far from a perfect game, and in my estimation, it was one of the first “Nintendo Power Games” – where if you didn’t have a guide, strategy book, or in the modern audience’s eyes, an FAQ, you’re going to have a bad time. Until you really understand the game, it can be seen as frustrating, unfair, and horrible. Hell, I know what you’re supposed to do more or less, and I still get frustrated with it. This is not a perfect game, but it’s for damn sure a good one. This game was made at a time when sequels on the NES were almost always different, in order to make sure the audience didn’t get bored. See Super Mario 2 US, Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, Super C (to an extent). This started to change with games like the Adventure Island franchise, but that’s another discussion for another day.

Castlevania 2 Review - Be careful

Not even towns are safe.

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest takes place seven years after the original Castlevania, and at the end of the battle with Dracula, a curse was inflicted upon the vampire killer. His body continues to decay and atrophy and the only way to put an end to this curse is to gather the pieces of Dracula that were scattered to the winds, put them together and defeat him again, once and for all (Honestly. He never comes back. Ever.). However, many people distrust or outright hate Simon Belmont for his supernatural powers, likely blaming him for all the troubles with Dracula. Many of the characters in the game tell half-truths and outright lies, leading the game to be even more confusing. I think this would be appreciated more in a modern audience instead of a time when we have little to no access to information about a game. Now it’s easier than ever, and thus, could be appreciated as a storytelling device. You don’t have a lot of information, other than that you need to buy a Crystal (to help you see invisible platforms).

Castlevania 2 Timer

Be careful – time is not on your side.

The player is also being timed, but that’s not really made clear in the game either. There are three endings, which is dependant on how many continues are used, and how much time passes. This makes the game far harder, in theory – because you have to grind hearts for whip upgrades/orbs/sub-items, and exp to make Simon Belmont stronger. Your menu has a clock that shows what time it is, and time constantly turns. Once night hits, the monsters are stronger (but give more hearts), and people in towns all go indoors, so you can’t purchase items. There are also ghouls running around in towns so you have to fight and kill them too. So what do you do in order to get EXP/Hearts, while also not running out of time for the good ending? To the Manors!

Castlevania 2 - What to do

If you just jump down here, you die. But you have to go down somehow…

The parts of Dracula are in a variety of Manors, and you have to visit them, purchase a Wooden Stake, and break open an orb with them. It’s important to know that while you’re in a Manor, the clock does not run down. So what I do, is I get my Holy Water, get my Crystal, then immediately rush to the nearest Manor. In the early game, you can only get 256 Hearts, so I get as much as I can, buy my Wooden Stake, and then finish it, and figure out where to go next. That way I maximize my grinding without hurting the clock. Monsters respawn when you get off screen, so you can walk back and forth in a short area where Skeletons keep respawning and easily farm exp/hearts. As you level-up though, some monsters stop giving exp (but will still give hearts), so you have to move on to stronger foes. One of the things that makes this game so damn frustrating though, is the Manors. There are so many blocks that you can walk right through, and fall back to earlier parts of the dungeon/to your doom. These Manors also typically have Water pits, where you fall into them and die.

Castlevania 2 Item

You even have to buy items in the Manors. Keep a stock of hearts and don’t die.

That’s where the Holy Water comes in. Basically, you spam Holy Water with every step if you don’t know where the drop blocks are. If it’s a drop block, your Holy Water will sail through it, and you know to be careful. This is annoying because it’s just an aggravating sound effect and you have to use it just about all the time. Combine this with enemies knocking you back a huge distance when you take damage, you could also be knocked back into another enemy, or knocked into a pit and die. When you die, you lose a life and start back close to where you were – this can have you start right on top of an enemy, where you fall and die again, creating huge moments of frustration. If you Game Over, you continue in the same area at least, but without the hearts/exp you gained. You can get passwords to enter though (which can also let you skip huge portions of the game if you know them), so it’s not a total loss. But knowing where to go and what to do is key, especially since getting to the final Manor (Dracula’s Palace) and fighting the final boss is such a damn pain. Well, fighting Dracula’s incredibly easy – just spam fire on him and he won’t even get a chance to move. It’s incredibly anticlimactic, considering you can skip Death, and have more of a threat from Mermen and Werewolves than you do Count Dracula himself. There are lots of things to be upset about in this game, but it in no way stops it from being a classic, worthy of being recognized.

What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse: 4/5:

Castlevania 2  Thematic

Castlevania 2 has a perfect aesthetic.

There are so many things that could be fixed in this game though. It’s not perfect by any stretch, but I still absolutely love it. It’s challenging, it tells a great story, and was a new direction for the Castlevania franchise. Visually, it’s perfect. The towns look grimy and sad, the people look hopeless. I could talk about the visuals of Castlevania 2 as a separate article. It’s a style of Castlevania game I would have liked to see more of (though personally, my favorite is probably SOTN/Castlevania IV). The exploration style of Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest could be done in a variety of interesting ways in a modern game engine. Most of the people I know enjoy Castlevania II, but over the years, I’ve heard a ton of yowling about how bad and difficult it was. It definitely was difficult, but that’s where a lot of the charm came from. It was something new and special, and while the game has plenty of flaws (enough to where it received a fan remake that was arguably much better), it is still a Castlevania game worth sitting down and playing in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. That collection offers save states, which I will most definitely be taking advantage of. You’d be foolish not to. Now get out there and stop Dracula once and for all (for real this time)!