I'm not really sure what a dramatic ballad like Céline Dion's "Ashes" is doing on the Deadpool 2 original soundtrack, or why there's a music video for it, or how it's not entirely a joke.
Looking for a new game to add to your PS4, Xbox One, or Steam collection? How about one inspired by Arabian Nights, developed by senior team members behind BioShock? Also do you want to win a magic lamp?
Then you've come to the right place, my friends.
Of all the games that released last week and went overlooked, Inked has to be among the prettiest. It's a hand-drawn puzzle platformer about a ronin who's wandering the countryside looking for a lost love.
This is the rare post where I don't feel compelled to say much beyond "Look at this. Isn't it beautiful?" I haven't played Inked, so I don't know if it's competent as a game. (It's sitting at a positive rating on Steam, but with criticisms about its controls and object placement; the developer is actively patching that stuff to refine it.)
Anyway, Inked is out on PC for $20. Even if you don't want to buy it, take a moment to appreciate its gorgeous aesthetic.
Inked [Steam]
After being revealed late last year, the FRAMED Collection is now finally heading to PC alongside a surprise Switch reveal. On May 18, you'll be able to experience both of the critically acclaimed puzzle games on your platform of choice. No price has been announced yet.
Ubisoft pulled the curtain back a little further on the massively ambitious Beyond Good & Evil 2. During a Twitch stream, a trio of developers led by creative director Michel Ancel explained the game's narrative timeline and showed off work-in-progress footage of combat, player movement and divulged some details about how character creation/customization works.
Source: Ubisoft (YouTube)
For more than a decade, Harmonix has structured licensing agreements for thousands of songs for use in Rock Band. There was a three-year stretch beginning in 2010 where the process was streamlined (or at least Harmonix was relieved of most of the burden). Rock Band Network allowed artists to upload and author their own songs through the Xbox 360's XNA Creator Club program. These tracks didn't have the spotlight that Rock Band's weekly DLC had, but it was a way to fill out the series' library with some deep cuts that didn't necessarily have mass appeal.
RBN kind of disappeared with the emergence of current-gen consoles. Harmonix shut the program down in 2014. When Rock Band 4 released, users couldn't import their previously-purchased RBN tracks. They were casualties of the licensing agreements -- the sort of thing that's bound to eventually happen when dealing with digital rights across several video games, consoles, music labels, and years.
Harmonix plans to revisit some of RBN's most popular tracks. In the coming months, Harmonix will re-release a selection of RBN's best-selling and most well-received songs as new DLC. This will be the only way those tracks are playable on Rock Band 4. However, they'll need to be repurchased by anyone who previously owned them.
A Harmonix representative confirmed the news and elaborated upon the process by saying "We're currently in the process of bringing some of our favorite RBN tracks to Rock Band 4 as DLC. There was a ton of great content submitted to RBN and, even though we knew that we wouldn't be able to support entitlements, we always wanted to find a way to bring these songs over to Rock Band 4. As we release these songs, we're doing full QA passes to make sure that authoring, mixes and gameplay are up to today's standards. You can expect the first of these songs to be released as part of Rivals Season 6 with more to come alongside regular DLC over the course of the year."
Despite these songs originally debuting as part of RBN, this isn't any sort of revival of RBN. There is no current program for musicians to self-author and sell their tracks on Rock Band. This is simply Harmonix reselling what once sold well. The best of RBN will soon be for sale in Rock Band 4; RBN itself is just as dead as it was five years ago.
Explosive sandbox title Just Cause 3 has been made available as part of the Xbox Live Gold Free Play Days campaign. Gold subscribers can check the game out gratis from today until May 6.
Originally released back in 2015, Just Cause 3 sees death-defying mercenary Rico Rodriguez back doing what he does best: annihilating the shit out of everything. Set on the fictional Mediterranean island of Medici, Rico goes all gung-ho revolutionary when his home falls under the dictatorship of tyrant General Di Ravello.
What follows is a lot of open-world adventure, peppered with as many side-quests and collectibles as it is with hot lead and explosive shrapnel, as Rico brings chaos and destruction to the totalitarian regime in a slew of imaginative ways.
Should you decide to pull the trigger (no pun intended) on the full game, Just Cause 3 will be available at a huge discount, as will all of its DLC, for the duration of the trial.
For Honor is still trucking along and if you want to see vikings, samurai, and knights trade blows, this weekend brings a good opportunity: the game is holding a free-play event. It's live now and will run until May 6 at 1:00pm Pacific on PC and May 7 at 12:00am Pacific on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Note: if you're on console, you will need either Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation Plus.
In the time since the last free weekend, Ubisoft has added dedicated servers on all platforms. There's also an incentive for existing players to return and populate the game. For Honor players who group with newcomers and finish five matches will earn two weeks of Champion Status, which entails XP boosts, more salvage, and more end-of-match loot, among other benefits. Teach your children well.
While Rainbow Six Siege has had a tremendous turnaround, For Honor hasn't been quite as fortunate. The developers are still putting in work, though, and plan to start Season 6 on May 17.
The Elder Scrolls Online is about to dump a super lore-heavy expansion on us -- Summerset. It takes us back to the Summerset Isles (and Artaeum), a place that hasn't been touched in the games since the very first entry -- Arena -- in 1994. While it's not quite as powerful of a launch as say, the iconic Morrowind, it's still a pretty impactful zone if you're an Elder Scrolls fan.
A new trailer below gives us another glimpse into the purple-hued area, as well as a peek at the upcoming conflict that will once again involve the Daedra. This time around you'll be teaming up with the Psijic Order to take them down, while uncovering new abilities and such along the way -- most of which are time-based.
I've been playing the PTS (Public Test Server) edition for roughly a week, and although I definitely need to see more of the narrative play out before I can make a judgment on the story, I'm sufficiently impressed by the zone. ZeniMax Online Studios has done a great job of capturing the raw beauty and danger of Tamriel. It's larger than Morrowind, which is a plus in an MMO centered around exploration, but still bite-sized enough to the point where it doesn't feel like most of the areas are filler.
All of the ancillary elements, from the concept art in the loading screens to the soundtrack, are phenomenally done. As far as the in-game art goes I'm constantly reminded of the work in possibly the best Elder Scrolls expansion to date, Shivering Isles, and Summerset's constant sense of wonder (perhaps best conveyed through the various fairy and butterfly presence) lends itself well to some of the busywork involved in running from place to place.
The Elder Scrolls Online really deserves some sort of "most improved" award. It had a lot of issues at launch but many content-gates were removed shortly after, and the move to free-to-play has only helped it, especially on consoles. It's not a perfect system but the concept of starting wherever you want and exploring your favorite zones (paid expansions excluded) is a big draw when it comes to the rich world of Elder Scrolls.
Summerset will launch on May 21 on PC, and June 5 on PS4 and Xbox One.
Koei Tecmo have announced that much more information will be released about their upcoming Warriors Orochi 4 title, which was quietly announced in March of this year.
New news about the sequel will be revealed in Japan on May 10, which is also that day that Japanese gaming mag Famitsu is released, so they'll probably have the scoop. All we know of Warriors Orochi 4 (which is Warriors Orochi 3 in Japan) is that it will launch in Japan later this year and that there are plans to bring the game to the West.
Warriors Orochi 4 is currently in development at Koei Tecmo.
Last month, players of Blizzard's hero shooter Overwatch took a trip into the game's fictional past with a new temporary game mode, Retribution. The brawl portrayed heroes escaping through the streets of Venice after a clandestine mission gone wrong. Though the event ended on Tuesday, players can still roam (and fight) around gorgeous Italian canalways as the latest map, Rialto, is added to the game -- along with a few hero changes in the latest patch.
Source: Overwatch patch notes - May 3, 2018
Slowly but surely, Beyond Good and Evil 2 is coming into focus. Ahead of what will hopefully be a much more detail-filled look at the game next month during E3, Ubisoft has shared some pre-alpha footage.
Today's video focuses on just a couple of game mechanics. As a space pirate roaming System 3, "the center of interstellar trade and colonization in the Milky Way of the 24th century," you'll be able to pilot your own ship, leap out, fly around with a jetpack, and get into some brawls.
Beyond Good and Evil 2 is playable in co-op, and when you're flying, you can group up with friends by forming an "armada" that keeps everyone in sync. Here's how that looks at this point in development:
The footage is super early, but I can tell the ship locomotion and player movement will be fun. I also love how seamless it all looks. So long as Ubisoft can create a rich setting with interesting characters, quests, and combat scenarios, I can see myself having a ball with Beyond Good and Evil 2.
This isn't shaping up to be the sequel I pictured all those years ago after the first CG teaser, but I'm open to this direction. For a more in-depth look at the game, check out the archive of today's livestream.
Hi-Rez Studios has had their hands full for a while. Ever since the controversial move of dropping Tribes: Ascend they've begun work on several games at once, namely Smite and Paladins. One is a MOBA and the other is a hero shooter, both hot commodities, and both successful in their free-to-play format.
While you may not have heard of the latter it's maintained a status in the top 20-played Steam list for some time, and it'll probably shoot up a bit after it finally launches next week. Yep, Hi-Rez has announced that Paladins is going to be ending its early access period and will see a full release on May 8 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Strangely, Hi-Rez also pivoted into the battle royale scene before many other developers got around to doing it -- announcing the mode in February. It'll be interesting to see the identity of Paladins develop over time, especially with the accusations that they borrowed many archetypes from Overwatch.
In a day of celebration for Hulu, the streaming service announced that it surpassed 20 million U.S. subscribers and gave fans more to look forward to by confirming The Handmaid's Tale third season. If that wasn't enough, Hulu also announced a partnership with DreamWorks Animation, creator of 2018 Academy Award nominee The Boss Baby.
Hulu's devotion to original content is starting to pay off, and a slew of upcoming projects could help bring in additional users. Bringing back The Handmaid's Tale was all but certain given its success and acclaim, and now with DreamWorks Animation in the picture, Hulu will have exclusive rights to upcoming DWA films, as well as theatrical releases kicking in next year.
The Strong museum has announced this year's inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame -- Spacewar!, John Madden Football, Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy VII. They were selected from 12 finalists that also included Asteroids, Call of Duty, Dance Dance Revolution, Half-Life, King's Quest, Metroid, Minecraft and Ms. Pac-Man. "The four inductees span multiple decades, countries of origin, and gaming platforms, but all have significantly affected the video game industry, popular culture, and society in general," said The Strong museum in a statement. Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy VII were finalists last year.
Via: VentureBeat
Source: The Strong
Australian indie-outfit Prideful Sloth have announced that their daydream adventure title Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles, will making its Nintendo Switch debut later this month.
Yonder, which was released on PS4 and PC in the Summer of 2017, sees a custom player character searching the mystical island of Gemea for sprites, the gathering of which will prevent a suffocating fog - known as The Murk - from destroying the pleasant environment and its inhabitants.
As well as the sprite-hunting aspect, Yonder contains Harvest Moon-style distractions, such as farming, fishing and cooking in order to support the local townsfolk. The game received mixed reviews on release due to its simplistic gameplay, which some found shallow, but it was celebrated by fans as a good game to just sit back and chill with.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles launches for Switch on the Nintendo eShop May 17. A retail version will follow on June 12 in North America and June 15 in Europe.
It's that classic tale: strapping young hero makes his way to a mythical city to vanquish skeletons and break the genie's curse.
City of Brass is a first-person action rougelite with an Arabian Nights theme. The game does a lot to impress up front but did little to keep me hanging around. Trip one skeleton with a whip, and you've tripped them all.
One of the best RTS titles in the past decade, Offworld Trading Company, is available to play on Steam, for free, from now until Sunday.
As is customary with free weekends like this, the base game and all of its DLC and expansions have been placed on sale for those who want to continue playing past the Sunday deadline, or for those of us who have fallen behind on picking up the expansions.
I know a lot of people are turned off by the real-time strategy genre designation, but Offworld Trading Company is not your usual RTS. It's an economy-based game that uses both the stock market and your company's value as its weapons, as opposed to micromanaging units on a battlefield. It's easy to pick up and learn, but also takes a little bit of time to master, which makes for a great RTS.
Offworld Trading Company is free to play on Steam from now until May 6 at 10:00 PT / 13:00 ET.
God of War has become Sony's fastest selling PS4 exclusive. Thanks to tons of hype, extremely positive word of mouth and a healthy distance from the last entry in the series, fans rushed to get in on the action and propelled the game to 3.1 million sales in three days. As someone who isn't even that big of a fan of the past games, even I have to say that I'm interested in seeing what this new game is all about.
Santa Monica Studio head Shannon Studstill had this to say about the game's success:
It seems as if there was some confusion as to whether or not Shadow of the Tomb Raider would bring the Xbox One X into PC quality territory with 4K60FPS visuals -- but it just wasn't meant to be.
After Eidos Montreal studio head David Anfossi noted that the game was "4K60FPS" in an interview with EPN TV, the studio had to then clarify his comments, saying it was one or the other. Square Enix delivered a statement to Windows Central that makes it pretty clear:
Shadow of the Tomb Raider will not run 60 FPS while in 4K. To allow for a more customized gameplay experience, the game will include two visual modes: '4K Resolution' which runs in 4K resolution at 30 FPS, and 'High Resolution' which is targeting 1080p at 60 FPS. Both modes will feature a wide variety of additional enhancements such as HDR, improved physically-based rendering, hardware tessellation, anisotropic filtering, additional dynamic foliage, and more
While there are several examples of 4K60FPS games on Xbox One X (Forza 7 is the most popular example), there definitely should be more studios pushing the envelope -- and Shadow of the Tomb Raider would have been a big victory. Still, I'll take 60FPS in an action game any day of the week in practically any resolution.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs at 4K 30 FPS on Xbox One X, allows 1080p 60 FPS [Windows Central]
Xbox has now established a pattern for how it treats Super Lucky's Tale DLC. There have been two post-release add-ons, and both of them have launched suddenly without any prior warning. That's how Gilly Island released in March, and that's how Guardian Trials released earlier this week. Truth be told, it's not a bad strategy for these enjoyable-enough little $5 packs.
However, launch model aside, Gilly Island and Guardian Trials could not be any more different. Gilly Island is more of the same -- a few new levels and a new boss, all in the exact same vein as the base game. Guardian Trials breaks free from that pattern. It's a bunch of bite-sized chunks of Super Lucky's Tale that aren't necessarily cohesive, but rather they focus on quick and unique experiences. It feels like these levels are more inspired, even if they basically just strip the gameplay down to its essentials and forego any real context.
Well, technically there is context. This is a training simulation for Lucky, and it's ripped straight out of the '80s. That's how Guardian Trials justifies short stages without the need to collect coins, find clovers, spell L-U-C-K-Y -- all the stuff that players repeated ad nauseam. Instead, this add-on has a level where you have to burrow underground the entire time. Another level has you constantly switching positions on a series of moving ladders in order to avoid obstacles.
The sections, called "skill levels" are approximately just one-third of Guardian Trials. This DLC is clearly divided into three parts -- skill, combat, and marble levels. Combat (which, ostensibly, is just more platforming) features redux versions of some prior boss fights and a new four-phase Wrestlemania-themed rumble. The marble stuff, which is nothing more than controlling momentum to roll a ball to and fro around isometric stages, is the clear-cut weakest aspect of this add-on.
What's maybe most interesting about Guardian Trials is that it has some of the most challenging platforming in all of Super Lucky's Tale. There are moments that feel like legitimate trials, and that's when this DLC is at its best. Sure, there's nothing that requires Super Meat Boy-type precision -- that would be a catastrophe because Lucky's platforming is floaty and sometimes struggles to convey its field of depth. But it hits a nice middleground between mundane and maddening.
It seems like Guardian Trials will be the last add-on for Super Lucky's Tale, but who knows. It also seemed like this game wouldn't get any DLC. Guardian Trials does a fantastic job offering a new-yet-familiar experience. (It even adds costumes that can be bought with in-game coins, which should've probably been in the original game in the first place.) That's what any add-on should strive for -- new yet familiar. This previously-unannounced $5 piece of content does a pretty good job filling that role.
Also, there's a robot named Brett and it has left me feeling very conflicted.
[This impressions piece is based on a retail build of the add-on purchased by the writer.]
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds players can now opt to avoid the much-maligned desert map, as the game's map selection feature is now available on PC. You can select which map or maps you'd like to play on, though there are currently only two choices -- original island Erangel and desert locale Miramar. It's not clear when the smaller map being tested will hit the live servers to offer a third option. If a player selects more than one map, the game will choose which to toss them into.
Via: PC Gamer
Source: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Arc System Works have announced the open beta dates for their upcoming crossover fighter BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. The frenetic anime title sees characters from four different franchises duking it out: BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth and RWBY.
The beta launches in North America on May 9 for digital pre-order customers and May 12 for everyone else, before finally closing on May 14. Upon closure, an offline demo will be made available for all on the PSN store. A Nintendo Switch beta is planned for the future, but no dates were forthcoming yet.
Unlike many recent fighting game betas, BB:CTB will feature a Vs. CPU mode, along with the expected Online Vs. and Training Mode options. The offline demo will have the same features excluding the Online Vs. and only pre-order customers will be able to play the demo against a second player offline. In both the beta and the demo, 20 characters will be available with which to build your dream team.
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle launches in North America on June 5 for PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch. A European release is set for sometime during the Summer.
Game-makers have had a field day making examples out of cheaters the past few weeks. Most recently, a pair of Overwatch hackers were charged in South Korea as a result of a year-long investigation by the region's police. Working with Blizzard (translated), the Seoul National Police Agency Cyber Security Department arrested a baker's dozen hackers total, according to Kotaku,
Via: Kotaku
Source: Blizzard Korea (translated)
Oh hey, it's a big week for the Switch, didn't see that coming (ha)!
The big big one release is easily Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, but there's a few others too: Nihilumbra, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition, Animal Super Squad, Cast of the Seven Godsends, Don't Die, Mr Robot!, Japanese Mah-jongg, Johnny's Turbo Arcade: Sly Spy, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy, Perfect Angle, Professional Construction - The Simulation, Raging Justice, Skypeace, and Timberman Vs.
Oh, and other platforms are getting something too. The Wii U is launching Rainbow Snake and the 3DS gets 3D Retro Dungeon Puzzle Challenge.
Ever since the Switch was announced, pundits have been debating the lifespan of the 3DS. There's still plenty of stuff in the pipeline from developers like Atlus, who support pretty much every system under the sun (they're basically the reason the Vita still exists at this point), and some first party works from Nintendo.
But the fate of the 3DS is very much in question given that the Switch is by nature a portable system, something Nintendo has addressed yet again in an investor Q&A. Responding to a question regarding the 3DS, Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima stated:
Consumers purchased Nintendo 3DS systems in numbers we expected last fiscal year. It has an ample software lineup at a price point that makes the system affordable esepcially for parents looking to buy for their kids. We expect that demand to continue during this fiscal year as well (March 2019), so we will continue to sell the product.
Given that the Nintendo Switch is a home gaming system that can be taken on the go, this situation may change if it grows from being a one-per-household system to a one-per-person system. But the price of the Nintendo Switch is not something with which most parents would buy a system for every one of their children in a short period of time. Moving forward, we will work to ascertain what kinds of play people want at which price points, and as long as there is such a demand, we will continue to sell the Nintendo 3DS system. I see the product coexisting with the Nintendo Switch at this point in time.
It's interesting that Kimishima notes that the Switch is too expensive to mass-buy -- from any businessman I'd expect a boilerplate "our systems are cheaper than our competition, buy three!" pitch. Either way, Nintendo seems to be happy with both systems, though it's very clear that the situation could change, as they've spelled that out. If the Switch ramps up to 30, or 40 million sold, the above statement could be their justification in terms of exiting the 3DS market.
Q & A Summary [Nintendo via Nintendo Life]
Nintendo have released a new Dev. Talk video featuring Hisashi Nogami, Producer for popular online arena-shooter Splatoon 2 and it's Octo Expansion update.
In the video, Nogami talks about some of the features coming to the colourful multiplayer title, explaining how the 80 new missions are designed to encourage players to expand their knowledge of the game's entire arsenal of weapons. Nogami also mentions the new monthly ranking system for the select few who have progressed to Rank X, which was implemented in the game's recent 3.0 update.
Asked what aspect of Octo Expansion he thought players would be really pleased with, Nogami mentions that during the single-player content, wherein you help the amnesiac Agent 8 through a hazardous world, we will be learning a lot of new information about Splatfest hosts Pearl and Marina, collectively known as Off The Hook.
Octo Expansion is coming to Splatoon 2 on Nintendo Switch this Summer.
