The Handler of Dragons, an indie action RPG created by a single developer, debuts in Early Access on PC. The new title is distinguished not only by the presence of dragons, but also by a system of moral choices influencing the plot. The release date of The Handler of Dragons on Steam Early Access is set for September 27 this year. The game is also scheduled to hit PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch in 2022.
The Handler of Dragons has been developed for over three years by Jerzy Caliński. It will be published by Golden Eggs Studio.
The new title is a 3D action RPG game with a third person perspective. The player takes on the role of a warrior who can communicate with dragons, creatures that are key to the story set in a unique fantasy world.
The gameplay is mainly based on exploration, interactions, discovering and shaping the story, as well as fighting monsters (such as skeletons, orcs, trolls and golems). As the character progresses, they learn, among others, new skills and magic attacks. The game is also distinguished by a system of moral choices.
“When developing The Handler of Dragons, I set myself the goal of combining an intriguing adventure and fun gameplay with some degree of depth, so that perhaps players could take something more out of this game. In this context, the moral choices made in the game and their outcomes play an important role, because you will have to face the consequences of your decisions” – said Jerzy Caliński, the game’s creator.
As Jerzy Caliński pointed out, completing the game takes an average of about 3 hours, but the possibility of getting to know the plot after making different decisions may encourage you to play again. The player will decide, for example, whether they want to have a positive or negative attitude towards dragons.
The Handler of Dragons – features:
dragons;
moral choices;
a unique fantasy world;
varied monsters, locations and player classes;
a spell and skills system.
The release date for PC (Steam Early Access) is set for September 27, 2021. The Early Access phase will last about 3 months – during this time the game will be improved and expanded with new features (including side missions and weapon modifications). In 2022, it’s also scheduled to be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.
title: The Handler of Dragons genre: action, RPG, adventure, indie, dragons producer: Hi-Quality Jerzy Caliński publisher: Golden Eggs Studio language: English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian release date: 09/27/2021 (PC – Steam Early Access), 2022 (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch)
Minimum technical requirements:
operating system: Windows XP, Vista, 7 processor: i5-4670 CPU @ 3.40GHz or equivalent memory: 8 GB RAM graphics card: GeForce GTX 760 2GB or equivalent sound card: DirectX compatible DirectX: version 9.0c storage: 13 GB other: requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Golden Eggs Studio is a Polish company founded in 2016. It produces and publishes games for PCs and consoles. The team consists of people with extensive experience in creating games. So far, the company has released 4 games and is working on more titles.
A new mode, the fourth campaign, dozens of new weapons and gameplay improvements are now available
Gaijin Entertainment and Darkflow Software announce that the military online action Enlisted has received the major 0.2.0 Content Update that opens the second phase of the game life cycle. The “Battle of Tunisia” campaign is now available to all players, marking the release of all four campaigns originally revealed. “Battle for Moscow”, “Battle for Berlin” and “Invasion of Normandy” also see new missions and other content like weapons, soldiers and vehicles. The team is already working on the new campaigns, and the specific battles chosen for them will be announced later. The update also brings new gameplay mechanics, including a new “Destruction” game mode, all of them developed with the help of user feedback.
The “Destruction” mode goal is to get to the enemy’s key objects, set up the explosive device and repel counter-attacks until the target is blown up. Defenders can prevent destruction by killing the attackers and they also have time after the start of the timer to disarm mines in the area. Each soldier on the attacking side has explosives in this mode. The new mechanics include trench digging right in the middle of battle, smoke artillery strikes, moving unlocked weapons between campaigns and issuing individual orders to each soldier in a squad. Motorcycles and boats can be used to move through the battlefield faster.
The battle in the “Omer” mission in Normandy takes place on a map inspired by the city of Saint-Omer in Northern France. While players have already experienced a beach landing and rural areas fights, now they’ll see what city combat looks like with snipers on the roofs and anti-tank squads hiding behind windows. The large canal in the city centre allows faster travel via motor boats. The “Quarry” mission in the Moscow outskirts is another unique battlefield. Bullets and cannon shells bounce off the static bulldozers, cranes and other heavy equipment, while numerous pits and mounds make great cover. Finally, a new “Fortress” mission in Tunisia is a huge military base encircled by walls.
The update brings new progression levels to all Enlisted campaigns. For example, players now have a way to unlock the PIAT grenade launcher, Bren Mk I machine gun, Beretta M38/42 submachine gun, R 75 motorcycle, Panther A medium tank, MiG-3-15 fighter and dozens of other weapons and vehicles. It’s also worth mentioning that all closed beta test content from “Battle of Tunisia” i.e. Carcano M1891 rifles and AB 41 armoured cars are also now available to everyone.
The full information on this update is available at the official Enlisted website: https://enlisted.net
About Enlisted Enlisted is a squad-based first person MMO shooter covering key battles from World War II. The game carefully recreates weapons, military vehicles and the atmosphere of that era, while demonstrating really massive clashes of numerous soldiers, tanks and aircraft with artillery and naval support. Official website: https://enlisted.net
About Darkflow Software Darkflow Software is a game studio founded in 2016 by video game industry veterans and is located in Riga, Latvia. Currently, the company is working on the squad based multiplayer WW2 shooter Enlisted and online shooter CRSED: F.O.A.D.
About Gaijin Entertainment Gaijin Entertainment is the developer and publisher of the online games War Thunder, Crossout, Enlisted, Cuisine Royale and Star Conflict as well as PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, iOS and Android titles across several genres. The company’s diverse portfolio has received a range of mass media and game industry awards including such as Gamescom Award and many more. Official website: http://gaijinent.com/
More Weapons, Skins, and Requested Features Ahead of Exiting Early Access in Q4 2021
TOKYO – 28 September, 2021 – LOST EPIC, the 2D Souls-like side-scrolling action RPG with fast-paced battles and hack-and-slash elements from publisher One or Eight and developer Team EARTH WARS, summons forth a new update with new levels, weapons, skills, quests, UI improvements, and more. Enter the world of Sanctum with a limited-time 15% discount before the game graduates from Early Access in Q4 2021.
Explore two new worlds, doubling the amount of content in LOST EPIC. Explore The Capital, a city full of tubes and organ-like objects, featuring new shield-wielding and magic casting enemies. In The Underworld, travel by the light of torches, uncovering multiple paths in this Land of the Giants, and meet a girl ghost who will reveal some of the mysteries of Sanctum, with new beautiful character artwork by Namie (Fate/Grand Order, Arknights, Azur Lane).
Utilize new tools like the Shield Gauntlet, a glove that transforms into a shield which can reduce incoming damage or reflect enemy attacks without losing stamina. Equip the new Wand weapon type, which has high Magic stats and can learn the brand-new Divine Skills and one-handed sword skills. Buy new weapons from the Underworld’s Dark Merchant using anima earned from bosses and selected targets, or fight him and steal his possessions, but beware the consequences.
Earn new player skins and accessories, and take on the appearance of fallen knights with the new Memoria feature. Additional features added by player request include keyboard input support, local save support, stat rebalancing, menu UI improvements, better explanations, and many bug fixes. LOST EPIC now features 14-20 hours of playtime, nearly 40 weapons, and more than 100 skills, with more content to arrive when the game graduates from Early Access.
“Thanks to everyone who supported us so far, your feedback helped make this update improve the game, and we look forward to what everyone thinks of the two new worlds,” said Team EARTH WARS. “And for everyone new, now is the perfect time to start playing with the Steam discount ahead of our full game launch later this year!”
The production team from EARTH’S DAWN which was released in 2015 and ported to many platforms. EARTH’S DAWN is a stylish fast-paced 2D action RPG. The user friendly interface and the hack and slash style replayability was praised by hardcore gamers resulting in 300,000 downloads.
About Ryu’s Office
Ryu’s Office offers in-depth marketing solutions for smartphone, console, arcade, and PC games in Japan. They are particularly focused on the planning and production of numerous live broadcasts based out of Japan for the gaming industry.
TOKYO – Sept. 27, 2021 –INDIE Live Expo Winter 2021 (ILE), the digital showcase connecting indie game fans globally which has highlighted more than 800 new indie titles and gained more than 29 million views across three shows, opens submissions for games to take part in the showcase starting today until Thursday, Oct. 8, 2021 at 4:00 PM JST / 9:00 AM CEST / 3:00 AM EDT.
Independent developers and publishers from all over the world can submit their new game reveals, news on upcoming titles, major updates for previously-released games, for potential featuring on the broadcast. The INDIE Live Expo Office will begin notifying applicants and confirming participation in mid October, ahead of the show on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, with broadcasts on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Bilibili in English, Japanese, and Chinese.
Along with hundreds of showcased games, ILE will also feature the second annual INDIE Live Expo Awards. After nominee submission ends Wednesday, Sept. 30 until 23:59 PM JST, the voting committee will determine the shortlist in each category. Winners will be decided by public voting and an esteemed panel of international games media beginning in October.
Continuing in ILE’s efforts to support indie developers year-round, show organizers will distribute the third edition of the INDIE Live Expo Letter on Tuesday, Sept. 28. This digital magazine provides developers and publishers with information and promotion opportunities, and all developers can subscribe to it for free.
“The fourth Indie Live Expo is nearly upon us and the showcase is looking to be bigger than the past three shows already,” said Ryuta Konuma, Founder, Ryu’s Office. “Working with so many passionate developers, publishers, sponsors, and press members who all share a passion for indie games is something we will always treasure.”
Developers interested in information about future INDIE Live Expo events and opportunities can sign up for the INDIE Live Expo Letter here.
Media and content creators looking to co-stream INDIE Live Expo Winter 2021 can submit an application here for consideration and promotion.
INDIE Live Expo Winter 2021 and INDIE Live Expo Awards sponsorship opportunities are also available, with a variety of options for companies of all sizes, with the possibility for video featuring during the event. For more information on these opportunities please visit the informational and submission page here.
Ryu’s Office offers in-depth marketing solutions for smartphone, console, arcade, and PC games in Japan. They are particularly focused on the planning and production of numerous live broadcasts based out of Japan for the gaming industry.
Seattle, September 21, 2021 – Developer niceplay games and publisher tinyBuild are excited to confirm that their alchemist simulator Potion Craft has sold 100k units. With those sales, the game took the #1 spot on the Steam Global Top Sellers chart for three consecutive days.
· Manage a medieval potion shop. Meet your fellow townsfolk, understand their needs from the stories they are telling you, and sell them the right potions to keep your business running. Buy and sell ingredients, grow your own in Enchanted garden, and do whatever it takes to stay in business.
· Unique visuals inspired by medieval manuscriptsand medical texts. Dive into an authentic medieval atmosphere created by carefully crafted characters, interiors, and a relaxing soundtrack.
· Hyper satisfying physical interactions with ingredients and equipment. Harvest herbs, mushrooms, & crystals from the Enchanted Garden. Grind them carefully with your mortar and pestle to release their effects and add them to your cauldron.
Sandbox style Alchemy map system. Mix up a nice healing infusion with mana restoration, or add a frost effect to your regular poison for some extra spice. Fire, frost, healing, poison, explosion, magical vision, invisibility… your potions potential is limitless!
About tinyBuild tinyBuild is a Seattle-based indie label behind the Hello Neighbor franchise and over 50 other renowned titles, including Graveyard Keeper, SpeedRunners, and Party Hard. With additional development offices in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Riga, Latvia and Boise, Idaho, tinyBuild is rapidly building a portfolio of fun, high-quality games across multiple platforms
The silence is broken! Publisher HandyGames and developer The Dreamerians release new footage of the highly anticipated rodent action-adventure
Mexico City, Mexico / Giebelstadt, Germany, September 27th, 2021 A lot has happened in the last two years with A Rat’s Quest: The Way Back Home. In a newly revealed video Mat the rat, the protagonist of the gorgeously animated and fully voiced action-adventure, gives witness about what really happened to him and how he’ll find his true love on his long way back home.
Unique Perspective: Explore a world through the perspective of a small rat
Rat Mode: Climb, jump, crawl, slither and sneak like a rodent
Hybrid Gameplay: Feel the narrowness in walls and under the floor by a switching side and top-down perspective
Tough as Nails: Fight and survive against natural threats and challenging boss encounters
Popcorn Movie: Enjoy a story full of adventure, drama, and comedy in over 200 cinematics with a full voice-over
About HandyGames
HandyGames™ is part of the THQ Nordic and Embracer Group family and operates as an international publisher for mid-sized projects and developers for a worldwide audience.
The focus lies on creating and publishing games for current gen consoles like PlayStation®4, the Xbox One family of devices including Xbox One X or Nintendo Switch™ as well as games for Steam and many other PC gaming distribution channels. HandyGames™ produces titles for new innovative gaming platforms, for example VR (Virtual Reality) on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR, but also offers games of all kind of genres for Android smartphones and tablets, Apple iPhones, iPads and many other mobile and smart devices.
As a games company and that is truly passionate about gaming, we always strive for gameplay innovation. We received the German Developer Award as “Best German Game Studio” in 2015 and produced and published award-winning games of virtually every video gaming genre imaginable for a diverse range of audiences and gameplay styles. One example is “Townsmen VR” which was awarded with the German Games Award 2018 in the category “Best Game Design”.
About The Dreamerians
The Dreamerians – Gamestudio was formed in 2012 (originally as HaiKuSTUDIO) and is a team of experienced digital artisans. Hailing from Mexico City, they are a small independent game studio working on their own IP “A Rat’s Quest”, for PC and Consoles. As a highly passionate and agile team, they are pouring their hearts and minds into realizing this awesome journey.
V1.0 Available on Steam with special limited time launch discount
Manchester, UK, 27th September, 2021 – Merge Games and Norwegian developers, Pineleaf Studio, are thrilled to announce that DwarfHeim, their co-op RTS title, will leave Early Access today and release as V1.0 on Steam today. To celebrate the launch, players looking to pick up a copy of Dwarfheim will be able to enjoy a 30% discount on Steam until 3rd October.
As well as gameplay updates and fixes, the V1.0 launch of Dwarfheim will include a host of new features to enhance the action packed RTS gameplay experience including:
A selection of new Thanes, each one provided with a new set of unique abilities
Lobby Handling for parties to remain together after a match is concluded
A complete Survival Overhaul with intense blood moon events featuring new enemy types
New survival UI
New upgrade system for defenses
Pathfinding tools updated
About Dwarfheim
DwarfHeim is the next generation of real-time strategy games and features exciting asymmetric, co-op game modes that will appeal to multiplayer fans everywhere. Player roles are critical to the success of your clan, choosing the right class can mean the difference between a glorious victory and a crushing defeat.
DwarfHeim can also be enjoyed in single-player modes for the gamer’s that prefer the solo play-style.
Features:
Conquest — The main co-op multiplayer mode of DwarfHeim. Choose a class, join up with 2 other players and work together to tear through the enemy team’s defenses to destroy their Town Hall.
Skirmish — Skirmish is available in Single-Player and Online Co-op. Put your strategies to the test in this challenging mode and pit your Dwarves against an AI-controlled rival clan in a series of maps each more challenging than the last.
Survival — A gruelling and fast-paced challenge mode. All classes, buildings, units and abilities are immediately unlocked. Challenge yourself and try to outlive the onslaught of troll waves that come your way in the Survival mode. Survival mode will be available in Single-Player and Online Co-op.
Sandbox — A more relaxed game mode for the player who likes to take their time. All units and buildings are immediately unlocked. Build your own experience, and create your perfect settlement in this creative game mode. Sandbox is also available in both Single-Player and Online Co-op.
V1.0 of Dwarfheim will be available today via Steam for £19.99 / €24.99 / $24.99 SRP with a 30% discount until the 3rd October. For more information please visit www.mergegames.com
About Merge
Merge Games is a global video game publisher, developer and distributor based in Manchester, UK. The company publishes and distributes games worldwide for PC, consoles and streaming platforms, including Dead Cells, Streets of Rage 4, Spirit of the North, Cloudpunk, Aragami and Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX. Merge is also developing its own survival game, Smalland, in house. In 2021, Merge Games was acquired by Zordix AB (publ). For more information, please visit www.mergegames.com
About Pineleaf
Pineleaf is a game development studio in Norway that is dedicated to creating new gameplay experiences together with an active community of players. In 2016, DwarfHeim won “Concept of the Year” at the Norwegian Game Awards. Since then, Pineleaf has gained more employees, building an outstanding team that they’re very proud of. Since Day 1 it has been important for them to build a dedicated community and develop DwarfHeim into what it is that you see today. Pineleaf seeks to be a technology and games studio, poised to change the games industry in Norway and the world.
Fans of Habbo and digital collectors will be able to own a piece of Habbo Hotel
Helsinki, FI — September 27, 2021 — Sulake, an Azerion company, announced today that it will be releasing its first line of NFTs, backed by Ethereum. The NFTs will feature unique randomly generated Habbo avatars that fans of Habbo and digital collectors can purchase and wholly own as part of their portfolios. Sulake is also working on integrating the NFTs into the Habbo experience.
As well as reinvesting the revenues from the sale of the NFTs back into the game, the team behind Habbo has also decided to reserve 1000 NFTs for the community and details of how the NFTs will be distributed will be announced in the near future.
“The technology behind the NFTs provides tremendous security, giving greater control and a more defined ownership over digital Habbo merchandise,” said ValtteriKaru, CEO of Sulake. “Fans of Habbo can now own and collect items that embed themselves within Habbo’s history and infrastructure. This is a natural evolution of the collection of digital items that has been an integral part of Habbo since the game first arrived on the internet over 21 years ago.”
In addition to the upcoming NFT collection, Sulake has entered into partnership with Offsetra to offset the increased carbon footprint associated with NFT minting, confirming Sulake’s and its parent company Azerion’s strong commitment to ecological stewardship and actions to combat climate change and its impacts. Offsetra will measure the carbon emissions from the NFT minting transactions and then offset these emissions through a variety of ecological initiatives and programs, such as tree planting projects and renewable energy development.
The first edition of Habbo avatar NFTs consists of 12,500 unique, randomly generated pieces.The NFTs will be available this week from the dedicated webstore https://nft.habbo.com/
About Habbo and Sulake Sulake is a social entertainment company focused on providing a safe and fun online service for self-expression through its games, Habbo and Hotel Hideaway. Sulake was founded in 2000 by a small team of passionate people and now after 21 years, Habbo is still one of the largest virtual communities in the world, reaching players all over the world each month. With paying customers in over 115 countries and over 850,000 active users a month, Habbo continues to be a hugely popular and globally recognised brand.
Sulake’s mission is to enable its users to meet new people, make friends and give them a place to create and share their user-generated content in fun virtual surroundings. Sulake is a leader in ensuring online safety for children and was acquired in 2020 by Dutch media and technology company Azerion. www.sulake.com
Gamedec is a point and click adventure game based on a series of short stories with the same name. Players will dive into the world of virtual reality video games in a futuristic Warsaw. As a gamedec or game detective, players will solve mysteries that need to be handled with a little discretion and a keen mind.
Story
As a point and click adventure advertised as having a branching storyline and long-term consequences, Gamedec has a lot of lofty promises to fulfill. The writers have done an excellent job living up to the promises. There is an impressive number of branches to follow based on how players react, their professions, and the direction of their investigation. The player can usually approach an investigation as competent or incompetent as they wish. Of course, this is all at risk of long-term consequences. Someone the player may have helped in a previous case can be called upon for assistance later down the line. At the same time, lying to get a job done today may become a roadblock tomorrow.
The writing is excellent. Characters feel realistic whether there is a live person behind the character or a brainless NPC. The most impressive part is the writer’s ability to explore the grey areas of morality and ethics. Too many games create binary options for players: good or bad, forceful or polite. Instead, Gamedec provides a variety of approaches and hard decisions for players to make. It gives the game a more realistic feel.
Gamedec has an incredibly rich lore. It is an imaginative twist on modern video game culture taken to the next level. There is a great contrast between the shiny veneer of the rich playgrounds and the dark, gritty underground that lays beneath. The deep lore is likely helped by the fact that Gamedec is based on a collection of short stories that have already set the foundation for the game.
The lore is conveyed in a reasonable way that lets players go as deep as they want. Like most lore heavy games, a majority of lore is conveyed through optional intelligence files that can be perused at the player’s leisure. Files can provide a few extra clues about the world that may influence a person’s choices on how to approach the story, but this is purely a morality or personality basis.
Gameplay
Gamedec is a point and click adventure driven by the player’s decisions. Each game world is inspired by popular games in modern times and capture the spirit well with a combination of sharp visuals, writing, and the odd game mechanic to tie up the package. The game also offers a few slick puzzles that give players an edge or open an option in the future. The puzzles can be difficult, especially since there is no retry short of reloading a save. The consequence of failure is very reasonable as it doesn’t completely ruin long term success.
Professions are Gamedec’s take on the classic skill tree. Every major dialogue choice with an NPC will award a profession point in one of four categories. Abilities are mechanically balanced as each tree has its time to shine with different NPCs. On the other hand, the point balance is a little off. Almost every skill as a minimum cost of one point every category. Each category has a list of different conversation approaches that fall under its umbrella, but there isn’t enough overlap. Players who approach the gameplay with a particularly focused personality type may find themselves overflowing with one or two categories and trying to eek out another. This will force players into a corner where they either need to occasionally, but consistently take an approach that may go against the personality type they are trying to use for the playthrough. An easy and much needed solution is rebalancing the skill costs to require three out of four point category.
The investigation and deduction system is where Gamedec really shines. Each case offers branching options, each offering two or more deductions players will need to make based on the clues they have uncovered. While the end of the tree will usually converge at the same ending, the long-term consequences is what really gives the decisions weight. Uncovering clues can be a little tricky as some come from the most innocuous places; on the other hand, there is a good bit of fun in just making a wild guess and dealing with the consequences later. The system really makes players feel like a sci-fi Sherlock Holmes and is easily one of the best executed deduction-based video game in recent memory.
The controls and quality of life features is where Gamedec struggles a bit. The point and click control scheme is very standard. Hotkeys helps players navigate conversations a little faster. The real problem lays in how players find hot spots to interact with. Currently, players need to be a few steps away for the options to appear. When the player is a little lost for direction, this easily results in a lot of time wasted as they wander around trying to get on top of the right spot. To make matters worse, interacting with non-human objects can be a little inconsistent, especially when there are a lot of other things in the area. The controls would benefit from a mechanic that allows players to see hot spots from a longer distance, whether this is a toggled ability or a short-term radar ping.
I like how past player choices are clearly affecting the current situation. Everything of importance is signaled with square brackets and coloured text. Players with longer memories can rely on these clues to guide them to different results in future replays.
Visuals
Gamedec offers an excellent visual style. The team did a fantastic job of taking video game and sci-fi inspirations and making it uniquely their own. The video game worlds are the best of the bunch as no two worlds are the same yet everything feels familiar to gamers who have experienced many game genres and settings. The only knock against the art is the creepy NPC silhouettes that replace actual character portraits for minor characters. It breaks the immersion of the game and would benefit from being replaced in the future.
Audio
The audio experience in Gamedec is excellent. The layers of sound effects in the game make the world feel populated and alive. The soundtrack does a great job of subtly moving players into the right mood without being a distraction. The music shines during the tense moments of the game. As a non-violent, point and click adventure, the game is completely reliant on music to put players under pressure at important moments of the game. As a result, I often found myself making choices faster with less deliberation.
Currently, there is absolutely the bare minimum of voice acting in the game. The developers have promised partial voice acting in future updates as a stretch goal from their Kickstarter. Frankly, I am content with the current state as poor voice acting runs a good risk of ruining conversation heavy games like Gamedec.
Overall
Gamedec is an excellent point and click adventure that does justice to the mystery genre. Its dark and gritty writing that explores the grey areas of morality and consequence is fantastic. The investigation and deduction system is well done and is one of the best Sherlock Holmes type experiences in a long time. The game still has its fault as there are some minor quality of life issues and a need to rebalance profession point costs, but these minor imperfections can be fixed in a future update. Gamedec is a very good title that is worth taking a look at, even for those who aren’t fans of the point and click adventure genre.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Remaster, remake, rework, re-release, a new coat of paint…….call it however you want but why not roll with it as long as it works? I don’t remember if I played as many remakes or remasters as I did this year. And don’t get me wrong, it is a lucrative business. A safe bet. If a game sold well before, why not release it again with support for higher resolutions, widescreen, polished textures, and call it a day? If anything, there is always a considerate amount of folks that weren’t there for the original, so why not play the improved version now? At least that’s how I imagine the mindset behind any remaster, so with that said let’s see what improvements we get with Crysis Remastered this time.
Story
The original game came out in 2007 and left a long-lasting mark in gaming. For a long time, the game was a benchmark for testing the strongest PC builds, so much that it spawned those “can it run Crysis” memes. It also had a gripping story, a nano suit that added some diversity to the gameplay, and incredible visuals at the time. What begins as a simple rescue mission becomes the battleground of a new war as alien invaders swarm over a Lingshan island chain. Your codename is Nomad and you’re a member of “Raptor Team”, a United States special forces operation that is sent to the island to investigate aggressive behavior by North Korea. A simple search and rescue mission pretty soon goes sideways, as it turns out you’re not just fighting against North Koreans, but extraterrestrial lifeforms as well. Luckily, you’re not alone. Guns are your best friends (like in any FPS game) and a signature of all three Crysis games – a nano suit.
Gameplay
Let’s talk more about the nano suit now. The nano suit is your trusty suit of armor with some bonus perks thrown in for good measure. You can sprint faster with it, turn on cloaking mode (effectively becoming invisible) and have an extra layer of armor during intense shootouts. All of those abilities use the energy of the armor (which recharges itself after a while) so it’s not like you can be invincible or invisible as much as you want. The emphasis is on using those abilities tactically and sparingly. And on top of that, it looks pretty cool. Soon enough you get the hang of its power by throwing around cars and barrels and trees at North Koreans. Or just picking them up and throwing them on one another. You’re also accompanied by a huge arsenal of pistols, automatic rifles, and a rocket launcher as you explore (and murder everything) the Lingshan island. The gunplay is decent although the enemy AI can be pretty dumb at times. I had North Koreans trying to shoot at me through rocks or while they were hidden behind various structures. They also assume that you’re unable to move like them so they will shoot 90% of the time at your last known spot.
Visuals
If I reviewed the original Crysis when it came out, I could have used everything I wrote so far from this review and I wouldn’t be wrong. But here we are at a breaking point. Usually the reason and main selling point for remasters and remakes. The visuals. While you could say that the original Crysis broke new ground, there is literally nothing that stands out in this remaster. Crysis Remastered adds support for up to 8K resolutions, DLSS, and ray-tracing, along with the ability to swap between classic and modern suit controls. That’s pretty much it. The visuals do seem more ironed out but the color palette is still the same. It still looks like a game that came out more than 10 years ago. What good is the 8K resolution support if I have nothing good to show for it? This edition is basically just a release that’s made to run on modern systems and that’s all it is. No jaw-dropping visuals and the only new stuff I’ve noticed are some bugs when it comes to enemy AI.
Audio
Nothing new on this front as well. The gun sounds are decent and the audio atmosphere of a tropical island is spot on. But then again, the same could be said for the original. The game still retains the ability to not have English subtitles on higher difficulties (so you can only guess what North Koreans are talking about) which is a rather unconventional approach when it comes to gameplay immersion. Voice acting is on the level as well, it’s just disappointing that I didn’t notice anything new here so I could say “oh, this wasn’t in the original”.
Overall
To call this “remastered” is somewhat misleading in my book. The proper title would be “optimized for new hardware” but that’s not as catchy. If you recently played the original, there is nothing in this release that would justify a purchase. It comes with a hefty price tag with almost none of the visual upgrades. On top of that, this release is without the Crysis: Warhead expansion and without multiplayer. It is a rare and sad example where you get way more content with the original rather than a remaster.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
