After being leaked late last year Capcom has made it official, there will be a unique style demo for Resident Evil 2. Today the company announced that they will be releasing a limited time “1-Shot Demo” that will be released on January 11th for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC with the download only being available until January 31st.
As one would guess thanks to the name, players will have a chance to take on the horrors and puzzles of Raccoon City for thirty minutes with death or completion of the objective still allowing players to restart the demo as long as they still have time left. Once you complete the thirty minute playtime a new cinematic trailer for Resident Evil 2 will be released but this does mark the last time the player will actually be able to play the demo since any time after that only the trailer will play, making it a true one and done demo.
You can check out a trailer for the demo below and keep an eye out for the game itself when it is released on January 25th for the aforementioned consoles.
Now that NIS America has nailed down a Western release date for The Princess Guide the company has continued to release trailers for the game with the latest one focusing on how players will be able to train the various Princesses through praising them and scolding them for their actions. This latest video focuses on showing off how the player’s actions can help guide the story and the destiny of the nation that the princess you choose rules over.
Check out the trailer for The Princess Guide below and keep an eye out for the game when it is released on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on March 26th.
Nintendo Switch is a huge success and the hybrid console is also a great fit for strategy titles as the recent release from Sid Meier’s Civilization VI shows. There is another genre that was very popular in the 90’s and now found its way onto the Switch too. RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures is a simulation game where you build and manage your own amusement park. In our review, we’ll tell you if this is worth a ride or should save the money.
Story
You create your own story with the amusement park of your
dreams. Although there are some challenges in existing parks, the biggest part
of the fun is to use your imagination and create something unique with the
given tools. At the beginning we’re already given access to four different game
modes starting with a tutorial, where you learn the basics of RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures. After
you’ve finished the first steps in your theme park you’ll move on to the
Adventure, Scenario or Sandbox modes. While the Adventure mode provides you
with a starting amount of cash and only a handful of attractions for your park
– the Sandbox mode gives you infinite tools to create everything you wish.
Gameplay
Diving into the Adventure game mode, we start small with the
goal to get rich. Of course, a bigger park allows us to create more rides and
attract more visitors which results in more income for us. If we choose
Scenarios then we have to master challenges with different difficulty levels.
If you just want to play for fun or try something out, Sandbox mode is the
definitely right option for you. The Nintendo Switch is a great fit for a game
like RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures,
but you cannot overlook the fact that you’re dealing with a mobile game port.
In this title of the series a lot of things are automated. If we want to fix a ride,
then we need to build the necessary janitor building in the radius and the
problem is gone automatically. There are no ways to evolve the workers from
your park and specialize or train them in any way. Basically, the core gameplay
is reduced on the research of new rides and keep your visitors satisfied.
The good thing is that there are no microtransactions
involved, so you don’t have to wait hours until an attraction is ready for the
visitors. Unfortunately, the technical side creates some annoying performance
issues that disturb the gameplay experience, especially framerate issues when
there are a lot of rides. While the mobile version was called RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch, the new
version for Nintendo’s hybrid console also makes a great use of it’s
touchscreen. You have the option to individually create the rollercoasters of
your dreams by adjusting the length and heights with just a few movements on
the display. This is also where it comes to the fun part of RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures. It’s
all about designing and decorating your park the way you’d like to. For the
creation of your own rollercoaster you have access to a variety of styles, but
a feature like terraforming is missing. How much fun would this be? Unfortunately,
the more I played the game, more limits and restrictions were encountered while
my imagination went wild, and I had all these crazy ideas.
Unfortunately, in the end there is a game that I both love
and hate at the same time. It brings back so many memories and it allows me to
get creative, but only to a certain point. There’s much more potential and I
really hope they consider a completely new game of the series for Nintendo
Switch. I know that the developers are working on updates and want to improve
the experience on the Nintendo Switch, so it might be worth to wait for the
upcoming changes and modifications. Let’s hope there will also be a difficulty
for experts, as the 16 given scenarios don’t require a lot of building and
management skills. We have a casual game here, but there are still all the old
fans of the series out there! Don’t forget them!
Visuals & Audio
The soundtrack catches the atmosphere of an amusement park
and is quite entertaining. For the visual aspect, later on I felt that
everything looked very much the same. Again I got drawn back to the
limitations, which RollerCoaster Tycoon
Adventures gives me. I could also mention the terraforming feature again,
which could make quite a difference here. Anyway, if you’re aware about the
limited pool, I don’t think you’ll be bothered by the visuals.
Overall
I came with no expectations at all and can say that this is definitely not a bad game as I enjoyed my time with it. RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures shows that these simulation games work on consoles too and if you’ve played the classics or have interest in this genre, I’d definitely recommend it. With the developers working on updates, you’ll definitely have a good time with it. Just keep your expectations a bit low and don’t forget that this specific title has it’s origin in a mobile game.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
A new trailer for Metro Exodus has been released by Deep Silver and 4A Games with the focus of this trailer being on the storyline for the game. Narrated by Anna, the Spartan Order’s top sniper and Artyom’s wife, the story trailer explores the hostile world of Metro Exodus that lies in wait for the crew of the Aurora as they flee the ruins of Moscow and embark on an epic year-long journey into the unknown. Artyom always believed that there was life beyond the Metro – now his hopes and dreams will be put to the ultimate test in the crucible of the Russian wastelands.
The trailer can be found below while the game itself is set to be released on February 15th for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
Once again Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen will be arriving on a new console as Capcom has announced plans to release the game on the Nintendo Switch. The title will be priced at $29.99 when it is released on April 23rd and will feature a number of the various improvements that were made to the game after it was released two years ago on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Players will still be able to use the Pawn system without needing an online subscription and, since the Switch is portable, this will also mark the first time that the game will be available on the go. Check out a trailer for this version of the game below.
Grapeshot Games is a spin off development team started by Studio Wildcard. Atlasis a pirate themed survival MMO set in a massive world. Players will sail the high seas as they travel around and make their mark on the world as a pirate, an explorer, or whatever else may catch their fancy.
Atlas offers quite
a bit of character customization thanks to its massive skill tree. Obviously, most
players are not going to be a master of everything, so specializing in certain skills
and teaming up with other players to form a crew seems to be a big part of the
game. The experience gain is a bit slow on official servers, which makes the
game feel a bit grind heavy for casual players right now. I think the
experience rate could be increased by 50% to make progression a little easier.
There is a decent amount of content to explore right now as there
is a beefy tech tree that is tied to the skill tree. The tech tree will keep
players busy between gathering materials, capturing animals, building new
facilities, and crafting new equipment. The world is extremely large as each
official server is essentially a string of smaller server instances with its
own map that connects to another server. Once players get bored of the scenery
or need some resource not available locally, they can explore the high seas for
new locales and adventures.
The servers were lagging quite heavily during testing, which
made combat difficult. There’s a good variety of weapon types in the later half
of the skill tree, so players will have a lot of options to fit their preferred
fighting style. There is also a decent balance between the number of ranged and
melee weapons. Due to the slow experience gain, players will also be spending
quite a bit of time with basic weapons like the stone spear.
The ship system is interesting so far. Players start off
with the most basic raft that serves as a mobile home base and can slowly scale
upwards, creating larger ships and adding crew members. The ship controls do a
pretty good job of mimicking the feeling of sailing an actual ship as players
need to rotate the sail around to move in a certain direction, then unfurl the
sail to control speed. It’s easy enough to learn, but not the most maneuverable
thing in the world. Players are still at the mercy of the wind direction,
meaning getting stuck is still a very real possibility.
The early game is still very much a work in progress right
now. Players choose to join either a PVP or a PVE server, then choose a part of
the world to enter. After character creation, new players are dropped off at
the nearest Freeport with some basic text instructions. The odd tooltip appears
in the top left of the screen, but the usefulness varies wildly. Some basic survival
mechanics like vitamins are still poorly explained and are left to Steam guide
writers and wiki contributors to deal with. At the very least, Freeports are
generally safe areas for players to experiment and get a hang of basic gameplay
mechanics until the level 8 experience cap.
The UI could use some improvements. Certain elements on the
HUD are not well explained. Menus are usable, but they are not as intuitive as
I would like. The crafting menus for crafting stations is very clunky, looking
and working more like Windows Explorer than a proper menu. Inventory management
is decent, though moving items between inventories can be a little clumsy.
Considering Atlas’ roots
in ARK: Survival Evolved, its rocky Steam
Early Access release is a disappointment. Testing the game was a challenge as
servers were in a dire state. Extreme lag was a constant issue, making some
areas of the game nearly unplayable. A lot of technical optimization is needed
in the coming months as the game runs poorly. While the state of Steam Early Access
titles run the entire spectrum of development, it is clear that Atlas is still in its early stages of
development.
Atlas has a lot of
intriguing ideas, taking the well trodden path of sandbox survival games and moulding
it to fill the empty niche of pirate-themed video games. The current sailing
system is an excellent starting point, hitting a decent balance of ship control
and helplessness in the face of the powerful seas. Like all Steam Early Access
titles, Grapeshot Games has a bit of work to do. The game already offers a
decent amount of content thanks to its roots in ARK: Survival Evolved. There is a hefty tech tree, a deep skill
tree, and a large world to enjoy right now. But it’s the less glamourous areas
where Atlas needs the most work. The
game is in dire need of technical optimization and user experience improvements.
It’s not as sexy as new features, but these upgrades need to be at the top of
Grapeshot Games’ priority list.
Action RPGBreachis set to launch on Steam Early Access on January 17th. While the full game will be a free to play title, gamers will need to pay to get their hands on the Steam Early Access version. Pre-order packages are currently available at the official Breach store, with the lowest tier priced at $24.99 USD. No pre-orders will be taken through Steam.
Breach offers an open class system allowing players to dabble in a variety of skills and magic to create their ultimate hero. Up to four players will enter a dungeon, battling mythical beasts and epic bosses.
Other players can invade ongoing dungeons by taking on the role of the Veil Demon. The Veil Demon can take over monsters to strengthen them and grant them human level intelligence. Additionally, the Veil Demon can tear holes between the modern and mythological Earth, causing environmental hazards to pour into the dungeon.
Project Winter mixes in the classic party game Mafia with the trendy survival genre by dropping eight players into the middle of of an icy winter. Among the players are traitors who are attempting to prevent the group from escaping by slowing down production and assassinating survivors. The game is designed to be nearly impossible for players to survive on their own, forcing the survivors to work together with the traitors in hopes of slowly exposing the traitors.
Project Winter is scheduled to launch on Windows. It will be priced at $19.99 USD and will be available through Steam, Humble Bundle, and Greenman Gaming.
Kalypso announced they will be pushing back the PC release date for Tropico 6 to March 29th. The game was originally scheduled to launch on Windows, Mac, and Linux in late January, but feedback from the beta highlighted the need for more time to improve the game’s balance and add some more polish to the game.
The delay does not appear to affect the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One release date, which is still on track to be released later in the year.
Kalypso Owner and Managing Director Simon Hellwig posted an open letter on the company blog apologizing for the delay and offering compensation for those who pre-ordered the game. Those who placed their pre-order through an official digital seller before 7 PM CET on January 10th will receive the first content DLC for Tropico 6 for free. The yet to be named DLC is set to launch sometime in Q2 2019.
Merciless Action RPG Dark Devotion to Combat Heresy on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC in Early 2019
New Video
Introduces Deadly Templars, Beasts Which Will Help Players Repent in Q1 2019
PARIS – January
8, 2019 – Publisher The Arcade Crew and developer Hibernian
Workshop today announce that Dark Devotion, the sidescrolling action RPG
depicting a society’s commitment to a macabre religion, will test the
dedication of Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC owners at launch early this
year. Dark Devotion has received positive praise in previews, receiving several
nods from PAX East 2018, Gamescom and Bitsummit for impressive showing in early
preview rounds.
Today’s platform reveal is paired with a new gameplay clip detailing a few of the pivotal battles awaiting those brave enough to prove their faith in Dark Devotion’s unforgiving temple. These fights demand flawless reflexes, keen intuition, and an unwavering determination to persevere over an army of godlike adversaries. Only by overcoming these peerless, horrifying warriors can true allegiance to Dark Devotion’s divine designer be proven, a feat well worth unending anguish to the faithful.
Dark Devotion encourages adventurers to explore and
experiment with caution; traps and
ghoulish enemies stand ready to
punish a careless pace, and favoring the wrong weapon could bring a staunch
disadvantage in its style of weighty, calculated combat.
The game’s atmospheric world draws
inspiration from French gothic architecture and the works of H.P. Lovecraft and
Edgar Allen Poe, informing its labyrinth of foreboding chambers with a distinct
sense of dread and danger. Meticulously crafted pixel art brings every
encountered horror to life, lending a sense of beauty to Dark Devotion’s grim
world despite it being plagued with suffering.
About Hibernian Workshop Hibernian Workshop is an indie game studio based in France. For more information please hit up https://www.darkdevotion.fr/ or follow us on Twitter @HibernianWS.
About the Arcade Crew The Arcade Crew is based in Paris as a separate division of Dotemu. The boutique publisher is dedicated to producing and publishing awesome original games with a retro feel from small creative teams. The Crew is thrilled to discover and support new talents and create a real community around classic inspired titles. Get in touch with us at https://www.thearcadecrew.com/ and follow us on Twitter @thearcadecrew
