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(10/07/17 12:00pm)
by Nolan Leahy
Warning: This article contains spoilers to 'Cuphead'. Proceed with caution.
Get every coin possible
Within Cuphead, each Run N’ Gun level carries five coins for players to find as they jump, shoot and dash through the constant flow of enemies. Some can also be gained from exploring the worlds and talking to NPCs. These coins are used to purchase powers at Porkrind’s Emporium. Many of the shooters and charms can prove to be invaluable and allow for different styles of play. By possessing more powers, you can ultimately strategize for each level, which leads to tip number two.
Experiment with different powers and charms
Each available power allows for a different style of play. The Chaser shooter has homing bullets that don’t require aiming, which means that dodging can be your main focus for as long as you use this weapon. Although Chaser has the weakest attack-power per hit, it allows you to solely focus on dodging for those pesky levels that congest the screen immensely. The Charge shot, on the other hand, deals the most damage of all the shooters in the game. Some bosses are weaker to different shooters, and that can mean less time spent fighting them.
Also, it’s highly recommended to swap charms around if you can. Bosses that have you play as an airplane, therefore, make the smoke bomb useless. Having extra heart charms might not be useful on the bosses because they weaken your attack power; however, they are excellent for the Run N’ Gun levels. Coffee is also the prime charm to have for the airplane levels as well.
If you struggle with a boss early within a world, beat it on simple difficulty first and explore
This goes back a little to the first tip. Beating a boss on simple won’t permit the player to collect the soul required to progress to the next world, but it will progress the player further within the current world by unlocking new routes. This can grant access to the Run N’ Gun levels that contain the valuable coins that unlock new strategies. In addition, each world contains a secret shortcut that also grants access to other levels without having to beat additional bosses. Obtaining the coins from the Run N’ Gun levels, getting the powers from Porkrind’s Emporium and coming back to beat the boss on regular difficulty with different powers can save some heartache.
If all else fails, grab a partner and play it co-op
This game is tough, but who says that you have to do it alone? In all honesty, playing Cuphead's local co-op is arguably the optimal experience for the game. Being able to revive one another can mean an extended boss fighting experience, and having an extra set of eyes can allow communication of fighting strategies facing certain opponents.
If you aren’t going for perfect grades, then figure out when NOT to parry
With Cuphead, parrying is mostly beneficial, because it gives you an extra card for your super meter. Despite this factor, it’s sometimes best not to parry because of the surrounding foes around the pink object/enemy. Parrying can do more harm than good if it means losing a hit point. Value your hit points, and don’t waste them on a parry that may be unsuccessful.
Enjoy the game, be patient and take breaks
There’s no secret that this game has some frustratingly difficult bosses. Just be reminded that this game is unique in its art style and music. Sit back; listen to the music on YouTube or during the boss fight, take a break from the game or go back to an easier boss fight to get your fighting spirits up again. Many are comparing this game to a platformer version of Dark Souls because of how often the player dies. In my own personal playthrough, I’ve died over 750 times. This game is intended to be a challenge in its greatest moments and at its worst. Going in expecting to beat the game within the first three to five hours is an expectation that will be demolished. The game may have a childish and friendly aesthetic, but it ultimately demands your respect. Have fun, laugh a little and smile. There’s no game quite like Cuphead.
Images: Polygon, Gamerant, GameCrate, YouTube, Indie Obscura
(10/07/17 3:25am)
This review is based on the PC version of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony and was conducted on a PC with an AMD Radeon HD 7500, i7, 8GBs of RAM.
(10/06/17 5:30pm)
by Nolan Leahy
This review is based on the Xbox One version of Cuphead.
A blob, an acorn-bomb machine, giant invincible woodpeckers and an evil flower with salsa hands: these are foes and obstacles to overcome within the initial world of Cuphead. This game comes from a small development team known as Studio Moldenhauer and is the first video game developed by the company who initially gave a debut trailer during E3 2015. Despite the long wait, Cuphead’s old-fashioned 1930s style arguably makes it the best game to come to Xbox One.
Oh, to be a kid again
As soon as the title screen pops up, the player is introduced to some of the most ambitious art to come to video games. All of the art is hand-drawn using the techniques of the traditional 1930s cartoon, which is one of the main selling points of the game. The protagonists, Cuphead and Mugman, both have curved legs with the upward and downward animations like that of Steamboat Willie and borrow artistic inspirations from other classic cartoons like that of Warner Brothers or Metro Goldwyn Mayer. These animations are flawless. Each enemy, NPC, and boss have their own movements that give them personality, facial expression, and characteristics that feel unique. To simply ignore this game would be an atrocity. It’s difficult not to start up the game and be giddily awestruck while looking at the drawings hidden behind the classic film grain.
In addition, the soundtrack is a treat to listen to even outside of the game. The game features classic-style jazz that dives between swing and big band, sometimes even delving into other genres like samba and marches. The songs also feature saxophone, trumpet, clarinet, piano and trombone solos. The brass section is exceptionally fun to listen to for their sheer talent. Many of these songs aren’t just simple slow jazz either; they are fast-paced and make the levels much more fun to play. Excellent examples of this music can be heard in the Floral Fury song and the Carnival Kerfuffle song.
Dealing with your inner demons
Cuphead is incredibly difficult. The standard amount of health allotted to the player is only three hit points. During the majority of the game, there is not a way to regenerate these hit points within a level attempt. In other words, death is incredibly common in the game’s punishing levels. Each attempt is a learning experience for the player, who must learn to overcome obstacles and carefully observe attack patterns from bosses. Expect frustration from being stuck on a boss for more than an hour.
Despite the difficulty, it’s addictive, fun and easy to pick up. The controls feel great and are quickly demonstrated in the game’s starting tutorial. Not all of the Xbox One controller's functions need to be used considering the actions are very basic. Jump, jump parry enemy attacks, shoot, dash, switch weapons, or use a super power. This is as simple as it gets, yet the game takes time to master - fans of classic run-and-gun games like Vectorman, Metal Slug, or Megaman will likely get their fill of enjoyment here.
The boss fights are the central focus of the game. While there are levels without boss fights, they serve a different purpose than the bosses who serve as the conduit of player progression between the game’s three worlds. These bosses are challenging, but rarely are they cheap. Each boss fight is significantly different from the last and offers new threats that may be obvious, but can be surprising as a small change can affect the player's priorities. This is especially noticeable when switching difficulty settings on each boss fight. The game treats the player as a smart individual and doesn’t hold hands.
A minor complaint with the game is that during a couple of bosses within the game, there are randomly generated platforming elements that can sour the experience as a whole. It’s frustrating to know the exact attack pattern of a boss and when he’s attacking, but not have a place to escape. This results in loss of a hit point as a consequence of bad luck rather than lack of skill.
Another minor complaint is that invincibility frames when parrying are inconsistent. There are times where parrying an enemy might succeed, but still makes the player take a hit point of damage, which discourages parrying in particular levels.
The primary complaint with this game is the lack of online cooperative. When playing local co-op, it feels as though cooperative is the ideal experience for the game because of the interaction and constant teamwork. Reviving your ally when down feels gratifying, and both players will share the intense suspense of surviving. Without online matchmaking and forced couch co-op play, some players may have difficulty finding another person to play. After all, this game is intended for the hardcore market.
Run ‘n gun for coins
The game’s economy runs through Porkrind Emporium shops found in each world of the game. Weapons and charms can be bought here with coins. These coins are either found by talking with NPCs between levels or doing the challenging Run ‘n Gun levels. These items can affect the difficulty of each boss and allow the player to strategize in his or her attempts rather than all the experience to become mindless with potential capabilities in range. What makes purchasing these items interesting is that not all of the items in the game are immediately present to the player. When one weapon or charm is bought, another replaces it until the stock is empty. This can change the original priority purchases when one has much to spend. It’s a small feature, but an interesting new approach that’s more engaging than traditional in-game stores.
The Run ‘n Gun levels are just as difficult as the bosses. There are roughly six of these levels within the game in comparison to the nearly 20 boss fights, but the true purpose behind the Run ‘N Gun levels is to obtain coins. This is where the majority of the platforming occurs within the game. Hordes of enemies spawn throughout each level and each level remains unique with obstacles like changing gravity or having to blast through multiple varieties of barricades. These levels are fun to an point, but they should have been a bit more fleshed out because of the potential for other level possibilities. It would also be nice if there were a couple of simpler Run ‘N Gun levels to take a break from the consistently intense difficulty.
Featured image from IGN YouTube
(10/05/17 9:24pm)
by Tanner Kinney
This review is based on the PC version of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony and was conducted on a PC with an AMD Radeon HD 7500, i7, 8GBs of RAM.
The visual novel genre is still somewhat of an anomaly for the Western gaming world. It used to be that these games would never even cross the pond aside from fan translations of the games. However, similar to how now-widely successful series like Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei came to the states, more visual novels are making their appearance. This is definitely a good thing, as without visual novels we wouldn’t have Danganronpa, and without Danganronpa we wouldn’t have Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, which is a must-play murder mystery visual novel.
A story that creates both despair and hope
Visual novels cannot succeed without a good story. Fortunately for Danganronpa V3, there’s no problem there. The story involves the protagonist, Kaede Akamatsu, waking up in an unfamiliar environment with no memory of who she is besides her name. In fact, every other one of the 15 students she meets can’t remember anything either, until a group of giants robots surround the cast and bless them with the memory of who they are. Now, with a name and an identity as the Ultimate Pianist, Kaede works with her newfound companion Shuichi Saihara to uncover the mysteries of the Ultimate Academy of Gifted Juveniles.
Eventually, the cast realizes they’ve been thrown into something more twisted than most of them can even imagine: the killing game. This killing game is, of course, run by the lovable psychopath mascot Monokuma, who wants to create despair among the students. With nowhere to run and a deadline approaching, Kaede and Shuichi must investigate everything they can to find the truth behind the killing game and end it before it can even begin. To the surprise of no one, they fail, and the killing game begins anew.
The story in Danganronpa V3 is easily just as good, if not better than previous games in the series. The mystery within this game is much stronger than previous entries, and there’s truly a lot to figure out within the world. Some of it can be figured out through context and putting pieces together, and some of it is spoonfed to the player by Monokuma and his adorable Monokubs. As the game progresses, more pieces of the puzzle are given to the cast so they can learn more about the past, but not enough to really understand the bigger picture. This lack of knowledge turns into motive, and motive turns into murder. It’s a twisted cycle, and one that should be experienced by anyone who loves a good murder mystery story.
The biggest strength of Danganronpa V3, and the series as a whole, comes from its ability to create likable, dynamic characters that make the murders that happen along the way that much more impactful. The game is designed for the player to talk with their fellow students, make friends, build true bonds, and then watch their friends kill or be killed. Almost every character in Danganronpa V3 is dynamic and human. Characters like Gonta: a gentle giant who wants to be a gentleman, and Kokichi: the human embodiment of chaos, make the game much more enjoyable, especially when there’s the threat of them dying at any time. A personal favorite character is Himiko Yumeno, a small magician- er, mage girl who starts off as a one-note joke character, but goes through a fantastic character arc and becomes a fully fleshed out character. There’s not a single character in this game that really ruins the experience with an obnoxious personality.
Gameplay that’s Ultimate status
Danganronpa V3’s actual gameplay loop has two parts, daily life and deadly life. Daily life involves the player investigating the Ultimate Academy, talking to their peers, building relationships, gambling for knick-knacks, and trying to solve the mystery of the world around them. Living a normal student life is key to really enjoying the game, especially when reality comes around and another murder occurs.
Which leads to the second part, deadly life. After a body is discovered, the player must cooperate with the other students, even the potential culprit, to discover the truth around each murder. Investigating the murders themselves is still the weakest point of the game. While there was an effort to be made to allow freedom in the investigation, it still results in the player being stuck in a room, inspecting every object you can, then moving onto the next room. It’s underwhelming, but finding clues is rarely going to solve the case on its own. It merely serves as a gateway to the best part of these games, the class trials.
The class trials are the core part of the killing game and Danganronpa V3. After a murder is committed and the investigation is done, the cast is brought to a trial where they must decide “whodunnit.” If the culprit, called the blackened, is decided on as the killer, only the blackened is punished. However, if the wrong person is voted to be the blackened, everyone else is executed and the blackened is free to leave the Ultimate Academy. The truth of the cases are uncovered through a series of non-stop debates, rebuttals, scrim debates, and wacky minigames that reveal who committed the murder and how they did it. Once the truth has been uncovered, the case is put back together in a comic style and then the vote is done.
The class trials in Danganronpa V3 are fantastic. For a comparison, it’s like high energy Ace Attorney, though with a lot more to it. Non-stop debates require the player to aim at their opponent’s argument and literally shoot it with a truth bullet. Truth rebuttals require cutting through the opposition’s words. The other minigames follow a similar pattern. Ones brought back from previous games are better than before, particularly with Hangman’s Gambit finally being not terrible.
New minigames are hit-or-miss though. On one hand, debate scrims are easily the best new thing they added, taking every good aspect of the series into one minigame that’s criminally underutilized. The new lying feature also adds a whole new dynamic to trials, and opens up a completely new way to conquer the trials, adding some replayability. On the other hand, Psyche Taxi and Mind Mine are dull, unexciting, and don’t do anything that a non-stop debate couldn’t. Psyche Taxi is especially not fun, as the driving controls are like M&M’s Shell Shocked on the PlayStation, and if that’s the level that’s being achieved, it’s time to reconsider the game mechanic. Despite those minor complaints, the gameplay and trials achieve even higher than previous games, with twists and turns that no one will expect.
Art and music perfectly mask and complement brutality
The Danganronpa series is well known for its style, and this game turns that up even higher than normal. The art in Danganronpa V3 is fantastic, especially for lovers of anime. Each character has a unique design to go along with their personality, and makes them that much more enjoyable. Characters like Angie are absolutely perfect because of the life given to her from the art style, which gives form to her weird eccentricity.
In terms of the look of the game itself, it’s easily the best in the series. The 3D world of the Ultimate Academy is very nice to look at, with plenty of visual flair in the school’s design. The 2D parts of the game are even better, with the art being more vibrant and interesting than previous entries. Class trials are given new visual overhauls, with every aspect of them given a new element to enhance the experience. Non-stop debates have especially improved, with text given much more animation and life. Other trial minigames also have a great style that more accurately fits the theme of the minigame, with Psyche Taxi being a favorite visually. Additionally, the game runs fantastically even on a PC that has some outdated hardware, so most systems should be able to run it. Overall, the art style perfectly compliments the genuine brutality of the scenario, along with looking great on its own.
Another aspect that’s just as good as the previous games is music. Danganronpa V3’s soundtrack reflects the themes of hope and despair within the game. Some tracks are really upbeat and cheerful, like the music the plays during free time. Other tracks are calming and hopeful but slightly unsettling, like the music that plays during the Closing Argument part of the class trials. There are so many different styles of music within the game as well, and composer Masafumi Takada is a master of making all of these different parts fit together as a whole soundtrack. Remixed versions of songs from previous games are even better than their older counterparts as well, which is an achievement considering how good the original songs were. The soundtrack is perfect to fit the different themes and craziness that make the game fantastic.
Featured image from Twinfinite
(10/04/17 9:19pm)
This review is based on the Xbox One version of Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.
(09/29/17 8:32pm)
by Adam Sellers
Roguelikes have become a popular subgenre of games in the indie scene. Such acclaimed titles include Rogue Legacy, the Binding of Isaac, and Enter the Gungeon to name a few. More recently, Suspicious Developments threw their newest game into the ring. Heat Signature is a roguelike set in the depths of outer space. So how does it stand up with the rest of the popular roguelikes on the market?
The classic intergalactic conflict
It’s very important to note that, despite the space sci-fi genre, there are no planets, moons, aliens, or even robots in this game. Instead, this game showcases spaceships, sci-fi tech and gadgets, and the vastness of empty space to contain it all. If you want the kind of game where you can explore off world planets and see exotic aliens, this is not that game. It doesn’t detract at all from the quality, but it is important to note.
Heat Signature takes place in a faraway galaxy divided by the tides of war. The game focuses on a rebel group set on liberating the galaxy bit by bit, reclaiming space stations along their way. That’s the most amount of story you’ll find in this game. It’s very simple, but it’s a fine enough story, almost too similar to Star Wars in many ways, although the twist here is that there are now four warring armies instead of one big empire. It may sound more impressive this way, but none of them differ from another apart from name and looks.
Although this is a wartime setting, don’t expect any RTS elements any time soon. The player in this game takes control of a single operative whose adventures almost always pertain to boarding onto enemy ships and completing their mission. As the player completes more missions, they are able to take over more space stations and, eventually, topple the superpowers that be. The plot in this game fulfills a sort of power fantasy, one of slowly but surely taking over the world with one’s own bare hands. Even though it takes a while to claim every point in the game, it’s satisfying to single-handedly take over the galaxy bit by bit until you have claimed a large enough mass to be proud of.
The player character in this game isn’t one single character per se, but rather many different characters with their own personal goals in mind. These goals drive both the characters and the player to progress far enough to see that goal through. In many roguelikes that have this mechanic (Rogue Legacy immediately comes to mind), it’s always a new character that differs only in how they are played and how well certain stats are. While, unfortunately, the characters in this game do not differ in stats save for the initial loadout, their goals help to create something else that not too many roguelikes have: a sense of roleplaying and character immersion. All of these personal goals are seen as big deals to the characters, and working to accomplish these goals feels rewarding for the player.
The Heat Signature gameplay experience
At first glance, what pops into many people’s minds is that this game looks like Hotline Miami in space. As far as basic gameplay and controls go, that fact is true, but there is much more to it than meets the eye. The game offers the player a plethora of missions ranging in difficulty and varying in goals and specifications (such as going the whole mission without being seen or without killing anybody). The more the player progresses, the more types of mission specifications open up, and harder specifications lead to greater rewards most of the time. This keeps the game fresh despite the lack of varied mission goals (about five in total minus special liberation missions).
The player is able to choose their loadout of weapons and gadgets before going out, usually depending on the details of the mission. The weapons and gadgets all vary in function. Weapons include pistols, shotguns, swords, wrenches, explosives, and a very powerful hammer to knock out your enemies. The gadgets include jammers, teleporters, keycard cloners, shields, and the ever-so-fun slipstream, where the game goes into bullet time mode and the player is able to either evade enemies or swiftly take them out one by one. Using these in tandem with one another creates some very fun scenarios and methods of play, and the game becomes a unique experience for each player.
One of the best parts of this game is flying around in a variety of spaceships and pods. Each character has their own pod to fly around in, and many others are unlockable as the game progresses, varying in what they can do to assist the player. On the other side of transportation are the enemy spaceships that players can assume control of after taking out the captain (and presumably the rest of the crew). While they’re not as easy to maneuver, they can open fire on other ships and break them down, making them really satisfying to use on missions. It’s one of the finer details that make this game so fun to play.
As the player completes enough missions, they are able to liberate stations, a system that doubles as a leveling system akin to other roguelikes. Each station unlocks a bonus challenge mission, and a good amount of other stations unlock upgraded equipment and new ships. What’s unfortunate is that most stations that offer upgrades are for pre-existing equipment, meaning that the main difference one sees as the game progresses is more of the same stuff but with more power or capacity. There aren’t many upgrades that affect the characters themselves aside from starting cash and equipment. While this isn’t a huge detractor of the game’s overall quality, it does turn the game into a bit of a grind after a while when most liberations barely turn up anything new or exciting other than a bit more progression.
Difficulty-wise, the game has its aforementioned varying degrees of mission difficulty. This means more enemies with significantly improved defenses and offensive capabilities, and an enemy ship with a more challenging layout involving turrets, enemy placement, and time limitations. As long as the player is well equipped for the mission ahead, the only thing stopping the player from succeeding is simply their skill alone. The biggest break for players, however, is the pause feature, in which the player can stop the flow of time and combat whenever they please so they can equip or pick up items and prepare for their next move right when they resume. It seems like it would make the game too easy, but it actually becomes a lifesaver in the face of four or five armored guards about to open fire at once. Some might see this as a way to make the game more casual-friendly, but to many others it will be their main source of relief in tense moments.
That good ol' space feeling
On an aesthetic level, this game succeeds at recreating the familiar space sci-fi setting that many have grown accustomed to through series like Star Trek, Mass Effect, and countless more. The interiors of spaceships and stations range from the bright, smooth, retro look to the dark and quite junky feel of many popular space westerns. All of this is done in a simple enough 2D art style that honestly doesn’t stand out too much. It’s not a terrible thing, though, as it doesn’t overshadow the more important aspect of gameplay, and it serves its purpose well enough.
The audio of this game is also faithful to the setting. The tracks have that sci-fi feel with both techno beats and ambient pieces alike. However, like the graphics, they don’t stand out much, and feel more like background pieces than actual compositions. It’s not a bad thing either, because it’s not as likely to distract the player from the task at hand, which could be deadly in this kind of game.
One of the best parts of this entire game is how space is treated. Being a sort of open-world game where the player is able to fly around anywhere on the map, a sense of scale and distance had to be implemented to form a realistic sense of space travel, which this game accomplishes. At any moment of the game, the player can either zoom in or out to reveal more of the screen’s map or more of the character’s specific location. It becomes really impressive when the player zooms in or out just to witness the scale of everything in relation to the entirety of the game’s map. It spurs the thought of how small the player is, unlike many other space-themed games. If you’re looking for a game that really signifies how small one really is compared to the vast world around them, this is that kind of game.
Featured image from YouTube
(09/27/17 9:29pm)
by Daniel O'Connell
This review is based on the Xbox One version of Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.
Warning: This review contains spoilers for previous games in the Dishonored franchise.
Back when it debuted in 2012, Dishonored was praised for its gameplay. This gameplay was unique, yet also comparable to the Thief games. Players were able to explore levels, use a variety of ways to complete objects, and replay the game in order to see what they missed. Backed by its unique voice cast as well as its interesting world building, Dishonored went on to become a hit game that started a new franchise for Bethesda Softworks. Now, five years later, the Dishonored franchise delivers another hit game with Death of the Outsider.
Killing a god
Picking up after the events of Dishonored 2, Death of the Outsider focuses on Billie Lurk (voiced by Rosario Dawson), who, having gone under the alias of Meagan Foster in the previous game, reunites with her mentor and former assassin Daud (voiced by Michael Madsen) in Karnaca. Daud (who served as a major antagonist in the first game and was the protagonist of The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches DLCs) is now old and slowly dying of a mysterious illness. However, he entices Billie into taking on one last job with him: killing the Outsider, an ambiguous supernatural being that resides in a dimension called the Void, and who grants supernatural abilities to those who he chooses. Daud believes that the Outsider is responsible for the chaos that has spread around the Empire of the Isles. However, before Billie can take on this job, she is visited by the Outsider himself. The Outsider leaves Billie in an interesting state: she has access to Void-based abilities without being marked by the Outsider. However, in exchange for this, she loses her right hand and eye. These are replaced with prosthetic parts built from the Void itself, leaving her as an occult-based cyborg of sorts.
Sadly for the story of this game, its parts are generally better than its overall sum. The missions of the game are rather interesting and take you into the seedy underbelly of Karnaca. There, Billie deals with a number of different tasks in order to prepare to kill the Outsider. These tasks range from dealing with the Void-worshiping cult known as the Eyeless, to doing a heist in Karnaca’s high security bank in order to steal a knife that can kill the Outsider. However, the overall story of the game feels dull and falls flat of the aspirations to which the title tries to live up. Not helping this is the ending of the game. While not going into spoiler territory, it feels rather anticlimactic after all of the buildup in the previous levels.
On the other hand, the main characters of Billie Lurk and Daud are rather enjoyable. Both exhibit a strong relationship with each other, as Daud and Billie were both previously given characterization on the Dishonored DLCs. What also helps flesh out Billie’s characterization is the way she interacts with the environment. She will comment on certain things that she sees or notes or books that the player has read. This gives her a more fleshed out character when compared to Corvo Attano or Emily Kaldwin of Dishonored 2.
Similar, yet different
The gameplay of Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is very similar to the previous game of the franchise. However, several things are now completely different from what came before.
The aesthetics of Dishonored: Death of the Outsider look exactly the same as its predecessor, Dishonored 2 (which is rather fitting, as both take place on the island of Karanaca). As with past games, Death of the Outsider offers players the freedom to explore levels to search for coin, complete side objectives, and find and collect bone charms (trinkets that gives the players unique bonuses such as more health or more mana). The black market from Dishonored 2 also returns, which allows players to buy upgrades for their weapons and equipment, as well as buy resources such as health elixirs, grenades, and ammunition. It is even possible to rob some of these black markets.
A new, welcome addition to the Dishonored formula is contracts. Contracts are optional side missions that can be picked up in black markets, and involves tasks that are done in exchange for large amount of coin. These tasks range from assassinating a mime and making his death look like an accident, to stealing the recipe for rat liquor and sabotaging a criminal gang’s supply of said liquor. These contracts are far preferable to searching through every nook and cranny in order to find coin and valuables.
As in the previous games, the player has access to supernatural abilities that aid them in their missions, and include a teleportation ability (known in this game as Displace). However, the functions of supernatural abilities have been tweaked in a few ways. All of these abilities are unlocked early on in the game, eliminating the need to search for runes (the in-game item equivalent of skill points that would allow the player to acquire and improve their supernatural powers). And mana now slowly regenerates after using an ability, thereby eliminating the presence of mana potions in the game. However, in spite of these changes, using Billie’s powers takes time to get used to, just like Emily’s powers in the previous game.
However, the biggest change overall in the game is the elimination of the Chaos system. The Chaos system, for those who are unaware, served as a type of morality system in the previous games. The Chaos system worked by having one’s gameplay affect the characters and the world around him. It was divided between High Chaos and Low Chaos. High Chaos would be earned by earned by killing enemy characters in their way and using violence to complete their objectives. Low Chaos would be earned by taking out opponents non-lethally and using stealth to complete objectives. The Chaos system was refreshing because it affected the choices you made and the way one would play the game.
As one would expect, the removal of the Chaos system in the game is a step down from the previous games. It makes the way one would play the game rather insignificant in the long run. It gives the player the ability to go on killing sprees in every level, and it would have no consequences later in the game. The removal of the Chaos System cheapens the entire lesson of the games (that the choices we make, however big or small, count). This knowledge actually manages to ruin a speech that happens at the end of the game. In fact, the only major choice that affects the outcome of the game comes in at the very last level of the game.
Another downgrade to the game is its short length. The game is only five levels long, making it shorter than the first two Dishonored DLCs. This makes for a quick game that one can complete in a few days, but still yearn for more. However, this short length is balanced out by having the levels be more dense, bigger, and having tons of side contact to do.
Featured image from DualShockers
(09/27/17 6:18pm)
by Tanner Kinney
The internet is one of the most valuable, yet dangerous tools. It goes without saying that the internet can truly be magical sometimes. Where else can a person find detailed facts and backstories for random background characters in Star Wars? Or, I don’t know, a mod for Super Mario 64 where your head is a fidget spinner. The good stuff we all love. The internet also has the ability to be completely twisted and vengeful. When you piss off the internet, it’s not just like knocking down a hornet’s nest. It’s like knocking down a hornet’s nest that was secretly a giant mecha being piloted by hornets, and they’ve got their sights on you. This is especially true when dealing with particularly rabid sub-subcultures of the internet. For example, just look at PewDiePie fans.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1366"] Image from Kotaku Australia[/caption]
After a recent controversy involving PewDiePie saying the one racial slur you really shouldn’t say under any circumstance ever, Campo Santo, developer of Firewatch, issued a DMCA claim against the Youtuber’s videos of their game. In response, Pewds’s fans attacked Campo Santo on Twitter and in a place where they could really make an impact, on the reviews for their game Firewatch.
https://twitter.com/vanaman/status/906983575337107456
Negative reviews rained down on Firewatch, taking a game that was sitting at “very positive” since launch to a “mixed” within recent reviews. Many reviews mention this incident being their main reason for giving a thumbs down, which adds to the suspicion. There’s also been a few cases of users buying the game, reviewing it at 0.0 hours, then refunding it. The internet hate machine unleashed fire and fury on Campo Santo and with the way Steam reviews were set up there was no way to fight it.
(09/16/17 11:01pm)
by Aidan Kearney
This review is based on the PlayStation 4 version of Destiny 2.
Famous for their Myth, Marathon, and Halo franchises, developer Bungie Inc. continues to deliver fun gameplay and unique worlds with the Destiny franchise. The first Destiny, a shared-world, loot-based first person shooter, was released in September 2014 and was met with mixed reviews noting an unclear, borderline-nonexistent story and dearth of substantial content. Transitioning from Destiny to Destiny 2, Game director Luke Smith stated at the game's initial reveal that Bungie wanted Destiny 2 to be “a new beginning for everyone, a convergence of veteran players and new audiences.” If the first Destiny felt lackluster, Destiny 2 makes up for it in spades.
On September 6, 2017 Bungie released Destiny 2 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with a PC release on October 24. Thanks to a newly placed - and much needed - focus on storytelling, Destiny 2 provides players with an engaging conflict in humanity’s fight for the future against their newest threat: the Red Legion. Along the way there’s exotic worlds to explore, aggressive aliens to fight, powerful loot to grab, and an abundance of quests to supplement the fight against the Red Legion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EOciM-ruCo
Gameplay
Right off the bat, the good news is that Destiny 2 feels very tight and incredibly satisfying. If Bungie knows how to do anything, it’s design FPS games. Shooting is snappy and responsive, and mid-to-high level gear feels as powerful as it should be. Player movement is fast and efficient thanks to jet boosts, double jumps, and newly included mantling system to keep the combat compelling. Player abilities add to the fast-paced nature of the game, giving each player unique powers based on the choice of one of three classes and their respective elemental subclass.
One major focus of Destiny 2 is increasing your Power and Level. The higher your Power, the more damage you do, and the higher your Level, the more abilities and perks are available to you. Thankfully, it doesn’t feel like a grindy role-playing game as there’s no shortage of different and exciting activities available. Public events, roaming world bosses, high-value targets, and short patrol quests all happen highly frequently, keeping the player constantly engaged and rewarding them higher-level gear, co-operatively playing with others in the open-world.
Thankfully, gear has been individually designed; gone are the days of random loot drops. Whichever weapon or armor piece that drops, it drops with those stats and those stats only. That’s not to say players are out of customization options. Mods can be found, created, and purchased that will add or change stats, perks, and even damage types. Mods have a limited number of uses, requiring you to purchase more once a mod has been used enough. Certain weapon perks can complement different class perks, allowing more effective player customization through equipment and powers. The exception to this is Exotic gear: unique weapons and armor with game-changing abilities that either rarely drop or can only be acquired through quests.
The aliens encountered throughout the game have been designed to feel more unique and distinct from each other, given different weapons, behaviors, and even fighting styles. In Destiny 2, Bungie opened the door for more strategic combat. For example, elite members of each race come with overshields, corresponding with a specific elemental damage type. While it isn’t necessary to take out the shield, using the right elemental damage causes the shield to satisfyingly explode, dealing damage to the enemy and any others around it. Exploiting weaknesses found with each enemy type behooves the player, increasing damage while also fulfilling various perks. Destiny 2’s combat rewards players for smart and effective combinations of their gear and abilities.
Story and Lore
In the world of Destiny 2 you are a Guardian: an extraordinary and immortal individual chosen by a dormant, necromantic machine-god known as “The Traveler” to fight for humanity’s survival. Players both old and new will find immersing themselves in Destiny 2’s story rather smooth thanks to a clear and present danger, and easy-to-understand plot with plenty of content beneath the surface. Cutscenes within the campaign thankfully provide a very welcome cinematic addition to the narrative, characterizing not just the protagonists but antagonists as well.
Within the first mission, Earth’s Last City is attacked by an alien army known as the Red Legion of the Cabal, led by Dominus Ghaul. Ghaul nullifies the Guardians’ powers, rendering them weak and, most importantly, mortal. Guardians’ leadership, the Vanguard, is sent into a disarray. While recovering their powers, players must find the old vanguards, while forging new alliances throughout their journey.
Players will encounter new allies, along with some of the veteran cast from Destiny. Fan favorites such as Cayde-6, an easygoing verbose android voiced by Nathan Fillion, return and are more fleshed out in this new story. A new ally brought to the field at the start of the campaign is Hawthorne, a stalwart scout helping protect those who survive outside of the Last City. She’s also not a Guardian and shows contempt for their immortality-based tactics.
A character like Hawthorne helps flesh out the world of Destiny outside of the Guardians. Unfortunately, other new characters aren’t fleshed out nor even introduced as well as Hawthorne. Even more unfortunate, this extends to the player character as well. While the player is an active agent and the crux of the Destiny 2 storyline, they share no dialogue with any other characters, letting their robot buddy “Ghost” do all the talking for them.
Destiny 2’s plot is by no means groundbreaking, but it offers an excellent convergence of storytelling, prior lore, and gameplay, especially within its mission structure. Missions are no longer segregated from the game world, as story missions can be accessed at any point while patrolling on the planets. Most notably, Destiny 2 offers fantastic set-pieces within the campaign. Bungie takes advantage of its core “shared-world” design, with some thematically-appropriate missions placing you in the heat of battle alongside other players and NPCs. Unfortunately it appears Bungie’s taken a few steps back from their Halo days, as friendly AI in combat feels noticeably scripted.
Counting mandatory missions alone, totaling roughly five hours, the campaign may feel rather short. Thankfully, completion of the Red War storyline opens up a wide variety side quests that provide players with new gear and even takes them to locations not featured in the campaign. These side quests, found in the form of Adventures, Quests, and Lost Sectors provide world-building and character history.
Admittedly, gameplay in quests feels par for the course of “you explore an area, kill a lot of enemies, and then scan something for dialogue.” However the setup and plot of these side quests provide more intrigue and detail within the world of Destiny. One such example would be tracking multiple sources of music encoded with messages across the Jovian moon Io to find its source: an artificial intelligence casting aside its servile nature in favor of individuality.
Destiny 2’s story as a whole unites many plots and elements from the background lore of the first game, finally giving them screentime and agency within the story. Furthermore, exploration reveals additional lore, hinting at things to come in the future of Destiny 2, considering Bungie’s track record with lore and foreshadowing in the previous game.
Unfortunately the rich lore and other background information found in-game is not compiled anywhere like Destiny’s “grimoire.” Without some way of tracking collectible information, players can easily miss out on character and faction backgrounds with no way of knowing otherwise.
World and Visual Design
What’s made Destiny stand out to compared to other shooters is notably its blend of futuristic sci-fi setting with classical medieval archetypes, and there’s certainly no lack of that in Destiny 2. Each player class has specific armor designs harkening back to knights, wizards, and rogues of fantasy but mixing them with more astronautical elements that create a unique style. Players can choose their Guardian to be a human, Exo (read: android) or an Awoken (read: space elf). I personally think being a space wizard android astronaut is just all-around cool.
The character creator available in-game, however, leaves something to be desired. There’s no option to zoom in or rotate your character's face, and there’s only roughly eight presets of faces, hairs, and markings to choose from. Unique design relies on a combination of colors in hair, make-up, and robot parts for the Exos.
Throughout the course of the game, players will travel to a variety of exotic planets and moons within the solar system. These locations look absolutely stellar, shifting from a thick, overgrown forest in Europe, to a city on the hydrocarbon sea of Titan, to an alien machine world on the planetoid Nessus. Bungie’s environmental design team clearly put a lot of work into making each location feel unique and look great due to impressive texture work and detailing.
Thanks to Destiny 2’s more open-world approach, Bungie has given players solid and meaningful reasons to explore each location. Lost Sectors, a new inclusion to Destiny 2, are entire zones hidden across each world. They could range from a simple cave system, to almost resembling a Strike, just slightly smaller in size yet still filled with enemies and loot. Hidden, scannable items can be found on each location as well, providing further detail into the world of Destiny 2.
All images from and Giant Bomb and Destiny 2
(09/15/17 6:51pm)
by Emily Reuben
On September 15, 2015, the P.C. game, Undertale, took the internet by storm. The pixel styled RPG game created by Toby Fox has become quite the internet sensation spawning a massive fan base, countless pieces of fan art, official merchandise, albums, and various console releases. It’s literally become such an important part of video game creation and pop culture that a copy of the game was given to the Pope.
https://twitter.com/tobyfox/status/750443785889411072
Today marks the two year anniversary of Undertale’s release. Featuring various endings, Undertale begins with the player falling into the Underground inhabited by monsters. The player must find a way to return to the human world. Along the way the player will meet interesting characters, battle various monsters, and solve puzzles to return home. The simple premise that separates Undertale from other RPGs? The player does not have to kill anyone. Everything comes down to choice. For those who have not yet played Undertale, saying anything more about the plot would be a huge disservice.
To celebrate, we are going to discuss why exactly Undertale is a success and why it resonates so strongly with so many people.
Undertale creator Toby Fox had dabbled in game creation during his high-school years using RPG Maker 2000 to make RPGs and also created a few Earthbound ROM hacks. However he was more widely known for his music compositions. Some of his more notable works include music compositions for the 2009 webcomic Homestuck and various covers posted to the MS Paint Adventures forums. Toby’s music is also set to be featured in Hiveswap, a Homestuck video game.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Image from IGN[/caption]
Fox started Undertale as a Kickstarter on June 25, 2013. The project quickly garnered interest and eventually raised a total of $51,124 by 2,398 people. When asked in an interview with Outermode what sparked his desire to create Undertale, Fox stated that, “It originated when I decided to create a battle system in Game Maker. Then I made a game around it.”
Fox’s passion for music also played an integral role in the game’s creation. In the Outermode interview, Fox mentioned that “Over 90% of the songs were composed for the game. I always wrote the songs before I started programming those parts, besides the credits song. Having music helps me decide how the scene should go.”
Fox’s work immediately paid off upon the game’s release. Undertale was met with instant praise from Youtubers, critics, and fans alike that spread the popularity of the game like wildfire. IGN ranked the game 10/10, Metacritic gave a 92%, and it holds at 10/10 rating on Steam. When summarizing the game, IGN reviewer Kallie Plagge states that “It might not be pretty, but Undertale is absolutely a work of art.”
Despite the popularity of the game, some criticized the hype arguing that the style was simplistic. Various message boards on Steam and other gaming forums indicate irritations at the game’s popularity.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="975"] from Steam[/caption]
Even with some negative reception, Undertale swept the 2015 Game of the Year Awards and continues to be a talking point of the gaming community.
One of the most important aspects of the Undertale is the fan base that resulted after the game’s release. A community of those who loved Fox’s game instantly began crafting fan covers, fan art, and merchandise.
For Angelina Moreno, a senior in Ball State University’s Animation Program, her Undertale fan animation led to a viral response.
When asked what inspired Angelina to make the animated short she replied:
“I was inspired to make my Undertale animation by another fan of Undertale. This other creator, who I credit in my video, is a voice actor who, during the Undertale craze, was making fan voiced stuff for fans of Undertale... I remember hearing the dialogue and falling in love with the voices because they reminded me so much of the characters! And of course the script was hilarious as well.”
This is just one example of how one’s work can spark inspiration in others. Obviously Toby Fox inspired fans with the original product, but the fan base continues to plant new seeds in the minds of content creators.
Currently Angelina’s video has a total of 1,597,232 views on Youtube and has appeared in various Undertale animation compilations. When asked about the popularity of her work, she said the following:
“I was surprised my animation was so popular, especially since now that it’s been a couple of years and I can see now it’s not very good. I was surprised at the positivity actually. Most comments were about how good the animation was or the voices being amazing.”
Alongside the incredible art made by fans, many great examples of fan-made Undertale music have been released as well. Interestingly, outside fandoms such as the Steven Universe have heavily influenced the fan made musical pieces inspired by Undertale. A great example of this is the popular “Stronger Than You” Undertale animation and song cover.
As a testament to the popularity of Undertale, this rendition of the song has a higher view count than the official Steven Universe version.
The Undertale fan base is full of creativity and is often quite positive. However, just as in any fandom, there is a very vocal, toxic group of members.
One of the biggest controversies surrounding the fandom revolved around Youtube comments directed at those playing the game. Big Youtubers such as Markiplier were often attacked for playing the game the “wrong way”. In Markiplier’s case, this made his playthrough so devoid of fun that he dropped it altogether after two episodes. Markiplier stated,“I’m not having fun making these videos because I know that no matter what I do, everyone will think I’m wrong.”
Few games spark as much passion as Undertale. Due to the depth of gameplay and characters, players often become connected to the game. This connection prompts them to make other players play the game in the way that they deem it to be the best, but this is never what Toby Fox intended. In response to all of the negativity stemming from the fan base Fox tweeted:
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1174"] Image from Twitter[/caption]
With this in conjunction with incestuous fan art, Undertale has gained a bit of a negative reputation based on the fan base. This is a shame, as a few bad apple shouldn’t reflect the entire community or the game itself.
Luckily, this negativity has not stopped Undertale’s growth. Earlier this year the game was ported to the PS4 and PS Vita, opening up more opportunities for new players to pick up and play the game.
https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/874429667662471168
So why exactly did Undertale leave such a mark on the gaming industry? Angelina chimes in:
“I think it’s had such a huge impact because so much love, time, and thought went into making this game and people can tell. The characters and the narrative speak on a lot of levels about the human condition. The game makes you feel for the characters. But also. The soundtrack. The soundtrack is so important to any and all forms of media. Undertale’s soundtrack is a masterpiece.”
And many critics and fans would agree with her. The characters have been praised for their shining personalities and lovable demeanor.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Image from MonsterVine[/caption]
Many modern games simply the love and consideration found in Undertale. Toby utilized his love for music to make an engaging, energetic soundtrack that practically tells a story of its own. Music is often underrated or forgotten. Instead of being a main component, more often than not a game soundtrack serves as background noise. Toby Fox created much of the game around the music he composed, thus giving the Undertale soundtrack a life of it’s own. Fox’s music has proved so popular that various soundtracks have been released as official Undertale merchandise.
In regards to the characters, Undertale manages to make monsters so loving and relatable that it is no wonder so many fans become dramatically attached to the game. There is humanity in each and every monster you see, from the NPCs to the monsters you fight, there is personality attached to each and every encounter. The choice allowed in Undertale drastically changes these character interactions on each playthrough, which makes them all the more real. So few games fail to make pixelated images into seemingly real beings.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image from The Escapist[/caption]
After two years, Undertale is still a masterful example of modern gaming. It proves that you don’t need the latest and greatest technology to craft a good game. Gamers flock to play Undertale for the story, character, and dialogue, elements of gaming that can be hard to come by. There is so much heart behind Toby Fox’s work that it is impossible not to feel immensely connected to the Underworld.
Ironically, LOVE is behind what makes Undertale a success.
Sources: Outermode, Engadget, Kotaku, IGN, YouTube, Twitter
Images: Twitter, IGN, Steam, MonsterVine, The Escapist
(09/09/17 5:38pm)
Ball State joined the game, as a new challenger. Anyone familiar with Super Smash Bros. probably knows that phrase. With the growing popularity of eSports, BSU students have created their own team and are competing nationally. They join 200 chapters across North America that are part of Tespa, a “network of college clubs founded to promote gaming culture and host the best college eSports events and competitions.”
(09/13/17 3:58pm)
This review was conducted on a PC with GTX 965m, i7, and 16GBs of RAM. It is only available on the PC through Steam.
(09/08/17 11:40pm)
by Lindsey Murphy
This review was conducted on a PC with GTX 965m, i7, and 16GBs of RAM. It is only available on the PC through Steam.
The Witches’ Tea Party is a game focused on a group of witches of various ages and backgrounds as they try to stay together as the only survivors after a war between humans and monsters. It is also the prequel of the game Trick & Treat. The game was published by Rabbiton and developed with RPG Maker and is a casual indie game that is story driven, and sets out on a short but absorbing plot filled with the drama of each witch’s past. There is no combat; the game is mainly based around puzzles, small detective segments, and storytelling. It’s cute, and sometimes very creepy.
Cute and creepy characters
The beginning of the game introduces nine witches of various ages, all with their own backstories and personalities that you get to explore as the game progresses. The played character is Charlotte, the youngest and newest to the gathering of witches. Her grandmother is Marilyn, another witch at the table. Andrea is the host of the tea party and something of a leader. Xaviera is a stranger to the party, but friends with Andrea. Evangeline is a fiery redhead with a temper. Mirabell is a quiet, sweet girl. Renee acts like a child when she really isn’t, and is quite the troublemaker. Stephanie is also quiet, but not in a shy way like Mirabell.
Having all these witches together under one roof proves to be problematic, and trouble starts quickly. Charlotte has to slowly unravel the mysteries behind these new people in order to survive and possibly make new friends along the way, but that’s up to the player to decide. The characters are what really drive the game. Their stories make the game immersive to the point where suddenly four hours have passed; you’ve played the entire game in one sitting and your left wondering what to do. It’s like finishing a really good book.
Use your mind, not your fists
While The Witches’ Tea Party doesn’t have any combat, it makes up for it in the form of puzzles. The puzzles are fairly simple typically, though sometimes do stump you for a while. There are also a few chase sequences in one of the creepier chapters of the story. The most interesting parts of the gameplay are the detective puzzles. When a situation occurs in the game that needs a solution or a guilty party, Charlotte goes and asks around to the other witches and does her own investigating searching for clues. Once all the clues are found, all the witches gather and she gives her solution.
The problem is that the game doesn’t tell you the answer. You’re supposed to look through your notes in your inventory, save the game, and then click start. This begins the dialogue for the answer, but as Charlotte is explaining her theory, you make selections in the dialogue to continue the script. It’s up to you to figure out the right answers and pull up the correct pieces of evidence with only a few strikeout chances. If you click the wrong dialogues too many times some sort of ending or death is initiated. But if you do it correctly, you make it through the puzzle and continue the plot. This is done multiple times throughout the game, just enough so that you’re still enjoying it and it’s not overused to the point of irritation.
The curse of completionism
There are many elements to the game that give it some serious replay value. First of all, it’s fairly short, clocking in at four hours on Steam. Secondly, the game has the dreaded collectibles. There’s over thirty different pieces to find of three different pictures in the rooms of the house and all the other maps that you explore throughout the course of the game. If you miss some by the time you complete the game, then the picture that the pieces made will be incomplete forever, unless you play again and find the rest of them. However, they’re also hidden randomly, and you have to go clicking on every object in every room to find them.
The third reason is multiple endings. There’s a normal ending, a true ending, multiple incomplete endings where the game could end without you making it all the way through, and multiple death endings. Each one has its own art piece to add to the collection. So, if you want them all, or you want to see all of the endings, you have to play the game again. Most importantly, every time you play through The Witches’ Tea Party, you notice new story elements that you never noticed before.
All images from Steam
(08/31/17 6:41pm)
At Gamescon, Blizzard announced map that gave players a closer look at two fan favorite characters, Junkrat and Roadhog. Junkertown is a post-apocalyptic, ramshackle junk yard of a town presided over by a nameless queen who narrated the reveal trailer, saying:
(08/25/17 7:45am)
by Nolan Leahy
This review is based on the Nintendo Switch version of Sonic Mania. The game is also available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
For 26 years, Sonic has been one of the most iconic mascots in the gaming industry, to the point where both young and old gamers can easily recognize him. Despite his recognition, he’s had a bumpy road ever since his youthful 90s with his push into the 3D environment. The Sonic Adventure games were fairly decent. Sonic Generations provided a nice partial remake to some of his 2D levels while providing some mediocre 3D levels. Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) was…well…yeah. Sega took one of their biggest gambles with the creation of Sonic Mania by giving the creator keys directly to the most die-hard fans. Despite this risk, it’s one of the biggest payoffs within the past decade.
The beauty and the beats
Sonic Mania’s art flourishes and provides well-detailed environments throughout each zone. Green Hill Zone provides an additional path on the lower portion of the level with additional water effects, and the totem poles are larger and more detailed within the background. Studiopolis Zone offers fantastic visual effects for when Sonic reaches particular areas in the zone, leaving the player awed in its visual finesse. Animations of the bosses and Eggman (Robotnik) offer personality traits that don’t require dialogue to explain, and the transitions between zones offer more of a connection and fill in the gaps better than some of the 90s installments.
In addition to the art, the music is also ridiculously good. After hearing the tracks loop several times, it’s difficult not to hum the melody. There definitely isn’t a single awful track within the game, and listening to these tracks feels magical as the game takes you on a reinvented 90s trip.
Wait, that wasn't there before...
Sonic Mania’s gameplay offers far more than it shows on the surface. When giving it a simple glance, it can be easy to dismiss it as a general remake of classic levels with a bit of artistic polish and a few new levels. That’s not the case with this game. Sonic Mania not only brings back the classic zones from Sonic’s original trilogy, but also redefines them completely in their mechanics, layout, and difficulty. Levels are much longer on average in comparison to their older counterparts. Many levels can be passed within roughly six minutes, but some are so long that reaching the ten-minute time limit serves as a real danger. Classic Sonic veterans will be shocked to see the changes that Christian Whitehead has made to the remastered levels. For instance, grabbing the Fire Shield power-up in Green Hill Zone will allow for the spiked, rotating bridges to be burned down completely. At times, the Electric Shield serves as more of a tool to get from point A to point B that feels more necessary, but in a good way. In the case of the Electric Shield, the player doesn’t necessarily have to worry about losing the Electric Shield in order to track across the level because the obstacle is either optional or right in front of the source of the Electric Shield.
Sonic’s speed in this game is absolutely thrilling. Experiencing him roll and run through the designed tracks is satisfying and provides tension when he’s rolling upside down with no lower ground to land on. Think of it like a roller coaster without seat belts, or anything to protect the rider other than hoping he stays in the seat. The possibility of losing traction is absolutely frightening because of the grave that sits below, teleporting Sonic back to the last checkpoint.
Next are the bosses. If these weren’t well designed, then the game would be absolute trash. Thankfully, the boss fights are some of the best moments in Sonic Mania. The bosses offer excellent variety and many of them are completely new. As mentioned above, the animations provided within the fights and cutscenes offer personality to these enemies. In addition, they offer a reasonable challenge to newcomers of the franchise as well as veterans. The order that these bosses are introduced can be surprising to older fans at times, and offer one specific comical element for the veterans.
There are a few moments where dying can be unavoidable due to Sonic’s speed and the player can be unintentionally trapped from an off-screen threat. In terms of bugs, the game froze once when transitioning between two separate stages, resulting in having to start the entire zone over again. Fortunately, this bug didn’t occur again and doesn’t seem like a common issue.
Replay, and extras galore
After beating Sonic Mania, there’s actually plenty of content here to keep the player coming back more than a few times. Extras can be unlocked either through general gameplay or by completing the special stages at each checkpoint for the mere cost of 25 rings. General extras include other Sonic abilities found in other games like Sonic The Hedgehog 3 or Sonic CD. Other extras like this are only playable in the No-Save Slot of the main game though, which can be a downside for those wanting to save a different type of game. The special stages are the same as Sonic The Hedgehog 3’s or Sonic and Knuckles with the Blue Sphere challenges. These stages require massive replay dedication in order to receive the gold medals at the end of each and every stage. Silver medals are awarded for completion, but the gold medals are awarded for perfect runs. These medals unlock extra game modes that give another pleasant distraction if the side-scrolling gets stale. In addition to these special stages, there’s also a different kind of special stage for the Chaos Emeralds, and it’s by far the most difficult in comparison to all of the 2D Sonic games’ special stages that have come before.
Lastly, the two-player split-screen is fantastic, and completely blows away the original Sonic’s multiplayer. There’s a race mode similar to Sonic The Hedgehog 2’s, but with Sonic Mania, there’s far more levels to choose from. Players can play as Sonic, Knuckles, or Tails, and dash through the levels extracted from the base game. These races offer a fun, competitive edge, and being able to change the power-ups into teleporters can make it more interesting if the skill gap between players is too varied. In addition, one of the extra game modes offers a two-player option, but spoiling it here would ruin the surprise. Regardless, playing it with another person offers an intense gameplay experience that serves as a nice break from the traditional gameplay.
Images from Sega, Gaming Ape, The Sydney Morning Herald, and Conflictingviews
(08/21/17 3:07am)
by Eben Griger
Gamescom 2017 is in full swing now with almost a full week of gaming related content from all the big industry names. Xbox was up first, showcasing both games and hardware.
[embed]https://youtu.be/5RYZXnpjYbw[/embed]
Assassin’s Creed: Origins got a new cinematic trailer, a release date (Oct. 27), and the classic pre-order bonus mission.
[embed]https://youtu.be/NWagBjDMwTU[/embed]
Next up, Jurassic World Evolution, the dinosaur theme park sim we’ve all been waiting for. No exact date for it’s release, only “summer 2018,” which will probably end up being curiously close to the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
[embed]https://youtu.be/wd7482WHdNM[/embed]
ReCore, the title that launched Xbox’s “Play Anywhere” feature, is getting a rerelease. ReCore: Definitive Edition brings new quests, a new companion frame, and updated graphics. Owners of the original ReCore get all the new goodies for free the same date the Definitive Edition drops, Aug. 29.
[embed]https://youtu.be/nDeGxQGZaJA?list=PL0il2l-B_Wwa3CjwbNWD6lVtsp5OmraEl[/embed]
Free-to-play game World of Tanks is getting a port to the Xbox One X with 4k graphics and an arena tournament mode. No date other than “this fall,” but seeing as the Xbox One X doesn’t release until November, the actual date will probably end up being closer to winter.
[embed]https://youtu.be/6W_HKKQcQpk?list=PL0il2l-B_Wwa3CjwbNWD6lVtsp5OmraEl[/embed]
Xbox showcased a good amount of indie game content too, with titles such as Hello Neighbor, Conan: Exiles, Unruly Heroes and Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds. No release dates for anything, but expect a lot of support for non-AAA games in the future.
[embed]https://youtu.be/p3gSQZk0Crg?list=PL0il2l-B_Wwa3CjwbNWD6lVtsp5OmraEl[/embed]
Minecraft edition Xbox One S’s are coming to stores, available for pre-order now. 1 Tb system, dirt, grass and redstone stylings, and a creeper controller makes for a fairly stylish console.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BHMrU319D0[/embed]
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War got a new trailer. Monsters are playing a big part in this game, more-so than the original. They take the place of friend and foe though, with a friendly, ridable dragon being shown in the trailer. Shadow of War drops Oct. 10.
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Xbox’s presentation ended with a bang: the Xbox One X. We got a release date, Nov. 10, and the Project Scorpio Special Edition. The edition includes a matte black console and controller with “Project Scorpio” written in green letters on both, custom printing on the exterior, and a vertical stand. The trailer also showed what looked to be a serial number on the console, implying that this edition might not always be available. Both the special edition and the regular console are available for pre-order now.
Source: Polygon
Image: Yahoo
(07/31/17 10:14pm)
by Emily Reuben
The Wii U has been viewed as a major disappointment by both Nintendo fans and critics alike. Featuring few creative original titles and clunky motion controls, many opted to skip Nintendo’s over-glorified Wii update and wait for the next generation of Nintendo console. However, the release of Splatoon in May 2015 gave the Wii U some much needed redemption. With efficiently utilized motion controls, colorful maps, easy to learn controls, and fun online matches, Splatoon was a great first entry into the shooter genre for Nintendo. Now Splatoon 2 has entered the scene on the Switch console, and the popularity of the first game has made it one of this summer’s most anticipated titles, so much so that it has boosted Switch hardware sales in Japan by 178%.
So what does Splatoon 2 have to offer that the Wii U version didn’t?
Fresher than ever
Splatoon 2 is essentially an updated version of Splatoon. The addition of more customizable inklings, new gear, new stages, and a new gameplay mode make the sequel meet fan expectation. There is plenty of new content for fans of the first game, but the new content is not overwhelming enough to scare off newcomers. Just as in Splatoon, just about anyone can pick up a Switch controller and join in on the fun with little difficulty.
The weakest aspect of Splatoon 2, much like the first game, is the single player mode. The campaign is relatively short and not very difficult. Single player essentially serves as a tutorial for players to become acquainted with the controls before entering online matches and a method of obtaining new weapons. It should be noted that players can go back and replay missions with more difficult weapons, but even so these challenges do not make up for the lack of story. Similarly, there are hidden items such as the Sunken Scrolls in each stage, but while these can be fun to seek out, finding them should not cause too much of an issue. Players disappointed with the campaign in Splatoon will likely remained disappointed here as well.
What makes the single player mode improved from the first game is the added purpose of Power Eggs and the addition of Sardinium. These items are needed to upgrade weapons. These upgrades can improve the effectiveness of weapons such as range or damage. Eggs can be found by destroying crates inhabiting the levels in single player mode. Sardinium is more difficult to find than Power Eggs and only twelve exist within the various levels. After obtaining the required amount of Sardinium and Power Eggs, players can visit the Ammo Knight Enhancifier to update weapons.
Turf war and more
The real fun of Splatoon 2 is the online matches. Returning from Splatoon is the standard Turf-War mode that anyone can join in. Initially, the weapon selection is limited to the Splattershot Jr., but after a few battles and some leveling up other weapons quickly become available. Returning from Splatoon are the rollers, blasters, brushes, and snipers but with new abilities and damage outputs. Many new weapons have been added, such as Splat Dualies, the Goo Tuber, and Splat Brella to name a few. Along with the new weapons are the new sub weapons added to the mix, including the Curling Bomb, Autobomb, and Toxic Mist. The additions don’t end there; special attacks like the Tenta Missiles, Splashdown, Ink Armor, Sting Ray, Inkjet, Bomb Launcher, Ink Storm, and The Baller help make the battlefield more hectic, making for both powerful weapons and dangerous threats. With all of these options, players can choose from various styles of gameplay, helping to keep the game fresh.
After playing enough Turf-War matches to reach level 10, players can join in a Ranked Battle. Ranked Battles are more competitive than standard Turf-Wars. All three Ranked Battle modes, Splat Zones, Rainmaker, and Tower Control, return from Splatoon but with some minor updates. The Rainmaker now shoots ink in bursts rather than a twister, which makes the mode much more chaotic as bursts take a second to initiate and can be fired all around the person holding the Rainmaker. Tower Control also received a minor update. There are a few checkpoints that players must face when taking control of the box. While hitting the checkpoint the box comes to a halt, making the players defending it more vulnerable to enemy attacks.
Two new gameplay modes make an appearance in Splatoon 2: League Battles and Salmon Run. Once players reach a B- rank in Ranked Battles, players will have access to League Battles. League Battles allow players to enter 2 hour competitive battles without risking their individual level.
Salmon Run is a bit different than the other modes. It is not available all the time outside of local co-op. To do an online match, players have to be online at a set time. This is disappointing, as the addition of Salmon Run adds a completely different style of gameplay that can break the tedium of Turf-Wars and Ranked Battles.
Salmon Run is like many other horde style games; monsters, in this case Salmonids, attack from all sides of a map while a team of four attempts to defeat them. When players first visit Grizzco, a sketchy part-time job opportunity for inklings, they will be given a Salmon Run tutorial by Mr. Grizz. There are a variety of boss Salmanoids with various abilities that will appear periodically on the map. The goal is to defeat these bosses and collect the golden eggs that drop from them and return them to the basket. There are three rounds in a Salmon Run, each requiring a set number of Golden Eggs for completion. If players take too much damage, they are unable to battle until a player revives them by splatting them with ink. If all four players are taken out, the match ends.
Successfully completing a match allows players to gain points based on performance. These points can be used rank up in Salmon Run and claim Daily or Monthly Super bonuses.
Two inky steps forward...
These changes generally improve the gameplay, but there are some minor annoyances that Nintendo failed to fix from the last game. For example, players are unable to switch weapons in the lobby. In order to change weapons, players must disconnect from the lobby, equip the weapon, and rejoin. This makes players less likely to change playstyles, as constantly exiting and entering the lobby can quickly become a chore. Similarly, there is no way to determine what weapons your team will have and adjust accordingly. This means that you may end up on a team with four rollers or four snipers, almost guaranteeing a loss.
Further demonstrating Nintendo’s problems with connectivity is the disastrous headset. While Sony and Microsoft have both nearly perfected online gameplay years ago, Nintendo is just now dipping their feet in online multiplayer. The Splatoon headset is a chore to use and not worth the time and money. The Switch does not have a microphone built into its console, so Nintendo’s solution is to utilize smartphone devices. Using the HORI Splatoon Headset (not included with Splatoon 2), players must connect the headset into their smartphone device through an adapter, resulting in a pile of cords and disappointment. Don’t spend money on the headset; just use Skype or Discord.
The newest cod shooter
Nintendo did a great job improving the already great Splatoon by adding more game modes, avenues for rewards, weapons, power-ups, and squid customization. Splatoon 2 is accessible to all players; it is easy for anyone to jump into without having player the original. Sadly, Nintendo needs to work on player connectivity. Games like Overwatch provide a shining example of online multiplayer that Nintendo needs to emulate.
For $60, Splatoon 2 is well worth the investment. It is likely that players will become lost in Turf-Wars and play for hours on end.
All images from Nintendo, IGN, and Nintendo Insider
(07/26/17 4:08pm)
by Emily Reuben
Despite a delay in release, many have been excited to play the Grumps’ first attempt at game development. With a delayed release and big promises of an LGBT positive, entertaining game simulator, does the Dream Daddy team deliver?
Daddies galore
Dream Daddy is a dating simulator featuring an array of dreamy dads with their own branching pathways. Players can expect to receive one of three potential endings for the seven datable dads: a good, neutral, or bad ending. The ending is determined by which dialogue choices the player chooses, and of course which prospective dad the player has decided to date. Outside of the romantic sphere, the player’s daughter, Amanda, consumes a vast portion of the game’s scenes, dividing the focus between dating and family life.
Another issue with the title stems from Amanda’s involvement with the player. The majority of the game is consumed by Amanda, but the title indicates that dating dads is the game’s primary focus. While the scenes with Amanda are charming (and quite emotionally moving at times), there is far too much focus on her. The game begins with the player and Amanda moving to a new town together and the player’s character laments about her moving to college soon. As issues with Amanda’s highschool life begin to surface, Dream Daddy shifts to highlight the relationship between parent and child and the struggles of single parenthood. While this relationship is interesting, it completely overshadows the dating aspect of the game, which is advertised as the focus.
The dads are given almost no time to develop a romantic relationship with. The player is expected to go on three dates with these dads, but they all end rather quickly. Instances of characterization can still be found in each of the dad’s plotlines, however. For example, Joseph’s plotline may indicate details about Robert or vice versa. Despite this, there still isn’t much here. Additionally, the potential endings with each of the daddies end abruptly and will most likely leave the player wanting more. There are no real instances of intimacy, except those shown off screen. There doesn’t have to be gratuitous sex scenes on display, but the game truly does not make the player feel as if they are romancing another person.
Considering that half of the game is devoted to Amanda and the other dating dad’s, it’s strange that the player’s relationship with other dads is not discussed with Amanda. With the amount of screentime she is given, it initially seemed as if the bonding as a family and adding another person to that family would play a major role. This is not the case. Amanda has no interaction with the player’s chosen dad (outside of initial meetings or group events) and no bearing on the player’s emotions. Including this relationship would have fixed the major issue regarding a lack of focus on the potential dates while maintaining Amanda as an important character.
The lack of focus on the dads is extremely disappointing, but what is there is genuinely charming. All of the dads are extremely likable and diverse in appearance and dialogue. The great writing really does these guys a favor, turning the short scenes into fun little romps. Obviously, there is a lot of room for improvement, but the characters here exhibit instances of great characterization and if the dads were given more attention, the game would be infinitely more interesting.
Diversity on display
Dream Daddy is an excellent addition to the gaming market in terms of positive LGBT representation. Players can customize their dad with an array of skin tones, body types, hair colors, or by creating a bisexual or even trans dad. No matter the choice of the player’s or any of the characters’, sexuality is not discussed; it is just accepted. Similarly, the idea that this game revolves around dads dating other dads without any distasteful jokes is an absolute wonder.
The characters are all vastly diverse without shoving it down the player’s throat. It is nice to have a game positively highlight diversity in such a natural way. Representation is extremely important, especially in the (mostly) homogenous gaming market. The game developers and writers did an excellent job creating a naturally inclusive gaming experience.
Gameplay simple enough for a dad
The biggest issue is the misleading title: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator. The game feels more like a visual novel than a real game due to the constant reading required to play the game and lack of player interaction. For those who want to play a game and feel immersed in a different world, this is not the game for you.
The voice acting is a bit strange. When advertising for the game, there were promises of online celebrity voice acting, in this case The Game Grumps crew voicing various characters. This is technically true, but similar to Yooka Laylee, the voice acting is a series of grunts that accompany text boxes. The voices are cute towards the beginning, but after a while, they start to become a bit grating. This is truer of some characters than others, and while not game breaking, it does become annoying.
There are a few mini-games spread out here and there that break up the tedium of reading; however these games are clunky. An especially irritating mini-game is featured in Joseph’s path, requiring the player to fix a broken radio. For example, one such mini-game shows a bird’s eye view of the inside of the radio, and the player is given multiple objects to “fix” the radio, including sting, a rubber duck, and paper clips. There are no instructions, no indications of what needs to be done; only a few noises that indicate something has happened. In the end, the puzzle can be fixed by simply throwing all of the junk items into the radio. Honestly, it is unclear if this is a glitch, a joke, or clunky programming.
There is some relevance of choice involved. As stated previously, decisions made by the character impact how your dream daddy of choice feels about you. Strangely, the visual cues relaying the success of a dialogue exchange is very vague. Some options results in hearts or a dark cloud. These are relatively self-explanatory; hearts are good, dark aura is bad. What isn’t clear are the eggplants. Some exchanges result in eggplants exuding from the daddy without any indication of what it means. Apparently, eggplants are the best result, their being yet another pop culture reference into the eggplant emoji's not so innocent, deeper meaning.
The illusion of choice is an issue with many dating simulators, and gaming in general (ex. Until Dawn); Dream Daddy is no exception. There are branching paths, but they are extremely limited. For example, the game allows the player to choose if they were married to a man or woman, but despite the choice, the script will later mention a “husband”. This is most likely an error, and really the decision either way does not influence how the dads feel about the player, but it still impacts the player’s initial choice. There are apparent endings that are nearly impossible to obtain due to the game’s unclear nature, or potentially programming errors. This impacts the results that the player is hoping to achieve. For example, achieving Amanda’s bad ending is extremely specific. Despite some clearly unfavorable choices that the player can choose, they all seem to result in a positive ending between Amanda and her father. The same can be said of Joseph’s ending, but there may be more to his storyline that will be uncovered or added to later, hopefully clarifying his route.
What really makes up for a lot of these issues is the hilarious writing. There is a lot of charm to be found in Dream Daddy, especially plenty of dad puns. While many of the scenes are short, plenty of entertainment can be found. For those looking for the usual brand of raucous Game Grumps humor, you may be disappointed. Dream Daddy is rather tame in its humor, relying on wordplay, pop culture references, puns, and humorous interactions between characters. All of this is done in a rather inoffensive manner, which is almost surprising considering the Grumps typical bawdy brand of humor.
Design that lets the dads shine
Dream Daddy looks great: the characters are well designed; the backgrounds are colorful; even the textbox is appealing to look at! The character designs are where the art truly shines. The styles all perfectly match the character’s personality and visually exude their aesthetics. The exception to this is the player’s character who looks like a pixelated disappointment in comparison. This is understandable given that the developers had to make a model simple enough for player customization, however it would be nice if the player at least looked like they belonged in the same game.
The backgrounds are simplistic yet charming. The coloration is what really makes the backgrounds shine. They're not bright enough to distract from the characters in the foreground, but they have a character all their own, perfectly matching the tone of the game.
At the end of the pun-filled day....
Dream Daddy is interesting in that it offers a positive experience, but has little of that experience to offer. It is great to have a diverse, positive addition to the gaming world, but the game itself reeks of developmental issues. Had the development team had more time to flesh out the game, many of these issues would most likely be solved. While far from perfect, there is enough entertainment for at least one playthrough, and hopefully future updates will remedy any glitches and errors that have surfaced.
All images from YouTube and Dream Daddy
(06/29/17 8:00am)
by Nolan Leahy
ARMS is one of those games that merely looks like a goofy version of regular boxing. Numerous times when beginning to play the game, it was easy to think that this could very well be a glorified Wii Sports Boxing on the Nintendo Switch. A $60 price tag is a lot to ask for when deliberating on such a thought, but thankfully there’s far more to it than just smacking your opponent.
Silly strategic boxing
While difficult to see initially, the numerous options and strategies present are a pleasant surprise from ARMS and are a clever addition in reinventing the classic sport of boxing. There are ten fighting characters to choose from, and each has his/her own specific abilities that highlight a specific play style. Play as the Master Mummy to tank punches or as the hip-swaying Twintelle to hover above the ground and slow opposing attacks. While these characters are the foundation of the game, the interchangeable ARMS chosen at the beginning of the round can determine victory or defeat.
Within the game the left and right ARMS, the fighter’s weapons, are selected prior to the beginning of a round. They can be identical or separate weapons when choosing one of three for each arm. This choice is absolutely vital to the game, because these different ARMS determine attack speed, range, charging attack effects, and rush attack abilities. More ARMS can be unlocked for each character through spending in-game currency to complete GET ARMS challenges. With the combination of characters and weapons within the game in addition to the random bombs in every round, it has strategic depth that rivals that of other modern day fighting games.
It’s not just about the competition
Although ARMS proves to be a fantastic competitive fighter, it also has other modes for when the main game gets stale. There’s a Grand Prix mode, which is similar to a fighting ladder. There’s a 2v2 mode, where two players are tethered together to fight another team that’s in the same situation. There’s also V-Ball, which is simply volleyball but ARMS style, where players punch the ball. Skillshot is a target practice type of game where multiple targets are present, and you must hit more than your opponent. Then there is the Super Smash Bros.-influenced mode of 1-on-100, where the player takes on 100 slime monsters that are each taken out in one punch.
Each of these modes adds a good deal of fun and variety to the game, but one mode doesn’t quite hit that mark. The Hoops game mode, where players compete to grab and throw each other through a basketball hoop, just tends to be a repetitive montage of grab attacks.
Although most of these modes are a pleasant addition to the game, it does feel as though there needs to be more activities in the game. ARMS doesn’t need anything like a story mode to provide narrative, as the game functions extremely well without it, but there is still something missing to make it feel like a complete fighting experience that will keep the player consistently coming back. Despite this flaw, Nintendo does deserve a tip of the hat, because more DLC is coming to the game at no cost to the players with plans of adding a Boss and a Spectator Mode as the first batch of DLC.
Immersion vs. ease of play
One part that isn’t mentioned much within the marketing of ARMS is that there are multiple control formats to choose from. Any play style from the Joy Con to the Pro Controller are viable ways to play, but is it better to use motion controls or a typical controller format? It depends on what sort of experience the player desires. For one, motion controls are incredibly fun and makes the experience feel more real and exciting, but the learning curve is higher because aiming the punches with real life arms isn’t as easy as it sounds.
That’s where the button controller layouts come in. It’s definitely easier to play with any form of button layout in calculating your punch’s aim with a joystick than it is with motion controls, and it makes the learning curve much less steep. The motion controls felt a bit alien because your fighter's movement is also judged through the use of these controls unlike Wii Sports Boxing where only motion controls were required to attack.
All images from Nintendo, Game Informer, and Siliconera
(05/04/17 5:17pm)
by Emily Reuben
Disclaimer: This playthrough was performed on an Intel i7-6700 with a GTX 1080 graphics card. This review is based on the PC version of the game.
Outlast’s release in 2013 was met with immense praise; the dark environments, aggressive AI, and reliance on an infrared-equipped handheld camera have set Outlast apart from the hundreds of mediocre horror titles on Steam. Finally, the highly anticipated Outlast 2 has hit the market bringing with it new horrific imagery and themes reminiscent of the previous entry. While drawing influence from the original title, Outlast 2 manages to present plenty of new frights and more infinitely disturbing gameplay to keep players invested. However, Outlast 2 is far from a perfect title and can sometimes feel more like a repetitive drag than a shining example of the horror genre.
A wholly unholy narrative
Blake Langermann, a cameraman, and his wife Lynn, an investigative reporter, are documenting the murder of a young pregnant woman. While searching for where she came from, their helicopter crashes in the middle of a seemingly unpopulated reservation leaving the two injured and separated. After regaining consciousness, Blake finds the crucified body of the helicopter pilot, alluding to the ominous occurrences taking place throughout the game. Taking the role of Blake, players must use a camera to navigate the perilous landscape, find Lynn, and survive in the process.
Survival is easier said than done in Outlast 2. After discovering the town of Temple Gate nearby, Blake quickly becomes aware that he and his missing wife are in danger. The town is run by a cult led by the radical Papa Knoth who convinces his followers that Lynn carries the Anti-Christ inside of her. Blake must overcome the violent towns people to save himself and Lynn before they become victims of the cult’s sacrificial practices.
The plot of Outlast 2 obviously draws inspiration from Outlast. In both iterations, the protagonist is trapped in an environment where everyone wants to kill them. While similar, there are enough differences to keep Outlast 2 fresh and distinct from its predecessor. Where Outlast 2 falls short is its inclusion of sequences that delve into Blake’s psyche and explore his personal demons. These sequences are more intrusive than they are scary and ultimately distract from the main plot.
Outlast 2 features a relatively strong narrative (especially when compared to most horror games) that fans of Outlast and newcomers alike are sure to enjoy for the most part. While the game’s set-up is great, Outlast 2 has difficulty maintaining narrative quality throughout. This becomes incredibly apparent in the ending, which for anyone who plays through the game, is a major disappointment. It seems like instead of creating a solid, satisfying conclusion for the narrative, the folks at Red Barrels decided to create an ending that would be talked about until they release the next DLC pack that will probably explain what actually happened.
Updated graphics and frightening environments
this new entry does a far better job at varying the locations that the player must traverse through.
Outlast 2 looks far better than its predecessor. The environments seem much larger and less confined with the exception of purposefully claustrophobic areas of the game. The villagers seen walking around have far more detail than the inmates in the first Outlast. It’s nice to see varied NPCs inhabiting the town rather than the same NPC model being used throughout the whole game. While there are instances of repeated character models, they usually occur in the form of a group of pursuing mutilated humans lending a more believable feel to the game. The designs of the villagers are both unsettling and varied which helps to create a dreadful experience when they begin to pursue Blake.
The game should be commended for the dark, eerie environments it has established. Outlast also succeeded in this regard, but this new entry does a far better job at varying the locations that the player must traverse through. Environments still tend to become a bit indistinguishable at some points, and while annoying to some extent, this seems to be a purposeful choice to induce stress for the player rather than the result of lazy or clumsy game design..
As stated previously, Outlast 2 feels much larger than Outlast, as is showcased with the inclusion of more hidden areas to obtain batteries and bandages. The map is not necessarily huge, but there is definitely more to explore and discover. Returning from the first game are notes that give players more insight into the world and occurrences around them. These are largely optional, so players can choose whether or not they wish to take a break from running around in the dark to read journal entries. These journals are essential to finding out the backstory of Papa Knoth and the people of Temple Gate, as well as gaining insight into Blake’s tormented past.
Scary in some ways, lacking in others
Outlast 2 does not rely heavily on cheap jump scares or overused genre tropes to convey a chilling narrative. The fear certainly stems from scary imagery and unsettling environment construction, but the truly horrifying aspects of Outlast 2 are a result of the religious commentary and themes present throughout the game. The game does not shy away from controversial ideologies being presented. It clearly showcases some of the possible effects of religious indoctrination in both children and adults, thus calling into question religious morality. Outlast 2 constantly showcases the negative effects of religious brainwashing, yet the game never feels preachy or heavy-handed in its message. Instead the game shows what can happen when a trusted religious figure abuses their power over others. While these religious themes and criticisms are certainly present, there is no blatant stance being made pushing players to change stances or a call to action of any sort. Instead, the game merely showcases possibilities for players to further contemplate if they so choose.
The critical religious portrayals offer some of the most interesting and scary elements of the game. Where Outlast 2 begins to falter is it’s excessive inclusion of psychological elements. At first, the narrative retained focus on the seemingly real situation surrounding Blake and his wife; they are trapped in a town of lunatic cultists who want to kill them. This should be enough to hold audience attention, but alas the game attempts to throw in elements of psychological horror in conjunction with the horrors plaguing Blake and his wife. It is important to note that horror is subjective; what one may find scary may be different than what others find scary. However, in terms of gameplay consistency the psychological segments, while scary enough in their own right, detract from the gravity of the situation by offering constant breaks for the player to escape from their murderous pursuers. These sequences often follow high stress situations and allow players a chance to relax briefly or gather more information regarding Blake’s past. This is the issue though: Blake’s past seems largely unimportant throughout the game and distracts from the story at hand. The reason these scenes taking place in Blake’s mind come off as unimportant is because they are never connected to the main plot of escaping Temple Gate. Had these segments been downplayed and the game stayed more focused on the actual situation at hand rather than Blake’s personal issues or if the two narratives had been connected more substantially, Outlast 2 would have succeeded in presenting a more realistic, gritty narrative.
Gameplay is fun, but aggravating
The high stress chase sequences make a return from Outlast and function in largely the same manner. Players must run, crawl, climb, and hide to avoid capture and continue the game. A notable addition is the use of the camera’s microphone to gauge how close enemies are in relationship to Blake through audio levels. This is a great addition and serves to keep the player from dashing from a hiding place when the enemy is still in the vicinity. Overall, the controls work fabulously, but there are some crucial flaws that keep Outlast 2 from meeting the same quality standard as its predecessor.
While the controls function rather well, navigating the landscape can be a real challenge. As stated above, environments can sometimes become repetitive making it difficult to determine which way to run while being chased down by an enemy. While there is some merit to adding this layer of difficulty to the game, it can quickly become tiring when an enemy repeatedly corners Blake in dead end or before the player can determine where some inconspicuous crawlspace is.
Lighting also adds to the game's difficulty. While this is by no means a massive issue due to the infrared option on Blake’s camera, navigating the darkness quickly becomes a strain on camera batteries and player patience. Another strain on player patience is the multitude of rocks and roots that Blake inexplicably becomes trapped on and unable to jump over. Getting snagged on these bits of level geometry completely breaks all tension, as the usual result is being killed and having to start the chase from the beginning. Similar to the small rocks and roots are the ankle high cactuses that lay in certain pathways. The spiky plant causes damage whenever touched, making certain areas a pain for Blake and the player to navigate in the unrelenting darkness.
All images from: Steam