PCGamesN Saturday, August 12, 2023 12:00 PM  Bramble The Mountain King is, for my money, one of 2023's most gorgeous and striking indie games. This atmospheric action platformer inspired by dark Nordic fables comes from Sweden-based Dimfrost Studio, and it's quite the achievement for just the team's second outing. Scored by a fantastic soundtrack that ranges from the haunting to the bombastic, Bramble The Mountain King has stuck vividly in my memory - and now thanks to a Steam sale you can grab it at a huge discount, so move fast. Continue reading Grab one of 2023's best atmospheric indie games cheap in Steam sale |
PCGamesN Saturday, August 12, 2023 10:27 AM  Baldur's Gate 3 is already racking up the numbers. Recently released Baldur's Gate 3 stats from developer Larian Studios reveal that, as well as taking over the general conversation, the vast RPG game has also taken over our Steam playtimes. With a total count of 1225 years of Baldur's Gate 3 played in its first weekend and it rocketing up the Valve charts, there's another big milestone in the game's sights as its second weekend begins. Continue reading Baldur's Gate 3 has another major Steam milestone in its sights MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Baldur's Gate 3 quests, Baldur's Gate 3 review, Baldur's Gate 3 class |
PCGamesN Saturday, August 12, 2023 8:21 AM  Diablo 3 Season 29 is going all-in to celebrate the 12-year journey of the Blizzard RPG game. Pitched as Diablo 3's final season, with the team moving its focus to Diablo 4 seasons following its launch, the Diablo 3 Season 29 patch notes go all-out on answering just about every community request for quality-of-life improvements and balance changes imaginable to craft what promises to be among the most exciting and competitive seasons yet. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Diablo 3 builds, Diablo 3 Necromancer skills, Best games like Diablo |
Siliconera Saturday, August 12, 2023 3:00 PM
Lots of new and old characters have already been revealed for Mortal Kombat 1. Like we know even people from entries like Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero will show up. We also know it will continue the tradition of guest stars by bringing in characters like Homelander and Peacemaker. So this week, we figured we'd talk about characters we'd like to see show up in Mortal Kombat 1. It honestly might be cool to see another console exclusive guest character come up again. For example, Kratos appeared in the 2011 installment. Since there's the Twisted Metal TV show, what if Sweet Tooth showed up in Mortal Kombat 1. He'd fit in with the rest of the cast, and there could probably be some fun moves based on his experiences. -- Jenni Like Jenni, I'm all for the crossover guest characters. One that I'd love to see in Mortal Kombat 1 is Michael Myers from the Halloween movie franchise. He's one of the few missing horror icons after already getting Jason, Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, and more in the past. On the superhero side, I'd like to see Batman or Superman. Mainly because it's been far too long since the last Injustice game. -- Cody The post Characters We Want to See in Mortal Kombat 1 appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Saturday, August 12, 2023 12:00 PM
It isn't uncommon for Disney or Disney-adjacent series to get manga adaptations. For example, there was one for Cruella, not to mention the Kingdom Hearts adaptations. Twisted Wonderland felt a perfect fit for a manga version, and fortunately for us it does work quite well. While it doesn't mean immediate introductions to all of the houses and characters, Twisted Wonderland builds on the game's story with a natural progression that feels like it will eventually give everyone equal attention. While the identity of the main character can seem a bit vague in the Twisted Wonderland game, to assist with self-insertion, the manga is much more clear. Things begin with Japanese high school student Yuken "Yu" Enma. He's great at kendo, poised to lead his team to victory, but he's also a genuinely good person who appears to want to root for and assist people with dreams and just starting on their own journeys. However, after a practice, he's suddenly essentially hit by a black carriage pulled by black horses. He awakes in a coffin at the entrance ceremony for Night Raven College. It's a school with "houses" tied to iconic Disney villains. Only those with incredibly magical potential are admitted, but Yu has none. After a weird encounter with a cat monster determined to attend the school, headmaster Dire Crowley allows him to stay at an abandoned, haunted dorm. This part, as well as the introduction to the various members of Heartslabyul, all is handled incredibly well. While we get teasers of the Twisted Wonderland characters who head up the other dorms in the introduction, the manga doesn't throw too much at us by allowing us to just focus on one group of characters. It offers familiar segues for those who started with the game, as well as those for whom this adaptation is their first exposure to the story. It hits all the major story beats of introducing Grim, as well as setting up Ace Trappola and Deuce Spade as Yu's first friends. Especially as the quartet ends up needing to get magestone to avoid expulsion. Not to mention it feels like the Twisted Wonderland manga's first volume shows the characters' relationships better. We see exactly why Yu connects so quickly with Riddle Rosehearts. It offers more support for the events we know will soon come in the next volume, especially if you played the game. There's better support to build rapport. I suppose the best way to put it is that I didn't expect the Twisted Wonderland manga to be as good as it is, but the first volume starts strong. It offers a solid origin story for the protagonist. It doesn't try to do too much. Also, it builds on the game's events, ensuring that it offers extra context and character insight to make things feel fuller and worth experiencing either for the first time or again. Twisted Wonderland is available on Android and Apple iOS devices. The anime adaptation will appear on Disney+. Volume 1 of the Twisted Wonderland manga is available now, and volume 2 will appear on November 14, 2023. The post Twisted Wonderland Manga Builds on the Game appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Saturday, August 12, 2023 9:00 AM
For anyone looking to relive the Nintendogs fad of the mid-2000s, Little Friends: Puppy Island is your game. It's a relaxing pet simulator game with a simple main gameplay loop and a handful of minigames sprinkled in. There's not a lot of meat to the game, but you're here to play with cute puppies first and not really anything second, which is exactly what you get. You get to have fun with puppies of all different breeds, and that's all you need. The premise of Little Friends: Puppy Island is exactly what it sounds like: you're on an island full of friendly, wild puppies. You and your puppy are there to house-sit for a friend, and you get to explore the island and befriend as many puppies as you can find while you're there. With the puppies' help, you can find new areas and develop the island. It's all for the pups' benefit, of course. It's super barebones and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but that's not actually important. The game has a story of some kind and it's cohesive enough, which is more than most anyone has ever wanted in a pet sim. What makes up the bulk of the game is you picking one of your puppy friends and walking them around the island trail. When you're on the trail, you can find new puppies and make friends with them, build things like a shop and a dog park, and over time, find new parts of the island to explore. After a while, your pup will get dirty or hungry or just need some love and you'll have to go back to your friend's house to care for them. That's rather short-lived, though, as cleaning and feeding and everything you need to stay on the trail takes a very short time. It got fairly repetitive fairly quickly, which wasn't great considering how it's the vast majority of the game, but there were a few things to help break up the monotony. One of the best parts of Little Friends: Puppy Island is the obstacles on the trail that you cross by completing little minigames. They pose little challenge and take all of about ten seconds to complete, but they keep you engaged and are plenty cute since they're dog-themed. The type of minigame even changes depending on the type of obstacle, which is a nice way to keep things fresh. [caption id="attachment_976828" align="alignnone" width="1200"] There are a few other minigame-type things to do on the trail. Befriending puppies involves finding them and then approaching them slowly, being careful not to spook them by moving too quickly. Every so often, there are wild animals like squirrels that you stop your pup from barking at by pressing the right button at the right time. Even development projects are fetch quests (heh), with you finding materials and bringing them to the build site. None of it is difficult by any means, but it gives you something to do. When you do end up having to go back to your friend's house, you get to another one of the most enjoyable parts of Little Friends: Puppy Island: getting to dress up your puppies. Dressing them up is some of the most fun to be had with the game since there are countless different pieces of clothing to choose from. It's very easy to spend a lot of time going through all your options and giving each of your dogs the perfect outfit. Personally, putting shutter shades on one of my little buddies was one of the best decisions I've made ever. And since there are also plenty of dog breeds on the island, there are more options for which dog to dress up and how than you can shake a stick at. [caption id="attachment_976829" align="alignnone" width="1200"] You can also bathe, feed, and play with your pups, which is fairly neat because doing so actually affects the game. As your pups walk the trail, they'll get dirty and hungry, as shown by their gauges. Bathing and feeding them solve those problems and let you get right back onto the trail. They're not amazing activities that you want to have to do constantly, and I found that bathing requiring you to actually scrub the dogs was a little unnecessary when petting them is done the exact same way, but them being integrated into the overall system is nice. [caption id="attachment_976830" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Meanwhile, playing helps build some of your puppies' stats. You'll need higher stats to take on more trail obstacles, giving the game a feeling of progression. Most stats go up passively as you walk too, so there's no grinding to be done, and the ones that don't can be leveled up by playing some of the minigames like stopping your puppy from barking. Heck, even petting them builds stats, because what is a pet sim if you can't pet your little buddies? As a whole, Little Friends: Puppy Island is cozy and enjoyable, but it's not really a game that felt like it could be played for an extended period of time. It is very much a cozy, relax-and-unwind kind of game, or a game meant for younger kids who want to do all the things with all the puppies. I didn't particularly dislike any part of it, but it didn't take long to feel like it was getting repetitive. Playing for anything more than about 45 minutes to an hour almost made me think I was getting déjà vu. But, well, it's definitely a comfy game that anyone looking for some downtime can enjoy in short spurts. Little Friends: Puppy Island is available now on Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam. The post Review: Little Friends: Puppy Island Is Cozy, but Repetitive appeared first on Siliconera. |
Gamer Empire Saturday, August 12, 2023 11:17 AM The only way you can befriend a character fast in Stardew Valley is by giving them gifts. The more gifts you give someone, the more friendship points you will get with them. Relationships in Stardew Valley are defined by hearts, which visually show your total friendship points. You can have any number of hearts from […] |
Gamer Empire Saturday, August 12, 2023 10:53 AM The only way you can befriend a character fast in Stardew Valley is by giving them gifts. The more gifts you give someone, the more friendship points you will get with them. Relationships in Stardew Valley are defined by hearts, which visually show your total friendship points. You can have any number of hearts from […] |
Gamer Empire Saturday, August 12, 2023 9:51 AM Mounts are a crucial part of traveling in Final Fantasy XIV. The lands in FFXIV are vast, with new areas added with every expansion. To make the most of your time, finding the quickest paths to your destination is ideal. This means learning to fly and increasing mount speed when you can't fly. Recommended Read: […] |
Gaming Instincts – Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism Saturday, August 12, 2023 3:57 PM The trailer showcases the game's online and offline co-op mode The post Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy Gets New 'Couch Co-Op' Trailer appeared first on Gaming Instincts - Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism. |