PCGamesN Sunday, January 29, 2023 9:56 AM  Terraria cross play has long been one of the most requested features for multiplayer, and the creator of one of the best sandbox games reassures players that it's being worked on as the team develops Terraria update 1.4.5. He also talks a little about the team's intent to actually overcome the community jokes around 'final updates' and put a bow on Terraria as developer Re-Logic looks to "start a new game soon." Continue reading Terraria cross play "in the works" as update 1.4.5 wraps things up MORE FROM PCGAMESN: The best Terraria mods, Terraria happiness guide, Terraria bosses guide |
PCGamesN Sunday, January 29, 2023 7:49 AM  A new Tower of Fantasy Alyss showcase video demonstrates the new character in action, and gives frost mains plenty of reasons to be excited for Tower of Fantasy update 2.3. The upcoming character arrives very soon, giving fans of the open-world anime game another simulacrum to roll for, and her skills, advancements, and interactions make her the perfect addition to a frost team and a great pick for free-to-play players. Continue reading Tower of Fantasy Alyss showcases why frost mains should be excited MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Tower of Fantasy codes, Tower of Fantasy characters, How to level up in Tower of Fantasy |
PCGamesN Sunday, January 29, 2023 6:35 AM  Your Disney Dreamlight Valley storage options are set to improve dramatically soon, according to developer Gameloft. Already one of the most delightful life games on PC since its 2022 release, its hefty roadmap promises an exciting year ahead beginning with the Disney Dreamlight Valley Encanto update releasing in February. Now the developer has teased one of the most-requested features is on the cards to arrive sooner rather than later. Continue reading New Dreamlight Valley storage and auto-sorting coming in next update MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best Disney games, What's the next Dreamlight Valley update?, Disney Dreamlight Valley guide |
PCGamesN Sunday, January 29, 2023 4:45 AM  Riot Games is flirting with the idea of Valorant skins emblazoned with VCT partnered teams' logos and colours, creating a direct pipeline between the game and the pro scene. Following in the footsteps of Rainbow Six Siege, Call of Duty, and more, Riot is making clear what it wants for Valorant, and it's a win for all parties. Continue reading Valorant skins for VCT-partnered teams are an all-round win MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Valorant characters: all agents and abilities, Valorant ranks order, distribution, and ranking system explained, Valorant crosshair codes |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Sunday, January 29, 2023 5:00 AM  Sundays are for curling a mic away from your mouth, so your friends don't hear you crunching down on some Pringles. Before you bend, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things). |
Siliconera Sunday, January 29, 2023 9:00 AM
Announced in June 2022, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is the next character action game by Team Ninja. Set in the Three Kingdoms-era of China, it has the same feudal design and appeal as the developer's previous title, Nioh. It's hard not to draw comparisons at a glance, as both games have highly stylized action and undead and demonic enemies skulking through the remains of long abandoned battlefields. However, Wo Long couldn't be any more different. While it may be easy to wash Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty in the same coat of pain as the Nioh series, it feels wholly distinct. This is through the incorporation of several different systems unique to this new character action game. One of which being morale. Morale is a deciding factor in how easy encounters can be, which encourages exploration to find points on the map where you can lay your banner. This increases your overall morale, which allows you to do more damage to enemies based on your morale difference. The higher your morale is the more damage you do, which can make encounters that were once challenging now significantly easier. For example, when I tackled the boss in the preview, which was a massive feral hog (give or take a few demonic growths), my morale was roughly around level seven. Because of this, I was doing significantly more damage to the enemy with basic attacks, heavy attacks, and my perfect counters. What could have been a challenging battle felt like a walk through the park, as Wo Long facilitated ways to make this fight a lot easier through this morale system. That said, losing morale is as simple as dying, which will take a chunk out of what morale you've accrued through erecting banners and killing enemies.
For the purpose of the trial I was allowed to pick from five different "phases," or player builds, associated with the major elements in Wo Long. These are fire, earth, wood, metal, and water. Each of these builds played into specific attributes, with fire being more attack oriented and wood providing more support to both the player and allies. These were the two phases I decided to try, and found them both interesting enough on their own merits. Fire was more straightforward, as I was equipped with offensive spells that were, naturally, aspected to fire. Wood on the other hand, allowed me to heal myself either through regeneration, attacking, and even fling lightning at my foes from afar. Each of these presets came with their own weapons as well, with fire leaving me equipped with a longsword and wood with a spear. Generally, I'm not a huge fan of polearms in character action games, as I find them to generally be a lot slower than other available weapons, but in Wo Long that felt negligible. Unlike Nioh where there was a bit of a wind-up for spear or glaive attacks, Wo Long allows for players to be agile, even with bulky weapons. Attacks with the spear weren't as swift as with the longsword, don't get me wrong, but I was still able to dodge and attack with a certain rhythm that didn't feel cumbersome. I was easily able to avoid and even dodge enemy attacks, which left them wide open to my spear. And upon breaking the poise of an enemy, you're treated to a stylish animation with whatever weapon you're equipped with. This always felt really rewarding and extremely satisfying, especially against harder enemies. Even movement feels more graceful, as you're able to scale certain walls with ease, which keeps the flow of combat and exploration at a nice, steady pace.
Concerning character builds, Wo Long plays into the five elements I mentioned before. Similar to rock paper scissors, each element has their own strengths and weaknesses against one another. And that's something to consider when equipping weapons (as each have their own elemental attribute) and spells. Like Nioh, players can equip spells to fling at enemies, empower their own attacks, or heal allies. However, you aren't limited to a set amount of uses per spell until you rest. Instead, as long as you give yourself enough time between casting (since it eats up your stamina and poise), you can use spells pretty much indefinitely. This was a really nice change, and allowed for me to be a bit riskier as I could heal myself without worrying about using up all of my spells before I'd even reach a boss. Of course this could become a lot tricker later on, since you're effectively giving up some of your stamina to cast spells, but with the right kind of balance I can see this creating a greater sense of fluidity for Wo Long's combat. Players can also call upon Divine Beasts in combat, with each Divine Beast having its own unique ability. The Qinglong will instead heal allies once summoned, and at morale 10 is capable of reviving downed allies. Whereas the Baihu will fight alongside you as a summoned beast, with the duration it can stay on the field increased once you have at least 10 morale. As you can see, the previously mentioned morale system adds a lot of depth to the game, not just where your damage is concerned. While Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty appeared to be another flavor of Team Ninja's Nioh at a glance, it is a more mechanically complex game by far. The morale system alone has me excited to see how the game will further make use of it for more challenging encounters, and what else this will potentially affect. Combat and movement are as graceful as ever, and the consolidation of poise and stamina as a single resource kept me quick on my toes. Overall, I'm extremely excited for what the full release of Wo Long will hold, as it already differentiates itself enough from other character action games to create something interesting. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty will release on March 3, 2023 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC. The post Preview: Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Could be Robust appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Sunday, January 29, 2023 5:00 AM
The official Amazarashi YouTube account shared a teaser trailer focusing on a new music video for "Antinomy," an ending song for the NieR: Automata anime adaptation. Yoko Taro, the director and scenario writer of the original game, planned and produced this new NieR Automata ending. The teaser highlighted the Machine Lifeforms portrayed as puppets and the never-ending war they are cursed to take part in. It will release on February 3, 2023. [Thanks, Game Watch!] In the trailer, Yoko Taro explained his fixation on using puppets and dolls to represent the Machine Lifeforms. The creative enjoyed the sense of imperfection the dolls convey and the way the joints and the mechanisms haphazardly move, without a clear sense of freedom. The lack of choice and freedom in a senseless war is a core theme of NieR: Automata and its anime adaptation. The music video will be a 15-minute long puppet show that serves as a retelling of the NieR story. This is the second collaboration between Amazarashi and Yoko Taro, following the release of "Deserving of Life" in 2017 to celebrate the release of NieR: Automata. Formally titled NieR: Automata Ver1.1a, the anime follows the story of YoRHa soldiers 2B and 9S, two androids belonging to the efforts in fighting back the Machine Lifeform invasion, lead by alien invaders. NieR: Automata Ver1.1a is currently in an indefinite hiatus, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only the first three episodes of the adaptation have aired in Japan. You can check out the teaser trailer for the new ending below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M3rs-Xju80 The new version of the ending song performed by Amazarashi is titled "Hypothetical Puppet Show Antinomy," and it will release on February 3, 2023. The post Yoko Taro Produced the New NieR Automata Anime Ending appeared first on Siliconera. |
WGB, Home of AWESOME Reviews Sunday, January 29, 2023 9:17 AM Of all the things I imagined Firaxis doing, mostly involving getting on with XCOM 3, there was never a point where I considered them getting their hands on the Marvel license and making a turn-based tactics game involving the Midnight Suns, cards and attending a weekly book club meeting with Blade where you end up discussing a Kree book outlining their military doctrine. And yet here we are. Firaxis has taken their genius and attempted something interesting and a little weird, mixing a bunch of ideas into a chunky 40+ hour adventure. Like a long-running comic's canon, Marvel's Midnight Suns is...complicated. |