GamersHeroes Sunday, July 21, 2024 2:57 PM Players will be able to take control of Samurai Jack in Player First Games' MultiVersus when he launches on July 23 as part of Season 2. The post Samurai Jack Coming to MultiVersus July 23 appeared first on GamersHeroes. |
Kotaku Sunday, July 21, 2024 10:00 AM  Looking to take your first steps into Square Enix's acclaimed and newly expanded MMO, Final Fantasy 14? We've got you covered with some great beginner guides. We've also got tips for Palworld, Once Human, and The First Descendant, as well as recommendations for games to pick up before the Xbox 360 online store shuts… |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 21, 2024 12:33 PM  Given their name, it's no shock that the defining memories from the best grand strategy games tend to be ones where you build out vast, sprawling empires - often stretching far beyond the boundaries of historical realism. Certainly, Paradox's masterful Europa Universalis 4 is no different in that regard. Yet, as we all know, even the greatest empires are destined to fall under the weight of their own success, and that's exactly what this comprehensive EU4 mod aims to capture. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Europa Universalis IV DLC guide, The best Europa Universalis 4 mods, Play Europa Universalis 4 |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 21, 2024 10:58 AM  With the prospect of a proper new Command and Conquer game in the style of the classics feeling like a pipe dream, 9-Bit Armies is one of my favorite contenders to its vacant throne. That should come as little surprise given the pedigree of developer Petroglyph Games, which was founded by former Westwood programmers and brought us the fantastic RTS game Star Wars: Empire at War and the Command and Conquer Remastered collection. Now, its new survival mode offers yet another way to play, and you can even snag it cheap in an ongoing Steam sale. Continue reading Stellar RTS game 9-Bit Armies adds multiplayer survival mode MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best RTS games, Best strategy games, Best 4X games |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 21, 2024 10:26 AM  Players review bombing games due to decisions they don't like has only become more prevalent in recent years, and GTA 6 publisher Take-Two is acknowledging the negative impact the trend can have. Between a costly shift in sales, reputation, and new marketing initiatives to put out fires, review bombings cost a lot of time and money, even if players succeed in the end. With Rockstar's next crime epic due out in 2025, Grand Theft Auto 6 isn't going to be safe from players mobilizing to criticize decisions they don't like, and Take-Two knows it. Continue reading GTA 6 publisher admits review bombing can significantly harm success MORE FROM PCGAMESN: GTA 6 release date, Best open-world games, GTA 5 cheats |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 21, 2024 10:23 AM  Launched on Friday, Capcom's brand-new strategy action RPG Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess has been making waves as something totally fresh thanks to its unique genre splicing and beautiful art direction. Yet, upsettingly, it seems to be flying under the radar for Steam players. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best action games, Best strategy games, Best single-player games |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 21, 2024 9:13 AM  July 21, 2024: We've added three more new Monopoly Go dice links for free dice rolls. How can I get Monopoly Go free dice links? The household favorite board game has been reimagined as a free-to-play app on smartphones, allowing everyone to experience the thrills of Monopoly on practically any device. Everything that makes the board game special is here in Monopoly Go, so you'll be collecting properties and building hotels as you go around the board, and there are a variety of multiplayer minigames to get through along the way. You're going to need to get your hands on Monopoly dice rolls, but they are difficult to come by no matter how far you are into the board game. There are ways to earn additional dice rolls, including logging into the game every day to collect daily bonuses, progressing further in the game, and inviting friends to try Monopoly Go. While you can also spend real money to unlock more dice rolls, you may want to give our list of Monopoly Go dice links a try instead, especially if you're waiting for the next Monopoly Go Golden Blitz event. Take a look at all the currently active Monopoly Go free dice links for today. Continue reading Free Monopoly Go dice links July 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best board games, Monopoly Go events, Monopoly Go dice |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 21, 2024 10:57 AM  Once Human is an incredibly popular game launch marred by ongoing problems. Starry Studio's Steam survival hit isn't the first game to need constant maintenance at release and it definitely won't be the last, but between a cosmetic mishap, long queue times, and ongoing gameplay bugs, there's a lot of work to be done. To top it off, it's now been a week since the developer promised to improve Once Human's lag problem, and the team says it has finally identified the "root cause." Continue reading Once Human dev finally knows the "root cause" of the big lag problem MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best sandbox games, Best open-world games, Best survival games |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Sunday, July 21, 2024 11:00 AM  Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! Something extra magical has happened! And by magical, I mean that I've bollocksed it up, yet again! I foresaw this coming, honestly, and should have addressed it last week. Alas, I dared to dream that I'd have sorted things out by now. Well, this is what I get for mild optimism! |
Siliconera Sunday, July 21, 2024 3:00 PM
Listen, there's no excuse for not having played Monster Hunter Stories or Monster Hunter Stories 2 and caught Monsties now, as Capcom basically released the best version of one game everywhere and the sequel went multiplatform. These are refreshing takes on the Monster Hunter and Pokemon formula. They're worth playing. (Especially if you have Apple Arcade and free access to the original via the subscription.) So in case you are just getting started, here are our recommendations for Monsties to check out.
There is a correct answer to this question and it IS the Great Poogie. Runners up include my chubby shark friend Zamtrios and the Good Old Rathian. I hope they add a Seltas Queen you can tame one day too, I love that design. — Elliot
I really love Nargacuga, because it's just one of the cutest, strongest, and most intimidating Monsties in the Monster Hunter Stories games. However, I also kept Paolumu along as a friend for the longest time. It's so fluffy, puffy, and cute! But really, the execution is such that any monster you invest in can end up being viable for so long, which helps keep both entries in this new series engaging. I just hope that, if a third game appears, even more monsters get a chance to become our buddies. (They are friend-shaped sometimes, after all!) — Jenni
The post Which Monstie Did You Like Best in Monster Hunter Stories? appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Sunday, July 21, 2024 12:00 PM
It's always sort of weird when a game take a long time to be localized, but a welcome addition when it finally shows up worldwide. This is the situation The Battle Cats Unite faced, as the Switch game launched in Japan in 2018 and Asia in 2021 before a 2024 worldwide debut. It's a shame it took so long too, because the RTS remains as entertaining as always. The only downside is, it keeps some of the free-to-play elements such as a stamina system.
The goal in each case is that you command the heroic Battle Cats as they attempt to go around the world, through time, or across the stars to fight enemies. There's a staggering number of stages, as you get the Empire of Cats, Into the Future, and Cats of the Cosmos campaigns, as well as some special stages. Minigame access can also be unlocked.
Regardless of which campaign you're going through, The Battle Cats Unite plays the same on the Switch. Your goal in each stage is to eliminate the enemy base while protecting your own. You can equip up to 10 different kinds of cats to deploy. Each one has its own monetary cost, with a cooldown tied to them after purchasing one. You can spend money to increase your production level and rate of earning more money. Also, an energy cannon gradually builds in power, allowing you to unleash it when full. Units, rate of work production, how much money you can have, and associated stats for the base and cannon are all available to be upgraded with XP, as are the cats. Said cats can also evolve, sometimes more than once, depending on if you max out levels or have certain items. Each stage also only lasts a few minutes, making it a prompt RTS affair.
There are some elements in theSwitch version of The Battle Cats Unite that feel designed to mitigate the obvious leftovers from the free-to-play mobile version of the game. The Cat Food currency is doled out sparingly, and you'll need that for extra unit gacha pulls or if you want to have the option of buying XP or other bonuses. The energy system remains in-place, so you can only go through so many battles before you need to stop playing or pay in Cat Food to keep going. As you imagine, the further along you get in the campaign, the more energy each stage costs to complete. It's frustrating!
Especially since most of the most fun and flashy characters are locked behind the golden gacha machines. These require you to earn Gold Tickets or Cat Food for a spin. (Completing in-game missions is typically the best way to earn both.) That means you also have to hope luck is on your side for some of the most ludicrous units in the game. However, the cost to deploy them is also often incredibly high, so odds are you wouldn't get to send them out until the end of a stage anyway.
I will say that there are some elements that can feel designed to mitigate the need for stamina to keep going through fights and other issues. You'll randomly get a chance to play through minigames. These can give you a burst of stamina, power-ups for stages, or gacha tickets, so they're always appreciated. The co-op and VS elements also make me feel like they're ways to deal with energy demands, since a multiplayer session would likely be shorter than a solo one.
Speaking of which, multiplayer is totally fine and serviceable here. I enjoyed the co-op option more than the VS. Specifically because it does help further campaign progress and work toward those goals as well. However, I did note that playing with another person almost makes the stages too easy, so it's not something I'd probably do outside of rare situations. Even though each person is limited to five types of units, it doesn't feel like it is too restrictive as well. Multiplayer is fine and fun, and I appreciated that the minigames also took into account if a second person was around to allow someone else to assist in co-op.
The Battle Cats Unite is absolutely entertaining and the formula for the tower defense RTS remains strong, but the remaining mobile roots get annoying. The absurdity of the various cats (or in some cases "cats") you deploy are as entertaining as ever. Even the cooperative and versus stages are fun. I just wish more had been done to remove the obnoxious free-to-play elements such as the energy restrictions or limited Cat Food currency. If you don't mind the grind and taking your time, it's a fun diversion to keep on your system.
The Battle Cats Unite is available on the Nintendo Switch worldwide.
The post Review: The Battle Cats Unite Entertains (When You Have Energy) appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Sunday, July 21, 2024 9:00 AM
I often skip strategic-RPGs, as I find they rarely grasp my attention for longer than a couple of hours. This usually includes even NIS America's renowned Disgaea series. My issue with these games largely comes from how often grid-based combat bores me, but such wasn't the case during my recent opportunity to test Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero at Anime Expo 2024.
The reason for my early appreciation for the Phantom Brave sequel stems from the fact it eschews the usual tactical RPG grids for a more free-form battle system. This allows for plenty of freedom in how to approach each fight. I felt like I could tackle combat during my demo in whatever way I wanted, with whatever units I'd like.
The star of Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is Marona, a girl with a collection of Phantom friends. She summons these allies to help her out in combat, as they otherwise might not be so visible. Players can pick where to summon Phantoms, and I was able to bring out as many as possible on the field during my session. There is just one caveat. This can only be done so long as they have an item, such as a tree or bush, to inhabit.
Even in the singular battle I completed during my short demo of this upcoming RPG, there were so many gimmicks to appreciate. For instance, Marona herself can fuse together with her Phantoms. This gives her a unique transformation, depending on the pal, and makes her even more powerful. While transformed, each kill she gets on an enemy grants her an extra attack phase during the same turn. This allowed me to chain up kills one after another for four kills on the same turn, which wiped out a significant number of the enemy forces.
After that, I was able to take control of a different Phantom. This character had the power to control gadgets. This included a barrel mech she could pilot. It added so much depth to how to tackle each fight. How I approached the battle might be completely different than how someone else dealt with it.
This idea also shows up in its heavy emphasis on a risk and reward system. Going back to Marona's transformation ability, there is a catch that keeps it in check. The Phantom you fuse with leaves the field after the transformation concludes. From what I gather, this transformation only lasts for a few turns. After that, the Phantom retires from that particular fight. So, it left me with the challenging decision to know when to fuse at the right moment so as to not make the battle tougher in the long run. I appreciated the sheer amount of depth I saw in this rather early fight.
While I never played the original Phantom Brave, The Lost Lord grabbed my attention more than most NIS America strategy RPGs from my initial preview. I like the lack of grids on the battlefield, which provides a more open movement system. Everything feels much smoother and swifter than similar games. Unfortunately, this preview didn't show off the story. That said, these cutesy and colorful characters might be worth a look when this comes out in 2025. Especially with how fun the lengthy battles seem to be.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero will release for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC in 2025.
The post Preview: Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero Provides Immense Freedom appeared first on Siliconera. |
Gaming Instincts – Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism Sunday, July 21, 2024 3:50 PM A trailer was also released. The post SNK vs. Capcom: SVC CHAOS Announced for Modern Consoles appeared first on Gaming Instincts - Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism. |