Nintendo first revealed the sequel to 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild two years ago at E3 2019. Now, we’ve finally got a fresh look at the title thanks to this morning’s Nintendo Direct. We still don’t have any details about the title’s narrative but we did get a look at some really cool new toys for Link.
It looks like regardless of however much time has passed between Breath of the Wild and its sequel, Link has either replaced his right arm with a sweet Shieka cyber arm OR he’s got a cool new gauntlet. Either way this new piece of kit allows him to cast abilities like the magnetic power frotyzm the first game without using a Sheika Slate. He just holds up his hand towards an object and the power activates. It seems that he is also able to use the new arm/gauntlet to WARP THROUGH OBJECTS. Literally phasing through them, Kitty Pryde style. It’s not known if this ability is only used at designated points, within designated types of terrains or has other restrictions.
In terms of locations.. it looks like Ganon’s castle…. is bleeding? I’m no expert on castles but I’m pretty sure that is not normal. We also got confirmation of a new location – islands that float above Hyrule in the sky!
Breath of the Wild 2 is confirmed for a 2022 release on Nintendo Switch. As we all know, the COVID pandemic does mean that games can miss their target dates.
Bonus Level Entertainment’s retro 16-bit inspired platformer Fox n’ Forest will be hitting Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC this bring. To help drum up some hype for the release of this beautiful pixel creation publisher Eurovideo sent out a press release today highlighting a brand new in-game video – featuring level 1:2 titled “Gorgeous George”.
In Fox n’ Forest players take on the role of anthropomorphic fox who will utilize a magic crossbow and the ability to change the seasons at will to navigate the stunning worlds of this title. When the seasons change the world around Rick also changes – for example when changing the season to Fall, leaves might become platforms that open up alternate routes to harder enemies, epic loot and brand new puzzles.
Speaking about their approach to level design the game’s director Rupert Ochsner had this to say:
“Level design is one of the most important tasks in game development, All elements need to come together in an entertaining way and it can make or break the game.”
Based in Munich, Germany Bonus Level Entertainment successfully KickStarted 100,000+ Euros to bring their vision for Fox n’ Forest to life during the summer of 2016. Their mission is to reinvent the 16-bit style of gameplay by preserving what made the SNES era so magical while introducing new gameplay mechanics and systems from a more modern perspective.
*insert cute cartoonish animal noises for the remainder of this post*
Playtonic’s throwback to the Rareware platformers of the N64 era, Yooka-Laylee, is now available on Nintendo Switch. Cartoony and cute animals pairing up to take down a big baddie in a colorful world was once a winning formula for the Nintendo and Rare. Two decades later, the unlikely pairing of a chameleon and bat pick up the mantle left behind by Banjo and Kazooie to fill the 3D platforming void.
Featuring seven explorable worlds, fifteen unique special moves and tons of collectables, there is a lot to do in this retro platformer. The Switch port may have taken an additional eight months to complete (PS4 / Xbox One version was released in April of this year) but the wait has been worth it. Rather than contract out the Nintendo Switch version to an external team, Playtonic themselves handled the port and created custom assets that better suit the Switch’s hardware profile. In the end Switch get a version of Yooka-Laylee that clocks in at just over 5GB and runs at 630p while in handheld mode. While docked Yooka-Laylee runs at a solid 900p.
Yooka-Laylee is priced at $50.31CDN for a digital version on the Nintendo E-Shop. Team-17, the game’s publisher, provided us with a review copy for Switch. Look forward to a review after the holiday break.
E3 is coming to a close today but there is still tons of screenshots, trailers and news to go through. Namco Bandai reminds all of us that Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is coming to both PlayStation 4, PSVR and PC in 2018 with the release of a brand new trailer and a series of screenshots. This latest trailer gives us a lot more background into the story of Skies Unknown – with one of the military powers in the world of Ace Combat occupying the International Space Elevator the world is plunged into chaos and military conflict. The newly released screenshots give us a look inside one of the game’s hangers, a close-up view of an F-14 and several select screengrabs from the trailer itself.
There is still no confirmed release date for Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.
Youtuber PS360HD got a 10 minute direct-feed gameplay capture from this year’s E3 conference if you’d like to see how Ace Combat 7 Plays:
Funcom’s revamped version of 2012’s The Secret World, called The Secret World: Legends, will re-launch on Steam on June 26th. Originally released as a traditional ‘WOW like’ MMORPG in 2012, The Secret World: Legends tells the tale of a conspiracy spanning the globe involving the supernatural. Players are able to join one of three factions – Dragon, Templar and the Illuminati as they awaken to their powers and abilities.
Secret World: Legends takes a substantial chunk of the content found in the 2012 original and reimagines it as a player-centric story driven experience with shared world elements. Rather than running around the world with hundreds of other awakened co-conspirators, Legends will be similar to a console action RPG with a tightly controlled population of just a couple of players. That isn’t to say that socializing isn’t available – the social hub known as Agartha will allow hundreds of players to come together and explore this nightmarish supernatural world together in the new smaller instances.
Here is how Funcom’s official press release summarized Legends’ plot:
“Secret World Legends plunges players into a shadowy war against the supernatural in an adventure that crosses our world with the realms of ancient myth and legend. As players traverse the globe unraveling complex investigations into the unknown, they’ll need to uncover clues and use their own wits as much as their characters’ abilities.”
With the transition from the previous ‘buy to play’ model to the new free-to-play model, Secret Worlds Legends does bring a number of further improvements beyond the tightened narrative focus. Combat has been redesigned to be more streamlined and action focused, previously players would have a row of numbered hotkeys like in other MMORPGs. Legends’ combat system reduces the number of active abilities and focuses on the use of an in-game reticule to give the game a more action-orientated feel. Graphics have also been improved when compared to the original game.
Funcom released a brief overview video that explains what The Secret World Legends is and how it differs from the original version of the game. After Legends’ launch on Steam this year the developers will be able to continue the story past Tokyo – which is where the previously paid story DLC ‘issues’ for the 2012 originals left off.
Developers from the now defunct Irrational Games have formed a new studio, The Deep End Games, and have unveiled their first project – Perception, a first person horror experience that will be coming to both Windows PC and PlayStation 4. The Deep End Games have partnered with a brand new publisher, Feardemic – which is owned by Layers of Fear devs Bloober Team, to bring their unique horror experience to life.
Perception isn’t your typical horror narrative, the game’s protagonist, Cassie has lost her sight and relies on a cane and SmartPhone in order to navigate the environment. With these tools at her side she is able to use a form of echolocation to traverse a gloomy Massachusetts Mansion that might be hiding a dark & ancient secret. Using her tools Cassie is able to use her cane & phone to generate sounds that will illuminate the environment for players. Ambient sounds such as a door slamming shut or a foe running towards you will also illuminate more of the mansion for players to explore. Since Cassie can’t fight back if she is spotted she’ll have no other recourse but to hide and wait for the all clear.
It is important to note that this game does fall into the trope of providing blind people with superpowers – in this case literally echolocation that produces vivid imagery. While modern scientific research using fMRI machines has shown that the brain will rewire itself towards the other sense, this does not result in the type of enhanced experience shown within perception. As someone with a partial visual impairment – I’m blind in one eye – I am a primarily auditory dominate individual but this doesn’t mean that I can hear frequencies that others can not, it simply means the brain has rewired itself through neuroplasticity to put more focus on the other senses. I feel that this is an important distinction that needs to be addressed when discussing a game with a disabled lead character, especially with a mechanic like Cassie’s echolocation.
As Scientific American discuses the neuroplasticity concept in relation to loss of senses thusly:
“It is commonly assumed that the improvement in the remaining senses is a result of learned behavior; in the absence of vision, blind people pay attention to auditory cues and learn how to use them more efficiently. But there is mounting evidence that people missing one sense don’t just learn to use the others better. The brain adapts to the loss by giving itself a makeover.”
Realism aside Perception looks like a fun horror experience with a story that could be engaging – honestly I’d like to know more about the game’s narrative. Perception was originally kickstarted in 2015 to the tune of $168,000 USD with a then projected release date of June 2016. The devs outlined more about their plans for the game over on the PlayStation Blog yesterday – go check it out!
Nintendo’s favorite squid kids will be arguing whether they should be Squids Now or Kids Now with the return of ink turf wars this summer for the Nintendo Switch. Revealed during the Nintendo Switch presentation in the typical humorous Splatoon style a cosplaying Ninty Rep made an appearance as the Squid Researcher who brought us updates on the original game’s Tumbler account two years ago.
Splatoon 2 will bring a number of new hairstyles, clothes and fresh threads for Squid Kids to enjoy on a whole suite of brand new battle arenas. In the reveal trailer we got a look at a new type of roller that can splat ink forward, a set of dual pistols that rapidly fire ink like a machine gun pistol and a whole bunch of new super weapons including a ink missile launcher and an INK JET PACK. It was also confirmed that Splatoon 2 will be playable either using the pro controller, the Joycons via motion control, Joycons via controller dock or on the tablet by itself in handheld mode.
Splatoon 2 will be released on Nintendo Switch sometime this summer and will feature a post-release free DLC campaign, similar to the one that brought a number of new pieces of content to the original game for months after release.
Veteran game developers Runewater have announced their latest game Guardians of Ember will be available on Steam Early Access next month. This brand new isometric hack & slash action title looks to take more than a few cues from Blizzard’s Diablo franchise from both a gameplay design and graphical style perspective.For fans of the genre, this might be one to keep an eye on ahead of it’s September Early Access release.
Guardians of Embers describes the game as an action title where players must defend the world of Olymdale from a mysterious dark menace. As a hero players have a choice between one of six classes but after they reach level 15 the game’s dual specification system kicks in, allowing players to chose a secondary class. The finished game promises to include 60 randomly generated dungeons, each with their own difficulty level.
Here is a rundown of the features that Runewater hopes to include in the final release:
– dual class system (available from level 15)
– near unlimited character optimization (4 races, 6 classes, over 300 of active and passive skills)
– randomized dungeons with individual difficulty settings
– crafting and enchanting system: Design your perfect equipment
– housing system: Decorate your own house with hundreds of items
– engaging story with hundreds of quests
– various PVP options (1vs1, 3vs3, 5vs5 – ranked and unranked)
Guardians of Ember is expected to be in Early Access for 3 – 6 months. The initial launch will include the first two Acts with the final 3 Acts coming further into development. For more information on the game check out their Steam Early Access page, sadly no initial price for the game is available as of press time.
Activision has released a new 13 minute single-player video showcasing some of the campaign mission ‘Black Sky’ from Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. This demonstration footage was released as part of Activision’s San Diego Comic Con festivities and was actually shown behind closed doors at E3 last month as well.
Here is the official description of ‘Black Sky’ from the Call of Duty YouTube channel:
“When the Settlement Defense Front attacks UNSA forces in Geneva without warning during Fleet Week, Lt. Reyes and his squad have only one option: Fight back against the SetDef and give ‘em hell. Check out the Campaign gameplay from “Black Sky” in Infinite Warfare.“
Infinite Warfare continues the series’ march into the far future, this time blasting players off into space with sub-orbital dogfights featuring smaller spacecraft but also large capital ships. During the single player campaign Lt.Reyes will actually get command of one of earth’s last remaining capital ships in a narrative that will take players across the solar system.
The first single-player gameplay from Infinite was released at Sony’s E3 press conference and our next chance to get a look at the game will be at Call of Duty XP from September 2-4th.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will be released on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on November 4th.
Square Enix has released several new trailers, b-roll footage and screenshots prior to the release of Star Ocean V: Integrity and Faithlessness on PS3 and PlayStation 4. With these new videos you can get to know Relia, one of the characters in the game as well as meet the actors behind the voice talent that bring the characters to life.
Star Ocean V: Integrity and Faithlessness is the fifth entry in the long running RPG franchise that has been around since the days of the original PlayStation back into the 90s. Utilizing a real time battle system players are able to take control of 1 of 7 characters in combat seamlessly with a new system that allows Square to have the game seamlessly transition between gameplay and cinematic cut-scenes. Story wise the main protagonist comes from an ‘under developed’ planet with another species that has highly advanced technology.
The game will be out on June 28th in North America and was released on March 31st in Japan.
Deep Silver has revealed a brand new incentive for potential owners of the Dead Island Definitive Collection – a 16-bit side-scrolling entry in the franchise titled Dead Island Retro Revenge! This newest title is of course inspired by 90s beat’em up staples like Streets of Rage and Final Fight and its’ debut trailer is voiced Jack Black.
In Retro Revenge players take on the role of Max who must slaughter his way through army soldiers, criminals and the undead in order to save his pet cat. Alright, so the plot is a little thin, but that is to be expected given the inspiration for Retro Revenge, what it lacks in narrative it hopefully makes up for with melee focused combat where players are rewarded with power-ups for achieving a high combo multiplier.
It is clear that Deep Silver is clearly targeting an older male demographic with Retro Revenge given the 16-bit art-style and the narration by Jack Black. It doesn’t quite look like something I’d sink a lot of time into but I’m sure some of our older readers might enjoy this retro inspired throwback.
Dead Island: Retro Revenge will be available as part of the Dead Island Definitive Collection which includes remastered versions of the 2011 original Dead Island its expansion-like sequel Dead Island: Riptide. The collection launches May 31st 2016 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. I’m not sure who asked for a remastered Dead Island Collection but this is apparently a thing we will be getting at the end of the month.
id Software and Bethesda games today revealed the many different game modes that players will be able to experience in DOOM’s online multiplayer. Below is a brief description of some of the modes I found the interesting:
First up in this new trailer is Soul Harvest, which rewards players not for kills but for collecting a soul token that spawns upon a player’s death. Like kill confirmed from the Call of Duty franchise and Headhunter from Halo: Reach this could mean hunting down the player with the highest number of souls to snag an easy victory or jumping in at just the right minute to collect a fresh soul. Next up is
Next up is Freeze Tag is very similar to the game we all played as children, make contact with your opponents (via bullets) to freeze them in place. Other friendly players can unfreeze their buddies by making contact with shooting their friends in the face.
Warpath is a single target king of the hill variant with a very narrow pathway to the objective. To complicate things a demon rune continuously spawns, allowing one of the teams to control a hellish demonic creature like the Reever, able to do massive amounts of damage to their opponents. The team that controls the hill the longest wins the match.
Team Deathmatch – I shouldn’t need to explain this FPS staple.
Doom will be released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC on May 13th. id Software will be holding a closed beta between March 31st and April 3rd for those who purchased Wolfenstein: The New Order back in 2014. Maker sure to check out Bethesda’s official site for a lot more information on these multiplayer modes, it’s almost time to get fragging.
Capcom has released the first character introduction video for their upcoming Street Fighter V. This two-minute long video will give viewers a crash course about some of the changes coming to series staple Ken Masters.
Ken isn’t just about spamming hadukens or being a slight pallet swap for Ryu anymore. Thanks to the introduction of new mechanics like V-Skills Ken finally has quite a few differences from his long time rival that help set him apart. His V-trigger provides him with an extension on all of his combos and gives him a slight damage boost while active and his V-Skill allows Ken to run forward charging at his opponent for a short time.
Make sure you watch all the way to the end to hear Capcom Fighting community manager Matt Edwards give some helpful split second advice that could give Ken players the upperhand.
Street Fighter V will be released on PlayStation 4 and Windows PC in just 12 days – Feb 16th.
The Lion War is not the only place we can see the Beoulve’s exploits. Nomura’s announcement for Ramza joining the Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade cast (thankfully without eighteen belts, but at least he has a nose!) was made almost a year ago, a trailer from Square Enix today finally shows off what he can do. Given the direction towards 3v3 team fighting, Ramza seems to take a slight step towards a support role, with “Shout” buffing either teammates or himself, with other Final Fantasy Tactics favorites like Ultima and even Throw Stone making it into the mix.
Players of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn might recognize that his Japanese voice actor is shared with Alphinaud Leveilleur, with no word on if Phil LaMarr (War of the Lions) will reprise the english role, when and if a console release ever happens. While there are no signs of the villains, or even some of the newcomers from Dissidia 012 as of the time of this writing, some of us will be keeping our fingers crossed that they will join newcomers Ramza and Final Fantasy XIV’s Y’shtola.
Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade was released November 26th, 2015, and has been guaranteed to be an exclusive for at least one-year.
Do you realize that Square Enix’s episodic version of Hitman is only about a month and a half out from release? To remind us all that not only is the full game coming out on March 11th for Xbox One, PC and PlayStation but those who pre-purchase the game can gain access to a limited beta version on February 12th on PS4 and February 19th on Windows PC. Sorry Xbox One owners it looks like you won’t be getting a beta version of Hitman.
Hitman (2016) serves as a prequel to the existing entries in the franchise. Like other versions of Hitman this game will allow players to approach their missions in a variety of ways, although the series is well known for allowing Agent 47 disguise himself and carry out assassinations covertly without being detected. This version of Hitman will also feature open-world gameplay similar to 2006’s Hitman: Bloody Money instead of the linear mission structure of the older PS2 Hitman titles and 2012’s Hitman: Absolution.
When the game was announced at E3 2015 Square Enix promoted the game with an “intro pack” that would consist of three locations, six story missions and several sandbox missions. Last month it was revealed that the game would follow an episodic format instead – with the intro pack containing a prologue mission and the Paris open world map only. New locations like Thailand, The United States, Japan and Marrekesh will be released starting in April. Along with the new location these $10 episode packs will also include brand new story missions and assassination targets.
There will be six PlayStation exclusive contracts for Agent 47 to take. The PlayStation Blog summarized one of them as:
“The first PS4 exclusive contract will be available when the game launches on March 11th. We’re calling it “The Director.” Your target is Scott Sarno, Director of European Operations for the CICADA private military corporation. He is a thirty-year veteran of clandestine operations and has been linked to a number of questionable operations in Europe and the Middle East as far back as the mid-nineties. He is highly trained and incredibly observant, you should expect him to be accompanied by several CICADA agents at all times.”
All of this this means that the price for entry will be quite a lot lower than the initial $30 that was expected – you can pre order the Hitman: Intro Pack for $15 USD on PlayStation 4 or the full package for $60 USD and either way guarantee yourself access to the beta.
Check out the trailer in the embedded player below.
