The Nintendo Switch mobile app, something I maintain is a good idea in theory, is still a ludicrous mess of cords if one should ever want to use it for the far fetched idea of talking to the people you're playing games with. As of today, that hasn't changed and I don't think it will in the near future.
Or ever.
What has changed is one of the more glaring issues with the app. Version 1.1, available for download now, finally lets users utilize the chat feature while their phone is in sleep mode or if they should happen to browse other apps at the same time.
It would give me great pleasure to name Twilight Princess the best Zelda game of the 2000s (you heard me, Skyward Sword fans), but it would be untrue -- that crown belongs to Okami. First released in 2006 as one of the last games to come out on PS2, its gorgeous watercolor-style animation, mystical world and magical paintbrush mechanics made it an instant classic. Two (and a half) console generations later, PS4, Xbox One and PC owners are getting a remastered version on December 12th for $20.
Sci-fi 4X game Endless Space 2 launched its "Target Locked" update today, adding much-anticipated fighters and bombers to the fray. These smaller ships will give you an edge over bigger cruisers, and they'll look good doing it since the update also adds bigger explosions in battles.
Those who played the original Endless Space will see a familiar face. Pirate hero Jennifer Rach returns to lead your squadrons into battle in a new quest. You can catch a glimpse of her toward the end of the video, which gives plenty of info on the new content.
Destiny 2 came out much fanfare September 5th, with a much-improved storyline and a better shared-world experience. One of the fun bits of the meta gameplay is finding improved armor and weapons that can make your Guardian even more of a badass than before. On Twitter, developer Bungie said that it had found a set of gauntlets (armor gloves) that shared "elements with a hate symbol." The development team promised that this was "not intentional," and that it will be "removing it."
It's hard for me to fathom that it's been five years since Ukiyo-e Heroes, a series of game-inspired Japanese woodblock prints, sought funding through Kickstarter. I never backed the project or bought the prints, but I sure admired them. And in the time since, I've latched onto woodblock printmaker David Bull's calming, insightful YouTube videos. Straight up, it's one of my favorite channels around.
(Here's a great video from 2013 showing the making of the Metroid-inspired "Infestation.")
This year, David Bull and illustrator Jed Henry are collaborating on another round of Ukiyo-e Heroes prints, with designs drawing from the likes of Breath of the Wild, Final Fantasy VII, and Overwatch.
If there's a pantheon of gaming, surely Tetris is the god of puzzle games. The satisfying feeling when you manage to clear a row needs no translation, and the Russian export has been played on every continent of the earth. The simple concept and ease of play make it a perfect game even for people who don't consider themselves gamers, and that's why Think On Labs decided translating the concept for Virtual Reality would be a great fit with Ship It.
[Who Let the Blogs Out is our way of saying, "Shit, missed this one when it was first posted. Here, read it a few months later!" So, with that, let Seapunk Historian regale you with his tale of MediEvil, a game that means more to him than just what's on the screen. Is there a blazin' hot blog that we missed the first time around? Suggest it to us at community@destructoid.com and we'll take a look at it! In the meantime, we'll try to lay off the booze. - Wes]
Everyone has that one game that holds a very special place in their heart. These games might be popular or obscure, new or old, but whatever they may be, everyone has one. For me, that game is MediEvil, a PS1 action-adventure title from 1998 that takes a lot of aesthetic and gameplay cues from Ghosts ’n Goblins. Maybe you’re familiar with it - the game sold well enough to eventually be re-released under Sony’s Platinum Hits banner - but most people I talk to have never heard of Sir Daniel Fortesque or the dark fantasy world of Gallowmere. With that in mind, I decided I ought to put my thoughts to paper and give a proper explanation of not only the game itself, but what it means to me.
Action-packed trailers for survival horror games are always kind of an oddball necessity. Effective survival horror is tense and plodding, a long buildup of dread before the dreadful stuff actually happens. However, trailers best serve the game by getting as many intense moments into a short video as possible. They're kind of at odds with one another.
That being said, this new trailer for The Evil Within 2 seems to split the difference rather nicely. Lots of action while also showing off a bunch of the gruesome and deranged monsters. Special nods to the alternate hell version of Pyro from Team Fortress 2 and to the guy with baby arms coming out of his face.
The big hope here is that The Evil Within 2 has a story that does these horrors justice. Jordan played a slice of the game a few weeks ago but couldn't get a proper feel for the bigger picture. It looks to have the right pieces, it just needs to put the puzzle together.
Whilst it may be true that PUBG (as the cool kids call it) has over a million concurrent players, the online shooter's latest update may make it a lot harder to see them charging you homicidally from yonder.
The game's September patch is now live on the test servers, and brings with it a few new features. First is the aforementioned foggy weather, allowing you and your buddies to instigate some true guerillas-in-the-mist stealth attacks. Secondly, a new town, Kameshki, has appeared just East of Stalber (which itself has received some new buildings)
In other additions, the Thompson machine gun has been removed from care packages, and is now a spawn weapon. In other firepower news the Mini-14, a new 5.56 rifle, is also ready to test out on the opposition's soft heads.
I wasn't sure what to expect when I showed up to try out Necrobarista at PAX last weekend. A game where you kill zombies, then use their ichor to craft novelty beverages? Or maybe something where you have to mix drinks while trying to keep your own rotting flesh from fouling them up? It turned out to be a noir themed visual novel with a heavy focus on story and a western anime aesthetic. Nothing like what I was expecting, but interesting in its own right.
The game leans heavily on style, but there's plenty to lean on. The camera shifts perspectives frequently, making the gameplay feel more kinetic than an average visual novel. There are shifts between characters as well, and the player has an impartial point of view, allowing them to focus on the parts of the story they find most interesting. Certain words are highlighted, and when you click on them they'll pop up with additional dialogue or another story beat. When I spoke with Justin Kuiper, a writer on the game, he told me Necrobarista is inspired by point-and-click adventure games but leaves out the puzzles and pixel hunts, focusing more on exploration and seeing the story through.
Kuiper told me an average playthrough will take about four hours, though it may take more or less time depending on how thorough the player is, and how long it takes them to read through the dialogue. Necrobarista is being developed by Route 59 games and is targeting an early 2018 release on PC, Mac, and the Switch.
Well, this is it for Infinite Warfare before Call of Duty: WWII arrives in November.
It had a decent run. The far future conceit didn't really play out as well as I'd hoped, Jon Snow ended up being an alright villain, and the DLC packs have been fun, zombies-wise, but lacking in many areas when it comes to multiplayer.
2015's critically acclaimed platform-adventure Axiom Verge will now be available to purchase for Nintendo Switch on October 5.
The Metroidvania, which tells the tale of a scientist lost in a bizarre world after a laboratory accident, pleased critics and fans alike with its nostalgic visuals, array of weaponry, exploratory elements and ethereal soundtrack. The game also features an ingenious use of graphical glitches to provide the character with access to hidden areas, and to gain an upper hand in battle.
Having already seen release on most major formats over the last two years, it is a title seemingly custom-designed for Nintendo's semi-portable console. This new date pulls the game forward a couple of weeks from its original release, planned for October 17.
Axiom Verge will now be available on eShop on October 5, priced at $20. A physical release; Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition will be available in November, and can be pre-ordered here.
It was just a matter of time before Electronic Arts set the Star Wars Battlefront season pass free. Once the sequel is out in mid-November, most people will move on, and it's hard to imagine anyone's paying for the pass this late into the game's life cycle. Today's the day to jump on it (or jump back in).
The Battlefront season pass is currently free on Origin, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One (with an Xbox Live Gold account). If you're a PS4 player, you might need to add it to your cart for it to show up as free -- and you will need a PlayStation Plus subscription to take part in the online multiplayer.
As for the pass itself, you're looking at maps, modes, characters, and equipment. The expansions mostly blur together in my mind now, but there's Outer Rim, Bespin, Death Star, and Rogue One: Scarif.
Are people still playing Battlefront? Yes, actually!
We have to go across the sea to find the theme for the newest Humble Bundle. Some of the biggest names in Japanese games are the focus of this week's sale. Specifically, it's Capcom, Sega, and Atlus that are highlighted.
The lowest tier is made up of Rollers of the Realm, Xeno Clash 2, Sonic Adventures 2, Bionic Commando, and Citizens of Earth. That's for anyone who contributes at least the minimum amount of $1 to this bundle.
The middle tier is for those who pay more than the average contribution ($6.13 at time of writing). Those games are: Renegade Ops Collection, Sonic Generations Collection, Resident Evil 4, Dead Rising, and Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure. This level also comes with a handful of bonus unlocks, the most interesting of which is probably 50 percent off a game from one of these publishers that was released before July of this year; it's worth noting that Bayonetta, Vanquish, and Sonic Mania are excluded.
The top level is for the high rollers who pay $12 or more. Those folks get Motorsport Manager and Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition.
It's worth noting that every game here is delivered as a Steam key. Also, for those who aren't familiar with Humble, paying for a more expensive tier nets you the games in all the less expensive levels too. This Humble Bundle runs through September 26, so there's plenty of time to get in on these deals. The only thing you risk is that the average tier is probably only going to go up in price.
We've seen the fancy 3D renders, now here it is in real life, the Mini Electric Concept. Shown off on the first day of the Frankfurt Auto Show, the small EV is expected to hit production in 2019.
Epic is prepping a Battle Royale mode for its action-building game Fortnite, and there's a whole lot more where that came from so long as people are hungry for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and its ilk.
The mode puts 100 players onto one map, complete with an air-drop entrance and a shrinking safe zone that funnels folks together. It's playable now in testing ahead of a September 26 launch.
The developers have also shared an FAQ. Two big points to highlight: Battle Royale won't delay Fortnite's free-to-play release in 2018, and "Squads is a very, very high priority. We're also looking to make the feel of combat better by focusing on controls, weapons and movement. We're also working on the inventory management. The Public Test is going to allow us to see how our matchmaking system works with a lot of people and what performance issues we'll need to fix as well."
I'm not opposed to this idea at all, and in fact, I'd love to see more games put their spin on the battle royale format. It'll get out of hand eventually, but for now, there's a lot of untapped potential. For instance, traps? I wish PUBG let you set up traps and hunker down (only to be shot in the back of the head by someone who was there the whole time, lurking just out of view).
As for Fortnite fans who like the core game and aren't feeling this new mode, fair enough. For its part, Epic notes that "The Unreal Tournament team helped make Battle Royale happen. The core Fortnite team has been focused on the PvE experience."
thatgamecompany, famous for their cult titles Flow, Flower and Journey, have revealed a trailer for their brand new game, coming to Apple iOS devices.
Very little can be ascertained from Sky's sub-one minute teaser, but it looks as if we will be taken, once again, on a pretty, minimalist adventure into another world. The game will, like Journey before it, be a mixture of traveling and social interaction. Up to eight players will cross the skies together, collecting light from around the world.
Sky will launch on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, no other platforms are currently confirmed.
At Apple's iPhone 8 announcement event today, founder of Thatgamecompany Jenova Chen went onstage to introduce a new title coming exclusively to Apple TV: Sky. Calling it a "romantic social adventure game," players will use the set top box's remote to control a character careening peacefully through the air.
It's the end of the line for Xbox Live Indie Games. Ok, 80% of its entire catalog is seemingly Tower Defense or Zombie Survival games, but there were also some interesting, experimental and straight-up great titles on there.
On September 29, Xbox is shutting the service down. All of those games, from Cthulu Saves the World, to Try Not to Fart, will be gone for good. Until that date you can go and purchase any that have caught your eye and, of course, all games previously bought from the channel can be re-downloaded in the future.
So whether you wanna test your reflexes in the genuinely cool Hurdle Turtle, blow away matchstick men in the Head Shot trilogy, or just wanna snatch up a handful of dreadful prank games featuring Getty Images assets, then the time to cross off that wishlist is now.
All the rumors have come true; Okami HD is officially happening and it's coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 4K. All versions will be available both digitally and physically in North America and Europe on December 12, 2017 for $19.99 / £15.99 / €19.99.
Loading screen mini-games that were removed from the PS3 and Wii versions of Okami make their return.
Have you ever played StarCraft on the N64? Of course you haven't what a silly question. I have, and it is awful. That being said, the idea of playing a local multiplayer version of an amazing real-time strategy (RTS) game was too good of an idea to pass up. The biggest issue was trying to play such a demanding game on the controller. The fidelity simply wasn't there.
Tooth and Tail takes this issue head on with outstanding success. It redesigns the traditional RTS format and ends up with a strategy game that feels right at home using a controller.
Oculus Rift's next big exclusive -- Arktika.1 -- from the team behind the Metro shooters will be released October 10th. That's right, over a full year after its debut at Oculus Connect 3, folks at home will finally be able to give the motion-controlled shooter from 4A Games a spin. Pre-orders are up and at least for now, the game is marked down 10 percent off its standard $29.99 price tag. And here you thought that all of today's news was going to be about $1,000 iPhones.
It has been reported that Injustice 2 may be coming to the PC platform, after shaky-looking store pages for the DC Comics fighting game appeared on retail sites Amazon.fr and Game Mania.
The NetherRealm-developed, Warner Bros-published title launched on PS4 and Xbox One in May of this year to a positive reception. It would seemingly make sense for the fighter to make its way onto the PC platform, which has also seen Tekken 7 and Guilty Gear REV 2 build upon its fledgling reputation as a solid format for fighting games.
The problem here lies with the developers and publishers themselves. NetherRealm and WB have treated their PC audience with ignorance and contempt in recent years. The original Injustice PC port was a horribly optimised affair. Matters got worse with the insulting way the Mortal Kombat X community was treated, handed a broken port on release, which was then completely abandoned of balance patches and content mere months later (only to be eventually brought up to speed with its console brethren, but long after the community had given up on the game.)
The way these two companies treated their PC customers with those titles was, frankly, shameful. Should these rumours prove true, and Injustice 2 eventually swoops down onto PC, it will be interesting to see how many times the community are willing to forget any injustice cast upon themselves.
It’s been 18 years since the original PC release of the critically acclaimed Outcast, but Cutter Slade is finally making his way to current-gen consoles this October. After both a failed Kickstarter and an initial delay, the remake of this 1999 cult classic is actually going to see the light of day. This is not a drill, people! I think it's safe to start getting excited!
Considering the fact that I was only 11 when the game initially launched, it’s hardly surprising that I didn’t even learn about its existence until a few years ago. Since then, I’ve been meaning to check it out, and this seems about as good of a time as any to see what all the fuss is about. Despite the janky character animations during dialogue segments, there really does appear to be something rather charming about its world and lore. It doesn’t hurt that the locations look gorgeous even by today’s standards, and the music is fucking phenomenal.
HAMSTER continue to pump out classic SNK titles, for current-gen consoles, under their colourful Arcade Classics Archive (ACA) banner. Today sees the return of the somewhat overlooked Samurai Shodown V Special, as a cross-buy title, on the PS4 and PS Vita.
The final release on the Neo-Geo platform, Samurai Shodown V Special dropped in arcades and on the AES system in 2004. However its home version was criticised for censoring the games brutal fatality system, wherein clean final hits could potentially split an opponent in two. This new digital release restores the game to its Shogun Assassin-esque gory glory.
Samurai Shodown V also features technical mechanics such as parries, multiple jump options and even the ability to "Suicide", forfeiting the current round but retaining your special meter for the next one. This ACA release features online multiplayer, and a handful of basic extras, such as a gallery, multiple music choices and the all-important trophies.
Samurai Shodown V Special is available today on PS4 and PS Vita.
Here is the full statement from Lucasfilm regarding Abrams' return:
J.J. Abrams, who launched a new era of Star Wars with The Force Awakens in 2015, is returning to complete the sequel trilogy as writer and director of Star Wars: Episode IX. Abrams will co-write the film with Chris Terrio. Star Wars: Episode IX will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan, Abrams, Bad Robot, and Lucasfilm.
“With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy,” said Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy.
While the editors here at Flixist had our own ideas about who should have helmed Episode IX, this seems... well... like a safety school choice. Let us know what you think about Abrams back at the wheel in the comments.
