Yearly Archives: 2019

Warhammer: Chaosbane Review

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Warhammer Chaosbane Review - Combat 21

I will say that it nails the aesthetic – even if I’m tired of the Sewers.

As a much younger man, I didn’t get into Warhammer – getting into the tabletop game is, as far as I’m aware, still frightfully expensive. I already had one expensive habit (Magic: The Gathering) and adding a second? That’s a pass for me. However, that’s one thing I love about video games: now I can delve into this franchise I’ve always been fascinated by. The grimdark fantasy and science-fiction universes really caught my eye. Warhammer: Chaosbane is “technically” the first Action-RPG/Hack ‘n’ Slash in the Warhammer Fantasy Universe – technically. Warhammer Vermintide and Vermintide 2 came out significantly earlier, and while they do fit the bill of an ARPG (levels, loot, lots of bad guys to kill), they play more like Left 4 Dead II and other survival horror games. So on a flimsy technicality, Warhammer: Chaosbane is the first real hack ‘n’ slash in the Warhammer Fantasy Universe.

Warhammer Chaosbane Review - Loot

You’ll see a lot of areas like this in the first few hours.

Warhammer: Chaosbane is a pretty fascinating game on its face. The Empire of Man is splintered, and the forces of the Chaos Gods are running rampant everywhere. There are plenty of horrific, ugly, fast swarms of minions of Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh to deal with, and I’ll give them credit – they land the aesthetic of the forces of Chaos 100%. It all looks exactly like it ought to. Warhammer: Chaosbane does not hold the player’s hand at any point in the game. Even on Normal, it’s pretty brutal and cruel. I mean, that fits the setting alright, but it’s not so enjoyable for a new player I imagine. There isn’t much in the way of tutorials either. Want to know how the skill/talent/god-skill tree systems work? Curious about what the various colored gems do, other than being a currency? Even as far as Chapter 2, I haven’t seen very much in the explanation of things in the game. I received a sentence, and that was about it.  One thing I learned the hard way as a mage is that you can easily fire off the screen and pull a bunch of extra enemies to fight. As long as you have a slow/stun or teleport, it’s not so bad. Just be aware of it!

Warhammer Chaosbane Review - 3

Well, that was gross.

It’s important for a game to make a solid first impression – which Warhammer: Chaosbane did not do with its first chapter. I feel like I went into the “Sewers” map no fewer than six or seven times in the first chapter! Were there no other parts of the area that needed to be explored? No? Just the sewers? Okay then. On top of that, the combat is incredibly repetitive, even with the dynamic, flashy powers of the High Elf Mage. While all of the character’s skills look awesome and feel fun to use, I found myself more often than not attacking a few times, walking back down a tiny corridor, attacking again, and walking back again? Why? Slows! It seems like the majority of the enemies above the “tiny” size have a circular AOE they can launch, and if you’re in it, you get slowed. If they attack or charge you, you get slowed. Slows are the bane of my existence in this game, and so many enemies use them that it, for a lack of a better term, slowed the game down immensely. There is one part of the game I loved though – Bloodlust. You can build a Bloodlust meter, and when it fills you can hit a button and hurl tons of awesome magical power at your enemies. They look like humongous shuriken shrouded in dark magic. They bounce off of walls and objects, and you can easily fill the screen with death.

Warhammer Chaosbane Review - 4

Those blues were replaced with oranges in the very. next. map.

You receive tons of loot, plenty of gold crowns, and exp for killing these massive swarms of enemies. As a High Elf Mage, I was able to stun/slow, teleport, and pull overwhelming waves of enemies together and blow them up, so I could feel like I was actually doing something instead of run, stop, kill, run, stop, kill. While you do get quite a lot of powerful gear, there are four tiers: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Heroic. In Chapter 1, not even halfway through it, I was loaded down with an entire set of Rares without doing anything to earn them other than play the game. When the player is given overwhelming amounts of amazing gear, it feels less important overall, especially in the early game. You can store spare gear in a stash, which can be accessed across your characters. I didn’t expect to have a full set of such rare, powerful gear so early in the game, but it didn’t seem to matter. Enemies still dealt most of my life in a few hits, and the larger enemies would kill me in one.

Warhammer Chaosbane Review - 6

The most use I had for gold crowns other than the god skills, was getting out of situations like this when I died.

Should you die on a map, you can “give up”, or you can use gold crowns to bring you back to life. This isn’t the worst, but I do think the game lacks an ability to teleport back to town. If you run out of space in your inventory for gear, you can’t go back to town and sell/donate stuff, you have to drop items and pick up the new ones. When in your camp, you can donate gear to build a reputation – but it also gives useful rewards. That’s the only use for gear that I’ve seen so far – no crafting as of yet. While I’m talking about the in-game experience, one thing that would be great is seeing the names of enemies, especially the larger foes, and whatever kinds of flags they have.

Warhammer Chaosbane Review - 8

Most of my time was spent chasing jerks with flags.

I can use my judgment and assume that the annoying demon with the huge red aura and a banner is running around rallying, but having some kind of concrete idea of what it’s doing would be terrific. While the actual combat is satisfying, and the abilities and enemies all have the familiar Warhammer flair that I expect, it mostly feels very linear. I leave my camp by one of two or three doors (usually one), and head into an area that feels just as linear. The area maps feel pretty similar to each other, and they’re not especially lengthy dungeons. You have a goal, set out to the next bloodbath, and murder everything in your way, which honestly isn’t so bad. But that first chapter feeling like every single map was the same was definitely a downer and made me less vested in the story. You’ll gain levels pretty quickly, and as you do, you can explore a peculiar talent system.

Warhammer Chaosbane Review - Passives

This system isn’t awful, but the set-up left a lot to be desired.

Your skill points can be used on improving your Basic Skills, Advanced Skills, Passive Skills, and another set of “Passive” Skills, “Fan Skills”. It’s not very clear what they are, but what they do is pretty easy to explain. They give passive buffs (increased exp, gold, loot radius, et cetera), or let you use an Emote. That’s right, you can waste a passive slot on an Emote, instead of something concrete. Each Basic or Advanced ability has three levels you can unlock, each having a level and skill point requirement. The passive skill tree is put together in a very odd way, but you’ll get used to it. There are three columns of abilities, and each row has a 4 SP, 8 SP, and 12 SP power. Each row is focused on a particular trait (Fire Damage, Energy Consumption, One of your Skills) but you really aren’t given tons of options. Every few levels you unlock another one of these, and it just feels burdensome more than anything.

Warhammer Chaosbane Review - Combat 3

Melting things with huge gouts of flame was pretty damn satisfying though.

Since the Passive points are shared with your other skills, the early game leaves you with a split decision of if you want to increase your attack power or get some passive buffs. This could easily be remedied by having these not all share the same point system, frankly. The skill set for each character is pretty shallow, and all you do is slightly adjust these powers; instead of having tons of options to try new skills, you try the same skills in slightly different ways.

Warhammer Chaosbane Review - God Skills 2

We had three ways to gain passives – these were the only ones you can just … have.

Throughout the course of the game, you’ll also unlock the “God Skill Tree”, which serves as a Path of Exile-style ability unlocking system. Most of it is stat bonuses, but there are also additional powers you can unlock through it (Aetheric Storm for High Elf Mage, for example). As you murder hordes of enemies, you’ll receive little colored shards and this is where they come into play. It’s still not clear to me what the colored shards are for, other than that they are used here. The skills unlocked here aren’t free though! You also have to equip them with skill points, so you should also keep that in mind, though the passives are automatic at least. These trees are different for every character as well, so spend a little time looking at them and planning your route.

Warhammer Chaosbane Review - Character Select

It’s not a bad game, it just feels very uninspired on a lot of levels.

More Skulls for the Skull Throne: 2.5/5 (Fair)

The biggest complaint I have about Warhammer: Chaosbane is that it does nothing to hook me. The story did not hook me, the constant repetitive stages did not hook me. I’d love to talk about the online experience too, but honestly, it took forever to find even a single online game, and when I finally did, I had no idea who I was playing with, what the difficulty was, et cetera. It wasn’t a very intuitive system at all. Do you know what did feel good though? Using a controller. This game felt like it was made for controller support, and it felt amazing. Picking up the gear was fine, killing things was fine – the controls, in general, felt very good to me. The look, the music, the aesthetic all works for me, but many areas felt just as repetitive as the gameplay did. I expect a bit of repetition in ARPGs since so many of them are grindfests – and I don’t mind that! But one of the things that make other ARPGs fun for me is being able to head back to other areas with great ease, and look for chests/challenges I may have missed.

There are non-main story options in Invasions, Boss Rush and Expeditions, but the main story itself does not feel very long at all. I cannot imagine wanting to do Boss Rush though – bosses in my experience were frustrating and time-consuming. I spent 15-20 minutes on the first major boss, only because I made one false move, died instantly and had to go through all three phases again. I can see the couch co-op being enjoyable, and for a mindless monster-killing fest with your friends is never a bad thing. I don’t think Warhammer: Chaosbane is a bad game, not by any stretch. It just lacks chutzpah. I didn’t feel vested in the story, or the action. The talent system could honestly be fixed by being a bit more clear, perhaps with a different UI couldn’t hurt either.

Note: A game key was provided for review purposes.

Warhammer: Chaosbane Screenshots

ONE PUNCH MAN: A Hero Nobody Knows Announced

Bandai Namco announced a new game is coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC, based on the anime/manga One Punch Man – ONE PUNCH MAN: A HERO NOBODY KNOWS. It’s an actin-fighting game and is the first console-based game for One Punch Man.

ONE PUNCH MAN: A HERO NOBODY KNOWS will feature 3 vs. 3 battles, where players can form powerful teams using their favorite characters as they fight in a universe where attacks from powerful villains are the norm. Players can take the role of Saitama, a salaryman-turned-hero who can obliterate the strongest foes with a single punch. Players will also be able to play as other fan-favorite characters such as Genos, Hellish Blizzard, Speed-o’-Sound Sonic and Mumen Rider.

“ONE PUNCH MAN: A HERO NOBODY KNOWS is the perfect game for ONE PUNCH MAN fans and those who are ready to jump into the ONE-PUNCH universe,” said Abelina Villegas, Associate Brand Manager at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. “Players can really immerse themselves in the ONE-PUNCH MAN world and form their own teams, develop their skills and fight to see who is the strongest of them all!”

Monster Jam Steel Titans Launches by THQ Nordic

THQ Nordic released their newest Monster Jam title today, Monster Jam Steel Titans, which is the first Monster Jam game from the acclaimed off-road racing developer Rainbow Studios. It’s available worldwide for 29.99 on PC and is complete with all of the trucks, athletes, stadiums, stunts and hangtime that make the Monster Jam franchise famous.

“Expanding the Monster Jam experience beyond our live events is something our fans ask us for every day – and we are thrilled to have done just that with Monster Jam Steel Titans!” said Jeff Bialosky, Vice President of Licensing & Retail Development, Feld Entertainment. “The team at Rainbow has delivered a Monster Jam game play experience that not only is accessible to all player skill levels but invites players to drive, explore and compete in massive, open environments. This, in addition to capturing all the action fans have come to love inside the arena.”

“Building Monster Jam Steel Titans allowed us to bring Rainbow’s prowess in off-road racing beyond MX vs ATV, delivering an experience which captures the incredible scale, power and excitement of Monster Jam!” said Chris Gilbert, CEO, Rainbow Studios. “We think fans will feel this both inside the arena and in our massive, open worlds.”

Solasta: Crown of The Magister Revealed as Upcoming Tactical-RPG

Tactical Adventures announced their newest project that is heading to Steam – Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Solasta: Crown of the Magister embraces the ruleset of the world’s greatest roleplaying game, where the player’s choice dynamically changes the adventure they’re on. The players begin with a team of four explorers, choosing their race, class, background and roll abilities/stats. This adventure spans multiple worlds and sounds fascinating.

The dynamic and mysterious world of Solasta features brand new elements of verticality, allowing players to use their surroundings as an element of strategy. Position ranged characters on high vantage points or send your thief down into shafts and caverns to scope out what’s ahead, and that’s just one example. Solasta: Crown of the Magister will launch its Kickstarter at the end of the summer, so don’t miss out.

“Tactical Adventures is a small team comprised of Tabletop gamers, many of whom have been playing pen and paper games as well as D&D videogames for over 30 years,” says Mathieu Girard, founder of Tactical Adventures and Creative Director of the game. “We have always dreamed of creating our own game, so we set out to create Solasta, taking the best elements of our favorite games and enhancing and building upon them. Additionally, we have added new features such as light, verticality, team-based adventure, dice rolls, etc. We are using the actual rulesets from Tabletop games to finally bridge the gap between Pen and Paper and videogames.”

Risk of Rain 2’s First Major Content Update is Live

The first major content update for Risk of Rain 2 is called “Scorched Acres”, and is now live in game. It offers new content to the Risk of Rain universe, and best of all – it’s free for owners of Risk of Rain 2. This update adds a new stage, Survivor, and boss, along with items, equipment and some useful quality of life changes, which are based on community feedback. REX is the new survivor, and is a symbiotic life form, between plant and robot. Its kit can be seen below:

  • Passive: Abilities apply WEAKEN, a debuff which reduces enemy armor, movement speed and damage.
  • Primary Fire: Fires three syringes in quick succession. The third syringe applies WEAKEN and heals REX.
  • Secondary Fire: REX sacrifices its own health to launch a seedpod mortar. Aims at a distant location and lands after a brief delay for huge damage.
  • Mobility: Launches REX backward and shoves all nearby enemies away and applies WEAKEN to them.
  • Ultimate: REX sacrifices its own health to fire a flower that PULLS all nearby enemies and ROOTS them.

We also have a list of the new features in the game:

  • New Boss – The Grovetender: The Grovetender is a hook-throwing caretaker of wisps found only in its home of Scorched Acres. The Grovetender will fire a giant barrage of seeking wisps that detonate on contact and occasionally fire a burst of hooks from its masks that pull in any survivor it hits. And yes, there is a new song to welcome in this terrifying new boss.
  • New Stage – Scorched Acres: Scorched Acres takes place at sunset in a mysterious installation in the woods, filled with smog from the surrounding nearby fires. As the new alternate third stage to the snow map Rallypoint Delta, Scorched Acres houses a new monster called the Clay Templar and the new boss, the Grovetender.
  • New Enemy Affix – Malachite: Malachite enemies can now spawn in later difficulties as high-tier elites. Malachite enemies possess a number of unique abilities, such as temporarily disabling player healing.
  • New Items, Equipment, Drones and More: An arsenal of new items and equipment is now at players’ disposal. This includes two new drones, the Equipment Drone and the Incinerator Drone; Category Chests; six new items, such as the Old Guillotine and the Little Disciple; and three new types of equipment such as the Spinel Tonic.
  • Community Suggested Changes: Quality-of-life improvements suggested by the community have been implemented. This includes the HUD now displaying the current stage count and flashing health bars when the player reaches a critical health state.

Just Cause 4’s ‘Trials, Toys & Terror’ Update Arrives Soon

Just Cause 4 has new DLC arriving tomorrow (June 26th, 2019), for Gold Edition and the Season Pass owners – July 3rd for everyone else. A parasitic infestation now spreads across the island of Solis, terrorizing its inhabitants and attacking anyone that stands in its way. Los Demonios will challenge even the most experienced action hero. Rico will need all of the skills & toys at his disposal in order to face the horrifying new threat.

“We wanted to follow-up the huge Spring Update for JUST CAUSE 4 with even more great new content for our players! The Trials, Toys & Terror update will add more new gameplay elements, new challenges, awesome new equipment and new reasons for players to return to the open world sandbox action all year long,” said Victoria Setian, Senior Producer at Avalanche Studios.

The Free Challenges update arrives as well to bring new ways to play in the JUST CAUSE 4 open world sandbox. Every month, players will be able to earn cosmetic rewards for their wingsuit and parachute by completing inventive new Challenges & Trials that will test the limits of their mastery over Rico’s skills & gear.

“’Los Demonios’ is not only a return to the classic liberation style gameplay but also introduces a supernatural threat to the world for the first time in JUST CAUSE,” said Bryan Rodriguez, Creative Producer at Avalanche Studios. “Players will face the most challenging content yet in ‘Los Demonios’, pushing them to their limits in both combat strategy and survival. Even veteran players will need to bring their A-game if they want to succeed in tackling the emerging demonic presence and protect Solis from total annihilation! Prepare your weapons and your wits, as ‘Los Demonios’ will be an off-the-wall experience JUST CAUSE players will not soon forget!”

Exception Will Soon Be Available on PC and Console

Traxmaster Software has their debut title coming soon to PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Exception is a combat platformer set inside an elderly woman’s computer, which is overrun by a totalitarian malware and hits platforms this summer. Exception will feature classic run/jump/attack controls, which they try to reinvent the traditional platforming genre, with a unique transformation mechanic, where levels rotate and move.

“As a hardcore NES nerd, I feel inspired by games like Ninja-Gaiden and Castelvania and feel like simplicity is the key to a great gaming experience,” said Will Traxler, Founder of Traxmaster Software. “Exception has this old school vibe with a modern rotating twist that takes advantage of today’s 3D technology. It’s a game which is easy to pick up and play and will bring joy for a novice gamer just as much as it will for a professional speedrunner.”

We. The Revolution Now Available on Console

We. The Revolution - Console Edition Teaser

We. The Revolution hit PC back on March 21 and did incredibly well across all metrics on Steam. Now, the game based in the French Revolution is now available on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and the Nintendo Switch. It is a unique game with a singular art style, set in the blood-soaked, paranoid world of the French Revolution, and as a judge of the Revolutionary Tribunal, it’s up to you to pass sentences and declare who is guilty and innocent, which is a dangerous game all on its own.

“We. The Revolution debuted on PC receiving great scores and reviews both from the gamers and media worldwide. – said Lukasz Mach, Head of Marketing & PR at Klabater – “Klabater’s porting team put a lot of effort to adjust game’s mechanics for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch, especially when it comes to controls. I’m sure console fans all around the world will appreciate this one of a kind story-driven adventure!”

In We. The Revolution you will:

  • Shape history, meet famous historical figures and decide who will live and who will die
  • Experience the oppressive atmosphere of the French Revolution as you know it from classic novels of Alexandre Dumas and Joseph Conrad
  • Preside over dozens unique and morally ambiguous court cases; from simple criminal cases to difficult and complex political-legal proceedings!
  • Confront your judgments with your family – your loved ones may often disagree with your decisions, be careful not to lose them!
  • Run your own courtroom – question witnesses, analyze clues and evidence, read reports, and pass sentences
  • Make friends and enemies of different rival factions vying for power. Make them your associates or make them disappear!
  • Engage in a mix of genres, blending case-building with intrigue-crafting and turn-based tactics
  • Discover the unusual visual style blending the simplicity of polygons with neoclassical art from the revolutionary era