Wargaming and Mad Head Games Unveil the Brutal Combat of Pagan Online
Get a first look at the intense combat and characters in hack-n-slash action RPG’s first gameplay teaser trailer
December 18, 2018 — Wargaming and Mad Head Games today revealed the first official gameplay teaser trailer for Pagan Online, an intense action RPG launching on PC in 2019. Watch as powerful heroes take on vicious hordes of enemies and battle bosses based on pre-Christian mythology. Plus, get a glimpse of the powerful abilities of the game’s first three characters, in addition to some massive loot drops.
Pagan Online will challenge PC players starting next year, and registration for pre-launch tests known as Trials is open at Pagan-Online.com. The game is developed with an ambition to bring new meaning to the “Action” part of Action RPG, introducing intense and exciting session-based combat that rewards players for being smart and skillful. Character progression incentivizes building and developing a “family” of many unique characters, rather than one character with multiple builds. Combinations of gear, skills and characters will offer synergies that deliver more than the sum of the stats, and can be put to the test in challenging boss fights and other modes.
Pagan Online’s combination of storytelling, procedurally-generated arenas, and multiple choices that lead to different encounter types create the feeling of a living and changing world, where every day and fight is different from what came before.
“With Pagan Online we’ve worked hard to deliver a fast-paced and intense combat system that’s easy to pick up but difficult to master,” said Uros Banjesevic, Co-founder and Creative Director of Mad Head Games. “We took inspiration from MOBAs to create unique characters with specific skills and specialties, and when you put them into this type of combat system you end up with a family of fighters that do different things well in different scenarios.”
“The amount of loot in Pagan Online is vast – we want players to be challenged to experiment and find the right combinations of skill boosts and buffs that make their playstyle even more effective,” said Jacob Beucler, Product Director, Wargaming. “This means knowing the different characters, how you want to play them, and what they’re good at, and trying out different loadouts until you find the most deadly combination.”
Pagan Online, features difficult missions, high replayability, intense top-down combat and tons of customizability, loot, and mayhem. Join the carnage by signing up for the Trials at: pagan-online.com
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About Wargaming Wargaming is an award-winning online game developer and publisher headquartered in Nicosia, Cyprus. Founded in 1998, Wargaming has grown to become one of the leaders in the gaming industry with 4,500+ employees and more than 20 offices globally. Over 200 million players enjoy Wargaming’s titles across all major gaming platforms. Their flagship products include the massively popular free-to-play hit World of Tanks and the strategic naval action game World of Warships.
About Mad Head Games Mad Head Games is one of the pioneers of game development in Serbia. Founded in 2011, it quickly grew to become an industry leader, blazing the trail for all up-and-coming domestic game developers. The company is known for its innovative approach to casual adventure games, and after years of consecutive successes, it is expanding into new genres.
New Trailer Sets the Events for KINGDOM HEARTS III Launch on 29th January 2019
SYDNEY, 18th December 2018 – Sora and friends gather for the ultimate battle between light and darkness with today’s release of the latest KINGDOM HEARTS III trailer.
As unexpected events began to unfold in the Disney worlds at the hands of the enemy’s dark ambitions, the heroic trio of Sora, Donald, and Goofy find adventures ahead, from aquatic battles in the world of Pirates of the Caribbean to dances with the townspeople in the Kingdom of Corona from Tangled. The new footage also showcases Stitch from Lilo and Stitch as a special “link” (summon), as well as cooking-themed Ratatouille Keyblade attacks.
Footage of Kairi wielding a Keyblade, as well as heartfelt conversations between members of Organization XIII, and glimpses of Sora’s Nobody all point to new pieces of the title’s storyline.
Music for the trailer featured excerpts of the brand-new original KINGDOM HEARTS III opening theme song, titled, “Face My Fears,” produced in collaboration with internationally renowned singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada, eight-time Grammy® Award winning artist Skrillex and acclaimed record producer Poo Bear. The song will be available on 18th January 2019.
KINGDOM HEARTS III will be available for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and on Xbox One family of devices, including Xbox One X on 29th January 2019. For more information, visit http://www.kingdomhearts.com/
Oh golly, it’s time for another Transformers movie. The last film in this particular franchise left me so completely underwhelmed that I had thought we had finally finished with this film series but it appears that we’re back once more unto the fray.
The positive buzz around this film actually ended up reaching me despite my best efforts to avoid it so I would go into the film with fresh eyes. Nonetheless, I was pleased to hear that many were calling this the “best Transformers” film to date. It was with some optimism that I went into the review screening. Did it pay out? Read on…
Story
The film opens in the midst of the civil war on the transformers home world, Cybertron, where the beleaguered Autobots are in flight from their Decepticon enemies. One of the Autobots, Bumblebee (Dylan O’Brien), is sent to hide out on Earth and await the arrival of his comrades but, upon landing, is ambushed by a waiting Decepticon who maims Bumblebee by removing his voice synthesiser which leaves him mute. After losing all his memories and nearly succumbing to his injuries, Bumblebee transforms into the last car he sees, a Volkswagon Beetle, before entering into a stasis. Around two decades later, Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld) is dealing with the complex feelings of grief at the loss of her father and happens across the Bumblebee Volkswagon by chance. As she sets about trying to fix the car, Bumblebee awakes and our protagonists finally meet each other. Together they try to help each other with their individual problems and defeat the evil Decepticons.
The film’s story, I felt, tried to lean into the nostalgia factor of its 80s setting in its narrative themes. The story of a young woman dealing with the loss of a father is very Spielbergian and I thought was certainly an interesting theme for the film to tackle. The film, I feel, doesn’t really grapple with this far too deeply unfortunately as it needs to dedicate a significant amount of its screen time to the machinations of sector 7 and the prerequisite amount of Transformers action. The film did a good job of setting up Charlie’s longing for her father but I never really got the sense that she was developing any connections or experiencing any growth to really deal with that crushing loss. I am able to identify a character arc on the part of Charlie with regards to her relationship with Bumblebee but I never felt the emotional impact of this journey.
The reason for this, I think on my part, is that I didn’t entirely buy Charlie’s relationship with Bumblebee. I don’t know whether there was an uncanny valley effect in play or whether there was something about the writing mise-en-scene but I just did not buy that Steinfeld was forming a bond with our eponymous protagonist. That being said, the scenes of bonding were quite cute and inspired with the pair bonding over a shared appreciation of music. The elements were there but for some reason I just couldn’t think of anything besides the fact that this relationship was not nearly as affecting as something like The Iron Giant. My enjoyment of this film was greatly hampered by this fact specifically but, I am happy to say, that I appear to be in the minority on this particular point as my companions for the film all appear to have resoundingly enjoyed themselves.
Visuals
The action scenes in the film were perhaps some of the best that I’ve seen in this entire series. The shots were all largely clean and the editing was able to show us a clear view of the robots fighting with a clear sense of the space that they were fighting in. In particular the shots of civil Cybertron are pretty awesome and quite interesting to look at. I earnestly hope that we get some more scenes of the transformers home world as a giant metal planet home to talking robots that transform and are currently fighting a civil war seems like a pretty cool setting for action movie; just saying…
Something which I think definitely needs to be addressed is the film’s violence. The film depicts, in a fairly graphic way, transformers getting torn apart and otherwise dismembered to a fairly confronting degree. Similarly, humans get turned into goop in a similarly confronting fashion. This violence is understandable for an action film but I get the impression deliberate choices were made to depict the violence in such a way which doesn’t cause the film to get a higher age rating (mainly by avoiding showing blood). Nonetheless, the violence that it does depict can be confronting for younger members of an audience so parents please be aware that you might need to have a discussion with your kids after the film…
Audio
The film’s score is a competent accompaniment to the film’s narrative in punctuating the film’s emotional beats but doesn’t leave much of an impression otherwise. The film similarly leans into its 80s nostalgia through its soundtrack which features a lot of hits from its 80s setting. You’ve got everything from A-ha to Duran Duran; Bon Jovi and The Smiths. It’s an eclectic mix of a bunch of hits from the 80s which I’m sure will be pleasant for old fans and fans to be. The film’s soundtrack is really where the film’s audioscape shines and it was a fun accompaniment but I do wish that the film had done more with it in its use of these songs for our mute protagonist.
Overall
Overall, I’m sorry to say that I didn’t really enjoy my time with this film; I didn’t hate it either though. The story and characters have some inspired moments interspersed throughout but I just wasn’t sold on the central relationship between the two protagonists which stifled it’s main narrative arcs. The visuals are cleaner and clearer than I believe I’ve ever seen them before and Cybertron seems like an interesting place that I’d love to see more of. The 80s soundtrack is a great mix of songs to really live up to the nostalgia factor of the film’s period setting. I had a difficult time writing this review because I was so unmoved by the film in either direction. I don’t think it’s bad; it certainly earns the mantle of “best modern Transformers movie” but that was never a particularly high bar to vault in my book.
If you’re a fan of the series, give it a watch and you’ll probably enjoy yourself. If find yourself in agreement with my tastes more often than not, you may want to steer clear. Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Last week, DICE increased the time to kill (TTK) in Battlefield Vin hopes of cutting down the learning curve for new players to the FPS. The changes were received poorly by the community. DICE attempted to create a “Core” playlist that used the old TTK, but that was not enough.
DICE posted a letter on the Battlefield V subreddit explaining their goals for the change and the main changes they heard the community demand over the past week. The changes will be rolled back on the server side later today at 11 PM AEDT / 4 AM PT / 7 AM ET / 1 PM CET. The Core playlists will also be removed.
DICE announced they have some new changes planned in the new year. It seems like DICE intends on sharing the changes with the community for feedback before they roll them out on the live servers to avoid another misstep in 2019.
Spike Chunsoft has announced that they are planning on bringing Zanki Zero: Last Beginning to the PlayStation 4, physically and digitally, and digitally for the PC in North America on March 19th. Upon release the game will feature dual audio in the form of English and Japanese voice work as well as English text. Those who purchase the “Day 1 Edition” on PlayStation 4 or buy an early version of the PC release will be given a soundtrack CD containing an unannounced number of tracks.
For those who are unaware of the game, Zanki Zero: Last Beginning is created by the same men who worked on the Danganronpa series and follows the story of eight protagonists fighting to survive in a post-apocalyptic world but the twist is, these characters only have thirteen days before they die and are reborn once again as clones with different stats, abilities, and capabilities that also change as they age with various potential bonuses being applied each cycle.
To go along with this announcement the company has released a number of new screenshots as well as the opening video for Zanki Zero: Last Beginning that you can check out below.
Many years ago the Jagged Alliance series was one of the mainstay games in the turn-based strategy genre but much like many of the games that made up that genre, it went into hibernation for many years while the rights to the property were passed around. Now the series has returned once again in the form of Jagged Alliance: Rage! with this entry set to take place after the events of the previous two core entries and bring back the more popular mercenaries from those games. So now that Jagged Alliance: Rage! has been released, does this strategy game live up to its name?
Story
The years have not been kind to the mercenaries that used to tear through the battlefields in past entries. Twenty years since their past adventures many of these quirky mercs have fallen on hard times, become addicted to alcohol, found themselves jaded with the world, or flat out left the world entirely to live as a recluse. Still, with the call going out to these few mercenaries with the potential of a huge payday on the horizon, players are given the option of selecting two mercenaries to bring with them into danger. Arriving on a dangerous island where a crazed ruler is seeking to create a mindless army at his beck and call, it is up to your small force to put an end to his machinations, whatever the cost.
For the most part Jagged Alliance: Rage! is as by the books as they come when it comes to its storyline. Outside of an initial shock players won’t find too much surprising here and even the mercenaries that you choose to bring with you are as simplistic in nature as possible. While many fans of the series will remember these names, little has changed to their personalities outside of fitting their niches as standard as possible while also breaking down their spirit in some way and even when playing with different pairs of mercs you’ll find that they barely interact with one another outside of tiny quips here and there making for some very barebones character and story development.
Gameplay
Players will begin Jagged Alliance: Rage! by selecting only two mercenaries to bring with them into combat. Each of these mercs has a unique set of skills as well as weaknesses so it is worth looking through everyone before choosing, since there is no way to change later. Much like fans of the series and genre should know, Jagged Alliance: Rage! sees players being able to move, aim and shoot at enemies, sneak, stealth kill, and more with action points that will be restored the next time that character’s turn comes up.
In fact, these aforementioned stealth mechanics make for perhaps one of the easier ways to play the game as foes who are caught by surprise can often be instantly killed if you play sneaky enough. Not only does this make it so players do not need to worry about risking a shot that may miss and may leave them wide open for retaliation but it also stops enemies from taking on one of their annoying AI tactics that we’ll go into later. Besides sneaking around players will find that the new “Rage” mechanic also adds a new little layer to the gameplay as every character gains adrenaline through dealing and receiving damage. This adrenaline then can be used to activate special rage abilities that are unique to each character and play heavily into that merc’s unique set of skills such as shooting multiple enemies at a time, or dealing armor ignoring damage, and more, often giving them a chance to turn things around in a fight or really put the finishing touches on a fight that’s nearly wrapped.
While players are given plenty of freedom to take on encounters either stealthily or guns blazing there are a number of issues that arise regardless of what you choose to do. Inconsistent enemy AI and stealth systems make for an incredibly draining experience, both for the player’s patience and their limited resources, at times since encounters can either play out in a matter of minutes or drag into long drawn out battles that only became an issue due to poor AI. Enemies randomly can locate bodies that have been hidden despite being on the other side of the map, or simply see straight through solid objects, alerting the entire area to your presence and then, depending on what the AI chooses to do, will either bum rush your mercs’ locations in an attempt to take you down with sheer number advantage or glitch out and wander around the map. In fact more than a few encounters saw the enemy AI actively moving away from my discovered units making it seem like we were hunting them down rather than trying to survive against a platoon of soldiers.
These drawn out battles wouldn’t put such a hamper on the experience if it weren’t for there being a number of survival elements mixed into the game as well. Each mercenary has limited inventory space and must manage their health by taking out pieces of shrapnel caught in a firefight or risk debuffs and health loss, water to stay hydrated, bandage themselves up, all while also trying to avoid being infected by using poor quality items. This issue can be made worse depending on who you choose to bring with you in your campaign as some mercs are either far more sickly than others or require alcohol to stay functional. Trying to keep a balance of these survival mechanics while also keeping your equipment looted from fallen enemies and found around battlefields can make for some rather interesting gameplay and resource management but the aforementioned poor AI and Jagged Alliance: Rage!’s tendency to drag things out, with even battle completion sometimes requiring turns of walking towards an area rather than ending when all enemies are defeated, makes every interesting gameplay element feel hamstrung by glitches or poor design choices.
Visuals & Audio
Perhaps due to budget or an attempt at trying something a bit different, Cliffhanger Games has employed a bit of a comic art style to the characters and the world as a whole leading to designs that are hit and miss though almost always rather muddy looking. The mercenaries themselves are unique enough looking to tell them apart, though a couple are real ridiculous looking in certain situations and a few are flat out terrible looking while the enemy designs are as bland as they come making some of the longer battles really feel like a drag as you take down numerous faceless boring grunts. Thankfully the designs of the battlefields are changed up enough to keep things feeling fresh as you explore various parts of the island and find yourself fighting in the jungle, various buildings set up throughout the wilderness, inside encampments, and more.
The soundtrack is predictable enough for a game such as this one while the sound effects are decently handled. The voice work is surprisingly well done for the mercenaries, making it all the more disappointing that they don’t interact with one another more other than making small quips here and there, while side characters are handled well enough.
Overall
Jagged Alliance: Rage! brings with it a number of often enjoyable mechanics that help breathe a bit of extra life into this turn based strategy game but an odd choice of art style and incredibly inconsistent AI and stealth mechanics drag down the experience into what ends up being a fairly middle-ground strategy game that may not live up to the past entries in the series but comes together decently for a budget title.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
There is a certain allure in games being deliberately vague, leaving it to the player to puzzle the missing pieces and come up with the story. The best lore bits from Dark Souls are found in the item description or hidden writings and they been the community fuel for fan theories and understanding more of the game. This game has nothing in common with the above-mentioned series, yet its narrative mystery was more than enough to keep me glued to the screen as I played it.
Story
“Gris is a hopeful young girl lost in her own world, dealing with a painful experience in her life. Her journey through sorrow is manifested in her dress, which grants new abilities to better navigate her faded reality”. It doesn’t tell you much from the get-go, right? And as I played it, I haven’t encountered any memorable vocal acting or cutscenes. Only the bare minimum, going by the formula of “less is more”. You are Gris, a shy girl with a magical dress navigating through a colorful world. There is an overarching story of depression, grief and overcoming them but for the most part, it is left to the players interpretation.
Gameplay
GRIS could be described as a sidescrolling platformer if we were to really dumb it down, but let’s not. It’s so much more. You find yourself in a desolate world, full of ruined buildings and statues. There are strange inhabitants here and there, such as some cutesy forest critters, but it’s usually you (and your pretty dress) trying to make sense of it all. “GRIS is a serene and evocative experience, free of danger, frustration or death”. What it basically means is that’s impossible to die. No enemies, bosses or pitfalls all trying to get the best of you. Your only enemy is a miscalculation during platforming bits and at worst you’ll be forced to redo some jumping/climbing section. As you move forward and solve jumping puzzles, you’ll be restoring the color to the world and gain new abilities for your dress. You can transform it into a heavy square block that’s harder to move or you can use it (yourself, actually) to break down some barriers. You can also make yourself lighter to reach higher grounds and so on. The abilities you learn over time also have a subtle impact on Gris, making her overall movements faster.
Visuals
And now, a star of this review. After showing her some screenshots and gameplay videos, my friend jokingly called GRIS an “F12 simulator”. If there was a way to write as short as possible review of this game, that would be it. Despite its short length (3 hours give or take), the game never ceased to amaze me with its visuals. GRIS is breathtaking, hand-drawn and with a distinctive watercolor & ink art style. GRIS is an equilibrium of a terrible disaster that struck our protagonist and an astonishing beauty sprinkled throughout the game world. A message that perhaps something beautiful can still be found in an otherwise grim experience. A central theme of the game that is also visually depicted as we progress through the story. Later on, you won’t find as much cracked statues and ruined interior. Most of the visuals will have a focus on the habitat and nature surrounding us. As our protagonist grow and learn, so does the environment change for the better.
Audio
As the visuals are minimalistic (the game entirely lacks HUD and only has a bare minimum of screen tips), the same could be said for the audio. It is scarce, yet strong. Not a strong repertoire of music and themes but those few surely made an impact. The music might drum up during some rare in-engine cutscenes but usually, you are accompanied with some chill and meditative audio background. However, it is strongly recommended to play GRIS with a good pair of headphones for an improved experience.
Overall
After a recent disappointment, GRIS came just in time to wrap up this year on good terms. I can’t remember the last time I played such a visually stunning and atmospheric game. A perfect addition on a cold Christmas night, while you’re all snuggled in a blanket with a cup of hot cocoa nearby. It is a game oozing with creativity and dealing with difficult topics in a clever way. A game when someone asks you “well, why should I play it”, you buy them a copy and tell them that now they can find out themselves. No matter what the next creative endeavor of Nomada Studios is, I hope it retains at least half of beauty and atmosphere as GRIS.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
NIS America has announced that they are planning on bringing The Princess Guide to English speaking audiences next March. On March 26th the game will be released for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 where players will find themselves taking control of an experienced knight that must take on one of four princesses as an apprentice.
Each of these princesses come from a different kingdom and must learn how to lead their people to victory with as new evil approaches. Each of these “Princess Knights” has a unique story and will be shaped differently depending on the choices you make while also fighting against opponents in strategic combat that will also depend on how well you’ve trained them in strategy.
Recently Idea Factory International announced plans to bring the PSP exclusive Record of Agarest War: Mariage to the West for PC. This marks the first time that the game will be available in English and now the company has released a batch of new screenshots as well as the opening video for the game now that the game’s Steam page has launched.
Record of Agarest War: Mariage follows the story of a first generation hero named Rain tasked with defeating the Archdemon but similar to past games in the series players will advance through the game by choosing various bachelorettes to continue the story with in later generations with the story varying depending on which girl you choose.
KNIGHTS CHRONICLE RINGS IN THE HOLIDAYS WITH NEW UPDATE
New Epic Quest, New Guild Content, and Christmas-themed Costumes/Dungeon Now Available
LOS ANGELES, California (December 14, 2018) – Netmarble Corp. today introduced a series of new improvements to mobile role-playing game Knights Chronicle to get players into the holiday spirit.
Knights Chronicle is spreading seasonal cheer with a new Christmas dungeon and Christmas-themed costumes. The Christmas dungeon will reward players with the limited-time 2018 Christmas coin. Also, Christmas costumes for Janus, Verdandi and Miss Etica will strengthen the ability of the heroes. Entering the Christmas dungeon while wearing the costume will allow players to acquire extra 2018 Christmas coins. Players can trade in these Christmas coins for various rewards including 4 Star SSR Hero Selectors.
A new Epic Quest for the hero Lydia is also now available. Completing this quest will allow players to acquire a special costume that upgrades an SR grade hero to SSR grade.
Also, players can now upgrade the Guild Castle to acquire a passive effect during the Defense Phase of Guild Battle. The maximum Guild level has been expanded and more high level items have been added to the Guild shop, so cooperation among the Guild members is now much more important to aim for higher levels.
Knights Chronicle is available now in 140 countries. For more information on Knights Chronicle please http://knightsgbweb.netmarble.com/.
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About Netmarble Corporation Netmarble Corp. strives to entertain audiences of all ages around the world by providing great mobile gaming experiences. Established in Korea in 2000, Netmarble is the fastest-growing mobile game company and consistently ranks as a top mobile developer and publisher worldwide. With more than 5,000 employees, Netmarble has been producing and servicing some of the most successful mobile games including Lineage 2: Revolution, MARVEL Future Fight, Everybody’s Marble, and Seven Knights. As a parent company to Kabam, a top mobile game developer in massively multiplayer free-to-play games, and the largest shareholder to Jam City, a leading casual social game developer, Netmarble has a strategic partnership with CJ ENM Corporation, Asia’s largest entertainment company, Tencent Holdings, Asia’s largest internet company, and NCsoft, a prominent MMORPG company. More information can be found at www.netmarble.com
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