Odds are you're against loot boxes. The argument that they're "cosmetic" isn't enough to outright ruin a lot of games for me, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with the practice.
The idea of locking so many skins and cool-looking content behind paywalls is absurd, and Bungie has taken it a step further with their winter "Dawning" event in Destiny 2.
Leave it to a delay to put a game I was looking forward to -- but had forgotten about -- back on my radar. That's exactly the case with Dragon: Marked for Death, a four-player cooperative action-RPG from Inti Creates coming to Nintendo Switch. It exists! And it still looks cool! But it's not ready yet.
We wanted to give everyone an update on the release timeframe for Dragon Marked for Death. The team is working day and night to make this game the absolute best it it can be, and thus, the game will now release sometime in 2018.
— DragonMFD Official (@DragonMFD) December 20, 2017
Thank you very much for your patience. http://pic.twitter.com/2TufBYE8uN
It's been a heck of a year for Inti on Switch so I don't mind that this will be saved for 2018.
As a refresher, Marked for Death has you venturing out as a Dragonkin (this is a slip-up waiting to happen) with up to three others locally or online. "The Princess is a well-balanced DPS character, the Warrior is a Tank class character that protects the party with his high defense, the Shinobi is DPS that places emphasis on movement on tricky attacks, and the Witch can both heal her allies and damage her enemies." A bunch of folks responsible for Mega Man Zero are working on it, so there's that too.
DragonMFD [Twitter]
Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone has been teasing a new content update for a while now, but I haven't really been able to gauge how much (or how little) to expect. Which is fine! I'm just happy the support is ongoing, including an upcoming PS Vita version. That said, he did talk specifics today.
some things I've added for the new content update:
— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) December 20, 2017
*new "town event" in winter
*new type of collection that you can start in your first winter
*Signs (can display any item on them)
*More outdoor decorations (some change w/ season)
*More NPC "events"
*A way to re-spec professions
So, on top of multiplayer (which is now aiming for a beta release on PC in Q1 2018), we can look forward to more interactions with the townsfolk, more collecting, and a way to salvage our less-than-ideal profession choices now that we've learned what's what in Pelican Town. I'm stoked for this one.
These additions "will come to consoles," but they'll appear on PC and Mac first.
ConcernedApe [Twitter]
Embers of Mirrim is all about a griffin-like creature that can split into two halves, light and dark. It's a fitting metaphor for the gameplay found within: though it has one central mechanic, it explores that idea in a lot of different ways to varying degrees of success. There are some clever sections, but for every bright spot there is something tedious or frustrating to deal with.
It's commendable that it tries to keep the experience fresh by doing so many different things, but it could have been cleaner and sharper with a more focused design.
I don't expect to write about every sales milestone Cuphead clears, but I can't seem to resist. Knowing that the wonderfully-animated run-and-gun game sold a million copies made me happy back in October. Learning today that it has now passed two million sales makes me, well, very happy.
Double Platinum! Thank you to the best fans in the world! https://t.co/ExnYtH7fZX http://pic.twitter.com/q0tdJz1wzZ
— Studio MDHR (@StudioMDHR) December 20, 2017
Writing about this latest accomplishment, Studio MDHR's Chad Moldenhauer noted that "Even in our wildest dreams, we never thought our crazy little characters would be embraced by this many fans from around the world and we are continuously humbled by your support."
The success is well-deserved.
Cuphead Goes Double Platinum! [Studio MDHR]
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Fallout 4 VR. I can’t say that I’m the biggest fan of Fallout 4, but man, the idea of playing the entire game in VR sounded too good to be true. Now that I’ve spent some time in the wasteland, it’s safe to say that Bethesda has delivered on what they promised -- but I feel as if this is more of a weird middle ground for VR.
The latest update for Pokémon Go doesn't add new monsters. Instead, it takes advantage of iOS 11's advanced augmented reality tech to give you a better look at them. "The new AR+ feature builds on the core AR gameplay in Pokémon Go and leverages Apple's ARKit framework to enhance the visuals and dynamics of catching Pokémon in the real world," a blog post says. Meaning, Pikachu and pals will now be the proper size based on where you find them. Getting closer or backing up will cause them to change in size and perspective from here on out assuming you have an iPhone 6s or newer.
Source: Niantic
There is a house down the street from me that looks like the seasonal section at K-Mart ejaculated over its front yard. There is Santa, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, Frosty, some gingerbread men, birds, presents, a Shrek for some goddamn reason; all lit up like a tacky-ass looking Rockefeller Center. This house is the only part of my life that even remotely feels like Christmas right now.
My landlord, a man I imagine would let his home fall into Grey Gardens if he didn’t insist on having tenants, has no Christmas decorations in the house. Not in the yard, not hanging from the gutter and not even in boxes in storage. It’s like I’m living in a Jehovah’s Witness’s house. Something I considered might be true writing this sentence until I remember there is still a piece of his birthday cake in the fridge from five months ago.
It’s only going to actually feel like Christmas for me when I make the five-hour drive to see my parents. Growing up our house was basically the North Pole this time of year. Instead of spending our Black Friday’s macing white women so we could get the last $39.99 VCR, we were out in the yard hammering plastic yard ornaments into the cold Pacific Northwest ground. We had like fifty of these things and had to position them just right so the people driving by to look at our decorations could see them all. Can’t have the nondescript snow person blocking the baby Jesus, now can we?
Today it’s much different. Both my parents are in their fifties and mostly just decorate the inside of the house with a few festive wreathes hung outside. No more getting over our tryptophan coma by whoring up the yard.
The one big holiday tradition that does remain is when I arrive there in a few short days, my Dad will turn it over to Freeform for whatever fucking Rankin/Bass holiday special is on the air. More than likely it will be all of them, just one right after the other. And while we own all of them on DVD, we’ll still sit through the commercials and complain about how they cut so much out of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to make it fit the time slot even though the DVD is right there. We will sit there as a family, occasionally glancing down at our phones, watching the Rankin/Bass Christmas Cinematic Universe (RBCCU) because that’s what you do at the holidays.
The runaway most popular game of the year is also our PC Game of the Year. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, or PUBG as it's colloquially called, has been an absolute tour de force on the sales charts. It smashed Steam's concurrent users record and then it continued to get even more popular.
PUBG has clicked with so many people. The battle royale genre is inherently interesting and simple: Survive and don't die, and that means you win. That's the purest distillation of so many video games that we've played over the decades. Just don't die.
But there are a number of battle royale games on the market and PUBG might not even be the best one. It's certainly not the most finished one. PUBG spent the vast majority of the year in early access -- a title that was sold to the public with the full disclosure that the game was not yet done. Consider that for a minute: It managed to sell more than 20 million copies without being a final product.
You know what? None of that really matters. PUBG is the game that made us rethink how we approach early access. How do you deny a phenomenon like this? Millions of people are putting significant hours into chasing that chicken dinner dragon. This doesn't feel like the time to pull the technicality card and withhold well-deserved recognition.
Even though PUBG is a fine enough shooter, it's a masterclass in creating memories. Exhilarating victories and heartbreaking defeats. Incredible headshots that you were on the giving and receiving end of. Final circle snaking through the grass, hoping to the heavens that you stay hidden longer than your opponent does. Finding a 15x scope and the ghillie suit for the first time. Carrying your team to a win even though they didn't hold up their end of the bargain.
All of that had people playing PUBG more than they played any other video game this year. Us too. It's not the most refined on our list of nominees, but it's the most memorable. It kept us chasing thrills and kills. It was a proven injection of adrenaline anytime we needed it. And we kept coming back for one more hit. That's why PUBG is Destructoid's Best PC Game of 2017. Winner winner.
The long-awaited Xbox One X patch for The Witcher 3 is out today and it's a treat. You'll be able to choose between two new graphical modes, both of which support HDR.
4K Mode will run 4K resolution at 30 frames per second with "enhanced shadows, ambient occlusion, and texture filtering." This mode will also supersample if, say, you're playing on a 1080p display.
Performance Mode, on the other hand, uses dynamic resolution scaling from 1080p up to 4K while (rather impressively) "targeting 60 frames per second." Of the two options, I'd lean toward the latter.
If you're an Xbox One X owner, you can find these modes listed under Options > Display > Advanced.
CD Projekt RED is also prepping another PlayStation 4 Pro update for The Witcher 3 to support HDR. That's "coming soon."
Upgrade patch 1.60 for Xbox One X is out! Additional PS4 Pro patch coming soon [The Witcher]
Most people are familiar with modder Durante for his work on the PC ports of Dark Souls and Deadly Premonition. The man took rather lazy ports and turned them into the definitive versions of their respective games with a little love and care. Thankfully, he has gone on to work with XSEED on most of their recent ports and his glorious work isn't being wasted.
In the upcoming PC port for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, Durante has given players the option to load directly into their save game without having to deal with splash screens, loading times or menus. Similar to how the sleep function works on modern consoles, this will get you up and playing in literally one second (which is something the PS4 or Xbox One can't even do).
After three long years, a fistful of patches, some redesigns, and viral videos up the wazoo, party-brawler Gang Beasts has finally left Early Access to officially unleash colourful mayhem on the world.
Created by Boneloaf, a UK outfit started by three brothers, and published by Tim Schafer's Double Fine, the multiplayer fighter is now available on PS4, PC, and Mac. A madcap Battle Royale (in the traditional sense), Gang Beasts mixes simple-but-charismatic characters, ridiculous physics, and batshit chaos. Let's find out if it deserves an invite to your next party.
There's nothing better than a good murder mystery. Shifting suspicions and a handful of suspects can turn a crime scene into a web of lies and deception. In a successful murder mystery story, anything seems possible because outside of a dead body and a clue or two, intuition and investigative skills take center stage.
Focus Home Interactive's upcoming episodic game The Council is a digital murder mystery story. Set in the 1790s, it weaves a tale of secret societies, a missing woman, and high-profile historical figures like George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.
For one reason or another, China has banned access to the Steam community forums for all Chinese users. Users in that region can still purchase titles from the Steam storefront, but they won't be able to engage in discussion or utilize any of the other community features (such as screenshots, guides, forums, groups or the marketplace) available to everyone else.
This isn't out of the ordinary for China, though. Most games that get released in the country have to go through several changes, often removing blood, violence or questionable themes. Even the juggernaut that is World of Warcraft wasn't able to dodge censorship in the region.
My best guess for why this is now happening is because of the popularity of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which took the world by storm this year and even has a version launching in China with government sanctioned changes. Either that or Valve's competition in China, Tencent, asked for this. I smell a conspiracy!
The Steam Community has been blocked in China [VG24/7]
2017 has been a bit of an eye-opener for me on mobile gaming. I’d dabbled in the marketplace casually since first getting a smartphone, but this was the first year I attempted to seek out quality titles. In doing so, I found a bevy of interesting, inventive and well-developed games hiding on the app store pages behind those free-to-play whale catchers that dominate the download charts. From Million Onion Hotel to Cat Bird to Framed 2, everyone willing to give the format a chance should have been able to find a worthwhile game to download this year.
Chances are you’ve already downloaded Fire Emblem Heroes, Destructoid’s Best Mobile Game of 2017. It released to much fanfare back in February and ended up becoming Nintendo’s most successful mobile game to date. How did it best the mighty Mario? By acknowledging the mobile marketplace is different than that of consoles and handhelds.
Fire Emblem Heroes is inarguably a better game now than when it launched. Though updates, dedicated players have been rewarded with an expanding plot line, free 5-star characters, free character pulls with every new batch of heroes, twice the energy as before, and daily rewards that are actually rewarding. Also orbs. So many free orbs. Expanded mechanics have made for some incredibly unique character combinations and battles in the recent Version 2.0 update are some of the most intense the game has seen. And while people -- mostly the Japanese -- have spent millions on the game, it doesn’t mean they automatically wipe the floor with players pinching pennies. So long as they give time and effort, anyone can compete in every mode of the game without spending a dime.
If Nintendo is serious about exploring mobile, this needs to be the blueprint for all its future free-to-play endeavors because Fire Emblem Heroes is outstanding and completely worthy of being named Destructoid’s Best Mobile Game of 2017.
Tonight's the night PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds releases on Steam proper.
The official launch is planned for December 20 at 11:00pm Pacific, but before PUBG can say goodbye to Steam Early Access, it'll undergo server maintenance for five hours starting at 6:00pm Pacific. During this time, the test servers will be unavailable "to ensure a smooth transition to PC 1.0."
It's only recently that I've started messing around on the test server to experience the new map, weapons, vehicles, vaulting capabilities, and user interface that'll be available in the 1.0 release. I've gotta say, it's good. Really good. So good that I'm tempted to try playing PUBG tonight despite knowing full well it's going to be a pain to get into a match with everyone else hopping on at the same time.
Godspeed, PUBG Corp.
PUBattlegrounds [Twitter]
Independent British studio Bitmap Bureau are currently at work on a brand new game for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the console's Japanese launch.
Xeno Crisis is a top-down shooter in the vein of Smash T.V. and Amiga classic Alien Breed. Players will guide a male or female marine through an infested space colony, decimating thousands of aliens in a lead-filled quest to rescue the colonists trapped within. The game features an array of gooey creatures, all waiting to be eviscerated with a selection of rapid-fire tech.
The game features graphics designed by veteran pixel-artist Henk Nieborg, who worked with Psygnosis on many of their classic '90s titles. Music is being composed by chiptune conductor "Savaged Regime". Xeno Crisis will feature procedurally generated levels, multiple modes and two-player co-op gunplay.
Launching on Kickstarter last week, the project hit its initial goal -- and then some -- in mere days. The plan is to release Xeno Crisis as a downloadable ROM, as well as a physical cartridge, complete with packaging and instruction manual. Nifty.
Xeno Crisis is scheduled for launch in October 2018. You can find out more about the project on the game's official Kickstarter page.
From 2002 to 2014, Dunkin' Donuts didn't exist in Los Angeles. Hell, during that time there was just one Dunkin' store in all of California, at a military base on the state's southern tip. Considering there were more than 7,000 Dunkin' Donuts outposts littering the United States by 2013, the dead zone was an anomaly. In fact, it was one of the first things independent game developer Ben Esposito noticed when he made the move from New York to LA.
"That was a big deal to me," he said. As a native New Yorker, he grew up on chain doughnut shops, especially Dunkin', which was headquartered in Massachusetts. On the opposite coast, however, he was dropped into a new world: Mom-and-pop doughnut shops flooded the Los Angeles marketplace, each offering its own spin on the classic fried delicacy. If America ran on Dunkin', California was a thousand different countries.
If you want to see for yourself just how well Squall squares up against Lightning, you can check out the Dissidia Final Fantasy NT beta next month.
Unlike the previous round this one is open, and will run from January 12 through 21 in both Europe and North America. "More details are coming close to the date" according to Square Enix, but for now, it's a done deal. Enjoy the holidays and come back to emo belt boy battles.
As someone who has enjoyed the PSP renditions but really dug the idea of a fully realized arcade/console game, I'm pretty jazzed for this one. Dissidia has always been a relatively messy series, but that's precisely why I love it, and similar games like The Bouncer. Sometimes it's okay to skew toward brawler DNA and not be the most technical game on the market.
Final Fantasy [Twitter]
Ubisoft was already giving out some games for the holidays, but now that offer has been extended a bit. Instead of ending on the 18th like previously mentioned, you can now nab both World in Conflict and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag along with the original Watch Dogs from now until December 23 at 5 am EST. That is an awful lot of games for free!
I wouldn't say the first Watch Dogs is actually worth dealing with, but you can't beat that price. The far superior sequel is also on sale for $20 if you can deal with Uplay. It has a pretty solid PC port, which is a plus and the game is a lot of fun. I'd recommend that more.
Happy Playdays 2017 [Ubisoft]
While I was at Namco Bandai's Level Up event in Paris, I had the opportunity to check out the exceedingly metal trailer for their upcoming release Code Vein, as well as get a few minutes with the hardcore action-RPG itself.
Absolutely dripping in Gothic aesthetics and leather-and-lace stylings, Code Vein is an anime adventure set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic universe. You play as The Revenants, vampire-like beings who fuel their "gifts" -- or special powers -- by drinking the blood of their enemies.
With blood being in limited supply, trouble brews when a mysterious being, known as "The Queen" shows up to claim what little resource remains for herself. This forces the Revenants to battle against her and her minions, lest they run out of blood for themselves and become "The Lost", mindless creatures wandering and rabidly attacking all, which is amusingly the same backstory for the Augers in Night Trap.
As you can imagine, combining Goth fiction with anime tropes has resulted in a fairly melodramatic narrative, all deep-thinkers, conflicted morals and betrayed hearts. Set against this backdrop is taxing gameplay which, unavoidably, draws instant comparisons with the genre recently dubbed "Soulsborne" Like other games within said genre, Code Vein features very specifically-paced gameplay, featuring slow, methodical combat and highly-damaging, resilient enemies. The protagonist, and supporting characters, journey through the remains of their battered world, taking down creatures with ornate weaponry and an array of powers, including projectile attacks, health heals and status buffs.
According to Eiji Aonuma, work on the next Legend of Zelda game is already happening. I mean we could have predicted it given that this is one of their most successful series outside of Mario, but given that Nintendo doesn't rush these things and is known to start them after each iteration is completed, it's nice to have some sort of timeline.
So what do you want from it? Given Breath of the Wild's polarizing take on many open world mechanics, I think a fair few of you will want them to go back to the drawing board and not bring over the same concepts or provide a direct follow-up in any way (similar to how Majora built on Ocarina). Others will likely want a nostalgic-heavy game, and perhaps even a remake of an old classic.
Me? I want them to try something completely different again. The Zelda series is often at its highest point when it takes its time and really tries to blow the doors off, perhaps best evidenced with Wind Waker. But if they decided to give us another take on Breath of the Wild (maybe with a more forgiving durability system, or no breaking at all?), I'd be fine with it too.
I don't need my Zelda games to be done a certain way. Follow-ups have been great, retro-heavy games have worked too. As long as they don't force game-long tutorials, we're good.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) has been this year's biggest surprise. Since launching on Steam Early Access in late March, the game, which started life as a DayZ mod, has picked up 25 million players on PC, not to mention a marketing and publishing deal from Microsoft for an Xbox One version. This week, version 1.0 arrives on Steam, gaining a second map and new instant replay feature in the process.
But for PUBG Corp. CEO Chang-han Kim, even though the game is losing its beta status, work is far from done. "When we first started this project and thought of the Early Access model, we never took it as a model where you start developing a game, you complete it, you ship it out and then be done with it," Kim said through a translator. "As long as we have fans out there playing our game, it will never be complete."
The latest issue of Japanese publication Famitsu features more details on battle-based sequel, Valkyria Chronicles 4. The article reveals some new cast members and contains information on the new game's leveling mechanics.
Minerva Victory is a squad leader who remains clam under pressure and respects chivalry. Angelica Farnaby is an amnesiac civilian, described as "cheerful, selfless and kind". The new character reveal is rounded out with medic Karen Stewart. Karen was raised in an all-male household, which apparently means she is "skilled in the treatment of men". I guess female soldiers will have to settle for treatment at the paws of medic canine Ragnarok, a dog wearing a JAUNTY HAT.
In VC4, players will level up classes, rather than individual soldiers. So, should you level up Karen, for example, all of the medics in your squad will hit that level. I think this is a pretty good idea, as it will provide variety in team-building, rather than have you just stick it out with the same top-tier squad.
Amazingly for a game that is still clouded in mystery, we are already receiving info on its Day One DLC. Joint Operation with Squad 7 will see the heroes team with the Gallan Militia's Squad 7, and will also feature the return of Welken Gunther from the original Valkyria Chronicles.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 is expected to launch in Japan on PS4 in March. The game will come to PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch worldwide sometime in 2018.
Oculus, the company responsible for kickstarting the $2 billion virtual reality marketplace, knows virtual reality is not the future. As its engineers pour millions of Facebook's dollars into the second generation of VR headsets, the company's head of research, Michael Abrash, is preparing for a world where augmented reality dominates our everyday lives.
"No matter how good VR gets, few people would be comfortable socializing in person with someone whose eyes they can't see, and social acceptability is an absolute requirement for anything we wear in public," Abrash said at Facebook's F8 conference in April.
One of the big complaints about some competitive games is how pro players aren't held to a higher standard, or in some cases, any standard at all.
As a frequent tournament watcher/goer I get it, they drive the game and provide valuable feedback, helping the scene in ways that aren't always quantifiable. But in some cases, they're able to get away with activities that a developer would otherwise ban a member of the general public for. And with the highly visible Overwatch League in full swing (pre-season just ended, kickoff is on January 10), Blizzard seems to want to actually clamp down on unsportsmanlike conduct.
Just this past week, Felix "xQc" Lengyel of the Dallas Fuel Overwatch League team threw online games (read: lost on purpose) on stream in anger, and was given a seven day suspension from Blizzard. So far the League has been pretty tame when it comes to issues like this (at least compared to other pro sports), with various suspensions being doled out for sharing accounts and boosting other accounts for cash -- but with no proper code of conduct, Blizzard will have to deal with each incident on a case-by-case basis.
It all leads into another common talking point now that eSports are truly going mainstream -- handles. Is it time to give up the idea of calling someone "Murder Face" and just refer to them as their given name first, then have those nicknames as an after-the-fact sort of thing (like Terrell Owens and "TO" or Chad Johnson and Ochocinco before he made it official)?
It would certainly add more accountability to all of the fame and fortune that goes with being a public figure (especially in the Overwatch League, which provides its players with salaries). I'm not sure if I'd push for it quite yet, but I wouldn't be opposed to it -- either way, leagues like this have a long way to go and you can bet there will be many more run-ins like the one Lengyel just had.
Nintendo have shared an image on the Japanese Twitter for mobile hit Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, which features silhouettes of a group of new villagers coming to wreck shit up join your homespun community.
The one thing the seven new characters have in common appears to be a love of garish clothing. I'm no expert when it comes to Animal Crossing, but I been unreliably informed that the characters are Marshall, Goose, Avery, June, Vesta, Drake and Mitzi. Feel free to correct me below in a really unreasonable way if I've gotten that wrong.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp launched on mobile devices in November, hitting 15 million downloads in its first seven days. Are you still playing?
