GameInformer talked to Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky about The Outer Worlds and what sets its universe apart.

Not As You Remember

“This is an alternate history,” says co-director Leonard Boyarsky. “There was a point where the timeline split off. It was at a certain point, around the time of Einstein. There was a first World War, but it was for different reasons. And maybe there wasn’t a second World War.” One of the defining features that set Earth apart in this new timeline is the nature of companies, classism, and the central importance of money-making. Imagine the already absurd power of corporations, banks, and billionaires in the real world, and ratchet it up several more degrees. “What if the trusts hadn’t been broken up?,” Boyarsky muses. “You have these robber barons at the turn of the 20th century. A couple of hundred years later, what if we still have that culture?”

n this twist on history, Earth is already the domain of massive and powerful companies as humanity begins to spread out across the stars. Rather than the intrepid explorers and diplomats of some other science fiction properties, it’s the reaching arm of capitalism that sends humanity hurtling into the void, and habitable planets across the galaxy are being carved up like parcels of land in the American Old West. This first installment of The Outer Worlds focuses on one particular solar system called Halcyon, and the ten companies that banded together to purchase it. “The corporations have pretty much taken over everything,” Boyarsky says. “But they want to go that last little bit and make it the perfect society for corporations. When Earth was colonizing the furthest reaches of the galaxy, they bought one of the furthest colonies and set up what they thought would be a corporate utopia, where they can control every aspect of people’s lives.”

[...]

Ghost of a Tale is coming to consoles March 13th.

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Ghost of a Tale coming to Consoles 13 March 2019, Ghost of a Tale is an action-RPG game in which you play as Tilo, a mouse and minstrel thrown into a perilous adventure. Through stealth and cunning you’ll be able to explore the secrets of Dwindling Heights Keep and navigate its dangers.

Release: 12 March 2019 / Ps4, XBoxOne
Released 2018 / Windows Pc

ExpansiveDLC reviewed the DLC Band of Bastards for Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

Unfortunately, combat is such a big part of Band of Bastards. Which makes for a very obvious recommendation or lack thereof. If you hated the combat of KCD, I cannot recommend Band of Bastards, no matter if I found its story more interesting than a lot of the base game.

And I really did find it interesting. To the point where I couldn’t put the DLC down because I wanted to see how it all ended up. I did not expect to enjoy Band of Bastards story as much as I did.

True, it’s a bit short and the rewards aren’t massive or memorable, but there are multiple ways to end the game which offer up some interesting conclusions for all involved, then seeing how they play out on screen.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

ExpansiveDLC reports that Sunless Skies is a commercial success and the developer is willing to support it long term, meaning more content and DLC.

...

Meanwhile, Failbetter Games are preparing a major update, due for release in March/April time. This will give players ‘more to see and do while travelling’ and include ‘more narrative choice and consequence’

And, of course, there will be even more unusual ways to die.

Failbetter Games appear to be in excellent financial health following the release of Sunless Skies and the game is continuing to evolve and grow. We’ll have much more on Sunless Skies very soon!

Thanks Farflame!

PC Gamer shares a new video for Warhammer: Chaosbane.

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In Warhammer the slayers are a cult of dwarfs who've shamed themselves so utterly they shave most of their heads (sometimes even their beards), then march off to seek heroic deaths in battle. They don't want to commit suicide because that would be dishonorable, but they don't want to go on living either, so they throw themselves into fights with the toughest enemies around, like trolls and daemons, without wearing armor. Or even a shirt.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

The Breach developers have been interviewed by GameTyrant about the mechanics and future of the game.

The Interview With Dallas and Gabe

What was the inspiration that got you guys to create Breach?

Gabe - “A few things. One of the big things was that there are a lot of games out there and you see fast follow a lot. We all worked at EA and working on a lot of titles and ideas of games that are already kind of out there and replicating. We wanted to do something that was crazy and new, but not so crazy and new. We wanted some familiarity to it and so we made sort of a hybrid game. So we looked at our background and how we worked on MMO’s and RPG’s, we enjoy MOBA’s, stuff like that so at its core it is an co-op Action RPG but it has influences from MOBA’s and true action games as well. That was the influence for the genre.”

[...]

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Thanks Farflame!

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden has new DLC coming February 26th called Stalker Trials.

Stalker Trials Coming to PC February 26

20 Feb @ 2:53am - Jens Erik (Community Manager)

Greetings mutants and stalkers! 

Today we are incredibly excited to announce that Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is expanding with the addition of Stalker Trials, a challenge mode that will truly put your skills to the test. We’re re-populating the game’s maps with different types of enemies to create new challenges for you and your chosen team of stalkers. 



We’ll be rolling out the Stalker Trials on PC in a free update next week, on February 26th, so mark your calendars and get ready to gear up! Consoles will get this update at a later date.

Sneak and fight to impress Pripp 

The Stalker Trials give you access to all characters, with all mutations and skills unlocked, but you will have to buy and upgrade your weapons and armor before heading out. Once you’re satisfied with your loadout you can journey into the Zone and link up with Pripp, the bartender. He’s the brains behind the Stalker Trials, and will score you on your progress as you fight your way through an area. Your rewards will be new items and equipment that you can either use on a new map, or sett at Iridia’s shop. 

Your progress will be noted down on the in-game leaderboards and the weekly and all-time top Stalker will have an NPC named after them for other players to take down. Pripp will also reward you with extra points if you clear a map in certain ways, for example by not taking damage or not using explosives. 

Watch this space 

It’s been a fantastic two months since the launch on Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden in December, 2018. We’ve been following your tweets, forum and Reddit posts, YouTube videos and Twitch streams and it’s been an absolute blast to see what you’ve thought about the game. 

During the time since launch we’ve been working on fixing bugs and issues with the game. Several of those fixes will come out alongside the Stalker Trials, on February 26. We will also continue to roll out additional patches as needed. 

Keep watching this space. We’ve got even more stuff coming down the line, but we’re not quite ready to talk about that just yet. 

Thanks Farflame!

Bluesnews reports that Vambrace: Cold Soul has been announced. The game is described as a Roguelike fantasy/adventure and is due April 25th.

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Vambrace: Cold Soul is a roguelike fantasy-adventure set amidst a frozen landscape. Plan your expeditions underground, then journey to the cursed city surface with your team of heroes. Wield unique powers, avoid dangerous traps, brave strange encounters, and survive deadly combat!

Bluesnews reports that Neverwinter: Undermountain has been announced for this Spring.

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Neverwinter's biggest expansion arrives this Spring! Team up with Durnan, the proprietor of the famed Yawning Portal to seek the truth behind the mysterious visions and forces beckoning Faerûnians to the halls of Undermountain. Neverwinter: Undermountain introduces a new level 80 cap, a complete overhaul of class powers and feats, new Adventure Zones, a new Endgame dungeon, and a much more! Are you ready to enter the realm of the Mad Mage?

Neverwinter is a free-to-play action MMORPG that features fast-paced combat and epic dungeons. Players explore the vast city of Neverwinter and its surrounding countryside, learning the vivid history of the iconic city in the Forgotten Realms and battling its many enemies. Neverwinter is currently available on PC, PlayStation®4, and Xbox One, available free-to-play with Gold*.

For more information about Neverwinter, and to play now for free visit
https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/nev...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/neverwintergame
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NeverwinterGame

*On Xbox, Xbox Live Gold membership (sold separately) required.

Iron Tower Studio has posted its business report for 2019 and nestled amongst it is plans for a sequel to Colony Ship.

Another year has gone by, so let's tally up the numbers and see how we fared in 2018.

The Age of Decadence

2013-2014 (Early Access & Direct Pre-Orders): 13,124 units - $320,157 - $24.39 avg.
2015: 20,771 - $472,869 - $22.76
2016: 48,798 - $620,914 - $12.72 (50% discount is introduced in March)
2017: 43,808 - $293,714 - $6.70 (75% off on sale events throughout the year)
2018: 27,121 - $151,786 - $5.60 (reduced the base price from $29.99 to $19.99; 60-80% off sale events throughout the year)
2019: 7,110 - $24,316 - $3.42 (reduced the base price to $14.99 - I think it's a fair price for those who want to support development and buy at a higher price, everyone else will wait for the next sale anyway

160,732 units in total. Since the game was released 3 years ago, which is a long time for games, we decided it was the right time to do a bundle with Fanatical, which sold 43,081 units, so overall including the first 6 weeks of 2019 we sold 203,813 units.

Wishlists - 282,105 total, remaining 112,731, conversion rate 26.5%. The average seems to be 10-15%, so it seems we did well there. The demo was downloaded 49,703 times, the conversion rate was steadily climbing from 5.2% back in Early Access to 21.7%.

Dungeon Rats

2016: 13,442 units - $85,383 - $6.35 avg.
2017: 17,951 - $89,720 - $4.99
2018: 13,152 - $44,453 - $3.38
2019: 1,562 - $4,800 - $3.07

46,107 units overall, $224k in sales. So far we spent $74k on Colony Ship (payments to contractors), so at very least Dungeon Rats is doing a fine job paying these bills as we're far from done here.

Wishlist - 48,938 in total, remaining 24,296, conversion rate 22.7%

Colony Ship, formerly known as The New World

As the last update says, we finally have a playable build, so we hope to release the combat beta in 2 months and a full demo by the end of the year, so it should be a very busy, stressful, but exciting year for us. In unexpected news, our efforts were noticed and we've received our first publishing offer from a well-known company (in fact, I was very surprised to learn that not only they're aware we exist but that they also read our updates occasionally). Some folks are destined for greatness and greatness does call for strategic alliances and capital injections. Sadly, we're too small-minded to dream of such things, so we'll stick with our 0.0003% of the global market.

Anyway, we've been working for 2 years building the "infrastructure" (RPG-izing the engine, developing systems: character, combat, stealth, inventory, dialogue, etc), working on items, models, effects, etc. Even though we're far from done, the time and effort investment is already considerable. Starting from scratch every time is painful, so we'll have to brave the dangers of the "more of the same" curse and do a proper sequel, instead of another small tactical game or a brand new project.

Naturally, investing 3 years into a sequel and selling 30% of the original will be equally painful (as Dungeon Rats' sales data shows, you don't have to spend 3 years to sell 30% when a single year will do), but what we in mind is so crazy it might actually work.

The main problem with sequels is that the setting and gameplay remain the same. It's nearly impossible to switch gears and offer the player something radically different. While your best fans may be enthralled with the initial game and crave more of it, part of what they are craving is the sense of exploration (of a land and a rule set), novelty, and wonder that accompanying a new RPG - things that will almost inherently be absent in a sequel. Obsidian's Deadfire, for example, plays the same way as the original (which is to be expected, of course; after all, Fallout 2 plays the same way too - you know what works, what doesn't, so you follow the established path and know what to expect from the enemies and factions). With Colony Ship, this problem is easy to solve, not because we're so clever, but because the setting itself implies its solution: we land the Ship and start the Colony.

A Tentative Sequel

From Colony Ship's intro: "...after the Ship's launch a deep space probe transmitted highly detailed images of the surface, which revealed one minor setback: this very habitable world is already inhabited. Since the voyage is estimated to take close to 400 years, it's possible that by the time the Ship arrives the colonists will encounter a mature civilization, corresponding to Earth's Middles Ages."

The typical space opera trope is that when we make first contact, it is with aliens either corresponding to very primitive indigenous people (such as in Avatar), consisting of a nightmarish swarm (as in Starship Troopers), or at some extraordinary level of technology themselves (as in Star Trek or Babylon 5). Here, however, while the aliens are pre-industrial, they are well past the spears and face-paint stage, and have well-established political, economic, and military systems.

More importantly, they are alien, which means that while they may be humanoid (to make our animator's life easier), the fundamental logic of their society, religion, and power should be truly alien to ours and vice versa. The result is a highly asymmetrical kulturcampf.

For the record, it won't be a retelling of the conquest of the New World but on another planet. The ragtag Terrans who'd land on Proxima B after 400 years of space travel and in-fighting will be at a disadvantage and will have to fight for survival and adapt to this less than welcoming arid new world. Reinforcements won't be coming, so the Terrans will be on their own and each defeat will bring them closer to being wiped out for good. They will have to rely on crude firearms more than ever as the high-tech weapons and gear intended for the future colony were used up during the Mutiny and the civil war that followed. New factions will emerge in response to new threats, each offering a different way to survive and become part of this world.

While we're playing around with the basic concepts, we're exploring what the alien civilization might look like. Joan Piqué Llorens out of Barcelona thinks it might look like this:

[...]

Heretic Operative has been released on Steam to a 10% launch discount.

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Launch day!

19 Feb @ 5:15am - Xemu

We are live! Heretic Operative will be -10% off for the first week as a launch discount.

Check out the game and please let us know what you think by leaving a review!

Come chat about the game here on our Discord server:

https://discord.gg/KfjK973

But of course we're not done with Heretic Operative at launch. We look forward to applying your feedback to the game on both balance and bug patches, as well as adding more new Adventures, Operatives, and more.

[...]

Magic is a sin. It corrupts everything it touches.

Those who use magic are branded as “Heretics” by the church, and heresy is punishable by death.

At the fringes of civilization, the mages of the Cultus Arcanum give themselves freely over to the Corruption – performing dark rituals to let loose untold nightmares upon the world.

It will take a powerful heretic to preserve the spark of magic against both the Church and the Cult.

You are that Heretic Operative.

• Control a secret society dedicated to using magic for the benefit of the world, at a time when all mages are considered “heretics” to be hunted by the Templars.
  
• Master over 50 different spells to overcome challenges in and out of combat. But be wary of the Corruption that accompanies magic. The more powerful you become, the greater the risk of losing control.
  
• Fight enemy cultists, zealous templars, and ravenous monsters through a unique dice-based combat system. Employ mercenaries, devastating spells, and powerful artifacts to prevail.
  
• Explore the Northern Reach, where the frayed edges of the Empire are under constant threat. From vast museums in the city of Ione, to the farms in the countryside, to ruined temples of ancient gods, to camps of raiding Orcs, every location offers unique challenges.
  
• Make contact with other Heretic Operatives and recruit townsfolk to spread your Heretical influence and stop the diabolical Cultus Arcanum.
  
• Encounter more than 270 different adventure cards, full of challenging decisions that change the way your story unfolds. Will you risk your life and mission to save innocents from a burning building or live with the stain on your soul from abandoning them? Will you stand your ground against the Orcs for honor’s sake or be more prudent and flee? Do you bother to learn all of the verses in the Elven Song of Greeting or is now the time to take a stand against ridiculous Elven ceremony?
  
• More than 7 playable Operatives (and counting), 6 different story decks, and 4 enemy cults, means your story plays out differently each time. Use different strategies and wisely deploy your resources to defeat the most challenging combinations.

Heretic Operative intertwines deep gameplay with a dynamic story to create an innovative and original experience: a unique fusion of strategy, RPG, and board game mechanics.

A new update for The Bard's Tale IV: Barrow's Deep announces a directors cut for June, which is also when mac and linux versions will be available.

Early 2019 Update

Posted by inXile entertainment (Creator)

Production Notes

Hi all, Paul here. We hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season and is having a good 2019 so far. For us, it has been a very busy and momentous last few months. As we move into the new year, things are coming more into focus and we would like to provide some quick updates on the progression of The Bard’s Tale IV’s updated 2.0 version, as well as an update on the Mac & Linux versions of the game.

A New Journey for inXile

As many of you know, we were recently acquired by Microsoft, which is a great boon as we plan out future titles and has the added benefit of providing opportunities to improve our current and in-development game titles, including The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep. We are very happy to be part of this new federation of Microsoft studios. As creators and game developers, we look forward to leveraging and utilizing the many tools, features, and services that Microsoft can offer.

2.0 expands to become the Director’s Cut

We are still in development on the free DLC patch, which also includes a number of other player-requested features and items off of our own post-release support list. As the scope of the patch has expanded (and continues to), we decided that it warranted a more formal title than 2.0. When released, it will turn the game into “The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep - Director’s Cut”. We are introducing several new features, most notably the previously mentioned DLC and an engine update, a larger undertaking allowing us to further improve performance and optimization. Many of those features were discussed in our last update, and include:

• A new dungeon and story line featuring new enemy types
• New items (master-crafted gear and Dwarven Weapons)
• Inventory filtering
• Expanded balancing efforts across the entire game (combat, economy, abilities, etc.) based on player feedback and our own testing
• A new Song of Exploration allowing you to bypass puzzles if those aren't your jam 
• Additional character portraits
• A new intro animatic
• Expanded work on improving localization
• Updated game engine
• Improved performance and stability
• Improved level art 
• Reworked main menu
• Numerous bug fixes

And much more! We are also currently working with Microsoft to improve and optimize our gamepad support. The Director's Cut is scheduled to go live in June.

Mac and Linux Users:

We’ve seen your comments and hear you. The Mac and Linux builds are making great progress in co-development and parity to our main version with our development builds and current feature production pipeline. We have a full-time dedicated team for each platform (Mac & Linux), and those teams are working concurrently with our main features dev teams.

The issue we have as developers is that we are unable to finalize the Mac and Linux versions of the game and continue to simultaneously make such sweeping changes to it. We wanted to resolve the issues that affected the PC launch before we shipped Mac and Linux and this dovetailed directly into the work we began doing for the Director's Cut, effectively becoming one continuous effort since September. This is why these versions need to go live the same day as the PC version of The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep - Director’s Cut.

We know it’s frustrating that you backed us early and have such a long delay but it just didn’t make sense to stop production in order to finalize these two versions and then circle back and update them months later. The Mac and Linux users will get the benefit of all the new features we are adding along with all the optimization, stability, and performance improvements so far, including our latest UE4 engine update, and that means tracking those development cycles to the current build.  

For these reasons, we are releasing the Mac and Linux versions at the same time as The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep - Director’s Cut. We greatly appreciate everyone's patience with The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep - Director’s Cut, and we believe all backers on all platforms will enjoy the new and polished features when the new version goes live.

Until Next Time,
Paul Marzagalli
Public Relations & Community Manager
@phimseto

Follow Us:
Facebook | Twitter

Praey for the Gods has been previewed by GameCrate.

Speaking of scavenging, Praey for the Gods players also have to manage the game’s survival-based elements in-between major behemoth encounters. Weapons, food, and upgrade materials can all be scavenged from breakable crates, fallen enemies and wildlife, and even from the land itself. If you find an axe, for example, you can chop down a tree, harvest the wood, and use that wood to build a warmth-giving fire.

Along with warmth, Praey’s protagonist also needs food and sleep. Having to maintain these basic needs means that wandering around the world aimlessly is usually a bad idea. It’s always important to take stock of what you have (and what you need), decide on a destination, and keep a keen eye out for opportunities to find more resources. Thankfully, Praey for the Gods also has several different difficulty levels which adjust not only enemy strength but also how much upkeep the protagonist’s survival stats require.

[...]

The latest update for Project Zomboid details current development progress on things like improved animations and shaders.

Spiffo’s Roundup #1

8 Feb @ 8:04am - nasKo

Hey all, here’s a round-up of recent Zomboid dev. To start with a quick video compilation of stuff the team has been wiring up into our friends at TEA’s animation systems.

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Please note that there are still numerous bugs and issues as long as all our combined arms, and it’s hard to get a sustained video without issues and glitches popping up, so this vid is fairly carefully curated – but it does give you an idea of the where we are. (Likewise, if you see something that looks wrong or glitchy, or think ‘hmm, there should be more variation anims in that…’, then we’re probably already on it).

Essentially, TIS coders are currently implementing the game code-side, tying in the new animation system to all the game systems. RJ, for example, has been handling the combat system, tying up all the weapon swing, zombie reactions and various other related anims, and the system is getting close to the quality of the earlier videos of animations you’ve seen, though now tied 100% into the PZ combat, character and simulation systems.

Connall and Turbo, meanwhile, have been concentrating on non-combat related animations, such as reading, chopping wood, painting, eating, crafting, and the countless other in-game actions characters can do in-game that were previously performed like a stock-still robot with a progress bar.

EP has been doing his usual precision striking all across the code base, wiring up the character creation system, connecting model clothing to inventory items in the world, and fixing issues and integrating the codebase across the board.

In the mean-time TEA are optimizing and improving the AnimZed toolset with our requests the more we use it, and alongside general animation requests and polish Martin is experimenting with the gore potential of the system with visible guts hanging out of the front of zombies and such.

Here’s another vid from Zac from a two weeks ago: a walk through downtown West Point to test some of the latest optimization work, and the improved shaders that remove a lot of the bleached-out-ness from proceedings. At the moment Zac is also, still, looking into some further threading optimization as, bizarrely, better machines were having some stutters

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Consortium: The Tower has reached Alpha 1.7 and the latest update details the additions and changes.

Early Access ALPHA 1.7 - Now with more Norwegians!

16 Feb @ 1:24pm - iDGi

Greetings Seekers,

We have just pushed Consortium: The Tower Early Access ALPHA 1.7 live. The complete list of the changes made can be found HERE.

We're working on many other things in addition to The Tower. So to reward everyone's ongoing patience, we have decided to give everyone access to two brand new Act 2 levels - the rather large OfficeHub5, and the very unique SideVents. Both require some stalwart exploration to uncover...can you find them?

While these two new levels are still relatively early, they are at a stage where we would benefit from additional feedback and comments, so as always please swing by Discord.[discord.gg] and let us know if you have anything to report. Thank-you!

In addition, there are now over 350 new lines of V.O dialog in the game - the hotel mercs are robots no more! We proudly welcome Magnus Tranum and Anders Tranum to the cast of The Tower. This is a big step towards replacing all of the "robot voices" in the game.

Finally, we wanted to call everyone's attention to a really cool video about immersive sims that Logitech G put out a few months ago.

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We loved what they said about our project.

We hope you enjoy the changes/additions,

-iDGi

The active skill tree of Wolcen has been improved and they made a video to show it.

And as far as updates go, they had this to say:

We are still working on the Beta transition, you can track our progression on the latest Trello Roadmap.
Each week the status of the tasks are updated, you will also find there a weekly update on the game's progression, for the Beta and the final release.

This week, we finalized the new Passive Skill Tree for the Beta and we are currently testing it, along with a "mercenary mode" that will be available for the Beta. This mode will allow you to explore the Act I environments and slash Act I creatures, with various objectives and awesome rewards upon completion.
We are now working on the second game mode that will be available for higher challenges, we will tell you more about this mode later.

Finally, we know you're waiting for this transition, we are working hard to make it happen as soon as possible, so hold on just a little longer, we're getting close!

An updated version of Fall of Light, named Fall of Light; Darkest Edition is now available on Steam.

Fall of Light: Darkest Edition Launches on Steam with Free Update

Fall of Light's definitive update includes a brand new dungeon, once-console-exclusive content, bug fixes, and balancing!
  Prague, Czech Republic, February 15th, 2019 -- 1C Entertainment and RuneHeads embrace the darkness as story-driven dungeon crawler, Fall of Light, receives its biggest update yet - for free, no less - on Steam today! This marks the arrival of the Darkest Edition on PC following a period of exclusivity on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.
 
  Fall of Light takes the player into a dark world, in which an old warrior leads his daughter towards the last remnants of sunlight. Only together they are strong enough to defeat the enemies born from the Shadow. The lack of light, in combination with the stylized graphics, underline the game's grim atmosphere, both in the world above and the one below - the birthplace of the evil threatening to end the Era of Men.
 
As part of this free update for all existing Steam owners of Fall of Light, players can look forward to exploring a brand new dungeon, complete with a new boss, deadly traps, even-more-deadly enemies and weapons to collect. This joins a wealth of content that was previously exclusive to consoles, as well as more tweaks and quality of life changes than you can shake a sword at!
 
For a more detailed look at what Steam players can expect from the Darkest Edition update, along with a list of reasons this is a hack-and-slash adventure worth falling for, take a look below.
 
Key Features:

• 20 different battle stances, including two-handed and dual-wielding
• 10 weapon classes covering both short-range and long-range weaponry
• Guide and protect your companion - Aether, the Indigo child
• Fight Shadows, soldiers of darkness and underworld bosses
• Explore the overworld, scour dungeons and temples to gain and use special powers
• Uncover many secrets and solve various environmental puzzles

 
Fall of Light: Darkest Edition is out now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
 
Patch 1.5 - Release Notes:

• New content (including exclusive content originally available in the console version)
• A new dungeon with a new boss fight, traps, enemies and weapons

 
Changelog

• Revamp of the hitboxes
• Improved combat animations
• Nyx stats rebalanced
• Aether stats rebalanced
• Enemies' stats rebalanced
• Sunray sequence rebalanced
• Improved performances
• New visual effects
• New lantern behavior
  • Also, increase the oil duration and charging time speeded up
• New sound effects
• Quality of life: roll/dodge and run have two separated buttons
• Minor Bug fixes

If you don't know the game, here is the original launch trailer.

RPGamer interviewed the devs of the upcoming strategy RPG Heretic Operative:

Heretic Operative Interview

C Prompt Games is a new studio founded by industry veterans Ian Fischer and Robert Fermier, who previous worked together at Ensemble Studios and Robot Entertainment. They just recently announced C Prompt Games’ first title Heretic Operative, which they describe as a narrative strategy RPG, and it will be available early 2019 on Steam. Ian and Robert were kind enough to take the time to answer several of our questions about their upcoming game.

Johnathan Stringer (RPGamer): What is the goal and vision of C Prompt Games? Is there a back story into the studio’s creation?

Ian Fischer and Robert Fermier (C Prompt Games): Ian and I have worked together for years and we share similar perspectives on design. Among these, we are motivated by system-based design and emergence in games. We feel the best stories in games are the ones that players make for themselves as they play, and we like to think about how to best deliver those experiences. That is not something that everyone understands or enjoys and our time working in larger teams let us experience some of the problems you can have trying to get unique designs to retain their uniqueness in that environment. We started C Prompt to create a place that was about making games that focus on strategy, systems, and deep, player-created narrative.

JS: What is Heretic Operative? Can you give us a high level description of the game? What are some of the design and gameplay highlights that sets it apart, and what is the planned release date and platform?

IA/RF: In terms of gameplay, Heretic Operative is a “narrative strategy RPG” — which basically means that it takes story and character elements of an RPG, and merges them the resource management and structure of a board game.

You play as the leader of a band of Heretics — a secret society of magic users in a world where magic has been outlawed by the Church. Magic is being used to bring about huge disasters by a rival group of mages called the Cultus Arcanum (or just “the Cult”). Caught between these two warring factions, the Heretics have to find a way to save the world while being hunted by both sides.

Turns play out fairly differently based on a player’s strategy (and how well things have been going with that strategy). In general, you think a lot about locations. There are different places on the map and every place has a certain character, which is produced by the kinds of adventures likely at the location and the kinds of actions that can be taken there. So, first, you are thinking about the skills your operative has (or operatives have if you have been recruiting) and how they can be put to use. Are you trying to build up your ability in magic and learn new spells? You might want to try to get into the Elven Archive. Do you have an agent with high corruption that you are worried about losing? If you can get them to the Desolate Isle, there are a lot of options there for cleansing. Are you trying to gear up a bit more? There are shops in the Museum District, but you are likely to run into Templars from the Church there, so make sure you are sending an operative with high social skill, who can talk his way out of the situations he’s likely to get into.
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The traveling artist adventure Eastshade has been released:

Eastshade

You are a traveling painter, exploring the island of Eastshade. Capture the world on canvas using your artist’s easel. Talk to the inhabitants to learn about their lives. Make friends and help those in need. Discover mysteries and uncover secrets about the land. Surmount natural impasses to reach forgotten places. Experience how your actions impact the world around you.

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Features

• A peaceful open-world exploration-adventure full of character
• Compose paintings anywhere in the world and offer them to the locals to unlock secrets and gain items
• Acquire crafting materials and schematics to surmount obstacles and solve quests
• Make friends along the way through fully-voiced dynamic conversations and unlockable topics

A new dev blog for Battle Brothers has more on Company Origins.

Dev Blog #114: Company Origins, Part II

Last week we talked about what the company origins feature of the upcoming ‘Warriors of the North’ DLC is exactly and looked at several of these origins. This week we continue with a closer look at two more origins that are part of a larger selection for you to choose from. Just keep in mind again that things are in active development and may still change – let’s go!

The Northern Raiders

With an expansion focused on bringing variety and flavor to the northern parts of the map, it’s only fitting that there’d be an origin that has you start in the north as well. Playing as northern raiders let’s you start with veteran raiders that are well-equipped with some of the new nordic and rus inspired armor and helmets which we’ll show in an upcoming blog post of its own.

However, you’ll also start as outlaws, which means that 2 out of 3 noble houses are outright hostile, while the remaining one is distrustful. It makes for a challenging start where you rely more on venturing out on your own instead of taking on contracts. And it’s up to you how to proceed: Do you want to mend relations over time and become a proper mercenary company, getting paid by the the noble houses, or do you continue with raiding and pillaging, alienating the nobles further? Fortunately, your men are quite proficient at pillaging, and you’ll have a higher chance to get any equipment dropped by your enemies in battle, so you’ll have to rely less on being able to buy equipment in cities that will most likely just send their militia after you.

The Lone Wolf

For a very different experience of playing the game, and in some way the opposite to last week’s militia origin, have your player character be present on the field of battle.

You’ll start with a single well-equipped and experienced hedge knight who is, in a way, your player character. He can’t be fired and he’ll never desert the company, but if he dies, your campaign ends and you lose the game. He’ll be the strongest man in the company for quite a while, but having him in the fray is always a risk, so you’ll have to think carefully on how you want to use him. And because this origin only ever allows you to have 12 men in your roster, there’s no putting him in the backline – you go out there and fight side by side with the rest of your men, or you’ll leave them at a disadvantage and have them call you a coward. Having to defend your player character adds a different layer of strategy to each battle. Despite your character starting out strong, it’s a challenge suited best for experienced players.

There’s more origins to choose from still, but we don’t want to spoil everything, so you’ll have to find out for yourself by playing the game. Join us again next week when we take a look at a different feature of the upcoming DLC!

Christ Centered Gamer reviewed The Bard's Tale IV: Barrow's Deep.

Okay. I’ve been harsh with Bard’s Tale IV‘s puzzles, but now for where the game shines: the battle system. Combat here carries so many intricate factors I doubt I can give it justice, yet here I am to try. Encounters of the evil kind are inevitable. Similar to Checkers, combat is done in turns between your party and the enemy party. Which side goes first depends on who strikes first. You’ve got a limited number of moves (called opportunity) in your turn. Each character only has six abilities, five of which you personally equip. You get four moves, one movement option, and an item slot. Consider how these choices work in a group, though. A well rounded team needs complimentary attributes. In battle, your characters are assembled on a two rowed, four columned grid. Who’s in front and who’s in back in relation to your foes can put you in or or out of harm’s way. Changing positions mid-battle costs opportunity too. Lastly, each attack has different areas of range, cooldowns, and/or charge times. Some attacks can be cancelled mid-charge by mental attacks. Equipped weapons and armor can alter some moves’ behavior, and items grant advantages if chosen wisely. Now, I agree that this all sounds dense. It is, but it’s a good kind of dense, at least to my tastes. I enjoyed the countless variables I had to turn the tides. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was mine.

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Thanks Farflame!

PCGamesN reports that Arkane Lyon is looking to hire a monetization designer.

The posting might not be too surprising within the wider industry, but it does mark part of a significant change in Arkane Lyon’s strategy. Until October, sister studio Arkane Austin had been explicitly hiring for multiplayer projects , but that changed when Arkane Lyon started hiring QA testers with “experience in […] GAaS [games as a service].” Many of parent company Zenimax’s other internal studios – including Bethesda, id Software, and MachineGames – have been making a greater push towards multiplayer in recent years.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Hazardous Space is a Roguelike 2D turn-based action game with RPG elements and has recently reached version 1.0.

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A dangerous survival adventure in space station labirynths. Turn-based combat, character progression, the atmosphere of impending threat. Collect and modify weapons, stock up on ammunition and first-aid kits, use your brain and think two steps ahead. Between you and the exit from the station - a horde of enemies who know nothing about fear or mercy.

Features

Unravel Mystery of the Wanderer Station

The "Wanderer" station is full of secrets for you to uncover. Perhaps, that's how we will find out what happened there and how the arrival of Max is connected with that. Or maybe not only that. The main thing to survive!

Whole Station of Labyrinths and Traps

If you think that the layout of the premises in the future will cease to be the fruit of the maniacal misanthrope's sick mind - you are deeply mistaken. Max will have to wade through the mazes, crowded with traps, enemies and other surprises. A simple straight path is for wimps!

Craft System and Resource Management

From rusty knuckles to super-mega-blaster - feel like a master gunsmith! And do not forget about your battlesuit: it makes you strong, dexterous, skillful - demanding energy instead. Lots of energy. Tons of energy!

Wide Selection of Weapons

If the enemy is unresting - provide him with the eternal rest! For this, there's a whole arsenal of various weapons at the "Wanderer" station. Grenades, machine guns, brass knuckles, pistols... Not enough? Each weapon can have an elemental damage module!

Hordes of Diverse Enemies

Zombies, mutants, mutant zombies, monsters from laboratories, zombie monsters from laboratories ... Max and you are not going to get bored!

High Replayability

Have you explored the station, remembered the compartments' layout, taken notes of the traps and stashes? Here's a new walkthrough for you! Each new attempt feels like the first time, cause the levels are generated procedurally.

Story:

It's 2115. Something terrible has happened on board the research space station Wanderer, and the former space marine Max Carnage becomes an unwilling participant in these events. To survive, he will need to remember his military past.

Thanks Farflame!

The developers of Outward were interviewed by the XBOX Hub.

Are there any benefits to passing things down to the next generation of your family? Or is it simply a way of introducing a new-game+ type affair to the game?

The legacy system is not something we are detailing much at the moment as I want to see how quickly the players will get it and start using it, but I can say that essentially yes, it serves the purpose of a New Game + type of experience.

Often in games that bring magic into combat, we find that later on the magic aspects simply reach near overpowered levels. Is this the case in Outward and if not how have you ensured that traditional combat and magic remain fair and equal?

Magic in Outward comes at a very real cost of permanently sacrificing maximum health and stamina. The reduction of stamina is especially painful as it means less dodging, sprinting or attacking. Equipment that increases magical power also offer less protection against physical attacks. Moreover, magic is very resource intensive, usually requiring to use up magical components. Overall, there are situations in which mages are better and others in which warriors are better suited. It is also possible to play a hybrid character. What matters is always whether or not you are well prepared before heading down into combat, and this is true for both approaches.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

TheGG reports that Mad Princess: The Great Gladiators is now available on DLSite. The game is described as a gladiator role-playing game.

January 11th, 2019, Tokyo – The English translated version of independent developer Atorasoft’s gladiator role-playing game “Mad Princess: The Great Gladiators” is now available for sale on DLsite and is planned to be released on Steam.

Developer Comment:
“YOU, the player, will not be restricted by a single story. In this RPG you can enjoy a ‘free-scenario’ where you are at liberty to adventure and play as you please.

The battle and exploration controls are straightforward, allowing the player to enjoy the content many times in a smooth and hassle-free manner.
We sincerely hope you enjoy our game!”

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

GameInformer talked with Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarksy about how The Outer Worlds lets you play your way.

While the story does have choices and characters at different places along the good/evil spectrum, The Outer Worlds isn’t necessarily about picking a moral alignment and sticking to it. ‘It’s not “here’s the good choice, here’s the bad one,’” Cain says. “Instead, it’s like, ‘You could this or this. This will cause X, this will cause Y. You decide what you care about.’”

“But it’s not always extreme gray areas,” Boyarsky clarifies.

“What if the more evil choice has an obviously better outcome?” Cain says. “What if more people are saved by the evil choice? But it’s evil! But the result is better! Is it a worse choice? I don’t know if you can solve morality with arithmetic, but there are some things in the game where you’re like, ‘I am not sure if this is bad.’”

[...]

Obsidian wants your opinion on the turn-based mode for Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Fill out the survey if you are interested, before February 21st 2019.

In case you haven't heard, we released a new and completely free combat system to Deadfire last month!

While it's still in its beta form and we are thankful for any and all feedback you may have given us so far, we hope you might be able to take a few minutes to fill out the following survey regarding Deadfire!

The survey will close on February 21, 2019, so please don't wait!

Also, we'd love it if you'd share the survey with any friends who are also fans of ours.

As you are the backbone of our Deadfire audience, we value your time and thoughts immensely, and your completion of this questionnaire would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much for participating, and for being a fan of Obsidian.

Update 2 for Underworld Ascendant has been released.

Update 2 - Player Journey & Gameplay Improvements

15 Feb @ 9:04am - Question_505

Underworld Ascendant
Update 2 Build Notes

Thank you for your continued support of Underworld Ascendant!

We have been hard at work on Update 2 and have focused our efforts on the overall structure of the Abyss, the player journey, AI and other gameplay improvements. We believe these changes will significantly improve the overall player experience, especially when starting a new game.

We hope you enjoy this update and please continue to provide your feedback.

The Stygian Abyss renovated

• The world is now a series of interconnected levels, accessible through The Grand Staircase. Updated quest flow now focuses on important narrative quests that highlight both new and refined story and content, while allowing the player to freely explore the environment and optional side-quests.
• As a result of this major change, we highly recommend that you start a new game to experience it. That said, if you want to start from where you left off, your old save games will still work and you will start at a roughly similar place in the new story progression.

Player experience improvements highlights

• Updated enemy patrol paths and lighting pass in all levels to enhance tactical stealth gameplay, and enemy population overhaul/refinements on all main quests.
• New and streamlined story elements along main critical path, with supplemental story elements moved to explorable space.
• The Vault of Nyx, the final level encounter, gameplay and clarity improvements.

Meta Game updates

• The Doom Counter has been refined to better ramp the type and difficulty of creatures that appear, and now allows players to complete the game without having to set it back more than once in an average playthrough.
• Players no longer need to gain Faction Favor or Influence to trigger the final encounter of the game, though Faction Favor still provides benefits in trade.
• New games can now choose a difficulty level. All old save games will be treated as “Normal” difficulty.

Save Game System

We made some additional enhancements and refinements to the save game system based on your feedback:

• Players can now use F5 to quick save and F9 to quick load said quick save.
• Players are now asked for confirmation if they are about to overwrite an existing save.
• Clarity pass on the text in the Save menu to improve usability.
• Also a load game panel clarity pass. It will also now show difficulty of each save game.

AI

• Updated enemy patrol paths and AI behavior models to improve their reaction to player actions
• Enemies will no longer do more than one in-combat emote in a row, which makes them much more aggressive.
• Enemies will flee less often than before.
• Animuses now alert all nearby undead when they are being attacked.
• Lizardmen casters will no longer cast while on the ground or getting up.
• Lizardmen will now be more aggressive.
• Better wandering for deep slugs and rats.
• Skeletons will no longer attack torches that damage them. Also reduced torch damage radius for when creatures walk by them.
• Enemies now have more personality in their idle time.

Loot and Items

• Standard trunks are now smaller to reflect that they don’t hold treasure on the level of the mighty Typhon chests. Removed the sparkly “treasure” effect when you open a trunk. Celebrations are for actual treasure chests.
• Trunks that are too low-level to hold much loot will now (rather than being so empty) have more filler items such as pots, which will sometimes contain coins.
• Clarity pass on item descriptions to make it easier to understand what they do.
• Magical items now have a different color name so they stand out more in your inventory.
• Player’s speed percentage is now listed in the inventory screen so you can tell if items you have equipped are slowing you down (or speeding you up).
• Item tooltips for equipment that improves the wearer’s armor percentage now include a notation about that.
• Updated Aelita’s trade menu to make it easier to understand how much silver you will get for a trade, and how much silver Aelita has available to trade.
• When you mouse over an item, it will be compared to the same type of item you have equipped, if any.
• Right clicking on items in your inventory behaves the same as double clicking. This also applies to trade where it will move it to/from the offer table.
• When moving a stack of items within their inventory, the player is no longer prompted to pick how many they like to move. To see that pop up, hold down shift and click on the stack of items.