NIS America introduced the three main characters in Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk today. Each character has an important part to play in this grim tale.
The first character is Dusk Witch Dronya, a beautiful raven-haired witch, cloaked in black robes. Dronya serves the Haltz Kingdom as a royal court witch, and is called the Dusk Witch due to her brilliant red-and-blue eyes. She has come to Refrain for the sole purpose of exploring the labyrinth beneath the town, though her true motive for doing so remains a mystery.
Next is little Luca, Dronya’s young apprentice and traveling companion. An upbeat, excitable child who is easily moved to tears and laughter, often alternating between the two. Despite her young age, Luca can perform a variety of household tasks, such as cooking, cleaning, shopping, and doing laundry.
She also personally handcrafts each puppet soldier that Dronya sends down into the labyrinth.
Finally is the Tractatus de Monstrum, a legendary cursed book that contains the player’s soul. It is said to have been scribed by the only man to uncover the secrets of the labyrinth and survive. Now, the Tractatus de Monstrum—or “Tractie,” as Luca calls it—must lead Dronya’s puppet soldiers into the labyrinth of Refrain and unearth the secrets buried within.
There’s still a lot left to be revealed. Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk arrives on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in the Fall.
NIS America has shared some new and exclusive content including a new trailer for Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory, which will be released for Nintendo Switch on May 29th.
Antoinette and Aurelius, the playable characters featured in the post image, are just a small part of the exciting new additions:
Play both Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire and Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion on the same game card
Recruit characters from one saga to play in the other
5 new playable characters
New story branches and 16 new levels
Intimidating new boss fights
Improved battle options with the addition of Manual Link attacks
Remixed battles in both New Game+ and the maddeningly difficult One Life Mode
Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory arrives on Nintendo Switch May 29, 2018.
Nintendo has announced the latest Splatfest coming to Splatoon 2.
In promotion of the upcoming “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” animated series on Nickelodeon, this will be a TMNT themed tournament-style Splatfest. Round 1 takes place May 4th and features Raph vs. Leo.
Round 1: Raph vs. Leo
May 4 (Friday), 9 p.m. PT – May 5 (Saturday), 9 p.m. PT
Round 2: Mikey vs. Donnie
May 11 (Friday), 9 p.m. PT – May 12 (Saturday), 9 p.m. PT
Finals
May 18 (Friday) 9 p.m. PT – May 19 (Saturday), 9 p.m. PT
“We love working with unexpected partners to expand our brand and bring smiles to people’s faces in surprising ways,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Teaming up with Nickelodeon and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made perfect sense, as we share many of the same fans who enjoy family-friendly entertainment and classic characters.”
This preview focusing on Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s gameplay systems and their evolution between games is part one of a two part hands-on preview.A second part focusing on the plat revealed thus far, trailer and hands-on demo gameplay will be posted later on today. Square Enix covered accommodations and travel for me to attend the Shadow of the Tomb Raider reveal event.
For the past half decade the Tomb Raider franchise has enjoyed a huge surge in popularity and fan interest since Crystal Dynamics / Edios Montreal successfully revitalized the series with their 2013’s origin story. With two adventures behind her, Lara Croft is about to become “who she was meant to be”, according to the game’s Creative Director, in the newly revealed third entry in the reboot trilogy- Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Square Enix invited me out to Montreal Quebec this past week in order to be one of the first people in the world to to go hands-on with Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
The Creative Director for Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Daniel Chayer, mentioned that the journey to craft the pinnacle of Lara’s development actually began during the early days of development for Tomb Raider (2013). Developers at Crystal Dynamics and Edios Montreal knew that they wanted Lara to be a strong and relateable protagonist. They envisioned who she would be at the end of her journey and worked backwards from that point.
Daniel walked through how Lara as a character has developed throughout the trilogy of games. In Tomb Raider (2013) Lara was thrust into an uncertain environment – all the while was still unaware of the skills that she could hone or the path that destiny would lay out before her. During the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider, players saw first hand how much she has grown – while guiding her through her first tomb expedition and exploring the deeply hidden secrets hidden within her subconscious. Watching Lara Croft develop as a character and grow between titles has been a key element for the developers at Crystal Dynamics / Eidos Montreal and to achieve this goal successfully Lara Croft must be as relatable and real as possible.
Character development isn’t aspect of Tomb Raider that has changed and grown from title to title. Gameplay mechanics, systems and even the core design “pillars” the underpin the creative philosophy behind each game must also grow and adapt from iteration to iteration. From a high concept perspective the gameplay of the rebooted Tomb Raider franchise can be boiled down to combat, traversal and resourcefulness. When looking to expand upon these pillars Crystal Dynamics and Edios Montreal put a special focus on the environments. It is their belief that the environments in Shadow of the Tomb Raider play a vital role in bringing Lara Croft as a character to life – the more realistic the environments are, the more relatable Lara is.
To facilitate the creation of even more treacherous and sequestered tombs for our heroine to explore the developers have expanded upon the “traversal” pillar with the creation of “terrifying vistas”. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider literally everything within a tomb is out to kill Lara, Chayer explained during his presentation. Developers asked themselves the question – “what makes tombs terrifying?” and apparently the answer to this question is to have Lara explore the deep series of caverns burred within South America that extend under the sea. Players took their first literal footsteps down below with Lara as she went spelunking into the tombs of Rise and will have to overcome challenges that eclipse anything seen thus far in the franchise.
Above: The weapon upgrade screen from Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)
Utilizing resources to expand Lara’s arsenal of weapons, acquire additional combat skills and survival techniques have been a key part of Tomb Raider’s gameplay from the very first title in the reboot trilogy. Eidos Montreal and Crystal Dynamics are set to expand upon this familiar system with a revised pillar that they are calling “resourceful Lara”. What this means for our heroine is that she will have a complete understanding of the environment around her. For players this will mean a more open ended progression system when it comes to upgrades so that a player’s Lara Croft will better represent the type of play that suits them.
If you enjoyed this in-depth look at the design philosophy, core gameplay systems and new features coming in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, check back later today and early next week for more coverage from my time at the Shadow of the Tomb Raider reveal event.
