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I love how the store credit system works on the Nintendo eShop. When you purchase games, you get golden coins that you can use as a discount for other games. If you have enough coins, you can even buy the game outright. One of the games I have bought with this system is Trinity Trigger. From the description, it sounded like an interesting and unique action JRPG, and I’m always interested to play new and unique games. Especially since key staff on this game worked on amazing games like Chrono Cross and the Mana series. Now, is it any good and should you pick up this game, or is it a game that you should skip? Well, in this first impression I have after playing 1/4th of the game, I want to tell you my opinion so far. I’m also curious to hear your opinion on the game and/or the content of this article in the comment section down below. And with that said, let’s dive right into Trinity Trigger.

Just A Bit More

In this game, we take on the role of Cyan. Cyan is an average boy from a small village. He is also a treasure hunter that one day learns he is chosen by the God of Chaos as his Warrior of Chaos.

In the fantasy world of Trinitia, there are two main Gods. The God of Order and the God of Chaos. In ancient times, they used to wage war for control of the lands. Now, they chose a warrior each to represent them and fight the other warrior to the death for dominance. Cyan doesn’t know what that even means, but it might explain why he has amnesia, those weird dreams and that special glowing mark in his eye. In search for answers, he sets out on a journey, and that’s how this game starts.

When this game was originally teased, the main setup for this game was to create a game and story that was nostalgic to those who played old school JRPG’s. A lot of talent who worked on other big titles like Xenoblade, Pokémon and Bravely Default II were working on this game as well. I always find it dangerous to mention these things, since it might set the expectations of players way too high. What if this isn’t going to work out or when the story just doesn’t hit the mark?

You can never predict how the chemistry is between people, and it’s possible that they are unable to work together. But, it’s also possible they hit it off big and make something extremely unique and special. I remember how a game like World’s End Club could have been so much more with two amazing directors behind it, Kazutake Kodaka from Danganronpa fame and Kotaro Uchikoshi from the Zero Escape fame. Yet, that game was decent but could have been so much more if it had more depth and polish.

If I’m honest with myself, Trinity Trigger falls into the same boat then World’s End Club. Take the story, for example. When I started playing this game, an amazing world was being setup and I started to get interested and immersed in this new world. But, it didn’t take long before I noticed that this game hits all the familiar story beats you expect from a JRPG. But the biggest issue in this story is that it doesn’t do anything special during its journey. I have already visited a couple of towns and each time it’s the exact same basic premise that happens.

The best way I can describe the story is that it’s unoffensively bland. It does what it’s supposed to do, but nothing more. It’s a shame, since the amazing voice cast behind this game brought this game to live so much. I have nothing to critique there. The only thing that can be a bit annoying is hearing the same grunts over and over again while you are fighting in the dungeons, but that’s part of the course in JRPG’s.

Playing it safe

For some people, having a bland story in a JRPG’s is a dealbreaker. But, I can handle that if the main gameplay loop is enjoyable. In this game, you go from town to town and explore the town dungeon to become stronger and get new unique abilities.

The battles in this game aren’t turn based like in other JRPG’s. This is an action JRPG, after all, so you have to dodge and time your attacks well. You can even choose to ignore battles if you want to, apart from scripted fights or boss battles, that is. The combat system is decent and does the job. The only complaint I have is that your stamina drains a bit too fast, making your attacks quite weak against enemies. So, you have to use other mechanics like having better damage when you dodge roll an attack in time.

After each dungeon, you unlock a new weapon that has a slightly different playstyle. You can choose between which weapon you use on the fly with a weapon wheel. It works quite well, and it’s fun to figure out which enemies are weak against which weapons. Especially the bosses, since hitting them with the right weapon creates even more damage.

During your exploration, you can find hidden chests with items. Underneath the mini-map, you can find a counter with how many hidden treasures are still left in the area. I find it quite enjoyable to explore the whole map to find these hidden treasures. Some of the hidden passages are hidden away extremely well, and finding them was a blast.

Something I also really enjoy is that you can easily choose between which character you control. Some characters have unique skills and being able to quickly switch between them is amazing. Since, some enemies have a long range attack, and then it’s a blast being able to switch to a character that can use a bow to take them out more easily.

Enemies also drop various items that you can use to craft items in shops or at special stations. And crafting these items actually cost in game money. The amount you have to spend for crafting is a lot lower, but this is a mechanic I’m hesitant about. It would have been quite a lot of fun to be able to craft healing items during your exploration. Maybe these healing items were less effective than the potions you can buy in the shops. But then again, it might break the balance of the game and make you a bit overpowered.

You can only carry so many potions and to be very honest, I never really had problems with a boss battle or a dungeon when I was stocked up on potions. When you don’t do anything crazy and keep your stock high and manage your stat boosting items well, this game becomes quite easy. So easy in fact that boss battles become an endurance test and extremely repetitive.

Each boss battle has the same basic premise. You have to dodge their attacks and use the right weapon to break the shield of the boss. In most cases, this is the newly unlocked weapon. After you have broken the shield, you can damage the boss. If you have broken the shield 4 to 5 times, and kept hitting the boss, you have beaten the fight.

Now, the dungeons play like your typical The Legend of Zelda dungeon to a degree. There is one main theme and puzzle mechanic for you to solve. Once you reached the final room of the dungeon, you fight a final boss and progress in the game. When I think about it, the structure of this game resembles 2D Zelda games here and there. And maybe, the structure of a Zelda game would have fit the game better than an action JRPG. Since, I wouldn’t be surprised if players drop this game and call it repetitive. Since, it really is. I tried to play this game in longer sessions, but I started to feel bored after playing it for an hour or two. Yet, I kept enjoying myself with the game while playing it on my 30-minute train ride from and to work.

Middle of the Road

The more I play this game, the more I feel like this game could have been so much more. The basic foundation of this game is rock solid, and I barely have anything to critique there. Like the controls and the UI for example. The controls are extremely responsive and a blast to work with.

Now, the other characters are AI controlled. Overall, the AI does an okay job following you and aiding you in combat, but it can do some brain-dead actions as well. One of the dungeons where it frustrated me to no end was the ice dungeon, where your AI allies slid into the spikes every single time.

Visually, this game looks pretty decent. There is quite a lot of detail put into this world and the underused area exclusive mechanics are quite a lot of fun to play with. For example, I love how in the forest area the mushrooms can have different effects depending on the color. Especially the one that allows you to light up the area.

But then you have moments where some textures are bland and look like they are from an earlier generation, creating a mismatch. And on top of that, some battle animations can’t be canceled. And the final attack of the bow is just silly. Yet, if a certain attack is in progress, you can’t switch weapons. This is something that annoyed me quite a lot as well.

The soundtrack of this game is quite enjoyable. It fits the atmosphere of the game like a glove. Overall, this orchestral soundtrack is a joy to listen too. But, there are some tracks that are a bit too short and the rather repetitive melody isn’t it doing any favors. Thankfully, these tracks don’t appear to often so I don’t mind it too hard.

The sound effects are pretty good too. I’d recommend that you use the option menu to tweak the sound balancing to your liking, since the basic sound balancing is a bit off when it comes to the balance between sound effects and music. I had to lower the music a little bit so I could hear the important sound effects better during battles.

This game really feels like it’s walking the middle of the road here. My biggest complaint with this game is that it lacks depth in almost every aspect of the game. And it’s just that lack of depth that’s hurting this game. This game has a lot of great idea’s like how easy to read the UI is, but it barely does anything with the stat boosting items.

The game also has local co-op, but I don’t see a reason why to play this game in co-op. There aren’t enough elements to justify for me to have a friend over and play this game. It’s just too bland for that. It’s a shame, since if the combat system was more in depth, it would have been an amazing feature. Now, it’s just another ticked box of features this game has.

Just like how some of the monster design is amazing and sometimes even looks somewhat creepy. They also telegraph their attacks quite well, so you can easily dodge them. Dodging attacks in time is quite important, since you can do special attacks or even more damage. Now, you also have your typical enemies like your slimes and bees, but they look unique and fit their setting quite well.

To be honest, this game is the perfect entry game for young childern to get into roleplaying games. I think that if you have played other more expansive JRPG’s, you will notice the cracks this game has and feel mixed about the game like the whole reception is for this game.

This brings me to the price. To be honest, I wouldn’t pay the full price for this game. The asking price for this game is 40€. And if you want all the DLC, it’s even more. Around 50€. Now, I don’t recommend buying all the DLC apart from the one that comes with the Deluxe edition. The other DLC is just a one time booster pack you can buy to make the game even easier than it already is.

The asking price is too high for this game and it’s length. This game can be beaten in 15 hours and it doesn’t really have replay value. I personally feel that 25€ would have been a better price for the base game and Deluxe edition should have been 40€. If you are interested by this game, I’d buy it if it were on sale. While this game isn’t doing anything new or innovate, it still manages to be enjoyable.

I’m happy that I gave this game a chance. While I expected a lot more from it, I don’t think it’s a bad game. I can totally understand why people don’t like this game or drop it. Since, it’s a very basic middle of the road JRPG that could do something unique but doesn’t. Now, the Japanese publishers of this game FuRyu have developed a game that became the basis for another larger game (The Legend of Legacy feels like the basis for The Alliance Alive). Maybe this game is creating the basis for another larger and better game.

If that’s the case, I’d love to see more unique puzzles in the dungeons for a start. The dungeons were so easy to beat and didn’t provide too much challenge. Maybe some puzzles were only the unique dungeon weapon has to be used to progress or even exit the dungeon.

I’d also love to see more expansion on the armor and stat items. I felt they barely had any impact in this game and I often forgot you could change the stones in your equipement to increase the damage output in certain cases or decrease the taken damage in certain cases.

The biggest thing I’d love to see improved is more depth in the game. Develop the town more and make them more memorable, instead of just a stop to stock up on supplies to go to the next dungeon. The side quests were introduced too late into the game.

I could go on for a while giving examples of what they can expand or improve, but I want to avoid that you get the impression that this game is bad. This game is decent, but not great. That’s the best way to describe this game. I’d recommend it to younger players who want to give an action JRPG a try. If you are in love with the action JRPG games, I’d highly advice you to lower your expecations. I’d compare to that animated summer blockbuster movie that everybody forgets about in a few months. It didn’t do anything memorable but it a fun time while it lasted. It’s a great snack inbetween games for me and I’m curious to see what the developer does next. Since, the potential is there.

With that said, I have said everything I wanted to say about the game for now. I want to thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article, but until then have a great rest of your day and take care.

Itch.io – Steam

Back in 2017, a developer from France contacted me about their new point-and-click sci-fi game in the works called Ama’s Lullaby. But, it’s more than a point-and-click game, it’s also a hacking game. Now, this developer works on this game in his free time after his day job and with a small budget. Sometimes these passion projects die due to lack of time, money, motivation and/or just interest. But it looks like Ama’s Lullaby isn’t going to be one of those projects. Earlier this year, a demo of the game got released. Now, I asked the developer if he was interested in streaming this demo with us, and he did. Here is a link to part 1 & part 2. Sadly, due to overheating of Klamath’s computer, it had to be cut into two parts and the ending was quite abrupt. Now, this stream is almost a month ago, and I still wanted to write an article about this game. So, what do I think of the demo? Am I still as impressed when I saw it during the livestream, or is my opinion going to change when I’m not back seating and playing it myself? Let’s find out in this article.

Hacking The Point-And-Click Genre

The story of this demo is quite simple. Ama enters the police station and gets new tasks to aid the space colony she is in. Overall, the story is told more naturally compared to other games. Mostly, we get an opening where the main story of the game is teased, but not in this game. During interactions with the others, we get little glimpses into the world and story. Now, this is a tricky thing to pull off, since either you have to force the player to interact with everybody or risk that some players miss potentially important information. On the other hand, info dumping on the player isn’t always the best solution.

Now, in this space colony, there is an AI that makes a lot of decisions. It turns out that Ama and her dad have created that AI and the software to interact with it. She is one of the ambassadors of the human race. But it doesn’t take too long before strange things start to happen, and you notice that not everything is what you think it is.

The dialogues in this game appear above the character’s their head. When it’s cursive, you know it’s a thought. Not only that, you have simple sound effects that appear to put some additional power to the dialogues and to quickly differentiate between thoughts and spoken dialogues. Currently, there are plans to fully voice act this game, but if those plans fall through, I’d recommend to the developer to have different sound effects for the dialogues for different emotions.

Now, the game cold opens with an old school terminal as a main menu. This might be a bit jarring for new players who aren’t used to working with the command line. Personally, as somebody who knows how a command line works, I really love this touch. Since, this interface is also present in a lot of puzzles in the game. It fits the atmosphere and style of the game as a glove. To be honest, I think that with some minor polishing, it would be perfect.

There are a few things I would change. First, I’d get rid of the case-sensitive commands. The main reason is that a lot of people have the default keybinding for the Steam overlay with is… Shift+Tab. Since I love using autocomplete, it got pretty frustrating when I was holding my shift button and tabbed to autocomplete and my Steam overlay popped up.

A second thing I’d change is to allow the user to enlarge the font of terminal. The reason for that is because it doesn’t really scale pretty well with people who are using larger monitors.

Now, since this game is still in development and this is just the demo… I can totally excuse that there are features not present. Like pushing the up arrow to get the last command, or the help feature not always working correctly in all menus. For example, if you are in the options menu and use “QUALITY HELP”, you get information but if you first write “QUALITY” to see the options you can input and then “QUALITY HELP”… It bugs out and doesn’t give you help at all. Another small bug I noticed is that for some reason, the enter button on my numpad didn’t enter but always selected the whole text. But hey, during the stream the developer said that some of these things are on the list to get fixed for the full game.

Cyberpunk Sci-fi

I was impressed with the visuals of the game when we were playing this game on stream. While I haven’t played the Blade Runner games yet, I have seen a lot of people talk about it and know the visual style of the game. This game really mimics that style extremely well. You really feel like you are in a sci-fi world with some older technology than we have compared to our own technology.

Also, something I really love in this demo is that everything is one big space. You don’t really have “screens” in this game, like in a Broken Sword game for example. No, the camera swings and follows Ama as if she was in a movie. This sells the illusion of the area even more. While I’d have loved to see the details the developer put in every scene more up close sometimes, the more zoomed out look gives you a better overview on the scene. It almost feels like you are watching Ama through security camera’s or a drone camera in a way.

The biggest thing that I want to point out in terms of the visuals is Ama herself. The game goes for a more dark and dimly light environment and with a main character that’s wearing black clothes, it’s extremely easy to lose Ama in the scenery. It wouldn’t surprise me if they gave our main character in Blade Runner a brown coat for that reason, so you can more quickly see the main character without breaking the visual style of the game. But, overall, this is almost a nitpick. Since, it didn’t happen a lot that I lost Ama in the scene. It mostly happened when I was replaying parts of the demo while writing this article.

Now, I want to talk about the command line. The tutorial in this game on how a command line works is actually well done. I love how it doesn’t hold the players hands and tries to force them to input the right thing. It really lets you experiment with it and learn how it works. All the while, a small guide on how things work is displayed on the top of your screen.

This whole command line mechanic in this game is a breath of fresh air. It’s impressive how true to reality the whole command line is. While it uses some creative liberties here and there to make it fit into the game world, overall, it might be a real command line interface that’s open in the game.

In this demo, you have a few tasks to complete. Most of these tasks involve fixing various things. One task is highly dependent on the command line. This was quite easy for me since, like I said, I know how to use a command line. Visually, it’s a bit tricky during the tutorials in the network view since it’s not really clear/easy on how you can scroll up or down while in the network view. Using the mouse mostly scrolls around the network map. I think an easier way to scroll up and down in the terminal could be useful there. Also, when you have to input a command that’s longer than the terminal screen, I’d start a second line. Since, that’s how real life works. Or move the whole thing, and not let the username stay.

Final thoughts and future wishes

Overall, the demo is quite short. If you don’t know what you are doing and exploring everything, it will take you mostly two hours to complete. But if you know what to do, you can finish this in 10 minutes. Yet, the impression I got from the stream hasn’t changed. This game has quite a lot of potential but it needs some polish here and there.

There are some minor things like some objects not being solid and Ama being able to run through them, but there are also more major issues. The elevator bug the developer Marc mentioned during the stream, happened to me. Ama didn’t go up with the elevator and she was stuck. I think it was related to another bug I encountered where the head of IT got stuck in an animation loop. Somehow it was like Ama was near him while Ama was walking in other parts of the station. I don’t know what exactly triggered that, and I have replayed the demo trice to try and get it back into that bugged state, but I was unable to find the cause and I was unable to replicate it.

Currently, there is one way to save the game. There are several terminals in this demo where you can save your game. You only have one save slot. There is also no manual saving of the game. So, remember that. You can also only load from the main menu.

Reviewing a demo is always tricky to do. Especially if the game is still in development, since you never know for sure how the final game is going to look like. Yet, this demo is extremely promising. The puzzles where a lot of fun and after playing the demo, I had the same feeling that Klamath had at the end of the stream. I want to play more or similar games like this.

I could start talking about how the sound effects are amazing but there isn’t enough music yet. But, at one hand, the lack of music really sells the atmosphere of the game a lot more but on the other hand, the music during the terminal sections is really enjoyable. But, I’m sure that in the full game we shall see more music.

Just like I’m convinced that when the full game releases and the players find bugs, they will get fixed. While I was talking with Marc during the stream, I really felt the passion for creating this game and how he wants to make it the best experience it can be for his players. So, if you are interested in this game after reading this article in any way shape or form, I highly recommend that you give this game a chance, play the demo for yourself and give the developer feedback via his Discord or any other of his official channels.

I can’t wait to see and play the final game. Various things got revealed and talked about during the stream and I have to say, it was an amazing experience and conversation. I was already interested in seeing this game when it was on KickStarter but now that I have played the demo, I think we are on a winner here. This game will put an interesting twist on the point-and-click genre and will be interesting to anyone who enjoys adventure games with a sci-fi influence or just enjoy more unique puzzle games.

I want to thank Marc for reaching out to me and talking about his unique project. You can be sure that when the full version releases… me and Klamath will play through it and most likely stream it. And I’ll write a more in-depth article on the final product. Since, I might have not talked quite in-depth in this article but I want to hold off my final opinions when the game is fully released.

If you have read my article, played the demo and/or watched our stream, I’m curious, what did you think about this game? Feel free to talk about it in the comments. Am I overhyping the game or overlooking flaws? Or is there something you’d love to see in the full game?

And with that said, I have said everything about the game I want to say for now. I want to thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice by developer Ninja Theory caught people by surprise way back in 2017. Widely acclaimed as a touching story of grief and regarded as a pillar of mental health representation, it won the Game Awards prize for Best Performance, Audio Design, and Games for Impact. Seven years later, the long-awaited sequel was quietly released to the public. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II was first announced in 2019, but due to the pandemic and presumably other reasons, it took longer than anybody expected. So, is it worth the wait?

Lacking in mechanical innovation and gameplay diversity, Senua's Saga still maintains a spectacular story and bone-chilling audio design comparable to its predecessor, enough to give anybody goosebumps. Thanks to its use of Unreal Engine 5, the game flaunts breathtaking visuals and atmosphere, with well-realized Icelandic landscapes and hybrid Norse-Celtic attire. A relatively short romp compared to contemporary AAA titles, it follows the trend of indie games, carrying heavy stories of emotional depth in six hours or under.

The Sacrifice

Set in the late 8th century, Senua's story starts with her struggle dealing with inherited psychosis that came from her mother, the mental illness that caused people around her to see her as a curse and blight to the land. She hears voices inside her head, ones that confirm her self-doubt, yet also at her darkest moments, become her only friends. Because of this, her mother died at the hands of Senua's own father, burning her on a stake as a sacrifice for the gods.

This act traumatized her so much that she had to repress the memory and imagine her mother's death as suicide. Other than her mother, the only one who saw her as she was and wholly accepted her was her lover, and the first game depicted her grief over his death as well. For that, she blamed herself, just as her father taught her. Being used to alienation, she accepted that she was to blame for every death and misfortune that befell everyone she ever loved. People around her saw her as a curse, and that narrative burrowed into her heart, becoming what she truly believed.

The game ended with Senua fighting through hell for her lover's soul, the singular thing keeping her going, without realizing that it was herself who held it in place. In a metaphysical battle against the hordes of hell and its goddess, the voices in her head pushed her to the realization that she had to let go, that the alternative was an endless unwinnable battle, and that the real hell was holding on. So she listened. By moving on, she accepted all the deaths in her past, her part in them, but also her innocence. Her odyssey made her welcome her supposed curse and introduced her to a new way of seeing.

"Never forget what it is like to see the world as a child, Senua: where every autumn leaf is a work of art; every rolling cloud, a moving picture; every day a new story. We too emerge from this magic, like a wave from the ocean, only to return back to the sea. Do not mourn the waves, the leaves and the clouds. Because even in darkness the wonder and beauty of the world never leaves. It's always there, just waiting to be seen again."

The morning after

The sequel asks the question of what happens after acceptance, and the responsibility that comes with it. Senua has made peace with the loss of her lover and the psychosis she carries. But peace does not mean forgetting, and she carries the memories of her lost ones still. Now, her challenge and struggle lie in what she has to do with just the memories that remain, and what to make of peace. Without the clear direction and purpose of anger, without the emotional drive of grief, she must find her own way, and carve a path that makes sense for her. Senua has sacrificed her innocence by remembering the truth about her mother's death and her father's part in it, yet she has also reclaimed her innocence by not blaming herself for her lover's death. Now, she must make both losses worth it.

So she went to the source, the first blade that took her love away, the reason blood was shed. The second game starts with her pretending to be a slave and getting taken away by the Northmen who once came into her village and gutted her lover. While the predecessor showed Senua's personal journey of self-acceptance, the sequel shows Senua's journey in attempting to understand her worst enemy and despite their bad blood, empathize. Maybe she could make them see what she saw, and her journey need not benefit herself only. By healing herself, she could start to heal others who are similarly wounded by the world they all share.

In the course of the story, she shows mercy to the slaver who killed so many, and in the process learns about three giants that plague the land. These giants are the reason her village was raided, slaves were taken, and her lover butchered, all done as sacrifices for them. But as her psychosis is not the bane that many saw it to be, these giants are also not as they first seem. They are not as typically imposing as their name implies. The giants of Senua don't even stand up, instead, they crawl like newborns in pain.

The way Senua defeats them is also atypical. She first has to learn their names. Once known, she can begin to relate with them and figure out their pain. Senua sees through the giants' imposing size and booming cries, to the little hurt soul cradled inside. Through her eyes, they can accept their mistakes and injustices. Having them be seen and understood by an outsider, they do not have to be alone ever again. Through Senua's acceptance of them, the giants can claim peace. Like ghosts tethered to reality by guilt and grief, the presence of someone living to remember their life cuts them loose.

However, not everyone is willing to open themselves up to new perspectives. The final giant couldn't see it, he didn't want to. It is revealed at the end that the last most powerful giant is in fact the slaver's father, the tyrant who sacrifices slaves from other lands proclaiming it was to keep his people safe. As it turns out, it was all a ploy to keep himself in power and keep his people obedient. Once Senua comes to challenge his rule and show people another way of living, one of compassion, the tyrant rejects her.

She sees her own father in this tyrant, the one who also weaponized lies and fear to diminish others. Coming out of the first game, Senua could now see past the lies of narcissistic men. She saw the motive, the original sin that took everything from her, how cruelty can come from fear, and evil from control. All of it is based on a lie that is only beneficial to its teller. Even in his absence, her father still gives voice to her doubts. Once gaining cult-like followers by soothsaying, her father had used his believers to gain control and murder Senua's mother. The true giant is the lie fed to us that we believe over our own truth, the one we must learn the name of to dispel it of its power.

Only after Senua redeems the slaver by making him oppose his father, that she frees herself of the fear of becoming her own father. By seeing another inspired by her and resisting their doomed destinies, she is inspired in return, instilled with the hope that she does not have to experience the same fate as her mother or father.

While the first game is more internal, dealing with Senua and her past and the voices in her head, the second game focuses a lot more on other people. She hears their voices, how they contradict or concur with her inner voices, and how their perceptions of Senua repair her broken self-image, an image cracked from trauma and grief haphazardly corrected by a shaking hand, needing outside perspectives to keep it from being fixed crooked. Other people's belief in Senua breaks her disbelief in herself. They are the tether to her reality. They make her realize that the burden of acceptance doesn't have to be carried alone, and that her grief and psychosis mean something good when turned into a helping hand.

Living with a different way of seeing

Both Sacrifice and Saga play with what's real and what's not, juggling the inner reality of Senua's mind with the objective outer world. It makes us question if the giants are real or just metaphors. But maybe they are real to her, and that's all that matters. Senua's Saga is partly about perspective, and by seeing the world through Senua's eyes, it does not matter much if a lie looks like a giant; all that matters is the problem takes shape in whatever way people see it. Maybe through seeing things in a new light, new solutions are born; maybe tyrants do not have to exist to replace each other' maybe none of us are our mothers or fathers.

There's a part in the game where Senua disarms herself, leaving herself vulnerable, to arm her future self. She passes on her trusted blade, her only defense, to a voice in need, and that voice is her own. By answering the call to help others, she is helping herself. She learns to take the leap of faith in helping others, despite her inner voices disputing her decision, despite her fear.

Where in her younger years she is condemned for hearing voices and being different, here she is seen as special, as blessed with the ability to perceive a better path. Her compassion redeems a son not become his cruel father, ending a cycle of unnecessary violence. Monstrous giants see her as kin, recognizing the burden she carries on her shoulders, and how she was once like them. Senua uses what she has learned from her sacrifice to help others, to help those who are going through what she has gone through. The giants could not move on for one reason or another like she couldn't. So she helps them like she helped herself.

Monsters are just names we call things we fear, that we don’t understand. But through these names, we can see flawed things in a different light, as vile and dangerous. Names tell us how to see, so perhaps we need to believe in a world with kinder names, for a better way of seeing.

"All monsters were once men."

The story of Senua is twofold, about coping with her illness and what it does to the people around her, but also about being responsible with her newfound perspective, using it to show other people facing similar issues what she has learned. As she was once lost, now she leads the lost. It is about choice and agency, regaining control of your narrative, from your parents, from your illness, and your doubts. It is about the name you are given, and the one you choose for yourself.

Maybe the more dangerous and invisible darkness inside someone is not the voices you hear in your head, but the lies you remember, the abuse you bore all your life, and how that is also a responsibility you carry, to change. Senua is not her father's sins, her mother's psychosis, or the voices inside her head. She is all of this, and so much more.

This article includes spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine, in theaters now.

With much anticipation and speculation behind it, Deadpool & Wolverine has finally made it to the movies. The third Deadpool feature has absolutely blown away audiences and critics alike, putting up strong numbers on Rotten Tomatoes and making a nice chunk of change at the global box office to kick off its run.

A lot of components have come together to make this possible, from the litany of huge surprise appearances and the triumphant return of Hugh Jackman to the role of Wolverine. However, let's not forget the person who serves as the film's crown jewel.

Ryan Reynolds is excellent as Wade "Deadpool" Wilson, bringing comedy, action, and a bit of heart to the Marvel Comics favorite. He clearly has fun with the material, especially that which takes aim at 20th Century Fox, Disney, and the Marvel Studios machine, and provides a performance worthy of the Merc with a Mouth's Marvel Cinematic Universe debut. All of that is to say that he has further solidified himself as the Deadpool actor, making it even more difficult to remember that it's not his first Marvel movie role.

No, we're not talking about that awful Deadpool from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Instead, we're shining a spotlight on Reynolds' real first Marvel character: Hannibal King from 2004's Blade: Trinity. Here's the rundown on this oft-forgotten Marvel comic and film supporting player.

Who is King in Marvel Comics lore?

Though he makes his big screen debut in the aforementioned Blade: Trinity, King's existence in Marvel Comics dates back decades before. The character, created by Gene Colan and Marv Wolfman, is introduced in Tomb of Dracula #25 in 1974, going on to appear as a supporting character in numerous stories in the following years. Turned into a vampire by Deacon Frost at a young age, he vows to never feed on the living nor use his vampiric abilities in battle, relying on his learned abilities and arsenal of weapons instead.

All in all, King is far from a main Marvel character, but he boasts and impressive resume all the same. He has worked extensively with Blade, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange, featured on teams such as the Nightstalkers, the Defenders, and the Midnight Suns, and battled such foes as the Darkholders, Dracula, and Lilith. With all of that in mind, he sounds like a pretty awesome character. Unfortunately, there are a few big reasons why his film equivalent isn't looked upon with such reverence.

Reynolds' King doesn't much resemble his print counterpart

All of that cool information about King can go right out the window when it comes to Blade: Trinity. While Reynolds' King did become a vampire, he was ultimately cured by the Nightstalkers before joining the team. He grows especially close with Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel), the daughter of Blade's (Wesley Snipes) mentor, Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), who joins him in breaking Blade out of custody and recruiting him to their cause. From here, King pretty much becomes a generic quippy action guy.

While Blade is cool and Abigail is efficient, King provides a bit of comic relief while blasting away at vampires. His past as a member of the House of Talos, led by the film's main villain and the vampire who turned him, Danica Talos (Parker Posey), is touched on here and there, but it doesn't get much room to breathe. Like most Marvel Comics adaptations of the era, Blade: Trinity misses the mark in the comic-accuracy department and fails to justify its source material changes, with its version of King exemplifying that perfectly.

Could Hannibal King join the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

In one of the most stunning moments of Deadpool & Wolverine, the titular mutants encounter a ragtag band of Multiverse heroes while in the Void. Among them is none other than Snipes' Blade, making his return to the silver screen as the Daywalker after 20 years. Not only was it shocking to see him because of that fact, but also because of the supposed previous animosity between Snipes and Reynolds, which stemmed from their time on the Blade: Trinity set. The latter made it known that the Blade actor didn't care for him in an interview with IGN and even made a meta joke about their tension in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Thankfully, it appears Snipes and Reynolds buried the hatchet a long time ago. Snipes went as far as to tell Entertainment Weekly that the two have actually been friends all along. So, with that said, and assuming the character isn't dead or was swallowed up by Alioth, could Reynolds return as King in the MCU down the line? Could fans see him and Blade team up one more time, potentially even with Biel back as Abigail alongside them? If the Multiverse Saga has proven anything, it's that whatever you think is impossible could very well not be. We'll just have to see if Reynolds' King is due for a comeback or if he'll forever be confined to an obscure side character in Blade: Trinity.

Deadpool & Wolverine is now playing exclusively in theaters.

The post Before Deadpool, he was Hannibal King: Ryan Reynolds’ first Marvel role, explained appeared first on Destructoid.

The Blade of Mercy is a Talisman found exclusively in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. This new addition to the game can be a huge help to anyone running a build that focuses heavily on critical hits, making it a must-grab as soon as possible. Luckily, it’s available at the very beginning of the DLC, so…

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The Backhand Blade is a (you guessed it!) Backhand Blade weapon found in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. This weapon can be one-handed or two-handed and offers you an agile playstyle that lets you aggressively punish your foes. If you’re looking to get in and get out regularly, you’ll find the Backhand…

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Flashy action-RPG Stellar Blade looks like it could be the next PlayStation 5 exclusive to find its way over to PC, as developers Shift Up say they’re pondering a PC release. They’re also thinking about a sequel - probably not much of a surprise given the first game has sold well on just the one platform, by all accounts - while working on a new game that should also be headed to PC, codenamed Project Witches.

Read more

Updated: June 24, 2024

We searched for more codes!

The world is on the brink of collapse as the war between humans and Demons wages on. Will you fight back against the wretched Demon army or join them to bring an end to humankind? Once you've chosen your destiny, use Demon Blade codes and lead your faction to victory.

Redeeming codes in Demon Blade will give you Cash, EXP boosts, and Race Spins to help you level up faster, unlock more powerful weapons, and hone abilities. Combined with an inventory full of useful items, you'll become an unstoppable force and rain destruction on your foes. If you're looking for more free rewards in other Demon-Slayer-inspired games, check out our list of +1 Blade Slayer codes and stock up on valuables in no time.

All Demon Blade codes list

Working Demon Blade codes

• THUNDERPUNCH—Redeem for a Status Reset and EXP x2 for 30 minutes (New)
• DC10000—Redeem for 3 Status Resets, 5 Legendary Enchantment Scrolls, and EXP x2 for 90 minutes
• SNOWVILLAGE—Redeem for a Status Reset and EXP x2 for 30 minutes
• MEANDER—Redeem for a Status Reset and EXP x2 for 30 minutes
• TRAINING—Redeem for a Status Reset and EXP x2 for 30 minutes
• DARKNIGHT—Redeem for a Status Reset and EXP x2 for 30 minutes
• NEWQUEST—Redeem for a Status Reset and EXP x2 for 30 minutes
• DEMONSLAYER1000—Redeem for 5 Race Spins and 5k Cash
• LETSGO—Redeem for 10k Cash and 1 Refund
• SuperNB—Redeem for 1k Cash (Must join the Roblox group)
• JayZhou—Redeem for X2 EXP Boost (30 minutes)

Expired Demon Blade codes

Related: Demon Slayer Tower Defense Simulator codes

How to redeem codes in Demon Blade

Redeem your Demon Blade codes by following our easy step-by-step guide:

1. Launch Demon Blade on Roblox.
2. Click the cogwheel button at the top of the screen (1) to open the code text box.
3. Enter code into the code text box (2).
4. Click the Get button (3) to get your prize.

How to get more Demon Blade codes

We make sure to add new Demon Blade codes as soon as they drop, so make sure to bookmark this article (CTRL+D) and check back often. You can also search for codes by joining the official Demon Blade Roblox group and the official DemonCube Discord server.

Why are my Demon Blade codes not working?

The most common reason for Demon Blade codes not working is a spelling or casing error. To avoid making mistakes, copy the codes directly from the active codes section above and paste them directly into the text box. If you still cannot redeem them, they've likely expired.

Other ways to get free rewards in Demon Blade

To win more valuable prizes in Demon Blade, click the gift button in the top-left corner of the screen to open the Rewards page. Log into the game for seven days in a row to collect the daily rewards, and play the game for 90 minutes to collect up to nine playtime rewards. Finally, join the Roblox group linked above to win 10k Cash, Refunds, and Race Spins.

What is Demon Blade?

Demon Blade is a Roblox action RPG experience inspired by the popular Demon Slayer anime and manga series. You can choose to join the Demon War on the side of Demons or Demon Slayers and progress through the game by defeating other players and enemy NPCs.

Every enemy you defeat gives you XP points that increase your overall level, along with stat points to invest in upgrading your attack and defense. Finally, the more you use a certain weapon, the further you'll increase its mastery and unlock more attack types.

Our Roblox Codes page is filled to the brim with codes for hundreds of popular Roblox games—dive in to claim awesome freebies!

The post Demon Blade codes (June 2024) appeared first on Destructoid.

When is Stellar Blade coming to PC? Shift Up, the developers of Stellar Blade, originally planned to bring Stellar Blade (previously known as Project Eve) to PC when it was revealed back in 2019, but Sony’s involvement saw the game become a PlayStation 5 exclusive title in 2021. With the overwhelming success of Sony’s multiplatform strategy, the future is bright for PC users as Sony continues to bring its library of console-exclusive titles over to the platform.

Like the best action-adventure games out there, Stellar Blade is incredibly stylish and flashy, equipping players with an arsenal of weapons to crush Earth’s alien invaders. If slaying horrible creatures doesn’t come naturally to you, we’ve got you covered with our best Stellar Blades skills guide to get the most out of Eve’s abilities. Read on to find out when you can expect to play Stellar Blade on PC in the future.

Last time we asked you to drop into the world of Stellar Blade, and share epic moments using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:

NoxFleuret24JL shares Eve and Adam’s droid gazing out into the Great Desert

HovsepStepanyan shares Eve wielding her blade in a yellow jumpsuit outfit

sirevanztheduke shares Eve sitting at the Big Gulp in Xion, listening to Enya singing

redmaiden_vp shares a short silver haired Eve walking on a path with fallen blossoms

DexM_ds shares Eve standing in the center of Xion’s courtyard

BBuradori shares Eve standing in Kasim’s salon with a fresh new bob haircut

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?

THEME:  Landscapes
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on May 15, 2024

Next week, we’re taking in the sights of your favorite gaming environments. Share landscapes and environments from the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

Source

Last time we asked you to drop into the world of Stellar Blade, and share epic moments using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:

NoxFleuret24JL shares Eve and Adam’s droid gazing out into the Great Desert

HovsepStepanyan shares Eve wielding her blade in a yellow jumpsuit outfit

sirevanztheduke shares Eve sitting at the Big Gulp in Xion, listening to Enya singing

redmaiden_vp shares a short silver haired Eve walking on a path with fallen blossoms

DexM_ds shares Eve standing in the center of Xion’s courtyard

BBuradori shares Eve standing in Kasim’s salon with a fresh new bob haircut

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?

THEME:  Landscapes
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on May 15, 2024

Next week, we’re taking in the sights of your favorite gaming environments. Share landscapes and environments from the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

Stellar Blade is set to get a Boss Challenge mode in future.

The news was confirmed in an interview with developer Shift Up's CEO Hyung-tae Kim by Korean outlet Nate (via Games Radar).

The game already received a New Game Plus mode in a day one patch, which adds expanded gear levels, new costumes for protagonist Eve, and new skills. Plans for further DLC are yet to be decided, but a Boss Challenge mode is being planned, the interview reads.

Read more

Shift Up překvapil některé recenzenty hry Stellar Blade tím, že vydal předčasně patch s New Game Plus. Co přesně nabízí kromě přenášení vylepšení a měny, když hráči na PS5 mají k této funkci přístup hned při spuštění?

PlayStation Blog to rozebírá a dozvíte se toho opravdu hodně.

Eve dostane 34 nových oblečků, zatímco Adam, Lily a dron dostanou také několik nových kosmetických doplňků. Ty získáte opětovným navštěvováním obchodů a otevíráním truhel po celém světě. New Game Plus také umožňuje další levelování Eviných zbraní, Tumbler, Beta jádra a Body jádra, přičemž přebytečné předměty jádra se prodávají za měnu, za kterou si můžete koupit nové oblečky.

Vedle osmi nových dovedností pro vylepšení stávajících možností Beta a Burst na vás čekají čtyři nové dovednosti Beta a pět nových dovedností Drone. Mezi nové dovednosti patří Infinite Slash, Infinite Pierce (vylepšuje Quadruplet) a Infinite Breaker (vylepšení pro Shield Breaker).

Hráči si také mohou odemknout vylepšení Mk2 pro Evinu výbavu a Exospine, která poskytují možnosti jako vylepšené poškození štítu a přeměnu získaného poškození na energii Beta pro dovednosti. A konečně, nepřátelé nejsou jen náročnější, ale mají i nové pozice, které mohou hráče zaskočit. Není však známo, zda na hráče čekají nějací noví bossové.

Stellar Blade vychází 26. dubna pro PS5. Podívejte se na launch trailer a naši recenzi.

Článek Stellar Blade New Game Plus – nové oblečení, Beta Skilly, vylepšení a další informace se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

Naše flotila lodí se blíží k oběžné dráze planety a vy si v klidu hovíte v bezpečností kapsli, ve které budete co nevidět přemístěni na povrch. Na planetě se ale náhle objeví několik záblesků a rychlostí zvuku se k vaší lodí blíží tisíce raket. Obranné štíty jsou k ničemu a vy jste během několika vteřin obklopeni troskami lodí a zbytky mrtvých těl. Netrvá to ani minutu a vaše kapsle se jako zázrakem téměř netknutá ocitá zapíchnutá v písku a vy jste uvězněni uprostřed chaosu a během zuřivé bitvy jste vydání napospas.

Pokud jste hráli demoverzi Stellar Blade, tak jistě víte, že vám z této prekérní situace pomůže Tachy, další členka vaší Airborne Squad. Společně se pak vydáte vstříc hlavní misi, kterou je zbavit planetu tvorů Naytiba, kteří zdevastovali lidskou populaci. Lidstvo je ponořeno do temnoty a je jen na vás, abyste s tím něco udělali.

Že budu recenzovat Stellar Blade já, nebyl ani zdaleka původní plán. Ba naopak, hra mě svými trailery spíše odrazovala a já si říkal, že se beztak bude jednat o béčkovou hru, která své nedostatky bude skrývat za bujné křivky hlavní hrdinky. Člověk míní, osud mění a já jsem se do neznáma jménem Stellar Blade přece jenom vydal. A nemohl jsem být dále od pravdy. Stellar Blade je nejlepší hra, co jsem letos hrál a v následujících odstavcích vám vysvětlím onu výjimečnou známku, kterou si akční RPG od studia Shift Up z recenze odneslo.

Začátek hry byl relativně akční, což mi s ohledem na množství potřebných informací příliš nevyhovovalo. Ještě nejsem se dokázal pořádně zorientovat, začali se ke mě připojovat první postavy. Po Tachy, jejíž osud jsme mohli zjistit v již zmiňované demoverzi, se k EVE přidává Adam. Obyvatel Xionu je nám po ruce téměř neustále, a to díky dronu a slouží nám tak jako naše pravá ruka. Další postavou, kterou prozradily již zveřejněné trailery je Lily. Ta nám bude pomáhat s vylepšováním zbraní a našeho těla.

Příběhová kampaň zde sice nehraje prim, ale rozhodně není k zahození. Kromě pasáží, kde se budete pohybovat po otevřenějších mapách má hra velmi slušné tempo a akce číhá doslova na každém rohu. Skrze Stellar Blade jsem se prosekal za 20 hodin a posbíral jsem přibližně 40% trofejí. Po dokončení příběhu, který vám zde nebudu dále spoilerovat se vám odemkne nová obtížnost. Ta ale není jediným důvodem k tomu, abyste se do hry pustili znovu. Dalšími bonusy při opětovném hraní je speciální obleček a možnost hru dokončit s dalším koncem. Ty jsou celkově tři.

Kromě modelu hlavní hrdinky se největší péče dočkal soubojový systém. Stellar Blade je neskutečná řezačka s velkým množstvím kombinací, kterými své nepřátele můžete krájet hlava nehlava. Naytiba jsou ovšem pěkné otvory a s jednoduchým spamováním útoků si nevystačíte. K dispozici zde tak jsou i obranné mechanismy. Klasický úhyb a parírování jsou doplněny obrannými granáty, které jsou až nečekaně praktické. Je jen potřeba se naučit to, který v danou chvíli musíte použít. Novinka od korejského studia také také přináší 5 dovednostních stromů. Dva z nich jsou zaměřený na schopnosti Burst a Beta. Jejich zapojení při bojích je pro vaše přežití doslova nezbytné. Obecně byly souboje s elitními Naytiby a Alphami tou nejzajímavější a nejzábavnější činností. Musím zde ale vývojářům vytknout až nepříjemně velké zuby ve škálování obtížnosti. To ale není nic, co by vývojáři nemohli spravit nějakým jednoduchým patchem.

Dalším důležitým pomocníkem v boji s Naytiby je váš všudypřítomný dron. Ten nejenže umí skvěle skenovat okolní prostředí a označovat nepřátele, ale umí se také proměnit ve střelnou zbraň. Je-libo rakety, broky, klasické projektily či masorvoucí paprsek? Stačí se říct. Tuto extrémně cool palnou zbraň jsem moc často nevyužíval, ale nastaly momenty, kdy vás k tomu hra prostě donutila. Kromě omílaných boss-fightů musím zmínit výpravy, při kterých jste jinou možnost ani neměli. Kvůli statickému rušení vaše meče nefungovaly a hra se náhle změnila v temnou pasáž plnou hutné atmosféry, napětí a shnilých nepřátel, kterým nedělalo problém vás za cenu jejich života vylekat.

Stellar Blade od studia Shift Up vychází jako PlayStation 5 exkluzivita a je tak na místě se podívat, jak je na tom hra s podporou DualSense. Co se týče haptické odezvy ovladače, tak musím bohužel uznat, že už jsme byli svědky lepšího přizpůsobení. Sice v prstech cítíte poryvy větru a otřesy budov, ale jinak mi vše připadalo jako klasické vibrace. U adaptivních spouští je tomu ale zcela jinak a v záběru jsou téměř neustále.

Ach, ta grafika!

Při hraní Stellar Blade si člověk prostě všimne těch úžasných efektů spojených se sílou dnešního hardwaru a určitě ocení veškeré technické vymoženosti, u kterých mě často napadlo, zda se vývojáři jen prostě nepředvádí. Hra nabízí tři režimy zobrazení – Balanced, Quality a Performance. Osobně jsem si zvolil Performance, ale chod hry a její framerate není to, co bych zde chtěl vyzdvihovat. Tím je ona unikátnost, která ze hry vyzařuje. Během hraní jsem zažil nespočet momentů, kdy mi brada spadla až na zem a já nevěřícně koukal na ty čáry a máry na mé obrazovce. Stellar Blade je neskutečné vizuální představení a čistý next-gen zážitek.

Samozřejmě se musím vyjádřit i k modelu hlavní hrdinky. Původně jsem si myslel, že je to jen lákadlo na duševně jinak zaměřené hráče, kterým bude jedno, co se okolo děje a bude pro ně důležité to, jak dlouho se ještě hrdince budou houpat ňadra poté, co se přestane hýbat. Její „výbava“ je ale v příběhovém lore vysvětlena a hráč se tak ke konci hry kromě jiného dozví i tyto řekněme pikantní detaily. Nic to ovšem nemění na tom, že kdybych ještě bydlel s rodiči a během hraní Stellar Blade by mi do pokojíčku přišla maminka, tak bych se červenal až za ušima. Kromě zírání na poprsí můžete EVE přidělovat i množství oblečků. Je jich tu celá škála od vkusných vesmírných přes riflové minisukýnky až po spodní prádlo a mikinu s králičími oušky. Postupem času vzhled vaší postavy ale vůbec nevnímáte a soustředíte se na všechny ty zvraty a masivní souboje, díky kterým se krůčem po krůčku dostáváte na konec příběhu, jenž je bez debat EPICKÝ.

Epický ale není jen závěr hry, ale solidně hra působí taktéž jako celek, který je navíc podpořen úchvatným hudebním doprovodem a adaptivním soundtrackem. Stellar Blade se příliš nebrání srovnání s Nier: Automata a některé prvky si vypůjčil i ze soulovek. Jinak je ale hra po všech coulech unikátní. Množství různorodých nepřátel, krásné herní prostředí a character designeří se vyřádili i na vedlejších postavách a vendorech. Není to ale dokonalá hra a najde se zde i několik faktorů, které mi testování hry znepříjemňovaly. Kdybych měl vybrat některá negativa, tak zmíním nepříliš zajímavé vedlejší mise, jejichž premisa se nepříjemně opakuje a s nimi spojené dialogy, které když nesouvisí s hlavní dějovou linkou, tak jim chybí šťáva a působí nuceně a sterilně. Z čeho mi ovšem vstávali chlupy až na zádech byl finální boss, který mi dělal obtíže. Obtíže tak velké, že jsem se druhý den rozhodl, že jeho lokaci opustím a vrátím se do Xianu dodělat veškeré mini questy, pořádně se naleveluju a následně se vrátím a ukážu hře zač je toho loket. Jenže vůbec. Hra vás v závěru nikam nepustí a pokud se tak do poslední několika hodinové lokace vydáte nedostatečně vybaveni, tak se můžete seknout nadobro. Neexistuje zde ani ruční ukládání pozic, takže situaci se opravdu nevyplatí podcenit.

Stellar Blade mi doslova odfoukl papuče. Od hry jsem nic neočekával a přistupoval k ní spíše skepticky a ona se mi odvděčila dosud nejsilnějším herním zážitkem roku 2024. Hra byla během testování samozřejmě pod embargem a já doslova trpěl z toho, že se o své zážitky nemohu s někým podělit dřív. Stellar Blade je absolutní Must-Have titul, který děla čest nejen vývojářskému týmu, ale i konzoli PlayStation 5.

Článek RECENZE: Stellar Blade – Kočičí ouška a povolení zabíjet se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

For the record, I do not own a PS5, so I am unable to play Stellar Blade, but I’m here today to talk about the discourse surrounding it, which can summed up as “If you like sexy women, you are a creep.” All you have to do is look up the comparisons to Hades 2 that can be summed up as “hotties for straight men bad, hotties for woke weirdos good.” But I am going to focus in on an article by Gamesradar entitled, Stellar Blade puts Eve in some incredibly stupid sexy outfits that hurt the game’s story, but despite the forced sex appeal I actually love her detailed design. It can be summed up as “Eve is a well designed character, but since she exists to appeal to the male gaze, she is bad.”

Stellar Blade angers Woke Game Journalist Austin Wood

The author of said article about Eve from Stellar Blade, Austin Woods, is an asexual male who has spent his life unlearning the male gaze. That’s not me talking, that’s him talking:

Oh it gets worse:

This article is not about me, but I should explain where I’m coming from. For me, romantic and sexual attraction are not only foreign but utterly undesirable. So more than with your average person, games like Stellar Blade bark up the wrong tree when they assume that I, as a man, am eager to gawk at and fantasize about characters like Eve. She’s hot! I like her! I’d consider myself sex-positive, but I truly, from the pit of my gut, do not care. I’m not put off by Stellar Blade’s ham-handed sexiness or its assumptions about me, but I am sensitive to and critical of tone in storytelling, and Eve’s treatment undeniably hurts the game’s voice.

Austin Wood, quite simply is the end result of Feminism’s attack on male sexuality, which can be seen through the fact this discourse over Stellar Blade’s Eve even exists at all(and is a diatribe that’d take up longer than we have here). Austin hates his own sexuality to the point he buries it and calls himself asexual. You can see that in this paragraph:

I like loads of details in Eve’s design. She has incredible brows and lashes. I love the little baby hairs by her ears, the subtly imperfect texturing of her skin, and the pores on her cheeks. I love that she has some natural belly fat while being slim. She’s a great-looking character, and it’s genuinely fun to put her in the many outfits, accessories, and hairstyles that Stellar Blade offers, some of which are plenty fashionable. I mean, of course it is; customizing characters is a video game staple. For my money, Eve is sexier and cooler in outfits that actually have enough material to embellish and accentuate her. She absolutely rocks a leather jacket and jeans, and that’s just the start. 

He knows Eve is sexy. He even praises her sexiness, but he buries it and then proceeds to call it bad.call it bad because its divorced from the story or anything else.

The problem is that Eve’s sexiness is totally divorced from the rest of the game and her personality, and Stellar Blade wants to be taken seriously despite how strangely this comes across. I think this is why a lot of people don’t like how Eve looks. Characters like Bayonetta own and flaunt their sexiness, and games like Hades are inextricably sexy from corner to corner. That’s partly why they’re so beloved – this stuff is hard to pull off convincingly, and memorable when done well. Everyone being horny in, and for, Baldur’s Gate 3 comes to mind. But Eve’s amped-up sexiness is a weird outlier. She has next to no interest in her own appearance or sex appeal. At most, she mentions her hairstyle one time.

I read the rest of article and honestly, his argument only makes sense if Stellar Blade’s Eve’s sexuality is bad because it only exists to attract the male gaze. But Aphrodite from Hades 2 looks like this and is just fine because its the right sort of hot:

The Self-Hating Man

I looked up Austin Wood but could find little that wasn’t on his Twitter Profile. But I’m venturing to guess Austin went to a liberal arts college where was brainwashed into hating himself. He even more or less admits it in the article(“Unlearning the male gaze.”) I, on the other hand, am not a self-hating man. I like looking at attractive women. It pleases me. It is hard wired into my lizard brain. Male sexually, in fact, is partly how we got to eight billion people on Planet Earth. Reminds me of an online exchange I read once somewhere where some guy was like. “Nobody want to see my grandmother naked,” and someone replied, “Someone wanted to see your grandmother naked, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.” That’s right, men being attracted to women creates babies!

In essence, Austin is grasping at straws to justify Stellar Blade’s Eve being bad because he thinks male sexuality is bad. Eve was created to appeal to the male gaze, and that is bad because reasons. Honestly, who cares if she’s sexy? If people want to play sexy characters, let them. But games journalism is infected by woke people, like Austin Wood. They must adhere to the message, even if it doesn’t make much sense with any scrutiny. For example Austin praises Bayonetta, but her design was criticized heavily for being pure male-gaze.Why doesn’t Eve get that pass? Is it because its the current thing? Probably.

In conclusion, I know that if this blows up, I’ll be called a creepy incel pervert. But am I? Or am I just a self-aware man who doesn’t hate his own sexuality like Austin Wood obviously does. Male sexuality good, woke weirdos bad!

The post Stellar Blade and the Hatred of Male Sexuality appeared first on The Game Slush Pile.

Stellar Blade, the Nier: Auotmata-ish PS5 character action game, has a bunch of chests to unlock that give you all kinds of sweet rewards, from healing items to gold to crafting resources. Many of these chests require that you input a sequence of buttons in an allotted time limit, while others need a passcode to open.…

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There are over 30 side missions for you to accept in Stellar Blade, the new PS5-exclusive character action game from South Korean developer Shift Up, each with their own outcomes and rewards. Some are simple fetch quests, while others are multi-part affairs that see Eve impacting the lives of other characters. One,…

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Over the weekend I spent a fair bit of time playing Stellar Blade, enjoying the action while doing my best to ignore the Discourse™. But that fun was killed when the game asked me to start moving around random boxes to complete elementary school math puzzles. And not just once, but multiple times in various areas…

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Stellar Blade will be "uncensored" in all regions, including Japan.

That's according to the game's official social media account on X, which announced the news earlier today.

"Stellar Blade offers the same uncensored version in all countries, including the Japanese version," the tweet said in both English and Japanese, appending the message with a pixellated image with red X emblazoned across it, and the words "uncensored all countries".

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Předchozí trailer na hru Stellar Blade od Shift Up zdůrazňoval Beta dovedností, které může Eve na Naytibu vypustit, ale ten nejnovější ukazuje dovednosti Burst. Jedná se o ještě silnější schopnosti, které vyžadují Burst Energy a rozpoutávají ještě ničivější útoky.

Zatímco energii pro Beta dovednosti získáváte udělováním poškození, energie pro Burst dovednosti pochází z používání schopností, jako je Blink a Repulse. Asi nejlepším způsobem, jak si je vybudovat, je Perfect Dodge, který je také nutné odemknout ve stromu dovedností. Stojí za to si ji vyzvednout, zejména pokud si nejste jisti svými parry schopnostmi.

Hra Stellar Blade vychází 26. dubna pro systém PS5 a prodává se za 70 dolarů. K dispozici je bezplatná demoverze, která obsahuje úvodní části a představuje postavy jako Tachy a Adam. Součástí je také režim Boss Challenge, oddělený od příběhových částí, který nabízí více možností hrát si s dovednostmi a vybavením.

Článek Stellar Blade v novém traileru představuje silné výbušné schopnosti se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

Stellar Blade is better than NieR: Automata, according to the latter's esteemed director Yoko Taro.

Shift Up's forthcoming action game has been compared to Taro's work since its reveal and now IGN Japan has put the two together in an interview between Taro and Stellar Blade creative director Hyung-Tae Kim.

So why does Taro think Stellar Blade is superior? The "next-gen quality" graphics and "cute female characters", among other reasons as the pair pat each other on the back.

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K dispozici je nová krátká upoutávka na hru od Shift Up – Stellar Blade, která se zaměřuje na různé betaverze dovedností, jimiž Eve vládne. Ty budou těm, kteří hráli bezplatnou demoverzi, připadat povědomé, ale i tak jde o stylovou ukázku některých silnějších dovedností Eve.

Hráči začínají s úderem s více zásahy, ale rychle si mohou osvojit dovednosti jako Shield Breaker, dvojitý kop vzad ideální pro rozbíjení štítů, a Shockwave, který vysílá na nepřátele sečné projektily. K dispozici je také široký obloukový úder, který je ideální pro likvidaci skupin nepřátel. Některé dovednosti Beta můžete nabít, čímž zvýšíte jejich udělované poškození.

Abyste však mohli některou z nich použít, potřebujete energii získanou údery do nepřátel. Eve má i další jedinečné schopnosti, jako je Lightning Rush pro uzavírání mezer a útoky na nepřátele, ale tyto čtyři budou ve vleklých soubojích rozhodující.

Hra Stellar Blade vychází 26. dubna pro systém PS5.

Článek Upoutávka na Stellar Blade nabízí efektní přehlídku Beta dovedností Eve se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

Vývojářské studio Shift Up oznámilo, že jeho připravovaná akční hra z pohledu třetí osoby Stellar Blade se dostala oficiálně do stavu GOLD. Studio to oznámilo prostřednictvím příspěvku na sociální síti X.

„S tímto příspěvkem přicházíme trochu pozdě,“ uvedlo studio v příspěvku spolu s obrázkem vývojářského týmu hry. „GONE GOLD.“

https://twitter.com/StellarBlade/status/1777742292138549488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1777742292138549488%7Ctwgr%5E621a882969edfded27455495a9f55064b881238b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fgamingbolt.com%2Fstellar-blade-has-gone-gold

V podstatě to znamená, že primární vývojové práce na hře Stellar Blade byly dokončeny a že hra je nyní připravena k lisování na disky, které se budou prodávat v maloobchodě. Veškeré práce, které se nyní provádějí na základní hře, se objeví ve formě patchů před spuštěním nebo v první den.

Zatímco hlavní vývojové práce na Stellar Blade byly dokončeny, studio stále pracuje na odstranění některých nedostatků ve hře. Ředitel Kim Hyung-Tae prozradil, že Stellar Blade dostane day one patch s „některými aktualizacemi“. Zatímco obsah těchto aktualizací je v současné době neznámý, day one patche se obvykle zaměřují na opravu některých chyb, které se nestihly v termínu před vydáním hry.

Studio Shift Up vydalo další nový trailer, který je poměrně krátký s necelými 30 sekundami a zaměřuje se na Adama. Podle popisu v traileru je Adam mrchožrout, který se potuluje po zdevastovaných zemích herního světa. Svůj čas tráví sbíráním surovin ve snaze pomoci městu Xion a udržet naživu lidi, kteří v něm žijí.

Hra Stellar Blade vyjde na systém PS5 26. dubna a její cena je 70 dolarů. Akční hra postaví hráče do role členky výsadkového oddílu Eve, která přilétá na Zemi, aby bojovala proti Naytibě. Vývojáři uvedli, že dohrání Stellar Blade zabere přibližně 25 hodin, přičemž herní doba se prodlouží, pokud se hráči vydají hledat sběratelské předměty. Později bude k dispozici také režim New Game Plus.

Článek Stellar Blade je ve stavu GOLD, nový trailer se zaměřuje na Adama se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

Nadšení z chystané exkluzivní hry Stellar Blade pro systém PS5 roste od chvíle, kdy se objevila dobře přijatá a technicky osvěžující demoverze hry, ale někteří lidé mají ohledně této stylové akční hry stále nějaké otázky.

Naštěstí generální ředitel Stellar Blade Kim Hyeong-tae a technický ředitel Lee Dong-gi poskytli rozhovory pro různé asijské herní publikace, které mohou některé z těchto otázek objasnit.

Co se týče délky hry, zdá se, že hlavní úkolová linie bude mít kolem 25 hodin. Mezitím ti, kteří se rozhodnou projít vedlejší úkoly a sběratelské předměty, by mohli ze hry vytěžit 30 až 50 hodin. Jakmile hru dokončíte, odemkne se vám těžký režim, ale New Game+ k dispozici nebude, alespoň při uvedení na trh. Tvůrci hry naznačují, že NG+ bude přidán po spuštění.

Co se týče monetizace, hra nebude obsahovat žádné další herní nákupy, s výjimkou potenciálního crossover obsahu s jinými sériemi. Zatím nebylo určeno, zda budou k dispozici větší DLC, ačkoli obvyklé bezplatné aktualizace a nové kostýmy, které očekáváte od většiny her vydávaných společností Sony, budou přicházet…

„Vydání DLC nebylo stanoveno, ale bezplatné aktualizace, jako jsou další kostýmy, se připravují. Rádi bychom zde jasně uvedli, že ‚Stella Blade‘ nevyžaduje žádné další výdaje, o kterých by hráči nevěděli, kromě nákladů na zakoupení balíčku. Jedinou výjimkou je vytvoření kolaborativního kostýmu s IP jinou společností, jehož množství může být prodáno za poplatek.“

Narážka na spolupráci s jinými IP je zajímavá, zejména vzhledem k tomu, že o Stellar Blade má podle všeho zájem řada špičkových japonských tvůrců. Zdá se, že tvůrce NieR Yoko Taro sleduje Stellar Blade, a dokonce i sám Hideo Kojima se nedávno setkal s režisérem hry. Přinejmenším si musíte myslet, že skin 2B je v podstatě jasná volba (koneckonců se objevuje v podstatě v každé druhé hře).

Stellar Blade vychází na PS5 26. dubna.

Článek K dohrání Stellar Blade bude třeba 25 hodin a 50 pro pro kopletní získání všech trofejí se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

Hra Stellar Blade vzbudila před svým vydáním koncem tohoto měsíce docela pozitivní ohlas, z velké části díky nedávno vydanému demu, a nyní byly zveřejněny další nové záběry z této akční adventury, které vypadají slibně.

IGN nahrálo 15 minut nových záběrů ze hry Stellar Blade. Úsek ve videu, který ukazuje dvě oblasti ze hry, začíná v uzavřených podzemních kanálech a poté přechází do sítě metra.

Hlavní hrdinka Eve si razí cestu přes chapadlovité zrůdy, otevírá truhly, nachází klády a prozkoumává prostředí, přičemž záběry vrcholí intenzivním soubojem s bossem, který je známý jako Juggernaut. Podívejte se na video níže.

Hra Stellar Blade vyjde 26. dubna pro systém PS5 a bude mít rozlišení 4K, 60 FPS a vyvážené grafické režimy. Vývojářské studio Shift Up již také pracuje na své další hře.

Článek Gameplay Stellar Blade představuje umístění v metru, boj s Juggernaut Bossem a další se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

Po zamýšleném spuštění bezplatné demoverze hry Stellar Blade vydala společnost Shift Up nový trailer na tuto hack-and-slash akční adventuru.

Je krátký, ale zaměřuje se na hlavní hrdinku Evu, jejíž spojenec Adam se ptá, co bude dělat po porážce Alfy Naytiby. Zkrátka a dobře, jde jí o to, aby Naytibu vyhladila. Podívejte se na to níže.

Pro ty, kteří to nesledují, Naytiba je tajemný mimozemský nepřítel, který napadl Zemi a zanechal ji v troskách. Jako členka výsadku má Eva za úkol je zničit a pomoci tak lidstvu. Situace se zvrtne, když její výsadkový modul havaruje a mnoho členů jejího oddílu zemře, ale to je jen jeden krok na mnohem delší cestě polootevřeným světem.

Hra Stellar Blade vychází 26. dubna pro systém PS5. Bezplatná demoverze obsahuje úvodní části, přičemž uložená data se přenesou do hry. Ačkoli boj může být náročný, zejména díky všem těm parádičkám a uhýbání ve zlomcích vteřiny, společnost Shift Up slíbila podpůrné funkce, které vám vše usnadní.

Článek Trailer na hru Stelar Blade se zamýšlí nad účelem Evy se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

Source

Stellar Blade, the PS5’s upcoming action game where you get to play as a cute lady (feels good, right?), has had a demo out since March 29. Perhaps you’ve been playing it? Whether you’ve been enjoying it or found it too cumbersome at first, it’s always a good idea to brush up on some basics again.

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Shift Up released a demo for the upcoming action adventure game, Stellar Blade, and below you can find a video that shows off 40 minutes of gameplay from it. In Stellar Blade, players will assume the role of the powerful heroine Eve. Players will join forces with comrades along the way, and take up the … Continue reading Here are the first 40 minutes of gameplay from Stellar Blade →

The post Here are the first 40 minutes of gameplay from Stellar Blade appeared first on DSOGaming.

Hra Stellar Blade od Shift Up se brzy objeví na PS5 a po působivém představení na posledním State of Play je k dispozici několik nových informací. Akční dobrodružné RPG slibuje rychlou akci podobnou hře NieR: Automata, která posloužila jako „obrovský hnací motor“ projektu, ale pro ty, kteří nejsou tak zdatní, jsou připraveny možnosti, jak si vše usnadnit.

V rozhovoru pro německý web Play3 ředitel hry Hyung-Tae Kim potvrdil několik úrovní obtížnosti a to, že hráči se musí „snažit“, aby zvládli totéž. Existují však „další podpůrné funkce, které vám v soubojích pomohou. I pokud jste milovníky akčních her, ale nejste tak zdatní, můžete si hru užít. Tak jsme ji navrhli.“ Tyto možnosti lze „kdykoli aktivovat“.

Dotyčné možnosti nebyly podrobně popsány, ale lze předpokládat, že se týkají funkcí, jako je automatické uhýbání a parry, jednoduchá komba, snížené poškození a další. To ukáže čas, takže zůstaňte naladěni.

Hra Stellar Blade vychází 26. dubna pro systém PS5. Příběh se soustředí na Evu, členku výsadku, která bojuje proti invazi Naytiba, aby zachránila lidstvo. Hra trvá přibližně 25 hodin, respektive 30 až 50 hodin pro ty, kteří usilují o úplné dokončení. Technický ředitel Dong-Gi Lee také nedávno potvrdil tři grafické režimy – režim výkonu (60 FPS), režim rozlišení (4K) a vyvážený režim.

Článek Stellar Blade má podpůrné funkce pro snadnější boj se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

Americký úřad Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ohodnotil hru Stellar Blade od Shift Up a nikoho nepřekvapilo, že hra získala hodnocení „M“ jako „Mature 17+“ kvůli „krvi a gore, jazyku, sugestivním motivům a násilí“.

V roli Evy hráči bojují proti Naytibům, tajemným mimozemským vetřelcům, a pomáhají lidstvu s evakuací. Během boje dojde na spoustu řezání a rozčtvrcení, přičemž v cutscénách a dalších sekvencích jsou k vidění „detailní záběry probodnutí, rozčtvrcení a useknutí hlavy“. Diskutuje se také o prezentaci jejích ženských postav, ačkoli explicitní výrazy se omezují na „s**t“.

Ve výpisu je uvedeno, že hra neobsahuje „žádné interaktivní prvky“, což zřejmě znamená, že neobsahuje žádné mikrotransakce. Je to v souladu s tím, že režisér Hyung-Tae Kim potvrdil zhruba 30 oblečků spolu s doplňky a účesy, které lze sbírat bez dalších nákupů.

Stellar Blade vychází 26. dubna pro PS5 a prodává se za 70 dolarů. Její příběh má zhruba 25 hodin, které se prodlouží na 30 až 50 hodin, pokud se hráči budou věnovat všem „sběratelským prvkům“. Kromě rychlých soubojů ve stylu hack-and-slash obsahuje také polootevřené oblasti k prozkoumávání, ne nepodobné hře NieR: Automata, která posloužila jako „obrovský hnací motor“ projektu. Kim je také fanouškem God of War, protože poskytuje „zážitek z rozsáhlého světa, aniž by byl zcela otevřený“.

Článek Stellar Blade hodnoceno ESRB jako hra pro 17+ se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

Remember Infinity Blade? No? Well, Infinity Blade was one of the first iOS games that packed incredible visuals on mobile devices. This game was powered by Unreal Engine and came out on Apple’s devices in 2010. Now, more than 14 years later, it’s been brought to PC and you can download and play it. All … Continue reading After over 14 years, the iOS hit Infinity Blade has been ported to PC and is available now for download →

The post After over 14 years, the iOS hit Infinity Blade has been ported to PC and is available now for download appeared first on DSOGaming.