The First Chapter of an All-New GUNDAM Arc Will Set in Motion on November 5th
SANTA CLARA, Calif., (October 19, 2021) – Leading video game publisher and developer BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. today announced that Vol.1 of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM BATTLE OPERATION Code Fairy will release on November 5th on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, kickstarting an epic tale in the world of GUNDAM that will unfold this fall.
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM BATTLE OPERATION Code Fairy tells an original story surrounding the “Noisy Fairy” – a secret unit led by Alma and under the direct control of Kycilia of the Principality of Zeon. During the “One Year War,” the unit struggles to break through into the continent of North America which is where the game’s story picks up. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM BATTLE OPERATION Code Fairy is a tale of unbreakable bonds formed in the midst of the brutality of war.
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM BATTLE OPERATION Code Fairy is strongly connected to the world of the free-to-play title MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM BATTLE OPERATION 2, featuring the beloved top-notch action and highly dynamic gameplay mechanics of its predecessor. Additionally, by progressing within Code Fairy, players will be able to unlock special rewards in MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM BATTLE OPERATION 2, including the Code Fairy original mobile suit. In MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM BATTLE OPERATION 2, players will be able to unlock the special mission in Code Fairy through gameplay progression.
“We’re thrilled to welcome both fans and newcomers to the world of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM BATTLE OPERATION,” said Lin Leng, Senior Director of Marketing at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. “Between its explosive mecha combat and turbulent story, we can’t wait for players to climb into the cockpits of the legendary mobile suits to experience a pivotal tale in the Gundam saga!”
The Deluxe Edition and Standard Edition of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM BATTLE OPERATION Code Fairy will include Vol.1-3 of the game as well as special rewards in MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM BATTLE OPERATION 2, and will be priced at $59.99 and $49.99, respectively. Each volume will also be available for purchase individually at $19.99. Vol.1 will be available November 5th at 12:00 am ET, Vol.2 will be available November 19th at 12:00 am ET and Vol.3 will release on December 3rd at 12:00 am ET, with each volume releasing early for purchasers of the Deluxe and Standard Editions, on November 4th, November 18th, and December 2nd, respectively.
This trailer/video may only be displayed if it is behind an age-gate that: (1) is age-neutral (i.e., requires the user to input their date of birth or select it from a drop-down bar; (2) employs reasonable technical measures to keep underage users from re-entering their age after initially being denied access; and (3) does not display any ESRB rating information on the video player or the age-gate itself. Failure to implement these requirements may jeopardize your ability to obtain material of this nature from us in the future.
###
About BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc.
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc., part of BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc., is a leading global publisher and developer of interactive entertainment for all major video game consoles, iOS, Android, and online platforms. The company is known for creating and publishing many of the industry’s top video game franchises including PAC-MAN®, GALAGA®, TEKKEN®, SOULCALIBUR®, and ACE COMBAT®. BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. is the premier publisher in the Western hemisphere for anime based video games including NARUTO SHIPPUDEN™, DRAGON BALL Z®, and ONE PIECE®. More information about the company and its products can be found at http://www.bandainamcoent.com or www.facebook.com/BandaiNamcoUS
Raw Fury & Bytten Studio Announce Publishing Partnership for Cassette Beasts
Open-world RPG coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass, Nintendo Switch & PC
STOCKHOLM – Oct. 19, 2021 – Swedish publisher Raw Fury and UK indie developer Bytten Studio are pleased to announce they have entered a publishing partnership to bring Cassette Beasts, Bytten’s monster-fusing open-world RPG, to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. It will also be available to play at launch on Xbox consoles and PC with Xbox Game Pass.
Based in Brighton, Bytten Studio is composed of lead artist and writer Jay Baylis with programmer and designer Tom Coxon. Cassette Beasts will be their second game and the first to release on consoles.
Commenting on their partnership, the duo said, “Raw Fury have been really great to work with on Cassette Beasts. Their team gets what we’re trying to achieve with the project and have been very supportive. Cassette Beasts truly feels like a collaboration between us and them – it really wouldn’t have been able to grow into what it is now without Raw Fury backing us.”
“Getting to work with the incredible talent at Bytten Studio is a real joy,” said Raw Fury CEO Jonas Antonsson. “Cassette Beasts is a perfect title for Raw Fury, and we can’t wait to bring its humour, monsters, friendship and unique world to players everywhere.”
Cassette Beasts is a monster-fusing open-world RPG where players collect awesome monsters to use in turn-based battles. Any two monster forms can be combined using the game’s ‘Fusion System,’ creating unique and powerful new ones in the process.
Bytten Studio is an independent game studio based in Brighton, UK. The team is comprised of Jay Baylis and Tom Coxon, who have over a decade and a half of combined experience working on successful pixel art indie games such as Stardew Valley, Starbound and Wargroove. Their mission statement is to make “weird and memorable games with lots of character.” Lenna’s Inception, released on PC in 2020, was their debut game. Their follow-up, Cassette Beasts, will be their first game released on consoles.
About Raw Fury
Raw Fury is a boutique indie (un)publisher founded in 2015 by Jonas Antonsson, Gordon Van Dyke, and David Martinez. We don’t care about genres or mechanics. We care about experiences and emotions. We want to help developers make magic.
Monstrous update also features new breeds, cosmetics, and a huge new point-of-interest
Walnut Creek, Calif. (Oct. 19, 2021) – Today, Modus Games and Pixile Studios are releasing a huge Halloween- themed update and kicking off a limited-time event for Super Animal Royale. The festivities begin when the update arrives at 12 p.m. PT on all platforms. The event’s highlight is the new limited-time mode: “The Bwoking Dead.” View a special mini episode of the Super Animal Royale Tonight animated series here for the reveal of the mode:
The undead poultry-themed infection mode supports 40 players in squads of four. Each match begins with 4 random players being infected with “The Cluckles,” an incurable condition that, unbeknownst to their teammates, will shortly transform them into ravenous rotting chickens. The Cluckles has its upsides, however: Zombie Chickens have supernatural speed, hearing, and infectious chicken scratchers ready to bring every remaining Super Animal on the island into the bwoking horde. Survivors can loot, shoot, hide, or group up with other squads to avoid being infected and catch the Giant Eagle for a ride out of the chaos.
Beyond the new game mode, the special event adds a candy corn currency scattered across the island that players can collect and spend on limited-time cosmetics. There’s a total of 8 new items this year, and 19 returning legacy items from previous years. There are also two new Super Animal Breeds to unlock in the game’s Research Lab: the Super Night Mare (a fiery horse to haunt your nightmaresdreams) and the Super Calavera Skullcat.
The Super Animal World map sees the addition of Pixile Port, which replaces the S.A.W. Shipyards and gives the eastern shoreline a major point of interest. You can use shipping containers to use as cover, hide inside warehouses, fight in wide open parking lots, and visit the lighthouse just off the coast. The Super Museum of Modern Art (SMOMA) in the southwest of the island has also updated its art collection to feature the winners from the latest Super Fanart contest. The update also includes a long list of quality- of- life improvements and game balancing changes, detailed in the full patch notes here.
A developer overview video of the update is also available here.
Super Animal Royale is a battle royale with a zoological twist. Play as your favourite cuddly, genetically modified animal picked from 300+ breeds, find your style with 600+ cosmetic items, and jump off the back of a Giant Eagle and into a 64-player fight to the death. You’ll fire shotguns and sparrows, toss grenades and bananas and ride emus and hamster balls all the way to the top of the food chain. The explosive top-down action pairs perfectly with an expressive flat-design style, and the innovative fog-of-war system enables a game that’s as deep and strategic as it is fun and accessible.
The game is available on PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, all with cross-play matchmaking and cross-save account syncing.
For details on Modus Games’ full lineup, visit its official site or follow Modus on Twitter (@Modus_Games).
About Modus Games Modus Games is one of the fastest-growing video game publishers in the world. The label prides itself on providing AAA publishing services to talented independent developers across the globe. Modus Studios Brazil is a full-service development studio supporting creators of inspired interactive entertainment. For more information, visit www.modusgames.com.
About Pixile Studios Pixile was founded in 2011 to create online multiplayer games that are accessible enough for new players to enjoy right away, but deep enough to keep them coming back for more. The twelve-member remote team, spread across North America, Europe and Asia, is united by their love of games, absurd humor, and animals. Despite its focus on multiplayer games, the studio is committed to rich storytelling and intricate world building, both in-game and across other mediums, like their animated YouTube series Super Animal Royale Tonight. Visit pixilestudios.com for more information.
The Guardians crank up the intensity—and volume—to turn the tides of battle
MONTRÉAL, CANADA (October 19, 2021) – Today, Eidos-Montréal revealed a brand-new, high-octane TV spot to set the stage for next week’s official launch of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. In the trailer, viewers are dropped straight into the middle of a mid-battle Huddle, where Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot assess the situation, discuss strategy and, of course, banter before deciding to go with Plan B — an all-out, coordinated assault appropriately fueled by Mötley Crüe’s “Kickstart My Heart.”
Watch the “You Got This” TV Spot here This same Huddle mechanic will prove essential for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy players as they fight to overcome seemingly impossible odds throughout their journey across the galaxy. In the game, players will be able to call a Huddle during combat and choose which motivational words to offer the team. If chosen correctly, all of the Guardians will receive a powerup, making it easier for them to bang enemy heads while listening to one of the game’s 30 headbanging tracks.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy will be available on PlayStation®5 console, PlayStation®4 console, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles, PC, and streaming via GeForce NOW on October 26, 2021. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cloud Version for Nintendo Switch also coming to select regions October 26.
About Eidos-Montréal Established in 2007, Eidos-Montréal™ is a premiere developer of interactive entertainment based on new intellectual properties and beloved franchises including the acclaimed Tomb Raider® and Deus Ex® series. Renowned as master storytellers, the studio builds immersive worlds and adventures that create lasting memories for players across the globe. Eidos-Montréal crafts its multiple interactive projects with close-knit teams in a hybrid work environment, keeping their focus on creativity and technological innovation.
Eidos-Montréal and its network of studios, Eidos-Sherbrooke™ and Eidos-Shanghai™, are part of the Square Enix® group of companies. More information on Eidos-Montréal can be found at https://eidosmontreal.com.
About Square Enix Ltd. Square Enix Ltd. develops, publishes, distributes and licenses SQUARE ENIX®, EIDOS® and TAITO® branded entertainment content in Europe and other PAL territories as part of the Square Enix group of companies. Square Enix Ltd. also has a global network of leading development studios such as Crystal Dynamics® and Eidos Montréal®. The Square Enix group of companies boasts a valuable portfolio of intellectual property including: FINAL FANTASY®, which has sold over 164 million units worldwide; DRAGON QUEST®, which has sold over 83 million units worldwide; TOMB RAIDER®, which has sold over 85 million units worldwide; and the legendary SPACE INVADERS®. Square Enix Ltd. is a London-based, wholly owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.
Bitten by the undead and stranded in the ruins of society, can you save your son before you turn?
San Francisco – October 19, 2021 |Skystone Games and Vanimals are excited to announce that Undying has now launched into Early Access on Steam and Epic Games Store. The popular zombie survival game will share its engrossing and heartfelt story of survival and love with players as Anling and Cody fight and scavenge their way through the apocalypse in a race against time.
Undying tells the story of a mother trying to train her son in survival as the zombie infection overtakes her. In their final days together, the two must fight, scavenge supplies, and craft enough tools to get Cody safely to a new life. All the while building their last bonds as mother and son.
Undying mixes the survival genre with a full narrative story in a unique story of family. Through skills, crafting, and fighting back zombies, you need to reach safety before Anling’s infection takes over. Mixed with visions of the past and dark dreams, Anling must pass on a mother’s knowledge to her son and give him a future in the darkness.
Game Features
Unique skill system which combines Anling’s actions with Cody’s ability to survive.
Ranged and melee combat against zombies as a mother and son team. The more you fight, the more Cody finds his strength.
Crafting and salvaging enough gear to make the journey through dozens of maps.
A deep narrative of strength and hope within the apocalypse.
Undying makes its premiere on Early Access for Steam and Epic Games Store. The full launch version will be available on Nintendo Switch, XBOX and PlayStation, Android, and iOS in 2022.
About Vanimals
Vanimals was Founded in 2017 by industry veterans with years of experience working at Glu, Gameloft and leading MMO companies. Vanimals’ first title was the award winning, graphical showcase action VR title Eternity Warriors VR. Vanimals are now setting their sights on the mainstream PC and console market with their upcoming emotional survival game Undying.
About Skystone Games
Skystone Games aims to be a global leader in video game publishing with a passion for uncovering rich new experiences highlighting incredible talent worldwide. Founded by industry veterans David Brevik (Creator of the Diablo franchise) and Bill Wang (Perfect World & Giant), Skystone Games has multiple development projects. The company’s first five titles, Boundary, Undying, The Last Friend, Underworld Dreams, and Spacelines from the Far Out, will soon launch on various platforms. Skystone is actively seeking more partners. More information can be found at Skystone Games.
See all the action in the Join The Fight trailer as the pre-registration page becomes available and Canada becomes the first Soft Launch territory
London, UK – 19 October 2021. Space Ape Games today gave an updated look at their 9v9 multiplayer team action game, Boom Beach: Frontlines as gamers in Canada become among the first in the world to team up and hit the Frontlines. Boom Beach: Frontlines is the latest title set in Supercell’s much-loved Boom Beach universe.
Players who want to be the first to know when Boom Beach: Frontlines is available in their territory can sign up now to join the community on the sign-up page here. Boom Beach Frontlines is now available on iOS and Google Play in Canada, with further territories worldwide to come.
About Boom Beach Frontlines
Boom Beach Frontlines is a 9v9, PVP team action game set in the Boom Beach universe. With a focus on combined arms, teamplay and tactics. Players level up their HQ to unlock new troops and expand their loadouts that they can then take into battle. With a regular pipeline of updates, strong diversity of units, constant map rotations and gameplay that rewards teamwork, Boom Beach: Frontlines brings a vibrant cooperative battlefield to mobile.
Boom Beach: Frontlines features:
Huge Team Battles – Join massive 9v9 battles filled with Tanks, Towers, Airstrikes and much much more.
Tactics and teamplay, brain over brawn – Adapt to real-time threats, coordinate and create a winning strategy to overcome the enemy team.
A diverse range of characters in a booming battlefield – Choose the character that suits your playstyle best, blow up bunkers with the Zooka, Burndown bases with the Flamer or keep your team in the fight with the Medic.
Always something to play for – Level up your base and your characters to unlock and collect new Units, Defences, Vehicles and Power-Ups.
Boom Beach: Frontlines will be available free-to-play on iOS and Google Play stores.
About Space Ape
Started in 2012 with an idea: the best way to make games is to give people the space to pursue their passions. The idea worked. So far, we’ve released four globally successful titles, our games have been played by tens of millions of people and we’ve partnered with Supercell. Our vision hasn’t changed much since the early days. We’ve had our heads down for the last few years hiring passionate and talented people, working on our craft, building new teams, and letting them develop great ideas into games we know the world will love. We’re launching two incredible new games this year and we’re so excited to show you everything we’ve been working towards. We’re preparing for lift-off, come join us!
The fourth EVERSPACE 2 star system Khaït Nebula will be filled with new alien lifeforms and secrets around the mysterious Ancients to discover. This system also contains a new sub-faction to deal with, another new companion, and much more for Early Access, and soon, Xbox Game Pass for PC pilots to find.
Hamburg, Germany – October 19, 2021 – Independent AA studio ROCKFISH Games is excited to announce they are partnering with Microsoft to bring EVERSPACE 2 to Game Preview on the Windows 10/11 Store through Xbox Game Pass for PC and pay per download for $39.99 / €37.99 / £31.99, available on October 21, 2021.
“After our successful partnership launching the original EVERSPACE as an ID@Xbox title in Xbox Game Preview and bringing the game to Game Pass post full release, we’re thrilled to work again with our friends at Microsoft to bring even more fast-paced space shooter action to Windows 10 and Xbox platforms with EVERSPACE 2,” said Michael Schade, CEO and co-founder of ROCKFISH Games. “The deal not only enables space pilots with Game Pass to jump in the cockpit early, but it also provides extra funding for our team to complete the story campaign as promised, really nail the endgame, and keep pushing the envelope on all platforms.”
“The ROCKFISH Games team has an exceptional track record of delivering visually stunning and addicting space shooters on all sorts of platforms for some fifteen years, and we’re excited to have their latest, highly-praised work coming to the Windows 10, 11 and Xbox platform,” said Microsoft’s Chris Carla, Head of ID@Xbox. “With best-in-class graphics, an engaging looter-shooter game loop, accessible space combat and exploration, tight controls for both keyboard + mouse and gamepad, plus the open development approach from a talented veteran team, EVERSPACE 2 is just a perfect fit for Xbox Game Preview and Xbox Game Pass.”
While the third major EVERSPACE 2 content update, Khaït Nebula, is on track to be officially released on November 3rd with an experimental release on Steam scheduled for October 22, ROCKFISH Games has decided to push back the simultaneous full release on PC (Windows, Mac, Linux), Xbox, and PlayStation to early 2023.
First launched in Steam Early Access in January of 2021, EVERSPACE 2 takes the series from linear indie roguelike to a handcrafted, semi-open-world AA action RPG. While still in development for another full year, ROCKFISH Games has already released about 65% of the planned story content with three more star systems, two additional player ship classes, fast-travel, trading, and endgame activities left to go.
Every Friday, the ROCKFISH Games team shows off content from their latest EVERSPACE 2 dev build on the ROCKFISH Games Twitch and YouTube channel from 8 pm to 10 pm CEST / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm EST / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PST. Viewers even have the chance to ask questions directly to various members of the dev team, while the CEO and co-founder, Michael Schade, is almost always moderating both chats.
Follow EVERSPACE 2 on Twitter, Facebook, or join the game’s Discord to stay in the loop on the latest developments.
About EVERSPACE™ 2
EVERSPACE 2 continues the story of Adam Roslin from the first part of the series. EVERSPACE 2 currently has three sprawling star systems that can be freely explored by space pilots. Players experience Adam’s emotional journey and personal development from an immortal clone space pilot to an individual character whose death has final consequences in an open-world action RPG. EVERSPACE 2 offers in the current Early Access version more than 25 hours of gameplay and already contains all core mechanics of the targeted final version.
EVERSPACE 2 can be purchased on Steam here and on GOG here. The full version for PC, including Mac and native Linux support as well as Xbox and PlayStation, will be released at a reasonably increased price in early 2023 and come with UI and text language support for German, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
About ROCKFISH Games GmbH
ROCKFISH Games is a 100% independent game studio specializing in high-quality Unreal Engine 4 action RPG video games for PC and consoles. Industry veterans Michael Schade and Christian Lohr founded ROCKFISH Games to create a new breed of adrenalin-filled adventures for space shooter fans through their acclaimed EVERSPACE IP. After spending over 20 years as joint entrepreneurs in the 3D graphics and mobile gaming space, Schade and Lohr built ROCKFISH Games from the ground up alongside their former team of veteran talents to the current studio of 25 cherry-picked game developers and community experts from across the industry.
Using Kickstarter as a platform to build a new community in 2015, ROCKFISH Games reached a runaway success with EVERSPACE, which has sold over two million copies on PC and consoles. Building on this success and propelled by yet another wildly successful Kickstarter campaign in 2019, ROCKFISH Games is dedicated to craft a compelling next-gen single-player open-world space shooter experience that is driven by quality storytelling while being highly accessible at the beginning and yet deep in its gameplay mechanics to appeal to casual as well as hardcore space action aficionados from around the globe with EVERSPACE 2.
Renowned celebrities join forces to be part of Youtubers Life 2
Barcelona, Spain – Tuesday, October 19th, 2021: More than 1..5 million players have already become YouTubers in the original Youtubers Life, and now is the time to take on a fresh challenge by catching on to the latest trends, exploring the city, and creating content to reach the #1 position: Youtubers Life 2, will launch across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch today.
In this new brand title, players will take on the role of an emerging YouTuber in NewTube City, where they will need to keep an eye on what’s new and trending around them to create content and reach the top. Just as in real life, the hot new trends change daily and can be found everywhere: A location, an event, an exclusive new video game, or a popular person – whatever the movers and shakers in NewTube City are talking about!
You can watch the brand new trailer here:
As a life simulator game, players can also design their home and avatar with their preferred style, and build relationships with other citizens to collaborate with, offering a fresh and creative experience while growing as a YouTuber with their own style, thus becoming a new trendsetter in the city.
In addition, Youtubers Life 2 players will be able to meet their favorite YouTuber actually in play, including PewDiePie, Crainer, LaurenzSide, Rubius, Paluten, InoxTag, Willyrex, GermanLetsPlay, Vegetta777 and xFaRgAnx. All these celebrities have the support of almost 200 million followers, turning the game into a real hall of fame.
“We want players to feel like they’re taking on the entire city when playing Youtubers Life 2,” offers Sergio de Benito, Marketing Director at Raiser Games. “Whether that’s tracking down the latest trends, meeting new friends, or recording content for their channel, this is what Youtubers Life is all about: Feeling a part of the city, and at the same time feeling that you’re making it yours.”
In Youtubers Life 2 you will be able to: –
Track down the hot new trends and choose the best shots to record your videos on NewTube, stream on Glitch or take photos on InstaLife. Create your own content to hit new records and gain millions of subscribers.
Explore every corner of NewTube City with dedicated stores and evolving trends. Each day leads you to an adventure to discover what’s going on, so you will have to find out whether the best content to capture is in a leisure center, or a gaming fair, or even a hidden story of someone you don’t know yet.
Your updated drone serves you as the adventure buddy to record content wherever you want, and it gives you tips on your way to fame. You can give it new looks and functions, from night vision to memory upgrades and live streams, gaining an advantage when creating content against your rivals.
Customizable avatar and home to unleash creativity and design the fittest setup. Growing as a YouTuber and collaborating with new friends will give you more options to pick up from, allowing you to be the content creator you always wanted to be.
Youtubers Life 2, launches across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch today for $/€29.99/£24.99 on PC, and $39.99/£34.99 on console.
About Raiser Games
Raiser Games is Webedia’s game publisher. Our talented team of professionals, with over 200 games behind our backs, helps independent developers to bring their best ideas to life by producing, marketing, publishing, and distributing their projects on multiple platforms and on a worldwide scale. Bringing entertainment to all audiences is our passion.
About UPLAY Online UPLAY Online is an independent video game studio based in the city of Barcelona, Spain. Founded in 2009 and staffed by video games and sports lovers, UPLAY Online focuses on creative projects that combine classic playability values (management, runner, puzzle…) with contemporary topics like influencers and esports. They are creators of the superhit Youtubers Life (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Steam, iOs, and Android), the first and best YouTuber simulator available on any electro, reaching the top 100 best sellers on Steam in 2016. The studio has also developed franchises such as Esports Life, Striker Manager, Striker Soccer, Swipe Basketball, and Train Crisis, among other titles, which have been enjoyed by more than 50M users worldwide on multiple platforms (PC, iOS, and Android).
Tuesday, October 19, 2021 — Fall has returned and with it the start of the Halloween event in Elvenar. From today through November 10th, players must make their way through the Misty Forest to help the witch Mrs. Sniffle carry out her ritual in order to brew a new potion. Players are in for some sweet treats along the way in the form of new prizes.
To assist Mrs. Sniffle, players will need to complete quests and search the outskirts of their cities for Magic Ingredients. Mrs. Sniffle will also send players some Magic Ingredients she has found for each daily log in. These can then be traded for candles, lanterns and flash flasks to clear the way through the Misty Forest. Players should be sure to use the gear wisely. One never knows what lies ahead.
A detailed explanation of the game mechanics is available in this video:
Daily Exclusive rewards can be found beneath the mist and include brand new buildings, buildings from previous events and more. Friendly Spirits can also be found wandering the forest. Players who find enough of them will be able to acquire even more rewards, including new Artifacts to upgrade the Witch Summoning Circle to its highest stage. Milestone Rewards are available at several points during the questline as an extra treat.
The Royal Prize Pass will be running this event as well. This is a special premium option which players can purchase to get extra rewards with each Grand Prize acquired. The Royal Prize lane becomes available by purchasing the Royal Prize Pass, which can be purchased at any time during the event. Royal Grand Prizes are a new addition this year. Once unlocked, for every 20 Magic Ingredients collected, players will simultaneously receive one of the Royal Prizes, containing even more rewards for their city. Included among this year’s Grand and Royal prizes is the Sip of Clarity, a new item that allows players to refresh the rotation of their Magic Academy’s crafting recipes for free.
Elvenar is available for browser, iOS and Android devices and can be played for free.
About Elvenar Elvenar (www.elvenar.com) is a city-building Strategy-MMO set in a fantasy world. Tasked with creating a flourishing city, players can choose between Elves or Humans. This choice affects the appearance of the cities and their inhabitants, as well as the available technologies and units. The elves live in the midst of magical creatures in harmony with nature, while humans are ambitious builders and engineers. Between managing resources, leveling up buildings and unlocking new perks, players should also pay attention to the multiplayer-map if they want to find valuable relics. Yet, players might have to fight numerous fantastic creatures for them. Since its release in May 2015, Elvenar has been receiving continuous content updates, and as a cross-platform title, players can switch between browser, iOS and Android devices at any time.
About InnoGames InnoGames is Germany’s leading developer and publisher of mobile and online games. The company based in Hamburg is best known for Forge of Empires, Elvenar and Tribal Wars. InnoGames’ complete portfolio encompasses seven live games and several mobile titles in production. Born as a hobby, InnoGames today has a team of 400 employees from more than 30 nations who share the passion of creating unique games that players across the globe enjoy for years.
Turtle Rock Studios spawned a whole new genre when they released their groundbreaking title Left 4 Dead in 2008. The game combined four player co-op action with the ever-popular zombie swarms controlled by a director who generated semi-randomized levels for each playthrough. Left 4 Dead served as an inspiration for many four player co-op titles released in the coming years. Thirteen years after the release of Left 4 Dead, Turtle Rock is following in the footsteps of those developers by creating Back 4 Blood. The game combines the classic four player co-op gameplay with elements of RPGs and rogue-lites.
Story
Back 4 Blood follows the inhabitants of Fort Hope as they struggle against a zombie outbreak. Their numbers are dwindling, and strange zombie mutations are appearing, making them deadlier than ever. Known as the Cleaners, our heroes are a band of immune zombie exterminators sent out to save patrols, cull the zombie population, and deal with the most challenging missions.
Each mission serves as a small part of a story arc. The arcs are grouped up into four acts with a some cut scenes to tie everything together. The in-mission storytelling is decent. It provides a bit of world building and something more than just vague window dressing to move the action forward. The idle chatter between teammates is where the real world building occurs. It creates a pretty rich lore for the average four player co-op shooter. I wish there were more cut scenes though. Back 4 Blood has an excellent world and a good story to build on. There are a lot missed opportunities for the cut scenes to take the story even further.
Gameplay
Back 4 Blood pitches players against waves of zombie hordes littered generously with special zombies that will grab, smash, and burn their way through players. To even the playing field, players are equipped with a deck of cards offering a variety of buffs and modifiers that serves as their talent tree. Levels are generally linear maps with randomly generated spawn, weapon, and item locations.
Combat leans towards an arcade style shooter, though it becomes more realistic as the difficulty increases along with the level of friendly fire. The special enemy spawns are nearly non-stop with only a few moments to breathe. Each special enemy has three variants with its own mechanics which keeps players on their toes. It makes for an enjoyable, frantic gameplay that has the right mix of tension, chaos, and overkill.
The bots are an absolute train wreck and are often a hindrance than help. They are slow to respond to enemy crowd control. The bots have a nasty habit of standing in front of players to soak friendly fire which makes them a boat anchor at higher difficulties. There is one small bright spot: if a player dies, they can take over the bot until they respawn. It saves dead players from having to stare at a useless bot.
The weapon system is solid. There are plenty of firearms littered around the maps. Each one has a random set of attachments that provide stat boosts. New attachments can be added, but old ones can only be dropped when a new one is slotted into its place. The attachment system is an understandable point of contention. Everyone seems to love it or hate it. Personally, I’m in the love it camp. It forces players into making hard decisions about which guns they want to take based on their preferred models, rarity, and attachments. Being able to move attachments without penalty would strip those hard choices away and make it too easy for players to find their favourite weapon platform and hold into it until a new rarity pops up. It would also make replacing broken attachments on new guns too easy. These broken attachments often serve as a shortcut to a higher gun rarity during the transition period between rarities.
The RPG system is excellent. The decks serve as the talent builds for each act. Players unlock their first card automatically and can choose one card from a pool of the next five cards in the deck with each new mission. The system strikes a good balance between reliable card draws and flexibility to adjust draw order in response to the situation.
Players start with a small number of cards and quickly gain more cards by spending supply points into randomly generated supply lines. Each line has a random assortment of cards and cosmetics. There are a lot of cards. Mechanic cards are usually what people will build their decks around, then fill everything out with stat cards. Talent tree builders will have a blast with the system as it offers players a chance to create some interesting builds with limited resources.
There are eight Cleaners on release. They each have their own personal traits and team bonuses. It’s enough to encourage players to assemble teams based on characters and decks. Out of all the things that need balancing, this is probably it. Certain Cleaners like Hoffman and Mom are almost guaranteed to be in a group due to their excellent abilities, while others like Evangelo and Karlee struggle in comparison.
The level design has its ups and downs. The levels are very linear with only the odd door or two to explore near the beaten path. There are tons of areas for special zombies to spawn and ambush the players, so it helps build the intense feel of combat. The missions are almost exclusively attack based, though there are enough defence segments to break things up.
There are a lot of levels, but there’s a good chunk that reuses the same assets by sending players into previously locked parts of the map. Each run has randomly generated spawns, loot, and doors, but the potential locations could use a healthy boost to keep things fresh.
The rogue-lite mechanic is a blast. Each act is a self-contained rogue-lite run where weapons and cards carry over. Players have a limited number of retries depending on the difficulty level, otherwise they fail the act and must restart. It is possible to restart an act at the last completed mission where the game is provide some generic weapons of the appropriate rarity and the same number of card draws as if players completed the previous missions; however, losing the bonus cards previously purchased from the vendor and fully kitted out weapons leaves players at a disadvantage.
The difficulty curve could be smoothed out. Back 4 Blood is definitely a game that needs to be played at recruit difficulty to start so players can learn the maps and get some supply points to build a specialized deck that will take players through veteran and beyond. The jump between recruit and veteran difficulties is a rough jump, especially if players need to drag bots around. An extra difficulty level between recruit and veteran would probably help smooth the difficulty curve significantly.
Back 4 Blood offers a horde style multiplayer mode where players rotate between playing the survivors and the special infected in a best of three match. The mode is fun in short bursts, but it is clearly not the focus of Back 4 Blood as the mode becomes repetitive after a while. The issue is compounded by the fact it’s an utterly agonizing experience to play this game in a public match. When players inevitably rage quit, the game does not repopulate the match with bots, which somehow still manages to be better than being curb stomped in a four versus one battle.
The quality-of-life features are decent, though some small issues need to be ironed out still. There are an excellent set of control options with a few features not seen in other games. The ability to have guns return to centre after a short delay is an excellent accommodation for those who may not be experienced or good FPS players. Skilled players will still be superior compared to the function as they can get back to centre quicker. On the other hand, comparing attachments is a slow and awkward system. The direct comparison only shows overall stat bonuses of the gun instead of showing more detailed information. The only way to do so is to open up the inventory and check the original stats.
Visuals
The visuals are decent. The character design is very good. The Cleaners have unique styles that often speak to their backstories and abilities. The zombie design is excellent. The art team has made the standard design their own with the ever so creepy parasitic worms that range from small ones that drip from the eyes to the giant ones that flail after a Crusher’s arm is destroyed. The game focuses a little too heavily on dark, moody environments. It causes the environments to blend together at times. It’s a shame because the day time environments are excellent and are surprisingly creepy with their cycle between bright outdoor areas and dark interiors.
Audio
The audio quality is good. The sound effects are excellent and are an important part of the gameplay mechanics. The voice acting is very strong with all actors offering a good show. The extensive closed captioning options are commendable and provide hearing players the ability to quickly learn the sounds of special zombies creeping about. The music is probably the weakest part of the audio experience. It’s not great, but it’s not horrible either. It’s sort of like beige curtains that does its job without being offensive.
Overall
Back 4 Blood is far from perfect. The game could have done with a little extra variation in the maps. Frankly, I think it wouldn’t have been a great loss to forget about the multiplayer mode all together if it meant more resources could have been spent on expanding the co-op portion of the game. The bots are dumb as rocks and need significant improvement just to get them in a passable state.
On the other hand, Back 4 Blood deftly mixes the four player co-op shooter formula with RPG and rogue-lite elements. It’s one of those co-op games that shine with good friends who can coordinate. The game is an incredibly addictive experience with its mix of deck building and frantic gameplay. I haven’t poured this many hours into a game in a very long time. While it’s not the spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead people may have expected from the developers of the original game, it’s a very good game on its own right.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
