PCGamesN Sunday, September 4, 2022 11:59 AM  Path of Exile developer Grinding Gear Games is attempting to navigate heavy community fallout after a series of recent updates leave fans frustrated with the state of the game. Path of Exile has long been considered one of the best ARPG games on PC since its release in 2013, but several of its more recent patches and seasonal updates have proven unpopular with the fantasy game's usually dedicated playerbase, leaving GGG searching for a salve for the issues as Blizzard's Diablo 4 release date looms over the horizon. The newest Path of Exile expansion, Lake of Kalandra, launched on August 19. It promised a cool new way for players to earn endgame gear by exploring the titular lake, which has the power to reflect entire encounters from elsewhere in Wraeclast. The expansion also looked to offer exciting lore around Kalandra herself, a figure known for being the creator of the Mirror of Kalandra, one of the most powerful Path of Exile currencies - an endgame crafting item with the capability of creating a duplicate of any item it is used on. However, players found that while the concept for Lake of Kalandra was interesting, the expansion didn't add much new content and felt rather unrewarding. This lack of hype for the new expansion, explains Path of Exile YouTuber ZiggyD in a video on the topic, meant that players weren't distracted from previous issues they were already having with the game, such as the Archnemesis system, Harvest crafting, and Tainted fusings. "The Path of Exile playerbase is the most united I've ever seen," says ZiggyD, "unfortunately, it's over being very unhappy with the current state of the game and developer GGG's initial response to their complaints." RELATED LINKS: PoE 3.9 release date, Best free PC games, Free MMO list |
PCGamesN Sunday, September 4, 2022 10:42 AM  Rockstar has rolled credits on GTA 5 and GTA Online on its website as it looks towards the future of the Grand Theft Auto series and ramps up GTA 6 development. While undoubtedly one of the best open-world games around, GTA 5 will be nine years old on September 17 - a long time for any game to run, even if it's still consistently popping up in the top seller charts. Now, developer Rockstar has posted a thank you to everyone involved in the crime game on its website, following news that Rockstar is prioritising GTA 6 development. "Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online represent the combined efforts of our global team over many years," reads the 'Thank You' page on the Rockstar Games website. "We want to acknowledge and thank everyone who has contributed to these games, from their original launch in 2013 all the way through to present day." It certainly feels like a send-off to the long-running crime game, which would line up with many rumours suggesting that an official GTA 6 reveal could be coming as soon as October. Currently, GTA 5 sits as the second best-selling videogame of all time, with an estimated 169 million copies sold to date - leaving it only behind Minecraft's 238 million estimated sales. It has continued to thrive with re-releases on modern hardware and the success of its GTA Online mode, which continues to be one of the best multiplayer games going today. In March 2020, Dan Houser - one of the studio's co-founders alongside brother Sam, and writer or co-writer on every GTA game since GTA: London - left Rockstar Games for pastures new. RELATED LINKS: GTA 5 mods, GTA 6, Buy GTA V |
PCGamesN Sunday, September 4, 2022 9:15 AM  Onsen Master is a hot spring management game pitched as Overcooked meets Spirited Away. If you've ever watched Studio Ghibli's gorgeous animated film about a young girl who finds herself in a mystical bathhouse full of spirits, you might have contemplated what running such an establishment might be like. Onsen Master is a co-op game from Waking Oni Games that hopes to realise those dreams by tasking you with running various onsen, while staving off the antics of troublesome yokai. Placing you in the shoes of the titular Onsen Master's apprentice, Mu, you are tasked with running the onsen (the Japanese name for hot springs and the facilities that surround them) located on the island of Izajima. You must keep your customers satisfied, preparing the appropriate ingredients to soothe what ails them and making sure they make it to the right baths without wandering off and causing trouble. The customers are the least of your worries, however - there's a dark cloud hanging over the island, causing mischievous spirits called yokai to appear. These yokai will attempt to disrupt the flow of your business, so you'll have to deal with them before resuming usual service. As you progress through the story and search for the Onsen Master, you'll even come across boss fights such as a giant, skeletal yokai rising out of the water to cause havoc in your establishment. RELATED LINKS: Best multiplayer games, Best simulation games, Best management games |
PCGamesN Sunday, September 4, 2022 8:03 AM  A now-deleted tweet from The Callisto Protocol director Glen Schofield, the co-creator of Dead Space and former co-director on several Call of Duty games, has fired up discussions about crunch in videogame development over America's Labor Day weekend. Crunch culture has long been a serious point of discussion, especially in the game industry. The concept of 'crunch' - working long overtime hours to push for more development progress - has been widely criticised by many prominent members of the industry for causing negative symptoms including burnout and depression among developers forced (explicitly or implicitly) into pushing past healthy work boundaries. The tweet, from Striking Distance Studios CEO Glen Schofield, read as follows (edited for clarity): "I only talk about the game [The Callisto Protocol] during an event. We are working 6-7 days a week, nobody's forcing us. Exhaustion, tired, Covid, but we're working. Bugs, glitches, performance fixes. One last pass through audio. 12-15 hour days. This is gaming. Hard work. Lunch, dinner working. You do it 'cause ya love it." The tweet was later deleted by Schofield, but was archived by several people including Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who posted a screenshot of the tweet. Schreier hits out at the sentiment, calling it "weaponised passion" and saying, "This, from a studio head, is crunch culture defined. Of course nobody is 'forced' to work insane hours. But imagine the reduced bonuses and lack of promotion opportunities if you don't?" Schreier goes on to say that "This is why people burn out of gaming [development]." RELATED LINKS: The best horror games, The best survival games, The best space games |
Siliconera Sunday, September 4, 2022 12:00 PM
Between its art style, writing, and controls, Lair Land Story feels like a game retrieved from a time capsule to the late 2000s. That makes sense, as this is a remake of a game that was originally released back in 2007. It is quaint in a way that is reminiscent of watching old-school anime. Unfortunately like watching old anime or playing retro games, this PC port has the same sorts of issues that come with engaging with dated media. They range from audio issues (everyone sounds sort of muffled) to more fraught writing and narrative bumps. Things that would scarcely raise a brow back then simply don't stand up to scrutiny today. [gallery ids="934521,934522,934523" link="file"] The setup of Lair Land Story is very simple. You play as Herod, a Baron who rescues a mysterious amnesiac girl named Chilia. She does not remember anything, so your task is to teach her how to be a functional and beneficial member of society. The narrative does not really explicitly say it, but you have a time limit of four in-game years. You can have Chilia take lessons, work, and help out with rebuilding the city (which was destroyed in a war). These will boost various parameters, such as her charisma or humanity. Every turn, you can do things like conduct research or go on outings, as well as set Chilia's schedule for the week. In other words, it's a "raising game" in the classical template. [gallery ids="934537,934538,934536" link="file"] Each season, you have a goal that you must reach. These goals tend to focus on a particular stat, but it can also be how much of the city you repair. It is fairly simple to meet them so long as the game does not throw you any surprise story scenes. I pushed Chilia fairly hard and she never got sick or died. But when she got so tired that she couldn't even travel to raise her tension, that was when I wasted a bit of time getting her back to normal. 'Tension' in this game refers to motivation or energy, and it is a wasei eigo that may confuse a first-time player, and should have been localized to something more natural to English-speakers. It took me a while to realize what the game meant. The higher the tension, the better it is. I had thought tension meant stress, and kept it low until Chilia kept skipping work. There are other minor hiccups in the localization, like typos and other inconsistencies. Formatting oddities also persist, like issues with text indentation, but these pale in comparison to the larger story. Lair Land Story's plot suffers from its lack of focus. There are about four ongoing narratives that it wants to weave:
It's a lot! But because the game is, at its core, a raising sim and not a visual novel, the overarching dramas don't receive much attention before reverting back to Chilia's daily grind. In fact, the asides bout the conspiracy or Chilia's missing memories almost come across like irritants. They ended up being distractions from me wanting to set Chilia's schedule for the day. "Girl, stop talking to that suspicious dark mage!" I wanted to say, "You have to go work as a church deacon today!" I also found that the story was difficult to become emotionally invested in. There is so much lore that it was overwhelming. It also felt like I was missing half the story with how suddenly they would, for lack of a nicer term, spout out nonsense. It made it difficult to care about Chilia's mysterious past, especially when it is not the point of the game. She never talks about it, so it was easy to forget about, too. I wanted to know more about Duma, Grana, and Fay – the characters that you can encounter and interact with. The game gives you the chance to go on outings, where you can visit various places in town. Depending on what time you go, you may see one of these characters and talk to them. [gallery columns="2" ids="934539,934540" link="file"] The unfortunate thing is that you can only go to three places per outing (two during winter). And, frustratingly, there is no telling if the character is there or not. I basically only ever had one new place to go to every outing. Every turn, I would waste one on the castle walls (for Grana) and one on the church (for Fay). More than half the time (about 90%), they wouldn't even be there. According to a walkthrough, the game takes around ten hours to beat. But it takes over 400 hours if you're a completionist. Those 400 hours are likely just on the Russian Roulette that is outings, because if you do not meet these characters on specific days in specific locations, you will miss the chance to progress in their story lines. (The majority of the endings seem to focus on jobs, actually. For example, there is an ending where Chilia becomes a historian. This was also the ending I got in my first playthrough. I likely got it because I raised stats pertaining to Wisdom a lot. So boosting different parameters or maxing out different jobs will contribute to those 400 hours as well.) While there is a simple and undeniable pleasure in the simple act of raising parameters and figuring out the best way to schedule Chilia's time, Lair Land Story hasn't aged gracefully. Its combination of raising sim and visual novel works in theory, but not in practice due to the overwhelming and frankly shoddy story, and lack of emotional beats to keep the player hooked. Individually there are two good tastes to be found in this game, but their combination ends up lesser than their sum. Lair Land Story is available on PSP, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC. The post Review: Lair Land Story Should've Stuck to Being a Raising Sim appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Sunday, September 4, 2022 11:00 AM
The next installment of the Azure Striker Gunvolt series will arrive on PlayStation platforms before the year's end. Inti Creates announced on September 2 that Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 PS4 and PS5 will arrive on December 15, 2022. The date comes a little less than months after the game launched on Nintendo Switch in late July 2022. The PC version is set to launch in "Winter 2022", but does not have a specific release date there yet. Inti Creates also unveiled a trailer for the 2nd Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 DLC pack, which is available now and is free until September 15, 2022. The pack adds the EX Image Pulses Elise and Asroc from the first two Gunvolt games. Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 PS4 and PS5 will launch with this DLC packed in, as well as all previous updates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb-o87ThzX4 Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 will launch on PlayStation platforms on December 15, but all versions will receive the "Epilogue ATEMS" update on the same day. Epilogue ATEMS is a free story update set after the game's main campaign. The character Zed Omega (ZedĪ©) is a brand-new playable character that will be added for Epilogue ATEMS. ZedĪ© is the leader of the ATEMS organization, and controls the power of the sun with his Septima "Golden Trillion". Inti Creates noted in a follow-up Tweet that English voices would not be available for DLC content at launch, not even for Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 PS4 and PS5. This was due to difficulties with the production schedule. Instead, English voices will be added with another update later in the year. Azure Striker Gunvolt is available on the Nintendo Switch. It launches on PS4 on December 15, 2022, with a free upgrade option to PS5. The PC version is set for Winter 2022. The post Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 PS4 and PS5 Launches in December appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Sunday, September 4, 2022 9:00 AM
TGS 2022 will have a large booth with demos of many games courtesy of Happinet. The company has updated its Tokyo Game Show webpage with details for the 2022 edition. While the company has two official live stream slots, it will be known more for its lion's share of game demos at its physical booth. Happinet has two live streams scheduled on the Tokyo Game Show 2022 official channel. The first one on Saturday, September 17, 2022, will have Gorgeous—a Japanese celebrity known for his pirate-like attire—introduce Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories, Little Witch Nobeta, and NeverAwake. The second stream on Sunday, September 18, 2022, will be dedicated to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. However, Happinet's main highlight will be its physical booth at Makuhari Messe. It will include demos of more than thirty games from various publishers that work with the company. Some of the highlights include Monochrome Mobius—the new entry in the Utawarerumono series, Inti Creates' Azure Striker Gunvolt 3, PlatinumGames' Sol Cresta, Needy Streamer Overload, and the Hololive VTuber Minato Aqua's visual novel Aquarium. Here's the full title lineup that is available on Happinet's TGS 2022 webpage as of this writing:
Tokyo Game Show 2022 will run on September 15-18, 2022. The post Happinet TGS 2022 Booth Will Include Monochrome Mobius Demo appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Sunday, September 4, 2022 7:00 AM
Mimikyu will be the main of yet another Ichiban Kuji collection, called "Ichiban Kuji Pokemon Mimikyu's Cafe Time." The lottery will appear across bookstores, game centers, and such across Japan from October 1, 2022. It will cost 650 JPY (approximately $4.60) per spin. [Thanks, Famitsu!] Aside from Mimikyu, Pokemon like Eevee, Dedenne, and Morpeko are on the goods. As one can imagine from the name, the majority of the prizes in this Ichiban Kuji have to do with coffee or tea time. The full list of items you can get from the Mimikyu's Cafe Time Ichiban Kuji lottery is:
[gallery link="file" ids="934843,934842,934841,934840,934839,934838,934837,934836,934835"] You can use the coffee server for other drinks, both hot and cold. It will also come with a coffee dripper, so you do not need to have a machine at home in order to use it. For the tableware, you have the option of plates or a spoon. There is also the option of a ramekin. Bandai Spirits first teased the Mimikyu's Cafe Time Ichiban Kuji collection back in May 2022, though it did not have any pictures of the prizes then. In the past, Bandai Spirits had the Mimikyu's Sweets Party collection. Prizes that people could obtain from this included an accessory case, a teapot, and a Mimikyu doll. The Mimikyu's Cafe Time Ichiban Kuji will be available in Japan from October 1, 2022. The post Mimikyu's Cafe Time Ichiban Kuji Will Brighten Your Kitchen appeared first on Siliconera. |
Pivotal Gamers Sunday, September 4, 2022 4:36 AM Hello fellow gamers. Giveaway Of The Day is giving you the chance to win on Doodle God: Genesis Secrets. Read on for their offering. Doodle God: Genesis Secrets is available as a Giveaway of the day!You have limited time to download, install and register it. A few words about Doodle God: Genesis Secrets If you loved the award winning Doodle God or any of the games in the Doodle series, you'l... |
MonsterVine Sunday, September 4, 2022 11:51 AM Paxaggedon is here. It's MonsterVine's wonderful return to the Penny Arcade Expo after two long years and PAX West is already off to a great start. While relatively smaller feeling in terms of AAA game exposure compared to our last outing at PAX East 2020, PAX West 2022 feels more relaxed. Indie games are aplenty […] |