TORINO, Italy – May 3, 2022 – Saber Interactive and 34BigThings have revealed a scorching new trailer for Redout 2, announcing that the next entry in the acclaimed anti-gravity racing series will launch on May 26, 2022, for PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation®4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Redout 2 is the biggest and fastest entry in the series yet, with more tracks than ever before. Strafe, tilt and boost your customizable hovership through dozens of mind-bending, jaw-dropping courses in a variety of game modes, including an expansive single-player campaign plus competitive online multiplayer for up to 12 players on PC, PlayStation and Xbox, and up to six players on Nintendo Switch.
Key Features:
Speed & Control: With blazing-fast speeds of over 1,000 km/h and an intuitive driving system, Redout 2 is a blast to pick up and play, but truly rewarding for any who can master its super-high skill ceiling.
Extensive Career Mode: Fly through hundreds of events across 36 unique racetracks – all of which are reversible! From Arena Races and Time Attacks to Last Man Standing and intense Boss Races, dart past the competition and dominate the finish line.
Competitive Multiplayer: Take on rivals in intense online multiplayer. Dive into fresh challenges with regularly added custom content and seasons featuring bonus rewards.
Comprehensive Customization: Choose from 12 distinct chassis and fully customize your hovership with an incredible selection of propulsors, stabilizers, rudders, intercoolers, flaps, magnets, wings, spoilers, rocket engines, paints and more!
Experience a futuristic soundtrack from leading electronic artists like the legendary Giorgio Moroder and acclaimed talents such as Zardonic and Dance with the Dead, with music seamlessly and dynamically mixed based on real-time race data.
Create and share your best high-speed moments with Redout 2’s Photo Mode.
Redout 2 is available to wishlist now on Steam. For more information, visit the official Redout 2 website, and keep up with the latest updates on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Discord.
About 34BigThings
Established in 2013, 34BigThings is a leading Italian developer for premium games across PC, console, and mobile devices which uses cutting-edge technology to create innovative, genre-leading games that receive critical acclaim and capture the imagination of gamers around the world. The studio has released over 10 premium games topping charts on most gaming platforms. 34BigThings joined Saber Interactive in November 2020.
An Embracer Group company headquartered in the U.S., Saber Interactive is a worldwide publisher and developer consisting of 22 studios in the Americas and Europe. Creating games for all major platforms based on original and licensed IPs, Saber’s titles include Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, World War Z, SnowRunner, Evil Dead: The Game and A Quiet Place. Founded in 2001, Saber is known for two decades of development partnerships with AAA publishers, producing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for Nintendo Switch, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Crysis Remastered, and many others.
Neon noir RPG ignites on Kickstarter as Free League’s fastest funded campaigns in its history
Los Angeles, CA (May 3, 2022) – Get your badges and blasters ready, because the Kickstarter campaign for BLADE RUNNER: THE ROLEPLAYING GAME by Free League Publishing has been fully funded.
Voted the #1 Most Anticipated RPG of 2022 at EN World, the BLADE RUNNER RPG campaign debuted today and blew through its initial funding goal within minutes after going live today. The highly anticipated RPG is now running through a long list of stretch goals, such as providing additional content to the Core Rulebook and gaming accessories such as custom dice, cards, and handouts to the Starter Set, with much more on the way.
Find out more at the BLADE RUNNER RPG Kickstarter:
Alongside a bevy of beautiful previews and a new trailer of the neon neverland soon to come, Free League has revealed their initial line-up of BLADE RUNNER gear available to backers now:
The BLADE RUNNER hardcover Core Rulebook ($55) features 200+ pages of official Blade Runner lore and an original investigative RPG ruleset that takes Free League’s award-winning Year Zero engine to a new level.
All backers also receive a PDF version of CASE FILE 01: Electric Dreams – the first official Cinematic module for the BLADE RUNNER RPG. An original, investigative twist on Free League’s award-winning Cinematic mode and a love letter to classic mystery games like Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, Blade Runner Case Files will deliver full-length scenarios with pre-generated characters and events, a shared pool of assets and informants throughout the city, and a variety of physical handouts representing in-world artifacts (data files, Esper photos, evidence, and more) to be used during the investigation.
In the Rep-Detect Bundle ($95), backers can receive the Standard edition of the Core Rulebook as as well as the Blade Runner RPG Starter Set, a boxed collection that includes a condensed rulebook, the print edition of the Case File 01: Electric Dreams, pre-generated characters, and various physical handouts that bring the fully-immersive investigation to life. If unlocked as stretch goals, custom dice, an initiative card deck, a map of the 2037 Los Angeles, and more will added to the Starter Set. For the elites, the Off-World Bundle ($140) delivers the print and digital edition of the Starter Set alongside the limited run Collector Edition of the Core Rulebook, boasting a deluxe black faux leather cover with an embossed holographic foil stamp of the iconic neon Origin kanji character. The Collector Edition is exclusively made for Kickstarter and will never be printed again.
For retailers, the Megacorp Bundle welcomes FLGS buyers to purchase five physical copies of the standard edition Core Rulebook and Starter Set at a discount.
And if cash or chinyen are short, the Diji Bundle ($35) offers PDF editions of the Core Rulebook and Case File 01: Electric Dreams for all players to enjoy.
The Kickstarter campaign will wrap up on May 26, 2022. Shortly after the Kickstarter ends, all backers will get early access to PDF versions of the complete Core Rulebook and Case File 01 – months ahead of the official retail release expected to hit shelves in Q4 2022.
As an added incentive, all backers of physical items who back the pledge their support within the first 24 hours will also receive an exclusive art print by BLADE RUNNER RPG lead artist Martin Grip at no extra cost.
Designed by Free League – the publishers of award-winning RPGs such as the ALIEN RPG, The One Ring™, MÖRK BORG, Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, and Tales From the Loop – the BLADE RUNNER RPG propels players into the neon noir streets of Los Angeles as Blade Runners. Set in the year 2037, the adventures begin shortly after the Wallace Corporation debuts the new Nexus-9 Replicants on Earth, giving players the choice to play as either human or Replicant Blade Runners with different specialties, personalities, and memories.
Apart from the core casework, the RPG will both in setting and mechanics also showcase key themes of Blade Runner – action, corporate intrigue, existential character drama, and moral conflict – that encourage roleplaying and challenge player characters to question their orders, empathize with their enemies, and make hard calls with high stakes and long-lasting implications.
Tomas Härenstam, Free League co-founder and lead game designer of the ALIEN RPG, fills the same role for the BLADE RUNNER RPG. Original artwork comes from lead ALIEN RPG artist Martin Grip, with Joe LeFavi of Genuine Entertainment, who also brokered the deal with Alcon for Free League, serving as the lead setting writer, brand manager, and producer on the game series.
ABOUT ALCON ENTERTAINMENT Co-founders and co-CEO’s Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson founded Alcon Entertainment in 1997 with partner Frederick W. Smith, the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx. Alcon has financed and produced or co-financed and co-produced 35 films to date including the Academy Award Best Picture nominee The Blind Side; the critically acclaimed Blade Runner 2049 starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford which won 2 Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects and received an additional 3 nominations; The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman; and many others. Alcon is currently in post-production on Lullaby, the horror feature from director John R. Leonetti (Annabelle).
Alcon Television Group’s latest projects include season six of the critically acclaimed epic space series The Expanse which airs on Amazon Prime Video and boasts a 100% Certified Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes; the animated children’s series Pete the Cat, a co-production with Amazon Studios based on the best-selling children’s book series currently available on the streaming service; and Blade Runner – Black Lotus, an anime series developed in partnership with Adult Swim and Crunchyroll inspired by Alcon’s Oscar-winning feature Blade Runner 2049.
Past projects for Alcon Television Group include the Grammy award-winning and 5-time Emmy-nominated HBO documentary series The Defiant Ones which chronicled the divergent roots and unlikely partnership of Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. The Company’s first co-production was the Emmy-nominated documentary Sinatra: All or Nothing at All for HBO from Oscar winning director Alex Gibney. The intimate portrait of Sinatra as a singer, actor, father, husband, and philanthropist remains one of HBO’s most successful shows in the 50+ demographic.
ABOUT GENUINE ENTERTAINMENT Genuine is a leading producer and brand manager of best-selling, award-winning stories, games, and geekery for beloved genre entertainment brands. An expert in authentic adaptations and premium licensing programs across all corners of pop culture, we specialize in growing franchises and fandoms in strategic markets and media alongside best-in-class partners.
Cultivating a dream portfolio of top media companies and intellectual properties, our credits and collabs include the ALIEN RPG with Free League; the Altered CarbonRPG with Hunters; The Art and Soul of Blade Runner 2049 art book with Alcon; the Batman game series with Portal Games; the Blade Runner RPG with Free League; the Blade Runner video game with Nightdive Studios; The Dragon Prince master tabletop gaming program, including Battlecharged from Brotherwise Games and Fandom’s Tales of Xadia RPG; the Dune master tabletop gaming program, including GF9’s Dune, Dire Wolf’s Dune: Imperium, and the Dune RPG from Modiphius; the Hello Neighbor party game from Arcane Wonders; the Vampire: The Masquerade – Rivals card game from Renegade Game Studios; and the World of Darkness comic book program from Vault. Come play at genuineent.com
ABOUT Free League Publishing
Free League Publishing is an award-winning game studio and publisher dedicated to speculative fiction, based in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 2011, the studio has published a wide range of tabletop games and acclaimed art books set in strange and wondrous worlds. Free League was voted Fan Favorite Publisher at the annual ENNIE Awards in both 2020 and 2021.
Free League’s game portfolio includes the just released new edition of The One Ring™ RPG, the official ALIEN RPG (Gold ENNIE for Best Game 2020), the Gothic horror game Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying (winner of three ENNIE Awards 2021), the pitch-black fantasy RPG MÖRK BORG (winner of four ENNIE Awards 2020), the alternate ‘80s Tales From the Loop RPG (winner of five ENNIE Awards 2017, including Best Game), the retro-fantasy game Forbidden Lands (winner of four ENNIE Awards 2019), the postapocalyptic Mutant: Year Zero (Silver ENNIE for Best Rules 2015), the science fiction game Coriolis – The Third Horizon (Judge’s Spotlight Award 2017), the recently released new edition of RPG classic Twilight: 2000, and the dark fantasy game Symbaroum.
Free League has also published the art books Tales From the Loop, Things From the Flood, The Electric State and The Labyrinth by internationally acclaimed visual artist Simon Stålenhag, as well as the illustrated edition of the Lovecraft classics At the Mountains of Madness and The Call of Cthulhu by the praised artist François Baranger.
Ahead of the upcoming Double XP LIVE event and Yak Track overhaul, skillers will find plenty to do in this update.
Tuesday, 3 May 2022, Cambridge, UK – RuneScape’s Fletching and Firemaking skills receive an update today which introduces several high-level training methods producing best-in-slot Elder God arrows to fell Gielinor’s most deadly threats. This new content launches today for high level skillers as the community looks forward to the Double XP event later this month.
Following the dramatic finale of the Elder God Wars, Prehistoric Potterington’s ‘Accidental’ Fletching & Firemaking Training Stations is a gameplay respite from the cataclysmic end to one of RuneScape’s most iconic storylines. This update includes a series of new arrows with corresponding effects as well as new means of training Firemaking and Fletching.
Complete the Extinction quest then meet with Prehistoric Potterington at the Anachronia Dinosaur Farm who has discovered three new methods to train Fletching and Firemaking using dinosaur eggs and zygomites,which are cute plant creatures as adorable as they are ancient.
By incubating, feeding, and ‘carestyling’, these colourful critters, players will collect and combine the components of T95 Dinarrows entirely through skilling, then imbue them with one of four powerful Elder God combat effects.
Create Dinarrows and Elder God Arrows to stock quivers ahead of upcoming content involving infernal adversaries or sell them to make a fortune at The Grand Exchange.
Players can also look forward to the return of the Double XP LIVE event from Friday 20 May until Monday, 30 May – the first since February. Get the most out of the skill grind with 48 hours of a Double XP bonus to use over the course of 10 days. An XP timer will begin at the time of login and stop at logout so RuneScape’s skill community can make the most of this limited time event.
RuneScape’s Yak Track is also back from May 30th until July 24th, where players can get their hands on Iaia themed cosmetic rewards and pets by taking part in fun and varied tasks in Gielinor.
RuneScape is available now on PC, Steam, iOS, and Android, complete with cross-platform progression and play on PC and mobile.
About RuneScape
More than twenty-one years in the making and acclaimed by PC Gamer as “one of the most endearing and unique MMOs available”, RuneScape is an ever-expanding, living game that’s bursting with activity and life. Today RuneScape is one of the world’s longest-running online games, welcomed almost 300 million player accounts, and is at peak popularity with millions of players.
Set in a medieval fantasy land, begin by creating a character and then embark on epic journeys through a vast sandbox world that’s full of gods, warring races, unexplored dungeons, and glittering riches. Propelled by the game’s narrative, choose your own path through enthralling quests, and progress through 28 diverse skills to shape a single character in a classless world. RuneScape on mobile is now available for iOS and Android devices, featuring cross-platform play between mobile and desktop editions, enabling players to seamlessly jump between devices and take their adventure anywhere. In RuneScape, you get to be the hero you always wanted to be and, with new content added almost every week, there’s always a new and adventurous experience to look forward to. Become the hero you were born to be at www.runescape.com.
About Jagex A leader in creating deep and engaging live games on PC and mobile, Jagex’s flagship MMORPG, RuneScape, has welcomed almost 300 million player accounts to its world and is a $1billion lifetime revenue franchise. Today the RuneScape franchise exists beyond running games in live operations; our titles are living games that connect and inspire millions of players, with content and experiences both inside and outside of inexhaustible game worlds. Both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, on PC and mobile, offer ever-evolving, highly active worlds and our community-focussed development ethos empowers players to have a real say in how each game is shaped. Now we’re expanding and extending our portfolio with fresh franchise titles and new IP to bring life to the living games of the future. Jagex employs more than 450 people at its Cambridge headquarters.
Take your first steps in this mysterious world at the “Going Rogue” Steam Festival
Milano, Italy – May 3rd, 2022 – Studio Cima is excited to announce that its upcoming narrative adventure game, The Perfect Pencil, will have a playable demo at Steam’s “Going Rogue: A Festival of Persistence” festival. Set to release for PC and Nintendo Switch in Early 2023, The Perfect Pencil is a narrative-focused platformer set in a strange world filled with perilous paths and unsettling creatures.
With combat and gameplay elements taking inspiration from games such as Hollow Knight and Earthbound with psychological depth of the characters, typical of games like Celeste, this combination is beautifully wrapped in a hand drawn art style. The Perfect Pencil aims to challenge players to comprehend and face uncomfortable situations that stem from their fears and anxieties – a topic very much in the zeitgeist of today – as part of a wholly engaging experience.
Engaging and unusual interactions, challenging choices, surprising exploration and fast paced combat will keep the gameplay interesting throughout whilst the narrative reveals itself. This game has its own language full of humour and allegories which it uses alongside immersive gameplay, to speak intimately to the player.
About Studio Cima Based in Italy, Studio Cima was born in April 2019 from an idea of Stefano Rauzi, following an artistic path that started with drawing and painting leading to videogames. Through the years collaborators have joined to give the right importance to every aspect of its first game “The Perfect Pencil” and to develop this project in the best possible way. Studio Cima aims to keep creating, through the videogame medium potential, interesting and narratively engaging adventures that explore human nature.
Ship-to-ship Refueling, Mining Gadgets, and Loot Selling Added in Latest Major Update; Includes Lorville Hospital, Interactive River Tech and New FlyableHull A Cargo Ship
LOS ANGELES – May 2, 2022 – Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) today announced the release of the Star Citizen – Alpha 3.17: Fueling Fortunesupdate. Available now, Fueling Fortunes expands the economic and career opportunities available to pilots with the addition of new locations to explore, and tools to support emergent gameplay. The Musashi Industrial & Starflight Concern (MISC) manufacturer introduces the new Hull A – the entry-level ship in the MISC Hull lineup of cargo-hauling vessels perfect for pilots beginning their career in trading, now available for spaceflight.
Life in the ‘verse can be dangerous and costly, and every pilot needs a way to earn an honest living. Today’s Fueling Fortunes update adds new functionality to NPC vendors and storefronts, allowing pilots to sell unwanted inventory items for cold hard UEC when they’re done hunting pirates or exploring for resources. There are also new and improved ways to earn credits with the addition of ship-to-ship refueling, allowing MISC Starfarer owners to refuel ships in space and charge customers for the service, as well as mining gadgets that can enhance the mineral yield of asteroids. Additionally, players can explore the first implementation of river technology with the introduction of the first interactive river on microTech, teeming with plant life and harvestable resources on the surrounding bank. For full details on theStar Citizen – Alpha 3.17: Fueling Fortunes update, please head here.
“With the Alpha 3.17: Fueling Fortunes releasewe’re thrilled to introduce new places to explore like the Maria Pure of Heart hospital in Lorville and new ways to participate in the in-game economy – whether it be through selling plunder from hard-fought pirate battles or counting your profits from a day of mining and cargo transporting,” said Star Citizen Creative Director, Chris Roberts. “We’re excited to see how pilots interact with the new features and watch the emergent gameplay unfold, especially with ship-to-ship refueling, which will create interesting encounters between players. This is just the start of our plans for 2022, and we can’t wait to share more details about what is in store for Star Citizen.”
Star Citizen – Alpha 3.17: Fueling Fortunes update key features include:
Ship-to-ship Refueling: The MISC Starfarer can now refuel stranded ships or top off fuel tanks before a long voyage. Pilots can charge the recipients for the fuel and service, creating a new money-making profession in the ‘verse.
Selling to NPCs: NPC vendors and stores are now greater participants in the economy, and players can sell weapons, armor, and other looted items for UEC.
Mining Gadgets: Take asteroid mining to new depths! Mining gadgets can be placed on asteroids with a variety of effects such as making the asteroid easier to break apart or increasing the quantity of mineable minerals.
Lorville Hospital: The Maria Pure of Heart hospital has been added to the Hurston Dynamics company town of Lorville, welcoming in new patients. Pilots can now access hospitals in all landing zones of the Stanton system.
Interactive River Tech: With the implementation of river tech complete, the first interactive river has been added and can be found on microTech. Pilots can glide over the water in search of harvestable resources, or go for a stroll through the water for a different perspective on the ‘verse (helmet required).
MISC Hull A: The “entry level” of the MISC Hull line of commerce-grade cargo ships is ready to kick-start a pilot’s career in space-trucking with its unique, expandable arm tech for carrying large commercial cargo containers. As with the larger Hull ships in its series, the MISC Hull A is designed to do one thing – haul lots of cargo. With the ability to land planet-side even when fully loaded, it’s the perfect vehicle for enterprising station-to-orbit cargo captains throughout the ‘verse.
Star Citizen combines classic space sim and FPS gameplay with boundary-pushing visuals in a massively multiplayer setting of unprecedented fidelity. Live how you want to live: shift paths from cargo hauler to outlaw, explorer, or any other role, whenever you want. Explore multiple planets and moons, including vast cities and underground caverns, all created with a unique combination of procedural planet technology and complementary hand-crafted design.
For further information, including how to download and play Star Citizen, visit the official website. Enlist today and join this ever-expanding universe by visiting the game’s Welcome Hub and Guide System for tips on how to play. Keep up to date with Star Citizen development via the game’s Progress Tracker and roadmap. Millions of players from around the world have already joined to help CIG build the most ambitious game ever made. For continued updates, follow Star Citizen on Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube.
About Cloud Imperium Games
Cloud Imperium Games is a new kind of independent studio dedicated to delivering AAA games outside the established publisher system. It was founded in 2012 by renowned visionary game developer Chris Roberts (Wing Commander series, Freelancer, Privateer), Sandi Gardiner, and international media lawyer and producer Ortwin Freyermuth (Carlito’s Way, Shattered, Das Boot – Director’s Cut), with industry veteran and studio director Erin Roberts (Lego videogame series, Starlancer, Privateer) joining the team in 2013. Cloud Imperium Games is creating Star Citizen, a record-shattering, largely crowdfunded space sim, and Squadron 42, a Hollywood-caliber, story-driven single-player game set in the same universe. Cloud Imperium Games operates in “open development” – sharing progress and updates in near real time. This paradigm-shifting development process (game development usually occurs behind closed doors) gives the community an unprecedented look at Star Citizen and Squadron 42’s development and allows direct feedback and interaction between players and developers, thereby ensuring that the games being developed are what players want to play.
EA founder brings invaluable industry experience to support 110 Industries in building its global games brand
Tolochenaz, Switzerland – May 2nd, 2022 – 110 Industries is excited to announce the hire of games industry legend Trip Hawkins as advisor to the board. Trip will leverage his extensive knowledge and experience in the games industry to assist 110 Industries in building its corporate culture and brand, as well as providing invaluable leadership advice.
Trip played a key role in establishing Apple’s corporate culture before moving on to found EA, pioneering a revolutionary team-based approach to game development that changed the industry and turned EA into a juggernaut with a roster of highly-successful titles. More recently, Trip founded award-winning developer Digital Chocolate, worked with Skillz on their mobile eSports platform and founded If You Can Company to create games that help children with emotional and educational development.
“I couldn’t be more excited to have Trip join us as an advisor,” said 110 Industries founder and Creative Director Sergei Kolobashkin. “From Apple, to EA and beyond, Trip is the rare kind of executive that has been both founder and boots on the ground. In building our brand and corporate culture, we want to learn from the best, and Trip fits the bill perfectly!”.
110 Industries is the studio behind the anticipated Wanted: Dead, a high-octane third-person action game featuring spectacular melee sword combat and stylish John Wick-style maneuvers, sci-fi racer Red Goes Faster and time-bending mech combat game Vengeance Is Mine.
“110 Industries is a really ambitious company with a compelling vision and an exciting slate of upcoming titles, so this is a project that I’m really excited to be involved in,” said 110 Industries advisor to the board Trip Hawkins. “I believe they have the potential to make a big impact on the industry and I’m looking forward to doing everything I can to assist the company in delivering on that”.
About 110 Industries 110 Industries is a company that develops, publishes, and distributes video games for gaming consoles and cloud gaming services; provides strategic, transparent and tailored solutions for successful long-term investments on the video game market.
Join us for the first 30 minutes of gameplay for Cat Cafe Manager as we travel to the sleepy village of Caterwaul Way and start building a home for dozens of unique felines! Gameplay runs through the first 6 days of business.
Travel to the sleepy village of Caterwaul Way and rebuild your grandmother’s cat cafe. Renovate your restaurant, befriend the local cats and townsfolk, forge lasting friendships, unravel catty mysteries, and build a home for dozens of unique felines!
Cat Cafe Manager Developer: Roost Games Publisher: Freedom Games Platform: Windows Release Date: 21 April 2022 Price: $19.99 USD
Embracer Group, the parent company and owner of companies such as THQ Nordic, Gearbox Software, Deep Silver, and many more more has announced that they have entered into an agreement with Square Enix to acquire Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, and Square Enix Montréal. This acquisition includes a “catalogue of IPs including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain and more than 50 back-catalogue games from Square Enix.”
In total the acquisition will bring roughly 1,100 employees across the studios in eight global locations under Embracer Group’s name and the total purchase price has been listed at 300 million USD. It is worth noting that the deal has not yet been completed though it is expected to close during the second quarter of Embracer’s 2022/23 fiscal year.
”We are thrilled to welcome these studios into the Embracer Group. We recognize the fantastic IP, world class creative talent, and track record of excellence that have been demonstrated time and again over the past decades. It has been a great pleasure meeting the leadership teams and discussing future plans for how they can realize their ambitions and become a great part of Embracer,” says Lars Wingefors, Co-founder and Group CEO, Embracer Group.
”Embracer is the best kept secret in gaming: a massive, decentralized collection of entrepreneurs whom we are thrilled to become a part of today. It is the perfect fit for our ambitions: make high-quality games, with great people, sustainably, and grow our existing franchises to their best versions ever. Embracer allows us to forge new partnerships across all media to maximize our franchises’ potential and live our dreams of making extraordinary entertainment,” says Phil Rogers, Square Enix America and Europe CEO.
This might be my first time reviewing The Stanley Parable, but it’s actually the third time that I’m playing it. The game first came out as a mod for Half-Life 2 back in 2011 and my understanding of it was…….all over the place, to be fair. Mainly because my level of English was just average at best so I had serious trouble following the story and the basic premise of the game. Got one ending and called it a day. Then in 2013, the mod evolved into a standalone game with its official Steam release. And almost a decade later, we got something called The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe. It promises new endings, choices, and secrets to discover so let’s see what’s it all about.
Story
And here is our first hurdle. Describing the game and the story of it while trying not to go all-in with spoilers is nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to reviews. But what to say when the whole game is misleading by design? When the initial presentation of the game is fundamentally different from the actual game? You have to find a way and convey something while saying nothing at all (which, to some extent, is what The Stanley Parable is trying to achieve).
But let’s start from the basics. The story is about Stanley, an employee 427 in an office building. He has a cushy government job consisting of pressing keys on the keyboard every now and then while monitoring data coming from the computer screen. One day, his screen goes blank, he leaves his room for help and discovers that the whole building is abandoned. And this is where our story starts taking shape. Almost every action of his is being described by the game narrator, who often breaks the 4th wall and scolds Stanley (aka you) when taking the “wrong” path. With that premise explained, it would be easy to describe the game as your average walking simulator but The Stanley Parable has always been so much more. It is a game and a meta-commentary on the games in general and a somewhat satirical dissertation on the video game industry and a cynical jab at the achievement system in video games. It pokes fun at everything and it also manages to take itself seriously as well.
Gameplay
If I could focus on one selling point of the game, it’s that there is no wrong way to play it. Seriously, they thought of everything. To illustrate the point, here is some relevant info: the original mod had six different endings, the first Steam release from 2013 added 10 more and I managed to discover 8 new ones so far in The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe. One time, I wanted to peek more into one room that is usually closed on more than one occasion so I used the good old sv_cheats 1 approach and then firing up noclip command (the veterans of Source will know).
And guess what? There is an ending for that too. There is an ending if you die on purpose, an ending that’s unlocked if you do everything opposite of what the narrator says, there is also one for standing still and not doing anything at all, and let’s not forget the ending that you get if you keep doing one ending over and over again. The Stanley Parable has always been a game of discovery, introspection, satire, and futility.
Visuals
Besides new endings and easter eggs, another thing you might notice is the significant visual overhaul. The game now looks more polished, with clearer textures and better lighting. Furthermore, every seemingly unimportant action might have a significant impact on visuals down the road. On your 45th playthrough, you might finally check out that blinking light on the answering machine in one of the office cubicles. Answer it, approve the order and on your next playthrough, almost every room and corridor will be filled with dozens and dozens of cardboard boxes. That was all your doing.
Audio
It is almost impossible to talk about this game without mentioning the life of the party. The narrator. He is funny, reliable, insane, angry, unpredictable, disappointed, and all the other things I have yet to discover with each new playthrough. At the same time, he is presented as this omnipotent being that knows Stanley to his core and a few minutes later he can be genuinely unprepared for some of your actions and one end is specifically made to show you how he loses his sanity without you. You two are inseparable. The is no Stanley without the narrator and no narrator without Stanley.
Overall
I pretty much manage to explain what is the game about while saying nothing much of substance (somewhat mirroring the game even) but there is one more important question left. The one that is not exclusive to this game really. Who is The Stanley Parable for? For a niche audience or does it dare to shoot for something bigger? I thought about this a lot and I finally have the answer.
One day, a friend might ask you for a game recommendation. He will say “I want to play something different. It has to be unique and I want to be surprised. It doesn’t have to be what I usually play but I want it to be something good. Do you have that kind of game for me?” And that will be your cue. You will then say “I sure do! Have you heard about lord and savior The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe?” And they will certainly say “I have not but something tells me this will be a start of a beautiful friendship”. Roll credits.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
After a number of delays D3 Publisher and Sandlot have announced that Earth Defense Force 6 will be releasing on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on August 25th in Japan. Currently no Western release has been announced but each game, including a voxel spin-off, has been released in the West so far.
Earth Defense Force 6will take place a few years after the massive invasion that occurred in the previous game and will still offer the Ranger, Wing Diver, Air Raider, and Fencer classes though they will now play a bit differently than they have in the past.
The company has also announced that all launch copies of the game will include three members of the Hololive Japan, Ookmai Mio, Shirakami Fubuki, and Nakiri Ayame as inflatable decoys that can be deployed to temporarily draw enemy insects and other creatures away from the player.
