Immortal Redneck - PS4 Review

Right off the bat I knew I would love this game as a redneck driving through the desert gets mummified in the intro. The goal of the game seems pretty clear. Revenge.

Immortal redneck is a Roguelike set with an Egyptian theme. As with most of these genres you have one goal and no save points. You either make it to the the boss and win or you die and spend your hard earned gold which is often not enough to even buy one upgrade. The pyramids are always the same, but at the same time, different. The rooms are shuffled but you will often encounter the same rooms until you clear the pyramids. There are also different types of guns and gold to collect along the way.

The purpose of this game is not simply to go to the top of the pyramid and clear each boss, it's getting strong enough to actually get to the top and even stronger to defeat the bosses. After each death you have the ability to spend the gold you have earned on upgrades or character unlocks in the skill tree. Each skill has a maximum number of times it can be upgraded while others are one time purchases. Obviously enough, each upgrade costs more and more until it eventually maxes out.

The second aid to your game is the Merchant who sells you items called scrolls and the ability to lock the map at a huge gold cost. There are times when locking the map can come in hand, either it's a simple layout to the boss and you simply wanted round 2, or other times it's because there are good gold rooms or spots you wanted to find a second time that will not disappear. Of course sometimes it's simply nice to know where you are going.

These scrolls that the Merchant sells are basically power ups or skills you can unlock until the next time you die, anything from double jumping or having low gravity, infinite ammo for a certain period etc. Learning to balance the way you spend your money is important to avoid wasting extra gold, as when you go back into the pyramid you lose everything you have left.

Dying can always be frustrating, but with this genre of game dying is also a built in part of the game as it generally makes you stronger (until something dumb murders you from behind). The game has all types of manners of which to kill you. Flying skulls, bouncing slimes, skeletons with bows, ancient Egyptian pharaohs that aren't happy you are in their tomb, spike pits, or simply getting greedy for that chest across a lake of lava and being bad a jumping. It adds a nice sense of sadness to know you died because you wanted to fatten your wallet.

There are all types of characters to be unlocked sadly none of them change the skin of your immortal swearing redneck but maybe that's not a bad thing. The change of characters changes your loadout upon "respawn". I enjoyed trying out all of the characters ive unlocked so far and used strange guns including potato launchers or tesla coils, kunai and all sorts of fun weapons my favorite being the Anhk: unlimited holy cross spamming attacks… so satisfying though its damage was not amazing I loved the animation. There are also chests all around the pyramid that offer weapons but they are usually guarded by a small puzzle of sorts or simply a more intense fight.

Over all I found Immortal Redneck to be quite enjoyable. I spent 6 hours on my first night simply playing, dying and re-dying some more but I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed other similar types of the genre. Being an FPS simply adds bonus points and I would recommend it for sure.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Crema
Publisher(s):
Crema
Genre(s):
First Person Shooter
Roguelike
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
Nintendo Switch
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Marc L.

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Kingdom Come Deliverance - PS4 Review

Kingdom Come deliverance can only be described as an epic first-person role-playing game. It's set in 15th century Bohemia, and follows the story of Henry, a blacksmith's son with a backstory straight out of every kid's D&D game. It's almost like the developers were aware of it; the conversation in which the protagonist tells his dad how much he wants to adventure is interrupted by an army that burns his village and kills his family.

As if that's not enough, a bunch of random bandits attack Henry and steal his father's sword. He then proceeds to adventure in order to avenge his village, save the country, and get back his father's sword. He is single-minded in this pursuit and will focus in this quest, stopping only to romance women, play dice, kill rabbits, join a horse race, follow drugged-up women in the woods, etc.

This game admittedly has many downsides, glitches, and some parts that seem unfinished. Although it's an overall great game, it comes short of being amazing. Here's a rundown of what the game does well, and what it doesn't.

The good:

The developers went through great lengths for authenticity. Your character needs to eat and sleep, he gets dirty, and his clothes get damaged as well as his gear, which needs repairs. The quality and repair of Henry's clothes will affect how everyone around him reacts to him. You start off illiterate, like a blacksmith's son would be, and a side quest is needed to learn how to read. Everything is a skill, from reading, to fighting, to drinking, to talking, and Henry gets better the more you practice the skills.

The combat is smooth, and well researched. As you level up your weapon skills, you learn new abilities, which are actually fairly challenging to pull off, and very rewarding. Pulling off a perfect block feels great. Different weapons have different strengths and weaknesses, and are rather well balanced.

The story is intriguing and engrossing, about a mystery army, a group of unknown bandits, and a slow discovery or hidden agendas and secret goals. It's a masterfully written tale, despite the less-than-original base concept.

The only crafting, alchemy, is very interesting. You need to read the recipe, prepare the ingredients, and craft it following the instructions. Boil or simmer the ingredients, grind the right herbs, add them when they are needed etc.

Graphics are decent. Rather pretty graphics, but nothing amazing. It's not as breathtaking as The Witcher 3, but still better than Oblivion. Maybe comparable to Skyrim with a texture mod, although Kingdom Come Deliverance has the occasional missing texture and wonky animation.

Finally, one of the best things about this game is how much it manages to make you feel for the characters. They are very human. A moment in which Henry wants to bury his parents comes to mind. He bends down to pick up his dead mother, fumbles, and exclaims in an exasperated voice: "how am I going to do this". The emotions in this scene are very powerful, much more than in any other game I've played. This is just an example of the humanity the developers managed to add to their characters.

The bad:

The game has a few problems, glitches and broken parts notwithstanding. The romances, for example, seem pointless. Once you achieve the end of either of the two possible romances, the women involved act as if nothing at all happen. There's no continuation of it, and no mention of it.

There also is a missed opportunity for a good crafting system. They limited it to alchemy and repairs, despite the main character being a blacksmith's son. The character already knows how to smith, yet there's no weapon or armor crafting in the game.

Reputation is a little wonky. If you do a good deed or two in a city, every single living being in the entire region will know you, and express how happy they are to see you every single time you enter their line of sight, including if you just leave their view for a minute. Best example of this: I stood next to a character that would look at me and exclaim: "oh look, Henry came to see us!" He would then look away for a few seconds, then look at me again, and repeat "oh look, Henry came to see us!"

The AI in general is a little odd. I pick pocketed a sleeping man, who randomly woke up and just sprinted off at a ridiculous speed towards the nearest town. I then got stopped at a completely different town by a guard telling me I've pick pocketed someone, and he was going to confiscate all my stolen goods.

The voice acting also falls quite low in the bad category. It goes from half decent at times, to awful. They can't seem to pick what accents they want the characters to have. Most of the voice actors chose a British accent (because we all know that before the 1800's, everyone was British. Doesn't matter where you are, you have a British accent). Every once in a while, someone speaks in a very American way. Others will just speak in an "I'm reading a script for the first time" accent.

The Ugly:

Let's talk about glitches. There are some minor glitches which can be forgiven. Odd NPC movements, vibrating heads and such. The occasional clipping through walls or terrain. These can be found in most games, and although it should ideally be tested out, it can happen. Kingdom Come Deliverance has some glitches that are just not forgivable. Whether it's stairs acting as walls, doorways acting as walls, or NPCs straight up glitching out. Here are a few notable examples of fun glitches that should not be included in a completed game, especially one that had a two 15gig patches on release week.

I bought a bed at an Inn. Innkeeper tells me my bed is up that ladder. Climb the ladder, to immediately fall back down. Try for about 5 in-game hours to reach my bed, while poor Henry is complaining about how tired he is.

On a quest to gain a priest's trust. This involves getting really drunk with him and helping him in a fist-fight (how awesome is that?!). Get into the fistfight, jab one of the belligerents once in the face. My perk activates and I knock him out. Everyone runs away immediately, including the priest, and the bailiff. My quest fails, and the priest now doesn't trust me.

I'm talking to the lord, and a random peasant walks between us, stops right there, taking my entire screen. Proceeds to interrupt his lord constantly just to repeat: "oh look, it's Henry". I'll give him this, he may not have brains, but he's got guts.

First 10 minutes of the game, not knowing this game's very thorough glitch system, I decide I'll take a shortcut down a hill and over that fence, instead of going around following the path. I immediately get stuck between said fence and a tiny bush. Needed to reload.

On a quest to kill some bandits, and loot something off the leader to prove the deed is done. After an epic 3v1 battle (despite the glitches, I love the battle system, makes for really fun fights), I kill the last bandit – the leader himself. As I go to loot him, he starts rapidly ragdolling down a slight hill. I'm chasing the body down the hill, yelling at it to come back. (Actually me, not Henry. Henry has no idea what's going on). As I'm begging it to let me loot him, the recently deceased keeps escaping, finally deciding on a final resting place, a nice cozy looking bush. The bush allows corpses to pass through it, but not the living. I tried reasoning with the quest giver: "I swear I killed him… I just couldn't get his spurs because the bush ate him", but he wasn't having it.

I snuck into a house, knocked out the guard (no, I had no actual reason of doing this, I just wanted to). As I'm looting him, a guard from outside walks through the wall and tells me he caught me red-handed. I really couldn't argue. This town had some really good guards.

There are quite a few minor glitches happening regularly, but I think you get the picture. That being said, none of the glitches I've encountered were game-breaking, and so far, no enemy has sent me into the stratosphere with a single blow, nor have any of the characters' faces looked like something out of a weird horror movie, so it's tolerable.

What I can't forgive are the unfinished parts. There are a few things about this game that seem like the intention was there, but it stopped a little. They ran the first 10 meters of a 100 meter sprint, than gave up. The romance example is a good one. Go through a short quest line to romance them, during which you can actually give her gifts and romance her, but the second you end the quest line, she acts like any other NPC.

Other examples are polearms and 2-handed weapons. You can train with polearms with the trainer, but you can only rarely equip a polearm from the ground, drop it when not using it, and you'll always be considered as having your weapon out (NPCs will react unfavorably). At one point, an enemy attacked me with what seemed like a halberd. After killing him, I picked it up, but it just didn't appear in my inventory, nor my hand. Henry bent over to pick it up, lifted it off the ground, and made it vanish. There's also no skill linked to polearms or 2-handers. It's normal for a game to cut out parts. When they do though, they shouldn't leave parts in. Give us a completed game, or nothing at all.

I'd like to end this section of my review with a talk about nudity. I don't think a good game needs nudity. I don't think lack of nudity makes a game bad. What I do believe though, is cheaping out is bad. If you're going to add in some adult themes, go for it, but don't go half-way. There are two approaches for this: show nudity, or don't. If you show nudity in your game, then show nudity. If you don't, then find a way to avoid it (can be creative censorship using the environment or camera angles, or just fading to black, doesn't matter).

This game is one of the worst offenders I've seen a while (worse than the clothed sex in Dragon Age Origins). Kingdom Come Deliverance added a nude scene during one of the two sex scenes in the game (the other opted for a fade to black). This gave them the rating bump, and the "nudity" tag. Despite this, they have scenes where characters are bathing in full-body long underwear. To add insult to this, said character actually has dialogue in this scene in which he says he's naked. Chose one or the other, I don't care which, but either way, having a scene with someone bathing fully dressed is awkward at best.

Verdict:

The game is not the masterpiece it could be. There is so much potential in this game it almost hurts to see the buggy final outcome. The fact that I give this a 7.5 despite the glitches and shortfallings of this game says a lot. I started playing this game and got immediately absorbed by the world, the story and the characters, and before I knew it, I played the entire weekend. It's a game with a steep learning curve that rewards not only your character getting better, but the player as well. It has a unique and interesting crafting system, despite it being of very limited scope. The story and character development alone makes this a great game, as well as the great combat and good world building. Considering this game's small budget, they put out an amazing product. I recommend this game to anyone that's patient enough to go through the glitches.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developers(s):
Warhorse Studios
Publisher(s):
Warhorse Studios
Deep Silver
Genre(s):
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Louis

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Wulverblade - PS4 Review

A Savage, Historically Celebratory Beat-'em-up

In 43 AD, the Romans really had no business invading Britain. They had the richest leaders in the world, unrivalled military security, and more bath houses than Bacchus, the god of wine and nubile frenzy, could shake a bunch-stem of grapes at. So when the Romans brought their military man-muscle to Britain's vibrant landscapes, for the second time in a century, they didn't do it to overthrow a threatening adversary or "procure" fresh real estate for a soothing yet unsanitary communal bath enterprise; they invaded to improve the reputation of their new emperor, Claudius.

Both the Senate and Rome's House of Lords had very little faith in or respect for Claudius. They might have considered him weak due to his physical disabilities, which included a limp, foaming of the mouth, and involuntary shaking of the hands and feet. Or perhaps they thought he was involved in Caligula's assassination by members of the Praetorian Guard, the emperor's so-called elite bodyguards. They did, after all, install Claudius as emperor directly after assassinating Caligula, who was both emperor of Rome and nephew to Claudius.

Whatever the case was, they found Claudius to be undeserving of leadership: a feeble-bodied relative of royalty who was never meant to be emperor. Thankfully for Claudius, in Roman culture, the best way to prove your worth as a leader was through tried-and-true military achievement. Invading Britain and taming its indigenous "barbarians" offered Claudius not only the chance to quell his political opposition, but also an opportunity to secure his throne by honor through victory.

The invasion was a success. But throughout Rome's 350 year occupation of Britain, it never achieved total victory. Northern tribes, the Caledonians, managed to continually band together and stand their ground despite numerous Roman onslaughts. As a result, Rome failed to capture their land or convert their people to a more "civilized, Broman" way of life.

In Wulverblade, you get to roleplay, in side-scrolling beat-'em-up fashion, as a ferocious guardian of the north, bringing your fight to the Roman strongholds before they have a chance to slaughter their way to your villages, your people. Whilst Wulverblade does combine history and Celtic mythology to create a contextual impetus that is rare for these types of brawlers, it has a few design issues that can sabotage the smoothness of combat in particular situations.

The Roman Empire's military was a marvelous entity. Other than possessing the toughness and stamina of a juiced-up pronghorn antelope at the top of the dominance hierarchy, Roman soldiers were disciplined to be both flexible and cohesive on the battlefield. This meant that, moments after an issued command, a unit of soldiers had the capability of gathering in a formation most suitable for any offensive or defensive situation, allowing them to fight or guard as a solid, fluid unit, rather than a mob of flailing individuals.

You, as one of three Caledonian warriors, who range from sluggish yet hard-hitting to brittle yet advantageously swift, have a few tricks to bypass these Roman battle disciplines: unrivalled barbarity, and the element of surprise. Bringing desperation for victory to their turf and towers is the last thing that they, all strapping and hyper-civilized, expect. So you raid their camps, slicing, grappling, and tossing any soldier brave enough to test their duty to Rome against your virtuous lust for independence.

You have a basic attack that, after a unique heavy weapon is found in the environment, can be combined with a strong attack. If an enemy dares to get within aggressive-kissing-distance, your warrior automatically grabs him by the pecs, granting you the options of knuckling his face or throwing (or suplexing, if you're playing as the tank character) him into a crowd of his own cohorts. On top of this basic but useful repertoire, you can launch, juggle, ground-impale, downward thrust, slow-motion counter attack, and shield break foes, as well as block, run, and dodge-roll into and away from greasy enemy strikes.

At the beginning of this virtue quest, on normal difficulty, the Romans (and their converted tribesmen) seem merciless and insurmountable. They swarm in on your position, simultaneously hack you with swords and puncture your fiery beard with arrows, and generally deal damage that can be overwhelming and unheard of to even the elite Caledonian Warrior. Initially, this can be  surprisingly frustrating, especially when your character's mouth is agape in embarrassment as he's being rapid-fire pincer attacked by chauvinists in silly helmets. However, as you experiment with your move-set and further observe the enemies' behavior, you learn how to make heavy use of the dash and dodge-roll, to maintain a distance wherein their aggressiveness is rendered much more ineffectual.

But no matter how skillful you become during your first 5+ hour playthrough, you're going to be harrassed by seemingly unavoidable blows, particularly from the bosses, whose meaty health bars are a visual representation of militaristic hubris. This is where two Caledonian superpowers can potentially come to your aid: the ability to, once per stage, summon a pack of mega-wolves, which devour everything on screen or, in the case of bosses, inflict enough damage to make a General consider immediate retirement from Roman service; and the ability to enter rage mode, a trance-like state that slows down time, multiplies your damage, and regenerates a portion of health.

You'll certainly need these powers to not only help you manage the challenge Wulverblade belligerently and methodically marches toward you, but to make up for the moments that can come off as stupidly, mechanically unfair. As I mentioned earlier, these Romans carve another notch on their helmets for every time they successfully pincer attack the most sensitive zones of your crotch and hamstrings. So being able to turn frequently and reliably in the opposite direction to block or stifle an enemy's sword should be an inherent talent. It isn't. There can sometimes be a delay when attempting to perform a quick turn. This, naturally, can lead to being stun-locked from behind by a flurry of sword swings you saw coming from three feet away.

Furthermore, the grappling and throwing mechanics can backfire all up in your vicious face. You automatically grab any Roman that encroaches within snuggling distance. That's phenomenally helpful, if he's the only idiot within two feet. But more often than not, the idiot you're grabbing is surrounded by at least two other idiots. So while you're standing there - panicking over whether to punch, throw, or unhand your foe - with your hands wrapped around a Roman's beefy throat, his cronies are relentlessly landing free hits on every inch of your torso, no matter how fast you try to react. Fortunately, by staying mindful of distance, you can mostly avoid the humiliation of these situations.

Historians don't really know why the Romans were unable to conquer the Caledonians. Maybe the Caledonians, thanks to the northern mountains, had a strategic geographical advantage. Maybe the cost of seizing the region was more than any perceived benefit. Or maybe the Caledonians were too damn tempered in the art of savage, severed-head-tossing warfare to be subjugated and converted. Who knows? I do know that Wulverblade offers, in dynamic-comic-book fashion, a fantastical yet historically educational tale of a tribe that refused to bend the knee. And even if some mechanics can add bumpiness to an otherwise smooth combat system, fans of beat-'em-ups, challenge, and Roman history should definitely consider raging against these Romans.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Fully Illustrated
Darkwind Media
Publisher(s):
Darkwind Media
Genre(s):
Side-Scrolling Brawler
Mode(s):
Single Player
Co-op
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Jedediah

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Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday February 24

Today in Jaggy's corner I'm going to talk about a new game that has got me thinking a lot. In fact, I've used a few pages to scribble ideas onto... This all started with a friend providing a link to an article about this game called Cypher and I just had to have it. Within a day I managed to get my hands on it and now here we are, 3 hours played and only 8 puzzles solved... HO BOY!

Cypher is a first person puzzle game that teaches a player about cryptography, its history and introduction to different types of codes. That's right, this game is all about codebreaking and something that is interesting to me – which is a story for another time. Its graphic style is very minimalist a la Antichamber (an amazing game that deserves your time if you haven't had the fortune to play it.) While the over saturation of white walls kills my eyes, it lends itself to having the ability to easily solve some of the puzzles far more easily. The idea is that on a pure white wall, one can see text sizing differences more easily.

Anyways, you can adjust the brightness but the whole game is set in a white museum with black writing on walls (Literally.) This is probably my only criticism of the game because I have somewhat sensitive eyes – which is why I use f.lux. Think of the eyes Matthew Brown!

Cypher is an intriguing game because while you are given explanations on different cryptograms, it does not hold your hand. In the various rooms, information is provided to help solve the various cyphers, but don't expect it to be a walk in the park. I love these kinds of puzzles and this is challenging as hell. So far, I have solved 5 of 8 puzzles in the first room and only 2 in the second room. (It would probably help if I didn't attempt to solve these puzzles at 1am when I'm only half paying attention...)

Honestly, this game is hard as sin. Next to me are pages filled with weird notes, in no particular order, that would drive onlookers mad. That said, Cypher reminds me of the Myst series and how I dedicated a book to figuring out puzzles. (I still maintain that Riven was the hardest in the series at release time.)

Matthew Brown, the creator of this game, knew that people would get frustrated so he included calming piano music, although I suspect that wasn't just happenstance... Studies have been conducted about music's role in assisting the cognitive process by somehow making it easier to solve math problems using classical music. And since a lot of codebreaking requires the ability to see patterns, the inclusion of classical music was likely a deliberate decision.

I think one of the best things about this game is the fan reviews on the steam page. A lot of people have taken the time to create cyphers of their own then posting a message in code. If anyone wants to read these messages, they'd have to decypher the code. That level of dedication and appreciation for the game is quite telling, in my opinion. It also makes me want to decrypt them all...

Final Thoughts this Week

Anyways, that's all I have for you this week. I don't always want to bombard people with news about Rocket League, although the tournaments beta system has been a success so far. The amount of options people have available to start up their own tournaments in Rocket League is fantastic. We also got a small taste of some minor new options in the game. As always, the updates about the game can be found on their website: www.rocketleague.com

As always, I can be found in a variety of places like Twitter and Twitch (@Jagtress). Feel free to drop me a line!

Until next time!



Article by Susan N.

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Golem Gates - PC Preview

If I had to sum up Golem Gates in one statement, it would be stop reading this right now and go get it. I honestly had to remind myself that it’s a currently an in Early Access title because I was going on my merry way to score it. Brilliantly meshing the real time strategy style and that of a collectable card game, the dark yet shiny metallic colours are amazing to watch as they traverse an ever present fog of war.

Other than maybe some balancing issues and adding in the rest of the campaign chapters, Golem Gates felt complete and very solid. Put into the role of the Harbinger, you are tasked with eliminating all threats that currently lie in the way of healing your world. Armed with the ability to summon offensive and defensive units as well as the ability to apply augmentations and impairments, your goal is clear. Eliminate everything that is not under your control.

Golem Gates has streamlined some RTS elements in order to make things not easier, but more manageable when combined with the CCG elements. Instead of using drones in order to collect resources, you instead have an ever filling energy pool that is used to summon Glyphs onto the field. Glyphs are essentially your cards that are present in your deck. The more powerful the Glyph, the more energy that it costs. Starting off you’ll be wanting to hold back on summoning the big things not because of the amount of energy required, but because of the recharge rate of your energy meter.

Starting off slowly you’ll need to play a few Glyphs on the field either for defensive purposes or to get more Glyphs in your hands. Summoning a few units will also do the trick as the more you play the faster your energy will fill up. This only works until a certain point in time however and after that point you’ll need to venture forth in order to start capturing either unoccupied or enemy generators to speed up your progress.

Because everything is “card” based you don’t have any structures to worry about which also speeds things up. Instead all of your worry and your attention can be dedicated to your units. The variety of these can make for interesting strategies as you have both basic and advanced melee, ranged and arcane that fall alongside more stationary structures like turrets and flame pillars. This lets you easily decide whether you want to keep units around a generator or to send them off to hit the enemy or one of their own placements. The choice is entirely yours just don’t want too long as the enemy will simply keep stocking up like you and the results will not be pretty.

Moving your units around is easy. Simply click and order them out. Where things get a bit tricky however is that there is a constant fog of war. The most you can see is where your troops or where your turrets are currently placed. Outside of that you’ll often have to rely on scouts to make sure that you aren’t walking straight into an enemy force when you could have held back and used your currently in place defensive turrets to your aid.

Because of the fog of war and only being able to see your units, you are allowed to play Glyphs as long as you can see the ground. This means that if you need more troops in a particular location, play the Glyph if you have enough energy and turn the tide of the skirmish. The same can be done with turrets and fireballs. Simply play them if you can which is much better than having to wait for them to run all the way over just to be marsacred because the battle was already over.

Adding to the single player campaign there are also trials, survival scenarios and a versus option to go up against other players or an AI. Honestly as I mentioned earlier Golem Gates feels rather complete so other than the extra campaign segments it’ll be interesting to see what is really added between now and full release.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Laser Guided Games LLC
Publisher(s):
Laser Guided Games LLC
Genre(s):
Real Time Strategy
Collectible Card Game
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
NA

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Dynasty Warriors 9 - PS4 Review

On the one hand, Dynasty Warriors 9 is exactly the breath of fresh air that the long running series has needed. On the other, its rough edges around the execution will likely leave even long standing fans at least slightly frustrated. More often than not, I enjoyed my time with Dynasty Warriors 9, which I applaud for taking some chances while recognizing that there is lots of room for improvement as well.

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News - Omega Pattern takes to Kickstarter to finish development

I was a fan of the style of Visual Novel that Omega Pattern put into place when I had the chance to sit down to it on my tablet a few months back. In order to complete itself however, Borokai Studio are taking to Prefundia and Kickstarter in order to finish the project.

So for a bit on where it's been and why it's gone to Prefundia and Kickstarter, here's what the dev's have to say:

History

Early history

We have already released the Omega Pattern's first part (it lasts over 6 hours) and free demo which are available on Steam (it has been Greenlit by the Community), Itch.io, Google Play and the App Store. The free Original Soundtrack DLC is also avaiable on Steam.

After that

We are currently working on our Kickstarter campaign to get funding for the Omega Pattern's final part which intends to be 36-40 hours long.

We covered the first part expenses and released it without Kickstarter, Patreon or any kind of crowdfunding campaign because we wanted to show you the main concept of Omega Pattern (a visual novel where you define the main character's personality and Pattern) before using this kind of resources. However, the decision system that we'll use for the final part won't allow us to separate them into more parts since we want that every decision you make can cause an impact on the story as it advances as well as in the endings, so we want to use both the first part earnings and the Kickstarter funding to develop the big final part.

Article by Pierre-Yves

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5 Gadgets All Gamers Will Love This Year

Chalgyr's Game Room happily presents the first of our collaborations with Seatup and Katie Porter

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Are you addicted to action, fixated on first-person shooters, and looking to get lost in VR underworlds? Look no further, for we have the greatest gadgets that money can buy.

Whether your thing is VR, or you want to take your gaming out on the go; there's a gadget for it. And as time goes on, we find more and more creative solutions to problems we never knew we had.

Here are our five favorite gadgets that all gamers will go gaga for.

PocketSprite Portable Retro Gamer

If you remember the Gameboy, you'll remember monochrome hours spent collecting coins, escaping enemies, and shooting the bad guys. So, if you hanker for those simpler days, look no further than the PocketSprite: a unit so small that it fits onto your keyring, offering access to Gameboy, Gamegear and Sega Master classics.

It may be minute, but it's unmistakably mighty, saving your mid-game playing position and connecting to wifi to seek out new games. The rechargeable battery (via USB) means no more triple-As. And the PocketSprite is not only a fabulous gaming emulator - it provides an open source development platform for those who love to code. With controls that any Gameboy fanboy will be familiar with, this is the gadget that will make you the envy of your friends.

Merge VR 6DoF Blaster Controller

This is so hot-off-the-press it's not yet available, but as soon as you see it, you'll want it. Resembling a NERF gun, this plastic blaster has a slot for your cell phone, providing AR control over your favorite search-and-destroy platforms.  As you move around the Augmented Reality universe, you can save your team from being unwelcome lunch for famished zombies, and escape rooms where demons may dwell.

The prototype has been designed for use with the iPhone X initially, but they'd be goons to keep this great game controller exclusive.

With a gun trigger, a reload button, and zoom control, you'll have everything you need to defeat the demons.

Due to hit the retailers in Summer 2018. Keep a look out!

SteelSeries Arctis 3 Gaming Headset

Whether your gaming is on-the-move or on the PC, the Arctis 3 gaming headset is sure to immerse you in an experience like no other. With 7.1 Surround sound on PC and stereo audio for other platforms, it entirely engages you in gameplay. The ClearCast microphone is situated on the front of the ear cup, capturing crystal clear sound for when you're gaming with online pals, but also features noise cancellation technology, so make sure you're not wearing these if you're waiting for an urgent call!

Compatible with Mac, PC, Xbox One, PS4, VR systems, Android, and iOS, this is THE gaming headset for 2018! Comfortable and breathable, these are ear cups that you can wear all day long.

All-In-One Gaming Mouse from Lexip

PC gaming, at times, suffers from an overly-complicated control platform, so when a company goes out of their way to solve the interface with a single unit, we should all sit up and take notice. This is the first 3D mouse designed specifically for gamers, merging two joysticks into a single controller to create a superlative gaming experience. It's currently available for pre-order with Kickstarter, due for release later in the year.

The mouse has a three-dimensional tilt action that lets you seamlessly scroll around 3D universes, while the two joysticks can be operated with the thumb whether you're left- or right-handed. Perhaps the main drawback is that this is a wired mouse which feels a little counterintuitive for such an ergonomic device, but maybe wireless is for future releases. Regardless of the wire situation, the Lexip All-In-One gaming mouse is sure to excite dedicated gamers.

Pimax 8K VR headset

Virtual reality just got real(er), with a headset that uses your peripheral vision to enhance the fidelity and authenticity of the VR experience. Up until now, VR has given you three-dimensions in a straight line - forward -  but the Pimax 8K headset offers a 200-degree field of vision, not far from our natural 220-degree FOV.

The VR experience, so far, has required a LOT of neck work - you're constantly spinning around to take in the world. The Pimax 8K fills in the majority of your peripheral vision creating an altogether heightened experience, meaning that your neck gets a welcome break. If you're looking for total immersion in digital planes, then the 3840x2160 resolution PER EYE is enough to literally mimic life itself! Compatible with over 1700 VR games and experiences, this is the must-have for lovers of alternative universes. Keep an eye out for pre-orders which are set to open in the Spring.

If you desire the best and want to be the first to have them, then these are the five gadgets will set you apart. Gaming-on-the-go, VR that mimics the world around us, and gaming peripherals that augment reality are what it's all about.

Great gaming, y'all.

Article by Katie

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Wanderjahr: TryAgainOrWalkAway - Switch Review

Wanderjahr: TryAgainOrWalkAway is a real timed strategy “rpg” that sees you sending in a squad of seemingly random specialists in order to dispatch the monsters currently attacking the Earth. With either a controller or the console in your hands, order your group of warriors forward to save the Earth and the people that they now fight to protect.

I’ll be blunt in that while Wanderjahr had great ideas, the execution wasn’t there. While the first few stages act to ease you into the action and the features available, by the time you make it to the first boss, good luck. It’s there in which the subtitle of “TryAgainOrWalkAway” becomes very appropriate because after trying for an hour, going back and leveling to the current level cap, and trying some more, I decided to walk away for a period of time.

I’m alright with “hard” games but the difficulty has to be representational of the overall. Dark Souls is hard, but as long as you learn what you need to do you can get by. Just look at Lobos and all of his crazy runs. Wanderjahr by contrast shows you the basics and then essentially throws you into an impossible fight against three giant foes in which regardless of which one you take out first, the other two will instantly wipe out your party. Making matters worse, they also reduce all of the items you bought down to one so good luck even bringing troops back from the dead.

The core gameplay concept is simple. You can have four troops on the field at any given time and you can swap then out as needed with those in reserve. To make things a bit tougher, and this part was fine, is that the positions you have available are tied to their HP bars. This means that if one character with high health was at 50% then the a lower health character will also only have 50% when swapping in.

Defeating enemies gives experience that can be used on any character once a stage has been completed. Leveling them up and a character becomes stronger and more durable. Level caps are in place presumably to make sure that a standard of difficulty is respected but with the bosses designed as they are? It makes things almost impossible.

Graphically and audibly the Wanderjahr is pleasant to behold but once you get into the more mechanical aspects it becomes a lot tougher and less enjoyable. Even in terms of using a controller versus holding the Switch in your hands, the controller wasn’t the most intuitive and it took a lot longer to issue your orders. Wanderjahr was really designed with a touchscreen in mind and it shows. This isn’t a bad thing if you are on the go but when you wanted to place the console in the cradle and enjoy it on the big screen? It wasn’t really an option.

Wanderjahr: TryAgainOrWalkAway is a title that has good ideas but sadly the execution just wasn’t there. Difficulty curves exist and are generally the sign of a skill but that is when they are done right compared to just being hard and ridiculous for the sake of being hard and ridiculous. With better balancing Wanderjahr could be a better title but for the current moment in time, and considering that it isn’t the first port, it sadly isn’t and probably will not be.

Game Information

Platform:
Nintendo Switch
Developer(s):
Workyrie Game Studio
Publisher(s):
Corecell Technology
Genre(s):
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation Vita
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Attack of the Earthlings - PC Review

Intro to the game and Developer information

February 8th marked the launch date for a new strategy game entitled Attack of the Earthlings developed by Junkfish. This company is based out of Scotland and has one other title called Monstrum, a survival horror game. Attack of the Earthlings is not in that genre. Instead, this game resembles XCOM in many ways except that players are the aliens. Your objective is to take out Galactoil, a corporation run by humans, whose objective it is to invade your planet.

Options/UI

Right off the bat players get to see what the controls are in the menu screen. It is a standard setup using WASD keys, Q and E to rotate the camera, F1 for the tutorial, and Enter to end a turn. That's right, this is quite similar to XCOM and other turn-based strategy titles. And the player has options to adjust the graphics like altering the shadows, anti-aliasing, and texture quality. You're also able to adjust the volume of the music or special effects. Again, nothing in the menu is particularly noteworthy as most of the keybinds and options are fairly standard across this genre.

Story/Gameplay

One of the good things about this game is the ability to skip the tutorial. The player experiences the fairly short introductory cinematic allowing the focus to be on the story objective. As you progress, the game does offer tool tips when a new ability becomes available. If you've forgotten, hitting F1 will cycle through the hot keys to make playing much easier.

During the first mission you hear the voice of Mr. Pecker over the intercom and its hilarity is not lost on the player. The game doesn't take itself too seriously with some of the character's commentary. I mean, when you hear lines like this: "That means no more using the coil to microwave your lunch!" you know the game is meant to be fun, not serious or aggravating.

It's also the type of game where you lose the map if your Matriarch is killed. It is your only unit but you can gain more by feeding on the humans you've killed. This gives you biomass which allows you to spawn grunts so that you can effectively swarm your opponents. It takes four biomass to create a grunt and you can only make one per turn. Once you spawn them, they can move and attack right away. Having this ability provides a strategic advantage against the humans.

Players start with 8 AP, or action points, to use every turn – though, nothing states that all AP needs to be used. The different abilities will consume a certain number of AP. For example, entering a vent uses two AP, presumably one is used to enter the vent and one is used to move to the other side. If you decide not to move to the corresponding vent, you don't use additional AP on the turn that you do move your grunt. It also means that a player can use the vents as a strategic hiding spot, but only the grunts are small enough to do this.

As you progress in this game, new abilities become available like being able to possess a low level human. You can use this ability to distract the armed humans that can do tons of damage in a single shot (as in, enough to kill your matriarch which means you lose the level). This adds a level of intrigue as you learn other abilities to effectively take down the humans. After all, it is your planet they are trying to take over...

You also have fun abilities like coordinated attacks. Once you have a human that has more than 25 health (which is how much damage you can inflict in a single attack), you can setup a multi attack so that nearby humans aren't alerted to your presence. This also adds another strategic level to the game and I greatly enjoy this about Attack of the Earthlings.

Audio/Music

The music in this game is quite unique in that it's synthetic in sound but in an old school detective story kind of way. I almost heard a bit of circus undertone but that might be a stretch for most people to grasp. Unfortunately, I find it's hard to explain the music style in this game, though the music doesn't detract from the story. That said, I was surprised at the music style because when I first looked at the trailer for this game, I expected the music to be a fusion of cyberpunk and alien sounds but found myself pleasantly surprised by the developers decision.

The sound effects for Attack of the Earthlings are exactly what you expect out of a strategy game. The vents sound like vents, the consume ability sounds like sloppy eating - which is both disturbing and amusing at the same time - and the gun fire effects are what we expect. Therefore, all of the audio used fits perfectly. Even Mr. Pecker sounded like a nerdy overlord.

Graphic/Style

At the outset of the game, players watch a fairly short cinematic which details the backstory. It reminds me of a comic book graphics style which is quite good. Even the detail of the top down 2D nature lends itself to this same graphics style. It's certainly not a triple A game in any way, though its graphics are crisp and clean.

The main menu has a news menu scroll bar which adds to the humour in Attack of the Earthlings – a fact that is obvious by the human leader Mr. Pecker and his choice lines.

Stylistically, this game is befitting of its genre and here is an example of what I mean.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this game has been fun to play. It's witty, it's simple to understand, and it allows creative freedom for executing humans. The gameplay is quite smooth and enjoyable. Playing the aliens is rather fun and it puts a different spin on the whole genre. From what I've seen, most strategy based games use the human perspective whereas Attack of the Earthlings flips the norm.

During gameplay, I noticed that the aliens don't talk to each other, which would have been interesting story decision. That may not be standard fare for strategy games, but being able to understand an alien point of view would have been a lovely addition. (Though, not knowing the alien intentions isn't necessary to the progression the narrative).

I would give this game an 8 out of 10 because I would love to see more development on the part of the aliens. I enjoy the music choices, the graphics style, and the challenge of the game itself. I'm glad that this game doesn't rely on weird mechanics that murder your units unfairly. And, for an inexpensive strategy game, this rates fairly high. I definitely recommend this game to fans of the genre for a light and relaxing gameplay experience.

You can follow the Junkfish on Twitter (@TeamJunkfish) or purchase it on Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/app/621930/).

Until next time!

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Team Junkfish
Publisher(s):
Junkfish Limited
Genre(s):
Turned-Based
Strategy
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday February 17

This week in Jaggy's corner I want to talk about something huge. For the first time ever, the Olympics made tentative space for esports, which was played before the main events. Eighteen professional Starcraft II players had to qualify to be part of the Olympics, where they would have a shot at $150,000 - a figure much higher than gold medalists in a variety of different disciplines.

The decision to include esports in the Olympics was challenged by many, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Some people understand how esports fit into the international stage while others don't see it that way. It's just video games so how can that be considered a legitimate sport? I mean, players train several hours per day perfecting their craft. They have to eat right and follow a regimented schedule. They sacrifice their social lives to analyze and improve upon builds, strategies, and concepts. Players travel the world to attend events where they compete for money. But no, to some people, esports don't sound as difficult as the struggles of a professional hockey player for example. This industry couldn't possibly have millions of viewers every single day on platforms like Twitch, Mixer, or YouTube. Perhaps the populous could consider the following statement which I've quoted from Yahoo! sports.

At a time when virtually every other sport and entertainment option is losing viewership and market share, esports are expanding at astronomical rates. A Newzoo report pegged esports' reach at the end of 2017 at 385 million people, with projections of 589 million fans by 2020. Intel's Extreme Masters series has grown year over year; a two-week 2017 festival in Poland drew 170,000 fans and an online audience of 45 million.

Source: Olympic medals for video gamers? It could happen, sooner than you think

Clearly esports don't have the same competitive demands like "normal sports" do, but I digress...

Over the course of the week, people from all over the world have taken an interest in PyeongChang, whether it be for figure skating, cross country skiing, speed skating, snowboarding, hockey, etc... And during this time, Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) put on the Starcraft II Olympics featuring the following professional players:  

• Kim "sOs" Yoo Jim
• Sasha "Scarlett" Hostyn
• Isaac "PandaBearMe" Fox
• Ilyes "Stephano" Satouri
• Le "Time" Peinan
• Juan Carlos "SpeCial" Tena Lopez
• Sung Wook "Zest" Joo
• Diego "Kelazhur" Schwimmer
• Gabriel "HeRoMarinE" Segat
• Aleksandr "Bly" Svusuyk
• Sean "Probe" Kempen
• Mikolaj "Elazer" Ogonowski
• Joona "Serral" Sotala
• Pablo "Cham" Blanco
• Varun "Demi" Immanuel
• Adrian "DnS" Bouet
• Sebastian "eGGz" Lattore
• Huang "Nice" Yushang

Ultimately, competition was stiff as these players are at the top of their games, although only a certain number of players were able to qualify from each different region. The eighteen players would vy for spots based on their region. Two were chosen from North America, four from Europe (one for each area like North, South, West, etc..), two from South America, one from Africa, one from China, one from Asia West, one from Asia East, one from Australia & Oceania, and two from South Korea.

The full details of the qualifying requirements leading up to the Olympics can be found on ESL's site:

Spoilered Results

If somehow you missed the games or the news about esports in the Olympics, the winner of Sc2 PyeongChang is none other than Toronto player Sasha "Scarlett" Hostyn, which makes me quite happy. She has proven herself to be the best professional player in the Sc2 scene, and now she is world famous. Talk about being a class of her own...

Because of her win, Canada earned yet another gold from the Olympics.

🥇🇨🇦 Your #IEM #PyeongChang2018 Champion: @onfireScarlett! 🇨🇦🥇 pic.twitter.com/HcwI0EttEB

— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) February 7, 2018

If you want to watch any of the matches, YouTube has a playlist containing many of them. Here they are:

Final Thoughts

Despite the IOC not completely recognizing esports as a legitimate sport - a fact that can be debated on either side - it did not anger me as much as an articles careless and offensive statement did. In it, the writer commented about Sasha "actually being female". I don't know if that person was trying to make a quip about the fact that Sasha is legitimately female in the eyes of the law, or if it was the fact that a female could play at such a high level. Either way, I have some choice words for that writer and none of them are good. Accept the fact that society has evolved to be inclusive or step off. We get enough of that crap on Twitch and we don't need lowball shots like that in news media on an international scale.

(On a slight side step to that, if that writer had met Sasha in person and spoken to her for any length of time, they'd know that she is actually a really kind person undeserving of the potshot you threw into your article. Yes, I'm calling you out. Deal with it.)

Regardless, it's been an exciting Olympic filled week and I don't think it's fair that the IOC blatantly disregards esports as valid sports. So, I'm curious to know what you guys think about the idea. Should esports have their own version of the Olympics or should they be allowed in the with the other sports?

You can find me on Twitter @Jagtress so hit me up with your thoughts.

Until next time!

Article by Susan N.


All images belong to their respective owners.

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