If there’s one thing that’s become clear to me after spending some time with Monster Hunter Wilds’ open beta, it’s that Monster Hunter is changing. Not just in the way that there’s new combat mechanics, weapon changes, and monsters – but in a manner that’s uprooting the foundations the older games have been built on.

Where Monster Hunter World captured the hearts of many new players by modernising CAPCOM’s timeless formula, Wilds is seeking to do something new with it. It’s a bittersweet sensation as a longtime fan, but one I’m happy to embrace if this snapshot of Wilds is what we can expect with the full game.

If Monster Hunter Rise is reminiscent of a bygone era of Monster Hunter, Wilds is a confident embarkation into the ideas brought to the series with World. After character creation and a quick story introduction, you’re let loose into Monster Hunter Wilds’ living world. The ecosystem of the Forbidden Lands feels alive. This sentiment also rung true in World, but Wilds feels like it goes so much further in this regard. Monsters roam around in packs, endemic life is scattered through different environments, and a dynamic weather system is constantly shifting the environment.

The seamless nature of this environment is also found in Wilds’ general structure. There’s no longer a need to return to the Gathering Hub post-hunt, you can remain in the open world, looking for the next target that’s unlucky enough to happen upon you during your travels. It a fluid, no frills gameplay loop that’s somewhat blurred the line between preparing for a hunt and actually undertaking it. Part of me misses that regimented structure of old, it feels odd to not return to base as you work out your next hunt over a meal, but it also isn’t a bad change. It’s a different kind of Monster Hunter experience.

If there’s one thing that feels more familiar, it’s the combat and weapon design. The core roster is here, most of which fulfill the promise of their distinct fantasies with some fun new additions. The bow feels particularly great to use, with a focus on new movement options that makes for a high-octane dodge centric playstyle that keeps you in the fight and dishing out damage.

The big new addition in Wilds is the introduction of the Wound and Focus systems. By holding the left trigger, you’ll enter Focus, making it easier for you to target a particular area of the monster. Eventually, these areas will become wounded, which are highlighted red while in Focus mode. Wounds take more damage from your regular attacks, much like tenderising from Iceborne, only you don’t have to commit to refreshing every few minutes. These wounds can also be exploited with Focus Strikes, giving you access to certain weapon mechanics and devastating attacks that will often knock a monster down at the cost of removing the wound.

It’s a fun expansion on the tenderise idea introduced in Iceborne but it does feel shallower in these early hunts when compared to other combat additions in recent Monster Hunter titles (rest in peace, Wirebug). It’s easy to fall into a loop of creating a bunch of wounds and immediately using a Focus Strike for big damage or a free knockdown. It’s nice to have something to work towards in regards to unlocking the full potential of your weapon in a hunt, but I hope there’s more thought and deliberation on how to best use Focus Strikes to maximise the damage you get from a wound.

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One thing I’m not so torn on is the monsters. Even in the small selection that the beta brings, there are some really fantastic new designs and ideas here. The lumbering Doshaguma combines the bear-like tendencies of Azuros with the hulking size of Goss Harag and the Chatacabra feels like a monster from early Monster Hunter in all the right ways. My undisputed favourite is Rey Dau, a new flying wyvern that conjures up thunderstorms and makes use of electricity with lethal efficiency. I simply can’t wait to see what else the game has in store in this regard, as there’s some real highlights here.

It’s also remarkable how much is packed into this world when you’re exploring. The slinger makes a much welcome return from World, now allowing you to nab resources and activate endemic life from a distance on top of its usual functionalities. It feels great to set off a Paratoad at just the right moment as you hit it from a distance with your slinger, or to knock monsters loose as the clamber on top of unstable terrain. The size of the map here also isn’t an issue thanks to the Seikret – a bipedal bird wyvern you can ride ala the Palamutes from Rise.

While I remain skeptical of the longevity of certain combat additions in Monster Hunter Wilds, I’ve come away from my time with the beta impressed and eager to play more. This is an undisputed evolution of Monster Hunter, one that feels more experimental and risky than any that’s come before it. It’s strange after pouring so many hours into Rise and Sunbreak over the last few years, but I’ve little doubt that my playtime for Wilds will come to rival other recent Monster Hunter titles.

Monster Hunter Wilds launches on the 28th of February, 2025 on PS5,  Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

The post The Monster Hunter Wilds Beta Left Me Extremely Eager To Play More appeared first on Press Start.

Many big triple A franchises have made the jump to VR over the years. Assassin’s Creed, Horizon, Half-Life, Resident Evil, and so much more legendary IP have delivered engaging and unique design experiences through a medium that sometimes feels like it’s still finding its feet. One of the first on the original PlayStation VR was Batman: Arkham VR – an adventure game with a focus on puzzle solving and bringing Gotham to life through a lense we’ve not seen before. It’s a fantastic albeit short experience that does feel like it left a lot on the table in retrospect.

In a lot of ways, Batman: Arkham VR feels like it set out to prove that Batman, specifically the Arkham games, can work in a virtual reality framework. If Arkham VR is a thought experiment on whether or not it’s possible to become the Dark Knight, Arkham Shadow is a full realisation of the very same idea. An experience so unrelenting in its efforts to make the player feel the vengeance that drives Bruce to put on the mask, to make you feel like the thing that goes bump in the night. Arkham Shadow isn’t just a fantastic VR game, it also surpasses some of Rocksteady’s own seminal work.

Set after the events of WB Games Montréal’s Batman: Arkham Origins, Arkham Shadow follows a young, more certain Bruce Wayne and Batman during a time of great turmoil in Gotham. After unleashing chaos throughout the city on the fourth of July, the enigmatic Rat King reveals their plans for an imminent day of reckoning. An event that will see Gotham’s public services, namely the GCPD, courts, and prisons, brought to their knees. It falls to Bruce to uncover the true identity of the Rat King and put a stop to the aptly named Day of Wrath before it can eventuate.

It’s a standard setup, but one that sees Bruce infiltrating Blackgate Prison as an inmate going by the alias of Irving Malone. By day, Bruce lays on a thick accent while donning a different kind of mask to infiltrate the rat cult. By night, he steps into the suit to dig deeper into an elaborate conspiracy of lies and red-herrings in hopes of getting to the truth. While the identity of the Rat King is made fairly obvious in the early hours, it’s the way that the eventual reveal is handled that makes the whole thing so engaging.

Even though that core surprise doesn’t come as a huge shock, there are so many great moments here – especially in the third act. These emotionally charged beats hit harder thanks to Arkham Shadow’s strong theming and explorations of Bruce’s inner conflict. You can tell that this isn’t the same Bruce we saw in Arkham Origins, nor is it the same Bruce we saw in Arkham Asylum. He’s stuck in a strange transition phase where he’s less prone to rage, but when the anger does come out, it tends to take over in the moment.

It’s a character flaw that’s been commonly explored in plenty of Batman media. Even the Arkham games themselves have delved into Bruce’s rage, but Arkham Shadow is also concerned with how its other key players struggle with their inner demons. It would be a crying shame to spoil any of that here, but it’s so fascinating to see characters like Harvey Dent, Harleen Quinzel, and Jonathan Crane before their eventual spirals into villainy. It puts them in a spotlight that’s often so occupied by the Joker, and it’s refreshing to see that much focus on these other rogues.

There are just so many highlights here where gameplay and narrative coalesce into a cohesive whole that feels like it would only be possible in virtual reality. A few of these moments are right up there with some of Arkham’s best, one in particular that occurs in the opening few hours that is perhaps my favourite sequence in any Arkham game. Camouflaj don’t just get these characters and the world, they fundamentally understand why Rocksteady’s versions of them are so compelling. It also really helps that Roger Craig Smith gives another knockout performance as Bruce/Irving/Batman and the likes of Troy Baker as Harvey Dent and Elijah Wood as Jonathan Crane are also excellent additions.

If there was one thing that Arkham VR is sorely lacking, it would have to be any form of combat. To be fair, the kind of experience that game was striving for is one very different from Arkham Shadow, and there’s no doubt it would’ve been difficult to translate Rocksteady’s landmark combat system into virtual reality. It’s clear that Camouflaj knew this, and took a careful approach to interpreting Freeflow Combat for VR, because the end result is nothing short of incredible.

Much like Rocksteady’s Arkham games, Arkham Shadow’s combat is rhythmic. Locking onto goons from a distance and physically throwing a punch will see Batman rush up to them, starting a sort of minigame where you need to punch, swing, and dodge based on visual indicators. Counters are similarly intuitive, requiring you to deflect in the direction the counter is coming from, leaving an enemy open to attack. Better yet, is you can jump to almost any enemy from anywhere in the room, which really nails that feeling of darting around the arena as you deliver calculated strike after calculated strike.

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It’s really elevated when you bring Batman’s toolset into it. You can grab your cape from behind by holding a trigger and pushing the controller forward, stunning any unlucky goons caught in the sweep, opening them up for a flurry of strikes that emulates the beatdown rather well. Batarangs can be quickly flung to knock an enemy off-balance, the Batclaw can grapple unsuspecting combatants to pull them in for a clothesline-like punch, and Explosive Gel can be quickly sprayed onto the floor to lay your own traps throughout the battlefield.

It is exhilarating stuff in every sense of the word. I played Arkham Shadow standing up, which is undoubtedly the way to go here, and broke a sweat after every major combat encounter – but I kept on coming back for more. Nothing is more satisfying that tearing through a room of guys without taking a single hit, delivering blows with enough force to stack up your combo meter for flashy finishers. There’s even challenge maps that serve as playgrounds for those itching to put their skills and combat expression to the test.

The stealth/Predator sections are treated with a similar level of reverence, adopting Rocksteady’s established formula into a VR framework instead of fundamentally reworking it. You’ll perch atop gargoyles and survey rooms with Detective Vision. Luring enemies into unfavourable circumstances, only for you to swoop down, knock them out, and retreat into the embrace of the shadows. It’s a powerful fantasy that just feels unreal in virtual reality.

Another trademark aspect of Arkham that translates so smoothly into Arkham Shadow, is fantastic boss fights. They are so, so good, combining many different elements of the combat system as you dismantle your foe piece by piece. They’re true spectacles, serving as narrative and gameplay highlights amongst Arkham Shadow’s myriad setpieces. My only real issue with these is that there’s only two true boss fights, leaving the very climax of the game without any real boss encounter.

Arkham Shadow’s general gameplay loop is split in two. During the day, you’ll investigate Blackgate Prison as Irving Malone, collecting information on the prison’s key players and the rat cult’s true plans. By night, you’ll wear the cowl, more thoroughly exploring the prison’s many facilities and getting more hands on with its residents. It’s a nice cadence that helps the pacing and sets Arkham Shadow apart from other games in the series. It also helps that there’s a steady flow of unlocks to shakeup combat and stealth, improving the efficacy of your tools and widening your selection of combo finishers.

The Batman sections even employ some light Metroidvania elements, allowing you to explore the different parts of Blackgate as you unlock new gadgets and tools to solve puzzles and engage with different parts of the environment. Various collectibles are scattered about Blackgate (not Riddler Trophies, thankfully) that you can grab and shatter in protest of the Rat King’s rule. Coupled with the aforementioned challenge maps, and there’s quite a bit to dig into here if you want to see everything Arkham Shadow has to offer.

Another aspect of this world that Arkham Shadow categorically nails is just how good it all looks. The constant mood that emanates throughout Blackgate is something we’ve seen before, but is so elevated in virtual reality that it’s hard to not be in awe of what Camouflaj has achieved here. The opening in Gotham is a real highlight, with strong use of lighting in combination with Gotham’s trademark architecture that serve to bolster the power fantasy that comes with being the Dark Knight. I can only imagine how far this game pushes the Meta Quest 3 and is a true showcase for what the hardware is capable of.

The same can’t be said for the game’s technical state, though. I had a couple of instances where characters simply wouldn’t progress past an idle animation, forcing a restart to the most recent checkpoint. Perhaps most frustrating was frequent freezing during loading screens, requiring a full restart of my headset which pulled me right of out of the immersion. I can only hope these things are patched in the near future, because they pop up just often enough to marr the overall experience. It’s also worth mentioning that Arkham Shadow is fit with all the VR bells and whistles when it comes to customisation for those who’re more prone to motion sickness.

When Arkham Shadow is working, though, it’s firing on all cylinders. It stands with Half-Life: Alyx as one of the most well realised virtual reality titles the industry has seen yet. It’s unwavering in its commitment to Rocksteady’s achievements with their own trilogy, cementing Arkham Shadow as a worthy entry into the series. It makes you feel like Batman in a way you simply never have before – and that’s no small feat when you think about what was achieved with the other games in this legendary series.

The post Batman: Arkham Shadow Review – In The Boots Of The Bat appeared first on Press Start.

Metaphor: ReFantazio has come a long way to get where it is today. Initially announced as Project Re:Fantasy, Metaphor was conceived by Katsura Hashino shortly after he departed the Persona team over at ATLUS. Citing a need to explore new ideas untethered from Persona 5’s runaway success, Hashino established his own internal studio within ATLUS named Studio Zero. That all happened almost 10 years ago in 2016. That’s a long time for any game to be in development, but the anticipation for Hashino’s next big creative swing is palpable.

ATLUS is also now in a position where they don’t need to be entertaining creative ideas for new IP. Persona is a worldwide phenomenon that practically prints money, and Shin Megami Tensei is becoming more mainstream as a result. That aspect of Metaphor makes its existence even more impressive, especially when some of ATLUS’ strongest talent is involved in the project. There’s a clear belief in Hashino’s vision to bring something new to ATLUS’ expansive swathe of JRPGs. Though it might not be the gameplay evolution some are looking for, Metaphor is yet another win for ATLUS.

In the dead of night, the United Kingdom of Euchronia’s idealistic and benevolent king is assassinated in his sleep, instigating widespread chaos throughout the land. With his son rendered unconscious by a curse, the throne’s successor has never been more unclear. In his death, the king invokes royal magic, setting the stage for a tournament of kings to to decide who’s fit to take the throne.

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You play as a young boy of the Elda tribe, a group of people that’ve been ostracised due to their connections to the old world. The Elda are few and far between in Euchronia for a few reasons, but what’s important is that you’re entering the tournament on behalf of the prince, while also searching for a means to lift the curse placed on him so he can take his place as king. It’s a fantastically unique premise that’s ripe with potential and thematic musings.

While ATLUS games always have more going on under the surface narratively – especially in Hashino’s works – Metaphor feels restrained. It maintains a square focus on the tournament, its many players, the core cast, and how it’s all impacting Euchronia. There’s still plenty of great narrative surprises and the way in which it hones in on that central conflict means that it’s always the same themes, ideas, and characters being explored and developed.

Euchronia is not a nice place. It purposefully mirrors our own world, with its people romanticising their own works of fiction and the idealistic worlds found within them. These seemingly perfect worlds also have these problems, tough. It’s these ideas of fiction and imagination that Metaphor is most fascinated with. Hoping for a better world when the status quo seems so deep-rooted in Euchronia’s history that most people live in complete ignorance of the discrimination around them.

In no way is this better explored than through Metaphor’s core cast of characters. Citizens whisper about the presence of an Elda in the capital of Grand Trad, propaganda and misinformation from bodies of authority result in warped perceptions of people and tribes they’ve never even met, and foreign cultures are often considered lesser or under-developed because of their differences. Even the problems faced by the higher classes are explored to some degree through the likes of Strohl, a noble who joins the army after his hometown is razed by monsters known as Humans.

It does feel like Metaphor doesn’t go far enough in its commentary of these themes and ideas in its main plot, though. They’re often only addressed in a manner that’s surface level, claiming that these things are bad and need to be uprooted, but not the deeper effects it has on the people impacted the most. I think this is likely because Metaphor is largely concerned with touching on the many downfalls of our own world, instead of exploring a select few in more intimate detail. It lends the game an ethereal and, for lack of a better word, meta feel to its central ideas and explorations.

It’s also just too long. ATLUS’ tentpole JRPGs often have this problem and it rears its ugly head once again in Metaphor. It isn’t as offensive as the tail-end of Persona 5, but Metaphor feels one dungeon too long. The final sequence in particular has a drawn-out preparation phase that’s great for wrapping up unfinished side content, but the main narrative comes to a screeching halt as a result. It’s made more obvious by how tightly paced the rest of Metaphor is, with a structure that echoes traditional Shonen anime to remarkable effect.

On the spectrum of Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, Metaphor: ReFantazio falls somewhere in the middle when it comes to gameplay. It leans a little heavy of the Persona side (with a dash of Digital Devil Saga), but combines elements of both to differentiate itself from ATLUS’ titanic franchises. If you’re wanting something that’s different from ATLUS’ traditional offerings, Metaphor isn’t quite that. It does bring some new ideas into the fold, but calling it wholly original in how it plays would be overstepping.

That isn’t to say Metaphor is uninspired or overly iterative. ATLUS continue to show they have a fundamental grasp on the systems and gameplay elements that make modern Persona and SMT so engaging. Once the game gets going proper, it operates on a calendar system with deadlines for each major dungeon as you progress the main story. You can spend your time making progress in said dungeons, deepening your bonds with the people of Euchronia, growing your kingly virtues, and more.

The biggest change in the calendar system comes with the Gauntlet Runner. A bipedal vehicle commonly used to traverse the dangerous no man’s lands between Euchronia’s towns, dungeons, and key points of interest. The catch, is that it takes time to make a trip in the Gauntlet Runner. Maybe you get a side quest that requires you to visit a nearby town or deal with a monster lurking in a small dungeon. Not only does it consume a day to explore said dungeon, but also to actually travel there in the Gauntlet Runner.

There are still things to do to fill the time while travelling, but any trip away from whatever town your party is setup at needs to be considered based on your progress in the main dungeon and its impending deadline. It adds another layer to decision making in this tried and true gameplay loop, imploring you to make the most of your time and optimise your dungeon diving. The Gauntlet Runner itself also just adds so much personality to the game and the whole setup of the tournament. Nowhere is this seen more than in the way you can stop at Euchronia’s many natural wonders on the road, all of which are accompanied by reflective conversation from the party. It lends a real sense of journey and exploration, echoing a grand feeling that isn’t often felt in modern RPGs.

Metaphor: ReFantazio also brings with it some of the best Social Links ATLUS has ever penned. Known as Bonds within Metaphor, these smaller side stories that follow people from different walks of life within Euchronia benefit greatly from the dark fantasy setting and themes of this world. It’d be a shame to spoil any of them here, but these stories often have the deeper explorations of Metaphor’s core themes and ideas that are lacking in the main story. They aren’t afraid to dig into the grungy underbelly of this world and the positions its people are forced into, but also highlight how perspective and understanding of someone who’s different from you can make all the difference.

Bonds also tie nicely into the game’s job system, called Archetypes. Each Archetype pertains to a different class, with advanced and elite Archetypes evolving from the base ones to create a Lineage. Each Lineage is directly linked to one of your Bonds, and levelling that Bond up directly benefits its related Archetype. Whether it be unlocking the aforementioned Advanced and Elite Archetypes, increasing the total number of Skill Inheritance slots, or decreasing costs associated with unlocking Archetypes within that lineage, these rewards always feel meaningful and worthwhile.

Part of the reason this all works so well is because the Archetype system is so, so good. It’s a fairly traditional job system where party members can seamlessly switch between Archetypes to fill different roles as needed. Levelling up these Archetypes unlocks new skills that you can inherit onto other Archetypes, granting you access to skill combinations you usually wouldn’t have. You can also use these slots to combat elemental weaknesses or fill holes in an Archetype’s kit. There’re so many different combinations and Archetypes to experiment with here, and it all fits so well into Metaphor’s combat framework.

It should come as no surprise that this battle system is very similar to Shin Megami Tensei’s. It’s closest to the Press Turn system from those games, where striking weaknesses grants you an extra turn, but the same is also true for your enemies. It’s always been strategically rewarding, and remains so in Metaphor, but there’s a few new ideas thrown into the mix that set Metaphor apart.

The most obvious change is Metaphor’s approach to first strikes, or the preamble that happens before turn-based combat actually starts. It’s become commonplace in RPGs today, but Metaphor goes a few steps further in its own interpretation of this modern staple. You can lock-on to roaming overworld enemies and engage them in a simple yet robust third-person action combat system. You’ll jump on enemies with simple combos while dodging their own attacks to stagger them, giving you a significant advantage on the first turn of combat if successful. The same is true for enemies, though, and starting battle with disadvantage feels like an uphill battle.

Weaker enemies can be immediately dispatched with this combat without transitioning into the turn-based mode, and weaknesses even play a part in how fast you stagger enemies. It’s a fun system that helps with combat pacing and cuts down on a lot of unnecessary battling. It’s very reminiscent of Trails Through Daybreak, and that’s a very good thing.

There’s a couple of things inside of the turn-based combat that give Metaphor it’s own flavour as well. There’s a formation system where you can place party members in the front or back line of the party, trading physical offence for defence and can sometimes be used to avoid entire attacks if you read your enemy properly. There’s also Synergy skills, which use two turn icons for suped up skills that often deal more damage or provide more efficient support to the party. The coolest part of these skills is how they also work with the Press Turn system, netting you two extra turns if you strike a weakness with one of these skills.

All of these inclusions are welcome because Metaphor does offer some challenge if you go looking for it. It’s not an overly difficult game on its base difficulty if you’re familiar with ATLUS’ other titles, but some of the optional bosses are real strategic gauntlets that force you to use every element of the combat system to come out on top. It’s a nice shift given ATLUS’ recent RPGs have lost some of their edge due to excessive player power and over tuned mechanics like Persona 3 Reload’s Theurgy.

Another area where Metaphor yields mixed results is in its dungeons. The main ones are almost all great, offering some really unique locales to explore that employ labyrinthine design that’re satisfying to unravel. The optional side dungeons are less impressive, often recycling the same visual motifs and design spaces that leave them feeling largely indistinguishable from one another, and forgettable as a result. You’ll spend a lot of time in these spaces as well, which only serves to hammer in the monotony. They’re better than the likes of Mementos or Tartarus, but still don’t come close to the quality of the main dungeons.

Now to surprise absolutely no one as I gush about Metaphor’s production values for the rest of this review. It’ll surprise no one that ATLUS have done it again, Metaphor is effortlessly stylish in all aspects of its presentation. It’s also done in a way that’s entirely different from recent Persona entries, fully embracing its dark fantasy setting and lofty musings on philosophy to deliver some incredibly striking user interfaces, imagery, character designs, and architecture.

A special shout out should go out to Shigenori Soejima’s excellent character designs. Each one is instantly charismatic, identifiable, and unique amongst a pantheon of other countless designs Soejima has authored over the years. It would’ve been easy enough for him to replicate his work in Persona with a medieval twist, but Soejima goes above and behind to reinforce the difference in these races and tribes with remarkable effect. It’s some of his most varied and high quality work yet, and that’s no small statement.

Shoji Meguro also makes a fantastic impression with Metaphor’s original soundtrack. An ATLUS game isn’t an ATLUS game without their irreplaceable music, and Meguro delivers a score so different from his previous works that still maintains his signature touches. Battle tracks slowly ramp up towards thunderous choruses, overworld tunes are less subdued than what you’d find in Persona, really selling the idea of this larger than life tournament of kings. It’s no surprise that Meguro delivers here, but that doesn’t undermine how fantastic the whole thing is.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is another home run for a seemingly unstoppable ATLUS. It isn’t without some issues, and ATLUS have yet to escape their third-act woes, but it’s refreshing to see a new IP with a setting that’s such a hard pivot from what’s become so successful for the studio. It might not depart as drastically when it comes to overall gameplay, but that isn’t such a bad thing when what’s been established is of such high quality.

The post Metaphor ReFantazio Review – Peak Fiction appeared first on Press Start.

Diablo IV felt like something of a much needed course correction – not just for Diablo, but also for Blizzard. While Diablo III has plenty of its own successes, IV’s pivot back to the gothic grunge that underpinned the first two games just felt right. It’s narrative was another lauded high-point, offering up an engrossing tale that left the door open for inevitable follow-ups.

Almost a year and a half later, the first of which is finally here in Vessel of Hatred. For all intents and purposes, Vessel of Hatred is more Diablo IV – but that isn’t a bad thing. It’s an addition to the base game that sports many of the same strengths and even amends some of its weaknesses. It sometimes feels like it plays it a little too safe as a result, but Vessel of Hatred is a worthy expansion to the devilishly enjoyable base game.

Vessel of Hatred picks up right where Diablo IV left off. The Horadrim are no longer the group they used to be, fragmented by innate differences and perceptions on how the threat of hell should be combatted. The ever-optimistic Neyrelle has set off on her own journey in hopes of finding a way to destroy Mephisto once and for all. The choice she made to imprison the Lord of Hatred forces her to endure unbearable suffering and torment. Mephisto taunts and goads Neyrelle within her own mind, planting seeds of self doubt and uncertainty in the process.

It’s in the search for Neyrelle that we journey into the new region of Nahantu. A humid jungle dense with verdant foliage that contrasts to the relatively muted colour palettes of the base game. It’s a peaceful place left untouched by Lilith’s machinations, but one that’s quickly corrupted by Mephisto as he toys with Neyrelle, and also by the Cathedral of Light who hunt her in an indiscriminate frenzy without Inarius to keep them in check.

It can’t be understated how much Vessel of Hatred is benefitted by opting to revisit characters and factions from the base game. There’re still some interesting newcomers like Eru and Maka, but much of the focus is placed on Nayrelle’s internal struggles with Mephisto. This conflict doesn’t just manifest in his attempts to control her, but also through her survivor’s guilt after everything that’s happened to her. It feels like a natural progression of the horrendous experience Nayrelle was put through when trying to save Sanctuary, giving you an immediate reason to buy in to the plot being told here.

Its shorter runtime also means that its overall pacing is much tighter than that of the base game. There is no bloated middle act to pad out runtime or slow down momentum. Vessel of Hatred always feels like it’s squeezing every narrative drop out of its more constrained runtime, and is all the more engrossing for it. It all concludes in a thematically resonant and cathartic conclusion for the party – especially in regards to Nayrelle – and paints a clear picture of what’s to come next in Diablo IV’s second expansion.

Vessel of Hatred’s biggest gameplay addition is the all new Spiritborn class. These are warriors in-tune with Nahantu’s ties to the Spirit Realm, weaponizing animal spirits to push back the forces of hell. It’s very druid-like in concept, but Spiritborn offers a core fantasy that none of Diablo’s prior classes have before.

All of the Spiritborn’s skills channel a different Spirit Guardians with unique elemental affinities and their own kind of gameplay styles. While the Jaguar Guardian focuses on ramping up your attack speed for high action-per-minute play, the Gorilla Guardian opts for slower area of effect skills with a more defensive toolkit. There’s also the Eagle Guardian and Centipede Guardian, the former of which combines the Jaguar’s speed and fury with plenty of skills that can apply Vulnerable to enemies, with the latter focusing more on crowd control and debilitating status effects.

You can definitely slot into one of these archetypes and focus on their strengths, but the best way to play Spiritborn is by combining different skills pertaining to different Guardian Spirits to mix and match their strengths. It enables you to cover areas a particular Guardian Spirit is weak in, or combine abilities that result in lethal combos to get the most bang for your buck. Combining centipede and gorilla skills, for example, results in a kind of crowd control bruiser that dishes out poison and fears enemies to set them up for the gorilla’s less mobile attacks.

There are so many different ways you can take Spiritborn in Vessel of Hatred, and it really feels like a fresh experience amongst a pantheon of already fantastic classes in Diablo IV. No two Spiritborn builds or playstyles are going to be the same, affording a level of flexibility and adaptability that feels unique in Diablo IV’s sandbox. I was constantly shifting between different archetypes thanks the ability to re-spec for free at any time, and I can’t wait to see what kind of deadly combinations the community comes up with when the class is fully explored.

Nahantu is also a great inclusion here. It’s refreshing to explore a more lively and vibrant environment. It still has the same kind of gothic undertones that come through in its colour palettes and overall design, but it stands out against the variety of backdrops found in the base game. You can tell when you transition from Sanctuary into Nahantu, from the clear environmental shift to its Mesoamerican inspired designs in its iconography and structures. It also feels distinct in the broader scope of the franchise, tapping into a more spiritual side of the world and lore.

From a design standpoint, Nahantu isn’t too much different from the regions of Sanctuary. Its flush with side quests, world quests, optional activities, reputation-boosting collectibles, and more. If you enjoyed the loop of exploring the base game’s environments, very little has changed here in Vessel of Hatred. In some ways, this is a bit of a double-edged sword in the sense that it offers the same constant progression, but it really doesn’t feel all that different from the base game. Even the Altars of Lilith have their own parallel within Nahantu, and much of the Renown grind also makes a return here – for better and for worse.

One new feature with Vessel of Hatred that is really neat, is the inclusion of Mercenaries. Initially making their debut in Diablo II, Mercenaries are just as they sound – hireable NPC characters that will accompany you on your adventures through Nahantu and Sanctuary. There’s four launching with Vessel of Hatred, each of which brings their own skill tree and behaviours to complement that of your own class.

It’s a fun system that adds some nice secondary progression that runs alongside your own, and also provides solo players with a method to bulk out their party if the going gets tough. Each mercenary having their own skill tree is a great way to customise them to fit into roles your class typically wouldn’t. Raheir, for example, can act as an aggro drawing tank or a versatile bruiser that gets into the thick of things and inflicts vulnerable on unsuspecting targets. It’s also thematically resonant with Vessel of Hatred’s overall explorations of coming together in times of hardship and finding support in loved ones.

Vessel of Hatred also brings new activities and endgame content, the most enjoyable of which are the new dungeons. There’s a slew on offer here, but the best are undoubtedly The Dark Citadel and Kurast Undercity. These are dungeons specifically curated for Diablo IV’s endgame, with The Dark Citadel bringing challenging new encounters with mechanics that are a bit more involved than what’s found in the base game. It also has a really great loot chase in an earnable currency that can be used to purchase some incredible looking cosmetics – fashion is always the real endgame.

Kurast Undercity is similarly brilliant. It’s a timed dungeon with multiple stages and tweakable challenges that increase the quality of loot rewarded. It feels very similar to Hades in the way you can make runs harder for larger payouts, providing a scaling challenge as you increase your power with new gear. They’re both fantastic additions to Diablo IV’s swathe of endgame content, and will no doubt keep hardcore players busy for some time.

Even if you play Diablo casually, Vessel of Hatred is also introducing a new in-game party finder so you can group up for these endgame activities. It’s a nice way to get solo players or smaller groups into more challenging content where Mercenaries simply won’t do the job. It really streamlines the whole multiplayer process and has loads of filters so you can find like-minded players at difficulties appropriate to your skill level and power.

It feels a bit redundant to mention Nahantu’s beauty yet again, but it can’t be understated how much Diablo IV’s art style and overall aesthetic excels in this kind of setting. The jungles of Nahantu dense mazes of trees and vines, with the forces of hell lurking in the shadows and the Cathedral of Light occupying its winding paths. Despite its alluring and natural appearance, the unsettling feelings you get exploring Sanctuary also permeate throughout Nahantu’s environments.

It isn’t all jungle either, with arid desert regions skirting the natural surroundings so that it seamlessly transitions to and from Diablo IV’s base map. Vessel of Hatred also has its fair share of hellscapes to explore, all of which are as densely detailed and rich with distinct iconography. It continues to be one of Diablo IV’s strongest aspects, and reconfirms that this franchise is at its best when revelling in the dark fantasy undertones of its gothic world.

Vessel of Hatred is an undeniably fantastic addition to Diablo IV. It might play it safe with how it handles world exploration and its open world activities, but it’s hard to complain when the bones of it are already so competent. If you’re looking for an expansion that shakes up Diablo IV at a fundamental level, Vessel of Hatred won’t deliver. But if you’re just looking for more of the excellence that is Diablo IV, Vessel of Hatred is well worth your attention.

The post Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred Review – A Spiritual Success appeared first on Press Start.

There’s no better way to indicate the rarified air that Epic Mickey finds itself in than there truly being nothing else like it from Disney since its sequel released. While Disney have maintained a relatively strong presence in the console market, few projects have managed to capture the same originality and flavour of the Epic Mickey duology outside of Kingdom Hearts. Combine this with Epic Mickey’s limited availability due to Wii exclusivity, and there couldn’t be a better time to return to Mickey’s platforming adventures in the form of Epic Mickey: Rebrushed.

After entering Yen Sid’s workshop through a magic mirror, Mickey’s curiosity is piqued by a model resembling Disneyland. A well-intentioned expression of art quickly turns into an accident that results in the creation of a monster called the Shadow Blot. Mickey panics as the Shadow Blot attacks, prompting him to hurl paint and paint thinner at the beast in a desperate attempt to clean up the mess he’s made. Having survived Mickey’s onslaught of ink, the Shadow Blot descends into the model world, sowing its own chaos there instead.

Decades later, an unsuspecting Mickey is ambushed by the same monster, abducting and bringing him into to the very world the Shadow Blot was initially banished to, now known as Wasteland. A place where forgotten characters and ideas from Disney’s expansive works reside. Mickey’s previous tangle with the Shadow Blot has resulted in some real damage to the people and places found within Wasteland, encouraging Mickey to help all those he can while he searches for a way to return to his own world.

It’s this setup that gives way to Epic Mickey’s genius setting. It’s a true homage to Disney properties both past and present that thoughtfully characterises Mickey and his adventure, one that places its commentary on IP abandonment right at the forefront of its unsettling atmosphere. This is most intricately explored through Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character who originally starred in some of Disney’s earliest theatrical shorts before the studio lost rights to Oswald in a contract dispute with Universal Studios.

As the first inhabitant of the Wasteland, Oswald became its ruler in order to help those who’ve been rejected or forgotten by Disney as the wheels of industry continue to turn. He’s seen as something of a hero to those who’ve found new lives in the Wasteland, but he isn’t without faults. He’s short tempered and resents Mickey for taking his spot as Disney’s flagship character. The damage that the Shadow Blot has done to the Wasteland has also left it in a state of disrepair, further complicating the unseen ties between Mickey and Oswald.

Deeper themes and ideas aside, Epic Mickey tells a fundamentally engrossing story. It’s a carefully balanced mix of weaponised nostalgia, trademark Disney hope, and a dash of poignant melancholy. It’s a joy to see Mickey and Oswald grow over the course of the 10-15 hour story, and the way that new personality and character is infused into the world and characters through side quests makes the world feel like real care and attention was put into bringing it to life. Even if you aren’t crazy about Disney history and the titular Mickey Mouse, there’s a lot of value to be found in the story and characters of Epic Mickey.

Playing Epic Mickey in 2024 is a stark reminder of how few 3D platformers there are nowadays in comparison to the 2010s (excluding Astro Bot, of course). It takes inspiration most heavily from classic collectathon platformers like Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64. Large non-linear levels are populated with NPCs who offer sidequests, Gremlins to free, and of course, collectibles to snatch up. Where it differentiates itself the most, is in its painting and thinning mechanics.

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Equipped with the same magic brush from Yen Sid’s workshop, Mickey can use paint and thinner to interact with different elements of Wasteland. Aside from it being Mickey’s main form of defence against the Shadow Blot’s forces, paint and thinner can be used to create and dissolve different parts of the environment. It’s a straightforward idea, but one that is used in so many different ways throughout the adventure. Unsuspecting walls can be thinned to reveal hidden areas with treasure, puzzles often require apt use of both to reach solutions, and the destruction left in the wake of the Shadow Blot can be painted back into existence.

The best aspect of this mechanic is undoubtedly the way it informs a simple morality system directly tied to how you choose to deal with problems. All boss fights and enemy encounters can be resolved in different ways. Where paint will liberate those under the corrupting influence of the Shadow Blot, thinner will dissolve them into nothing. The people around Mickey react differently according to your decisions and it makes you feel like you have a tangible impact on Wasteland and its inhabitants. It adds an element of roleplay you don’t often see in 3D platformers, and works well to reinforce Epic Mickey’s core themes.

The other aspect that helps to build this feeling of reactivity is Epic Mickey’s aforementioned side quests. The game’s hub levels are absolutely packed with familiar characters who need help with odd jobs and requests that only Mickey is fit to deal with. In a way, Mickey is responsible for the plights of these people due to his creation of the Shadow Blot. It’s worth mentioning that some of these quests aren’t always available, and they’ll eventually expire or be entirely inaccessible if you move on to another area. Leaving these quests as incomplete also changes the way these characters interact with Mickey, and can often make your journey more difficult in certain ways.

As a 3D platformer, Epic Mickey is mostly serviceable. It’s less interested in creating difficult platforming challenges, instead investing in finding ways to weave in painting and thinning the environment to progress forward. It’s largely satisfying, but some aspects of Mickey’s control aren’t quite up to snuff. Jumping brings his momentum to a grinding halt, and it often feels like finding ways to get through areas through smart use of Mickey’s movement set is discouraged and inflexible.

The game also has a slew of 2D platforming sections that serve as stop gaps between Epic Mickey’s major areas. Inspired by some of Disney’s earliest animated shorts, they’re a nice way to break up the pace between all the 3D platforming and combat. They do feel a little on the simple side, though, and often end before they truly get started. One nice change in Rebrush, is the ability to skip these levels if you’ve already completed them, cutting down on time spent backtracking. The camera is also much improved across all aspects of the game thanks to dual stick controls, making the whole experience much more enjoyable.

Rebrushed’s most immediate updates come in the form of its visuals. Now free from the constraints of the Nintendo Wii, Epic Mickey looks fantastic on modern hardware. The game looks great at these higher resolutions, but perhaps most importantly, is that the aesthetic and atmosphere of the original is carefully kept intact here. Wasteland’s painterly visuals are dripping with mood and artistry, with flawless performance to boot on PlayStation 5.

The raw visual upgrade wouldn’t be enough on its own if Wasteland wasn’t already a unique setting. It really sells the idea of abandonment and found family in the characters and places that have fallen to the wayside in light of Disney’s other successes. It’s a side of Disney we simply haven’t seen anywhere else, and is sobering in its presentation and handling of IP abandonment. It’s all in service of building a world that seems antithetical to everything Disney stands for, but peeling back its gnarled surface reveals the same kind of eager happiness and hope that they’re always associated with.

Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is perhaps most valuable in the way that it makes Epic Mickey more accessible to those who’ve yet to experience one of Mickey’s best gaming experiences. It’s setting, narrative, and ideas are just as inspired as they were in 2010, and its paint and thinner mechanic is stretched to a satisfying logical extreme. It isn’t without some issues, but Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is the definitive way to play Epic Mickey today, and is well worth experiencing if you missed out on it more than a decade ago.

The post Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed Review – An Artful Return appeared first on Press Start.

You know those moments in games where spectacle has you thinking; ‘they’re gonna do it, aren’t they?’? Thor jolting Kratos back to life in God of War Ragnarök, facing down the Soul of Cinder in Dark Souls III, embracing the darkness in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. They’re events that always come up when discussing these games, and for good reason. There are so many other examples of this in gaming and other media, almost all of which play a defining part in a title’s legacy.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is full of these moments. 40K fan or not, Space Marine 2 is a rollercoaster of eye-popping spectacle, all of it infused with the utmost reverence and care for the source material it hails from. In some ways, it’s a miracle sequel, delivering on the promise set by the first game all the way back in 2011 in effortless fashion. Even if you aren’t deeply invested in this universe, it’s an unmitigated joy to step into the shoes of Captain Titus once again.

A century after his run in with the forces of Chaos on Graia, Captain Demetrian Titus continues to grapple with the scars left on his reputation thanks to accusations of heresy. Stripped of his former title, Titus joins the Deathwatch as a kind of self-inflicted penance. Despite having conceded that he’s destined to die combating unknown alien threats on the frontlines, Titus is reinstated into the Ultramarines as the unrelenting Tyranid forces begin to overrun the Recidious System. Made to lead a new squad of Ultramarines against the Xenos threat, Titus steps back into the fray as an angel of death.

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Things aren’t quite right in the Recidious System, though. Outside of the obviously problematic Tyranid invasion taking place, Titus and his squad also uncover traces of Chaos throughout the system. Furthermore, the Adeptus Mechanicus are in a hurry to protect a weapon under the name Project Aurora, casting suspicion over their intentions and the motivations of the Imperium who seek to protect it. Titus is naturally skeptical about all of this given his role on Graia, but his reputation haunts his convictions and strong moral compass.

You don’t need to be a 40K fan to get drawn into this plot. It makes an incredible first impression with a banger of an opening mission, and doesn’t let up on the gas from there. In a twist I didn’t at all expect, Space Marine 2 also ties back to the first game very nicely. The story being told here feels like a natural extension of what came before it despite the time jump. Titus feels different, but still sports many of the qualities and traits that made him such a great protagonist to begin with. He’s battle-hardened, stoic, but struggling with finding his place in the Ultramarines again.

Titus is accompanied by Chairon and Gadriel. Two Ultramarines at pivotal points in their tenure as willing and rageful weapons of the Imperium. Gadriel is a clear callback to Leandros, who’s blind faith in the Codex Astartes often led to narrow-minded viewpoints when it comes to Chaos, corruption, and the roll Space Marines play in the broader universe. A key difference, though, is that Gadriel isn’t set in his ways just yet, leaving him susceptible to outside influences and perspectives – both positive, and negative.

Chairon feels much more mature than Gadriel by comparison, but his experience is still dwarfed by what Titus has had to endure. He feels more level-headed and often serves as a bridge between Titus and Gadriel when they have a disagreement. They make for a fantastic duo in the story that’s being told here, and most importantly, serve as figures key to the development of Titus and what he goes through.

All of this is as strong as it is because Space Marine 2 is just so well written. Every line feels intentional, delivered with perfect tone, cadence, and emphasis to suit the situation. Tension will rise and fall between the group as they combat the Tyranids and forces of Chaos, testing their bonds and trust in one another. You so desperately want to see this squad succeed despite the odds being stacked against them, and that sentiment rings true right up until the credits roll.

There are also just so many of those aforementioned jaw-dropping moments throughout Space Marine 2’s runtime. Every mission has some kind of spectacle to gawk at, only often times you’ll find yourself right in the middle of it. Whether it’s storming through trenches as Tyranids attempt to overrun your position, or squaring off against a hulking Helbrute, Space Marine 2 has unforgettable moments aplenty. While it certainly helps if you’re a fan of the IP, there’s no denying how absurdly awesome some these moments are.

My only real gripe with the story is that the third act does feel rushed. It’s filled with plenty of fantastic moments, but it doesn’t feel like it has as much room to breathe as the first two thirds of the game. It definitely delivers by the time credits roll, but I wish I got to see and learn more about its key players and components. It certainly doesn’t derail the entire experience, but just feels off given how deftly handled the rest of the campaign is.

That isn’t to say Space Marine 2 is trying to veil anything else by barraging you with its presentation, because the gameplay also kicks ass. It’s the same third-person melee/shooter hybrid as the first game, but presents its power fantasy in a different way. Space Marine, much like the recent DOOM games on lower difficulties, was a pure power fantasy. Few games were able to capture the kind of carnage you can unleash as an Ultramarine, so it was a novel experience for the time.

Space Marine 2 hasn’t lost that luster, but definitely focuses more on being mindful and strategic with moment to moment combat decisions. The power fantasy is still here, but it’s less accessible – you have to work for it. That’s through a few key new additions and shifts in how the game handles resources and enemy types. The big new features mostly come in the form of defensive mechanics; parrying and dodging.

You still dish out light and heavy attacks in an attempt to stun units, opening them up for brutal and satisfying executions. The enemies in Space Marine 2 don’t take hits lying down, though, and will often unleash their own assaults that can be parried and/or dodged to open them up for counterattack. Smaller units are immediately executed on a successful parry, as Titus swats them out of the air before they can get so much as a claw on his armour. Larger units, on the other hand, are stunned and opened up for a critical shot, where the camera pulls right in, and Titus delivers a devastating point-blank shot.

Executions and critical shots both refill Titus’s armour, imploring you to make the most of these new mechanics to keep healthy in combat. Perfectly timed dodges will also leave an enemy open to a critical shot, so mastery over enemy attack patterns and timing is heavily incentivised – especially on higher difficulties. It takes a bit to get used to, but once it clicks, you feel unstoppable. It feels incredible to yank an enemy out of mid air, crush them underfoot, only to parry an incoming attack and deliver a critical shot to whichever unlucky foe dared to challenge you.

The reason that this all works so well is because Space Marine 2 isn’t a game you can auto-pilot. Jumping into a wave of enemies haphazardly is often a recipe for swift death. You’re implored to balance your limited ammo with ample opportunities to unleash melee carnage when favourable opportunities present themselves. The combat sandbox is further deepened by Fury, a rage mode that lets you regenerate health and throw caution to the wind as a result. Jump packs also make their return in some missions, where you to take to the skies and rain death from above.

Speaking of which, the tools of the trade have been much expanded in Space Marine 2. Melee weapons have unique movesets that keep them distinct from one another, there is a swathe of returning and new ranged weapons, and the selection of grenades on offer is also quite sizable. Missions are dotted with resupply points and weapon drops, so you can regularly switch up your loadout if you feel like a change or need something else to get the job done. Each weapon also looks and sounds suitably visceral, especially when you’re hitting headshots.

This campaign is also entirely playable in three player co-op, and if that isn’t enough to satiate your 40K cravings, Operations have you covered. These are additional missions built to be replayed across different difficulty levels in a squad of three. Operations can also be played in co-op, in-fact, I’d go as far as saying the higher difficulties are designed around it. Completing missions will net you experience points for the class and weapons you used in that mission, awarding you with upgrades and cosmetics to use in higher difficulty Operations.

The coolest aspect of Operations by far, is that they’re almost all centered around events that entwine with the campaign. An example is Decapitation, an operation that’s undertaken at the same time as the game’s fifth campaign mission, Voidsong. To clear the Tyranid hordes for Titus and his squad, another group of Ultramarines have been tasked with eradicating a Hive Tyrant, effectively rendering the Xenos threat useless. You hear about the escapades of these supporting squads within missions, but it’s another thing entirely to actually be able to play them.

It is also crazy how high quality some of these are. Some rival the campaign missions in scale, scope, and ambition, offering many moments of spectacle that you don’t get in the campaign. It allows Saber Interactive to explore corners of the 40K universe that don’t get touched on during the campaign. They also aren’t too long as to outstay their welcome, and replaying them on higher difficulties mixes up enemy placement, resource numbers, as well as health and damage values.

Each of the six playable classes bring their own unique skill to use within Operations. Some are more support oriented, like the Tactician, who can make use of the Auspex to mark targets and weaken them for nearby allies. Other classes are much more selfish, like the Vanguard, who’s equipped with a grappling hook to get in and out of the fray quickly. Each is limited in what they can bring in each of their loadouts, so they feel different from one another outside of just their abilities. Each of these weapons has unlockable variants that scale into the higher difficulties, so there’s lots to chase.

It can’t be overstated how much fun this mode is with friends. Ash Wayling of WellPlayed and myself spent many hours getting in the trenches. Slaying out with each other was a complete blast, and finding ways to overcome tough encounters through smart use of class abilities and resources was always rewarding. I can only imagine how crazy some of the higher difficulties get, especially with a party of three, but it’s the kind of action and chaos you’ll absolutely want to revel in.

Space Marine 2’s multiplayer mode, Eternal War, is also a great time. It’s a fairly standard offering as far as competitive multiplayer goes, but it fills a void left by the likes of Gears of War. It uses the same classes from Operations and has a similar degree of flexibility in weapons loadouts. While most classes feel on par with one another, there are a few that feel a bit on the weaker side, especially with the low time to kill in the current sandbox.

Some balancing woes aside, the overall sandbox is fun to play around with and the game modes presented here play to the strengths of the game’s combat. It’d be nice to see something more complex on the mode front, but a slew of great maps and the promise of more on the way means Eternal War is a worthwhile offering at launch. There’s very little not to love here if you enjoy the campaign and Operations, and it’s a fun excuse to spend more time in the world of 40K if you love some simple, no frills attached competition. It’s also just so cool to play as Chaos.

As always, though, fashion is the true endgame. Space Marine 2 is perhaps one of the greatest examples of this trend. Each class can be customised, from armour pieces and decals, right down to individual colours of trimmings and accents on armour. You could spend hours customising one of these classes, let alone six. There are so many different Space Marine Chapter colours available as well, including the ability to customise individual armour pieces separate from one another.

Even if you aren’t a fan of 40K and you don’t know all of the Chapters and what they entail, it is just so damn cool to be able to craft your own Space Marine. If you can think of it, you can likely do it. Some of the coolest cosmetics are restricted to a high number of Operation completions, offering a way to showcase your mastery of a particular class to other players. There’s so much longevity and flexibility in how this can be approached, I can’t wait to see what the internet comes up with, and I suspect the motivation to unlock the best looking gear will drive me to keep playing.

Part of the reason customisation is such a success in Space Marine 2, is thanks to the sublime presentation of this whole package. This game is presenting constant eye candy. It felt like every frame was screenshot worthy no matter where I looked. It’s positively dripping with 40K’s grimdark aesthetic, offering unique visual directions that occupy different corners of this universe. Nowhere is this better seen than in the battle barge, Space Marine 2’s hub area that feels so much bigger than it actually is thanks to all the set dressing and detail on show.

Where Kadaku is a muddy, dense jungle planet packed with Tyranids, Avarax is a once-glorious Hive World that has quickly buckled under the weight of the Xenos invasion. The undefeated standout is Demerium, a blue and purple tinged battlefield of a war long-since passed, its earth shaking again under the rumblings of war. The enemy density is also insane, with Tyranids flooding into arenas in literal waves, clawing to climb up walls as they clamber over each other with little regard for one another.

It all runs so smoothly as well. This game gets so chaotic at times, there can be so much going on at once, it’s impressive that it doesn’t buckle under its own weight. My PC was able to comfortably support the game on high settings with no issues. While I’m not sure how consoles will fair, it has been confirmed they’ll support multiple modes at launch. Even if you opt for the regular performance mode, be sure to check the game out at its highest graphical output – it’s a true technical marvel.

I don’t think it’ll surprise many that Space Marine 2 is good. The first game established a winning formula that would’ve done the job with current production values and some multiplayer modes thrown in for good measure. What is surprising, is that Space Marine 2 goes far beyond that, offering a tightly paced campaign, truck loads of meaningful progression, top-tier production values, and most importantly, a whole lot of superhuman slaying. It’s made for one of 2024’s best games, and an undoubted game of the year candidate.

The post Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Review – The 40K Game You’ve Always Wanted appeared first on Press Start.

Star Wars Outlaws is a big, big game. Comprised of countless systems that all entwine to create an open-world scoundrel fantasy not often seen in Star Wars games. Because there’s a load to wrap your head around in the initial hours, it’s easy to forget or not even notice key mechanics and systems that can make your experience all the more enjoyable. Here are the things I wish I knew before starting Star Wars Outlaws.

Eating At Diners Unlocks Powerful Treats For Nix

I’ve spoken previously about how Nix is quite the unsung hero in Star Wars Outlaws. Kay’s little critter can do just about everything you need him to. From distracting enemies to pickpocketing unsuspecting Imperials, Nix has a wide array of applications in many facets of the game. One thing the game doesn’t outright tell you, is that Nix can be equipped with different treats to give him new abilities to support Kay.

These aren’t small abilities, either. Che Mosska, which can be found on Toshara, gives Nix the ability to kick grenades away from Kay. While you can always reposition for the same effect, Star Wars Outlaws gets quite frenzied when the combat ramps up. Keeping track of different enemy types, your health, adrenaline meter, and weapon heat means there’s a lot to juggle in the moment to moment gameplay. Equipping Nix with the Che Mosska treat means you can take grenades off of that mental stack, letting you focus on dealing with your adversaries in skirmishes.

Another one of these treats, Duradan Soup, allows Nix to distract multiple enemies at a time, albeit at a shorter range. This is a very powerful ability in stealth for obvious reasons, and goes to show how far these treats go in shaking up playstyle and your approaches to stealth and combat. These treats are acquired by eating at the different diners on each planet, all of which have you doing a cute little quick time event where Kay and Nix share a meal, ultimately unlocking the treat for Nix.

Completing Jet Kordo Vaults Nets You Some Powerful Gear

Introduced towards the tail-end of the Toshara main missions, the Jet Kordo vaults are abandoned vaults filled with resources and gear pieces with powerful passive abilities. Gathering Holodiscs through various means will reveal landmarks of interest on different planets. These landmarks will lead to frequencies that can be used with the Holotracker to track down the hidden vaults.

Finding and looting these vaults nets you Scoundrel gear. These pieces are the highest tier of rarity for gear, bringing powerful bonuses to benefit Kay in and out of combat. The Scoundrel Belt, for example, increases Kay’s Bacta Vial and grenade carrying capacity, increases the recharge speed of the Stun Shot, and contributes to the set bonus that gives an increased window for super cooling, with the first shot after a successful super cool dealing double damage.

On top of that, you’ll also get insight into the story of Jet Kordo and his team as they assemble to undertake their own heist. It’s entertaining stuff that mirrors Kay’s own journey, and following it through to the end is an engaging side story to invest in as you explore the galaxy. Opening the first vault on Toshara will also let you find Miyuki Trade League caches, which are scattered all over the place and are filled with useful resources and components.

Prioritise Unlocking Experts To Expand Kay’s Skillset

Instead of opting for a traditional Ubisoft skill tree progression system, Star Wars Outlaws handles things a bit differently. Kay’s core progression comes in the form of Experts, nine unique characters who excel in particular areas Kay isn’t so adept in. These Experts cover everything from slicing and melee brawling to shooting and handling your speeder.

A good chunk of these Experts are completely optional, making some of Kay’s most useful skills missable. The earliest example of this is Aila Bren , The Slicer, who can drastically improve Kay’s hacking abilities. Not only does it give you access to unique skills to circumvent certain aspects of the slicing minigames, but also lets you craft concussive smoke bombs that can knock a bunch of enemies out of commission – particularly handy when you’re trying to stealth.

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The main story will often give you an Intel Chain to follow so you can locate said Expert. Often they’ll take you offworld, into orbit or to other planets entirely. It’s well worth investing the time in unlocking these Experts to get a jump on these skills earlier and work on unlocking them as you progress through the main story.

Exploring Outposts and Bases Leads To Powerful Upgrades

If you get a head start on unlocking Experts, it’ll also come in handy to explore outposts and bases to loot all of their caches. These can net you resources, gear, and most importantly, crafting components. These components are often needed to upgrade your blaster and unlock some of the best Expert skills.

The map will mark how many caches have yet to be looted in an area, so you can keep track of anything you might be missing in a given area. The game will also give you the general location for certain components, so if you’re hunting a specific part for a skill, you can mark that location on your map and hunt down the caches until you find it.

Clearing out these outposts as you find them won’t just help with Kay’s credit count and general crafting resources, but will often mean you already have the components required to unlock some of the best skills from the game once you find the related Expert. This will help a bunch, especially in stealth sequences where you can’t get caught. It’s also just really handy to build up a surplus of crafting resources and Credits so you can bolster you traversal, stealth, and combat capabilities.

Reading Data Pads and Notes Often Leads To Treasure

While data pads and terminal logs often lead to lore and narrative tidbits in these kinds of games, Star Wars Outlaws uses these chunks of narrative to also point you in the direction of some treasure. Even if you don’t want to spend the time reading these entries, interacting with them will mark relevant points of interest on your map. It’s also really rewarding to stumble on a piece of information related to treasure meant for someone else, only to steal it for yourself.

You can also listen in on conversations in cantinas and bars to similar effect. Criminals will often converse about how they’ve left packages in orbit or have hidden them somewhere on the planet, leaving them ripe for the taking if you want to make a move on them. It pays to listen and look in Star Wars Outlaws, quite literally.

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It’s been almost four years since Game Science revealed Black Myth: Wukong to the world. A lot has happened in the industry in that time, most importantly for Game Science, is the increased success of triple A titles from the East. While Japan has always been a force to be reckoned with in gaming, countries like Korea and China had yet to tap into Western audiences in a big way.

That’s all changed in the last few years, with miHoYo’s live service behemoths shaking up the landscape of free to play experiences and Shift Up’s Stellar Blade also making its long-awaited debut earlier this year. This newfound audience coupled with some pretty impressive showcases painted Black Myth: Wukong as a technical showcase for Unreal Engine 5 with high-octane melee combat. The end result is an enjoyable experience that feels a bit lost in its muddled identity and frustrates in many aspects of its design.

The one thing I cannot fault Black Myth: Wukong for, even if I tried, is in its story, world, and characters. Even as someone who isn’t familiar with Journey to the West, it’s clear that Game Science have a deep appreciation for the source material and its impact on East Asian culture. Each of the game’s five main chapters is thematically rich, dripping with little story details and lore that’s always a joy to uncover. It certainly helps to have familiarity with the original works, but even an outsider can admire the artistry and faith with which its all presented.

Instead of retelling a story that’s been told in many formats over the years, Game Science positions Black Myth: Wukong as its own story supplemental to the original works. Long after Sun Wukong fell to the Celestial Court, a monkey of Mount Huaguo comes to be known as the Destined One. Tasked with collecting six Relics that pertain to each of Wukong’s six-senses, the Destined One sets out on a journey across China to bring the Monkey King back from his incapacitation.

The categorical highlights of the story are the utterly gorgeous animated cutscenes that serve as bookends to each of the game’s chapters. These pieces employ their own distinct animation style, offering a different visual treat as you close out a major portion of the Destined One’s story. From traditional Chinese paintings all the way through to stop-motion animation, Black Myth: Wukong keeps you engaged in its narrative with wildly imaginative and varied presentation. They also provide more context to the events and characters found in the related chapter, expanding the world and story in satisfying fashion.

There’s been a lot of comparisons thrown around to try and describe Black Myth: Wukong. From Dark Souls to the recent God of War games, it’s hard to properly pin down where Wukong fits on the spectrum of action games. I think that the most apt comparison is to Team Ninja’s recent titles, specifically Nioh, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.

Much like those games, the Destined One has access to a light attack combo string and heavy attacks. The key difference being that heavy attacks are charged and empowered with Focus, which is generated by successfully landing light attacks. You also have access to three distinct stances that change how the heavy attack behaves, but there’s no substantial evolution from there in terms of combos and weapon attacks. It’s all managed by a stamina system which dictates how often you can attack, roll, run, typical stuff if you’ve played a Souls-like before.

Where a lot of the combat flexibility comes in, is with Spells and core progression. As you move through the early chapters, the Destined One will gain access to a slew of Spells to use in combat. These are governed by a Mana bar separate to Stamina, and also go on cooldown once used. That’s because these effects are quite powerful. From freezing enemies in place for free hits with Immobilize to creating countless clones of yourself to wail on enemy on combat through A Pluck of Many, there are plenty of ways to pull yourself out of tricky situations when the going gets tough.

You also have Spirits and Transformations. The former are very similar to Yokai Skills from Nioh 2, allowing you to absorb enemy spirits, taking their own hard-hitting attacks into your own toolset. Transformations are similar to another Nioh 2 mechanic called Yokai Shift, letting you take the form of another being for a brief window. Not only does this transformation have it’s own health bar, but also has its own attacks that often inflict elemental ailments and are capable of dishing out big damage in fights.

All of these things plug directly into Black Myth: Wukong’s progression system. Levelling up nets you skill points which can be invested into many different trees that provide static and active upgrades to the Destined One. There is so much to choose from here, allowing you to experiment with builds that focus on different stances and build goals even if you’re always doing the same dance in combat. It helps that you can respec these points at any time to trying something new, affording a level of flexibility in how you approach combat that isn’t often seen in these kinds of games.

Another creative stroke that plays into builds is how Black Myth: Wukong handles its healing. Not unlike Souls, the Destined One has a gourd with a set amount of drinks per rest. It can of course be upgraded to increase its capacity, but it can also be customised to change its effect. You can choose what kind of Drink to fill the gourd with, fundamentally altering how each sip heals you. You can go for a Drink with a front-loaded healing burst, or one that offers less on initial consumption, but ultimately heals for more over time. You can also add Soaks into these drinks to improve your stats or resistances upon using a drink, further deepening the customisation.

Because there isn’t much going on beyond weapon combos and dodging in the moment-to-moment combat, there’s a lot riding on enemy variety and encounter design. Black Myth: Wukong is a bit of a mixed bag in this regard. There are a load of unique enemies to contend with here, steadily rolled out across the different chapters. The main issue is that they aren’t really placed with much rhyme or reason. The exploration of areas between bosses often feel phoned in and arbitrary in that regard, leaving much of the focus on those tentpole encounters.

Bosses overall fair much better. They’re incredibly cinematic, awe-inspiring in scale, and some offer some genuine challenge that I got a thrill out of overcoming. There’s also a ludicrous amount of them for a game of this type, even more shocking is just how high quality some of them are given the sheer number of them. Not all are made equal, though. A few have attacks or mechanics that can feel unfair, there’s myriad hitbox issues, and the camera doesn’t like to cooperate at the best of times. It means that chapters constantly bounce between some very high highs, and some frustrating lows.

It’s difficulty is also wildly inconsistent. The first chapter has a pretty steady curve that the game fails to maintain in its subsequent levels, often throwing easy boss after easy boss at you until the challenge suddenly spikes, roadblocking you for the near future. I’m all for a challenge in these kinds of games, but it often feels like Black Myth: Wukong is scared to commit to going full Souls-like. What’s more mind-boggling is that there’s no way to change the difficulty, so those who are less accustomed to Souls-like tendencies are in for a rude awakening if they’re expecting an experience more akin to God of War.

If there’s one Souls-like element that Black Myth: Wukong absolutely nails, it’s exploration and secrets. There are plenty of opportunities to venture off the beaten path, especially in later chapters. These detours are almost always rewarded with boss fights, side quests, gear, upgrade materials, and more. It’s always worthwhile to poke your head around the corner to see what might be hiding in the corners of Black Myth: Wukong’s world. Few games manage to evoke the sense of discovery and elation when you solve the game’s many mysteries.

The only real issue with this stuff, is that the game often struggles to define where level boundaries start and end. Each area looks and feels organic, which is a real treat to look at, but often means you’re met with invisible walls or unclimbable surfaces despite other similar geometry being traversable. Coupled with the lack of a map of any kind, and Black Myth: Wukong can often feel labyrinthian and restrictive in how you explore its environments. The final chapter in particular really suffers due to this, as it adopts a much more non-linear design with nothing to guide you in the right direction.

Being the next big technical showcase for Unreal Engine 5, there’s been a lot of anticipation for Black Myth: Wukong’s production values. I’m happy to report that this game far exceeds many of the expectations set by prior trailers and demos, making incredible use of Unreal Engine 5’s strengths in tandem with an art style that’s all too fitting for this kind of game.

It is consistently packed with detail, from the individual detail of each hair strand on the Destined One to the wildly imaginative design of the creatures you’ll encounter on your journey. Each area brings its own environment, colour palette, enemy designs, and overall visual aesthetic, delivering a swathe of diverse and detailed areas. It feels truly otherworldly in a way that few games do. While I can’t speak to the performance on PlayStation 5, the PC version held a steady framerate, even on my mid-range rig, which is very impressive given the sheer level of visual fidelity on display here.

Black Myth: Wukong might not be the definitive game of the year candidate most were hoping for, but it’s undoubtedly another feather in the cap of triple A games coming out of the East. If this is just the first step for Game Science in a franchise or other games like this, it’s a very solid foundation, and I’d be very excited to see what else they can do if the studio took another crack at this sort of experience.

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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine was a smash hit commercially and critically. It served up a deliciously brutal power fantasy that appealed to mainstream audiences and longtime fans alike. Despite the success and a cliffhanger of an ending, Space Marine’s future remained uncertain when THQ filed for bankruptcy in 2013. Warhammer would continue to chug along in the games space, delivering unique experiences across a wide array of genres but fans have been clamouring for another third-person action game in the vein of Space Marine.

More than a decade later, Space Marine is back under Focus Entertainment’s supervision. Developed by Saber Interactive, Space Marine 2 is a direct follow-up to the first game. And after some hands-on time with the continuation of Captain Titus’s story, I’m pleased to report that it’s shaping up to be one hell of a good time.

My session kicked off by launching me straight into the game’s fifth campaign mission – Voidsong. After his imprisonment and demotion on charges of heresy, Captain Titus has joined the Deathwatch, an order of Space Marines dedicated to hunting and exterminating alien threats. After the Tyranids invade the Imperial controlled Recidious System, Titus and his Kill Team are dispatched to fight against the Xenos threat.

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As Voidsong is about the midpoint of the campaign, the Tyranid invasion is in full swing on the planet of Avarax. The Xenos swarm clouds the skies, covers rooftops, and flood through streets in a bloodthirsty frenzy. Their corpses pile up on the streets to be incinerated while viscera cakes the nearby architecture. It’s grisly, gory stuff that sells the threat that the Tyranids pose and nails that grimdark atmosphere that 40K is known so well for.

While Space Marine 2 handles its treatment of the Tyranids with the utmost care, it’s clear that the focus here is on Titus. A fallen hero among Ultramarines, he’s constantly reminded of his actions on Graia a century prior. His squadmates, Brother Galadriel and Brother Chairon are naturally sceptical about Titus’s supposed heresy. It’s something that clearly weighs heavily on Titus’s shoulders, one that drives him to reclaim his former glory and honour.

If you’ve played the first game, it’s a captivating angle to explore in the midst of a Tyranid invasion. Stoking the flames of conflict even further is the presence of Chaos in the Recidious System, insinuating that there are deeper machinations at work underneath the surface. It’s this rich sense of place and exploration of what makes Space Marines tick that has me eager to see how the rest of Titus’s story unfolds.

If there’s one thing that Saber Interactive are striving for in Space Marine 2, it’s to elevate the power fantasy that Relic Entertainment categorically nailed in the first game. The most obvious improvements come in the Tyranids themselves. While the first game offered plenty of Orks to demolish on Graia, the number of Tyranids present on-screen at any given time is honestly mind-boggling. It’s clear that Space Marine 2’s swarm technology is an extension of Saber’s previous efforts in World War Z, a natural fit for a threat like the Tyranids.

It means that Space Marine 2 does feel noticeably different from the first game. The core of it is still there, arming you with melee and ranged weaponry to unleash the wrath of the Ultramarines onto unrelenting hordes. The sheer number of enemies you’ll face down at once echoes the feeling of Warhammer’s own Vermintide and Darktide games. You can’t mindlessly jump head-first into a group of Xenos and hope to come out unscathed, you need to wait for your opportunity and manage resources effectively.

It’s a more mindful and considered gameplay loop that still offers the same kind of power fantasy when you engage with it properly. New to Space Marine 2 are some defensive mechanics in the form of dodging and countering. Executing perfect variants of these manoeuvres opens enemies up for swift and brutal counterattack, either through a brief window for melee damage or by unleashing a devastating critical shot which feels incredible to pull off. Heavy attacks still stun larger enemy units, opening them up for an execution that regenerates armour in combat.

The most impressive thing about this slice of Space Marine 2 is the mission itself. With a runtime just shy of an hour or so, Voidsong took me through hordes of Tyranids, the forces of Chaos and two distinct boss fights. It felt like there was so much to see no matter where I looked and frequent weapon drops allow you to change up your equipment quite regularly. My only concern at this point is that the cinematic flair of parries and dodges might get old after more time with the combat, given how integral they are when fighting larger units.

The other half of this preview build comes in the form of Operations. These are smaller missions focused on cooperation and replayability between a group of three Space Marines. There’s a total of six classes to play around with here, each offering their own set of equipment and unique abilities. The Assault class, for example, kits you out with a Jump Pack and Thunder Hammer, letting you take to the skies and come crashing back down in meteoric fashion. The Sniper, on the other hand, is more focused on cloaking and long range play as you take down your targets from far.

The two Operations I got to play echo a similar level of quality to Voidsong, offering endless waves of Tyranids and plenty of spectacle to behold. The first is set in the jungles of Kadaku, where we had to arm a bomb and detonate it just at the right moment for maximum efficiency. The other saw my squad hunting down a Hive Tyrant to deal a hefty blow to Xenos forces. While I didn’t get to see each difficulty level in this slice of the game, I have no doubt that the highest tiers will require a high level of cooperation and communication.

Operations aren’t just a neat idea for a coop mode, though. They position themselves as events happening around the main campaign, with Titus and other key characters chiming in to deliver objectives and exposition. It helps make the conflict in the Recidious System feel like a war being fought on multiple fronts, Titus and his squad aren’t the only Space Marines fighting back the overwhelming Tyranid forces. It’s really fantastic stuff and a mode I suspect I and many others will sink countless hours into.

The main reason for that is the way progression is set out. Completing Operations nets you experience to spend on upgrading your arsenal and kitting your classes out with more unique skills, gearing you up for higher difficulty runs. On top of that, there’s a hefty amount of cosmetic customisation to play around with here. Each class can be equipped with new gear, colours, and accessories to show off your favoured Space Marine Chapters in glorious fashion. It feels like much has been borrowed from Vermintide and Darktide in that sense, which is a very good thing.

The other thing that floored me with Space Marine 2 is just how gorgeous it is. The first game had a bit of an issue with visual variety as it almost exclusively takes place on Graia. Much of that is remedied here, with Kakadu and Avarax alone offering distinct explorations of different visual aesthetics within the 40K universe. This is before seeing any of the third planet, Demerium, in-game, which looks to be the most visually striking of the three.

It feels like I’ve only had a taste of what Space Marine 2 has to offer, but I couldn’t be more excited to jump into the full game. I’m raring to see how Titus’s story unfolds, what other spectacles lie in the rest of the Operations, and to get into the fray of the game’s multiplayer mode, Eternal War. What I’ve played of it so far absolutely rips in a way that 40K and few other games manage to. It feels surreal to playing a sequel to Space Marine after all these years, let alone one that’s looking like it’s going to deliver in spades when it launches next month.

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When you think about it, it’s pretty wild that we’ve yet to see a truly open-world Star Wars game until now. The space-faring nature of Disney’s behemoth transmedia franchise goes hand-in-hand with exploration and non-linearity in a way that few IP do. Being able to venture through planets from all corners of the Star Wars canon while you contend with the Empire and the galaxy’s seediest forces sounds like a surefire hit. It’s an ambitious prospect that can be taken in so many different directions, one that Massive Entertainment is looking to break into.

When it comes to Star Wars, the conversation is so often dominated by the eternal conflict between light and dark, good and evil, Jedi and Sith. Star Wars is arguably at its most interesting when it explores the impact that conflict has on the galaxy and those that call it home, the citizens kept firmly under heel by the might of the Empire and the scoundrels who revel in the chaos of their rule. This is the space that Star Wars Outlaws occupies, and I was lucky enough to get a lengthy hands-on with Massive Entertainment’s take on this universe.

The first chunk of my preview session took place in the opening hours of the story. After a job gone wrong, protagonist Kay Vess and her cute little partner in crime, Nix, crashland on Toshara – an all new planet designed in collaboration between Massive and Lucasfilm. With a hefty bounty on Kay’s head, the duo set out in search of freedom in a universe under the iron grip of the Empire. Setting the story of Outlaws between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi means the Empire are at the height of their power, which is made immediately apparent.

Instead of being met with help or sympathy upon exiting their crashed ship, the Trailblazer, Kay and Nix are quickly thrust into a shootout with some bandits. This serves as a quick introduction to the Adrenaline system, where Kay generates Adrenaline while in combat. Once full, you can activate Adrenaline Rush, where you slow down time and mark targets for a swift dispatch similar to Splinter Cell’s Mark and Execute mechanics. It’s a slick and thematically fitting ability that always feels great to use without cheapening encounters.

After the skirmish, a local mechanic offers to fix up the Trailblazer for a price, so Kay and Nix head to Mirogana City in the hopes of getting some work from a local Syndicate underboss. As much as I’d like to say the speeder bike ride over was uneventful, that would be far from the truth. I was ambushed again by bandits, as if they’d been lying in wait. A high-octane chase ensued where I was ducking and weaving blaster shots, threading the needle between obstacles until I could activate Adrenaline Rush to send the bandits careening into Toshara’s rugged terrain.

It’s exhilarating stuff that really reinforces just how lawless Toshara is. The Empire is here, but little is done about conflict not involving them outside of Mirogana, even less if the local Pyke Syndicate is involved. This is a sentiment that reverberated through the rest of my time with Outlaws. You’ll often come across bandits and raiders trying to rob Empire outposts or locals who’re minding their own business, and rivalling Syndicates can be found trading shots while they implore Kay to take their side. It all serves to make Kay and Nix feel like a small part in a much larger criminal underbelly that thrives under Empire rule.

The lawlessness of Mirogana City’s outskirts is juxtaposed by the city itself. Primarily occupied by the Empire and the Pyke Syndicate, Mirogana is subject to restrictions and oppression no matter where you go. Empire security checkpoints monitor the locals as they go about their days and the Pyke Syndicate have their own muscle guarding territory. It oozes atmosphere and vibes that only this kind of Star Wars story can.

Kay and Nix’s introduction to Mirogana also paints them as inexperienced bounty hunters on an unfamiliar world. They’re clearly out of their element and overconfident, leading to a quick dismissal by the local Pyke underboss, Gorak. Their efforts don’t go unnoticed, though, and instead they pick up work from a local broker named Danka. The job is simple – infiltrate Gorak’s private base in Mirogana and steal some information that he’s keeping under lock and key.

It was here that I got my first real taste of stealth in Star Wars Outlaws. At first, I found it unwieldy and awkward. I was stumbling from cover to cover desperately avoiding enemy sightlines and patrols while searching for Gorak’s base. It was only once I started making use of Nix, that things started to click for me. Nix is quite the crafty little fellow. At Kay’s order, he can grab items, distract guards, activate devices, and even attack enemies. Using Nix to distract a patrol allows Kay to sneak up behind them for an easy takedown or move past them entirely.

You still have to think about how you move through these restricted areas, though. One decision I’m not a huge fan of, is that detection in any of these restricted areas boots you back to the entrance. There’s no opportunity to smooth talk or shoot your way out of a confrontation and it feels jarring to be hit with a black screen and then have to retread your steps as if it never happened. It’s especially odd given the focus that Star Wars Outlaws places on Kay’s reputation with each Syndicate and how actions can impact your standing.

After reaching the Pyke Stronghold, the restriction is lifted and stealth is no longer a necessity. Gorak’s base lies at the far side of the stronghold, barred by an energy barrier powered by two generators. In trademark Ubisoft fashion, I equip Kay’s Electrobinoculars to scope out and mark patrolling enemies. After some more stealth to thin the numbers a bit, I send Nix off to trigger an explosive barrel, the alarm sounds, and a firefight ensues.

It’s clear what kind of influence Massive’s time on the Division games has had on Star Wars Outlaws here. Shooting is scrappy in all the right ways. It feels like a veritable scramble as you take potshots from cover and send Nix out to grab weapons more lethal than Kay’s own blaster. Repositioning behind new cover as enemies try to flush you out, only for you to cleanup the fight with a well timed Adrenaline Rush. These elements in combination with an active reload mechanic really deliver on the fantasy of being a resourceful scoundrel in combat.

One other small element that I really enjoyed during this mission was the minigames. Terminal Slicing and lockpicking each take form in distinct little puzzles. The first is almost identical to Wordle, providing simple but straightforward headscratchers that feel rewarding to solve with a much higher overall attempt count. The latter is a rhythm minigame, where you need to listen for clicks in the locks and press a button in time with them. They never overstay their welcome and are always a nice way to break up the pacing of combat and stealth.

The final piece of the puzzle for this mission comes right at its conclusion. Gorak’s terminal reveals that there’s a traitor in the Pyke Syndicate looking to overthrow him, and Kay is given a choice over what to do with it. You can give it to Eleera of the Crimson Dawn, another crime Syndicate on Toshara in conflict with the Pykes, or you can take it to Gorak himself to get in his good books. I chose to hand over the info to Eleera, growing Kay’s standing with the Crimson Dawn.

This reputation system is what lies at the beating heart of Star Wars Outlaws. Kay and Nix, like any bounty hunters, live and die by their reputation within the galaxy’s criminal underbelly. Being in good standings with a Syndicate means you can access their restricted areas freely, gain access to new blaster skins, landing zones, and more. Being in bad standing means the inverse, even getting to the point where hit squads will be sent after Kay and Nix in the open world. It’s a fantastic system that impacted countless times during my roughly four hour hands-on.

The most impressive thing about this is that Massive have designed it in a way that implores you to make decisions that benefit Kay and Nix as opposed to pledging loyalty to one faction. I constantly found myself bouncing between the Pykes and the Crimson Dawn based on how I perceived the outcome would impact the pair. Their endearing relationship is what makes you want to see these two reach their dreams of unfettered freedom and solace from the reign of the Empire, a feeling that translates nicely into this system.

It was at this point that I decided to dive into some of Toshara’s open world offerings. Considering this is one of five planets in Star Wars Outlaws, Toshara’s overall size is pretty astonishing. Darting around its orange-hued landscape on Kay’s speeder bike feels fantastic. It has a weight and sense of resistance that sells the highspeed nature of these vehicles. Ramps are dotted about Toshara’s world like they’re going out of fashion, giving you plenty of opportunity for air time as you explore.

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It helps that there’s a lot to move between and do in Toshara. Aside from dynamic world events that happen as you stumble across them, there’s many secrets to uncover as you find notes and clues in Mirogana and its surrounds. One note I found spoke of how typical it is that someone’s partner had hidden their stash behind a waterfall in Jaunta’s Hope. I investigated said waterfall only to find another note, saying the stash had been moved to a nearby abandoned building because the waterfall was just too obvious. It was a funny moment of storytelling that made me chuckle as I made my way over to the cache’s new location.

The real standout of the open world stuff is Intel Chains. These are as they sound – bits of info you can find that lead to certain people or places, only to lead you to the next until you reach an endpoint for that Intel Chain. They feel suitably on-brand for a Star Wars experience like this and almost always present worthwhile rewards. One Intel Chain I completed led me to discover a speeder bike Expert, who can eventually help Kay to upgrade and improve her own speeder bike.

Speaking of which, the Expert system in general is a neat idea. Each one pertains to a different element of Kay’s capabilities. From hand-to-hand combat and shooting, to Slicing and speeder bike traversal. Finding these Experts allows Kay to unlock new abilities within each of these areas, like being able to do a bunny hop on your speeder bike. It’s a small detail, but the way that this is contextualised reinforces Kay and Nix’s relative inexperience and sells the idea of leaning into professionals of different trades to improve your own skills. I only had access to three Experts in this portion of the build, but it seems like there’s a whopping eight of them in total.

The last thing I did during this portion of the hands-on was another story mission that took Kay and Nix into space on their newly repaired ship. Once I got used to controlling it, piloting the Trailblazer felt second nature in its fluidity and handling. The spectacle of viewing Toshara from its own orbit is also beautiful and it was surreal to think I was on its surface just moments earlier. This mission also pivots away from getting amongst the Syndicates and instead has Kay and Nix meddling with the Empire as they board an Imperial fuel station.

What follows is another stealth section, only this time it’s through the pristine and glistening halls of the Empire’s signature architecture. Stormtroopers and Imperial Officers patrol colossal hangers filled with TIE Fighters and Imperial cargo ships. Much like Toshara, it’s visually mesmerising, a complete and faithful recreation of some of the most iconic visual aesthetics in Star Wars. The mission concludes with another choice between Syndicates, followed by a dogfight in Toshara’s orbit, echoing the same exhilarating scrappiness found in grounded combat.

After three and a bit hours on Toshara, I got to move over to Kijimi, seen most recently in Rise of Skywalker. Kijimi’s recreation is honestly absurd considering how little there was for Massive to go off of. Its appearance in Episode IX was fleeting, but the detail and artistry on display here is sublime. If nothing else, it’s another signifier that Massive have a deep love and appreciation for Star Wars and its worlds. It has me excited to see what else they have in store when it comes to planets like Tatooine and Akiva.

The section of Kijimi I got to explore is much smaller than what I saw on Toshara, but just as densely packed with detail. Secrets lie in many corners of Kijimi City, most of which is occupied by the Ashiga Clan. The Empire presence feels less overbearing here than in Toshara, but that doesn’t mean that most of its inhabitants aren’t under surveillance. The aforementioned Ashiga Clan is everywhere, hunting for Crimson Dawn loyalists who seek to wrangle control from their Queen.

While all of this bodes well for the the full release of Outlaws next month, I did find that the overall experience is a bit rough around the edges. There’s still a day one patch to come but I did see a number of visual bugs and some general jankiness while getting lost in the open world. Thankfully, Outlaws’ other production values are top notch, elevating the art direction of these fantastical worlds with a raw graphical output that feels like it’s making the most of current gen hardware.

Even though I got to play almost five hours of Star Wars Outlaws, I’ve come away from my hands-on feeling like I’ve barely scratched the surface. There are still many planets to explore, Experts to uncover, and Intel Chains to reach the end of. There are many other elements of the game I haven’t touched on here. It feels ambitious in every sense of the word, fuelled by a passion and love for the IP that isn’t dissimilar to what Respawn have done with the Jedi games. It’s carving out its own identity amidst a plethora of unique takes on this galaxy, and I can’t wait to jump back in for more.

Star Wars Outlaws launches on August 30th for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Amazon has pre-orders available for $89 with free release day delivery for Prime members.

Harry was a guest of Ubisoft with travel and accommodation covered for the purpose of this preview.

The post Star Wars Outlaws Hands-On Preview – A Different Side of Star Wars appeared first on Press Start.

During my almost five hour hands-on with Star Wars Outlaws, it became clear to me that MASSIVE Entertainment’s first foray into the space opera epic is densely packed with systems and mechanics. That probably doesn’t come as a surprise if you’re familiar with their work on the Division games. Their design harbours a similar penchant for long-term, game-wide progression that is woven into many of the moving parts of these shared world shooters.

The pivot to a single player experience has fundamentally shaken up how MASSIVE approaches these foundational ideas in Outlaws, though. The most present of which is undoubtedly the Reputation system. As bounty hunting scoundrels, Kay Vess and Nix live and die by their standings in the criminal underbelly of Star Wars. It makes sense narratively, but how does it translate into a system influenced by gameplay and player choice?

WHAT IS THE REPUTATION SYSTEM AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

The Reputation system is what measures Kay’s standings with each Syndicate in Star Wars Outlaws. Your current standings can be viewed under its own dedicated tab in the menu, which is quite handy given how much you’ll be checking it. Every Syndicate starts in poor standing at the beginning of the game, but they will shift between the good and bad ends of the spectrum constantly if my hands-on time is anything to go by.

There’s a few ways that I saw this happen during my time with the game. The most immediate way you see Kay’s reputations change is through main story missions. Three of the four I played in this preview build were bookended by making a decision between two of the game’s four main Syndicates. You might be contracted to do a job for the Crimson Dawn to get dirt on the Pyke Syndicate, but ultimately decide to take the info into your own hands and hand it off to the Pykes instead. In a situation like this, you’ll gain reputation with the Pykes, but lose reputation with the Crimson Dawn.

These reputation gains and losses aren’t limited to main story missions, though. They also pop up in side quests, open world encounters, one-off quests from job boards, and more. Not all of them result in losing reputation also, meaning there’s always opportunity to gain better standing with one Syndicate without falling out of favour with another.

HOW DO STANDINGS IMPACT THE OVERALL EXPERIENCE OF STAR WARS OUTLAWS?

Being in good or bad standings with any given Syndicate impacts Star Wars Outlaws in a few different ways. For starters, it should be mentioned that you aren’t just in good or bad standings. Each side of the spectrum has two stages, so you can go beyond simply being liked or disliked by any given syndicate. Poor standing lies right in the middle of the spectrum, effectively serving as a sort of neutral level where Kay is neither hated nor favoured.

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There are a couple of different ways I saw this manifest in my own good standings with the Crimson Dawn early on in my session. Most immediate was a swanky new skin for Kay’s blaster and access to faction-specific vendors that you usually can’t access. Perhaps most impactful is the ability to enter Syndicate controlled territory with no repercussions. This means access to new items, treasures, and even influences how you approach certain missions.

The trade-off for my good standings with the Crimson Dawn meant that the Pyke Syndicate weren’t particularly fond of me. They’d shoot at me on site in the open world, would immediately halt any trespassing within their territory if caught, and restricted access to their specific vendors. While I wasn’t able to see for myself how these boons and banes change as your reputation gets better or worse, director Mathias Karlson elaborated on how much impact the system has at either end of the spectrum.

“We really tried to hook it into as many aspects of the experience as possible. For example, let’s say you’re being chased by Imperials for whatever reason on Toshara and you happen to cross into the territory of a faction that thinks highly of Kay, they might join and help you fight them off. Some of the game’s most exclusive rewards are found within the Reputation system. Some of the territory even has landing pads that you can only use when you’re in the highest standing with that Syndicate.”.

He continues by talking about the other side of the spectrum; “On the flipside, the really really bad side, you become Wanted. Syndicates will send squads out to take you down and you have to contend with being prey in the open world until you’re able to get your standings in better graces.” It paints a picture of a galaxy where Kay and Nix are a small part of a much larger and dynamic criminal underbelly.

When it comes to narrative Karlson reinforced that while you will feel differences, they really want Outlaws to be a Star Wars story first and foremost. Ultimately it’s about Kay, Nix and their crew, suggesting that your reputation standings won’t have an impact on how the narrative of Outlaws unfolds and concludes when it comes to core story beats.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE IN THE BEST STANDING WITH ALL SYNDICATES AT ONCE?

While I mentioned in my hands-on preview that it feels like MASSIVE have carefully designed the Reputation system to feel like it ebbs and flows as you progress the main story, Karlson did reveal that it is indeed possible to completely max out your reputation with all Syndicates. “A lot of the time you’re facing binary decisions, but there are ways to gain reputation with one Syndicate without sacrificing your standing with another. Having max rep with all the Syndicates is very very hard. I’m sure people will figure it out, they’re always better at the game than we are. It’s part of the fun and will happen for different players at different times.”.

This means for the completionists out there, it will be possible to get all Syndicate-related cosmetics and unlockables, alongside any faction quests locked behind certain reputation thresholds. It’ll no doubt add a lot of replay value and game time onto an already chunky experience for those who want to see everything.

WHO ARE THE FOUR MAIN SYNDICATES IN STAR WARS OUTLAWS?

As mentioned previously, there are four key Syndicates in Star Wars Outlaws, each operating on different planets and in conflict with each other. Some of these are factions you may recognise from other Star Wars media, while others have been created by MASSIVE for Outlaws specifically.

The first group I encountered on Toshara was the Pyke Syndicate, a group I’m sure any Star Wars diehard will be familiar with. Their most notable appearances are in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and The Book of Boba Fett. They’re known for having near-complete control over the production of raw spice, which is used to create a powerful drug. In Star Wars Outlaws, they make shady deals with the Empire to maintain control over Toshara.

In direct competition with the Pyke Syndicate on Toshara are the Crimson Dawn. Formerly lead by Darth Maul, the Crimson Dawn have also appeared in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and played a role in Solo: A Star Wars Story. They’ve been a part of many a conspiracy throughout the galaxy, even waging a secret war against the Empire during Darth Vader’s rule. My time with Outlaws suggests that the Crimson Dawn prefer to operate in the shadows, sowing chaos from unseen corners away from prying eyes.

Another group with a strong distaste for the Crimson Dawn is the Ashiga Clan. This is an entirely new syndicate found primarily on Episode IX’s Kijimi. Their design is very inspired by Japanese culture and their power structure is based around a hierarchical Melitto hive. It’s a novel concept that we haven’t seen in Star Wars and adds further context to why Kijimi is considered a haven for thieves.

The final piece of the puzzle is the infamous Hutt Cartel. A name that’s bound to be familiar to anyone who’s even remotely familiar with Star Wars, the Hutts grew to power in the Outer Rim through smuggling and countless other illegal activities. While I didn’t see much of the Hutts on Toshara or Kijimi, you can bet your bottom credit that they’ll be very present on Tatooine, with Jabba the Hutt confirmed to be making an appearance in Star Wars Outlaws in the base game as well as a Season Pass-exclusive DLC mission.

The post Here’s How The Reputation System Works In Star Wars Outlaws appeared first on Press Start.

A Star Wars protagonist simply isn’t a Star Wars protagonist without an adorable little sidekick. Whether it’s a droid like BD-1, R2D2 and BB-8, or an alien like Grogu and Babu Frik, Star Wars has a history of including these endearing characters in their casts. Next in line to join this menagerie of little guys is Nix, Kay’s merqaal companion and partner in crime. After four and a half hours with Star Wars Outlaws, it’s clear that Nix brings much more to the table than his lovable personality and is sure to be a hit with players for a number of reasons.

Nix’s Abilities Compliment Kay’s Perfectly

My early hours with Star Wars Outlaws had me trying to navigate stealth sections and failing miserably. I found it tricky to stay out of enemy line of sight while sticking behind cover as I moved towards my objective. These stealth sections often take place in the restricted territory of crime Syndicates, which means getting caught boots you back to the entrance of whatever area you’re exploring. There’s not a heap Kay can do on her own to distract patrolling guards and get by undetected.

I quickly discovered that the key to these stealth sections lies in using Nix’s toolset in tandem with Kay’s. You can send him out to distract patrols with hilariously endearing animations. He’ll either dance in front of them, be a general nuisance, or play dead in the most dramatic way possible. Regardless of which act he chooses, it opens up a brief moment of opportunity for Kay to sneak past or take the patrol out with a swift takedown. It’s quick, versatile, and incredibly seamless to use once you understand how the system works.

When things inevitably get loud, Nix is useful in more aggressive ways. You can send him out to attack combatants, which sees him eagerly dashing his way over to the marked target as he pounces on them. It frees Kay up to deal with other threats, or better yet, keeps said target occupied for Kay to swoop in with a well placed shot or melee attack. Nix can also run out from behind cover to grab more heavy duty weapons for Kay to use if her blaster just isn’t cutting it.

Another piece of the puzzle with Nix that you can use both in and out of combat, is his ability to interact with the environment. You can send him out to disable alarms, set off explosives, cut power generators, grab treasure, and more. You see this primarily through light environmental puzzle solving in the overworld where he can fit through small spaces to open the way forward for Kay. It’s all designed in a way that you always think about how Nix can interact with and impact the different situations you find yourself.

Nix’s Relationship With Kay Makes For A Unique Dual Protagonist Setup

Star Wars Outlaws isn’t just a story about Kay with Nix as her sidekick. Narrative director Navid Khavari talks a bit about this during a panel, elaborating that the story of Outlaws is a dual protagonist tale, one that has its dynamic shaken up by the introduction of other characters like ND-5 (the hot robot). This sentiment echoes throughout the core hook of Outlaws. Kay isn’t just fighting for freedom of her own, but also for Nix, who’s clearly been with her for some time at this point in their story.

They have an unspoken synergy and understanding of each other that reinforces the scoundrel fantasy. An early example of this is when Kay approaches a local Pyke underboss in Mirogana named Gorak for work. As a newcomer to Toshara, Kay is quickly dismissed by Gorak, who tells her to come back once she’s made a name for herself. During the tense verbal skirmish, Nix cuddles up to Gorak, subtly slipping an expensive looking ring off his finger in the process. Aside from it being genuinely funny, it’s a reminder that the two are always looking out for each other.

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It feels similar to that of Cal’s relationship with BD-1 in the Jedi games. You want to see these two overcome the odds they’re faced with in tumultuous situations even if they’re the ones that got themselves into the mess. It also helps that Nix is absurdly cute in everything he does. The way he trills and emotes in response to different situations is incredibly expressive, lending the critter a level of personality that’s hard to achieve when limited to behaviours and sounds.

The Voice of The Clone Troopers Voices Nix

A large part of why Nix succeeds at this is thanks to a fantastic performance from Dee Bradley Baker. For the unfamiliar, Baker is most well known in Star Wars for voicing Captain Rex and clone troopers in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Rebels, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch. That’s pretty wild to think about, but it makes sense given Baker’s prior tendencies to give life to other animals and creatures in cartoon and live-action productions.

Dee Bradley Baker’s expertise in finding the voice of numerous creatures and critters means he’s a natural fit when it comes to voicing Nix. In a panel with the voice talent behind the core cast of Outlaws, Baker talked about how he would try to understand how Nix would react to different events in cutscenes and in-game. Once he’d figured it out, he’d work with the narrative team to bring it to life and Nix is suitably animated to convey the emotion further via body language.

It’s testament to how many parts of a development team have a hand in bring even a small character like Nix to life. It’s remarkable to see how Baker has interpreted the character and his behaviour in any given situation. It felt like I saw so many sides of Nix during my time with Star Wars Outlaws, but I’m sure there’s much more to see when the game launches in full next month.

Star Wars Outlaws launches on August 30th for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Amazon has pre-orders available for $89 with free release day delivery for Prime members.

Harry was a guest of Ubisoft with travel and accommodation covered for the purpose of this preview.

The post Nix Is The Perfect Companion In Star Wars Outlaws appeared first on Press Start.

As a self-proclaimed JRPG fanatic, I’ve covered a lot of ground in this genre over the years. From Final Fantasy to Xenoblade and everything in-between, there are few blind spots in the knowledge I’ve amassed of these oft gargantuan experiences. Still, though, there are blind spots. One such franchise that’s always eluded me despite its rapid growth is the Trails series.

Many of Nihon Falcom’s titles are sprinkled throughout my backlog and have been sitting there for some time, gathering dust in my Steam library. If there’s one thing I can say for sure after taking the plunge into the latest entry in The Legend of Heroes franchise, Trails Through Daybreak, it’s that I’m concerned about how much money and time the rest of this series is going to snatch away from me in the near-future.

For those unfamiliar with the Trails games, the general rule of thumb is that each arc stands separate from the rest of the series, so there’s no real required reading to jump into Trails Through Daybreak. Each one is set in a different region of Zemuria, so some of the world happenings and politics do have some crossover and there’s sure to be a few references to prior events that I didn’t pick up on.

Not having prior experience with the franchise didn’t feel like a detriment in the case of Trails Through Daybreak. Daybreak marks the first Trails arc to be set in the Calvard Republic, and follows the story Van Arkride, a bounty hunter and private detective who takes on gigs that are a bit more morally grey than usual jobs. It’s a unique role to be in given the Calvard Republic’s economic boom and public unrest surrounding immigration and governmental changes.

Van’s work at Arkride Solutions brings in Agnes Claudel, a bright-eyed and energetic high school girl who’s naivety lends a more positive outlook of the world when compared to Van. The two set out to find a type of machine or orbment, as they’re referred to in-universe, called Oct-Genesis. They’re eventually accompanied by many different people from all walks of life in the Calvard Republic as they enter conflict with a terrorist group known as Almata.Í

The thing that surprised me the most about Trails Through Daybreak is its willingness to delve into mature subject matter and themes, exploring them through the numerous perspectives of its characters and their outlooks on life. On the surface, the Calvard Republic is a melting pot of cultures that’s grown in the wake of post-war reparations. The truth of it is that many forms of malice bubble beneath the surface, big and small.

None of this is better explored than through Van Arkride himself. Van is a breath of fresh air in a genre full of prophesied chosen ones and would-be heroes. There’s nothing wrong with a good hero’s journey, but Van’s work leaves him ever skeptical of those around him and the situations he finds himself in. He’s always keen-eyed, is rarely blindsided, and exudes a charm and sense of comedy that makes him an endearing protagonist from start to finish.

Van’s life experience makes Agnes quite the fitting protege. His unwillingness to trust new people is immediately juxtaposed by Agnes’s more bubbly and easy-going nature. It makes for engrossing character development on both fronts and offers a relationship dynamic that remains engaging through Daybreak.

The surrounding cast of characters and the broader plot are similarly engaging. It goes far deeper than simply looking for the Octo-Genesis, pulling numerous groups into the fold as the core plot unravels. It slowly reveals new facets to each of its conflicts and the characters surrounding it, making for quite the rollercoaster ride once its all said and done.

As the first part of this new story arc within the Calvard Republic, Trails Though Daybreak spends a lot of time with its characters and world. A majority of the major plot happenings are in service of Van and the people who fall into his employ at Arkride Solutions. The way that each arc focuses on individual characters as they’re introduced gives them ample room to breathe and develop despite the relatively large size of the overall cast.

Daybreak is also unique in the way it handles combat, employing both real-time and turn-based elements for the first time in a Trails game. In the field, you can engage enemies in fast-paced real-time combat, combining quick combos with nimble dodges and heavy attacks to stun your enemies leading into turn-based combat. This not only damages them, but delays their turns on the battle timeline, giving you a significant edge in proper combat.

Once you’re in combat proper, there’s quite a bit to keep track of. You have standard attack and defend commands, consumable items and most importantly – Crafts and Arts. Crafts and Arts are governed by CP and EP respectively. CP is pretty readily available, so Crafts function as a nice bread and butter option to hit groups of enemies for decent damage. EP is generally harder to come by, which is made up for by the strength of Arts and their ability to exploit elemental weaknesses and dish out buffs.

You also have to think about your party composition and the way that you position characters when using Crafts and Arts to get the most bang for your buck. There’s a lot to think about, and I don’t feel the game does the best job of teaching you how it all works. There’s a good number of tutorials but not much of it shows you how things work when you put it into practice. There was a healthy amount of experimentation before I felt like I had a firm grasp on combat.

Once you get it, though, it becomes immensely rewarding in its complexity and nuances. Understanding how to make the most of your turns while delaying the turns of your opponents, maximising EP consumption, positioning properly and more becomes a puzzle in each battle. It becomes even more in-depth when you dive into character customisation and some of the other RPG elements in Trails Through Daybreak.

You have the usual gear system where different weapons and armour increase different stats, alongside accessories. Where Trails Through Daybreak is most distinguished is in its Quartz system. The Quartz system allows you to slot Quartz across four different lines. Some of these are locked and need to be opened as you progress through the game, some are element-locked to certain Quartz types.

This is arguably going to be the best part of Trails Through Daybreak if you enjoy building out your party and characters. It’s so rewarding to tinker with your party after being stuck by a boss and coming out on top through a careful combination of Quartz and thoughtful combat decisions. This does add onto the initial complexity of combat, though, so getting to grips with everything at once can feel overwhelming in the opening hours.

When you aren’t engaging in combat, you’ll spend a majority of your time exploring the different parts of the Calvard Republic and helping out the general public with their own requests. A good chunk of these are really enjoyable, often exploring the darker elements of Trails Through Daybreak’s world instead of opting for meandering fetch quests. There’s a healthy amount in each chapter, each one building up Van’s moral compass based on your decisions.

While this moral compass doesn’t have any drastic impact on the main plot or ending, it does open up unique dialogue and opportunities to side with certain factions. It goes a long way to characterise Van while also letting you have your own say on certain situations. They’re also often used to expand on side characters, which is nice given each arc of the main plot usually focuses on a few key players.

The only real issue I found with the navigation side of things is the pacing. There’s some pretty lengthy stretches of time where you’re railroaded into main story progression with little-to-no combat to break up the overall flow. It helps a lot that the characters are so multi-faceted and the plot is engaging, but I often found myself itching to get back into exploration and combat when the narrative takes the wheel.

One side system that I really dig is the Gourmet Rank. As a certified foodie and sweets aficionado, Van loves to eat. As you buy, cook, and eat new foods, you’ll gain points towards your Gourmet Rank. Ranking up nets party wide stat increases, imploring you to hunt down as many new foods and beverages as you can when exploring the Calvard Republic’s locales. It’s a neat twist on a system we see in many RPGs today, and feels fitting given Van’s affinity for food.

If there’s one thing that unites many of Falcom’s titles, it’s that they all share a striking visual style that’s immediately identifiable. Trails Through Daybreak is no different, sporting a gorgeously realised anime-like visual aesthetic that pops with colour and detail. The fact that this game released almost three years ago in Japan is testament to the idea that art direction will always trump raw visual fidelity.

While I can’t speak to its place in the broader scope of Trails games, The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak is a great JRPG that surprises and delights in so many ways. It might present itself as unwieldy in its opening hours, but that initial friction gives way to a deeply nuanced gameplay experience coupled with excellent characters and narrative chops. If you’ve yet to dive into Trails, Daybreak might be your best opportunity to do so.

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It’s no secret that the games industry has been chasing the live-service golden sheep over the last 10 or so years. The obsession with the idea of games as a service has resulted in countless cancellations, closures, and lay-offs across the board. To make matters worse, the oft-gilded studios that author these games very rarely want to develop these kind of experiences, and are ill-equipped to do so. There have been a few highlights, though. Massive Entertainment’s The Division, Arrowhead’s smash hit Helldivers 2, and perhaps most prominently, Bungie’s Destiny.

Destiny felt like the first real foray into an ambitious commitment for a live-service experience. Between it being Bungie’s first post-Halo title, having a grand plan for a decade-long narrative, and trying to meld the novelty of looter-shooters with MMO-like elements, Destiny had its work cut out for it, and then some. As someone who’s been around since the start, Destiny has had its fair share of ups and downs, but Bungie always delivers where it counts. As the final chapter in this 10 year saga, The Final Shape is more than just a shot in the arm for Destiny, it’s a triumphant achievement emblematic of all Bungie’s learnings over the last decade.

It’s another day in the Last City. Humanity, Eliksni, and Cabal alike go about their lives with the imminent threat of the Witness looming overhead. It’s a bittersweet reminder of the progress we’ve made with former enemies and our potentially cataclysmic loss on Neomuna during last year’s Lightfall expansion. The warmth of this scene is quickly ripped away from us, though, presenting a nightmarish vision of what happens if the Witness achieves its final shape. Beings from all corners of the universe indiscriminately sliced up, separated, and calcified with surgical precision.

With little time left on the clock, our Guardian and the Vanguard traverse the portal into the Pale Heart of the Traveler to put a stop to the Witness’s machinations once and for all. What follows is a deeply personal and intimate dissection of Destiny’s key players. Cayde-6, Ikora, Zavala, and Crow are all put through a stress test in the face of cosmic annihilation. It stands in stark contrast with Lightfall’s more unserious tone, placing less focus on the what as it delves deeply into the who.

The end result is Destiny’s best core narrative yet. One that trusts its audience to connect the dots between its intricate lore and character motivations. It’s refreshingly abstract for Destiny, nudging you towards satisfying conclusions while leaving room for more exploration and conjecture. It delivers by answering so many lingering questions we’ve had about the nature of the universe, the light, the darkness, the Traveler, the Witness, and more. It does all of this without relying on convoluted terms and exposition, instead opting for simple and sensical answers that reinforces Destiny’s core themes.

The character explorations here are simply the best we’ve seen in-game. Zavala is grappling with the Traveler’s continued silence in the wake of our greatest threat yet. Cayde-6 is struggling to make sense of why he’s been brought back in the light, and for what purpose. Crow continues to be one of the game’s best characters, as he tries to navigate his feelings in relation to the return of Cayde-6 and his place in the world going forward.

Even the Witness, whose most important character details have been relegated to seasonal content, gets a healthy dose of development throughout the campaign. It finally feels representative of the threat that it poses to the broader universe, injecting some light cosmic horror elements into this ancient conflict. It’s another addition to Destiny’s pantheon of legendary adversaries, standing alongside the likes of Savathûn the Witch Queen and Oryx the Taken King.

The first half of the campaign is a slow burn that gives its character dynamics and key interactions room to breathe, lending more poignancy to its most heartfelt moments of reunion, betrayal, and camaraderie. This time spent with the Vanguard segues into a thrilling race to the finish line, culminating in an incredible penultimate mission that sets the stage for The Final Shape’s raid and conclusion. It’s rare we get campaigns that are directly tied to the raid of an expansion, but this is proof that it’s something Bungie should continue to invest in going forward.

The campaign design itself is also stellar, echoing a lot of the combat challenge and dungeon-like encounters found in the Witch Queen and Lightfall campaigns. Each mission introduces a new concept, pushes it to its logical end-point, and throws it away for something new in the following mission. The Pale Heart itself is also curated for the kind of urgency needed for this campaign. It’s Destiny’s first truly linear destination, with each mission taking you through a different part of the Traveler’s recreations as you move towards the Witness’s monolith.

These things in combination make for a tightly paced 4-5 hour campaign that encompasses so many different locales, story beats, and gameplay experiences. Difficulty is another key part of the puzzle here, with the returning Legendary mode offering a worthwhile challenge for experienced Guardians. My only real gripe here is that the first half of the campaign does feel a bit too easy, and by the time it picks up, it reaches its conclusion. This is partly due to the amount of power creep we’ve seen in recent times, but is also because of The Final Shape’s most exciting inclusion; Prismatic.

Prismatic is the fusion between a thematic throughline established in 2020’s Beyond Light and the gameplay equivalent of blowing the door off the hinges of the game’s current sandbox. A brand-new subclass that erases the ever-blurry line between light and dark, allowing our Guardian to tap into both at the same time. It’s a wildly empowering gameplay experience that feels like you’re cheating. Letting you make use of combinations that’ve been pipedreams for the longest time.

Each class has access to specific Supers, Aspects, Grenades, and Melees from each Subclass. The selections available on each Prismatic subclass have been carefully curated as to not entirely break the game, while still offering a gameplay experience that’s unlike any other subclass in the game. It takes more thought and engagement from the player in comparison to traditional subclasses. It forces you to think more about synergies and combinations, opening the pandora’s box that is buildcrafting for those who’ve yet to fall into its depths.

Prismatic is further bolstered by two things. The first is Transcendence, which is a sort of mini-Super that can be activated after doing enough light and dark damage. While Transcendent, you gain access to a dual-element grenade, increased ability regen, and a flat weapon damage buff. Each class also has a sweet animation when you activate it, with Warlocks striking a mystic pose, Hunter’s brandishing their knives, and Titan’s cracking their knuckles in glorious fashion. Transcendence is just fantastic. It feels so damn good to have a build setup that heightens your Transcendence uptime, and is so thematically resonant with The Final Shape as an expansion.

The second is the inclusion of new light Supers and Aspects. Warlocks have received a much needed shake-up to their Solar toolkit in Song of Flame and Hellion. The former is a new Super reminiscent of Destiny’s Radiance, while the latter is an Aspect that lends you a Solar turret upon Class Ability activation. Another highlight is the Titan’s Twilight Arsenal Super and Unbreakable Aspect. Twilight Arsenal sees you hurling three Void axes that can then be picked up and used in combat by you and your allies, while Unbreakable allows you to put up a shield that absorbs attacks, and sends it back in a Void blast.

The Hunter’s new tools are similarly unique within their own sandbox, and while the viability of each is up for debate, it’s hard to deny that they’re all damn cool. The way in which you get these new Supers is also phenomenal. This rings true for Prismatic in general, unlocking a default kit for you during the first mission and slowly dolling out new Fragments, Aspects, and Supers to play around with as you complete the campaign and explore the Pale Heart. It’s a far cry from the way Beyond Light and Lightfall dangled their new Subclasses in front of you until the campaign wraps.

When it comes to putting these new tools to the test, what could be better than a new enemy faction? The Dread is our first truly Darkness-aligned enemy race, shaped by the Witness within the Pale Heart. While the intimidating Tormentors were brought to us in Lightfall, every other member of the Dread is entirely new, and they shake up the sandbox in big ways.

The Weavers and the Attendants are Strand and Stasis empowered Psions respectively, using these Darkness powers to flush you out of cover and deny area. The Weavers are particularly tricky given they can physically move you with their Strand attacks, pulling you into perilous positions during combat. The Grim are Destiny’s first flying enemy, equipped with an ear-piercing screech that suppresses your abilities for a short time. The last of the minor units are the Husks, who expel explosive Geists upon death that hunt you down if you dispatch them incorrectly.

The Subjugators are the other boss units that stand with the Tormentors. These are souped-up versions of the Weavers and the Attendants, also using Stasis and Strand to freeze you, suspend you, and generally be a nuisance. The Dread are an enemy faction unlike any we’ve seen within the game, forcing you to think about how you move and position more thoughtfully than you usually would. They’re an unmitigated success, and I truly hope we see more of them in the future.

The Pale Heart as a destination is also one of Bungie’s best. It echoes the the same secret-harbouring nature as the Dreaming City and the Dreadnought, leaning into player discovery and exploration instead of checklisting things to do each time you login. A big part of this is thanks to Overthrow, the Pale Heart’s destination activity which can be done in its three main zones.

Overthrow (and the Pale Heart by extension) is interesting because it isn’t a matchmade activity. One of the three zones will have a matchmade feature each week for those interested, but if you just load into patrol, it’ll only be you and anyone else in your fireteam. It’s reminiscent of Escalation Protocol from Warmind, where you complete myriad public events and encounters to increase the Overthrow level. Upon reaching level 4, you’ll take down a boss and be rewarded for it. It’s a great activity that feels easygoing yet engaging in the amount of variety it offers.

The Pale Heart is jam-packed with other stuff to find as well. A healthy chunk of the Prismatic Fragments can only be found through environmental puzzles waiting for you throughout the destination. Obtaining the Exotic Khvostov 7G-0X also requires a good bit of exploration. It’s refreshing to see a destination made so relevant through meaningful design, encouraging players to uncover its secrets and understand its myriad intricacies.

Most things you do in the Pale Heart will also feed into the Pathfinder. A progression system entirely new to Destiny 2, Pathfinder is a streamlined feature that makes it easier to track your progress towards rewards. As you complete different objectives, you’ll progress through Pathfinder Nodes until you reach the end. The Pathfinder can be reset indefinitely for a Glimmer cost, but has diminishing returns after its first couple of resets. It’s a great system that’s easy to understand and engage with as you explore the Pale Heart.

The Pathfinder system has also been implemented to work with the Ritual Playlists. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t function as well here. This version of Pathfinder will often force you into activities and playlists you don’t want to engage with to get rewards. The objectives are awkward and ill-fitted for the purposes its been built for here. It feels counterintuitive to bounce between playlists to complete certain objectives to get to the final Node when these rewards were previously very flexible in how you acquire them.

After you’ve done some secret hunting in the Pale Heart, it’s likely you’ll stumble across Dual Destiny. Dual Destiny is perhaps Bungie’s best-designed Exotic mission yet. It can only be done with two players, no more, no less. It pushes the limits on the kinds of mechanics we see in these missions to make for challenging encounters with high enemy density and a need for constant communication. It’s also thematically brilliant, ultimately rewarding you with the powerful Exotic Class Items that can roll with two Exotic perks at once to use with your Prismatic builds.

No Destiny expansion is complete without a raid, The Final Shape’s coming in the form of Salvation’s Edge. This is a fantastic raid, one of Bungie’s best, with smartly-designed encounters that require engagement from all raid members and a combat challenge that feels suitable for a raid of this grandeur. It was a true force to reckon with on Contest Mode, and past that, has continued to be a great time in subsequent runs. While there are some really high highs in Salvation’s Edge like the Witness fight and the fourth encounter, I do wish there was an extra boss thrown in there somewhere instead of having three puzzle/combat encounters.

The story then culminates in Destiny’s first ever 12-man activity – Excision. As a narrative and gameplay experience, Excision feels like the conclusion that this legendary saga deserves, offering up unmatched scope and scale within the game currently. It feels like an Endgame moment for Destiny, where everyone comes together to fight a greater evil. Without spoiling too much, the story beats that come out of Excision couldn’t be better, delivering an emotionally moving and reflective conclusion that feels tailor-made for long time players.

It feels typical to say that Destiny 2 continues to look fantastic, but it really couldn’t be more true here in The Final Shape. The Pale Heart is one of Destiny’s most visually defined destinations. Wildly eclectic in its assortment of locales, all of which feel bathed in the Traveler’s life-giving light. As you move towards the Witness’s monolith, things become more corrupt and devoid of life. Segments of land are sliced up into their finalised shapes, and things seem normal until you take a closer look at how they’re made up. It feels like a real nostalgia trip given that the Pale Heart is a recreation of our own memories, but is just as inspired as Bungie’s more recent destinations.

The soundtrack is also another certified banger. The way that urgency and introspection is shifted between in these tracks as you venture through the Pale Heart is a joy to listen to. Unmade is another killer final boss track for the raid, and Excision has one of the best soundtracks for a mission that Bungie has ever made. It’s also really cool to see how some of the in-game music has shifted after the events of Excision, showcasing how the live-service elements of Destiny can interact with every facet of it in interesting ways.

After the disappointment of Lightfall, at the conclusion of Destiny’s first saga, Bungie have managed to deliver their best expansion yet. The Final Shape is a triumphant finish that delivers on its promises, and then some. It also paints a promising picture of Destiny’s future as we see its live-service elements used in new and exciting ways. There’ve been so many moments where things haven’t looked good for Destiny, but Bungie have continually pulled through and delivered an ending worthy of their legacy and the players who’ve invested so much time into this world.

The post Destiny 2: The Final Shape Review – A Worthy Finale appeared first on Press Start.

How do you follow up your magnum opus? It’s a question that permeated my anticipation for Elden Ring’s first and only expansion. One that promises to explore untouched corners of the Lands Between and the characters that reside within the penumbra cast by its monolithic namesake. It sounds simple enough, but is made more complex by Elden Ring’s own nature. It’s arguably FROMSOFTWARE’s greatest achievement, its sheer scale and density rivalled only by its ambition and unwavering commitment to a vision that most would dismiss at first glance.

Shadow of the Erdtree isn’t just more Elden Ring. It’s a fundamental expansion of the world and character dynamics of the base game, iterating upon its free-flowing gameplay loop as to implore you to venture into its myriad depths. It occupies a space entirely different to that of the Elden Ring, offering an experience that doubles down on the best parts of the Lands Between in a world that feels introspective and left behind in the wake of great cataclysm. It stands alongside the likes of The Old Hunters and The Ringed City, and in a lot of ways, surpasses them.

After defeating Mohg, Lord of Blood, interacting with the cocoon in Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum will whisk the Tarnished away to the Realm of Shadow. A forgotten land veiled by the shadow of the Erdtree in all its grandeur, one that holds the missing god Miquella after being stolen away by Mohg. You’ll quickly be greeted by Leda and her allies, unified in their search for Miquella as they trace his footsteps throughout the realm in hope of ascertaining the fate of the long-lost Empyrean.

If you’re familiar with Elden Ring’s lore, I don’t need to explain why this setup is immediately engrossing. Miquella’s place in the Lands Between is unlike the other Shardbearers. He’s separated from them in the way that compassion and kindness are his guiding qualities in a world brimming with conflict and tension. It’s fascinating to learn what Miquella has been up to since the Shattering, and it paints a richer portrait of dynamics and character motivations when it comes to the Golden Order.

The spotlight isn’t solely on Miquella, though. Many familiar and unfamiliar facets of the world are explored in Shadow of the Erdtree. The real star of the show is the Realm of Shadow itself. It emanates an encroaching loneliness in the way that the Lands Between don’t. The Realm of Shadow is scarred by the relentless crusade of Messmer the Impaler and his loyal subjects, leaving you to wander the wastes left in the wake of his destruction. It’s a reminder that even when separated from the Lands Between, the fallout from the Shattering is inescapable.

Despite this, surviving denizens of the Realm of Shadow can be found throughout, each expanding the new region, its place within the broader world, and the big players of the core narrative as it unfolds. FROMSOFTWARE also nails the side content again, offering many memorable characters and quest lines that often culminate in jaw-dropping boss fights that only FROMSOFTWARE would have the gall to make optional. Their willingness to accept that every player won’t experience everything continues to bolster the organic nature of exploration.

In fact, this rings true for many elements of Shadow of the Erdtree. The map itself is quite large, roughly the size of the first two areas of the base game if you put them together. If you only follow the golden path, though, you won’t get to see large chunks of it, most of which house smaller dungeons and boss fights that are worth unearthing. I’ve spent a little over 20 hours in the Realm of Shadow and have yet to explore two smaller areas of the map, and I’m eager to see what secrets they may hold.

While you can argue that Elden Ring is somewhat overbearing in the sheer number of things there are to do, Shadows of the Erdtree feels more approachable in its scale. It’s overall, a more digestible experience that’s still densely packed with worthwhile content and experiences. In fact, I think the smaller size leans more into FROMSOFTWARE’s ability to fine tune each area and what it offers. There’s far less repetition in the way of things like catacombs and caves, opting to instead focus on secret boss fights and areas.

Even though there’s a healthy amount of optional stuff in Shadow of the Erdtree, there’s still quite a bit jammed into the main progression. You’ll see a decent number of the new boss fights, and all three of the new Legacy Dungeons. The first of which is the Belurat Tower Settlement, a vertically inclined town densely packed with houses that’s become riddled with plague and disease over time. The Shadow Keep is the second Legacy Dungeon you’ll venture through, with more traditional FROMSOFTWARE level design that segues into a tower with a confrontation awaiting you at the top.

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While I won’t spoil the third and final Legacy Dungeon in Shadow of the Erdtree, it continues the trends set by the previous two in its own way, offering a distinct colour palette and aesthetic, all of which culminate in a thematically resonant boss fight that lore junkies will adore. Instead of resting on the laurels of the base game, Shadow of the Erdtree fills in the gaps left by the Lands Between, constantly finding new and striking visual motifs that we’ve yet to see in this world and combining it with FROMSOFTWARE’s impeccable level design.

This also extends to the broader open world, which, while much smaller than the Lands Between, still feels enormous and complex given Shadow of the Erdtree’s nature as an expansion. The Ancient Ruins of Rauh offer verdant fields and dense foliage that feels natural and untouched by Messmer’s wrath, where the Cerulean Coast juxtaposes the dream-like blue glow of its fauna against ominous colossal coffins that litter the landscape. A favourite of mine is the Abyssal Woods, where frenzy has a stranglehold over the area, sucking the life out of what would’ve been a dense forest and turning it into a maze of death and paranoia.

Your reasons for exploring these locations aren’t all intrinsic, either. Like the base game, Shadow of the Erdtree rewards you for exploring and uncovering its secrets. From the many new weapons, spells, Ashes of War, Spirit Ashes, and more, there’s always something to find around the corner. The new weapon types in particular are a bunch of fun to play around with (especially the unarmed weapon), and some of the new Ashes of War are way too cool not to use. Brand new to Shadow of the Erdtree are two new items that open up Shadow Realm Blessings – Scadutree Fragments, and Revered Spirit Ash.

The former are fragments dropped from the Scadutree, a withered and decrepit version of the Erdtree itself in the Realm of Shadow. Much like the golden monolith, the Scadutree can be seen from many parts of the map, draping the land in the veils that hide it from the Lands Between. These fragments can be used at Sites of Grace to permanently reduce the damage you take and deal in your journey. The latter are also used at Sites of Grace to bolster the strength of your Spirit Ashes, allowing them to scale into the expansion with you.

It’s important to note that the Shadow Realm Blessings are entirely optional. It’s a nice way to make some of Shadow of the Erdtree’s more challenging moments more approachable through exploration. Much like the base game, you can leave any area or fight you struggle with in search of these upgrades and other boss fights to come back stronger through these blessings and new character levels. It’s also a nice way to ensure you don’t need to grind levels before venturing into the Realm of Shadow.

Speaking of difficulty, FROMSOFTWARE don’t hold back when it comes to challenge. My character was a little over level 100 before heading into the Realm of Shadow, which I found to be a suitable level of difficulty in combination with the Shadow Realm Blessings. I still got stuck by a few bosses and had to change up my equipment and approach in order to best them, but it was always satisfying. Enemy design is similarly challenging, leaning more into the beast-like chimeras of Bloodborne that are a bit more on the crazy side than the base game.

There’s some real highlights here when it comes to bosses. Messmer the Impaler is one that’s been marketed quite a bit, but his frenetic and frenzied combination of fire magic and his mid-rage spear attacks make for a thrilling and fast-paced showdown. An early fight with Rennala’s younger sister, Rellana, is another highlight. Her dual swords become separately infused with moon magic and fire magic, echoing one of Dark Souls III’s best fights in Pontiff Sulyvahn.

My only real issue with some of the boss fights, is that half of the battle ends up being with the camera. It’s something that’s always been a problem in Souls games, but it feels especially egregious here as certain attacks can lead to death given the late-game nature of Shadow of the Erdtree. Some of these bosses move so quickly in their fights that it’s hard to keep track of when to lock on, and when not to so you can avoid getting lost in all the chaos. The reuse of main bosses in the overworld is also still a thing here, which can lessen the impact of those original encounters.

It should go without saying based on my previous comments that Shadow of the Erdtree has incredible visual direction. It explores so many settings and motifs not found in the base game, lending the Realm of Shadow an ethereal and otherworldly feeling of intangibility. Each area is punctuated by sweeping vistas, no matter how haunting they may be, most of which feature the withered Scadutree that towers above. It’s a true encapsulation of the environments found in Elden Ring, and then some, always offering up a feast for the eyes at every turn of the corner.

It’ll also come at no surprise when I say that the soundtrack here simply elevates everything Shadow of the Erdtree does. Whether it’s the calm and introspective overworld themes, or the heightened tension of boss tracks that get the blood pumping, this expansion always delivers on its big moments through the adept use of musical storytelling. The final boss track is simply phenomenal, and so many other encounters feature compositions that are hard to get out of your head until it’s supplanted by the next.

It’s going to shock no one that Shadow of the Erdtree is as high quality as it is. At this point, FROMSOFTWARE has a track record that goes unrivalled in the genre, and perhaps even the industry at large. Shadow of the Erdtree is more than a doubling down of what makes Elden Ring so special, it’s an exploration of what new elements can bolster that which makes it strong. It’s a worthy expansion to a beloved world and set of characters that seemed so impossible to follow-up, but FROMSOFTWARE have done it again. Just like they always do.

The post Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree Review – An Impeccable Final Course appeared first on Press Start.

If you’ve played Elden Ring, you know that FROMSOFTWARE doesn’t mess around when it comes to difficulty. This sentiment rings even truer in their expansions, which almost always up the ante when it comes to challenge. Regular enemies pose new threats, boss designs grow more complex, and environmental navigation becomes a challenge of its own. Shadow of the Erdtree continues this trend, offering up some of the most challenging fights Elden Ring has to offer.

To compensate, FROMSOFTWARE have also given players some shiny new tools to play with that we’ve made some builds for to help you on your journey. These weapons are acquired from different parts of Shadow of the Erdtree’s core progression, but each offers something unique within the sandbox.

BECOME A MASTER OF FIRE AND LUNAR MAGICS WITH RELLANA’S TWINBLADE

While Rellana borrows a lot of design inspiration from Dark Souls III’s Pontiff Sulyvahn, it’s hard to deny that dual swords aligned with different elements is a sweet design. As one of Shadow of the Erdtree’s early bosses, Rellana serves as a stop gap between the early regions of the Realm of Shadow, and the later ones. Being a member of Carian Royalty who’s fallen to Messmer’s machinations, Rellana combines her innate affinity for lunar magics with Messmer’s flame to infuse her blades with opposing forces.

As one of two potential items from Rellana’s Remembrance, Rellana’s Twinblade is unlocked as early as you manage to defeat her – that is to say as early as the first major boss you face. It makes for an effective source of magic, fire, and physical damage, serving as an agile jack-of-all-trades. It’s myriad traits do come at a cost, though, requiring a minimum of 13 Strength, 16 Intelligence, 16 Dexterity, and 16 Faith. It’s quite the spread, but it also continues to scale with all four stats, so there’s a few directions that you can take the weapon when it comes to builds.

If you lean into Intelligence, it’s going to deal more magic damage and allow you to also lean into various Sorceries. Faith on the other hand will do the inverse, bolstering the weapon’s fire damage and improving the efficacy of your Incantations. Making use of both Intelligence and Faith is also completely viable, as Rellana’s Twinblade’s Ash of War is a stance that imbues the swords with their magic types, allowing you to access quick and lethal combos for swift dispatch. Either way, make sure you put a good chunk of points in Dexterity for that juicy scaling.

The only real issue with focusing on Rellana’s Twinblade, is that they need to be two-handed to get most out of them. Having access to both swords significantly heightens your damage output but comes at the cost of a shield. Spells and Incantations can alleviate this somewhat, but this weapon leans more into aggressive play as opposed to turtling up.

SPREAD MESSMER’S FLAMES WITH SPEAR OF THE IMPALER

As the poster boy for Shadow of the Erdtree, there’s a lot of eyes on Messmer The Impaler. He’s one of the later bosses in the expansion, but his Remembrance allows you to take his own spear so that you can become the impaler. It’s a very strong weapon to use for the remainder of your journey, with a ranged charged heavy attack, intrinsic fire damage, and heavy dexterity scaling.

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Spear of the Impaler is a bit more palatable when it comes to the required stat spread for efficient use, requiring 14 Strength, 35 Dexterity, and 18 Faith. It’s clear to see which direction you take your character in from there. Invest heavily into Dexterity and Faith to boost the physical and fire damage properties of the weapon. Putting a healthy number of points into Faith will also bolster your Incantations and Spear of the Impaler’s intrinsic Ash of War.

This Ash of War allows you to perform a sweeping combo with a large area-of-effect, culminating in a fiery blast that surrounds the player with molten spears. It’s great at dealing with large groups of enemies, and absolutely melts bosses with low fire resistance. The aforementioned charged heavy attack is also incredibly handy. Having an explosive and fiery ranged attack that doesn’t cost any FP is an invaluable tool in any part of Elden Ring.

You can pair Spear of the Impaler with any off-hand item you’d like, whether it be a shield, another weapon, or you opt to stick with two-handing it for the extra damage. It’s an incredibly versatile weapon with great stats and scaling across the board, boasting tools that most other weapons wish they had in their arsenal.

RETURN TO BARE-KNUCKLE BRAWLING WITH DANE’S FOOTWORK

Perhaps the most eye-catching weapon we’ve seen in the trailers thus far, is Dane’s Footwork. This late-game weapon is in the brand-new hand-to-hand weapon category, excelling at quick and nimble strikes that allow you to overwhelm weaker enemies and dart in and out of danger in boss fights. A low attribute requirement and overall weight makes Dane’s Footwork an incredibly versatile weapon for any build, but most importantly, it’s just so damn fun to use.

While I won’t spoil exactly how you get Dane’s Footwork, I will say that it comes very late in the main progression of Shadow of the Erdtree and is unmissable. While it seems like something of an entry level weapon given its stat requirements, the inverse way to look at this is how it allows you to invest points in other stats and use Dane’s Footwork as a secondary weapon. 8 Strength and 8 Dexterity is all you need to get the most out of Dane’s Footwork, with scaling in both of those stats to keep it viable for builds that lean towards either.

I personally feel its most valuable in a strength build, paired with a colossal type weapons so you can swap to and from different weapon types depending on the situation. Shadow of the Erdtree’s bosses and weapons vary wildly in combat speeds, so having multiple weapons to accommodate for different scenarios is really handy. The speed at which you can deal out damage and reposition with Dane’s Footwork is unparalleled.

It’s intrinsic Art of War is a chargeable palm blast, dealing heavy damage to poise as well as health, leading to frequent critical hits. Paired with a colossal weapon of any type, you can make frequent use of the palm blast to set enemies up for big damage with your colossal weapon. It’s a fun gameplay loop that feels novel given most builds struggle to accommodate two weapon types. Dane’s Footwork’s flexible scaling with two main stats and its low weight make it a perfect fit for this kind of playstyle, and is ridiculously fun to use.

The post Three Builds To Help You Through Elden Ring’s Shadow Of The Erdtree Expansion appeared first on Press Start.

If you haven’t ventured into any of FROMSOFTWARE’s DLC offerings before, you might be confused in regards to how to access Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. It isn’t just something you can launch into from the main menu or a Site of Grace, there are a few requirements you need to hit before venturing into the Realm of Shadow.

HOW DO I ACCESS THE SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE?

To access Shadow of the Erdtree and reach the Realm of Shadow, you have to interact with the withered arm reaching out of the cocoon at the back of Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum. If you’ve beaten Mohg, Lord of Blood, you can just teleport to the nearest Site of Grace and be on your way. If you haven’t, you’ll need to reach Mohgwyn Palace and fell the Lord of Blood. A guide for how to get there and beat the boss can be found below.

WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS TO ACCESS SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE?

In order to access Shadow of the Erdtree, you need to have beaten two bosses. The first is Starscourge Radahn, who’s part of the golden path as one of the demigod Shardbearers. The second is Mohg, Lord of Blood, an entirely optional late-game boss who can be accessed a bit earlier if you so wish. It’s important to note that Mohg can technically be fought twice, but only the one in Mohgwyn Palace is required to access the new content.

WHERE IS STARSCOURGE RADAHN AND HOW DO I BEAT HIM?

Starscourge Radahn is found in the Caelid region in the southeast portion of the map, specifically at Redmane Castle on an island in Caelid’s southeast. If you head straight to Redmane Castle on a fresh save, it’ll be populated with enemies but you won’t be able to fight Radahn himself. Only once you’ve progressed through the main plot will the Radahn Festival be triggered. There are a few things that set this off, but the most consistent is activating a Site of Grace on the Altus Plateau which can be reached after the Liurnia of the Lakes region.

If you go to Redmane Castle during the festival, you meet with other NPCs who wish to partake in the festival. This is key, because these NPCs are paramount to your success in besting Starscourge Radahn, and the fight is designed around you making use of them.

The number one piece of advice I can give when it comes to toppling Starscourge Radahn is to stay mounted for as much of the fight as possible. Starscourge Radahn has far-reaching attacks that require a keen eye and quick reflexes to dodge efficiently. You should also make use of the summons of the battlefield, all of which can be summoned again if they die.

Another good rule of thumb for any boss in Elden Ring is not to get greedy. All it takes is overstaying your welcome to sneak in an extra hit or two for a boss to knock chunks off your health bar as you struggle to get some distance between you and them. A lot of Starscourge Radahn’s attacks also have area-of-effect properties, so staying away from whoever he’s focusing on is also a way to avoid some stray hits.

As far as weaknesses go, Starscourge Radahn is incredibly weak to Scarlet Rot. By using the Rotten Breath Incantation or the Antspur Rapier, you can quickly build-up Scarlet Rot to diminish his health bar. Despite his size, Starscourge Radahn’s poise can also be broken to open him up for a critical hit, so landing the odd jump attack here and there will pay off. In terms of what he brings to the table, it’s mainly physical damage, with a few magic attacks thrown in, especially in his second phase, so make sure to setup your resistances accordingly.

WHERE IS MOHG, LORD OF BLOOD AND HOW DO I BEAT HIM?

Unlike Starscourge Radahn, Mohg, Lord of Blood is found in an entirely optional area that you can access one of two ways. The most common way to access Mohgwyn Palace (but also the latest), is through a Waygate Teleporter in the Consecrated Snowfield to the northwest of the Yelough Anix Ruins.

PRE-ORDER THE ELDEN RING: SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE EDITION HERE OR THE ELDEN RING: SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE COLLECTOR’S EDITION HERE.

If you’ve yet to unlock the Consecrated Snowfield, which is an optional area itself, you’ll need to find both halves of the Secret Haligtree Medallion and use them at the Grand Lift of Rold. One half is found by speaking to a hidden NPC, near the graveyard in the Village of the Albinaurics underneath the southwest mountain in Liurnia of the Lakes. The other half is found in Castle Sol, located in the north of the Mountaintops of the Giants. You’ll have to best the Commander Niall boss fight, who’s pretty straight forward once you take his Spirit Ashes out of the mix.

The second way you can get to Mohgwyn Palace, is by completing Varre’s questline. This questline starts at the beginning of the game when you first arrive in Limgrave, awarding you with a Pureblood Knight’s Medal upon completion. This will instantly teleport you to Mohgwyn Palace when you use it in your inventory, but be wary of the strength of enemies versus your own, as you’ll likely be under levelled.

Once you’ve made it to Mohgwyn Palace and have ascended to the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum, you can finally challenge Mohg, Lord of Blood. To make this fight much more manageable, there are two items that will aid you greatly in the first half of the fight.

The first, is Mohg’s Shackle, which is a reusable item that can bind Mohg twice during his first phase. It can be found in Leyndell’s Subterranean Shunning-Grounds, guarded by 2 Giant Crayfish.

The more non-negotiable item is the Purifying Crystal Tear. This Crystal Tear can be mixed into your Physick to negate all blood loss from Mohg’s curse as he moves into phase 2. Not only does this item prevent any damage from the curse, it also gives you a window to attack and build-up status effects. It can be found at the Second Church of Marika in Altus Plateau by defeating Eleonora, Violet Bloody Finger.

In terms of strategy, make smart use of Mohg’s Shackle to create long openings for you to get free hits in. Always start your combos with a heavy jump attack to whittle down his poise for an eventual critical hit. Make sure not to stand in his blood rain attacks, and remember he will always put a stack of his blood curse on you when you deal enough damage, giving you a short window for your own free hits.

Once you’ve got the first phase on lock, the second becomes more of a problem. Not only does Mohg’s Shackle no longer work, but Mohg also gains a new suite of moves, and his attacks become imbued with fiery blood that can build-up your own blood loss. He’ll more frequently cover the arena with his area-of-effect attacks that do damage over time, so proper positioning and patience is key to winning this fight of attrition.

Bleed is your best friend here when it comes to applying status effects on Mohg. It allows you to build-up to big chunks of damage multiple times in the fight, and can accelerate the first phase quite a bit. The infamous Rivers of Blood katana is a great fit for this fight as a result, allowing for agile quick hits and strong bleed build-up with its intrinsic Ash of War. Make sure to also bring gear and consumables to mitigate your own blood loss during the fight to avoid taking large chunks of damage.

The big key here, again, is not to get greedy for extra hits. Only go for one or two during small windows, and prioritise jump attacks if you can fit them in. Landing staggers on Mohg will lead to big critical damage and make the fight much faster overall. If you’re using the Rivers of Blood katana, try to only use the first hit of its Ash of War, as the rest of the combos is very committal. Try to be aware of the fiery blood he spreads on the arena, and you’ll get it in no time!

Once you’ve bested Mohg, you can interact with the hand reaching out of the cocoon at the back of the room. Doing so will whisk you away to the Realm of Shadow proper, starting the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

The post How To Access Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion appeared first on Press Start.

In the many years that ATLUS has been releasing definitive versions for their titles, it feels like it’s never landed on a concrete formula for what these newer versions of its titles entail and how it’s all presented. Persona 5 Royal is unmistakably the best version of one of 2017’s greatest games, but asks the player to get through the base game’s content again to reach a good chunk of the new (and fantastic) content. It’s a tall ask for a near-100 hour experience and makes it difficult to recommend Royal to those who’ve already played through the original.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance feels like a direct response to that. Redefining how ATLUS approaches re-releasing its biggest, most beloved games by fundamentally altering the game’s approach to narrative. Despite being unable to remedy some faults of the original, Vengeance is the de-facto way to experience Shin Megami Tensei V for newcomers. What’s more notable, though, is that Vengeance is worth a double-dip for those who enjoyed the original, offering a familiar yet fresh JRPG that improves on the original in almost every aspect.

Vengeance is split into two Canons, which are effectively two different narrative routes. One is the Canon of Creation, which is the same story as the original game, where the Canon of Vengeance tells an alternate tale with new characters, areas, boss fights, and much more. While it’s nice to have the original story there for posterity’s sake, the Canon of Vengeance route is far superior. It’s clear that ATLUS recognised the original’s narrative shortcomings were too far rooted in its premise and the way it handles its characters, likely prompting the inclusion of this alternate experience.

The Canon of Vengeance starts almost identically to Canon of Creation. Strange happenings are occurring throughout Tokyo. Rumours of demons and supernatural beings are spreading like wildfire. It’s amidst this climate that our protagonist is pulled into Da’at, a hellish landscape in place of Tokyo. Shortly after arriving, you’ll make contact with a Proto-Fiend named Aogami, fusing together to become a divine being known as a Nahobino. It’s still a brilliant introduction that lures you in with mystery and oppressive atmosphere.

It’s only once you venture deeper into Da’at that things start changing. You’ll encounter Yoko Hiromine, a demon exorcist from Saint Marina’s Academy. Much of the focus in the Canon of Vengeance route is focused on Yoko, whose outlook and perspectives on life often clash with that of the original cast. She sheds new light and moral intricacies onto plot elements returning from the original, and brand new ones brought in with Vengeance.

The other key piece of the puzzle in Canon of Vengeance are the Qadištu. You’ll gradually encounter the members of the Qadištu as you explore Da’at, each one alluding to grander plans for our cast of characters and Tokyo at large. The Qadištu are a much more fascinating force to contend with in comparison to the antagonists of the Canon of Creation. Like Yoko, they provide alternate perspectives on the world of Gods and demons and deeply tie into Vengeance’s broader themes of revenge and rebirth.

While the shift in focus to Yoko and the Qadištu are more than welcome, some of the underwhelming plot elements from the original game are still here. The issue of rapid character development feels exacerbated here in the attempt to share the spotlight between all the moving parts that the Canon of Vengeance brings. Even though I saw these things coming, it still feels like they happen too fast, and are based around events you don’t get to see on-screen.

It ends up making for a narrative where the new stuff is great, but some returning elements retain their flaws. The only area I feel this isn’t the case is in Vengeance’s exploration of morality and the law/chaos/neutral alignments that the series is known for. Shin Megami Tensei V is infamous for its handlings of this idea, boiling down certain alignments to good and evil in underwhelming fashion. This is remedied through Yoko and the Qadištu, who are firmly planted in the moral greys between the agents of heaven and hell. It’s a refreshing change, and one seen frequently given Yoko’s prominence in the Canon of Vengeance route.

While narrative has been substantially reworked in Vengeance as a whole, gameplay is relatively untouched, opting for small iterative changes that build on the strengths of what’s already there. This is a good call for the most part, as Shin Megami Tensei V already has some best-in-class combat and a novel approach to open-world design that keep things engaging. There are a few pain points that haven’t been addressed, though, which stand out a bit more now given other improvements.

Combat is still deliciously challenging on higher difficulties, forcing you to make use of every tool in your arsenal to exploit demon weaknesses to net extra turns in battle. The inclusion of new demons and skills in Vengeance means there are even more ways to build out your Nahobino and team composition. Additionally, characters that accompany you in the story can also be used as party members, which is a fantastic change that gives them more life and a deeper sense of place in the world.

The combat system shines even more inside of the Canon of Vengeance’s new bosses. They are wildly varied in visual and gameplay design, often forcing you to make ample use of items and skills in tandem to come out on top. There’s a few real highlights in the back half of the game that I won’t spoil here, but the way they test your management of different targets and juggling multiple affinities is thrilling and rewarding.

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The Magatsuhi system also makes a return here. For the unfamiliar, Magatsuhi is charged through combat and by collecting Magatsuhi in the open-world. Once full, you can unleash a powerful Magatsuhi ability that can change the tide of battle very quickly. There are also a bunch of new Magatsuhi abilities exclusive to specific demon or alignment combinations, imploring you further to think deeply about the demons you bring with you into battle.

The only real problem with this system, is that the starting Magatsuhi ability you get is far and away the best one. This was an issue in the original game that rears its head in Vengeance. There is often very little reason to use any other skill, because guaranteed critical hits are so valuable within Shin Megami Tensei’s combat system. If you’re also trying to bring certain demons to gain access to certain Magatsuhi Skills, you often struggle to create a suitable team composition for certain encounters. It’s a shame because some of the new skills are fun, but it’s hard not to feel like you’re hamstringing yourself by using them.

One of the biggest departures that Shin Megami Tensei V made from previous games was pivoting to explorable open-worlds instead of having an overworld map. It’s a change that’s still appreciated in Vengeance thanks to immensely rewarding exploration and fantastic level design made even better through the addition of Magatsuhi Rails that connect parts of levels together for seamless traversal.

Much like the original game, Vengeance is split up into four regions, each pertaining to a different part of Tokyo. A key difference in the Canon of Vengeance, though, is that the Chiyoda region is swapped out for an all new Shinjuku region. Because Shinjuku is part of the angels’ dominion, it’s vastly different from any other area in the game. A pale purple sand covers the ground and abstract structures are dotted throughout, culminating in an entirely new dungeon in place of The Demon King’s Castle from the canon of creation.

The rest of the regions are largely unchanged, but how you approach objectives and the way they’re structured is different. There’s also a load of new sidequests to engage with throughout, most of which are markedly better than what’s present in the base game, providing more nuanced objectives as opposed to simple fetch or kill quests. It feels like no matter how you spend your time in these regions, it always feels like you’re progressing in some fashion.

One simple yet effective addition are Demon Haunts. These small areas accessible from Leyline Founts are areas where you can converse with your demons and accompanying characters to gauge how they feel about current events. They can also gain stats, level up, and give you gifts to use in your journeys. The Nahobino can also converse with Aogami at certain times to gain three skill points as well as his opinions on recent happenings. Its a small inclusion but one that gives more character to demons and your party in general.

All of these things in combination, and you can probably tell that Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is one hell of a package. You have two story routes, a truck-load of sidequests, a bunch of areas to explore, many demons to recruit, and more. There is so much content jammed in here that it automatically becomes an easy recommend for any JRPG fans – especially if you haven’t played it before.

One aspect Vengeance undeniably nails, is its presentation. When it originally launched on the Switch, Shin Megami Tensei V was dripping with aesthetic and striking visual design that was held back by aging hardware. Playing it now on the PS5 is something like a fever dream. A buttery smooth 60 frames-per-second all the time, in combination with a much bolstered pixel count and overall visual fidelity leaves Shin Megami Tensei V feeling and looking as it always should have.

The final thing I’ll shoutout, which should be to no one’s surprise, is the absolutely phenomenal soundtrack. ATLUS never misses when it comes to music, but so many of Vengeance’s new and reprised tracks are certified bangers in a genre full of musical competition. It’s remarkable that Ryota Kozuka was able to push Shin Megami Tensei V’s musical identity even further with such high quality.

When all is said and done, it’s inarguable that Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is the definitive version of Shin Megami Tensei V. Even if you dislike the narrative changes and additions in the Canon of Vengeance, the original story is still there for you to play. Some returning flaws aside, Vengeance still offers the same compelling gameplay loop, an intriguing world, and utterly fantastic presentation that heightens so much of the experience.

The post Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Review – A Divine Package appeared first on Press Start.

I feel like this is said at some point every year, but it’s a hell of a time to be playing Destiny 2. Between the best season of the year in Season of the Wish, the fantastic Into The Light free content update, and the imminent launch of The Final Shape, the community feels truly electric. After a time of relative uncertainty following the launch of Lightfall, Destiny 2 once again feels surrounded by excitement and eager anticipation for the conclusion to a decade-long saga. While Bungie have been tight-lipped about The Final Shape’s campaign, I got an early taste of what to expect in a hands-off preview.

One Final Wish

Before jumping into The Final Shape proper, Bungie showed us the finale cinematic for Season of the Wish. While this cinematic has been live since the last weekly reset, it’d be a crime for me not to talk about its significance. We follow Crow as he’s sent hurtling into the Pale Heart after passing through the paracausal portal etched into the Traveler. As his boots hit the ground, he’s immediately met with gunfire, initiating a skirmish between the hunter and his unknown assailant. A short scuffle reveals that Crow’s adversary is none other than the returning Cayde-6, who’s seemingly forgiven Crow for his prior self’s transgressions as they look towards the Witness’s monolithic stronghold in the distance.

It’s a full circle moment that we’ve seen Bungie play with before. There was a similar moment between Zavala and Crow all the way back in Season of the Chosen, and even earlier again through moments in the Halo trilogy. A stroke of narrative genius, setting the stage not just for The Final Shape itself, but also for the conclusion of Crow’s arc stretching all the way back to Forsaken. It’s echoes the same quality writing found in 2022’s The Witch Queen, which was noticeably absent in Lightfall. A confident statement of intent from the team, a sign to buckle in and brace for the journey ahead.

Into The Pale Heart

It’s fitting then, that Bungie played through the first campaign mission of The Final Shape right afterwards. You might expect me to tell you about the Pale Heart and its myriad wonders, but expectations can be a fickle thing. The Final Shape kicks off not in the Pale Heart, but in the portal that ferries us there. While we didn’t see the opening cutscene, we were told that the portal destabilises as the Vanguard leads the charge, causing our Guardian to crash. The rest of the pathway needs to be traversed on-foot as we confront the forces of the Witness.

This pathway between is a preview of the Final Shape itself. Darkness permeates through the environment, the skybox is awash with a deep purples, and the level geometry is a chaotic amalgamation of different environments stitched together in all the wrong ways. It’s ethereal, unsettling, and dream-like in every sense. The Taken have eyes that are coloured a distinct sickly yellow, signifying the Witness’s control over them, some of which are bound to the Witness itself, making them seemingly invulnerable.

It’s only after a few short combat encounters that we meet our first member of the new Dread enemy faction in the Weaver. A darkness empowered Psion that can displace you with waves of Strand that slingshot you towards them if you get hit. It’s a new element to combat we haven’t seen outside of getting sent out of the stratosphere by Cabal Phalanxes. Another notable inclusion is the Nodes of Splendour from Root of Nightmares. These light and dark empowered nodes are used in puzzles similar to those found in last year’s raid. The developers emphasised that The Final Shape’s campaign is another return to deeper, dungeon-like mechanical complexity.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Skipping a little bit ahead, we rejoin the Guardian after making it through the portal. We slowly move through a cave as the Traveler manifests reality around us, emerging into a picturesque grassy area outside of the Last City. The portal looms overhead amidst the lush greenery, and will slowly shrink as you progress the campaign and move away from its origin. As we explore the Last City, we encounter more of the Dread. Namely the Grim, flying bats with guns that can suppress your abilities with a high-pitched screech. Bungie also teased that the Dread have their own expanded lore to uncover in the Pale Heart.

We then stumble upon what’s called a Prismatic Wellspring. A font of focused energy, giving us access to Transcendence so those pesky invulnerable units I mentioned earlier can be dealt with. It’s an early taste of Prismatic’s capabilities before getting the new subclass proper. Prismatic Wells are described as being the result of a collision between the Traveler’s light and the Witness’s darkness, further emphasising that balance between the two is needed for harmony in the universe. After another combat arena with some dungeon-like mechanics in the form of collecting and placing buffs to move forward, we find a larger, more unstable Prismatic Well in the Vanguard Quarters.

This Prismatic Well imbues us with new power, granting us Prismatic as the line between light and dark vanishes. The first loadout you get when obtaining Prismatic is curated for each class, but you’ll unlock more options as you progress the campaign and explore the Pale Heart. Some of the Aspects pulled from other subclasses are changed or reworked to fit better in the context of Prismatic. Stylish Executioner, for example, now procs off of any elemental debuff, not just Void debuffs.

The Guardian walks into the Tower Plaza from the original Destiny, where we’re attacked by the Witness’s forces. Transcendence is now built into your kit for the invulnerable units, but the team noted that there are still Prismatic Wells around the arena to gain access to Transcendence on our current subclasses. This is true for the rest of the campaign, meaning you can play through it without using Prismatic if you so wish. Aside from fighting more of the Dread here, we’re also introduced to the Subjugator, a general of the Witness’s army that uses Strand to suspend you in combat.

It’s the same encounter that was shown in the gameplay deep-dive, but it’s still a thrill to see a Hunter throw out abilities of different elements in combination. It echoes the same high octane loop as Strand, quickly throwing out abilities for unorthodox combos resulting in things we simply can’t do with our current kits. A construct of the Witness watches overhead as we combat its troops, as if it’s studying our new abilities with calculting intent. After the encounter, a Fissure of Light erupts from the ground, signifying that this portion of the Pale Heart has been taken back from the Witness.

This whole section is a real throwback in a lot of ways. Not only is it nostalgic to revisit the Tower of the original Destiny, but it also calls back to the beginnings of Destiny 2. Moving through the Last City to ambush the Red Legion and take back the Traveler from Ghaul is the kind of play space that we don’t see enough within Destiny. It provides a sense of scale and verticality that Bungie nail when they commit themselves to it, and makes for engaging arena design for enemy combat encounters. It has me eager to see how other key environments from Destiny’s past will be redesigned and reinterpreted in The Final Shape.

When asked about how the team decided on what locations would be chosen from our past as locations in the Pale Heart, project lead Catarina Macedo said that areas were chosen to evoke nostalgia; “They’re locations that players who’ve been playing from the start will be familiar with.” She also commented on the difficulty of locking down the final list; “It was really hard to build the list, but the original Tower was a must-have. We asked the team what other things resonated the most over the last 10 years. It’s a love letter from the developers to the players.”

Finding The Way Forward

We then jumped much further forward in the campaign to a strike called Liminality. Described as finding a way forward to the Witness’s Spire after running into a roadblock, this strike is run by Keith David’s Zavala after Lance Reddick’s unfortunate passing last year. David does a wonderful job of honouring Reddick’s legacy while bringing his own flavour to the Titan Vanguard. One notable aspect of this strike is that Savathûn’s forces are also here to fight the Witness, but are still hostile to Guardians. The landscape here is also much more twisted and devoid of life in comparison to the opening mission.

Level geometry is cut into perfect cubes, signifying the effects that the Witness has had on the natural environment. Cut up and organised into inorganic cuboids that make for a cold, calculated, and unsettling atmosphere. We still follow a Hunter here, but one that has more Prismatic options than what we saw earlier. We also get to see the new Arc super in action, letting the Hunter blink between enemies in flashes of blinding Arc energy. They’re also able to show off Gunpowder Gamble triggering off of any ability kill or debuff using Prismatic, leading to the swift defeat of a couple Hive Guardians.

Transcendence is also popped quite a few times here, granting temporary access to a powerful dual element grenade that combines Solar and Stasis to lethal effect. It’s built up by dealing light and dark damage pertaining to weapons and subclass abilities. The team also commented that while there’s no stat to build into generating Transcendence faster, there are ways to spec into it via the subclass itself.

The trend of striking visual design only amps up as we progress through the strike. The environment is riddled with stone statues of hands from different races in the game, as we slowly transition into architecture reminiscent of the Dark City in the Birthplace of the Vile strike. Bungie mention here that the Pale Heart isn’t just a reconstruction of the Guardians’ memories, but also of the ones belonging to the Witness and the Dread. This has some very interesting lore implications not just for this strike, but also for other missions and activities in the Pale Heart.

It all culminates in a fight with a Tormentor called Kataxiia, Tormentor of the Ahamkara. This also has some exciting implications given the Ahamkara skulls dotted throughout the boss room, and having to use Taken Essence to power up said skulls in order to damage the boss. It’s a tantalising tease into the potential of the lore and the story beats we’ll uncover in the Pale Heart, and what they mean for the broader universe.

Shaping Destiny’s Biggest Expansion Yet

If the variety in these two missions alone is anything to go off of, we can expect to see a lot of diverse environments and encounters in the campaign of The Final Shape. The team mentioned that it might be Destiny’s biggest campaign to date, and doesn’t just end with the raid when it launches on June 8th. The Pale Heart also holds many secrets to uncover as you explore, including some of the Prismatic options. The team also talked about how Prismatic has been carefully designed as to not supplant other subclasses, so they’re unsure if more will be added to the Prismatic kit over the year of The Final Shape.

While there’s a lot of focus on what’s new with The Final Shape, Bungie is also looking at providing new quality-of-life inclusions. The buff/debuff UI rework was on full display during the portions we got to see, and paints a promising picture of being more readable and easy to digest than ever. Moreover, there are additional loadout slots coming via Guardian Ranks to accomodate for the new builds you’ll be making with Prismatic. Prismatic will also be entirely unlockable before the raid launches in response to the drip feed of Stasis and Strand in prior expansions.

While there was a lot shown during the hands-off preview for The Final Shape, I still feel like we’ve barely scraped the surface – especially narratively. There’s an unbelievable amount of pressure on Bungie to deliver with this expansion, a 10 year promise boiling down to a single release, perhaps their biggest ever. If what I’ve seen of The Final Shape thus far is an indicator of its wider quality, I suspect that it will go down as one of the greatest expansions Destiny has seen, if not the greatest.

The Final Shape launches on June 5th for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series consoles, and PC. Into The Light is a completely free content update that’s available now, and a bunch of previous expansions are also free to play before The Final Shape launches next month.

The post Destiny 2: The Final Shape Preview – Pulling Out All The Stops appeared first on Press Start.

While Supergiant Games have released hit after hit in the time they’ve been making games, nothing took off like Hades did when its 1.0 version launched in 2020. It’s arguably the poster child not just for the potential of early access, but roguelike games in general, masterfully weaving storytelling with a genre that requires creative approaches to narrative.

It’s no surprise that the critical and commercial success of Hades spawned Supergiant’s first ever sequel in Hades II. Doubling down on the early access gambit with an all new protagonist, story setup, gameplay elements, and a breadth of content that surpasses the original game’s 1.0 launch. While the full launch of Hades II might not be in the foreseeable future, what’s already here is an utterly fantastic and dense offering that sets the stage for what will undoubtedly be an impeccable sequel.

Set some time after the events of the first game, Hades II shifts focus from the charming Zagreus to his ambitious sister – Melinoë. The underworld has been usurped by the Titan of Time, Chronos, who also holds Melinoë’s family captive. This setup feels like much more of an immediate threat in comparison to the familial melodrama of the first game, placing more focus on the politics of the Greek Gods and the task Melinoë is burdened with in the fight against her grandfather.

It’s instantly engaging and Melinoë is a markedly different protagonist from Zagreus. She feels partly responsible for the situation at hand and is constantly wrestling with her self-doubt and conceived shortcomings. She feels more flawed than Zagreus and is all the more interesting for it. The conflict with Chronos is also multifaceted in the way it involves the Greek pantheon as well as the denizens of the underworld. It’s clear that there’s a lot more to tell here, with run completions revealing new parts of the story to Melinoë and thus, the player, slowly unraveling the mystery of how Chronos managed to snatch away the underworld from Hades.

This all new setting and narrative setup is also a great excuse to bring new characters into the fold. With Zagreus and his compatriots imprisoned by Chronos, you spend more time with other figures from the mythology that Supergiant have yet to explore. Melinoë’s affinity for magick has led to tutelage under the expertise of Hecate to prepare for the conflict to come, and characters like Odysseus and Hypnos have all been displaced by the wrath of Chronos.

This cast of characters pulled from the parts of Greek mythology gather at The Crossroads, a refugee camp built to evade the scrying eye of Chronos. It also serves as Hades II’s hub area between runs, serving up new dialogue and developments as you inch closer towards dethroning Chronos. While it isn’t as revolutionary as the first game, it’s still an addictively–engaging loop. Even if you don’t beat your best run, you know that new narrative tidbits and character developments await you at The Crossroads.

Much like the original game, this hub area is also where you’ll setup your loadout for a run, but also serves a few new purposes that are unique to Hades II. Gone is the Mirror of Night in place of Arcana. Aside from being a more fitting system for Hades II’s theme and characters, Arcana allows you to activate cards for bonuses in any given run. Each has an energy cost called Grasp, with Melinoë having a limited amount to play around with. You can of course increase your total Grasp as you play, but it’s impossible to have all Arcana activated at once. Instead of putting points into permanent upgrades and forgetting about them, you need to consider how activated Arcana synergise with your Keepsake, chosen weapon, and goals for that run.

There’s also Incantations, which are more permanent upgrades that serve myriad purposes. Each one requires materials to craft, but feels impactful in the kind of options they unlock. These are incredibly varied. Some impact runs, allowing Melinoë to access rooms with healing fountains in each location or increasing collected resources. Others expand the range of systems you can interact with at The Crossroads, like being able to plant seeds to grow your own materials, or introducing a new vendor that brings some harder to find items and currencies. These are slowly doled out to you as you complete runs and encounter new locations, adding new wrinkles and layers to the gameplay loop and how you approach progression. My only real gripe with all this, is that there are so many currencies and materials to keep track of.

Once you’re geared up and ready to go, Hades II feels familiar, but adds just enough to keep things feeling unique when it comes to playing as Melinoë. On top of having a traditional health bar, Melinoë also has a Magick bar. Charging any of Melinoë’s three moves will consume some Magick for Omega attacks, which often deal more damage, have heavier crowd control effects, or sometimes both. Magick is automatically refilled when you move into a new encounter, so you’re encouraged to spend Magick heavily throughout runs.

Aside from that, the age-old mantra of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, rings true here. You’ll move through larger locations comprised of encounters, each one rewarding you with minor or major pickups that’ll help you along your run to the underworld. From Godly Boons that bolster your general abilities to potions that increase your total Magick. There’s a load of new gods that weren’t present in the original game, like Hera and Hestia that offer fun new build crafting opportunities not found in the first game. There’s also new vendors to find on runs like Arachne, who can spin-up powerful armour for Melinoë that protect her from damage and yield additional effects.

It really is more of that same great loop from Hades, taken to the next level through fun new gameplay ideas that shake up how you approach Boons and the kind of Melinoë you want to build for any given run. While Hades felt like it had a few truly dominant Boon types, Hades II feels better balanced in its current state and runs feel better for it. There’s still clear winners here for sure, but I never once felt short-changed by the options presented to me when choosing my next reward. It also just feels damn good to play, and gets truly chaotic when you’re deep into a run.

The big changes in actual runs comes down to a lot of the level design that Supergiant employs in each location. While Erebus is very similar to what you’d find in the first game, the Fields of Mourning are much more non-linear in their progression. They offer wide open fields with major and minor upgrades to find, and it pays to explore these encounters to the fullest before you move on. Oceanus is similarly distinct in how it uses traps to create dynamic arenas. Each location’s boss fight is also fantastic, each one testing you in different ways and expanding the world and sense of place.

While you might think this applies to regular runs, Hades II switches things up a bit by having two distinct runs. One where you descend into the underworld to confront Chronos, and another where you head to the surface to halt his siege on Olympus. The former is far closer to completion than the latter in this early access build, but it’s clear that Supergiant wanted to flex their creative muscles a bit when it came to designing these two runs. They also vary in difficulty, so once you complete the underworld, you can continue challenging yourself above the surface.

To shake up these runs even further, this version of the game has a whopping five weapons to choose from, each with their own Aspects that shake up their combat loop. They also feel very distinct from what Zagreus could choose from. Melinoë’s magickal inclination has her wielding staffs, dual blades, projectile hurling wants, and even a giant axe. There’s so much variety here before you even start playing with the Aspects, and prospect of a sixth Nocturnal Arm on the way is an incredibly exciting one.

It’s also just astonishing how much attention to detail has been poured into Hades II. The dialogue of bosses and characters back at The Crossroads changes and evolves based on the weapons you use, what you accomplished in that run, and more. It’s incredible to see the game react to your achievements and failures alike, while also giving some deeper insight into how Melinoë feels about the current happenings.

While Hades II doesn’t reinvent the visual style of the original game, it takes it to the next level. The hybrid of 2D and 3D graphics is still mesmerising, but approached with a darker, more detailed touch than what was found in the first game. Hades II in general leans into darker colours, leaving behind the fire and brimstone of the first game for more ethereal greens, purples, and blues. It fits the narrative tone quite well, and Supergiant has proved once again that their 2D character designs are some of the best in the business.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the music. It’s something that Supergiant always deliver on, but the original Hades stood out in its uniqueness and approach to audio design. Hades II echoes the same qualities, and takes them to the next level. From the absolutely banging title theme to thrilling combat tracks, to a whole boss theme that evolves as you take out each member of a musical trio in Oceanus. It’s head bopping stuff and just when you think you’ve heard all Supergiant has to play for you, they pull out the next hit.

The most remarkable part of Hades II in its current form is that, it doesn’t at all feel like an early access title. Everything here is so polished, and feels content-rich in the way the first game was. The idea that there’s more coming over the next year or so is ridiculous given its current state. Supergiant Games are out to reinvent the genre once again and Hades II is a wholehearted step forward towards that goal.

The post Hades 2 Early Access Review – Magickal Beginnings appeared first on Press Start.

When Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin launched in 2021, it was clear that CAPCOM had another hit spin-off on their hands. Its novel RPG mechanics and a deceptively simple combat system made for a thoroughly enjoyable experience for series veterans, and an approachable RPG for newcomers. Unfortunately, Wings of Ruin would be hamstrung by its limited platform availability. While the PC version was fantastic, the Nintendo Switch version was and still is riddled with performance issues and slowdown.

The first game is similarly limited by its platform exclusivity. Originally launching on the 3DS in 2016, Monster Hunter Stories was promising beginning for this spin-off series. Despite being well-received, the game hasn’t been freed of its handheld prison, only seeing a high-definition mobile port in 2018. The rapid growth of Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise have brought swathes of new fans into the fold, so it only makes sense that these charming spin-offs receive modernised and readily-available ports.

I’ve spent a good amount of time with both the new Switch version of the original Monster Hunter Stories, as well as the PS4 version of Monster Hunter Stories 2, so let’s dive into how each of them fares in their new homes.

Monster Hunter Stories on Nintendo Switch

Monster Hunter Stories is undoubtedly the game that fans are most interested in. It’s far from a stretch to call this edition of the game a remaster, featuring full voice acting, HD visuals, new content, an in-game museum, and content previously locked to the Japanese version of the 3DS original. Furthermore, this version of the game is going to be available on PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.

While I haven’t played the PC or PS4 version of this enhanced port, the Switch version of Monster Hunter Stories is simply fantastic. Gone are the jaggy, pixelated edges of character models and environments, replaced by much more high-definition assets. It closely mirrors the distinct smoothness of its sequel both inside and outside of combat. It really reinvigorates the whole experience from a visual perspective and pulls it in line with the standard set by Stories 2.

I’m also pleased to report that despite sharing a similar level of visual fidelity as its sequel, Monster Hunter Stories runs like a dream on the Switch. While turn-based RPGs aren’t as reliant on high frame rates, it goes a long way when it comes to overall presentation and the flow of combat. It just makes the whole experience feel more complete and well-rounded, while shedding the technical baggage that comes with the restraints of older hardware.

The gameplay here remains completely untouched, which is for the best. The original Monster Hunter Stories is undoubtedly more simplified than its sequel, but there’s a charm to the loop of collecting and training up Monsties to tackle new threats. There’s a real love and attention to detail put into each interpretation of series favourite monsters and how they fit into a turn-based combat structure. It’s an entirely different kind of take on the Monster Hunter world, a take that’s aged remarkably well.

The package is rounded out with the aforementioned Museum Mode and the inclusion of content previously exclusive to the Japanese release. There’s over 200 pieces of concept art, character design, and music tracks that are previously unreleased. It’s just packed with interesting design tidbits and insights into how the team handled Monster Hunter mainstays with a new art direction. The additional content also adds a bunch to the experience, with new Monsties to recruit and post-game challenges to tackle.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 on PS4

While Monster Hunter Stories 2’s port is a less impressive package in totality, that’s because there isn’t much here to improve on. A lot of what I said in my review of the PC version in 2021 rings true for the PS4 version, it’s a sequel that does everything its predecessor did, only better. While it sports the same visual style as the original, the jump in detail across the board meant that the Switch struggled to deliver a consistent experience in terms of performance, limiting platform options to PC for those who didn’t want to put up with the issues.

The PS4 version remedies this, providing a near-identical experience on the PS4 and PS5 to what’s offered on the PC version currently. It might lack the uncapped framerate, but more than makes up for it by holding a steady 60 frames-per-second throughout the whole experience – a far cry from what the Switch could achieve. Again, it isn’t something that’s entirely necessary for a turn-based RPG, but does so much for the moment-to-moment experience and overall game feel.

This is all at no concession to the visual fidelity of Monster Hunter Stories 2. CAPCOM always had a winner on their hands when it came to the art style and direction of the original, but the sequel really takes it to the next level. It’s deeply colourful and wildly varied in its environments, and the attention to detail on Monstie and character models make the game’s presentation one of its strongest elements.

The game side of things is yet again, completely untouched. Offering the same enjoyable turn-based combat and Monstie customisation as the original, coupled with new combat features, weapon types, and a healthy addition of new Monsties to befriend and recruit. It’s undoubtedly the better game of the two, but playing them back-to-back has made it clear that Stories 2 is much easier than the first game despite growing in mechanical complexity.

My time so far with the enhanced ports of this duology has me excited to see newer Monster Hunter fans jump into these charming spin-offs for the first time. It’s always been a shame that each has been limited in terms of platforms until now, but it’s clear that CAPCOM have gone out of their way to improve each experience where possible to make them the definitive version of each game.

Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin both launch on June 14th. The former will be available on PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch while the latter will be releasing on PS4, and is already available on PC and Nintendo Switch.

The post The Monster Hunter Stories Duology Has Found New Life On Modern Consoles appeared first on Press Start.

Shin Megami Tensei V’s original release in 2021 was a bittersweet moment for series veterans. Between an eight year wait since the release of the utterly fantastic Shin Megami Tensei IV and a shift in focus to the rampant success of Persona, it felt like SMT had fallen to the wayside a little bit. The day did come for the fabled fifth entry, though. While SMT V launched with an ambitious new vision for the seminal series and best-in-class combat, it failed to deliver the same narrative heights as its predecessors while collapsing technically due to the Switch’s aging hardware.

These pain points open up a unique opportunity when it comes to ATLUS’s tendency to release definitive versions of their titles. While it’s sporting the usual gameplay additions and quality of life features, Vengeance also frees SMT V of its hybrid handheld prison. Most exciting, is the addition of an entirely new alternate storyline to be experienced separately from the vanilla narrative. It’s a bold and wildly different approach to how ATLUS usually handles re-releases, and my time with Vengeance thus far has left me very eager to play more.

My preview session kicked off from the Tokyo Diet Building in Da’at, which is around five hours in. The first thing I immediately noticed is how much Shin Megami Tensei V is benefitting from modern hardware. Vengeance runs at a buttery-smooth 60 frames-per-second, a far cry from the Switch’s constant drops and stutters. It also looks gorgeous. SMT V’s distinct colour palette is brought to life in glorious fashion in Vengeance, and the much improved cutscenes make it clear that ATLUS made a real effort to take advantage of the PlayStation 5’s graphical output.

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These cutscenes also weren’t one-for-one with the original game. Despite it seemingly following a similar path to the original, this new alternate storyline in Vengeance peppers new details into story beats that are otherwise unchanged. More time is spent exploring Aogami and his relation to Bethel, and the moral clashing of SMT V’s myriad characters is shown in a different light through Vengeance’s new character – Yoko Hiromine.

ATLUS has a tendency to introduce new characters into their re-releases that shake up the original plots quite a bit. While reception to these has been mixed, Yoko sidesteps any potential issues by being exclusive to the new storyline. As a student of Saint Marina’s girl school, Yoko was taught to exorcise demons and seems familiar with Bethel’s purpose and the war between heaven and hell. Despite having an unforgiving outlook on life, she has brief flashes of sympathy and consideration that make her endearing once you get past her fierce demeanour.

While the ensuing cutscenes discussing the existence of Bethel and its role feel familiar, they give way to an entirely new boss encounter with Naamah of the Qadištu. This new enemy faction weren’t explored much in the segments I got to play, but it’s clear they have a large role to play in the overall narrative. Perhaps the most interesting tidbit regarding this, is that the Naamah fight takes place in modern-day Tokyo, which is an incredibly rare occurrence in the original game and has some interesting narrative implications surrounding the Qadištu.

While changes in the broader narrative have yet to be seen at this point, things quickly shift as I return to Jouin Highschool following Lahmu’s attack. Without spoiling too much, the events of this set-piece unravel in a fashion that is vastly different from the original game. The combination of a new direction, the impact that Yoko has on the narrative, and a desire to explore new themes in Vengeance culminates in an unexpected and exciting turn that I didn’t expect. It had my mind racing with what-ifs, and painted a picture of how Shin Megami Tensei V’s latter half could change and evolve with the impact of Yoko and the Qadištu.

I then got to jump forward to a later point in the game and was dropped into an entirely new area called Shinjuku Gyoen. This was a much less linear affair when compared to what I got to experience in the prior save, with Shinjuku Gyoen echoing a lot of the open-world design of the base game with some new ideas thrown in for good measure. Grind rails can be used to zip around the map, side quests are more frequent, and demons of monolithic size roam the overworld begging to be challenged.

Shinjuku Gyoen is also noticeably different from a visual perspective. Moving away from the hazy yellows and reds of Da’at for cooler blues and purples that leave the whole environment feeling less apocalyptic overall. It’s a beautiful area, and strikingly distinct in comparison to what you kind find in the base game. It also seems to belong to the angels, who attack the protagonist on-sight despite their affiliation with Bethel. It’s clear that the events of the alternate story are what leads the gang here, which is a pretty huge change given we’re still less than 10 hours in.

This is also the point where I got to sink my teeth into more of the gameplay. Combat and exploration are largely unchanged, instead focusing on a few new small additions that improve on the overall experience. The ability to put accompanying characters like Yoko and Tao into your party, for example, add a new level of flexibility and choice when it comes to team building, and the aforementioned grind rails provide a seamless and accessible way to get to some of the more hard to reach areas once you’ve already visited them. It’s all stuff that adds onto SMT V’s already fantastic gameplay loop.

There’s also a bunch of new moves, demons to recruit, Magatsuhi skills that are specific to demon alignments, and so much more. Another thing that jumped out to me in battle was the music. Shin Megami Tensei V already had some of the best beats in the series, but the remixes and new tracks that Vengeance brings to the table are sublime and immediately enrapturing.

Another feature that I really liked the idea of is the Demon Haunts. These are areas accessible via Leyline Founts where your demons hang out. You can chat with them to boost their stats and get a general feel for what they think of current happenings. Aogami can also be spoken to, where he provides a deeper insight into the state of the world and what your goal is. It’s quite a novel idea, and adds a lot to the personalities of your demons and the protagonist’s relationship with Aogami.

There are so many other little details I noticed that I haven’t talked about here. New sidequests (some of which are in Tokyo), Lilith’s omnipresence throughout the narrative, a new Virtual Trainer which lets you challenge past foes, and more. If there’s one thing that’s clear to me after my time with Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, it’s that this is shaping up to be ATLUS’s biggest definitive edition yet.

While it’s impossible to say how it will unfold in its entirety, it’s clear that ATLUS listened to the problems that fans had with Shin Megami Tensei V and are making an active effort to fix them. I was already looking forward to diving back into Da’at, but I’m even more excited after spending some time with Vengeance and everything it brings to the table.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is launching on all platforms on June 14th, 2024. You can find our pre-order guide here.

The post Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Hands-On Preview – A Taste of Heaven appeared first on Press Start.

Character action games are few and far between these days. Though the action genre was built on the backs of industry icons like Dante, Ryu Hayabusa, and Bayonetta, you’d be hard-pressed to find many studios that focus on frenzied action experiences with a charismatic lead lying at the core of it all. While it isn’t strictly classifiable as one, SHIFT UP’s Stellar Blade still feels like a game ripped straight from that era of gaming.

Between an eye-catchingly stylised protagonist, a focus on flashy and execution-heavy combat, and a deliciously old-school approach to level design, Stellar Blade often feels like a crystallised summation of pre-2010s gaming. Though that isn’t to say Stellar Blade is lacking modern sensibilities. It wears its inspirations on its sleeve, borrowing heavily from the sombre hopelessness of NieR: Automata’s post-apocalypse as well as the kinetic clashing of steel you can find in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. While they way Stellar Blade riffs on these titles reaches varying degrees of success, the overall experience is undeniably great.

If you’ve played Stellar Blade’s demo, you already know that the game gets off to a rip-roaring start. Players step into the shoes of Eve, a member of an elite force built to eradicate the monstrous Naytibas from a now-desolate Earth. The dispatch of Eve’s squad from an off-world colony goes horribly wrong, leaving her as a sole survivor with a renewed hatred for the Naytiba. Shortly after meeting with a survivor named Adam, the pair set out to aid humanity’s last surviving city, Xion, while furthering Eve’s own mission to wipe out the Naytibas.

It takes more than a few cues from Yoko Taro’s own NieR: Automata, and can feel a bit predictable as a result. While there’s some initial mystery surrounding the origin of the Naytibas and the hold that the seraphic Mother Sphere has over what’s left of humanity, Stellar Blade shows its hand too early for its major story twists to have much impact. It’s laid on pretty thick at certain points in the story, but doesn’t play with your expectations or dissect themes in the way Automata does.

Despite this, the world SHIFT UP have created here is incredibly well-realised. Right from Stellar Blade’s opening hours, it feels like Earth is fighting a battle it’s already lost. Cities are abandoned, decrepit, and overrun with Naytibas, vast wastelands and deserts are near-devoid of life, and futuristic cities paint a picture of a utopian society brought to its knees in an instant. Nowhere is this feeling more prominent then in Xion itself, where the remnants of humanity struggle with the Naytibas and their faith in the Mother Sphere.

Propaganda claiming that the Mother Sphere is a false icon litters the streets of Xion, Angels like Eve are treated with reverence or dismay – there’s no in-between. This is a miserable and hopeless world. In a way, Eve’s relative naivety serves as a sort of stand-in for the player. She’s exposed to the horrors of this world as we are, making powerful moments of realisation that most fates in this world end cruelly. This widespread suffering also serves to highlight Stellar Blade’s sporadic moments of triumph and hope, a reminder that maybe one day, things will be okay.

When it comes to Eve herself, I suspect that she’ll be quite different from what most expect. Aside from an absolutely killer design, she isn’t positioned as a femme fatale akin to Bayonetta. Eve, like us, is new to this conflict. In this sense, she’s closer to NieR: Automata’s 2B, wanting to understand how the Naytibas impact humanity, Xion, and help them where she can. It helps her to grow and become more independent over the course of the game, able to make her own decisions without the guidance of the Mother Sphere by the end of the game.

If you were surprised by my earlier comparisons to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, it’s easy to understand why. It’s clear Stellar Blade’s combat is somewhat inspired by other character action games, but it straddles a line between flashy juggle combos and the more considered swordplay of FROMSOFTWARE’s 2019 darling. Parrying enemy strikes and knocking them off balance is the clear focus here, incentivising you to play defensively until an opportunity presents itself for Eve to unleash all manner of carnage against her enemies.

It’s hard to make parrying feel satisfying in games when it’s a regular part of every combat interaction. Much like Sekiro, though, Stellar Blade’s combat has an immensely satisfying game feel that never lets up. Sparks fly as Eve’s sword collides with the chitinous limbs of the Naytibas, which is in stark contrast with how easily the rest of their bodies are torn to pieces when an opening presents itself. You’ll quickly learn that throwing out combos is a surefire way to get hit, but getting into the rhythm of reading enemy patterns to knock them off balance quickly feels natural.

If you do find yourself in a pinch, Eve has a few other options you can throw in the mix to get the upper-hand. Burst Skills are what you’ll be using most, which are powerful skills you can throw out or tack onto the end of your combos for some bonus damage. These can only be used if Eve has enough Burst Energy, so you can’t just abuse them when things get hairy. Burst Energy is only replenished through successful defensive maneuvers, which further encourages you to go for those perfect parries and perfect dodges.

You’ll also get the ability to use Adam’s drone as a ranged weapon fairly early on, which is particularly handy for locking down some of the more agile Naytibas. There’s even a few gun-only sections, where Eve is locked out of using her sword. While this sounds counterintuitive to the kind of experience Stellar Blade is, these are ridiculously cathartic and provide a nice break from all the hacking and slashing you’ll be doing. There are a couple of other elements introduced to combat throughout the game, but it’d be a shame to spoil them here, both narratively and in the way they shake up the flow of combat.

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While there’s plenty of enemy variety on show here, Stellar Blade’s combat excels most in its myriad boss fights. You’ll often feel outclassed at first – put up against Naytibas that trounce Eve in size and sheer physical force. You can get into a real flow-state with some of the more challenging ones, as you desperately parry, dodge, Blink, and Repulse your way out of danger to launch your own assaults. Proper play culminates in staggering your enemy, opening them up for a flashy Retribution attack which never get old.

Instead of adopting a full open-world design, Stellar Blade opts to focus on separate, smaller locales that can be explored independently. These vary wildly in size and linearity. The Wasteland and the Great Desert, for example, are vast, wide open spaces with plenty of secrets to uncover and requests to complete. Areas like Eidos VII, though, are more linear affairs with occasional opportunity for exploration. It’s a diverse mix of locales, each one offering something different from a visual and design perspective.

You’ll undoubtedly spend most of your time in the larger areas, especially the Wasteland. As it’s connected to Xion directly, many requests you can pick up from the city’s people will take you out into the Naytiba-ridden area. There’s a lot to engage with in these spaces outside of main story progression. You can find Cores to upgrade Eve’s total health and Burst Energy capacity, new outfits, accessories, Gear, Exo-Spines, and crafting materials.

You’ll often need to overcome platforming or combat challenges to reach these rewards, the latter of which is always a blast, the former – not so much. Platforming in Stellar Blade feels quite janky, especially when it requires more precision from the player. While Eve controls like a dream in combat, she simultaneously feels floaty and heavy. Movement often feels jerky which makes it hard to line up jumps in the moment, and it lacks a general consistency that makes it more frustrating than it is fun.

Even though I had irks with traversal, I still found myself exploring these environments and completing requests. Mostly because the side content here really does a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to Stellar Blade’s worldbuilding. I mentioned it earlier, but the way in which the hopelessness and total despair of the situation is conveyed through NPCs and the general happenings of Xion and its surroundings is so engaging.

They almost always boil down to the same stuff when it comes to what you’re actually doing, but they all tell unique stories. An early example is an android, Enya, who’s fallen into disrepair, unable to perform for the bar’s patrons like she used to, much to the dismay of her closest friend. You can go out to get the gear to help repair Enya, leading to a chain of side quests following the two that concludes in a rewarding and heartfelt manner. It’s a rare example of one of the more hopeful beats in Stellar Blade, but it’s one that’ll stick with me for some time.

Another highlight was a relatively late quest where an anonymous tip is given to Eve about a store in the sunken district of Eidos VII. You can gain access to the building with a provided code to drain all the flooding, revealing a room full of deceased humans. It serves an unspoken narrative purpose, implying that the flooding was intentional on behalf of whoever is responsible for the murders – likely the same person who gave Eve the anonymous tip. The game is just packed with this stuff, all of it helping to build an image of what Xion is truly like and how those who live there go about their lives.

This side content regularly contributes to Eve’s progression as well. This is split into a few different facets, some of which are simple attack and health boosts, while others are more customisable. Exo-Spines, for example, are equippable spines that Eve can use to lean into a playstyle. Where one might focus on dealing extra critical strike damage, another focuses on managing Burst Energy. Gears also play into this, which further modify Eve’s stats and capabilities. It adds a touch of flexibility in how you approach combat and accommodate your weaknesses or strengths.

Another area that really serves to help the worldbuilding and overall aesthetic of Stellar Blade, is its visual style. This is a hauntingly beautiful game, brought to life by countless inspired designs and a striking visual exploration of religious iconography and interpretations. The Naytibas echo similar design elements found in Bayonetta’s biblically accurate angels, only far more fleshy and monstrous in their overall presentation. They’re juxtaposed by the slick, sci-fi, futuristic designs of Eve and the surviving humans. It’s incredibly inspired and striking regardless of the visual preset you play on.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention Stellar Blade’s sublime soundtrack. While just over half of it was composed in-house, the rest was led by Keiichi Okabe of NieR Replicant and Automata fame. His signature style from those titles translates flawlessly here – mesmerising vocals punctuate soft overworld themes that lend a dream-like quality to the world and exploration. SHIFT UP’s own tracks also deliver, with some great high octane tunes that score the game’s myriad set-pieces.

At a glance, it’s easy to write off Stellar Blade’s key inspirations as surface level and imitative. While a few 0f these elements don’t live up to the titles they’re borrowed from, Stellar Blade more than makes up for it so many other ways. It’s a fantastic example of combining tried and true elements to create something that’s new in its totality. Its commitment to the vision of its world coupled with the kind of gameplay we just don’t see enough of these days makes for a stellar experience all-round.

The post Stellar Blade Review – Shooting for the Stars appeared first on Press Start.

Despite being a huge fan of RPGs out of Japan, Yoshitaka Murayama’s Suikoden is a blind spot in my knowledge of the legendary genre. It’s a series I’ve always had a passing interest in, but has been kept just out of arms reach as the inexorable marching of time continues. Suikoden’s hardcore fans won’t let it be forgotten, though, funding a Kickstarter campaign for a spiritual sequel to Suikoden within hours of its launch.

Spearheaded by Murayama himself, the Eiyuden Chronicle project kicked off with 2022’s Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, a prologue to the events of the main attraction – Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. Hundred Heroes is Suikoden in all but name. Its uncompromisingly old-school design can sometimes feel antiquated and obtuse, but ultimately makes for a nostalgically-classic RPG that exudes charm and a love for the genre.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is set on the continent of Allraan, a rich melting pot of nations and diverse cultures, each holding unique values and traditions that set their peoples apart. The many races of Allraan form a complex array of alliances and rivalries, fueled by war and the powerful nature of magical objects known as Rune-Lenses. It’s within this setting that the Galdean Empire has found a way to amplify the power of Rune-Lenses, alongside the discovery of a powerful artifact that will bolster their strength further.

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This setup is ultimately what unites our core three heroes – Nowa, Seign, and Marisa. While much of the early focus is on Nowa and Seign, Marisa quickly joins afterwards to complete the trio, their fates entwined as a result of the machinations of the Galdean Empire. It’s a narrative that treads familiar ground with some predictable twists, but it’s the way that characters are developed through conflict and the happenings of Allraan that makes Hundred Heroes engaging when it comes to narrative.

As you recruit new members to an army built to fight back against the Galdean Empire, the range of perspectives and opinions also increases. It’s fascinating to see how the different nations of Allraan react to the prospect of war. Where the shark-like Shi’Arcs of Impershi’arc are itching to stick it to the Empire’s malicious advances, the kingdom of Euchrisse is less eager to fight what seems to be a losing battle. It creates a distinct array of situations that the Liberation Army has to contend with in order to build up their forces as much as possible.

These conflicts are best explored through the perspectives of Nowa, Seign, and Marisa. Despite each of them having vastly different outlooks on the coming conflict and what it means to be at war with the Empire, each wants the same thing. Seign is a particular highlight, whose struggle forces him to reconsider where his loyalties lie. There are some really excellent moments that come from this, particularly revolving around his family, but it would be a shame to spoil them here.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes’s approach to story and characters is also adopted in how it handles gameplay. Its combat is a robust turn-based system, keenly tuned in difficulty to implore you to think strategically about the decisions you make in conflicts and how you form your party. Much like Suikoden, a character’s position in the party effects what they can do in combat. Front row units are likely to take a brunt of the punishment from enemies, where backrow units are kept in safety at the cost of range. This, in combination with the sheer number of heroes you can recruit and use in combat, makes for a staggering amount of choice and flexibility before combat is even initiated.

Hero Combos also encourage you to think about how units can compliment each other. Certain characters with narrative ties to one another often have Hero Combos for big damage at the cost of SP and both of those characters’ turns. The extra layer of strategy and consideration that positioning has, coupled with managing important combat resources like SP and MP offer a deceptively deep turn-based combat system. All of this works so effectively because Hundred Heroes’s difficulty curve feels tightly tuned, especially in its challenging boss fights.

Another part of contending with Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes’s escalating challenge is through making proper use of gear, and more importantly Rune-Lenses. Rune-Lenses can be slotted onto characters a la Final Fantasy VII’s Materia system, letting them access a set of elemental skills, physical skills, or stat boosts in battle. These vary wildly in application, and exploration can net you some pretty powerful ones. Characters are limited in what type they can equip and how many, with more slots being unlocked as they level up. It’s a great system that allows you to be a bit more flexible with unit roles to cover weaknesses and reinforce strengths.

The biggest issue with combat is in the way it’s taught to the player. It’s clear that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes assumes that the player has a certain level of familiarity with Suikoden’s own combat framework. There were many things that I had to pick up on my own in the opening hours, either by digging through menus or by coming to my own conclusions. While it’s fun to discover some of this on your own, it can also lead to some frustrating roadblocks in the early game as you try to find your bearings against the more difficult encounters.

This initial obtuseness isn’t isolated to Hundred Heroes’ combat. There are certain times in the narrative where you’re let off the leash with no waypoint marker to guide you. While I’m sure many will be relish the prospect of these hands-off moments, they feel too broad in the nudges they give you in the right direction. It often left me trudging about the world map, jumping between different cities and villages, combing through each NPC, only to find out the person I was looking for was in the very same city I started in. These moments are exacerbated by a lack of fast travel in the early game where they rear their heads the most.

It must be said, though, that when you aren’t backtracking to find the next point of progression, Allraan is a joy to explore. It feels adequately sized, dotted with towns both small and large, countless dungeons, and plenty of heroes to recruit for the Liberation Army. It’s fat-free in every way, cutting down on the bloat that plagues many open-worlds today in favour of a more focused offering of locales throughout its many biomes.

Besides engaging with main story and side content, the overworld also offers progression through material gathering. These materials can then be used at the Liberation Army’s very own castle, expanding the range of goods and services on offer in your own home base. It really lends to the feeling of building up an army from nothing in order to fight back against those who have it all. Seeing your castle grow and flourish with new recruits as businesses are rebuilt is always rewarding when you stop back in after an adventure.

This feeling of unity among the Liberation Army also comes through in the War battles you’ll get into over the course of the story. These are few and far between, but serve as a nice pace-breaker between all the turn-based combat and overworld exploration. These large-scale strategic affairs see you commanding legions made up of Liberation Army recruits to take down the advancing Galdean forces. There’s some added strategy in how you approach these battles through the use of powerful one-off commands to gain the upper-hand in battle. They never outstay their welcome and always pop up at just the right time.

The final piece of the gameplay puzzle comes in the form of Duels. While these one-on-one conflicts are mechanically shallow, they’re thematically rich and an absolute blast to watch unfold. Each one is a furiously cinematic clashing of ideals that’s immensely satisfying to watch unfold. These are even more few and far between then the aforementioned War battles, but always serve as poignant set pieces during narrative climaxes.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundres Heroes is also a joy to take in visually. While it isn’t quite as detailed as some of the other HD-2D/pixel-art titles we’ve seen recently, it has its own flair that hearkens back to the glory days of PS1 RPGs. Character portraits and environments are lovingly created, and the sheer visual variety throughout Allraan is a sight to behold. Special care has been put into combat animations, which always feel impactful and look flashy. Performance is also rock-solid on PS5, but your mileage might vary depending on platform.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a nostalgic and effective callback to the days of Suikoden and PS1 RPGs. It doesn’t rival the scale and complexity of modern JRPGs, but it doesn’t need to. There’s plenty of joy and satisfaction to be found in the tried and true trappings of this classic sub-genre. It might stumble over its commitment to that vision, but that doesn’t keep Hundred Heroes from delivering on the promise of a comfy JRPG experience.

The post Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Review – Comforting Nostalgia appeared first on Press Start.

Almost a full year after release, Final Fantasy XVI is about to introduce its final Eikon in the legendary summon Leviathan. While notably absent from Clive’s conflict with Ultima, XVI’s second piece of DLC – The Rising Ride – is looking to explore exactly what happened to the Leviathan and its Dominant. We got to talk with DLC Director Takeo Kujiraoka about bringing the serpentine beast to Final Fantasy XVI, its potential narrative impact, how it changes up Clive’s combat capabilities, and more.

Echoes of the Fallen takes place before the final confrontation with Ultima in the base game. Can we expect the same of The Rising Tide? And if so, is there a possibility that Clive having all the Eikons might impact the final confrontation with Ultima?

Takeo Kujiraoka: Yes, The Rising Tide quest unlocks at the same point in time as Echoes of the Fallen. However, it will not change the final battle with Ultima or the ending.

Why did Ultima ignore Leviathan in the main game?

The story in The Rising Tide does address this point, so that’s something I hope players will look forward to uncovering.

There are a few reasons why the DLC doesn’t change the ending. First, we didn’t want to create an ending that people would have to buy DLC to reach. Second, Kazutoyo Maehiro, the scenario writer for the main game, surely chose to leave some parts of the ending up to the player’s imagination intentionally. It wasn’t for us to disregard and overwrite that.

Of course, I do understand what players were hoping to see – but as the director for the DLC, I decided it was more important to preserve the concepts in the original FINAL FANTASY XVI narrative.

Although this isn’t quite the same, the DLC does present an answer to the question of what might happen to Clive once he obtains the powers of all the Eikons – which is something else I think you can look forward to.

I’m sure taking each Eikon and developing an appropriate fight with them was difficult given their scale and capabilities. What are some of the challenges surrounding developing an Eikon fight with Leviathan given its sheer size and water-based powers?

TK: Personally, I think that serpent-like creatures are quite difficult to use as a base for huge enemies in action games. Their ever-changing shape creates problems with collision detection that can end with player characters getting caught and trapped between collision boxes. So, instead of having these enemies freely moving about the battlefield, a lot of games will simply bury their bodies in the ground, leaving only the head exposed.

And so, a lot of games have these sorts of enemies half buried in the ground or make them immobile.

But from past FINAL FANTASY games, wouldn’t you say that it’s pretty well established to see Leviathan move like it’s swimming through the sky?

For FINAL FANTASY XVI, we initially explored having Leviathan coming out of the ground, but I thought, “Nope, this won’t do!” And so, we switched to having it able to move around the arena – the way it is in the final DLC.

Thanks to the hard work of the team, I think we’ve created the most active Leviathan yet, so you can look forward to meeting it yourself!

It also seems that The Rising Tide takes place in a locale separate from Valisthea. Will we be able to explore this new location and engage in side content or will it be more linear like Echoes of the Fallen?

TK: There are four field areas in the main game. The Rising Tide will add another field area on the same scale as those.

This new area features a settlement where people live, sidequests, and strong foes on the same level as notorious marks.

There’s also some completely new side-content that wasn’t found in the main game, similar to a treasure hunt. In amongst the beautiful scenery, we’ve packed in quite a lot for you to do – so I hope you’ll enjoy adventuring in this new setting.

Each Eikon in the base game is remarkable in how differently they play and how they expand Clive’s skillset. What kinds of abilities do the Eikon powers of Leviathan grant Clive and what kind of playstyle do they focus on?

TK: The Eikonic abilities of Leviathan are characterised by a specialisation in long-range attacks. Clive wears Leviathan on his arm, using it like a gun. Clive is more of a melee-type character, but the Leviathan abilities have been created in a way that fits his fighting style surprisingly well. Although I’m sure that each and every player has a set of abilities that they think are the best, the Leviathan abilities are compelling enough to make you want to break apart and rebuild your loadout. I hope players will enjoy experimenting with different combinations that use the new abilities.

The Eikonic feat, Serpent’s Cry, is particularly extravagant – just like Odin’s Arm of Darkness, all available actions change completely while using the feat. The roll action that can be triggered with R1 is particularly useful, and it feels great to use it to move around the field. Leviathan’s abilities give combat a completely different feel.

One of the things players enjoyed most about Echoes of the Fallen was the increase in difficulty from the base game. Can we expect the same kind of increase in The Rising Tide? Is there the possibility of another superboss like Omega?

TK: We also felt like the increased difficulty in Echoes of the Fallen was received well, so we’ve set The Rising Tide at about the same level.

The bosses that you’ll fight as Clive have a different kind of strength to Omega – the kind unique to humanoid bosses. You’ll need to pay close attention to how your opponent moves and make sure you determine the right time to pull back, or you’ll find your HP worn down in mere moments by fierce chain attacks. So, watch out!

The battle against Leviathan, where you’ll be controlling Ifrit, has also been balanced to be quite challenging. The Eikon battles in the main game were kept at a slightly lower difficulty to allow players to focus on the story. But as The Rising Tide is going to have the final Eikon battle, it may be quite tricky to beat unless you make full use of all of Ifrit’s abilities.

Even if you lose, levelling up Clive and getting stronger weapons and equipment will affect Ifrit’s strength as well – so don’t give up, and take on Leviathan again!

The post We Spoke To Final Fantasy XVI’s DLC Director About Rising Tide’s New Locations, Powers And Fearsome Eikon Battle appeared first on Press Start.

The last few years have provided a veritable feast for tactical RPG fans. Between Fire Emblem Engage, Tactics Ogre Reborn, Triangle Strategy, Marvel’s Midnight Suns and more, there’s a smorgasbord of high quality options when it comes to this timeless genre. It’s in this landscape that acclaimed developer Vanillaware brings their own vision of what tactical RPGs can be in Unicorn Overlord.

Anyone familiar with Vanillaware’s catalogue knows that this is a far cry from the studio’s bread and butter, but that doesn’t change the fact that Unicorn Overlord is overflowing with Vanillaware flair. It’s wildly ambitious in its scope and core ideas, building upon genre tropes and expectations in engaging fashion. While all of these things showcase what’s possible in the genre, Vanillaware never loses site of what makes tactical RPGs so appealing to begin with.

Unicorn Overlord takes place in the land of Fevrith, years after a rebellion that led to the establishment of the Zenoiran Empire that now has a suffocating stranglehold over Fevrith’s lands. In the midst of this tyrannical rule is Alain, son of the former Queen Ilenia who was smuggled away from the Cornian Kingdom as his mother fell at the rebellion’s instigation. Raised by the late queen’s personal guard, Josef, Alain takes on the mantle of being leader of the Liberation Army, and sets out to bring an end to Zenoira’s subjugation.

It’s not like this is a setup we haven’t seen before – even with tactical RPGs, but it’s the way in which Unicorn Overlord explores the impact that Zenoira has on Fevrith and its citizens that makes it so captivating. Instead of focusing on the large scale impact of oppression and tyrannical rule, Unicorn Overlord takes a much more intimate approach that puts individual characters, towns, and settlements under the magnifying glass.

Zenoira’s impact on Fevrith is tangible, overbearing, and targeted. Each village, stronghold, and outpost under Zenoiran control is exploited in different ways. Between manufactured plagues and famines, to the blackmailing of former leadership figures and mind control, Zenoira’s depravity knows no bounds. Each new situation presented to the Liberation Army feels believable and urgent, and the way in which they’re explored and resolved through new characters adds an inherent investment into seeing things made better for the local population.

It all helps to make liberating different parts of Fevrith feel worthwhile outside of gameplay rewards and general progression. Many of these conflicts are entirely optional, presented to you on the golden path as you move through the overworld to your next big objective. Still, though, there’s an undeniable sense that these people need help, and after years of oppression, the Liberation Army are the only ones who can provide it. Perhaps most impressive is the way Unicorn Overlord juggles so many characters and arcs related to the core conflict. Not all characters are made equal in complexity, but there’s a surprising level of depth given the sheer number of them.

The state of Fevrith under Zenoiran rule goes hand-in-hand with the kind of gameplay loop that Vanillaware envisions for Unicorn Overlord. Tactical RPGs have often struggled to establish strong pacing. Although attempts have been made with more modern titles like Fire Emblem Engage, the time spent between battles often feels laborious and unfocused. This is undoubtedly the area that Unicorn Overlord seeks to strengthen and cement as a core part of the experience.

Instead of having a home base of operations or a menu where you can configure your army between conflicts, Unicorn Overlord presents an overworld for the Liberation Army to explore and interact with. It allows you to uncover Fevrith with flexibility and independence, you pick and choose the paths that you tread and the people you liberate. The world is full of overworld puzzles, combat challenges, and hidden goodies to uncover that’ll give you the edge in future battles.

These rewards make for a steady flow of progression in Unicorn Overlord regardless of how you choose to spend your time. Nothing here feels superfluous or tacked on, it all contributes to the growth of your army and individual units. The beauty of it is that you can pick and choose what you interact with. There’s no doubt you’ll get more out of Unicorn Overlord the more you put into it, but it never feels excessively complex or incohesive in the totality of its systems.

The depth of this progression and the way elements of it are slowly introduced over its 40 hour runtime means that combat evolves in complexity alongside it. Unicorn Overlord’s real time skirmishes are deceptively simple at first. You’ll maneuver units made up of multiple characters through maps as you combat enemies in an attempt to reach a battle’s victory condition. The outcome of conflict between units is calculated via the Tactics systems, where you can assign skills to characters to be performed in combat. Active and Passive skills will be performed based on AP and PP respectively, limiting the amount of actions a character gets in any given skirmish.

The real complexities of combat are unearthed when you start playing with the conditions built into the Tactics system. The best point of comparison is the Gambit system from Final Fantasy XII. Setting these conditions changes the behaviour of these skills, allowing you to target certain enemy types to exploit weaknesses, set priority on which skills should be used first, if they should be skipped entirely with the absence of a certain unit type, and so much more. The combination of the Tactics system with how you gear your characters makes for immensely satisfying strategy and pseudo-puzzle solving.

You’re constantly configuring the tactics of characters and general units as you get new gear, face new threats, and recruit new members to the Liberation Army. The system itself is fluid and ever-growing, introducing added layers of strategy as characters gain access to new skills and higher AP and PP counts. This is all without even considering class synergy, expanding the total number of characters you can include in a unit, and how the composition of enemy units evolve as the difficulty ramps up.

The only real issue that this sheer amount of flexibility in strategy presents in the amount of organisation that comes with it. As you inevitably expand your collection of accessories, weapons, and the Liberation Army itself, the amount of time you spend in menus as you build out your units grows exponentially. While managing all of this is part of the appeal of a game like Unicorn Overlord, it does get quite excessive in the second half of the game, especially as the enemy units you face become more nuanced and demanding.

Even though the organizational aspects of Unicorn Overlord become unruly with time, battle itself remains a constant thrill. The real time manipulation of units on maps under a time limit means that every decision you make needs to be considered and thoughtful. Thankfully, you can pause the game at any moment to assess the situation, but the flow of time is always passing as units engage in combat and traverse the map. Each unit is also limited by Stamina, which means they can only engage in combat a certain number of times before needing to rest.

Even more layers of complexity are added via terrain, garrisons, outposts, weapons, and Valor Skills. Most of these aren’t foreign to the genre, but the way in which they intertwine with Unicorn Overlord’s unique mechanics are what makes them so interesting. Stationing a unit at a garrison not only provides bonuses in battle, but also prevents the depletion of stamina, for example. Valor Skills are another highlight that let you use skills outside of unit to unit combat. They’re powerful in their myriad applications, from healing and general damage to destroying structures. These all cost valuable SP, though, which is also the resource you use to deploy units to the field.

Winning battles almost always leads to the liberation of towns and forts. These towns have all fallen into disrepair under Zenoiran rule, and only through providing the necessary materials can they be fixed. Restoring a town to its former glory allows you to station a guard there, who will automatically harvest nearby resources to be used in future preparations. It also grants you access to new services in some instances, like town taverns to build up bonds between units as they share Vanillaware’s mouthwateringly-designed food.

All of this stuff also earns the Liberation Army renown, which steadily grows as you journey across Fevrith. Each new renown rank lends you access to meaningful jumps in the way you can customise your army. From expanding the total size of units, your total unit count, the ability to promote classes into advanced classes and more. These feel like real milestones in progression and mark a significant increase in the power of the Liberation Army as their presence grows in Fevrith.

While there are countless HD-2D titles on the market now, there’s still no studio that has a grasp on this style quite like Vanillaware does. Unicorn Overlord is categorically the best showcase of this art style thus far, combining intricate 2D character sprites and gorgeous backgrounds with 3D elements to create a lovingly realized and visually rich world. Everything here is a complete joy to witness in its entirety. Between the pixel art-like 2D overworld sprites to the flashy skill animations in battle, Unicorn Overlord never ceases to be a visual delight.

You can always count on Vanillaware to deliver, but Unicorn Overlord is truly something special. The way that its countless systems coalesce into a thematically cohesive and immensely satisfying strategic experience is endlessly rewarding. The seamless fashion in which it all fits together makes it seem as though Vanillaware are veterans of the genre establishing a new gold standard for tactical RPGs. It’s an absolute triumph in its totality, and one of the best games of the year thus far.

The post Unicorn Overlord Review – A Tactical Triumph appeared first on Press Start.

If you look at the trajectory of Team Ninja’s recent ventures, it becomes clear that a fully-open world title was on the cards. Comparisons to FromSoftware’s own catalogue aside, the success of Elden Ring was always going to spur on more non-linear Souls-likes for better and for worse. There are many pieces to this puzzle, though. It’s no easy feat to rise to the top of this sub-genre, requiring an elaborate combination of meticulously tuned challenge, intuitive world design, and tight combat systems. It’s a difficult balance to strike before even thinking about the countless implications of a more open setting.

These elements, amid countless other comparisons, mean that Team Ninja really had their work cut out for them with Rise of the Ronin. A culmination of their recent titles stretching back to 2017’s Nioh while also looking to appeal to a new audience that are typically averse to the Souls-like label and its trappings. While Rise of the Ronin has sparks of brilliance, its muddled identity, disparate elements and frustrating third act hold it back from reaching the same heights as Team Ninja’s best.

Following Team Ninja’s trend of exploring historical periods of great importance, Rise of the Ronin is set during Japan’s tumultuous Bakumatsu period, famously known as the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s rule after years of isolation while foreigners approach with uncertain intentions. It’s a setting ripe with potential for a game, one we saw relatively recently with last year’s Like A Dragon: Ishin!

You take control of what’s known as a Blade Twin; half of an elite unit warrior unit called the Veiled Edge. Each Veiled Edge is made up of two Blade Twins, and each are trained to dismantle the Shogunate from the inside. After a man in a blue demon mask unexpectedly sabotages an early mission, you’re separated from your Blade Twin and thrust into the conflict-ridden open world. It’s a strong opening that hooks you in with its initial mystery, sowing seeds of anticipation as you get pulled into a power struggle that will decide the fate of a country wrestling with its future.

While storytelling has never been Team Ninja’s strong point, it does feel like Rise of the Ronin places more emphasis on its narrative to varying degrees of success. The explorations of pivotal figures from the time period like Sakamoto Ryoma and Tokugawa Yoshinobu to name a few are endearing and provide a much appreciated level of insight into the motivations and qualities of their real-life counterparts.

The plot itself, though, feels disjointed and unfocused. Between three regions and numerous time periods, Rise of the Ronin is constantly introducing new secondary characters and events to its story. There’s little here that feels like it gets time to breathe as you’re catapulted through battle after battle with antagonists that are swatted way as fast as they’re brought into the fold. The personal plot involving the player character and your Blade Twin also struggles to deliver on the potential it teases, partly due to the sparing use of voicework when it comes to the protagonist.

In terms of how Rise of the Ronin structures its gameplay around narrative, things also start out strong and stay that way for a good chunk of the experience. Key story objectives funnel you into parts of the open world for linear missions most akin to what you’d find in Nioh. While these missions are generally much shorter than what you’d find in Team Ninja’s other games, there’s a nice loop established in the early hours, dipping in and out of the open world as you move through feudal Japan and restore order to different regions of the map.

I mentioned in my hands-on impressions that I was concerned about how this rhythm would lend itself to the widened scope brought in with the open world, and it turns out that my worries weren’t entirely unfounded. While I think Rise of the Ronin holds its own for the first 20 or so hours, the last third really struggles to engage. It slings mission after mission at you, each boiling down to exploring an area, fighting enemies, and eventually taking on a boss. Team Ninja’s previous titles weren’t strangers to repetition in mission design, but enemy variety and combat with a ridiculously high skill ceiling kept things fresh.

There’s no denying that Rise of the Ronin’s combat framework is less layered than the likes of Nioh or Wo Long, but that isn’t inherently a bad thing. The parry mechanic of Countersparking is consistently satisfying, there’s enough options in your toolset for some fun combo expression, and there’s a healthy assortment of weapon types and combat styles to play around with. The grappling hook is also a fun inclusion, letting you hurl explosive barrels and abandoned weapons at enemies. You can also yank goons towards you, and even throw enemies at each other once you start unlocking certain skills.

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There are also Combat Styles, which effectively function as stances. Certain styles are better against specific weapon types, yielding more effective Countersparks and dealing more damage to the all important Ki gauge. These are slowly unlocked as you complete main story missions and side content, imploring you to engage with the open world to cover all of your bases. Styles also come with Martial Skills, which are weapon skills you can perform that cost Ki. These are always very effective at pressuring the enemy, but overuse of them can quickly lead to draining your own gauge.

The stealth system, while simple, is remarkably robust. It’s always satisfying to clear an outpost as you stalk from the rooftops and lurk in bushes, getting the drop on unsuspecting enemies and taking out a nearby guard with a chain assassination as he reels from the shock. It provides a lot of flexibility in how you approach enemy encounters – especially in the open world.

The issue, though, is that a combat system like this lives and dies by its enemy variety and thrilling boss fights, both of which Rise of the Ronin fails to deliver on.

Initially, Rise of the Ronin does a decent enough job at rolling out different varieties of enemies. From standard infantry and lumbering brutes, to ranged snipers that attempt to whittle down your health from distant rooftops. It didn’t take long for me to realise that this is mostly what enemy variety boils down to. Bar a few exceptions, every encounter plays out the same way, and doesn’t require you to become intimately familiar with the move sets and capabilities of your adversaries. It becomes all too easy to fall into a muscle memory that feels more mind-numbing than it is rewarding.

Much the same can be said for Rise of the Ronin’s boss fights. They start strong, serving as climax points for the linear missions that test your understanding of the game’s combat mechanics. Eventually, though, Rise of the Ronin starts reusing its older boss fights excessively. Sometimes solo, but often paired with another boss, which are frustratingly difficult in a way that feels cheap. It rarely feels like the experience has any surprises left in store for the player outside of its final boss, which is a real shame.

Aside from the third act difficulty spike, Rise of the Ronin feels appropriately challenging on its normal difficulty. As a Souls veteran, I found it was a good level for my first playthrough out of familiarity with the typical Souls-like design trappings and tendencies. There’s also an easier difficulty, which I found much less overwhelming and is a great fit for newcomers. Then there’s another step up from the standard difficulty, and another tier further which functions as a sort of New Game+ mode, bringing a new loot rarity and better gear drops.

Jumping into the open world does serve as a nice way to step away from the repetition of the golden path. Each region is packed with stuff to do, with different activity types netting you different rewards pertaining to numerous progression systems. Whether it be skill points, new gear, or crafting materials, it always feels like you’re progressing and growing your Ronin. I do think that these activities also eventually wear out their welcome, but can ultimately be ignored once you’ve had your fill.

It really helps that traversing the world itself is a blast. You unlock the glider and grappling hook early on, allowing you to soar over the countryside or zip across the rooftops of Yokohama. Horseback traversal is also quite quick if you find yourself unable to get airborne, and the sheer number of fast travel points on the map makes for seamless transport if you’ve already visited an area.

Even though it’s clear that Rise of the Ronin has its roots in Team Ninja’s action DNA, there are also a significant number of RPG elements present. There’s still a plethora of skills to unlock, but this time they’re separated by play styles. Most of the trees present are to be expected, like Strength and Dexterity, but there’s also more niche skillsets like Charm, which influences how you can approach conversations, allows you to pickpocket civilians, and more. It adds a nice layer of depth to the roleplaying aspect of being your own Ronin in this time period.

The RPG elements also feed into the narrative through dialogue choices. These have varying effects depending on the context, from influencing your relationship with key characters to siding with different factions at certain points in the story. While there are some excitingly dynamic examples of these choices, the big ones ultimately ring hollow. No matter what you do, the story always unfolds and ends the same way.

It’s understandable given the nature of the story being told here, but it leaves some of the choices feeling cosmetic in nature. The same can be said for dialogue options unlocked through skill trees. Conflict that isn’t key to the main story can be dissolved through persuasion or intimidation, but the same options that present themselves on the golden path don’t do much aside from impacting your relationships or fleshing out the context behind certain events or characters. It feels strange given the emphasis placed on the pro-shogunate and anti-shogunate factions and how your decisions align with those perspectives.

Other more standard skills improve your capacity for combat, healing, stealth, and more. While you can opt to focus on one tree, missions at some point will inevitably call for regular combat, so keeping a healthy spread between all of them is the way to go. It does take out some of the individuality and buildcrafting found in Team Ninja’s previous games, but it also allows you to experiment where that flexibility is afforded. The weapon proficiency system is similarly malleable, so wanting to try out a new weapon type never feels like you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage.

Progression is also inherently linked to the Bond system and by extension, side quests. There are many characters you’ll nurture bonds with through the main story and in side missions. While these don’t reinvent the wheel from a gameplay standpoint, they do offer deeper insight into the numerous side characters of Rise of the Ronin’s story and expand the world. It’s a nice way to get more background on a character who might not have much impact on the main plot, and levelling up a Bond can reward you with Combat Styles, skill points, and gear.

Characters you have bonds with can also be brought on missions to cooperate with the protagonist, allowing you to take control of them when you see fit. These two slots are also open to other players, allowing fellow Ronin to jump into missions with you. It’s particularly handy if you’re struggling with a particular boss, but feels a bit restrictive in that it’s exclusive to missions, and the players that join the session unceremoniously get booted back to their own world once all is said and done. It’s especially jarring in the shorter missions, which only last five to ten minutes.

While Rise of the Ronin won’t be dethroning other first-party PS5 games when it comes to visuals, it’s the art style and DualSense features that stand out the most. Team Ninja’s Souls-like ventures have never been graphical powerhouses from a fidelity standpoint, instead excelling in the realisation of their aesthetics while maintaining smooth performance.

Rise of the Ronin is no different in this regard – the setting of feudal Japan is incredibly well-realised. Towns are bustling with people, densely packed with traditional Japanese architecture and flora. The countryside is also a joy to explore, with lands covered in grass and reeds that sway in the wind with Mount Fuji punctuating a vast skybox. If you want to trade off performance for fidelity, Rise of the Ronin also offers a graphics mode and a ray tracing mode, both of which look great, especially during sunrise and sunset.

The DualSense also goes a long way to adding immersion to the whole experience. There’s a load of haptic feedback as you move about the world or ride on horseback. Whether it’s the simple rhythm of your footsteps hitting the ground, or the the clashing of steel as you Counterspark enemy blows, the feedback strikes a nice level of tactility as you explore or engage in combat that I wish more games included. It also makes use of adaptive triggers when using ranged weapons or your grappling hook, which is consistently satisfying.

While Team Ninja have been on a bit of a hot streak recently, Rise of the Ronin does feel like a step back in its totality. It gets off to a strong start with a slick combat system and simple yet effective gameplay loop that both fall victim lacking enemy variety and boss design – especially in the third act. Its RPG elements are simultaneously engaging and undercooked, allowing for a remarkable amount of flexibility in some areas, while feeling surface level in others. It’s still a mostly enjoyable experience, but doesn’t quite match the pedigree of Team Ninja’s other recent outings.

The post Rise of the Ronin Review – Humbled By Ambition appeared first on Press Start.

While Team Ninja have been pumping out some great games over the last few years, none of them have been quite as ambitious as Rise of the Ronin. There’s no doubt that they’ve got Souls-like design down-pat, but shifting to an open world framework opens an entirely new can of worms. Coupled with a renewed focus on narrative, the incorporation of new RPG elements, and abandoning supernatural elements in favour of a more grounded interpretation of Japanese history, it’s clear that Team Ninja have their work cut out for them.

In many ways, it’s quite the departure from what has made Team Ninja’s Souls-likes so special when inevitably compared to FromSoftware’s own seminal catalogue. The anticipation feels more fervent than ever, with more eyes on this game than Team Ninja’s other projects thanks to its setting and the success of games like Elden Ring. Ahead of launch, we got to sit down with game director Fumihiko Yasuda and producer Yosuke Hayashi to talk about some of the challenges faced during development as the studio embraces non-linear design elements.

PAVING THE WAY TO RISE OF THE RONIN AND CREATING A MORE GROUNDED WORLD

In some ways, Rise of the Ronin does feel like an amalgamation of Team Ninja’s previous Souls-likes. While there’s a collection of new elements that the studio has yet to explore in this framework, it also borrows a lot from Nioh and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. When asked about when the team realised they wanted to tackle a title like Rise of the Ronin, Hayashi-san revealed that it’s been on the cards for a while.

“After we completed the development of Nioh, we were looking to new challenges we could take on when it comes to the games we create,” the producer told me. “That’s what led us to the idea of Rise of the Ronin. If you feel that it shares a lot of the elements from our previous games, I think that’s a testament to what we’ve been able to achieve.”

One consistent element not brought across from previous titles, is a supernatural spin creating a unique interpretation of historical events. This wasn’t such a straightforward change, though, as Yasuda-san details some of the challenges this posed in development after getting used to Yokai and demons in Nioh and Wo Long respectively.

“Rise of the Ronin is more rooted in history. We wanted to place a special emphasis on the bonds between characters while limiting supernatural elements as much as possible. Because of that, we weren’t able to create huge enemies and had to find enemy variety in other ways. I think we accomplished that with different weapon types and weapon styles, but that was definitely a big challenge we had when making Rise of the Ronin.”

FACING THE CHALLENGES OF NON-LINEAR DESIGN AND EMBRACING THE OPEN WORLD

It’s difficult enough to develop a Souls-like, let alone in an open world setting. We’ve seen non-linear environments in some of Team Ninja’s previous works, but not to the extent of a fully explorable world. It’s a total shift in structure, progression, storytelling, difficulty, and much more. When I asked about how Team Ninja approached certain aspects of design influenced by this shift, Yasuda-san elaborated on how Rise of the Ronin is designed to let players engage with its world on their own terms.

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“A major difference in how we approached Rise of the Ronin in comparison to our previous titles is in its level design. In our other games, we had missions with enemy placements that forces the player to overcome certain challenges. This time, we have an open world that can be explored freely. There’s also the grappling hook and glider that allows players to engage with the world in a three dimensional way.”

Yasuda-san continued to describe how wanting more player freedom altered their approach, “We also have stealth elements in Rise of the Ronin, so there’s various ways that players can approach certain scenarios. The main theme of Rise of the Ronin is allowing that kind of freedom, so we had to think about that more consciously in comparison to our previous titles.”

THE INTRODUCTION OF RPG ELEMENTS AND CATERING TO A WIDER AUDIENCE

This main theme of freedom and building your own Ronin is also seen through the incorporation of new RPG elements in Rise of the Ronin. Team Ninja games have always had quite the focus on buildcrafting and loot, especially in their endgames, but Rise of the Ronin takes it further with dialogue choices and skills that allow for more control over your character within the setting of feudal Japan.

Yasuda-san commented on what made the team want to lean into these aspects of the game; “We really want players to feel like they can immerse themselves in the world, and more specifically what it feels like to be a Ronin in the Bakumatsu period. Up until now, the focus in Team Ninja games has always been on the battles.”

“This time we wanted to make sure players could interact with the people living in this world, adding a lot of natural elements that allow you to immerse yourself in the experience. We want to provide a rich experience outside of battle – that’s something we had in mind since beginning development.”

Hayashi-san echoed similar sentiments, talking about how the Bakumatsu period is ripe with potential when it comes to these aspects of the game. “There were a lot of different values and ideals clashing during the Bakumatsu period. You had the samurai who’d lived their ways for hundreds of years, influences from overseas cultures, and locals who expressed that those foreign ideals had their own value. It was a whirlpool of ideals, which allows for a lot of variety when it comes to choice and conflict.”

Difficulty is always a point of contention for Souls-like games, but the decision to include difficulty options akin to Strangers of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin was an easy one according to Yasuda-san, who said, “When thinking about difficulty in Rise of the Ronin, we wanted to keep in mind the players who are more interested in the story or RPG elements of the game. We also wanted to make sure we had a level of challenge for those who enjoy the action combat difficulty we’re known for, so that’s why we included easy and hard modes.”

BUILDING YOUR OWN RONIN AND INCORPORATING NEW APPROACHES TO COMBAT IN STANCES

While there’s a load of weapon types, progression systems, and skill trees within Rise of the Ronin, it’s pretty clear that Team Ninja wanted to make it easy for players to experiment with different weapon types and combat styles as they see fit. You never feel like your put yourself at a disadvantage if you want to try something new. Hayashi-san spoke about how this was a conscious decision to sell the fantasy of being a samurai with no master.

“We want the gameplay reflect that you’re a Ronin. In order to do that, we built from what we did in Nioh but didn’t want the player to feel limited to one kind of playstyle. We want players to feel free in how they approach various scenarios.”

Yasuda-san also chimed in, talking about how combat styles help to bolster this player freedom, “You could progress through the game with a single combat style, but we want to provide an experience accurate to the time period.”

“Different characters have their own combat styles and you can learn those styles by enhancing your bonds with them. It allows the player to develop their character and incorporate new combat styles as they play. Enemies also have their own stances and if you watch a lot of samurai media, you can see how they duel and assess their opponent’s stance as well. We really wanted to express that kind of attention to detail.”

DEVELOPING FOR THE PS5 AND LEVERAGING THE POWER OF THE DUALSENSE

If there’s one thing I wish we saw more of in PS5 games, it’s titles that leverage the power of the DualSense to heighten their immersion and worldbuilding. My time with Rise of the Ronin has left me impressed in how broad the applications of the DualSense are and how its features are used to play to the strengths of Rise of the Ronin. As Team Ninja’s first console exclusive since 2020’s Nioh 2, I asked about how the team made the most of the DualSense to bolster the experience.

Hayashi-san spoke about how their close collaboration with Sony on Rise of the Ronin helped them to fully realise the potential of these features. “We worked quite closely with Sony in the development of Rise of the Ronin – even more so than with our previous titles. We specifically worked with the ex-development team at Sony Interactive Entertainment. This led to our implementation of haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. We got continuous feedback in regards to these elements which allowed us to polish them to be the best they can be.”

Rise of the Ronin launches on March 22nd exclusively for PlayStation 5. Our full review is also live, which you can check out right here.

The post We Spoke To Team Ninja About Shifting To An Open World Setting In Rise Of The Ronin appeared first on Press Start.

My early hours with Team Ninja’s latest – Rise of the Ronin – have been plagued with comparisons. Since its reveal in 2022, many parallels have been drawn between it and games like Ghost of Tsushima, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Nioh, and much more. It’s easy to see why this is the case. An open world Souls-like set in feudal Japan during a time of uncertainty, with shadows of western influence looming large over a country emerging from isolation. It echoes ideas, themes, and settings that some of these aforementioned titles predicate themselves upon.

It didn’t take long for me to realise most of these comparisons are skin-deep. If my time with Rise of the Ronin so far has left me with one thing, it’s that it feels like a combination of Team Ninja’s recent works stretching back to Nioh – for better and for worse. Where it separates itself from those titles, though, is in its open world framework and through a refreshingly grounded setting that lends Rise of the Ronin some real identity.

While Team Ninja usually imbue their historic settings with supernatural elements, Rise of the Ronin feels very grounded. This might sound insignificant to those who’ve yet to undertake either Nioh titles or the more recent Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, but it’s genuinely refreshing to see Team Ninja try their hand at something that lacks demons or yokai. It’s a tumultuous time in Japan as the west attempts to pull the country out of seclusion, which sets the stage nicely for a story that’s more rooted in reality.

You play as what’s known as a Blade Twin, half of a lethal warrior unit called the Veiled Edge. After creating both Blade Twins in the character creator and a brief tutorial in the Veiled Edge village, you’re sent to infiltrate one of the western Black Ships lurking in dark waters. You board it with the goal of stealing a secret message and assassinating its captain. The plan quickly goes awry, though, spurring your chosen Blade Twin to leave the village behind in hopes of finding answers to what exactly happened on the Black Ship.

Rise of the Ronin’s opening hour goes in a direction I didn’t expect at all, which immediately hooked me in. Much like other Team Ninja titles set in historical periods of our own, it also pulls from figures of great import from the late 19th century setting, you’re slowly but steadily introduced to characters like Ryoma Sakamoto, Igashichi Iizuka, Taka Murayama, and more. The cast is quite engaging to interact with and each is well-realised within the scope of their real world counterparts.

So far, it feels like there’s a deeper focus on these characters and their relationship with the protagonist. You often have different dialogue choices as you converse with them, and a lot of the early game quests are kicked-off through their assistance. It’s through these characters that your set on the path to your Blade Twin’s core goal while also getting mixed up in the events of the time.

One aspect I’ve been enjoying more than I’d anticipated is Rise of the Ronin’s open world. Mechanically it isn’t out to break any ground, primarily made up of points of interest, enemy encampments, side quests, and photo opportunities. What’s nice about it, is that each activity is really digestible and almost always provides a worthwhile reward. Whether it be skill points from Shrines or new villages to fast travel between after clearing out some goons, nothing feels superficial. It also helps that traversal is a real blast, from standard horse-back riding to grappling and gliding all over the place.

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Ticking these activities off also increases your Bond Level with that region, netting you rewards and bringing order back to the countryside. It all follows a flow that’s easy to slip into, and feeds nicely into player progression as you improve your character. Some of these will even have enemy outposts that are much higher level than you, encouraging you to revisit regions once you’ve gained enough power to tackle the challenge comfortably.

The reason these activities feel so digestible is because of how they fit into main story progression. The golden path has taken me to many different regions of the open world, from the newly established cityscapes of Yokohama, to the surrounding quaint countryside regions. Quests also regularly take you into linear missions in self-contained areas, which feel more in-line with the missions present in Team Ninja’s previous titles. It does a lot to break up the pacing and has kept the early hours feeling quite varied.

One thing I need to shout out is some of the RPG elements included in Rise of the Ronin. These aren’t something you’d expect from Team Ninja, but they go a long way to making the world feel alive despite their simplicity. An early example of this is a decision I had to make in one of the aforementioned linear missions. A gang of bandits and their chief, Gonzo, have seized the estate of a magistrate and have been terrorising the nearby village. Gonzo is made out to be a pretty nasty piece of work – known to kill his own henchman for the slightest of missteps.

I was surprised that upon besting Gonzo in a boss fight, I had the option to spare him in exchange for some extra rewards. I let him live in curiosity of seeing what the outcome would be. After some disapproval from Ryoma, who accompanied me during the mission, I moved on with my new gear and a slight sense of guilt. An hour or so later, I stumbled on Gonzo in the open world with his own side quest chain involving some other no-good individuals. I was genuinely surprised to see the choice I made had an impact on the world, and immediately started thinking about how the other choices I made might be molding my playthrough.

There are also other small things, like being able to pickpocket locals for a bit of cash, or engaging in scuffles with other ronin in towns for equipment and weapon proficiency. The trade-off, is that doing these things raises your Wanted Level, so sowing absolute chaos doesn’t go unnoticed by local authorities. I’m really invested in seeing how these systems are taken further, especially given you can invest skill points in the ability to lie to people in conversation, or even intimidate them.

Unsurprisingly, combat is probably my favourite part of the experience thus far, which lines up if you’re a Team Ninja fan. Rise of the Ronin’s combat feels like an amalgamation of everything that’s come before. You have a system similar to Nioh’s Ki Pulse, weapon styles which are akin to Nioh’s stances, a parry system, sub-weapons, and much more. While all the pieces feel pulled from previous works, Rise of the Ronin separates itself in the flow of its combat.

Everything revolves around Ki, which essentially functions as stamina. Every action in combat drains Ki, and running out means leaving yourself open to attack. This means that combat is always an intricate dance of managing your own Ki while trying to deplete your enemy’s. The main difference is that you can’t just wail on your adversaries. Even the standard foes won’t be staggered by your regular combo attacks, and will attempt to strike you while they weather your assaults. This means you need to make use of the Counterspark system to gain the adavantage.

Counterspark is Rise of the Ronin’s parry system. Hitting the Counterspark button just as an enemy attacks will deflect it and leave them open for a counterattack. If you Counterspark a whole combo string, you get an even longer opportunity to strike in the hopes of depleting their Ki for a lethal Critical Hit. Counterspark being such a big part of combat forces you to take a slower and more methodical approach to combat. It usually isn’t a great idea to try and deflect mid-combo as you try to overwhelm your enemy. It feels more calculated and rhythm-like overall, and always feels rewarding.

There’s also enemy Martial Skills, which are unblockable and can only be dodged or deflected with a perfectly-timed Counterspark. This is all without getting into weapon types, sub-weapons, items, your own Martial Skills, the grapple hook, and more. My only concern so far is with enemy variety. The supernatural nature of yokai and demons in previous games means that there are so many different aspects you can pull from to create unique enemies and boss encounters. Rise of the Ronin lacks this flexibility, so I’m waiting to see how things are shaken up when it comes to boss fights and regular enemies as I make more progress.

Speaking of combat, let’s touch on difficulty a bit. It’s always a point of contention in any Souls-like, but Rise of the Ronin is notable in its inclusion of difficulty settings. There’s three out of the gate, Dawn, Dusk, and Twilight, which are easy, normal, and hard respectively. I’ve spent most of my time so far on Dusk which feels like the standard Team Ninja challenge. There’s a significant drop in the damage that enemies deal on Dawn, but the demand for precise Counterspark timing and a considered approach to combat is still somewhat there.

Combat is made easier by other aspects, though. Smart use of stealth can grant you a massive advantage over your enemies, healing is plentiful, and health is regenerated outside of combat. So far, I think it strikes a good balance of being accessible to newcomers while retaining the power fantasy of being a ronin, but it’s yet to be seen if this holds up through the rest of the game.

If my early hours with Rise of the Ronin have confirmed one thing – it’s that this is definitely a Team Ninja game. It’s absolutely different in its structure, grounded nature, and approach to difficulty, but the identity that makes Nioh, Wo Long, and Strangers of Paradise tick is palpable here. This is far from a bad thing, but I am curious to see how Team Ninja’s typical design trappings fare after more time with this open world setting.

Rise of the Ronin launches on March 22nd exclusively for the PS5. You can pre-order it here, and you’ll be able to read our full review on Tuesday, March 12 at 9:00 AM AEDT

The post Rise Of The Ronin Hands-On Preview – Forging A Path Of Its Own appeared first on Press Start.

Heads up – there are absolutely no story spoilers here but we still wanted to point out that this article discusses Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s New Game+ content, so read at your own discretion.

New Game+ modes and what they entail these days vary greatly in content and scope. Final Fantasy VII Remake’s NG+ functioned as a Chapter Select where you could keep all of your levels, gear, and Materia. This was no doubt designed around Remake’s excellent hard mode, which also only unlocks after the credits roll. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth posits its own version of the mode in similar fashion, but also around its vast swathes of open world content and party systems that makes for a lean and streamlined second journey around the planet.

There’s a couple features that unlock as soon as the credits roll on your first playthrough. Much like Remake, Rebirth swaps to a Chapter Select format where you can jump into any chapter on your preferred difficulty, one of which being the newly available Hard mode. Your levels, inventory, and Materia all carry over no matter how you move through the story. It effectively lets you flick between chapters at your leisure, cleaning up any leftover side content as you tackle the game’s fantastic new difficulty setting.

Whenever you start a chapter from the select screen, you have a few options in how you want it to handle quest data. You can restore previously completed quest data, allowing you to polish off any odd jobs you’ve missed across your playthroughs, or keep it at full completion. You can reset all of your quest data, which lets you start completely fresh regardless of completion. Finally, you can opt to retain completion data from the current playthrough to keep things feeling organic. You can always restore completion data if necessary, so there’s no risks involved with wanting to experience side quests again.

What’s really nice about this, is that it means you can go after perfectly executed odd jobs if you’re a completionist. Each odd job has specific criteria to hit to perfectly execute it, some of which are more involved than others. It makes it all too easy to hit up an old chapter where you slipped up in getting that coveted perfect execution to rectify your mistakes without needing to reset all of your quest data, or start from the beginning of the game with a clean slate.

In fact, completion in general is handled quite deftly within NG+. Through the Play Log that opens up after credits roll, you can view your overall game completion. Everything is accounted for here, from the total items donated to Johnny’s Treasure Trove and your World Intel Progress, to how many Queen’s Blood Cards you’ve collected or the status of your relationships with each party member. It extends much further than this, but being able to view all of this tracked info makes completing Rebirth in its entirety a much less daunting task.

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Another thoughtful inclusion is giving the player control over how the Golden Saucer events play out in Chapter Select. Once credits roll, you can set who you want to accompany you on your ventures to the Golden Saucer, and how you want the date event to conclude. It cuts out any guess work involved with who you end up going with, as you’ll likely have similar bond levels with party members once you hit NG+. It’s a small addition, but one that hardcore FFVII fans will no doubt appreciate.

Outside of the bond stuff, we’ve found there are actually at least a couple of instances of brand-new dialogue in reaction to doing things in NG+ that weren’t possible in the first run – obviously we won’t spoil anything here, but it’s a thoughtful touch for the team to have baked in some little nods for players who’ve seen the adventure through already.

A lot of the potential fat that could hinder a New Game+ playthrough is also significantly cut down here. Because your World Intel carries over into Chapter Select, you can fast travel through regions as soon as you unlock that area’s Chocobo. It drastically shortens the time you spend on traversal, especially if you’re following the golden path. Any points of interest you missed on your first playthrough are also marked on the map now, meaning that playing through chapters on hard mode doesn’t fall victim to having to get through numerous open world encounters as you try to find hidden Chocobo Stops or Cache Locations.

Speaking of which, hard mode returns with all the trimmings in Rebirth. You’re restricted in that you’re unable to use items at all, and MP can’t be recovered by resting. Much like Remake, you need to be far more considered in how you use your toolset, making the most of Staggers, exploiting enemy weaknesses, and timing spells to get the most bang for your buck – or in this case, MP. It’s refreshingly difficult, and forces you to approach the combat framework in a different capacity, and the added layer of strategy brought in by Synergy is much appreciated.

Hard mode also unlocks a whole bunch of new challenges to participate in. Challenge modes for minigames, exclusive battles in the Musclehead Colosseum, and some incredibly difficult combat simulator challenges from Chadley. To offset some of the adversity, chapter select will award you with new Manuscripts to improve character Folios, but these battles still aren’t for the faint hearted.

A small but very worthwhile inclusion is the ability to change outfits at Chocobo ranches. Each one is fit with a changing booth in Chapter Select that you can use to kit out the gang in beach wear, Shinra infantry gear, and more. There’s even a few outfits only available to use once you roll credits, and the whole thing makes for a fun bit of customisation to play around with.

In a time where New Game+ modes are getting more and more involved, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s – much like the game itself – is a thoughtful and measured inclusion. A new difficulty to master, new combat and minigame challenges, customisation, tracked completion, and so much more. There are so many quality-of-life inclusions that make the whole thing feel seamless and frictionless where it otherwise wouldn’t. It’s far too easy to get lost in the world of Rebirth all over again, and the ability to tailor that experience to how you want it is liberating and refreshing.

You can read my full review of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth right here and pick up a copy for yourself here.

The post Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s Post-Game Features Are Bloody Brilliant, Here’s How They Work appeared first on Press Start.

While this review contains zero spoilers outside of what’s already been officially revealed in trailers, there are spoilers for Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

There’s a lot riding on the middle chapter of any trilogy. Some of the most beloved games of all time are sequels – Halo 2, Gears of War 2, God of War II, the list goes on. You could argue that there’s even more weight on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second part of the ambitious Final Fantasy VII Remake project, not only because of its position as the middle chapter, but also because it pushes the definition of a remake and what the term entails.

The Remake trilogy isn’t just posed as a remaking, it also serves as a pseudo-sequel to the seminal 1997 original. While diverging from source material is always a risky venture for any remake of a beloved piece of media, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth makes the most of the opportunity to great effect, while retaining much of what made the original game, and the first part of the remake so excellent to begin with.

Rebirth wastes no time in kicking its narrative into gear, opening with an enthralling recounting of the eponymous Nibelheim Incident from the perspective of Cloud. While Final Fantasy VII Remake was quite reserved in its use of Sephiroth, Rebirth’s opening hammers home the omnipotent threat that he poses to the planet. It also humanizes Sephiroth and his relationship with Cloud, Tifa and the Shinra company before his inevitable fall.

Shortly after, the party is forced to evacuate the once quaint town of Kalm, as Shinra makes their presence known, kicking off a continent-spanning hunt for Sephiroth before he can enact his plans of world destruction. It’s the kind of journey that evokes the intangible feeling of adventure commonplace in older JRPGs.

A good chunk of this feeling is rooted in the mysteries that Rebirth presents as part of its exploration of the unknown. The destruction of the Arbiters of Fate at the end of FFVII Remake means that the story here is no longer bound by the constraints of the original. Rebirth constantly toys with your expectations. It wants you, much like Cloud, to question your memories of the original game as it bounces between familiar story beats and the treading of unknown waters.

This is best exemplified by the returning Zack Fair, who seems to have survived his fateful encounter with Shinra at the conclusion of Crisis Core. Without getting into spoiler territory, Zack’s inclusion in Rebirth feels considered and more than just fan service. Each new scene with him is a tantalizing tease into the new possibilities that Rebirth presents, culminating in a satisfying conclusion.

Rebirth is still undoubtedly Final Fantasy VII, but the way in which it deftly balances the combination of elements both new and old offers up a fresh and enticing narrative for long-time fans and newcomers.

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Rebirth’s enormous journey concludes at the Forgotten Capital, and largely follows the structure of the original outside of a few exceptions. Even though there’s a honed focus on the events of Rebirth and what it means for the Remake trilogy, Final Fantasy VII’s timeless cast of characters aren’t left to the wayside. Every controllable party member – and I mean every controllable party member gets some time in the spotlight here.

Cloud is still struggling to make sense of his past, and Sephiroth’s hold over him grows stronger by the day. Aerith is trying to understand what it means to be an Ancient, and what exactly her role is in the fight against Sephiroth. Newcomers like Yuffie and Cait Sith also get much more time to shine than in the original, helping them to feel much more integrated into the party overall. Even Vincent and Cid get a healthy dose of characterisation despite not being playable, the former of which is incredibly well realized by Matthew Mercer’s suitably edgy performance.

The highlights of Rebirth’s character work are undoubtedly in Barret and Red XIII. Barret’s return to North Correl is reimagined with poignant results, exploring what makes his character tick and the events that laid the foundations for his hatred for Shinra. Red XIII’s ties to Cosmo Canyon are similarly heart-wrenching, as he undergoes an expanded, more introspective exploration of his family ties and the role he wishes to take on as a protector of his people.

And then of course, there’s Sephiroth, perhaps the most iconic video game villain of all time. Sephiroth takes centre stage in Rebirth, brought to life in scene-stealing fashion by Tyler Hoechlin’s excellent performance. Sephiroth feels like a real threat in Rebirth – always one step ahead, always aware and ready for what’s next, as he strings the party along like an elusive puppet master.

While Remake’s Midgar adopted a linear design with scattered open areas throughout its chapters, Rebirth blows the door off the hinges to a much more non-linear design approach. It feels decidedly fitting as the party breaks free of the claustrophobic industrialism of Midgar and Shinra’s machinations.

Rebirth regularly fluctuates between open-area exploration and more linear sections as you move between the larger regions and go through certain story beats. The linear parts often have forced party compositions, and will let you take control of each unique character at some point in the story. This also means you get to use their exclusive exploration mechanics, like Red XIII’s abilities to climb certain walls or being able to make use of Yuffie’s expanded traversal kit thanks to a grappling hook. Bouncing between these open and closed environments does wonders for the pacing across the 50-plus hour main story beats.

When you aren’t moving through these linear locales, you’ll be exploring Rebirth’s numerous regions. There’s six in total, each offering up distinct topography, colour palettes, and regional flora and fauna to explore and interact with. While they feel less compromised by Shinra’s Mako-draining practices, the planet is still irreparably scarred in many ways.

Costa Del Sol’s neighbouring tropical environments deeply contrast with the other parts of the Corel region. The Gold Saucer, for example, has left the lands surrounding it devoid of the same lush greenery, which is no doubt due to the sheer amount of Mako it would take to power such a large entertainment complex. The verdant outskirts of the Junon region slowly transition into land peppered with craters left behind after the war with Wutai, all of which are overshadowed by Upper Junon’s monolithic Mako Cannon.

The thoughtful design of these regions is more than skin deep. A lot of Rebirth’s open world activities share intrinsic ties to FFVII’s broader themes of life and environmental conservation. Each region is utterly packed with this stuff, and all of it is done in service of Chadley surveying the lands outside of Midgar. Completing these earns you World Intel which can be used to develop powerful Materia with Chadley you aren’t able to get elsewhere.

These open world elements do feel tired and fairly dated by today’s standard, though. Ubisoft-style towers reveal points of interest when activated, from combat assignments and Chocobo excavation sites, to Lifesprings and Sanctuaries dedicated to the summons like Titan and Alexander. They’re all bite-sized in nature but ultimately boil down to either a quick-time event or a short skirmish with wildlife that have some bonus conditions for full completion. There’s also a lot of them, and you’ll no doubt be over the checklist style nature of it all if you’re after 100% completion.

The categoric highlights of these are the Life Springs and Protorelic activities. The former not only provides respite from Shinra’s corruption of the land, but also expands the backgrounds and origins of their regions by providing world history for each. Protorelics, on the other hand, are the absolute cream of the crop.

Each region has its own Protorelic to obtain, each with an activity chain unique to that area. It’d be a shame to talk about any of them here, but all of them are wildly distinct in narrative and gameplay in fun and dynamic ways. They also tie together into a broader side story that’s thoroughly entertaining to unravel, and results in an incredible climax.

As you explore the open world, you’ll also collect materials to be used in item transmutation. This system effectively allows you to create consumables, armour, and accessories on the go. It’s a great inclusion that prevents the need to visit a shop every time you want to stock up, though it is easy enough to do that as fast travel is quick and accessible all over the map, especially if you repair the numerous Chocobo stops in each region.

Speaking of which, every region also has its own Chocobo for you to tame and use as a mount to get around. Where the Grasslands has the most standard of these avian franchise staples, the Chocobos found in Cosmo Canyon can glide through the air to access higher points on the map. It allows for more creative and vertically inclined level design that keeps each region feeling layered and more considered from an exploration perspective.

There’re also Odd Jobs, which serve as Rebirth’s side quests. The quality of these is vastly improved over Remake for the most part, exploring the plights of these side characters and how they relate to the party. Even the ones that don’t have as much emotional depth, often have comedic elements that make them well worth experiencing. A large majority of them also provide more characterisation for an associated party member, which in turn builds up your bond with that character.

Party Bonds further play into the idea of having a larger cast of characters in Rebirth. Through conversation, Odd Jobs, and using Synergy Skills and Abilities, you can deepen Cloud’s relationship with all playable party members bar Cait Sith. It’s nice to see how these characters bounce off of each other as they develop, and it culminates in Cloud being able to share a date with a special someone at the Gold Saucer.

If you’ve played the Intermission expansion for Remake, Rebirth’s combat will feel instantly familiar. It uses the same core structure of executing real-time combos to rack up ATB so you can unleash abilities and spells to build up stagger. Once staggered, the damage bonus you get implores you to go to town on your foes to deal out as much carnage as possible. It’s through strategic use of your ATB, Limit Breaks, and Summons that you’ll prevail Rebirth’s most challenging battles.

The inclusion of Red XIII and Cait Sith as playable party members also freshens up combat and team compositions. Red is based around blocking and counterstrikes to build up his Vengeance Mode gauge, bolstering his attacks and giving him lifesteal properties. Cait Sith is perhaps the most unique character yet, where the name of the game is summoning his Moogle to use more powerful abilities. You can jump on and off the Moogle at will, use it to tank hits, roll dice for random effects, and much more.

New party members aside, the only truly new inclusion is Synergy Skills. These are a widely varied assortment defensive and offensive skills that see two characters working together. Cloud is able to deflect Barret’s bullets off of his sword, and Aerith can use magic to help Tifa pop an enemy up for an aerial combo. Every character has Synergy Skills with everyone, so it keeps things feeling fresh and dynamic no matter who you choose to put into your active three-person party.

These go hand-in-hand with the flashy Synergy Abilities which return from Intermission. These abilities can be performed once you store enough ATB charges between characters, allowing you to unleash powerful attacks with bonus effects like extended stagger windows or a temporary window for MP-free spell casting. They add an extra layer of depth onto an already excellent combat system, and the sheer number of them per character combination offers a lot of flexibility in strategy. All of these combat mechanics come together in Rebirth’s boss fights, which highlight the true depths and strengths of this combat framework.

Progression has seen a large degree of restructuring, especially on the character side which is now primarily handled by the Folio system. Each playable party member has their own Folio which works similar to Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid, though, on a much smaller scale and level of complexity. As you earn SP through numerous avenues, you can spend points to unlock nodes that net you passive bonuses, new abilities, Synergy Skills, Synergy Abilities, and much more.

New abilities in the Folios are unlocked as you increase your Party Level, which comes through general story progression and by completing Odd Jobs. There are a number of directions to take characters in with Folios, and they’re quite expansive in total size, extending well into Rebirth’s Hard Mode. You can also reset them at any time if you want to experiment with other branches or try out a new party composition.

The Materia and gear system is a prime example of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Gear and weapons each have slots for Materia that levels up as you gain AP in combat, further enhancing the capabilities of that Materia. Weapons again bring unique abilities that can be mastered, further expanding the ability set of each character. It’s been further built up with new types of Materia and new weapon abilities that afford you even more customization and flexibility in how you approach combat.

It goes without saying that it simply wouldn’t be a Final Fantasy without some minigames, and Rebirth has minigames in droves. From the Rocket League-like Run Wild and the quick-fire shooting gallery of Pirate’s Rampage, to rounding up Moogles and luring them back to their Mogstools. Rebirth is densely packed with countless distractions that almost always feel worthwhile.

None of these come close to what you can do at the Gold Saucer, which is home to 3D Brawler, Chocobo Racing, G-Bike, Galactic Saviors, its own battle colosseum, and more. It’s absurd how much of this stuff Rebirth has in totality, a bulk of which come with hard modes for additional rewards and added replay value. Some of these feel like games of their own, like Chocobo racing which encompasses many tracks, and even has some light customisation in fitting out your Chocobo with gear for bonuses. Standing tall above them all though, is the brand-new card game, Queen’s Blood.

Kieron was right to worry about Queen’s Blood. It calls back to Triple Triad and Tetra Master from the Final Fantasy titles of old, but offers up an experience all its own. The general gist is that you play cards to gain points in three lanes, the victor being the player with the most points from winning lanes once all positions are exhausted. It gets much more complex than this, with countless card effects introduced as you play, numerous build types, and powerful legendary cards to collect and structure a deck around. It’s easy to learn but hard to master.

Each region is dotted with Queen’s Blood players waiting for a challenge, each one moving you closer to the next Queen’s Blood rank. You’ll always get a new card for beating them, and card shops around the world sell preset boosters, expanding your own deck building potential as you move through the game. Better yet, Queen’s Blood tells its own excellent side story that hooks you in with its mystery and allure, culminating in an immensely satisfying conclusion. There’s also tricky challenges to undertake at the Gold Saucer and in Costa Del Sol that require outside of the box thinking, and always feel rewarding to solve. It’s brilliantly moreish and I sincerely hope to see it return in some form.

Misuto Suzuki and Masashi Hamauzu’s score is also immense in the way it encompasses countless genres, motifs, and emotions. Remixes of classic themes evoke a combination of nostalgia and newness, while some of the more experimental tracks push the franchise forward with more electronic tunes that feel infectiously energetic. The battle theme never fails to pull you into the action as it swells up, and the story’s biggest moments are always underpinned by tracks that fit each moment just right.

Nobuo Uematsu’s composition of Rebirth’s main them, No Promises to Keep, is another masterpiece from one of gaming’s greatest composers, and Rebirth’s take on the Final Fantasy VII main theme, Departure, feels incredibly fitting for the journey Rebirth entails. I’m sure it comes as a surprise to no one, but it’s another unabashed win in terms of Final Fantasy soundtracks.

Rebirth is launching with two graphics modes; Performance, and Graphics. Performance offers a smooth 60 frames per second at a lower resolution, while Graphics presents 30 frames per second at true 4K. While differences in modes like these are usually somewhat minor, Rebirth’s Performance mode is a pretty notable downgrade from the Graphics option even with the recent Day 1 patch. Both modes do suffer from the same issue that Remake did where low quality textures plague a lot of the general environments, and end up standing out like a sore thumb when placed against the hyper-detailed character models.

The Graphics mode fares much better if you’re fine with the trade-off in frames per second, but it can feel detrimental to the more difficult combat encounters towards the end of the game, or in Hard Mode. Despite this, Rebirth looks great in certain areas in both modes. A lot of regions have areas with sweeping views of the surrounding environment with extensive draw distances that are impressive to behold.

Much like in Remake, it’s surreal to see these environments recreated with such scale and attention to detail. They feel lively in a way that Midgar doesn’t, which contributes to a less oppressive and a more freeing atmosphere. Whether it’s the sprawling mountain ranges of Nibelheim or the vast depths of Cosmo Canyon, each region is elegantly brought into Rebirth with the utmost care. While I didn’t experience any in-game bugs, I did have three hard crashes across 100 or so hours of play, which never really got in the way thanks to autosave.

It’s no small feat to follow up the excellence of Final Fantasy VII Remake, let alone the importance of delivering a successful middle part of a trilogy. Rebirth manages this, and then some, creating an experience that feels all its own in comparison to Remake. In some ways, it’s a totally different game, owing to its new approach to world design and the significance of the portion of Final Fantasy VII it’s adapting. A truly worthy sequel and second part to what is shaping up to be an incredible trilogy of games.

The post Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Review – A Stellar Reimagining appeared first on Press Start.

Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion surprised many when it released in 2018. A deliciously challenging collection of bite-sized levels that echoed much of the design philosophy and novel ideas of Splatoon 2’s base campaign. While Splatoon 3’s Return of the Mammalians took the successes of Octo Expansion even further, it felt more like a honing of a proven formula as opposed to another reinvention.

Splatoon 3’s second wave of downloadable content in Side Order feels much more revolutionary, taking the game’s core pillars and fitting them into a roguelite framework. The end result is a relentlessly creative and impossibly moreish expansion to Splatoon 3’s suite of content that proves this franchise still has plenty of untapped potential.

Player’s once again step into the shoes of Octo Expansion’s Agent 8, who has been unexpectedly transported into the Order Sector. The Order Sector is a world built around its own rules, drained of the colour and vibrancy that typically punctuates Splatoon’s environments. Lying at the centre of a monochrome Inkopolis is the Spire of Order, an ever-changing mega-structure in place of the Deca Tower.

Also lost in the Order Sector is Off the Hook’s Pearl, who’s been transformed into a drone, and Acht, a newcomer also known as Dedf1sh whose knowledge of the spire is key to surmounting it. After picking up a signal from the other half of Off the Hook, Marina, the group sets out to climb the spire and uncover the truth behind the Order Sector.

While it’s a fairly standard narrative setup, it’s great to be back with the Off the Hook gang again as Agent 8, and Acht also provides some light comedy as she comments on the dynamics between Pearl and Marina. While the core story here provides enough of a mystery worth seeing through, the highlight of Side Order’s narrative content come in the form of its supplemental worldbuilding.

Primarily found through Marina’s dev diary entries, Side Order’s world and characters are vastly expanded through the unlocking and reading of these sequential expansions to the story. They’re by no means necessary to get the full picture of Side Order’s core narrative, but they go a long way to fleshing out the characters and exploring how things came to be the way they are. It’s always been these fun expansions to the lore that add to Splatoon’s world, and Side Order doesn’t disappoint in this regard.

As far as roguelite experiences go, Side Order doesn’t entirely reinvent the wheel, but it does a fantastic job of capitalising on the possibilities that come with this kind of gameplay format in a franchise like Splatoon. The gist of it will be familiar if you’ve played any roguelite; you’ll attempt to ascend the Spire of Order’s 30 levels without losing all lives in any given run. Failing will almost always net you some currency to spend on permanent upgrades, so you’re constantly getting to higher floors with each attempt.

Each run starts off with you choosing a Palette. Palettes are effectively loadouts, preset with a main weapon, sub weapon, and special weapon. Each is based off of a character from the franchise for narrative reasons I won’t spoil here. After choosing your Palette, you’ll enter the tower, and move through the floors. Each time you enter a new floor, you’re given a choice of three Chips to slot into your Palette, which function as upgrades that last for the rest of that run. A successful run usually goes for 30-40 minutes, making them a great fit for pick up and play gaming on the Switch.

These Chips have some really fun bonuses. Things like poison ink that gives inked turf a damage over time effect to any enemies who tread it, or increased swim speed when submerged. There’s a few basic bonuses amongst these also, but the vast majority of them allow you to experiment and create fun builds within the preset Palettes. You can also stack Chips of the same type to bolster the strength of that bonus, but these will also take up slots in your Palette. Chips are also divided by Tone, which attribute what kind of buffs they’ll give you. Where Chips of the Power Tone generally increase your damage output, Chips of the Luck Tone revolve around increasing drop rates for items.

Each Palette has two Tone types that they’re more likely to get than others, and while that sounds restrictive at first, there’s so many Chips within each Tone, that you hardly feel strapped for choice. Some weapons also just don’t synergize as well with certain Tone or Chips, and each have game plans associated with them from the outset. Understanding where a Palette’s strengths lie is important because Side Order can be quite difficult at times.

Octo Expansion was no stranger to introducing hard challenges thanks to its non-linear nature. Anything that was too difficult could be skipped past for later, or even entirely ignored. Difficulty in Side Order is usually informed by the Chip you choose for any given level. The stronger the Chip, the harder the challenge, with the general difficulty scaling up as you climb the spire. Part of how hard any given floor is, usually comes from the amount of enemies thrown at you at once.

Side Order is most comparable to Salmon Run in this regard. The enemies you face in the spire – known as the Jelletons – are mindless vertebrates made up of gelatinous black goop and white bones. They come at you hard, fast, and in large numbers. They also vary greatly in design, from the fodder type enemies like the Marching Andantes to the imposing turret-like Towering Nobilmentes. There are so many with unique mechanics, and the way they rush at you makes for exhilarating on-the-fly decision making as you scramble to make it out alive.

What makes Side Order even more difficult, is having to contend with the Jelletons while you complete objectives. These are tied to the Chip you choose when entering a new floor, but each is different in what they entail and how you approach them. They vary from destroying all the enemy portals to capturing a zone and holding it for a certain amount of time. The only issue with these is that there’s only five of them in total, so some of them eventually wear out their welcome despite having a few different level layouts. There are boss encounters on the 10th, 20th, and 30th floors to break up the pacing, but these also eventually grow tired as you rack up runs.

There are some other variables that can be introduced to levels as you climb through the tower, though. From having the floor covered in enemy ink or darkening the room, to offering you the prospect of extra Membux if you limit your toolset. There’s also floors that buff you through Colour Saturation, which replaces your entire Palette with a particular Tone type for that floor. Engaging with these harder floors and optional objectives always rewards you with extra Membux, which can be spent at vending machines for replacement sub weapons, special weapons, extra lives, and even Chips.

You don’t have to brave it all alone, though, as Pearl accompanies your every run in drone form. The Pearl Drone functions as a support buddy similar to Smallfry from Splatoon 3’s campaign, though more passive in application. You can get Chips that increase her capabilities also, allowing her to drop bombs, plant mines, and ink turf while you’re engaging the Jelletons. You can use the Pearl Drone to glide in midair as well, which is a particularly useful tool when you need to reposition. Additionally, some of the Chips you can get to bolster the Pearl Drone make for some very strong builds that unleash utter chaos on any unfortunate Jelleton in the area.

When you do get booted from the Spire of Order – and you will – you’re sent back to the base of the tower where you can spend Prlz on Hacks with Marina. Hacks function as permanent upgrades for your runs, increasing your damage output, total life count, damage reduction, and much, much more. These are drip fed to you across runs as to never feel overwhelming, but there’s more than enough in totality for long term engagement, which works well with the way Side Order promotes replay value. Prlz can also be spent to resume a failed run from the floor it ended at, which can take the sting out of losing a really good build, though it does get more expensive based on which floor you’re resuming from.

Subsequent runs after your first clear will always leave you with more story details regarding the Order Sector and its ruler. Additionally, clearing the 10th, 20th, and 30th floor for the first time with a Palette will net you keys you can use to open lockers. These award you the aforementioned dev diary entries from Marina, but also new Palettes and therefore builds to experiment and play around with in the Spire. What you get out of Side Order ultimately comes down to what you put into it, so it’s nice to always have something to work towards as you clear the Spire with new Palettes.

Splatoon 3 continues to be a showcase of the Switch’s power and how Nintendo is able to squeeze every ounce of fidelity out of the hardware. If you’ve played Salmon Run, you know how hectic things can get in Splatoon without the Switch missing a beat. Side Order is much the same – later floors can be absolutely swamped with Jelletons, exploding ink, special attack effects, and so much more, all without any impact to the overall performance. It’s impressive how stable Side Order is when you consider how crazy it gets sometimes.

The game also continues to look like a treat, and the monochromatic environments of the Spire are a great playground to ink for obvious reasons. One really neat attention to detail is the way Agent 8’s ink and hair colour changes with the Tone type that occupies the majority of your Palette slots. It provides a fun visual evolution of your power as you progress through runs.

Like Octo Expansion before it, Splatoon 3: Side Order brings more fantastic single player content that uses Splatoon’s core gameplay mechanics in fresh and inventive ways. It’s incredibly satisfying to put together a build that has Jelletons exploding in showers of ink across the battlefield, and the way in which it tells its story is always interesting. It might not have as much longevity as other roguelike experiences, but I have no doubt I’ll be taking every Palette to the top of the Spire of Order thanks to Side Order’s addicting gameplay loop.

The post Splatoon 3: Side Order Review – An Exquisite Side Dish appeared first on Press Start.

While Sony’s INZONE series headphones have been out for some time now in the H3, H7 and H9, there’s always been quite the noticeable gap in price for those wanting a headset that falls somewhere between the accessibility of the H3 and the premium nature of the H7/H9. The H5 seeks to remedy that, offering seamless cross-play functionality and a sleek design for the price of $299 AUD (but regularly found for around $250).

With built-in PS5 compatibility and a flexible PC hub, the INZONE H5 is a mighty attractive option for those in the market for a wireless headset for the aforementioned platforms, delivering on almost everything you could want from a wireless headset.

If you’re looking for an understated yet elegant pair of headphones, then the INZONE H5s might just have you covered. Similar to the other INZONE models, both the black and white variants look super slick in the simplicity of their design. The rounded earcups and headband are unobtrusive to wear and pleasing to the eye, and the microphone is similarly discrete – especially when stowed. The white variant in particular pairs nicely with a PS5, sharing the same distinct black and white colour palette that you just don’t see often in other headset lines.

It’s also damn comfy to use, especially over the course of longer gaming sessions. The countless hours I spent using the headset while playing Persona 3 Reload and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth were made comfortable by the fabric cup padding and cushioned headband, and the adjustability of either cup made for a snug fit. The oval-like shape of the cups kept everything contained quite nicely as well, with enough pressure to keep sound locked in without putting any strain on my head. It’s also remarkably lightweight, clocking it at about 260 grams, which is quite a bit lighter than some of the competition.

While the H5 works great for both PC and PS5, it excels on the former thanks to the INZONE Hub. It gives you access to a varied feature set, most notable of which is INZONE’s 360 Spatial Sound. While it’s undoubtedly weird to take photographs of your ears, the end result is more than worthwhile if you’re playing on PC. It was remarkably impressive to have a more tailored experience with spatial audio in hearing chittering Fallen creep up from behind me in Destiny 2, or the crunchy impacts of TEKKEN 8’s heated combat. Disappointingly, spatial sound profiles aren’t saved to the headset, so PS5-only players won’t get to reap the benefits of this flagship feature.

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The INZONE Hub also allows you to customize your sound profile, equalizer settings, dynamic range control, a bevy of microphone settings and more alongside the aforementioned 360 Spatial Sound features. As a PC headset, the H5 gives you a great degree of control and flexibility in how you customise your audio experience to get the most out of the headset. It’s a shame these also aren’t present on the PS5 given that the Pulse headsets have some degree of this on the console.

That isn’t to say the H5s don’t sound great on the PS5, though. A bulk of my time with the headset was spent on console in a few different capacities. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s sweeping soundtrack is made all the more grand by the crisp clarity of the H5s, and Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s world is deepened in the exposure of the more subtle elements of its soundscapes. The audio quality is consistently smooth and detailed regardless of what kind of experience you use them with.

While the quality of the flip-to-mute microphone is nothing to write home about, the AI-based noise reduction does a nice job of mitigating unwanted background audio and singling out your voice. There’s also a surprising level of noise isolation to be found with the earcups which was a pleasant surprise. They also integrate seamlessly with the PS5, allowing you to control game and chat levels through buttons on the headset while also making use of the console’s Tempest 3D Audio. It also handily displays your mute status, and remaining battery life.

Speaking of which, the H5s last for a good while on a full charge. 28 hours of play is no small number, and I’ve not found once that I’ve had to disconnect for a quick charge. If you do need to plug the H5s in, though, the quick charge feature nets you a healthy three hours of battery life after only 10 minutes of charging, which will no doubt be handy for when juice is running low before an impromptu gaming session. A 3.5 mm audio cable is also included for when all else fails.

The omission of Bluetooth in favour of a USB-A 2.4 GHz dongle is a bit of an odd decision, especially with the PS5 Slim’s lack of a frontal USB-A port. Additionally, the lack of Bluetooth makes the H5s incompatible with the Switch outside of docked mode and other Bluetooth-only devices, and just feels a bit archaic overall. However, the dongle is very fuss-free, and easily switches between platform functionality thanks to a handy little slider on the side of the USB.

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The post Sony INZONE H5 Wireless Headset Review – A Great Multiplatform Choice appeared first on Press Start.

While often overshadowed by its beloved sequels, Persona 3’s impact on modern RPGs is still tangible today. It laid the groundwork for a formula that elegantly blurs the line between gameplay and narrative, entangling seemingly disparate gameplay systems and elements into an elaborate web of enticing feedback loops that keep you coming back for just one more in-game day.

Despite this, to say that Persona 3 is hard to approach for fans of the modern games would be an understatement. Between numerous versions and countless content differences, there is no definitive way to play Persona 3 – until now, that is.

Persona 3 Reload aims to deliver the quintessential way to experience this all-important title. Rebuilt from the ground up with new assets, gameplay elements, expanded dialogue, and a presentation that even Persona 5 would be envious of. While it hasn’t fully escaped some of its archaic trappings, and some new elements don’t feel as carefully thought out as others, Reload is undoubtedly the best way to play this seminal RPG.

Persona 3 Reload stays incredibly faithful to the source material. After transferring into Gekkoukan High, our protagonist finds himself pulled into a mysterious 25th hour in the day known as the Dark Hour. Coffins fill the streets in place of people who can’t freely roam the Dark Hour, the night sky is tinged an eerie green, and Gekkoukan High is transformed into a colossal monument to death known as Tartarus. After being attacked by monstrous beings known as Shadows, the protagonist awakens to the power of their Persona, and the ability to fight back against the Dark Hour by extension.

After being recruited into the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad – otherwise known as SEES – it falls to you and the other members of SEES to explore Tartarus, destroy Shadows, and uncover the grim truth behind the Dark Hour. It’s a simple premise bolstered by its cast of loveable characters and exploration of death, what it means to exist, and the human condition. Persona games have always dealt with heavy subject matter, and 3 can feel particularly weighty at points – but much of it is to its benefit.

Persona 3 Reload has a tangible atmosphere at times, particularly towards the end of the game. It comes through in every aspect of its design from its utterly sublime soundtrack, its contemplative and sombre user interface, and varied Social Links. Reload encompasses a wide gamut of emotional output across its 50-hour runtime.

In true Persona fashion, much of this comes through the game’s many optional Social Links, but that isn’t to say Persona 3 Reload’s main narrative is a snooze. The mystery at the heart of this story is an intriguing one, complete with twists and turns that keeps things fresh as you slowly uncover the truth. It’s all brought together by the way it entwines each member of SEES in a seamless manner, something that Reload really set out to improve in a lot of aspects.

While a lot of the early SEES members haven’t seen many changes in Reload thanks to their deft handling in prior versions of Persona 3, some of the later characters like Ken Amada, Shinjiro Aragaki, and resident best boy Koromaru have been vastly expanded in their backgrounds and motivations for joining SEES. I won’t get into it too much here, but the added character depth implored me to include these characters more often in my party setup, and deepened my appreciation for them to a point that previous iterations of Persona 3 were unable to.

A large part of this is thanks to excellent voice work across the board from a new slew of actors in Reload. Each one brings the same energy as their original iterations with their own twist, paying respect to the original voice actors while making it their own. A special shoutout should go to Aleks Le for his part as the protagonist, Pharos, and Ryoji, whose performance feels dynamic for each of his roles, shifting in subtlety and tone of delivery where needed to help each of these characters land. The original cast of Persona 3 also appear in minor roles peppered throughout the story, which is a nice nod for longtime fans.

It all comes together really nicely in the way that each character’s plight is inextricably linked to the themes Persona 3 Reload embraces so wholly. From Yukari’s determination to uncover the truth behind her father’s death to Aigis trying to work out what her purpose is in life outside of being an anti-Shadow weapon. Everyone’s arc feels purposeful here despite the size of the main cast, and while they aren’t all made equal, each has something unique to offer.

If there’s one part of this that I had to knock, it’s that the game still suffers from pacing issues at different points in the narrative. There’s often long stretches of time with little to no story progression, and the ability to knock out a block of Tartarus in a single night with smart use of resources can make for long stretches of dungeon crawling if you want to optimize how you spend your time. The worst offender is undoubtedly the month of December, where the whole game slams on the brakes right after some big story revelations.

The core gameplay loop of deciding how to spend your time during the day and dungeon crawling at night is here in full force. It’s the kind of “just one more day” decision making that keeps you locked in for hours on end. Picking and choosing who you want to spend time with, which stats you want to increase and how you can most effectively use your time when exploring Tartarus is forever engaging.

Persona 3’s Social Links also remain largely untouched in Reload, apart from the new wrinkle of all of the major ones being fully voiced, and the Aigis Social Link is also present despite its absence in the original game. While some Social Links are undoubtedly better than others, each feels worth experiencing in their totalities. There’s some real highlights here, like Akinari Kamiki who’s coming to terms with the fact that he doesn’t have much time to live due to a genetic disease. Or Maiko Oohashi who finds solace from her argumentative parents in the time she spends playing with you at the local playground.

Even if you’ve seen all that these Social Links have to offer in past iterations, being entirely voiced in Reload adds a lot of emotional depth to each level of each Social Link. It becomes all too easy to find yourself emotionally attached to these characters all over again, and brings a level of freshness to it all that makes it feel brand-new.

There are also new events to partake in with party members separate to their Social Links, where you can cook, garden, or watch movies to improve your stats and gain consumables to use in battle. Hanging out with party members like this also unlocks Characteristics, which are powerful passive abilities that bolster their kits. Things like reducing the SP cost of recovery skills for Yukari or increasing Junpei’s critical hit rate and damage which are always helpful.

You can otherwise choose to spend your time working for a bit of extra cash, eating in at restaurants for stat boosts, or simply studying. There’s also a communal dorm computer you can use to access websites to boost your stats and gain new skills across various facets of the game, from improving your attacks in combat to growing your yield when harvesting the vegetables you grow from gardening.

When you aren’t spending time with friends or improving your own skill sets, you’ll be exploring Tartarus. A monolithic, 200+ floor omen to death at the center of the Dark Hour’s existence. If you aren’t familiar with Tartarus, it’s essentially a mega dungeon split into blocks, with procedurally generated floors and boss encounters peppered throughout. It’s perhaps the most infamous part of Persona 3 due to its mundanity, and is where Reload gets the most liberal with its changes.

It’s still a collection of procedurally generated floors that you’ll ascend as you explore it, but there are countless new inclusions and quality of life changes that make it much more digestible. For starters you can now dash as you move through Tartarus, which sounds like a small thing, but does a lot to cut down on time spent moving through each floor. You’ll also gain access to an ambush attack similar to the one found in Persona 5, letting you get the jump on enemies to gain the upper hand at the start of battle.

Tartarus is also home to Monad Doors and Monad Passages, which offer extra challenging Shadow encounters in exchange for rare rewards. These offer some real difficult battles – especially the Passages – some of which err on the side of true challenge encounters that function more as a puzzle and encourage creative thinking to get past them. The rewards are always worthwhile, which leaves them as a welcome opportunity to test your battle skills and knowledge.

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There’s also the Twilight Fragment system, where you can spend Twilight Fragments you find in Tartarus on opening locked chests, or to recover your HP and SP. Greedy Shadows also inhabit Tartarus, which are essentially large-sized rare Shadows that drop a bucket load of experience, cash, and items if you manage to hunt them down. There’s even an experience catch-up mechanic which can help to keep your under-levelled party members up to snuff for battle when you need them most. It all comes together to make Tartarus a more varied experience overall, while also baking in more decision making for you to consider as you explore.

Outside of Tartarus, there’s the monthly Full Moon Operation to engage with where the gang takes on a major boss Shadow during that month’s full moon. These are challenging and visually refreshing encounters that often include unique mechanics that require you engage with combat a bit more cerebrally when you otherwise would. There are very few changes to these encounters in Reload, but offer a welcome break from Tartarus nonetheless.

Speaking of battle, the basis of hitting weaknesses to knock down enemies and gain extra turns is still the name of the game here. You’ll make use of physical and elemental attacks to exploit enemy affinities to gain the upper hand, but there’s some notable improvements to combat that bring it up to modern standards. The new Shift mechanic functions the same as Persona 5’s Baton Pass, letting you tag in another party member upon knocking an enemy down to further exploit weaknesses in the hopes of unleashing an all-out attack.

There’s also the all-new Theurgy skills, which are powerful abilities that need to be charged up before they can be used. Each party member has their own unique Theurgy skills, and the conditions for charging them depends on the party member. Where Yukari fills up her theurgy gauge by healing, the protagonist fills his up by swapping between different Persona in battle.

While these attacks are flashy, and there’s some strategy to using them at the right time when you first unlock them, they can quickly trivialise certain encounters once you understand how to efficiently charge your Theurgy Gauges. All of them ignore resistances, some inflict ailments, provide full healing for your entire party, or even have a decent chance at knocking down enemies. They’re fun to look at and add a new layer of strategy to combat, but feel a little too powerful overall.

Despite all of these improvements and changes to combat, you’ll still being doing a ton of it as you explore Tartarus, which is part of the reason the mega dungeon became such a drag in other iterations of Persona 3. Thankfully, combat has a new level of style and flash to it similar to what you’d see in Persona 5, which helps combat feel fresh, fluid, and responsive all throughout Reload’s runtime.

Gorgeous new UI elements ebb and flow on the screen as unleash Persona across the battlefield in an element haze. Character cut-ins are flashier then ever, shattering in the background as you knock down enemies. Attack animations are needlessly pretty, shifting to another party member has a kinetic energy to it that can only be described as infectious, and all-out attacks culminate in wildly expressive and unique character graphics that hammer home personalities and combat styles. It’s the same kind of next-level presentation that Persona 5 was praised for, but it feels even more elevated in Persona 3 Reload.

Shuffle Time is also slightly changed in Reload, feeling more embedded within your overall progress through Tartarus and the broader narrative. You still pick between a slew of rewards after battle, but you can grow the levels of these rewards by collecting Major Arcana cards in Shuffle Time whenever you visit Tartarus. As you clear Full Moon Operations, you’ll gain more Major Arcana cards, which means it takes more time to get a full deck to boost the level further. It adds another layer to the decision making of Shuffle Time and puts more control in the hands of the player when it comes to levelling up Shuffle Time cards and their rewards.

Shuffle Time is also where you gain new Persona to use in battle, and in Persona Fusion. Fusion is also mostly the same, but includes some nice quality of life features from Persona 5, such as search fusion where you can filter fusions by viewing results as opposed to flicking through each Persona in your stock. Multi-Persona Fusion is also condensed down into Special Fusion, which cuts out some of the in-game waiting for Fusions with four or even five Persona.

The area where Reload is most obviously improved is in its visuals. Everything here has been completely remade from the ground up with truly stunning results. From the numerous locales of Tatsumi Port Island and the harrowing halls of Tartarus, to the expressive character portraits, Persona 3 feels more well realized than ever within Reload. Tartarus in particular has seen quite the face lift, with each block not only emphasizing their unique visual designs, but also varying in architecture and floor layouts. All of this coupled with the aforementioned overhaul of the user interface, and brand new animated and CG cutscenes leave Persona 3 Reload feeling like a true modernization of Persona 3 that retains all of the charm and atmosphere of the original.

The soundtrack is another absolute win in a series that never misses when it comes to music. Atsushi Kitajoh has done a stellar job of composing new original pieces for Reload, while also rearranging iconic tracks from Shoji Meguro’s original score. Mass Destruction in particular feels more rooted in its jazz motifs, with an incredible second verse that cements this remix as something that stands along the original instead of replacing it. Other classics like Iwatodai Dorm and When The Moon’s Reaching Out Stars have also been rearranged for Reload with similar changes, keeping things thematically cohesive at all times.

While Mass Destruction makes a glorious return, I’ll be the first to admit that Reload’s new original battle theme, It’s Going Down Now, is a new favourite battle theme in the series for me personally. It’s infectiously energetic and perfectly suited to the turn-based battles and melancholic theming of Persona 3. Similar to Persona 5 Royal’s Take Over, there’s nothing quite like ambushing an enemy, swiftly knocking them down, and initiating an all-out attack as the chorus swells into an incredible crescendo.

Coming hot off the heels of finishing Persona 3 Portable, I didn’t expect Persona 3 Reload to enrapture me as much as it did. It’s clear that this isn’t just a project ATLUS needed to do, but something that they wanted to do. Every aspect of it feels carefully considered to create a modernised version of Persona 3 that doesn’t betray its core theming and messages. A must-play for any Persona fan, new or old, and absolutely worth checking out for series first-timers.

The post Persona 3 Reload Review – Firing On All Cylinders appeared first on Press Start.

As we inch closer to the conclusion of Destiny 2’s light and darkness saga, Season of the Wish also built up to its own climax. While content is usually pretty front-loaded in Destiny 2 seasons, Wish’s extended length and lead-in to The Final Shape means there’s still quite a bit to look forward to over the coming months. Between Riven’s Wishes and Into The Light, there’s going to be no shortage of things to do before we confront The Witness in The Pale Heart.

While there’s an air of uncertainty around the game due to current events, there’s no denying that Season of the Wish has largely delivered on its promises. An enticing story setup surrounding the nebulous 15th Wish, an excellent dungeon in the form of Warlord’s Ruin, and some of the best seasonal activities we’ve seen yet have made for a strong start for one of Destiny’s most pivotal seasons yet. We got to sit down with Bungie to talk all about the return of Riven, the 15th Wish, The Coil, and much more.

The Return of Riven, Bringing the Ahamkara back into Focus, and the Dreaming City’s Curse

In all the explorations we’ve had of deep Destiny lore in recent years, the Ahamkara have remained a mysterious blind spot for some time. Space dragons with the ability to grant wishes seems like an instant win in a sci-fi setting like Destiny’s, but we’ve received scant few details in the years since Riven’s slaying. Narrative lead Jonathan To discussed the process of fleshing out the Ahamkara and bringing them back into the limelight for Season 23; “We work from a player experience first perspective, even when it comes to narrative. Once a character leaves the infinite possibility space of prose lore, you have to start collaborating hard with design, art, and engineering to present lore characters in a way that fits into the player fantasy of any given release.”

“The Wishing Wall works as a kind of gameplay conceit for the player to interact with Riven by shooting symbols to form a code. Cheat codes can be seen as a gaming metaphor for wishing for what you want. Games always have constraints in how to present things, but hopefully the Destiny team has done a good job of representing the theoretical space that Destiny’s lore occupies in a fun way.”

Senior narrative designer Nikko Stevens expanded on these ideas in regards to Riven specifically; “When we were looking at the Ahamkara and specifically Riven, we knew that she’s at the end of the storyline for the Ahamkara in the present moment. From her perspective, they’re extinct and she’s dead at this point – her species is gone. This is a definitive end, but we looked at it from the perspective of what if this allows for the seeding of new stories and story threads?”

“That’s represented by the Ahamkara eggs that we’re rescuing every week, there’s this new generation of Ahamkara that’ve been let loose into the world. I think that’s also representative of one of the ways we try and tell narratives at Bungie, which is having smaller character-focused stories like with Riven, while interweaving greater plot points and the more open-ended aspect of Destiny’s universe through things like the eggs themselves and their potential in future narrative beats.”

Johnathan doubled down on the aspect of sowing seeds for future stories and narratives surrounding the Ahamkara, teasing that the wish dragons may be needed to break the curse on the Dreaming City that’s been plaguing it for all of these years; “There’s characters like Petra and Crow who still care a lot about the Corsairs that are stuck in the Dreaming City. One day, they might need something as powerful as an Ahamkara to help them. Right now, there’s still no solution for breaking the curse.”

Coming Full Circle on the Ever-Elusive 15th Wish

The 15th Wish is perhaps one of the most discussed aspects of Destiny lore since the Wishing Wall was introduced in Forsaken when it launched in 2018. The community is constantly on the hunt for secrets and easter eggs, and the 15th Wish was one thing that players always kept their eyes peeled for. It’s a fittingly full circle moment to have it be the core focus of Season of the Wish alongside the return of Riven and the Ahamkara.

When asked whether or not the team had this planned all along, Nikko elaborated on how the narrative got to where it is now; “There was a moment way before Season 23 that we realized we could loop back into the 15th Wish. It’s something that we’ve been talking about for a long time, and is one of those things that’s on the backburner with ideas around it. We were just waiting for the best opportunity to bring that forward.”

Jonathan also commented on how the difficulties of live development can limit the possibilities of storytelling; “That’s one of the challenges of live development – you don’t always get to do everything you want to right away. It takes a lot of collaboration. You need the right timing, the right release to have the right mood for an idea that you’ve had cooking for a long time.”

Brian Frank, design lead for the raids and dungeons team talks about how revisiting the 15th Wish has high stakes due to its notoriety and interest within the community; “There was a lot of caution there about what it would mean to revisit the 15th Wish and how high the stakes were to pay that off for players. I love how it came together, and it was something that was given life by the community in a lot of ways. Sort of like how we had the loot cave lead into Grasp of Avarice. It allows us to bring things back into the story of Destiny in a way that is really satisfying for the community, to have them feel like they’re a part of it.”

Building a Medieval Dungeon in Warlord’s Ruin

If there’s one thing that Destiny 2’s raids and dungeons always deliver on, it’s the fantasy. Intricate environments, eye-popping skyboxes, and impeccable art direction always coalesce into visually unique and thematic endgame experiences that feel unique from one another. Warlord’s Ruin is a particular highlight in the way it explores a location in Destiny lore we rarely get to see. Looming medieval castles caked in frigid frost are environments we’ve only ever seen with the Iron Lords, so it’s been a joy to revisit a less hospitable version of these locales in Warlord’s Ruin.

When asked about what goes into creating a setting as unique as this within the context of Destiny’s world, Brian spoke to how something like Warlord’s Ruin finds its place in the game; “We’re always trying to play off of the seasonal themes, but we also want to have a novel experience – we’re looking for differentiation as well. Destiny is such an amazing opportunity for this, because the breadth of possibilities that it offers allows us to explore variations on themes from sci-fi to fantasy to mystery.”

“We’re intentionally looking for ways to blend genre archetypes because I think that’s where we get things that feel novel, things that people haven’t encountered before or encountered recently. For Warlord’s Ruin, we wanted to take an extreme dark fantasy tilt and try to make the setting feel really grounded and very physical. Where necessary we can use magic and inscrutable fiction as the premise for the encounter mechanics and so on.”

Senior environment artist Ryan Baker echoed similar points; “Right from early preproduction, the team became really aligned on wanting to take the dark fantasy aesthetic further. We brainstormed a lot of amazing ideas, and part of the art direction process was taking those ideas and focusing into clear themes. We could communicate the main themes of exploration on a large scale to the player. You’re climbing this mountain, sieging a castle, and finding secrets.”

Test engineer on the raids and dungeons team Amanda Baker also chimed in on the topic and how it influences encounter design; “Learning how to communicate gameplay mechanics to the player but also fitting it within the theme of the dungeon where the narrative comes into play is tricky. The blizzard in the second encounter was lifted out of Europa, but we had to think about how we make it all match the theme and art direction of the dungeon. We could’ve used anything for the warmth, but we chose these torches that match the Scorn theme and still capture the fantasy we’re aiming for in the dungeon.”

Evolving Seasonal Activities through The Coil

While the seasonal model has undoubtedly become tired over the years, recent seasonal activities have been experimenting with new gameplay frameworks and ideas that are entirely new to Destiny’s gameplay loop. Lightfall’s seasons in particular, have flirted with rogue-like design elements that grow player power in runs and encourage mastery for maximum rewards. It’s all coalesced into one of Destiny 2’s best seasonal activities in The Coil, which will be sorely missed when it’s vaulted as The Final Shape launches in June.

When asked about how The Coil was conceived and created from lessons learned in past seasonal activities, staff designer Clayton Kisko shared how it all came to be; “The Coil was conceived on multiple years of learning. You can see the DNA of Battlegrounds, Deep Dives, all kinds of stuff is wrapped in there. We tried to improve on the little bits we took from those activities while creating a dungeon crawling fantasy.”

“We wanted to improve a lot of the rogue-like elements. Revive Tokens were originally in Deep Dives, but got removed because we didn’t think it was the right time. We wanted to create something that has a level of tension that a lot of players probably haven’t experienced before unless they’ve done Grand Master Nightfalls. We tried to improve the purchasing of buffs versus what you see in Deep Dives and I’m really happy with what the team was able to create. The whole thing is proof that we can take educated risks within the seasonal production timeline to build and iterate on activities like The Coil.”

Clayton also briefly spoke about the rewards structure of The Coil and how that’s impacted the way the team thinks about activity rewards; “With how long it takes to get to the Wish Chamber and the difficulty there is in mastering it, we’re wanting to respect the time and skill of players. We want to pay you out accordingly, and giving players other ways to earn certain rewards feels good.”

When asked if there are any plans to implement a more permanent version of an activity like The Coil, Clayton expressed interest in toying with the idea in future content; “There’s no plans currently, but the reception of The Coil warrants this activity framework to be discussed for future episodes and content offerings if the theme, story, and timing feels right. I think The Coil has shown that this framework should be on the table when we’re picking and choosing what we want to do.”

It was also briefly elaborated on that episodes will bring episodic activities outside of the regular ritual playlists.

There’s still a bunch of time left for you to jump into Season of the Wish and all of its content offerings, with more to come in the form of Riven’s Wishes and the still nebulous Into The Light content drop that leads into The Final Shape. Lightfall and all of its seasons are available right now, and The Final Shape is concluding this decade-long saga when it launches on June 4th.

The post We Spoke To Bungie About Dragons, The 15th Wish, And More In Destiny 2: Season Of The Wish appeared first on Press Start.

Despite perhaps being the most well-known Dragon Quest spin-off series, the Monsters games have been noticeably absent since the divisive release of Joker 3 in 2016. Since then, we’ve seen Square try their hand at new gameplay frameworks within this legendary franchise to varying degrees of success. While Builders has had rampant success on critical and commercial fronts, other projects have struggled to make the same impact despite offering something entirely unique.

With this in mind, it’s high time that Monsters makes a comeback while fans wait for the highly anticipated twelfth mainline entry. Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is an incredibly safe entry entry into this spin-off series that’s regularly at war with itself. While it might be worth the time of most die-hard Dragon Quest fans, it’s hard to wholeheartedly recommend The Dark Prince to newcomers with no skin in the game.

The Dark Prince follows follows the half-human, half-monster prince Psaro in his journey to find revenge against his father; Randolfo the Tyrant. A cocky display of arrogance from Psaro early in the story results in his father cursing him, rendering him unable to cause harm to any monster before exiling him from the realm of demons. Still hellbent on the idea of retribution, Psaro learns to become a monster master in the hopes they’ll do his bidding for him, lifting the curse, and eventually usurping his father.

It’s a narrative setup that squarely plants our protagonist between the blurred lines of good and evil right from the get-go. The human and monster sides of Psaro are constantly at war with one another, and it’s through helping the denizens of The Dark Prince’s world that he learns to become better. It’s a largely interesting story with some neat ties into the mainline series and his role in Dragon Quest IV, and it does take some genuinely interesting turns along the way, but is held back by a few baffling design choices.

While silent protagonists are commonplace in Dragon Quest, Psaro’s mute nature in The Dark Prince stands out given the context of events that he finds himself in. Furthermore, it’s jarring to watch Psaro silently mouth his responses to fellow party members when they’ve got some stellar voicework. It makes it difficult to connect with Psaro and the struggle he faces through The Dark Prince’s roughly 20 hour runtime. This is usually alleviated in past games through party members, but The Dark Prince lacks a supporting cast interesting enough to carry the weight.

In terms of wrangling monsters, this is where The Dark Prince unequivocally succeeds the most. This game is utterly packed with iconic Dragon Quest beasties to scout, Synthesize, and tailor to your hearts content. Once its core systems are introduced, it’s so easy to get lost in the process of constantly adding to your arsenal, building up skillsets, and finding synergistic accessory combinations to get the most out of your party.

Each monster has a distinct set of talent trees to invest in and follow as they level up and gain Talent Points. Each one specializes in different aspects of battle or bolsters stat spreads and HP/MP values. Not only does this mean that there’s a healthy amount of flexibility in the way you build out your monsters as they level up, but it also feeds directly into The Dark Prince’s big new system –- Synthesis.

For all intents and purposes, Synthesis functions as a fusion mechanic within Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. Monsters at level 10 or above can be fused into more powerful monsters that can inherit talent trees from parent monsters while cultivating their own. It makes mixing and matching monsters for different fusion results with unique talent tree combinations a process that’s always worth engaging with. Shortcomings of one monster can be nullified by the talent tree of another through fusion. It’s consistently engaging and is built to reward curiosity and frequent experimentation.

It’s a shame then that it isn’t often you get to flex the muscles of party compositions you put together, because The Dark Prince’s difficulty is all over the place. Where standard encounters can be breezed through without a second thought, boss battles require much more consideration in regards to tactics and approach, and will often wipe your party out if you’re underprepared. It makes for jarring spikes if you become too lax in the process of engaging in so many overworld conflicts and makes the whole experience feel uneven.

Most of what you’ll be doing in The Dark Prince revolves around combat as Psaro seeks to increase his notoriety among human and demon kind alike. You’ll explore the different circles of Nadiria as you compete in monster tournaments and help out locals with their issues. While each circle offers a distinct visual motif and new monsters to collect, the main objectives of each boil down to the same process of talking to an NPC, going to a small dungeon, and fighting a boss. It doesn’t take long for the loop to become repetitious as you move through each circle.

Completing objectives in these areas opens up further reason to explore them, as completing them often results in increased scouting chances for monsters of that circle. Seasons also play a big part in exploration in The Dark Prince, where each map is affected by different weather as they move through each of the four seasons. While winter might freeze over bodies of water, summer and spring will sprout plants that help you to traverse over impassable gaps. Exploring new pathways as they open up throughout the seasons leads to worthwhile rewards, meaning time spent scouting monsters for your collection always feels well-spent in terms of overall progression.

The Dark Prince’s Switch exclusivity has also proved to hold the experience back from being the best it can be. Much like last year’s Dragon Quest Treasures, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is plagued with performance issues and inconsistent framerates across its entire runtime without the visual fidelity to make up for it. The aforementioned variety in level motifs keeps things looking visually fresh and the game is by no means ugly, but its confusing to see the experience hitch and chug as often as it does.

I really wanted to enjoy Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince more than I did, but the best word to describe the whole experience is uneven. For every element the game nails, there’s another that it completely fumbles, and these issues come up far too frequently to go unnoticed. The Dark Prince is far from terrible, but when held to the standards of recent Dragon Quest entries, it’s hard not to feel like it falls a bit short.

The post Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince Review – A Not So Royal Treatment appeared first on Press Start.

As GTFO comes to a close and 10 Chambers looks towards gearing up for their next title in Den of Wolves, the air around this developer and the potential of their next project is infectiously exciting. Ulf Andersson and Simon Viklund at the helm of a new heisting game with a sci-fi flavour is an unexpected, but very welcome prospect. Ahead of its reveal at The Game Awards, we got to sit down with Simon Viklund to chat about Den of Wolves and the conclusion of GTFO.

Concluding GTFO With Rundown 8.0

As far as live-service titles go, GTFO has had a pretty strong run if you’re willing to label it as such. Despite four full years since its launch in early-access, 10 Chambers have consistently delivered new content and updates to keep players coming back. Perhaps more impressive is how its very niche appeal and hardcore nature still resonates with so many players. When asked about how it feels to be wrapping on GTFO after all these years, Simon spoke to the conflicting nature of it all; “It’s bittersweet, we all have mixed emotions, for sure. GTFO has been a passion project for us, it turned out so well and it was important to us as a studio. It’s hard to let something go when you have a good thing going, but it isn’t a game that can sustain 10 Chambers long-term.”

Simon also discussed hopes and the efforts that the team put into Rundown 8.0 in an attempt to deliver a satisfying conclusion for longtime players; “I can only hope players will enjoy it. I don’t have any expectations, but we put a lot of effort into it. The level design department and the narrative team are the ones working on the latest stuff, and it’s quite ambitious in terms of storytelling.”

Building Something New With Den of Wolves

Seeing the original creators of PAYDAY: The Heist and PAYDAY 2 come back around to heisting is a promising concept after all these years. When asked about how it feels to be returning to roots, Simon described that while it feels familiar, it’s also quite different; “In a way you can say we’re going back to the heist stuff, but it’s also a forward motion. GTFO was based on the refinement of mechanics from the PAYDAY games, where Den of Wolves is a honing of mechanics in the PAYDAY games and what we did in GTFO. Thematically, we are going back to something that we’ve done before, but the science-fiction elements of it brings a lot of fresh ideas to the table, I think.”

One divisive element of GTFO – especially when it launched in early-access – was its difficulty. It’s undoubtedly a hardcore game and has quite a narrow appeal, but the players who really gel with it have stuck with it, because there isn’t much else quite like it. One thing Simon made clear about Den of Wolves was that it would fall more in line with PAYDAY in terms of difficulty. That’s not to say it’ll be easy, but definitely less stress-inducing than GTFO can be in some of its more tense content.

When asked about the opportunity to bring back old and new players with increased accessibility, Simon expressed excitement regarding reaching a wider audience; “Yeah, we’re excited to bring old PAYDAY fans back into the fold. At the moment, PAYDAY 3 isn’t as complex or in-depth as PAYDAY 2, and we don’t want Starbreeze Studios to fail, but there’s definitely room for more than one franchise in the space. If they do well, it forces us to do better also.”

The sci-fi setting of Midway City is perhaps the most distinct element of Den of Wolves that we know about so far. Simon mentioned that this had always been a part of the vision for this project; “The sci-fi stuff was there from the get-go. The idea came from creating a place or location that lets us do anything we want. What enemies you fight, the type of weapons you have access to and even just our general game concepts. It’s a groundwork we can continually build from.”

“Ulf Andersson constantly has at least 200 game design ideas floating around in his head. He’s a genius when it comes that stuff. This is a pipe dream he’s had for a long, long time. There are elements we have in PAYDAY: The Heist, PAYDAY 2, and GTFO that all feed into Den of Wolves, those games had to be made first. Those ideas he had as we worked on our earlier games have always been in there, they’ve just found a new context in the years that 10 Chambers has been developing.”

The role of science-fiction in Den of Wolves is deeper than just serving as inspiration for its visual aesthetics. During a deeper look at the game, there was mention taking inspiration from sci-fi classics to inform some of the set-pieces and heisting scenarios. Ghost In The Shell, Blade Runner, The Matrix amongst others were all mentioned – all of which are ripe with timeless ideas and concepts to pull from.

When asked if the team had any elements or ideas that they really wanted to see in the game, Simon spoke broadly about without giving away too many specifics; “We have fully-formed ideas and concepts that allow Midway City to be a sort of brick and mortar world of Den of Wolves. We want it to encompass a lot of different visual motifs and ideas to keep it interesting for us as developers, and for the players by offering a variety of locations.”

“We aren’t ready to go into detail yet, but Midway City is very consciously designed to be fun for us as developers. It allows us to throw out any idea and play with it. We failed in our previous titles by limiting ourselves in setting. We like the flexibility these sci-fi aspects afford us, they’ve been so important in allowing us to open up and get more creative. It’s important for us to enjoy the journey of developing the game, if you have fun making it, I think it’s evident in the final product.”

Difficulty was a massive point of contention when GTFO released in early access, but 10 Chambers have since stuck to their guns and cultivated a hardcore experience with a dedicated fanbase. The return to a more tame difficulty level in Den of Wolves means more people will be able to jump in, but it’ll still offer challenge to those looking for it. When asked about how it compares to PAYDAY: The Heist and PAYDAY 2, Simon talked about what they’re aiming for.

“Maybe not as arcade-like as something like PAYDAY 2 turned out to be, but something much closer to the first two PAYDAY games. I think people tend to forget that we worked on casual games before moving onto GTFO. We have loads of combined experience among the team from all different kinds of titles. 10 Chambers wasn’t founded to make hardcore games – that’s just where we started with GTFO. It’s actually much harder to make a difficult game, haha.”

He further elaborated on the way they approached difficulty in PAYDAY and how that’s going to change in Den of Wolves; “We will have difficulty variations but they won’t be a defined choice. It’s weaved into the experience in a more thematic way. I can’t go into details too much, but it’s going to be a different sort of difficulty system that allows players to play a version of the storyline that presents more challenge. We also want that to accommodate players who want a more casual experience.”

Simon is most well known for his work as the composer of PAYDAY: The Heist and PAYDAY 2, as well as his work on GTFO. One thing mentioned during our preview was that composing for a horror game has been a very different experience for Simon in comparison to working on the early PAYDAY games; “I’ve been asking in every meeting since the year 2000 – when are we going to do the horror game? Working on GTFO has been an eye-opening experience because I never realised how difficult it is to make horror music.”

“My music production process is so ingrained in electronic music. Unnerving horror music is so different because you’re trying to create a mood. It has weird time signatures, it’s sort of atonal, non-melodic, and overall just more creepy. You can’t structure it like you would an EDM track, I think it turned out okay ultimately, but it was a very hard process. I’m happy to be moving back to something with a little more attitude and swag because GTFO’s music couldn’t have either of those, haha.”

Simon further elaborated on the kind of music he wants to make for Den of Wolves; “I have clear ideas of things I want to avoid repeating that I’ve done before. What’s important is to be able to convey the same badass energy that PAYDAY: The Heist and PAYDAY 2 do. That emotion can be conveyed well through electronic music with different textures and tempos. A lot of the music in the PAYDAY games is like club music, I don’t want to go down that route again.”

“I want to make it futuristic, but it can get to a point where it’s too avant-garde for its own good. It won’t evoke the emotion that it should. We want it to sound like what electronic music would sound like decades from today. I also want to collaborate with composers or EDM producers of different ethnicities to weave flavour into the world and storyline given the cultural melting pot that Midway City is.”

If you missed the announcement for Den of Wolves at The Game Awards, you can check out the trailer below. The game is due to launch in early access for PC in the coming years. In the meantime, the final content drop for GTFO – Rundown 8.0 – is live right now!

The post We Spoke To 10 Chambers About Concluding GTFO And Coming Back To Heisting With Den of Wolves appeared first on Press Start.

After a very successful four year run with their cooperative horror shooter in GTFO, 10 Chambers is has taken to the stage at The Game Awards once again to announce their next title – Den of Wolves. We were lucky enough to get an early look at Den of Wolves ahead of the showcase and got a better idea of what you can expect from 10 Chambers’ second title.

Touted as a game that’s been in making for over a decade now, Den of Wolves is a return to the heisting format with a dystopian sci-fi twist. A summation of all the lessons learnt from previous games collated into a more accessible and finely tuned experience that isn’t as hardcore as GTFO but still looks to challenge players like Payday does.

Set in an unregulated innovation zone called Midway City, Den of Wolves explores what happens when corporations aren’t bound by legal and ethical considerations in business. As a gun for hire, you aren’t much better, aiding and hurting these corporations as you get involved with their conflicts for monetary gain.

Midway City’s financial allure means it’s highly dense with limited real-estate. It’s a cultural melting pot of a cyberpunk-style city inspired by classics like Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner, and Judge Dredd just to name a few. It’s an imperfect and lawless setting that sounds perfect for the kind of experience Den of Wolves is trying to create.

While Den of Wolves is pivoting away from the hardcore appeal of GTFO, 10 Chambers made sure to emphasise that they still want difficulty and progression to play key roles in the reason players keep coming back to the game. Four player co-op also has a renewed focus on streamlined progression and lowering barriers to entry in an attempt to bring players together. There was also emphasis placed on dynamism as players fluctuate in and out of stealth, which is more akin to the control afforded by GTFO’s systems.

Despite not having a release window, Den of Wolves is sounding like a mighty promising return to the heisting formula that’ll scratch an itch very few games can. There’s no doubt that these games have grown in popularity immensely since the original Payday, but few titles are yet to reach the heights of that experience and its excellent sequel. While you wait, GTFO’s eighth and final Rundown, Duality, is live right now!

The post Den of Wolves Is The Next Title From The Original Creators Of Payday appeared first on Press Start.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the rampant success of Persona 5 has resulted in countless spin-offs. It didn’t feel that long ago that a bunch of Phantom Thieves-adjacent projects were leaked as fans wildly speculated as to what they could be. After the utterly sublime Persona 5 Royal, the catharsis of the Musou spin-off in Persona 5 Strikers, and an inevitable dancing game, Persona 5 Tactica is the next entry into the gilded halls of Persona 5.

Much like Strikers, Tactica marks a first for Persona. While Shin Megami Tensei has ventured into turn-based tactics before, we’ve yet to see the immensely popular spin-off series dip its toes into the same waters until now. The end result is an enjoyable Persona-flavoured tactics game that echoes the identity of Persona 5 despite a few stumbles and inconsistent pacing. Furthermore, it boasts another heartfelt story centered around new and returning characters that explores themes linked to those found in Persona 5 and its other spin-offs.

Instead of further muddying up the post-Persona 5 timeline, Tactica takes place during the events of the original game, where the Phantom Thieves are suddenly whisked away from Café LeBlanc into the Metaverse. Instead of finding themselves in a Palace, they quickly discover that they’re in a different Metaverse construct called a Kingdom. After making contact with a freedom fighter group called the Rebel Corps and its leader Erina, the Phantom Thieves promise to help her stage a coup and free the Kingdom from the authoritarian rule of an enemy faction called the Legionnaires and their leader, Marie.

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The Phantom Thieves aren’t the only ones pulled into this alternate world, as young National Diet member Toshiro Kasukabe is found kidnapped and imprisoned within Marie’s castle. Toshiro, Erina, and the Kingdom everyone finds themselves in lie at the core of Tactica’s story. While the early hours struggle to get you to buy into the premise and stakes of what’s going on here, the narrative really picks up steam at about the one third mark. It eventuates in powerful emotional moments and strong character development that feels right in line with Persona 5’s core ideas without feeling like its retreading familiar ground.

Even though you could argue that god-slaying is ubiquitous in Persona, the need to tie Tactica’s broader narrative into a greater threat feels off in the context of the story. Without spoiling too much, Tactica’s strengths lie in the exploration of its characters and their mental states. What it means to rebel, stand up for what’s right, and the cost of fighting against the injustices that plague our world. These poignant and contemporary themes that Persona always has an understanding of feel a bit undermined by the ham-fisted inclusion of divine entities.

In terms of gameplay, Persona 5 Tactica mostly delivers on a turn-based tactics experience with a Persona-style framework. You’ll engage in battles with a party of three Phantom Thieves, each one bringing different strengths and weaknesses to the fight. While someone like Haru has short movement range in comparison to the rest of the party, she more than makes up for it with her area-of-effect grenade launcher and the ability to lure enemies in with her psychic skills. Ann on the other hand is capable of dealing big single-target damage while lacking the same oomph in her gun attacks.

The different applications of skills, map design, and enemy arrangement all encourage you to think about who you bring with you on any given mission. Party-wide progression always means that no one gets left behind, which is nice when you want to change up your strategy if something isn’t working for you.

There are a couple options afforded to you in combat that make for quite a degree of player choice and expression on the whole. Aside from standard melee and ranged attacks, you also have Skills, where you can spend a chunk of SP on an elemental or support skill to inflict ailments or buff your party. You can even choose not to use a combat action, causing your units to enter a charged state for the next turn, netting you worthwhile buffs that put you in a more advantageous position. All of your decisions are made in an effort to knock down enemies, which is right on-brand for Persona.

Knockdowns are what Persona 5 Tactica’s battle system is almost entirely structured around. When an enemy isn’t in cover, or is knocked out of it by a Skill, the next attack they take will knock them down. Knocking down is two-fold in Tactica, not only does it incapacitate the enemy for the rest of your turn, it also grants you a One More, allowing you to act with that character again. It’s through the smart use of the One More system and understanding how you can chain turns together that you’ll find success in Tactica’s battles.

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These knockdowns can also lead to All-Out Attacks, where you create a triangular area-of-effect based on the positioning of your units. If you get familiar with this system and its intricacies, Persona 5 Tactica can be made quite easy on its baseline difficulty level. Smart party positioning can lead to All-Out Attacks that almost wipe the map clean of enemies, and keeping your own units in cover mitigates much more damage than it probably should. Coupled with the powerful and practical unique skills each party member brings to the table, Tactica rarely challenged me outside of its last few missions.

A lot of the way Tactica keeps you engaged in its combat system is through its enemy types. Each one has something consider when making a move on them. Teleporter type enemies, for example, will swap places with any unit that attacks them while not knocked down, which can lead to potentially disadvantageous situations if you deal with them haphazardly. Revenger type enemies will counter the first attack made against them in a turn, encouraging you to make use of your ranged tools before moving in to down them with another character.

Boss fights on the other hand are a bit of a mixed bag. The first sets a high bar going forward that none of the subsequent ones ever live up to. None of them are particularly bad, but the later ones feel somewhat under-designed, especially given their narrative significance.

The variety and ideas presented here leave Tactica’s battles feeling more puzzle-based than anything else – which absolutely isn’t a bad thing. A vast majority of missions also include optional objectives, incentivising you to optimise the amount of turns you take to complete them while minimising loss of units in exchange for big experience gains. The battle system in its totality is best shown off in Tactica’s optional quests, which are bite-sized challenge missions that encourage you to think outside the box and make the most of the tools available to you.

Outside of battle, Persona 5 Tactica keeps things relatively slim but still meaningful in the things you engage with. Aside from levelling up as you gain experience, you’ll also gain GP that can be spent to upgrade skill trees. Each member has a couple of distinct trees to move down, each focusing on a different aspect of their kit. While there’s a good amount of room for experimentation, there’s some clear winners for each character to make them really efficient.

GP is gathered by general progression and character utilization, but you’ll also gain GP for participating in optional conversations at the hideout. These short character exchanges serve to flesh out the world, characters, and current happenings. Better yet, these conversations can be viewed at any point if you feel like you need catching up on particular details or narrative threads as you move through the roughly 20-hour story.

The other big component outside of battles is the Velvet Room. It simply wouldn’t be a Persona title without it, and the way it’s implemented in Tactica feels fitting. You’ll most often use it for Persona fusion, resulting in more powerful Persona that can then be equipped to your units to bolster their health and provide additional skills. You can also purchase new weapons, and even fuse Persona into weapons to imbue them with elements that add extra utility to your ranged attacks.

It all makes for a healthy degree of player customisation and expression between your units, and allows you to mix and match abilities and elements to further expand your options in combat. Persona can also be swapped between units at will, so you never feel locked-in when choosing where to use your most powerful fusion results. A limit of two abilities per Persona also means that you can’t create a busted build through strategic fusion, and serves as a great compromise between maintaining difficulty and giving you access to series mainstays.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t apprehensive about Persona 5 Tactica’s art style. While it maintains the slick and stylish UI of other Persona 5 projects (albeit on a smaller scale), I initially wasn’t onboard with the Chibi-esque nature of its character designs. I did come around relatively quickly, though, and found it charming and fitting for the type of game Tactica is trying to be. Its bold use of red runs deeper than just its links to Persona 5, tying into its deeper themes and aesthetic. The cutscenes and 2D visual novel-style exchanges are also presented in excellent fashion.

Its environments are also gorgeous, moody, and varied. Marie’s medieval-style Kingdom stands in stark contrast with later environments which explore other kinds of architecture. Perhaps more interesting is that these locations aren’t entirely new to what we’ve seen in the series before – even in Persona 5. Despite this, Tactica still manages to find new ways to bring these motifs to life in a fresh manner. While I can’t speak to other platforms, the Switch version runs remarkably well and serves as a fantastic way to play this kind of experience.

The post Persona 5 Tactica Review – A Tactical Return to the Metaverse appeared first on Press Start.

A lot has happened in the world of Like a Dragon since the release of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. A complete pivot to a wildly different genre, a brand new ensemble of characters, and even a spin-off series in the form of Judgment. It’s a great time to be a fan of the franchise – especially if you’re invested in former series protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu. Despite shifting focus to the boisterous Ichiban Kasuga in the seventh mainline entry, the Dragon of Dojima refuses to bow out gracefully.

That brings us to Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, a shorter and more condensed side story that follows Kiryu after the events of Yakuza 6 leading up to the upcoming eighth entry. No matter how you feel about Kiryu’s conclusion in Yakuza 6, there’s no denying that The Man Who Erased His Name is a risky undertaking given the legacy of the character. While it doesn’t quite reach the crime drama heights of other recent entries, Gaiden offers an intimate and emotionally resonant exploration of Kiryu that delivers where it counts the most.

After faking his own death and abandoning his name to protect his family, Kazuma Kiryu is now working for the enigmatic Daidoji Faction. Under the codename of Joryu, Kiryu is undertaking top-secret missions for the Daidoji as one of their own agents. After a mission goes awry, Joryu is locked in conflict with a mystery figure trying to drive him out of hiding.

While this is a great setup, especially given Kiryu’s situation, it’s hard to properly buy into the stakes of it all if you’ve already played Yakuza 7. A majority of the tension relating to the broad strokes of the narrative here rests on events and plans that we’ve already seen transpire. New characters do a bit to keep things feeling unpredictable for the main story’s 8-10 hour runtime, but there were scant few moments where revelations truly surprised me in comparison to prior titles.

Where The Man Who Erased His Name unequivocally succeeds, though, is in its exploration of Kiryu. A shorter narrative, smaller cast of characters, and restrained scope give way to deeper insight into Kiryu’s state of mind, his unwavering stance against killing no matter the situation and the lengths that he goes to so that he can keep those closest to him safe. It culminates in one of the franchise’s most emotionally powerful cutscenes that hammers home the series’ core themes of family and sacrifice.

The supporting characters here also bring quite a lot to the table. Kihei Hanawa serves as Joryu’s handler in the Daidoji, constantly straddling the line between partners and friends in his relationship with Joryu while also knowing his secret identity. The new captain and acting patriarch of the Watase Family, Yuki Tsuruno, is another hardboiled Yakuza member whose abrasive exterior occasionally gives way to glimpses of someone who values his fellow Yakuza members above all else. A brand new info broker in Sotenbori known as Akame is another particular highlight, her easygoing yet self-sufficient nature bounces off of Joryu’s stoicism in entertaining fashion.

While Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon has adopted a turn-based RPG framework for the mainline series, The Man Who Erased His Name proudly returns to the beat em’ up roots of the original series that has since been adopted by the Judgment games. Much like the Takayuki Yagami of the aforementioned duology, Kiryu has two unique fighting styles to employ in combat. The first is Agent Style, focusing on fast and frequent light blows in combination with gadgets to keep large groups of enemies at bay. The second is Kiryu’s signature Yakuza Style, the hard-hitting single target approach that he’s known for.

While Yakuza Style is exactly what you expect it to be, Agent Style brings some fun new ideas to the table that make it a blast to use against hordes of enemies. From using the Serpent Boots to rocket your way around an arena, to tossing an explosive Firefly cigarette into an unsuspecting group of goons, there’s a lot of wacky fun to be had with these tools in punch-outs. My favourite is the Spider gadget, which lets you unleash spools of wire to grab enemies and yank them across the battlefield in glorious fashion.

It’s when you combine these styles that combat is at its most satisfying. Pulling someone in for a juggle with the Spider gadget and swapping to Yakuza Style for a proper beatdown while they’re still airborne never gets old. The ways gadgets can be upgraded to improve their efficiency or functionality gives them widespread application in many situations past their initial uses, such as being able to toss out more explosive cigarettes or pull in environmental objects from a distance to be used as weapons.

The Man Who Erased His Name simply wouldn’t be a Like a Dragon game without the implementation of Heat. It’s here with all the trimmings, from expending Heat with visceral and high damaging attacks to entering the high octane Extreme Heat Mode so you can unleash all manner of carnage onto your adversaries. It’s as rewarding and gratifying as it always has been. A nice touch is the inclusion Lost Judgment’s Mortal Reversal in the form of Ultimate Counters, allowing you to make a last second dodge for big damage if timed properly.

The Man Who Erased His Name’s core setting of Sotenbori feels quite safe given its prominence in recent entries, but its downplayed scale lends to the story’s more condensed nature quite nicely. It’s also packed with stuff to do, with mainstays like karaoke and arcades making their return alongside some returning gems like Pocket Circuit from Yakuza 0, and the cabaret club complete with live-action hostesses this time around. There’s also an all-new Boutique where you can customize Kiryu’s outfit to your heart’s content.

The Castle is an entirely new area to the series, propositioned as a scandalous adult theme park on an ominous container ship lurking in Osaka Bay. While quite small in total area, you can partake in gambling and engage in numerous activities within the Coliseum. There’s a couple of different modes to play around with here, from one-on-one skirmishes to more large scale conflicts where teams go head-to-head for glory. Hell Team Rumble even lets you organise and train your very own team to bring into the arena, with members that serve as fun nods to prior characters.

The other large chunk of side content comes in the form of the Akame Network. The Akame Network is a support system that Akame has setup for Sotenbori locals. As you walk the streets, you’ll come across people in need of help. Completing these short and sweet requests nets you cash and Akame Points, further expanding the network and allowing you to unlock new skills. These points can also be spent on gear, items, and cosmetics at the Akame Shop, so it always feels worthwhile to engage with these small errands as you run into them.

The Akame Network also has requests to be completed, which effectively serve as this entry’s version of Substories. While I’ve only completed a handful of the many available, each one employs the absurd side of this franchise’s tonal dissonance in excellent fashion. Better yet, they often call back to events and characters in prior entries. It would be a shame to spoil them here, but one early example was a Substory revolving around some Ryuji Goda lookalikes causing problems throughout Sotenbori, who are revealed to be part of a larger plan to bring back the Go-Ryu Clan which is swiftly shutdown by Joryu.

If this all sounds like a pretty safe and by the numbers Like a Dragon offering, that’s because it absolutely is. The Man Who Erased His Name feels tailor made for series veterans – especially those who’ve seen Kiryu’s journey through to where it is today. It feels decidedly old-school in its restrained approach to open-world design, and while I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, it would’ve been nice to see some more drastic changes for what is potentially Kiryu’s last solo outing.

The Dragon Engine continues to be a powerhouse in graphical fidelity and detail. The standard set in Yakuza 6 has been improved upon in every subsequent entry, and The Man Who Erased His Name is no stranger to that rule. The sheer detail in facial expressions are some of the best in the industry, and the virtual tourism brought about by such incredible attention to detail in recreating these locations is a constant joy. The Castle is also incredibly well-realised, brought to life by dazzling neon lights and excessively luxurious architecture.

The presentation is held together remarkably well by steady performance and a level of technical polish that every entry in this series exudes. That’s no small feat when you consider how crazy some of the fights get, especially in the Coliseum battles where things can get really out of hand. A special shoutout should also go to every member of the cast, who bring each character to life in a convincing manner. Takaya Kuroda in particular really delivers on an emotionally tormented Kiryu this time around, and does a lot of the heavy lifting in the game’s more poignant moments.

The post Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name Review – Yakuza In Disguise appeared first on Press Start.

Regardless of whether or not you engage with Riot’s monolithic MOBA, League of Legends has proven to be fruitful soil for other videogame adaptations. Between the fantastic Ruined King, some isometric fun in Mageseeker, and the time-based shenanigans of CONVERGENCE, there’s a wide array of new experiences that explore different parts of the world of Runeterra. Each one comfortably planting itself into tried-and-true genres and diving into different characters and areas of the lore.

Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story is the next entry into this collection of games, helmed by Tequila Works. A narrative-heavy experience following the titular Nunu and his bestfriend Willump sounds like a home-run, especially for fans of the setting of the Freljord and the characters that inhabit it. While it doesn’t put its best foot forward at first, Song of Nunu blossoms into an impeccably-paced adventure game that brings new ideas into the fold and bows out before overstaying its welcome.

Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story takes place in the frosty reaches of the Freljord, where Nunu and Willump rely on each other for company and survival. For the unfamiliar, Nunu and Willump have common ground in that they’ve both lost their families. The concept of a young Notai boy looking for his mother and the only yeti left in the Freljord with the ability to wield the power of True Ice lays the groundwork for an endearing relationship that serves as the beating heart of this experience. It’s clear that the two have been friends for a while right from the get-go, circumventing any need for origin stories.

The pair sets out on an adventure across the Freljord in search of Nunu’s mother, with their only clue pointing them in the direction of a magical artifact called The Heart of the Blue. It’s a fairly safe and relatively predictable narrative (especially if you know League lore), but its strengths absolutely lie in its characters. Nunu and Willump are a joy to play, and their happy-go-lucky attitudes are infectious in the best way. The story also isn’t afraid to explore the trauma these two characters share and how they overcome it together.

The inclusions of other champions like Braum and Lissandra also add nuance and complexity to it all in engaging ways. Braum’s unwavering dedication to protecting others and the Freljord itself fits right in with Nunu and Willump’s dynamic. Lissandra, on the other hand, is explored through the sacrifices she makes for the greater good of Runeterra, standing in stark contrast with the optimism of the core cast. Tequila Works really understands what makes Lissandra tick here, and she’s made all the more complex in her motivations and morals as a result.

While most of it wraps quite nicely by the time credits roll, there’s a few key plot threads left dangling, which felt a bit off amongst the well-handled conclusions of other story elements. The resolution to the MacGuffin hunt a big chunk of the game is dedicated to feels hasty, and while it was cool to see some other champions that I won’t name here, it feels like they were meant to have relevance in later story beats that don’t quite eventuate here. It’s clear that this is setting up for a sequel of some sort, but it’s hard not to notice the disparity between the handling of certain narrative threads.

If you’ve played Tequila Works’ other adventure games, you’ll feel right at home in Song of Nunu. It does get off to a bit of a slow start, with straightforward puzzle solving and platforming that doesn’t do much to hook in you in the opening chapter. The overall pace really picks up by the time hour two rolls around, as Song of Nunu slings new ideas at you and builds on them in creative ways. It does a great job of keeping the solution to a puzzle or platforming segment in clear sight, while forcing you to think a little deeper about how to get there.

You’ll regularly swap between playing as Nunu and Willump. Nunu’s gameplay is generally more exploratory and puzzle-based as he lacks an affinity for combat like his partner does. Nunu’s most interesting tool comes in the form of his flute – Svellsongur. You can play different notes through key combinations to interact with the world and its inhabitants. While it initially seems confusing and overbearing to learn so many symbols, their intuitive visual designs had me catch onto it much quicker than I expected.

Solving these puzzles and traversing these environments is just a relaxing and wholesome time in the way a Nunu and Willump story should be. Always engaging enough to keep you playing, but not too complex as to bring your progression to a grinding halt. Even climbing can be made faster through Climb Boosting, which lets you pick up speed by hitting the jump button as you move to the next handhold. Each string of events almost always results in worthwhile payoff, like awakening a monolithic deer made of True Ice called the Kellurel.

When you aren’t jumping about or climbing up cliff faces, you’ll engage in combat as Willump, with Nunu nestled comfortably on the gentle giant’s head. It’s a very simple combat system with light, heavy, and ranged attacks with pretty limited enemy variety, but is sparingly employed to keep it from getting repetitive. Not once did I sigh at the thought of a combat encounter, and it’s always a blast to see the creative finisher animations when dispatching a foe. It certainly won’t knock your socks off, but it does a lot to break up the regular loop of traversal and puzzle solving.

While each chapter is quite linear, each one brings new ideas into the fold, such as a Nunu stealth section in the late-game. Each one also offers room and reason for exploration. Murals are scattered throughout the Freljord, inscribed with the rich history of its conflicts and prominent figures like Anivia and the Three Sisters. Notai stanzas are tucked away waiting to be uncovered and connected to form a lost song, and ever-adorable Poros wait for help to get them through their numerous plights. Each adds to the experience and keeps the Freljord feeling authentic to its identity in the lore.

Despite the Freljord being an icy region of tundra and snowy mountains, Tequila Works does a great job of keeping things varied. From cave systems that support the growth of unique flora and a forgotten city locked away from invaders, to a roaring forge and the ominous Howling Abyss, each chapter feels visually distinct from the rest. Snowball fights with Willump are also found throughout the game, offering a short and sweet distraction from the regular gameplay loop that entertains and endears on the few occasions you can engage with them.

One thing all of the A League of Legends Story titles have nailed are their visual presentation and production values. From the grungy underbelly of Ruined King’s Bilgewater to Mageseeker’s 2D take on the gilded land of Demacia, these games have brought iconic locations to life in brilliant fashion. Song of Nunu is no different, fully realizing the grandeur of the Freljord and its place in Runeterra. It has an ethereal and whimsical quality to it that’s exacerbated through the eyes of Nunu and Willump, which feels remarkably fitting for this kind of experience.

Particle effects are another highlight worth mentioning. League of Legends’ visual effects have evolved a lot over the years, influencing the way Riot has developed their other titles. Song of Nunu captures the very same 2D pastel effects in a way that really brings these characters and this world to life. Performance is also excellent on PC, and the whole experience oozes polish outside of the occasional geometry issue.

The post Song Of Nunu: A League Of Legends Story Review – A Boy And His Yeti appeared first on Press Start.

While Souls-like games are becoming more frequent in release cadence and are seeing sharp rises in quality, it’s been quite the rocky path to get to where we’re at today. Many titles manage to nail one or two aspects key to the subgenre, but fail to fully capitalise on everything it can achieve in the way FromSoftware does. One of the most high profile first steps into this new frontier, was in Deck13’s Lords of the Fallen.

While its core direction and setting were sound, Lords of the Fallen was weighed down by numerous flaws. The clunky controls, uneven difficulty curve, and hit-or-miss boss fights made for a middling experience that had clear potential to be more. It’s these circumstances that bring us a sequel/reboot under the very same name that bucks much of the baggage that came with the original. While this is an earnest attempt to create something new, this iteration of Lords of the Fallen stumbles in ways different from its predecessor.

While not directly tied into the narrative of the 2014 original, Lords of the Fallen takes place a millennia after the defeat of the Demon God Adyr in the first game. As with all bad things, though, Adyr is gearing up to make a return to the lands of Mournstead. As a newly risen Dark Crusader (badass, I know), you must traverse the worlds of the living and dead to put a stop to Adyr’s terror for good.

It’s a very Souls-y premise, calling back to the cyclical nature of Dark Souls lore. This is one thing this iteration of Lords of the Fallen absolutely nails. Mournstead is a haunting and atmospheric land drenched in gothic imagery and attention to detail that breathes life into its myriad locales. The impact that Adyr has on these lands is clear, creating a convincing end of the world style setting that sells the stakes.

Much like Dark Souls, it’s the environmental storytelling and subdued characters that serve up Lords of the Fallen’s narrative appeal. Each location has a story to tell, and the quiet mindfulness of each wanderer you meet along the path echoes an ethereal and dream-like mysticism that’s hard to effectively nail down.

While Mournstead is relatively linear in design, it’s elevated by Lords of the Fallen’s two-world premise. Mournstead is split into two realms; Axiom, which is the world of the living, and Umbral, which is the world of the dead. Through use of the Umbral Lantern, you can peer through and shift between these realms to navigate obstacles and find the path forward.

A door blocked in Axiom might be due to untamed overgrowth of grotesque organic materials in Umbral, requiring you to enter the land of the dead to clear the way forward. Moving between these realms and solving navigational puzzles to progress forward is always rewarding and engaging. It’s a constant treat to see how Hexworks puts this brilliant system into play, and adds depth to areas that would otherwise feel pretty one-note. Better yet, you can’t just exit Umbral whenever you see fit. Effigies must be found to return to Axiom, and the longer you spend amongst the dead, the more dangerous it becomes.

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Entering Umbral and making use of the Umbral Lantern will start to Wither your health bar, which effectively works as a grey health system. Withered health will completely disappear upon taking a hit, and can be replenished by dealing damage to enemies. It forces you to play in a more considered and careful manner every time you venture into Umbral, and keeps you conscious of the time you spend there.

The dual realms and Umbral Lantern also have some interesting impacts on combat and related systems. For starters, death in Lords of the Fallen isn’t truly final until you kick the bucket in Umbral after falling in Axiom. It smooths down some of the abrasiveness that comes with learning enemy and boss patterns while maintaining the difficulty this sub-genre is known for. You can also Soulflay enemies, splitting their soul and physical body apart, opening up an opportunity for big damage. It’s truly original stuff that’s unlike anything else on the market today, taking advantage of high speeds afforded by current-gen hardware.

One of the original game’s biggest issues was how clunky and slow it was to control Harkyn both inside and outside of combat. While 2023’s Lords of the Fallen fixes this issue, it does so by veering too far in the other direction. Combat feels floaty, suffers from inconsistent hit detection, and generally lacks the impact and game feel needed to keep it engaging for the title’s lengthy runtime. Its numerous combat mechanics, consumable items, and varied enemy designs help to provide some flexibility and dynamism to encounters, but don’t ease the monotony that sets in during the later hours.

Because of this, boss fights rarely serve as effective points of punctuation throughout your playthrough. They sport some incredibly creative visual designs and spectacle that are a treat to look at, but ultimately fall victim to the game’s mediocre combat. A vast majority of them are also disappointingly easy, with most of the difficulty coming from wrestling with the camera.

While general progression is incredibly safe, the sheer number of weapons and potential for build variety is quite impressive. Ranged, magical, light melee, heavy melee, a mix between everything – Lords of the Fallen makes experimentation feel worthwhile and encouraged. Coming back to the Skyrest Bridge hub area for healing upgrades, weapon crafting, or even just to touch base with its inhabitants is also always worthwhile.

Another thing to appreciate is how flexible Lords of the Fallen’s co-op system is. While multiplayer is very commonplace in Souls-like games these days, you can explore the entirety of Axiom alongside a friend with ease. It’s a painless and seamless experience that has me yearning for more straightforward implementation in other games of this ilk. It definitely doesn’t do the overall difficulty any favours, but who’d turn down some realm-shifting antics with a mate?

There’s a lot riding on Lords of the Fallen as one of the first big Unreal Engine 5 games for this generation, and I’m glad to say it lives up to the hype in this regard. It’s one of those games that has to be seen in-motion to be believed. Its sheer visual fidelity is eye-popping a lot of the time, and serves to bolster the sublime art direction of Mournstead. Whether it’s the decrepit and abandoned areas of Axiom, or Umbral’s festering undergrowth, Lords of the Fallen just oozes with details that bring the macabre horror of this world to life in excellent fashion.

While my PC playthrough was relative issue free, I did have one hard crash and a few intermittent bugs. Nothing definitively game breaking, but they were enough to interrupt my experience more frequently than I’d like. I can’t speak to the quality of the console versions, but if the Xbox is your platform of choice be sure to get it patched up with the update that just dropped as it fixes a number of performance issues.

The post Lords of the Fallen Review – Stuck Between Two Worlds appeared first on Press Start.

While slower to get into a flow like other development hotspots, Australia is quickly transitioning into a destination for games development. Between smash hits like Massive Monster’s Cult of the Lamb, SMG Studios’ excellent Moving Out duology, and Team Cherry’s sublime Hollow Knight, the last few years in the Australian games industry have had worldwide success. This year’s PAX Rising showcase is proof that there’s no signs of this stopping anytime soon, with tons of promising local indie releases coming over the next few years.

It’s this rampant success that has caught the eyes of Virtuos – a worldwide co-development studio that has helped to deliver some massive titles over the last 20 years. From 3D renders and in-engine CGI cutscenes to full-blown game design and console ports, Virtuos has likely had a hand in some of your favourite gaming experiences in recent times. I sat down with Virtuos’ Asia-Pacific business director, Bruce Yan, to talk about Australia’s potential as a testbed for Virtuos’ blueprint for triple A game development.

Established in 2004, Virtuos has been around for almost 20 years and have worked on countless titles both big and small. From Demon’s Souls’ opening cinematic and Horizon Zero Dawn’s Thunderjaw render on the cover, to support with League of Legends and numerous mobile games, Virtuos has had a hand in many experiences over the last two decades. Bruce elaborated further on the broad range of facets that Virtuos can assist with in development.

“Virtuous is a co-development studio, so we help developers with certain parts of their projects. We started working in art primarily, but have since expanded into all kinds of disciplines that are involved with making a game. We can help a studio to scale up the team to make bigger titles if they only have a few core teams. We also work with larger sized teams to adapt their games for other platforms while they focus on a particular version, so everything can ship on the same day.” said Bruce.

Despite just announcing the opening of a Tokyo studio during TGS last month, Virtuos is already looking for more opportunities to help local scenes spring to life. Bruce cited the aggressive growth within the Australian industry as one with a lot of potential: “There’s a lot of indie developers coming forward with fantastic ideas. That coupled with a few games doing very well on Steam and Switch and a 20% increase in revenue since 2021, there’s a similar pattern of events to what happened in the leadup to Montréal becoming a landmark destination for game development.”.

Between some mammoth successes and widespread funding from numerous bodies throughout the country, it feels like things are really kicking into gear. Bruce commented that this was one of the big reasons Virtuos came out to PAX 2023: “There’s all different sizes of teams in Australia. Indie, middle-size, triple A etc. There’s studios here with over 100 developers now like Blowfish Studios and Mighty Kingdom. We feel Virtuos can help indie teams to scale up while also assisting larger studios with co-development on things we’re experienced in.”.

A large part of the reason the future is looking so bright for game development in Australia is thanks to rampant funding across numerous states. With growth, comes growing pains and new challenges for studios to face as they expand their team sizes and overall scope of their projects. Game development is immensely challenging on any scale, but Bruce shed some light on how Virtuos can help the local scene navigate through this growth and upscaling.

“As more funding becomes available, Virtuos can help studios to manage risks and advise how to setup a pipeline and manage a team in any given project. Working cultures are also unique everywhere, but we can help to make projects more manageable within that ecosystem and context. Things can be made bigger with less risk. We also have a breadth of cultural backgrounds with our worldwide studios, which means publishing elsewhere can be assisted by local Virtuos branches.”.

This kind of growth doesn’t happen overnight, though. It’s a slow steady process that Australia is well and truly in the midst of right now. When asked about what it would take for Australia to reach its full potential in the game development industry, Bruce cited government support and local talent.

“Strong government support and good talent development. The talent pool is very important. We have a very strong concept art team in Montréal, which took us some time to assemble, but a large reason it worked out is because of the talent available there. We also think the nature of Australia could attract a lot of overseas talent. Australia’s a very nice country – people love to live here, and there’s a passion for gaming in Australia – you can see it on the PAX 2023 show floor.”.

Of course, Melbourne isn’t the only state where game development is gaining real traction. Sydney is also doing quite well for itself, as is Adelaide and Western Australia with the likes of Team Cherry and recent Screenwest funding. When asked about the potential of other locations aside from Melbourne, Bruce expanded on the opportunities found in other states: “New South Wales accounts for a large chunk of the game development workforce in Australia. There’s also a good amount of government support and a lot of inherent talent in New South Wales that makes it appealing for us.”.

The other big part of growth is expanding talent pools both locally and internationally so studios have access to a wide pool of skillsets. I asked Bruce how pre-established studios can incentivize international talent to come to Australia to bolster this: “It’s important to have an inclusive working environment. International talent look for that, and also good workplace benefits. Australia is very open and welcoming to everybody, so combining these things would make Australia an attractive place to work in the industry.”.

You can learn more about Virtuos, what they do, and what they’ve worked on right here.

The post Virtuos Interview – Expanding Australia’s Games Industry Through Co-Development appeared first on Press Start.

Between a pair of decent live-action movies, a fantastic celebration of the series in Sonic Mania, and the divisive reinvention that was Sonic Frontiers, the blue blur has had a strange couple of years. Despite this, Sonic has been able to prove that his staying power is immense. Swathes of free downloadable content for Frontiers, a Knuckles TV series, and a third movie in the works all but confirm SEGA’s spiny mascot will always be here to stay.

Where Sonic Mania came to us in a time of uncertainty for Sonic, Sonic Superstars feels like a more confident showing of what 2D Sonic was all about. A true sequel to the seminal original trilogy that had fans clamouring for more. If you can look past the rough edges and a questionable value proposition, Superstars’ core experience delivers on the promise that Sonic the Hedgehog 4 couldn’t, proving that 2D Sonic still has a place in modern gaming.

Much like the originals and Mania before it, Sonic Superstars is light on narrative, but what’s here is more than enough to set the scene and get things going. To absolutely no one’s surprise, Dr. Eggman is back at it again – this time looking to execute his plans of world domination from the Northstar Islands with the help of Fang the Hunter and series newcomer, Trip.

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It’s mostly told through short vignettes and animated cutscenes that bring Sonic’s sense of playful adventure to fruition. With a core cast of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, it truly feels like a continuation of those older games. It’s always a treat to see the gang bounce off of each other as they try to thwart Eggman’s plans and it’s neat seeing a character like Fang in a mainline title like this one.

The old school sensibilities of Sonic Superstars don’t stop there. As soon as you pick up the controller, it’s clear that much like Sonic Mania, Superstars is a modernised take on traditional 2D Sonic. Everything from the physics to platforming challenges and bursts of blistering speed is lovingly iterated upon in a stylish 2.5D perspective. Each Zone offers unique themes, level gimmicks, and pathways to discover in a bid to get the fastest time possible, making for an all-round well paced adventure.

Sonic’s repertoire has also seen a few new key additions that shake up the core gameplay loop. Aside from the brilliant Drop Dash returning from Mania, Sonic and friends have access to a suite of new Chaos Emerald Powers that substantially change how you approach each new obstacle. These slowly unlock over the course of the game’s story mode, with each of the seven emeralds being tucked away in hard-to-reach Special Stages.

Each one brings something entirely new to the table. The Blue Emerald, for example, allows you to use the Avatar power, flooding the screen with clones that’ll clear the screen of any Badniks while also dealing some good damage to bosses. The Green Emerald, on the other hand, sprouts ivy that allows for rapid vertical movement, meaning you can get to high areas with ease. Liberal use of these powers is encouraged as they refresh every time you hit a new checkpoint post, so you’ll often be able to use them two or three times per Act.

The Chaos Emerald Powers also add a ton of replay value in the same vein as Wisps from Sonic Colours. It’s rewarding to revisit previously cleared Acts to see how and where you can use the powers to improve times, find new routes, and uncover hidden collectibles or Bonus Stages. I have no doubt the community will come up with some diabolical tech for these that keeps time trials alive for some time to come.

It should also be mentioned that the aforementioned Special Stages that unlock the Emeralds are challenging, inventive and fun to play. You’ll swing from grapple points as you use momentum to carry yourself towards a fleeing Emerald, collecting Rings along the way to make sure you don’t time out. They’re relatively straightforward, but are always enjoyable, which simply can’t be said for Special Stages in prior games.

Sonic Superstars’ assortment of Zones are also excellent. While most explore motifs previously seen in the series, there are a few unique standouts like Speed Jungle Zone and Cyber Station Zone. The former sees Sonic and the gang slingshot off of fauna, grind on vines, and make ample use of harpoon launchers to get to higher paths. Cyber Station Zone is a personal favourite, with a digitised environment that transforms Sonic and co into voxel renditions of themselves while also taking on other cyber forms to progress.

Zones aren’t made completely equal, though. Some only have one Act, and others have a bonus character specific Act making for a total of three. These bonus Acts are a nice way to get to grips with a character’s kit and how they might play in a regular level. Where Sonic has his trusty Drop Dash, Knuckles can climb, Tails can fly, and Amy can wallop anything in her way through liberal use of her hammer. It means each Act feels fresh when tackled with a new character, especially in tandem with the Chaos Emerald Powers.

Each level also houses a plethora of Medals that can be traded in for cosmetics at Eggman’s shop, allowing you to create your very own metal competitor for Battle Mode. There’s some neat stuff here, like the ability to create a metal NiGHTS, but it’s disappointing that these creations are strictly limited to the Battle Mode. There’s also a collection of Bonus Stages in each Act that award even more medals, but I became apathetic towards collecting them as the game went on given their limited applications.

The bosses that punctuate each zone are also a bit of a mixed bag. Some are your typical 2D Sonic boss fights, while others are frustratingly difficult and occasionally obtuse in design. It doesn’t help that Superstars is plagued by some wonky hit detection and collision issues that rear their heads often enough to become an infrequent annoyance.

Outside of the core story mode, Sonic Superstars has offerings of mixed quality. The Mario Party-like Battle Mode feels like something of an afterthought, with simple minigame designs that finish before they can properly get going. The mode that unlocks after rolling credits fairs a little bit better with remixed stages, but doesn’t add as much as you might initially think. A sweet inclusion is the ability to play the story mode in four player local coop, which is a bit of chaotic fun despite some of the level design struggling to keep up with the speed of it all.

If these extra modes don’t do much for you on paper, then it’s hard to recommend Sonic Superstars at its current price tag. I’m all for a short and sweet experience, but the value proposition here isn’t great for those looking to do one or two playthroughs of the story mode while avoiding the extra stuff. Old-school fans will no doubt get a kick out of the classic feel that Superstars embraces, but the current asking price is steep given its fleeting four or five hour runtime.

The biggest departure from the original games is undoubtedly Sonic Superstars’ visual style, dropping the true 2D found in the glorious pixels of the originals for a 2.5D style that’s reminiscent of the Classic Sonic levels found in Sonic Generations. Despite this, the trademark visual style of the Genesis games still feels alive and well here. The combination of an eye-popping colour palette, incredibly expressive animations, and careful use of character quirks present Superstars as a truly modern adaptation of that original visual style.

There’s nothing quite like Sonic tapping his foot in anticipation as he idles or watching him transition into a Super Peel Out as he reaches top speed. Each character and Zone is brought to life by Superstars’ consistently vivid presentation, and it does wonders for the larger experience. It should hardly surprise anyone that the original soundtrack is another home run for Sonic with talent like the incredible Tee Lopes and Hidenori Shoji of Super Monkey Ball fame penning an energetic and upbeat score that continues the trend of consistently fantastic music in the franchise.

The post Sonic Superstars Review – A Gorgeous Return To Sonic’s Roots appeared first on Press Start.

Early access has become synonymous with roguelike games as of late. Between smash hits like Hades and Dead Cells, it’s clear that developing titles in this genre with the help of player feedback is invaluable. Witchfire is the next roguelike title to follow suit, with a few core differences that set it apart from the behemoths.

As a first-person shooter set in a gothic medieval world where you play as a Preyer – a supernatural witch hunter working for the Pope, Witchfire’s most immediate boon is its premise. Able to tear through demons with the power of your own magic and lethal weaponry, it’s your job to track down and expunge the witch that plagues the lands.

It’s a novel setup that’s light on narrative details – even by early access standards, but it’s undeniably badass. Witchfire’s core player fantasy and setting are indisputably the best parts of this experience thus far. Alternating between the destructive slinging of spells and nailing cultists with an assortment of guns is immensely satisfying once it gets going.

I say once it gets going because Witchfire is slow to start. Limitations in early equipment and abilities means your first few runs will be spent gathering resources to spend on levelling up and equipment research as you navigate its initially-confusing gameplay flow and non-linear level design. Each of its levels are exactly that – self-contained environments complete with enemy encounters and a designated boss arena.

There are two relatively large levels available in early access right now; the Scarlet Coast and Irongate Castle. While each is unique in design and general setting, the overall gameplay flow in runs are similar. Each map is populated with an array of encounters of varying difficulties when you load in. A vast majority of these are small arenas with a group of enemies to dispatch.

Each kill nets you precious Witchfire – a resource used to level up that drops on death. Completing an enemy encounter in its entirety nets you a temporary buff for the rest of that run. These range from simple damage increases to bolstering your casting capacities on your spells. It allows for some fun builds at the moment but will no doubt expand further as more options are added to the game.

Other encounters allow you to collect treasure in exchange for gold that can be used to expedite research on new equipment that will also drop on death. While that might sound out of place given the nature of most roguelikes, Witchfire separates itself in that you can return to your home base during any given run.

Portals populate the landscape that take you back to the Shrouded Hermitorium, allowing you to trade looted goodies and Witchfire for power. It creates an inherent risk versus reward dynamic whenever you start a run. Do you hang around to get as much Witchfire as possible or retire early so as not to lose it to an untimely death? It’s a fun spin on player progression and makes each run feel meaningful because you can always make progress – even if luck isn’t on your side.

You’ll also make progress on weapon research and equipment upgrades as you gain kills throughout runs, further tying into the player progression that keeps you coming back for more. There’s a good amount of stuff to unlock here in early access too, with light and heavy spells, four distinct weapon types, accessories, and more.

While it might be tempting to farm a level for research and Witchfire, there are some systems in place to stop you from doing this. Spending too long in the Witch’s domains alerts her to your presence, and the longer you spend in a level, the more she ramps up her efforts to thwart your plans. With the core goal of eliminating powerful boss Familiars in each level, you’ll always need to be thinking about the ruckus you’re making while gathering resources.

On top of that, the Preyer has a Focus system through his stamina gauge that needs to be monitored at all times. Scoring killstreaks and avoiding damage increases your overall stamina gauge and expands your options in combat, but getting hit will knock you out of it. It’s an exhilarating system that encourages you to use your movement options tactfully as you dart about the battlefield and dispatch foes.

Once you’ve settled into the rhythm, unlocked some spells, and crafted some new weapons, Witchfire starts to snowball into something unique in the genre. The moreish nature of roguelikes in combination with some tactile gunplay and a novel setting makes for a distinct aesthetic we don’t often see in games.

Witchfire isn’t without problems, though, the biggest of which are rooted in its early access nature. Healing potions, for example, are only recovered if you harvest herbs while in a level. Between the way they blend in with the environment and generally sparse population throughout the map, it’s far too common to have consecutive attempts with no access to healing.

Some of the cooler weapon types like the sniper rifle and bolt-action rifle feel comparatively weak to their rapid fire counter parts, and a few bugs halt weapon and spell progression. It’s all stuff that can be fixed during the early access period, thankfully, so hopefully the kinks get ironed out in the coming months.

Witchfire also impresses from a visual perspective in its two early access areas. While there’s many more to come, both sport different medieval environments. The first is a hauntingly empty countryside, complete with small settlements and quarried mines. The second is a more traditional castle town that’s been completely overrun by demonic forces. Unfortunately, performance in this second area seems to struggle quite a bit on PC, which makes the whole experience more difficult than it already is.

The post Witchfire Early Access Review – Bewitching Potential appeared first on Press Start.

PAYDAY 2 has grown exponentially in the 10 years since it launched. What started as a modest collection of six tailored heists has quickly grown into a total roster of 87 highly replayable experiences. All good things must come to an end, though, and some of PAYDAY 2’s more archaic design choices have prompted Starbreeze Studios to iterate on their classic heisting formula in PAYDAY 3. The end result is a game that feels like it takes steps forward as often as it does back. It’s a great experience when it all clicks, but it’s hard not to miss some of the quality-of-life inclusions from PAYDAY 2.

While PAYDAY isn’t primarily known for riveting narrative prospects, the original gang has garnered quite the following across games. Longtime series fans are in luck, because Dallas, Chains, Wolf, and Hoxton are back despite their early retirement after PAYDAY 2’s ending. Alongside returning heister, Joy, and a brand-new character in the form of Pearl, the crew finds themselves in dire straits after attempted assassination and emptied offshore accounts. At a loss for who has it out for the gang and why, it’s time to hit the streets of New York City to recoup funds and find answers in the process.

I mentioned in my preview that while sparse on details, it’s quite a novel setup that provides a suitable excuse to throw the original characters back into the fray. Cinematics set the mood pre and post-heist in atmospheric fashion and it ultimately does a good enough job of providing answers while leaving the door open for post-launch content. There’s also some neat callbacks and returning characters from the first two games, tying back to previous events that link to what’s happening in current time.

While PAYDAY 3 is largely iterative, there’re some excellent improvements to the core formula that really freshen up heists and how you can approach them. The most obvious is a vastly expanded casing phase, where you can spend more time scoping out the environment and formulating a plan of attack. Certain heists can still be completed without detection, and spending time understanding your objective and how the moving parts of each map feed into it is always rewarding.

The moment-to-moment gameplay is also greatly improved. Shooting feels markedly better than PAYDAY 2, and making decisions on the fly is constantly thrilling. Trading hostages for time and resources, working out how to deal with security cameras and patrolling guards, among many other things lurk in the back of your mind as you work towards your main objective. Overkill Weapons are also a welcome addition, allowing you to call in an excessively powerful firearm with limited ammunition once or twice per heist so you can compete with the increasing firepower of the police and militia you go up against.

The heists in question are all undeniably excellent. They’re absolutely dripping with atmosphere and achieve different heisting fantasies across an array of settings and objectives. Rock The Cradle is a particular stealth-only highlight where you infiltrate a bustling nightclub in hopes of nicking a crypto wallet. Under The Surphaze is the polar opposite – an elaborate art museum heist where you traipse around tightly guarded exhibits under the cover of night. It’s always thrilling to see how these heists can dynamically unfold based on your actions and whether you choose to go loud.

The variation in approaches and myriad difficulty modes with unique modifiers lay the foundation for the core appeal of any PAYDAY game, and PAYDAY 3 sports it in full-force. Tackling heists again and again is the name of the game, earning more cash, completing challenges, and upgrading skills all feed into an addicting loop that keeps you coming back for more much like previous games. While unlocks flow steadily in the early hours, things start to slow down a bit as a result of PAYDAY 3’s progression systems.

THE CHEAPEST PRE-ORDER: $54 AT AMAZON

Gaining Infamy in PAYDAY 3 requires you specifically to complete challenges for experience points. While there’s something to be said for how it forces you to play with new guns and adopt new playstyles, it’s hard not to feel like rewards are spread too thin for self-imposed challenge runs. It isn’t maintaining stealth or finding all loot in repeat heists that nets you infamy – it’s always only challenges. It means that if you want to chase PAYDAY’s core appeal, you’re forced to go after specific challenges instead of doing things as you see fit. It’s a weird choice that doesn’t gel with what high level PAYDAY play is all about.

To add insult to injury, these challenges can be extremely grindy. Hundreds of clears without detection, the same number when you go loud, excessive numbers of weapon kills. It feels tailor-made for hardcore players, but I doubt even they’d want to grind the same heist two hundred times over. If the resulting unlocks were mostly cosmetic, this wouldn’t be as much of an issue, but a vast majority of PAYDAY 3’s weapons are locked behind Infamy levels.

There’s also quite a few weird omissions in regards to quality-of-life inclusions and features that can be found in PAYDAY 2. The fantastic CRIME.NET matchmaking system has been changed out for a more traditional matchmaking format, reducing pre-heist planning to picking favours and hitting the ready button. The lack of in-game voice chat is also questionable given how important communication is in any given heist. Loadout naming, choosing to stay with your lobby, and many other small inclusions are nowhere to be found.

Despite all of this, there’s plenty of reason to keep playing PAYDAY 3 if you’re going for all the unlocks. Between countless weapons, apparel, masks, and skills, there’s so much to play around with as you craft new loadouts and try out different approaches. Perks also add some cool new passive abilities that increase damage, resistances, or speed when certain conditions are met. While they aren’t quite as powerful or expressive as they were in PAYDAY 2, they unlock at a steady rate and help to shape your playstyle for a heist.

PAYDAY 3’s presentation is bolstered tremendously by its setting. The setting of New York City has allowed Starbreeze Studios to expand into visually dynamic heist locations that separate themselves from the other settings in the franchise. From the pristine halls of the Surphaze art gallery to the packed dance floors of the Neon Cradle nightclub, each heist successfully builds its own atmosphere and ambience in effortless fashion that reinforces the core fantasy.

When things do get loud, Gustavo Coutinho’s thumping electronic soundtrack erupts in glorious fashion, further exacerbating the high-octane nature of shootouts. The game is also incredibly polished on PC, maintaining high framerates no matter how crazy the action gets. Bugs were also nowhere to be found in my time with the game, which is a refreshing change of pace for the often dysfunctional live service launches.

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Nintendo have another massive 40 minute Direct as they look forward to the rest of the year and the start of 2024. There was tons of stuff shown, from previously announced titles to brand-new titles. It’s looking to be stacked 6 months for Nintendo Switch owners.

Here’s everything we saw today:

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Is Finally Getting A Remake

The fantastic Paper Mario: The 1000 Year Door is getting a long-awaited remake. This incredible GameCube RPG looks gorgeous on the Switch with improved visuals and timeless gameplay. Between this and Super Mario RPG, there’s a lot of Mario RPG goodness coming to the Switch. Not much was shown in regards to new features or content, but the base game is more than enough as is. It launches in 2024.

The previously revealed Princess Peach Game is called Princess Peach: Showtime!

Announced during Nintendo’s June direct earlier this year, Princess Peach: Showtime! follows Princess Peach as she explores a theatre with her newfound companion, Stella. Peach can use Stella to transform into different forms that give her extra abilities like Detective Peach, Swordfighter Peach, Kung Fu Peach, and much more. It looks eclectic and inventive, while echoing a bit of Luigi’s Mansion. It’s coming out on March 22nd.

Mario VS. Donkey Kong Makes A Return On The Switch

The beloved Game Boy puzzler is receiving a gorgeous remake for the Switch early next year.  The most notable inclusion is the ability to play with a friend in local co-op. Might not be the full Donkey Kong game some were anticipating, but it’s cool to see this one back nonetheless. It’s launching on February 16th.

We Got A New Look At Splatoon 3 – Side Order

We got a fresh look at Splatoon 3’s upcoming DLC – Side Order, and it seems very unique. Some real abstract design in this one based on the trailer. If it’s anything like recent Splatoon campaigns and the Octo-Expansion, it’s sure to be a banger. It’s set in the Spire of Order as you ascend the tower and level up your character. An interesting detail is that it’s designed to be replayed. It’s launching in Autumn of 2024.

Super Mario RPG Is Looking Excellent

We got another look at the Super Mario RPG Remake going over some of the returning and new features. Perfect timing now damages all enemies at once, there are new Triple Moves based on party composition, and even powered-up boss rematches. It’s shaping up to be a great package. It’s still scheduled for launch on November 17th.

Pikachu Can Ride Pokémon in Detective Pikachu Returns

We got another look at Detective Pikachu Returns, showcasing some of the abilities you can use to solve mysteries. Tracking scents with Growlithe, smashing rocks with Darmanitan, and more. It looks like it’ll be a fun time when it launches on October 6th.

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD Brings More of the Green Plumber

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is looking better and better. It seems to have been brought in line with the visuals of Luigi’s Mansion 3 and even brings back the co-op multiplayer mode. This one is definitely worth checking out if you missed it the first time around. It’s launching in Summer of next year.

Funky Kong Returns to Mario Kart in Wave 6 of the Booster Course Pass

Peachette, Pauline, Diddy Kong, and Funky Kong all make their debut in Wave 6 of Mario Kart 8’s Booster Course Pass when it launches later this year. More Mario Kart tracks is never a bad thing, and new playable characters is always exciting. Wave 6 is launching with Daisy Circuit alongside 7 more courses this holiday.

F-ZERO 99 is an F-Zero Battle Royale

If Tetris worked, why not F-ZERO? Much like Tetris 99, F-ZERO 99 essentially a F-ZERO battle royale as you compete against 98 other players for victory. It looks like a good bit of fun but I can already feel the disappointment unfolding from series veterans. Better than nothing I suppose?

WarioWare Move It Has 200 Microgames

Nothing better than a bit of absurd WarioWare. New whacky motion-based microgames and stacks of multiplayer modes, WarioWare Move It is looking to be a fitting party game for the holiday period. It’s launching on November 3rd.

Nintendo Museum

There’s a Nintendo Museum coming to Kyoto sometime next year! Not something you can play on your Switch, but a cool documentation of Nintendo’s history nonetheless.

More Amiibos are on the Way

The previously announced Tears of the Kingdom amiibos for Ganondorf and Zelda are due out on November 3rd. Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s Noah and Mio are also releasing as an oh-so-cute dual pack on January 19th.

Ubisoft Brought A New Prince of Persia – The Lost Crown Trailer

Ubisoft also brought a new trailer for Prince of Persia – The Lost Crown. A return to the 2D roots of the series that keeps looking better and better. There was a quick look at some boss fights and the environments we’ll explore. Keep this one on your radar. It’s launching on January 18th.

The Original Tomb Raider Trilogy is Getting Remastered

The classic original Tomb Raider trilogy is coming to the Switch with remastered visuals. You can toggle between the original visuals and remastered ones too! Great games for a portable platform like the Switch. It’s launching on February 14th.

Bandle Tale:  A League of Legends Story is an all new game from Lazy Bear

The next entry in Riot’s slew of new League-based experiences, Bandle Tale is a cute community based game that seems similar to Stardew Valley and other farming games, only with a League twist. It’s being helmed by the developers of Graveyard Keeper, Lazy Bear. It’s releasing sometime next year.

Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story Finally has A Release Date

We got another look at one of Riot’s other projects – Song of Nunu. This whimsical story adventure game follows Nunu and Willump as they brave the treacherous wilds of the Freljord. Better yet, it’s launching on Novermber 1st.

Dave The Diver is coming to Console

The critically acclaimed Dave The Diver is coming to the Switch later this year. This fun little game has a neat loop of catching fish during the day and selling it as sushi during the night. It’s a great time and is well worth your attention. Its launching  first on Switch on October 26th, with a demo available to play right now!

Unicorn Overlord Is Vanillaware’s Next Game

ATLUS and Vanillaware are bringing us Unicorn Overlord; the rebirth of tactical fantasy RPGs. Vanillaware always does great stuff, so definitely keep an eye on this one. It sports their trademark visual style and what looks to be a well-realized medieval setting. It’s launching on March 8th.

Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes Is Coming Out Early Next Year

While this one was announced a while back, this new look shows quite a promising RPG experience. It has a unique 2D/3D hybrid visual style that’s striking in motion. Super flashy combat to boot as well. It’s launching on April 23rd.

Eastward is Getting DLC this Summer

Eastward: Octopia is set in a remote mountainside village where Sam and John start life anew as farmers. It’s a parallel world of Eastward and looks like a great time. It’s launching in Summer of this year.

Wargroove 2 is Bringing A Cutscene and Campaign Creator

Wargroove 2 got some new details including a new mouse faction, and a rogue-like mode in Conquest mode. There’s also a built-in cutscene and campaign creator which is super neat. It’s launching on October 5th.

Horizon Chase 2 Is Available Today On The Switch

Launching later today, Horizon Chase 2 is an arcade racer that can be played online and even has cross-play. Looks like a bit of arcade fun with friends. It’s out today on the eShop.

Super Crazy Rhythm Castle Has A Release Date

There’s nothing better than a good rhythm game other than a rhythm game with friends. Solve puzzles and battle bosses while you rock out to over 30 tracks, including music from iconic Konami games. It’s launching on November 14th.

SPYxANYA: Operation Memories is the Spy x Family Game We Never Knew We Needed

The Anya simulator we never knew we needed. Catalogue Anya’s daily life with a photo diary in Spy X Family’s very first video game adaptation. Absolutely riveting, ridiculously cute.

The Cult Classic Another Code Games Are Coming To Switch

Another Code: Recollection is a bundle of the two Another Code DS games, the second of which never released in North America. Surreal to see these games getting released in 2023 fully enhanced for the Nintendo Switch. The collection comes out on January 19th.

The Next SaGa Game is SaGa Emerald Beyond

The next entry into the SaGa series, SaGa Emerad Beyond seems to echo elements from Octopath Traveler with unique heroes to pick from with their own stories that crossover. It has a timeline turn-based battle system which is always a good time when done properly. It’s completely standalone and launches next year.

Trombone Champ can fuel all of your Tromboning Dreams

Trombone Champ is a wonderful recreation of playing the trombone. What’s not to love? It even has an authentic control scheme. It’s launching today on Nintendo Switch.

BATTLE CRUSH is an Adrenaline Fueled Action Game Similar to Battlerite

BATTLE CRUSH looks like a fun battle royale-esc MOBA most similar to Battlerite. Not much was shown outside of some combat and environments, but if it’s anything like Battlerite, it’ll be a great time. It’s due out in Autumn next year.

Wartales Is A Turn-Based RPG Available Today

A tactical turn-based RPG that can be played online with freinds, You can explore the overworld, recruit companions, collect bounties, and spelunk tombs. Looks like a bit of fun, and it even launches later today!

Contra: Operation Galuga is a Reimaging of the 80s Classic

A new take on the SNES classic, Contra: Operation Galuga looks like it’ll scratch that retro itch in a way only Contra can. A reimagining of the classic run-‘n’-gun formula from the 80s with modernized graphics, sound, new stages, mechanics, and more. It even has coop! It’s set to launch in early 2024.

Among Us is getting a free new map

Among Us is getting a brand-new map that’s completely free. It’s called The Fungle and launches this October. Seems like a fun map but the name is a bit sus.

The post Everything Announced At The September 2023 Nintendo Direct appeared first on Press Start.

Despite some growing pains and countless technical woes, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet felt like a much needed reinvention of the Pokémon formula when they launched late last year. A renewed focus on the wonderous aspect that Pokémon’s world so effortlessly flourishes made for an experience I’ve not had with the franchise since the early 3DS games. The mystifying nature of Area Zero, the Teralstalization anomalies, and Paradox Pokémon are big parts of the reason I enjoyed my journey through Paldea.

As the first part of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s expansion pass, The Teal Mask does an excellent job of honing in on this lore and worldbuilding. It simultaneously expands the scope and sense of adventure of the base game while presenting a bloat-free experience that stands remarkably well on its own.

The Teal Mask takes place in Kitakami – a mountainous region inspired by traditional Japanese countryside. It stands in stark contrast to the bustling and busy nature of Paldea, trading out towns and fuel stations for rice farms and apple orchards. While Kitakami is dwarfed by Paldea’s total size, its more condensed nature means you’re always discovering new Pokémon in a more tranquil setting.

The gist of the narrative is that you’re selected to be part of a school trip to the land of Kitakami in collaboration with Blueberry Academy. The main objective is to visit three signboards across Kitakami to uncover a local folktale revolving around Ogerpon and the Loyal Three. Ogerpon is said to have tormented Kitakami and its residents, while the Loyal Three serve as protectors who ultimately pushed Ogerpon into hiding.

Of course, not all is at it seems, and you’ll unravel the true nature of Ogerpon and the Loyal Three across the Teal Mask’s short and sweet main story. Accompanying you on your journeys are Kieran and Carmine – two students from the battle-focused Blueberry Academy. Both born and raised in Kitakami, each helps to show you around the region while providing their own perspectives on the legendary folktale.

Where Kieran’s quiet demeanour and enthusiastic obsession with Ogerpon paints him as a subdued and shy individual, his older sister Carmine is much more energetic and quick to anger. Her love for Kitakami and its cultural traditions makes her apprehensive towards outsiders and protective of her younger brother. Both of these characters go through satisfying arcs in The Teal Mask, and I’m genuinely looking forward to spending more time with both of them in the second half of the expansion.

Overall, The Teal Mask does a fantastic job of balancing being the first part of a larger narrative while also telling a worthwhile standalone story. It builds up to a satisfying conclusion for its characters and broader plot while also teasing you with what’s to come in The Indigo Disc. It also ties back to the base games nicely in its exploration of themes like bullying, exclusion, and the spreading of rumours.

The gameplay front is where the least has changed. Aside from a few fun inclusions in the form of Ogre Oustin’ and a new photography minigame, much of what you’ll be doing in The Teal Mask is the same as the base game. Plenty of Pokémon catching, trainer battles, and exploring the overworld. Tera Raid Battles also litter Kitakami’s landscape featuring returning Pokémon that are new to Scarlet and Violet.

On that front, there’s a lot to love with The Teal Mask. While short in supply, the brand new Pokémon continue Scarlet and Violet’s trend of excellent new designs. Ogerpon is an adorable little legendary who’s appearance betrays its public perception. Sinistcha is a similarly great matcha-based take on Sinistea with some inventive moves and abilities. Other returning Pokémon are super varied with some real fan favourites back in the mix. The Kitakami Pokédex is nothing to shirk off either, with 200 total entries to fill out.

There’s a bit of post-game content to engage with here in the form of catching the Loyal Three as well as filling out all the Pokédex entries. It provides a bit of an excuse to explore Kitakami further but there are some worthwhile rewards for doing so. Level scaling also made for a nice difficulty curve for my level 70~ team to tackle as I progressed through Kitakami.

The aforementioned Ogre Oustin’ is also a good bit of fun, if a bit shallow after a couple plays. It essentially boils down to collecting items and depositing them for points as fast as you can while keeping rogue Pokémon away from your collection. The photography minigame is sure to please Pokémon Snap veterans, and newcomer Perrin’s enthusiasm for landing great shots of these charismatic critters is infectious.

Unfortunately, much of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s technical woes have returned to rear their ugly heads at you far too often. Aside from regular slowdown and frame rate issues, Kitakami’s visuals are generally muddied despite attempts at variety in its environments. While character and Pokémon models continue to be some of the series’ best, the disparity in detail between them and general textures only end up exacerbating the poorer visuals.

The post Pokémon Scarlet And Violet: The Teal Mask Review – A Strong Start appeared first on Press Start.

While big-budget CRPGs are few and far between these days, you can always rely on Larian Studios to deliver grand roleplaying experiences unlike any other. They’ve proven time and time again that they’re capable of delivering sprawling games that are simultaneously overwhelming and awe-inspiring. It only feels right, then, that they helm the next entry into the legendary Baldur’s Gate franchise. Like the Divinity series before it, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an achievement so grand in scale and mechanical density that it’s almost unfathomable in its totality.

Baldur’s Gate as a series is set within a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, and adopting the immensely popular 5E ruleset, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a stunning recreation of sitting around a table with friends in game form, complete with all the trims and trappings you could want. That isn’t to say Baldur’s Gate 3 is predictable – far from it in fact. Even the most seasoned Dungeons and Dragons veterans can glean immense value from the world and story this entry has to offer.

While decisions made throughout your journey in Baldur’s Gate 3 will catalyse wild differences in narrative beats, the opening always stays the same. After creating your character and choosing your class, you’ll find yourself waking on a Mindflayer’s ship. While the prologue serves as an introduction to combat and some gameplay systems, it also introduces you to some of the core cast and grim nature of your situation.

The Mindflayers have infected you by means of a parasitic Mindflayer Tadpole. A small worm-like creature that will ultimately turn you into a subservient Mindflayer yourself. Upon making landfall, you quickly discover that this ailment is more widespread than usual, and set out to find a cure. It’s this premise that lays the foundation for Baldur’s Gate 3’s dynamic and evolving narrative.

It’s also the primary reason so many others join your cause. Baldur’s Gate 3’s companion characters suffer from the very same ailment as you, making for an unlikely alliance between people from all walks of life. Though it’s hard to get invested in everyone’s plights equally given a total party size of four, each one boasts engaging writing that hooks you into their situations, incentivising you to see how things can change outside of the main story.

Each of these characters has inherent flaws and problems that they work through in dedicated questlines. A particular highlight during my solo playthrough was Karlach; a Tiefling Barbarian on the run after being forced to fight in the Blood War. She also has an Infernal Engine eternally ticking in place of her heart, working as a time-bomb of sorts if it can’t be kept in check with attention from talented blacksmiths.

Her fun and high-energy nature runs in stark contrast against the situation she finds herself in. Though she’s quick to anger, she also serves as a beacon of hope amongst some of the group’s more subdued members. My affinity for Karlach also led me to Wyll, a Warlock who struck a bargain with the Devil and hunts down Karlach on his tormentor’s behalf.

That isn’t to say other characters aren’t just as engaging for reasons both good and bad. Shadowheart is an outwardly bigoted Cleric tasked with delivering a strange relic for reasons she can’t remember. Her disposition towards the other races of the Forgotten Realms means she regularly butts heads with the authoritative and demanding Githyanki Fighter Lae’zel. Astarion is an unapologetically evil Elven vampire who’s sarcasm is only rivalled by his lust for blood. The top-notch writing and motion capture only serves to bolster the countless conversations and cutscenes that unfold in any given playthrough.

There’s also a lot to unpack with the main story itself, and while no two runs are going to be the same, I’m positive that the quality will always be consistent. The three acts all differ in tone, and the adversaries you face ooze as much charisma and complexity as your own party. There’s some truly difficult choices to make towards the tail end of the campaign that had me stewing over my options for some time. Side quest writing is just as fantastic, constantly putting difficult decisions into the hands of the player while always looping back to the happenings of the core narrative.

It’s choice that lies at the heart of Baldur’s Gate 3. Everything you do has implications – actions in combat, dialogue choices with NPCs, romance options, your approach to conflict. It’s a game so dense with interlocking systems and player flexibility that it can be overwhelming and front-loaded with information for newcomers. Its bottomless depth is intimidating and hard to wrestle with at first, but that intimidation ultimately gives way to unprecedented freedom in its roleplaying potential.

While it’s almost impossible for a game to fully replicate the D&D experience in full, Baldur’s Gate 3 comes astonishingly close. The sheer amount of options presented at the player, both obvious and hidden under the surface is truly unmatched. After realizing just how open-ended player choice can be, Baldur’s Gate 3 would rise up to every challenge I threw at it, no matter how unconventional.

From skill checks in conversation based on your proficiencies, making smart use of objects in the environment, employing stealth, and so much more, Baldur’s Gate 3 always impresses both inside and outside of combat. It’s roleplaying in the truest sense, perfectly capturing the emergent situations that can come to fruition through gameplay systems like these.

Much of your time in Baldur’s Gate 3 is spent exploring. Much like the best open world settings, the Forgotten Realms is positively brimming with meaningful and worthwhile content for you to engage with. Despite how much there is to see and do in your journeys, you always feel compelled to see what lies around the next corner. Not because Baldur’s Gate 3 pressures you to, but because you want to see what the game comes up with next.

It helps that exploration is always worthwhile from a progression and gameplay stance. You’ll often find rare and build-altering items that feel like real growth in power as opposed to arbitrary numbers going up. It means that every time you stumble on an underground cavern or derelict town, you want to explore it and see what might lie in wait.

Combat is where your tactical chops are tested the most. Smart use of resources, strategic use of actions, and exploiting class synergies is of paramount importance when it comes to succeeding in Baldur’s Gate 3’s nail-biting combat encounters. Much like the 5E ruleset, combat turns are comprised of Movement, Actions, and Bonus Actions. What each of these entail depends on class choice, race, subclass, and much more.

Choice in combat is just as flexible as it is in exploration. You can use items to grease surfaces or coat them in flammable oil, hit enemies with standard attacks or powerful spells, push foes off cliffs to a swift demise, and countless other options. The balance struck within combat makes it so that each turn feels immensely valuable in the grander tapestry of a conflict. It’s a real treat to work yourself out of a sticky situation when all the odds are stacked against you.

Larian Studios constantly find new ways to test you and keep you on your toes. Whether it be due to the arena design or the enemy types you can encounter, you can never rely on a single strategy in Baldur’s Gate 3. The highlight is undoubtedly the many boss fights you’ll experience, each of which pushes you to your tactical limits and forces you to find new ways to exploit weaknesses and make the most of every single turn.

It all goes hand-in-hand with character and class progression. Despite having a max level of 12, Baldur’s Gate 3 always makes the process feel like a real milestone in growth. Unlocking new passive and active skills, new feats, improving proficiencies always feels like a marked improvement in the capabilities of your party. Shared experience and level ups also means you can be flexible with who’s in your party whenever you feel like it.

What’s more, is that the entirety of this experience is playable in four player coop. While playing solo is worthwhile for complete control over decisions, coop play is chaotic bliss in the best way, and is absolutely worth looking into if you’ve got friends wanting to jump in on the adventure. It gets incredibly close to the Dungeons & Dragons experience in a much more approachable and easily-organised format.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is just as impressive from a presentation standpoint. The previously mentioned motion capture and voice performances bring the Forgotten Realms to life in incredible fashion. The quality is especially mindboggling when you realize just how much of this stuff there is in the game. Countless hours of recorded dialogue and cinematics that you couldn’t possibly hope to see in a single playthrough goes to show just how varied Baldur’s Gate 3 can get in its main story and side quests.

The game is also jaw-dropping to look at. The Forgotten Realms are truly stunning in visual design and variety, from the untamed wilds of Act 1 to the bustling streets of Baldur’s Gate in Act 2. The dungeons are dripping with atmosphere and creative designs, and eldritch horrors are brought to life in grotesque detail. Performance is also remarkably smooth given how much Baldur’s Gate 3 tests my rig in its most visually intense scenarios.

A special mention should go to the character models. There’s an immaculate attention to detail in facial structure, hair, scarring, jewelry, and more. This isn’t limited to the main cast, with side characters and NPCs you’ll interact with once sporting the same level of care across the board. It does so much to build out the diversity of the numerous races that inhabit the Forgotten Realms, and creates a tangible sense of place no matter where you go.

No game this big is without bugs, but Baldur’s Gate 3’s are mostly inconsequential. A vast majority of frustrating bugs have been patched since launch, though there are a few disparate issues that can interrupt the overall flow. Occasional awkward pauses in conversation and combat when AI controlled characters take their turn, visual bugs, and a finnicky camera in claustrophobic environments. It never became frustrating enough to put the game down, but occur often enough to be worth mentioning.

The Baldur’s Gate 3 PS5 Experience

Kieron: While I haven’t quite played through the game in its glorious entirety yet like Harry and so many of my friends and acquaintances that’ve been lucky enough to spend the last few weeks playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on PC, I’ve been able to squeeze a bunch of time in on the PS5 version thanks to the early access launch period and so far it’s been a hugely positive experience.

While what I’ve seen so far has definitely not been quite the high-fidelity smorgasbord that I’ve witness being pumped out on some high-powered PC rigs out there, especially when it comes to the overall resolution and sharpness, I’m genuinely impressed by what Larian is putting out here, especially with the option for an upscaled 60FPS Performance mode. Given the turn-based nature of things I’ve mostly opted for the 1440p/30FPS Quality option and aside from some hitches here and there when moving through larger areas it’s been pretty solid. If you decide to check out split-screen coop, you’ll be limited to 30FPS which is a pretty fair trade-off for having the option, I think. No matter whether you pick the Performance or Quality option on PS5, you’re unfortunately going to get the same drop in performance in Act 3’s bustling and dense locales that PC players have suffered, but hopefully it’s something Larian can address soon enough.

Control-wise, this was also going to be a tricky one. With a game as mechanically dense and PC-centric as Baldur’s Gate 3 there are naturally some hurdles, and I can imagine that anyone who’s already played with a mouse and keyboard and switches to a DualSense might be put off. I’ve gone in on PS5 from the jump though, so it’s what I’ve become accustomed to and for the most part it’s been fine.

You’d be amazed what can be done with radial menus and sequential bindings and quickly become second-nature, although trying to select objects or characters in packed environments can be a right hassle. The worst offense Baldur’s Gate 3 commits with controller play is really just that some things take longer to do than they would for those with the luxury of pointing and clicking or executing quickfire keyboard commands.

Overall, if all you’ve got to play Baldur’s Gate 3 on is a PS5 console you’re absolutely still getting the same stunning, rich experience as PC players with just a couple of minor drawbacks. It still plays fantastically when kicking back on a couch in front of a big telly, if that’s your preference over sitting at a desk, which is all I can really ask for.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Review (PC/PS5) – An Achievement of Monumental Proportions appeared first on Press Start.

Everyone has that RPG they played as kid. The one that sowed the seeds of a foundational love for a legendary genre of swords and dragons. Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Golden Sun, Chrono Trigger, and so many more legendary franchises still have an impact on modern RPGs today. Sea of Stars is a resonant love letter to these seminal games, poking fun at genre conventions in a self-aware manner while wearing its inspiration on its sleeve. Sabotage Studio’s second title isn’t without issues, but they never get in the way of an experience that delivers the same comforts of an old-school turn-based RPG.

Sea of Stars follow two Children of the Solstice, Valere and Zale, who live under the heavy expectations entailed with becoming Solstice Warriors. The horrific alchemist known as the Fleshmancer has been long-since banished from their world, but the powerful remnants of his forces remain at large. It falls to Valere and Zale to fully realize their powers as Solstice Warriors and banish the evil that wreaks havoc on their land before it grows insurmountably strong.

If you’re familiar with Sabotage Studio’s work on The Messenger, you’d be right to assume that the narrative here is much more than meets the eye. Without spoiling too much, Sea of Stars constantly finds ways to up the stakes, keep characters interesting, and floor you with creative and fun plot twists. Friendship and adventure serve as the beating heart of the story here, and party dynamics do so much to build up Valere, Zale, and the surrounding world.

Accompanying them from their hometown of Mooncradle is Garl, a boisterous and infectiously positive warrior cook who cements himself as the rock of the broader group almost instantly. In some ways, Sea of Stars is a story about Garl more than anyone else. His innate ability to see the best in people and in dire situations makes him a helplessly endearing character that is always a joy to engage with.

I’d be at fault if I didn’t mention the quality of writing found in later party members also. Without spoiling too much, each one brings a unique perspective to the table and further expands on just how vile the Fleshmancer is, incentivizing you to see the journey through to the end. It’s always a blast to see how and why Sabotage introduces each member as the narrative unfolds. Each character contributes to a larger whole that is one of the best RPG ensembles in some time.

It’s a shame then that the ending feels a bit rushed in regards to some characters. While Valere, Zale, Garl, and the portal assassin Seraï all reach satisfying conclusions, there is one party member and a few supporting characters that feel forgotten by the time credits roll – even with the game’s true ending. There are loads of tidbits and lore details you can find about these characters in the surrounding world and through the Traveling Historian, Teaks, but the way certain threads wrap up feels odd in comparison to the finality of Valere and Zale’s story.

While technically a prequel to The Messenger, the world of Sea of Stars feels decidedly unique and rooted in fantasy. The inhabitants of each major city are a joy to talk to, each one offering something unique in tone and feel. The Port Town of Brisk for example is your typical seaside port, filled with pirates, shopkeepers, and beachgoers. The Town of Lucent, on the other hand is drowning in the oppressive atmosphere established by one of the Fleshmancer’s most powerful creations. It regularly bounces between joyous fantasy and hauntingly somber introspection in a remarkably seamless fashion.

While today’s RPGs have been blurring the lines of real-time and turn-based combat, Sea of Stars embraces the genre’s turn-based roots with real fervour. It’s most comparable to the Mario RPGs in that you can time basic attacks, abilities, and blocking for additional effects. Each character specializes in certain properties used to exploit enemy weaknesses in combat.

Valere, for example, is a battle monk who uses a blunt staff and her connection with the Moon Goddess Luana to bring her adversaries down with fierce strikes, while also shielding allies. Zale, on the other hand, is a blade dancer with a dagger that can be infused with the Sun God Solen’s solar might to incinerate foes and heal allies.

These unique properties have more emphasis placed on them through the Lock mechanic, which is undoubtedly the best combat feature Sea of Stars brings to the table. While enemies are weak to certain elements and weapon types, they’ll also cast their own abilities over a number of turns. While casting, Locks are presented, which can be broken with the appropriate element and damage types. Breaking each one weakens the effect of the ability, and breaking all of them cancels the cast altogether. While that on its own might not sound too impressive, it’s the way in which it feeds into other mechanics and dynamics in combat that makes it truly special.

Sometimes you’ll have to pull out your own abilities to break a Lock in time, spending mana in the process. Mana is quite limited in Sea of Stars, and can only be regenerated in combat via basic attacks and items. This means you’re always thinking about and balancing when and where to use abilities, as well as Live Mana.

Live Mana is another resource introduced relatively early on, which can be used to Boost attacks. When Boosted, basic attacks gain elemental properties, and abilities have bolstered effects. The catch is that Live Mana is only produced by basic attacks, and only three lots of Live Mana can be on the field at once. Live Mana can be stacked as well, making your abilities hit really hard when you top off with three stacks. It adds another layer of decision making and resource management that makes for thrilling boss fights and regular encounters.

As you engage in combat, you’ll also build up Combo Points used to unleash even heftier attacks. If unused by the end of an encounter, they’ll disappear, so liberal use of these is encouraged when and where possible. It wouldn’t be a turn-based combat system without some form of Ultimate Attack as well, which are slowly unlocked for each character as the story unfolds. While they can only be used when the Ultimate Attack Gauge is filled, each one has its own bombastic animation and properties that link back to the character using it.

If that all seems too overwhelming, that’s where Relics come in. These toggle-able treasures make Sea of Stars more or less difficult depending on what you want. A few of them also add quality-of-life inclusions, like a parrot that points you in the direction of missed collectibles. Others are more straightforward, like automatic timing on attacks and blocks during combat.

It makes for a more flexible difficulty model that can swing in either direction. You also have a slew of weapons, armour, and accessories to collect that bolster your characters further. The inclusion of party-wide experience also means that grinding is a non-factor throughout the entirety of Sea of Stars, allowing for break-neck pace if you want to focus on the main story.

Outside of combat, there’s a decent amount to do. Each area is chock-full of collectibles and secrets to find through traversal and exploration. While there’s also some light puzzle solving, most of it ends up being pretty mindless due to its simplicity, which is a bummer given the engaging nature of combat. I wouldn’t say that traversal or exploration is ever a drag, but it rarely comes close to the excitement of battle. There’s also fishing, which no good RPG is without these days, an arena, and countless minigames to engage with throughout the world.

Most notable is Wheels, a tabletop game you can play within Sea of Stars ala Fort Condor and Triple Triad. It cannot be overstated how addicting Wheels is. Its simple nature and progression as you unlock new Heroes to use made it something I regularly engaged with whenever I spotted a table. It’s a bit too complex to explain the rules here, but trust me when I say you’d be missing out on a great inclusion if you opt to pass it up.

If you’ve seen Sea of Stars, there’s no doubt that you’ve been wowed by its gorgeous 2D pixel-art and dynamic lighting. The Messenger was nothing to shirk at as is, but Sea of Stars is positively dripping with a love and care instilled in every frame. Its vivid colours and intricate character portraits bring the world and cast to life in a way that few 2D pixel-art games can manage. A lot of this is thanks to the dynamic lighting – which further cements a sense of place and pushes the limits of what pixel art can be.

Another spectacular highlight is the game’s utterly sublime soundtrack. It’s no secret that Yasunori Mitsuda of Chrono Trigger fame has guest composed a few tracks for Sea of Stars, so it should speak volumes to the broader quality of the soundtrack when I say it’s all excellent.

There’s a diverse range of motifs on offer here, from flute-heavy tracks that are almost chip-tune like in nature that call back memories of The Messenger, or the fantastically energetic boss theme that somehow never got old across 30 hours of playtime. Sea of Stars is a true joy to listen to, and I suspect many of its tracks will be in my rotation for some time.

Despite being presented with some known issues to be patched on launch day, I didn’t encounter a single problem during my PC playthrough. It’s not the most technically demanding game given its pixel-art nature, but its remarkable that an experience as large as this is presented in such a polished and technically sound state.

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As Season of the Deep comes to an end, Bungie have finally dropped the curtain on the finale to the light versus darkness saga. Today’s showcase was chock-full of reveals and details on everything you can expect when The Final Shape launches on the 27th of February next year.

Become Legend

The Final Shape marks the final expedition of Destiny’s first saga, which sees us venturing into the Traveler to finally confront The Witness. Fitted with the old Tower and memories of adventures long-past, The Final Shape’s narrative serves as a conclusion to our journey as Guardians. Bungie specifically mentioned their desire to pay-off the confrontation with The Witness, while also making us feel nostalgic for our previous journeys.

The Traveler is asking us for help, and all allies and Guardians have to rally together in the face of oblivion. The Final Shape will answer questions of the grandest scale, but also offer a personal journey, deepening relationships with the Vanguard and out Ghosts. While the campaign is a huge part of The Final Shape, there was specific mention of everything coming to a head with the raid, and hints at something afterwards.

Cayde’s Return

For lapsed players, Cayde-6’s return is a big point in The Final Shape’s favour. While he isn’t back from the dead, he will serve as a catalyst for other characters, acting as our guide through The Pale Heart. Bungie mentioned that this is how the story had to end – there is no end without Cayde. As expected, Nathan Fillion reprises his role as everyone’s favourite exo Hunter.

All-New Light Subclass Supers

While not the full subclass suite we got with Lightfall earlier this year, The Final Shape is still bringing new elemental firepower. Each class is getting one new super; Solar for Warlock, Arc for Hunter, and Void for Titan.

The Warlock super is a callback to Destiny 1’s Radiance super, buffing abilities and allies. Titans get Void Axes that are thrown onto the battlefield, and can be picked up after the fact to use on enemies. Hunters have access to an Arc knife that is thrown and blinked to with an AoE attack on landing, which can be done up to three times. Each class is also receiving new Aspects for their respective subclass.

More Guns? More Guns

Following in Lightfall’s footsteps, preordering The Final Shape right now nets you the Tessellation fusion rifle, which adapts to your subclass element. While we didn’t see much of what else is coming, there was some teasing of a Golden Gun-like Sniper, and a gun made out of inspiration from the Traveler’s death laser. There’s also some exotics returning from Destiny 1, with new weapon subfamilies like rocket pistol sidearms, and support frame auto-rifles that can heal allies.

The Pale Heart Holds The Key

The Pale Heart is The Final Shape’s premiere location. Infinite, vast, and unknowable, The Pale Heart is a fraction of the space found inside the Traveler. It’s got some crazy weird and abstract designs (lots of hands), that has been shaped by The Witness. The Pale Heart will also shape itself around our experiences as a Guardian.

Perhaps most interestingly, is that this is Destiny’s first linear destination. Things start in safety and comfort but slowly escalate in danger as you approach The Witness’s monolith. Things are being reshaped and reconstructed – only wrong. There looks to be a grand sense of scale in the environment overall, and Bungie mentioned that The Pale Heart will change and react to what the player does after the campaign.

Subjugators Are A Brand-New Enemy Unit

With The Witness throwing virtually everything it has at us, it’s safe to expect some new enemy types. The Subjugators are new units reminiscent of  Rhulk, a disciple of The Witness. These powered-up units can wield Stasis and Strand, freezing and stringing up Guardians on the field like it’s nothing – very cool.

Beyond The Final Shape

Hot off the heels of seasonal fatigue, we got a glimpse at what content is going to look like after the launch of The Final Shape. Instead of the typical seasonal model, Bungie is moving towards Episodes instead; three larger content drops across the year. The first three are called Echoes, Revenant, and Heresy respectively.

Each one is comprised of a 3 act structure with new offerings in each act. Missions, Artifact Perks, Season Ranks, and more. It looks like it should lead to a healthier cadence of content overall alongside the returning Dungeons. Bungie expressed intently that The Final Shape doesn’t mark the end of Destiny, and Episodes are proof of this.

New Quality Of Life Inclusions

A new expansion always means new quality of life inclusions as well. While there are no doubt more to be revealed, there were some notable ones mentioned during the reveal. Firstly, some activities will introduced fixed power levels, with high-end content mostly staying the same. Fireteam Power makes it easier to brings friends into aspirational content by raising power levels fireteam-wide.

The previously mentioned Fireteam Finder is an in-game LFG system coming in season 23. It’s setup with tags and customization to allow players to find like-minded Guardians. Timeline Reflections are an all-new feature added in Season of the Witch, letting players replay missions with key narrative beats from previous expansions.

Season of the Witch Is Lightfall’s Next Season

Season of the Witch was also revealed alongside The Final Shape, which is live right now. After Season of the Deep’s revelations, we work with Immaru and Eris to revive Savathûn in the hopes she knows how to chase The Witness.

First, we have to contend with Xivu Arath and help Eris fully realize her new power as a Hive. New activities, new weapons, the Exotic Mission Rotator, new PvP content, and a reprisal of Destiny 1’s Crota’s End raid are just some of the things you can expect with Season of the Witch.

There’s still two seasons to go before The Final Shape launches in February of next year, and we’ll no doubt get more information in the coming months. There’s plenty to be excited about as we ramp up to this epic climax, and it seems like Bungie are firing on all cylinders to deliver. The Final Shape launches on February 27th, 2024, and Season of the Witch is live right now.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 is best experienced as blind as possible. While there are some very light early game spoilers in this feature, there are no major story, character, or gameplay spoilers to worry about. 

There was a moment early on during my cooperative playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 that had my group lost in confusion and uncontrollable laughter. Shortly after completing the game’s prologue, we stumbled across someone being held prisoner while exploring the overworld. After a short discussion on how to proceed, I deceived the captors and sent them on their way. We quickly realised the character in question was Lae’Zel, one of the game’s many companion characters.

After running into Lae’Zel during the aforementioned prologue, we felt some obligation to free her from her suspended cage. While I got to work on destroying the bottom of the cage, one of our party members mistakenly targeted her with an ability, instigating combat. After a chaotic back-and-forth on what to do next, Lae’Zel was dispatched just as we realised we could disengage. We cut our losses, looted the body of our accidental adversary, and checked out the rest of the camp.

After our resident dwarf went ahead and equipped her gleaming armour, it dawned on us that we could use a Revivify Scroll on Lae’Zel to bring her back from the dead. We didn’t stop to think twice, opting to raise the Githyanki as we eagerly awaited to see how she would react. Alive but stripped down to her undergarments, we instigated conversation with Lae’Zel, only to watch her exchange pleasantries with a dwarf donning her very own equipment. We’re reminded of this hilarious whirlwind of events every time we return to camp, where a half-naked Lae’Zel waits to be brought into the fray.

It’s moments like these that capture the potential absurdity that can happen with Dungeons and Dragons in a tabletop setting. A moment of sheer hilarity that would’ve been impossible to experience in a solo playthrough. Organic, player-created stories lie at the heart of Baldur’s Gate 3, and the expansive list of options available to you in any situation feels tailor made for this purpose.

Playing with friends adds a layer of consideration and delineation not found in solo play. Differing playstyles and approaches to build crafting lead to dynamic combat encounters and puzzle solving. It isn’t just combat that’s affected , as conversation choices are made by the player who initially spoke to the NPC. While other party members can vote on which response they want to be chosen, you’re ultimately victim to whoever’s representing the group.

An early game quest showcased this to us first-hand. Our search for a lost druid led us deep into goblin territory, patrolled by countless guards who report to three goblin generals. After my charismatic warlock swayed the gatekeepers to let us through, we quickly found one of the generals; Priestess Gut. After some small talk, Gut took an acute interest in the mind flayer tadpole infecting the head of our troublemaking dwarf, separating him from apart from the rest of the team.

Priestess Gut quickly offered to remove the parasitic pain from the dwarf’s head on the condition he drinks a suspicious potion. The writing was on the wall at this stage, nothing good could come from a mystery liquid concocted by a goblin priestess. Despite having every reason to turn down Priestess Gut’s offer, our dwarf opted to drink the potion in the name of comedy and morbid curiosity – reasoning that we couldn’t fault. Unsurprisingly, the dwarf fell unconscious and was briskly whisked away to the basement’s holding cells, leading to an impromptu prison break.

That isn’t to say that things can’t come together in a satisfying fashion in coop. Another early example of our collaborative escapades saw some unfortunate positioning instigating a combat encounter we were very much ill-prepared for. Loading our most recent save meant losing almost half an hour of progress, so we chose to buckle down and attempt to overcome impossible odds. Through smart use of abilities, communication, and target prioritization, we were able to survive a gauntlet we presumed would spell our doom from the start. While this is relatively standard fare for Dungeons and Dragons regulars, seeing roll after roll play out on-screen as we held our breaths in uncertainty was an experience to behold.

What’s remarkable about co-op combat in Baldur’s Gate 3 is the way it forces you to work together and find optimal strategies. As a warlock, I have to be constantly aware of my area of effect spells and how they can damage my teammates. I also have to be mindful of how one of my main Cantrips, Eldritch Blast, can knock enemies back, potentially moving them out of the melee range of my allies. This is all without considering turn orders, de-buffs, ability cooldowns, items, and so much more. The flexibility Baldur’s Gate 3 affords in so many of its systems, means you have to work together to find the synergies that your group has.

There’s also the way in which our builds and classes leave the team feeling like each member has their own skills and specialties. Where my warlock can provide a historic lens to the investigation of certain objects and conversations, our monk can lend a more level-headed and peace-minded approach. It often has us thinking about who is best for any given interaction in Baldur’s Gate 3, both in combat, and general exploration.

The differentiations in classes also leads to less conflict over who gets what gear. If you’ve got a wide selection of classes and subclasses, you’re bound to be proficient in different weapon and armour types. Similarly, you’re all going to be looking for accessories that bolster your strengths and shore up your weaknesses. Not once have we wasted time trying to decide who gets what – a far cry in comparison to some of the irreparable damage done by other co-op games with shared loot.

If you’re worried about missing out on content due to the flexibility afforded to each player, fret not. There’s plenty of systems in place to ensure everyone gets a piece of the pie no matter what’s happening in-game. From the aforementioned dialogue choice voting, to the ability to watch conversations from anywhere, a staggering amount of consideration and thought has been put into how co-op impacts every aspect of the game. These countless quality of life inclusions cement Baldur’s Gate 3 as the de-facto way to experience Dungeons and Dragons in a video game format.

One of the best inclusions is the ability to make your conversations private. This defaults to off in public settings, but automatically turns on during scenes that only involve your character. Not only does this allow romance decisions and intimate scenes to be kept close to the chest, but it also enables players to act as agents of chaos in their runs. Sowing the seeds for future conflict without other players realising until it’s far too late. This goes a long way to making your character feel like their own amongst the group, reinforcing that each of you are defined pieces of a larger puzzle.

After 15 or so hours, it feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of what Baldur’s Gate 3 has to offer. All of our solo runs on the side have sounded markedly different from our collaborative experiences, which keeps us coming back for more. It’s a more thoughtful and mature co-op offering that’s unrivalled in scale and player choice.

What makes it all the more enticing, is its tendency to descend into utter chaos, presenting situations you simply wouldn’t find in more structured and defined co-op experiences. It’s hilarious, chaotic, tactical, and rewarding all at the same time.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is out right now on PC, and aPS5 release is set to launch on September 6th, both with online co-op for up to four players along with two player local co-op.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3’s Co-op Play Is Intricately Chaotic In The Best Way appeared first on Press Start.

Despite the axing of Overwatch 2’s ambitious PvE mode earlier this year, the game has just received its most comprehensive content update yet in the form of Overwatch 2: Invasion. Invasion brings all-new PvE content, a new game mode in Flashpoint, improved player progression systems, and Overwatch’s latest support hero; Illari. There’s a breadth of stuff to sink your teeth into here, so let’s break down what to expect when you login to Invasion for the first time.

New PvE Content Marks the Beginning of Overwatch 2’s Canonical Narrative

Story missions are the hallmark inclusion of the Invasion update, marking the beginning of a narrative being told in Overwatch 2. Able to be played in coop or as a solo player, each mission takes you to the homes of different heroes as they attempt to fight against the looming threat of Null Sector. Invasion is launching with three missions out of the gate, each fitted with cinematics, new enemy types, and difficulty settings for added replay value. A unique set of heroes are available for each missions to fit within the narrative context at hand.

Each character combination brings with it unique interactions and lines of dialogue offering up even more replay value. Blizzard poised Invasion’s three missions as the start of a specific story arc, with plans to expand for many years to come. Null Sector are more dangerous and capable now than they were in Uprising. New systems have also been put in place to support these new missions and map sizes. Most impressive is a destructible limb system with the Null Sector enemies, where parts are blown off in combat, limiting their functionality.

On top of this, players can also expect Event Missions to be released seasonally, alongside the addition of Hero Mastery Missions. These replayable single-player experiences are built to hone and refine a player’s skills with specific heroes in Overwatch 2. Invasion brings the first courses for a selection of heroes, with more to follow in future seasons. Hero Mastery Missions are also scored and placed on a leaderboard against other players, incentivizing you to flex your abilities as you compete against one-another for the highest scores.

Illari is a Peruvian Support Hero Powered by the Sun

Touted as an attack-centric support, Illari is Overwatch’s second South American hero. Hailing from Peru, Illari is a young and fierce solar warrior with new healing mechanics and a focus on precision play. Her design is heavily inspired by Peruvian culture, with a strong focus on the sun motif as well as culturally significant details like her hair. She’s also Overwatch’s youngest hero thus far, but her trauma has hardened her into one of the more mature heroes to be found among the cast.

Her main source of healing comes in the form of Healing Pylon; a deployable piece of tech that attaches to any surface and single-target heals allies with low health. Her Solar Rifle allows for long-range precision shots that automatically recharge, with an alt-fire that functions as a healing beam. Outburst acts as a much needed keep-away and repositioning tool in moments of peril. Illari’s Ultimate is unique in that she’s the first support hero with an ultimate that targets enemies. Captive Sun fires off an explosive ball of solar energy that slows enemies when hit, and also triggers an explosion after they take significant damage.

Flashpoint Brings Overwatch’s Biggest PvP Maps to Date

Overwatch 2’s latest PvP mode, Flashpoint, is also launching with Invasion. Invasion is played on Overwatch 2’s biggest maps yet; Suravasa and New Junk City, where teams compete over rotating capture points. Capturing three of them before your opponents do results in victory. Available in both Open and Role queues, Flashpoint is set to become a staple game mode within Overwatch 2. New maps and a Competitive Queue for Flashpoint are also set to be implemented into the game at later dates.

Bigger maps also allow for new locations and deeper representation previously unexplored in Overwatch. Suravasa and New Junk City are massive in scope to accommodate the total of three capture points, simultaneously improving spawn locations and preventing excessive amounts of steamrolling. Much like Push, Flashpoint looks to be a game mode built around momentum swings and more fluid gameplay loops as opposed to the more static nature of modes like Escort.

New Player Progression to Flex Your Skill

The last major inclusion brought with Invasion is a new player progression system. Hero Progression tracks the way you play heroes through individual categories. As your heroes level up, so does your account, earning you emblems and name card upgrades that show-off dedication and skill in a particular character, as well as your playstyle. These bonuses can even be earned in PvE, and are exclusively unlocked through levelling heroes.

All in all, Invasion is a beefy update for Overwatch players to get into in full, while also offering a PvE component for players who don’t gel as much with the PvP side of things. Illari is also charting new ground as far as support hero design goes, offering a particularly offensive playstyle not found with other heroes of her type. Overwatch 2: Invasion is live right now on all platforms, including Steam! You can also check out our hands-on impressions of the update right here.

The post Everything You Need To Know About Overwatch 2: Invasion appeared first on Press Start.

Ahead of Overwatch 2: Invasion’s launch today, we got to go hands-on with the game’s behemoth update. From the highly anticipated story missions, to running Flashpoint matches with Illari, we got to play with everything new coming to Overwatch 2’s sixth season. While I’m unsure if Invasion offers enough to warrant a reinstall for returning players, there’s a lot of good content to get into here for Overwatch regulars.

The biggest allure of the Invasion update is undoubtedly its PvE components. Serving as the start of Overwatch 2’s canonical narrative, Invasion brings three unique story missions set in Rio, Toronto, and Gothenburg respectively. It also brings what’s to be the first of many event missions in Underworld, set on the King’s Row map.

At its core, the story being told here is about the reformation of Overwatch in the face of Null Sector. Overwatch is a shell of its former self, comprised of only a few members who were present during its glory days. The team moves through regions affected the most by Null Sector, recruiting heroes both new and old to their cause so they can take the fight to the enemy.

The writing and world building is the unquestionable highlight of these introductory missions. Members of the team banter back and forth in a fashion that establishes prior relationships as believable and storied. Private journals and communications between heroes flesh out beloved characters and add layers of humanity to their personalities.

The broader narrative is also one of intrigue and conflicting ideologies. Without spoiling too much, the conclusion of the third mission makes the direction of this narrative very clear, and it does a great job of hooking you into the premise. Furthermore, each mission is punctuated by Blizzard-quality cinematics, and previously released shorts are recontextualized within the broader narrative being told here.

Where these opening missions stumble the most is in their gameplay. One dimensional objectives and linear mission design leave these first three levels feeling a little too simplistic. There isn’t much more to do than dispatch Null Sector baddies, push payloads, and defend points. Playing with friends can ease some of the mundanity, but I doubt many players will come back for seconds after a first run through.

Null Sector as an enemy force do manage to keep things feeling mostly fresh. Each mission introduces at least one new enemy type with unique mechanics and roles that require some prioritization. Fighting these adversaries is made even better by a dynamic dismemberment system that sees robotic limbs being torn from chassis, limiting their capacities for combat.

Out of everything offered in this update, the content I had the most fun with is undoubtedly Flashpoint. Overwatch 2’s new game mode stands alongside Push as one of the best the game has to offer, focusing more on dynamic team play and adaptation as opposed to turtling up on a point or payload.

The gargantuan size of the maps Flashpoint is set on goes a long way to help with this. They feel colossal in size, but never maze-like or overbearing in navigation. The way momentum can swing between teams at a moments notice makes for an unpredictable and fluid gameplay loop is consistently exciting and engaging. It’s at its best when teams are at two points each, contesting each other in a final scramble for victory where ultimate abilities are going off left, right, and center in a bid to keep control of the point.

As a damage player, it isn’t often that supports do much for me outside of a few exceptions. I’m pleased to say that Illari was promptly added to that short and sweet list. Healing Pylon allows for passive healing that lets Illari focus on putting out damage and keeping enemies away. The healing beam in her alt fire means you can always go hard on healing when the time is right, and her ultimate ability has the potential to put an explosive end to team fights.

Her design is also excellent. Blizzard continues the trend of bringing diverse and unique characters to its roster with each new addition. Her mannerisms and dialogue also feel distinct for her age, cluing you in to her scarred and traumatic past.

Hero Mastery missions add a bit of replayable fun to Overwatch 2’s suite of content, especially given the inclusion of leaderboards. It’s unfortunate then, that Hero Mastery is only available for a handful of heroes at launch. While there are more to come, it can be hard to care much about them if they don’t encompass any of your mains.

While I don’t think Invasion will do enough for many lapsed players, there’s loads of great stuff on offer here for players who frequent Overwatch. The story missions do a great job of expanding the lore, characters, and world of Overwatch. Flashpoint and Illari are excellent additions that shake-up the game, and Hero Mastery is a good time despite its limited offerings.

For a seasonal update, Invasion is jam-packed with content, hopefully marking the start of continued support for evergreen PvE modes, increasingly creative hero designs, and more expansive maps in Overwatch 2. Invasion is live right now on all platforms. We have more details on what’s coming in Overwatch’s largest content update yet right here.

The post We Went Hands-On With Overwatch 2’s Invasion Update appeared first on Press Start.

Today’s Pokémon Presents provided a load of new details regarding The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero expansion pack for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet set to launch later this year. Split into two parts, each one explores a new region beyond Paldea, offering up new Pokémon, regional variants, and returning Pokémon not found in the base games.

Taking part in a joint school trip, you’ll journey to the land of Kitakami in Part 1 – The Teal Mask. With a huge mountain landmarking the center of the region, Kitakami is surrounded by an abundance of nature inspired by rural Japan. Each year, The Festival of Masks is held in Kitakami, inspired by an old folktale, which you’ll seek to uncover and understand as you explore Kitakami. The folktale revolves around three new Pokémon; Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti, who are said to have saved Kitakami from an ogre in ancient times.

Some other neat new features include a side adventure that sees you taking photos of Pokémon, Ogre Oustin’ which is a minigame based around popping balloons while riding Koraidon/Miraidon, and Mochi, which can improve the stats of Pokémon. There’s even a Mochi that resets base stats, giving you more control over your team. There’s also the Roto-Stick, which allows for wider angled photos, new poses, and added variety in your shots.

Part 2 – The Indigo Disc is set on the mostly underwater Blueberry Academy, housing a terrarium filled with 4 biomes filled with Pokémon and new trainers as you get to grips with life as a student at Blueberry Academy. The BB League looks to be the biggest draw of The Indigo Disc, offering up a new gym-like challenge with its very own Elite Four. Each one has their own Elite Challenge that has to be undertaken before battle, one of which lets you fly around on Miraidon and Koraidon temporarily, which is a cool addition to the mountable legendaries.

The League Club is a new extra-curricular activity with a club room you can redecorate as you see fit. You can change up the way you throw Pokéballs, and you can even invite trainers from Paldea to train and battle with. Everything comes full circle as you journey back to Paldea to discover the hidden treasure of the mysterious Area Zero.

Mew and Mewtwo are also coming to the games as an event, where you can add Mew into your team and challenge Mewtwo in a Tera Raid Battle. You can get your own Mew right now, with Mewtwo following shortly after with Tera Raid Battle events arriving over the course of August and September.

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero is set to kick off on September 13th with the release of Part 1 – The Teal Mask, with Part 2 – The Indigo Disc to follow in the tail-end of this year. If you’ve got a hankering for Pokémon right now, new titles are available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.

The post Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s First Expansion is Launching Next Month appeared first on Press Start.

Despite the middling reception to Destiny 2’s fifth major expansion in Lightfall, the live service train has kept chugging along. Season of the Deep launched in late May, kicking things into gear as we creep towards the conclusion of this decade-long saga. From new details on the Veil to the attempted resurrection of the Taken King, much has been happening in the now partly undersea world of Destiny.

Perhaps most interesting of all, is the reveal of the origins of the Witness, as well as the need to bring the dreaded Witch Queen back from the dead to prevent catastrophe. It’s the answers we’ve been waiting for since Lightfall dropped earlier this year, and we got to sit down with Bungie to discuss the narrative escapades of the season thus far, alongside what we can expect in the coming months.

Season of the Deep’s Unique Nautical Setting and the Return of Titan

Regardless of their overall quality, Destiny 2’s seasons have always succeeded in delivering unique player fantasies through settings and seasonal activities. When asked about how the team landed on the nautical concept of season 21, senior design lead Tom Farnsworth discussed the process; “We knew we wanted to go back to Titan and tell a story with Ahsa. We’d planted some seeds there years ago that we wanted to revisit. When talking about those aspects with our narrative lead, he asked about the idea of going underwater. It was a provocative question, you know? We don’t really usually do that, water in Destiny is often just a hazard off to the side. That’s a challenging space to go into, it’s almost like building another game.”.

“We’re trying to find a unique narrative direction to take the overall story that’s surprising and lined up with a compelling aesthetic. The visuals for going underwater is a huge opportunity to create new spaces in the game. Bioluminescent coral and sunken Hive ships – there’s a lot of rich gameplay and visual space for us to lean into”.

Design lead on raids and dungeons, Brian Frank, also chimed in on why the team leant into the Arcology as the setting for the Ghosts of the Deep dungeon; “The setting was immediately identified as an opportunity to create a link to the past and a nostalgic premise for returning players. Our lead for the raids and dungeons team actually worked on the original palette and environment for the Arcology. We had some expertise and familiarity with the environment going into it. The first area of the dungeon gave us an opportunity to create something more open-ended. You’re left to explore and wander, and it lets us include Sparrows in the activity.”.

Dropping Curtains and Parting Veils

The one thing the community wants more than anything else in regards to narrative at the moment, is answers. Who or what is the Witness? What’s the Veil? And what does the Final Shape look like? We’ve been getting a lot of answers over the course of this season, with it all coming to a head during week 5’s cutscene, revealing the origins of the Witness.

Senior narrative designer, Robert Brookes, spoke to these big reveals; “There’s so many curtains to drop, or should I say veils to part. It feels great to explore and reveal some of the story people have been champing at the bit for. We’d always planned that Lightfall would lead into a period of answers, but not necessarily answering them as it happened. The Veil Containment quest that’s available now has content that runs for the entirety of Season of the Deep’s calendar. There’ll also be entries at the start of the next two seasons. I think those are going to be revelatory – not just for the Witness, the Traveler, and the Black Fleet, but also some of the stories that will be coming up after The Final Shape. It’s awesome to be able to get that out there and see how the players react. It’s really rewarding.”

Robert was asked to expand on the idea of the seasons being a bridge between Lightfall and The Final Shape. “In a lot of our previous releases, the seasons ramp up to a major expansion which is kind of like the end of that story. The next set of seasons starts a new one. We saw this with Beyond Light and The Witch Queen. Lightfall is a bit of a different experience in that it isn’t just another ramp-up, it’s a bridge. There’s the fallout, the deconstruction of events that happened and the way characters react to it. Each season will hand-off to the next more immediately than before. We want it to be the same when we hand-off The Final Shape into what comes next.”.

The War God Takes Centre Stage

While the Witness is putting its final plan into motion, the last of the three big Hive Gods has emerged to keep us at bay. Xivu Arath made her voiced debut in Season of the Deep, with Kimberly Brooks taking up the mantle of the anguished Hive God of War. Xivu has made herself known to be a ruthless tactician over the years, but Season of the Deep looks to add more depth to her character. The Ghosts of the Deep dungeon has positioned Xivu in a way that has her questioning her faith in the Darkness and the Witness. The previously infallible Sword Logic is crumbling before her at its very foundations.

When asked about the angle the team took with Xivu’s characterisation, Robert got excited to share his insights. “These were some of the first things I wrote for this season, actually. We were still trying to figure out what Xivu Arath’s voice would sound like, it’s different than just writing her in all caps and making her angry like she is in the lore. I wanted to show depth to her because she’s not only a brilliant tactician and invulnerable war god, she’s also a person deep down inside. There’s emotional conflict there – I thought it would be compelling to reflect on her loss. Her brother is dead, her sister turned on her and is dead. You feel the raw emotion she doesn’t show anyone other than her siblings and herself.”.

Robert talks about how they wanted to reinforce this through her vocal performance; “We wanted her to speak with the cadence of something akin to a Southern Baptist pastor or a megachurch pastor. Having that rising cadence like she’s preaching to her Hive sycophants. Then you get these vulnerable moments where her voice is small in comparison. She doesn’t sound like a war god, she sounds like a person who’s scared and vulnerable. While the Hive Gods are genocidal, evil monsters, they still were and are people who’ve made terrible choices. I wanted to humanise them while still showing they’re beyond redemption.”.

Nikko also chimed in to touch on her relationship with the Witness and the way she’s perceived as a God of War. “That’s why we were excited to bring a voice to her – she’s no dummy. Xivu isn’t some crazed berserker running into battle, she’s very smart. She’s been around for a while, enacting the plans of the Witness but she’s in an awkward position. She’s been told answers are coming in regards to The Final Shape and her place in it but she’s not getting them. Anyone would start having doubts in that position.”.

The Return of the Witch Queen

Season of the Deep delivered what might be its biggest surprise at the conclusion of its story. The discovery that our only hope of following the Witness lies with Savathûn. While many players expected the return of the Witch Queen, it remains to be seen how much of an impact she’ll have on the ongoing narrative. When asked about her role in coming events, senior narrative designer Nikko Stevens explained her place in the greater story; “She will be a part of the story moving forward, but Savathûn’s role won’t be as prevalent as it was in The Witch Queen. That expansion and the seasonal events leading up to it were her story, whereas here, she’s a piece of the larger narrative – it doesn’t revolve around her.”

Robert doubled down on this, expressing that seasonal narratives have characters that fit better into their themes and settings than others. “We’re an ensemble story now with quite a large cast. When we craft narratives, we look for the best fit for that beat – what characters do we want to have involved in this, and does it make sense? That’s what we’re going to do with Savathûn going forward, it’s what stories make the most sense for her to be in. It’ll fluctuate depending on what we’re doing, but there’s definitely more to tell with Savathûn.”.

If you need to catch up on recent events, Lightfall and Season of the Deep are available right now, with the promise of two more full seasons before The Final Shape launches early next year. If you’re keen for more information on the future of Destiny, be sure to tune into the Destiny Showcase on August 22nd as we move into the conclusion of this epic saga.

The post We Spoke To Bungie About Narrative In Destiny 2: Season Of The Deep And Beyond appeared first on Press Start.

There aren’t many game franchises out there that specifically seek to emulate the “cops and robbers” fantasy like PAYDAY does. There are countless games-within-games by way of user-generated content and custom modes out there, but nothing quite like the heisting experience that Overkill Software has delivered over the last decade.

PAYDAY 2 has grown exponentially in the years since launch, expanded with new content, quality-of-life updates, and even guest characters. Where PAYDAY 2 came to us a brief two years after the launch of PAYDAY: The Heist, PAYDAY 3 is coming after a comparatively staggering ten years. After some hands-on time with a couple of PAYDAY 3’s heists, it’s clear that this is a modernised take on the formula that also brings quite the technical leap, making for an experience that’s more iterative than innovative.

While narrative details were sparse across my short play session, it’s the setup for PAYDAY 3 that seems most intriguing. Following the ending of PAYDAY 2, the gang has an attempt made on their lives. With most members unaccounted for and offshore accounts emptied, Dallas, Chains, Hoxton, and Wolf seek to uncover the forces that conspire against them. Begrudgingly forced out of retirement, the team takes to New York for new heisting opportunities. It’s a novel setup, especially for players who’ve been with the core four since the beginning and have become swept up in their escapades.

Unsurprisingly, PAYDAY 3 can be played solo but is best experienced in cooperative play with three other heist-ers. It largely follows the same structure as the first two games, but greatly expands on the mask-off phase of heists and NPC interactions. While both of my heists went loud, each is doable in full stealth and offered unique heisting experiences.

The first was a fairly typical PAYDAY-style heist in a branch of the Secure Capital Bank. An unusually large amount of cash housed in its vault means buffed up security presence on-site. This was where we saw most of the expanded mask-off options in play. For starters, the introduction of private areas allows players to more freely explore without going loud. These zones are off-limits to the public with the silver lining that authority will escort you out if caught. It seems like an insignificant change, but lets players gather more intel before putting together a plan.

The Cheapest Pre-Order: $54 At Amazon

Once we inevitably went loud, it was time to engage in combat proper. Conserving ammunition is the name of the game here, incentivising pinpoint accuracy and effective use of grenades. One thing I noticed about PAYDAY 3’s gunplay, was how much better it felt in comparison to its predecessors. Pulling the trigger immediately feels more tactile than before, and I quickly found myself snapping to targets when the action got heavy. It was also during this phase of the heist that we got to see negotiation, a new mechanic where you can trade hostages for extra time and resources, a cool addition that expands player choice and adds another dynamic to think about.

As the heist progressed, explosive ordnance also showcased the environmental destruction afforded by better technology, culminating in a bombastic entry into the bank’s vault. After relieving the branch of its riches, we quickly fled the site, cops giving chase in a rampant rush to the finish line. The gradual ramp in chaos is well and truly present within PAYDAY 3, with its most exhilarating moments coming at the tail-end of a heist.

The second heist we undertook was drastically different in setting and objective. Set in the modern SURPHAZE Art Gallery against the backdrop of night, this heist feels truly unique in the broader scope of the franchise. You’ll tip-toe through halls decorated with abstract art as you seek to plunder expensive paintings, moving from gallery to gallery as you attempt to locate specific pieces.

Much like the Secure Capital Bank branch, this heist can also be completed in full stealth. It also presents plenty of options, from sneaking into the manager’s office to find out where specific art is being displayed, to using high-tech devices make sure you’re taking the authentic article. It’s the kind of heist that you want to run again to get better at, whether that be through maintaining stealth or bringing home bigger winnings.

Of course, all of these heists feed into PAYDAY 3’s core progression systems of cosmetic customisation and player loadouts.  While I didn’t get time to properly dive into this aspect of PAYDAY 3, there were a lot of options present in the build for player expression both through playstyle and the appearance of their heist-er. This is all before the promise of post-launch content with new playable characters, weapons, and heists.

The other thing we didn’t get to play around with which seems to add a lot to PAYDAY 3’s replay value is through its difficulty system. Each one adds new private security firms to heists that has an effect on the map. Things like indestructible security cameras, hack resets, and more will shake up and add difficulty to already tense heists.

My one major concern with PAYDAY 3 from a gameplay perspective comes from how it’s going to handle new players. While it’s undeniably made for long-time fans, there’s a lot going on with the PAYDAY formula here that might seem opaque without external help. There are a lot of moving parts to executing a successful heist in PAYDAY 3, which can be overwhelming for a new player.

The game looked and ran great in action, but did present some technical issues not uncommon in early builds. Between a few crashes, UI issues, and inconsistent matchmaking, there were a few unfinished elements that hampered my experience with this build of the game. Hopefully the team at Overkill is able to iron these issues out by the time PAYDAY 3 launches.

Despite some technical concerns, I’ve come away from my time with PAYDAY 3 sure of the fact that it will please series veterans. While it plays it relatively safe in terms of improving on a tried formula, it adds some new wrinkles that further flesh out options within heists and their numerous phases. The SURPHAZE Art Gallery is also a promising look into the types of locations we can expect in PAYDAY 3’s heists, and I have no doubt that challenging difficulty modifiers will bring a lot of replay value to the table when the game launches.

PAYDAY 3 releases on September 21st for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Amazon has the cheapest shipped pre-order at $54 including delivery.

The post PAYDAY 3 Hands-On Preview – Looking For A Big Score appeared first on Press Start.

Nintendo have another massive 40 minute Direct as they look forward to the second half of 2023. Aside from new detail on Pikmin 4, there was a whole bunch of stuff to look forward to in the coming six months, as well as some surprises for stuff coming later down the track.

Here’s everything we saw today:

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the Next 2D Mario

A brand new 2D Mario has been revealed! Taking a page out of Sonic’s book, we see the Italian plumber grinding on rails and even hanging off them.

Wonder Flowers are brand new pickups dramatically change the landscape, allowing Mario to reach previously inaccessible collectibles.

Of course, there’s four player coop with Daisy and Peach  returning, and Mario can even turn into an elephant. It looks super imaginative and much different from the  tiredNew Super Mario Bros. series. It’s launching on October 20th.

Super Mario RPG is getting a gorgeous Remake

The rumored Mario RPG remake has been revealed! A ground-up rebuilding of the original game with new assets that seems to retain its original visual style.

It has a Link’s Awakening vibe in terms of its art style and seems to be quite the loving recreation. Even better, it’s launching on November 17th!

An all new Princess Peach Game is Coming

Hot off the heels of the Mario RPG reveal, a brand-new Princess Peach game was revealed. Not much was shown off in regards to this one, but it’s launching sometime next year.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is getting a Remaster

Luigi hasn’t been left behind, with the criminally underrated Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon announced to be coming to the Nintendo Switch. Pretty short on details for this one also, but I think it’s safe to expect the typical deluxe treatment for this one. It’s launching sometime next year.

Detective Pikachu Is Getting A Sequel

The stoic Detective Pikachu makes his return in Detective Pikachu Returns. A sequel to the first game, Detective Pikachu Returns is set in Prime City and promises new mysteries to solve alongside a decidedly grizzled Pikachu.

The first game was a bit of fun, I suspect this one will be too. It’s launching on October 6th.

New Pikmin 4 Details Were Revealed alongside HD Remasters of Pikmin 1 and 2

Some fresh new details on Pikmin 4, with gameplay details on Oatchi. Oatchi has plenty of applications that’ll no doubt shake up the formula and offer new ways to manage tasks.

We also got a look at Dandori Battles where you have to collect more objects than your opponent so you can rescue a castaway. Rescuing castaways allows you to expand your base, teach Oatchi new skills, and eventually set out for night expeditions, which sends creatures into a frenzy. There’s also adorable glow Pikmin, which are only available at night.

This game keeps looking better and better. It’s launching next month on July 21st, and a demo is available to download on the eShop next week on June 28th.

Bolted onto the Pikmin 4 details was the announcement of HD remasters of Pikmin 1 and 2 for the Switch. These are available right now for digital purchase so go check them out before 4 drops next month!

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero is Coming Soon

We got a fresh look at the expansion pack for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet in The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. As announced previously, it’s split into two parts; The Teal Mask and the Indigo Disc.

While both bring new Pokémon, characters, and settings, they look quite distinct in tone. The Teal Mask seems to have a Japanese countryside setting while The Indigo Disc is much more rooted in sci-fi, set in a futuristic academy in the middle of the sea. The Teal Mask is due out in Spring while The Indigo Disc is due out towards the end of the year.

New Tears of the Kingdom amiibo are Coming

If you haven’t already spent enough money on The Legend of Zelda amiibo, Nintendo has you covered. New Tears of the Kingdom amiibo for Zelda and Ganondorf are coming later this year. These are some fantastic designs, hopefully the Sages are to follow shortly after.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Fifth Wave of DLC Courses is Launching Soon

Petey Pirhana, Wiggler, and Kamek are all coming to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe when wave 5 of the booster course pack launches this year. While new tracks are coming, we only got a look at the new track called Squeaky Clean Sprint. Expect it to drop sometime this winter.

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1 is full of MGS Goodness

The previously announced Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1 is also coming to the Nintendo Switch. It includes the original 3 MGS games, extra content, as well as the original Metal Gear games. The Metal Gear Solid games will also be purchasable individually. It’s launching on October 24th.

WarioWare Move It is the Next WarioWare game

Sporting over 200 microgames, WarioWare Move It makes use of your entire body to strike poses and complete microgames. Everyone loves a good WarioWare. It’s launching on November 3rd.

Vampire Survivors Makes its Switch Debut

The fantastic Vampire Survivors is coming to Switch! If you haven’t sunk enough hours into this game already, now you can do it on the go! Check it out if you haven’t already lost too much time to this incredible game. It’s launching relatively soon on August 17th!

We got Another Look at Sonic Superstars

We got a deeper look at Sonic Superstars, which was announced at Summer Games Fest. 12 new stages and multiple playable characters, as well as local co-op for up to four players, which is a series first. Expect to see it launching sometime during Spring.

Star Ocean The Second Story is getting the remake treatment

Continuing the tradition of modern JRPGs, Star Ocean R is being remade with the inclusion of a break mechanic. This remake looks excellent, though, with a 2D-HD art style similar to what Team Asano have been doing. It launches on November 2nd.

Palia is a free to play Adventure Sim

Palia is an adventure sim set in a village with other players that can be played online. It’s completely free to play and launches at the end of this year. Riveting.

We got some gameplay details for Persona 5 Tactica

The tactics based Persona 5 spin-off announced last week has been shown in more detail. It seems like a typical SRPG with some Persona flare in fusion mechanics and slick presentation. It’s launching on November 17th.

Mythforce is coming to the Switch this Year

While it originally launched in April of last year, Mythforce is coming to the Nintendo Switch this year. The roguelike inspired by Saturday morning cartoons looks like a bit of fun with friends, and is a great fit for the Switch. It’s going to be available sometime this year.

Splatoon 3 next Splatfest is based on Ice Cream Flavors

Another Splatfest is inbound. This time you can choose between vanilla, strawberry, and mint chip. Make the right choice. There’s also other events coming to Splatoon 3 soon. No details on expansion stuff unfortunately.

The Excellent Arkham Trilogy is coming to Switch

The Batman Arkham Trilogy is coming to the Switch! These games are timeless and deserve all the praise they get and more. Don’t pass up on this collection if you haven’t played them before. It’s launching in Spring.

The Digital Adaptation of Gloomhaven is coming to Switch

The tactical RPG Gloomhaven which is a digital adaptation of a board game with the same name is coming to Switch. It’s available on September 18th.

We got some Just Dance 2024 Details

Another year, another Just Dance. 40 new tracks, new types of music. Cool. It’s launching on October 24th.

Silent Hope is a brand new Action RPG

Silent Hope is an action RPG  where you explore ever-changing dungeons as you attempt to conquer the abyss. Materials earned in the abyss can be used to upgrade your base above, allowing you to go deeper. It seems like a bit of fun and echoes Moonlighter a bit in its structure. It’s launching on October 3rd.

Fae Farm is another farm game

Fae Farm is a Switch console exclusive and another farm game. At least you can play this one in coop with friends. It’s launching on September 8th.

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 is Looking Great

This sequel to the hit Hotwheels Unleashed is sporting split-screen races and breakneck speeds. This arcade racer is launching on October 19th.

Manic Mechanics will fulfill all your mechanic dreams

Manic Mechanic is getting a Switch release ahead of all other consoles.  You can work with friends or by yourself to fix up cars and such. Seems like a bit of party fun, like Overcooked but with cars. It’s launching on July 16th.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope’s Second DLC Drops Today

The Last Spark Hunter brings a new area to explore, new enemies to battle, and robot king Bob-omb! A demo of the main game is also available now on the eShop. The DLC launches later today.

Dragon Quest Monsters Is Back

A new Dragon Quest Monsters has been annoounced! This long dormant spin-off series gives big Pokemon vibes with Dragon Quest flare, with titular monsters lying at the core of the experience. It’s launching on December 1st.

Headbangers Rhythm Royale, the Pigeon Battle Royale is coming to Switch

Described as a musical pigeon battle royale, Headbangers Rhythm Royale is coming to the Nintendo Switch on October 31st. It seems like Wario Ware, just with pigeons instead of Wario.

Penny’s Big Breakaway is the next game from the Sonic Mania developers

A surprise announcement from the developers of Sonic Mania, this 3D platformer looks like a bit of high-speed fun. With a time attack mode, yo-yo based attacks, and penguins – it’s bound to be a good time. It’s releasing early 2024.

The post Everything Announced At The June 2023 Nintendo Direct appeared first on Press Start.

Final Fantasy has been in something of a renaissance as of late. Between the near universal appraise of the Final Fantasy VII Remake project, and Final Fantasy XIV delivering smash hits with every expansion release, FF fans have been eating good recently.

Despite this, the lack of a truly excellent mainline title has been sorely felt for some time. The once-ambitious Fabula Nova Crystallis that had shaped much of Final Fantasy for many years is now a distant memory, and Square Enix is looking to break free of its chains with Final Fantasy XVI. A grittier tone and the commitment to a real-time action combat framework are just a few of the ways that Creative Business Unit III is swinging big with the 16th mainline entry into this legendary franchise.

While Final Fantasy can vary wildly in gameplay and narrative settings, summons have been a constant all the way back through to Final Fantasy III. These incredible entities inspired by countless mythologies and religions take centre stage in Final Fantasy XVI’s story. Referred to as Eikons in FFXVI’s setting of Valisthea, these organic machines of destruction are locked in struggle against one another as warring kingdoms fight over dwindling resources. What’s more harrowing is that each Eikon is harboured by a Dominant – regular people that can tap into and unleash the powers of these epic beings.

The Mothercrystals sit at the core of this conflict; monolithic crystalline structures that function as hotspots for Aether and Magick as a result. All while this is going on, a destructive Blight inches its way towards capital cities, leaving desolate deadlands in its wake. It’s among the midst of this conflict and turmoil that Clive Rosfield seeks revenge for a tragic incident from his younger years that changed his life forever.

Final Fantasy XVI’s narrative takes place across three periods of Clive’s life, each one integral to his journey and offering something different in terms of overall tone and feel. Where the beginning of the game serves up a fitting introduction to Clive’s loved ones and kingdom in his early teens, the latter portions of his life explore a man broken by loss, fueled only by a need for revenge. It’s Clive’s cold determination that causes him to push others away, often shouldering his lofty burden alone despite the fact he has people to lean on.

Final Fantasy XVI goes far deeper than revenge, but it would be a shame to spoil it here. The overall story shifts dramatically after the first act for the better, moving to more fertile ground that allows for a deeper and more poignant exploration of its themes and ideas. In totality, FFXVI’s narrative is an all-timer of a JRPG tale about breaking free from the shackles of fate – no matter how impossible it seems. There’s also an excellent element of meta-narrative to it that longtime fans will no doubt recognize and get a kick out of as the story rolls on.

While it doesn’t break much new ground, the story is remarkably well told across a briskly-paced 35-hour (by JRPG standards) runtime for the core path, with endearingly complex characters and narrative beats that feel akin to Final Fantasy XIV’s lofty achievements. Clive is an immensely compelling protagonist that you can’t help but root for, and Ben Starr does a brilliant job of portraying a wide range of emotions for all manner of situations. The same can’t be said for all characters across this vast story, though, as one character in particular falls to the wayside towards the end of the game to prop Clive up further, which felt off in comparison to how they’re handled up to that point.

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A large reason the story succeeds in the way it does is thanks to how well-realised Valisthea is. The worldbuilding is deliciously palpable everywhere you go. Refugees flock to the Mothercrystals for shelter, corruption is rife among all kingdoms, and the discriminatory treatment of Magick-wielding Bearers is explored in confronting detail. It paves the way to a rich, dark fantasy world that feels oppressive and bleak, further punctuating fleeting flashes of hope and optimism found in Final Fantasy XVI’s most resonant moments. If you ever get lost in the grandeur, the inclusion of a Lorekeeper and the Active Time Lore feature means you can always freshen up on the happenings of the world and the connections between the people that inhabit it.

Instead of opting for a true open world ala Final Fantasy XV’s Eos, Valisthea is comprised of combat stages and open zones. Combat stages are narrative-focused levels made up of enemy encounters and boss fights, often popping up at key junctions in the narrative. The four open zones are more non-linear affairs, with hunts, side quests and collectibles to find off the beaten path. Each zone is big enough to incentivise exploration and curiosity, but small enough to not inundate or overwhelm.

The simple structure of moving through open zones as you progress towards combat stages keeps Final Fantasy XVI feeling fresh and varied throughout its relatively lengthy campaign. It’s easy to see why Final Fantasy XVI’s narrative has been referred to as a rollercoaster ride, with peaks and troughs to allow for set pieces of spectacle that contrast deeply with its more introspective moments. Combat stages never overstay their welcome, bowing out before their linearity can wear thin, and while the open zone portions can be shot through quite quickly, you’d be missing out by passing up on the available side content.

This is because the excellent writing found in the main story is present in a vast majority of the side quests. They often explore themes and ideas prominent throughout Valisthea in greater detail, and through numerous lenses. They also expand on characters key to Clive’s journey, and can lend a lot of emotional weight to some of the main narrative beats as a result. The tail end of the game has some particularly poignant side stories, as they payoff narrative threads and character arcs in satisfying fashion before the credits roll.

When you aren’t in the field, you’ll spend most of your time in the Hideaway, which serves as a base of operations for Clive and company. You can craft new weapons, purchase goods at the shop, listen to unlocked music tracks, replay combat stages and much more. The Hideaway doubles as a home away from home for Clive, and it becomes a community you’ll retreat to between exploration and big narrative beats. It’s always a joy to explore this space and talk with its denizens to see how they react to happenings in the world and Clive’s adventures.

Ever since Final Fantasy XIII, it’s felt like Final Fantasy’s combat systems have tried to emulate the cinematic spectacle of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children to varying degrees of success. Final Fantasy XVI feels like the first in the series to fully embrace an action framework for its combat system, completely abandoning anything that’s come before. Combat director Ryota Suzuki’s experience on Devil May Cry 5 and Dragon’s Dogma is infused into the DNA of FFXVI’s kinetic clashes.

At a base level, Clive has access to a quick four-hit combo, magic projectiles, and a dodge. You can mix and match slashes with magic attacks for Magic Burst combos, and last minute dodges lead into deft counterattacks. You also have Torgal; the best boy, and Clive’s pet wolf. Using the d-pad allows you to sic Torgal on enemies for quick damage and launchers, or even aid Clive with a regenerative heal to get you out of a pinch. It doesn’t have the depth and complexity akin to Devil May Cry, but there’s enough options here to afford a healthy amount of player expression and intricacies to learn.

Where things start to open up, is with the Eikons. As the dominant of Ifrit, Clive has access to Eikonic Feats and Abilities that drastically shake up combat. While you start with the blessing of the Phoenix, you’ll quickly unlock other Eikons to attune with, three being the max you can have equipped at any given time. Each Eikon has their own unique Eikonic Feat and slew of Eikonic Abilities to employ in combat, each with different strengths and weaknesses.

Where Phoenix is an all-rounder with an aggressive teleport in the form of Phoenix Shift, decent area of effect coverage with Scarlet Cyclone, and high single target damage in Rising Flames, Titan focuses on using well-timed blocks to launch your own all-out offensive. Each Eikon is remarkably unique in what they can do, becoming more and more intricate with each unlock.

Most enemies will fall victim to your attacks and Eikonic Abilities relatively quickly, but it’s the mini-bosses and boss fights where you really need to put in the work. These enemies also have Will gauges, which deplete as they take damage. Upon hitting 50% Will, an enemy will stagger briefly, and emptying it out in full will lead to a lengthy knockdown, boosting your own damage and making way for an opportunity to go all out. This is all without getting into Clive’s ability to Limit Break as a pseudo-Awakening mode, boosting damage and priming into an infernal state.

If it sounds similar to Final Fantasy VII Remake’s combat flow, that’s because it is, only much faster. Combat really starts to shine when you get a feel for the rhythm of these fights, pulling off precision dodge after precision dodge, unleashing Eikonic Abilities at just the right moments, only to unload even more carnage just as your enemies go down. It’s exhilarating stuff, especially in the late game against some of the tougher side hunts and boss battles which employ raid-like area of effect attacks and damage checks to get your blood pumping.

All of these elements build up to what are undoubtedly Final Fantasy XVI’s biggest moments – the Eikon battles. These are unbelievably huge confrontations between Eikons in all of their glory and power, offering a few distinct gameplay formats from the regular hacking and slashing. From an on-rails shoot em’ up to a wrestling match of titanic proportions, these fights are raw spectacle in every sense of the word. Limbs are torn off and holes are blasted through bodies, only for these wounds to heal as Eikons keep trading blows. Each one has you questioning how the next could possibly top it in scale, but FFXVI somehow rises to the occasion every single time.

These clashes also do a bit to help pacing as they act as a pseudo narrative reset, almost as if each one is the climactic conclusion to an arc in a much grander story. They’re few and far between but that makes them all the more special. My only gripe with the Eikon fights is that it feels like there’s one missing in the last third of the game, leaving a long-awaited confrontation feeling somewhat anticlimactic in comparison to other boss fights.

If you just can’t get enough of the combat after credits have rolled, Final Fantasy XVI has you covered. Aside from the aforementioned ability to replay combat stages, you can also tackle them in a scored Arcade Mode. In addition, the Chronolith trials are another worthwhile combat activity that tests your skills with a particular Eikon, locking your loadout in a 3-round gauntlet as you race against the timer to the finish line. There’s also a robust New Game Plus offering with an added difficulty that raises the level cap, remixes enemy placements, and adds new gear, allowing you to flex your Eikonic prowess while still being challenged.

The commitment to action combat also means that progression has shifted from traditional stat chasing and min-maxing to obtaining new combat techniques and upgrading your Eikon Abilities. Completing enemy encounters and quests nets you ability points, which can be spent to upgrade and master Eikonic Feats and Abilities at your leisure. Mastering an Eikon Ability allows it to be slotted onto any Eikon, meaning you can combine Eikonic Feats with abilities you usually wouldn’t be able to. Experimenting with this is good fun, as it can lead to combinations that allow for ludicrous amounts of damage that feel incredibly satisfying to pull off.

While Clive can be equipped with new armour and weapons as you craft and purchase them, they don’t do much other than increase stats. The biggest form of gear customization comes in the form of Accessories. You can have three equipped at any time, each one granting different effects, from reduced cooldowns, to increased ability damage, and even accessibility options like automatic dodging, healing, and Torgal commands for those who’re overwhelmed by FFXVI’s faster pace.

If you’ve laid eyes on Final Fantasy XVI in motion, you’ll know that it’s a visual marvel . Regardless of the mode you play on, FFXVI is chock-full of gorgeous environments that drip with attention to detail, bringing the dark fantasy setting of Valisthea to life. The Mothercrystals tower over their respective kingdoms, standing as beacons of hope for the masses, while remnants of a more advanced race known as the Fallen pepper landscapes surrounding them.  A special shoutout should go to the combat stages, where the more linear progression allows for tailored cinematic shots and eye-popping spectacle that never fails to disappoint.

Final Fantasy XVI has two main graphics options; Quality and Performance. They do what’s written on the box, but there’s a few caveats with each that are worth mentioning. Quality is putting out a native 1440p upscaled to 4K and targets 30 frames-per-second. Performance, which is where I spent a bulk of my time, runs at a native 1080p upscaled to 1440p and targeting 60 frames-per-second.

While performance mode manages to maintain a steady 60 across a vast majority of combat encounters, exploration drops down to an abrupt 30-40 frames-per-second for a temporary visual trade-off. While it’s nice to have improved quality when the game isn’t firing on all cylinders, it’s jarring to constantly move between two extremes when you’re frequently dipping in and out of combat. The ability to turn off motion-blur is also sorely lacking at launch, but is promised to be coming at a later date. Load times are lightning quick across the board, with instantaneous fast-travel alleviating any tedium associated with quests that have you darting around the map.

If there’s one thing you can always count on with Final Fantasy, it’s that you’re going to get an incredible soundtrack to elevate the experience. Final Fantasy XVI is no outlier in this regard. Masayoshi Soken’s work on Final Fantasy XIV is tangible in XVI’s more subdued tracks, particularly when exploring the overworld or hanging out in the Hideaway. The combat themes pick up in pace dramatically, and the orchestral grandeur of the Eikon battle themes are some of the best work Soken has ever done. Liberal use of vocals play a massive part in these tracks, affording a sense of gravity and weight to these fights that bolster key character moments and the clashing of wills.

It almost feels poetic that mainline Final Fantasy is back on-track amidst the myriad successes of other FF projects in recent years. There’s an undeniable confidence in the story told here, the world it’s built within, and in the dramatic shift to action-focused combat. A game this big can never be without issues, but Final Fantasy XVI delivers exactly what long time fans have been wanting from this legendary franchise for the last few years.

The post Final Fantasy XVI Review – An Eikonic Achievement appeared first on Press Start.

Final Fantasy is back with an immersive, dark fantasy world and the series’ most action-packed combat yet. Pre-order Final Fantasy XVI now, coming exclusively to PlayStation 5 on the 22^nd June. Start your adventure with the demo today and carry over your progress! Learn more here.

Final Fantasy has a knack for reinventing itself with each mainline entry into one of gaming’s most well-known franchises. Alongside pivoting to an action framework, Final Fantasy XVI has a strong focus on building a dark fantasy world, drawing from contemporary epics like Game of Thrones and The Witcher. It’s not the first time Final Fantasy has ventured into a medieval setting, but new ground is being broken in the way it explores themes and characters.

It’s a markedly different approach from what we’ve seen in prior entries, but not one that’s all too surprising given the recent resurgence of dark fantasy media. Here’s a look at a few of the things that Final Fantasy XVI is doing to deliver on this commitment to a darker, grittier Final Fantasy – and don’t forget to check out the playable PS5 demo for yourself right here.

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The Legacy of the Crystals

Conflict in Valisthea comes down to the Mothercrystals; sources of aether that powers the magicks many rely upon in daily life. This power is dwindling, though, and the deadlands close in on untainted land. It’s these final flickers of aether that ignites the struggle for power and control over the Mothercrystals. Neighbouring kingdoms are locked in conflict while contending with the inevitable creep of Blight and the deadlands.

Despite their imminent downfall, the people of Valisthea hold on to the blessings of the Mothercrystals as if their lives depend on it. It’s the steadfast belief in the Mothercrystals that leads to shaky alliances and backstabbing betrayals akin to what you’d find in Game of Thrones. It’s a narrative embroiled in uncertainty, desperation, and oppression that doesn’t shy away from all the brutality that comes with it.

Weapons of War

Final Fantasy’s legendary summons – better known as Eikons in Valisthea – are at the forefront of XVI’s narrative, but in a way we’ve not seen them before. Eikons are beings of immense power, each one residing within a single person called a Dominant. While some regions in Valisthea herald Dominants as war heroes and treat them as royalty, others live in fear of their power and enslave them as weapons of war. Dominants are portrayed in Final Fantasy XVI similarly to the handling of Witchers, both in reputation and the way they’re perceived by those around them.

Regardless of which kingdom a Dominant is born into, it’s a life of cruel and inescapable fate shaped by bloodshed and the wars fought by those that harbour these titanic entities. The fallout of a duel between Eikons is catastrophic. Armies are crushed underfoot and stray elemental blasts snuff out the lives of unsuspecting victims. It’s this senseless, perpetuated violence that moulds Valisthea’s perception of Eikons and Dominants at large, stoking the flames of conflict and fostering fear within the people.

Pawns of Fate

An RPG isn’t an RPG without an engaging cast of characters to accompany and play as during your journeys. Clive Rosfield is Final Fantasy XVI’s protagonist, the firstborn son of the Archduke of Rosaria. After failing to awaken as Phoenix’s Dominant, he lives to protect his younger brother, Joshua, who inherited the Eikon of fire instead. Childhood friend of Clive and Joshua is Jill Warrick, Dominant of Shiva, who was raised as a Rosfield after being taken from her homeland. It’s these three that form the backbone of Final Fantasy XVI’s exploration of fate, burden, and revenge.

It’s through the lens of these characters that we’ll come to learn what life is like as a Dominant in Valisthea. While Clive is quick to throw himself into harm’s way to protect Joshua, the young Dominant is much less confident in his abilities. He struggles to understand why he was chosen to inherit the flames of the Phoenix over Clive, and contends with the burden of expectation that comes with inheriting an Eikon. These themes are at the core of Final Fantasy XVI’s dark fantasy narrative, and will no doubt define its characters across Clive’s journey.

A More Mature Fantasy

All of these elements are wrapped up in presentation that reinforces the dark tone and gritty world setting of Valisthea. Creature designs for Final Fantasy staples are more rooted in traditional fantasy while still retaining their core identities, people are killed in ruthlessly violent fashion, and voice work delivers the emotional depth and tact you’d expect from the sharp tongue of characters like Geralt. If you’re concerned about the potential lack of Moogles and Chocobos, there’s no need to worry – they’ve made the cut.

Dark themes and ideas are nothing if they can’t be explored in an appropriate fashion, and Final Fantasy XVI looks to deliver in spades in this regard. Aside from a more gritty presentation through incredible visual fidelity afforded by the PS5, Masayoshi Soken’s original score is sure to provide. If the trailer themes are anything to go off of, it’s clear that Final Fantasy XVI will deliver orchestral bliss similar to what can be found in Soken’s recent work on Final Fantasy XIV.

Final Fantasy XVI is launching on June 22nd exclusively for PlayStation 5. A demo is available now with save transfer to the full game. Learn more and pre-order here.

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Between Diablo III’s disastrous launch and the egregious monetization of Diablo Immortal, one of Blizzard’s most defining IP hasn’t been in a great spot as of late. It’s in these circumstances that Blizzard have decided to pivot back to what made Diablo special to begin with in Diablo IV. Moving back to a more grounded setting, honing focus on characters as opposed to spectacle, and polishing a beloved formula up to snuff for 2023 standards are just a few of the things this game has set out to achieve.

Diablo IV harkens back to Blizzard’s glory days, a time where the developer’s titles stood out on store shelves thanks to chunky boxes synonymous with quality and polish. It remains to be seen how its live service offerings will pan out over the coming months and years, but the day one package feels undeniably feature-complete, rich with content, and brandishes impeccable presentation informed by an unwavering commitment to the vision of a redefined Sanctuary. It might not break much new ground, but Diablo IV is a hell of a good time.

Some 30 years after the events of Diablo III, the war between angels and demons has taken its toll on both sides, and on Sanctuary itself. It’s in these moment of vulnerability that cultists have summoned Lilith, daughter of Mephisto and mother to Sanctuary. Her awakening brings only chaos, as demons and humans alike are overtaken by their sinful desires when graced by her presence.

In the absence of Tyrael, Lilith has claimed herself as the new protector of Sanctuary. The flipside of this coin is Inarius; co-creator of Sanctuary and founder of the Cathedral of Light. A fallen angel seeking redemption through ending Lilith’s newfound control, so that he can return to his rightful place in heaven. It’s in the midst of this conflict that the wanderer and the Horadrim set out to thwart Lilith’s plans and defend Sanctuary from the inevitable fallout of a foretold prophecy.

The conflict between Lilith and Inarius is grey and ambiguous in nature. Inarius’ goal is to the benefit of humanity, but his actions are driven by a prideful ignorance and want for acknowledgement from the high heavens. Lilith’s plans are portrayed in a similar light, but there’s always an undertone of uncertainty and manipulation whenever she’s stealing the scene on-screen. It’s a more nuanced and intricate take on the never-ending war between heaven and hell that prompts you to read between the lines as opposed to just taking a side.

Character development is similarly engaging when it comes to the Horadrim. Lorath and Donan represent everything wrong with the Horadrim as they tackle personal demons, where newcomer Neyrelle embodies everything the Horadrim are meant to be. Her naivety is sharpened into cautious optimism by the time credits roll, but the dynamic between these three always delivers, even if they don’t come together all too often.

Where the character stuff is mostly great, the pacing of the narrative itself is a bit of a mixed bag. The opening chapters work to lure you into a more grounded version of Sanctuary, with a seemingly innocuous string of events that take a hard left turn into the despair and corruption brought by Lilith’s summoning. Things do slow down quite a bit from there though, with Acts IV and V feeling particularly side-tracked by a game of cat and mouse. These sluggish middle chapters eventually give way to an Act VI that careens towards the finish line, punctuated by one of Blizzard’s hallmark CG cutscenes that really earns its scope and grandeur through subtle tension building.

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Perhaps the most interesting detail in regards to narrative structure is its non-linear progression. Acts II and III, alongside certain quest chains in other acts, can be completed in any order you see fit. If there’s a particular character you want to see more of, or a zone you want to explore, you can do so without hindering progression. Most zones scale to your level, so there’s never any worry of being over/under levelled for a particular area. This also lends tremendously to replay value and character progression, as you can tackle certain dungeons for class specific rewards whenever you feel like it.

I came to appreciate it even further as I explored Sanctuary. This is an open-world packed with stuff to do, from single-room Cellars and multi-floored Dungeons to world events and hidden Altars of Lilith that provide permanent stat bumps to all characters you make on that Realm. Despite some of the content feeling recycled, there’s something around every corner, and not being railroaded into a single zone at a time makes for a refreshing sense of freedom in a genre that typically herds you down its golden path.

While some of the content on offer here can get repetitive after hours of play, there’s always a worthwhile reward to come by the end of it. Everything you do is also earning you reputation for whatever zone that activity is in, with each reward tier offering useful character upgrades, most of which are account-wide. Whether it be loot or playstyle-altering Aspects that can be previewed before you commit to running a dungeon, Diablo IV’s grind respects your time without ever taking away from its inherent satisfaction.

The biggest choice you make when starting a new Diablo game is almost always which class you’re going to descend into hell with first. I spent the majority of my time with Diablo IV’s Rogue. After some experimentation through the ability to respec at any time, I eventually landed on a glass cannon build that incentivized teetering on a knife’s edge, imbuing weapons with shadow damage and hitting enemies with hard and fast barrages of arrows and blades while making ample use of traps.

While I stuck with this core build once I landed on it, it’s remarkable how quickly you can flip a build onto its head and change the entire dynamic of a class. Rogues can go down many different routes, from melee or ranged only, to a hybrid class that makes use of stealth to reposition. Other classes offer a similar level of flexibility, but there are some clear balance issues at the moment that position certain classes as better than others.

Instead of redefining character progression, Diablo IV opts to add new layers of power onto your builds and gear through a few systems. Aside from being inundated with new equipment and gaining skill points each level, Aspects can also be unlocked through various means. Most of these are class specific, but there are a few that are universal. Earned Aspects can be imprinted onto gear to give bonuses that alter or compliment your playstyle. It adds a new layer to gear progression that isn’t as passive as simple stat bonuses, and instead incentivizes you to play around with new skills or build for ones you’ve taken a liking to.

The core gameplay loop will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s played Diablo before. It falls more in line with recent entries as opposed to the more deliberate nature of Diablo II, but that isn’t a detriment. Combat has a visceral flow to it that fits with the overall world and atmosphere Blizzard are looking to establish here in Diablo IV, where bodies ragdoll and rip apart due to the sheer force of your blows. Fallen enemies result in countless loot drops to bolster your character’s power, and the ever satisfying ding of a legendary drop still taps into a primal part of the brain. Aside from being Diablo IV’s highest rarity tier, legendary gear brings playstyle-altering passives and even bonus skill ranks for all manners of play.

A special mention should go to Diablo IV’s boss fights, which are almost always excellently designed, and represent the best of what ARPGs can achieve. I played all of my campaign on World Tier II, which offered challenging boss encounters that forced me to play in a more considered manner as opposed to hammering on my abilities and basic attacks. Dodging projectiles, reading tells, and making smart use of potions all coalesces into exhilarating encounters that kept me on the edge of my seat. Completion of the campaign also allows you to work up to higher World Tiers, further bolstering difficulty with the incentive of increased reward.

The other notable end game content comes in the form of Whispers of the Dead, and Helltides. The former sees you completing favors for The Tree of Whispers in specific zones as you build up to a point cap. These favors are often things you’ll already be doing, like Cellars, Dungeons, and world events. Once you’ve completed enough favors, you can turn in your Whispers for a cache of loot, containing a bunch of armour or weapons, gems, gold, and experience points.

Helltides are only unlocked and present on World Tier III and higher, where empowered demons spawn in a specific region. These demons drop Cinders, which can be spent to open Helltide chests scattered in the area, creating potential for top tier rewards if you’re willing to take the risk. These empowered demons are no walk in the park, but my experience with Helltides prop it up as some of the best content to engage with for high quality gear in the post-game.

Similarly interesting is the Plains of Hatred, which functions as a PvPvE zone. Defeating other players and demons in the Plains of Hatred will net you Seeds of Hatred, which need to be purified into Red Dust to be used as currency. The catch, is that players are free to attack you while you’re purifying, adding an inherent risk/reward factor in the process. You can of course opt to only engage in PvE, but you’ll need to purify at some point, so the Plains of Hatred are best ventured with friends. Earned Red Dust can later be spent on ornamental rewards like cosmetics and mounts.

This is all without discussing Strongholds, Capstone and Nightmare Dungeons, levelling other classes, the myriad of side quests available to you, and so much more. There’s a wealth of content to engage with across all skill levels in Diablo IV at launch, and it’s only going to get bigger with incoming seasonal offerings.

The biggest question mark at the moment lies in Diablo IV’s monetization. Blizzard have been clear that there’s no pay-for-power in Diablo IV, but it remains to be seen how egregious pricing is for the cosmetics and mounts on offer. The press build didn’t have a functioning store to peruse, but the easily accessible and simple transmog system allowed me to tailor the way my characters looked without spending a dime. It’s also worth mentioning that there’s going to be premium battle passes for post-launch seasons, but specific details on this were also absent in the review build.

Diablo IV’s impeccable presentation is the glue that holds this experience together. A more muted color palette stands in stark contrast with Diablo III and Immortal, falling much more in line with the first two games. Catacombs and dungeons are decorated with viscera and gory remnants of battles long past, bodies are posted up in the arid wastes of Khejistan as a grisly warning to adventurers and would-be heroes, and Scosglen’s countless ruins mark the history of its former inhabitants. It goes a long way to building a moody atmosphere and tone in this gothic wasteland.

That isn’t to say that Sanctuary is a landscape of dull greys and limestone yellows – quite the opposite, in fact. Each region offers something visually distinct from the last. Where the frozen Fractured Peaks is a frigid wasteland of cold death, Haweza is festering and humid bog filled with all manner of abominations. Each zone seamlessly blends into the next, all while offering their own interpretations of hell and how it spills over into the land. This is further bolstered by a diverse array of grotesque enemy designs that mix the familiarity of Diablo’s demonic trappings with eldritch horror.

Polish is also unsurprisingly up to snuff for Blizzard standards on the PC side of things. Performance was silky smooth across 30 or so hours of play, with the only real issues I encountered being some rubber banding when moving too fast on a mount. I’m unsure how things are on the console side, but I suspect that a similar standard is upheld.

Diablo IV doesn’t just feel like a return to form for the franchise, but also for Blizzard as a developer. There’s a keen awareness for what makes Diablo special present in Diablo IV. It’s as contemporary as it is traditional, understanding that ARPGs have evolved past the days of button mashing, but also paying homage to its forebears and legacy. It’s not without issues, but Diablo IV delivers where it counts.

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With the inherent success of Minecraft, we were always going to get plenty of spin-offs of all kinds that explore a diverse array of genres and experiences within the IP. 2015’s Minecraft: Story Mode and 2020’s Minecraft Dungeons have marked the beginning of this with varying levels of success, but there’s no denying their originality in comparison with vanilla Minecraft. The next title in this slew of spin-offs is Minecraft Legends, a self-described action strategy game that’s most comparable to the Dragon Quest Builders series, with a unique Minecraft flavor.

After my brief hands-on preview with the game in Tokyo, I mentioned that I’d had a good time with Legends, despite being worried about game length and how it would keep things fresh throughout its runtime, and that my brief hands-on with the multiplayer mode was a blast. After spending much more time with both of these modes, it’s clear that the preview I played had barely scratched the surface of what Legends has to offer. The end result is the best Minecraft spin-off yet that, despite some niggling issues, offers a satisfying and moreish gameplay loop and an intensely engaging versus mode.

The narrative here is about as deep as you’d expect from a Minecraft experience, but it is positively bursting at the seams with the charm the IP is known for. A dangerous threat from the Nether known as the Piglins have been spilling over into the overworld with plans of conquest and domination. Their bases poison the natural landscape with noxious gasses and Netherrack creeps further out as more Piglins pour in from protected Nether Portals found within each bastion. It falls to you to expunge the Piglin threat and send the three distinct factions back to the Nether.

Overall, it’s a feel-good narrative that employs plenty of slapstick humor and Minecraft trademarks to get you onboard. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t chuckle at a few of the visual gags, and the cutscenes on offer here have incredibly high production values that expand the sense of scope within Legends and mythos of Minecraft. It’s ultimately a good time, one that kids will likely get more of a kick out of, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing here for older fans.

Gameplay is where Minecraft Legends differs the most from its source material, offering the same core tenets of mining and crafting, in an entirely different format. Everything you do in Minecraft Legends comes back to the Allays, which are your main tool for gathering materials and building structures. A quick button combination can send these little guys out to harvest resources like wood, stone, coal, and more. Gathered materials can then be used by Builder Allays to form structures, mechanisms, and much more.

It’s a more passive way to engage with what’s effectively the core loop of Minecraft, but this is only to make room for all the extra stuff Legends brings with it. It’s through the gathering and utilization of these resources that you can push back the Piglin threat. From setting up defences around liberated villages to constructing a Redstone Launcher to blow open the gates of a Piglin base, everything eventually comes back to mining and building.

This core loop of gathering resources in order to bolster your own defensive and offensive capabilities is incredibly moreish. Where flexibility isn’t afforded in the structures you create, it is in the way you place them, the way they interact with each other, and in the way you pick and choose how best to use certain materials when trying to overthrow a particularly difficult Piglin base. It helps greatly that there’s an immense variety of things to build here that steadily unlock over the course of the campaign, constantly offering up new strategies and game plans to employ against the Piglins.

Your main method of siege comes in the form of Golems. These little guys can be amassed from crafted spawners, and brought along with you to tackle Piglin outposts. Each one specializes in different abilities, from healing and de-buff cleansing to stunning enemies or bringing down structures. You have to consider what kinds of Golems you want to bring with you on a siege given the obstacles, and that’s without talking about the ability to employ hallmark mobs.

Creepers, Skeletons, and Zombies are here in full force, united against the Piglin threat. You can also spawn these mobs alongside Golems, each one costing a little bit more in terms of resources in trade-off for extra power. The Skeletons, for example, excel at ranged combat and taking out enemy units, where Creepers make incredibly short work of enemy structures, making them useful in a pinch if you need a last ditch assault to bring down a Piglin base. While your army is initially limited to a total of 20 units, you can expand that number further, and simple commands can be issued in combat to have them focus on particular enemies or structures.

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Clearing Piglin outposts and liberating villages rewards you with Prismarine, a resource that’s key to upgrading your capabilities, resource capacity, and total army count. Prismarine is doled out often enough that there’s always something new to invest in upon returning to the Well of Fate, which almost always leads to meaningful player progression. It’ll have you constantly eyeing your Prismarine count so you know when you can get your next upgrade.

The general flow and progression of the campaign is also something I really enjoyed. After a brief tutorial and some opening objectives to get you to grips with the many systems of Minecraft Legends, you’re let loose to tackle the Piglin threat as you see fit. Three unique factions have setup three bases throughout the overworld, each one varying in difficulty and rewards. You’re encouraged to tackle the easy ones first, but there’s nothing stopping you from knocking on the doors of the most fortified of forts if you really want the challenge.

It’s this non-linear structure in combination with some extra-curricular open world activities that makes Legends so easy to play. You’ll stumble across mob outposts that have been taken over by Piglins, abandoned towers that can be deconstructed and tucked away for later use, and huge golems that’ll join you in your fight should they be resurrected. There’s always incentive and reward to explore outside of just gathering resources.

It comes to a head when all three of a faction’s bastions have been felled, and one final outpost makes itself known. These provide some of the best strategy Minecraft Legends has to offer, and are punctuated with explosive boss fights that test every skill you’ve learned during the campaign. It makes for a solid difficulty curve if you tackle bases in the right order, though I’m sure you can circumvent that order with some cheeky tactics and ample use of the game’s more powerful structures and minions.

Another thing to consider is the way that Piglins will launch attacks on allied villages when night falls, incentivizing you to build up defences around each one once liberated. You’re always warned in advance which village is going to be attacked, and it’s rewarding to see all your efforts pay off when a village successfully pushes back the Piglins without your help. One irk I had with this, though, is that if a village does fall, you have to retake it from the Piglins, which got tiresome in the second half of the game, especially when it means rebuilding defences.

While the campaign mode is able to be played in co-op, where I think Minecraft Legends is really going to take off, is in its versus mode. It’s a simple 4 versus 4 affair with either team trying to siege the other’s base and destroy their Fountain. All of the systems from the campaign are intact here, from Prismarine progression and Piglin outposts to resource harvesting – it’s all here in full force, and is of great importance.

While you could absolutely band together and launch an all out assault on the enemy base, there’s just as much value in spending time gathering resources and Prismarine to gain access to more structures. I can’t begin to fathom the kinds of long-winded matches that will come out of this mode once players jump into it. It has a MOBA-esque quality to it that instils an inherent tension in the experience, and it’s easily some of the most fun I’ve had with Minecraft Legends so far. While it’s a great time with friends, the mode does struggle with the inherent limited communication brought by matchmade games, as a lot of the enjoyment comes from planning and collaborating with allies.

As mentioned in my hands-on preview, everyone knows what they’re getting into when it comes to the visual presentation of anything related to Minecraft. Legends doesn’t shock or surprise in this regard, offering a tried-and-true art style that’s bolstered by a diverse range of biomes and some snazzy particle effects that tie the whole experience together. There’s plenty of new stuff to see here in the broad scope of Minecraft and the game always looks great, but don’t expect Legends to reinvent the wheel in this regard.

Performance on PC is similarly reliable, and I experienced very few technical issues aside from one notable audio bug. I’m not sure if it was something to do with the mixing, but some sound effects and dialogue lines were extremely quiet during my time with the game. This made it hard to get properly invested in cutscenes and did create a bit of a disconnect in battle as my sword swipes didn’t yield much feedback. It wasn’t enough to rip me out of the experience entirely, but the absence is notable enough to mention it here.

I’ve come away from my time with Minecraft Legends pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The campaign is a tightly paced jaunt through a new Minecraft experience that doesn’t outstay its welcome and offers a fresh spin on the strategy genre with a distinct Minecraft flavour. Despite having my fill of the campaign, I have no doubt I’ll be returning to Legends over the coming months to play its outrageously fun versus mode with friends, and I can’t recommend enough that you check it out to do the same.

The post Minecraft Legends Review – Building A New Kind of Strategy appeared first on Press Start.

Despite how incomprehensibly big Minecraft has gotten on a global scale over the last decade, it’s impressive how committed Microsoft are to delivering new experiences in the franchise. First, with Minecraft: Story Mode, and most recently with Minecraft Dungeons. It goes without saying that these games, in one way or another, have totally flipped the idea of Minecraft on its head, offering something entirely different from the original game.

Minecraft Legends is the next foray into trying something new, aptly labelled as an action strategy game, it takes the core tenants of Minecraft and reshapes them into something its own. Courtesy of Microsoft, we were able to go hands-on with both the PVE and PVP sides of the game to get a feel for what it’s all about.

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Minecraft Legends has a key difference in comparison to other Minecraft titles in that it’s got a keen focus on narrative and characters intertwined with its gameplay loop. While my limited time with the story mode didn’t expose much of anything, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a good time. This is the kind of experience clearly built for kids, with fun, larger than life characters doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

It goes a long to way to establishing the overall tone of adventuring, with a slick coating of Minecraft’s trademark visual style and quirks that has a remarkably distinct feel. The gist of it is that a new type of enemy, the Piglins, are invading the overworld from the Nether, and it falls to you as the hero to form unlikely alliances in order to push back the imminent threat of the Piglins. It’s a fun setup for a narrative that’ll undoubtedly get deeper as time goes on, while also fulfilling the fantasy of becoming a legend within Minecraft’s expansive mythos.

While Minecraft Legends is less of a departure from the original game as Dungeons is, its similarities lie in concept as opposed to execution. Mining, crafting, battling mobs, building structures – it’s all here, just reworked to fit into a top-down perspective built around an action strategy framework.

As you roam the overworld, you’ll deploy Allays to mine resources and build structures. It took a moment to wrap my head around the controls, but I quickly get into a rhythm of dropping Allays in the midst of resource deposits as I carried on my way to the next destination. Allays will always continue their jobs no matter how far away you get from them, but a limited number of each type of Allay ensures you aren’t haphazardly dropping them all over the place in the hopes to stock up on resources. It never gets in the way of your progression or exploration, but isn’t mindless to the point where it requires little to no strategy.

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During my PVE preview, I only had access to three materials, wood, stone, and iron. Each one allowed me to build numerous structures, from archer towers and defensive walls, to gates, bridges, and stairways. You can also spend resources to craft Golem Spawners, which are pretty self-explanatory. What’s neat about this, is that you can call Golems to your aid in a manner most comparable to Pikmin.

I only managed to get access to three unique golem types, though I’m sure there are many more to unlock across the course of the story. You have a limited number of total Golems you can bring with you at once, so picking and choosing different types depending on their strengths and weaknesses is important. The Plank Golems, for example, are great at taking out enemy units with their ranged attacks, where Stone Golems make short work of enemy structures, which is pivotal to bringing down Piglin bases. You’ll issue commands to Golems in combat, which is where the Pikmin comparison becomes more apt.

That brings us to the final part of the equation, the reason you spend time gathering resources, building structures, and amassing Golems to begin with – overthrowing the Piglins. Throughout Minecraft Legends’s procedurally generated world, Piglins have taken control of villages, imprisoning the usual residents and taking the land for themselves to expand their conquests. It’s through the use of Golems and building that you’re able to stand against them.

There were quite a few of these Piglin strongholds to bring down during my time with Minecraft Legends, each one bringing something slightly different to the table. One saw me storm the gates and free the villagers, while another had me do the same, only to setup defences against another incoming wave of Piglins. Walls, gates, archer towers and the like, are built in a manner not dissimilar from the fire and forget nature of mining. It makes for rather chaotic yet enjoyable skirmishes, as you dart from different ends of the village to setup new defences in potential blind spots.

The tail-end of my time with PVE had me taking the fight to the Piglins themselves, as I set out to destroy three of their bases to halt reinforcements in the area. These are much more challenging than liberating villages as it just comes down to you and your army, so smart use of the commands system alongside a thought out collection of Golems goes a long way to achieving success.

Clearing out Piglins awards you with Prismarine, a limited resource that can be used to build powerful structures. While I was only able to procure a small amount of Prismarine, it’s clear that this is the main incentive behind clearing Piglin bases, allowing to build a bigger army, and more versatile structures. Open world exploration yields rewards also, with chests and rare resources scattered in harder to reach areas.

While I had a good time with the fleeting hour of PVE, part of me is worried about the longevity of it all. An hour is hardly enough time to get a feel for overall progression, but it’s clear that building up your crafting capabilities as well as your army is going to be a big part of the reason you come back to Minecraft Legends’s PVE mode. Hopefully the momentum I experienced during my time with it carries forward through the rest of the single player experience.

Minecraft is known for its multiplayer roots, so it only makes sense that Legends has its own PVP mode to boot as well. This was another relatively brief hands-on, with around 45 minutes to go head to head with an enemy team, The core gameplay loop is the same as that of PVE, with the end goal of destroying the enemy team’s base. Naturally, it quickly becomes a race to gather resources as you build towards an inevitable confrontation with your adversaries.

It’s no understatement to say that this mode was a blast, and will no doubt be the reason so many become interested in Legends to begin with. Coordinating with your teammates is key to victory, having people take on different roles so you can acquire all the necessary resources to bulk out your defensive and offensive capabilities. It’s a constant push and pull of defending and attacking, and after only one game, it’s clear that there’s so much potential strategy to engage with here.

The game I played in didn’t end during the allotted preview time, it was only after 40 minutes of prep that the teams started truly going head to head in a bid to win the game. It’s easy to see these matches could go much longer when players have a firmer grasp on the mechanics and intricate strategies are uncovered. Still, though, even without all that, there’s an inherent fun to be had in this mode with or without friends.

PVP also gave a deeper look what I presume are future unlocks for the PVE mode also. Things like Redstone Cannons, being able to spawn hallmark Minecraft mobs like the Skeleton or Creeper to fight alongside you, Resource Hubs, and so much more. The match I played felt like a microcosm of what I assume is the total PVE experience, coupled with the inherent tension of sharing the same world as your enemies.

When it comes to Minecraft, I think most people know what they’re getting when it comes to visuals and art styles. I’d say Minecraft Legends plays it fairly safe in this regard – it’s unmistakably Minecraft, but there’s a few wrinkles here that keep things fresh and varied. This game is chock-full of different biome types, from frosty tundra to desolate badlands, alongside all the Minecraft staples. The cutscenes are also a visual spectacle when they pop up from time to time.

It’s hard to say if I got lucky with my instance of procedural generation or if the game is just that varied as is, but there’s plenty of visual variation keeping things fresh. Performance is also remarkably solid on the Series X which bodes well for the imminent release date.

A telltale sign that a preview has gone well is when you don’t want to put the controller down once your time is up. While I wouldn’t say I was chomping at the bit to see where the PVE mode would take me next, the controller had to be peeled out of my hands when it came to the PVP, and this was much the same for the other players in my game.

There’s a lot of potential for the PVP to really take off here, especially with Game Pass and cross-play compatibility at launch. I’m a little hesitant on the PVE side of things, if only because length in games like these are often their achilles heel. Still though, we won’t have to wait much longer to find out when Minecraft Legends launches later this month on April 18th.

If you want to learn more about Minecraft Legends, you can read our interview with executive producer Dennis Ries right here!

Minecraft Legends is coming April 18th, 2023 to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Switch and PC. It will be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one.

Amazon has the Deluxe Edition starting from $64 with free shipping.

The post Minecraft Legends Hands-On Preview – Crafting A New Legend appeared first on Press Start.

Alongside having the opportunity to go hands-on with Minecraft Legends in Tokyo, we were also fortunate enough to be able to interview the game’s executive producer, Dennis Ries. It was a short and sweet interview that yielded plenty of insight on where the team got their inspirations from, and how they went about crafting a Minecraft-focused narrative.

With Minecraft being as well known as it is, you’d think it’d be daunting to come up with a new idea within the IP that’s so drastically different from anything before. From reveal to getting the game into players hands, there’s an inherent anticipation imbued in something related to Minecraft like Legends.

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Dennis touched on new experiences, “It is daunting to take on a new idea and put it out to players. Minecraft is on every platform, and the user-base is so massive because of this. When creating new Minecraft experiences, the team really wants to make them well-worth playing, not just for fans but also newcomers.”

It’s clear that Legends and Dungeons before it are trying to bring in new types of players that wouldn’t usually engage with Minecraft’s typical suite of offerings. It’s easy to see why many are drawing comparisons between the popular Dragon Quest Builders series, from the perspective and overworld to overall progression, there’s more than a few similarities. Dennis mentions that the comparison has been made before but the team didn’t pull much inspiration from other games.

“When we were concepting, we weren’t thinking about games other than Minecraft. A lot of our inspiration and the things we pulled from come from vanilla Minecraft, and it became more about how we translate that experience into an action strategy framework. It was little things from vanilla and Minecraft Dungeons that we pointed to as our core influences.”

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Bouncing off of this response, I asked Dennis what core tenets the team were leaning into when it came to designing Minecraft Legends, and how those tenets were adapted to fit an action-strategy framework. He specifically mentioned three core elements of vanilla Minecraft’s gameplay loop foresight, action, and knowledge, which are actually three of the key characters in Legends’s story mode.

“There were 3 core things so important to Minecraft that we made them into characters for Minecraft Legends; Foresight, Action, and Knowledge. When players play Minecraft they engage with these things all the time, so it was something the team wanted to translate over and make work in this new style of gameplay. The other thing we lean on quite heavily is vanilla mobs like Creepers, Skeletons, Zombies etc. We want them to be familiar so that players realise what kind of strategy they fit into, but if you don’t recognise them, that’s also okay.”

Constructing a whole narrative for a game like this is something of a fickle task for a few reasons. Minecraft canon/lore/mythology is important to so many people around the world. You have to be careful about the things you poke and play with in new stories like this. There also isn’t much to pull from in the way of characters for obvious reasons.

When asked about this, Dennis made a point that Minecraft’s story is more of a mythology, and players create their own narratives through play; “It was a challenge to build a narrative in a game like this but a fun one. To quote our narrative lead, there is no canon or lore in Minecraft, it’s all mythology. This is part of the reason we landed on the name Minecraft Legends, you’re forging a story in that mythos that may or may not be canon.”

“Minecraft’s story is made by the players themselves, but taking the mythology angle on Legends allowed for some creative liberties and freedoms we otherwise wouldn’t have had. The way we see is that this would be one of many stories told within the world, passed down between generations in the same way we do with fairy tales and the like.”

It’s an interesting and totally unique way of exploring the narrative space within the world of Minecraft. Each game serving as part of a collection of stories that may or may not be true. It runs parallel to the way players create and foster their own stories in vanilla Minecraft and share them with one-another.

If you want to learn more about Minecraft Legends, you can check out our hands-on preview with the game right here!

Minecraft Legends is coming April 18th, 2023 to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Switch and PC. It will be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one.

Amazon has the Deluxe Edition starting from $64 with free shipping.

The post Minecraft Legends Interview – New Ideas, Inspirations, And Building A Minecraft Narrative appeared first on Press Start.

There’s a lot of weight resting on the shoulders of TEKKEN 8 after 7’s rampant success. Accounting for almost one fifth of franchise-wide sales with a staggering 10 million units sold, TEKKEN 7 marked a turning point for the series as it became more mainstream then ever. It’s a daunting performance to follow up, which is precisely the reason why TEKKEN 8 isn’t playing it safe.

Thanks to Bandai Namco Entertainment, we’ve been lucky enough to go hands-on with TEKKEN 8 to see how these changes pan out for ourselves. After two hours of cramming in as many VS Battles as possible, I’ve come away from TEKKEN 8 excited to play more. From Michael Murray’s opening keynote to getting my hands on the controller, it’s clear that aggression is the name of the game in TEKKEN 8.

TEKKEN 8 feels tailor made with competition in mind, both to satisfy the perspective of viewers and players. It offers the white knuckle do-or-die moments from TEKKEN 7 melded with a style of play that encourages you to always be looking for openings in neutral. This is also something of a cause for concern, though, with a glaring lack of defensive options in the face of this design philosophy that often gives way to limitations in the ways you can respond to an overly oppressive opponent.

TEKKEN 8’s doubling down on aggressive play primarily comes in the form of the Heat. You can enter a Heat state once per round for 10 seconds, providing additional advantage on hit and on block, as well as bolstering or even changing the properties of certain moves. It should be noted that the Rage system is still here, sans TEKKEN 7’s Rage Drives, working hand-in-hand with Heat as opposed to replacing it.

The most interesting options offered up to you in Heat are the Heat Dash, and Heat Smash. The former is a quick dash that can be cancelled to apply pressure, and lead into mix-ups, where the latter is a hefty attack that cashes in the rest of your Heat state in exchange for a good bit of damage. Both of these require Heat Gauge to activate, with Heat Dash consuming one charge, and Heat Smash consuming them all as a result of exiting your Heat state early.

There’s two ways you can enter a Heat state in any given round – Heat Burst, and Heat Engager. Burst is the most simple, activated with a single button across all characters that’s handy in a pinch. Engagers on the other hand, require specific attacks to connect with your opponent in order to trigger Heat, each character sporting roughly five moves each that are capable of this. If you’re wondering why you’d ever opt to use the Engager as opposed to a Burst, it’s because Burst only gives you one charge of Heat Gauge, where Engagers give you two.

These facets in tandem with Heat’s inherent power create tense moments of consideration amongst the chaos. Do you pop Heat now through a Burst to shift momentum in your favour? Or do you wait for an opening to land an Engager, giving you even more options to keep your opponent guessing. Despite my limited time with the game, Heat offered a unique layer of strategy that I can see getting much deeper when the game is able to be dissected fully. It lends to momentum-shifting rounds that aren’t over until someone’s fighter is on the ground.

Being on the receiving end of a beating, only to worm your way into landing a Heat Engager that fundamentally alters the course of a seemingly unwinnable round is exhilarating, and always kept me on the edge of my seat. Recoverable Gauge also contributes to this back-and-forth quite heavily, which allows you to recover a portion of blocked damage through attacking. It’s when all of these systems coalesce into a round where both players are hanging on by a thread, baiting one another into popping Rage Arts or hitting a risky button, that TEKKEN 8 feels like a beast all its own in comparison to its predecessors.

The one area where this hard focus on aggression felt off was in the defense options afforded to the player in TEKKEN 8. You can most definitely still have a defensive play style, opting to employ movement tools and blocking to catch your opponent off-guard when they hit one too many buttons. In terms of other mechanics, though, the preview build we played had none, which often led to turtling when faced with an opponent entering Heat or going on the offensive.

One player entering Heat was usually met with the other doing the same to even the odds, and I can’t help but wonder what the addition of a couple of dedicated defence mechanics would do to change things up. The design intent here is clear, and I suspect some things will shift in regards to the oppression of Heat and how to answer it as we learn to understand TEKKEN 8 further, but it’s a current cause for concern nonetheless.

The move to more aggressive play, comes with new characters, and subtly changed fan favourites. The build we played gave us access to 10 fighters, from series mainstays like Jin, Kazuya, and King to less frequent characters like Jun Kazama and of course the all-new Jack-8. While it’s a little disappointing this build didn’t show off any truly new characters, I’ve no doubt that the final roster will introduce a few fresh faces to the line-up.

What’s presented here, though, was immensely fun to play with on the whole, offering familiar playstyles melded with new additions to keep things feeling new. Heat Engagers are to be found exactly where you’d expect, and playing as empowered versions of these characters when entering Heat offers new ways to make use of iconic attacks. King’s Heat Smash, for example, is a grab, staying true to the character’s identity and game plan even when you’re rushing down your opponent.

There’s also a concerted effort here to make TEKKEN more understandable and approachable to those who’ve yet to dive in proper. On top of simplifying Rage Arts and Heat Smashes to one button affairs, TEKKEN 8 also introduces the Special Style control scheme. Special Style combines the Easy Combo and Assist features of TEKKEN 7 and takes them further. It’s primarily designed for new players, but can also serve as a learning tool when trying to pick up a new character.

When in Special Style, hitting the same button results in a relatively straightforward auto combo that showcases what a character is best at. It also gives players a shortcut to Power Crushes, and aerial combos, which can serve as a basis for building familiarity with a character’s strengths and weaknesses. This palette of auto combos will change as the state of your character does, accommodating for Heat and Rage as a round progresses. It’s worth mentioning these combos are far from optimal, and aim to make the game more enjoyable for those who struggle with executing intricate and long-winded combos.

During the keynote, Michael Murray described the concept of TEKKEN 8 as full-powered, thrilling, and exciting. Visceral one-on-one battles where you feel the impact of every single attack. TEKKEN has always had great game feel in comparison to other fighters due to the weightiness of its characters and the combination of visual and audio effects. The new entry is no different in this regard, only bolstered by the power of the PlayStation 5. It feels and looks like a truly next-generation fighting game.

This is most evident in TEKKEN 8’s stages and character designs. Bursting at the seams with attention to detail, lively backgrounds, and some truly gorgeous weather effects. There were few stages for us to pick from in the preview build, but each offers something distinct both visually, and in gameplay. Character designs have a similar degree of care poured into them, offering fresh spins on storied fighters that are always developed with their core identities in mind.

Where fighting games are becoming more popular and more accessible, I was glad to find that TEKKEN 8 is still undeniably TEKKEN in all of its breadth and complexity. That isn’t to say there aren’t efforts to appeal to the casual fanbase a little bit more here – quite the opposite – but more that TEKKEN 8 embraces the reputation of the series with undeniable fervour.

There’s a clear commitment to delivering a unique type of play within the scope of TEKKEN, as well as creating something that warrants the description of being a truly next-gen fighting game. Though I’m uncertain as to how all of its systems will come together in totality, TEKKEN 8 seems like it’s going to be a remarkably good time for both fans and newcomers alike when it launches in the next 12 months.

The post TEKKEN 8 Hands-On Preview – Feel the Heat appeared first on Press Start.

Despite their differences, there’s one thing that Street Fighter 6 and TEKKEN 8 have in common – their flagship American characters both seem to be going through a mid-life crisis. Both sporting uncharacteristically ragged outfits and unkempt hairstyles, it’s easy to see why players have been poking fun at the new designs. After being dealt a relatively bad hand narratively over the last few entries, this change seems obvious in retrospect when it comes to Paul Phoenix.

When asked about the changes to Paul’s design, Harada maintained that Paul is not going through a mid-life crisis despite his dishevelled appearance, “There’s many older characters in TEKKEN that we still want to portray as viable and cool. Not necessarily going through a mid-life crisis, but if we have an older character in the game, how can we make them into a character people will want to play?”

“As far as Paul’s hairstyle, it’s a different way to make it feel like an evolution of the character. He had a different hairstyle in TEKKEN 4 if you recall. It’s not that he’s going through a mid-life crisis, it’s more that element of time having changed in the game and we need to find ways to portray that in the characters. How do we make an older, but still cool looking iteration of themselves? If people love the old hairstyle, you can change that in the customization as well.”.

Harada also goes onto mention as a side topic that Paul’s hair has been down every 4th entry into the franchise. First with TEKKEN 4, now with TEKKEN 8, and probably with TEKKEN 12 as well. If that isn’t confirmation on TEKKEN 9 through 12, I don’t know what is. He also states that the team understands how important these characters are to fans, and that they’re always looking for ways to make them even more appealing with new designs while still retaining their core identities.

The two hours of hands-on time we got with the game didn’t include any of the story mode, the only narrative tidbits we got were the pre and post fight interactions between characters. Still, though, I’m not convinced Paul isn’t in a bad place after his conclusion in TEKKEN 7. I suppose only time will tell.

You can read more about our two hours of hands-on in more extensive detail right here.

The post Apparently Paul Phoenix Isn’t Having A Mid-Life Crisis in TEKKEN 8 appeared first on Press Start.

During my 2 hour hands-on session with TEKKEN 8 at Bandai Namco’s office in Singapore, there was one feature eyeing me off in the bottom left of my screen – the style switch button. I consider myself relatively adept at fighting games, I’ve spent my fair share of time in training modes for numerous titles, and often don’t bother with assist modes or auto combos because they don’t often offer much in the way of optimization. It was only when I swallowed my pride and decided to hit L1, that I realized TEKKEN 8’s Special Style is much more than meets the eye.

Special Style is described by Michael Murray and Harada-San as a combination of the Easy Combo and Assist features in TEKKEN 7 – only evolved further. It’s designed to ease newer players into the game, while also infusing TEKKEN 8 with the action, thrill, and excitement it’s going for, even if you can’t pull off the craziest of combos. Perhaps most interestingly, is the way Harada-San references Special Style as a pseudo training tool and crutch for high level players in certain situations.

“It’s mainly thought of to be more accessible to new players but it’s easier to use when picking up a new character for more experienced players also. When pro players don’t want to make a mistake, they might want to execute a Rage Art by pressing R1 as opposed to inputting the exact command, decreasing the potential for error. You can switch in a certain instance when you don’t want to mess up a certain command or technique in specific situations.” Harada explains.

Harada also doubled down on the training potential of Special Style, “Often you’ll pick up a character to learn their weaknesses by using them yourself. Special Style grants access to a character’s main moves, and encourages you to play how that character’s game plan is envisioned. It cuts down on the time spent learning new characters. Once the game is released and players get their hands on it, maybe they’ll find interesting ways of using it that we haven’t thought of.”

The ability to use Special Style to avoid messing up inputs is a tantalizing one – especially under pressure. I often found myself swapping to it when I was unaware of specific Power Crush inputs, opting instead to hit the X button for a sure-fire way to gain access to one in a pinch. Likewise, messing around with new characters was made fun and intuitive. Instead of fumbling about and hitting buttons in the hopes something would string together, you can instead make use of auto-combos that while far from optimal, are damned cool to watch unfold.

As Harada mentioned, I’m sure the full applications of Special Style won’t come to fruition until players pick its bones clean when the game comes out in full. For now though, Special Style has some sweet implications that feel great in practice, and it’s cool to see a typically beginner-friendly tool having a place in high-level play also.

You can read more about our two hours of hands-on in more extensive detail right here.

The post TEKKEN 8’s Special Style Is More Than An Assist Mode appeared first on Press Start.

If you’d asked me how I felt about Destiny’s latest expansion, Lightfall, prior to release, I probably would’ve insinuated it was a homerun waiting to happen. It felt like the writing was on the wall – high stakes, a swanky new subclass in Strand, a new city to explore, and so much more. It’s these hopes and expectations that set a bar for Lightfall that it simply couldn’t meet.

Does that mean Lightfall is a bad expansion? No, I don’t think so, at least. Where Lightfall crashes and burns with its character writing and narrative, it excels in its new gameplay additions and changes. Where difficulty has been adjusted to be more in-line with the ever-looming threat of power creep, Neomuna can feel disparate and empty. For every step in the right direction, there’s also a step backwards that feels more tangible than ever given The Witch Queen’s myriad successes.

If you equivalize Destiny’s decade spanning saga to that of the MCU, Lightfall is essentially the Infinity War of this narrative. The threat we’ve all been waiting for is here – the Witness, alongside a transformed Calus as its newest disciple. After attacking Earth and taking the Traveler captive, the Witness sends Calus to Neptune in search of a mysterious paracausal object known as the Veil.

Lightfall’s opening is firing on all cylinders, properly establishing the threat of the Witness and a sense of urgency about the whole campaign as our guardians hitch a ride to the hidden city of Neomuna. There’s a sense of rivalry between ourselves and Calus as years of conflict have built up to this moment. It’s unfortunate then, that after the first two missions, the campaign comes to a screeching halt on all fronts.

There’s a few key offenders, the most glaring of which is the general lack of explanation and characterization. Despite it being mentioned multiple times over the years in the lore, the Veil is never fully explained or explored here in Lightfall. Jargon and technical terms are thrown around in similar fashion to that of Destiny’s original campaign – only there’s no external lore to properly support it. Not only does Lightfall leave you with more questions than it does answers, it does so in an unsatisfying manner.

It’s clear that Lightfall’s seasons are going to delve into these subject matters deeper. I’m sure we’ll eventually learn what the Veil actually is, what the Witness wants with it, what the Radial Mast was meant to do, and more. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s hard not to feel short-changed when we’re essentially back where we started before the expansion dropped. As we move into the final year of this saga, it’s a time to provide answers, not shroud players in more mystery.

The Cloud Striders in concept are a great idea – defenders of a city separated from Guardians and the Traveler’s protection. Rohan in particular is quite engaging as he nears the end of his tenure as Cloud Strider and mentor to Nimbus. There’s a lot of parallels to be drawn between him and Osiris, and there was great opportunity for real growth between them. Unfortunately, Rohan just doesn’t get enough screentime to become the fan favourite character he had the potential for.

Nimbus is similarly misspent, largely in the way that their dialogue betrays the tone and atmosphere Lightfall is trying to establish. They’re constantly quipping, even after traumatic events, often resulting in cringe inducing moments. A lot of their writing does fare better in the post-campaign quests, but it feels like too little too late for it to have any long-term impact on players.

Arguably the biggest problem with the Cloud Striders, is that time spent with them is time that could’ve been spent with established characters. Osiris and Caiatl, who should’ve been pivotal to the plot of Lightfall, have very little to do, filling minor roles at best. Caiatl feels especially wasted given the conflict with her father should’ve taken centre stage here. Calus also feels unexplored given how often he’s served as our adversary over the years. One character that undeniably delivers, though, is the Witness, who commands every single scene they’re in. It’s in brief and fleeting moments that we see them, but it’s clear Bungie has a handle on this character and its otherworldly nature.

One of the most lauded inclusions in The Witch Queen was a new approach to campaign design and difficulty. Lightfall continues the trend with a new Legendary campaign, bringing eight tightly-paced missions to surmount on Neomuna. I don’t think the quality is quite at the same level as The Witch Queen’s campaign, but still offers an enjoyable romp from start to finish. It feels more coherent with the 80’s action movie inspiration Bungie was going for. Tormentors also accomplish what they set out to do remarkably well, serving as a terrifying yet engaging enemy unit that feels distinct from any other.

A large part of this success is thanks to Strand, our second Darkness-based subclass. Learnt over the course of the campaign, Strand is all about tapping into an ethereal weave that connects everything. This core concept gives way to some truly whacky ideas like a grapple hook, suspending enemies with threads, and unleashing sentient Strand constructs called Threadlings. Each Strand subclass feels incredibly distinct and immediately powerful with proper buildcrafting. You can really get into a flow with high actions per minute and flexible gameplay loops with each ability at your disposal.

From the mobile and powerful Hunter Threadrunner to the minion master Warlock Broodweaver, Strand has much to offer in countless facets of Destiny 2. It also helps that there’s a decent selection of Strand weapons to pair with these subclasses, offering new Strand-based perks and abilities that really freshen up the sandbox. The grapple is a particular standout, offering unparalleled movement and interactions that weren’t possible before. It feels truly distinct in the broader scope of Destiny’s subclasses, which isn’t such an easy feat nowadays given the complexity of the pre-existing four.

Destiny has often struggled with recent destinations being empty and lacking in things to do. They’re visually stunning and offer some degree of exploration, but don’t have the same enemy density as other aspects of the game. Neomuna is an improvement in this regard but there’s still work to do be done. General exploration can often feel quite barren and lifeless, with all of Neomuna’s citizens residing in a state of digital consciousness. It means you’ll only ever come across enemies, digital constructs, and other Guardians.

Terminal Overload and the Vex Incursion Zone do quite a bit to alleviate how empty it can feel at times, providing activities with loads of enemy density and worthwhile rewards. The city itself is gorgeous, offering neon-soaked skylines and high-rise buildings that feel distinct in Destiny’s slew of locations. It’s a shame it isn’t more vertically inclined given Strand’s inclusion, but swinging around the city is still a blast nonetheless.

There are few things that players look forward to more in new expansions than the introduction of a brand-new raid. Lightfall’s comes in the form of Root of Nightmares, set in a pyramid ship belonging to the Witness, only terraformed by the Traveler. It’s a truly gorgeous raid, with some of the best visuals we’ve seen in a raid to date – which is no small feat.

Unfortunately, I don’t think Root of Nightmares sticks the landing in terms of gameplay and design. It’s a combat focused raid, which there’s nothing wrong with, but it comes at the cost of mechanics. While there’s something to be said for simpler raids, I’d argue that RoN is overly straightforward. Three of the four encounters feel as if they could be Dungeon encounters, requiring little to no communication and collaboration between players. There’s nothing wrong with a short and sweet raid ala Wrath of the Machine, but the limited mechanical complexity means a lot of time is spent dealing with combatants as opposed to engaging with mechanics and puzzles. Where Vow of Disciple maybe leaned a little too hard into mechanical depth, Root of Nightmares is skewed too far in the other direction.

While the seasons that launch alongside major expansions are typically lighter in content, they’re also some of the most consistent. It’s still early days for Season of Defiance, but what’s been released so far has been quite enjoyable. It offers a pretty standard Battlegrounds activity that’s made more engaging through difficulty and high enemy density. The new exotic mission, Avalon, is also a hit for many of the same reasons. The writing here is also leagues above that of the main narrative, and I look forward to tuning in every week to see how the battle on Earth unfolds now that Neptune is (relatively) safe, even if the seasonal model is feeling tired.

Power creep is a concept that frequently rears its head in live-service games, and Destiny 2 is no stranger to it. Our power has grown exponentially over the last few years, and Bungie have decided to reel it in a bit by raising the game’s overall difficulty floor. The changes mostly land, making general playlist content more engaging than usual, incentivizing players to make use of buildcrafting and loadouts.

Not all of it works, though. There’re a few kinks to be ironed out within certain difficulty tiers, Nightfalls, and even Root of Nightmares. A flat increase in difficulty doesn’t work for all aspects of the game, though I suspect it’ll take some more extensive playtesting and feedback to get these activities to where they need to be. As a veteran player, I appreciate the overall increase in challenge, but can also see how it’s alienated some of the casual player-base, and can feel inconsistent.

You could also argue that Lightfall’s best inclusions come in the form of its quality-of-life changes, which are plentiful and vastly improve the overall experience. The mod system has been streamlined to demystify buildcrafting, with many mods being rolled into the new Armor Charge system. While I was initially hesitant at how simplified it seemed to be, I’ve come around to the system quite a bit. Buildcrafting is much less convoluted and you spend less time in menus as a result, while also cutting down on the overall messiness of the inventory. Loadouts and the new mod screen similarly streamline the process of managing armour and mods, making for a much more seamless experience overall.

Another long-standing point of pain, Champions, have also been addressed via using built-in subclass verbs and abilities to stun them. This seemingly insignificant change allows for much more freedom in terms of loadout and weapon choice, and adds a much needed fluidity to the combat loop when dealing with Champions. Artifact Mods have also been reworked to always be active, with the caveat of only being able to unlock 12. You’re free to reset the Artifact whenever you’d like, but its once again another example of cutting down on monotony while still placing buildcrafting at the forefront of Destiny 2’s RPG systems.

Destiny has long had an issue of bringing new and returning players into the fold. Its lack of tutorials and seemingly convoluted systems were alienating to those looking to get into the game. Bungie have made many attempts to address this issue, the latest of which comes in the new Guardian Ranks system. Guardian Ranks acts as an account rank that is meant to display how experienced a Guardian is, while also pointing new players in the direction of what to do next. While I can’t speak for the new player experience (which still doesn’t seem all too great), Guardian Ranks are a nice way to signify a player’s experience with the game, though it has some problems.

Because Guardian Rank unlocks are retroactive, its as if every single player is rank six – the highest you can be when a season begins. This already poses some issues, as someone with 3000 hours versus someone with a few hundred will start a season with the same rank. Unlocking Advanced Ranks allows you to grow further, but they reset at the start of every season, bringing everyone back down to six.

The biggest problem with this is that the system doesn’t really function as intended, and going to all the effort to earn Advanced Ranks feels wrong knowing it’s going to reset. The decision to tie achieving a certain Commendation Score to Guardian Ranks is also a baffling decision, completely undermining their purpose as people hand them out left, right, and centre to bolster their own scores.

If there’s one thing you can always count on with Destiny, it’s that the art team is going to deliver – and deliver they did. Neomuna is positively brimming with detail and architecture that feels almost alien and out of place – the way that a hidden city should be. Root of Nightmares is a visual feast as previously mentioned, and the few forays we’ve had into the Vex Network have me yearning for more. The visual effects of Strand also really pop with neon green threads exploding in every direction as you unravel your foes.

In saying this, Lightfall does continue the trend of buggy expansion launches. While the actual day one experience was remarkably smooth, numerous issues have reared their heads since launch, some of which have yet to be fixed. Aside from the usual weapon and armour bugs that have them doing ludicrous amounts of damage, there’s also an issue with character and weapon models turning invisible during long play sessions, which is seemingly linked to the commendations system. There’s also countless enemy attacks and environmental hazards tied to framerate, which actively punishes players for playing at higher frames. I think its fair to expect bugs on launch, but it’s disappointing that these nagging issues have yet to be fixed.

Expressing my opinion on Lightfall has been tricky. I don’t think this expansion is nearly as bad as some are making it out to be, there’s plenty of good on offer here. Strand, loadouts, mod changes, the post campaign activities, and more are reason enough to argue that Destiny 2 is the best it’s ever been from a gameplay standpoint. Narratively, though, Lightfall objectively fumbles what should have been a homerun at a time where Bungie really can’t afford to do so.

I sincerely hope that the stuff that’s come after the campaign is a signifier of what’s we can expect with future seasons as we build up towards The Final Shape. Despite the disappointing narrative, I’ll keep coming back to Destiny 2 because the other inclusions are just that good, and if you can move past the shortcomings, you might just have a similar experience.

The post Destiny 2: Lightfall Review – Underwhelming Finality appeared first on Press Start.

Despite the massive impact that FromSoftware’s titles have had on the games industry over the last decade, there are very few experiences that scratch the same itch. From’s world building and sense of place is unrivalled, it’s a daunting task to make a “Souls-like” and have it constantly compared to one of the most timeless franchises of the last decade. This is something Team Ninja has been keenly aware of in their forays into the genre, opting to focus on the combat and RPG aspects of these games to deliver something action-heavy and high-octane.

If the Nioh duology is Team Ninja’s answer to Dark Souls, then Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty serves the same purpose to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Much like Nioh, though, Wo Long’s comparisons to its parallel are surface deep, offering an experience that’s much different to From’s 2019 hit. It leans more heavily into the combat fantasy of split-second decisions, speedy reflexes, and flashy action to make for an immensely satisfying and mechanically deep experience that insists you step up to the plate and surmount its seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Set during the Later Han Dynasty of China, specifically the Three Kingdoms period, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty follows your unnamed player character navigate their way through the murky waters of war and chaos. Despite starting out as an unremarkable militia soldier, you’ll quickly gain notoriety as you rise up to fight back a demonic outbreak plaguing China, often crossing paths with notable figures from Chinese history in the process of dealing with the source of this supernatural threat.

Wo Long’s narrative ultimately serves as a sort of adaptation of these events with a dark fantasy flavour, imbuing it with supernatural elements and twisted takes on Chinese mythology. All the carnage and chaos that transpires really sells the idea that the long-standing Imperial dynasty is on the verge of collapse. The story itself is relatively paint-by-numbers, with a few interesting elements that might keep you from skipping cutscenes, but won’t necessarily have you on the edge of your seat. The most alluring aspect of it is interacting with storied heroes like Lu Bu and how they fit into Team Ninja’s take on a more dramatised retelling of the period.

Where Wo Long categorically excels, though, is in its combat. It’s similar to Sekiro at its core, but has so many in-depth systems built around it that it becomes a much more involved and measured process. That isn’t to discount the challenge of Sekiro’s rhythmic flow, but Wo Long has a much faster pace to it overall that demands your full attention at all times. Between regular encounters and boss fights, there’s much to look forward to for fans of the genre.

It’s all built around the Spirit Gauge, which acts as a sort of posture/poise meter, while also doubling as a resource in combat. Proper deflect timing, counters, and light attacks will build up this meter, while using heavy attacks, Wizardry Spells, and Martial Arts will expend it, as well as getting hit. Using any of the aforementioned attacks costs Spirit Gauge, but also grow in power in accordance with how much you have.

Breaking an enemy’s Spirit Gauge opens them up for a critical attack, but your own can also be broken, leaving you completely defenceless for a short window of time. It lends to a constant risk/reward factor in combat where you know that one more successful deflect means you can unleash a nasty heavy attack for big damage, or cast a Wizardry Spell without putting your own Spirit Gauge in danger.

Even dodging and deflecting costs Spirit Gauge to use, so throwing them out in the hope to survive will set you on path towards swift demise. It can be overwhelming at first, but you’ll quickly find that you perform every action in combat with intent, and the decision to tie your Martial Arts and Wizardry Spells to a consistently renewable resource means you’ll engage with them much more than you otherwise would.

The cherry on top are Critical Attacks and Divine Beasts. The former are heavy hitting attacks that can’t be blocked. Successfully deflecting these results in a large chunk of Spirit Gauge damage, as well as shortening the enemy’s overall Spirit Gauge until their next break. Divine Beasts function similarly to the Guardian Spirits of Nioh, where you can summon an equipped beast when the Divine Beast Gauge is full to gain advantages in combat, or use to them unleash a powerful attack.

Progression throughout levels is also another novel concept that Wo Long builds on in interesting ways, namely through the Morale system. While you’ll level and gear your character as you play through missions, each one also has its own Morale ranks to raise through exploration. You and your enemies have your own Morale ranks, which determine your overall strength within missions. Generally, you don’t want to go up against enemies with significantly higher levels of Morale than you. You lose Morale through death and getting hit by critical attacks, while it’s gained in a few ways, most notably through dispatching enemies, and via the brilliant Fortitude system.

Fortitude represents the lowest that your Morale can drop to. You’ll start main missions with zero Fortitude, while side missions are usually higher. As you explore levels, you’ll find Battle Flags and Marking Flags, both of which increase your Fortitude, meaning you’re slowly lifting your minimum Morale as you venture through each mission. This mechanic alone if enough to incentivise exploration in Wo Long’s environments. You can absolutely try to beeline to the boss room while gaining Morale on the way, but without hitting any flags, you’ll lose it all as soon as you die, and it isn’t exactly easy to recover.

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Morale applies to your enemies as well, which is another thing to consider. Hitting an enemy with a critical attack after breaking their Spirit Gauge will drop their Morale by one, and some enemies can boost their allies Morale passively. Additionally, you can find groups of enemies guarding Battle Flags that need to be dispatched before you can claim them, and picking them off one-by-one is incentivised to slowly whittle away at their Morale. Not only is it a fantastic form of progression within each level, but it also goes hand-in-hand with the setting and themes of Wo Long.

I will admit that there’s a lot to contend with here. Even the most seasoned of Souls-like veterans will need to take some time to adjust and learn all the systems at play here. It can be confusing at first, especially when so much is thrown at you in the opening hours of the game, but sticking with it gives way to systems that intertwine to create a cohesive combat system that’s incredibly satisfying to master.

A combat system like this is nothing without good enemy design, but this is another area where Wo Long delivers in spades. Both visually and mechanically, there are many foes to contend with here, each with unique move sets and capabilities that keep you on your toes. Seeing these Chinese myths converted into more demonic forms is fascinatingly morbid that always had me keen to see what was up next. The boss fights are a particular highlight, serving as firm punctuation marks to the end of each level. Some of them are definitively better than others, but they’re still always something to look forward to.

The other core form of progression is your traditional levelling, but there’s also some changes made here that keep Wo Long unique within the genre. Instead of investing points attained with each level in traditional stats, you can put it into one of five Virtues, each one scaling with different weapon types, boosting their own stats, and grating access to specific wizardry spells. There’s less incentive to generalise and a push to spec into one or two Virtues specifically to build out your character. The high level wizardry spells require quite high Virtue levels, so investing in a particular type yields worthwhile rewards.

When it comes to weapons and armour, there’s a tried and true focus on acquiring loot from chests, enemies, and by completing levels. Unfortunately, much like Team Ninja’s other titles, there is far too much loot to collect and manage. Stranger of Paradise made some progress in this regard via the inclusion of an auto-equip function, but even that is sorely lacking in Wo Long. You end up spending long stretches of time in menus, picking and choosing which armour and weapon combinations you want to use, along with ranged weapons and charms also.

A vast majority of the loot you’ll get across your first playthrough will eventually become useless, and ends up getting sold or tossed away at some point. One welcome inclusion is the ability to upgrade weapons and armour with materials, but it’s hard to commit to making a proper build when a bulk of the best gear drops in the post-game.

Speaking of weapons, there’s a wide array to choose from here, each with their own string of light attacks and a heavy attack. Each one also comes with a unique set of Martial Arts, and higher rarity weapons drop with special effects that can further cater to a particular play style. There’s a lot to sink your teeth into here if you’re a fan of Team Ninja’s post-game build crafting, but it can feel arbitrary outside of that as you constantly cycle through gear for better stats.

Wo Long isn’t a particularly pretty game in the traditional sense. It’s rife with grunge and rancid corruption that go a long way to building up the world and the events transpiring within it. Each battlefield you’ll visit is remarkably unique, from towering forts to serene mountainsides. No matter where you go, though, Demonic Qi has taken hold. It’s an all around well-realised setting that I never got tired of exploring despite how desolate and war-torn it can be at times.

The PS5 version features two visual presets, one that prioritises frame rate, and another that focuses on resolution. I found that the resolution mode, while gorgeous, often dropped below 60 frames when the going got tough, which isn’t ideal for a game as reflex based as this. The performance mode is what I spent my playthrough on, which sports a consistently smooth 60 frames no matter what was transpiring on screen.

While Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty falls victim to the problems of Team Ninja’s prior Souls-like outings, there’s no denying that there’s an excellently crafted game here that’s unique among their offerings. It has such strong combat, and some really great ideas that execute just as well, that it’s easy to look past what few flaws there are and really enjoy what’s on offer here. I’ve always enjoyed Team Ninja’s games, but Wo Long in particular is an experience I won’t be forgetting anytime soon, and one I’ll surely be revisiting over the years.

The post Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Review – Mechanical Bliss appeared first on Press Start.

Sony has announced five new titles for PlayStation VR2 for players to sink their teeth into following this week’s launch. The titles were shown off during this morning’s State of Play and showcase some of the variety we can expect with titles going forward on the VR2. Some of these titles are ports of existing games, while others are entirely brand new.

The Foglands

The Foglands is an atmospheric roguelike releasing later this year with a visual style most comparative to Sea of Thieves. The game looks quite atmospheric, with a focus on first-person combat and a focus on using your environment to get an upper-hand on your adversaries. It’s coming sometime this year.

Green Hell VR

Previously released in 2019 on PC, Green Hell VR is a VR survival game about trying to last in the Amazon jungle. Touted as a complex and authentic survival game, players will have to maintain hunger, thirst, and fatigue, all while contending with dangerous wildlife and tropic dangers that can strike you down at any time. It’s also releasing sometime this year.

Synapse

Synapse comes from the team behind Far Cry VR and Fracked and Phantom: Covert Ops. It gives similar vibes to Control, where players will move through monochromatic environments, using telekinesis to pick up and hurl items as you move your way through stages in first-person combat. It’s a tried-and-true combination, and you’ll be able to play it later this year.

Journey To Foundation

Based on Isaac Asimov’s sci-fi epic, Journey To Foundation sees players taking control of a galactic spymaster to infiltrate a group of defectors, discovering a truth that could alter the course of history forever. If you’ve got a hankering for some nifty sci-fi settings and what looks to be a well-realized world, Journey To Foundation might be for you when it launches later this year.

Before Our Eyes

The 2021 adventure game developed by GoodbyeWorld Games is being ported to VR using VR2’s front-facing camera and eye tracking to bring the game’s very novel premise to new heights. The general idea is that you watch the narrative fold and change as you blink in real life, resulting in different outcomes and narrative beats based on when you blink. It’s a great fit for VR2’s eye tracking, and is definitely one to keep your eyes on for when it launches on March 10th, 2023.

For more on the PlayStation VR2, check out our review for the headset itself, and our Horizon: Call of the Mountain review. You can also check out all the other announcement at this morning’s State of Play here.

The post Here’s 5 New Games Coming to the PlayStation VR2 appeared first on Press Start.

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land marked a turning point for Kirby when it released on the Wii in 2011. Previous entries had mostly deviated from the traditional formula fans had come to expect, and tended to vary in quality from title to title. Return to Dream Land brought the series back to its fundamentals, eventually paving the way to the fantastic Kirby: Triple Deluxe, and its spiritual sequel Kirby: Planet Robobot.

Kirby’s come a long way since, with its first fully 3D entry in the form of Kirby and the Forgotten Land launching last year on the Switch. With a successful transition to the third dimension, and a relatively underwhelming 2D entry in Star Allies, it feels all too right for Return to Dream Land to receive the deluxe treatment. While the value proposition is questionable for those looking to double-dip, the end result is a content-packed experience that’s as timeless as it is charming, and one worth jumping into for any new fans of the franchise.

After watching an interdimensional ship known as the Lor Starcutter crash on planet Popstar, Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Bandana Dee go to investigate. The pilot of the ship, Magalor, reveals to the gang that parts of the ship have been scattered across Popstar, and he can’t return home until the Starcutter is repaired. Selfless as ever, Kirby and co. set off to find the missing pieces in exchange for a trip to Magalor’s home world of Halcandra.

It’s a standard Kirby plot that any fan of the series can predict from the outset, but that doesn’t stop it from being a heartwarming little adventure across Popstar. It largely serves as the backdrop for the gameplay, but it’s cool to see Kirby’s mainstay villains set aside their differences to help Magalor. Throw in some revamped cutscenes and a few late-game story beats to keep things moving, and you end up with a cute little adventure about friendship and camaraderie that feels right at home in a Kirby game.

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe is largely the same experience as the original when it comes to the main story, with a few new bells and whistles to boot. It’s a very traditional 2D Kirby game, with a heap of Copy Abilities, collectibles to hunt down, bosses to battle, and platforming challenges to overcome. It’s a bit of mindless fun when playing solo that never overstays its welcome, but the game really excels in cooperative play, where all manner of chaos unfolds as you move through levels that introduce new mechanics and ideas that keeps you on your toes.

The Copy Abilities are where Return to Dream Land really shines. There’s a truckload of them to play with here, some of them new to the Deluxe version, but each one feels unique and fleshed out. It keeps the level to level progression varied, and it feels like there’s always something new to learn with each new ability you encounter. It all comes to a head with Super Abilities, where swallowing Super enemies grants Kirby temporary Copy Abilities that are vastly stronger than usual, allowing you to completely decimate enemies with attacks that fill the screen in glorious fashion.

While Kirby has never been about difficulty, Return to Dream Land has a noticeably flat difficulty curve throughout the main story, that only picks up a little bit towards the end. Part of this is due to the Super Abilities, but Return to Dream Land doesn’t go out of its way to challenge you in general, even when it comes down to hunting the Energy Spheres hiding in each level. There is decent incentive for collecting these, though, as they unlock doors on the Lor Starcutter that grant access to Copy Ability rooms and most notably – Copy Ability Challenges.

These are short and sweet platforming challenges that really test your aptitude with individual Copy Abilities. The idea is to make it to the goal with as many points as possible, through defeating enemies, collecting coins, and avoiding damage. It’s easy enough to get bronze and silver rankings for these, but the real chase comes from hunting down the gold ranks. The need for efficient use of Copy Abilities and precise platforming kept me coming back attempt after attempt so I could reach the ever-tantalising gold ranks for each challenge.

The two biggest inclusions in this package, come in the form of Helper Magalor and the Magalor Epilogue. The former serves as a helper mode where Magalor can double Kirby’s health, prevent him from falling into bottomless pits, as well as providing Copy Abilities during boss fights. Helper Magalor is an entirely optional inclusion, but one that’s much appreciated, and will no doubt help those who make use of it. The Magalor Epilogue is where a bulk of the new content lies, and unlocks upon completion of the main story.

The Magalor Epilogue is a thoroughly enjoyable 2-3 hours that Kirby fans are bound to love. Set after the events of the main story, Magalor wakes up in a realm between dimensions without his powers. You’ll traverse bite-sized levels and collect Magic Points that can be used to further upgrade Magalor’s abilities. Similar to the Copy Ability Challenges, each level in the Magalor Epilogue is ranked based on the amount of Magic Points you accrue in each level. You’ll find hitting higher ranks quite difficult early on, but as you progress through the worlds and unlock new abilities for Magalor, you can return to these stages to go after even higher scores.

There’s quite a bit to upgrade here, and the wide selection of abilities you can improve lends some player choice to the experience. Running through to the credits is fun enough as is, but it can’t be understated how satisfying it is to return to prior stages to get better rankings. You’ll rack up high combo counts that yield more Magic Points, gain access to powerful new abilities, and wipe the floor with bosses who initially proved more difficult the first time around due to Magalor’s limited skill-set. It’s a great inclusion with a decent chunk of playtime if you look to get the highest ranks on each stage, and also ties up the narrative quite nicely by the end of it all.

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A Kirby game isn’t a Kirby game without all the extra modes and subgames to play around with as well. Return to Dream Land Deluxe does not disappoint in this regard, with the series staple Arena Mode, Extra Mode, and a collection of simple yet entertaining Subgames to play with friends. Arena is the same as ever, giving players the opportunity to go up against a gauntlet of all the bosses in the game with any Copy Ability at your disposal. Extra Mode also adds some value for completionists, offering a more difficult version of the main story that unlocks the True Arena upon completion.

The Subgames are a particular standout in Return to Dream Land Deluxe. A lot of them are returning, with only two new ones accounted for in this package, but the quality standard here is quite high. They’re all small in scope and only take a few minutes to see through, but each offer a fun little distraction to play with friends aside from the main story. All of these are set within Merry Magoland which touts countless challenges to complete for cosmetic goodies, serving as a whimsical backdrop to the carnival-like nature of the Subgames.

While most of the Deluxe treatments typically upscale visuals to the Switch’s HD resolutions, Return to Dreamland Deluxe seems to have received some extra TLC. This game is gorgeous, and fits right at home on the Switch. All of the worlds feel distinct and varied with bright, energetic colour palettes and a striking art style that is always easy on the eyes. Special mention should go to the reworked backgrounds, which are so packed with detail and sense of place, it’s hard not to gawk at them each time you see a new one. This is coupled with rock-solid performance in both handheld and docked modes, making for an all-round smooth and fluid experience.

While Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a no brainer recommendation to those who’ve yet to jump in, it’s a bit more complex for those who’ve experienced it before. The new stuff here is fantastic, there just isn’t all that much of it, so whether or not the enhanced visuals and the Magalor Epilogue can justify the price is up to you. If you do take the plunge, you’ll be greeted with one of Kirby’s best 2D adventures, made even better.

The post Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe Review – A Quintessential Kirby Package appeared first on Press Start.

The rise of Yakuza’s popularity in the West has been something to behold over the last few years. Starting with Yakuza 0’s worldwide release in 2017, the franchise has propelled itself into the limelight, finally garnering the recognition and reception it deserves. The results of this have been felt quite quickly, with simultaneous releases and a slew of new projects in the coming years, including the long-awaited remake/localisation of Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin!, which only released in Japan when it originally launched in 2014.

It comes to us in 2023 rocking the brand new moniker for the series as Like A Dragon: Ishin!, and is fundamentally different from prior entries. Serving as a spin-off set in the samurai era of Japan as opposed to the bustling modern-day landscapes seen in mainline entries, Ishin offers up a unique flavour of Yakuza, one most comparable in gameplay to the likes of 5 and 0, but narratively, unlike anything we’ve had before. Despite some flaws, Like A Dragon: Ishin! is a wild ride that deserves a place in the pantheon of its predecessors, and is a must play for series veterans and newcomers alike.

Specifically set in the late Edo period, Japan is undergoing a transformation after the arrival of Western ships during the Bakumatsu era. Players step into the shoes of Sakamoto Ryoma, who bears a striking resemblance to former series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. Ryoma returns to his hometown of Tosa after spending time in Edo studying swordsmanship, and is soon pulled into a political conspiracy to upend the discriminatory social class system Tosa is embroiled in. Ryoma, together with his surrogate father Yoshida Toyo, and his best friend, Takechi Hanpeita, hatch a plan to free Tosa from its oppressive government.

Things quickly turn sour, though, as Toyo is assassinated by a masked assailant, forcing Ryoma to leave Tosa behind as the prime suspect of the murder, fleeing to Japan’s capital of Kyo. One year later, and going by the alias of Saito Hajime, Ryoma seeks to infiltrate the Shinsengumi in the search for his father’s murderer. In typical Yakuza fashion, what unfolds is a grand conspiracy that reaches far across Japan, with Ryoma taking centre stage in the conflict.

What’s most fascinating about Ishin’s narrative, though, is that it’s largely based off of people and events that actually happened in Japan during this time of turmoil. It’s obviously quite dramatised for the purpose of entertainment, but this aspect of the story folds in an element of historical accuracy that’s new to the series. Reading up on the people these characters were inspired by, and the events that they become entangled in was a cathartic moment of realisation and connection to the country’s storied history.

Series veterans will no doubt get a kick out of seeing fan favourite characters translated into these historical figures, which also keeps the narrative firmly rooted within the realms of Yakuza. These characters also don’t always align in behaviour and morals as their mainline series parallels, which makes for many unexpected moments and interactions that had me grinning from ear to ear. Another nice touch is the inclusion of characters from Yakuza 6, and Like A Dragon, who weren’t present in the original Japanese release. While I haven’t played the original, the inclusion of these characters feels more celebratory and reverent as opposed to invasive or out of place.

The story itself is compelling from start to finish, brought to life by consistently stunning cutscenes, excellent performances, and unending attention to detail. It holds remarkable pace, constantly dangling the carrot in front of you without ever divulging all of its answers until credits roll. Myriad twists and turns constantly kept me on the edge of my seat, and while I appreciate the labyrinthian plots of prior entries, it’s nice to have something more straightforward in nature, meaning Ishin spends less time exposition dumping, and more time with its characters and moral quandaries.

If you weren’t a fan of Like A Dragon’s shift to turn-based combat, Like A Dragon: Ishin! has you covered. With the original Japanese release slotted between Yakuza 5 and Yakuza 0, it comes as no surprise that Ishin offers some of the most well-realised action combat in the series. Ryoma has four styles accessible to him in combat; Swordsman, Gunman, Wild Dancer, and Brawler, each one offering their own set of strengths and weaknesses.

Where Brawler lacks the raw damage of Swordsman, it gives you access to grabs and environmental weapons. Likewise, Gunman grants you a slew of ranged attacks which are great at a distance, but will put you in a tricky place if enemies close in, while Wild Dancer offers loads of crowd control and far-reaching attacks in a trade for riskier defence options. It’s a more considered and deliberate combat system in comparison to the scrappy scuffles of prior games. Heat Actions also return in all their glory, with each style boasting a heap of satisfyingly crunchy attacks that rarely wear out their welcome.

The way Ishin handles progression ensures that you’re constantly unlocking new moves within each style to play around with. Using styles unlocks respective orbs to spend in their vast skill trees, where Training Orbs unlocked by accruing regular experience points can be used in any tree. This means you can always progress a tree you aren’t using as much as the others. The ability to refund Training Orbs in place of style specific orbs means you can chop and change skills as needed, and adds a nice degree of customisation to how you move through each style’s tree. You’ll also unlock the ability to use powerful special weapons that bring their own flair to combat.

The other system that spices up combat comes in the form of the Trooper Card system. These cards give Ryoma additional abilities to play with, from area-of-effect attacks and damage boosts to health regen and knockbacks. While they can feel overpowered early on, they balance out towards the second half of the game, and add an extra layer of progression aside from the stuff tied directly to Ryoma. A few of these are real-world celebrities and influencers which can be immersion breaking, but the Trooper Card system can be disabled if you want to play without it.

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The flipside of progression comes in the form of crafting, where materials obtained through various means can be spent to craft and enhance weapons. It works as a system and clicks nicely with the overall setting of Ishin, but can feel arbitrary when you’re constantly getting new weapons from bosses, Substories, and countless other sources. It’s a system where you get out what you put in, but I feel like there could’ve been more incentive to engage with it – especially in comparison to Yakuza: Like A Dragon’s crafting system.

A Yakuza game isn’t a Yakuza game without a compact open-world full of Substories and side content to engage with, and Ishin does not disappoint in this regard. Series mainstays like karaoke and dancing return in full-force here, but Ishin also brings along it’s own minigames to play around with. A highlight was chicken racing, where you can bet on rivalling chickens as they race around tracks. Another worthwhile distraction comes in the form of Ryoma’s villa, where you can have another life with Haruka, expanding your countryside villa as you farm, cook, and raise pets. There are so many to play around with when you want a break from the main plot, and they work together to produce the whacky tonal dissonance Yakuza is known for.

While not quite as many as other entries in the franchise, Ishin still offers a hefty number of Substories to engage with. While I can’t attest to the quality of all of them, the ones I did complete were thoroughly entertaining and well worth seeing through to the end. There’s one in particular surrounding an inari sushi salesman who sells out of product every day, where you’ll return to him morning after morning in the hopes that you’ll make it to the front of the line before he sells out. Without spoiling it, this absurd premise takes an unexpected yet heartwarming turn that further develops Ryoma’s character, while also building up the world around him.

From a technical perspective, Like A Dragon: Ishin! is mostly fine, but there are a few glaring flaws that often make themselves known while playing. The game looks and runs great, it might not stand up to the visual fidelity of Lost Judgment or Yakuza: Like A Dragon, but it definitely satisfies as a remaster/remake of a PS4 game. Cutscenes are remarkably gorgeous, and the art direction is well-realised within the setting of a historic Japan. The streets bustle in realistic fashion, with people going about their days, only to give way to atmospheric nights lit by restaurant lanterns and candles, creating a palpable sense of time and place.

Unfortunately, Ishin hitches a lot when jumping out of menus, whether that be when levelling up or accessing your inventory, often for a noticeable amount of time. I also had the game crash on me once, and the UI is noticeably bland – especially the text. None of these things were enough to outright ruin my experience with the game, but they happened often enough that it took me out of the experience.

Hopefully Like A Dragon: Ishin is the start of an effort to bring more of the Japan exclusive Yakuza games to the west. While Yakuza: Like A Dragon offers its own turn-based take on the franchise with a fantastic cast, I’d be lying if I didn’t emphasise how much of a blast it was to play a more traditional Yakuza game, for lack of a better word. Jumping into a game with familiar faces you’ve spent so many hours with is cathartic, especially in a setting as unique and well-realised as this one. Despite the core appeal to long-time fans, Ishin is also a great place for newcomers to jump in as well, with only tangential connections to the mainline series.

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After two mainline games, a number of expansions, and countless seasons, Destiny is fast approaching the end of its original 10 year plan. While it’s no secret that Bungie have plans to continue the universe after the Light versus Darkness saga, there’s a sense of finality and dread with the imminent arrival of Lightfall.

After an early viewing of the latest ViDoc and a lengthy hands-off preview of Lightfall’s first campaign mission and some Neomuna patrol, it’s clear that Bungie are setting up for an expansion that will fundamentally shift Destiny not just in its narrative prospects, but also in the honing and refinement of systems you engage with each time you log-on. While some of the details were understandably scarce, there’s plenty to look forward to in Lightfall when it launches at the end of the month.

Our End Begins

The Witness and its newest Disciple are here, bringing with them the threat of a second collapse as the Black Fleet closes in on Earth, the Tower, humanity, and its allies. Hitching a ride in a moment of desperation, its your job as a Guardian to step into an active war on Neomuna as the tip of the spear, engaging in the bleeding edge of conflict with only your allies to confide in. Lightfall is undoubtedly setting up for the finale to come with The Final Shape, with an emphasis on camaraderie and banding together in the face of the apocalypse.

Lightfall also touts the return of a newly transformed Calus, fundamentally changed by his encounter with the Darkness. What used to be a potential ally in vanilla Destiny 2 has since evolved into an even more selfish exile, who has nothing on his mind aside from his own preservation. There’s a haunting sense of reverence within all the groveling and worship Calus has for the Darkness in what few cutscenes we were treated to, painting him as a desperate, mortified shell of his former self.

This clearly stems from the inexplicable and ethereal existence of The Witness, the face of the Darkness, the voice in the shadows that we’ve been hearing for so long. There’s an immediately captivating reason for the Black Fleet’s arrival on Neptune, and The Witness has a presence and gravity to it unlike any other character we’ve seen thus far. Based on what’s been shown, I suspect that veteran players and lore junkies alike will be very pleased with what Lightfall has to offer from a narrative perspective, especially given all the build-up and established story threads over the years.

Weaving the Darkness

With insurmountable odds stacked against you, Strand offers a way to fight back, a tool forged by Guardians from the Darkness that The Witness has yet to account for. Tapping into ethereal, unseen threads that connect all living things and weaving them into paracausal weapons and abilities. This firmly roots Strand in the ideas of telekinesis and supernatural psychic abilities that were big in the 80s, running in parallel to Lightfall’s core fantasy of emulating action movies from the very same era.

Strand’s core appeal comes in the form of a grapple hook, which goes hand-in-hand with the cityscape of Neomuna, making for mobility and traversal likened to web-swinging. This is a tool accessible to all classes in lieu of a typical grenade, but much like the other 3.0 subclasses, you can opt for a more traditional form of ordinance instead (why would you, though?). You can also use the grapple in combat to pull yourself towards enemies for an explosive Grapple Punch, or to quickly reposition when cornered, lending to a high action-per-minute style of gameplay not found in other subclasses.

After deep-diving into the subclass with Bungie, its clear that Strand is targeting a unique power fantasy within the scope of Destiny’s current offerings, allowing Guardians to string up combatant, unleash explosive Threadlings, and more. Much like Stasis, it leans into crowd-control as opposed to raw damage, with emphasis on manipulating the battlefield through well placed abilities and timely Super uses. A special shoutout should go to the Hunter subclass, the Threadrunner, which combines free-flowing movement and dives to dart about the battlefield in a blur of neon green.

A Tormented Existence

One topic Bungie was particularly excited about, was a new enemy unit called Tormentors, which have been shown off briefly in a few of the trailers. Described as the most terrifying unit in the game, Tormentors are few and far between but aim to leave a big impact when dropped into encounters. Carrying monolithic scythes and utilizing Void energy, these hulks of Darkness offer a unique combat challenge among Destiny’s pantheon of enemy types, and demand your attention when their presence is made known.

When asked about how often we’ll encounter these monstrosities, the team said that it was a fine balance to keep combat encounters fresh while not diminishing the fear associated with them. We’ll encounter them more than a few times in the campaign, but what makes them unique is the way in which you engage them and the situations you’ll find them in. Bungie mentioned that they’d learnt a lot from Lightbearer Hive when it comes to powerful units, and that Tormentors aren’t strictly limited to Neomuna and the Lightfall campaign.

A Neon Drenched Apocalypse

A new expansion always means a new area to explore, this time with the introduction of Neptune and the city of Neomuna. A city established by a surviving branch of humanity after the first collapse, who quickly went into hiding by cutting off all communications to keep safe. In the universe of Destiny, though, there’s rarely such a thing as being truly safe, which is where the Cloudstriders come in. The grizzled Rohan and eager Nimbus are the current defenders of Neomuna, protecting its people from the Vex, and now, the Shadow Legion.

Bungie described Neomuna as a neon soaked city with a spectrum of environments, pointing in particular to an arcade Lost Sector and the aptly named Pouka Pond, which is full of the same species as66 Elsie’s companion introduced briefly in Beyond Light. Looming on the other side of the city is the Typhon Imperator, the ship that Calus commands in wake of his recent allegiances. This towering hulk of Darkness is a perpetual reminder of the war at hand, and is visible in almost every skybox due to its sheer size.

It’s a tried and true sci-fi setting, but not one we’ve seen inside of Destiny outside of the Vex Network. Neomuna’s many mysteries are waiting to be uncovered and it seems tailor built for traversal with Strand’s new grappling hook. Grapple Tangles spread throughout the city further reinforce this, refunding grenade charges to incentivize back to back grappling. It seems like a much more vertical environment that captures the overall vibe of Lightfall well, and I can’t wait to dive in and explore every nook and cranny.

Hitting Close to Home

While Lightfall is about fighting the war on Neomuna, Season of Defiance is about the ground war taking place back home on Earth, defending against Calus and his forces as they attempt to invade the Last City. Working together with characters like Petra, Devrim, Amanda, and Mara Sov as you free prisoners and defy The Witness. While details on the seasonal activity and other potential inclusions were scarce, we did get a brief look at a Darkness construct on Earth, with a tone that seems to be much more intimate than what we’ll get with Neomuna.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen characters like Devrim and Amanda pulled back into the limelight, but there’s no better option to do so than with Lightfall. Mara Sov and Petra have also been relatively absent since Season of Lost, with Mara having some dialogue throughout Season of the Seraph, but not much else. The seasons that launch alongside expansions are always a little lighter than typical seasonal offerings, but Defiance looks to be bringing something entirely unique in comparison to Lightfall’s campaign, and should hopefully keep players hooked in the months after launch.

Guardian Ranks

With original campaigns vaulted and seasonal content disappearing at the launch of a new expansion, it’s always been hard to get into Destiny as a fresh player – especially over the last few years. This is something Bungie are keenly aware of, but attempts to remedy the situation often fall flat in the face of expansive systems, countless currencies, and difficult end-game content that require helping hands. Guardian Ranks function as a way to give guidance to those who want to get better at the game, but don’t know where to start.

Each rank is a phase in your journey as a Guardian, with early stages focusing on building up your knowledge of the world and power base, where later ranks focus on build-crafting, currencies, and high-end gameplay systems. Guardian Rank unlocks are retroactive, so long time players will have a bunch of ranks out of the gate. There’s also Advanced Ranks in relation to seasonal content which will reset at the end of each season, and your total Guardian Rank will replace the Season Rank next to your name for other Guardians to see – serving as a better representation of your experience with the game.

While it remains to be seen if Guardian Ranks will function as a getting-to-grips tool for new and relapsing players, it does look to be a neat way to chronicle our prior journeys, while also incentivizing to look to the future. As a veteran player, Guardian Ranks is an exciting prospect in the way I can look back on my time with the game, and get rewarded for it, whether that be through mods, loadout slots, or other incentives.

Tools of the Trade

With an increased emphasis on challenge and build-crafting, Lightfall brings a few quality-of-life changes that players have been asking for since Armor 2.0 was introduced with Shadowkeep. First, and most notably, is the introduction of a proper loadout system, where you can save and overwrite loadouts on each of your characters. Each character will have 10 unique loadout slots that you can tailor for different activities, with customizable names and icons to boot. Equipping a loadout will also pull weapons and armor from your vault and other characters, cutting out much of the tedium associated with third-party applications like Destiny Item Manager.

The second part of the equation is the all new Mod Manager system, which shows your overall build and current armor mods on one screen. Bungie said the primary goal of the Mod Manager is to make build-crafting and mod managing less taxing. It looks to be a very streamlined and functional system that gives you all the information you need when gearing up for particular content, and will no doubt cut down on the time spent in menus. To accommodate newer players who might not have access to certain mods, the Guardian Ranks system will eventually give access to every mod in the game, removing the frustration of waiting for daily Ada-1 resets in the hope she’ll stock what you need.

The Artifact Mod system is also seeing some changes, reverting back to the limited unlock system of old in exchange for permanently active Artifact Mods. You’ll no longer have to slot these mods on your armor, meaning Anti-Champion weapon mods will be intrinsic and always active once unlocked. All of these changes are things players have been clamoring for, and its great to see Bungie open the floodgates to make for a much more streamlined experience with build-crafting.

While this preview covers a hefty chunk of things you can expect Lightfall to bring, there’s still plenty of changes not mentioned here that will impact the game. From launch to Lightfall’s collection of seasons, Bungie are looking for ways to continually expand Destiny, and build a better experience for players. Between the story that’s about to unfold, Strand, Neomuna, a new raid, and so much more, it’s a great time to be playing Destiny.

Destiny 2: Lightfall launches on February 28th. For more on Lightfall, check out our interview with the leads on Strand, and keep an eye out for our full review next month.

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There’s palpable excitement in the Destiny community as we inch closer towards the release of Destiny 2’s fifth major expansion, Lightfall. While the narrative prospects of this penultimate piece to the Light versus Darkness saga are tantalising, there’s just as much anticipation for the brand-new Darkness subclass; Strand. We were lucky enough to see the new Strand trailer early, alongside being invited to a roundtable interview with a handful of other outlets. Here’s what design lead Kevin Yanes, and feature lead Eric Smith had to say on Strand’s inspirations, power fantasy, and what players can expect from it when Lightfall launches later this month.

What does Strand do better than Solar, Arc, Void, and Stasis? Why am I going to run Strand over those subclasses in endgame content?

Eric Smith: I think Strand does a number of things better than any other subclass. The grapple abilities specifically provide players with more movement freedom than they’ve ever had before. The core gameplay of loop of Strand is very dynamic. When using a Strand subclass, any Strand debuffed enemy that you defeat is going to turn into a Tangle when you kill them.

A Tangle is this kind of swirling bundle of strands, I can pick that Tangle up and throw them at enemies as a bomb, or I can shoot the Tangle where it lies or floats in the air to create an explosion. Additionally, when I grapple to a Tangle, it doesn’t cost me my grenade energy. So I can grapple to a Tangle, snatch it out of the air, throw it at an enemy, and still have a grapple ready to go. I think that sort of thing lends itself to the high actions per minute gameplay that you’re going to see with Strand.

There are a lot of Aspects and exotic armor that alter your Tangles in various ways. So for me, it doesn’t play like any of the other subclasses. It has its own unique identity.

There seems to be an underlying theme of control and manipulation with the darkness subclasses. Was that an intentional decision to separate them from the light subclasses and lean into a different kind of power fantasy?

Kevin Yanes: I would say that it isn’t necessarily an explicit goal for all Darkness subclasses to have manipulation of control over the battlefield, but we knew we wanted them to feel different. When we designed Stasis, we didn’t want it to just be melting things with your eyeballs, so we went down a crowd control route.

When we looked at Strand we also felt the same. We didn’t want to make just another flavor of instakill, so we looked at the suite of things we had done and we knew that the space of crowd control was relatively unexplored in our game. We had this fantasy of dark telekinesis from the beginning, telekinetic suspension, lifting things with your mind – that became a core driving fantasy. That led us down the path of featuring more crowd control in the game.

The Darkness subclasses also have a physicality to them in Stasis crystals and now Tangles, are these created with other gameplay purposes in mind?

KY: One way we think about Darkness subclasses and Darkness-like mechanical languages, is having physicality to them. All the Light subclasses are ethereal, magical, and energy based. With the Darkness subclasses you see a lot of physicality and manifestations in our world. Tangles, the Woven Form, Threadlings, Stasis Crystals and Bleak Watchers all reinforce that identity.

How is Destiny 2’s Level Design Affected by the Introduction of a Grappling Hook in the Strand Subclasses?

ES: Lightfall’s campaign specifically, was affected by the grapple and Grapple Tangles scattered throughout Neomuna. Grapple Tangles are like normal Tangles, but they’re more ethereal, so you can pick up and throw them for an explosion but you can still grapple to them for free. Those are scattered around Neomuna allowing you to chain grapples. Additionally, there are sections of Lightfall where we’re grappling to moving objects and vehicles to pull ourselves around the environment.

That said, the grapple can be used in any environment in the game. One thing we did with the grapple was, when you press the button, we always want to honor the players intent by pulling them in that direction, because that’s why they pressed the button. Even if the grapple doesn’t have the range to reach a surface and latch on to it, it’s going to anchor itself in midair, and pull us in that direction. So I can use this in existing raids and strikes to great effect in that, if I see a platform, and I want to swing up to it, I just look in the air, I press the button, and it’s going to pull me up there.

This is something we knew was a big deal when it came to existing environments, because it allows players to do things in those environments that we’ve never allowed them to do before. That part of it can be a little bit scary – when you put something out into the world that touches so much existing content, but we’re really excited to see what players do with it.

What does unlocking Strand look like? How grindy will it be in comparison to something like Stasis?

ES: We definitely learned from the Stasis unlock grind that it was hard to dedicate that much time per character to do all that. We’ve streamlined it this time. Instead of it being locked behind time-gated quests, it’ll be much more open in that I’m earning currency to unlock these things when I want to unlock them, essentially.

KY: When you end the campaign, you’ll have a pretty competent subclass, right? You will have a few Aspects, and I think we do a better job of onboarding the player here. Whereas In Beyond Light you had just a skeleton, you had to go out and fulfill the rest of that yourself. We definitely heard the feedback from Beyond Light, we know there are a lot of people who want to come in and try the new powers but the barrier to getting there was too high.

I know internally, we have a bunch of folks who wish they had it on their alternate characters but can’t summit the hill of going through that quest line again. That is absolutely something we wanted to fix this time around. So if you beat Lightfall, you’re going to be able to play with the new toys relatively quickly. If you want to expand that arsenal, it’s going to have a really clear and easy path for you to do so.

Strand is a fundamentally different subclass in the way that it adds traversal options in the form of a grapple. Have you been wanting to take subclasses in a new direction like this for some time?

KY: Yes, we had wanted to take subclasses in a different direction for a long time. We saw a little bit of this with Stasis where we focused on crowd control over just raw damage. When we started designing Strand, we actually wanted to take it much further, we had a large ideation phase, larger than our other damage types. We talked about a whole bunch of stuff that I’m not going to spoil because one day we might use it, but it was pretty out there. As we refined it and found what was necessary to the experience we pulled some stuff out and we indexed more subtly on things that we felt like were going to change the experience.

For instance, one of the things you’ll find when you use Strand is that it’s more rewarding the higher your actions per minute are. There are combinations you can have like debuffing a target with a melee, turning them into a Tangle, throwing that Tangle, grappling onto that Tangle which detonates as you follow up with a grapple punch, which, depending on your class might spawn Threadlings, or might unravel them to create new projectiles that then feed into your loop.

I remember the first couple of PvP play tests and I was giggling because I’m like, oh my god, the interaction matrix is massive here. When you string all of these commands together, you feel this rush of dopamine that I don’t think any of our other subclasses have without considerable mastery. The neat thing about Strand is we really have ended up with something that we believe is pretty easy to get into, but has a considerable amount of depth for you to master let alone the build crafting game that surrounds it.

Where did the inspiration for Strand come from?

KY: As for how we arrived at this power, we tried to find something that was cohesive with the 80s action hero theme of Lightfall. We dabbled in a number of interesting concepts from nanomachines to visualized audio, we always tried to relate everything back to the initial Darkness language of resonance. You can see that in Stasis where you have these Cymatics-like patterns on everything, the way the crystals fester and move, all of that is to reinforce that this is from the same power suite. Strand is no different, right? So we went into this world of telekinesis. Telekinesis was big thing in the 80s and 80s entertainment, we landed on this idea of dark telekinesis and we started thinking about how that was going to manifest in-game.

The concept of the Weave came out of the idea that it’s this dimensional construct that is interconnecting all living things. The power of Strand is the manipulation of that interconnected web of things. So you’ll see things like the World Strands, which are just like you, a powerful entity, or the way constructs of Strand that are bleeding into our world will start to illuminate some of that dimensional weave behind it. That all started from the point of how do we do 80s action hero sci fi? What are the tropes there? We built off of that for months and months.

Eric Mentioned that Hunters can place Tangles Via an Aspect. Does this mean you can create your own sort of jungle gym within an encounter space?

ES: Absolutely. You can create your own jungle gym, the Tangle lasts an (undisclosed) amount of time but once you grapple onto it, it actually resets that timer. So the answer is yes, you could create that jungle gym indefinitely as long as you keep grappling to those Tangles.

KY: Those Tangles are for friendlies too, right? A common practice is to dive a zone with a Hunter leading the charge, creating Tangles to grapple off of that don’t consume your grenade cooldown. You can then follow up with grapple punches, you can do cheeky and funny things you otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

What does Strand offer from a mastery perspective and how long do you feel players will need to play with the subclass to really feel good with it?

ES: It’s going to vary depending on subclass, obviously, but I think we wanted to add some depth to Strand. Using the Hunter as an example, we’ve talked about Tangles, and how when we notice there is a Tangle, we can shoot it to make it explode, we can grab it and throw it, we can grapple to it. The Hunter has a melee attack called threaded spike that goes out and bounces between enemies, and once there are no more enemies, it comes back to the Hunter. When it comes back to the Hunter, it’s going to provide melee energy based on how many enemies that hits, but you can actually press the melee button again, at the moment that the spike comes back to you and catch it out of the air to increase how much melee energy you get. If you can excel in that timing mini game, you can increase your overall output.

Additionally, the Hunter super, you weave this rope dart that has a light attack as well as a heavy attack. The light attack, if you hit enemies with the tip of the dart, will deal bonus damage. If you defeat an enemy like that they’re going to explode and damage enemies around them. So you can run in all willy-nilly and just swipe at everything, but if you can actually master the spacing required to like get that critical hit every single time, we’re rewarding that mastery with additional damage.

The Game Awards and Neomuna Destination Trailers have both shown off a new Hunter Ability akin to Shatterdive and Quickfall. Can you shed some light on this ability and its applications?

ES: Yeah, so this ability is called Ensnaring Slam. It’s one of the Hunter Aspects. It’s similar to other Hunter air slams but it has a unique timing and weight where you do this gainer backflip and slam to the ground suspending all nearby enemies. It has great synergy when paired with the grapple. For example, you can grapple above a group of enemies and slam down and it just feels really good to do so.

Can we expect more Fragments and Aspects for Strand as future seasons are rolled out after Lightfall’s release?

ES: We will be releasing new parts of the subclass, new Aspects, as the seasons succeeding Lightfall come out.

What are your favorite Strand exotic gear combos?

ES: I think for me one of the new exotics we just showed in our weapons and armor video that came out earlier this week was the Warlock Swarmers boots. When you destroy a Tangle, it creates Threadlings from that Tangle. That’s one of my favorite combos, you know, the Warlock is all about Threadlings, so any exotic that allows me to generate more Threadlings is gonna help that play style a lot.

The Warlock has a special kinship with Threadlings, which are these explosive creatures woven from Strand matter that crawl towards enemies, and then jump on them and explode. This is going to happen, regardless of what class you are, but if you’re a Warlock, Threadlings that can’t find any more targets are actually going to come back to you and hop on to you, which is an action we call perching. When a Threadling perches on you, it condenses down into the smaller form and orbits around you. So I can run around with my minions, and as I attack enemies, they’re also going to pop off me and rush toward those enemies.

KY: I don’t want to try to pronounce the name of this helmet (Cyrtarachne’s Façade). The new exotic Hunter helmet that applies Woven Mail on grapple. I’m personally a big fan of that because I feel like not only does it provide a great advantage through Woven Mail, giving you damage resistance on your entire body including PvP, but it also creates this entire new avenue of Fragment build-crafting that was not available to you before. Woven Mail isn’t something that’s readily available to the Hunter, and now it being applied through a grapple, it starts to synergize with one of your other aspects that gives you the double grapple charge.

Then I can start to itemize and use the fragments that reward me for having Woven Mail on or do different effects based on things permitted while using Woven Mail. Personally to me, that’s the most interesting part because that’s the stuff you get to nerd out about and theory craft. Hopefully somebody does the work there and talks about it on YouTube or on Reddit and they’re like I created this super busted thing.

To me that’s like a successful exotic ability pairing when a new avenue of gameplay opens up that’s completely emergent, just from the systems talking to each other. We call them little engines that are self running. Then you start to add another part to it and now they’re talking to each other and these engines are almost perpetuating each other. That’s the kind of the fantasy we have when we’re thinking about build crafting in the game.

We have five subclasses right now and many are expecting a sixth in The Final Shape to make for three Light and three Dark. After designing Strand, how do you feel about the remaining design space for abilities in Destiny 2, and is there another big fantasy you still want to try?

KY: I feel good about the design space we have,  I hope we proved that with Subclass 3.0, we can take a defined subclass like Arc, Solar, Void, and bring newness to them. Thruster, Thunderclap, Gathering Storm, Child of the Old Gods, Lightning Surge, all new abilities that are nowhere near available to you in the old subclasses. Maybe it’s nice naivete, but the abilities team doesn’t like to like give up or feel like we’re at the end of the systemic road we’re on.

I think we believe pretty heavily that there’s a considerable amount of design space available for us to consume and discover more of. In terms of what design space would be around for a new fantasy of subclass? That’s a hard question to answer. Because if you’d asked me this after Stasis, I wouldn’t have even been remotely putting myself in the mindset of what Strand could be. I think, should we sit down and think about a space of a new power, I have all the all the confidence in the world that the team we’ve assembled on combat gameplay can pull it off.

ES: I agree. There’s still plenty of ability design space in Destiny 2. Like I said earlier, for every ability idea we execute on we leave a ton of others on the cutting room floor. There are new emotional fantasies, new mechanics that aren’t necessarily causing and preventing damage. There’s all sorts of things that we we’d love to explore in the future.

I think grappling hooks are awesome, and people love using them. We didn’t ever want to like shoehorn it into Destiny 2, but because of the kind of emotional fantasy we created with Strand revolving around rope and string, it was the perfect time to make it happen. I think there’s a lot of other stuff lurking out there, waiting for the perfect time to be implemented into the game.

We’re only a few short weeks away until Lightfall officially launches on February 28th, in the meantime, keep an eye out for the conclusion event for Season of the Seraph as we move towards the beginning of the end, and check out the official Strand trailer below!

The post Destiny 2: Lightfall Interview – Weaving A New Way to Play With Strand appeared first on Press Start.

In our review for Fire Emblem Engage, we discussed that while it’s important to know how and when to Engage when undertaking many of Fire Emblem Engage’s difficult skirmishes, it’s just as crucial to have Emblem’s paired with units that compliment the skill sets of units they’re tied to. With a total of 12 Emblem Rings, and over 30 units to pick and choose from, there’s a number of effective combinations that can turn the tides of battle when things aren’t in your favor. Here’s a few of the best Emblem Ring Pairings we used in our playthrough of Engage.

Alear and Lucina

While you might be quick to assume it’s best to keep Marth and Alear paired where possible, Lucina allows for more support options coupled with some of the offensive capabilities of Marth. Her Engage Skill, Bonded Shield, gives a high chance of preventing attacks against adjacent allies, making her an ideal option for frontline units. Alear’s Dragon type bonus gives this another 10% chance of activating, meaning you’ll be seeing fellow units make it through enemy turns relatively unscathed.

This, coupled with a slew of passive skills that benefit adjacent units make Lucina an ideal pairing for Alear who’ll spend most their time on the frontlines of battle anyway. It’s all tied together by Lucina’s Engage Attack, All for One, where all allies within 2 spaces will participate in a chain attack. Lucina also compliments Alear’s core kit, by giving them a ranged option in the form of the Parthia bow Engage Weapon, and two swords that are effective against a variety of units.

Timerra and Ike

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that Emblem Rings should be equipped on units other than the ones they inherently come with, but that isn’t always true. Timerra and Ike is one such example of a powerhouse pairing that can do a lot of heavy lifting all the way through to the credits. Great Aether, Ike’s Engage Attack, trades bonus defense and resistance for the ability to counter for a single turn. This pays out in spades when an attack is unleashed the next turn, dealing damage in a 2-space area that heals for 30% of the total damage dealt.

This synergizes well with Timerra’s relatively high defense and physical attack stats, which means that she’ll often recover all lost health when unleashing Great Aether, even when put right in the middle of a large group of adversaries. The icing on the cake is that Ike’s Engage Weapons give Timerra options that she otherwise lacks in a sword, an axe, and a hammer that can Smash opponents.

Timerra’s passive skills also do some heavy lifting in regards to the damage she can output. Sandstorm, for example, provides a chance to calculate damage dealt with a physical attack by using 150% of her defense as opposed to strength. This also works with Great Aether, meaning you can one-shot almost every unit in the game if Sandstorm triggers when the attack portion of Great Aether goes off. This makes Timerra and offensive and defensive powerhouse that’s incredibly versatile and effective in a myriad of ways.

Ivy and Lyn

Every Fire Emblem has that one unit that makes mincemeat of enemy forces regardless of the difficulty you’re playing on. Ivy is that unit for Fire Emblem Engage, and keeping her paired with Lyn allows her to really excel in outputting damage, and clearing a path for frontline units. The reason they work so well together is because of Lyn’s passive skills, Alacrity, and Speedtaker. Alacrity allows your unit to follow-up before a foe can counterattack when you initiate an engagement with a speed advantage of five or more, and Speedtaker grants a stacking speed buff each time a unit initiates combat and defeats a foe, up to a total of +10.

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This means that after a few dispatched enemies, Ivy can far surpass any opponent in terms of speed thanks to her high base stats. Throw a high-power magic spell like Bolganone on her for good measure, and she’ll be clearing out waves of enemies all by herself. If and when you get yourself into a sticky situation, Lyn’s Engage Skill comes in handy, allowing a unit to create illusory doubles that can participate in chain attacks.

The icing on the cake is that all of these passive skills can be inherited from Lyn, meaning Ivy can be paired with an entirely different Emblem Ring to become even more powerful. If you opt to stick with the paring, though, Lyn affords Ivy some more options in combat with her Engage Weapons and an Engage Attack that can pick off potentially dangerous foes at a distance with a volley of arrows. It’s obvious that Lyn is suitable for any hard-hitting unit, but all of these aspects turn Ivy into a force to be reckoned with.

Framme and Micaiah

Framme makes for a great combat medic who can exploit particular weaknesses while supporting allied units through healing and positioning abilities. These strengths are only bolstered when paired with Emblem Micaiah, who’s passives increase healing capabilities while also keeping the healer relatively healthy. Because Framme’s advanced class is Martial Master, she can inflict Break on units outside of the traditional Weapon Triangle. This can often put her in unfavorable positions, though, meaning she’s quite susceptible to damage, especially with a low defense stat.

Micaiah’s Healing Light passive comes in handy here, where healing an ally also heals the caster for 50% of the total health recovered. This means you can keep Framme in the fight for longer, while also keeping your other units topped up. Her Qi Adept type bonus increases this healing by 20% when using a stave, meaning she gets even more health back for every heal. Micaiah’s Engage Attack, Great Sacrifice, trades all but one point of the users health to fully heal all allies, and also cures status effectives with the Qi Adept type bonus.

This makes Framme a frontline healing machine, and great for getting out of tight spots if a few mistakes have lead to some of your units running low. Micaiah’s Engage Weapons also afford Framme some much needed range in the form of magic, including Nosferatu which offers some very handy life steal, and Shine which can illuminate dark areas. It turns Framme into a jack of all trades who can really output some healing when needed, as well as keeping her alive in the close quarters encounters she excels at.

Fogado and Celica

When it comes to Emblem Ring pairings, it’s easy to default to setups that bolster prior strengths instead of supporting a unit’s weaknesses. Celica might seem like a weird choice for Fogado’s skillset, but there’s a lot more to this pairing than meets the eye. The biggest draw is Celica’s Engage Attack, Warp Ragnarok, which allows the user to warp upto 10 spaces and unleash a powerful magic attack. Because Fogado is a cavalry unit, the warp distance is increased by two spaces, allowing him to use it offensively or defensively depending on the situation.

Fogado’s Advanced Class, Cupido, also has sword proficiency, meaning the bump in magic stats he gets from being paired with Celica makes the Levin Sword a great equipment choice for Fogado, not only giving him access to the conventional Weapon Triangle, but also a method to get past armored foes. Celica’s Engage Weapons also help greatly by providing Fogado with a way to heal, and deal some extra damage types that help him dispatch corrupted enemies. It makes Fogado a sort of magic archer with incredible mobility and survivability, allowing him to pick off foes at a distance while also being adaptable to unique situations.

These are just a scant few of Emblem Ring pairings that can turn units from capable warriors to absolute powerhouses when they’re needed most. Even on the Normal difficulty, later chapters and optional Paralogues can turn up the heat quite a bit, so mix and match based on your best units and see what works for you!

Fire Emblem Engage is out now for Nintendo Switch, you can check out our bargain guide for the cheapest copies right here.

The post The Best Emblem Ring Pairings in Fire Emblem Engage appeared first on Press Start.

It feels like yesterday that 2019’s Fire Emblem: Three Houses took the world by storm, quickly becoming the franchise’s best selling entry by a large margin, and propelling the series to new heights and popularity. It’s an entirely different style of Fire Emblem, bucking many of the trends and trappings that the series has heralded for so many years. It’s with this context that the pivot back to more traditional Fire Emblem in Fire Emblem Engage is a relatively strange one, omitting many of the changes and ideas brought to the table by Three Houses.

In a lot of ways, though, Fire Emblem Engage is exactly what series veterans have wanted more of since 2012’s incredible Fire Emblem Awakening. With a linear narrative, an amalgamation of new and old mechanics, and a premise that celebrates the franchise’s rich history, Engage is another addictively satisfying entry into this legendary series despite some glaring flaws.

Fire Emblem Engage sees players stepping into the shoes of Alear, a male or female protagonist who also happens to be a Divine Dragon. Destined to thwart the opposing Fell Dragon’s plans of conquest and war, Alear must set out across the land of Elyos to gather the all-powerful Emblem Rings, and build up an army strong enough to take on Sombron and his army of corrupted foes.

I mentioned in my hands-on preview that the first third of the narrative wasn’t doing much for me, both in regards to its characters and plot beats. Unfortunately, this trend continued well into the second half of the game, with predictable twists, underdeveloped characters, and a cast of villains that felt somewhat forced and uninteresting. In spite of all this, though, the middle stretch of Engage eventually gives way to a third act that’s filled with unexpected revelations, meaningful character development, and heightened stakes that reinforce the core themes and ideas at the heart of Engage’s story.

Villains who I’d initially found underwhelming presented more layers of depth to their characterisations and motives, Alear and their relationships with the Emblems and supporting cast became more profound, and there were moments of tension and emotion that had me hanging on every word. While it absolutely takes far too long to get going, I have no doubt that it’ll be Engage’s mostly excellent third act I remember its narrative by, not all the middling stuff that led up to it.

The inconsistent writing of the core narrative also extends to the support conversations between characters. For every eye-opening discussion between royalty of rivalling kingdoms, there’s another that lacks the same depth and thematic messaging. It often leaves the cast feeling uneven in terms of development and quality, making it easy to pick favourites as opposed to umming and ahhing over who to deepen your bond with next.

This is felt most sorely in the bond conversations with Emblem Rings, which are simple, two to three line exchanges that add nothing of substance to either character. It’s a shame given the legacy of these figures, and seeing them have at least one meaningful support relationship to develop between one of Engage’s new characters would’ve gone a long way to providing new perspectives and growth to established characterisations.

The turn-based tactics of Fire Emblem is where Engage excels the most, combining the franchise’s staple gameplay systems with new mechanics that further expand strategic depth and customisation. It feels most comparable to Awakening and some of the older titles as opposed to Fates or Three Houses, but I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing. Most of this is thanks to the return of the Weapon Triangle, a focus on individual units, and efforts to make each class viable in the grand schemes of battle.

The Weapon Triangle’s return isn’t a tit-for-tat recreation, though. Fire Emblem Engage places a premium on exploiting enemy weaknesses through the Break system, where winning a matchup in the Weapon Triangle can Break an enemy’s stance. This prevents any further counter-attacks when engaged in battle, and makes the enemy unit more susceptible to damage. You can also inflict Break through smashing enemies into other units or terrain through heavy Smash attacks, which hit hard, but always act last.

These two systems alone add incentive to spend time planning before battles, deliberating over what units to bring with you into a fight, and where to place them on the map. Similarly, the Break and Smash systems incentivise smart play to get the most out of their inherent bonuses, forcing you to think about positioning, and turn order in a way that hasn’t been this present since Awakening. It echoes old-school Fire Emblem with some modern trimmings that feel like a natural progression of ideas synonymous with Fire Emblem’s strategy.

Where Fire Emblem Engage separates itself most, is with the titular Engage system. As you collect the Emblem Rings throughout the story, you can sync them with units in your army. Each Emblem Ring is tied to a legendary hero from Fire Emblem’s past, including fan favourites like Marth, Ike, and Corrin, as well as lesser known characters like Micaiah, Leif, and Eirika. Every mainline FE game is accounted for here, making for a game that feels like a true celebration of the franchise’s storied history.

Pairing Emblem Rings with units is no small decision, as these units gain access to passive skills, abilities, and increased stats that can all turn the tide of a battle if used properly. Ike, for example, is a defensive powerhouse, making him an ideal choice for any unit that specialises in defense. Likewise, Micaiah excels at healing and holy magic, making her perfectly suited for a healer/mage class hybrid. Each Emblem has a unique identity in the broad scope of Engage, and fits in well with the context of their roles in their original games.

Each unit paired with an Emblem Ring can Engage in battle, assuming a more powerful fusion form between the unit and the Emblem. Not only does this boost stats, but also grants access to a skill that can be used once per Engage. These skills vary greatly from Emblem to Emblem, and have unique applications within combat. Micaiah’s Engage Skill allows you to perform a team-wide heal at the cost of her health, where Roy’s unleashes a mighty attack that sets nearby terrain on fire. While you can refill the Engage meter in battle, you’ll often only ever Engage once or twice in any given encounter, making these skills incredibly valuable.

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As characters deepen their bonds with paired Emblem Rings, you’ll gain SP to spend on inheriting the skills they provide. While these skills are always active when paired, spending SP to inherit them means that units can gain the passive benefits without being paired to that specific Emblem Ring. This incentivises moving Emblem Rings between units regularly to get the most out of your army, giving strong passive skills to units that otherwise wouldn’t have access to them.

The other form of progression tied to Emblem Rings is through Bond Rings. As you complete achievements, progress through the narrative, and generally play the game, you’ll earn Bond Fragments. You can spend 100 Bond Fragments to create one random Bond Ring, or 1000 for 10 Bond Rings, each one boosting the stats of that Emblem Ring. Each Bond Ring is related to a character from that Emblem’s Fire Emblem title, and different rarities of rings grant greater stat increases. It works as a sort of gacha system that never feels so necessary as to make the RNG frustrating, but not totally useless to the point where it takes away from the thrill of creating new rings. Duplicate Bond Rings can also be melded to create higher rarity rings, so there’s a little bad luck protection in that regard.

Class progression for your units is similarly in-depth and customisable as you progress through Engage’s narrative. Unlike Three Houses, you won’t be moving through a class tree to reach the highest level of class. Once you reach level 20 on a base class, you can spend a Master Seal to move onto an advanced class, and a Secondary Seal to make any changes to another class down the track. The depth comes from the ability to expand a unit’s weapon proficiencies through Emblem Rings, allowing them to move into any class tied to those weapon types.

General use of Emblem Rings and the Engage system will lead to paired units gaining weapon proficiencies for that Emblem’s available weapon types, providing more incentive to regularly switch up your Emblem Ring setup. Gaining these proficiencies is what allows units to move into classes they otherwise wouldn’t be able to, which means while every unit has an inherent class path to follow by default, you can also branch out, mixing and matching intrinsic abilities to create combinations you usually wouldn’t see. It makes for class progression that seems less non-linear than what’s present in Three Houses, but eventually opens up to a similar level of customisation.

If that all sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. Fire Emblem Engage throws the kitchen sink at you in terms of systems and mechanics to interact with, and that’s without talking about the Somniel. While Engage is a return to old-school Fire Emblem in a lot of ways, the trend of social aspects in RPGs set by Persona is in full-force here. While I’m usually partial to these systems or enjoy them as much as the core strategy, Engage’s implementation of them were exhausting more than they were addictive – especially coming from Three Houses.

The problem is the sheer number of things you can do, and how often you can do them. While you don’t have to engage with all of them at every opportunity, I felt obligated to in order to make the most out of progression. While there’s a traditional Fire Emblem world map, the Somniel serves as a hub between skirmishes for almost everything you could possibly need in terms of progression.

You can participate in training mini-games for temporary stat boosts, partake in fishing, train units in arena battles, share meals with allies, and pick up numerous shiny items to use in cooking and crafting. While most of this stuff is fine at first, it very quickly wears out its welcome as you realise rewards for these activities refresh after every single battle, not just chapter concluding fights, but also the side skirmishes you’ll engage with for extra resources and EXP. It’s a perpetually tiring cycle that only ever lets up on one or two occasions, and I grew to dread returning to the Somniel as a result.

One part of the Somniel that I am quite fond of, is the Tower of Trials. The Tower of Trials is a completely optional set of trials that you can participate in to gain resources that strengthen Engage weapons. While that probably sounds entirely necessary – it really isn’t, and a lot of the Trials feel designed to be post-game content. There’s three unique Trial types to play with, though, each one bringing something different to the table.

Tempest Trials are offline only, consecutive battles where you gain rewards and EXP after clearing a set number of maps. Relay Trials serve as a sort of asynchronous multiplayer mode, where players take turns ala a relay race in order to try and clear a map. Lastly, and most interesting, are the Outrealm Trials, where you can create a map, place units, and upload that configuration for other players to challenge online. Each one has provided fun and challenging ways to engage with the Fire Emblem formula outside of the traditional single player format, and I suspect that series veterans will find a lot of value in these modes after the credits roll.

Needless to say, there’s a heap of progression systems and mechanics to interact with here across the many chapters of Fire Emblem Engage, and this unfortunately led to a relatively stress-free experience on the normal difficulty. A base level understanding of the Weapon Triangle and smart use of Engage Skills can make short work of these battles, and some units can get so overpowered towards the late game that they could probably carry your entire team to victory alone. It’s disappointing given Fire Emblem’s reputation for difficulty, and long-time fans looking for a challenge should undoubtedly play the game on hard.

When you aren’t spending time in the Somniel or progressing through the narrative, you’ll spend time on the world map, taking part in optional battles for resources and completing Paralogues, which are effectively small side stories expanding on characters. A vast majority of the Paralogues in Engage focus on the Emblems, and reliving pivotal battles from their pasts. It’s a fun way to revisit these moments or experience them for the first time, and the extra bond levels they unlock are a nice incentive to tackle each and every one of them. These are also noticeably harder than the main story, and provide a nice challenge in contrast to regular battles.

One area where Fire Emblem Engage is an undisputed improvement over Three Houses, is in its presentation. There’s a clear effort made here for deeper visual fidelity despite the Switch’s aging hardware. The pixel-ridden edges of the models in Three Houses are nowhere to be found here, with much improved battle animations and a fantastic soundtrack to boot. Performance is similarly sharp, and those glorious CG anime cutscenes return in all of their beauty.

While I don’t think Three Houses looks inherently bad, it opts for a much more gritty and muted color palette, one that runs in tandem with the narrative themes and plot beats quite nicely. Engage is similarly aligned with its own overall tone, positively bursting at the seams with color and expressive character designs that while outlandish and eye-catching, rarely reach the point of absurdity. It’s a far cry from the Fire Emblem designs of old, but I think that Engage retains all the more identity as a result. There’s also a clear effort for more inclusivity here, with characters from all walks of life, with Timerra, Fogado, and Rosado as standout examples.

I think there’s going to be a lot of discussion over whether or not Fire Emblem Engage surpasses the lofty bar set by its predecessor, but I don’t know if that’s an entirely fair comparison. While it does pull from a number of its successes, Engage is a fundamentally different experience that’s clearly more inspired by classic Fire Emblem. It certainly doesn’t all land, but I think it does where it counts, with enticingly addictive strategy and in-depth customisation that makes for a celebration worth partaking in for fans both new, and old.

The post Fire Emblem Engage Review – An Imperfect But Worthy Celebration appeared first on Press Start.

While Fire Emblem has been putting out quality turn-based strategy experiences since its revival in 2012 with Fire Emblem Awakening, the majority of titles have been quite a departure from the foundations laid by its most defining entries. The inclusion of social sim elements and a more accessible level of difficulty hasn’t quite scratched the itch left by the Fire Emblem games of old. After nearly eight hours with Fire Emblem Engage, it’s clear that Intelligent Systems are returning to Fire Emblem’s roots while not entirely separating from the modern sensibilities of recent titles.

Much like Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses, Fire Emblem Engage follows a male or female protagonist known as Alear, also known as a Divine Dragon. After being woken up from a 1000-year slumber, Alear is quickly thrust into a conflict with forces attempting to free the Fell Dragon Sombron from its imprisonment. To fight the inevitable war to come, Alear sets out to find the twelve Emblem Rings, all of which are connected to previous Fire Emblem characters.

After eight chapters with Engage’s narrative there’s much to be done to get me properly invested in its characters and premise. It comes roaring out of the gates with heavy exposition, world-building, and an inciting incident that prompts the cast to set out on their journey, and slows down just as quickly as it settles into a somewhat predictable formula for collecting each Emblem Ring.

While Alear is an endearing protagonist, and watching them navigate the hazy memories of their past is almost always entertaining, the supporting cast doesn’t boast the same sense of camaraderie or personality as characters of prior titles. The core premise also isn’t anything we haven’t seen before besides the inclusion of the Emblem Rings, which have little plot significance outside of their power and relationships to certain characters.

It’s worth mentioning that there’s still a lot to be introduced, though. I’ve only visited two of four major realms of Elyos, and while eight hours sounds like a decent chunk of time, it probably only equates to around one third of the experience. If Engage is to follow suit, I expect the narrative developments to pick up in both scope and scale as I move from conflict to conflict.

While Three Houses did away with many staples of prior Fire Emblem games, Engage seeks to bring them back and build on them, while introducing new mechanics and layers of strategy on top. For starters, the weapon triangle makes a triumphant return, with new bells and whistles to boot. For example, if you exploit an enemy’s weakness, you can inflict Break on them, increasing damage dealt against them for that turn and rendering them unable to counter-attack.

There’s also the Smash mechanic, introduced in chapter eight, where hitting units with heavy weapons will knock them back a space, inflicting Break if they collide with another unit or wall. The trade-off, is that heavy weapons will always act second, even if you initiate combat, meaning these attacks need to be used at the right time, and at the right place. Both Break and Smash introduce small changes to typical combat that challenges the player to think more actively about positioning and what weapons they bring into battle.

Most pivotal of the new systems is the game’s namesake, the Engage system. Engaging allows units paired with Emblem Rings to Engage with the spirit tied to that ring, merging them into a powered up form for three turns. These forms not only boost stats and weapon affinities, but also provide powerful one-time use skills that can turn the tide of battle.

Different Emblem Rings are unlocked as you progress through the main narrative, from series mainstays like Marth and Roy to lesser known characters like Celica and Micaiah. Each one is faithful to archetypes from their original games, and it’s a true joy to see these characters rendered in glorious HD. Rings can be paired with any unit as you see fit, so smart application of each Emblem is pivotal to winning battles and getting the most out of certain units. When these units aren’t Engaged with their Spirit Emblem, they still gain benefits from being paired with a ring, so there’s much more to this system than initially meets the eye.

THE CHEAPEST COPY: $69 WITH FREE DELIVERY FROM AMAZON

Units paired with Emblem Rings will also bond with the spirit linked to that ring, allowing them to inherit passive skills that benefit the unit even when the ring isn’t equipped. This incentivizes moving a ring to another unit when its bond caps out for someone else, meaning you’ll have to play and build around different units all the time, as the ones paired with Emblem Rings are typically going to be your strongest. It all comes together to make for a system that demands to be understood and utilized properly both inside and outside of combat, serving as a celebration of the franchise, yet still grounds itself in the world of Elyos.

Between combat encounters, you’ll explore the world map, take on optional combat encounters, complete Paralogues, and return to Somniel. Somniel acts as a hub for Alear and co to return to during chapters, and this is where a lot of the social stuff comes in. From bonding with allies and cooking food, to partaking in arena challenges and training before the next battle, Somniel is positively packed with stuff to do – perhaps too much.

Because all of these activities refresh between every single battle, including Paralogues and optional encounters, the prospect of returning to base after each conflict is an exhausting one. This is largely due to the frequency of which you can interact with all of these progression systems, how many resources there are to keep track of, and having to dig through a plethora of UI to find the one menu you’re looking for. It’s by no means bad, but it often feels like busy work because of the necessity of engaging with it all.

Because there’s so many ways to power-up units and improve your army, Engage has been a remarkably easy experience thus far, which is somewhat disappointing. I’ve had little to no struggles with any combat encounter on the normal difficulty, and while its early days in terms of enemy variety and progression, I can’t help but wonder if this is due to the sheer power you can gain through Somniel’s systems coupled with the Engage mechanic. My hope is that the game will steadily ramp up in challenge as its numerous tutorials conclude as I move towards the mid-game.

One thing that Fire Emblem has always nailed is its presentation, and Engage is no different in this regard. This game sports some truly gorgeous CG cutscenes that are far more frequent in nature than they usually would be. Bringing characters to life with stunning attention to detail, these are always a treat to take in as you progress through the story. The world of Elyos is also fantastically realized with the first two realms touting distinct colour palettes and design. It’s a much brighter and more colourful game in comparison to the relatively gritty look of Three Houses, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

All in all, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played of Fire Emblem Engage so far. While the narrative and characters have yet to hook me in like prior games have, and the myriad of systems surrounding combat can be overbearing at times, the core strategy and appeal of Fire Emblem is intact here. From the return of the weapons triangle to the inclusion of the Engage system, combat is a consistently rewarding experience that I’m always excited to jump back into. Seeing FE mainstays brought to life in this level of detail is an indescribable feeling, and I’m eager to see where Engage takes me next.

The post Fire Emblem Engage Hands On Preview – A Melding of Old and New appeared first on Press Start.

With 11 mainline entries, countless spin-offs, and worldwide success, there are few franchises with a legacy similar to that of Dragon Quest’s. More than 35 years after the original’s release in Japan, Dragon Quest Treasures is more proof that the series is far from dead, presenting an experience that while far less complex than its predecessors,  echoes the inherent comfort and tantalizing allure of a Dragon Quest game. It’s a markedly different experience in comparison to anything that’s come before, with a stark focus on treasure hunting and spending time with your monster buddies in what can only be described as fantasy bliss.

Serving as a prequel to Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, Dragon Quest Treasures follows fan favorite character Erik, and his younger sister Mia as they seek to satiate their thirsts for adventure after running from the Vikings that took them in as their own. Their escapades see the pair encountering a pair of magical creatures, and are shortly whisked away to a mythical land known as Draconia. Much to their surprise, Draconia is positively stuffed with legendary treasure to find, so the two decide to partake in the adventure they so desperately crave while trying to find a way back home.

After being bestowed with a pair of magical Dragon Daggers, you set out across Draconia to hunt down the seven legendary Dragon Stones while building up your own faction of treasure hunters. It’s a remarkably simple yet heartwarming premise that never jumps the shark in ambition or stakes. It makes for a straightforward plot that despite lacking tons of depth, more than makes up for it in providing a cozy adventure that’s reminiscent of fantasies you’d make up in your head as a child. This is perhaps intentional given some of the narrative implications surrounding the true nature of Draconia, but to spoil that here would be a shame for those who love Erik as a character.

The gameplay loop is similarly straightforward, lacking the depth and complexity typically found underneath the surface of a mainline game, poising itself as less of an RPG and more of an exploration game. After a relatively slow opening few hours of tutorials, you’re let loose on the five islands of Draconia with the main objective of hunting for the seven Dragon Stones. You’re given a hint for each one at the outset, but these are cryptic and confusing by nature, and you’ll quickly find out that you’ll collect them over the course of the game as you learn more about their locations.

This means that for those who really want the thrill of hunting treasure with only the slightest hint of direction, you can comb through every nook and cranny of Draconia, looking for similarities between the landscape and clues you’re given. Otherwise, growing your base, collecting more treasure, and expanding your gang will lead to new levels of the Snarl being unearthed. The Snarl is a dungeon within your base of operations that give you a more specific idea as to the location of the Dragon Stones upon clearing combat challenges on each of its floors. It’s a genius way to go about the main treasure hunt at large, and ensures that the player is always in control.

THE CHEAPEST COPY: $79 WITH FREE DELIVERY FROM AMAZON

While everything built around the hunt for the Dragon Stones seems tangential at first, its slowly revealed that every system at play in Dragon Quest Treasures loops back into that core objective. Things like finding treasure in the wild, befriending monsters to bring with you on expeditions, or restoring the Trans-Draconic Railway Company to its former glory all contribute to the larger goal of expanding your faction’s reach. It means that whenever you set out on an expedition, there’s always something for you to do that has a meaningful impact on core objectives, making for an addictive “just one more thing” style of gameplay loop that makes Treasures very hard to put down.

A large part of this also comes down to how easy it is to engage in treasure hunting. When you set out on an expedition from home base, the Treasure Forecast gives you an idea on the likelihood of finding treasure on any given island. The party of monsters you bring with you will detect hidden treasure when you’re close to it, pointing you in the right direction via the compass. Once in the immediate area, you can scan again to get a snapshot of the treasure’s location from each of your monsters, and it’s down to you to find and unearth it. Each monster can only carry a certain amount of treasure, so each expedition is limited by carry capacities.

The longer you spend in the field, though, the more you put yourself at risk both inside and outside of combat. Higher level enemies will not hesitate to make quick work of your team, and Erik falling in battle results in a total loss of all collected treasure. You’ll also eventually be introduced to Rival Gangs, who attack your team and attempt to steal your treasure. There’s plenty of tools you can use to avoid both of these things, but proper party management, and understanding when to head back to base is of paramount importance, and makes for an exciting degree of risk versus reward. The reward? Watching the value of your vault go up as a multi-million dollar treasure gets appraised in complete euphoria.

Curating a party to take with you on an expedition isn’t such a straightforward process either, as each one offers unique stats, elemental affinities, and most importantly – Fortes. Fortes are traversal abilities that make exploring the islands of Draconia much more manageable, from things like springing off of a Slime to hanging off of the bottom of a Dracky. There are more Fortes than there are party slots, though, so thinking about what types of traversal you’ll need to effectively get around is a fun bit of strategy and organization to think about before you depart.

Recruiting new monsters then becomes an equally important part of the game outside of expeditions. As you fight monsters in combat, there’s a chance they’ll be impressed by your abilities and head to your base of operations for recruitment. Providing the necessary materials will have that monster join your barracks as an option to include in your party going forward.

One disappointing aspect of this system is that there’s a decidedly slim roster of monsters to choose from here. While all in all there’s a large number of “unique” monsters, a vast majority of these are recolored variants, with a grand total that amounts to only 16 truly unique monster types. Given the short length of the game, this isn’t a problem that devolves into repetition or monotony, but given Dragon Quest’s expansive roster of creatures, it’s hard not to feel like there should be more here.

Combat itself is also another pain-point due to its overly simplistic and repetitive nature. You only ever have direct control over Mia and Erik, with limited commands to issue to your actual party, that for the most part, fight autonomously and will often get hit by area-of-effect attacks despite your best efforts to pull them away. As Erik or Mia, you have access to a simple dagger combo, the slingshot-like catapult, and Dragon Attacks, meaning there isn’t much flexibility in terms of approaching combat encounters.

You’ll often just hack away at enemies, throw out the occasional screen-wiping Dragon Attack, and fire off some pellets for good measure. There is a bit of choice in the way you can use different pellets to exploit elemental weaknesses, but that’s the full extent of it. Combat is at its best in the few boss encounters Dragon Quest Treasures throws at you, where you also have to consider environmental hazards and more overbearing attacks as you dodge and weave through strikes to find an opening. While these encounters serve up a nice break from general combat, they make up a very small portion of the experience overall.

Between expeditions, you’ll spend time at your home base where you can swap between Erik and Mia as playable characters, explore the Snarl, and engage with numerous facilities. Aside from monster recruiting, you can also buy and craft catapult pellets, create food to use in the field for buffs, and send out parties of unused monsters to search for resources and treasure while you’re out on your own. Perhaps most important, is the vault room, where you can display your most valuable treasure on plinths, showing off the riches you’ve amassed from Draconia. It’s a space that feels lived in and real, and it’s always a joy to return to the quirky monsters that inhabit it.

As a Switch exclusive, Dragon Quest Treasures doesn’t have the same visual allure of Dragon Quest XI, or even Builders for that matter. It’s by no means bad, a lot of the monsters and character models are nicely detailed and brought to life with personality-fuelled animation, but a lot of the environmental design is held back by muddied texture work. Fortunately, performance was incredibly consistent across my roughly 9 hour playthrough, but it certainly would’ve been nice to get further lost in this world with more defined and immersive visual fidelity, especially with how varied each island of Draconia is.

While Dragon Quest Treasures might not reach the same heights as the Builders series, there’s a distinct identity and unique experience on offer here that any fan of Dragon Quest should look into. It retains the same comfort and nostalgia of a mainline entry with an adventure that’s as wholesome as it is simple in premise. It’s a shame that the franchise’s legacy with combat and monster variety isn’t translated here, but Dragon Quest Treasures offers a relaxing and enticing adventure in its own way.

THE NINTENDO SWITCH VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

The post Dragon Quest Treasures Review – A Hidden Gem appeared first on Press Start.

Given the whirlwind of releases over the last month or so, you’d be forgiven if Evil West has slipped under your radar. A brand new IP from Flying Wild Hog of Shadow Warrior fame, Evil West is something of a relic of the past, with a linear single player campaign, secret collectibles, weapon upgrades, perks, and so much more. This isn’t to say Evil West feels archaic, though, with a tightly paced campaign, satisfyingly brutal combat, and flexible progression that all coalesces into a thoroughly enjoyable carnage filled adventure.

THE CHEAPEST COPY: $66 WITH FREE DELIVERY FROM AMAZON

Set in a Wild West under the threat of supernatural beings known as the Sanguisuge, you step into the shoes of Jesse Rentier, a vampire slayer and heir to the Rentier Institute. Headed by Jesse’s father, William Rentier, the Institute’s sole purpose is to eradicate the vampiric threat that has a stranglehold around the United States. With the Rentier Institute having weaponized steam and electricity, the Sanguisuge are desperate to survive against all odds, and launch a nation-wide attack to stamp out humanity for good.

It’s a fairly by the numbers narrative that’s made entertaining by its exaggerated characters and overt cheesiness. While Jesse himself is a pretty cookie-cutter protagonist, it’s supporting characters like long time vampire slayer Edgar Gravenor and doctor Emilia Blackwell that bring out the best in him through their interactions. The dialogue between them has a tongue-in-cheek awareness to it similar to Flying Wild Hog’s Shadow Warrior 3.  It’s also chock-full of references to longstanding franchises like DOOM, Castlevania, and more, further adding to the self-awareness. While it’s nothing to write home about overall, it serves as an engaging backdrop for the blood-soaked action built around it.

If I had to describe Evil West, I’d say it’s most akin to a third-person DOOM Eternal. It has a taut focus on resource management, target prioritization, and making you feel as badass as you look. The core combat revolves around ranged and melee attacks, where Jesse has access to close-quarters combos and long range guns. It’s a seamless and fluid melding of the two that make for an entirely unique and kinetic style of combat, where you swap between weapons as needed, weaving punches in between and tying it all off with a finisher for a much needed health drop.

Combat only deepens further when you unlock an electric powered gauntlet which has a slew of capabilities. It’s primary use is for electrocuting enemies, which allows you to follow up with a high damage beatdown, but it’s the way in which you can zap your foes that allow you to get creative. Whether it’s successfully timing parries, pulling foes towards you with a whip, or unleashing electric hell on the Sanguisuge in an overdrive mode, the gauntlet is consistently satisfying to use in combat, and this is only reinforced through progression.

As you move through linear levels, you’ll level up and obtain perk points which can be spent on new skills for Jesse. There’s a few different trees you can spec into here that provide unique and distinct playstyles, such as maximizing your energy regen to make the most of powerful gauntlet attacks, or exploiting environmental hazards against enemies to get the upper hand. Every perk point obtained is an ever alluring prospect of new ways to dispatch foes in a gloriously satisfying manner.

The plethora of weapons you obtain can also be upgraded over the journey as you collect Bucks. From a standard six shot revolver and bolt-action hunting rifle, to a literal flamethrower, there’s always a way to power up and customize your favorite weapons further. Everything combines to make for a certifiably bonkers combat system that’s practically begging for a new game plus playthrough once you roll credits, which really cements how much Jesse’s slaying capabilities expand over the course of the game.

THE CHEAPEST PHYSICAL COPY: $66.90 AT AMAZON WITH FREE SHIPPING.

All of these aspects, alongside the ability to refund perk points at any point, means you have a robust and flexible progression system that encourages you to experiment with Jesse’s skills. One playthrough wasn’t enough for me to obtain every upgrade, but I’m sure a new game plus playthrough will result in a fully upgraded and equipped Jesse which I’m sure is as crazy as I’m anticipating it to be.

The game is somewhat slow to get going, though. I found the first few missions fell into repetition in their combat arenas due to a relatively limited move set and weapon choice early on. This only lasted for the first 3-4 missions, but left combat feeling more mundane in its opening hours in comparison to how chaotic it can get in the second half of the game.

A combat system like this is nothing without enemy variety, though, and Evil West delivers on that in spades. It’s constantly serving up new combinations of enemy types that demand you to pick and choose what you want to focus on first to make things as easy as possible. During my roughly 10-hour playthrough on normal difficulty, I died a handful of times but ultimately felt like the difficulty curve was satisfying and rewarding. This is most prominent with Evil West’s bombastic boss fights, that demand a higher level of focus, prompt dodging, and exploiting enemy weak points.

While the missions in Evil West are remarkably linear, that certainly isn’t to its own detriment. Each mission hangs around for just the right amount of time, never overstaying its welcome or bowing out too soon to where its ideas can’t breathe. Despite the supernatural setting, Flying Wild Hog still finds ways to weave cowboy staples into these levels, such as an explosive train heist and tense bank robbery. Each level still has some hidden collectibles, skins, and upgrades to find, so it’s never as simple as walking straight ahead.

While I wasn’t able to test the coop during my time with Evil West, only the session host can progress through the story missions and character upgrades, meaning anyone who joins up to a session as a guest will lose all progress made when returning to their own file. Enemy health and damage is scaled up to account for the extra player, but it’s disappointing that a 10 hour experience like this is lacking in the ability to save progression between solo and coop play sessions. Still, though, the entire thing is playable with a mate, so there’s definitely some value to be found in that.

While the Wild West might typically be synonymous with rolling deserts and tumbleweed, Evil West bucks the trend by including a myriad of environments to explore, all as captivating as each other. From your typical western towns to blood leech ridden forests, each mission is a visual delight with a suitable amount of spectacle to each of them. It adds to that already tight pacing to keep you engaged and involved in each part of the world you visit.

While it doesn’t quite stand up to some triple A juggernauts of today, Evil West’s visual allure is in its style, bursting with the vibrant colors of blood and electricity in direct contrast with a steampunk aesthetic. It also ran remarkably well on my 3060ti, and I only ever encountered a few audio bugs during my playthrough.

THE PC VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

The post Evil West Review – High Voltage Vampire Slaying appeared first on Press Start.

Pokèmon Scarlet and Violet haven’t even been out for 48 hours and numerous clips of hilarious of horrifying bugs have surfaced online. Most of them look to come from cooperative play, and seem visual in nature as opposed to game-breaking. Things like this always seem to slip through the cracks with open world games because of their scope and size, here are some examples of what we’ve seen so far:

[Pokémon Violet] One of the traits of a True Pokémon Master is flexibility.
byu/Zwemvest inGamePhysics

Aside from the obvious Fletchling that clips right through the trainer’s head, it’s the inverted elbow that’s truly terrifying. It does make for one hell of a selfie.

https://twitter.com/t_a_b_e_r_u/status/1593614067847278592?s=46&t=qBwZLJmGFjOOa35OLIK75Q

While everything seems fine at a glance in this clip, things are quickly revealed to be not so great after the second trainer mounts their Miraidon. In what can only be described as the stuff of nightmares, their proportions are completely warped, complete with elongated arms, legs, and bulging eyes. I don’t seem to recall Slenderman being added to the Pokèdex over the last few games.

me: haha pokemon is a kids game it cant hurt me
pokemon loading in a child's skull with no eyes or a body: pic.twitter.com/kTElIVxG4P

— Leah J. Williams (@legenette) November 18, 2022

This clip sports the same energy as the previous one, just with a far more existential tone of dread. This one reminds me of Junji Ito’s, The Hanging Balloons, with an ever present floating head lacking eyes. After all, what’s a Pokèmon battle without a sentient head spectating the action?

THE JIGGLYPUFF JUST FLYING AWAY LMAOOOOO #PokemonScarletViolet #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/Ouhh20w8eC

— Out of Context Pokemon ? (@OoCPokemon) November 19, 2022

Jigglypuff is a flying type now, apparently.

@heyitsshir0

I’m um.. really enjoying the game ?. #pokemonviolet #pokemon #pokemonscarlet

? original sound – Nico Thomalla

While our own time with Pokèmon Scarlet didn’t have any of these visual oddities, we did cite a poor technical state as one of the downfalls of Pokèmon’s first true open-world experience. Have you encountered any bugs or glitches in Pokèmon Scarlet and Violet so far? Let us know!

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are out now. The cheapest price is $64 from Amazon.

The post Pokèmon Scarlet And Violet Have Some Hilarious Glitches appeared first on Press Start.

While Big W’s Black Friday sale doesn’t start until the 22nd online, and the 25th in-store, the catalogue gives us a sneak peek into some of the crazy discounts we can expect. Some of the PlayStation deals have already kicked off.

There’s some great deals on both first and third party games for all platforms, as well as some accessory savings. There’s still some deals to be confirmed when the sale kicks off on Tuesday, but a majority of them have already been revealed. Here are some of the highlights:

Console Deals

• Nintendo Switch + Mario Kart 8 Deluxe + Nintendo Switch Online – Price coming Tuesday
• Nintendo Switch Lite – $289
• Xbox Series S – $399

Nintendo Switch Games

• 10% off eShop Cards
• Sonic Frontiers – $59
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – $69
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – $69
• Animal Crossing New Horizons – $64
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land – $64
• Mario Party Superstars – $64
• New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – $64
• Mario Strikers Battle League Football – $59
• Splatoon 3 – $59
• Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes – $59
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 – $59
• Mario Kart 8 – $59
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD – $59
• FIFA 23 Legacy Edition – $29
• NBA 2K23 – $29
• Ring Fit Adventure – $99
• Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time – $39
• Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled – $39

PS5/PS4/Xbox Games

• FIFA 23 – $54
• NBA 2K23 – $54
• Gran Turismo 7 – $49
• Horizon Forbidden West – $49
• Gotham Knights – $69
• Saints Row – $49
• PGA Tour 2K23 – $49
• Sonic Frontiers – $59
• Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands – $28
• Spider-Man: Miles Morales – $39
• Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition – $69
• Sackboy: A Big Adventure – $39
• Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart – $49
• Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut – $49
• Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection – $29
• The Last of Us Part I – $69
• The Last of Us Part II – $12
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (no free upgrade) – $20
• The Quarry – $39
• New Tales from the Borderlands – $39
• $8 PlayStation Hits Titles
  • God of War
  • Ratchet and Clank
  • Gran Turismo Sport
  • Little Big Planet 3
• $20 LEGO Games
  • LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
  • LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2
  • LEGO DC Super Villains
  • LEGO The Incredibles 

Accessories

• Assorted DualSense Wireless Controllers – $98
• DualSense Charging Station – $34
• PS5 HD Camera – $79
• PS5 Media Remote – $39
• DualShock Wireless V2 Controller – $79
• Nacon Wired PS4 Controllers – $49
• 4Gamers Twin DualShock 4 Charging Dock – $14
• Xbox Wireless Controller – $79
• 4Gamers C6-100 Gaming Headsets – $19
• 4Gamers C6-100 RBG LED Light Up Gaming Headset $39
• Panther Performance Gaming Headsets – $39
• RIG 400 HC Stereo Gaming Headset – $59
• RIG 500 HC Stereo Gaming Headset – $79
• Turtle Beach Recon 500 Gaming Headset – $79
• Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen2 Headset – $99
• Logitech G502 Wired Gaming Mouse – $79
• Logitech G613 Wireless Gaming Keyboard – $109
• Logitech G435 Lightspeed Wirelwss Gaming Headsets – $99
• Laser PC Gaming Bundle – $49
• PowerA Wireless Nintendo Switch Controller – $49
• Afterglow Deluxe Audio Wired Nintendo Switch Controller – $29
• Stealth Twin Dualsense Charging Dock – $19

While a few of these sales are already active, most of them kick in when Big W’s Black Friday sale starts proper on Tuesday the 22nd, where these deals will be available online. They will later be available in store on the 25th though to the 28th. Keep up with the site for all the best Black Friday deals as they’re announced in the coming days! For more, check out the massive PlayStation sale Amazon is having right now for Black Friday!

https://press-start.com.au/bargains/2022/11/18/the-ubisoft-stores-black-friday-sale-is-absolutely-stacked-with-deep-discounts/

The post Big W’s Black Friday Sale Has Been Revealed And Here’s The Best Gaming Deals appeared first on Press Start.

While playing Pokémon games as a kid was pure and unadulterated bliss, there was always a part of me that longed for a Pokémon game that conveyed the same sense of scale and adventure as the anime. More than 10 years on from the days of sinking hours into Pokémon Pearl after school, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet look to break the mold of a traditional mainline Pokémon title.

While other recent entries such as Sun and Moon have sought to rework the long-established framework of the gym challenge, Scarlet and Violet make much more substantial changes to the broader foundations of Pokémon. Despite some stumbles on the path to a more modern and refined Pokémon formula, Scarlet and Violet offer a tantalizing look into the future of Pokémon, and how this series can go so much further when letting go of its legacy.

THE CHEAPEST COPY: $64 with free shipping

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are set in the Paldea Region, primarily inspired by the Iberian Peninsula, specifically countries like Spain and Portugal. In a twist on the typical world setup, you play as a student freshly enrolled at Naranja (Scarlet) or Uva (Violet) Academy, coincidentally around the time that the Academy’s annual Treasure Hunt takes place. After a brief introductory segment, you’re thrust into the open world of Paldea with one goal in mind – to find your treasure. What entails is a somewhat non-linear romp through three unique narratives; Victory Road, Starfall Street, and Path of Legends.

It goes without saying that this is a structure that’s in stark contrast with its predecessors. Where previous entries had carefully curated linear paths to follow, Scarlet and Violet let you loose on all that Paldea has to offer, making for an unprecedented freedom not found in other Pokémon games. Each of the three narratives have their own cast of characters, ideas, and themes at play, and the ability to – mostly – bounce between them as you see fit does wonders for pacing and variation in gameplay.

While Victory Road is a standard fare gym challenge, Starfall Street and Path of Legends are what stuck with me the most after the credits rolled. Without getting into spoiler territory, these narratives explore aspects of the Pokémon world not previously tapped into by other games, with Starfall Street focusing on the impact bullying has on educational communities, while Path of Legends leans into the idea of mortality in Pokémon, and how they’re ultimately just as vulnerable as any other living creature. Although I wouldn’t say either of these stories are profoundly deep or head scratching in their messages and meanings, I did find myself invested enough in their characters and narrative developments to progress them whenever the opportunity arose.

The way you move between each of these narratives is through Koraidon or Miraidon, depending on your game version. The new flagship legendary Pokémon are mountable, similar to the rideable Pokémon found in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. As you progress through the game, new traversal abilities are unlocked, allowing you to more seamlessly access hard to reach areas of Paldea and streamlining traversal further. It’s a fun idea that fits the theme of adventure and slots into the shift to open-world quite nicely.

Despite fundamentally reworked foundations in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the core appeal of catching cute critters to build out your team as you venture through unknown lands is here in full-force. The roster of new monsters is a wildly varied bag of interesting type combinations and striking new designs, both good and bad. The good far outweighs the bad, though, and some of the highs are exceptionally high, with the likes of Armarouge and Ceruledge standing out in particular. One weird omission is that the ability to catch these critters like you could in Pokémon Legends: Arceus is nowhere to be found, returning to the comparatively archaic and sluggish ways of battling a Pokémon in order to catch it.

Once you pick your starter Pokémon from the new trio of Quaxly, Sprigatito, and Fuecoco, you’ll set off into the Paldea Region in search of your very own treasure. Victory Road primarily functions as a typical gym challenge from previous games, though the offering feels bare-bones in comparison. Each gym requires you to complete a gym test before challenging the gym leader, and while they’re inoffensive and simple in nature, they pale in comparison to the gym challenges of old. Actual fights with gym leaders are appropriately atmospheric, though, with crowds gathering around to watch your match unfold as the music swells up to grand heights.

Path of Legends on the other hand sees you helping fellow student Arven hunt down Herba Mystica and the abnormally sized Titan Pokémon that guard them. These encounters boil down to tracking down a Titan Pokémon within any given area, and battling it with Arven to force it to retreat. Instead of typical wild encounters, these battles are closer to the likes of a boss fight, as each Titan Pokémon has buffed up stats and health pools, and while they’re simple in nature, they offer a bit of spectacle and variation in comparison to typical encounters.

Starfall Street is by far the most unique storyline in the context of gameplay, as you attempt to dismantle a rebellious group of students known as Team Star. You’ll storm different Team Star bases across Paldea and send out your Pokémon to auto battle Team Stars own. Each one culminates in a battle with the base leader that’s most comparable to battling a gym leader. Again, these bases are straightforward but serve as a great way to break up pacing and open-world exploration.

Although you can technically battle any of the 5 Titans, 8 Gyms, and 5 Starfall bases in any order, fixed levels for each encounter means that there is a degree of linearity and structure to the order in which you complete them. This wouldn’t be such an issue if the difficulty curve didn’t feel so uneven as a result. There were multiple occasions where I encountered gyms and Titan Pokémon that I wanted to engage with, but couldn’t because of level differences. Getting on the right track is as simple as heading to the Pokémon Center and asking for advice on where to go next, but true non-linearity isn’t here as expected, and that’s disappointing.

One new inclusion that somewhat remedies this issue is the aforementioned auto-battle feature, where you can send out Pokémon to battle autonomously while you explore your surroundings. While I initially shrugged this mechanic off outside of mandatory use, it quickly became my main method to grind experience points and level up my Pokémon. It’s a simple addition that takes out a lot of the mundanity and grinding that you’d otherwise have to go through to meet certain challenges.

It also feeds into the excellent new TM Crafting system where you can create TMs using materials obtained from the overworld. The ability to create new TMs if you use one is a safety net that allows you to experiment with moves on Pokémon you typically wouldn’t without having to worry about wasting the TM. You also have the ability to remember any move your Pokémon has previously learnt, taking uncertainty out of the equation when it comes to building out your team.

If there’s one aspect of Pokémon games that have remained almost entirely unaltered, it’s the core battle system, and much the same can be said for Scarlet and Violet. More iterative than it is innovative, Scarlet and Violet opt to play it safe by adding a bevy of new moves that feel suitably useful in the broader scope of Pokémon moves, as well as the ability to Terastallize Pokémon in battle. Terastallization is a phenomenon only found in Paldea where Pokémon are crystalized in a gem-like casing, shifting their type to whatever their Tera type is, and boosting the power of that types respective moves.

While I was initially led to believe that Terastallization is a one-stop shop for a quick power boost, I quickly realized otherwise. Having Pokémon with Tera types that differ to their base types provides a level of strategy and thought that hasn’t been present in these kind of mechanics since X and Y’s Mega Evolution. The visual designs leave a lot to be desired, and the room for strategic use of Terastallizing within the main story is pretty slim, it’s clear that this is a mechanic that’s going to fundamentally shift how Pokémon is played at a competitive level.

Between dealing with Gyms, Titan Pokémon, and Team Star, you can also partake in trainer battles, and Tera Raids within the open-world. One key difference with trainer battles is that they have to be triggered by the player, making for more flexible and risk-free exploration especially if you’re running low on healing items as you race towards the next Pokémon Centre. Tera Raids are effectively Max Raid Battles from Sword and Shield, with the promise of Pokémon with unique Tera types that you typically wouldn’t find in the wild. These are quite the visual spectacle and I suspect undertaking high level Tera Raids will be very alluring for some in the post-game. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to try this or cooperative play during the review window, as online services were disabled.

Exploring Paldea itself is enticing in the sense you never know what Pokémon might be waiting for you around the corner, and there are a few mysteries to be solved during your journeys. Aside from this, though, it feels like something of an afterthought, lacking in any sort meaningful content to make you wonder about what might come next. The majority of the towns of Paldea are similarly underwhelming, as only a few have palpable identities and a sense of place within the world. It’s by no means bad, but these towns didn’t invoke any emotional response outside of a select few.

One area Pokémon has consistently underdelivered in since Sword and Shield (bar remakes), is in their presentation, visual fidelity, and performance. Unfortunately, Scarlet and Violet don’t entirely buck the trend, despite some small improvements. For starters, interior environments are vastly improved, and character models in general are more detailed and eye-catching. Environments are only marginally better than what was offered in previous entries, and the performance simply isn’t consistent enough to justify it, with regular slow-down and frame drops interrupting the experience. While there’s no doubt that the Switch is aging hardware, it’s painful to see Pokémon struggle with this yet again, while other titles manage to achieve much more with the same specs.

The post Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Review – A Tantalising Lens Into The Future appeared first on Press Start.

When we talk about sequels in games, there’s often an expectation to do more of the same, but better and with a decent amount of innovation or improvements. Players want to play what they loved to begin with, expanded with new ideas, mechanics, and system that broaden the overall scope of the original appeal. From this perspective, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope had its work cut out for it after Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle surprised everyone when it released in 2017 with remarkably robust turn-based combat, enthralling strategy, and a seemingly weird fusion of two worlds that was ultimately endearing and charming.

After around 25 hours with Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, it’s clear to me that Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris didn’t want to just make a sequel, they wanted to create a game that leaves an indelible mark on the genre, one that inspires others to follow in its footsteps. This is a markedly different game from its predecessor, but still retains that core appeal, where instead of following in the footsteps of something like XCOM, it forges its own path to deliver something wholly original and endlessly captivating.

Sometime after the events of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, a peaceful day in the Mushroom Kingdom is suddenly interrupted by a malevolent entity known as Cursa. Cursa’s galactic conquest is fueled by the desire to consume the energy of what are known as Sparks, an unexpected fusion between Lumas and Rabbids, and she plans to destroy all who dare to stand in her way. To save the galaxy from Cursa’s influence, the heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom team up with the Rabbids once again and set out on a journey to free those within Cursa’s grasp.

If Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle tells a story similar to that of a standard Mario game, Sparks of Hope is most comparable to the galaxy games. As you progress through the story, you’ll visit five unique planets that have all been twisted by Cursa’s power, and solving each of their plights is key to moving closer to Cursa, and saving the Sparks.

While it’s another charming adventure that’s sold by expressive and entertaining cutscenes, it falls a little short of its predecessor because of the strange decision to have Rabbids talk. It’s a change that I couldn’t warm up to after all these years, one that’s in direct contrast with the core appeal of the Rabbids. What’s even more jarring is that they still act like Rabbids, that is to say crazy and unhinged, making it even harder to get around this change. It by no means ruins the experience, and is still an enjoyable narrative to watch unfold, it just loses a little bit of the appeal in the process.

Where Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is most different, though is in its gameplay systems, stepping into more of a turn-based/real-time hybrid combat system with an emphasis on movement and build-crafting. Each turn is comprised of Movement, Free Actions, and Action Point Abilities, and making the most of all these things in any given combat encounter is pivotal to victory.

Movement boils down to moving within your character’s movement range, making use of dash attacks, and using Team Jumps to reach advantageous positions against the enemy. Gone is the restrictive grid based system of old, allowing for more free-flowing mobility to get into position for other abilities. Action Point Abilities refer to the abilities like weapon attacks, use Hero/Spark Powers and consume items, with each one consuming one of two action points.

The stuff that makes its return from Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is relatively unchanged here, and that’s because its Hero Powers and Spark Powers that change up the way you engage the enemy. Hero Powers are character-specific abilities that inform their playstyle and how you might build them. Mario’s, for example, is called Hero Sight, effectively functioning as an Overwatch ability, where he’ll shoot any enemy who moves within his line of sight, whereas Peach’s Hero Power shields nearby allies from all damage for a number of hits on the next turn. There’s a whopping nine playable heroes to choose from in your battle line-up of three, so there’s plenty of options to mix and match here.

Sparks, on the other hand, behave similarly but can be equipped and moved between heroes as you see fit. Some of them might enhance weapon attacks with an elemental effect, while others might provide some sort of passive benefit like damage reduction or life-steal. Sparks play a pivotal role in triggering Super Effects, which are essentially status ailments that are inflicted on an enemy when you exploit their weakness. Each hero can eventually have two Sparks equipped during battle, so there’s no shortage of options during each turn. You can also spend Star Bits to level up Sparks, increasing the potency of their active and passive skills.

On top of that, each character can invest in skill trees as they level up, enhancing movement capabilities, Hero Powers, weapon damage, and more. These skill trees also lend more to character identity, with each character having a clear role and game plan that compliments other Heroes and certain Sparks. Newcomer Edge, for example, is all about high-movement and hitting multiple targets hard and fast, where Rabbid Luigi focuses on weakening enemies and chaining elemental attacks through his weapon attack that bounces between targets. Every character feels valuable in the grand-scheme of things, and understanding who is suited to deal with particular enemy types/encounter designs keeps things fresh and engaging.

THE CHEAPEST PRICE: $69 STANDARD / $99 GOLD EDITION WITH FREE SHIPPING.

It isn’t an overstatement to say that Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope gives you a near-endless toybox of options to play around with inside of battle, maybe a little too many. Take combining Mario’s upgraded Hero Sight ability, which resets it on kill, and combine that with the Glitter Spark on either Edge, or Rabbid Mario, which draws all enemies in range to that Hero’s location. For anything that isn’t annihilated by Mario as they move, Dash attacks also knock enemies up and trigger Hero Sight. Throw an elemental Spark on Mario for good measure, and you’re clearing swathes of enemies out in one fell swoop.

It’s a bit of a double-edged sword in the sense that it’s ridiculously fun to build out characters and experiment with different archetypes, but there’s way more Hero/Spark combinations than the one mentioned above that are downright broken and can trivialize certain encounters. It’s nice to be rewarded for thinking outside of the box and finding unique synergies between certain Heroes and Sparks, but they can often mitigate some of the strategy, even in certain boss fights and major encounters. This is still an extremely flexible and customizable combat system, though, and I think the game is ultimately better for it.

Speaking of which, a lot of the difficulty in any given battle is informed by the type of encounter you’re engaged in. Each battle is preceded by a pre-battle screen, where you can spend any unused Skill Prisms, fine tune loadouts, and tweak the difficulty if you’re finding anything too easy or hard. You can see the general layout of the arena and what enemies you’ll be fighting, as well as any environmental objects you can use to gain an advantage. It’s a great way to get an idea of which heroes are going to work best against that group of enemies, and is a handy tool for those who get wrapped up in exploration and forget to invest resources to improve Heroes or Sparks.

There’s three main types of encounters, overworld, Darkmess Puddles, and boss fights. Overworld encounters are as you’d expect, enemies roaming the overworld that you can choose to avoid or fight. These arenas and enemy combinations are randomly generated, and can usually be dealt with very quickly, which leaves them feeling more like filler as opposed to engaging and thought-out battles. Darkmess Puddles, left behind by Cursa and her minions, are much more in-depth. Designed to take multiple turns and with unique objectives, each one brings something new to the table and make up a bulk of the battles here. Boss fights on the other hand are few and far between, but much like the first game, offer even more unique objectives and nail-biting skirmishes. Even the ones that are made easier by overpowered builds still require you to be aware of your surroundings and their unique abilities.

While battling takes up a solid chunk of the game time here, there’s also a lot to do outside of it. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope shifts to a more free-form style of exploration and level design, with optional enemy encounters, hidden secrets, collectibles, side quests and so much more. Each planet is jam-packed with worthwhile content, not only because the rewards are great, but also because they’re genuinely fun to engage with.

Some of the side quests are quite entertaining in nature, for example, a quest on the third planet, Palette Prime, where a woodsman Rabbid’s precious axe has been stolen and employs the team’s help to track down the culprit. They’re sent on a wild goose chase across Palette Prime to catch the suspect, and while the culprit is glaringly obvious for the player, it’s fun to watch the cast try to unravel it for themselves.

Completing side quests, optional activities, and puzzles will award you with Planet Medals, which can be spent on cosmetic weapon skins, Memories which serve as data entries, and the key to that planet’s Secret Zone. Each Secret Zone is a self-contained puzzle box that will award you with a Spark upon first completion, and a weapon skin on second completion if you can finish it within the allotted time.

Each planet also has a secret boss, which requires a certain amount of Sparks to be unlocked before you challenge them. More often than not, these secret bosses are more difficult than the story bosses, but award you with Gold Prisms, that can unlock a powerful 4th skill tree for each Hero, that focuses on boosting the overall efficacy and power of Sparks, which makes them well-worth the challenge. It’s the inclusion of all these overworld activities that keeps Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope’s pacing tight, affording players enough breathing room between mandatory battles so as to not inundate and exhaust you with endless combat.

While the Nintendo Switch’s aging hardware seems to hold back other titles, there are some developers besides Nintendo that manage to squeeze out every ounce of power that the machine has, and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is one such title. This is a gorgeous game both in and outside of battle, with some great spectacle fights that really deliver on a sense of scale and grandeur. A lot of this can be contributed to the stellar art direction and animation design on show here, it simply oozes the kind of polish and sheen that you’d expect from a first-party Nintendo title.

Unfortunately, the Switch can struggle at times with Sparks of Hope, often buckling under the weight of hectic fights where large explosions and multiple Super Effects are being triggered at once. While it didn’t drastically effect my overall experience, especially given the turn-based nature of combat, it reared its head often enough to warrant mentioning. I did also run into a few bugs such as where characters would lock up for 10 or so seconds after selecting an ability, and I had one hard crash back the Switch home screen. While these technical hiccups were few and far between, I suspect many players will suffer similar issues until a patch can be rolled out.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is another resounding success in this whacky collaboration of two long-standing IP, one that feels much more defining and original than its predecessor. That isn’t to say Kingdom Battle fell short of expectations, but more so that Sparks of Hope is a clear and confident showcase that there’s so much untapped potential within this genre, and a lot of it has been capitalized on here. This game is a definitive labor of love from Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris, one that you owe it to yourself to play if you own a Switch, or are a fan of strategy games.

THE SWITCH VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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After the announcement of Wiglett only a week ago, a brand-new Pokémon Scarlet and Violet trailer has dropped over night, giving us another in depth look at the Paldea region, its Pokémon, the activities we’ll engage in, and the open world we’ll be able to explore. There was a lot to take in from the 14-minute showcase, but there were a few things that stood out to us in particular among the many details we got.

For starters, we got a better look at the ability to Terastallize, where Pokémon crystalize, adding extra damage to moves that match that Pokémon’s Tera type. You can run into wild Tera Pokémon that will Terastallize in battle, and can be caught just like regular Pokémon once broken out of their Terastallized form. Some Pokemon have Tera types completely different from their original types, so it seems there’s more than meets the eye in regards to Terastallizing.

We also got a look at the “Let’s Go” command, which will send your lead Pokémon out into the field and battle independently. They’ll also pick up items and search their surroundings. Not only does this seem like a great accessibility inclusion, but also a way to streamline open-world exploration for those who want to avoid battling wild Pokémon. The items you pick up allow you to craft TMs at Pokémon Centers, which sounds like an excellent way to streamline the obtainability of TMs, especially when it comes to building teams for competitive play.

You can also setup Picnics in the open world to clean up your Pokémon, let them spend time playing, find Pokémon eggs, and make a sandwich with ingredients from towns that give boosts and special effects to you and your Pokémon. It’s a cute and wholesome moment that fits well into the theme of adventure and the premise of Scarlet and Violet.

We got some more information in regards to the three main stories you’ll be following in your journey across Paldea. Starfall Street is where you’ll go up against the school’s team of troublemakers – Team Star, Path of Legends is where you’ll seek out legendary and rumored Pokémon throughout Paldea. The most familiar of the three is the gym challenge, with a traditional 8 gyms to challenge to eventually reach Victory Road.

While there wasn’t much in terms of new Pokemon, we did get to see an all-new evolution of Girafarig, aptly named Farigiraf. It has a very unique design but seems like a logical step forward for a Girafarig evolution.

The last thing we got to look at was a Tera Raid Battle. They look similar to Pokémon Dens from Sword and Shield, where instead you fight Terastallized Pokémon with a group of trainers before the timer expires. Once defeated, you gain an opportunity to catch the Tera Pokémon, there’ll surely be more to it than that in the full game, but that’s the general gist.

You can watch the trailer here:

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet release on November 18th. You can find the cheapest copies below:

• Pokémon Scarlet – $68 with free shipping
• Pokémon Violet – $68 with free shipping
• Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Edition Nintendo Switch Console – $518 with free shipping

The post A New 15 Minute Pokemon Scarlet/Violet Trailer Shows Off Tera Raid Battles, Picnics And More appeared first on Press Start.

There’s a lot of confusion surrounding what Overwatch 2 actually is. Is it a fully fledged sequel? A glorified update? Is it worthy of the 2 appended to its title in a seemingly desperate fashion? Even after its proper reveal in June of this year, many were left wondering that the game would actually entail. The answer lies somewhere in the middle of all the discourse and conversation surrounding the sequel to Blizzard’s seminal hero shooter.

Fundamentally, Overwatch 2 is a reworking and revamping of the original experience, made free in an age where live service games are becoming more and more accessible to the masses. With a shift to 5v5, an increased emphasis on teamwork, and thoughtful new hero designs, Overwatch 2 makes a good first impression, but ultimately, it feels incomplete and lacking in content.

A vast majority of the changes in Overwatch 2 come with changes to its core foundations and overall structure. The change to 5v5 as opposed to 6v6 is one that feels thought out and deliberate, placing more emphasis on the role of tanks and teambuilding for particular playstyles. It ultimately makes way for a quicker, more frenetic moment-to-moment experience that feels different from its predecessor but not to the point that it abandons its core identity. It’s clear that Overwatch 2 is going in hard on being a team-focused game, which comes with it’s own set of pros and cons.

While it’s relatively fun to solo queue into quick play matches, the real satisfaction comes from playing with friends, regardless of whether or not you want to coordinate and play seriously, or just casually and for fun. Being able to communicate and play as a team always was core to Overwatch’s core gameplay loop, but it feels even more paramount here, and is all the more rewarding for it. The downside to this is that the game just isn’t as fun playing solo, often feeling somewhat mindless and mundane outside of a competitive setting.

To adjust for the shift to 5v5, a few of the original heroes have been tweaked, adjusted, or straight up reworked to fit better into the new team sizes. Each role has their own passive abilities now to help them further, from support heroes gaining passive healing after a set amount of time or tanks taking less knockback and generating less Ultimate charge for healing and received damage.

Heroes like Orisa and Bastion have had their skills changed for the better, placing stronger emphasis on their roles and gameplay loops, giving them more identity in what’s grown to be a large roster. A special shoutout should go to Doomfist, who’s been entirely reworked into the Tank role, functioning as a sort of hybrid between offensive and defensive heroes. He’s loads of fun to play and balancing high-speed aggression with trying to stay alive was constantly entertaining and engaging. There are definitely some heroes who feel lost in translation, such as Widowmaker and Symmetra, who haven’t been adjusted to work better within a 5v5 framework, which is made even more noticeable by the heroes who did get brought forward.

The three new heroes coming at launch, Sojourn, Junker Queen, and Kiriko are all a resounding success as well. Each one has a kit that feeds into itself and flows with clear strengths and weaknesses. Sojourn, for example, is a high speed damage dealer with a rail cannon that’s charged up by its primary fire. She also has a projectile that functions as a vortex on impact, making for easy headshots with said railgun. Junker Queen and Kiriko have similarly coherent designs that feel like a definitive step up from some of the stuff we saw in the first game – especially at launch.

Not all is so consistent on the game mode front, unfortunately, and it’s made even more apparent here with the core changes made to Overwatch’s foundation. The new game mode, Push, sees teams going head to head over the control of an endearing robot, who will push a barricade towards the enemy’s spawn when in control of either team. It makes for a dynamic and ever-shifting battlefield where you constantly have to adapt to new terrain and evolving team compositions, and often results in some tense tie-breakers. The downside to this is that some of the other objective based game modes like Escort feel archaic in comparison, especially when the core gameplay has potential for so much more.

Map design is similarly untouched, with a few of the old ones fitting into the changes and others not so much. The six new maps coming with launch feel tailor designed for it, though, so I often found myself more excited to play on those than a majority of the returning maps. These maps are also set in new and interesting locations that hadn’t previously been explored before, including the likes of Rio De Janeiro, New York City, and Rome.

If all of that sounds bare-bones in regards to new content, that’s because it is. Overwatch 2 is launching with one new game mode, three new heroes, and six new maps, which feels decidedly lacking for what is meant to be a whole new sequel. The most glaring omission is the lack of the new PVE mode due for release sometime next year, which one can only assume is the reason things are so content-light on the multiplayer side of things. Still, though, it’s hard not to feel like Overwatch 2 is more of a glorified content update as opposed to a whole new beast at launch.

As with any live service game, Overwatch 2 is adopting the seasonal model, with roughly nine-week long seasons introducing new heroes, maps, game modes, and a season pass. While every new hero is automatically unlocked upon purchasing the season pass, players who choose to stick to the free track can only unlock them upon reaching tier 55, which is another strange decision given the already lacking number of brand-new heroes. Battle pass progression is also noticeably slow, even for those who pay for the premium track.

There’s also some baffling decisions that have been made in regards to the new player experience. As a first time user, you have to unlock the original cast of heroes from the first game over roughly 100 matches, limiting the potential pool of playable characters for new players right from the start. While I can understand the amount of options might be overwhelming for some, it’s a strange decision given the emphasis on teamwork and teambuilding, especially with competitive play unlocking at 50 quick play match wins.

One thing you can always count on with Blizzard, though, is production values and polish. Overwatch 2 is yet another outstanding showcase of attention-to-detail with characters that are positively bursting with emotion and personality, a timeless art style that’s quality is only emphasized by the engine upgrades, and fine-tuned optimization that leaves every aspect of the game feeling smooth and seamless. The new heroes, maps, and design reworks are particularly inspired, but even if some aren’t for you, there’s the option to opt for their Overwatch skins as well. Thankfully, all of your cosmetics also carry over to Overwatch 2 here, so there’s no need to worry about any precious skins or gold guns.

THE PC VERSION WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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While the battle royale genre has been positively flushed with entries of all kinds of the last few years, most of them don’t venture far out of the comforts of 1st/3rd person shooting. It’s easy to see why, with the likes of Fortnite, Apex Legends and Warzone being the juggernauts, breaking into the space with something new and interesting is a daunting endeavor. Warlander is one such title that’s seeking to break the mold and typical expectations we associate with BR, and while it’s a bit rough around the edges, there’s a lot of potential with the idea Toylogic Inc. has come up with here.

Described as a 3rd-person hack n’ slash battle royale with a touch of 4X strategy, Warlander sees players working in teams to assault and surmount enemy castles. In the 2-Army Battle mode, each team is made up of five groups of four players, with a total of 20 players to each castle. These sub-teams have their own goals, from protecting your own ground to leading the charge into enemy territory. As you push up you’ll capture zones that function as respawn points, engage in melee and ranged combat, and eventually siege the enemy castle to destroy their core.

2-Army Battle is a relatively short but sweet experience the sells the overall scale of the warfare you partake in here. There’s a constant back-and-forth, a push and pull between the 2 teams that incentivize changing up strategies on the fly and responding to unexpected situations. This is where the 4X element comes in, placing importance on the notion of listening to army commanders and understanding where you fit within the broader scope of your team.

5-Army Battle is where things really come into their own, though. The core idea is the same as 2-Army Battle, with the key difference of pitting five castles against one another. As each castle falls, the respective team is knocked out of the game, with the last one standing reigning as the victor. This mode is much more strategic in nature, having to juggle defense and offense against four other armies with up to 100 players on the battlefield at once. It’s more of a long-form game mode in comparison to 2-Army battle, but one that undoubtedly showcases all of the best elements of Warlander in one place.

When you deploy, you’ll pick one of three classes that fill unique rolls within your team. You’ve got your typical warriors, mages, and healers, all of which fit into archetypes you’d expect, bringing along skills to fit their particular class. Each one has two weapons to bring along, in some cases, the warrior for example, has a sword and shield melee combo alongside a ranged weapon.

Combat feels serviceable enough but the non-warrior classes die far too quickly, and it often felt like I was throwing myself into battle before I could make any real difference for my team. The game also does a poor job of explaining what each individual skill does, and while there’s a practice arena for you to get familiar with your skills, some sort of simple tutorial would go a long way here.

It isn’t all just combat and defense in battle, though, there are also Siege Weapons that will randomly spawn in on the map for any castle to capture. These weapons are piloted by multiple players, and smart use of them can change the tide of battle entirely. There’s a clear shift in focus when one of these pops up on the map, and it adds a nice sense of pace to the overall structure of any given match.

As you play and complete challenges as these classes, you’ll unlock new skills, weapons, and gear to equip on them. Each class has a set amount of CP, a point limit that you have to build out your characters within before you take them into battle. The stronger the gear, the higher the CP requirement. While your CP cap initially starts low, you can unlock titles via challenges that raise the total you CP you have to play with.

This system creates an interesting meta-game of progression and build-crafting. In the 3 games I played, I felt my character getting stronger with each one, and while this will no doubt plateau at some stage, it’s an addictive core loop to start with. You have six decks of five characters, so you can have multiple decks for different game modes and situations. It also helps that these classes are cosmetically customizable, so you can really make them your own.

Presentation is probably where Warlander is the most rough around the edges. The UI is often lost in the chaos and far too hard to read as a result, and the game itself isn’t all that pleasing to the eyes. While it definitely has a unique art style, a lot of the landscapes and environments blend in with each other and it becomes hard to spot far-off enemy players. Performance also wasn’t the best when there was a lot going on, though a lot of this is likely subject to change as the game moves towards release.

While early-access doesn’t reveal much in the way of monetization, and the in-built store page, Toylogic Inc. did reveal that the game will have a season pass that features cosmetic items when the game comes out of playtesting.

My time with Warlander has left me with one thing that stands out above all else – it has a lot of potential. There’s definitely work to be done between now and launch, but there’s a genuinely fresh and original idea here that can be expanded out even further with new game modes, classes, build crafting and more. For now, Warlander is a good bit of fun with some friends, but keep an eye out for the full version when it launches in December.

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Yakuza has exploded in popularity over the last 5 or so years, and RGG Studios have wasted no time getting to work on new entries in the series. Here’s everything announced at the 2022 RGG Summit.

The Next Mainline Entry is Like A Dragon 8 and it’s Coming in 2024

The next mainline entry has been properly revealed and it’s called Like A Dragon 8. The game will follow 7’s protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga, and former series protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu. Kiryu in particular is rocking a brand-new hairstyle, and the game will feature the RPG systems and turn-based combat found in the previous entry. It’s scheduled for release in 2024 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC

Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name Is A Side Story Set After Yakuza 6

Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is a canon side story following Kiryu after the events of Yakuza 6 leading up to Like A Dragon 8. The game won’t be as big as the mainline Like A Dragon titles, but is still just as important with a more classic style of gameplay similar to prior action-adventure Yakuza titles. It was described as a game made for long-time fans of the series, and launches sometime in 2023 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC

Like A Dragon: Ishin!’s Release Date Has Been Revealed with an Awesome New Trailer

Recently announced at this morning’s State of Play, Like A Dragon: Ishin! got an all new trailer and a release date. The trailer gives us our first proper look at the cast of characters we can expect to see with a better look at the narrative and gorgeous visuals on show here. The game is set to launch in just a few months on February 21st, 2023 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.

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Announced in the recent Nintendo Direct, the next wave of Nintendo 64 games for Switch Online members have been announced. Subscribers can expect to see the likes of Pilotwings 64, the original Mario Party Trilogy, the Pokemon Stadium games, and more! This will no doubt bolster the offering and value proposition of Nintendo Switch Online even further.

Pilotwings 64, Mario Party, and Mario Party 2 are all expected to launch by the end of the year, with Mario Party 3, Pokemon Stadium 1&2, 1080° Snowboarding, and Excitebike 64 launching sometime in 2023. These games were also announced alongside a GoldenEye 007 coming to the service with online play.

NINTENDO 64 GAMES COMING TO NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINE IN 2022/2023

• Pilotwings 64
• Mario Party
• Mario Party 2
• Mario Party 3
• Pokemon Stadium
• Pokemon Stadium 2
• 1080 Snowboarding
• Excitebike 64
• GOLDENYE 007

The post More Nintendo 64 Games Are Coming to Switch Online Including Mario Party & Pokemon Stadium appeared first on Press Start.

2017’s Splatoon 2 was a pivotal moment for one of Nintendo’s newest IP. Where the first game was a strong proof-of-concept with a dedicated player base, the hit sequel doubled down on everything that made the first game so great, with an excellent campaign and wave-based survival mode to boot.

If Splatoon 2 was the franchise finding its footing and evolving the core concept, Splatoon 3 is a more iterative and focused entry into the series. Opting to refine and hone the elements introduced in 2 to a fine polish. The end result is a game that isn’t the same radical step forward as its predecessor, yet delivers the most addictive and refined splatting experience thus far.

Splatoon 2’s campaign was arguably the best new inclusion in comparison to the first game, with laser-focused level design that introduces new mechanics and ideas and tossing them away before they get boring. The trend was continued and further bolstered by the Octo Expansion, so it only makes sense that Splatoon 3 would set out to reach similar heights with its own single-player experience – Return of the Mammalians.

Return of the Mammalians is an engaging hybrid of Splatoon 2’s campaign, and the Octo Expansion. Short and sweet levels that push the core idea of Splatoon to its limits, and it does so with resounding success. After creating your Inkling or Octoling who’s brand new to the Splatlands, you’ll find yourself lost in a world called Alterna, as you seek out Splatsville’s kidnapped Great Zapfish.

Things aren’t as they should be, though, the Octarians have returned, mutated with brown fur and purple eyes. Fuzzy Ooze coats the landscape of Alterna, and it falls to you, Agent 3, to find out the truth behind Alterna and the rampant fuzz. The truth is slowly revealed as you progress through the six zones of Alterna, unlocking logs that slowly peel back the layers that shroud the truth.

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It’s a relatively straightforward and simple narrative with an endearing cast of new and old characters. What was most surprising to me came in the form of the Alterna Logs, which are deciphered as you complete levels in each zone. Without spoiling too much, I suspect that hardcore Splatoon fans will get a real kick out of what’s explored in these, and clearing each zone was made more exciting by the prospect of new information.

In gameplay, Alterna serves as a sort of hub world for the numerous levels you’ll play across the 5-6 hour campaign. Much like the Octo Expansion, a vast majority of these levels can be completed in any order, and are optional, meaning if a level is proving to be too difficult, you can move forward onto something else. This coupled with the ability to pick from different weapon types at the beginning of each level, means that there’s a degree of flexibility and player choice present within Return of the Mammalians only found in Octo Expansion.

To make up for the non-linear nature of Return of the Mammalians, progression is gated by Fuzzy Ooze that can only be cleared by using a required amount of Power Eggs gained from clearing levels and defeated enemies. This means you’ll have to make smart decisions on what patches of Fuzzy Ooze you want to clear if you want to streamline progression, or look for secrets hidden throughout Alterna. These secrets range from collectibles to items you can use to unlock new skills and abilities to bolster your arsenal in future levels. Things like increasing your ink capacity, movement speed, and more. It adds an extra wrinkle and element of exploration to the hub world that would otherwise simply serve as a place to be as you move between levels.

Much like previous entries there’s a strong focus on levels that are unique and distinct from one another, each one focusing on an idea that’s pushed to its extreme and tossed away before it can get boring. It makes for a tightly paced and constantly creative experience that’s punctuated by engaging puzzle-like boss fights.

With the Splatlands being so separated from the rest of squid-kind, all kinds of tools and weapons have been developed. From the brand new melee weapon, the Splatana Wiper that excels at close range, to the Tri-Stringer which effectively functions as a bow with explosive arrows filled with paint. This doesn’t even scratch the service as there’s also a slew of new Specials including the mobile Crab Tank, and the ink-slinging Zipcaster.

You’re also accompanied by Smallfry, a small salmonid that helps you on your adventures in Alterna. Smallfry can be used to deal damage to enemies, solve puzzles, clear Fuzzy Ooze, and more. It’s a novel concept that feels underutilized for a vast majority of the levels, and only reveals its true potential in the last hour or so. There’s also the Squid Surge and Squid Roll, two movement abilities that encourage you to stay mobile both in multiplayer and throughout Alterna.

Those who’ve played previous entries will feel right at home with Splatoon 3’s suite of multiplayer offerings. Turf War makes a triumphant return with fantastic new and old maps that are ripe for opportunities to use the new movement mechanics, and all other game modes from Splatoon 2 are also reprised here. Although this is a relatively feature complete, and content-rich multiplayer mode, it’s a bit strange that there’s no new game modes present at release, aside from the inclusion of a reworked ranked mode in the form of Anarchy Battles.

Splatfests also make a return, but come with a rework that freshens up their overall pace and how they function. Splatfests are now split into three teams to choose from, with each battle consisting of 2 halves. The first of which is a 4v4 Turf War, and the second half is a tri-color Turf War, where the 2 losing teams are put up against the winning team as they desperately try to defend their previous victory. It’s a truly hectic and well-rounded experience that stands out even further from the core playlist of game modes, even if it’s sometimes tricky to keep track of.

As always, you can customize the look of your Inkling/Octoling with clothes you can buy and unlock as you play the game. Each one has a small set of skills that enhance certain abilities, incentivizing smart build crafting to suit your playstyle. One new inclusion is the ability to create loadouts for your clothing, making way for an easy method to swap between different kits. You can even visit the returning Murch, to configure abilities even further, making sure that you look stylish first and foremost with abilities that still work for you in combat.

Weapon loadouts are unfortunately no different from previous games, where you’re locked into a certain Special Weapon and Sub Weapon depending on your primary weapon of choice. It’s frustrating to be forced to use a particular Sub Weapon or Special Weapon because you gravitate towards a particular gun. There are multiple variations of core weapon types, meaning there is some flexibility, but the ability to build it all out from scratch is still sorely lacking here.

Salmon Run returns in the form of Salmon Run Next Wave, and is now a permanent part of Splatoon 3, meaning players can jump into the wave-based survival mode at any time. It still invokes the same sense of chaos with 4 players frantically scrambling to deliver enough golden eggs before your shift is up. With the same core gameplay loop and some great new inclusions that really improve the experience, Salmon Run Next Wave is a standout game mode in Splatoon 3.

For starters there’s a bunch of new boss Salmonids to contend with, all of which require unique strategies to take down. The Flipper-Flopper, for example, is a dolphin that’ll dive in and out of ink, leaving a small circle of ink on the ground for each new diving spot. Inking the circle will  leave the Flipper-Flopper smashing head first into the floor, exposing it to damage. The amount of boss Salmonids thrown at you ensure that you work with your teammates, and stay ever-flexible on the job.

Another small improvement is the ability to throw the all important Golden Eggs, streamlining the experience that little bit further in a great way. You’ll also occasionally come across an extra wave of work where King Salmonid Cohozuna will take to the battlefield, serving as a thrilling final boss fight of sorts before returning to Splatsville. It’s also been announced that there’s going to be Big Run events, where Salmonids overrun Splatsville and need to be fought back. While these are set to happen every few months, we didn’t get to experience it during the review window, but I have no doubt that they’ll be looked forward to in the way Splatfests are.

Between game modes, you can spend time exploring Splatsville, messing around with guns in the lobby/Grizzco Break Room, or play Table Turf Battle, an all new card game introduced in Splatoon 3. While not super in-depth, Table Turf Battle is a fun little distraction to play when you need a break from all the splatting.  It plays like a table top version of Turf War, where you use cards to take squares on a board. Whoever has the most turf and the end of the game, wins. You’ll collect card packs as you play that’ll expand your deck further, making for a nice extra layer of progression on top of all the multiplayer stuff.

I’m always shocked out how Nintendo are able to wring out every drop of power from the Switch to create a game that both looks and runs beautifully. Splatoon 3 is a real showcase for the OLED, with all the bright neon paint splattered over the terrain and high quality particle effects on show here. That isn’t to say that the game struggles when docked, because it’s similarly remarkable with rock solid performance across all modes. It’s a slick and smooth experience from start to finish, and one so visually appealing that it’s simply too hard to take your eyes off of.

The post Splatoon 3 Review – A Splattin’ Good Time appeared first on Press Start.

While Shin Megami Tensei has a firm understanding of its identity and what it is today, it was still finding its footing when the original Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers came out in 1997. The series hadn’t yet landed on the pivotal Press Turn System that Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne would bring to the table, something that would inform the design of every entry going forward. Still, though, Soul Hackers stood out for its palpable atmosphere, slick cyberpunk setting, and experimental mechanics that preserve its originality and uniqueness to this day.

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It’s with this knowledge that the announcement of a sequel, nearly 25 whole years later, came as a shock to many fans of the cult-classic. In a world where the Devil Summoner spin-off series had seemed to be long-forgotten, what form would Soul Hackers take in a world where Persona is more popular than the mainline series? The answer is unfortunately, a rather disappointing one. While Soul Hackers 2 has all the fundamentals of a typical Shin Megami Tensei game, it lacks the alluring complexity of previous entries. Opting for a more streamlined and straightforward RPG, that while immediately accessible, struggles to stand up to the lofty achievements of its predecessors, and that’s without getting into its egregious DLC practices.

Set during a war between the Yatagarasu and the Phantom Society, Soul Hackers 2 follows two supernatural beings named Ringo and Figue. Birthed from a place purely made of data and information, Ringo and Figue enter the human world in order to avert a predicted cataclysmic event that will end all of humanity. They quickly meet with Devil Summoners from both Yatagarasu and the Phantom Society that have their own motives for revenge and the party sets out to untangle the web of conspiracies and malicious plans that will ultimately lead to the end of the world.

While it isn’t a narrative I’d describe as boring or mundane, it definitely feels more surface level and less nuanced than the original. There aren’t many themes or ideas explored here beyond your typical end of the world schtick, and there was a lot of potential for that with the likes of Ringo and Figue being sentient AI. It feels like it merely serves as a vessel for gameplay, but that stands out in a series with a narrative pedigree like Shin Megami Tensei.

The core cast also doesn’t do much to save it, unfortunately, mostly because they feel so tangential to the main plot. Ringo and Figue are undoubtedly the most interesting struggling with the concepts their presented with as AI in a human world. While the others are decently fleshed out over the 30-40 hour run-time, nothing particularly stuck with me after the credits rolled. Part of this is due to the Soul Matrix, the way in which these characters are explored. As you explore dungeons unique to each character within the Soul Matrix, you’ll uncover key events in their lives that led them to where they are today. The problem, is that progression through the Soul Matrix is gated by main story progression, leaving it disjointed, and sporadic in nature. There’s no real depth or complexity to the core cast here, which also extends to core gameplay.

Shin Megami Tensei is known best for its brutal turn-based combat, where a single mistake can lead to a cascade of effects. What’s typically as triumphant as it is ball-busting in difficulty, is disappointingly watered down here in Soul Hackers 2. At the core of every SMT game since Nocturne is the Press Turn System, with each spin-off riffing on the idea in some format to introduce something new. Soul Hackers 2 does this in the form of Stacks, whereby hitting enemy weaknesses will create a Stack. If you have at least one Stack by the end of your turn, your demons will perform a Sabbath, a huge attack which grows in power depending on how many Stacks you have by the end of your turn.

While it’s an initially flashy and instantly rewarding spin on the Press Turn System, it grows to be mindlessly simple and lacking in complexity. It’s ultimately boils down to getting bonus damage for hitting an enemy’s weakness with little to no strategy in regards to how you get there. The combat system is also hurt by lack of punishment for rash or hasty decision making, with attacks that enemies are resistant to resulting in nothing except lost damage. The core appeal of striking enemy weaknesses and having smart party setups is still here, but isn’t nearly as rewarding. It does make for a more accessible SMT experience, but ultimately one that I think many will bounce off of due to the lack of complexity.

Dungeon design is also disappointingly simple, with uninspired and rudimentary puzzles sprinkled throughout visually dull hallways. The Soul Matrix is particularly mundane, with environments feeling copy and pasted between floors with scattered boss encounters throughout. When you begin exploring a dungeon, Ringo will send out her recruited demons to scout the area for items, money, side quests, and more. While this is a cool idea on paper, it significantly waters down exploration and Demon Negotiations.

I mention Demon Negotiations specifically because this is also relegated to the scouting system, where demons will propose to join you if you give them something they demand. It can’t be understated how much this takes away from the core idea behind recruiting demons. What used to be a system where world-building and smart decision making combine to create an incredibly engaging system, is now watered down into a simple yes or no choice, that will almost always be a yes from the player, as recruiting a new demon is far more valuable than whatever it is they’re asking for.

Outside of dungeon exploration and combat, you’ll spend your time purchasing equipment, items, and fusing your demons to create even stronger demons. Fusion is exactly as you’d expect, incentivizing smart use of your demon supply to bolster your party and weakness coverage as you progress through the main story. There’s heaps of equipment to customize each character with, allowing for some neat build potential. Nothing feels like a wrong choice as demons can be assigned to party members as you see fit, allowing you to switch up roles on the fly. A special mention should go to upgrading the demon summing device, the COMP, where you can improve the rate at which you gain Stacks, boost skill damage, and much more.

While Soul Hackers 2 can’t hold a candle to the likes of Persona, this is still a slick looking RPG from Atlus, especially compared to other entries. The 3D models of demons are a joy to look at, attack animations are eye-catching and the general aesthetic of the game, while different from original, establishes its own identity. The 2D character portraits are similarly expressive and detailed, giving character interactions an extra bit of personality and life that goes a long way. Performance is also remarkably smooth, making for an overall polished experience, regardless of whether you choose to play it at 4K, or 1440P.

THE PS5 VERSION OF THIS GAME WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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Amid the constant flurry of PlayStation exclusive ports to PC, there’s one web-head that always seems to avoid making the jump – until now, that is. Spider-Man Remastered for PC is fast approaching its launch on August 12th, sporting all new PC-specific features and a content-complete experience for a whole new audience to sink their teeth into.

Ahead of launch on Friday, we got to sit down with core technology director at Insomniac Games, Mike Fitzgerald, and founder & senior director at Nixxes, Jurjen Katsman. We got to chat about what they hope to achieve with the port, working with new hardware, and expanding to a new audience. Here’s what they had to say.

What Were Some of the Immediate Improvements and Opportunities You Saw When Porting Spider-Man to PC?

Mike Fitzgerald (Insomniac Games) – Our main goal was to reach a whole new audience of players that hasn’t had the opportunity to play the game. Also to embrace the PC gaming environment and fundamentals that people are expecting and hoping for. Of course, that’s where Nixxes came in with all their expertise there. But from controls to configurability to high end graphics features and things like that, we wanted to make sure we were delivering what people would expect on PC.

Jurjen Katsman (Nixxes) – I think for me, what is really important on PC is lots of little things, right? There’s a lot of different players on PC with their own special interests and needs. We feel it’s really important to try to cater to all of those on the low end, and on the high end. Sometimes in the past, people might have asked me the question: “what percentage of player has that monitor?” Well, maybe that’s something like 5%, and these other things also might only be 5%, but it’s important that we please all those groups, right? That’s why they’re playing on PC and make use of their special hardware. I think it’s important to try to meet as many of those needs as possible.

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It often feels like there are a few games that occupy the weird space of showing up every few years, only to slowly fade as development takes priority. One such game is Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones, originally touted as a fully-realized pirate adventure built off of the foundations found in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag’s excellent sailing.

Its taken on something of a different form since its inception, drawing comparisons to Sea of Thieves and other live service games of our time. Ubisoft detailed many of its gameplay mechanics and systems, the idea of solo and cooperative play, and post launch support in the form of free content.

Courtesy of Ubisoft, we were lucky enough to get a behind the scenes preview of what Skull and Bones actually is, so here’s everything you need to know about Ubisoft’s brand new live service pirating adventure.

When’s It Out?

Skull and Bones launches on November 8th, 2022, with post launch content to come in the years following release. It’s launching on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

Become A Pirate Legend

At its core, Skull and Bones is about becoming the most infamous and feared pirate in the lands. After suffering from a shipwreck, your pirate is left with next to nothing – only the bare necessities to weather the harsh wildlife native to the many explorable islands.

As you gather supples, you’ll take on jobs from the numerous Pirate Dens, gaining Infamy and rewards, leading to Deadlier jobs that yield even more Infamy and supplies.

As you grow in notoriety and complete Contracts, you’ll be able to craft more Gear for your pirate, ship, and crew as you build up a fleet to set out across the oceans with. Ubisoft mentioned they’re aiming for a dark and gritty tone to capture the dangerous and risky elements of golden age piracy.

Build The Perfect Ship

Ubisoft made sure to point out that naval combat is at the core of the experience for Skull and Bones. Self described as fast paced and visceral, Skull and Bones is looking to provide best-in-class ship combat alongside the ability to customise and deck out your ships as you see fit.

Different ships serve different purposes, the cargo ship for example is heavy and slow to navigate, but can carry more loot and supplies as a trade-off, where navigational ships move much faster at the cost of durability and cargo capacity. This is all coupled with the ability to equip ships with countless weapons and armor types with their own strengths and weaknesses. These considerations need to made carefully when you undertake a contract, as you’ll have to survive the danger of the seas.

There’s more to it than just building the right ship, though, as Skull and Bonss places an emphasis on the morale of your ship’s crew. If they aren’t looked after and fed properly they can and will mutiny against you.

A World Of Pirates

Skull and Bones is first and foremost a living multiplayer game. When players hop into a server, they can opt to engage with PVP or keep it strictly PVE. While everything can be completed solo, Ubisoft stressed that the game is intended to be played with friends.

You can undertake Contracts with your friends or other pirates you run into while exploring, PVP with other players, and engage in what Ubisoft called Dynamic Events where players can join forces to take down large fleets, plunder strongholds, and more. There’s also extreme weather events like storms and monster waves to contend with as you explore, alongside the ever present pirate-hunting Privateers.

While PVP is usually a high risk, high reward engagement, if you do sink – not all is lost. A portion of your cargo will always be returned to the Pirate Den you respawn at, and you can recover the rest of it if you’re quick enough to get back to the site. This is all in the effort to create a living, breathing pirate world that’s thrilling yet dangerous to explore.

Create A Pirate

To give your pirate a unique identity among the rest, you can customise them with outfits and accessories that you’ll unlock as you move up the ranks. Additionally, you can also customise how your ship looks, allowing you to plunder in style as you engage in various pirate activities.

While there’s still much to learn in the lead up to launch in November, Skull and Bones is looking scratch a similar itch that Sea of Thieves does, especially for those who want a more grounded swashbuckling experience. If that seems like something that’s up your alley, keep an eye out for more news over the coming months as we move closer to launch.

The post Skull And Bones Has Been Re-Revealed And Here’s Everything You Need to Know appeared first on Press Start.

After years of delays and a full reboot, Ubisoft has announced that its shared world pirate game, Skull and Bones is releasing on November 8th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC

We also got to see a bunch of gameplay which you can see in the reveal below.

There’s no doubt the game has taken many forms over the years, but Ubisoft have settled on something most comparable to Sea Of Thieves. Work to the top as you work to become the most infamous pirate of the seas during a golden age of piracy, as you tackle jobs and PVP with other players.

Keep an eye out for more news in the leadup to launch in November.

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While Monster Hunter has been on a different trajectory since World’s release in 2018, you can always count on CAPCOM to deliver quality hunting no matter what platform you play on. After the success of World’s enormous expansion, Iceborne, Sunbreak feels like an inevitable addition to an already meaty game, but never one that feels out of place. It’s not perfect, a few of Rise’s core issues are still present here, new ones rear their heads, and others have been fixed, but what Sunbreak does have to offer is bound to please anyone who enjoyed the base game, and especially series veterans.

Set after the tumultuous events of Monster Hunter Rise, Sunbreak sees our hunters called to Elgado Outpost after the unexpected appearance of a foreign monster in the Shrine Ruins. You’ll quickly find out that Kamura isn’t the only territory being invaded by violent monsters from the Kingdom, and you team up with new character Fiorayne and the Knights of the Royal Order to uncover what’s happening.

What Sunbreak lacks in narrative unpredictability, it makes up for in its characters and setting. Elgado Outpost and by extension, the Kingdom are locales unlike any other in the series, more regal and medieval in design. There’s also a stronger focus on characters, and while it’s far from revolutionary for typical Monster Hunter standards, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little fond of the likes of Fiorayne and Admiral Galleus. It’s a story with a tried and true formula that’s saved from stagnation thanks to its characters and fresh setting, giving Sunbreak its own distinct identity within the series.

Everyone knows that narrative isn’t the draw for Monster Hunter, though, its the thrill of the hunt, experiencing a roster of brand new monsters, deadly variants, and returning favorites. In this regard, Sunbreak is a true home-run. While monster preferences will always be subjective, I believe that Sunbreak has one of the best rosters of any mainline Monster Hunter game.

From the return of Gore Magala to the chilling introduction of Lunagaron and the vampiric Malzeno, every monster here feels like it has purpose, in some cases topping the fights from their original games. A special shoutout should go to Frontier fan-favorite Espinas, who’s unrelenting aggression and ability to inflict two status effects make for a fight that’s thrilling regardless of how many you’ve bested in your hunts.

Much like Iceborne did for World, Sunbreak brings along Master Rank for Rise, the highest difficulty of hunts that are meant to test any hunter’s mettle. While there’s a definite step up here from the relative ease of Rise’s High Rank hunts, it doesn’t quite reach the caliber of past games. That might be great news for some, but I constantly found myself craving the heightened challenge present in older titles, which lends more ferocity and intimidation to each monster you go up against.

With increased difficulty and new monsters, comes new tools, and Sunbreak brings plenty of new toys to play with. For starters, each weapon type has a plethora of new Switch Skills, allowing hunters to further customize and deepen their playstyle. The addition of Switch Skill Swapping, allows you to bring in two sets of Switch Skills into any given hunt, letting you swap them at will with a simple button combination. This can lead to some nasty combos that are as satisfying to execute as they are flashy to look at, and also creates room for further build crafting and loadout-tailoring for each hunt.

There’s also new Endemic Life found in both the new and old areas, and while they seem simple and surface level at first, it quickly becomes apparent that they’re much more than that. The Marionette Spider, for example, allows you to attach a Silkbind Strand to a monster and yank it in a particular direction, causing it to collide with a wall or even another monster as they get knocked to the ground. Wall-mounted wildlife changes the way you engage with Wyvern-Riding, as smashing into walls with these critters present can earn you extra damage or even a status effect.

Arguably the best aspect of these new Endemic Life is that they feel completely seamless within gameplay, never interrupting the flow of the hunt, while still introducing new ways you can engage with monsters and the environments you hunt them in. There’s a constant incentive to look for these critters as you move through an area towards a monster or as you give chase, further lending to that feeling of being in a living, breathing world that was established in the base game.

As we’ve moved on from the struggles of Kamura, Sunbreak doesn’t bring with it any new Rampages or Apex Monsters to hunt, and instead introduces Follower Quests and Support Surveys. Follower Quests are hunts you’ll go on with the supporting cast, as you work towards deepening their bonds so you can bring them along with you on Support Surveys. This includes characters from Kamura, as well, so you’ll be able to accompany the likes of Elder Fugen and Master Utsushi.

While they no doubt makes hunts easier as they split the aggression of the monster, they offer a sense of spectacle and camaraderie with the supporting characters that hasn’t been seen before in Monster Hunter. Nothing will match the rush I experienced when Fiorayne disappeared from the fight, only to return mounted on a Barioth to deliver unsuspected punishment to the unfortunate Lunagaron we had in our sights. You can even choose from a selection of weapons for followers to use on Support Surveys, allowing you to have them use something that compliments your own loadout.

To keep things spoiler free, there’s more monsters for you to experience once the credits roll, and a post-game progression system that is good in theory, but falls a bit flat in execution. Without getting into specifics, certain post-game hunts take far too long to complete, to the point of mundanity. I’m unsure how these play with more than one person, but I can only suspect the difficulty scales up. Thankfully, this isn’t the only form of post-game, but is absolutely something players will want to engage with if they’re into build crafting and maximizing stats, and it’s a shame they don’t deliver on their core concept.

Sunbreak’s brand new locale is the Citadel, and brings with it a more vertically designed return of the Jungle from past games. It’s nice to have new areas that are smaller in scale than those from the base game, yet still maintaining unique color palettes and design set pieces that help them to stand out amongst the rest. Rise is now a true melding pot of all the best areas a Monster Hunter game needs, with a bit of its own flourish for good measure.

The new hub, Elgado Outpost, is a refreshingly small and dense hub area that drops Kamura’s peace and quiet for a steampunk-style hustle and bustle. It’s tonally unique and a joy to explore for the first time when you eventually reach the Kingdom, and it’s nice to able to move between the NPCs you visit regularly for your pre-hunt rituals without having to sit through loading screens.

While we didn’t review the PC port of Monster Hunter Rise, Sunbreak was played via the PC version, and it goes without saying that much like the base game, Sunbreak performs incredibly well from a technical standpoint. In the roughly 30 or so hours I’ve spent with it, I’ve encountered zero technical issues, and only ever had the pleasure of buttery smooth framerates, which is especially remarkable with the context that base Rise was built for the Switch.

All of it is really brought to life by stellar monster designs, and continuing the trend of introducing slick new weapons and armor. While it might not be quite the looker in the same way World is in terms of sheer detail, I still think that Rise is the best middle ground of old and new in terms of environment design and color palette, retaining that classic feel of the old games with some of the modern sheen brought with World.

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There’s a lot of expectation associated with Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes in a few ways. For starters, Fire Emblem: Three Houses – the very game it’s based on – is one of the strongest Fire Emblem games in the franchise, beloved by many as a return to form for the series while also including all the best elements of the 3DS entries. There’s also the weight brought along by the success of 2019’s excellent Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which set a new standard for what Musou spin-offs could achieve.

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While Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes mostly succeeds on delivering an alternate take on Three Houses, it’s hard not to feel like some of the ideas here just don’t fit into the kind of formula Musou games are rooted in. That’s not to say it’s bad – there’s plenty here for fans of Three Houses, even more so for those who get deeply invested into the content these Warriors games offer, but there are elements of the overall experience that suffer once the repetition sets in.

Serving as an alternate take on Three Houses, Three Hopes has a narrative that is mostly similar in structure and narrative beats to what is found in Three Houses. After completing a short tutorial battle, the player character, Shez, falls into an unexpected situation at Garrag Mach Monastery. With Shez looking to pickup the pieces and uncover the truth behind a being only they can communicate with known as Arval, you’ll pick one of the three houses to enroll into at Garrag Mach.

One of the best elements Three Houses brought to Fire Emblem was the ability to grow your relationship with the students at Garrag Mach, and Three Hopes is no different. While most of these characters initially come across as surface level or stereotypical, it’s these deeper dives into their personalities and who they are that fleshes them out and makes them such a fantastic cast to engage with.

It’s clear that they all have different lineages and come from all walks of life, and even though I’d spent countless hours with them already in Three Houses, the new stuff brought along in Three Hopes was just as alluring, and always had me looking forward to the next support threshold. It’s a true treat to be back with this cast of characters again, and is easily one of the best aspects of Three Hopes.

I mentioned in my preview for Three Hopes that the overall narrative wasn’t doing a whole lot for me, but that I’d suspected it would quickly improve as the pace picked up towards the second half of the game. While there definitely was some improvement, there are a myriad of questions left unanswered after rolling credits on the Black Eagles route relating to Arval, Shez, and Byleth in particular.

There’s no doubt that the player is incentivized to replay Three Hopes multiple times in order to uncover all the answers, and to also view the conflict from a different perspective. The problem, is that Musou games don’t lend themselves particularly well to subsequent play-throughs, especially at the length of 20 or so hours long.

Because the bulk of the narrative is one that treads ground similar to that of which is found in Three Houses, I was ultimately left feeling underwhelmed in regards to the actual plot. While I’m sure it picks up if you’re willing to commit the time, Three Hopes simply isn’t designed for it when it feels like the first playthrough already overstays its welcome.

Much like Age of Calamity, Three Hopes looks to translate a lot of the mechanics and gameplay systems from Three Houses into a Musou framework, to varying degrees of success. The class system, for example, sees units progress down a non-linear tree of potential classes they unlock as they participate in class certification exams. This means the player is afforded a lot of flexibility into what each unit can do, but also means there’s less individuality between units. Move sets and the way characters play are defined by their class, not the character themselves.

This system is a joy to experiment with on a first playthrough, because it essentially means you can customize your army exactly how you want to. Specializing into particular classes with particular units, watching them grow in power, expanding their move sets as they progress further down the tree.

Where it suffers, though, is in the fact it effectively means all three routes play almost identically from a move set perspective, in a game where a lot of the core appeal comes from the power fantasy of playing suped-up versions of these characters. While not a bad system on its own, it painfully highlights the potential repetition towards the end of the game, which killed a lot of my motivation to dive right back in for another run.

That isn’t to say that your first play through is a bad one, though. While it gets off to a bit of a slow start, it eventually evolves into a more fully-realized Musou/strategy hybrid in-comparison to 2017’s Fire Emblem Warriors. It’s satisfying to appropriately pair up units via the Adjutant system and issue commands to them as you take to the fight with another character, as you switch and swap between your chosen units to accomplish objectives.

Battle itself is standard Warriors stuff, but where it really gets interesting is once you start delving into deeper classes, and look to synergize unit abilities and Adjutants together. The hack n’ slash stuff here is all well and good, but battle is at its most engaging when you’re thinking about which units need to go where in order to take advantage of weaknesses and enemy formations. Three Hopes gives you more control over AI units than ever, and even though they’re relatively useless when they aren’t given something to do, it accentuates the idea you’re commanding a small army.

Weaknesses are something I was also a big fan of in Three Hopes. Enemies are weak to particular weapon types depending on which class they are similar to Three Houses, as opposed to the typical Fire Emblem weapons triangle. It forces you to not only bring a wide array of units to cover all of your bases, but to also think outside the box when challenged by a tough enemy with multiple weaknesses.  Do you want to commit your whole team to bring it down as fast as you can? Or is it maybe better to cycle units in and out to retain focus on other parts of the battlefield. This is all stuff I never got tired of, and it was a refreshing break from the endless hack n’ slashing.

Each chapter takes place within a smaller region of Fódlan, broken up into even smaller battlefields. Every one has a main conflict you’ll work towards to reach the next chapter, but these can only be undertaken when surrounding land is seized via the Side Missions they offer, battles that are smaller in-scale, but often net rewards.

The number of Side Missions in each chapter steadily goes up as the game progresses, but there’s a nice degree of flexibility here for those who want it. Do you forge a path straight to the main conflict and do only the necessary Side Missions, or do you spend the time to complete all of them to earn extra rewards, bolstering your army and progression further? You can even unlock special bonuses to aid you in that chapter’s main conflict, or weapons that you normally wouldn’t come across, making them almost always worthwhile, but never forced thanks to the other tools Three Hopes has in regards to character progression.

One thing Three Houses was almost universally praised for was the social sim elements and the way that they directly impact gameplay. Three Hopes converts much of the same efforts, where between battles you can spend time with other students to improve support levels with Shez or other students, increasing their support capabilities when paired up as an Adjutant. The catch, though, is that there’s a limited number of actions per chapter, and you’ll always have to pick and choose between who you want to see grow.

It provides a little more decision making between battles, and by no means makes other units arbitrary or useless. In-fact, you also gain a certain number of training actions that can be used to improve class proficiency on units you don’t use as much. You can also spend gold to gain levels up to where Shez is currently at, meaning you can constantly try out new units and class setups as long as you have the resources. My only real gripe with these systems is that they function almost identically to how they do in Three Houses, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it rings true here.

Unfortunately, one area where Three Hopes really struggles is in its production values. Aside from having an excellent soundtrack, killer CG cutscenes, and some nice character models, it doesn’t have much else going for it. The environments for the most part are bland and lacking in detail, with muddy textures and overly sharp edges drawing your attention away from the action.

Performance is similarly frustrating, where handheld mode tends to hold around 30 frames per second, with docked trying to target a higher 60, but hardly ever reaching it. It goes without saying that playing in coop only worsens these conditions, which is a shame, because none of these Warriors games have taken advantage of such a strong idea.

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Hot off the heels of last month’s closed beta, Blizzard has announced that Overwatch 2 will be coming to players as a free-to-play live service later this year. We got an extensive hands-off preview ahead of the reveal courtesy of Blizzard, which has not only shed some more light on the overall goals of Overwatch 2 as a sequel to 2016’s game of the year, but also how they plan to approach the live-service model.

While a majority of the content talked about was PVP focused, there were some fleeting details on the PVE component of Overwatch 2 that’s to follow this year’s launch. Game director Aaron Keller emphasized that Overwatch 2 is going to have a focus on the game always having something to do, there should always be a reason to login and play Overwatch, while also targeting pain-points for players and making adjustments to the broader game that shift the meta in big ways.

During the roughly two hours of time spent previewing Overwatch 2, Blizzard outlined its goals for live-service, changes to the overall game, new content delivery, an overhauled competitive experience, what they hope to deliver with PvE and so much more. In short, this is a reworked and upgraded Overwatch that’s designed for veteran players, and those who have never delved into Blizzard’s darling hero-shooter.

Here’s everything you need to know about Overwatch 2.

When’s It Out?

Overwatch 2 launches on October 4th, 2022, with the PVE component to launch sometime in 2023.

Reimagined PVP

Overwatch 2’s biggest design change in comparison to the first game is the jump from 6v6 to 5v5, meaning you have one less tank per team. Game director Aaron Keller cited that two tanks was just too much in current Overwatch, aside from long queue times if you look to play any other role, there was a huge problem with shields and crowd-control that gave way to a meta of poking and slow gameplay.

To compensate for this, almost every tank has been reworked or buffed in someway so that they can fill the role of a single tank. Additionally, crowd-control is almost completely eliminated from the entire game, encouraging tanks to really get in there and start tearing up the enemy team.

The main goal with this change was to ensure that every player feels like they have an impact on every match they play. The effectiveness of tanks in the current game is too overbearing so Blizzard looked for a way to reel them back in without mitigating the strengths they should have.

A Live-Service Approach

Perhaps the biggest news that came out of the preview, was the information that Overwatch 2 would adopt a seasonal model similar to that of other live-service titles. Each season lasts 9-weeks, bringing with it either a new hero, map, or mode, alongside countless new skins, and a shiny new Mythic Skin.

Season 1 launches alongside PVP on October 4th. As its the kickoff, this drop is rather large in terms of content. In particular, there will be three new heroes, one new game mode, six new maps, over 30 new skins, and the ridiculously cool Genji Mythic Skin.

Season 2 is to follow shortly after on December 6th, bringing with it a new tank hero, a new map, another set of over 30 new skins, and a new Mythic Skin. To set expectations going forward, Blizzard clarified that heroes will be added to the game every second season, and there will always at least be a new hero, map, or game mode to look forward to with each drop. PVE will also receive additional content through the live-service after it launches in 2023.

An Evolving Roster

One of the main reasons so many people gravitate towards Overwatch its diverse roster of unique and charming characters. From the stoic Soldier 76 to fan-favorite Tracer, Blizzard have always had their finger on the pulse of what makes characters interesting and fun to play. Overwatch 2 is looking to bring fresh blood into the mix with 3 brand new heroes on launch in October. These heroes include the previously announced DPS hero Sojourn, an unannounced support hero, and the recently revealed tank hero, Junker Queen.

Junker Queen, one of the stand outs of the reveal, is the Australian Queen of Junkertown. She’s an aggressive tank who’s ferocious in nature, looking to get in enemies faces by utilizing flank routes and taking advantage of small maps. She’s very much a hero who’s designed to engage and pull the enemy team towards your own, with her secondary fire which allows her to throw her trusty knife, and lodge it into an enemy. Hitting secondary fire again, pulls the knife back, yanking anyone who was unlucky enough to be standing in its way. Her Ultimate Ability sounds particularly unique, where she creates a whirlwind of magnetic metal and debris as she charges forward, dealing damage, healing, and de-buffing everyone she hits.

To keep up with the new additions, old heroes with aging kits have also received reworks. While they vary in scale, heroes like Orisa have seen complete overhauls of their abilities and core gameplay loops to fit into the 5v5 framework, while Doomfist has been reworked to fit into the tank roll. We’ve already seen a slew of these changes in the closed beta, but we can expect to see some more small scale changes to heroes like Symmetra and Moira by the time launch rolls around.

Competitive 2.0

While touched on briefly, Blizzard mentioned that there was a new focus on the overall competitive play experience within Overwatch 2. Namely, the movement to skill tiers as opposed to a hard number makes for a less granular and specific skill-rating, meaning you can see when players have put the time in to earn the ranks they’re placed in.

Additionally, there’s new emphasis on providing players with match details via the in-game scoreboard and post-match breakdowns that provide all sorts of info. These can be looked at while in-queue for your next game, and even save in your match history, meaning you can go back and pick up on the areas you need to improve on to constantly get better at the game.

Zero Hour

While there wasn’t much talk on Overwatch 2’s much anticipated PVE component, there were few key details discussed and a brief overview of what to expect. At the core of it is a story about Overwatch reassembling and getting back together in the face of the returning Null Sector faction.

The PVE maps will explore locations central to the lore and world of Overwatch and its characters such as Torbjörn’s factory. There will also be new PVE maps added with seasonal content drops, and you can expect multiple stories to be told that expand on the bright, futuristic world that Blizzard has created.

Lacking in Loot Boxes

One of the most surprising announcements was that Overwatch 2 will completely forego loot boxes, which is an idea that was popularized by the original game back in 2016. While we didn’t get too many details, Overwatch VP and commercial lead, Jon Spector, said there will be sort of shop system in place so that players can pick and choose what cosmetics they want to purchase. Whether or not this will involve an in-game currency or is strictly paid for is unknown, but more is to be revealed in the coming months.

There was also emphasis on the idea of making customization more personal and unique to every individual player. To achieve this, Overwatch 2 is leaning heavily into cosmetics such as gun charms, banners and the idea of Mythic Skins. Presumably, a solid chunk of these cosmetics should be earnable via each battle-pass that launches with every season, providing more core progression to the players who want it.

There was also confirmation that cross-play and cross-progression would have a place in Overwatch 2, meaning you can play on whatever hardware you like, play with whoever you like, and keep earning rewards.

One thing the team seemed really excited about was the inclusion of the all-new Mythic Skins. One tier above Legendary Skins, there will be one Mythic Skin added to the game every season, starting off with Genji in Season 1. What makes these skins special is that they’re customizable, allowing players to tweak and change how they look to personalize them and make them your own.

Trademark Polish

One thing that Blizzard undeniably got right with the original Overwatch was its presentation and production values. The game still looks great today, with a timeless art-style and hero designs that are bursting at the seams with personality. Instead of reinventing the wheel with Overwatch 2, Blizzard have opted to double-down, with a majority of the maps and hero designs receiving face-lifts.

Things like increased polygon counts, new hair and eye technology, better lighting and even the option for day and night time settings in certain maps. A bulk of the original cast are also receiving redesigns to communicate the time that has passed since the first game, and the state that Overwatch is currently in as a group.

We can expect this new level of fidelity and detail to be taken even further with the brand new hero designs, and maps, which are set in locations we haven’t seen in Overwatch before such as Rio and Portugal.

What About Overwatch?

For those asking about what’s going to happen to the original Overwatch in the future, the answer is quite simple. Game director Aaron Keller made it clear that when Overwatch 2 launches on October 4th, Overwatch 1 will transition and become a part of Overwatch 2. This means the first game in its current state will no longer be playable, but fan-favorite maps and modes will also be implemented into Overwatch 2.

While there’s still plenty to learn, this extensive look at Overwatch 2 sheds a light on what’s to come in the sequel when it launches on October 4th. Keep your eyes peeled in the coming months for more info on the likes of PVE and monetization.

The post Overwatch 2 Has Been Fully Revealed and Here’s Everything You Need To Know appeared first on Press Start.

When Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity launched in 2020, it redefined what it meant to be a Musou spin-off. It went above and beyond to translate key mechanics and features that make Breath of the Wild what it is, into a Warriors-style framework, and the end result was a resounding success. Fire Emblem is receiving almost identical treatment, where 2017’s Fire Emblem Warriors was a franchise-wide homage of tactical RPGs greats, the upcoming Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is a more focused spin-off of 2019’s excellent Fire Emblem Three Houses. After about 12 hours with the Scarlet Blaze route, I’m left with mixed feelings about Three Hopes overall, but simultaneously am optimistic as the pace picks up towards the second half of the game.

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Much like Three Houses before it, Fire Emblem: Three Hopes takes place on the continent of Fódlan, telling a new story based on the events that transpired in the original game. You play as Shez, a mercenary who is thrust into an unexpected situation at Garreg Mach Monastery after a chance encounter with the titular Ashen Demon – better known as Byleth. You’ll soon be prompted to choose one of three houses to enroll in at Garreg Mach, as Shez is wrapped in a conflict that unfolds differently depending on which house you pick.

Bar a few burning questions that I have in regards to the roles of Byleth and Shez in the grand scheme of things, the first 8 chapters of the Scarlet Blaze route sports similar narrative beats to those found within Three Houses, leaving the current plot feeling underwhelming and slow-burning in pace. It often throws the same twists and general story beats at you in its opening hours, especially because Shez’s circumstances somewhat mirrors Byleth’s in Three Houses. I suspect those who are new to this world won’t have the same issues, but returning players might find the introduction worn out, further exacerbated by potential repeat playthroughs of Three Houses.

The narrative highlights undoubtedly come from character dynamics between Shez and the supporting cast, it’s great to see these characters back again and as you remember them. I chose the Scarlet Blaze route because I joined The Black Eagles during my first Three Houses playthrough, and it can’t be understated how enjoyable it is to be back with Edelgard and her peers. Whether it’s simple support conversations, or a full-length cutscene, the writing here is a consistent treat, and I can’t wait to see how it evolves as the narrative progresses further.

There’s a lot to break down with Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes in regards to gameplay. These Warriors spin-off are never as simple as a skin over a well-established formula, they take mechanics and ideas that are key to the original games they’re based on and implement them in ways that compliment the hack-n-slashing catharsis of a Musou game. Three Hopes is no different, slowly but steadily introducing new systems both inside and outside of battle that intertwine to create a hybrid of classic Fire Emblem strategy and frenetic hack-n-slashing.

The units you get access to largely come down to which house you choose to enroll in, each having their own class with unique strengths and weaknesses. Three Hopes, like Three Houses before it, opts not to include the series staple weapon triangle, meaning weaknesses and resistances are tied to weapon and magic types. This means there’s a lot more to think about when it comes to your pre-battle planning, with limited controllable units per fight, you want to bring units that complement each others strengths and weaknesses while covering all bases for the upcoming fight.

Battle itself is going to be familiar to anyone who’s played a Musou game before, pitting playable characters against hordes of enemies as you mow through them all with ease. You’ll clear out enemy strongholds, fight mini-bosses and bosses, escort AI units, and more. The mission variety here is still pretty standard for a Musou game  – which is to say somewhat repetitious, but the main conflicts are always on the longer side, lending to that feeling of conquest. The power fantasy, as always, is here in full-force, with a few new Fire Emblem style trimmings that gives Three Hopes its own flavor.

The Weapon Arts system, for example, allows you to execute powerful attacks that can inflict certain status effects or target elemental weaknesses at the cost of weapon durability. This means you have to pick and choose when to use Weapon Arts, as they only refill upon completing a battle. Would you rather save them for an upcoming mini-boss? Or maybe use one with a wide area of effect to completely clear out an enemy stronghold. It’s moment to moment decision making like this that add small wrinkles onto an otherwise fairly straightforward combat system.

Much like Fire Emblem Warriors, Three Hopes designs move-sets based on class type. This is more fitting here given units in Three Houses are similarly customizable, where members of your army can undertake certification exams to bolster their skills and move up to more skilled classes – or change to an entirely different one. It allows for a similar degree of flexibility and customization found within Three Houses, and has been a joy to play around with. My only gripe is that these classes take a little while to fully step into their own identities, so the repetition sets in rather quickly with multiple units on the same class.

When not in battle, you’ll be preparing for upcoming conflicts back at a base camp, where you can increase relationship standings with other characters, improve facilities, and much more. You can spend time doing Chores with other characters, cook them food, or participate in training with them to increase weapon and class proficiency. There’s only a certain amount of time allocated within each chapter, though, so picking and choosing what you want to do requires some careful deliberation.

The Switch has struggled for sometime now to keep up with modern hardware and it really shows in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. The game borrows visual cues from Three Houses, which is to say 2D character portraits, character models, and the CG cutscenes look great, whereas environments feel left behind. This wasn’t as noticeable in Three Houses because a bulk of the gameplay takes place from a top-down perspective, but Three Hopes is almost always in third-person, bearing all the low detail and bland environments front and center.

Performance is a similarly mixed bag. It often drops to sub-thirty frames-per-second in handheld mode when the going gets hectic, which is quite often in Musou games. Docked performance fairs a little bit better, holding on to higher average frame rates at 1080p, but nothing that changes the experience drastically from its handheld counterpart, leaving a lot to be desired overall.

After 12 hours of Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, I have my fingers crossed that the momentum established in the last few chapters will be carried forward through to the end of the game. While I wouldn’t say the 12 or so hours I’ve spent with it so far have been bad or even boring, there is clear room for improvement here and a lot of potential for an interesting narrative and gameplay loop once progression starts ramping up further. Right now, it’s a musou game that doesn’t do anything too remarkable, with some fun Fire Emblem inspirations, and that’s okay, but every now and again there’s glimmers of something more, and I can’t help but hope that the rest of the game delivers on that promise.

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Monster Hunter Rise has been out for a little over a year now and is set to receive its first major expansion; Sunbreak, much like Monster Hunter World did with Iceborne. Promising a plethora of new monsters, systems, Switch Skills, and the addition of Master Rank, Sunbreak is set up to be an expansion that bolsters Rise’s content offering even further. We were lucky enough to get a preview of two unique hunts to see everything in action, here’s what we took away from it.

There’s All New Switch Skills and Switch Skill Swapping

Introduced as a new feature in Monster Hunter Rise, Switch Skills make their return to Sunbreak in a gloriously flexible fashion. Not only are there brand new Switch Skills for each weapon to play around with in Sunbreak, but there’s also the addition of Switch Skill Swapping.

Before each hunt, you can choose two sets of Switch Skills to bring with you, assigning each set to either the Red Swap Scroll or Blue Swap Scroll. You can then perform a Switch Skill Swap, allowing you to move seamlessly between either Scroll, allowing you to mix and match Switch Skills as you see fit to create your own combos. If you’ve left yourself exposed after swapping, you can also perform an evasion move called Swap Evade after a Switch Skill Swap at the cost of stamina. It looks to be a system that adds new depth to the overall combat loop and weapon capabilities within Monster Hunter: Rise.

The Monster Roster is Set to Expand with New Monsters, Variants, and Returning Classics

A Monster Hunter release simply isn’t a Monster Hunter release without an array of new and returning monsters, and Sunbreak clearly isn’t looking to disappoint. In the preview alone, we saw the intimidating Lunagaron, the enormous Garangolm, and the razor-sharp Seregios. Within these three monsters alone there’s a good amount of variation on display here, and sets the tone for what we can expect for the full roster.

Lunagaron is a fanged wyvern that harnesses the power of ice to armor themselves and to freeze hunters, whereas Garangolm is a hulking and rigid monster that uses sap-like fluid to harden their bodies, bolstering both their offense and defense. Last but not least, there’s the return of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate’s flagship monster – the Seregios. Large flying wyverns with bladed scales all over their body that sport adept flying abilities, and the potential to inflict bleeds on hunters.

This is just a small slice of what has been officially revealed so far, with the likes of Astalos, Shogun Cenataur , and Sunbreak’s flagship, Malzeno, also confirmed to join the roster. I’m sure there’s more CAPCOM are keeping close to the chest, so expect the roster to be expanded further in the leadup to launch.

There’s New Endemic Life to Find in Each Hunt

With the introduction of Master Rank quests, difficulty is set to jump up quite a bit in Sunbreak, placing more emphasis on the beneficial effects Endemic Life has within each hunt. We got a closer look at some of the new Endemic Life coming with Sunbreak, namely the Marionette Spider, and the Morphed Wirebugs.

Morphed Wirebugs are split into two types; Ruby Wirebugs, and Gold Wirebugs. Picking up either of these Wirebugs will make it easier to initiate Wyvern Riding, and will increase the recovery rate of your Wirebug Gauge, with each type having a unique bonus effect as well. Ruby Wirebugs boost the damage of your Mounted Punishers, while Gold Wirebugs increase the frequency of drops caused by Wyvern Riding attacks.

The Marionette Spider is a much more unique form of Endemic Life, and can only be used once. It allows hunters to attach a Silkbind Strand to a monster, and pull it in the desired direction, knocking them into walls for a topple or even other monsters. This is no doubt a small slice of the new Endemic Life that Sunbreak brings to Monster Hunter Rise to make hunters more powerful in the face of Master Rank’s usual challenge.

Follower Quests Aim To Deepen The Narrative and its Characters

While it’s clear that Monster Hunter’s priorities rarely lie within its narrative, Sunbreak looks to be bringing a renewed focus on the supporting cast of characters this time around with Followers and Follower Quests. Followers are as they sound – NPC characters who will accompany hunters on quests throughout Kamura and the new locale, the Citadel. Follower Quests are single-player-only quests that deepen the bonds with allies who are the requester. In the preview we saw, the hunter teams up with a new character Arlow, as they take on a Seregios, a returning fan-favorite monster.

The broader impact Follower Quests and ally bonds will have on the story and gameplay is yet to be seen, but there’s clear similarities to be drawn from games like Persona and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak launches on the 30th of June 2022 for Nintendo Switch and PC. Monster Hunter Sunbreak is available physically with the original game for $74 on Amazon. 

The post We Got To See More Of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak And Here’s Four Things We Learned appeared first on Press Start.

Initially slated for launch sometime in 2022, series producer Eiji Aonuma has announced that the much anticipated sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been delayed into Autumn of 2023.

In a video posted by Nintendo, Aonuma stated the team has decided to extend development time in order to properly develop new features and gameplay elements coming with the sequel.

While the start of 2022 has already been absolutely insane for games, there’s no doubt that this was one of the most anticipated titles of the year for many, though I’m sure no one is going to bat an eye at an extra few months in the oven if we get a better experience at the end of it all.

The silver lining in this is the small new snippet of footage we get of Link, holding up a deteriorated Master Sword. We also got this little tidbit: The adventure in this sequel will take place not just on the ground as in the previous game, but also in the skies above. However, the expanded world goes beyond that, and there will be an even wider variety of features you can enjoy.

You can watch the full video announcement below.

The post The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2 Has Been Delayed appeared first on Press Start.

When looking back on Borderlands 2 and the way that it influences the games industry today, its hard to omit its fantastic slew of add-on content that released in time after launch. One of the most well received packs was Tiny Tina’s Assault On Dragon Keep, where players are plunged into Tina’s Bunkers and Badasses campaign, which is Pandora’s equivalent to Dungeons and Dragons. Its success can be attributed to so many reasons; an entirely unique setting, a funny narrative with a surprising emotional pay-off, its sporadic and off the wall nature, and more.

Almost 9 years on from its release, we have Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, a spin-off of the main series that takes the ideas brought to the table by Assault On Dragon Keep, and extrapolates them into a full game. While Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a Borderlands game through and through, it manages to carve out its own identity among the pack, bringing new and interesting ideas to the series while still retaining the core elements that hooked players in to begin with. It’s not without its own drawbacks, but Wonderlands is an enjoyable experience from start to finish – especially with friends.

One of the main things people took issue with in the long awaited Borderlands 3 was its main narrative, and villains – the Calypso Twins. Most of the humour didn’t land, weird story decisions were handled poorly, and it was an all-around uninteresting plot that lacked a lot of the charm from the first two games. Gearbox Software seem to have taken that criticism to heart because Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is mostly a step in the right direction in this regard, bringing with it a different kind of humor better suited to today’s world, well-written characters, and side quests that have no right being as entertaining as they are.

After crash landing your ship on Pandora, you join Tiny Tina and her group of friends as they embark on a new campaign in Bunkers and Badasses, with Tina at the helm as Bunker Master. After creating your Fatemaker, you’re dropped into the Wonderlands with the task of stopping the Dragon Lord. Its a simple, and easy to follow story that excels not in its premise but in its writing and characters.

It leans heavily into the themes and trappings of DnD, but much like Dragon Keep, the Wonderlands are ever-changing and unpredictable thanks to Tina’s explosive personality. It provides meta commentary on not only DnD, but video game design in general, with fourth wall breaks and constant prodding at tropes we’ve all come to expect. It’s brought together by another excellent performance from Ashley Burch as Tiny Tina, as well as a solid supporting cast with Andy Samberg as Valentine and Wanda Sykes as Frette.

While a lot of Borderlands 3’s jokes ended up falling flat for a lot of players, I found myself always entertained by the bickering and back and forth between these characters, as well as the occasional one-liner from Tina here and there. There’s a deadpan delivery to a lot of the humour here that feels much more suitable compared to the often cringe inducing monologues of the Calypso Twins. A lot of this is also carried over into the side quests you’ll find scattered about the Wonderlands, making each one worth investigating to see what kind of ridiculous situations they confront you with.

The core appeal of Borderlands has always been the progression, loot, and customization, all of which are retained in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and in some instances, improved. Instead of choosing a class based on a preset character, you’ll create your own Fatemaker from scratch with an extensive character creator. Leaning heavily into DnD, you can tailor almost every aspect of your character to your liking. From physical traits to choosing an upbringing that affects your base stat spread, there’s a startling amount of control here that allows for a more personal attachment to your character and class.

Speaking of which, there’s a whopping six classes to choose from in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, each with two Action Skills, a passive ability called Class Feats and one skill tree to invest points into. While each one has its own unique playstyle and incentivizes you to use particular weapons for maximum effect, they’re not as fleshed out as previous offerings, but for one reason. In true DnD fashion, Wonderlands eventually opens up the option of multi-classing to you, allowing you slot an additional class, giving you access to that class’s respective Feat, Action Skills, and skill tree. Every time you level up, you also gain a point to allocate into your stats, which influence things like weapon damage, spell cooldown, action skill cooldown and so on, allowing for even more flexibility.

It goes without saying that there’s so much here to experiment and play around with in regards to class synergies and build crafting. My main class was the Spore Warden, sporting a poison-farting mushroom companion and an affinity for applying elemental status effects. Combine that with the Clawstrider, which also has a companion, with a focus on dealing lightning and fire elemental damage through various means, and you have one of many lethal builds you can use in throughout the Wonderlands. The ability to respec all skill and stat points, alongside changing your secondary class means this system gives the player plenty of breathing room and agency in regards to trying new things, which is refreshingly flexible and can alter your gameplay loop quite a bit.

The other big new addition in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands comes in the form of the overworld, which connects all of the areas you’ll explore for actual quests. As you traverse it, you’ll come across random encounters, dungeons, collectibles, side quests, optional areas and more. Each major segment of the board has a Shrine that can be activated by collecting all of the shrine pieces in the area. These can be found in overworld challenges, dungeon encounters, or even backtracking, and they permanently boost things like loot quality and experience gains once unlocked, making them well worth the effort.

It’s a great inclusion that adds more depth and personality to the Wonderlands, providing an explorable hub world to move throughout as opposed to a standard hub that you teleport to levels from. There’s a lot here to be found for those who love secret hunting, and while dungeons rarely do much to change up their encounters, the enemy and location variety is enough to keep things feeling relatively fresh.

As expected with anything Borderlands, there’s a metric ton of guns and loot to be found that improve your character in a myriad of ways. There’s a lot of returning weapon archetypes here that behave how you’d expect, but some of them are more than meets the eye. There are assault rifles that will fire cross-bow like bolts, or submachine guns that fire out homing balls of pulsating energy. It all fits nicely with the overall setting and theme that Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands establishes, and this extends further to the Spells and melee weapons.

Funnily enough, grenades aren’t really a thing in the Wonderlands, but Spells most definitely are. Spells are abilities you can slot that are also on a cooldown alongside your Action Skill, but each one behaves differently and has varying fire modes. From Fire and Forget Spells to Hold and Charge Spells, there’s plenty here to choose from and they drop just as often as guns do. Melee weapons also add an extra wrinkle onto combat, allowing you to customize your build even further and placing more emphasis on a typically mundane and one note action – especially if you’re playing the Stabbomancer class.

Once you reach level 40 and you start working out the finer details of your class and build, you unlock Mythic Ranking. Similar to Badass Ranks in previous games, Mythic Ranks are an extended progression system where levelling up nets you tokens you can use to slowly increase your stats to the highest they can be. The core difference in Wonderlands, though, is that Mythic Ranks are in the form of constellations, each one correlating to a particular playstyle. If you put a point into a particular tree, you have to move to a tree clockwise to the one you just invested in for the next point, which makes it feel rigid in comparison to the flexibility of other systems.

Where Borderlands has always allowed players to truly flex their build, is in the end game content. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands main end game comes in the form of Chaos Chamber, a randomly generated run through encounters that you can make easier or harder for yourself depending on how handsomely you want to be rewarded. As you clear waves, you can opt to activate modifiers that increase how many crystals you get as you complete a run, which are eventually used in the final room to chase certain weapon archetypes. The catch is that if you use up all of your lives in any given run, you’re booted back to the world and have to start fresh, making it a sort of rogue-lite mode.

It’s an addictive risk versus reward loop that incentivizes you to challenge yourself in the never-ending chase for loot, and it can all be played with friends or matchmade with strangers. Couple this with the Chaos Levels unlocked upon beating the campaign where you can increase enemy difficulty for more loot akin to Mayhem Levels, and you have plenty of reason to come back to Wonderlands after the credits roll. One weird omission that I couldn’t find was the option for new game plus, a staple in previous Borderlands games that’s seemingly absent here. I’m not sure if Gearbox want to pivot to a different kind of end game or if it’s being added in at launch, but its definitely disappointing that it’s missing here.

That’s another thing that Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands should be applauded for, the cooperative play available at launch is mostly comprehensive. Aside from the disappointing lack of local PC coop, there’s almost everything else you could possibly want from a Borderlands game. Both the campaign, and Chaos Chamber are fully playable in coop, and both can be matchmade for those looking for people to play with. On top of that, all platforms will support cross-play on launch, meaning players can venture through the Wonderlands together, even if playing on different consoles.

If there’s one thing that never seems to get old about Borderlands, its the tried and true cel shaded art style that defines the visual aesthetics of these games. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is no different, but there’s something special about the way this world has been translated into this art style. These are some of the most diverse locales we’ve seen in a Borderlands game yet, from sand swept Sunfang Oasis to the lofty Tangledrift, there’s so much to see here within the trappings of fantasy that wasn’t explored in Assault On Dragon Keep. I’m also happy to report that the game feels very polished aside from one crash and some odd frame drops I experienced in one particular area.

THE PC VERSION OF THIS GAME WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

The post Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Review – More Than A One Shot Adventure appeared first on Press Start.

It’s been one month since the release of The Witch Queen, and a vast majority of players are very pleased with the end result. Hot off the heels of that success, we got to speak with some of Bungie’s developers, providing some interesting insight into the narrative direction of the game, new gameplay systems in The Witch Queen, and what’s to come next in the ever-evolving live service experience. Here’s what project lead, Blake Battle, Adam Grantham, narrative director, and Guillaume Colomb, senior narrative lead had to say.

How does the team define moral ambiguity? How much of a priority is it in new content, especially the witch queen? Do you ever feel like you’re brushing up against the limits of the world, as it was established years ago, in trying to add more moral complexity?

Adam Grantham: I see it not as a counter act to to what’s been established, but more as a surfacing of some of the stuff that wasn’t always clear. A lot of the times in Destiny’s past it’s had this rich lore, that that can be a bit buried or difficult to access for players. What we’ve been fortunate enough to do in recent years is surface that and put it front and center in the game, making it more visible to players. I think it’s not so much that we are like turning our back on some of those old themes but we’re evolving them. Our characters and the people who occupy the Destiny universe had a way of looking at the world, and as we, encounter more enemies, and we fight to defend the Last City, we are uncovering new truths and new ways of looking at things. Each clash kind of opens our mind to some new angle on something, and through that, we’re learning and getting a richer, more complete view of the world. That’s where I see the moral ambiguity taking us and I don’t see it as a counter to like hope as a core pillar of Destiny, because Destiny is a hopeful universe.

Guillaume Colomb: The interesting thing is that Destiny, as it’s a live game it almost has its own life, as we are working on it, we’re also discovering what the world has to offer. We’re discovering things as almost our own character also discovering more about Light and Darkness. The Red War was really focused on the Light, and what is the light is through the character of Ghaul whereas Forsaken was really trying to understand what that thin line between the Light and the Dark is. Shadowkeep was really about what is Darkness and after having gone through that that’s where you can add layer of futility and trying to understand that our perception of what the Darkness is changes, just as it does with the characters.

The reveal at the end of the campaign was very satisfying for long-term players in terms of paying off a narrative thread that has been teased since vanilla Destiny, can you talk about the thought process and challenge of finally delivering that character? 

A.G: We talk about the end of the Light and Darkness saga that we’re driving towards, we’ve got Lightfall coming. And then The Final Shape, and this kind of started with a real commitment to see that happen. We’ve got something exciting with this, we’ve got the Traveler, and we’ve got the Black Fleet coming in, which we’ve been building up to. I think the magic of something like that can be lost if you if you just promise and promise and never deliver. So we have this commitment, like let’s see this through, one to kind of pay that off. And then two to show that there’s a future for Destiny outside of those threats. With with that commitment in mind, we started thinking what does it mean to bring that to an end. That led us to some of the threads that you can see that we’ve started teasing, in The Witch Queen. I don’t want to spoil anything we’ve got coming up, but that really is the driver for it.

The build up to fighting Savathûn over the past year has been the best of any antagonist in Destiny. Now that she’s effectively off stage, at least for a little while, are you worried it will leave a big hole to fill?

A.G: I think we’d be irrational if we weren’t always worried about doing the best we can. We’re always want to do something great, and then when we do something great, we’re like, oh, no, we did something great. And now how are we going to keep doing something great. That’s just part of being a creative person. When I look at the plans we’ve got for what’s being developed right now, it has me very excited and confident for what’s to come. I feel like there’s a moment that’s occurring in Destiny right now, that I get the sense is exciting fans. This moment is not a fluke, I think we’ve hit our stride. I think something special is happening here right now.

The Witch Queen campaign is impressive in how it brings elements that feel like dungeon or raid mechanics into more approachable Destiny activities, and feels more akin to what we’d expect from higher level content Does this have the team thinking about changing the approach to other future content?

Blake Battle: It’s been awesome to see the reception of the campaign missions, and appreciation for things like raid and dungeon elements within them. I think there’s a chance we look at integrating some of those things into strikes or battleground in the future, but I don’t think we have any specific plans to. They’re very different kinds of content, a campaign mission for example, you can play it through linearly, and take your time with it. Strike content tends to be more ritual, and you want to either have a high end Grandmaster experience with other folks, or you’re just wanting to get through your rituals for the week. I’m not sure if it directly translates into a strike kind of thing, but I think we definitely are looking at what are the pieces of our activity content that tend to be resonating with people? What are the common elements? And how can we make those shine more in different types of activities?

A.G: What we discovered in The Witch Queen is there was this class of content that we wanted, and didn’t quite have, where we have this stuff for the hardcore players with the dungeons and the raids. And then we have the stuff that’s in strikes, that kind of the popcorn of Destiny; it’s easy to consume. You can just kind of go and play a couple strikes and that’s it, without having to get lost in the story or the mechanics too much. What we didn’t have was this medium thing where it was accessible to the casual players, but still rich and challenging in the way that some of those dungeons and raids are. We kind of found this happy medium in the campaign, I think, and players seem to be enjoying it. But that doesn’t mean that the other categories don’t also still keep their place and destiny.

Weapon crafting is big addition in The Witch Queen, but it can feel limiting to have only a few weapon patterns and have to rely on RNG for Deep Sight Resonance weapons. Are there plans to revisit the way weapon crafting works in the future? If so, any notion about how?

B.B: I wouldn’t say that there is a well structured, here’s exactly what the plan is for the future of weapon crafting. Because I think that releasing weapon crafting in The Witch Queen is the first step of determining that. A big part of Destiny is chasing weapons and chasing loot. The ability to deterministically craft the thing that you want is a big adjustment to that. It’s been very deliberate to start with a smaller subset of weapons to see how the system impacts the game and the economy, then we can make our judgement based on feedback and how things are going in the live game as to what the future is to it. I can’t right now lay out: hey, here’s exactly where it’s going, but I can say that in the next years/year, we’re going to be determining what that path is. We’re going to be continuing to monitor how the foundations of the system of how you unlock patterns and how long that takes over the next several weeks and months to make sure its the experience we want players to have.

How many players have conquered the new Legendary campaign difficulty level as a whole? What percentage of players did you expect to be able to conquer it right after the release? 

B.B: I don’t know the specific percentages, but I can definitely answer to the design intent. I think for the Legendary campaign, we definitely wanted the average to above average player to be able to creep through solo on the Legendary campaign and have a meaningful experience and be able to complete it. Right now there’s actually mixed opinions as to is it actually easier to go in with harder enemies and three players versus solo, but like it remains to be seen. It’s definitely not meant to be an exclusionary feature, but it is meant to be something that’s more challenging for somebody that wants a more meaningful campaign experience upfront.

Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is out right now on PC, PlayStation consoles, and Xbox consoles, with Season of the Risen being well-underway.

The post We Spoke To Bungie About The Witch Queen’s Renewed Focus On Narrative and its Gameplay Systems appeared first on Press Start.

It’s no secret that Bungie has had innumerable ups and downs with Destiny over the last 8 years, but never has this been more evident since 2018’s Forsaken. Shadowkeep and Beyond Light, while bringing plenty to the table, often felt like expansions built to lay new ground for the core of the game to build itself upon. Expectations for the next major expansion were high, touting a long awaited villain in the form of Savathûn, a renewed focus on campaign design, and weapon crafting. It’s not without its growing pains, but after some time exploring what The Witch Queen has to offer, I’d argue that The Witch Queen isn’t just the best Destiny 2 expansion, but the best piece of content Bungie has put out since The Taken King, if not better.

If you aren’t familiar with the happenings of Destiny 2’s world, the last few months have been tumultuous to say the least. In the aftermath of exorcising Savathûn’s worm, Mars is suddenly returned to the solar system from the clutches of the Darkness, with Savathûn’s very own ship in tow. Upon boarding it, our guardians quickly discover that she has somehow stolen the power of the Light, gifting it to her very own Hive, and is using it to rebuild her Throne World. What follows is a 6-8 hour investigation into how Savathûn and her underlings came to gain this power, and how we can take it back.

Without spoiling too much, this is undoubtedly the best campaign Destiny has ever seen. Bungie had stated multiple times that there was a renewed focus on campaign and storytelling, but I don’t think anyone was quite ready for what we actually received. Eight extremely high quality missions, all superbly paced with engaging boss encounters, thrilling set pieces, and plot twists that even the most die-hard lore fans couldn’t have seen coming. Savathûn is more than just a typical antagonist – there’s merit to what she’s trying to achieve here, and what we find out about not only her and her Hive, but also the true nature of the Darkness is truly gripping from beginning to end.

There’s also the inclusion of a Legendary difficulty, which caps your power level below the mission’s recommended level, and will really put you to the test for those extra rewards as you play through the campaign. The cherry on top of all this is the option to replay any of the missions on either difficulty, meaning you can go through again on a higher or lower setting to see how it differs. For the longest time Destiny has struggled to turn its fantastic lore into immersive storytelling, and it feels like The Witch Queen – much like the last few seasons of content – is a real turning point for the franchise and a true return to form for Bungie.

While The Witch Queen doesn’t bring something as pivotal as all-new subclasses, it does mark the start of something much more important – the reworkings of the old Light subclasses, starting with Void 3.0. Those familiar with the way Stasis works will be right at home here. Each class can pick between different Super abilities, Grenades, Class Abilities, Aspects, and Fragments to allow for more customization and control over your builds.

The end result is truly remarkable, breathing new life into subclasses that felt ancient in comparison to the flexibility and adaptability of Stasis. Each class has a lot to play around with, and while there’s definitely some tuning needed for certain classes, there’s more reason than ever to be excited for Arc and Solar to receive the same treatment over the coming months.

There’s also the long awaited weapon crafting, which as of now feels like it’s going through some growing pains as Bungie works out how they want to implement it properly. A huge part of Destiny is the loot – chasing the rolls you want on all the new weapons that come out with each content drop.

It’s clear that weapon crafting isn’t supposed to replace this chase, but compliment it instead, allowing players to craft the roll that they covet for a particular weapon, and make it theirs. Unfortunately there’s quite a small pool of weapons to craft right now, and the caps for crafting materials are slightly too small, resulting in a lot of wastage as you earn other essential materials. While the core of it works and it serves its purpose, it’s clear that crafting is going to grow and change quite a lot over the next few seasons, which leaves it feeling like more of an experiment as opposed to a concrete addition to the game.

Weapon crafting is also the means by which we create the new weapon type: Glaives. A ranged/melee hybrid, the Glaive is unlike any other weapon type we’ve seen in Destiny before, boasting an energy blast, combos, and a shield that’s recharged by dealing damage with the projectile, it’s all about carefully weaving these actions together to become a lethal killing machine at close to mid range. While it remains to be seen how this archetype will fit into the broader  scope of content – especially endgame – there’s no denying that Bungie are still creating some of the best feeling weapons in first-person-shooters today.

The post-campaign content is also some of the most enjoyable we’ve had out of an expansion thus far as well. Wellspring is a 6-man matchmade activity that rotates between Attack and Defense everyday. Attack sees players launching an assault on the Wellspring to take it from the Hive, whereas Defense sees them protecting it from hordes of Scorn, eventually resulting in a chase against a Hive Lightbearer. Weekly Story Missions make their return here, allowing players to play specific story missions at a higher level for gear and weapon crafting materials.

In terms of more unique content, there’s also an all new Exotic Mission called Vox Obscura, which involves sieging a Cabal fortress under the cover of night to stop rogue transmissions from reaching their ominous receiver. This mission is a thrilling race against the clock as players blast open the doors to the Cabal installment with hijacked tanks, culminating in a boss fight and an all new Exotic weapon, the Dead Messenger. There’s so much variation in what The Witch Queen’s activities have to offer, and plenty of reason to engage with them, and that’s without mentioning the raid.

If there’s one day that the Destiny community comes together like no other, it’s during the first 24 hours of an all-new raid release. After a number of completions, both with the day one Contest modifier and on its normal difficulty modes, I think its safe to say that Vow of the Disciple is my new favorite raid in all of Destiny.

Without spoiling too much, the atmosphere and theme fits exceptionally well into the coming war between the Light and the Dark, and there’s a palpable sense of foreboding and dread that emanates from every major encounter in the raid. The boss fights in particular are undoubtedly some of Bungie’s best, bucking typical trends we’ve seen with bosses from previous raids that were becoming tired and overused. A special mention should go to the final boss, Rhulk, who is not only a spectacle to fight, but also has the lore and narrative chops to give the encounter meaning and context within the broader scope of the universe.

The final piece of the puzzle is the new season: Season of the Risen. While I can’t comment on its quality entirely as it hasn’t concluded yet, what’s here now continues the trend of challenging the beliefs of pre-established characters and throwing them into unforseen conflicts to gauge new perspectives and opinions, namely Lord Saladin and a vulnerable Crow, still reeling from the shock of Savathûn’s impersonation of Osiris.

This season is largely focused on working with Empress Caiatl and her legion to further uncover how the Hive came to posses the light. This is done through PsiOps Battlegrounds, a new 3-man matchmade activity that retains the trademark enemy density and fast paced gameplay we’ve seen from past seasonal activities. We’ve yet to see if this season will reach the heights of Season of the Chosen or Season of the Splicer, but Risen is off to a promising start, and I’ll be logging in every week to see how it develops.

It goes without saying that the state of PvE in Destiny 2 is arguably the strongest its ever been, unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Crucible, Gambit, and Trials of Osiris. While Bungie have been very transparent about the current state of Crucible and Gambit, the efforts made in The Witch Queen to help them maintain relevancy aren’t quite enough to bring them up to the same level as the PvE content. Crucible is still in dire need of maps, modes, and matchmaking adjustments, while Gambit is still largely uninteresting and frustrating despite the changes made at launch.

Trials of Osiris is its own bucket of worms. While a major shakeup in Season of the Lost saw player populations shoot up to an all time high in the playlist, it quickly becomes clear to anyone who engages with it that matchmaking is fundamentally flawed, and high-skill players abuse certain systems to get matched with low-skill players and promptly mop the floor with them. It’s not quite as bad as it was this time last year, but there’s still more work to be done to make Trials a much more healthy competitive experience compared to the luck-of-the-draw nature it currently suffers from for most players.

Bungie have always been praised for their excellent art direction, skyboxes and environments, and The Witch Queen is no different. Savathûn’s Throne World is distinctly divided between boggy swamps and Dark City ruins and a risen luminescent fortress built in the image of Savathûn’s newfound light. There’s a stark visual juxtaposition here that also communicates her developments as a character, further accentuating the themes of deception, and light versus dark. Once again, a special shoutout goes to the raid, which will constantly have you in awe as you ascend through one of the most visually unique raids we’ve seen so far.

While launch was surprisingly smooth, The Witch Queen wasn’t without its technical issues. Numerous weapons were disabled due to bugs over the last few weeks, certain activities can soft-lock players forcing a restart, crafting materials couldn’t be purchased, and the raid also suffered from various error codes on launch. While Bungie should be applauded for jumping on most of these in quick fashion, a few of them still plague the game today, and occasionally rear their heads to hamper the experience.

THE PC VERSION OF THIS GAME WAS PLAYED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A DIGITAL COPY OF THE GAME WAS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.

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While February has been absolutely stacked with releases this year, that doesn’t mean it’s completely radio silent for the coming months. While Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands might not be the most high profile game of 2022, a new Borderlands game – spin off or otherwise – is always something to look forward to. We were lucky enough to get hands on with a portion of the game ahead of its release and here’s what stood out to us the most.

The New Classes are Incredibly Unique

The Guns Feel Appropriately Archaic

If there’s one thing that Borderlands is synonymous with, it’s chasing after guns – lots of guns. While Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is no different in this regard, it stands out in a big way when it comes to how its weapons actually function. Noting here is quite as it seems, submachine guns that fire dark magic orbs that life steal, shotguns that blast slashes of pure energy, and all new melee weapons that are as brutal as they are fantastical. One thing I noticed, especially on the Graveborn class, was that a lot of the weapons you can get lean a little more into your build, and will compliment playstyles if you consider what’s going to work and what won’t.

The melee weapons are a particular highlight. While they aren’t full-blown weapons like the guns are, they simply modify your melee attack with elemental or stat boosting properties, again leaning into what each of the classes specialize in. They’re fun to spam on a downed enemy, but can’t be relied on as a crutch against big groups of bad guys. They add that little bit of extra depth that push Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands further into RPG territory, and I suspect players who love to min-max their builds and damage output are going to have a lot to play around with, especially when it comes to post game content.

The Wonderlands are a Fantasy Setting Combined with Borderlands Hallmarks

The zone that we were dropped in for our hands on demo was called Mount Craw, a snowy and mountainous cliff zone that weaves in and out of caves, home to the goblins. The main quest I got to play had me helping a goblin named Jar as you work together to push back against the oppression his species faces. It’s a weird and whacky situation to be thrown into, but weirdly suits the tone that Gearbox seems to be going for here.

It all leads to the exploration of a forge area, flowing with molten lava and decorated with cave shacks. This culminates in a boss fight with Vorcanar, a robot dragon head that certainly subverted my expectations when I first encountered him. It feels like this world is taking the concept of Assault On Dragon Keep to the extreme, which is a very high extreme considering Tiny Tina is in charge of the world.

It Has an All Star Cast of Voice Talent

While Borderlands has always had excellent voice work that brings the universe to life, none of them are quite comparable to what Wonderlands has to offer. Ashly Burch reprises her role as Tiny Tina, while Will Arnett plays the titular Dragon Lord, serving as the main antagonist to the story. While I didn’t get to see much of Tina or the Dragon Lord during my hands on, I have no doubt they’ll both bring a charismatic energy to the writing and narrative that only Borderlands is capable of.

One of the characters I did get to spend a lot of time with was Andy Samberg’s Captain Valentine. Known best as Jake Peralta in Brooklyn 99, Samberg brings a blunt, deadpan nature to the comedy and his line deliveries that we haven’t quite seen in Borderlands before, and it goes a long way to reinvigorate the humor that can sometimes feel like it’s stuck in the 2010s.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands launches on March 25th for PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC. The cheapest copy is currently $84 with free shipping at Amazon. 

The post Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Hands-On Preview – 4 Things We Learned From Our Time In The Wonderlands appeared first on Press Start.

Alongside the generation 9 announcement, The Pokémon Company has also revealed that Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus will all be receiving free content later today.

The Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl update will add Professor Oak’s letter, enabling you to encounter the Mythical Pokémon of gratitude – Shaymin. The event looks largely similar to what we got in when generation 4 originally released, where players travel just off the path of Victory Road.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is also receiving free content in the form of the Daybreak update. The big new addition is a brand new investigation centered around Mass Outbreaks, alongside some more battles to test your mettle in the training grounds. There’s also a Mystery Gift to be claimed, netting you 30 Ultra Balls, Gigaton Balls, and Jet Balls by using the code ARCEUSADVENTURE. It was also teased that an online animated series set in the Hisui region has entered production, featuring an original storyline, and is set to launch later on in 2022.

The post Pokemon Legends: Arceus And Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl Are Getting Free Updates Today appeared first on Press Start.

Hot off the release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus last month, The Pokémon Company has just announced Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet releasing for the Nintendo Switch.

While the reveal only shows some brief snippets of the world, the game looks to be a blend of Sword and Shield and Legends: Arceus, set in an all new region that will no doubt bring along new Pokémon. We also got a look at the starters, and they’re what looks to be a grass-type cat, a water-type duck, and a fire-type dinosaur or lizard.

The region itself is very reminiscent of the tropical setting of Alola, mixed with the grandeur and architecture of Galar. It’s a slightly more stylized and modern setting than Hisui, but seems even larger in scope. The world looks to be quite expansive, and seems to be comprised of multiple biomes, only connected this time as opposed to separated like they are in Legends: Arceus.

With Arceus receiving positive reception from most audiences, its no wonder Game Freak wanted to expand on the same formula in a true open-world setting. While there’s no concrete date, we do know the games are set to come out in late 2022 for Nintendo Switch. We’ll be covering all the latest information as its revealed over the coming months.

The post Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet Are The Next Generation of Pokémon Games appeared first on Press Start.

Since the release of Demon’s Souls in 2009, FromSoftware’s titles have blown up from cult followings to some of the most pivotal cornerstones we have in the industry today, influencing hundreds of games, and even creating its own sub-genre in the process. There’s a palpable and emphatic excitement present in the lead up to the release of a new From game, and never has this consensus been more apparent than with Elden Ring. It some ways, Elden Ring is a celebration of all that came before – a culmination of everything people love about Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro – while also elevating a well established formula to new heights with an open-world design philosophy similar to that of Breath of the Wild. The end result is one of From’s best experiences yet, positively dripping with creativity, attention to detail, and a sense of journey that will undoubtedly leave Elden Ring as one of the most talked about open-world games of this generation.

THE CHEAPEST COPY: $79 WITH FREE DELIVERY AT AMAZON

Elden Ring is set in The Lands Between, a once prosperous and peaceful land that has since been plunged into chaos and desolation after a war suitably dubbed: The Shattering. The Elden Ring, now broken into pieces is held by six demigods, each of them corrupted by the very power of their Great Runes. It falls to you as The Tarnished to journey across The Lands Between, and fell these once great heroes so that you can rebuild the Elden Ring, become the Elden Lord and restore order and harmony to The Lands Between. If it sounds similar to Dark Souls III, that’s because it is, but where Elden Ring differentiates itself is in its setting, world concept, and characters.

Elden Ring’s founding world concept is the brainchild of a collaborative effort between Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin. While I’m not too familiar with Martin’s work on Game of Thrones, it’s clear to me where he’s had an impact on the way this world has been built and on the rules that it abides by. This is still a FromSoftware experience through and through though, you’ll meet an eclectic cast of superbly written characters, each cemented firmly into the world by their backstories and motivations. Whether it be the joyous and jolly Alexander, a sentient warrior pot, or the ever enigmatic Patches, there’s a little something here for everyone to gravitate towards. Likewise, the environmental storytelling on display here is as good as it’s always been, and every landscape effortlessly paints a picture of what we once was. No where is this sense of world and place more apparent than when exploring one of the many regions of The Lands Between.

Where Elden Ring separates itself the most from its predecessors, is in its structure and the way you progress through its world. After a short tutorial area, you’re dropped into Limgrave, a vertically varied landscape of lush greenery, and ruins, all of it punctuated by the mighty Stormveil Castle towering overhead. From this point, you’re free to explore to your heart’s content, with only the Sites of Grace – the new Bonfires – to nudge you in the right direction via an indicator on the map. While it’s easy to get lost exploring and sidetracked by all the optional content you can engage with, Elden Ring’s open world is at its best when you’re stumbling across things, spotting structures in the distance and thinking “What’s that?”, only to be rewarded with something upon further investigation.

These optional objectives can range from small-scale dungeons and enemy patrols, to overworld boss fights and new Sites of Grace to expand your fast travel options. Each region is densely packed with things to do, and none of them feel like bloat or wasted space, not once did I ever feel like I had to engage with them to progress the main quest. What’s more telling, perhaps, is the fact that I had to rip myself away from Limgrave to move onto the next area – a testament to the quality of these optional activities.

While you can fast travel to the different Sites of Grace you’ve unlocked across The Lands Between, your main means of exploration is via your spectral horse, Torrent. After progressing through the early areas of Limgrave, you’ll be given an item that allows you to summon Torrent at the press of a button. While mounted, you can double jump and make use of geysers to propel yourself up into the sky, making traversal that little bit more seamless. You can also engage in horseback combat, which more often than not feels clunky and lacks the impact of regular combat. Fortunately, the situations that require you to use Torrent to gain an advantage are far outweighed by those that don’t, but it’s still an awkward blemish on an otherwise polished combat system.

As you’re exploring a region for the first time, you’re almost always slowly moving towards that area’s Legacy Dungeon, an intricately designed exploration area that retains From’s expert level design that intertwines its own pathways and loops back on itself in unexpected ways. A special mention should go out to The Academy of Raya Lucaria, in the second area, Liurnia of the Lakes. Without spoiling too much, it’s a school ravaged by its knowledge-maddened alumni, with a thick fog that envelopes every aspect of its outside environments. It’s a dungeon that screams Bloodborne in its concept and design, and it’s a true wonder to explore as you ascend it’s gilded halls. All of these Legacy Dungeons are bolstered by some of From’s best boss fights yet, that will test your skills, and always seem to up the ante as you move forward, providing a challenging yet satisfying difficulty curve. Some are previous concepts taken further, classic one on ones, or wholly new ideas, and a vast majority of them – especially the end game ones – are thrilling to surmount.

Now for the elephant in the room – difficulty. While I wouldn’t say Elden Ring is the hardest of FromSoftware’s world renowned challenges, it definitely isn’t the easiest either. It is however, the most accessible. It’s clear that there’s a concerted effort here to explain systems and mechanics to newer players who mightn’t have much experience with other titles of this Ilk. Similarly, the non-linear design means that if you get truly stuck on a particular boss, you can leave, level up your character, upgrade your weapons, increase your Flask charges, and come back more powerful than before. There’s also the inclusion of Stakes of Marika, which will typically spawn you closer to your death location, making the inevitable trips back to the boss room relatively painless. Still though, this won’t trivialize encounters, so if you haven’t been one for smashing your head against a brick wall until the cracks start showing, Elden Ring won’t be the FromSoftware game to change that.

Then we get to the RPG elements present in Elden Ring, and they mostly behave how they have in past games. You’ll start out by creating your character with From’s most extensive customizer yet, and you’ll be prompted to pick a background for your base stats. While this doesn’t necessarily reflect what your build will look like by the end of the game, it sets a trajectory for what to focus on in the early game. Whether it be a full strength build with focus on wielding colossal great-swords and hammers, or a combined dexterity magic build that allows you to weave sorceries into your combat flow, there’s a lot to pick and choose from in Elden Ring.

The Weapon Arts system from Dark Souls III has also been reworked into Ashes of War. Each weapon comes with its own intrinsic Ashes of War, which behaves the same as Weapon Arts – powerful attacks or buffs at the cost of FP. The major improvement in this system, though, is that Ashes of War can be assigned to different weapons, as long as the archetype matches. Certain Ashes of War will also let you assign elemental affinities to your weapons, further deepening customization and build crafting. It’s a brilliantly free-flowing system that allows for deeper player choice, and creates a more meaningful bond with your weapons.

As if that wasn’t enough to begin with, Elden Ring also introduces Rune Arcs and Spirit Summoning. The latter allows you to summon AI spirits to fight with you during boss fights at the cost of FP, and these spirits can also be upgraded to bolster their HP and damage output. There’s all kinds of spirits with different strengths, so you’ll often have a suite you pick and choose from depending on the occasion. Rune Arcs are most comparable to Embers or Human Effigies from past games, but are far more rare, and introduce an interesting risk/reward system in the way they’re implemented. Every time you defeat the demigod of any given region, you’ll receive their Great Rune, which can be activated at a Divine Tower in their area.

You can only have one Great Rune equipped at any given time, and their bonuses are only active when a Rune Arc is used. These aren’t small bonuses. The first Great Rune, for example, boosts all of your attributes, effectively increasing your character’s level by 40 until your next death. Due to how rare Rune Arcs are, there’s a lot of deliberation to be had in regards to when you use these so you don’t waste them. The boost they provide might be all you need to bring that boss down, but make one mistake, and it’s gone. This system is less of a necessity and more of a bonus buff to use sparingly, but its inclusion is welcome nonetheless.

Lastly, there’s the return of player summoning, and invasions. PVP diehards will be glad to here that the addition of anti-cheat software on the PC version should hopefully result in less compromises. On the co-operative side, things are a bit mixed. While it all works good, players can only be summoned from Summoning Pools, pre-determined spots on the map that define the explorable area when a co-op session is active. All of the dungeons are fully playable in co-op, but if you were hoping to explore the overworld with friends in limitless fashion, you might find that the implementation here is restrictive. While I can understand trying to retain the somber and isolating experience of exploring The Lands Between by yourself, I can’t help but wonder what a more freeing and open co-op experience would’ve brought to the table.

I played Elden Ring on PC, and across the almost 60 hours I spent with it, I’m pleased to report that it’s a mostly polished experience. It’s goes without saying that this game is absolutely gorgeous, maybe not to the same capacity as another big triple A title to come out this month, but still had my jaw on the floor with some sweeping vistas and landscapes to take in at every turn. I’ve already spoken about how excellent I think Liurnia of the Lakes is, but that shouldn’t taken away from the crimson covered lands of Caelid or the golden sky perpetually hanging over the top of Altus Plateau. I did experience a few hiccups on PC, though, namely some stuttering and a couple crashes due to the anti-cheat software. I’m sure this will be ironed out by launch, though, and at the end of the day they were minor stumbles in a broadly polished experience, which is impressive considering how large the game world is.

THE PS5 EXPERIENCE

Whilst the majority of our time with Elden Ring was spent on PC, we did get to also play the game on PS5. There’s two modes, one that prioritizes framerate and one that prioritizes quality. As you’d expect, the framerate mode is closer to 60FPS whilst quality mode maxes out at 30FPS. Both see drops in frames, but you’ll absolutely want to go with the framerate mode to provide the most stable performance as possible. There was a noticeable amount of pop-in with the world loading in as you look around occasionally, but on the whole it is a stable experience and does not detract from the fantastic experience that Elden Ring is.

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We’re only a few days away from the release of Elden Ring, and Bandai Namco have dropped a hefty 6 minute overview into its open world, gameplay systems, and story. Here are the main things we took away from the in-depth look. Elden Ring launches this Friday the cheapest price is $79 with free shipping from Amazon. 

BECOME THE ELDEN LORD

Elden Ring is set in The Lands Between, a dark fantasy world rife with ruin and chaos. Since the shattering of the Elden Ring, the source of the Erdtree’s power has been disrupted, and it’s upto you as a lowly tarnished to face former heroes imbued with the Elden Ring’s power, and become the Elden Lord. While it might sound similar in premise to Dark Souls III, we suspect that Elden Ring will separate itself in its setting and characters. With a world concept penned by George R. R. Martin, and FromSoftware’s expert world building and characters, we have no doubt that Elden Ring will offer the same kind of dark fantasy setting found in the Dark Souls games.

A DEEP OPEN WORLD RPG EXPERIENCE

There’s no doubt in our minds that Elden Ring is looking to be FromSoftware’s most ambitious title yet, flaunting a gargantuan open world, deep RPG systems, and alluring exploration that can only be compared to something like Breath of the Wild. As you explore each area, completing optional dungeons, boss fights and enemy encounters, you’ll eventually stumble across Legacy Dungeons. Sprawling labyrinths within the world, featuring that pinnacle level design you expect in FromSoftware’s games, offering wholly unique atmospheres, exploration, and enemy encounters. The scope of Elden Ring is truly something to behold, and if the closed network test is anything to go off of – The Lands Between are going to be absolutely massive and packed with things to do.

JOURNEY INTO THE LANDS BETWEEN

While FromSoftware’s previous games have always featured expansive areas to explore, they’ve never quite reached the scale and size of what we’ve seen in Elden Ring. From grass swept plains punctuated by castles to golden-lit skies and fog-engulfed lakelands, The Lands Between look to be an eclectic mix of visual spectacle, all of it underpinned by catacombs and tunnels dripping with tension and atmosphere. FromSoftware have no doubt saved the best visual surprises for the full launch, which is really saying something given how stunning some of the shots are in the trailer. While this is one of the most detailed looks yet into what Elden Ring’s world is going to look like, there’s still so much we don’t know about FromSoftware’s next title.

With just a few days left, it’s likely we won’t see anything else before the 25th aside from a launch trailer. Keep an eye out over the coming days for our full review, and if you’re wanting to learn more about Elden Ring, check out what we learned from the closed network test here. Elden Ring launches on February 25th for PS4, PS5, Xbox, and PC.

The post A Huge New Elden Ring Trailer Has Dropped And Here’s What Stood Out To Us appeared first on Press Start.

Because everything is quite expensive at the Jubilife Village shop and you’ll want to save your money for bag upgrades and other goods, you’ll absolutely want to make the most of crafting while exploring Hisui. You can craft whilst in Jubilife, and out in the field, with the limitation of only being able to craft with ingredients in your bag. It’s worth mentioning that a few of these side quests are gated behind main story progression, so always keep an eye out for new Requests as they pop up. Unlike Breath of the Wild, you need to own the recipe to craft all of these items, there’s no way to discover them by yourself by combining ingredients. Without waiting any further, here are the best recipes in Pokemon Legends: Arceus and how to unlock them.

Poké Ball Recipes

As catching is one of the things you’ll be doing most in Arceus, keeping a strong supply of all kinds of Poké Balls is an important aspect of filling out your Dex and completing Research Tasks. While you start the game with a few recipes for things like the standard Poké Ball, it’s important you have the ability to craft more efficient Poké Balls for harder to catch Pokémon. Luckily, these recipes are earned as you play, with each increase in Star Ranking making even more Poké Ball recipes available to you. It’s worth mentioning that all Poké Ball recipes require Apricorns, so make sure you regularly harvest them from trees when out in the field.

Ingredients – Apricorns and other ingredients depending on Ball type

Revive Recipe

Having Pokémon faint was a common occurrence for us in Arceus, especially during the early hours of the game. Buying revives from the shop is expensive, so having the crafting recipe is handy to keep your supply topped up. To unlock the recipe for Revives, acquire your first star as a Team Galactic Corps Member by completing Research Tasks, and Cyllene will automatically give the recipe to you.

Ingredients – 1x Vivichoke, 2x Medicinal Leek

Mushroom Cake Recipe

Dragon type Pokémon have always been considered some of the best options for any given team composition, and this still holds true in Arceus. Mushroom Cakes work as a lure for strong Pokémon, and dragon type Pokémon, making them an incredibly handy early game tool to get a head start on obtaining a coveted dragon type for your party. To unlock this recipe, complete Request no. 6 – Mushroom Cake Marketing – for villager Morel by delivering him Springy Mushrooms from the Obsidian Fieldlands.

Ingredients – 1x Springy Mushroom, 1x Cake-Lure Base

Pokéshi Doll Recipe

Because the Jubilife Village store is so expensive, and upgrading your bag’s slot capacity isn’t cheap, we often found ourselves running out of money. While you can make plenty by completing Research Tasks and selling valuables you find on any given expedition, Pokéshi Dolls can be crafted for only 3 Logs, and then sold on to the store for a bit of money. To unlock this recipe, accept Request no. 18 – Please! Make Me a Pokéshi Doll! – for Anvin. Anvin himself will give you the recipe, and completing the request nets you an extra doll to sell.

Ingredients – 3x Wood

Aux Item Recipes

Aux items are invaluable battle items that boost the level of certain stats for the duration of the current battle. Because of this, they’re handy for certain trainer fights, encounters with Alpha Pokémon, and countless other scenarios you’ll engage with. Aux items are found few and far between, so having the ability to craft them is a huge advantage in all aspects of the game. You can purchase the crafting recipes for each of the Aux items from the Crafting Store in Jubilife Village.

Ingredients – 1x Candy Truffle, 2x Doppel Bonnets for Aux Evasion

2x Iron Barktongue for Aux Guard

2x Swordcap for for Aux Power

1x King’s Leaf for Aux Powerguard

Star Piece Recipe

As you close in on the late-game and post-game activities, you might find that Pokéshi Dolls don’t quite bring in enough income to make up for all the crafting recipes and bag upgrades you want to buy. This is where the ability to craft Star Pieces comes in handy, selling for much more money than Pokéshi Dolls do. The recipe for Star Pieces can be bought from the Crafting Store in Jubilife Village, but be weary, the materials required are only common in Space-Time Distortions, so these aren’t the best option for early game money farming.

Ingredients – 1x Stardust, 3x Red Shard, 3x Green Shard, 3x Blue Shard

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