Kotaku Thursday, May 12, 2022 4:35 PM  It's been nearly a month since a former employee filed a National Labor Relations Board complaint against Nintendo alleging surveillance, coercion, and retaliation. Outside of an initial statement denying the company engaged in union-busting, the house of Mario has remained publicly silent in the face of an increasing… |
Kotaku Thursday, May 12, 2022 3:47 PM  Today, in honor of the 12-year anniversary of Alan Wake's original release this week, Remedy provided some fresh news about the franchise. Included was the announcement that the remastered Alan Wake is coming to Switch this year, as well as some more details about the barely-talked about TV show adaptation, first… |
Kotaku Thursday, May 12, 2022 3:05 PM  After previously promising to show off Alan Wake 2 this summer, Remedy Entertainment explained today that folks will need to wait a little longer for more info on the sequel to the beloved (and recently remastered) 2010 thriller. |
Kotaku Thursday, May 12, 2022 2:35 PM  For those who tire of battle-centric shonen anime series and want a little bit more "aww" in their lives, these anime will warm your heart. |
Kotaku Thursday, May 12, 2022 1:40 PM  Arkane's fantastic sci-fi immersive sim Prey is currently free via the Epic Games Store alongside two other great games. And we'll talk about those games in a moment. But first let's chat about what makes Prey so damn good. |
Kotaku Thursday, May 12, 2022 12:30 PM  Bethesda's open world space RPG Starfield is the latest major 2022 release to slip to next year. But will it be the last? Probably not. So who's next? God of War Ragnarök? Bayonetta 3? Gotham Knights? This fall, traditionally the biggest release season of the year, remains an almost entirely blank slate, and that… |
Kotaku Thursday, May 12, 2022 12:20 PM  I genuinely don't think we're prepared for what's coming. If you thought the discourse was A Lot when he showed ass, brace yourself: In the latest episode of the Halo show, Master Chief had sex. |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 5:31 PM  Minecraft creators continue to astound with the things they get working in the blocky sandbox game. It's proven to be a surprisingly robust programming platform, as demonstrated by this YouTuber who made a working car in the game. Well, that player is back, and this time, they've gone even further. Crossy Road is a game where you play as a chicken that crosses the road, and could be easily summed up as an infinite version of Frogger. You just need to get the chicken to safety, but safety never really comes. Well, hot off the wheels of making a working car, Mysticat has now recreated Crossy Read in Minecraft, because they're a very talented creator, and kind of a show-off (actually, we're just jealous). Mysticat once again goes through the details on how they do the specifics of this whole build to give an insight into the process. Despite writing about this stuff fairly regularly, it's still astounding just how clever Minecraft creators are, because the complexity on show is well above what your average Minecraft player would believe possible. RELATED LINKS: Minecraft console commands, Minecraft skins, Minecraft mods |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 4:47 PM  It's hard to believe it, but Diablo III is now officially 10 years old. As a way to commemorate a decade of demon splattering, Blizzard has announced that the Echoing Nightmare horde mode introduced in at the beginning of this season is going to be a permanent fixture in the RPG game - perhaps as a way to remind us of the 'echoing nightmare' of Error 37, which kept players from logging into Diablo III when it first launched. Actually, it's mainly due to the fact that the Echoing Nightmare has wound up being a hit. "We have received positive feedback around the Echoing Nightmare and are truly glad to see you've enjoyed battling the horrors of Nephalem's past while gaining experience and powerful loot along the way," Blizzard says in the latest blog post. "Therefore, the Echoing Nightmare will become a permanent feature in Diablo III," the post reads. "Creating challenging, new, and exciting end-game experiences is always top of mind for us, so we're excited to be keeping this experience around for good." RELATED LINKS: Diablo 3 builds, Diablo 3 Necromancer skills, Diablo 3 Necromancer beta |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 3:56 PM  The Dead Space remake now has an official release date. The sci-fi survival horror game will launch January 27, 2023, "rebuilt from the ground up" in the Frostbite engine, EA has confirmed today. The developers say they're nearing the alpha phase, and shared some new peeks at the remake in a deep-dive panel focused on the remake's revamped artwork. Developer EA Motive has previously provided some deep-dive looks at the Dead Space remake's audio systems, including the refined A.L.I.V.E. system for breathing and dialogue from protagonist Isaac, the way it handles audio occlusion for sound positioning, and one on weapon sound effects. "We're making great progress on our road to hitting Alpha and we're happy to announce that the game will be launching in January next year," senior producer Phillippe Ducharme says in a press release. "We can't wait for players, both old and new, to see how we've elevated the original experience in the remake to be just as impactful for this generation." |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 2:10 PM  If you've had your ear to the hallowed ground of RPGs, you've probably heard distant rumblings of a game called The Wayward Realms. Developed by a bunch of former Bethesda developers at OnceLost Games, it's shaping up to be something of a spiritual successor to The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, taking place on a vast archipelago with hundreds of islands and thousands of cities thanks to an algorithm capable of generating unique locations based on myriad social, political, and geographical factors. Thanks to our chat with the game's Technical Director Julian Le Fay, we now also know that, all going well, the unfathomably huge world will be seamless - no zoning or that strange disconnect between indoors and outdoors we know so well from the Elder Scrolls series. "The goal is seamlessness throughout," Le Fay tells us. "The immersion is important. We have to have things like fast travel, because we can't have people taking two weeks to walk places, but we don't want to just make it quick and easy either, because all of a sudden your world shrinks on you." Le Fay goes on to say that he likes the fast travel system in Fallout 4, which (beyond the throwaway 'click a marker and teleport there' method) entails using a flare to call in a Vertibird, then flying there over the world in real-time. "It was reasonably fast and you got to see everything from a bird's-eye point of view," he says. "There was a little time cost to it, but it wasn't annoying. I'd like to have something like that in Wayward Realms." |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 12:49 PM  Following its reveal earlier this year, AMD FSR 2.0 has finally arrived in on the gaming PC scene, with team red hoping its revamped upscaler can usurp Nvidia DLSS from its throne. This launch is limited to Deathloop in terms of supported titles, but more will arrived "in the coming months." In case you missed the memo, AMD FSR 2.0 is a much improved version of FidelityFX Super Resolution. It swaps out the spatial upscaling approach of old for a temporal one, allowing you to boost fps with decidedly higher fidelity images. Better still, the technology is still GPU agnostic, meaning that you don't need one of Nvidia's best graphics cards to use it. However, AMD has recommended using more powerful pixel pushers to run AMD FSR 2.0 and so some ageing systems may fall behind. That said, as AMD and Nvidia GPU prices edge ever closer to MSRP, this may be as good a reason as any to upgrade your system. RELATED LINKS: Zen 4 CPUs - everything we know, RDNA 3 GPUs - everything we know, Best gaming CPU |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 12:28 PM  Some Dying Light 2 DLC has already arrived, but fans of Techland's zombie game will have to wait a little longer for a big story update, as the developer has announced that the first major Dying Light 2 DLC is delayed. Previously planned for release in early summer, the story expansion has been pushed back and will now target a September release date "to meet your expectations by giving it the absolute highest level of polish." Techland has already implemented several requested features, with a Dying Light 2 NG+ mode arriving in April as well as improvements to the co-op. The developer says it still plans to release the first game chapter, 'In the Footsteps of a Nightrunner,' in June, which will include a selection of content and events. The much requested photo mode is also due to arrive next month. Lead Designer Tymon Smektała told us at GDC that Dying Light 2 DLC will be big and unexpected, with plans for it to be at a similar scale to that of the first game. Smektała says that, despite much speculation, "No one has guessed what we are hoping to do." Following on from this first major story DLC, at least one large-scale expansion is planned for the future. RELATED LINKS: Dying Light 2 release date, Dying Light 2 factions, Dying Light 2 trailer reveal |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 12:43 PM  Meta plans to release its high-end Project Cambria VR headset later this year, but we still know very little about the device aside from its codename and extremely wide launch window. However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg today shared an extremely brief preview of Cambria's capabilities, in addition to the company's 'Presence Platform' via its 'World Beyond' experience (which isn't nearly as exciting as the name might suggest). In Zuckerberg's Facebook video, we see his face transform into a pixelated mess as he dons the Project Cambria. Naturally, this isn't a Max Headroom-esque side effect of using the $800 headset, but is instead down to Meta's decision to chicken out of giving its prospective best VR headset a proper reveal. So, what did we learn about Project Cambria? Well, we got to see a feed of its full colour pass-through technology in action, and it admittedly looks impressive. Zuckerberg says the tech will be used in the company's 'Presence Platform', a set of machine learning and AI capabilities that help developers build mixed reality experiences, plus natural hand and voice interactions. However, the brief demo of 'World Beyond' makes it all seems like a really fluffy way of describing augmented reality (AR). RELATED LINKS: Best VR games, Build yourself a VR-ready PC for $793, How to set up your Oculus Rift |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 11:36 AM  If you're not an Eve Online player, the odds are pretty good that when you hear something about the long-running space game, it's about a massive battle - thousands of players smashing each other's ships in a catastrophic engagement that's part of a large inter-factional war. Historically, those wars have taken place in Eve's unregulated wild west, known as null-sec (for Security Status 0). But with the coming changes to factional warfare, some of the drama of Eve's wars will be making its way to low-sec space, which has historically been much more predictable. Developer CCP Games' vision for Eve Online going forward is one that's unified around a new narrative arc system. While each arc will have a story to tell, they'll also be vehicles for rolling out new features, and the new factional warfare system will play a major role in how this works. "I'm incredibly excited to be finally able to talk about factional warfare, and that we're diving into factional warfare," Eve Online creative director Bergur Finnbogason tells us. "It's an area of the game that is fundamental to the idea of a sci-fi universe." RELATED LINKS: Play Eve Online for free, Eve Online Beginners guide, Space games |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 11:18 AM  If, like many farming game fans, you've wrung every last drop of satisfaction from the likes of Stardew Valley, then you're in luck, as the open-world sim Harvest Days hits Steam Early Access today. Developed by indie 'father and sons' team Family Devs, Harvest Days: My Dream Farm puts players in charge of their own plot of land in a large, open-world area surrounding Duda's Village. Family Devs says Harvest Days is planned to be in Early Access "for roughly six-to-nine months" and it is currently aiming for a 1.0 release in November. While the life sim game is in early access, the team plans to increase both the size of the map and the number of locations to discover; add new gameplay mechanics, vehicles, crops, animals, craftables, and NPCs; and polish up the UI, sound design, and controls and settings options. Following in the footsteps of Stardew Valley and its predecessors including Story of Seasons, Harvest Days tasks players with all the intricacies of running their own farm - gathering, crafting, building, fishing, animal husbandry, and more. In addition, people will be able to develop and decorate their farmhouse, and invest in vehicles and heavy machinery to help them get their produce to market. RELATED LINKS: Upcoming PC Games |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 11:16 AM  Trying to find the best Overwatch 2 support heroes? With the new 5v5 team composition change in Overwatch 2, it's harder for support heroes to survive as there's only one tank on the team to protect them. Support players are more vulnerable, but they do have a new passive ability to help them out, which means they can now heal automatically after leaving combat for a few seconds. In our best Overwatch 2 support heroes list, we're focusing on which support heroes are considered the best in every scenario. Ultimately, they need to heal, buff, and provide utility for the other players. Thankfully, there are more opportunities to run around the map, giving support heroes the chance to flank and dive into fights. High mobility, healing, and damage dealing is key after all. With the reworks and changes to heroes in Blizzard's FPS game, there's a large focus on the best Overwatch 2 DPS heroes and their new speed boost passive, giving support players a tough job on their hands. Before we get into it, we've also collated an Overwatch 2 tier list with our top meta picks for each role. Plus, if you're still trying to decide which role best suits your gameplay, check out our Overwatch 2 roles explained guide to help pick your main. RELATED LINKS: Overwatch 2 heroes, Overwatch 2 release date, Overwatch 2 tier list |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 11:21 AM  What are the best simulation games on PC? From the all-time greats that are still worth playing; the sims with modding communities who breathe eternal life into them; the facsimiles of an aspect of reality so niche you can barely fathom their existence, we have everything you need here. Sims differ from other PC games in that their raison d'être isn't necessarily to entertain, at least not primarily. You want fun and excitement? Tough. Operating a submarine is not that. It is, however, fascinating, terrifying, and hugely satisfying as a long-form experience. Such is the nature of the genre that seeking out the best PC sims is like asking for the 'special' stock the shopkeeper keeps in the back room. They're not all best-sellers, but these are the titles with dedicated communities offering deep tutorials and incredible mods, that let you get as close to hauling a trailer full of plumbing parts across Europe, driving an F1 car, or piloting a military aircraft as national security laws will permit. RELATED LINKS: Play War Thunder for free, Tank games, Best WW2 games |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 10:42 AM  Want to know how to complete this week's Halo Infinite ultimate challenge? Every week you can unlock a free cosmetic for your Spartan. To get this new look, you have to complete a list of challenges, and play a lot of matches. These challenges also give you experience points you use to level up the Halo Infinite battle pass. Challenges can be found in the battle pass menu and it lists the current active challenges and upcoming challenges, including the Halo Infinite ultimate challenge for that week. Each challenge is colour-coded by difficulty, so bright grey challenges are the easiest, the bluish-grey challenges are of medium difficulty, and the bright blue ones are the most challenging. One of the upcoming challenges will take its place when you complete a challenge, though which challenge it is, is random. Once you've completed each challenge, you're given one more challenge before you can claim your weekly reward. This challenge is the same for everyone. In this guide, we'll give you tips on how to complete the Halo Infinite weekly challenges in your queue, explain what this week's Halo Infinite ultimate challenge is, and what the weekly ultimate challenge reward is. RELATED LINKS: Halo Infinite release date, Halo Infinite system requirements, Halo Infinite ranks |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 10:29 AM  The inaugural W.A.S.D is in the books, folks. The games event showcased many upcoming PC games, and industry figures shared lots of wisdom across various panels. While you can't relive the experience of attending the show, you certainly won't miss out on what was shared during each chat. We're uploading all of the PCGamesN Theatre talks to our YouTube channel, so it couldn't be easier to dip into one if you want to revisit something or missed out initially. One of our newer uploads focuses on how you can get into games journalism, which isn't to be missed for all you writers out there. Our editor Richard Scott-Jones hosted this one, joined by strategy editor Joe Robinson, former acting guides editor Jen Rothery, and Gaming Bible's acting Snapchat editor Imogen Donovan. The group kicks off by discussing how they got into the industry and how traditional routes to gainful employment have evolved over the years. The conversation then shifts to advice on freelancing and what you can do to ensure your pitch is going to the right person and the right website. RELATED LINKS: Best indie games, What is W.A.S.D.?, Upcoming PC games |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 10:56 AM  Want to know how to get Fortnite Omni Chips? It's an all-out war in the popular battle royale game, as the Imagined Order invades the otherwise calm island. One of the early unlocks in this season's Fortnite battle pass is the Omni sword, a customisable harvesting tool that costs seven battle stars. So, where can you find Fortnite Omni Chips? As soon as you unlock the new sword, you get four Omni Chips to spend immediately and can earn more by completing season challenges. You use these chips to unlock new styles, and each individual style costs anywhere from four to six chips. However, after unlocking the Omni Sword, you'll also get quests that require you to find more chips at specific locations on the new Fortnite map. Finding these chips is easier said than done, especially when everyone's running around using the new Fortnite sprint mechanics. To help you collect these chips as painlessly as possible and help you to unlock all of the Omni Sword styles, we have put together some maps showing all the Fortnite Omni Chip locations for each week, including the nine Omni Chips you can get in week 8 of Chapter 3 Season 2. RELATED LINKS: Fortnite V-Bucks, Fortnite Skins, Fortnite Creative Codes |
PCGamesN Thursday, May 12, 2022 11:13 AM  If you were hoping to enjoy Starfield this winter, you'll need to make new plans. An official tweet from Bethesda Game Studios has announced that the upcoming open-world game - along with Arkane's FPS game Redfall - has been delayed into 2023. "We've made the decision to delay the launches of Redfall and Starfield to the first half of 2023," the tweet reads. "The teams at Arkane Austin (Redfall) and Bethesda Game Studios (Starfield) have incredible ambitions for their games, and we want to ensure that you receive the best, most polished versions of them." Given that before today everyone was expecting Starfield to launch in November, we were hoping to get a glimpse of the exciting new Bethesda title at the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase on June 12. Whether we still will remains to be seen, but even if we do, we now have to wait up to a year to get the game into our hands. Naturally, this news also pushes back the Starfield game pass release date, which has so far been pegged for the same day as the game's general release. RELATED LINKS: Starfield release date, Best space games, Elder Scrolls 6 release date |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Thursday, May 12, 2022 5:36 PM  Stellaris's Overlord expansion is out now, jamming the vast scifi grand strategy game even fuller with megastructures, story events and - as is Paradox's wont - more vassals. Overlord aims to offer more control over your empires, both to let you shape them in more specific ways and also to generate more anecdotes when it all goes wrong. As always, the expansion also releasing alongside a new free patch with balance fixes and bux fixes for all. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Thursday, May 12, 2022 5:07 PM  Funcom announced back in 2019 that they planned to make Dune games based on Frank Herbert's sci-fi spice and sandworms novels. They followed through by releasing 4X strategy game Dune: Spice Wars last month, and now it seems they're ramping up development on a new open world survival game set in the Dune universe. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Thursday, May 12, 2022 4:46 PM  There's presumably less pressure to keep every scrap of information secret when the game you're developing is a remake. EA Motive seem to be taking advantage of that by releasing lots of behind-the-scenes, in-development videos and streams of their work on the Dead Space remake. Then, occasionally in those streams, they offer some news. Back in March, they let it be known during a deep dive into the remake's audio that the game would release in early 2023. Now, during a livestream about the game's art, they've announced the specific release date: January 27th, 2023. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Thursday, May 12, 2022 4:04 PM  Alan Wake 2 was announced at the death of last year with promise of a larger reveal to come in summer 2022. This week marks the 12th anniversary since the release of the first game, and to mark the occasion Remedy offered an update on the sequel. The update is: there won't be an update on the sequel this summer after all. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Thursday, May 12, 2022 12:03 PM .JPG/BROK/resize/1920x1920%3E/format/jpg/quality/80/Zotac-GeForce-RTX-3090-Ti-AMP-Extreme-Holo-(7).JPG) You could fairly think of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti as a big, stump-necked brute of a graphics card. What better characterisation for the latest tippity-top-of-the-line GPU from Nvidia, who've already produced the best graphics card for 4K in the RTX 3080? But rather than be overwhelmed by its power, I personally feel more like the RTX 3090 Ti is trying to trick, tempt and seduce me, Old Testament-style. "Recommend meeeee" it whispers, coasting through another maximum settings benchmark. "Tell evvvvvvveryone these frame rates are totally worth £1879." But I can't. Sorry. While I am a sucker for go-faster gear, the RTX 3090 Ti is just too far of a stretch, with its sometimes imperceptible performance differences to the £1399 RTX 3090 and a tendency towards impractically gigantic partner card models. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Thursday, May 12, 2022 11:35 AM  Techland have announced that the first story DLC for their parkour-infused survival horror Dying Light 2: Stay Human will slip from its scheduled June launch date to September. The DLC is one of two planned paid story DLCs, with the second not targeted for any specific date outside of Techland's promised five years of post-launch support for the game. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Thursday, May 12, 2022 11:00 AM  We're going macro this week, so we're talking about the best writing in video games. This is a very broad topic for discussion, so that means I also get to say 'ludonarrative dissonance' (we also describe 'ludonarrative harmony' as its opposite). Please don't let this put you off, though, because we do talk about some bloody well good games. The times being what they are, though, results in us having a long discussion of patter theft, because some dreadful American (we assume) stole the "It's me, Blorko!" tweet and then just did a much worse version of it. Hang your head in shame, whoever you are. I also went to a first communion party and ate a lot of cake, and had a run in with a very charismatic toddler who may or may not be evil. |
Twinfinite Thursday, May 12, 2022 3:02 PM Today Electronic Arts announced the release date of the upcoming remake of the popular survival horror game Dead Space. |
Twinfinite Thursday, May 12, 2022 1:41 PM Mario Strikers has been around since the GameCube, and now the franchise is coming to the Nintendo Switch. A Japanese trailer has been released a few days ago, and now there is a new English Overview video featuring gameplay, items, and character selections. Mario Strikers: Battle League will include characters of the Mario universe and […] |
Twinfinite Thursday, May 12, 2022 12:40 PM Today Atlus revealed some news about Vanillaware's popular game 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, specific to the older PS4 version. |
Twinfinite Thursday, May 12, 2022 12:36 PM It's just been announced that MultiVersus, the free-to-play platform fighter published by Warner Bros. Games, will be holding a closed alpha session later this month, from May 19-27. This invite-only play session allows players to try out the two-on-two multiplayer mode with a variety of characters from different series, which includes Batman, Arya Stark, Bugs […] |
Twinfinite Thursday, May 12, 2022 11:36 AM Today, Netflix released an official trailer for its upcoming Resident Evil series. The show was originally announced back in 2019, but this is the first full look that fans have gotten in regards to what they can expect from the tv show. You can check out a brief synopsis detailing Netflix's Resident Evil, as well […] |
Twinfinite Thursday, May 12, 2022 11:07 AM Ever wanted to fight Cthulu in a fast-paced rogue-lite shooter? That is exactly what developer Overflow are bringing to the table with their upcoming title Madshot. This frantic shooter was revealed earlier today with an official trailer, which also revealed Madshot will enter Steam Early Access on June 9, 2022, at a price point of $19.99. You can check […] |
Twinfinite Thursday, May 12, 2022 10:02 AM Fans of Mob Psycho 100 have been eagerly waiting for any sort of news indicating when the show will continue. Well, it's just been confirmed in a new trailer that Mob Psycho 100 Season 3 will release in October 2022. Studio Bones is back at it again with the next season of Mob Psycho, and […] |
Siliconera Thursday, May 12, 2022 4:00 PM
MegaHouse announced a new line of Pac-Man figures dressed up as Sanrio characters. It is described as volume one of a set, and it will involve six Pac-Man characters in cosplay. A single figure will cost 418円 (~$3). They are expected to appear in Japan in October 2022. They will each be 33 mm, which is about an inch, tall. Here is the announcement.
There are two versions of Pac-Man in the set, as well as the ghosts Pinky, Inky, and what appears to be Clyde. Blinky doesn't appear. Also, Clyde is yellow, rather than orange. Pac-Man and, presumably, Ms. Pac-Man are dressed as Dear Daniel and Hello Kitty. Pinky wears a Hello Kitty cap. The two versions of Clyde wear My Melody and Pochacco hats. Inky will have a Pompompurin hat. Here's a closer look at the full set. This is part of a continuing collaboration between Bandai Namco and Sanrio. Back in December 2021, the mobile version of Pac-Man featured themed stages. People could earn Hello Kitty ribbon cosmetics. There are also other pieces of merchandise, such as bags with characters from both lines. There were also rubber straps that people could use as keychains. When a second collection could appear, that could mean figures based on those additional designs. Some of them involved ghosts in Badtz Maru, Cinnamoroll, Kuromi, and Little Twin Stars' Kiki and Lala. The six Pac-Man x Sanrio Characters figures will appear in Japan in October 2022. Another recent Pac-Man crossover involved That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. The post Pac-Man x Sanrio Figures Dress Up Pac-Man and Ghosts appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Thursday, May 12, 2022 3:00 PM
We already know how the Genkai Tokki series goes. These are the Compile Heart fully fanservice games. Lewd jokes abound. There are rubbing and touching minigames. Some characters can look underage. However with Seven Pirates H, the latest adventure, it feels lacking compared to the other entries. There is the same level of fanservice people familiar with the series would expect. (I'd say in some ways, it feels pushes the envelope more than past games.) However, there doesn't seem to be as much content and gameplay as other installments. Parute is a pirate with a magic compass. It literally dropped out of the sky and landed on her head. After meeting with Otton, she learns that finding its missing pieces can guide her to a legendary treasure. With each new part she collects, she will be one step closer to becoming a legend. Along the way, monster girls like Waffle and Rindo will join her crew. However, other monster girls like Riviera, Mimii, Neko, Doroa, and Garnet keep attempting to get in their way. Her group needs to keep growing to prepare for their fight against the Monsupi Sea's king and chance to get the greatest treasure of all.
A staple of the Genkai Tokki series involves recruiting monster girls. There's a distinct lack of them in Seven Pirates H. In games like Monster Monpiece, Moero Chronicle, and Moero Crystal, there are a lot of characters you can meet! Their outfits are intricate! They have different sorts of builds! You can tell they are different ages! With Seven Pirates H, the number of potential party members is drastically reduced. It's quite a shock to go from 80 different playable characters in Moero Crystal H to seven here. Especially since it feels like character design became less intricate with the leap to 3D. Not to mention that the heroines' personalities don't feel as well developed as some folks from Moero Chronicle and Crystal. This sacrifice also means you might not be able to exactly identify what kind of "monster" each girl is at a glance. Jewel is very obviously a slime. Claret has a squid motif, to tie in with her kraken roots. Mimii's very obviously a mimic. But I honestly couldn't discern the backgrounds of some other characters without being told. Waffle is supposed to be a kobald, but her design doesn't make that obvious. I thought Saqra was perhaps a succubus, but she's a generic demon. (Also, going from Sakyura to Saqra is a weird decision.) The new direction also means everyone looks about the same age. Which, especially in the cases of Parute, Waffle, and Poron, seems rather young? Conversely, the 2D generic enemies making the jump to 3D look rather good. Their new character models capture the spirit of the original ones.
All of this would have been easier to deal with if Seven Pirates H possessed the sort of "class" system present in Moero Crystal. In that game, characters' clothing determined the role they would fill in the party. They would alter their stats and movesets. So a character who might be a mage with spells that hit one enemy in her default outfit, could act as a healer if you put another set on her. While every characters' bra helps determine one of her skills in Seven Pirates H and using training items from beating enemies helps increase stats and teach new skills, there isn't the same nuance. Also, since there are only three types of pheromones, rather than the earth/fire/water/wind system present in past games, there's less to think about when dealing with foes. Riviera is blue? Well, you better hope you have Parute or Poron in your four person party! Also, expect Riviera to deal more damage to Saqra and Rindo! Characters aside, the change in direction from Moero Chronicle and Moero Crystal also affects Seven Pirates H's gameplay. Part of this has to do with the areas. This is very much a fetch quest game. Quests will populate in the Booby Kin screen. These send people into fairly straightforward dungeons to collect items from gathering, enemies encounters, and boss fights to complete objectives. (Items from these encounters are also used to craft items and equipment in Booby Kin.) While the last two Genkai Tokki games localized are first-person dungeon crawlers that involve mapping elements, Seven Pirates H doesn't. Areas aren't too expansive or elaborate. There aren't any off the beaten path routes to explore. Finding your way forward is, well, straightforward!
I also felt the difficulty dropped considerably compared to other entries in the series. There are monster girl fights in Moero Crystal H that are genuinely challenging. I'd need to make sure I had the right party and level-grind to defeat them. I never needed to do any level-grinding to survive Seven Pirates H's turn-based battles. The first time I entered a new area, I'd face no serious opposition. Even the boss fights tended to be relatively simple. Riviera was one of the only ones to pose a real threat. The others were easy to eliminate by using skills and making sure I had Claret, Poron, and Saqra around. And since the MP you need to use skills accumulates as they attack and take damage, you don't have to worry about having enough to use Skills or their Special attacks. There's also a healthy well of MP to tap into. Boss fights always last long enough for at least two characters to hit the "Aroused" status so you can use their Special attacks. Leveling isn't much of a "thing" in Seven Pirates H either. After fights with foes, you'll obtain Extracts to use in Breast Training. You can also get these from chests. (The main menu's options also lets you turn on and immediately get some overpowered items to quickly max out fields.) You apply one, perform a few movements, and the character's stats will go up and she might learn a skill. I would recommend taking a screenshot during the tutorial, to remind yourself which actions increase which stats, as there are a lot of inputs and each one can increase and decrease certain stats. But since the main quests are fetch quests, odds are you'll do enough gathering to be at a level capable of tackling any challenge. Seven Pirates H might just be the weakest of the localized Genkai Tokki titles. Part of this could be the transition from Compile Heart to Felistella. It also could be due to a shift from 2D to full 3D. The lower monster girl count, decreased difficulty, and general direction mean Seven Pirates H is a much shorter and simpler game than its predecessors. People who want it for the fanservice and envelope-pushing content will find exactly what they are looking for, but it is a stripped-down experience compared to past titles. Seven Pirates H is available for the Nintendo Switch worldwide. The post Review: Seven Pirates H isn't as Enticing as Moero Crystal appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Thursday, May 12, 2022 2:30 PM
Owners of the PS4 edition of Vanillaware's 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim will be getting an upgrade in a few months. An announcement from publisher Atlus confirmed that the original PS4 version of the game will receive a patch to bring it to parity with the recently released Nintendo Switch edition. The patch will be free and distributed on August 4, 2022 for the Japanese versions of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. https://twitter.com/13sar_atlus/status/1524665740749852673 The patch will bring the additional content from the Switch edition to the PS4 edition of the game. Though the games are narratively identical, the Switch edition adds two extra weapon options to each of the playable Sentinel units. The additional weapons diversify the options available to players and give each character some unique gimmicks. The patch will also add the English voice option to the PS4 version. Though overseas versions of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim shipped in 2020 with both English and Japanese voice options, the original 2019 Japanese PS4 release did not. The Switch version had both, and the inclusion of English voices was listed as a selling point in promotional material. Thus the patch should make the PS4 edition content-identical to the Switch edition. In addition to the patch, Atlus will release a "Welcome Value Pack" bundle for the game in Japan. This is a rerelease of the game at a lower price point. It bundles in some additional digital goodies like a digital art book, posters, a PS4 theme, and an Avatar set. The 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim PS4 patch will arrive on August 4, 2022 in Japan. Atlus West has not yet confirmed if the patch will be deployed to the English editions of the game. Interested players can pick up the game as it exists now on Nintendo Switch and PS4. The post 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim PS4 to be Patched to Match Switch appeared first on Siliconera. |
