Indie rogue-like shooter Star Mazer DSP, developed by our friends at Pixel Jam & Imagos Software, is receiving a special update and contest just in time for Halloween.
A special game mode titled Boss Rush Mode challenges commanders with chosing their top pilots and guiding them to victory against 3 difficult versions of pre-exiting bosses. Those who successfully complete this challenging limited time event will have their name etched on the newly minted leaderboards and entered into a contest to be featured in the game. Boss Rush Mode will only be availably until October 31st so you’ve got aproximately 4 days to leave your mark or forever lament not being able to be featured in Star Mazer DSP.
Here are the prizes on offer for those who make it to the top of the leader boards:
Ace Pilot Grand Prize
Add a complete custom First name, Middle name and Last name to the name pool for DSP pilots!
Plus win the Official Starr Mazer T-Shirt from Fangamer
Wingman Runner Up Prize
Add a complete custom First name, Middle name and Last name to the name pool for DSP pilots!
The Top Dog Third Prize
Add a custom First name, Middle name and Last name to the name pool for DSP pilots!
Star Mazer DSP is currently available through Steam Early Access for $9.99 USD and will be playable at next week’s Day of the Devs presented by Double Fine in San Francisco CA.
Five Nights At Freddy’s fans can rejoice again, Scott Cawthon has delivered the next chapter of his hit series is out. Not only are there new animatronics to meet and fear,a new setting to explore, new voices and new clues to the ongoing and increasingly convoluted lore. Will this be a hit with the fanbase or will it be a miss? Either answer, what isn’t debated is the excitement.
Early in the day today, Five Night’s at Freddy’s: Sister Location was in the Steam Store, ready to purchase and play. While FNAF: World may have been a disappointment to both Scott and many fans of the series, Sister Location appears to be a return to form with its dark, eerie atmosphere, claustrophobic setting and uneasy voice guiding you through the work you do at your new job. The job this time is a late night technician at Circus Baby’s Pizza World. This game not only connects to previous FNAF games, but also references the novel “Five Nights at Freddy’s: Silver Eyes” with the character William Afton, who eventually in Silver Eyes becomes the infamous “Purple Guy”.
Youtubers, such as MatPat from Game Theory and Markiplier excitedly streamed the game, while commenting with their thoughts and theories on where Sister Location fits in the FNAF universe and what it means for the lore. It seems this takes place before all the previous FNAF games as this shows the early work of Afton as a technician and it also appears any classic FNAF animatronics are shiny and well kept. This game promises to be a welcome Halloween treat with plenty of jump scares and eerie mechanical murderers whether you are a fan of the theories and lore of the game or not. If you want to join the FNAF fun, pick up your copy and enjoy.
Subscribers to Humble Bundle Monthly can now login and gain access to 7 Steam titles including the early unlock Grim Dawn, the absolutely adorable Slime Rancher, adventure game Deponia Doomsday – which our reviewer wasn’t too keen on, top down action shooter Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, Train simulator Train Valley and a few other titles.
Grim Dawn | Released: Feb 26 2016 | MSRP: $24.99 CDN
An isometric action RPG set in an apocalyptic time, Grim Dawn features hundreds of items & quests as well as a dual-class system allowing players to mix and match their play styles. The developers also promise that the quests in Grim Dawn carry with them some sense of consquence, so if you’re into impacting the world around you – this might be the game for you.
This is perhaps the most adorable game I’ve seen in quite some time – you take the role of an young slime rancher who dreams of making her fortune among the stars. After blasting off into the cosmos the player lands on a distant planet inhabited by all sorts of colorful cute slimes. Using her trust backpack this very much still green rancher must suck up, repel and collect the slimes to survive in this harsh environment.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number | Released: March 10th 2015 | $15.99 CDN
Wrong Number is the sequel to the ultra-violent indie shooter that made its mark a few years back. This sequel wraps up the Hot Line saga with a brand new soundtrack, intense new enemy A.I, new weapons and some brutal challenges. Players will have to switch up their play style depending on the faction that they are taking on – this could mean approaching challenges differently or making use of the various new weapons in order to pave the way to victory with as many bodies as possible.
Train Valley | Released September 2015 | $15.99 CDN
Build railways to connect cities by laying down track, building bridges or creating tunnels – don’t let the obstacles stop you and do whatever you have to connect your destinations. As the architect of the new railways you’ll have to manage congestion and demand for your services by installing switches, additional rails and other junctures to keep things on schedule. Train Valley features real-world scenarios taken from history like the North American Gold Rush and others. Players will travel across different time periods and all around the world as they visit Europe, Japan and other destinations.
These four games represent what I feel is the most promising of the seven new titles available via Humble Monthly in October. Here are the other games that subscribers will have access to:
Idea Factory International has launched the Steam version of this past spring’s tongue in cheek alternate universe of the self aware Megatagmension: Neptunia + Blanc Vs Zombies.
This game is a much different take in a series that has a number of different iterations and canon entries. Neptunia Vs. ZombiesI is a real time action title that casts Blanc and Neptune as members of the film club of the prestigious GamesIndustri Academy, while filming a movie to try and raise money to save their school from closure the cast comes across real life horrors! This shift in genre and universe surprisingly doesn’t affect the character’s core personality traits or humorous delivery.
Here are some of the game’s key features according to its’ Steam Page:
Key Features
– Fight off zombie hordes in 1080p with a two-person tag team and rack up crazy combos!
– Team up with up to 3 other friends in online Multiplay mode to take on multiplayer quests, with new quests updated daily!
– More characters join the battle with their own fighting styles, including Plutia, Peashy, Uzume, and a new playable character – Tamsoft!
– Dress to kill with customizable equipment, and accessories that can be put pretty much anywhere.
For the next week Megatagmension: Blanc+ Neptunia Vs. Zombies will be available on Steam for PC at a reduced rate and it includes all of the previously PS Vita exclusive DLC.
LinkRealms a Steam Early Access MMORPG that attempts to recreate the glory days of Ultima Online will go free to play as of October 10th developer Mythyn has announced. They believe that the game is ready for a wider audience thanks to the success of recent updates that have brought features like criminal status, newcomer enhancements and class adjustments to the game.
Mythyn describes their game as a “hardcore sandbox MMORPG” with a set of “old school design choices” and challenging dungeons. Basically, it sounds like this game ignores every genre convention or breakthrough that has occurred since the mid-90s.
Currently once a player purchases LinkRealms from Steam for $19.99 they gain access to the full game with no restrictions. Mythryn’s press release did not outline how their free-to-play implementation will work or if there will be a paywall that might limit players from progressing past a certain point.
Here is how they currently describe their in-game shop (Shame they use gender specific pronouns in their descriptions :/)
“Non-Invasive Shop Pay once (or get a Beta Key) and play for free – forever. All of the content is available to you with no restrictions. Using the in-game store helps supporting the development team, but nothing a player can purchase is going to make him suddenly powerful or give him an unfair advantage. Linkrealms welcomes all players to the community”
Reaction to the Early Access version of the game has been mixed with some players pointing out that a single guild owns entire server economies and that dungeon farming is rampant. Others have lamented the lack of features like a hotbar, meaning that spell and abilities must be manages from multiple windows.
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2follows up on its predecessors with a strange proposition. Imagine you’ve grown accustomed to driving a car without brakes. You hit other cars, you die, so you learn how to avoid doing so. You follow the road, you swerve correctly, you do fine, right? Then, one day, your car suddenly has brakes. And, when you hit other cars, it takes a couple hits before you actually crash. This would be disorienting, right? Because you’d have to completely relearn how to drive that car.
In Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, Pac-Man literally has a brake button.
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 follows a recent tradition of modifying Pac-Man’s classic formula. Games like Pac-Man Battle Royale and Pac-Man 256 have proven that Pac-Man’s basic maze gameplay has a lot of unexplored depth, and the Championship Edition series has led the charge in showing off how interesting and unique Pac-Man can become.
As with its predecessors, Championship Edition 2 is gorgeous, with a blissful neon aesthetic and incredible techno music that will keep you going for hours of play. CE 2 takes advantage of its new position on next-gen hardware to deliver mind-bending visuals at a consistently high frame rate.
The game’s new 3D flourishes exemplify this, offering fluid animations as a new reward for skillful ghost busting. It’s not surprising that Namco’s sound team has outdone themselves, either, with clever sound effects and arguably the series’ strongest soundtrack.
In addition, fans of previous outings will find some of their favorite songs, like Pac Rainbow, left in tact, along with some series favorite mazes like Championship I & II, Highway, and Spiral. While the aesthetics remain the same, and callbacks to previous games will make series regulars feel at home, there’s a mountain of modifications to the gameplay that might not excite everyone.
From Pac-Man Championship Edition‘s release, Namco has shown it’s not afraid of changing Pac-Man in subtle ways. In the first Championship Edition, players initially play the game at the speed of the classics, collecting pellets and regenerating the maze’s layout as they collect fruit. DX changes things up a bit by allowing you to collect a “Ghost Train” rather than having to avoid the traditional four ghosts on the map.
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 piles on new systems in a way that isn’t as satisfying as the natural evolution and simplicity found in the older titles. Pac-Man CE 2 adds, in no short order: Angry Ghosts, Boss Ghosts, a brake button, jumping, Ghost Routes, Runaway items, several new modes, and a compulsory tutorial just to cram all this in. It’s clear that Namco doesn’t want the series’ first proper numbered sequel to feel like a gentle iteration, but all of these revisions don’t gel with the simple gameplay of the original two titles.
Players who were looking for a game more similar to the original Championship Edition will be left out in the cold. CE 2 will feel more familiar to DX players who are used to chasing after Ghost Trains. In 2, rather than building up speed after collecting members of Pac-Man’s Ghost Train, the player starts off at full-speed, and any ghostly minions collected become trails behind the four main ghosts, Blinky, Inky, Pinky, and Clyde.
The challenge comes from chasing pellets at full-speed while avoiding both the roaming ghosts and their new trails. It’s a race against time, as before, trying to accumulate as many points as you possibly can before time runs out. At its strongest moments, CE 2 is a fast-paced score chaser that feels reminiscent of the gameplay offered by DX with some new and interesting twists.
Sometimes, those twists end up tangling up in one another and bog down the gameplay with undue complication. Changes pile upon each other and lead to series regulars needing to rethink their traditional CE play.
Grinding on the wall of the maze is still there, for instance, but because of Pac-Man’s increased speed and the unpredictable new behavior of ghosts, it doesn’t feel the same, and it’s something you typically want to avoid.
When eating ghosts, instead of going after the Ghost Train behind you in a satisfying finish, you’re sent on a frustrating chase after the four ghosts and their trains along Ghost Routes, colored escape routes that require memorization and constant attention.
New rules constantly interrupt basic tenets of gameplay put in place by DX, and while offering something new can be fun, the amount of relearning necessary might be challenging to those who have been playing CE DX for the past six years.
If all these new details weren’t aggravating on their own, they’re paired with new modes that only serve to highlight the game’s shortfalls. As in prior outings, the game is rife with unlockables, but rather than simply mastering each maze to seek rewards, players must conquer a new mode, Adventure. Adventure fails to deliver the classic, simple fun of the traditional score attack mode, and most players will likely avoid it altogether.
The new mode challenges players to complete several time attack missions in order to unlock Boss Battles, which are in themselves just a more challenging brand of time attack. Time attack isn’t very rewarding when failure is often found in having to battle stuff like Ghost Routes.
The process of completing stacks of time attack missions only to unlock even harder time attack missions isn’t rewarding, and if it weren’t for the promise of Galaga sprites for use within score attack, I probably wouldn’t have bothered. Within the context of 2, Adventure mode serves as an unfortunate annoyance.
Conclusion
By no means is Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 the weakest entry in the Pac-Man universe. At its best, Championship Edition 2 is fast and engrossing, pulling you in with engaging visuals and throbbing music. It’s a unique evolution on the classic arcade gameplay that you’d be hard-pressed to compare to its 1980 progenitor. Compared to its contemporaries, however, it lacks cohesion. At its worst, skillful play feels more like a wrestling match against new mechanics.
Pac-Man 256 and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX proved that you can iterate on the maze game formula without feeling overly complicated, without needing coercive tutorial levels, and without muddling what makes Pac-Man simple and fun to play. Mastery in titles like these is rewarded by a building sense of speed that motivates and excites.
Championship Edition 2 starts fast, stays fast, and ends with Pac-Man crashing into a wall of minions behind an Angry Ghost. If you’re ready to rethink the way you play Pac-Man, or you want to enjoy one of the best video game soundtracks this year, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 is absolutely worth a shot, but you’d be remiss without playing stronger entries in the series first.
Indie developer, Digital Homicide has been under hot water recently. The developer is currently looking to raise money and seek legal representation to sue steam users due to poor reception of their games. While Digital Homicide states they are fighting against harassment, Valve had a different perception.
Digital Homicide has produced over a dozen games, such as Galactic Hitman (as pictured above), using the steam platform. These games have received numerous poor reviews and have gained the attention of the Steam community and YouTube personalities. They have been accused of using paid assets and having very little effort put into their games, which is reflected in those poor reviews, along with a reputation of putting out games fast and low quality. Because of these accusations and comments, founder James Romaine filed an $18 million “personal injury” claim and a subpoena with the demands that the data of 100 steam users who are part of a consumer advocacy group. According to the Digital Homicide website, they are still currently raising the money and seeking legal representation.
[Ed Note: This video explains just how publishers like Digital Homicide make their money off deeply discounted bundles and Steam Trading Cards.]
Valve’s response to Digital Homicide’s claims was to discontinue business with the developer due to “[hostility] towards Steam customers” and ban them from using Steam to produce their games. Digital Homicide had in turn, released a response on their website stating that Valve was “disgusting” and they were excusing harassment of not only the development team, but the customers who were legitimately interested in their product.
Currently, the subpoena has not been signed by a judge and therefore has only been proposed, not granted. Should the subpoena be granted, Valve can contest the claim at a hearing. Along with this, there are also plans to bring a lawsuit to YouTube personality, Jim Sterling over videos criticizing the group’s development practices and quality of their products. Whether any of these lawsuits are successful, only time can tell.
Circle Entertainment announced a new game at the Tokyo Game Show today which is being developed by Skipmore, developers of the Fairune series. The game, titled Picontier, is a pixel art slow living miniscape RPG which allows you to enjoy a slow living on the island.
In the game you spend your time farming, crafting, mining and fishing. And apparently if you’re the adventurous sort, you can take a journey to the dungeons to fight off monsters. What you do in the game and how you spend your time is all up to you as you follow the charming story by communicating with the strange beings on the island.
Designed by indie label SKIPMORE, who are known for their high quality pixel art and sound design, the game will be available in both English and Japanese. The game is currently on Steam Greenlight but is also being planned for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation 4.
Psyonix’s surprise summer hit from 2015 recieves a brand new “rumble mode” that provides players with a whole new set of power-ups. 11 new randomized power-up give players new abilities that drastically changes how the rocket powered soccer title is played.
If you’re getting flashback to older racing titles from the 90s that included outrageous power-ups, like Extreme-G for the Nintendo 64, don’t worry you’re not alone. Here is a list of all of the power-ups available to players in the new “rumble mode”.
The Boot (Kicks an opponent’s car)
Disruptor (Forces the opponent to drive uncontrollably)
Freezer (Freezes the ball in-place)
Grappling Hook (Pulls you toward the ball)
Haymaker (Punches the ball)
Magnetizer (Attracts the ball to your car)
Plunger (Snaps the ball to your position)
Power Hitter (Hit everything harder)
Spike (Attach the ball to your car when you bump into it)
Swapper (Change positions on the field with your opponent)
Tornado (Sweep up the ball and cars into a giant funnel cloud)
Today’s update also introduces the “Crates & Keys” system that will allow players to unlock new skins and cosmetics through keys that are purchasable through optional micro-transaction. “Crate & Keys” is a similar micro-transaction model as popularized by Valve’s Counter Strike: Global Offensive and does not affect the core gameplay experience of Rocket League. Keys will be sold for $1.49 USD for 1 or in bundles of 5, 10 or 20. Profits from the “Crate & Keys” system will be used to fund future e-sports prize pools for the Rocket League community.
Independent game developer Bplus announces a new game coming to both Steam and the Nintendo NX. Their new war simulation game Tank it! will be released on Steam in the fall and follow on the Nintendo NX in 2017.
Bplus plans Tank it! to be a realistic and bloody war simulation game designed to show how brutal and dangerous war really is. In Tank it! you command a drone to remotely control a heavy tank. You receive the mission to travel to remote villages, find and destroy the target military camps and eliminate all terrorists. But as in real life, there are many civilians in the villages, as well. The terrorists and civilians alike are at the player’s mercy.
It is up to the player alone to decide how to handle this mission.
Previously Bplus released Puzzle Box Setup and Bit Boy Arcade for the Nintendo 3DS.
WayForward issued an update on the progress of their HD Shantae game, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, and the news wasn’t happy news. The update is by no means dire, but the game is going to be delayed up to six weeks or more.
Developers have stated that the delay is for bug fixing and adding additional polish, which is definitely a good thing. With the rush to get many games out these days, many games are released relatively unfinished. Day one patches aren’t at all uncommon.
The release date has been pushed back from September 27th to sometime in mid-November. Still plenty of time before the height of the holiday shopping season. And while it’s certainly not great news, if it means a more polished and better game. It’ll be worth the wait.
The competitive post apocalyptic survival title H1Z1: King of the Kill will be heading out of Steam’s Ealy Access program on September 20th developer Daybreak Games has announced via press-release.
A number of additional features will come with the launch of the game including an improved user interface, support for multiple competitive seasons, a new scoring system that takes the number of kills & other factors into consideration and Twitch.TV integration as well.
Here’s hoping that all of these improvements lead to a smoother overall experience. We preview H1Z1: King of the Kill – the Battle Royal style multiplayer mode that was once part of the entire H1Z1 package before being split off into it’s own stand-alone game– back in early 2016 when the game launched. To be honest over the 20+ hours I’ve put into the title I’ve found King of the Kill to be a love / hate kind of game. There’s always a pile of tension as you’re in the top 20, wondering who or what might be around the next corner but getting to that tension means 20 – 40 minutes of wandering around a barren map looking for crafting items.
Here is how Daybreak games described the ranking system they will be implementing:
Scoring System –Progression outside of matches is evolving to foster the natural competitive spirit of the H1Z1: King of the Kill community. A new and more dynamic scoring system after each match will award points to players based on their placement, their kill total and when in the match those kills took place, with higher points going to kills that take place later on. This new system will give players immediate feedback on their performance, as well as the opportunity to earn in-game rewards. It will apply only to solo matches at launch.
Updates to the world map will also be coming down the line. If you’ve spent dozens of hours like I have learning the trek from co-ordinates like H9 to A4, be prepared for a few curvle balls to be thrown your way with “The Arena”.
As the devs outlined:
The Arena, a Totally Revamped World Map – This larger map is designed to improve the pace and performance of matches overall, with additional points of interest for showdowns and surprises, better loot distribution for player spawns, and greatly improved graphics and lighting.
The Arena will be a focal point of action for those playing H1Z1: King of the Kill at PAX West this weekend at Booth #1909, and later when some of Twitch’s top streamers and players compete in the second annual H1Z1 Invitational on Oct. 2, 2016 at TwitchCon.
Perhaps all of these changes will lead to a more immersive survival experience. I’ll be at PAX West and will try and go hands on with the new Arena map if time allows. Worst case I’ll snap a few pictures of the booth!
As far as early access goes and something that was nearly given away on the base tier of a recent Humble Bundle, Savage Lands is actually a pretty fun experience. At first glance I just assumed it was a basic indie Elder Scrolls sort of game, but it actually falls more into the survival and crafting genre. Sure this early access experience is still a little rough around the edges, but it’s the basics that kind of work the best for it. Stepping out of the way of lunging skeletons, strafing around an enraged boar, firing that one last arrow that hits a deer yards away while you’re character is starving to death, there’s a lot to be said about the little things.
Savage Lands dumps you on the shore of a pretty rough island. The aforementioned skeletons are just one of the dangers you’ll encounter. Let alone starving, freezing to death, and other fun activities. Normally you’d prepare to explore and set off without a care in the world. Meanwhile in this title, you’re more concerned with getting set up at the start. On the plus side there is gear to discover nearby, places to begin turning into a home, and trees to cut down to keep a fire stoked to cook your meals. As the Humble Bundle theme stated, it’s more about survival.
In a way, that makes Savage Lands more of a medieval Lost In Blue rather than an Oblivion like adventure. You could just sit on the beach and watch the icebergs drift by, or you can get going and start establishing yourself in this harsh and savage land.
Things are still rough, and the odd time I’ve been caught up on a hillside or a doorway, but it’s something different. There is a multiplayer component as well, so if you’d rather wander the world with some companions, that’s an option too. I was happy just to see that there was a single player local mode. Still, it’s a fun experience if you’re just looking to take things slow, collect up your resources and enjoy the chilly wilderness. Especially if you picked up the bundle, be sure to actually give the game a go. It’s shaping up to be quite the neat adventure.
Trillion is an Idea Factory title in which you power up to take on Trillion, the god of destruction! Sounds nice, happy and to the point doesn’t it? Trillion seemingly gets his name from the 1,000,000,000,000 hit points he has. Hopefully he’s max level so he doesn’t need to change his name. It must have been weird for Trillion growing up. “Who are you?” “I’m Twenty-Four!” “Oh, that’s a shame because my sword has a DPS of twenty five!” We don’t need to worry about that though since Trillion has all those juicy hit points at level 1. Ahem, joking aside, what IS this game? Let’s find out!
First off it should be noted that unlike some Vita ports, which is what Trillion is, the game contains both English and Japanese voiced dialogue. So any of you out there who enjoy dubbed audio in your JRPG’s, you should still have that here. I can’t imagine that not surviving the port to Steam.
Unlike the cute Moe girls you’re used to from Idea Factory, Trillion takes on quite a Disgaea vibe which is something that stood out to me from the start. Instead of being like Hyperdimension Neptunia however, there seems to be a more tile based combat system in Trillion. When you move the enemies get to move. I’ve only looked at YouTube videos so far, but we do hope to get some hands on experience closer to the Steam release. As you can see in the image below, this specific combat focuses on Mokujin, a Trillion training dummy. He’s able to summon monsters and do some pretty devastating area of attack moves that show up both on your map in the upper left and on the actual level display as well. So you do have some warning of these big moves as well as time to avoid them. You can fight Mokujin every cycle, which works out to a week. In your main menu you’ll see the next coming of Trillion which the game counts down to in weeks.
That isn’t the only way to power up. A mode called Valley of Swords gives players a rogue-like dungeon to explore and fight enemies in. If anything it reminds me quite a bit of NIS’ game The Guided Fate Ultimatum. With Trillion baring down on the world however, you’re probably not going to be able to stop him the first time. Cool thing is, after your game over new game plus carries over your character progression. So it is really a neat concept. Grind away, fight back against Trillion, rinse, repeat.
We’ll be taking a further look into Trillion soon, but for now take a look at the trailer below.
Also, some of the screens in this article are from BlueMaxima’s Vita Channel. If you’d like to look deeper into Trillion right now, feel free to watch his video here:
Veteran game developers Runewater have announced their latest game Guardians of Ember will be available on Steam Early Access next month. This brand new isometric hack & slash action title looks to take more than a few cues from Blizzard’s Diablo franchise from both a gameplay design and graphical style perspective.For fans of the genre, this might be one to keep an eye on ahead of it’s September Early Access release.
Guardians of Embers describes the game as an action title where players must defend the world of Olymdale from a mysterious dark menace. As a hero players have a choice between one of six classes but after they reach level 15 the game’s dual specification system kicks in, allowing players to chose a secondary class. The finished game promises to include 60 randomly generated dungeons, each with their own difficulty level.
Here is a rundown of the features that Runewater hopes to include in the final release:
– dual class system (available from level 15)
– near unlimited character optimization (4 races, 6 classes, over 300 of active and passive skills)
– randomized dungeons with individual difficulty settings
– crafting and enchanting system: Design your perfect equipment
– housing system: Decorate your own house with hundreds of items
– engaging story with hundreds of quests
– various PVP options (1vs1, 3vs3, 5vs5 – ranked and unranked)
Guardians of Ember is expected to be in Early Access for 3 – 6 months. The initial launch will include the first two Acts with the final 3 Acts coming further into development. For more information on the game check out their Steam Early Access page, sadly no initial price for the game is available as of press time.
