THIONVILLE, France – Jan. 24, 2022 –Hero’s Hour, the turn-based strategy RPG with real-time combat where champions develop cities and armies while exploring a procedurally generated world from developer ThingOnItsOwn and publisher Goblinz Publishing, sets out on a legendary journey for Windows PC via Steam and GOG on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
Mount a mighty stallion and explore distant lands as a courageous hero seeking to conquer dangerous foes. Explore the countryside and collect valuable resources to aid in the town’s construction and upgrade its valiant armies. Seek out mysterious obelisks for clues leading to long-hidden treasures and rare rainbows for improved luck in battle.
Scout enemy troops to assess their difficulty levels before leading the battle charge. Strategically place factions before engaging in fast-paced auto-battles. Cast more than 80 spells such as Army of Giants to turn friendly units into mighty giants, Corpse Explosion transforming the dead into bombs damaging adversary lines, and Deflect Missile to protect hero’s minions from taking damage for the next three attacks, all to boost troop’s forces and swing the tide of war.
Each of the 20 hero classes possesses distinct abilities including Siren Song, which captivates close-by nemesis under their command, Grudge to turn the souls of dwarven units into vengeful spirits, and Shadowcasting, which temporary summons shadow-clones of foes to fight on their side. Heroes can command more than 200 units, such as fire-spitting and venomous lizardchers, powerful beastmasters capable of summoning Lynx to battle, healing friars, and more.
Overcome treacherous rivals guarding sawmills and mines, then seize their territories for daily supplies. Visit the Windmill once a week to replenish other supplies and the Docks to build a dominant fleet and be the most powerful hero on waters. Use invaluable resources to build and craft a strong community capable of upgrading armies while developing a plan for each day, as heroes have limited moves. Procedurally generated maps ensure no adventure is the same, presenting new areas to explore and buildings to conquer.
Travel through minefields, snow-swept fields, and pastures to uncover hidden artifacts such as defense enhancers Mail Greaves and Silvered Plate, the Token of Journey to increase the hero’s daily movements, or the Galaxy Blade, a powerful weapon increasing magical and fighting skills. Each unlocked power furthers the colony’s readiness in future battles against the many perils that await.
“More than a simple tribute to the Heroes games, Hero’s Hour manages to innovate the genre by mixing real-time with turn-based gameplay,” said Johann Verbroucht, founder and manager at Goblinz Publishing. “The developers also put a lot of love into the pixel art while keeping it simple enough to open up modding to all players.”
Hero’s Hour lands on PC via Steam and GOG on Tuesday, March 1, for $17.99 USD / 14.99€. The game supports English, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Europe and Latin America), French, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) languages.
Benjamin Hauer is a solo developer based in Copehnagen, Denmark. His love of procedural generation led to the creation of his first game, Hero’s Hour, a self-entitle “spiritual successor” to the Heroes of Might and Magic game.
About Goblinz Publishing
Based in France, Goblinz started as a small indie studio developing on tactical, management, and RPG titles. Now, the studio has branched into producing and publishing, helping developers from around the world to bring their creations to life. Former titles include Banners of Ruin, Legend of Keepers, As Far As The Eye, Iris and the Giant, and more.
Sale starts 24th January, 2022 at 4pm GMT/5pm CET/11am EST/8am PST
Celebrate the Year of the Tiger with limited time discounts of up to 75%
London, UK – 24th January, 2022. Green Man Gaming invites you to hunt down some juicy deals as their 2022 Lunar Sale, celebrating the start of the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Tiger, starts today with some rawr-some limited time discounts of up to 75% of top titles.
2022 marks the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese Zodiac and the Tiger is known as the king of all beasts in China. The zodiac sign Tiger is a symbol of strength, exorcising evils and braveness.
Starting today at 4pm GMT/5pm CET/11am EST/8am PST, the Lunar Sale is packed with limited time discounts on top titles across the Green Man Gaming site with savings of up to 75%! But hurry, as these purr-fect deals are only available for a limited time!
The Lunar Sale features huge discounts on over 3000 products from AAA to indie classics like;
Back 4 Blood Resident Evil Village Crusader Kings III We Happy Few
Some of the top games dropping into the sale later this week include;
Deathloop It Takes Two The Ascent
So don’t delay, start hunting down the discounts today!
About Green Man Gaming Green Man Gaming is a multi-award-winning global video games retailer, publisher and distributor . Working with the world’s leading gaming brands, Green Man Gaming sells games to millions of customers across 195 countries via the market-leading eCommerce platform. Working with independent developers, Green Man Gaming’s Publishing division offers more choice to studios as they navigate their route to market Green Man Gaming continues to expand increasing their service offering and reinforcing its footprint in global markets including LATAM, SE Asia & China.
MADiSON to be released on current and next generation consoles
BLOODIOUS GAMES & Perp Games announce partnership to bring digital and physical console versions of MADiSON to market.
London, UK, 24th January 2022 – BLOODIOUS GAMES and Perp Games are delighted to announce they are partnering to bring the critically acclaimed, MADiSON to console, later this year.
MADiSON is a first-person psychological horror game that delivers a truly blood curdling experience and developer BLOODIOUS GAMES has fought off numerous attempts to delay or even ban this terrifying new addition to the genre. With all of that behind them, BLOODIOUS GAMES are now fully focused on the future and the exciting relationship with Perp Games.
“Many years ago, when I first started playing games, I completely fell in love with horror. From constantly dying in Resident Evil or being scared to death playing the Clock Tower franchise to more modern psychological and survival horror games, I’ve felt, lived, loved and absorbed them all.” Says Alexis Di Stefano, CEO at BLOODIOUS. “MADiSON is our passion and we have poured our heart and soul into developing a game that will really scare you and challenge your perspectives. Our journey has been incredible, guided by the passion of our amazing fanbase, and now, thanks to our partnership with Perp Games we are very happy to announce we are bringing MADiSON to consoles and can spread our game to so many more fans of psychological and survival horror.”
“It is not often you see a team with so much passion and talent. Their knowledge and experience of the Horror Genre has been focused to develop MADiSON, a truly groundbreaking game that takes psychological horror to a whole new level. MADiSON is extremely scary, and we can’t wait for people to experience the tragic story of Luca in the coming months.” Said Rob Edwards, CEO at Perp Games.
Perp Games is a global video games publisher, with a proud track record of publishing award-winning titles, exciting indie games and some of the world’s most recognized franchises, from the most talented studios. Perp Games is an established and recognized global force in entertainment, bringing extraordinary and exciting games to market, across multiple formats and media.
About BLOODIOUS GAMES
BLOODIOUS GAMES is an independent horror video games development studio, founded to channel the passion of crafting truly terrifying experiences. Currently behind the development of its first title MADiSON, BLOODIOUS GAMES is formed by a very small team lead by creative director Alexis Di Stefano.
With Chinese New Year just around the corner, leading Chinese game publisher NetEase is offering bountiful benefits to its faithful Justice Online players who have stayed loyal to the leading martial arts PC MMO. A Western release is also being eyed up for Q4 2022. Check out the extended gameplay trailer below.
Justice Online is an MMORPG based on the famous martial arts novel Four Famous Arrets – Justice Online. The captivating open world looks to create a living and breathing environment for players to explore. Justice Online is the first game to really explore traditional martial arts and Jianghu (the community of martial arts) in the MMORPG genre. Justice Online offers players a sophisticated world to explore, endless customization to showcase, and a story of love, passion and martial arts to lose yourself in.
Justice Online recently received a substantial update, taking the total amount of explorable regions in the game to 9. This update brought eye-catching landscapes like the Zhuyin Mountain that cuts the sky with its flowing fire and flaming wind, the Snowcell Mountain the brings a crisp frozen edge to the dangerous lands and Quicksand City which is plagued with blistering sandstorms and desert areas you want to stay well away from.
With the Justice Online map now expanding over 2,400-square -kilometers it’s fair to say there is a lot to see and even more to do. Whether you choose to dig for gold, rescue a mountain from doom or even look to trade from town to town, one thing is certain, you’re going to need a mount to explore the seamless lands.
Mounts are already a huge part of the Justice Online experience, with the ability to tame almost any creature in the game into a mount the options are plentiful. However, these options are growing even wider from January 20th when the next major update for Justice Online is released. That’s right, you’ll be able to fight against, tame and even ride a giant spider across snow-capped mountains, around lava pits, and through elegant rain forests.
The major content update isn’t the only announcement NetEase has for Justice Online. As of the 20th of January, the game will be playable on almost any device through cloud-based gaming via a web client. This cloud-based service does open Justice Online up to international players, however, the game currently doesn’t feature localization outside of China so current playing experiences are dependent on a player’s understanding of the Chinese language.
Over the course of 2022 NetEase have several huge updates planned for Justice Online, including new locations to expand the seamless map even further, new questions for players to continue their adventure with and new mounts fight and tame. Their largest update in 2022 may be the multi-region localization and international release of Justice Online, which would open up the martial arts experience to millions of MMORPG fans.
RUNESCAPE IS FINALLY COMING TO TABLETOP — NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE!
Monday 24th January – Manchester, UK – RuneScape,one of the most popular and longest-running online role-playing video game franchises for PC, Mac, and mobile, is coming to tabletop gaming with two brand new games launching later this year.
Jagex, the leader in developing and publishing deep, community-driven video games and home to RuneScape, has teamed up with tabletop-gaming powerhouse, Steamforged Games, to create both a board game and tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) core book inspired by RuneScape’s rich fantasy world of Gielinor. Both games will make their debut in 2022, with the board game launching on Kickstarter and the TTRPG heading straight to stores.
Both games are set to delight RuneScape and Old School RuneScape’s player communitieswith fresh-but-faithful adaptations of classic quests and characters that weave iconic elements of the games into exciting tactile experiences reimagined for tabletop gaming.
The games will draw on adventures, characters, and locations from across RuneScape’s rich 21-year long history, with the board game taking between one to five players on quest-based campaigns through Gielinor. They will craft and upgrade equipment, upskill their characters, cook special recipes, engage with NPCs, and test their skills while exploring different regions of the world, with a variety of enticing side quests to distract and entertain them on the way.
The TTRPG will consist of a lavishly illustrated, hardback core book containing rules for players to run a RuneScape tabletop roleplaying game, in which they can build their own characters, explore Gielinor, and create unique and exciting quests. The TTRPG core book is also fully compatible with the fifth edition ruleset of the world’s favourite roleplaying tabletop game.
The RuneScape games will mark Steamforged’s twelfth adaptation of a video game for tabletop. Past adaptations have included the Monster Hunter: World board game, which grossed £3.4million on Kickstarter in 2021.
Phil Mansell, CEO of Jagex, said: “After more than 21 years of being exclusively available digitally, it’s extremely exciting to be collaborating with Steamforged to create and deliver new RuneScape role-playing adventures to tabletop gamers. By launching the board game via a crowdfunding platform, Steamforged is mirroring our approach of involving the RuneScape communities in taking the game to tabletop. Given Steamforged’s experience and expertise in transforming video game experiences to tabletop, I’m sure that both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape players will be excited to get their hands on the planned miniatures to create their own adventures with other ’Scapers and board gamers”.
Mat Hart, Creative Director and CCO of Steamforged, said: “Steamforged are honoured to be partnering with Jagex and together use our wealth of experience in adapting video games to bring one of the most popular online role-player games to tabletop. The rich RuneScape universe will translate beautifully to board and tabletop games, and using a crowdfunding platform and other dedicated community spaces will let us engage directly with fans of RuneScape and Old School RuneScape throughout development. Ready your rune armour, put on your party hat, and get ready to roll!”
To get involved and receive the latest updates on the RuneScape board and tabletop roleplaying games, join the dedicated mailing list.
About Jagex A leader in creating deep, community-driven games on PC and mobile, Jagex’s flagship MMORPG, RuneScape, has welcomed almost 300million 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.
About Steamforged Games From small beginnings in the corner of a hobby gaming store in Stockport, Manchester, Steamforged Games has gone on to create tabletop adaptations of some of the biggest video games around.
The company’s history of adaptations began with the wildly successful Dark Souls™ Board Game. Steamforged took the game to Kickstarter back in 2016, where it raised £3.7million followed by significant success at retail and is still one of the best-selling board games out there, having sold over 500,000 units at retail to date.
Since then, Steamforged’s catalogue has grown to include popular board game versions of triple-A video games such as Monster Hunter: World, Resident Evil™ 1, 2, and 3, Horizon Zero Dawn™, and more, all well-received as authentic experiences true to the brand DNA. Now the UK’s leading developer and publisher of licensed tabletop games, Steamforged is led by a love of the craft, a collective pride in what they create, and a mission to deliver compelling tabletop experiences that capture the emotions and inspire the imaginations of players around the world.
Strategize Your Murderous Intent or Plot a Cunning Trap to Prevent Your Untimely Death
Denver, CO – January 21st 2022 – Independent developer VestGames in partnership with indie publisher Versus Evil are pleased to announce that their multiplayer social deduction game Evilleenters Open Beta on PC/Steam today at 10am PT / 7pm CET and runs until 23rd January. The game will be launching on PC via Steam Early Access some time in 2022.
Eville will be the second game in the popular social deduction genre published by Versus Evil and follows First Class Trouble which launched on PC and PlayStation 5 in October 2021.
Eville’s Open Beta will give players a chance to try the game and its myriad of character roles and unique gameplay mechanics, one of which is the day/night cycle which allows Eville players to free roam the 3D environments to prepare for the sinister shenanigans that happen during nightfall.
This aspect of strategic planning to protect your humble abode from those with murderous intent adds something different to the mode of play which sets it apart from the other games in the social deduction genre.
A mysterious murder has taken place in the once peaceful village of Eville, and so begins a collective effort for those involved to either unmask the co-conspirators and prevent them taking over the village, or just get through the night alive. Built upon a solid foundation of deceit, slander, and manipulation, Eville casts players into randomly assigned roles with every session each with unique abilities, skills and advantages.
Players will have access to handy items and crafting abilities, spending their hard earned copper during the day on upgrades to help them survive the night or to survive the devious traps set by the pesky do gooders impeding another murder.
“Eville’s Open Beta is a great opportunity for us to share what we’ve been working on with the wider community of gamers, we wanted to approach the popular social deduction genre with a dynamic gameplay element that made it stand out, coupled with a strong visual style that would also help it resonate well with players.” Said VestGames Founder and CEO Hendrik Hollenborg.
Players interested in participating in Eville’s Open Beta should head over to the games Steam page here.
About VestGames
VestGames GmbH is an emerging company from Datteln, Germany, mainly specialized in video game development, comprised of a small and enthusiastic team working on innovative and original projects.
About Versus Evil
Founded in 2013, Versus Evil, LLC is the US based video game publisher behind critically acclaimed video games First Class Trouble, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire and The Banner Saga trilogy. Publishing games on all major mobile, PC and console platforms, Versus Evil works with independent development studios from around the world. The corporate philosophy is to champion for the independent game developer. For more information visit versusevil.com
It’s been roughly six years since Rainbow Six Siege was released. There was a limited time co-op event a few years after release called outbreak that pitted three operators against a horde of sci-fi enemies. The limited time event was well received and brings us here today with Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction.
The game sticks to its three-player co-op roots and offers an expanded roster of operators. Rainbow Six Extraction expands upon the event by repurposing old maps to create a multi-step PVE experience that forces players to constantly decide if they can push through or bail out before their operator becomes missing in action.
Story
Up front, Rainbow Six Extraction doesn’t offer much story beyond a reason to shoot up some parasites and send them back to whatever planet they came from. It gives a rough explanation on the new roles for our favourite Rainbow Six operators, but the detail will come from small bits of text found in the codex and studies section of the game. The writing is passable, but its short and abrupt nature could be handled better. My biggest disappointment with the intel is the operator information. A lot of it is copy pasted from Siege and could use some serious expansion to fill out the world.
Gameplay
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction is designed to be an intense co-op experience for three players. The game leans heavily on stealth gameplay. The experience is broken up with intense firefights against swarming enemies, whether it’s a result of a poor gameplay decision or a forced battle.
The roster in Extraction consists mostly of the classic operators from the original Siege release mixed in with a handful from earlier season passes. Some of the original abilities slot right into the game perfectly, while some have had very minor tweaks to fit. Each operator has their own specialty, so teams will need to consider their composition when picking operators. Each mission displays the randomly selected objectives for the upcoming game and what mutations have been added to make the mission even harder. At later difficulties, failing to select the right skills is practically a death sentence.
I enjoyed how the missions feel like a part of a larger operation. As operators take damage in the field or get knocked out, they will need to rest at headquarters for a while or be rescued from the field. I really like how the operator rescue system works where knocked out players who are not dragged to the extraction zone must be rescued from the same map. If a player is lucky, the rescue mission will be the first objective. Otherwise, the rescue will just get dicier. The mini-game to free an missing in action operator is pretty simple, so it’d be nice to see an extra mechanic or two that could be randomly selected.
The weapon and equipment systems are good overall. The weapons haven’t changed since Siege, but it’s clear not everything converted perfectly. Shotguns feel a bit out of place in Extraction as most aren’t suppressed. A pistol for stealthing around is less than ideal, so I found myself trying to power through certain operators so I could get a properly suppressed weapon as soon as possible. I’d like to see some rebalancing, whether it is providing the shotgun with a damage buff to compensate for the fact it’s a weapon only used when going loud or some other arrangement. On the other hand, the equipment system is almost perfect. Each character is limited to only two equipment slots, each with its own set of picks. Like the operators, the lack of choices forces teams to work together to select the best possible loadout to deal with the objectives provided.
The map design is nice and claustrophobic. The game’s maps have a lot of tight corners, small spaces, and a lot of potential entry points into a room. The sheer danger of the design works really well for Extraction’s gameplay. There is just so much opportunity for things to go completely wrong, bringing a nearly uncontrollable swarm on top of a team.
There are few issues ranging from mild quirks to tolerable problems that could be ironed out in future patches. Experience point distribution could use a tweak. The reward for dragging knocked out teammates in a really bad situation needs to be increased. Understandably, solving this issue while avoiding players looking to cheat the system is going to be tough, but it’s hard to justify taking the risk to rescue someone at the moment.
The scaling for two players needs to be improved. While the game is designed for a full squad of three, two players is going to happen a lot when it’s people want to play with their friends. To start with, losing three wall reinforcements already puts the pair at a disadvantage. Combine that with the greater area that needs to be covered in defensive objective, and you have a very dicey situation. Doling out three or more extra wall reinforcements will go a long way as it will shrink the amount of space two place will have to cover. The game could also turn down the spawn rate a little more.
Rainbow Six Extraction has good replayability for fans of grind heavy co-op games. There are a lot of operators to level up, and players will need to max out a lot of operators to tackle the end game effectively. The increasing challenge is done well. The mutators are an excellent way of shaking things up, and some of them are absolutely brutal to deal with.
Visuals
The visuals are getting a little dated, but it’s holding up quite well considering the assets are pulled from a six year old game. The new visual style gives the game a really creepy atmosphere compared to the more familiar feel of the original presentation in Siege. While admittedly an incredibly small issue, I absolutely hate the new default skins and glad that better ones are easily acquired. It looks like the art department was inspired to paint all the clothes and much of the gear white based on lab biohazard suits. The model hasn’t changed to a more realistic CBRN suit, which is understandable given their frumpy look, but painting all the clothing white is a terrible way to go about it. It looks absolutely ridiculous. The art team would have been better served by taking some style advice from The Division, and just stick with adding more subtle changes like masks and rebreathers and making smaller, more conservative adjustments to the colour schemes to better reflect the REACT branding.
Audio
The audio is good. The music fits the atmosphere well. Almost all the lines are recycled from Siege save for a few recorded specifically for Extraction. The acting is still decent, though I admittedly have no idea how good most of the accents or lines in other languages actually are. The sound effects remain excellent, with a very good sound stage and clear, creepy noises.
Overall
Extraction’s reimagination of Siege is done surprisingly well, and the cost is at a very reasonable price point considering it gives so many existing assets a makeover. The game is tight enough that I’d be interested in more content in the future.
The game is far from perfect. There are some balancing issues that need to be sorted out. The scaling for two players needs more work, and I’d like to see some tweaks on how experience points are doled out to players taking the risk to rescue a knocked-out operator.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction is a very good pick for co-op game fans interested in the grindy end of the co-op spectrum, an area filled with the likes of Left 4 Dead and Deep Rock Galactic. While the experience isn’t perfect, it sure is a lot of fun with two of your friends.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here. This review appears on Open Critic.
Check out the first hour and a bit of gameplay from Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction. We take you through some dicey missions and a few smooth runs in our latest video.
For decades, Team Rainbow has been the shield against the worst global threats imaginable. Now, we face the greatest terror yet: a lethal, mutating alien parasite. Assemble your elite team of Rainbow Six Operators to launch incursions in the unpredictable containment zones and face off an evolving Alien threat. Band together and put everything on the line as you take on this unknown enemy.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Extraction Developer: Ubisoft Publisher: Ubisoft Platform: Windows Release Date: 01/21/22 Price: $59.95 USD
Recommended – “Extraction is a bold reimagining of the co-op shooter that never came after the cancellation of Patriots. Some issues that needs to be worked out, but still a solid game for co-op fans.”
As the new year is in full swing, PlayStation Australia is pleased to bring back the PlayStation 2021 Wrap-Up report, celebrating players gaming achievements on PS4 and PS5.
From today through Sunday, 20 February PS4 and PS5 users can access and share their PlayStation 2021 Wrap-Up report with stats including the number of games played, earned Trophies, playtime on PS4 and PS5 titles, and much more. Players can also view stats achieved collectively by PlayStation players all over the world in 2021.
A code to download four free avatars will be available to both PS4 and PS5 users who access their PlayStation 2021 Wrap-Up report.
For more information and to access your own PlayStation 2021 Wrap-Up, head to the PlayStation Blog.
The SpongeBob Racing Season for Hot Wheels Unleashed™ is now available
Ready for an ocean of F.U.N.? The HOT WHEELS™ – SpongeBob Racing Season is available now, delivering to all players a large number of free and premium content than can be unlocked by completing new challenges added specifically for the Season. The SpongeBob Racing Season includes 6 themed vehicles, SpongeBob SquarePants, Sandy Cheeks, Squidward, Plankton, Mr. Krabs, Patrick, themed customisation items for the Basement and the Player Profile as well as plenty of gears and coins for everyone. The Season starts on January 21,and it will end on March 29, 2022.
Watch the SpongeBob Racing Season trailer here:
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About Milestone
Founded in Milan in 1996, Milestone S.r.l. is one of the leading and longest established racing game developers in the world. The 200+ people team is responsible for hit series like MotoGP™, MXGP and Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame, as well as RIDE and Gravel, Milestone’s own IPs.
Mattel is a leading global toy company and owner of one of the strongest catalogs of children’s and family entertainment franchises in the world. We create innovative products and experiences that inspire, entertain and develop children through play. We engage consumers through our portfolio of iconic brands, including Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, Fisher-Price®, American Girl®, Thomas & Friends™, UNO® and MEGA®, as well as other popular intellectual properties that we own or license in partnership with global entertainment companies. Our offerings include film and television content, gaming, music and live events. We operate in 35 locations and our products are available in more than 150 countries in collaboration with the world’s leading retail and e-commerce companies. Since its founding in 1945, Mattel is proud to be a trusted partner in empowering children to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential.
