Take-Two Interactive Has Registered Domain For Grand Theft Auto Vice City Online
The Grand Theft Auto series has been a beast of a franchise ever since at least Grand Theft Auto 3. But with Grand Theft Auto 5, the series has been taken to an entirely different level. One of the big facets to that success has been Grand Theft Auto Online, which has become something of a gaming entity of its own. It's hard to say what the future of the franchise is beyond GTA5 and Online, but a new domain could point to it.
As discovered by Reddit user cmputerguy, there is a newly registered domain of a website gtavicecityonline.com, and it links back to Take-Two Interactive. What could this mean? It's hard to tell. Most of the information we know seems to point to a potential Grand Theft Auto 6 being a long ways off. Could we be getting some type of Vice City-themed expansion to Grand Theft Auto Online? We know more content is coming to the online part of the game, including exclusive material for next generation consoles.
Only time will tell. For the time being, for your GTA fix, you'll have to be content with Grand Theft Auto 5 and Online on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Marvel's Avengers Beta Datamine Reveals More Potential Upcoming Characters
Marvel's Avengers will be flying in at the beginning of next month, and you'll be able to play as some of most iconic Avengers such as Iron Man, Thor and Hulk. But the game is in for that long live service haul, and we know there's lots of plans to add a lot of different superheroes to the mix. For sure, we know Hawkeye is coming, and that Spider-Man will come to PlayStation platforms. Who else in the mix? Well, digging around the code of the recent beta has shown a lot of names.
The original datamining came from Reddit user RoboMatters, but was deleted. It's since been uploaded to YouTube, which you can see below. The list of names are below, and each one was found alongside a "UnlockPlayableCharacter_" prefix and are mixed in with characters in the base game. Some of these have been found before, specifically Kate Bishop, She-Hulk and War Machine, but most are new. A lot of these are about what you would expect, such as Black Panther and Winter Solider, though there's a few unexpected standouts such as Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel before Carol Danvers took that mantle. Check it all out below.
Marvel's Avengers will release on September 4th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Stadia. PS5 and Xbox Series X versions are confirmed to come later.
Ant-Man
Black Panther
Captain Marvel
Captain America
Doctor Strange
Falcon
Hawkeye
Hulk
Hulkbuster
Iron-Man
Kamala
Kate Bishop
Mar-Vell
Mockingbird
Quake
Scarlet Witch
She-Hulk
Thor
Vision
War Machine
Wasp
Black Widow
Winter Soldier
Shadow Warrior And RuneScape Developers Team Up To Make Multiplayer Sci-Fi Action RPG
Right now, developer Flying Wild Hog is all about getting Shadow Warrior 3, and all the quirkiness and humor the series is known for, to us by 2021. But it seems that the revived FPS series isn't the only thing the company has planned for next year. An unlikely team up has been announced that will see them seemingly tackle something quite different.
Via Twitter, it was announced that Flying Wild Hog and Jagex are teaming up for a new project. If you don't know, Jagex is the developer behind the long running online RPGs, RuneScape and Old School RuneScape. The project apparently runs on Unreal Engine 4 and is due out next year. They say they also planned opened and closed beta phases planned already.
Despite being planned in such a close time frame, there's next to no specific details on the game. It's only described as a sci-fi multiplayer action RPG, which could mean a number of different things. Most likely, whatever it'll be will be shown off soon if it really is that close, so stay tuned.
We're delighted to announce that we're partnering with @Flying_Wild_Hog to create an all-new multiplayer sci-fi action-RPG: https://t.co/L8EFqq7IWD
So load up your laser guns, and roll on 2021! pic.twitter.com/upmHjdePW3
— Jagex (@Jagex) August 17, 2020
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 Datamine Shows Potential Return Of Hidden Characters
There is something special about the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series that is difficult to describe to someone who wasn't there in the late 1990s and early 2000s, in the heyday of the franchise. It was one of the first big mainstream skateboarding games, and was filled with quirks and fun unlockables. One of those was the many hidden characters you could shred with. The likes of Spider-Man, Darth Vader and the Doom Slayer all were featured in the games at some point or another. It's a different world now, though, and certain companies are far more protective of their IPs as they once were, but the upcoming Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 remaster looks to still be bringing back an old friend.
The recent demo was datamined, and within it, the files for a potential secret character have been found. Those who recall the older games will also recall Officer Dick, a slightly overweight cop who was all about skateboarding on his off time. Here it looks like he will be featured and, also, that he will get a face lift to look like one Jack Black. The picture and files were originally found via Reddit, but have since been deleted, but the internet never forgets, and you can see the file picture below.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 will release September 4th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. A demo for the game is available now for those who preorder the game digitally.
Hitman 3 Game Modes Revealed, Ghost Mode Not Returning
IO Interactive's Hitman 3 is out early next year and while we've heard about some locations, the developer has outlined what modes can be expected. Along with a Campaign which features "the most important contracts" of Agent 47's career, Elusive Targets are also returning. Interestingly, there will be some changes to how Elusive Target missions play out but these will be revealed "at a later date."
Escalations are also here and they're pretty much the same. The twist is that "new elements" are introduced as the contract progresses like more security cameras, restrictions on disguises and so on. Contracts Mode, like previous games, allows for creating missions and sharing them with others to see if they can clear them. You can also expect Featured Contracts where IO Interactive will choose the very best user-created missions.
Sniper Assassin is included and once again focuses on taking down targets with a sniper rifle. The mode can be played in existing maps and is single-player only. Interestingly enough, there's quite a bit that's being sunset for Hitman 2 including co-op servers (though solutions for Trophies tied to multiplayer will be introduced).
Another mode that will see its servers shut down in Hitman 2 is Ghost Mode. This is scheduled to happen on August 31st and it won't be returning for Hitman 3. Regarding this decision, IO Interactive said, "We have learnt a hell of a lot from Ghost Mode over the last two years and we'll be taking all of those learnings onboard for what we do in the future with regards to multiplayer." The good news is that The Phantom Suit, only unlockable from Ghost Mode, can be unlocked in Hitman 3.
There's quite a bit that's changing but expect more details in the coming months. Hitman 3 is currently slated to release in January 2021 for Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC and Google Stadia.
WB Games Montreal Reveals New Teaser Ahead of DC FanDome
DC FanDome is just a few days away and Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is confirmed for reveal. Another title that was confirmed was WB Games Montreal's next, which is interesting given how long ago the developer was teasing the game. It's since released another teaser, this one more cryptic than the others.
Along with a GIF on Twitter, a new website called r3dakt3d.com was launched and it seems that fans will play some role in uncovering its mysteries. According to Jordan Oloman on Twitter, the website's code indicates different radio numbers for "unlocking" the website. This seems to point to a trailer reveal on August 21st.
It's not a bad strategy to tease the game before officially unveiling it on August 22nd at DC FanDome. Reports indicate that it's called Batman: Gotham Knights and that, along with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it will be coming to Xbox Series X and PS5. Stay tuned for more details over the next few days.
_ _ . _ _ . _ _ . _ _ _ @r3dakt3d pic.twitter.com/AkuasxjP5i
— WB Games Montréal (@WBGamesMTL) August 17, 2020
Had a look at the code behind the #CourtOfOwls website https://t.co/htFxPpv67e and it looks like we'll be unlocking the trailer with radio numbers over the course of four days. Interesting! This suggests we'll get the full trailer on the Friday the 21st. pic.twitter.com/1MGLQz5wxe
— Jordan Oloman (@JordanOloman) August 17, 2020
Mortal Shell Review – Immortal Souls
In the increasingly crowded Soulslike genre, Cold Symmetry's Mortal Shell is like a cover band of a classic artist that finally branches off to make its own music. Songs here and there show a few key differences that differentiate it from its influences, and some of them are significant and successful enough to make it independently notable. But if you strip back its layers, almost every aspect of the album can be directly tied to the original band. Likewise, Mortal Shell is a cover band for the Souls series. Its formula is mostly unchanged, and its differences feel more like experimental additions rather than innovative evolutions. While it successfully navigates a lot of what the Souls series does so well and will be enjoyable for fans of the genre looking for another taste, it never quite reaches the heights of the games it so clearly mimics.
After a little help with the lingo, anyone familiar with the tenets of the Soulslike genre will quickly settle into Mortal Shell's core gameplay. Its third-person action RPG combat is heavily sword-based and pits you against increasingly difficult enemies who seem to be waiting around just for you to show up, occasionally throwing in a major and much more difficult boss fight. Killing enemies grants you tar – the game's equivalent of souls – and, upon death, you respawn at an occurrence of Sister Genessa, the equivalent of a bonfire, enemies respawn, and your tar stays where you last died until either you retrieve it or it is lost forever.
There's a heavy reliance on learning enemy attack patterns, and progress most often occurs not in physical progression through environments, but in further understanding of enemies and increased ease with which you can defeat them. It's always satisfying to catch something new that an enemy does that helps you slowly figure out how to beat them, especially after they've kicked your teeth in a bunch of times.
Mortal Shell's first major twist on the genre comes just seconds in. You're informed that you're an immortal being who can take the eponymous shell of named fallen soldiers that you come across around the world, and, in doing so, take on their characteristics: health, stamina, weapons, and armor. This means that you have no power over upgrading your stats and are only able to run with what you're given.
"At virtually any time in combat, you can use Mortal Shell's biggest twist, its hardening system, to harden your shell to block against any incoming enemy attack."
Instead, your upgrades, which are only available after unlocking the shell's name and history, are more skill-based and reward more intricate abilities like parrying. While I appreciated the streamlined approach, as every shell more or less accounts for a standard class from other games, it wasn't long before I discovered a shell that I stuck with for the rest of the game. Aside from the somewhat contextual weapon upgrades with items I found throughout the world, the lack of character upgrades ultimately feels more restrictive than liberating.
At virtually any time in combat, you can use Mortal Shell's biggest twist, its hardening system, to harden your shell to block against any incoming enemy attack. Unlike guarding or blocking, you don't have to be outside of an attack animation or in a certain position to do this, including mid-swing. It allows you vastly more flexibility because it's impenetrable for a single attack and can be used either as a get out of jail free or as part of a larger attack plan, and, by the end, I was using it as a significant portion of my entire strategy. It works as an interesting risk-reward system that allows you a safeguard if you're in a sticky situation, but overreliance on it can get you killed quickly because it only guards against one hit, despite many enemies' tendencies for multiple quick attacks.
This is easily the biggest and most successful differentiator for this game in its genre because it creates a lot of organic gameplay moments where you're on your last bit of health but can squeeze out of a tight spot. I also loved how many ways there are to create combos. Almost every combination of light and heavy attacks, especially when hardening comes into the mix, has its own unique and fluid animation that I never got tired of watching, like when I would juggle my sword for a final heavy attack in a long combo. Adding in the ability to parry, which allows for a deadly counterattack when done correctly, broadens combat possibilities further. The new resolve system, a bar that builds as you quickly attack enemies but lessens the longer you wait, also rewards aggressive gameplay but increases your risk of making a costly mistake and adds yet another element to combat, making it altogether difficult to figure out at first but incredibly fun and rewarding to master.
"Mortal Shell takes a nod from Sekiro and implements a second chance system. Instead of dying, you're flung out of your shell and, with enemies frozen, given a short chance to reclaim the shell to refill your health."
When you do finally lose all your health, which you inevitably will many times, you don't immediately respawn. Instead, Mortal Shell takes a nod from Sekiro and implements a second chance system. Instead of dying, you're flung out of your shell and, with enemies frozen, given a short chance to reclaim the shell to refill your health. When you die again, you respawn, though reclaiming your lost tar and previous shell gives you another health refill, making it possible to have two full health refills total. This is especially useful, and oftentimes necessary, in the hardest boss fights, whose arenas always carry your previous shell and whose attacks are highly damaging.
A final divergence from its predecessors comes in how items are used and explained. At first, you have no understanding of what an item does, and the more you use an item, the more effective it becomes. I liked this system because it rewards experimentation, but it falls into the same trap of allowing me to find one or two items I understood and forgetting the rest. Most notably, its health items are not given every time you die and instead are found around the world like everything else. This reinforces how much you have to think about using them because you won't get them back, but, even at full familiarity, they were never useful enough compared to having three full bars of health, and I often forgot I had them.
While the twists make some notable changes to the formula, I could never shake the feeling that Mortal Shell was retreading old ground that the Souls series had already covered more effectively, and a lot of its shortcomings have to do with its length and structure. Its story, very reminiscent of Dark Souls in its dark tone and obscurity, sets you off to find three Sacred Glands and return them to a shackled prisoner. Each Gland comes at the end of a long, mostly linear sequence capped off with a boss, and you can take them in any order. The sequences are impressively diverse in their setpieces and often intricately laid out, coming with their own sets of intimidating, beautifully animated enemies and grand spectacle, especially with environmental changes that occur as you move further along.
"If I didn't know any better, you could convince me that Mortal Shell is another, smaller entry into the Dark Souls series with minor tweaks to its established formula, for better or worse."
They're great at evoking the dreary tone so synonymous with these games, but, unfortunately, they come off as incredibly imbalanced. Getting the first Gland took me nearly 10 hours, after which I had come back battered and bruised, anticipating higher difficulties as I progressed, but the second and third took no more than a couple hours each, and one of the bosses I beat on my first try without much luck. Such a jarring difficulty drop made me wonder if I had played the sequences in an unintended order, but it's confusing to think there's a best order to play without any clear direction as to which order that is.
Also disappointing is how infrequently bosses pop up. I'd argue that bosses are some of the most important and enjoyable aspects of the Souls series because of the raised stakes and tension of finally taking them down. The same is true here, but I fought a total of 6 or 7 in my entire 15-hour playthrough, only four of which I found particularly difficult. The ones I took the most time to beat were the highlights of the entire time I spent with the game because they truly tapped into why these types of boss fights are so great, but I couldn't help but wonder why I spent so much more time fighting armies of grunts instead.
If I didn't know any better, you could convince me that Mortal Shell is another, smaller entry into the Dark Souls series with minor tweaks to its established formula, for better or worse. It knows exactly what it's trying to do, and it does a lot of the things it takes from the Souls series really well. That famous feeling of satisfaction is still there when you finally kill a boss or get past a hard section, and the changes to gameplay, especially its impressive hardening system, are mostly for the better. Its influences, though, are always in the forefront, making it difficult to look past its flaws.
This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Crosses $3 Million on Kickstarter
Suikoden spiritual successor Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes has been on a tear since its Kickstarter campaign launched. It's recently crossed over $3 million in crowd-funding and there's still 12 days left. The initial funding goal was $509,713 but that was achieved in a matter of hours.
In terms of stretch goals, Hot Springs, a monster raising minigame called "Catch 'Em All" and Iris joining the roster have all been unlocked. For those unfamiliar with the title, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a new RPG from Suikoden veterans Yoshitaka Murayama and Junko Kawano. There are battles where six characters can be fielded, graphics that combine 2D sprites with 3D backgrounds and 100 different characters to recruit.
Other features include The Fortress Town, a base that can be upgraded to unlock weapon crafting, granaries and whatnot along with New Game Plus, a fishing minigame, Guild System and more. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is currently slated to release for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X, PS5 and PC in Fall 2022. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends Announced – Free Co-op Mode Arrives in Fall
Remember when Ghost of Tsushima director Nate Fox seemingly teased multiplayer for the franchise? Turns out that a co-op experience is coming sooner than we thought. Ghost of Tsushima: Legends has been announced and it's a co-op mode with four classes and missions inspired by Japanese mythology. Check out the reveal trailer below.
Players will choose from classes like Samurai, Hunter, Ronin or Assassin and either take part in story missions or wave-based survival missions (which feature new Oni enemies). The former supports two players while the latter is for four players. Demons and otherworldly entities appear to be a huge focal point here, not to mention some very snazzy armor sets.
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends will release in Fall 2020. It's completely free for owners of the current game and supports matchmaking (though you'll need PlayStation Plus for online play). It doesn't end at launch though as Sucker Punch has confirmed a four player raid that will release "shortly after." This raid will see players fighting a "brutal, terrifying enemy" in an "entirely new realm."
Stay tuned for more details and gameplay footage in the coming months.
Marvel's Avengers to Get Spider-Man DLC in March 2021 – Rumour
The fact that Spider-Man will be coming to Marvel's Avengers as a DLC character in 2021 should be cause for celebration- which it is… but not for everyone. Him being exclusive to the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game has stirred up a fair bit of controversy over the last couple of weeks- beyond all that though, when exactly can PlayStation owners look forward to playing as him in Crystal Dynamics' upcoming game?
Well, we don't have a clear date for that from any official channels, but UK retailer GAME might have spilled the beans. A Reddit user recently got an email from the retailer (via MP1st) in which it mentions that Spider-Man will be added to the game's roster of playable characters next March. You can take a look at a screencap of the email in question below.
This is unofficial information, of course, and there is a chance that the retailer simply made a mistake- but then again, there's every chance that it let the launch window for the character slip before it was supposed to. Either way, we'll keep you updated, so stay tuned.
Marvel's Avengers is out for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia on September 4, and later in the year for PS5 and Xbox Series X. You can check out its PC requirements through here.
