Bethesda had been running a mysterious and unannounced Twitch stream yesterday that was literally just a Fallout bobblehead standing upright in front of a camera and occasionally a “Please Stand By” title card. Not exactly something that was going to set the world on fire, and it can be easy to see why the hype and announcement of Pokemon Lets Go: Eevee & Pikachu overshadowed anything Bethesda was doing it.
It turns out all of this was to build up hype to the announcement of Fallout 76, a game officially know nothing about and whose press release simply confirms that it exists and will be released on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 – alongside an official logo.
Unofficial sources told Kotaku that the game is an online survival RPG in the vein of Rust or ARK or 7 Days to Die. That means it will allow multiple players to connect via a central server to build fortresses, gather resources and well.. Survive. What we don’t know about Fallout 76 is whether or not the game will support offline play or player run servers (as both 7 Days to Die and ARK do).
More details are expected at Bethesda’s E3 showcase in two weeks time.
Bethesda and Zenimax Online Studios have taken the wraps off of the 2018 full expansion coming to The Elder Scrolls Online later this summer. Players will be heading to the home of the high elves, the Summerset Isles – Releasing on PC and Mac on May 21st and on Xbox One / PlayStation 4 on June 5th.
Lore wise Summerset Isles has Queen Ayreen opening up travel to the titular isles in order for them to help uncover a conspiracy that could spell doom for the entirety of Tamriel.
Prologue Quest
Like other add-on DLCs and full expansion releases The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset Isles has a prologue quest that will prepare players for adventures in the new zones on launch day. Grab the “Mage’s Message Stone” for free from the Crown Store to begin the prologue quest which is called “Through a Veil Darkly” and tasks players with traveling to each of the Mage’s Guilds in all of the capital cities around Tamriel.
Known Zones / Cities In The Summerset Isles
The following cities, areas of interest and dungeons have been revealed to be included in The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset Isles. Each area also has a small one paragraph blurb over on the expansion’s official website:
Alinor
Cloudresr
Crystal Tower
Lillandril
Rellenthel
New Skill Line: The Psijic Order
Summerset Isles comes complete with a brand new skill line for players to explore which takes place on the isle of Araeum. There players will learn about the 350 year old Psijic Order and begin harnessing new passive and active abilities as well as a very powerful ultimate ability.
Here are three known abilities from the Psijic skill line and their official descriptions:
Time Stop – Freeze the passage of time at a specific location. Should you catch your enemies within this ability, they’ll be slowed and eventually frozen in place, giving you the opportunity to make your move!
Meditate – Focus your mind and body into a deep meditative state. While active, you will restore Health, Stamina, and Magicka over time. Perfect for those who want to reflect upon and recover from a tough fight.
Undo – Become a true master of time and step backwards into the past to instantly reset your Health, Magicka, and Stamina to what they were only four seconds ago. If the battle isn’t going your way, reset the board!
Physical Edition and Pre-Order Bonuses
Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset Isles will come in 4 different configuration depending on what ESO products players own and what content they want to experience.
Here’s a quick breakdown of all of the different configurations:
The Elder Scrolls Online Collection (All Platforms) – For new players, includes ESO Gold Base Game, 5 DLC-Addons, Morrowind Expansion, Summerset Isles Expansion.
Digital Collector’s Edition – (New players and existing players) ESO base game for new players, Psijic Scrying Talismin (in-game item), Exclusive emotes, Fledgling Griffin Pet, Bloodshadow Wraith Steed Mount, Divine Prosecution Costume Set
Standard Edition – Available digitally only the Standard Edition includes access to the ESO base game for new players. Existing players get access to the Summerset Isles expansion upon release, access to the Morrowind Expansion right away, the Queen’s Bounty Pack and the Nightmare Senche Mount.
A special physical edition of The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset Isles will be made available in limited quantities. Not only does it include the base game, Morrowind expansion, all of the items mentioned above for the Digital Collector’s edition as well as a number of physical only goodies.
Here’s the official breakdown of the physical goodies that come with ESO: Summerset Isles from Zenimax’s official site:
Mephala Statue: A monument to the Daedric Prince Mephala, this 12″-tall replica was unearthed from a cultist shrine.
Razum-dar’s Journal: A spy’s report to Queen Ayrenn chronicling the knowledge collected during Razum-dar’s investigation of Summerset.
Map of Summerset: The home of the High Elves is open to foreign visitors for the first time in history. Let this map be your guide through previously uncharted lands.
Exclusive Steelbook Case: A limited edition metallic case, perfect for any collector’s shelf.
Square Enix – the publisher who most recently rebooted their reboot of a 20 year RPG classic – has announced that they will be partnering with People Can Fly for an unnamed ‘high-end original title’ for console and PC.
Whatever form this new project takes, it will not be featured during Square Enix’s 2017 E3 showcase and will not be at the show in any facet. Previously People Can Fly gained notoriety as a subsidiary of Epic Games where they worked on the Gears of War franchise including an original entry in the franchise, Gears of War Judgement, released in 2013. In addition to the Gears of War and Painkiller franchises, People Can Fly also partnered with Gearbox Software to deliver Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition earlier this year.
Lee Singleton, Head of Studios at Square Enix was quoted with the following in Squeenix’s press release announcing the partnership:
“We’re massively excited to be working with the talented team at PCF in Warsaw, a studio filled with people who really know their craft … We’re building a game we all want to play which will be the perfect addition to our portfolio.”
Lawbreakers, the brand new first person shooter from Cliff Bleszinski – the mind behind Gears of War – will have its first closed beta from March 16th thru the 19th. Alongside the announcement of the closed beta and confirmation that Lawbreakers will be playable once again at PAX East.
If you are in Boston this coming weekend for PAX East Lawbreakers will be playable on the Expo floor thanks to the efforts of publisher Nexon at booth #13055.
In the latest Lawbreakers developer update – which you can view below – both CliffyB and Rohan Revas give viewers a tease about what is coming with the closed beta. They are very clear that this is not the same game that we enjoyed during the closed alpha last summer. In the many months since that time the developers have added new maps, new modes and possibly a new support class.
A new logo and tagline for Lawbreakers has also been released. Nexon is now using the tagline “Gravity – Defying – Combat” to promote the title.
After almost a decade of military shooters being set in the near future or modern day, it looks like developers are looking to take players back to the WW2 theaters of battle. Publisher Gaijin Entertainment in collaboration with developers Dark Flow Software jointly announced their newest FPS title, Enlisted, for release on Windows PC in the second half of 2017.
Enlisted is billed as taking a different approach to the Second World War when compared with other games. Battles in Enlisted will be separate instances, each containing over 100 players, and according to Gaijin the two launch campaigns will focus on decision making and tactics comparable to those used by the soldiers in the real life battlefield. Because every ally and opponent are real players Dark Flow Software are promising engaging confrontations that won’t simply be “kill the opposing team”.
Here is how a proposed scenario would playout online with some of the players taking on the defense of the Russian front during the Battle of Moscow:
“You may be a defender of Moscow in the trenches dug around the city, facing advancing enemy tanks and superior forces, with an objective to hold the enemy, to stop the advancing army in its tracks with all the resources you have. Your task is not to kill every enemy soldier; imagine being a member of the landing operation with an objective of capturing a foothold and mounting defenses, making it possible for the main forces to land on the continent, or, on the contrary – defend against the landing party, or lead your troops so that they arrive in time to a strategic point. This is something one can experience in single-player games but not in online game with human opponents.”
Right now on the games official website – http://www.enlisted.com – Gaijin and Dark Flow Software are promoting their crowd funding efforts for Enlisted as “open development”. Basically, they are committing to delivering the first two episodes of the massive multiplayer campaign, “Invasion of Normandy” and “Battle of Moscow” as separate titles on Steam by the end of 2017 with two more campaigns unlocked as stretch goals if the crowd funding campaign hits either $250,000 and $500,000 respectively.
Those who chose to pre-order either campaign for $19.99 each for $49.99 for both in a bundle with extra unlockable items can also choose to purchase up to three add-on weapons with better accuracy, larger clips or higher rate of fire when compared to their standard variants.
Overall Enlisted sounds like an interesting concept – certainly there is a unique appeal to a historical game world populated by real human teammates & opponents, certainly skilled players could do a lot better than even the most advanced A.I. The other side of the coin is that I could see why some might leery of a funding model that could be seen as withholding campaign until arbitrary funding levels are met, especially when the game already has a publisher behind it. I’d also be a little concerned about the optional add-on weapons currently available for purchase, it is not uncommon for MMO publishers to offer pre-order players a two or three day head start, offering them a weekend or so to see some of the game’s launch content. From the look of things, Enlisted’s pre-order players will not only get access to the Community Beta Test but also higher statistic on their chosen weapons, and that could be infuriating.
Razer – the well known hardware manufacturer – has announced that they will be expanding the number of platforms that indie flying fighting game Gurgamoth will be available on multiple platforms including PC, Mac, Android Phones, Razer Forge TV, NVIDIA Shield and Amazon Fire TV set top boxes.
Gurgamoth is a multiplayer “flying fighting” title where multiple friends have just one objective – sacrifice your fellow players using hazards within the environment itself. Success at Gurgamoth requires quick reflexes, a sense of timing and the ability to not start cackling as you send a saw blade flying towards your friends. According to the publisher this title mixes the chaos found within party games with a sense of strategy.
Developed by Galvanic Games for the Playfab 2015 Seattle Game Jam this game has gone on to win several awards including an official selection at the Indie Min booth at PAX East 2016, 2nd place at iFest Seattle 2016 and Gurgamoth was also an official selection at the Power of Play 2016.
The Android release is available now for as little as $4.99, the PC/MAC port has already launched.
Idea Factory International has just announced a brand new Strategy Roleplaying game for the PlayStation Vita. Trillion: God of Destruction pits the player (that’s hopefully you) against a boss that literally has a trillion hit points. To accomplish the behemoth task of taking him down you’ll have six Overlord Candidates that you main train, level and fine-tune to take down Trillion!
The story of Trillion takes place 1000 years after an epic battle between heaven and hell. After many generations the great battle is still remembered but with the peace, a sense of tranquility has returned to the land. That is, until the demon Trillion appears to wreak havoc!
Alongside some screenshots Idea Factory International provided the following key features of Trillion:
A TRILLION HP! This big bad boss has 1,000,000,000,000 HP! How you defeat him is up to your individual strategy and training!
6 Deadly Sins to Love! In between battles, you’ll get some quality alone time with each of your six Overlord Candidates leading your army. Can you have a love story even in war?
Prepare for Battle! While Trillion sleeps, it’s training time! Hit the training grounds and discover randomly-generated treasure chests or strengthen weapons at the Blacksmith’s!
Replay, Replay, Replay! Stats carry over with each New Game+ plus and there are multiple endings to unlock! With over 10 endings, there’s even more reason to stand up and keep fighting!
Trillion: God of Destruction will be available both digitally on PlayStation Network and physically at your retailer of choice for PlayStation Vita sometime in 2016.
This game was originally released as Makai Shin Trillion in Japan and Idea Factory International has launched an official western site for Trillion which you can visit here.
