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Sekai Project Licenses Baldr Sky and Many Other Visual Novels

Travis Bruno
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0
Sekai Project Licenses Baldr Sky and Many Other Visual Novels

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On top of announcing that they are planning on bringing a popular visual novel series to PlayStation platforms next year, Sekai Project has also announced a large number of new visual novels that they will be releasing in English for the PC sometime over the course of the next year.

The products that the company have licensed range from titles that are simply for all-ages as well as those that have 18+ versions that will likely be released by Denpasoft at the same time as the standard English release. These titles include Baldr Sky Dive1 “Lost Memory”, Baldr Sky Dive2 “Recordare”, A Magical High School Girl, SakuSaku, Shining Song Starnova, Boku to Koisuru Ponkotsu Akuma (featuring artwork from Nekopara‘s creator), and Japanese School Life.

Details about each of the titles licensed by the company including trailers from Sekai Project can be found below:

Baldr Sky Dive1 “Lost Memory” & Baldr Sky Dive2 “Recordare”

Part visual novel, part cyberpunk action RPG, the hit duology, Baldr Sky Dive1 “Lost Memory” and Baldr Sky Dive2 “Recodare” are finally coming to western audiences via Steam!

In an alternate future where Nanomachines have helped shape a new world and humanity has embedded “always-on” access to the Internet, a virtual war is waged online. Using the aid of Nanomachines, a young boy by the name of Kou Kadokura seeks to restore his memory and avenge the death of his girlfriend, Sora, whose life was taken from her during the tragedy known as “Gray Christmas.” With a deep, story-driven narrative and the opportunity to pilot, upgrade, and modify their simulacrum (mechs), players will take to the virtual battlefield in top-down battles against virus-infected simulacrum.

A Magical High School Girl

Scheduled for release later this summer on iOS and PC from illuCalab, A Magical High School Girl is an enchanting magic-crafting role playing game with real time battles. Limited only by the imagination and creativity of the player, craft and create magical spells using almost any word or word combination to fend off a wide range of spirits, monsters, and fiends. Specific keywords will determine the power, element and various other parameters of the spell. Get crafty!

SakuSaku

Coming soon to Steam from Palette is SakuSaku. A tale about Yuma, a second-year student at Mihaya Academy who has heard more than a lifetime’s worth of gossip, romance, and love-related troubles. And as much as Yuma would like to roll his eyes and toss his head back in exasperation, he has no one to blame but himself. By offering up a listening ear and providing personal advice to the girls in his school his interest in love has reached an all-time low. However, could a mysterious girl who believes in the power of love, but has actually never been able to fall in love, get Yuma’s heart beating once again?

Shining Song Starnova

Shining Song Starnova from Love in Space is an idol-themed visual novel featuring energetic anime-style illustrations, a dramatic story about the trials of the entertainment industry, and songs and vocals from Japanese voice talents MI-KO (vocalist, MOSAIC.WAV) and himari (Chocola, NEKOPARA), among others.
Players will assume the role of Mr. Producer, who takes seven imperfect talents under his wing at Shining Productions. When the girls debut as the idol group STARNOVA, the task of lifting these starlets to fame rests solely on the shoulders of Mr. Producer. As they face various trials and hardships, the aspiring idols soon discover that the industry is nowhere near as perfect as it is portrayed by media.

This is the story of STARNOVA’s trials, their laughs, and their tears, as the seven girls walk the thorny path to stardom…

A star’s death is only rebirth.

Boku to Koisuru Ponkotsu Akuma

From SMILE, featuring the vibrant and lovable artwork of Sayori, the creator of everyone’s favorite catgirl comedy series, NEKOPARA, comes the hilarious nukige tale, Boku to Koisuru Ponkotsu Akuma.

After being kicked out and mistakenly placed into the school’s special dormitory overrun by ponkotsu, or seemingly useless demons, Ren is by default assigned the task of supervising and watching over this group of misfits. But will Ren be able to survive his new job as teacher and mediator for these ponkotsu demons, or will he find himself succumbing to their every beck and call? Find out in Boku to Koisuru Ponkotsu Akuma, coming soon exclusively to Denpasoft.com.

Japanese School Life

Previously announced as Sekai Project’s first original IP, Japanese School Life will be developed and published in-house under the newly established brand, Code:jp. As a result of in-house development with newly added features including e-mote functionality, new and upgraded illustrations, in-game facts and tips to help players better understand Japanese life and culture, bilingual in-game text, the Japanese vocal talents of Takada Hatsumi as Suzuki Arisa and Taneda Risa as Honda Chiyoko, Sekai Project has decided to forgo plans for a crowdfunding campaign and will look to release Japanese School Life in October 2016.

Maggot baits, Dal Segno, and More Licensed by MangaGamer

Travis Bruno
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Maggot baits, Dal Segno, and More Licensed by MangaGamer

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Over the weekend at Anime Expo MangaGamer kept themselves extremely busy by announcing that they had acquired a number of new titles for release in English which also resulted in three brand new partners for the company. These PC titles range from cuddly romance games, to boys live titles, to otome games, and even something from ClockUp, the minds behind euphoria.

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The company has licensed their new partner Chuablesoft’s If You Love Me, Then Say So!, the boys love title from Mada Koubou Hadaka Shitsuji – Naked Butlers, the otome game from new partner Kalmia8 Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome, the spiritual successor to the Da Capo series, D.S. – Dal Segno –, and finally ClockUp’s Maggot baits.

You can check out trailers and descriptions for each of these games from MangaGamer below:

If You Love Me, Then Say So!:

“‘I love you.’––Three simple words that are always hard to say. When do you confess? Where? How? Everyone faces this worry, trying to gauge the proper time, but once you’re going steady, how do you keep it that way? If You Love Me, Then Say So! features an innovative event system with enormous freedom to choose how you spend your time—and when to take the plunge with the girl of your dreams. Is it better to confess early? To wait and see? Countless branching paths wait for you to make that agonizing decision.”

Hadaka Shitsuji – Naked Butlers:

“The singular vision of diaboical genius, Mito Togo—a game for people who love butlers, by someone who loves butlers. Mada Koubou’s debut title has earned itself cult-hit status with its handsome butlers, and its atypical and irreverent take on the BL genre.”

https://youtu.be/y857j8c9MsQ

Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome:

“When two handsome young men spot the perfect girl to be their first model and help make a name for themselves, they’re determined to go for broke and make her shine—but first they’ll have to get her out of her house! Can these two really give such an anti-social recluse the makeover she needs to be a star? Or will she be the one to change them in this off-beat romantic comedy?”

Dal Segno:

“We have something new from Circus––their latest game, and something of a spiritual successor to the Da Capo series, D.S. –Dal Segno-! Happiness. Paradise. Words that mean as many different things as there are people in this earth. What does happiness mean to you? What shape does your paradise take?”

https://youtu.be/Y7y6oatrstY

Maggot Baits:

“Once born into this world, you must live. That is the single truth that exists for all life in the beginning. Mentors and models to follow, the will to do good and abhor evil—are all a fiction we learn later, a fiction known as “ideology”. Living this fiction is what makes us human. But do we need such ideology to be human, as we do our limbs? Does that make those who lose or abandon such ideology less than human—does it make them limbless maggots? If so, then this tale is devoid of humans—it is a tale of maggots. Crawling to survive, like the maggots we are.”

The Idolmaster: Platinum Stars’ Mami Futami Introduction Trailer Released

Travis Bruno
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0
The Idolmaster: Platinum Stars’ Mami Futami Introduction Trailer Released

Bandai Namco is continuing with their series of character introduction videos for the thirteen idols that will be appearing in The Idolmaster: Platinum Stars. So far we have seen introduction trailers for Takane Shijou, Chihaya Kisaragi, Yayoi Takatsuki, Haruka Amami, and Iori Minase. This time around the girl being introduced is one half of the Futami twins, Mami Futami.

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You can check out the highlight trailer for Mami below where a bit of dialogue and a bit of a performance is shown off and as for the game itself, The Idolmaster: Platinum Stars is currently set to be released in Japan on July 28th as a PlayStation 4 exclusive.

World End Economica Announced for PS4 and PS Vita in 2017

Travis Bruno
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0
World End Economica Announced for PS4 and PS Vita in 2017

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Sekai Project has announced that they are planning on bringing World End Economica to the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita in 2017. Teaming up with Limited Run Games, the title will be available both physically and digitally upon release and will include all three chapters of the game compiled into one game. For those who never followed the game, World End Economica is written by Spice and Wolf writer Isuna Hasekura and was developed by Spicy Tails.

World End Economica is set in the far future on the moon, a mere 16 years after humans have begun to colonize it, where a young boy named Haru has been chasing his wildest dream – a dream to stand where no man has stood before. But in order to do so he needs capital, a ludicrous amount of capital and what better place to seek out and raise that capital than the stock market? There are two key rules to the stock market however, the first being to never take a loss and the second to never forget the first rule. Those who manage to follow these two rules can obtain enourmous wealth…

NEXON and Nat Games Launch Heroes of Incredible Tales (HIT) The Unreal Engine 4 Powered Action RPG on Mobile Devices Worldwide

Philip Federico
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0

NEXON and Nat Games Launch Heroes of Incredible Tales (HIT) The Unreal Engine 4 Powered Action RPG on Mobile Devices Worldwide

TERA and Lineage II Lead Designer Brings AAA Single and Multiplayer Gameplay Experience to Mobile in the Studio’s Debut Title

Berlin, Germany – July 7, 2016 – Nexon and NAT Games announced that Heroes of Incredible Tales (HIT), the HD hack-and-slash RPG powered by Unreal Engine 4, is now available worldwide on the App Store for iPhone and iPad and on Google Play for Android devices. HIT is the debut mobile title from NAT Games, founded by Yong-Hyun Park, the renowned lead designer behind popular massively multiplayer online role playing games Lineage II and TERA. With an expansive single player campaign, cooperative and competitive online multiplayer and a variety of game modes, HIT offers a wealth of content for all types of players. Reaching the number one Top Grossing Google Play position in Korea, HIT broke records to become the fastest growing game with over 5 million downloads to date. The hotly anticipated game also garnered almost 400,000 pre-registrations, reaching the last stretch goal and rewarding all preregistered players with gems, premium weapon skins limited edition accessory sets available now.

“HIT weaves together elements from beloved action RPG and hack-and-slash titles to create a mobile experience that feels both intuitive and boldly innovative,” said Lawrence Koh, General Manager at Nexon M. “Yong-Hyun Park and the NAT Games team have come out swinging with their debut game, maximizing the potential of the game’s powerful engine to put HIT in a rare group of AAA, console-caliber mobile titles.”

Fast action is at HIT’s core where players must keep enemies at bay by utilizing high-speed combos, aerials, throws, counters, dodges, ultimate specials, juggles and more. The expansive skill tree provides the ability to customize the style of combat and evolve powers to take on the toughest of foes. A variety of gear including weapons, armor, and other rare loot that can be collected in sets encourages exploration and experimentation in search of the ultimate combo of gear. HIT offers four playable characters from the outset, each with unique strengths, abilities and play styles. The two-handed greatsword-wielding Hugo mows through enemies, while Anika pairs her deadly scythe with agile acrobatics. Lucas wields fearsome dual swords while Kiki uses her magical staff to control the elements and bend nature to her will.

“With HIT, we set out to raise the bar of core gaming standards and redefine player expectations on these powerful mobile devices,” said Yong-Hyun Park, CEO of NAT Games. “With the game’s visceral HD graphics, living 3D environments and fast and fun combat, we’re confident that console and PC players around the world will feel right at home when they get their hands on HIT.”

Along with an engrossing fantastical storyline in the Adventure mode, HIT is packed with additional single player modes including Tower Trials horde mode and the Daily Dungeon challenge. HIT is true to its MMORPG roots, offering players an abundance of real-time multiplayer content for both cooperative and competitive play with head-to-head combat in The Arena, 3v3 PvP arenas, cooperative Raid Mode and all out mayhem in Guild War.

HIT utilizes Samsung’s cutting-edge Vulkan technology which offers unprecedented graphical fidelity and color depth for a mobile title. On modern mobile devices, HIT’s graphical effects include particles, smoke, fire, reflections, and explosions rendered at a smooth and consistent frame rate for an experience on par with console and PCs.

Heroes of Incredible Tales (HIT) is available now as a free download on the App Store for iPhone and iPad and Google Play for Android devices.

The trailer and other HIT videos can be viewed on YouTube.

For more information including character details, trailers, screenshots, concept art, upcoming events and more, visit the game’s official website: hitmobile.nexon.com

Stay up to date on the latest HIT news by liking the game on Facebook and following HIT onTwitter.

About NEXON Co., Ltd. http://company.nexon.co.jp/

NEXON Co., Ltd. (“Nexon”) (3659.TO) is a worldwide leader in free-to-play online and mobile games. Founded in Korea in 1994, Nexon developed one of the world’s first graphics-based massively multiplayer online games. Nexon also pioneered the concept of microtransactions and the free-to-play business model, setting a new standard in which play is free, and users have the option to purchase in-game items to enhance their experience. Nexon currently services nearly 100 titles in more than 190 countries. The Company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and its shares are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

About NAT Games

NAT Games has specialized in quality mobile roleplaying experiences since it was founded in 2013 by experienced RPG developers, including Park Yong-Hyun, famous for his work on the hit massively multiplayer role playing games Lineage II and TERA. NAT Games’ first mobile title HIT is a fully-3D mobile action RPG. HIT was launched in Korea on November 18, 2015. It became the top selling game in both Google Play and App Store the following day.

For more about NAT Games, visit http://www.natgames.co.kr/

Flat Earth Games announces post-apocalyptic truck driving game Unstoppable, OUT NOW for iOS

Philip Federico
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0

Flat Earth Games announces post-apocalyptic truck driving game Unstoppable, OUT NOW for iOS

Destroy for cash! Upgrade your rig! Drive like hell…

Unstoppable is a post-apocalyptic truck driving game for iOS where your goal is absolute mayhem. You must survive long enough to see the other side of a Scandinavian gauntlet with your cargo and truck intact. But of course, it’s never that simple. Lining up to stop you are marauders brandishing all kinds of deadly weapons and hell-bent on taking you out.

If they want to stand a chance of reaching their destination, players must complete contracts and crush marauders to earn cash, then bolt on every menacing weapon they can to turn their truck into a ‘weaponized big rig’.*

“I’m terrified of fast moving vehicles,” said lead developer Mathew Purchase. “I’m garbage at driving, even on quiet roads. Unstoppable is an extension of this fear combined with my love of high impact action. It’s an attempt at recreating that terrifying adrenaline rush that surges from hurtling down a highway and turning it into a fantasy riddled with explosions, machine guns and buzzsaws.”

Check out the Official Launch Trailer here!

Unstoppable features:

  • Brutal difficulty with marauders who’ll ram, bash and shoot you with all kinds of weapons.
  • A fully-upgradeable truck – increase speed, fuel and armour, customise the look and more!
  • An insane amount of weapons to bolt onto your rig: spikes, shotguns, flamethrowers, grenade launchers, mounted circular saws, a magnet gun and much much more!
  • No two games ever the same. Procedurally generated roads and enemies to keep you driving for hours.
  • Cash for damage – cause as much destruction as you can to be able to afford the baddest weapons.
  • No ads!
  • No in-app purchases!
  • Just hardcore post-apocalyptic truck driving.

Unstoppable is available for $USD2.99 from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at the Store Page here!
Reply to this email for a review copy.

Developer: Anchorite
Publisher: Flat Earth Games
Platforms: iPhone/iPad
Price: Tier 3 (USD$2.99/AUD$4.49)
Release Date: 7 July 2016
Web Site: www.unstoppablegame.com
Flat Earth Games Press Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cso2ncxwqketsto/AAAjpRZsOV_jY_TdVMxOVdGJa?dl=0

* Quote from Polygon, 19th April 2016

About Us

We started Flat Earth in early 2012 in Sydney, Australia. Following the release of our first game TownCraft (PC/Mac/iOS), we released the top-down cyberpunk hitman game Metrocide (PC/Mac), then Super Death Fortress (iOS) and its Halloween sister game Super UNDEAD Fortress. TownCraft was a bit of a local success, reaching #2 in the paid app charts in Australia, and we still continue to create original games for various platforms which aim squarely at bringing their love of 90s gaming into modern titles. We’re also working on Objects in Space: it’s our biggest passion project ever, and we’re pouring everything we’ve got into making it the best we can!

UBISOFT® CHALLENGES GAMERS TO GET THE FULL GAME FOR FREE BY COMPLETING THE DEMO FOR TRIALS® OF THE BLOOD DRAGON ON WINDOWS PC

Philip Federico
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0

UBISOFT® CHALLENGES GAMERS TO GET THE FULL GAME FOR FREE BY COMPLETING THE DEMO FOR TRIALS® OF THE BLOOD DRAGON ON WINDOWS PC

 

UBISOFT, SYDNEY — July 7, 2016 — Ubisoft has announced an opportunity for gamers to win their own copy of Trials® of the Blood Dragon on Windows PC. On July 22nd, players can jump into the madness by downloading a free demo version of the full game from Uplay®, and those who complete the demo with 15 faults or less, are rewarded with the full game for free. Players can also compete against each other on a global leaderboard to see who can achieve the fewest number of faults.

 

In Trials of the Blood Dragon, players will journey through 30 missions spanning seven different worlds, using a range of gravity-defying vehicles, weapons and tools, such as bikes, jetpacks, plasma rifles, CD launchers and grappling hooks, to get over and through anything they need to.

Additionally, players will be able to race against each other on asynchronous multiplayer leaderboards for an extra competitive edge. Over the course of the game, players can complete the experience by unlocking the game’s soundtrack, composed by Power Glove.

Trials of the Blood Dragon, the follow-up to the successful Trials series, is available for download worldwide on Xbox One, PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Windows PC.

For more information about Trials of the Blood Dragon, please visit www.trialsoftheblooddragon.com, follow twitter.com/trialsgames or facebook.com/trials.official and join the conversation by using hashtag #TrialsGames.

About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading creator, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and services, with a rich portfolio of world-renowned brands, including Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Watch_Dogs, Tom Clancy’s video game series, Rayman and Far Cry. The teams throughout Ubisoft’s worldwide network of studios and business offices are committed to delivering original and memorable gaming experiences across all popular platforms, including consoles, mobile phones, tablets and PCs. For the 2015–16 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of €1,394 million. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.

About RedLynx

RedLynx, a Ubisoft studio, is located in Finland and is best known for its award-winning and best-selling physics-based racing series, Trials. Previous installments, such as Trials Evolution and Trials Fusion, amazed the fans with innovative gameplay and new types of social features. In 2014, Trials Frontier brought the series to mobile platforms for the first time, having resulted in over 40 million downloads since launch. The studio continues to put its energy into exciting the fans of the Trials franchise and expanding its portfolio of groundbreaking titles on all platforms.

© 2016 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. Trials is a trademark of RedLynx in the US and/or other countries. RedLynx is a Ubisoft Entertainment company.

Xbox’s Major Nelson to Provide PAX Australia 2016 Keynote

Philip Federico
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0

Xbox’s Major Nelson to Provide PAX Australia 2016 Keynote

MELBOURNE – 7 July 2016 – Industry icon Major Nelson (aka Larry Hyrb) will deliver the opening keynote at PAX Australia 2016.

An Emmy Award-winning Director of Programming for Xbox Live, Larry has been instrumental in the development of Xbox platforms and Xbox LIVE since 2003. He runs the long running and popular weekly podcast “Major Nelson Radio,” hosts and handles interviews for many major gaming events and launches, and provides an inside look at operations at Microsoft’s Xbox division.

The PAX series of shows (West, East, South and Australia) represent some of the largest gaming festivals in the world, with each event drawing tens of thousands of attendees. Connecting the world’s leading video and tabletop game makers with their most avid and influential fans, the shows also focus on the cultural aspects of gaming with panels, concerts, tournaments and freeplay areas.

The 2016 show is expected to be the largest yet, as PAX Aus continues its exponential growth.

“As the embodiment of Xbox and Xbox Live, Major Nelson has seen it all,” said Jerry Holkins, co-founder, Penny Arcade. “I will be there with everyone else when the show kicks off, ready to absorb his wisdom.”

PAX Aus will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 4-6 November, 2016 and is organised by ReedPOP in conjunction with Penny Arcade

Badges for PAX Aus are still available and can be purchased online at paxaustralia.com.au/registration. Single day badges cost $60 AUD, and three day passes are $160.

Working journalists as well as YouTube and Twitch content creators who are interested in attending PAX Aus to create coverage of the event and exhibitors can register for a media pass here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1rZGri_zqF7V9fui1o4Eeib5blDKpXp55StdTTc1syD0/viewform

For further information, visit paxaustralia.com.au or follow PAX Australia updates via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

PAX

PAX or Penny Arcade Expo (http://www.paxsite.com) is a festival for gamers to celebrate gaming culture. First held in Seattle in 2004, PAX has nearly doubled in size each successive year, with PAX Prime 2014 selling out of tickets in a matter of minutes. Connecting the world’s leading game publishers with their most avid and influential fans, PAX expanded with a second show in Boston in 2010 and a third in San Antonio in 2015, making it the three largest gaming shows in North America. The first international PAX was held in Melbourne, Australia in 2013.

PENNY ARCADE

Penny Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com) is a web comic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. With over 3.5 million readers, it is the most popular and longest running gaming web comic online. Penny Arcade is also responsible for the Child’s Play Charity, the Penny Arcade gaming expos (PAX) in Seattle, Boston, San Antonio and Melbourne, multiple videogames based on the brand, and multiple online video series.

REEDPOP

ReedPOP (http://www.reedpop.com) is the largest producer of pop culture events in the world, a full-service boutique team that has the backing and muscle of a major international events organization. ReedPOP runs events such as New York Comic Con, Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, Star Wars Celebration, Oz Comic-Con, Paris Comic Con, PAX Prime, PAX East, PAX South, Comic Con India, and more.

7 Days to Die Review

Travis Bruno
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0
7 Days to Die Review

7-days-to-die-box-art

7 Days to Die

Developer: The Fun Pimps
Publisher: Telltale Games
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: June 28, 2016
Price: $29.99 USD – Available Here $49.95 AUD – Available Here

Overview

Creating an open world game where players must survive against the harsh world that they are placed in has become a very popular genre in recent years. Many of these games implement a crafting system of sorts as well as enemies that will be constantly threatening their lives. 7 Days to Die has been in early access for PC since late 2013 but now that the title has been released on consoles, is it worth checking out?

Gameplay

Before beginning the game players will have the option of selecting between the “campaign” map of Navezgane or in a randomly generated map. The only difference here is that the Navezgane map is always the same as there is no actual story present in this game in any form. Regardless of what option you choose, players will be started with a brief tutorial disguised as a message from a non-existent survivor that introduces the basic mechanics in the game such as harvesting ingredients, crafting items, securing a base, and laying down a place to sleep.

7-days-to-die-screenshot- (1)

It is then entirely up to players as to what they want to do next as they come face to face with the various obstacles that stand in the way of their survival. While the zombies, special zombies, zombified animals, and threatening wasps all pose a danger to your well-being, so do the basic requirements of living. I’m speaking of course about eating, drinking, and staying warm all while trying to avoid dying of some horrible disease you might have caught thanks to desperately drinking dirty water or eating rotten food.

You see, players will have to consistently monitor their hunger and hydration levels and while being full to a certain point does slowly recover health, falling into dangerous levels of hunger and hydration will begin to kill the player. This is especially true when it comes to the temperature gauge as players will need to dress warmly by examining clothing insulation when navigating through cold conditions or if they find themselves wet in the middle of the night. The opposite can come into play as well since navigating a desert or burned forest will easily cause the player to overheat and suffer from heatstroke, causing fast dehydration and loss of health if they don’t strip down or aren’t wearing items to keep themselves cool.

7-days-to-die-screenshot- (2)

Clothing can be found from various objects and even trash piles in the game but players can opt to simply craft clothing from plants if they are desperate though most of the fancier crafting recipes require the player to find books before unlocking the recipe. Players will always need to be on the lookout for things that they need to survive and ingredients that they will need to craft items for protection or that will help them out in the long run. Practically everything in the game can be broken down and used for ingredients and even mundane items can be scrapped for lead, iron, and brass.

That being said, as you advance and eventually unlock the ability to smelt metals and craft certain tools, players will find that using the proper tools to break down items, such as a wrench with a damaged car, will reward the player with bonus items rather than simply smacking it with an axe. This type of scavenging for survival also plays a major role in how players survive from hunger and thirst as hunting animals and cooking meat properly while also making sure that you always have something to drink plays a vital role in survival and with only so much inventory space at any given moment, there will be plenty of times that players might need to leave something good behind simply to ensure that they will have more water or risk dehydration in an effort to obtain something you need.

7-days-to-die-screenshot- (3)

Thanks to the fact that, at least in normal settings, night time turns most normal shuffling zombies into running monstrosities, players will regularly need to find shelter to hide from the undead. Players can opt to build up a hut of their very own through a wide range of customization options that eventually allow for better defense or simply set themselves up in a ramshackle house and work on reinforcing any damage it might have already suffered by boarding up windows and reinforcing doors. It is worth noting that thanks to the fact that 7 Days to Die relies on a grid based building style, that real customization isn’t entirely possible and trying to craft something elaborate is generally way more of a hassle than it ever should be thanks to iffy placement systems and laggy menu interfaces though preparing various traps such as spike pits and the like still work rather well.

It is inevitable that players will run into zombies that they simply have to eliminate in order to survive. Whether it is a zombie blocking a path or something that has stumbled upon your house and is persistently trying to break down a wall, they must be dealt with. While many zombie games put a lot of effort into making sure the combat system is tightly handled to make sure that players can stand a chance, 7 Days to Die is almost the exact opposite of that for a few reasons.

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When facing off against zombies players can make use of either long range weaponry such as guns, though these are limited and can draw more undead to the area, or a bow and arrow set or resort to melee. The problem with almost every single one of these options comes down to the fact that there is no impact to anything players do in combat and thanks to floaty controls and terrible frame rate, attempting to take down even a single zombie in melee combat is a risky move.

Arrows shot from a bow immediately disappear when they hit any object, the basic wooden club feels the same as wielding a sledgehammer in melee combat with only the chainsaw or auger providing any significant impact but considering the game has a terrible habit of dropping to impressive zero frame freezes for a couple of seconds, a zombie you may have had the drop on has likely already stunned you and is currently draining your health after zipping forward when the game resumes. With this style of combat focusing solely on the unresponsive controls and terrible frame rate, players will fear taking on more than one zombie for more reasons than simply being overrun.

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This constant freezing and lag persists throughout every aspect of the game even while walking through a barren field, but thankfully the actual multiplayer aspect of the game isn’t affected by the lag. Sure players will still encounter slowdown, but the actual multiplayer connection when playing with friends or even dropping into a random world and trying to survive with other hostile players makes for a great time, with some of the best moments happening when trying to survive a night when a horde of zombies comes knocking while you and two of your friends try to hold them off.

7 Days to Die is a customizable experience in more than just crafting, as every time the player goes to enter a world they will have the option to adjust a variety of parameters. This includes how long daytime lasts, the frequency of supply drops, whether zombies run at all, how much loot is dropped when killed, and even the amount of loot you can find in objects. This does allow for players to help get a feel for the game and then steadily ramp up the difficulty simply by returning back to the main menu and increasing the zombie spawn rate or even turn it off entirely and create a game that is about surviving a dilapidated world with nothing around.

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This brings us to another problem with 7 Days to Die’s design. While playing with others and surviving for a certain amount of time on your own is quite a fun experience, the game lacks any real drive outside of simply living. Players are given no incentives to gather certain materials other than being able to build mansions and even the game itself mentions how players can craft furniture but that it won’t really provide anything and is a waste. This lack of direction does lead to a game that is deprived of any end-game mechanics since even the designing aspects of crafting a mansion to spite the undead are fairly standard with what is currently offered.

Visuals & Audio

I mentioned earlier that 7 Days to Die suffered from numerous moments of extreme frame drops to the point that when the game isn’t slowing down immensely it flat out freezes for a couple of seconds and looking at the game’s presentation, there really is no excuse for this issue. The worlds generated in this game are incredibly ugly and almost completely lifeless. The map is split into different biomes ranging from snowy areas and desert areas to plains and even forests and forests that have been burned. The various character models that players can choose from and the zombie models are incredibly mundane looking and while this isn’t too much of an actual detriment to the game, the fact that it still suffers from such slowdown and freezes is laughable.

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As far as the game’s sounds are concerned, the various zombie noises and small noise notifications to let players know when they have been spotted work well enough but anytime that it starts to rain in the game be prepared for a lot of annoying repetitive thunder. No matter what happens, whether it is entering the in-game menu or pausing the game, the game will repeat a loud crashing thunder sound to the point that simply muting the game and being caught off guard by a zombie is preferable.

Overall

7 Days to Die is a game that borrows a lot of its mechanics from similar games and for the most part it works well enough to deliver a satisfying survival experience based on crafting and scavenging. Unfortunately it never moves beyond that point. While the real-time menu systems do raise the tension of crafting in a hurry and the difficulty can be ramped up to offer a challenge, the boring worlds, harsh technical problems, and unsatisfying combat system drag down the experience to the point that you’ll be fighting the game’s issues more than the zombies.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Purino Party Review

Travis Bruno
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Purino Party Review

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Purino Party

Developer: Frontwing
Publisher: Frontwing
Platform: PC
Release Date: June 22, 2016
Price: $11.99 USD – Available Here

Overview

While many of the visual novels that are released in English today are simply text based games that players read through and make choices, there have been many that involve everything from strategy-RPG battles, formation battles, and even those that involve puzzle solving. Frontwing, best known for their Grisaia series, has decided to dabble a bit with the latter category by releasing a tile matching game called Purino Party.  With this being the company’s first attempt at releasing their own English game in the West, is it worth your time?

Story

Upon arriving at a town to do some sightseeing, the player (who is never given a name) is shocked to see a number of un-named girls flock to him. It isn’t long before he is approached by Kei Atorizuka who informs him that this town and its residents all admire those who excel at puzzle gaming above all else. In fact, those who are so skilled at solving puzzles can even gather together a harem of girls with little trouble.

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Kei then invites the player to stay at the ‘Dream House’ dorm where a number of girls are currently staying in an effort to researching their favorite hobbies. She states that these girls are all working hard to shine like diamonds and that with your help, they might be able to reach their full potential and the best way to do that is to interact with each of them through story events.

After this brief introduction players will then be able to choose from the four girls in the house and then every time they complete a puzzle they will advance to the next story stage with said girl. Unfortunately while the four girls that players are introduced to at the start all have their own charms, the story is less than praiseworthy. I say this because while each girl is given five different story events, the choices players make during these events have no role in actually affecting how things will play out nor are any of these girls’ stories developed in any real manner.

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Of the first four girls, one is addicted to porn, another is searching for someone to fill her older brother complex, the third girl is suffering from extreme shyness, while the last often has delusions that might cause trouble for others if the protagonist wasn’t there to help. Because of the nature of these girls’ hobbies, only half really show any form of development before the story comes to a close in a harem style ending.

Of course, once you complete the first house players will move into ‘Dream Manor’ where four more girls are staying, only this time around they are different kinds of artists who are attempting to reach their dreams. The girls this time around are a bit more down to earth which is a bit odd considering they are artists but thankfully this does allow for the characters to develop in a better manner.

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You see, one such girl is working hard to become a singer, another is a lackadaisical painter who spends her time bathing or eating gummies, while another is a writer of “sensual” novels who happens to be in a rut, and the final girl is an artist with a horrifying style trying to become better.

The second half of the game delivers more realized character interactions and a feeling of progression in some of the girls’ storylines but there is one problem that persists throughout the entire game and it is mostly the fact that while all of the storyline content in the game and these girls’ personalities have been crafted from scratch, they are all taken from two of Frontwing’s past games.

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This means that some of the discussions simply revolve around an eventual CG that players will unlock after a story event and while I will admit that Frontwing’s writers have managed to write Purino Party’s interactions in a manner that don’t seem too out of place given this circumstance, it feels like there could have been a lot more on offer here for these girls as well as a more satisfying conclusion to some of their individual stories if they had been handled separately.

Gameplay

Once you are past the initial introduction to the game players will be presented with a selection page featuring the four girls that they can select between at any given time. These girls all have five hearts under their names and this represents how far along in their storylines you currently are. When selecting one of the girls you will immediately be taken to the puzzle screen where a match panel game must be played before the actual story will continue.

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Now, while the game has since been patched to give a better description of the game mechanics, Purino Party is a bit different from your standard match 3 panel game but can easily be mistaken as a standard match game. Instead of simply being able to move a panel up or down or only one space at a time or focusing on only altering the board slightly with each move this game puts a twist on things by allowing players to move any piece they want all around the board. This means that the best way to earn points is to grab one of the four colored blocks and then slide it around in a manner that will allow other blocks to create three or more lined matches before dropping your block where you want to.

There are a few caveats to this method of matching however as players are only given a limited amount of time to hold onto a piece and any time you pick a piece, even by accident, it counts as a turn. The main challenge in Purino Party comes from the fact that players are tasked with reaching a certain point threshold with a small number of turns and, in later stages, a time limit that can be as small as seven seconds to choose what action to take next. This is alleviated a bit by the ability to match clock icons to earn both points and refill the timer as well as hearts that generate a “Fever” mode that doubles the points of all matches in one turn.

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Unfortunately a lot of a player’s success in Purino Party is determined from the board that you are given at the start of the round. While correct dialogue choices in the story segments do make some puzzles easier, later levels are often nearly impossible without luck or opting to lower the game’s difficulty. This is due to the fact that even large matches with a girl’s preferred block generally generate a small number of points and the fact that skulls, that when matched remove a turn, are extremely prominent to the point you may end up getting unlucky enough to have skulls drop and match immediately and with no way to earn additional moves, this can put a quick end to a round.

This isn’t too much of an issue if you prefer a challenge but it can be rather frustrating. That being said, it also doesn’t hinder the player from continuing the story in any form as every time the difficulty is lowered the required points to clear a stage becomes smaller, meaning that if you simply want to see what will happen next without banging your head against a difficult puzzle it is possible to do so.

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It is unfortunate however that outside of completing the stages and listening to each girls’ story, there really are no other mechanics in Purino Party to speak of. Once you complete the game you can view all unlocked CGs in a gallery or retrying the game to see if you can manage without lowering the difficulty.

Visuals & Audio

As mentioned earlier, those who are familiar or decide to look into Frontwing’s past works will recognize that Purino Party takes girls from 2012’s Pure Girl and 2014’s Innocent Girl. This fact isn’t really hidden from players though as, in the CG gallery, the girls from each dorm are separated into Teams from both titles. This does mean however that, as mentioned before, the various interactions are designed to lead players to a beach, discuss a cosplay outfit, or some other interaction that is then displayed in the form of a CG from these original games.

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The artwork is still incredible well handled in this game despite being pulled from earlier titles as Frontwing’s artists prove to be fairly timeless with their designs. The characters are portrayed in an incredibly cute manner with a variety of facial expressions and poses as they react to the discussions that are being held and the CGs are nicely drawn. It is worth noting that with the free 18+ patch implemented that many of these CGs are pulled back out a bit from their original zoomed-in presentation allowing players a full look at the CGs as they were meant to be portrayed, including a few sex scenes though it is worth noting that any sex scenes do have mosaics placed over the characters’ genitals.

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Although the CGs and character art may be taken from earlier titles, Purnio Party’s voice work has been recorded to completely fit the story that is being told in the game and the girls are all voiced extremely well here, though it is worth noting that their constant cheering during the puzzle game can be a little bit annoying at times as a few characters only have one or two pieces of dialogue in this mode that they will shout out repeatedly.

Overall

Purino Party brings something a bit different to the tile-matching puzzle genre by allowing players the option to slide pieces around freely but other than that it doesn’t really offer much variety. The storyline with each of the girls is fairly interesting but thanks to the linear nature and limited style of the game,  only a few of their individual storylines develop in any meaningful manner. This means that while the artwork might be a big bonus for fans of Frontwing’s style, Purino Party results in only being a serviceable puzzle game with fun characters that never realize their potential.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

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