For the first time in World of Warcraft history, Blizzard has given both tickets to Beta and early access periods to War Within Epic Edition buyers, and the early access has just begun!
The early access period for the World of Warcraft: The War Within has begun, and players who have purchased either the physical collector’s edition or the Epic Edition digital bundle can dive right into the action four full days early. World of Warcraft launched a specialized cinematic trailer to prep Azeroth inhabitants for the upcoming expansion, which can be seen below.
World of Warcraft: The War Within Key Features
Explorers will be able to head to the new continent of Khaz Algar, which lies off the western shores of Pandaria. Within the continent lies the surface-level city of Dornogal, which will serve as the new main city hub of the expansion. Expeditious adventurers can explore what dwells beneath the surface of the city in the lava-fuelled forge of The Ringing Deeps, the Hallowfall, and the Nerubian society monument, Azj-Kahet.
Hero Talents will be introduced in The War Within. They are a new class feature that allows more levels of class specialization customization. Hero Talents are modelled after well-known archetypes from the Warcraft universe, including Dark Ranger, Farseer, and more.
A new world content feature is being added to World of Warcraft, and it is called Delves. These are small adventures seamlessly integrated into the world (similar to delves in The Elder Scrolls Online), which scale to support 1-5 players and offer a new rewards track in the Great Vault.
Introduced as dragon riding in Dragonflight, the function will be expanded into sky riding, allowing a larger number of mounts to be used. This system will allow more mount types to be used in mid-air, and the previous flight system will now be referred to as steady flight.
World of Warcraft: The War Within launches globally on August 26, but for those who have early access, It starts today. More info can be found on the official website.
BioWare and Electronic Arts are gearing up for the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard on October 31st and they've revealed a whole bunch of details about the PC release.
Bethesda's first big expansion to Starfield, Shattered Space, will launch for PC and Xbox Series X/S on 30th September.
We got a quick look at the upcoming addition tonight during Gamescom Opening Night Live, in a trailer that mostly focused on the REV-8 land vehicle included in August's free game update.
Those Xbox players among us who have been waiting to get their hands on open-world adventure RPG Genshin Impact, I have good news.
At this evening's Gamescom Opening Night Live, the team revealed Genshin Impact will be making its way to Xbox Series X/S and Game Pass on 20th November. It is available to wishlist now on the Microsoft Store.
Dying Light developer Techland has shown off a new game in its zombie series that began life as a DLC for Dying Light 2 Stay Human.
Announced during Gamescom Opening Night Live, Dying Light: The Beast is a solo or four-player co-op experience pitched as a "tight" 18-hour ride through a fresh area of the franchise's world.
Dying Light protagonist Kyle Crane, once again voiced by Roger Craig Smith, returns here, a decade on. In-game, Crane has been in captivity, and experimented on. The upside? You have zombie DNA powers to unleash that beast on enemies.
Microsoft has confirmed the next batch of titles headed to Xbox Game Pass for the latter half of August: Atlas Fallen, Core Keeper, and Star Trucker.
Then there's that little known game called Call of Duty Black Ops 6. You'll be able to participate in the early access open beta when it kicks off for Xbox Game Pass subscribers on 30th August, 2024, with pre-downloading available from 28th August.
"Sure, it takes itself way too seriously and the loot chase can get monotonous, but everything outside of the monster-slaying is just an excuse to get right back to the monster-slaying. Or make the monster-slaying cooler with upgrades," we said in our Atlas Fallen review.
Sony is pulling Horizon Forbidden West from its PS Plus subscription service in the coming weeks.
The first-party Sony game is now listed under the 'Last Chance to Play' section on PS Plus, along with the likes of NieR Replicant, Marvel's Midnight Suns and Alien Isolation.
Paradox Interactive's streak of game delays continues with the news its Chinese-Room-developed Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is now targeting a release in the "first half of 2025", rather than its previously announced "late 2024" window.
In a post on its website, Paradox called the delay a "proactive decision" derived from its commitment earlier this year to deliver "high-quality games" to its players. "Though [Bloodlines 2] is in a good enough place that we could have maintained our planned release window," it wrote, "Paradox and The Chinese Room collaboratively decided to prioritise polish."
Paradox says the delay will "create a quality assurance buffer, giving more time between testing and launch, ensuring we release the game when it's ready." More specifically, The Chinese Room will use the time to expand Bloodlines 2's story, providing twice as many endings as its predecessor, and to "adjust certain areas" such as Fabien - the voice in its protagonist's head.
Just when Geoff Keighley had started to fade from your memory, he comes rubber-banding back with a vengeance - snap! It's Gamescom week and it kicks off with Opening Night Live this evening from 7pm UK time (other Opening Night Live timings here). A pre-show with additional announcements will begin at 6.30pm UK. We'll be watching and reporting on it live, as always, right here, so you can either keep abreast of announcements while you do something else, or you can join in with your thoughtful and amusing comments. Please keep us company. Please.
The Borderlands film adaptation will seemingly be available to watch digitally from the comfort of your home very soon.
While nothing has been officially announced by Lionsgate itself, multiple sources such The Hollywood Handle, DVD Release Dates, ScreenTime and When to Stream all have the Cate Blanchett-fronted film listed as being made available digitally from as soon as 30th August.
That's less than a month after its cinematic release, with the film only debuting on 9th August.
A flurry of Pokémon news has confirmed a launch date for the long-awaited Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, and a look ahead at what's next for Pokémon Go.
Pokémon TCG Pocket, a digital version of the phenomenally-popular trading card game, will go live via the iPhone App Store and Google Play for Android worldwide on 30th October.
As previously announced, you can open two packs of Pokémon cards for free per day - just enough to get you hooked - and it's interesting to see the pack-opening mechanic front and centre in the game's trailer below.
That means everyone can jump in and give the space sim a chance, as well as try out all "top 16 ships", "granting both green and grizzled pilots the ability to try out eligible ships before choosing which one to vote for" at this year's Ship Showdown event.
For the last few weeks, the community has been voting for their favourite ships and ground vehicles with their own "original creations", including videos, songs, photos, paintings, and more.
Vampire Survivors' free Darkasso update is now available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox, and mobile devices.
"It's been a while since we added a new major feature, so we tried not to spoil the contents of this patch immediately," Poncle teased in the patch notes. "Hope it worked to keep the contents a bit of a surprise."
New additions include nine new extra achievements, a new challenge stage and relic, two new "special character skins", and five new Arcanas to spice up your experience.
During Lockdown, the only thing more scarce than flour was Switch fitness game Ring Fit Adventure. It was the perfect thing at the perfect time: a game that provided a home workout in a period when you had to stay home. Strap the controller to you, grab the oversized resistance wheel thing, and get moving. Everyone wanted one, and the desire for it lingered long after Lockdown. Today, Ring Fit has sold more than 15m units - it's one of the most successful games on Switch. Nintendo sensed there was a market and Ring Fit proved it. And it's not just Nintendo: companies like Peloton, with its uber-expensive exercise bike and integrated workout platform, have shown people will pay significant amounts of money to gamify their fitness needs, and it's into this exact space a new challenger has arrived.
It's called Quell and it's currently £190, and I tried it this week and I really liked it. The topline thing you need to know is that it delivers a punishing workout. It's more intense than Ring Fit; after a short demo plus a 20-minute regular session, I was dripping sweat freely on the rug in Quell's smallish London office. There was no air conditioning - enough said. That's not to say Ring Fit can't be intense but it's generally a calmer experience. Quell is designed to push it up a notch.
The second thing to know is that Quell feels more actively gamey than Ring Fit, which I was quite surprised about. It's built with roguelike principles in mind, so you try to see how far you can get in the game but also build and customise a loadout as you go. Do you want this power or that one? That kind of thing. And then between runs, you equip the items you earned, affecting your power and statistics, adding a layer of role-playing game progression to the mix. "Real fitness. Real gaming," is the company's motto, so you get a sense of the areas it's trying to push on.
Destiny developer Bungie says it has addressed an issue where players have had their usernames changed by its "name moderation tool".
After "actively investigating" the issue for 24 hours, Bungie advised that while it had "identified the issue that was forcing a high number of Bungie name changes", it was "continuing to investigate" what happened and how "to address player accounts that were impacted".
Although Bungie acknowledged that a "high number of account names have been changed", the studio stopped short of confirming exactly how many players were affected.
The Elder Scrolls mobile game, The Elder Scrolls: Castles, is set to launch on 10th September.
The Elder Scrolls: Castles - which was quietly released into early access in September 2023 - is now open for pre-registration on both Apple and Android.
From the same "award-winning team" behind Fallout Shelter, The Elder Scrolls: Castles lets you reign supreme over your very own castle and dynasty within The Elder Scrolls universe.
"We've probably lost a billion dollars not having Fortnite on iOS the past four years," Sweeney said, in a briefing to press ahead of the Epic Games Store on mobile going live. "But what's the price of freedom?"
New World: Aeternum, the latest expansion/do-over for Amazon's middling MMO New World, is having an open beta on 13th September ahead of its full PC and console release in October.
Aeternum, if you're unfamiliar, emerged back in June, amid some confused messaging that didn't entirely make it clear exactly what it was. And, truthfully, Amazon's marketing remains as baffling as ever. The gist, though, is that this is the same MMORPG released back in 2021, albeit with new features and a bit of finessing ahead of its debut on Xbox Series X/S and PS5.
It's got a pacier story (told through in-game cinematics and pre-rendered cut-scenes), combat improvements, cross-platform play, enhanced controller support, and more - while still retaining its other MMO bits like classes, crafting, and questing. Then there's New World's first-ever large-scale PvP zone, a new 10-player raid, end-game solo trials, and other additions.
Fans were jubilant when Persona 3 received a remake earlier this year, but this turned to disappointment when it became clear its Episode Aigis epilogue DLC was not included. Multiple versions of Persona 3 have been released since the game's initial PS2 launch in 2006 - namely Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable, each with unique additions. The release of this year's Persona 3 Reload was an opportunity to provide the definitive version of the game, but without Episode Aigis fans were upset it would remain incomplete.
That's why Atlus relented and has now additionally remade Episode Aigis: The Answer with all the trappings of Reload - though no doubt the fact it's the fastest-selling Atlus game ever was also persuasive. Finally, fans will get the complete story experience they've craved (though still without the alternative female protagonist from P3P). But after going hands-on with the DLC, I'm still left with a lingering question: what exactly was the main game missing?
I played Persona 3 for the first time this year and really enjoyed its twisted teen drama, even if the series as a whole is starting to feel formulaic. Yet after receiving the true ending, the story felt complete and I wasn't left with unanswered questions. So what kind of answer can The Answer provide?
UPDATE 6.45pm UK: This evening's big new Dragon Age: The Veilguard trailer has landed, confirming what we knew already - that BioWare's upcoming RPG will arrive at Halloween. Also in the trailer? Well, Dragon Age fans will get to see a very familiar face - we'll let you watch for yourselves and read more below.
Yes, that is absolutely Morrigan, the fan-favourite returning character voiced once again, it sounds like, by Farscape and Stargate SG-1's Claudia Black. It certainly looks as if Morrigan's clothing here is inspired by her mum Flemeth - which probably isn't good news.
UPDATE 20/8/24: Well, there you go. Following last week's Deadline report, Amazon has officially unveiled Secret Level, a new "adult-animated anthology series featuring original stories set within the worlds of some of the most beloved video games".
It's a 15-episode series from the creators of Love, Death & Robots, and it'll feature stories inspired by Armored Core, Concord, Crossfire, Dungeons & Dragons, Exodus, Honor of Kings, Mega Man, New World: Aeternum, PAC-MAN, Sifu, Spelunky, The Outer Worlds, Unreal Tournament, Warhammer 40,000, and a variety of PlayStation Studios games.
And if that takes your fancy, you'll be wanting to circle 10th December on your calendar - which is when the series arrives on Prime Video - then check out its teaser trailer below.
Eli Roth's recent Borderlands film adaptation hasn't exactly had the best debut. Ahead of release, critics far and wide shared disparaging reviews of the adaptation, with phrases such as "disaster" and "lifeless, unfunny, and visually repulsive dud" being bandied about.
In fact, Borderlands has been such a misfire that now even filmmaker Uwe Boll - who previously directed that Alone in the Dark adaptation, which saw him nominated for not one but two 'Worst Director' awards (one of which he won) - is taking a swipe at it.
In the roiling waters of the northern sea, a mysterious oil rig has appeared whose lights can be seen for miles in the darkness. The foreman is a bit jittery, clearly worried about the platform's somewhat shoddy construction and his overbearing boss docking his pay for being behind schedule. When the drilling does begin, it's not oil they strike, but something far more sinister that splinters the sea floor with an ominous red, volcanic glow. And the resident scientist and his corporate suit boss only seem to want to feed this supernatural terror, the safety of their fellow workers be damned.
To some, I've just described the plot of The Chinese Room's recent walking horror, Still Wakes the Deep. But in a strange coincidence, Dredge is now following the same trajectory with its latest DLC, The Iron Rig - albeit with fewer left hooks throwing errant Coke cans to distract wandering nasties and more actual hooks reeling up yet more fresh horrors from the deep. This new chapter in Dredge's faintly cursed archipelago finally puts the spotlight on the mysterious Ironhaven Corporation, whose CEO is a dead ringer for Wake's weaselly boss Rennick, right down to his last-minute escape on the corporate helicopter. It's all profits before people in this unfortunate corner of the ocean, though unlike Wake's poor Caz, at least you can share in some of those benefits this time thanks to the plentiful supply of upgrade opportunities for your boat.
Over the course of three to four hours, The Iron Rig will see you revisit each of Dredge's main island clusters, hunting for fresh fish in new micro-habitats created by pools of ungodly ooze that have sprung up from the fissures created by the rig's drill. Each time one of these clearly very bad cracks opens up, the rig's scientist will task you with collecting various samples to bring back to him for further analysis, but some of these aren't easily won with your default set of equipment. Cue, then, a gentle and well-paced upgrade back and forth that will see you construct new buildings on the rig to unlock enhanced versions of your rods, nets and winches, as well as blueprints for new engine parts, bait types and other gadgets to help speed the process along.
Ranking each entry of Darksiders, even for most dedicated fans, presents an immense task: it requires considering both personal preference and objective merits when ranking these installments but also an understanding of the context (the time when the game was released and what other games where around at that time). Each installment may be considered alone, as its own chapter within this cosmic epic, with unique strengths and shortcomings, but also as being a part of the series. So the task is not as simple as it sounds, if we want to be objective in our ranking (that will be somewhat biased by our preferences anyway).
Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition
Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition has long been one of the premiere titles. With its vast landscape and Death's mysterious charm, its exhilarating combination of exploration and combat creates an amazing experience; not everyone may appreciate RPG elements as much, yet these add depth to character development. It is one of the greatest open-world experiences available today, boasting Gothic grandeur in an immersive open-world environment infused with Death's protagonist persona as grim reaper a stark contrast to Darksiders' postapocalyptic backdrop and featuring RPG elements that add depth to combat and character progression.
Darksiders
Darksiders serves as the cornerstone of this series. Thanks to its linear structure and focused gameplay experience, Darksiders makes itself more accessible; war is an epic force; puzzles cleverly integrated into its narrative ensure an unforgettable gameplay experience. Fury's magic-infused combat style provided an interesting change of pace; however, its open world felt less cohesive than before and sometimes faltered too rapidly for our liking.
Darksiders III
Darksiders III takes an unexpectedly bold step by featuring Fury as its protagonist and her distinctive whip-based combat system as part of its verticality; some critics found this aspect disjoint from previous Darksiders games and found its world less captivating than earlier installments of this franchise. A raw and unfiltered experience that introduced us to the Four Horsemen world. While its linear format might feel outdated today, its impact cannot be overstated.
Darksiders Genesis
Darksiders Genesis offers an enjoyable break, offering top-down perspectives with co-op as its central element. While different from what fans of Darksiders may expect, Darksiders Genesis remains an exciting and fast-paced experience! War and Strife provide dynamic contrast in gameplay styles; though Darksiders Genesis may not delve as deeply into its series' lore it remains an enjoyable and captivating spinoff experience.
Conclusion
At its core, selecting the "best" Darksiders game is highly subjective. Each installment offers something distinct to satisfy different playstyles - whether it is linear intensity in Darksiders' initial release, an expansive world in its sequel, acrobatic prowess in the third entry, or a chaotic co-op of Genesis: there will always be one out there to capture your interest! Ranking Darksiders games are subjective in nature; each installment presents its own special experience that caters to various play styles and preferences. If brutal simplicity, open-world exploration, magic-infused combat, or co-op mayhem are your cup of tea, then there's sure to be one in Darksiders waiting to capture your interest - find one today and you may just discover your passion!
HIGH The cast’s a largely enjoyable bunch of rogues with solid writing.
LOW The battle systems are somewhat unexciting.
WTF Feri’s (13f) father’s ominously-worded letter to Van (24m).
The Trails series has been around for a while at this point, and unlike many other major JRPG series on the market, it doesn’t simply ditch the storyline of the previous entries and start afresh with each new installment. No, they’re all interlinked, with cameo appearances from one arc popping up in the next.
Such a long-term structure sounds like it could be pretty uninviting for new players beginning with later games, but as someone who only occasionally dips into this IP, I’m pleased to say that Trails through Daybreak works extremely well as a starting point for newcomers thanks to its new core cast, fresh setting and just enough explanation about prior events peppered in.
This new arc in the Trails series takes place in the Republic of Calvard, a fairly major superpower. It’s a region and world filled with recognizable tech — they have televisions, laptops, mobile phones, cars and highways, which makes much of the setting feel immediately relatable. Of course, this region has its own share of woes and social ills, and this is where a new story begins as a school girl with a heart of gold requests help from a local fixer in recovering something known as the Genesis — a keepsake of her grandfather… which, by the way, might just be part of something that might trigger the end of world.
The characters in Trails through Daybreak are pretty great overall. Protagonist Van Arkride isn’t some wide-eyed kid, instead having plenty of life already under his belt as the story begins. He’s got a reputation as a dependable fixer (here termed a “Spriggan”) who can get things done for a fee, and often employed by clients who may not want to get involved with the law for various reasons. I was initially concerned he’d lean too far into the ‘cool dependable guy’ side of the spectrum to be interesting, but he has unexpected personality quirks that make him a decent lead.
The backup cast run the gamut from good to excellent. Feri in particular is a superb addition — a fish-out-of-water child soldier whose limited experience living on the battlefield couples with her boundless enthusiasm and desire to be helpful in weird and amusing ways. Main heroine Agnes is fairly likable, even if her personality slots neatly into the kind-hearted-but-determined trope, then there’s a host of playable and nonplayable characters who get involved like Judith, a movie actress with a shadowy side gig, or the Direwolf, a beast of a dude with whom Van’s had an obviously turbulent history.
The writing and world building are solid throughout, with plenty of amusing dialogue to keep things entertaining, even when the cutscenes run long with exposition. Handled badly, the pacing in Trails through Daybreak could have been an absolute bore, but it all goes down easy thanks to a decent localization and good character work, much of it shining when players are allowed to simply breathe in each environment and potter around with relaxing, non-critical tasks between more serious events.
There’s also a minor morality system at play during certain points where Van can choose between lawful, chaotic or morally questionable outcomes. This doesn’t change who he is as a character — he’s a hero, so he’s not going to suddenly start kicking puppies into wood chippers out of nowhere. It’s more that a chaotic choice will have him come to a different conclusion. A lawful choice will have him leaving a thug in the hands of the police, whereas a chaotic choice would lead him to the conclusion that the police might not prosecute the criminal appropriately, so he’ll blackmail them to ensure compliance instead. It’s a minor thing, but it does gently guide certain responses and outcomes throughout the narrative.
In terms of gameplay, series regulars will find an admirable amount of player customization. Battles can be made as easy or as challenging as desired with multiple selectable difficulties, text and movement speeds can be sped up or cut down, and more.
Looking specifically at combat, there’s a new dual battle system on offer.
The first aspect is a little like that found in Falcom’s other famous action JRPG series Y’s, though admittedly more limited in scope. It’s a simple realtime setup where players get to stab enemies in real time or roll out of the way of attacks, best used to eliminate weaker enemies and to shunt larger foes off-balance by stunning them before transitioning to the turn-based mode to finish them off. It’s not particularly deep, but it’s nice to have the option to clear riffraff in a speedy manner instead of having to knuckle down for a turn-based brawl every time a poxy slime gets too close to the party.
This second aspect is a more traditional turn-based approach where players give each character various commands like defending from attacks, casting magical arts or simply stabbing an enemy in the face. This is paired alongside a realtime battle system where dashing around field monsters, tumbling out of the reach of attacks and smashing them into a stunned state with special moves is the order of the day.
There’s a decent amount of strategy in this turn-based, including maneuvering around the field to catch as many enemies in an area-of-effect attack as possible, or synergizing with allies so that they join in on the assault, but the delay between selection and activation of certain special moves robs play of immediacy, and seeing enemies walk out of said AOE before activation sucks.
While these systems are decent enough, I did find myself wishing the frequent battles would be over faster, so I could get back to continuing the story — a feeling I rarely have when encountering a genuinely gripping JRPG battle system. The lack of impact during battles is noticeable, with fairly stiff animations and no real oomph to each attack. As a result battles feel a little more mundane and perfunctory than they could be, and playing Daybreak right off the back of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth,it’s hard not to expect a little more from modern-day battle systems.
As a side note, Daybreak is full of “points of no return” where players will be warned that the storyline is about to advance and that if they haven’t done everything they’ll lose the chance forever. As someone with a completionist mindset, this left me in a near-perpetual state of anxiety. Did I talk to everyone? Did I do everything? Did I doublecheck that I talked to everyone and did everything? I’m sure I did, so let’s continue… okay, we’re now past the point of no retu — SHIT, I FORGOT TO FEED THAT F****** CAT MY PLAYTHROUGH IS RUINED GODDAMN IT!!!
Well, it’s maybe not that extreme, but I spent a lot of time doublechecking that I’d crossed everything off my list before daring to progress.
Despite completion anxiety and combat that was just a little bit lacking, I still had a great time with Trails through Daybreak — it offers an interesting world coupled with plenty of likeable characters, ultimately delivering an enjoyable journey filled with plenty of good times.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Disclosures: This game is developed by Nihon Falcom and published by NIS America. It is currently available on PS4/5, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 35 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. Still playing though!
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Blood, Drug References, Fantasy Violence, Language, and Suggestive Themes. The official description reads: “This is a role-playing game in which players assume the role of a hero hired to find a stolen heirloom. As players explore a fictional republic, they can complete missions/quests, interact with characters, and battle human enemies and fantasy creatures (e.g., giant insects, demons, robotic turrets). Players use swords, machine guns, and magic spells to defeat enemies in turn-based combat. Battles are highlighted by gunfire, impact sounds, and cries of pain. Some sequences depict blood-splatter effects as characters are attacked; a handful of scenes show blood on characters’ faces and underneath a corpse. The game contains some suggestive material: a gentleman’s club depicting female characters in lingerie dancing on poles; red-light district signage (e.g., “Show Girls”); innuendo/sexuality in dialogue (e.g.,“We’ve got a nice room out in the Entertainment District…[W]e’ll give you more girls…”; “Just don’t get too naughty, all right?”). The dialogue also references drugs (e.g., “…laced with illicit substances”; “hard drugs”; “…[I]f he’s going around selling drugs to children, he won’t be on the streets for long.”). The word “sh*t” is heard in the game.”
Colorblind Modes: There are nocolorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. Audio isn’t required to play. All dialogue is subtitled, few mechanics are aided by audio cues, and the few that do have visual accompaniments. It’s fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.
For 20 years, Monster Hunter has been one of Capcom’s most successful and enduring franchises. Yet for all its star power, the games themselves have done little to change up the central action role-playing mechanics of hunting kaiju and other beasts in its lush, feudal world.
Little, that is, until Monster Hunter Stories took it into the arena of monster-taming turn-based RPGs, ala Pokemon or Shin Megami Tensei. Having put some time into Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, I can say it doesn’t take the genre to any new heights, but it does make for a solid entry into an overly saturated genre with just enough of its own character to stand out.
For starters, MHS2 does a commendable job of replicating the core cycle of the mainline series — gear up and murder monsters using a wide array of tricks in the hope of harvesting some drops to forge or upgrade weapons and armor. Rinse and repeat with increasingly threatening beasts.
Although mainline Monster Hunter is hardly blood-soaked, this one’s also more family friendly — the protagonist’s talking cat sidekick is only too willing to give the ol’ “Believe in yourself!” between bouts of pining for donuts. Given the genre, it’s clear this title was targeted towards a younger audience with an appropriately-attuned difficulty (AKA, pretty easy.)
The jovial tone carries through the rather serious — although not particularly grim — storyline. A mysterious evil is driving monsters to unnatural rage amid a prophecy foretelling destruction across the world. The player’s avatar must collect monsters and advance their skill as a Monster Rider to save their idyllic island home from these treacherous threats.
It’s not a particularly compelling plot, and characters lack the kind of depth that could give it more oomph, but as is the case with this genre especially, the story and questlines really aren’t important — what matters is the collecting and battling. In this, Wings of Ruin makes a strong case for itself.
Pulling from decades of material, it features some of the series’ iconic, sublime and oftentimes just badass creatures as potential partners — delightfully referred to as “Monsties.” Part of the franchise’s success is due to its memorable designs, here re-imagined in a more cartoony and vibrant graphic style. Rathalos, Tigrex, Nargacuga and more are here, along with weapons and armors that mirror them.
Then there’s the manner in which they’re “caught.” Players enter dens — sometimes spawned when a monster fought in the wild retreats — and steal eggs to raise as their own. There is something intrinsically funny (and awful) about pulling an egg from a nest and watching the player goofily carry it out with both hands to go hatch and fight with — or, in another dark turn that never reaches the tonal surface, sacrifice it to boost the stats of another Monstie.
Stat lines are relatively straightforward — speed, crit rate, attack, defense — with some elemental flavor. There’s a neat gene mechanic where monsters try to line up certain attributes to make a bingo but this isn’t a system that needs a complex Excel spreadsheet to min-max a build.
Similarly, combat is simple without ever being dull. It boils down to a rock-paper-scissors system of power, speed or technical attacks coupled with choice of the type of weapon (slash, pierce, or blunt). Correctly guessing which type to use against a wild monster will yield bigger rewards in damage and charging up a kinship meter, used for flashy skills and eventually to ride the player’s Monstie for a big damage finisher
On the technical side, I never ran into any issues. This release is a port of a previous Switch version, and the while graphics are nothing to particularly herald, Capcom has followed the original hardware’s limitations (and Nintendo’s ethos) in crafting an enjoyable experience, rather than anything particularly pretty.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin isn’t a shining exemplar of the monster taming genre, but it does successfully mesh the iconic aesthetics of its mainline counterpart with no-fat collect and battle systems that are as easy to approach as they are satisfying to master.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Disclosures: This game is developed by Capcom and Marvelous and published by Capcom. It is currently available on PS4, PC and Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately 12 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed.
Parents: According to theESRB, this game is rated E and contains Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence and Mild Language. The official description reads as follows: This is a role-playing game in which players assume the role of a monster rider on a quest to protect a mysterious egg. Players explore a fantasy world, complete quests, interact with characters, and battle fantastical creatures (e.g., dragons, dinosaurs, giant insects) in turn-based combat. Players can select various weapon attacks (e.g., sword slashes, arrow strikes, oversized-pistol shots) and monster attacks (e.g., flame breathe, dash attack) from a menu to defeat enemy creatures. Battles can be frenetic, accompanied by explosions and screen-shaking effects. During monster tracking, players can collect monster dung; players also encounter a creature that emits a brown flatulence attack. The word “hell” appears in the game.
Colorblind Modes: There are nocolorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. Audio cues for NPCs and enemies do not have a visual component onscreen. This game is not fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers partially remappable controls. Action mapping for buttons on the controller can be changed.
In a game that’s part visual novel and part action RPG, Noctuary tells a compelling story about two girls fighting the forces of darkness in an intriguing fantasy world. Noctuary Developer: Gratesca Price: $30 Platforms: PC (reviewed) MonsterVine was provided with a PC code for review. Noctuary came out last November, but it’s largely flown […]
Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers takes the classic blackjack game and turns it into a head-to-head battler, filled with unique cards that can drastically change the game. Some of the more random aspects of blackjack can be frustrating. The lack of unlockable cards means the feeling of finding a new powerful card to use fades quicker […]
What? Massively OP’s MJ gets to explore a new land in Guild Wars 2 on launch day? Is the MMOverse coming to an end?! No! Instead, it’s more like ArenaNet releasing Janthir Wilds as a slightly early birthday present for her. And how could she not fully appreciate such a gesture? Join us live at […]
At this afternoon’s Opening Night Live show at Gamescom 2024, Grinding Gear Games formally announced that early access for Path of Exile 2 is slated for November 15th. In other words, MOARPG fans will have about a month to finish up Diablo IV’s Vessel of Hatred, which launches October 8th, before moseying on over to […]
During this afternoon’s Opening Night Live at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, Amazon’s Prime Video label announced Secret Level, a “new adult-animated anthology series” specifically featuring video games. And naturally, among those video games is New World. “Part of our vision from the beginning is to develop and publish fantastic IPs that immerse and excite players […]
In this mini episode, Bree runs down Throne & Liberty's delay, New World's Aeternum beta, Guild Wars 2's Janthir Wilds launch, the Richard Garriott Ultima Online rumor, the state of Ultima Online New Legacy, Nightingale's Realms Rebuilt, the record-setting SWG Legends' SOEclipse event, and the approach of Gamescom.
Gamescom 2024 in Cologne, Germany, is about to begin with Geoff Keighley’s Opening Night Live spectacle, a two-hour parade of trailers, advertisements, and ideally, new game announcements that kick off the show and set the stage for the event… oh yeah, and give those of us back home some distraction. Thanks to public hints and […]
Last year was a major milestone for Final Fantasy XIV, as it marked the 10-year anniversary for the relaunched game. So what do you do for the next year? Well, it should be obvious: You hold the 11-year anniversary event. And that’s just what the game is doing when the newest incarnation of The Rising […]
One of the hallmarks of advancing technology is that power increases while form factor decreases, and now that looks to be true of the original 1997 ARPG Diablo, which can now be played on a web browser or a mobile phone thanks to the efforts of some fans. This web-based port of the game is […]
I’ve never been one to make very good use of Steam wishlists – or any wishlists, for that matter. I’m weird in that way, I suppose. But I’ve been trying to be a more organized adult by making better use of notes and lists and all that jazz, even though it’s a slow process. And […]
I always start off with a lot of concern whenever I enter a sandbox MMORPG for Choose My Adventure. Mostly because these games are almost always murder blenders and having to look over my shoulder with every step isn’t what I’d call my idea of fun. Luckily, Fractured Online has, at least in the interim, […]
It’s been quite some time since The Repopulation was in our collective radar, but that was because development of the game was ended in January 2023 according to TGS Tech, the dev group contracted by Idea Fabrik to put the sci-fi sandbox together. Of course regular readers know that wasn’t the end of the story, […]
With the early access launch of Brighter Shores planned for this fall, one big question’s on the table for this RuneScape-inspired MMO: Will it have PvP? The answer? Yes… but not right away. Developer Andrew Gower said that PvP is being pushed off until the official release to give it more time to bake: “Yes, […]
It’s the last Tuesday reset for World of Warcraft before The War Within arrives, and in many ways, the game is already off to the races. Of particular note is that the three-month Pandaria Remix event has concluded and all involved characters will wake up, blinking like newborn babes, in the light of normal servers […]
Fellow MMO housing fans, furbish up your design skills because we’re going to Janthir Wilds today. Yes, Guild Wars 2’s latest expansion officially rolls out today. Janthir Wilds is B2P for a one-time fee of $24.99 (on up if you want a loaded pack), which includes all four major patches as they roll out over […]
Back in July, Kotaku penned a piece on Kien, a game originally announced for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance… in 2002. Apparently, the game was finished back then, but no publisher would take it on. A full 22 years later, one of the original devs returned to revamp the game and get it out on […]
If you’re a fan of Monster Hunter, then you’ve no doubt been watching the various weapon preview vignettes that have been coming out of Monster Hunter Wilds over the past two weeks. But maybe you haven’t been keeping up or you just want to watch them all again. In that case, there’s now a video […]
Given all of the releases that came out last year, you would be forgiven for letting the co-op critter hunting RPG Atlas Fallen slip through the mental cracks. After all, the game was, by all critical and gamer accounts, something of a middling title. However, developer Deck13 and publisher Focus Entertainment has not completely forgotten […]
Elder Scrolls Online players, set your launcher patchers to go because update 43 is officially live as of this afternoon – at least if you’re on PC or Mac, anyway. U43 is a free base-game update that’s going to appeal to fans of player housing in particular. “Update 43 introduces one of the most anticipated […]
Přihlásit se
.
.webp?width=1920&height=1920&fit=bounds&quality=80&format=jpg&auto=webp)
.png?width=1920&height=1920&fit=bounds&quality=80&format=jpg&auto=webp)
