Monthly Archives: September 2019

Remnant: From The Ashes Teases Adventure Mode Update

Remnant Adventure Update

Remnant: From The Ashes teased an awesome free update that’s coming to the game on September 12th, 2019. This free update will offer a new “Adventure Mode”, which adds a new layer to the exploration of the game. Players will be able to reroll a trio of biomes, without having to play through the whole campaign: Ruined Earth, Rhom, and Yaesha.

Players and their teammates can activate the mode from the World Stone in Ward 13, and select to roll one of these dynamically generated biomes, and then continue to explore dungeons, fight new enemies, or fight their favorite world bosses. In addition to giving players a chance to uncover all of the game’s secrets, all of their progress and items obtained in Adventure Mode stay with their character, so they can keep rolling in order to obtain all of the many weapons, armors, mods, and other items the game has to offer.

On September 19, “Leto’s Lab” will drop as a new dungeon. This will take players on a quest through Research Station Alpha, where they will be challenged by light puzzles mixed with intense combat, including a new boss fight. Once dynamically spawned in Ruined Earth, this unique dungeon will shed more light on the game’s intricate backstory and its enigmatic red crystals, a.k.a. World Stones.

Killsquad Releases First Major Update, ‘UNSEEN’

KILLSQUAD - Colosseum of the Unseen TRAILER

The first major update has launched worldwide for Killsquad, and it’s called ‘UNSEEN’. This update brings the ‘Colosseum of the Unseen’ to the game, which is a battle arena. This arena comes with it sown rules and rewards, aimed at more veteran players. For mercenaries seeking end-game challenge, this is where they’ll find it at. Hordes of monsters will be fought, and upon victory, incredible rewards will be picked up, as well as reputation with the Unseen. That will also, in turn, lead to rewards in future updates.

The Unseen update also presents a new vendor that appears randomly toward the end of missions, offering a selection of weapons, gears, and upgrades. In addition to a number of bug fixes, the update brings two new end-game Colosseum contracts at Vector 110, 21:9 UltraWide Screen support, a Quickplay function and a variety of other enhancements.

Everspace 2 Begins Its Kickstarter in October 2019

EVERSPACE 2 Announcement Trailer

Everspace 2 announced that the upcoming PC and console title will have its Kickstarter campaign postponed. Shifting to October 2nd, 2019, the Early Access phase of Everspace 2 is scheduled for the end of 2020, with the full PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One versions scheduled for the second half of 2021. The demo version of Everspace 2 will be available for eligible backers via Steam, shortly after the campaign ends, on November 4th, 2019.

Michael Schade, CEO of ROCKFISH Games discusses this change:

“At gamescom and Pax West, over 1500 space game fans played the EVERSPACE™ 2 demo and were all enthusiastic about it. That’s why we decided to exhibit at the Tokyo Game Show at the German Pavilion at short notice, too. We will then incorporate the feedback into the finalization of the reward tiers and stretch goals of the Kickstarter campaign. In addition, we want to polish the demo a bit more and add graphic options to support a wide range of gaming PCs, so that our backers can get into exciting space battles later this year”.

Hiroki Kikuta – The Unbreakable Unity – Review and Thoughts

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Hiroki Kikuta - The Unbreakable Unity

Hiroki Kikuta is a fascinating, incredible composer. He may not have composed for as many games like say, Yasunori Mitsuda or Nobuo Uematsu, he still has left an indelible mark on RPGs/video games in general, over the years. He’s still actively composing, with upcoming work in Indivisible, which I’m quite excited for. But what he is most known for in the West is Secret of Mana, one of the greatest RPGs of all time. Hiroki Kikuta is without a doubt one of my all-time favorite composers and he has put together something truly special here. Yeah, I said it. Hell, Tangledeep also has some of Hiroki Kikuta’s work in it, which is a game I definitely want to spend more time with. Today’s album is a really unique one. I can’t really dissect it on a track-per-track basis, because it’s one track. Back in the day, a lot of chiptune OSTs were one long track, instead of a collection of separate midi files. I used to have quite a lot of them on an old hard drive, and it was nice to just settle in, and listen to a game’s original, unaltered music.

The Unbreakable Unity is a tribute to Hiroki Kikuta’s earlier 16-bit days, with a near 40-minute track. It has that distinct Super Nintendo feel, and makes me think of Secret of Mana more than anything else. Listening to it is incredibly peaceful, and having to listen to the entire album without breaking or stopping takes me back in time. The Super Nintendo’s sound chip was unique, and no console before or since has been able to duplicate the incredible feats it offered. A lot of the beats and sounds you hear in The Unbreakable Unity will feel familiar if you played Secret of Mana or Trials of Mana, but in a new, exciting way. It feels like it belongs to an RPG that doesn’t exist but should. Kikuta received the idea for this album after viewing Alfons Mucha’s The Slav Epic. This piece of art inspired The Unbreakable Unity, which serves as a theme for a dark natural dungeon, or perhaps a confusing forest. Something awaits in a glen, hidden until prophecy and urgency call for it again.

Before opening up the press release, I listened to the song, and the feeling I got was certainly that of a mystical forest. This music is for a nice, long forest dungeon with a hidden power lurking deep within. Perhaps a source of Mana awaits, or this could be where the legendary Mana Blade is left hiding, covered in moss and rust. All it needs now is an intrepid hero to stumble upon it and free it, before bopping Rabites with it. It’s a soothing, relaxing song, but still manages to create tension and a sense of unease. You have no idea what’s hiding in these woods, whether it is good or ill. The woodwinds and beautiful SNES-era synthesizer are paired nicely, and I’m just waiting for the bushes to rustle and an adorable foe to leap out! You can find The Unbreakable Unity: Memory of Nostalgic S-NES Sound album on Bandcamp now, and I highly recommend you go pick it up.

Hiroki Kikuta recently discussed his album, saying this:

“The distinctive SNES sound was a result of hardware specifications. To tell the truth, it reminds of the many laborious days I spent on this music in the past. However, I recently found anew that the SNES sound is extremely important for people who played RPGs in the ’90s. Many become happy when they hear this good old SNES sound. I enjoy it, too! So I decided to create new SNES music that is fresh yet nostalgic!”