The latest free update for Crusader Kings 3 introduces a Ruler Designer.
loading...
Check out community content creator Roll1D2 present the new Ruler Designer from our newest Free Update on November 24, 2020. Customize and build your own character and bring them to life!
The latest update for Tainted Grail announces that it is becoming two separate games. Additionally the games visuals are being improved.
Last week to get 2 in 1... and other news!
TWO SEPARATE GAMES
You could’ve noticed that some things have changed on our store page. Yes, thanks to your support and positive feedback we’ve decided to split Tainted Grail into two separate products – Conquest and The Fall of Avalon.
It will be easier for us during development, it will be easier for new players to understand what they’re getting, and it will be easier to prevent confusion of players who thought they’re playing an RPG and ended up playing a roguelike.
Two important things, though:
2. If you still want to get both games for the price of one – you can do it until the next Friday, the 27th of November.
Any purchases made after that date will be only for Conquest.
The game’s price will be reduced but after 27th you’d have to buy these games separately (and the campaign mode isn’t yet available).
So, as promised last week, we have a couple of gameplay-related things to share about the future of Conquest.
Improved Visuals
We’re still in the process of moving the entire game to a new rendering pipeline. This caused A LOT of issues and we’re still fighting with them and figuring out how to approach certain challenges. But every single day we’re seeing insane improvements to the way the game looks and feels.
Yellow Brick Games - New Studio from Dragon Age Director
by Silver, 23:39
IGN reports that Mike Laidlaw of Bioware fame and other industry veterans have formed a new studio called Yellow Brick Games.
Mike Laidlaw, the former creative director of Dragon Age, has established a new development studio alongside other industry veterans. Called Yellow Brick Games, the independent studio is located in Quebec City and aims to create "original, new games of high quality".
Laidlaw is joined by Thomas Giroux, Jeff Skalski, and Frédéric St-Laurent B., meaning the studio is comprised of EA, BioWare, and Ubisoft veterans, with a body of work covering Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Watch Dogs, and Assassin's Creed.
Laidlaw takes on the role of Chief Creative Officer, while Skalski acts as Chief Operating Officer, and Giroux as Chief Executive Officer. Frédéric St-Laurent B., meanwhile, will take on the position of Game Director for the studio's first project. St-Laurent B. was previously Lead Game Designer for Assassin's Creed: Syndicate at Ubisoft Quebec.
Chronos: Before the Ashes will be out on December 1st. But what is the action RPG all about? Check out the new explanation trailer, telling you all the details about the prequel to the 2019 smash hit Remnant: From the Ashes.
You will face the mysteries and the challenges – and the dangers – of the Labyrinth and carefully study the behavior of your enemies to overcome them. But don’t be afraid, in Chronos: Before the Ashes death is not the end but part of your heroe's journey.
The game is based on the VR-exclusive Chronos from Gunfire Games (Darksiders III, Remnant: From the Ashes), but has been overhauled and optimized to work on all platforms without the need for VR support.
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.
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.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Postcard Contest
by Hiddenx, 18:29
Owlcat Games lauches a poscard contest at the end of the year:
Ho-ho-ho Pathfinders!
Winter holidays are approaching! Traditionally every year we create a congratulatory postcard for you, but this year we decided to do something special, and ask you to help us. We are happy to announce a congratulatory postcard contest!
Rules:
Create a winter holiday postcard featuring characters from Pathfinder: Kingmaker or Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, or both, or our owlcat mascot. It must feature some symbols of Christmas or New Year, depending on which is more popular in your culture. In Russia, for example, we celebrate the New Year Eve like it’s the last day of our lives, and instead of Santa we have Father Frost and Snow Maiden who bring presents and New Year magic with them.
Post the postcard on your social media using hashtag #PFmerrymaker and tag our official account so we could see it. This is a mandatory submission step - if we can’t see your postcard, we won’t be able to declare you a winner, so please don’t forget to post your submission and tag at least one of our social media accounts. Or in all of them, just to be sure!
Share the merriment with your friends! And share your friends’ creations too! This is an optional part, you don’t have to do it to win, but it will make the creators happier and spread the spirit of the holidays!
We will stop accepting the submissions at 00:00, 22nd of December, Moscow Time, which is 10 pm CET/4 pm EDT/1 pm PDT of 21st of November, and will reveal the winners on 25th of December.
Prizes!
1st place - special winter scarf and a copy of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous with beta early access
2nd and 3rd places - a copy of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous with beta early access for each winner.
The access to Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous will be provided digitally, via our pre-order portal, when the game is released. Beta early access key will become available on the pre-order portal when the game enters the stage of beta testing.
Path of Exile Ends 2020 With Three Epic December Events
Holiday shopping isn’t the only thing that will fill up your time next month
Auckland, New Zealand, November 23, 2020 – Grinding Gear Games is announcing three epic events that will be taking place in Path of Exile during December 2020 to end the year with a bang, bang, bang. The events include a one-week Mayhem Event, a one-week Endless Delve Event, and a three-week Heist Flashback Event that are guaranteed to keep the holiday spirit going strong leading up to the end of the Heist League and the launch of Path of Exile’s 3.13 endgame-focused expansion in January.
Starting at 12PM PT on December 4th, a one-week Mayhem Event will kick off by taking classic Path of Exile modifiers from past leagues Anarchy, Invasion, Breach, Ambush, Torment, and Harbinger and turning them up to 11. Each area in Wraeclast will have one of the following scenarios: 20 Rogue Exiles, 20 Strongboxes, 20 Invasion Bosses, 20 Breaches, 20 Tormented Spirits, or 20 Harbingers, with mods changing every hour.
The one-week Endless Delve event kicks off a week later on December 11th at 12PM PT, taking place entirely in the Azurite Mine. In this unique event, players start their plunge into the perilous darkness with some starter gear. Players will have access to the passive points normally gained from quests and incur Kitava’s resistance penalties at various level thresholds. Players can ascend their character using the Altar of Ascendancy from within the Mine Encampment while Lilly Roth and Niko will be available to provide skill gems. Players will not have access to their Hideouts or any towns, which means they’ll be going solo against the darkness. Good luck with that.
Last, but not least, is the three-week Heist Flashback Event. Starting on December 18th at 12PM PT, each game area will include several popular mods from past leagues, with a random selection of three of the following mods present, which will change each hour, on the hour:
2 Additional Rogue Exiles
2 Additional Invasion Bosses
1 Additional Breach
2 Additional Strongboxes
3 Additional Tormented Spirits
2 Additional Perandus Chests and a 33% chance to spawn Cadiro
3 Additional Rare Monster Packs with Nemesis Mods
3 Additional Magic Monster Packs with Bloodlines
1 Additional Abyss
2 Additional Harbingers
1 Timeless Monolith
1 Metamorph
1 Delirium Mirror
Beyond
Prizes for all three events include the new Demigod’s Authority, a Twilight Mystery Box for reaching level 50, and random microtransaction prizes at level 60, 70, 80, 85, 90, and 95 that will be drawn at the conclusion of each event.
For a very long time, the Yakuza series has been one of SEGA’s lesser known flagships due to it not being crazy popular in the West. Spanning more than 6 games and boasting a few remakes and remasters, the Yakuza series has been going strong for a very long time now. The only constant has been the main character, Kazuma Kiryu. Yakuza: Like a Dragon departs from the story of Kiryu and deviates from the real time action combat to create a wholly new experience for the franchise, and ultimately delivers with incredible style. The loveable cast and gripping story set Yakuza: Like a Dragon up to be one of the stronger releases of 2020.
[...]
Yakuza: Like a Dragon has very easily become one of my favorite JRPGs in the week that I’ve played it. While there are some aspects that can get grindy or boring, like the relatively repetitive combat and the lack of movement in fights; the gameplay, sheer breadth of side activities, reclassing, and charm of the game more than make up for it. There is just so much to do that it’d be hard to encompass it all into an article, and it’s a ton of fun discovering just how much crazy stuff you can do. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is an incredibly solid launch title, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it if you want an RPG to sit inside with this winter.
Capsule Computers has reviewedDeath end re;Quest 2:
Death end re;Quest 2 Review
Overview
Sometimes a developer wants to try something a bit different from what they have come to be known for and in the case of Compile Heart and Idea Factory Death End re;Quest was a perfect example of taking RPG mechanics that a team is known for working with as well as a certain style of humor and putting a new twist on it. This twist of course was the fact that Death End re;Quest was a much darker game than anything the team has previously put out and combined the gameplay of both a turn based RPG and a visual novel into what ended up being a unique and engrossing experience. So now a little over a year later the team has returned with Death end re;Quest 2 but the question is, have they managed to capture the same unique feeling as before?
[...]
Overall
Death end re;Quest 2 may have came a bit too quickly on the heels of its predecessor to really innovate its gameplay in any notable way, leaving combat mostly untouched, but players will find a story awaiting them that is filled with horror and mysteries that only seem to grow deeper the further the player progresses, urging them to continue to dig deep into a well-blended story that may not have seemed possible from the developer before but proves that the team knows exactly what they are doing in a series that can only go up from here.
As you ascend from your shelter after the long long years, a brave new old world awaits you. A world inhabited with nasty and vile creatures. A world with no other human soul to be seen. A world with nature in reigns now. A world that's about to get even worse.
loading...
You need to find a way to escape the wretched island. But before that, enjoy the bittersweet apocalypse.
Break over 99% of all objects for materials with the right tools. No barrier will stop you.
Fight with (or run away) nasty and vile creatures of the post-apocalyptic era.
Explore the handcrafted open world and uncover its mysteries.
Survive. Clear areas of monsters and claim it as yours.
Build outposts to establish your presence.
Craft permanent weapons, tools, outfits, and trinkets.
Hunt dangerous game or tame them for your post-apocalyptic zoo ranch.
Farm exotic plants and reap the rewards as crop gets ripe.
Solve puzzles above ground and underground in the Tombs of the Old Ones
Fish cunning scaly things under the watery surface.
Cook delicious recipes for permanent stat and ability upgrades.
Horizon's Gate now has an in-game mods window for toggling and changing mod load order! Check it out:
There are also lots of balance changes, such as a Rasmen buff, Bat Handler buff, and Hammer nerf, among others.
v1.3.83
FEATURES New 'Mods' Window that allows you to directly view, toggle, reorder, and visit the site of each mod Increased available Formation Phase tiles around the rear character by 1 Added separate journal bookmark for Goals page Crossbow reloading now shows a confirm/cancel prompt Your currently equipped cannon's range is now always highlighted while moving in naval combat
BALANCE Hammer accuracy penalty increased from -10% -> -15% Rasmen's minimum Dodge when flanked bonus increased from 8% -> 12% Increased Bat Handler's 'Summon Zoar' base range from 2 -> 3 'Summon Zoar' ranks now grant +5t to the Zoar per rank instead of increasing range 'Summon Zoar' max ranks increased from 3 -> 5 Enchanter's 'Siphon Enchant' now grants a +2 bonus but does not remove the enchantment 8-Finger Knuckle now also has -8% Accuracy Swashbuckler's 'Mug' base morale duration increased from 50 -> 70 Krakenslayer's 'Static' base damage increased from 6 -> 8 'Defensive' and 'Meditative' XP costs reduced from 150 -> 120 'Pensive' XP cost reduced from 200 -> 150 Minibombs can no longer arc over characters (now behaves like a Dart instead of a Bow) Reduced Minibomb base damage from 20 -> 18, and Fire Skill scaling from 1:1 -> 1:0.5 Adjusted starting positions of enemies in Tsavor's Dojo
FIXES Reduced delay of Aspect minion death effects Changed Shield item 'power' icon to better convey that it affects attack damage instead of defense Added dialog if player leaves port with duplicate ship weapons equipped Added dialog if player leaves port with no ship weapons equipped, but they have some in cargo Gatekeeper's 'Voidlight' tooltip now mentions that it also reduces Blind duration Fixed 'Elemental Fury' duration being inconsistent for different types of enchantments Fixed 'Jobs' dialog option missing at Guilds while having a partially completed royal quest Fixed 'Melee Momentum' on enemies using the last player character's position to determine damage Fixed certain rotated items on tables being mistakenly selected when clicking the tile above them Fixed augments within armor applying their benefits when the armor is held in hand Fixed using boat-style damage number icon for Move on non-boats Fixed not being able to scroll up on Save/Load menu with controller Fixed clicking on specific journal entry going to the wrong page if you had a lot of journal entries Can now scroll through journal entries with controller
MODDING Mod loading crashes now specify which mod and what data type was loading when it crashed Actor.aggressiveness now slightly affects AI positioning in combat Added "crewxp" task that gives XP to all player crew Added 'resetprocgen' command that resets all Groves and Monster Dens Added AvAffecter properties "FXOnTargetTime", "FXOnTileTime", "FXOnHitTime", "FXOnMissTime"
DSOGaming reports that Embracer Group, which is the parent of THQ Nordic, Deep Silver and Saber Interactive, has acquired 11 Game Developers and a QA and PR group.
A Thinking Ape Entertainment – The developers of mobile free-to-play titles CasinoX and Kingdoms at War
Zen Studios – The Budapest studio behind the Pinball FX games, with expansions based on properties like Star Wars and The Walking Dead
Snapshot Games – The development team behind Phoenix Point will “expand the Phoenix Point universe” and “bring new IP to a global audience” following the acquisition
Nimble Giant Entertainment – The Argentinian studio behind Champions of Regnum and Quantum League
34BigThings – The Italian studio responsible for the Redout racing game series
Mad Head Games – A Serbian studio specializing in mystery and Hidden Object games.
Purple Lamp Studios – The Austrian team behind Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, who are set to put their “ambitious plans into action” following the acquisition
IUGO Mobile Entertainment – A Vancouver based-studio working on mobile free-to-play games, previously responsible for The Walking Dead: Road to Survival
Coffee Stain North – A smaller studio and partner of Coffee Stain Studios, who has worked on Goat Simulator and A Story About My Uncle
Silent Games – A Newcastle-based studio working on its debut IP, a long-lasting co-op franchise where players will “unearth deep secrets of an ancient civilization.” The first game is set for a 2023 launch.
Flying Wild Hog – The Polish studio behind the Shadow Warrior series of games, Flying Wild Hog is now working on “four projects together with well reputable external publishers”
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous has a survey that asks your opinion of DLC.
Pathfinders, we need your answers!
The work on Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is in full swing. Now we are approaching a Beta testing stage, so this is the right time to start thinking about the post-release life of Wrath of the Righteous. For us as for developers, it is important to know what our community thinks about downloadable content. We want you to enjoy the content that comes after the release of the game. This is why we have prepared this short survey – to better understand the way you play the games and what you like in DLCs.
Please help us by sharing your thoughts and take a survey here
we just wanted to give you all a quick development update. We are pushing hard to publish the next big release still this year. Here's what's coming if all goes according to plan:
New Content:
The Deven region with one major settlement, Deven, and a smaller one, Sun Rock, as well as a lot of new ground to explore.
The Church of Ahskul faction is fleshed out in all its macabre glory.
Try your luck at tomb robbing in the Valley of Sleepers - if you dare.
The Ratharnak Alliance's headquarters were extended and moved to the Mines of Plenty.
Your journey with the Dread Reavers continues!
A lot of new (shorter and longer) storylines you can follow through.
The Dark Elf companion Renkailon can now be recruited through story progression.
Crew Combat Improvements: Looting in crew combat
Destroy the enemy or make it flee and get all their valuables
Gather/Harvest items, money, and goods from fallen enemy units
Catch - with a small chance - the surviving mounts of your outriders who fell in battle
Extract supplies from mounts that did not survive
Of course, the Riven Realms remains a dog-eat-dog place, so none of this loot is available if you lose or are forced to flee. Also, 'immersion is king' even when it comes to looting. Do not expect desperate lowlife tugs attacking your comitatus carrying heaps of valuables. Now, in case you are the aggressor and ambush their camp with all their possessions... that is another story. Provided that you are okay to prey on the weak. Will your companions approve?
Combat preparations
You can mount fighters, dismount outriders right before crew combat (except if you are ambushed)
Goal (objective) selection changes
Now you select a goal on the defensive side as well, so you can choose what you defend the most (crew, beast, cargo)
The main target of the enemies is only revealed in the second round
You can change your objective at the end of each round
Added the option to flee or retreat even during ongoing crew combat (albeit at potentially heavy losses)
New 'defense' stat introduced
It better reflects how easy or hard it is to take out certain enemies and characters (i.e.: outriders are much harder to damage)
You can improve your crews' combat strength and/or defense stats with equipment and properties separately
Actions in crew combat (tactical commands) Giving more tools to the vagrus, we are now enabling 'Actions' in crew combat. These can significantly influence the outcome of crew level combat encounters. Our ultimate goal is to enable entering Companion combat directly from Crew Combat but even until then, players can choose from a number of actions (more to come), like:
'Launch a mounted attack' that increases the CS of Outriders for the round
'Form a Shield wall' to increase the Defense of your Fighters
'Insult' the enemy to increase the chance of them making a mistake
Impervious crew combat enemies Specters, Haunts, Living Shadows. Horrors that are immune to mundane weapons. Improve your companions, gain the blessing of Gods, gather rare magical items to defeat them. Alternatively, do the only thing you can if you come across these deadly enemies... FLEE!
Impervious enemies are marked with purple borders and their defense stat is colored as such, too
Only your Enchanted companions and/or crew can damage Impervious enemies in crew combat. Enchanted Combat Strength is highlighted - the axe and the CS value are colored to purple.
Miscellaneous Changes:
Event UI performance updates to ease the jittering (still not 100% but we are committed to fix it as soon as we are able)
Higher Authority now reduces Companion loyalty penalties
Outriders now automatically dismount to create cargo space in case the throw-out screen is (or would be) triggered
We are looking forward to all of you getting your hand on the new update and hearing about your experience. In case you like the game and/or the direction we are taking with it, please consider leaving a review. It's a huge help. Thanks and see you around, vagri!
Our fellow Watcher KordanorreviewedWasteland 3 at his Gaming Lair:
Wasteland 3 - Review / Conclusion [EN] by Kordanor
loading...
Wasteland 3 offers quite an interesting, and -for the most part- well made story with a lot of choices and consequences. And this is all happening in a very atmospheric environment, as long as you can look past the humor and also the zoo which you carry around with you; and if you are ok with quite some criticism aimed at religion. The character system is working quite well this time, which is a big improvement over the predecessor. However there is still a problem regarding how well you can plan ahead, and the push towards custom created characters in general isn't great either. The combat would have really profited from some more polish, even when it's already working better than it did in Wasteland 2. And with that Wasteland 3 surpasses Wasteland 2 in terms of mechanics and production values, but in total it's still somewhat away from being a perfect game. While this is a really close one, my rating for Wasteland 3 is a reluctant but still full thumbs up. I think it's a worthy next part of the Wasteland series and I can recommend it to most fans of RPGs. That is as long as you aren't totally opposed to what I mentioned regarding the story and setting, you don't focus too much on the combat aspects and it also does help if you prefer creating custom characters over taking story-characters anyways. And of course you would also need to either have the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate which includes this game, or 60 Euros or Dollars for the full price on Steam. So it might be a good idea to wait for a sale here.
The November update for System Shock Remake shows off the Collectors Edition, Storage level, and various Cyber enemies. There are videos at the link of these enemies.
The Cyber Dog
He might not be the strongest, but he will never give up.
The Cyber Guard
Watch out for those projectiles!
The CyberBully
Another guard of cyberspace but packing a bigger punch!
The Cortex Reaver
If they haven’t taken your head on the station, they will just come for you in cyberspace.
The Cyber Stalker
This one is sneaky and will change colors with its surroundings.
The Cyber Stinger
I would be wary of when the Stinger readies its tail.
DSOGaming reports on Capcom's data leak which revealed some of the projects currently in development according to the schedule. This has not been confirmed by Capcom itself so take it with a grain of salt.
According to the leaked release schedule, Capcom is working on Dragon’s Dogma 2, Street Fighter 6 and Onimusha New York. Furthermore, this leaked release schedule confirms the existence of Resident Evil 4 Remake. We knew that Resident Evil 4 Remake was real, however, it’s good getting an – unofficial – confirmation of it.
Do note that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this release date schedule may not be accurate. However, it appears that a new Dragon’s Dogma and a new Onimusha game are indeed under development.
Demon’s Souls review: The best reason to own a PS5
Demon’s Souls is even better now than when it debuted, thanks to the PS5
Demon’s Souls is the standout title among the PS5’s launch library. It’s not Spider-Man: Miles Morales; it’s not Bugsnax; it’s not even the surprisingly inventive Astro’s Playroom. Demon’s Souls is a rich, meaty experience that builds on the 2009 classic in significant ways, while keeping everything that made the game so absorbing completely intact.
The robust, complex gameplay alone would be reason enough to give Demon’s Souls a try, but it’s also one of the best-looking games on the PS5, combining eerie fog and lighting effects with some remarkable level design, and an enviable color palette. For a game that’s as dark and difficult as they come, Demon’s Souls can evoke beauty, melancholy and even a little wry humor.
[...]
Demon’s Souls review: Verdict
Demon’s Souls was an excellent game when it debuted back in 2009, and this loving remake treats it with the reverence it deserves. Just about everything is where you left it, but the graphics are prettier, the animation is more fluid and the load times are nearly instantaneous.
While a Souls game may sound daunting to first-timers, don’t let the series’ reputation fool you. Demon’s Souls is hard, yes, but the difficulty isn’t the point; it’s to explore a striking world and revel in the precision and customization of the gameplay. The PS5 couldn’t have kicked off with a much better game than this.
After over 60 hours spent playing, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla feels like the culmination of what Ubisoft has been building towards since changing up the formula of the series with Assassin’s Creed Origins in 2017. It’s the most open world RPG feeling game in the series, but it’s able to tie itself back to the roots of the series in ways that may not be expected.
The game nails the viking aesthetic and is overall gorgeous to look at. I really felt like a viking while raiding my way across England to make a claim on the land. The game has many ways to tailor the playstyle to how you want. At the beginning, you are able to adjust three different forms of difficulty options. You can change how hard you want combat, exploration, and stealth to be. Each are independent of each other and can be changed on the fly. Thus, if you feel one combat is a bit too easy, you can crank that up without impacting the stealth elements or exploration or vice versa with the others.
[...]
Overall, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a a wondrously beautiful open world RPG chalk full of things to do and discover. It’s one of those games where you can jump in at any time and just run around and chip away at at your leisure or get lost for hours on end just discovering all the little hidden things. Despite the technical issues, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla continues the strong streak of recent entries in the series, and showcases why Assassin’s Creed is Ubisoft’s premier franchise.
DSOGaming reports that a demo is now available for turn based RPG Dreadlands, which is set in the post-apocalypse.
loading...
Welcome to the vivid, vibrant, and violent post-apocalypse. The Dreadlands await! Dreadlands is a shared world, turn-based tactical, skirmish game set in an unforgiving environment where life and death revolves around the constant struggle for Glow, a resource as valuable as it's enigmatic.
Explore the wondrously diverse regions of the Dreadlands, overcoming the wealth of challenges provided by the treacherous terrain, voracious Beastlife and trigger happy locals.
Tactical combat
Free Action Point system Freely move, attack and use abilities any way you want. Move and shoot? Shoot and move? Shoot twice? It's up to you to decide how to best use your Action Points!
Morale system Engage in the tug-of-war Morale system that allows you to break the hearts & minds of your enemies. In the Dreadlands there is more to battle than just killing!
XP challenges system Get more direct control over your gangs XP flow by completing in-match challenges for increased XP and award your personal MVP with even more XP. Your own skill translates to more XP!
Tactics card system Use the unique Tactics powers and combine them in exciting ways. Play your cards right and you can control the flow of battle itself!
Gang Factions
Choose from between the 3 factions and play through their unique campaigns, each of them having their own playstyles and flair. The Scrappers; hot-tempered junk-tinkerers. The Tribe-kin; nature worshipping and beast controlling tribals. The Skarbacks; former slaves, now cybernetic mountains of flesh and steel.
Explore the Dreadlands
Exploring the Dreadlands will be a diverse and dangerous trek. The region resembles a patchwork of contracting biomes, a strange brew definitely not concocted through the methodical work of mother nature. There’s an abundance of jaw-dropping sights to see and gruesome things to kill, as you travel across grasslands, lush swamp-jungle hybrids, mountains, desert plains and contaminated zones of utter devastation.
The Dreadlands is notorious as a unique and wondrously weird place, which is quite a feat, considering the post-apocalyptic world is no stranger to otherworldly strangeness!
PC Gamer reports that The Last Court has been discontinued by EA. The Last Court helped players make choices to bring into Dragon Age Inquisition. However, fans are trying to preserve it.
The Dragon Age Keep was designed to allow players to create a world-state for importing into Dragon Age: Inquisition, since saves from the previous games couldn't be brought over. As a nice bonus, in 2014 Failbetter were commissioned to create The Last Court, an entire browser-based text game in the vein of Fallen London that could be played in the Keep, and which would unlock bonuses in Inquisition if finished.
[...]
As of November 17, The Last Court has been deactivated. Presumably the Dragon Age Keep is due for a refresh in advance of Dragon Age 4, but it would have been nice if The Last Court had been kept around for those who enjoyed it, or never got around to playing it. Fortunately, before it was taken offline a group of fans dedicated themselves to preserving it by screenshotting as many pages as they could.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum - Steam Page Available
by Silver, 21:22
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum now has a Steam page.
loading...
Athletic and agile, sneaky and cunning. Driven by the desire to once again hold in his hands what he lost, Gollum is one of the most fascinating characters in the world of The Lord of the Rings™.
He has seen things that others can not imagine, he has survived things that others would not dare mention. Torn by his split personality, he can be vicious and villainous as Gollum, but social and cautious as Sméagol.
While being vital to the story by J.R.R. Tolkien, many parts of Gollum’s quest have not been told in detail yet. In The Lord of the Rings™: Gollum™ you get to experience this story. From his time as a slave below the Dark Tower to his stay with the Elves of Mirkwood.
Use stealth, agility and cunning to survive and overcome what lies ahead. Climb, leap and grapple your way past dangers or into advantageous spots.
While Gollum might not be a fighter, it is not unlike him to assassinate a careless enemy when the chance presents itself – or dispose of them in more creative and villainous ways.
The decisions you make and the way you play have a direct influence on Gollum’s personality: Always struggling between the two sides embodied by Gollum and Sméagol, it is up to you to decide whether the darker side of Gollum takes over or if there is a spark of reason left in what once was Sméagol. One mind, two egos - you decide!
The Interim report posted on the Paradox Interactive website states that Crusader Kings III has sold 1 million units.
Comments from CEO
Royal quarter provides new revenue records
The third quarter of the year has for us to a large extent been about the launch of Crusader Kings III. Crusader Kings III is the third edition of our successful Grand Strategy franchise based on a player’s personal journey through the Middle Ages. When the review embargo was released shortly before launch, the game received an aggregate score of 91/100 on Metacritic, which is a collected rating of industry and gaming media reviews. It is our highest rating ever on Metacritic and it is, of course, extremely positive, but what makes me happiest of all is that the game was received with remarkable enthusiasm by our players. Over 19,000 reviews on Steam and over 1,000,000 units sold paints a clear picture: We have created a really good game!
The successful launch of Crusader Kings III is another proof of the value in owning and methodically developing our franchises. Crusader Kings III is, like most of our successful games, the result of several iterations of the game. Often the first game in a franchise is not a success, but instead lays the foundation for future sequels by building a player base, a brand, and the knowledge to gradually develop better games.
Full disclosure: I’m one of the few people out there who has yet to play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, so I can’t say for sure whether free-to-play, open-world action RPG Genshin Impact actively tries to emulate it or not. I will note that, from what I do know about BotW, there are quite a few gameplay similarities to be found in Genshin Impact, especially in how you can explore its expansive lands. I do feel that this latest title from developer Mihoyo wears its video game and anime inspirations on its sleeve, in everything from gameplay to animation to character design. Regardless, I found Genshin Impact to be a fun gaming experience, especially once I started looking at all of the various components that make up its whole.
[...]
Perhaps the biggest question about Genshin Impact is whether the game is playable without putting any real-world currency into it. The answer is yes, but with a small caveat. Players acquire three additional characters for free to make up their party of four over the early course of the game, though that doesn’t cover every element or playstyle available. As you progress through the game, you acquire Primogen, a type of specialized currency that can be traded for items used with the gacha elements of the title; once you have a sufficient amount of said items, you can roll for unique weapons or characters to add to your party. It is possible to collect Primogen simply by playing the game and exploring, so theoretically you never need to put actual money down to acquire it. However, banner pull rates tend to be rather low for characters, so it takes quite a bit of grinding to gain enough Primogen to acquire them all. I managed to pull three characters using collected Primogen during my playthrough, but I pretty much resigned myself to not acquiring any more given how long it would take to do so. Completionists might have a hard time with the gacha elements, but it is quite easy to have a full game experience even without putting in any real-life money.
Exploration, grinding, and completing quests is also the only way to raise your Adventure Rank, which you need to increase to advance the main story. Unfortunately, this does tend to take quite a while, so players could potentially get bored while slowly working towards advancing the plot. There is also a multiplayer element to Genshin Impact, though it can be skipped entirely if players prefer to tackle things solo.
Genshin Impact might not be the most original game in a lot of respects, but it certainly has a wealth of things to offer players should they still be willing to give it a chance. Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time with it, and I plan to continue playing once future updates are implemented. The fact that it can be played for free is also quite impressive given just how much time you can invest in the game, especially with people perhaps staying at home more and being on a budget. All in all, Genshin Impact is a surprisingly solid action RPG adventure!
The Turn Based Loverskeep an eye on five indie turn-based RPGs:
Keep an Eye on It: 5 Turn-Based Tactical RPGs | #1
Ciao everyone, today I inaugurate a new column that I want to try to bring on a weekly basis, that is called Keep an Eye on It. I will collect interesting indie and non-indie projects around and show them to you, 5 at a time. The written article will also be followed by the video on the Youtube channel. I already have a very long list of games and can’t wait to show them all. I might decide to categorize them as I’m doing for this first episode, or not, I don’t know yet.
To inaugurate it, I have chosen 5 very promising indie turn-based tactics RPGs. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts and opinions & remember to reach me on Twitter, on the discord server, and on the new Twitch Channel.
Tropicalia is a J-RPG set in Brazil before the colonization has started:
Tropicalia: A Brazilian Game (TRAILER)
loading...
Tropicalia: a Brazilian Game is a RPG set in Brazil before colonization.
The game is an ode to SNES-era jRPGs.
To spice things up a bit, you will encounter here:
Quick-Time Events in battle
Map Skills for exploration
You play as Kaique, a little Guarani warrior, who had his girlfriend kidnapped by the demigod Tau. The plot is based on actual Guarani folklore. Tropicalia is gameplay focused, the dialogue is used to set the atmosphere.
Gather materials to craft new items. Have fun grinding at quick battles. Test your strategies against challenging bosses.
Fish, swim, dive, jump, embroil.
Here you will not meet Dragons and Dwarves. But get ready to face Kurupiras and Boetatas. Are You Ready For This Tropical Adventure?
Baldur's Gate 3 - Early Access Interview with Swen Vincke
by Silver, 20:15
IGN interviewed Swen Vincke about Baldur's Gate III's Early Access feedback.
Thanks to those successful forays into early access, Larian launched Baldur’s Gate 3 fully prepared with a suite of quantitative data tools. This software allows Vincke and his team to see practically everything players do, from who they romance to where they save their progress. That latter information helps show where players are ‘save scumming’; the act of creating a save file before a major moment or decision, and reloading it if the situation doesn’t provide the result a player would like.
Vincke notes that one moment in particular, where players must navigate a tricky dialogue encounter to save some children, is one that has experienced heavy save scumming. “It's an emotionally laden moment, and people want the dice to go in a certain direction,” Vincke says. He recognises that the amount of players reloading to try to get a better outcome is something Larian can learn from. “We made [the dice rolls] hard, but maybe we can add extra role-playing options for players to get the same effect. It's one of those things that we can pick up from seeing those behaviors of players.”
It’s not just in this situation that players are becoming frustrated with Baldur’s Gate 3’s dice rolls. The system - based on tabletop Dungeons & Dragons’ use of D20-based skill checks - has proven divisive in the BG3 player base. Many players are not used to a dice roll governing their successes or failures; random number generation (RNG) disrupting a sneaky attempt to deceive someone or foiling a heroic deed can feel at odds with roleplay. “There are people who have had difficulties with that,” says Vincke. “They want to be able to manipulate it.”
