We haven't had much to say about Hob in recent months, but Runic's action-adventure game left a good impression back in 2015. Now, nearly two years later, it's really coming together.
I like how fluid the character movement is between the roll and the warp ability. This video is just a hint at the shape-shifting world and puzzle-solving. Assuming Runic has that all figured out, this'll be a cool one. Either way, I'm glad they pursued a game like this instead of jumping into another Torchlight.
The disjointed rollout of Nintendo Switch online features continues, as the company has released its mobile apps for iOS and Android ahead of the Splatoon 2 launch on Friday. That's going to be the first game to make use of the Switch Online app, which is needed for voice chat and to send game invites over social media. Yes, that's right, to speak to other gamers you'll need your phone plugged into headphones. The apps themselves aren't actually functional yet, but we assume that will change by Friday.
Titanfall 2 has kept the fires burning for its dedicated community by valiantly releasing small bumps of free content almost every month this year. While gratis DLC is always great, fans clamored for vertically-inclined maps like the original game had -- so the sequel's team revamped some to include in content packs. The latest DLC, available July 25th, will include another throwback from Titanfall 1: The long-rumored return of the popular co-op player-vs-AI Frontier Defense mode.
Way back in 2011, we at Destructoid reported on an interview with Chris Hoffman about Mega Man Legends 3. For those of you unaware, Hoffman is one of, if not the only, journalist outside of Japan to have played the Prototype version of the game. In celebration of their sixth anniversary, which is also the anniversary of the cancellation of Legends 3, the folks at the Get Me Off the Moon Facebook page managed to snag another interview with the man himself. Not only did they probe about the Prototype version, but they also asked for his thoughts on the future of the franchise.
You may want to grab some snacks, as this is a meaty interview.
After nearly a 20-year hiatus (we don't talk about that XBLA version) Fire Pro is back, in the form of Fire Pro Wrestling World. The game is in Early Access right now, but still has more options and customization than anything on the market. It truly is already a wrestling-sim fan's dream come true, with much more to come on the horizon.
Tonight at 6:00pm PST on Dtoid.TV, we'll be jumping into the game and going through some of the creation tools, downloading some wrestlers (I think there's about eight billion in the Workshop now), and siming some amazingly intricate and entertaining matches. All of this will go down while being joined by wrestling aficionado, creation guru, and good friend Johnny Luchador. Be sure to come by the channel and experience all of the madness with the community!
Sega said it would share more full tracks from Sonic Mania soon, and here we are with the theme of the Hard-Boiled Heavies. I'm not sure this one tops Studiopolis for me, but I like its upbeat energy.
No joke, these songs are getting me pumped for Sonic Mania more than anything else right now (and I say that as someone who's played a bit of the game and digs it). Dang good stuff, Tee Lopes.
[Honestly I hate everyone else's opinions on anime here. With Blondbass' help, I can have better conversations without having to actually watch Gundam! ~Strider]
I know what you’re thinking. You've made the mistakes of making a few friends who are way too much into Japanese animation, or you've joined a community that’s just way too much into Japanese animated dreck. You want a way to not feel left during conversations, without having to watch any of it. Well, today’s your lucky day, pal. I've cooked up a guide in multiple tier levels that will allow you to participate in any anime conversation!
BioWare Canada is going through some major personnel changes in the immediate future. The role of general manager is getting a shakeup as the studio's de facto head is leaving and a familiar face is returning.
In two separate posts on BioWare's blog today, it was announced that current GM Aaryn Flynn is leaving and that former BioWare executive producer Casey Hudson is coming back to take over. Flynn has spent 17 years at the Edmonton studio, which is essentially the entirety of his professional career. Although Flynn reflects on the past, he doesn't mention any plans for the future.
As for Hudson, he's returning to BioWare Canada after leaving nearly three years ago. Hudson is best known for his influence on the Mass Effect series. In recent years, he joined Microsoft Studios as a creative director before rejoining BioWare.
Flynn isn't out immediately, though. Flynn mentions that he'll stick around for a few weeks to get Hudson up to speed and to "set him up for success to be the best GM he can be." The first major project on Hudson's plate is almost certainly Anthem. Hudson already left his mark on this studio once; now he's going to try to do it again from a leadership position.
[I never owned a current-gen console as a kid, and I really didn’t mind that much either. CowBearSnail takes me back to a time, before the internet, when others’ opinions didn’t have as much sway over the way I played video games. Sometimes, it’s nice to find your own fun… - DeadMoon]
Originally, this article was intended as a top ten list of the most influential games of my childhood, but, in the process of whittling years of personal gaming history into that all-important top ten, I was taken down a much longer road of reminiscence and reflection. I’ve been on Destructoid for quite some time now, though have only just begun publishing pieces here and there. My favourite conversation to have with other gamers is around their history of playing video games and what games mean to them. Incidentally, I’ve found this is also the best way to get to know another gamer. So, in way of a formal introduction, my name is Ryan, and this is a little slice of my life playing video games.
When What Remains of Edith Finch launches on Xbox One tomorrow, it'll largely be the exact same version that released on PC and PS4 earlier this year. The Finch story isn't a malleable one that lends itself to additional content for additional platforms.
There is one difference though: The Xbox One version has an extra Achievement. On PC and PS4, there were 9 Trophies/Achievements; on Xbox One, there are 10. Here's how to get it.
Like the rest of Edith Finch's Achievements, this new one isn't tough to pick up. It's called "Wildlife Photographer" and it's for taking a picture of the rabbit outside of Odin Finch National Park. Just load up Sam Finch's story and snap one extra photo to nab a cool 100 Gamerscore. If you need more specific directions, that's what the video up top is for.
Did you like Go! Go! Nippon!? Want more? Well DEVGRU-P has your back, taking the format from OVERDRIVE's hit visual novel and putting that in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (also known as North Korea). Just from the game's title, you know exactly what you are getting: a copycat.
I went to type "parody" in the previous sentence, but deleted it. Stay! Stay! Democratic People's Republic of Korea! follows the same gameplay and plot structures from Go! Go! Nippon! not to make any jokes regarding it, but a legitimate attempt to make their own game. And a proper, finished game it is despite a small budget which it breaks the fourth wall to mention multiple times.
Life is Strange means a lot of things to a lot of people. Its narrative resonated with many players with its themes of hurt, identity, friendship and loss. Next month, players will have the opportunity to return to Arcadia Bay for its dramatic prequel: Before the Storm.
Square Enix have released a trailer focusing on the characterisation of its protagonists; Chloe Amber and Rachel Price. The video features lead writer Zak Garris, writing consultant and former cast member Ashly Burch, and the new voice of Chloe, Rhianna Devries.
The crew members provide some insight into the mindset of the two characters, with Devries touching upon the mental preparation required to take on the emotional role. Also discussed is the complexity of Rachel's character, and how the player's influence will determine the part that she plays within Chloe's life.
"People are inherently complex," says Garris. "Rachel is not a hero to Chloe, she might not be a hero at all to Chloe. The player's decisions will play a big role in determining exactly what their relationship is like."
Life is Strange: Before the Storm releases its first episode for PS4, Xbox One and PC on August 31.
In bad movie news, Tommy Wiseau's cult classic, and honorific title holder for world's worst movie ever, The Room is getting the Hollywood treatment with a movie about the movie and its odd writer-director-star. And now, it's got a trailer.
It's quite a statement that a real actor, a qualified actor at that, James Franco, cannot pretend to be bad enough, or odd enough to even come close to as bad as the real thing. That statement bears repeating: Tommy Wiseau's original performance from The Room was so defining and amazingly terrible that a good actor cannot act it bad enough to seem to be as bad or real as the original. If you follow that verbal maze, you might just be astounded watching this trailer.
Doomfist is the most anticipated new character to hit Overwatch since the game landed one year ago, and players finally know when they can get their hands on him: July 27th. Doomfist is the fourth addition to the roster, but he's been in the game's lore from day one. His golden glove was featured in the first trailer for Overwatch, teasing an extremely powerful, punching villain -- and that's exactly what players will get later this month.
Undertale was announced for both the PlayStation 4 and Vita (seriously) back at E3 and fans have been patiently awaiting more news.
Well, now we know you'll be playing Undertale on Sony's consoles pretty soon. August 15, to be exact. You can pre-order on PSN now and receive a free dynamic PlayStation 4 theme, featuring a new song from creator Toby Fox.
Respawn has done a commendable job supporting Titanfall 2 with free content updates. I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll feel obligated to say it again. But for folks who aren't at least partially invested in the PvP, it can be tough to break away from your current game of choice in favor of picking this one back up just to play a new map. Today's a different story, though: the next update will bring more maps as usual, but it's also rolling out a four-player co-op horde mode. It'll be live on Tuesday, July 25.
In Frontier Defense, teams will fend off five separate waves of enemies, with the ability to earn and spend cash on things like batteries and sentries in between encounters. There will be multiple difficulties to bash your head against, of course, and there's also a wider progression incentive with Aegis Ranks, a system through which you can upgrade your Titan by completing matches.
Five maps -- Homestead, Forwardbase Kodai, War Games, Rise, and Blackwater Canal -- will be playable at launch, with more to come. As for PvP, there are two more maps coming up for Titanfall 2: the aforementioned Rise, a desert reservoir, and the Live Fire map Township, a snug residential area.
Even if it is familiar, Frontier Defense should serve as a nice respite from intense PvP matches (and as a bonus for folks who bought the game solely for its campaign). If you're still sleeping on Titanfall 2, there will be another free trial on PC and consoles from July 28 - 30 with multiplayer access.
While it has been known for a little while that Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen was coming to current-gen consoles, we now have a better guess as to when that will happen. According to Famitsu magazine, the game will be hitting Japanese consoles and PC on August 5 with a Western release happening sometime in the fall.
It will be interesting to see if the Japanese PC port has any enhancements over the one currently available on Steam. I'm guessing it won't and that this is just a localization, but it would be a shame for each region to have separate servers.
The Wii U was far from the most popular console of its generation -- but fans who took a chance on Nintendo's first HD machine were rewarded with a tightly curated library of modern-day classics. Exclusives like Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3 and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze showed that the value of the Wii U wasn't in its hardware but in Nintendo's creative library of games. Among them was Splatoon, the company's first online competitive shooter. The game's quirky squirt gun multiplayer battles were a genuine, delightful surprise -- and its Nintendo Switch sequel takes everything that was great about the original and makes it just a little bit better.
Following this weekend’s announcement that the next iteration of the popular British sci-fi series Doctor Whowould feature a female actor in the lead role, the BBC set off a new firestorm today after it was announced the next Doctor Who video game would actually be a well made, entertaining product. The untitled game, set to launch next year, will be made by a developer that’s actually good at the job, featuring artwork people actually want to look at and gameplay that’s actually engaging. Fans say that goes against everything Doctor Who video games stand for.
“This is an outrage,” said longtime Whovian Leonard Smelt. “I’ve been playing Doctor Who games for ages and they’ve all been terrible. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. You can’t just go against tradition by making a Doctor Who game people will actually like. It doesn't make sense.”
Many expressed their anger on Twitter, swearing they’ll never get behind a Doctor Who game that critics don't call the worst thing they've ever played. Some say the move is too much of a gamble while others argue even the idea of making a slightly above average Doctor Who game is enough to drive them away from the entire franchise forever.
“It’s just another case of content creators buckling to the pressure of SJWs who only want to play enjoyable video games,” tweeted user Tennantious D. “Where does the madness end, huh? Today, it's a playable Doctor Who game. Then what, a Star Trek game that doesn’t suck?”
This is one of those Humble Bundles that's going to be an absolute steal for a certain type of person but, for the rest of us, there will be too much overlap to justify a purchase. Maybe you have a friend who's never messed with Telltale games before. Maybe you should give them a holler. I'm just sayin'!
Pay $1 or more:
Sam & Max: Season 1
Sam & Max: Season 2
Puzzle Agent 1
Puzzle Agent 2
Bone - Episode 1 & Episode 2
Hector: Badge of Carnage
Telltale Texas Hold'em
Poker Night at the Inventory
The Walking Dead: Season 1
Pay more than the average:
The Walking Dead: Michonne
Tales from the Borderlands
The Walking Dead: Season 2
Game of Thrones
More to come
Pay $15 or more:
Batman - The Telltale Series
Minecraft: Story Mode
Minecraft: Story Mode - Adventure Pass
I can safely recommend the middle tier on this one. For a lot of folks who keep up with Telltale's goings-on, Borderlands is a high point for the studio. You don't need to care about the source material to get down with that game. I can't stress that enough. And if you've somehow avoided the first season of Telltale's Walking Dead all this time, you should consider getting that for a dollar.
Here's hoping The Wolf Among Us makes it into that beat-the-average tier next week.
There's a lot to be excited about regarding Kingdom Hearts 3 following the exciting Toy Story world announcement and trailer. But through various interviews, Nomura has put a wee bit of a damper on the hype.
First it was admitting they will announce all worlds before the game release, leaving nothing to be surprised or excited about when finally playing the game. Then it was stating they are putting DLC systems in place just in case they want them, as if they won't take advantage of the Olympus Coliseum cups or the self-contained nature of the series' Disney worlds to mak more bank. Now, through an interview with Famitsu, he states that there will be fewer Disney worlds than there were in Kingdom Hearts II.
Following his current jaunt in the PTR, Doomfist will be available for all Overwatch players on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One when he joins the live game next Thursday, July 27. I am ready.
Doomfist is a melee-centric offense character who can do a ton of concentrated damage by streaming together punches with his hand cannon. There's an ideal flow to his moveset and it takes some practice to manage his cooldowns effectively, but once you've got that done, he's a terror.
Even if you aren't into Doomfist's playstyle, he should help shake up the meta. I'm hoping, anyway!
Turner Broadcasting announced today that TBS will air a four part documentary about players preparing for and competing in this year's The International Dota 2 Championships. The series is produced by Turner's eSports branch ELEAGUE, which started airing competitions on TBS last year.
Just last month we reported on the dire situation of picking up a Nintendo Switch in Japan, and it hasn't gotten any better. If anything, the lines have gotten longer and the raffles have gotten more fierce.
According to multiple sources over in Japan, Switch lines are now referred to as "地獄," which roughly translates to "hell." While stores struggle to meet demand with 200-300 units (a number that would be a boon in the west), several thousand people are lining up for a chance to get one, leaving said stores to implement a raffle system.
Note that these lines are for the raffle, not a guaranteed system. The impending release of Switch and the fever that initially swept over Japan for the first isn't helping matters. So yeah, even the Switch's home country is having stock issues.
The Game Boy Zelda games don't get enough love. Sure you hear Link's Awakening mentioned fairly often, but the Oracle games and Minish Cap, not so much.
That might change if Nintendo prominently featured them on the Switch at some point (like they have on 3DS and Wii U collectively), but for now, we can look at what could have been. A fan has created a mockup of Breath of the Wild on the Game Boy Color, complete with a signature Bokoblin den that looks right out of the Wii U/Switch version.
These mockups warm my heart, especially for Nintendo projects, as the marriage of old and new is part of what makes the publisher so special. While folks often accuse Nintendo of just re-using ideas, the way they re-use them is often magical. That, and this also probably won't warrant a cease and desist.
I hated Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat X and dreaded his arrival in Injustice 2. His combination of clones and unrelenting pressure made him a nightmare to deal with in MKX. He was a sadist, a bully who would trap you in the corner and keep you there, defending against a ridiculous blitz of high and low attacks until you, inevitably, got opened up. One look at his reveal trailer for Injustice 2 and I could already feel my blood boiling.
Turns out I didn’t need to worry. Sub-Zero in Injustice isn’t quite the nerd-lockering bully that once terrorized Ranked matches in MKX. But that’s not to say he’s weak either. He’s a smarter, more nuanced version of Sub-Zero than we’ve become accustomed to. He’s also a lot more fun, both to play as and against.
Today at 1PM Eastern the Destiny 2 beta was unleashed upon the world, which will be running through July 19 via early access on PS4. Tomorrow at the same time the floodgates will open for the Xbox One, followed by an open beta for both consoles on July 21.
So what do you get? The opening mission "Homecoming," a multiplayer test on the Endless Vale map, the Inverted Spire Strike (Vex) for up to three players, and the social space (which opens on July 23).
Here's a quick look at that mission as well as some cinematics. All told the first mission is incredibly packed, but it remains to be seen if the rest of the campaign can keep up that pacing. We'll be giving you a bigger rundown as the beta goes on.
If the most accurate description of Rocket League is "cars playing soccer"(football, fútbol, footie for our international audiences), then it's fitting that the game get a tournament that mimics soccer's most popular tournament. Later this month, Rocket League is getting its first ever World Cup and it's going to be nuts.
Beginning July 27, 16 teams will compete in three-on-three action, each squad representing their home country. The Rocket League World Cup is formatted the same as FIFA's World Cup -- a pool stage in groups of four, and then the winners of those go onto the knockout stage. There's a prize pool of $5,000 for the top three teams, which is relatively small for most of these players; this competition is more about national pride.
It's also worth noting that this tournament isn't an official Psyonix-endorsed Rocket League event. Instead, it's organized and hosted by League of Rockets which is run by well-known names within the game's community. All the games will be streamed live on the League of Rockets Twitch channel.
But it doesn't matter much that this isn't officially sanctioned by Psyonix because League of Rockets went out and got most of the best players in the world to compete. That's where the World Cup gets really interesting: When you look at the rosters. Nearly half the countries have a veritable dream team playing for them, but none of them fully stocked with teammates that they regularly play with (by my calculation, anyway).
Here are all the countries and players playing in the Rocket League World Cup 2017:
