Immortals Fenyx Rising Gets New Videos On Story, Character Creator, And First Boss Fight
Ubisoft sure has a lot aimed to come out by this year's end. Not only will Watch Dogs: Legion and Assassin's Creed Valhalla come just in time for next generation console launches, they'll be rounding out the year with Immortals Fenyx Rising, a new IP set in Greek myth. We've seen quite a good deal of the game already, but now there's even more to enjoy.
Today ended up being quite the blitz of information. First up is a trailer that details the story of the titular Fenyx as she must unite the banished Gods to try and fight a terrible foe from the deep past. While Fenyx is the default protagonist, there is a character creator that you can also see. While it's not the most extensive creator out there, you can see there's a lot of things to play around with. To round it off, we also get the first boss fight, which is also accompanied by some puzzles and normal fights beforehand, with a giant cyclops called Mikros the Adorable. These comes via PlayStation, IGN and Game Informer, respectively, and you can check all three videos out below.
Immortals Fenyx Rising will launch on December 3rd across all major platforms. The game also has a limited time demo that you can check out until the 29th exclusively on the Stadia platform.
Xbox Series S Retail Box Potentially Leaked Via Photo
The next generation of consoles will be an interesting one for Microsoft. They are employing a new tactic to the console space by releasing two different systems at two different power levels. The Xbox Series S is the lower tier of the two, and has caused quite the stir. While some have no issue with it, others have expressed concern. Whether or not the power gap will matter in the end is something we will just have to see about, but in the meantime, do you want to see its box?
Via the gaming forum ResetERA, there is an alleged photo, the first one known, of the Xbox Series S retail box. As always, you have to take these types of leaks with a grain of salt, and it's not clear where this photo originated from, but it is a very high quality one and nothing about this looks especially fake. It's also quite small, as one would expect.
The Xbox Series S will launch alongside the Series X on November 10th. You can read about the lineup for the systems through here.
Rune 2 Lawsuit Alleges Bethesda/Zenimax Tried To Sabotage Game Prior To Release
Rune 2 released last year and seemed to have done quite well for itself, but the story surrounding it, sadly, was not a positive one. There was heavy dispute between the publisher and developer of the title, one that saw Ragnarok suing Human Head Studios for the game's source code and assets, a lawsuit in which they ultimately won and have continued to try and improve the game. But it seems as if the ride doesn't stop there, as now the scope of the issues with Rune 2 are allegedly much bigger and involves a pretty big name.
If you don't recall, eyebrows were raised when the game's original developer, Human Head Studios, shut down shortly after Rune 2's release and reformed as Roundhouse Studios under publisher Bethesda. Well, it seems in the ongoing lawsuit, Ragnarok is alleging that Bethesda and their then parent company, Zenimax (this occurred before the Microsoft buyout) sabotaged the game's development, forming a new subsidiary with Human Head Studios and ordering those workers to stop all production on Rune 2 as well as purchased all of its equipment before the game's launch. The details come via GamesIndustry.
"In an act of utter bad faith and contractual breach of confidentiality requirements, Human Head secretly provided Bethesda and ZeniMax with 'keys' that permitted it to play a confidential, pre-release version of Rune 2. This enabled Bethesda and ZeniMax to see for themselves the threat that Rune 2 posed to their hit franchise, Skyrim/Elder Scrolls.
"Two weeks prior to launch of Rune 2, ZeniMax secretly formed a new subsidiary, Roundhouse Studios LLC, and used that company to purchase all of Human Head's equipment and take over its leases. That equipment contained Plaintiffs' trade secrets, the source code and materials for Rune 2 and Oblivion Song. In that same time frame, in order to complete a de facto merger, ZeniMax arranged to have all employees dismissed from Human Head and hired by ZeniMax."
To add to all of this, even though Ragnarok did get the source code back eventually as mentioned above, they state in the lawsuit, "the assets that ultimately were transferred were incomplete and unusable. Indeed, it appears as if Defendants with malicious intent deliberately organized the assets in such a way as to ensure they were as indecipherable and unusable as possible." They are seeking damages no less than $100 million.
It's quite the story, and who knows how that will shake out. Bethesda is now fully owned by Microsoft even if all of this was alleged to happen well before that acquisition. How that will or won't affect this is anyone's guess. Either way, Rune 2 is available now on PC via the Epic Games Store with a Steam release set to come next month. We'll keep you updated as more details trickle down.
Gears Tactics Will Run at 4K/60 FPS on Xbox Series X and 1440p/60 FPS on Xbox Series S
Gears Tactics launched earlier this year on PC, and in less than a month, it will become available on consoles as well. On its console release, it will be available across several devices, and now, The Coalition have revealed details on what frame rates and resolutions the tactics game will tackle on each of them.
The developer has confirmed to The Verge that on the Xbox Series X, Gears Tactics will run at 4K and 60 FPS. For cinematics, players will have a choice between 30 FPS and 60 FPS. "Not for any performance reason but more for just personal taste," explains Cam McRae, technical director at The Coalition.
Meanwhile, on the Xbox Series S, the game will run at 1440p and 60 FPS. On the Xbox One X, players will have the option for either 4K / 30 FPS or 1440p / 60 FPS. Finally, on a base Xbox One, the game will run at 1080p at 30 FPS>
Though the frame rate and performance figures for the game on the Xbox Series S and the Xbox One X, McRae says that for several reasons, Gears Tactics still looks better on the former. "It is better on the Series S," says McRae. "It's visually better — same resolution, same frame rate, but the CPU is so much better in the Series S and the Series X that we have a lot more ability to just draw more stuff. Even though the GPU is responsible for drawing, we still have to get it there off the CPU, and on the Xbox One X you'll see that the visual quality is not quite as high as it is on the Series S in the performance mode."
Gears Tactics will release for consoles on November 10, and will also bring plenty of new content to the game.
Gears 5 will also be optimized for the Xbox Series X / S on the same day, and will boast higher frame rates, reduced latency, shorter load times, and more.
Godfall Progression Detailed – Skill Grid, Crafting and More
Counterplay Games has offered more details on the progression of looter slasher Godfall en route to its release. Speaking to IGN, senior technical producer Richard Heyne discussed aspects like the Skill Grid, Trinkets and the significance of crafting. First up is the Skill Grid, which Heyne says is meant to provide "maximal flexibility."
"We wanted to avoid choice paralysis, because Godfall combat can be quick, it can be snappy. It's action-packed, and if every two levels you're having to open the UI menu, read each individual skill, decide the best path for you… it wasn't synonymous with what Godfall is, and it would really hinder the player's experience."
Along with being able to respec instantly, skill points can carry over between Valorplates. This reduces the amount of grinding necessary for really taking advantage of a new Valorplate. In terms of loot, players can equip two weapons, a life stone, charm, banner, amulet, ring and augment. These can be changed in the middle of a mission but upgrading and enchanting is done at the Sanctum, the de facto player hub.
While upgrading will level up a weapon, enchanting increases its rarity level. "If there was a piece of loot that you really liked and you wanted to use for an extended period of time, we wanted to make sure there was some ability to bring that weapon with you throughout the game," explains Heyne, who also confirmed that there were 125 weapon options available. As for crafting, certain materials are exclusive to certain realms but players won't be pushed into grinding for them.
Instead, the discovery and gathering will be more natural. "You can go into the Water realm during your campaign missions. You'll naturally be brought there. You'll be in the Water realm for hunt missions. There will be endgame content that takes place in the Water realm. There will be co-op opportunities in the Water realm.
"So you're not being told, 'Hey, you have to go do this side mission to unlock Mesa the Valorplate.' You should be able to probably get enough crafting materials for a handful of those throughout the campaign itself, and then if there are any [items needed for the others]… you should have a list of activities to pick from, be able to choose what you want and to fill out those last pieces of your armory without feeling slowed down."
Finally, with regards to Trinkets, they're described as "unique pieces of loot" that can't really be seen but provide "unique traits that closely tie into the various archetypes that you can explore within Godfall. And the right Trinket put into the right build is really what is supposed to round it out and bring that build together."
Godfall is slated to release on November 12th for PS5 and PC. For the latest gameplay, head here.
Watch Dogs: Legion Review Embargo Will Lift October 28
The Watch Dogs series has been an interesting one to look at as far as tone and story. Each entry has gone in a different direction in how it portrays its characters and their goals, and the next entry, Legion, is going in yet another shift with an ambitious system that will allow you to be literally anyone in your crusade. Well, how that'll land will be anyone's guess, but as far as critics, you'll know what they think the day before release.
It's been revealed via OpenCritic that reviews for Watch Dogs: Legion will see embargoes lift on October 28th at 7:00AM EST. The official launch of the game will be the day after. So, keep your eyes peeled to see what the general consensus will end up being. It'll be interesting to see with what Ubisoft is trying here.
Watch Dogs: Legion will release on October 29th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Stadia. Those who pre-ordered digitally on the Xbox One can also preload now. Legion will also come to the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S with those consoles' launches.
Costume Quest 2 And Layers Of Fear 2 Are Free Now On Epic Games Store
Considering the state of the world right now, it doesn't quite feel like the witching season, but we are just over a week from Halloween. It's a time when all industries try to put out their spookiest efforts in whatever way, and that includes the Epic Games Store in this week's free game slate.
This weeks games include the charming RPG Costume Quest 2. The game was a sequel to Double Fine's rather wholesome title and sees a group of kids fighting evil candy stealing monsters and time traveling doctors on Halloween night in a variety of powerful costumes. The other game is on the opposite side of the spectrum, Layers of Fear 2. It is a first person title that sees you trapped on a boat as a deranged former filmmaker terrifies you through twisted versions of classic film. Just to give you an idea of how long these free giveaways have been going on, both of theses title's predecessors were given away on the store roughly one year ago.
Costume Quest 2 and Layers of Fear 2 are available to redeem for free on Epic Games Store now, which you can find through here. They will be up until October 29th, and after that the Halloween season will continue with Blair Witch and Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered.
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends – The Tale of Iyo Raid Goes Live on October 30th
Sucker Punch Productions' Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is only a week old but will be receiving new content fairly soon. Along with weekly challenges going live at 8 AM PT every Friday, the first raid, "The Tale of Iyo", will be releasing on October 30th. There's no matchmaking for the raid though so you'll have to bring some friends along for the ride.
Along with taking players to Iyo's realm over three chapters, the raid will require "excellent coordination and communication." It's also recommended to have KI level 100 gear at the minimum in order to participate. More details on the raid's exact launch time shall be provided in the coming days.
As for the weekly challenges, they essentially add weekly modifiers to a two-player Story mission and four-player Survival mission. Each is set at Nightmare difficulty but completing them with their bonus objectives rewards max-level gear. You can also compete on weekly leaderboards, aiming for higher scores in each specific category.
What Went Wrong With Bionic Commando?
It's been well over 3 whole decades since the likes of Nathan Rad Spencer came swinging into our arcades and on our Nintendo Entertainment Systems with that special brand of platforming and shooting that only a Bionic Commando game could've given us. The game was a huge hit at the time in the arcades for its unique grappling mechanic that would send you swinging and flying over gaps. As such, an NES port was made. While this version upped the level count, the important thing was that the game's concept and fun-factor carried over to the console space effortlessly and the franchise would grow in popularity steadily for the next couple of decades.
Despite that, where do we see the franchise at now? It's more-or-less in relative obscurity at this point. I'm sure there are people out there who know what Bionic Commando is and are loosely familiar with it, but obviously it's nothing compared to what it used to be at least in terms of its popularity. But why did this happen? Why would a franchisee that was so popular that justified several sequels and even a remake now find itself relegated to the ashbin of gaming history as it is? What the hell happened to Bionic Commando?
It would be 4 years before the next Bionic Commando game would surface in the form of a remake on Nintendo's portable Game Boy. Outside of a few cosmetic changes and changing the city of the original game to be a more futuristic one, the game play remained pretty much intact relying on the swinging, the shooting, and the jumping that fans of the original game would be expecting. Despite being a fairly faithful remake of the original game's ideas this version of Bionic Commando would not sell very well at all despite being on a very popular handheld console. While the ideas of Bionic Commando were definitely still interesting to those who did enjoy that type of thing, as a franchise, it was starting to show some cracks in terms of its longevity and audience penetration capabilities. In light of that, the series would sit on ice for a while, before re-emerging in the year 2000.
The New Millennium would be known for bringing us lots of interesting things. Another round of powerful home consoles to game on and a litany of interesting games to play on them would stand out quite a bit, but the year 2000 also brought us Bionic Commando: Elite Forces for the Gameboy Color. Again, while the basic mechanics of a Bionic Commando game were certainly present with the swinging, the grappling, the shooting, and the side-scrolling, here we saw pretty much everything else thrown out. Instead of the main character that we had grown used to from the previous games we now have two unnamed Commandos of either gender. The plot was more or less non-existent, and the art direction was fairly boilerplate for the time, especially considering what was coming out on more powerful systems of the era.
Despite all of this, the gameplay was okay, and it basically felt like a Bionic Commando game. It had all of the things that you would expect it to have along with a few sections that mixed things up a little bit by letting you use a sniper rifle. As a result, it would be reviewed fairly well and people who played It generally didn't have a lot to complain about with it. Unfortunately being stuck on the Gameboy Color in 2000 pretty much guaranteed that it wouldn't have a whole lot of market penetration and wouldn't do a whole lot of favors to the franchise that was already struggling to find its footing with modern audiences. This would be a trend for the series that unfortunately would continue well into the next several entries.
Another many years would pass before Bionic Commando rearmed would officially launch on PSN and Xbox Live Arcade as a digital only experience. This game would add 3D polygons resulting in a jump up in production value overall while retaining the same facets of the original games that made them what they were and made them fun. Fortunately, this game was not just a rehash of the previous games' ideas, but instead would iterate on them in interesting ways with different camera angles, some new abilities, and a really striking art style that made the foreground characters pop off of the background in a way that many games seem to be unable to achieve these days.
The addition of a multiplayer mode was also nice to see although the real star of the show here was the main campaign. The game would, as a result of the fresh ideas and respect for the source material, review pretty well with mainstream gaming critics. Unfortunately while its sales were pretty good for the time given that it was a digital only release it did have a bit of a ceiling that it couldn't quite overcome much like how several of the previous games were limited to the constraints portable consoles and outdated technology.
The following year, in 2009, Bionic Commando would be released. don't let that name fool you though because this wasn't an actual reboot as much as it was a forward-thinking sequel looking to revitalize the franchise. I always find it annoying when sequels don't name themselves like a sequel and we're forced to sort it out years later with a bunch of confusing titles, but nevertheless Bionic Commando 2009 was the series is biggest push yet to appeal to modern audiences with a AAA looking polished third person action adventure presentation that still held onto a lot of the basic tenets of the original games with lots of swinging, shooting, and platforming. This game had pretty good graphics and overall production value for the time, as well as a much meatier story that thankfully doesn't get in the way of the gameplay like a lot of action adventure games of the time did.
Unfortunately, despite the solid attempt at a real modern take on the franchise that it actually deserves, the game would suffer from mediocre gameplay and fairly linear style that, while fine for other games of the era, never quite felt right for this one. Couple that with the fairly janky frame-rate and a handful of flawed level designs and you have a game that is ultimately alright, but also destined for the bargain bin, as many other, much better games were coming out in 2009 like Batman: Arkham Asylum and Borderlands. Bionic Commando 2009 was fine in its own right, but it just couldn't stand up to that stiff competition. It was perhaps a bit out of its league in that regard.
In 2011, Bionic Commando would take one more stab at success with Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, a sequel to a reimagining remake from 2008, that was arguably the best game in the series so far. Much like Bionic Commando rearmed the presentation and the graphics and the gameplay we're all fairly solid and did justice to the ideas of the original games. Despite finally adding the ability to jump the game fails to really innovate in any major way. While the overall aesthetic of Bionic Commando rearmed definitely returns in this one for some reason it just looks darker and less interesting than its predecessor. One thing it did nail is the ability to go back and replay sections with newly acquired abilities that made those levels feel fresh and that's something that the older games also had in their corners.
Despite this, the conservative nature of the game and its inability to really innovate in any major way caused it to review perhaps worse than any other game before it cumulatively. As if the series hadn't struggled to find its footing enough before this, Rearmed 2 would serve as the final nail in Bionic Commando's coffin, at least for the time being. That said the series does seem to have a pattern of going silent for about 10 years and then showing up with a new game. If that pattern holds then where I guess we're due for another one anytime now. I, for one, am totally fine with Bionic Commando getting as many chances as it needs. However, I'm not so sure that Capcom agrees.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
As soon as you hit the ice with NHL 21, you'll notice it's rather nice presentation, smooth gameplay, and if you're a player of past games, you'll definitely notice a handful of tweaks here and there that chisel away at some of the gnawing issues from previous entries. Once you jump in, you're greeted with a very succinct menu system that breaks up the game's various modes in a very logical way. This was essential for the game to get down pat seeing as how there are so many ways to play NHL 21 and so many modes within it.
In fact, what makes things even easier for players who already know what they like best, there's a top-level "pinned modes" menu that you can customize how you want so you can get straight to where you want to be and ignore everything you don't generally want. Players of NHL 20 will instantly recognize the DNA of that game at nearly every turn with 21's presentation and arrangement of its ideas, and that's not a bad thing. With so many options, it would have been extremely easy for EA sports to mess this part up, but thankfully what wasn't broken is largely being left alone here. Using the menus are a different story however, but we'll get to that in a minute.
Sadly, the philosophy of leaving things alone is also in place for things that did need improvement. Most noticeably in the area of roster sharing, which is still frustratingly nonexistent. This is an issue that the NHL community has been vocal about for some time, as the franchise would obviously benefit from the ability to share custom, user-created draft classes and players like Madden does. Unfortunately, at least this time around, those requests from gamers seem to be continuing to fall on deaf ears at EA sports. You'd think with the amount of content that is crammed into this game, and with how faithfully the rosters themselves were updated, we'd be able to share our own around, but here we are.
"You'd think with the amount of content that is crammed into this game, and with how faithfully the rosters themselves were updated, we'd be able to share our own around, but here we are."
What has been added however is a new HUT and HUT Rush modes that are supposed to have lots of play modes within it, including 3v3, time and goal limits, and more. It seems that this is where EA is trying to put a lot of attention, but unfortunately for all of us, I could not for the life of me get these modes to work. All of them just hang on their opening screen. I checked to make sure the game was updated, my PS4 was updated, and even jumped into an online game of Need For Speed Heat just to make sure EA's servers weren't having some larger problem, but nope, it's definitely this game. Which is a shame, as I could easily see these modes being preferable ways to play the game, so here's hoping they get fixed soon. That aside, after only a few attempts I was able to get "World of Chel" Eliminator modes to work, and while they're simple and tend to be complete barnburners, I can still see this as a fun series of diversions for folks who are fans of the modern NHL style of gameplay but might only have time for bite-sized portions of it.
Offline, NHL 21 fares much better. Newbies have a thorough training camp, hockey fanatics have the simulated Stanley Cup, returning fans looking to brush up have free skate, and of course, the main selection of modes in the core NHL experience cover just about every possible way you would ever want to play the game. The "Be A Pro" mode in particular is probably the brightest spot. It opens the game up into a real single player career-focused game that resembles what we've seen come out of Madden and NBA 2K recently. NHL 21's updated Franchise Mode is also pretty neat as it more-or-less functions like a hockey team manager RPG where you scope out new talent, trade players, and manage your roster in a number of ways that you could easily sink just as much time into as you would in a Final Fantasy game.
Among the many updates to last year's franchise mode is a generated prospect quality selector, additional positions for certain players, and better draft pick logic that makes CPU teams wait until they're more experienced before actually getting their picks on the trade block. Also, and most importantly, no matter what mode you're in offline, the hockey gameplay is fun. Scoring goals requires cunning to get around the goalies. Passing the puck around strategically and quickly can compartmentalize the defense nicely and clear yourself a path for a rush, although that may be a negative for those looking for a more realistic experience. It's not quite NHL Hitz, but it is more arcadey than what some might want out of it. Turning up the general difficulty will help with that, though.
"Offline, NHL 21 fares much better."
As far as technical performance of the game itself goes, on the whole, I wasn't thrilled with it overall. The core gameplay of moment-to-moment action generally works well, and perhaps even better than NHL 20 in some ways with great goaltender AI and a tough-but-fair level of difficulty throughout, but moving around in the menus themselves, especially online, can be a chore with laggy transitions, certain panes hanging on top of other ones long after they should be gone, button presses taking so long to register than you end up doing it again because you think it didn't register at all, and then the game takes you somewhere else entirely and you have to back up to reorient yourself. At one point I even had the screen go dark and stop registering my inputs entirely in the middle of an online match for no reason, which of course ruined it for all involved.
That, on top of most of the online modes just not working at all, adds up to a fairly annoying experience a lot of the time when you're outside one of the modes trying to get the game to be a game. This is of course made even more of a head-scratcher given how much of modern sports games like this are built upon previous ones. You'd think that would lead to a smoother gameplay experience, if anything. It's a good thing that the core gameplay of NHL 21, and the wealth of ways to do it, as good as it is. Without that, there wouldn't be a whole lot here to save it.
As mentioned, during offline gameplay inside any of its many modes, there's a lot to enjoy. The announcers are fun and convincing. I didn't start recognizing phrases until well after I completed several games. The broadcasters even interrupted themselves to announce a score or impressive save quite often. All-in-all, it really seems like they went out of their way to polish up the commentary here, and that goes a long way to making it feel like I'm just watching a great hockey game.
"It's a good thing that the core gameplay of NHL 21, and the wealth of ways to do it, as good as it is. Without that, there wouldn't be a whole lot here to save it."
Similarly, motion capture for the players is also really good and convincing and it's nice to see the wide variety of high-quality animations for different moments of celebration, frustration, and everything in between. That said, the illusion does fall apart a little bit sometimes when you'll notice two or three people doing the exact same animation in perfect sync with each other, and when the camera comes in close to the facial scans of the players, which are serviceable but clearly have not seen much of an upgrade in terms of detail.
NHL 21 certainly doesn't reinvent the genre in any major way, but that's largely because it doesn't have to. The NHL games are largely okay at their core and when they're working as intended. NHL 21's biggest problem is not what it's missing, it's how ineptly it brings it's pieces together despite having a reliable blueprint and plenty of fan feedback to go by. I would have gladly accepted an NHL game with half of the content of this one, if everything just worked better. But as it stands, NHL 21 is a feature heavy game that is surprisingly light on polish and bit too tone-deaf when it comes to what its fans actually want from it. I appreciate the shots that NHL takes at improving the formula, but at the end of the day, most of those shots are too little too late, and end up making the overall experience just barely better than mediocre.
This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.