Crowns and Pawns is set to be Headup’s next adventure hit for PC, following Trüberbrook and The Inner World
Cologne, May 26, 2021 – After the success of The Inner World and Trüberbrook, Headup announced Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit, their next beautifully hand-painted point & click adventure. Developed by the Lithuanian team Tag of Joy and led by the art director of Broken Sword 2.5, the game will take the players to a vivid modern Europe, zesting for life. The game will be released for PC, Mac, and Linux in 2022.
The story follows a girl from Chicago, Milda, who unexpectedly receives an inheritance from her grandfather – a house in Lithuania. She sets off to Europe, but an unknown stranger threatens her upon arrival, demanding that she give up her inheritance. Determined and intrigued, she explores the run-down house, discovering old documents and clues dating back to the 15th century. In no time, Milda gets dragged into a dangerous search for a long-lost mysterious relic.
The tech behind the game
”In Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit, we use 2D hand-painted backgrounds that we project on a 3D world and blend them with 3D characters”, says game director Šarūnas Ledas. “As challenging as it may be, this allows having various visual effects in the game: smart lighting effects, real-time shadows, 3D depth effects (parallax), which react to the cursor’s and the main character’s positions in the scenes.” What’s more, many of the scenes in the game have various perspectives and camera angles, from traditional side view to top-down.
If you like to learn more about the game directly from the developers, you’re welcome to check out this part from last week’s AHEAD live stream.
And of course, there is an announcement trailer, too:
About Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit
Crowns and Pawns is a modern-day point & click adventure. Inspired by classics such as Broken Sword, Still Life, Syberia, and the like, it brings the less explored history of Europe to the world of adventurers. Experience legendary stories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, beware of the villainous branch of the KGB, solve puzzles and follow hints to reveal the secrets of the king who was never crowned.
Milda, a girl from Chicago, unexpectedly receives the last will of her deceased grandfather – it appears that she is an heir and the last guardian of a mysterious family secret. Following a handful of obscure hints, Milda is embroiled thrown into an adventurous, puzzle-packed search for the truth.
A blend of history and myths set in a modern world, featuring real-life locations all around Europe
A game directed by the art director of the highly acclaimed fan-adventure Broken Sword 2.5
A wide variety of puzzles, items, dialogues, mini-games and more!
Beautiful hand painted art that comes to life with a touch of modern graphics features
A world that reacts to your decisions
Change the looks of the main character to solve puzzles (or for fun!)
Fully voiced dialogues
Music written by the award-winning composer Daniel Pharos (A New Beginning, Memoria, Blackguards)
About Headup
Headup is a hybrid games publishing and development company providing players worldwide with the best content in the independent gaming sector. Established in 2009, it is active on all major platforms such as consoles, mobile devices and PC, and was awarded as “Best Publisher” at the German Developers Awards in 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2019. With over 80 million customers served on mobile and further several million players on the PC and consoles, Headup is always looking to raise awareness and commercial success for developers thinking outside the box. More information can be found at www.headupgames.com and twitter.com/headupgames.
About Tag of Joy
Tag of Joy is an award-winning, creativity-powered independent development studio focused on innovating games technologically, visually, and gameplay-wise. In 2014, the studio released Monster Buster, the first of its kind AR, location-based, treasure hunting, and monster collecting game for mobile. Currently, the team is aiming to bring novel ideas to narrative games. The studio has received multiple awards throughout the years and was a finalist at the Unity Awards in 2013 and 2015. More information can be found on their official website and Twitter.
Assemble Entertainment and Team ADOM are Inviting Streamers to Join the Fight Against Cancer by Streaming Ultimate ADOM
Wiesbaden, Germany – 25th May, 2021.Publisher Assemble Entertainment and developer Team ADOM are inviting streamers to go monster slaying for a good cause, as they join the ‘European Week Against Cancer’ (EWAC). Content creators who stream the “modern-meets-classic” roguelike dungeon crawler Ultimate ADOM – Caverns of Chaos are invited to donate to ‘The International Agency for Research on Cancer’ (IARC). EWAC runs until May 31 and sees European policy-makers and the public engage in activities designed to educate people about cancer prevention, access to treatment, and provide support for both current patients and survivors. The publisher is joining the fight and will donate 10% of the proceeds of every ‘Save the World Edition’ of Ultimate ADOM – Caverns of Chaos to the IARC. Assemble Entertainment will also start a stream today at 11:00 am EDT / 8:00 am PDT on their official Twitch and YouTube channel.
It’s never been a better time to jump into Ultimate ADOM – Caverns of Chaos, as the game has received another fantastic update that adds even more content to an already deep experience. A new race known as the Dark Elves is now playable and features a brand new and entirely unique skill tree to explore. The new Assassin class is perfect for players who prefer to strike from the dark, using a variety of virulent poisons and the shadows themselves as deadly weapons. Additionally, Spanish and French-speaking players will be pleased to hear they can now enjoy localizations in their native tongues! Also new are 22 different magical wands, secret skills that only unlock after meeting a certain number of previous skills, 11 new monster types, and the ‘Possession’ ability!
Ultimate ADOM – Caverns of Chaos is a follow-up to the genre-defining roguelike title first debuted 25-years ago! With challenging gameplay, permadeath, randomly generated levels, and more items, crafting, and skills than you can shake a severed limb at, Caverns of Chaos is a title that rewards multiple playthroughs and appeals to players who crave that “just one more run before bed” feeling.
New Race: Dark Elves — Clawing their way up from the Deependark, these brave cave-warriors are ready to throw their might at all the slithering terrors from the Caverns of Chaos. They also have access to an entirely unique skill tree available only to their race!
New Class: The Assassin — Why fight a monstrous beast of the deep head-on? The new Assassin class utilizes slick and deadly poisons to slay from the dark, and can even use the very shadows themselves as wicked weapons to whittle their enemies down
New Mechanic:Possession — Step into the shoes — or lack thereof — of the various creepy-crawlies and monsters that lurk in the Caverns of Chaos. Become a a frog, a dragon, a worm, a rat, an ogre, a hill giant and more to take your beast-breaking badassery to whole new levels of creativity
Updates and Fixes — Along with a host of bug fixes and improvements, Ultimate ADOM – Caverns of Chaos now features Spanish (European and South American) and French localizations
Developed by Team ADOM and published by Assemble Entertainment, Ultimate ADOM – Caverns of Chaos is now available on Windows PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam Early Access. Add the game to your wishlist by visiting the Steam Store page and learn more at the official Ultimate ADOM website.
For more information about development, early access roadmap info, and dev diaries, follow the developer blog here.
Stay up-to-date with Ultimate ADOM by following the game on Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.
Based in Wiesbaden, Germany, Assemble Entertainment is an independent games developer and publisher, best known for Leisure Suit Larry – Wet Dreams Don’t Dry, the latest installment in the humorously naughty point-and-click adventure saga, and the multi-award-winning Endzone – A World Apart, that challenges players to survive and thrive following an environmental apocalypse. Assemble Entertainment also organizes GermanDevDays, an annual conference that attracts more than 1,100 attendees from across the German-speaking video game development industry.
About Team ADOM
Team ADOM is a team of creative game professionals with several decades of experience, and we’re creating the games we love to play ourselves. Ultimate ADOM – Caverns of Chaos and its planned spin-offs are developed by the same core members who have been revolutionizing the rogue-like genre since 1994 with ADOM.
Escape to the virtual nightclub scene this Spring in Edwin Montgomery’s Isolationist Nightclub Simulator sandbox-meets-multimedia art simulation, which goes on sale for 50% off on Steam. From May 24th until May 31st, create, explore, vibe or simply relax in the lush soundscape of this immersive nightlife experience, with a new step sequencer instrument added to let you blast the bunker beats out to your heart’s content!
In an alternate timeline, a plague has all but shut down life on Earth’s surface, driving you to seek safety of your very own desolate fallout shelter, where you escape into the vivid simulation of a futuristic, neon lit, labyrinthine nightclub. Create your own nightclub mix with no musical knowledge necessary by using in-game instruments, including a synth keyboard, drum machines, bass loops, arpeggiators and an all-new step sequencer which allows you to build and control 8 note loop patterns. Feel like dancing and relaxing instead? Explore a series of serpentine spaces, including an art gallery, a forest-scale garden, an arcade and a number of chill-out rooms where you can enjoy a virtual beverage and relax to the soothing sonic tones. With the in-game messaging system, leave notes for other players to appear in their nightclubs as randomly generated toilet wall graffiti or messages on drink coasters.
Isolationist Nightclub Simulator is supported by Creative Victoria’s Sustaining Creative Workers grant and is designed to provide a relaxingly creative part walking simulator, part modern art installation experience that offers something for everyone, no matter what mood you are in.
About Edwin Montgomery
With a background in classical composition and a Masters Degree from AFTRS in composing for screen, Edwin Montgomery is a composer, musician and sound designer who works across film, games, immersive theatre, installations and mixed media artworks. Recently they scored the award-winning feature documentary Time, which won Best Documentary Directing at Sundance 2020, and created the unique sonic-drive interactive multimedia cult hit Sisyphus Reborn, as well as the Neon Cyborg Cat Club.
Introducing CircoLoco Records A New Record Label Created in Partnership with CircoLoco: First EP Coming June 4th
Music has always been a fundamental part of Rockstar Games — from the championing of underground artists and scenes across our titles, to the meticulously curated radio stations of the Grand Theft Auto series and the introduction of fully-realized digital nightclubs in Grand Theft Auto Online with the After Hours update, as well as expanding the possibilities for in-game social spaces and music discovery with the release of The Cayo Perico Heist.
Now, we’re further fusing the physical and digital worlds of entertainment by teaming with CircoLoco — creators of some of the world’s biggest and most influential real world parties and one of the most recognized brands in modern dance music — to create a brand-new record label, CircoLoco Records.
Debuting with a series of EPs featuring tracks from the label’s forthcoming first compilation album, Monday Dreamin’, CircoLoco Records will showcase contributions from some of the visionaries and icons from every era of CircoLoco’s greatest parties including new music from Music Locker resident DJ Moodymann, After Hours resident Dixon, along with Carl Craig, Luciano, Seth Troxler, and Rampa, as well as up and coming artists that point to the future of dance music including Sama’ Abdulhadi, Lost Souls of Saturn & TOKiMONSTA, Red Axes, and many more.
The first EP, Monday Dreamin’ Blue EP, will kick things off on June 4th featuring new tracks from Sama’ Abdulhadi, Kerri Chandler, Rampa, and Seth Troxler alongside a new Dixon remix of Deichkind’s “Autonom.” The Seth Troxler track, “Lumartes” is now available. Further EPs will release weekly in the lead-up to the full compilation’s release on July 9th.
Representing house and techno for over 20 years through its parties at Ibiza’s DC10 and around the world, CircoLoco’s dancefloor has become a principal intersection between underground dance music and elements of fashion, art and wider culture. From the beginning, the club’s commitment to music-focused, no-frills club nights with mixed lineups and an eye to the future supercharged the careers of many DJ’s including Tania Vulcano, Ricardo Villalobos, Jamie Jones and many more, along with featuring many of the artists from GTA Online’s After Hours and The Cayo Perico Heist, including The Blessed Madonna, Dixon, Solomun, Keinemusik, Tale Of Us, and Moodymann.
A long-term effort toward environmental sustainability has been another hallmark of CircoLoco’s efforts to evolve the brand’s approach. The launch of CircoLoco Records reinforces CircoLoco’s commitment to championing forward-thinking dance music artists beyond the club.
CircoLoco Records will break new ground in an effort to support and elevate dance music culture during one of the most fraught periods ever experienced for clubs and represents an opportunity to elevate the scene through the collective power of these two entertainment brands.
Although the Shin Megami Tensei series is nearly three decades old, for most of us the series may feel like it has only been around two decades. This is because the franchise’s first two entries were never released outside of Japan back then with Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne serving as the first proper Western appearance for the series. Back in 2004 few could have guessed that it would turn into a challenging classic that would find itself a solid fan base that would only increase in size as its spin-off series, Persona, continued to grow. Now that Atlus has brought this classic back to the forefront with a number of quality of life upgrades as well as some improved graphics for potential newcomers and longtime fans to experience, is Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster still just as strong of a JRPG after all these years?
Story
The player character begins their day meeting with their friends in Tokyo the day after a massive clash between two rival cults resulted in multiple deaths. When the group travels to the local hospital to find their teacher, they find it abandoned and shortly afterwards, the “Conception” happens. This apocalyptic event has nearly wiped out all of humanity and even the player character awakes to find that he is now the Demi-Fiend, a being that is part-demon, part-human.
With their new powers and the ability to sway demons to their side, the Demi-Fiend must track down their surviving friends and find out what has happened to the world. Of course, unlike most games that find players trying to save the world, the darker tone of the Shin Megami series is at its best here as players will find that the world will change, one way or another and it will be up to them to decide how.
In many ways, Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster tells a straightforward narrative that is spiced up thanks to unique chaotic elements that can only exist in an apocalyptic world where demons run free and own shops while most humans only remain as ghosts and how nonchalant the world is now that things have changed. The player will still find that while the game features multiple endings, the actual path to each of them remains mostly the same outside of the special ending to the game that takes a bit of extra work and reveals a bit more about the story as a whole.
It is also worth noting that, outside of featuring Raidou from the Devil Summoner series, as the default release guest character this still remains mostly the same exact story that longtime fans will be familiar with, with only small localization refinements made compared to the original release. The original guest character that Western fans had, Dante from Devil May Cry, is only available as a separate piece of DLC and it is rather unfortunate that, even if players purchase this DLC, the only way to experience all of the scenes with these characters is by playing through the game twice as the game only allows the selection of Chronicle, featuring Raidou, or Maniax, featuring Dante, at the start of the story.
Gameplay
In many ways Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster will still play the same as players will remember as they travel through narrow passages in labyrinth style dungeons while dealing with random encounters the whole time. The series has always been known for its Press-Turn style of turn based combat where players can take advantage of enemy elemental weaknesses to extend their turns, giving their own team additional attacks if they hit a weakness or strike a critical blow. On the other side of things, a missed attack or resisted blow will remove an action and enemies will freely be able to target the players’ teams own weak points in an effort to extend their turns. This means that players will want to always be on their toes and potentially keep their team fresh outside of battle by healing when needed or swapping out a party member for another demon in their stock that is potentially resistant to the foes in the area.
Of course, even with all the preparation possible Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster can still be an incredibly unforgiving game. While players may feel like they are initially getting the hang of things, there are numerous moments throughout the title that will serve as a true test to the player’s team building abilities and combat knowledge. Even when these challenges don’t spring up at obvious points, there are times when RNG will simply lead to the player having no way to avoid a sudden game over should they be targeted and hit with an instant kill or combo attack that leads to instant death. This is primarily due to the Demi-Fiend being the only character that truly matters in the player’s party since, when he goes down, the game is over.
That being said, there are a couple of new accessibility options to make the game a bit easier as a whole, the first of all being the “Merciful” difficulty option that makes combat significantly easier and less frequent, giving players more options to simply play as they wish and experience the game. Then there is the ability to “suspend” the game by creating a temporary save at any location, allowing for players to walk away should something come up without having to make a rush to a save location, which can occasionally be rather few and far between depending on the dungeon.
Rarely do games reward players who freely throw away health, money, and items but the Shin Megami Tensei series is not like most games and the dark twisted nature of being able to recruit demons to fight alongside the Demi-Fiend remains as thrilling as ever in this HD release. Players will negotiate with enemies and often throw a little of everything at the enemy trying to recruit them but it is entirely possible that they’ll simply scoff and run off with everything in the end or simply give them an item that they likely requested from the player to begin with.
Nothing is a sure thing when it comes to recruiting a demon to your side but one thing that can be something of a sure thing, should the player choose, is skill inheritance. Coming in as one of the most significant quality of life improvements over the original release is the ability to choose what skills can be carried over to a fused demon in the Cathedral of Shadows can really help players in the long run as what used to be a trial and error situation that could result in losing valuable skills, allowing many unique combinations that can result in a powerful ally.
Visuals & Audio
Considering the original PlayStation 2 game was released in 2004, this HD remaster does a fairly solid job improving the graphics of the game but not quite as well as some may hope. While the character models remain fairly strong looking and the 3D models of most of the demons continue to impress, the clear limitations of the PlayStation 2 continue to ring true here as many areas remain fairly barren and even low-textured in some spots with cutscenes also being presented in only their original appearance with minimal improvements. It also is worth noting that not only is the camera still something players will struggle with from time to time but also there tends to be a strange flickering bug that happens for a second after interacting with NPCs and items.
Another key improvement to Shin Megami Tensei III HD Remaster is the ability to play with a brand new English or Japanese voice track. The original release of the game featured no voice work at all outside of some occasional chimes during combat from demons so the addition of voice work is a nice and noteworthy improvement as the English voice cast does a stellar job with their characters here. That being said, it is rather odd that while the developers recorded new voice work and touched up the graphics, the soundtrack for the game sounds quite awful more often than not. While some tracks may have sounded great originally, it instead comes off as rough and difficult to hear even at the best of times.
Overall
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster has aged like a fine wine thanks in part due to how amazing its combat mechanics and demon recruitment system has held up over the years. With a number of graphical enhancements and some great quality of life improvements, this classic JRPG is more accessible and far more enjoyable than before but can be just as brutal and punishing if the player isn’t careful. There are still a number of rough edges as well as some elements that could still have used improvement but those looking for a great way to replay a classic or dive into the difficult origins of a series they may have only recently experienced will find this remaster a great way to do so.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Cunning and witchcraft come to the Battleground of the Gods this June
ATLANTA – MAY 24 – Morgan Le Fay, queen of the dark arts and arch-mage of Arthurian legend will cast her spell on SMITE this June.
Wielding vast powers of sorcery and seduction, this rival or Arthur and Merlin is equal parts magic and manipulation.
Regarding others as toys for her own amusement, Morgan Le Fay brandishes white and death magics, healing powers, and the forbidden arts against her enemies.
Watch the cinematic reveal trailer for a taste of her strength:
Morgan Le Fay will be the third God released in SMITE – Hi-Rez Studios’ free-to-play action MOBA – this year, adding to the legendary roster of over 110 mythological icons like Zeus, Thor, and Athena.
All details about Morgan Le Fay will be available on the SMITE website, following the Update Show happening on SMITE’s Twitch channel on May 26th at 3pm ET.
Mini Motorways Takes Road Trip to Steam on 20 July, Nintendo Switch in Q1 2022
Additional Content Comes to Mobile Alongside Steam Launch; Sequel to 5MM-Seller Mini Metro
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – 24 May 2021 – Mini Motorways, the minimalist strategy simulation about designing the roads of cities around the world, will build new highways to Steam for Windows PC and macOS on Tuesday 20 July, 2021. Nintendo Switch™ will join the content update carpool when it launches in Q1 2022.
The Steam release debuts two new maps for Dubai and Mexico City as well as the highly requested addition of roundabouts. An additional gif capture feature enables city planners to share their efficient, absurd, and efficiently absurd cities with friends. These and other future updates, including features such as additional maps and new game modes, will roll out in periodic cross-platform updates on Steam and Apple Arcade and later Nintendo Switch.
Developer Dinosaur Polo Club combined the relatable simplicity of Mini Metro, which sold more than five million units before taking a place in Apple Arcade’s App Store Greats collection, with a colorful aesthetic instantly familiar to anyone who has used a map app. Accentuated by a responsive audio landscape from Disasterpeace, Mini Motorways’ relaxing experience gradually ramps up in difficulty as planners remove roadblocks to keep the traffic flowing smoothly.
Explore stunning maps based on iconic cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Munich, and Tokyo. Draw the roads that drive the city, building a traffic network that adapts to ever-changing procedurally generated maps to create bustling metropolises. Choose from upgrades like motorways, traffic lights, roundabouts, and tunnels to meet the demands of your expanding road network and connect homes to destinations so everyone can get where they need to go.
Compete in daily and weekly challenges with special conditions such as Mini Notorways, where no motorway upgrades are granted, High Density, in which buildings can pop up in already crowded neighborhoods for extra traffic complications, and others adding a fresh change of tires to the dynamically growing cities of the world.
“Ultimately, Mini Motorways is about solving problems. How long can you keep the city moving? It’s easy to predict short term results of your changes, but those can have wild consequences in the long term,” said Casey Lucas-Quaid, community manager at Dinosaur Polo Club. “It’s satisfying to watch this system you’ve built run and grow. Since Mini Motorways’ Apple Arcade launch, casual and hardcore players alike have worked to master its surprisingly complex systems.”
Mini Motorways will come to Steam for Windows PC and macOS with a launch discount of 10% off the regular price of $9.99 USD / 8,19€ / £6.99. It will support Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Spanish, and Turkish languages. Mini Motorways is currently available on Apple Arcade.
Dinosaur Polo Club is an independent game development studio based in beautiful Wellington, New Zealand. Founded in 2013 by brothers Peter and Robert Curry, the studio first made waves with the award-winning and BAFTA-nominated debut Mini Metro. Created in collaboration with Disasterpeace and Jamie Churchman, Mini Metro explores relaxed and minimalist subway design.
With an inclusive and supportive culture that believes in giving back to its creative community, the studio has grown and is now home to 15 dinos as it works on new titles with relatable simplicity.
I have a penchant for weird. For games that dare to try and be different. To be unique. I’m talking about games that want to bring something new to the table whether that is in regard to story, gameplay, or just visuals. And sometimes the gamble pays off. After all, it is a great selling point when a game is recommended to you with “this is something new, different, you should definitely check it out”. Such things could be said for Zeno Clash, Killer7, Deadly Premonition and I’d say that from one of the more recent releases Death Stranding fits there as well. But that weirdness is what got me interested in BIOMUTANT as well. Check out any prerelease trailer or a preview and you’ll see that the game has some strange visuals and character designs. Or we could just assume that the devs did a lot of mind-altering substances during the development. So let’s dig in deeper to see what BIOMUTANT is all about.
Story
BIOMUTANT introduces us to a lush, vibrant world and flora-populated biomes. The engine that powers and keeps all the life in this world is conveniently called the Tree of Life and as of recent, it’s been under constant attack. Not from just any enemies, but from so-called World Eaters. Remember those colossi from Shadow of the Colossus? They’re kind of like that, huge but more colorful and psychedelic. It’s up to you to defeat the World Eaters, unite the tribes and master the Wung-Fu martial art. On your way, you might meet some friendly faces that will teach you new abilities, combat moves and you’ll find plenty of weird-looking horses to ride through this oversaturated and bizarre world.
Gameplay
So yeah, the story might not be anything spectacular, but what about the gameplay? Well, this is the part where things start to get pretty interesting. The combat system in BIOMUTANT is deep and engaging, but never complex. You have some martial art skills at the start, a gun and later on you will unlock plenty of PSI abilities (let’s just call those furry magic from now on). This is the game where exploring and doing sidequests is highly rewarding. You unlock more moves after leveling up, get to amp up your stats, and get acquainted with the crafting system. Now let’s talk a bit more about that. The crafting system in BIOMUTANT could be the selling point of the game, along with its quirky visuals. It’s a game where you should never ever throw anything away. Every gun piece, melee weapon piece, and clothing piece can be used for something. A couple of hours into the game (thanks to my video game hoarding syndrome) I managed to craft an automatic rifle that looks like a clown threw it up but on the bright side it has a radiation status effect and it melts almost every enemy. The downside of mastering that crafting system is that pretty soon you might end up with an incredibly powerful gun (or a melee weapon) and just use that to cheese through the game, never feeling the need to perhaps test out the PSI powers or any other tactic. The game has a couple of different biomes with one dominant element (snow, heat, poison, etc), and to fully explore everything, you’ll first have to find the appropriate protective suit. Actually, it feels like a lot of the content is gated behind short quests. Every few steps, someone might stop you in your tracks and say “oh, first do this one small thing for me, and then you can go back to having fun and playing the game your way”. Another thing that’s introduced in the game early on is the light/dark system. While it is advertised as something significant, that never goes beyond having certain skills locked behind your good or evil affinity. Sure, some NPCs and tribes might be friendlier to you and some might attack you, but that’s pretty much it.
Visuals
Ah, the main star of tonight’s performance. Some games tend to have such a peculiar identity that they simply can’t be compared to any other. BIOMUTANT is like if someone took a lot of psychedelics, decided to paint something beautiful, and halfway through the acid trip decided to just throw a bunch of paint on the canvas. But instead of ruining everything, it ended up looking…..unexpectedly good? And yet, despite the visual appeal, the game still manages to feel somehow empty. While the world of BIOMUTANT is simply huge, there is no life to be found almost anywhere. Aside from a couple of villages (that act as central hubs), every other structure is eerily empty. Every village is abandoned or half-ruined. On top of that, combat encounters are disappointingly rare. What good is a game that offers so much variety in how to defeat the enemies when you encounter one or two every few minutes? On the bright side, while the enemy activity is slim, their design is something else. It goes from weird to puzzling to downright hilarious.
Audio
For a game that lets you spend a lot of time rummaging through abandoned villages, dark sewers, and concrete corridors, I expected a rich soundtrack so that at least I have some sort of company. Emphasis on “expected”. For what it’s worth, the soundtrack is good when it’s there. But also, it feels like most of the focus went on complimenting just the main quests and important story moments with proper music, instead of spreading it out evenly. Whenever I decided to scout the world, I’ve been met with an eerie silence until suddenly the soundtrack would remember “oh, this is my cue” and start actually contributing to the game.
Overall
My holy trinity of a good game consists of (in this very specific order) gameplay, story, and visuals. The first can save the game even if two other points are lacking. The second one works best only if the first one is good as well. A good story can save mediocre gameplay and great gameplay can save the game even if the story is average. But what about the visuals? It is the icing on the cake. A finishing touch. But it is rarely something that you should base your whole game on. BIOMUTANT is a victim of its ambition. In the end, it is a good-looking game with a fun combat system and uneven pacing. I give this game A+ for trying and a B for pretty much everything else. The visuals here take the center stage while everything else is pushed to the side.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
A new Call of Duty: Mobile season ain’t more than two whoops and a holler away, and we reckon that y’all will want to be ready when Season 4: Spurned and Burned launches on Wednesday, May 26 at 5 p.m. PT.
Players with an itchy trigger finger can test their quick-draw skills in an updated version of the 1v1 Duel mode, show their true grit with this season’s updated Multiplayer Mode, Capture the Gold, or battle it out on Dome, a new map from Modern Warfare 3.
A high plains drifter’s ace in the hole might be one of the two new functional weapons, the versatile Holger 26 (along with a new Mythic version) or the MK2 marksman rifle, plus 50 tiers of rewards in this season’s battle pass, including Wild West-themed characters, weapons and more.
And welcome to the party, pal! In case you missed it, on May 20, we launched a limited-time Multiplayer mode that gives players the power to become Rambo or John McClane (Guns Blazing) and two new bundles for Call of Duty: Mobile that celebrate the ‘80s Action Heroes from Rambo and Die Hard. For more information visit: https://www.callofduty.com/blog/2021/05/80s-Action-Heroes-Rambo-and-John-McClane-across-Call-of-Duty
Here are some of the key highlights for Season 4 coming to Android and iOS:
Clan Wars– With this brand-new competitive event that runs alongside each Ranked Series, players can progress to the top of the leaderboard through a series of events to capture nodes. Each week, clans compete against 5 other clans for a chance to earn prizes, including a clan currency which they use to acquire special items in the clan store.
Ranked Season 2
Ranked Season 2 – Players who want even more of a challenge can participate in the new ranked season.
New Multiplayer Modes
“1v1 Duel” – A new optimized version of 1v1 Duel available for a limited time (May 26) with unlimited bullets set in western theme. Players can also use operator skills on scorestreaks in a featured showdown event.
“Capture the Gold”– Available for a limited time, this mode puts a Wild West spin on Capture the Flag by requiring players to grab gold instead.
Marquee Event –In “High Noon Chase,” players form a posse to track down a stagecoach full of bank robbers in this no escape chase, unlocking nodes and earning XP and themed rewards along the way. This seasonal event will be launching later in the season on June 11.
Weapon Balancing– The team has launched an exhaustive weapon balance pass with this update based on feedback from the community. Many different weapons across all categories, including NA-45, QXR, HBRa3 and Man-O-War, have been adjusted for the benefit of all players.
World Championship 2021– The first round of the WC 2021 begins on June 3. Players who would like to participate in the WC 2021 can find more information here – https://www.callofduty.com/mobile/esports
Players can also expect New Seasonal Challenges, Lucky Draws, Bundles and more available in the store once the Season begins.
For more information about Season 4, head to the Activision Blog:
LOS ANGELES – MAY 20, 2021 –Netmarble Corp., global publisher of leading mobile games for players of all ages, has announced earnings for the first quarter of 2021, reporting $512.2 million in revenue, $48.7 million in operating profit, and $55.6 million in net profit, all up year-over-year from 2020 figures. Overseas sales also expanded steadily to reach $361.3 million, accounting for 71% of total global sales.
“The sales in the first quarter were relatively sluggish due to the lack of new titles following the successful launch of Seven Knights 2 in the fourth quarter of 2020. In addition, the rise in labor costs in the overall Korean game industry led to a downside in profits,” said Seungwon Lee, CEO of Netmarble, adding “however, major live games such as the Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, Marvel Contest of Champions, and Lineage 2: Revolution recorded stable results. As Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds and new high-fidelity titles with renowned IPs, including Marvel, Seven Knights, and BTS are planned to be launched in the second quarter and the second half, significant sales growth and profits improvement are expected.”
Highlights from Netmarble’s Q1 2021 financial results include:
Revenues were diversified across North America (36%), Korea (29%), Europe (12%), Japan (9%), SEA (9%), and other territories (5%).
Top performing titles from the first quarter included original and partner games: The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross (15% of the revenue earned), MARVEL Contest of Champions (12%; Kabam),Seven Knights 2 (11%), Lineage 2: Revolution (8%), Blade & Soul Revolution (6%), Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery (5%; Jam City), and A3: STILL ALIVE (5%), Cookie Jam (4%; Jam City), and MARVEL Future Fight (3%). Additional games from Netmarble contributed to 31% of revenue earned.
Revenue breakdown by genre demonstrated diversification across RPGs (34%), MMORPGs (30%), casual games (26%), and othergames (10%).
A breakdown of the total financial earnings is as follows:
1/1/21-3/31/21 actuals
YoY Changes
QoQ Changes
Total Sales
$512.2 million
+7.0%
-8.6%
Operating Profit
$48.7 million
+165.7%
-34.3%
Net Profit
$55.6 million
+7.7%
-39.8%
For further details on Netmarble’s quarterly performance, visit the company’sinvestor relations page to learn more.
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About Netmarble Corporation
Established in Korea in 2000, Netmarble Corporation is a top developer and publisher pushing the boundaries of the mobile gaming experience with highly innovative games including Lineage 2: Revolution, The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, Blade & Soul Revolution and MARVEL Future Fight. As a parent company of Kabam, and a major shareholder of Jam City and HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment), Netmarble strives to entertain audiences around the world with a variety of mobile games based on its powerful franchises and collaborations with IP holders worldwide. More information can be found at http://company.netmarble.com.
