The PC version of the open world RPG Horizon Zero Dawn will be released today:

Horizon Zero Dawn

EARTH IS OURS NO MORE

Experience Aloy’s entire legendary quest to unravel the mysteries of a world ruled by deadly Machines.

An outcast from her tribe, the young hunter fights to uncover her past, discover her destiny… and stop a catastrophic threat to the future.

Unleash devastating, tactical attacks against unique Machines and rival tribes as you explore an open world teeming with wildlife and danger.

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Horizon Zero Dawn is a multi-award-winning action role-playing game – and this Complete Edition for PC includes the huge expansion The Frozen Wilds, featuring new lands, skills, weapons and Machines.

INCLUDES:

• Horizon Zero Dawn
• The Frozen Wilds expansion
• Carja Storm Ranger Outfit and Carja Mighty Bow
• Carja Trader Pack
• Banuk Trailblazer Outfit and Banuk Culling Bow
• Banuk Traveller Pack
• Nora Keeper Pack
• Digital art book

Some reviews for Hellpoint and a beginners guide from Polygon to get you started.

Wccftech 7.5/10

If Hellpoint is to be remembered in the pantheon of Soulslikes, let it be for the exploration and secrets hidden throughout Irid Novo. The performance, regardless of platform, is a major sore spot for this ambitious action RPG and keeps it from being a much more recommendable experience. Nevertheless, Hellpoint is certainly up there in my favorite Soulslikes that didn't come directly from Miyazaki's teams and I can recommend it to anyone that's willing to put up with some jank for the sake of rewarding exploration.

Twinfinite 3/5

Overall, Hellpoint is a beautiful game set in a horrific and unsettling world. It takes its own unique spin on the Souls-like genre by mixing science fiction and cosmic horror together. This aesthetic is reflected perfectly in its world and boss design.

However, your gameplay experience is easily affected by numerous unpolished features, ridiculously long loading screens, frame rate issues, and other annoying elements.

Hellpoint is absolutely a game to try out if you’re a fan of the Souls-like genre and especially Bloodborne. Its stunning aesthetic alone should grab your interest. However, the game unfortunately falls short of being truly amazing due to several unpolished elements.

GameWatcher 7/10

The one thing that makes Hellpoint stand out is something that you don’t often see in the Soulslike genre: split screen co-op. With another profile, your friend can have their character jump into your match to help with those more difficult fights. If they fall in combat, you can revive them. However, it will cost you half your health. It can even kill you if you don’t have enough health, so it comes with its own risks. It might be weird to imagine a Souls game you can play with your mate on a couch, but it makes for a good date night if you wanna crack skulls with a loved one.

GameSkinny 7/10

Hellpoint is a bit more than a loving homage to Dark Souls, offering up just enough small, unique changes to keep it from being a total clone.

If you want a new challenge, want to explore a mysterious new setting in a familiar gameplay style, and play some infuriating couch co-op (or socially distanced online gaming) with a friend, this is a solid pick-up in a suddenly crowded genre.

Thanks Farflame!

The Escapist writes about Obsidians apparent desire to take Bethesda's mantle.

Ever since Obsidian released Fallout: New Vegas back in 2010, fans have linked the studio with Bethesda, which owns the Fallout franchise. It’s a reputation that isn’t entirely fair, since up until that point most of Obsidian’s catalogue had consisted of follow-ups to BioWare titles, including Knights of the Old Republic II, Neverwinter Nights 2, and an aborted attempt to create Baldur’s Gate III. But then Obsidian released The Outer Worlds, which borrowed the Fallout series’s role-playing systems and satirical retro-futuristic style. It became clear that Obsidian has taken quite a liking to Bethesda’s specific brand of open-world RPG.

That’s not just idle speculation, either. Obsidian devs openly welcomed the comparisons to Fallout in press interviews — which isn’t surprising, because some of those devs have been part of the Fallout series since before Bethesda even touched the franchise. This connection to pre-Bethesda Fallout was, of course, seen in The Outer Worlds’ emphasis on player choice and dialogue options — something that was more than welcome after Fallout 4 pushed those elements to the wayside.

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Thanks Farflame!

Larian have announced via Twitter that the Early Access for Baldur's Gate 3 won't be available August but say that it is around the corner.

Zaric Zhakaron presents Daggerfall:

Elder Scrolls 2 Daggerfall Guide for New Players | FREE Download, Unity Engine, Builds

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Newer players whom have gotten used to easier titles like Oblivion or Skyrim see Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall is an oppressive title that is far too difficult to get into. So I'll be doing a guide on how to download, install, build characters, and get started with the game. We'll be talking about an easy build for new players as well as a broken overpowered build that makes the game FAR too easy.

The dark action-adventure RPG Mortal Shell will be released on Epic Games on August 18:

Mortal Shell - Official Release Date Trailer

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The tactical RPG Necromunda: Underhive Wars will be released on September 8:

Necromunda: Underhive Wars - Release Date Announcement Trailer

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Deep below the nightmarish, polluted hive cities of Necromunda, in the twisted, vertiginous, dark tunnels of the Underhive, rival gangs fight to the bitter end for personal power, wealth, survival and the honour of their House.

Henriquejr spotted dev update #18 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #18 - Spells & Camera

Hello folks,

We're back with a new Dev Update (to the surprise of no one, I'd imagine)! Summer is really hitting us hard in Paris, with the temperature rising fairly high. With no air conditioning for those working from home, we have to rely on good old fans to keep us alive in these harsh times. And we're not the only ones...

Onwards, to new spell options!
We're very frequently showing off new spells in all their VFX glory, but we haven't often talked about what goes on behind them. In fact, creating new spells is fairly simple in our editor... as long as the options are already coded. Want to add Cone of Cold to the game? No problem, cone-AoE already exists thanks to Burning Hands. Adding Shatter? We already have sphere-AoE with Fireball. You get the idea.

However, what happens when the spell introduces something new? Something as seemingly simple as a new shape to tackle now has to go through the hands of our programmers (especially our graphic programmer) to make sure it's implemented properly for our game designers to play with. It's the same whenever you want to add a new effect - and let us tell you, there are a LOT of spells with very singular effects...

Vampiric Touch may seem very straightforward, but you can keep using it every turn for 1 min (or until you lose concentration)

To name just a few, we've recently added spells like Create Food and Water (generating new items in your inventory), Fear (forcing players / AI to run away), See Invisibility / Invisibility (handling combat / AI behaviour against invisible enemies) and Stinking Cloud (forcing players / AI to pass their turn if they fail). As you can see, most spells at higher level always bring their fair share of headache if we don't properly prepare beforehand! 

Anyway, let's end this section with some new spells that are fully dressed and ready to be shown to the world.

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In devlog #35 for Vagrus: The Riven Realms you can learn more about companion healing:

Devlog #35 | Companion Healing

We have always planned a fairly elaborate system of healing mechanics but when creating 'Pilgrims of the Wasteland', we first focused on getting the main features ready and implemented a more streamlined, placeholder set of healing rules.

Out with the Old

The PotW system simply had you use a relatively valuable resource - medical supplies - to fully heal one Companion at a time during camp. This is not only too 'gamey' but also very obtuse and not what we intended for the game or the setting.

The old healing system did have hidden statuses, however they were not used for anything really:

• Hurt: Received after losing 50% Vitality, limits Maximum VIT to 80% until removed.
• Wounded: Received after Downed, limits Maximum VIT to 60% until removed.
• Mortally Wounded: Received after falling Out of Action, limits Maximum VIT to 30% until removed.

In spite of these elaborate statuses, healing remained the same: the use of a medical supplies item healed Companions up to their Maximum VIT right away.

In with the New

When Crew Combat was added, we implemented an elaborate system that was used to heal up your wounded Crew and Companions at the end of each skirmish. It was based on rolls stemming from the Healing Perk. Now that we decided to rework Companion healing, we basically use the same principles for natural healing.

During camping, you roll for natural healing for each Companion that is not at Maximum VIT. The heal roll chance comes together from the following factors:

• Major impact from Heal Perk levels (from Companions, the vagrus, gear, etc.)
• Minor impact from Herb Lore Perk levels
• Major impact from settlement accommodation if any (second or third Rest tiers only)
• Major impact from taking it slow with the comitatus (spending less MPs before camping)
• And most importantly: from medical supplies (item) if you choose to use them

Even without many impacting factors, Companions recover VIT more often than not, except if the natural healing roll is a Critical Failure and in that case can even lose VIT but only until it reaches 1, so Companions can not die but their condition can worsen.

The statuses from the old system still exist, and if a Companion reaches the temporary limit (for example, 60% of Maximum VIT when Wounded), a successful natural healing roll removes the current status and applies the next 'higher' one (for example, a Wounded Companion then becomes Hurt). A Critical Success results in a two-stage jump.

Medical Supplies

Using Medical supplies provides a huge advantage, as it removes the status even if the Companion has not reached the associated temporary VIT limit. It also increases the chance of status improvement and VIT recovery greatly.

Previously, one full healing required one medical supplies item with a 100% result. Now, there is a chance on the result and hence these healing items can be lost or retained based on a chance with each usage. Normally, this depends on the roll, like treating a Wounded with a success roll has a 10% chance to use up the item, while rolling a fail increases that chance to 20%, and so on.

We implemented the natural healing part already but left the Event heal option in too for the time being, at least until the changes on the Camp UI can be implemented, allowing the players to decide on the usage of medical supplies each time they strike camp. This new system is much better-suited to what we were planning from the beginning, and is also more fair, although healing will be slower and so you'll have to think twice before jumping into combat too soon.

The Lost Pilgrims Team

Sampstra Games checked out the demo of the tactical RPG Zoria: Age of Shattering:

Zoria: Age of Shattering (Turn Based Tactical RPG) - Limited Demo -Let's Play

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Join me in my let's play of Zoria: Age of Shattering, a turn based combat game with formations,skills and all the other good stuff you expect in an RPG.

Matt looks back at Dark Sun: Shattered Lands:

Matt Chat 455: Dark Sun, Shattered Lands

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This is an abridged version of my retrospective of SSI's Dark Sun: Shattered Land, an excellent CRPG that attempted to revamp the venerable Gold Box engine for the VGA era. Is it perfect? Nah. Is it easy? Oh, heck no. Is it fun? You betcha! Watch the video to learn about the game's history and then follow me and try not to laugh too much as I try to make it through the first chapter!

NeverKnowsBest looks back at Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines:

Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines Retrospective

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A look back at Troika Game's final title: the cult classic rpg Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines. A game full of good looking goth girls, succulent sewer rats and general depravity, but most important of all... good rpg design.

The timed-battle RPG Another Crusade is currently on Kickstarter:

Another Crusade is an action timed-based RPG

This means that every time you perform an action, you can power it up by pressing a button at the correct timing. When not in battle, exploration is also a great part of the game, in which you can jump as a platformer, solve puzzles, find treasures and even hit your enemies for an advantage when the battle starts!

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A demo is available - Nookrium checked it out already.

FourFaceButtons has reviewed the Enhanced Edition of Ara Fell:

Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition (2019/2020) Review

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Gamestar interviewed producer Reinhard Pollice about the Gothic Remake - the remake will be closer to the original than the playable teaser:

-> Link to the podcast (in German)

Excerpt:

• 25 people are working on it
• mechanics/quests/story will be very close to the original
• more quest details in later chapters
• a little more content to improve the general game atmosphere, but not an addon
• combat more tactical than pure action
• freedom of choice in combat and in all game aspects
• art design darker than in the teaser
• Ruhrpott-charm remains preserved :)
• NPC scheduling and animal life remain as well
• the teaser got a score of 72/100 from the fans
• they are trying to get the original speakers for voice-overs

Gameffine reviewed the J-RPG Fairy Tail:

Fairy Tail Review (PS4) :: Nostalgia That Could Use A Bit of Polish

To this very day, Fairy Tail remains one of the most beloved serialized-manga franchises alongside its anime adaptation running over a decade. I still remember the early 2010 days when it was aired for the first time on Animax-Asia. Episodes premiered in accordance with Japanese timeslots- airing at an inconvenient slot of 2 to 3 AM on Sundays. Despite the severe odds of my parents catching me in the act, I would sneak in for the premiere, grabbing a handful of midnight snacks. 

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Verdict:

Fairy Tail‘s narrative alone is enough for you to glide through its campaign- thanks to the seamless cutscenes and character stories that are fun for the most part. It never fails to deliver comedic instances even in moments of tedium.  Fans of the series can pick this one up for the story alone.

With improved visuals and a refined performance on the PS4, Fairy Tail has the potential to be on par with CyberConnect 2’s Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. Koei Temco and Gust have announced that they will be adding a photo mode via a free update on August 6. The dev team has also announced that they will be addressing some of the issues we mentioned via a day 1 patch.

Synopsis:

Fairy Tail is a turn-based action-RPG based on the long-running manga series developed by Gust and published by Koei Temco America. Originally slated for a March 2020 release, it was delayed to July 31st. It is being released for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows.

 Pros:

• Faithful adaptation of the source material
• Well-directed cutscenes
• Tons of customization options and skins to unlock

Cons:

• Visuals on the base PS4 suffer from lackluster anti-aliasing and low-resolution textures
• Inconsistent framerates
• Tedious side quests

Score: 7.5/10

A new development update video for Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord which focuses on UI and multiplayer.

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Twinfinite report on a new trailer for A Total War Saga: Troy.

Today Creative Assembly released a new trailer of the upcoming Total War game A Total War Saga: Troy.

The video focuses on the game’s economy based on five resources, food, wood, stone, bronze, and gold. 

We also get to take a look at settlements, trade, on top of the purpose for each resource.

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Thanks Farflame!

Some reviews for Othercide.

Dualshockers 6/10

Enemy damage can be pretty high, so you’re encouraged to avoid taking it. Unless you’re going to take more damage than it would cost to use a reaction to negate it, there’s very little point to actually doing this. All the intricate combos you can perform hinge on these conditional triggers, so instead of doing anything interesting? I just found myself playing safe and utilising basic AP consuming attacks. And this got immensely dull and grindy very quickly.

Othercide’s systems have so much potential in them, but they fall so short because of these few design oversights. It’d be really fun to set up intricate combos and manipulate the timeline, but the reward is not worth the risk and cost. Instead, the best way to get ahead is just to play safe, delay opponents, and use your most basic abilities. Playing things interestingly just doesn’t do enough extra damage or effects to warrant the effort. Nothing kills the desire to experiment with interesting combos when just “move and attack twice” is easier and more effective by a good margin.

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GameWatcher 6/10

Furthermore, the lack of variety in mission design or even mission maps will lead you to start feeling less than excited to keep going time and time again. After the fourth or fifth loss, I knew exactly where enemies would be on the maps that I’d already seen three or four times. A game of this nature simply needs more variety.

However, the juice is mostly worth the squeeze in Othercide and if you can stick with it long enough to develop a good sense of the mechanics and variety of ways you can use the skill combinations, you’re likely going to find some enjoyment here. But good god, does it punish you often and sometimes without warning. Not cool.

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GamingonPC 9/10

All of these mechanics I’ve described in the previous paragraph come together during battles in the most ingenious ways, and more often than not (especially during boss fights), the solution to a fight is not to just dump damage on our foes, but to try and combo our Daughters’ attacks and powers so they can maximize their uptime and minimize their enemies’ Initiative as much as possible. In my opinion, here is the genius of Othercide, as the different parts of the game, on their own, are interesting but not enough to carry an adventure that can last upwards of thirty hours. When you start comboing your way through battles though, that’s when everything “clicks” and generates that all too familiar feeling of “just one more run!” that so many roguelikes sadly lack.

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Thanks Farflame!

ButWhyTho has reviewed the J-RPG Fairy Tail:

REVIEW: ‘Fairy Tail’ a Nearly Perfect RPG but Falls a Little Short

Hiro Mashima’s best-selling manga and anime series, Fairy Tail, is now the latest action-role-playing game developed by GUST Studios and released by Koei Tecmo for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and the PC. The highly anticipated JRPG takes players on a magical adventure as they play through the series’s most popular and beloved storylines. Allowing players to experience and re-live exciting episodes as their favorite characters.

From dark wizards and demons to dragons and flying talking cats players find it all as they set out on a magical journey in the land of Fiore. In the game, players follow the adventures of Fairy Tail mages, Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia, as well as other lively members of the Fairy Tail mage guild, on a  thrilling quest packed with adventure.

[...]

TL;DR

Overall, Fairy Tail isn’t a perfect JRPG but it comes pretty close! Every part of Fairy Tail is beautifully designed and well thought out. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the combat system at first, I did see the appeal and fun challenge the turn-base combat system brings to this game. I especially loved how the developers incorporated in key elements from the franchise such as teamwork and comradery into the game.
Long-time fans especially will enjoy the experience to relive stories previously told in the manga and anime. In addition to being able to able to enjoy never before seen story and quest elements.
And while I think this game will be well received by long-time fans, it is also very approachable and welcoming to newcomers too.

Score: 9.5/10

COG has reviewed Fae Tactics:

Fae Tactics Review – A Brilliant Strategic Core

Strategy RPGs live and die by their mechanics. If the fights aren’t any fun, what’s compelling you to continue? What’s the point, if you’re not wholly absorbed by the minute-to-minute gameplay? It turns out a truly excellent tactics RPG needs more than a creamy nougat center of combat mechanics. Turns out you need a good reason to be annihilating these monsters and slowly gathering power. Fae Tactics gets a lot of things right, but it’s missing a couple of ingredients. This indie gem is a good example of what these games can do, while it misses some things I didn’t even know I needed.

[...]

I thought I knew what I was looking for in a strategy RPG. Specifically, I thought the combat systems were the deciding factor in a game’s overall quality. Turns out it’s a bit more complex than that.
Don’t get me wrong! Fae Tactics plays beautifully, a dizzy dance of interlocking systems that reward experimentation, exploration, and endurance. If all you want is a series of complex battles marked by escalating difficulty, you can’t go wrong here. There was just something about the narrative and the pacing that kept me from getting fully hooked. You can tweak the game speed, but this doesn’t change the fundamental flow of the battles.
Perhaps my time in the Disgaea trenches has permanently scarred my psyche, or maybe I’m onto something here. Either way, beyond my minor grievances is a tactics RPG built from countless layers of approachable mechanical complexity. Fans of this sleepless, neurotic RPG subgenre owe it to themselves to give Fae Tactics a shot.
 
The Good

• Gameplay is complex and compelling
• Graphics are delicious
• Progression system is simple and streamlined

The Bad

• Story feels ineffectual
• Pace of the battles can drag
• Difficulty curve spikes very fast

Score: 72/100

Way Too Many Games share their impressions about the beta for Mortal Shell.

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The brief tutorial area takes you through three quick battles that introduce the Hardening mechanic and give players a bit of practice before the beta demo opens up into the larger arena. A hooded knight is the first enemy that takes aim at you, swinging a two handed broadsword toward you, and a pop up instructs you to hold the left trigger down to Harden. At first I giggled a bit, thinking about the famously useless Metapod Harden ability from Pokemon, but I obliged. My character immediately turned to stone and froze in place, but took no damage when the knight’s broadsword collided with me.

I immediately changed my attitude toward Harden and took a few swings at the knight. After a few successful blows, he withdrew his weapon, faded into the shallow pool below, and then the next gate opened. I proceeded down the road expecting another tutorial prompt and was met with just that.

This time I was greeted with a statue holding a broadsword similar to the one that was previously used against me. Approaching the statue, I picked up the sword and a new knight appeared. This time the game prompted me to Harden mid-attack. I expected to see an over-the-top animated special attack, but instead froze mid-swing. When the knight attacked me and made contact, it broke the Harden and immediately completed my broadsword’s arc landing a surprise counter-attack. For the second time in the first few minutes of the tutorial Mortal Shell showed me that I underestimated how clever it was.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Checkpoint Magazine interviewed the devs of Obsidian about the latest DLC for The Outer Worlds.

Hansen suggested that Peril on Gorgon should provide a pretty meaty experience by the standards of story-led DLC: “There’s the primary Gorgon asteroid, then there’s, for lack of a better word, some off-world content that comes with it. All of that stuff combined is very similar in play-length to the experience that you had playing through the Monarch critical path. So, the amount of time that the player spent messing around on Monarch and doing all the little quests there will be roughly similar to the amount of time that they’ll have with the Gorgon asteroid and its side components.”

Patel also gave some insight into Peril on Gorgon’s original conception: “Players will recognise Adrena-Time as a consumable from the base game, something they can find and use as they explore Halcyon. But the story we’re telling around that is one that we sort of discussed internally, and there was an internal lore knowledge of, but not something that was obviously super-fleshed-out in game, and certainly not something that we had even fleshed out internally to the degree we have for the DLC.”

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Thanks Farflame!

The XBOX Hub reports on a new visual novel historical epic called Dark Renaissance which has been announced for 2021.

“Studio V is hard at work weaving an intricate web of political conspiracies and moral dilemmas for visual novel fans to sink their teeth into next year,” says Daniele Falcone, General Manager at VLG. “From what we’ve seen so far, DARK RENAISSANCE is set to reshape our definition of interactive storytelling through its unique portrayal of historically accurate events, many of which continue to inspire dark fantasy authors around the world today.”

Game features include:

• The darkest and grittiest Renaissance epic ever built in a game
• A massive historical tale set across the war-torn landscapes of Italy
• Explore world-famous landmarks such as Venice, Florence and the mysterious swamps of Northern Italy
• Meet the rockstars of the Renaissance: Leonardo, the Medici’s Family and many other icons of European history
• Hundreds of opportunities for character development, romance and social linking
• Unique staged combat sequences blending opera and brutal RPG action
• A deep housing system to enjoy luxury, drugs, gambling and the notorious Italian lifestyle
• An original symphonic score mixing and matching ancient and modern styles

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Thanks Farflame!

Gamingbolt interviewed the developers of action RPG Dysmantle.

Dysmantle’s promises of destructible objects is an intriguing one- how much will the play into various facets of the gameplay?

This is an important part of the gameplay. The destruction yields resources which you can use to craft stuff. You can’t break all the things at start though – you must build the right tools. The destructible objects may also block your paths in some occasions, so you need to get stronger and get better tools to expand your reach.

With its post-apocalypse setting, can you tell us about Dysmantle’s approach to enemy design and variety? Can players expect to come across various different kinds of foes?

There will be an assortment of foes. They will come in different sizes and have different abilities. There will also be some boss fights. Dysmantle is not a fighting game though, so fighting is only one aspect in the game. Most of the organic (meaning non-mechanic) enemies are ex people and ex animals that have been corrupted with the root cause that led to the end of the world. It’s not as subtle as in many zombie apocalypse settings, so you will be fighting (and avoiding) all sorts of different creatures. There are also some mechanical threats, which are wielding more traditional arsenal or weapons.

How extensive are Dysmantle’s crafting and building mechanics? 

There are lots of recipes to craft and upgrade as the destroy-gather-craft loop is one of the core aspects. Some of the recipes are items (tools/weapons, special items, trinkets, headgear, outfits), and some are general feature upgrades such as the sleeping bag, which allows you to sleep at campfires. Sleeping enables you to pass time, but will also give you well-rested bonuses for a few hours.

Building is still somewhat work in progress, but it’s roughly divided into two categories: useful machines (like a material refinery) and aesthetic things (like furniture). We’re still considering how far we’re going to expand this aspect though. For example, we don’t have conveyor belts which would be used to transport materials to new locations for further processing like some more building focused games. We haven’t yet solved how to make a neat interface for building whole houses (walls, floors, doors) for example, so that feature will not likely be included, and definitely not in the Early Access version. We want it to be simpler to use than the full blown level editor we’re using.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Henriquejr spotted the Cthulhu Update 1.6 for Phoenix Point:

Phoenix Point v. Cthulhu 1.6 - 30/07/2020

REMINDER: it is highly advisable to start a new campaign after this patch to make everything work smoothly. You will still be able to load old saves, but the game experience might be flawed.

If you want to continue with your old save games, we recommend not updating the game. If you have auto-update enabled on Epic Launcher, you can run the game from the .exe file on your PC (without using Epic Games Launcher). This way, the game will not update.

Geoscape
Phoenix Bases

• The first base at the start of the game is the only Active one. Players need to locate and activate the rest of the Phoenix Bases.
• The remaining Phoenix Bases can be located after researching Phoenix Archives.
• Inactive Phoenix Bases need to be activated by paying resources.
• Inactive Phoenix Bases can be revealed to be Infected Bases upon activation. The percentages of a Phoenix Base being infected vary. If a Phoenix Base is covered in Mist then the chances of it being Infected are increased. The Infected Bases will have Pandoran enemies in them and need to be cleared out before they can be used.
• When a Satellite Uplink in a base is built or repaired it begins scanning with increasing range, revealing sites as it expands. Scavenging, Haven and Exploration Sites are located this way.
• When a base is attacked without soldiers, or not defended, the base is not destroyed. Instead, all the facilities in the base are damaged. The soldiers are not affected.
• Food Production facility now requires the “Fungal Food Production” research in order to unlock it.

Exploration

• Active Scanning has been removed.
• Reduced the number of overall sites on the Geoscape.
• Reaching a Haven will reveal nearby sites.

Pandoran Evolution

• Pandorans start off without any weapons or mutations. They now have their own research and evolution system that develops over the course of the game.
• Every time the Pandorans unlock a new stage in their evolution an event on the Geoscape will appear with detailed information about the new developments.
• Number of Pandoran Bases has been reduced. There is now a maximum concurrent number for each type of base.
• Pandorans unlock the building of Lairs and Citadels through their own research
• Dynamic difficulty has been changed so that it affects the rate of pandoran evolution, not the amount of enemies deployed.

Human population census

• ODI has been removed.
• Human Population Census has been added that will track the total population of humanity.
• Protecting Havens is more important as the player has to prevent the total human population from reaching a certain threshold (based on difficulty level).
• Reduced the total number of Havens in the Geoscape.
• Increased the rewards from successfully defending Havens.
• Haven facilities will break down if the population gets too low.
• Phoenix can assist havens by repairing their structures.

Tactical
Abilities

• Armor Break - reduced the cost from 4 WP to 3. Reduced the shred stat to 30. Shred is spread across each individual bullet.
• Rage Burst - Cost increased from 5 to 7 WP. Functionality reworked: Shoot 5 times spread across an arc with a direct-fire weapon.
• Adrenaline Rush - Dazes the unit next turn after using it.
• Rally the Troops - Renamed: Onslaught. Functionality reworked: An ally within 10 tiles recovers 2 Action Points.
• Electric Reinforcement - Armor bonus no longer stacks.
• Dash - Movement range reduced from 75% to 50%. Limited to 2 uses per turn.
• Mark for Death - Each hit from an attack or individual round gets +10 damage instead of 50% more.
• Reckless - Damage reduced from 30% to 20%.

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The latest update for SKALD: Against the Black Priory - Beta 1.1:

Project Update: Beta 1.1.0

Hello everyone! Hope you all are enjoying your summer. July has been pretty sweet up here in Northern Norway for once, making it the perfect “stay at home” summer. But fear not: I’ve still gotten a ton done with SKALD, and it’s now time for a new (minor) demo update!

Beta 1.1.0 is up for Backers!

The demo is still pretty short and adds about 20 minutes of game-play to the first iteration. It’s still an important demo for me, since I’ve done a lot of work under the hood (as always) and now those features need play-testing.

I’ve also added some in-game features: Most notable is grid-based combat. That system is still pretty bare bones as I’m yet to add enemies, feats and spells that really take advantage of it, but you should non the less be able to get an idea and provide some feedback.
What do I need from play-testers?

Bugs first and foremost. This is by far the most important feedback you can provide for me at this point!

Typos are always welcome too. As are logical inconsistencies in dialogue and scene flows.

I also want to hear about game-play feature requests or feedback on existing features.

I’m not really super interested in stuff like “this was too easy” or “There needs to be more loot in the second area”. It goes without saying that a lot of this is unpolished at the time and pacing etc will get a second pass as the whole first chapter begins to come together 🙂

As always, my preferred way of receiving feedback is via the SKALD Discord chat. Once there, look for the feedback sub-channels.

A Word of Caution

The demos, at this point, will usually break saves and force a restart with each demo iteration. This might seem like a chore BUT for play-testing this is essential. The scripting of the game can only be truly tested if the game is played from the start each time and this is super important to the final quality of the game.

So please be patient with me (I know you will)! Also, is play-testing feels like a hassle, it’s 100% fine for you to just hang back and wait for the finished product! 

[...]

The Turn Based Lovers listed for us promising upcoming turn-based RPGs for August:

On The Radar – August 2020

• The Battle of Polytopia – 4th August
• Approaching Infinity – 7th august
• Company of Crime – 8th August
• Popup Dungeon – 12th August
• The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos – 27th August
• Wasteland 3 – 28th August
• Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars – 28th August
• Battle Barn: Tactics – August
• Slimesphere – August
• Baldur’s Gate III – August (E.A.)

RPG Division has reviewed Hellpoint:

Not Even Close - HELLPOINT Review

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Hellpoint is atmospheric souls like indie game with low price and plenty of content. Is it any good?

TSA checked out the J-RPG Fairy Tail:

Fairy Tail Review

Seven years later...

Far too many anime video games feel like tone deaf cash grabs forcing ill suited genres onto unsuspecting anime and manga franchises. So when Koei Tecmo announced a video game version of Fairy Tail, I was ready to roll my eyes at another arena brawler or Warriors clone and move on, but when they then revealed that Fairy Tail would be a console RPG experience from the developers of the Atelier series, I was all in.

[...]

Summary

The Fairy Tail franchise and the JRPG genre are a perfect match, and this game perfectly captures the silly yet surprisingly intense charm of the original series. It's a shame that the game often puts so little effort into adapting major story scenes, but that sacrifice is outweighed by the abundance of fun little character interactions and vignettes that are sprinkled throughout the game. Fairy Tail lets you live in the world of Natsu and co. like no other anime game has done before, and any fan of the series is sure to crack a smile at this dedicated RPG experience.

Good

• Fun, layered, magic-focused combat
• Huge variety of characters and activites
• Charming, hilarious character interactions
• Sharp visuals and fun music

Bad

• Often breezes through major story beats too quickly
• A bit of a slow start
• Some story characters don't have 3D models or voices

Score: 8/10

The turn-based tactics RPG Fae Tactics has been released today:

Fae Tactics

In Fae Tactics, follow a young magic user named Peony on her journey across a vibrant world full of mystery and danger. Summon allies, cast spells, and befriend a motley crew of characters as you dive into the growing conflicts between man and magical beings known as fae.

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Story:
Long ago the world of magic was separated from the natural world by Elemental Gates. One day the seal on the gates was broken, flooding the natural world with magical fae creatures once thought to be myths. The worlds merging was imperfect and much of the land was torn apart. The devastation claimed the lives of most of the population of natural and fae creatures alike. Those that survived have forged new lives in the ruins of the old worlds, but growing tension between man and fae threaten to finish what began with the opening of the gates.

Features:

• Unique menuless turn based tactical gameplay.
• Manage the magical elements of your party to counter the enemies elements.
• Befriend a colorful cast of allies! Level Up and customize their abilities.
• Battle all kinds of Fae creatures and collect them into your team.
• Find powerful and unique Spells to help tip the scales in your favor.
• Traverse a variety of colorfully detailed environments in this isometric wonderland.
• Unravel secrets as you explore the various conflicts in the world in any order you want!

PC Gamer reports that Earthlock will be getting a sequel and this time as an action RPG.

Norwegian developers Snowcastle have announced they're returning to the world of Earthlock, their 2016 cult game inspired by the turn-based 3D RPGs of the 1990s, for a sequel. (Snowcastle has said since the first game that Earthlock was planned as a trilogy.) Earthlock 2 will take inspiration from action-RPGs, rather than turn-based ones, but will still be set on the world of Umbra. The short announce trailer shows a blasted landscape in the game's distinctive style, and a hogbunny with a sword, and a little magical mote-creature that heals some of the land and sprouts a new tree. 

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The action RPG Hellpoint has been released:

Hellpoint

Hellpoint is a dark and challenging action RPG set in a heavily atmospheric sci-fi universe where the line between science and occultism is blurred.

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Once a pinnacle of human achievement, the Irid Novo space station has fallen. Its ruins are now overrun by cruel interdimensional entities acting as puppets of the malevolent Cosmic Gods.

You have been created by the Author, organically printed on Irid Novo and sent on a mission to find out the unholy series of events that led to the catastrophic incident known as the Merge.

• Irid Novo is a massive interconnected world full of mysteries, hidden passages and secrets within secrets - all for you to explore in any order you like. More dread and shivers awaits you as you travel deeper into the darkest corner of this forsaken colony.
• Dozens of melee and ranged weapons and armor pieces to suit your playstyle. Every weapon has unique special abilities that unlock the more you fight with them.
• A fascinating new sci fi universe reminiscent of classic sci-fi movies, set in the aftermath of a massive quantum cataclysm and complete with a deep lore and goosebump inducing soundtrack.
• The space station orbits in real time around an ominous black hole that triggers various dynamic events such as boss appearances, horde assaults as well as modified enemy stats and positions.
• If you are struggling, ask a friend to press Start to join in a couch coop session, or call for assistance online. The entire game can be completed uninterrupted in coop. The loot is shared, and the experience of local player two is saved and not watered down.