LONDON – 2 April 2024 –Forty-Niner, the open-world Wild West survival game with terrain destruction and settlement building developed and published by VowelA, sets out to explore the great outdoors on PC via Steam in early 2025, with a playable demo coming later this year. A PlayStation 5 version will follow the PC launch.
Embark on a grand expedition set during the 1849 Gold Rush. Survival meets sandbox in a lively, ever-changing world, delivering a one-of-a-kind Western experience. Experience freedom as a pioneer, setting out into a massive world to strike it rich mining, build a homestead, or adventure through dense wilderness, alone or with friends in online multiplayer.
Play as either a member of the Cowboy or Native American factions, each with specialized subclasses like farmers, sheriffs, chiefs, and more. Unlock and master a variety of skills and carve out a life in the procedural open world. Mine through destructible terrain to tap into the earth’s riches, hunt wild game for food and leather, or become a tycoon of commerce by trading with NPCs in settlements.
Establish a place to call home with deep, modular building mechanics. Collect resources and materials to fortify a base of operations and craft new weapons, gear, and tools between adventures and quests. Prepare for anything and everything in a dynamic and ever-changing world, including bandit attacks, apex predators, and showdowns with Colt-wielding gunslingers.
Forty-Niner’s emphasis on freedom encourages exploration. Traverse expansive biomes like lush forests, muddy swamplands, or frigid ice on foot or horseback, each with different inhabitants and potential resources. Pan for gold in shallow streams, establish a farm in a wind-swept meadow, or clear-cut through a forest in hopes of bringing the trains to the frontier – each action leaves a lasting mark on the game world.
“As massive fans of open-world survival and crafting games, we’re staking our claim in the genre today with Forty-Niner,” said Stanislav Kryvenko, CEO of VowelA Games. “The Wild West setting provides a wealth of unique elements that really shine in a survival game, and we’re looking forward to letting players experience life on the frontier with our playable demo later this year!”
Forty-Niner will launch on PC via Steam Early Access in early 2025 with English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin Chinese-language support. A PlayStation 5 version is planned following the PC launch. For more information, visit its official website, follow @fortyninergame on Twitter/X, join the official Discord server, and wishlist it now!
About VowelA
VowelA is a London-based studio with talent located all around the world. The studio contains veterans in the survival genre aimed at releasing their first game set in The Wild West. VowelA commits to expanding the business and continuing to push the boundaries of technology and creativity, delivering everlasting joy to all who play.
A new military action game will help War Thunder players get ready for the future
Gaijin Entertainment announces the start of beta testing of the new realistic military simulation game called Mad Thunder. According to UN experts, a global cataclysm is inevitable in the coming years, and almost all of humanity will die. We would like to help our players get ready for the future after the disaster. Unlike other military games, Mad Thunder won’t feature any “tech trees” of centralized countries or battles of modern high-tech armies. Real future wars will be fought by bands of desert warriors looking for loot and glory, and they’ll build and upgrade their military vehicles using whatever scraps available.
In the near future those who can, will form gangs, and those left behind will try to survive alone. In both cases, there is only one way to survive a raid into the wasteland: grab all available resources, bring down your competitors and ride off into the sunset before the entire location is destroyed by a huge sandstorm. Although the civilization we are familiar with will cease to exist in the near future, some fragments of it will still survive – i.e. electronic components, car parts, pieces of armor and simple scrap metal, which can be used to build new military vehicles.
The Mad Thunder beta test has already started and will last until April 22, and anyone can sow death and destruction directly from the War Thunder game client. After the event ends, the most successful raiders will have a set of unique decals picturing a girl from the future the event portrays. Players will be able to decorate their tanks in War Thunder with those decals and have fun in the last days before the end of the world.
About Gaijin Entertainment
Gaijin Entertainment is the developer and publisher of the online games War Thunder, Crossout, Enlisted, CRSED: F.O.A.D. and Star Conflict as well as other PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, iOS and Android titles across several genres. The company’s diverse portfolio has received a range of mass media and game industry awards including such as Gamescom Award and many more. Official website: http://gaijinent.com/
Join the festivities on Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, Tower of God: New World, Seven Knights 2 and Seven Knights Idle Adventure
LOS ANGELES – April 1, 2024 – Netmarble, a leading developer and publisher of high-quality mobile games, has launched several new updates for its beloved titles in celebration of April Fools’ Day. Players can get into the spirit by participating in fun-filled events and content on Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, Tower of God: New World, Seven Knights 2 and Seven Knights Idle Adventure throughout the month of April. Read on for a preview of all the limited-time events.
Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds
Become A Golden Higgledy for April Fool’s! Event(available now through April 11): Players can enter in-game missions and obtain the Lucky Golden Higgledy Doll Clothes Costume Chest and the Lucky Golden Higgledy Doll Hat Costume Chest. This is the perfect opportunity to become the game’s mascot.
Tower of God: New World
Untrustworthy Door Event(available now through April 11): Encounter suspicious doors in this special event and select the correct one to progress to the next challenge. Players can receive SSR Soulstones as a reward, and the number of rewards will double when they reach the next round by choosing the right door. Additionally, players can check out the Forum and receive a coupon code for a SSR Teammate Selection Chest that can be redeemed until April 30.
Seven Knights 2
Treasure Age★ April! Mysterious Check-In Event(available now through April 11): During the event period, players can get ‘April! Mysterious Letters’ for checking-in the game and use them to obtain the ‘Mysterious Old Letters.’ These items can be crafted to create a Selected Rated Up Hero Summon Ticket and a Sealed Accessory Selection Box.
Seven Knights Idle Adventure
April Fools’ Day Special Challenger Pass (available now through April 7): This mischievous Challenger Pass will showcase the in-game characters drawn by developers of Seven Knights Idle Adventure during the event period. Additionally, the game’s Forum page and in-game banners will feature developer-drawn imagery on April Fools’ Day. Stay tuned for more April Fools’-themed content from the Forum, including another event players can enter.
More information on Netmarble’s games can be found on the official website and individual game sites:
About Netmarble Corporation Established in Korea in 2000, Netmarble Corporation is a leading developer and publisher of top-grossing mobile games worldwide. Through powerful franchises and collaborations with acclaimed IP holders, Netmarble strives to elevate the gaming experience and entertain audiences globally. As a parent company of Kabam and SpinX Games, and a major shareholder of Jam City and HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment), Netmarble’s diverse portfolio includes Seven Knights Idle Adventure, Tower of God: New World, Lineage 2: Revolution, MARVEL Future Fight, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds and The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross. More information can be found at http://company.netmarble.com.
Because you demanded it, the true Double Dragons are headed to River City!
Valencia, Calif. – April 1, 2024 – Get ready for a double dose of action! Independent game studio WayForward is excited to announce that, due to popular demand, Bimmy and Jammy of the Double Dragon series are headed out of the lab and into River City as playable DLC characters in River City Girls 2! Fans have been talking about these hulking hunks ever since they appeared in Double Dragon Neon, and soon they will be available in River City Girls 2 across all platforms for which the game currently exists, including Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox, and PC via Steam.
“Ever since the Double Dragon and Kunio-kun universes collided in the first River City Girls, fans have been demanding more Double Dragon content,” enthuses WayForward Tyrannical Overlord Voldi Way. “We brought in Marian as a playable character, Billy and Jimmy as dojo masters, and Abobo as a boss, but what we keep hearing is ‘Where’s Bimmy? What about Bimmy?’ With this DLC, we can finally deliver.”
Both Bimmy and Jammy will be fully featured playable characters with unique melee attacks, throws, and special moves, including their trademark “ME BIMMY SMASH!” and the “Jammy Slammy.” The characters will also be thoroughly integrated into the game’s story mode (although, let’s be real, Bimmy and Jammy prolly never went to high school) and will feature newly recorded VO (well, grunts, anyway) by Scott Wolf and Mark Dacascos. Look for the River City Girls 2 new Bimmy and Jammy DLC this April! Fools beware!
About WayForward
Based in Valencia, California, WayForward was founded in 1990 and has remained an independent game developer for more than 30 years. It is home to many talented individuals including programmers, environment artists, animators, modelers, illustrators, audio wizards, designers, and team leaders. With new avenues for distributing games directly to fans, they are finally able to make the games they have always wanted to.
From April 1 at 6:00am PDT / 9:00am EDT until April 3 at 6:00am PDT / 9:00am EDT, players who log in to Dead by Daylight may discover that a little change has been made to the Trials they’re used to. Or rather, a big change. Like, really f****n’ big.
Welcome to My Little Oni.
Towering over Survivors like a bloodthirsty Kaiju is The Oni, who is now bigger and badder than ever. As for our Survivors, who are now up against a colossus, not only do they feel smaller—they are smaller. Don’t worry, they can still reach and work on the Generators to try and escape, but that’s pretty much the only thing they can reach.
Forget about Items. Forget about Chests. Forget about Basements. Forget about vaulting Pallets. Because, when there’s an apocalyptically large Oni chasing you, what’s a Pallet going to do anyway? For our tiny Survivors, too small and frail for Hooks, death only comes in the form of a Mori. Which given the size of the Oni, may or may not be much worse.
My Little Oni starts now and ends April 3 at 6:00am PDT / 9:00am EDT. Players will be able to choose to play My Little Oni or standard Dead by Daylight Trials from the game’s main menu.
Bigger Oni. Bigger screams. Bigger stakes.
About Dead by Daylight™
Created by Behaviour™ Interactive, Dead by Daylight is a multiplayer action horror game of hide and seek, set in a dark fantasy and drawing from all corners of horror, where each match is a different experience. Dead by Daylight boasts 60 million players both globally and across all platforms. On any given day, up to 2 million players step into The Fog, whether on PC, console, or mobile. Since its release in 2016, the game has become a place where cult classic horror survives and thrives, having welcomed legends from TV, movies, and video games. For more information, please visit deadbydaylight.com.
About Behaviour™ Interactive
Behaviour Interactive is the largest Canadian gaming studio, with more than 1,300 employees worldwide. Behaviour is best known for its flagship franchise, the multiplayer survival horror game Dead by Daylight™, which has entertained 60 million players across multiple platforms. The studio is currently expanding its portfolio of original IP with multiple projects, including the acclaimed building and raiding title Meet Your Maker. Behaviour has also established itself as one of the world’s leading providers of external development services. The company has partnered with many of the gaming industry’s leaders, including Microsoft, Sony, EA, Warner, Netflix, and Take-Two, among many others. Over 30 years, Behaviour has developed an unparalleled, award-winning culture. The company was named one of the Best Places to Work in Canada by GamesIndustry.biz, and has been recognized with Deloitte Canada’s Enterprise Fast 15 and Best Managed Company awards. Headquartered in Montreal, Behaviour has expanded its global presence with studios in Toronto (Behaviour Toronto), Seattle (Midwinter Entertainment), the United Kingdom (Behaviour UK – North and Behaviour UK – South) and the Netherlands (Behaviour Rotterdam). For more information, visit www.bhvr.com.
The South Park franchise has seen various video games released for it all the way up to a year after the entire series debuted in 1998 with an N64 FPS that is collecting dust in my old collection of N64 games in the garage. Developed by Acclaim, who released a myriad of different South Park games exploring different genres over the years, this was a rough start for the franchise’s video game history that was then given additional smaller releases later on. Thankfully Ubisoft managed to salvage that history with a pair of RPGs that managed to present a South Park story the way fans would expect while delivering some wonderful turn-based gameplay at the same time. Seven years later and now with a new publisher holding the license, THQ Nordic has taken South Park‘s latest game in a new direction by focusing on roguelike fighting and co-op multiplayer. The question is, is South Park: Snow Day! a step in the right direction or has the developer stepped in some “dark matter” instead?
Story
A blizzard unlike anything the small Colorado town has ever seen has struck South Park to the point that stores are buried under mountains of snow, people are freezing into blocks outside, and of course, toilet paper is now gold. With such a blizzard going on school has been canceled and Cartman, the Grand Wizard King, is bringing everyone together for a new game to play out in the snow, because even though it may seem like the apocalypse, a free day off of school means plenty of time to beat each other up only this time with a whole new set of rules since the New Kid keeps messing things up.
Yes, despite being from a new publisher, South Park: Snow Day! quickly makes reference to the fact that it takes place both after the Stick of Truth as well as the Fractured but Whole by mentioning that the New Kid in town always ends up getting OP and ruining their fun playtime, even outdoing their previous superhero abilities. Still, as the most important and only New Kid in town despite there being at least three other New Kids at any given time, the player is tasked by Cartman to take out the king of the Elves, Kyle, believing him to be the reason for the endless winter. From here begins a rather short storyline that revisits a number of familiar elements explored mostly from the Stick of Truth while also bringing in some long missing characters from the main South Park series.
Despite being only about four hours in length total with most of the cutscenes set at the start of a stage and at the end, usually right before and after a boss battle, it is clear that Matt and Trey had their hands in at least writing the storyline here as the series’ signature humor remains solid throughout. It is also nice that, as mentioned before, some long missing characters feel like they are given a bit of extra time in the spotlight here though we won’t spoil it here. It is also worth noting that while there are no additional story segments after the player completes the game, there are some variations to stages from time to time. This can include NPCs as well, as in one run through a stage saw the New Kid stealing a certain magazine from sixth graders only for the next time in the stage saw the New Kid gathering items for Jimbo and Ned to sell for toilet paper.
These variations are rather minor, and players do unlock an additional option for “Pact” challenges with a familiar character to be accepted for bonus rewards once players beat the game but this does little to actually encourage replaying through simply for variations of the story. It also feels that, despite featuring a long missing character, there is a surprisingly small amount of actual South Park characters in the game given the massive amount available, with even many of the extra kids not in the game in any way or given a single line.
Gameplay
South Park: Snow Day! eschews the familiar RPG formulae that fans have grown familiar with over the last couple of games in favor of a 3D action game where players will find themselves taking part in roguelike runs through stages. This means that players will pick their weapon and ranged weapon type, of which there are only three of each kind, and set off into a stage to fight through waves of enemies in various locations before facing off against a boss at the end. These bosses range from simply being damage sponges that players must beat down like normal to, a few later ones, having a couple of unique mechanics of their own to try and mix things up a bit. The only problem is, the actual combat itself rarely feels like it has any weight to it and the controls themselves feel clunky at best.
Players will be able to wield either dual daggers, a sword and shield, or a great axe and none of these melee weapons feel like they have much impact to them, even with appropriate upgrades and cards applied. This is especially true when it comes to facing off against bosses who will jump around freely without reacting to player damage at all, even if they are inflicting them with multiple status effects at the same time. As for navigation, players are given a fairly floaty jump to navigate the snowy town of South Park and it is often unclear where players can actually climb, including invisible walls being placed in various locations and a dodge that never feels great to use and has a cooldown timer. Combine this with the lack of a lock-on and combat can feel half-baked at best.
Alongside the melee and ranged weapons players will also have skills they can use that are “magical abilities” that they need to get pissed off to use. The more damage players deal, the more pissed off they become and these abilities range from being able to place a healing totem for allies, an escape fart, or even using a cat to “Cheese” the enemy and turn them to your side. The element that makes the game a roguelike is that the game makes use of a card based system for upgrades during a stage run. At the beginning of every stage players can select a card that will provide a boost to one of their weapons or special abilities as well as a “Bullshit” card. The Bullshit card is of limited use and can trigger powerful effects to happen, such as giving players complete invisibility, summoning massive fireballs onto the field, or even spawning a swarm of allies to take down your foes.
In-between nearly every arena players will encounter Timmy who will randomly generate cards that players can pick from to continue to upgrade their abilities. Players can use TP (toilet paper) obtained from containers and defeated enemies to reshuffle offered cards or boost the effect of an offered card. It is also worth noting that players can also find Henrietta in some locations where they can sacrifice cards for extra boosts to other abilities or simply obtain some free TP or DM (Dark Matter). These are two of the three currencies available in the game with the final being PP (Platinum Pieces) that can be used to obtain some truly generic cosmetics. PP is obtained through in-game achievements and completing aforementioned Pacts. The Dark Matter is the game’s more permanent upgrade material as it can be used to permanently boost the New Kid’s stats such as dealing more damage, starting stages with TP, increasing their health, etc. Players can refund anything they spend if they don’t like the way they build their character at no cost which is a nice touch and allows for some experimentation.
Now, it is also worth noting that South Park: Snow Day! was designed for multiplayer in mind, with the primary option being for players to matchmake and go into a stage as four New Kids each with their own skill set and chosen equipment. Unfortunately the game lacks any local co-op and does not currently offer crossplay between versions so players may find themselves needing to fight alongside bots instead. These bots will randomly emerge from snow-piles to fight alongside the player whenever a fight breaks out and neither AI is competent in a fight. Especially since the AI appears to never use skills or abilities on their own. Both enemy and ally AI will often get stuck in object geometry, fail to properly follow the player, or, in one complete run ending bug, saw an enemy get stuck within a building and since players cannot continue until all foes are defeated, it reset the run. Thankfully, the game will point out remaining enemies once they are nearly all defeated, meaning players can hunt down any enemies stuck somewhere, unless of course they are unreachable.
Alongside the standard stages it is worth noting that the game does offer a survival style horde mode at the moment through Henrietta. This simply places players against waves of enemies in a decent sized arena with players being able to gain a new card or boost from either Jimmy or Henrietta between waves. Considering the game’s loose combat system, the horde mode doesn’t feel the best especially with AI companions, but it is an effective way to grind for upgrades should players actually feel the need for them as many of the upgrade paths unlock some rather mediocre abilities.
Audio & Visuals
For a brief moment South Park: Snow Day! takes advantage of the signature South Park 2D art style by presenting players with a few minutes that look right out of an episode until the game makes the transition to 3D once Cartman steps outside. Seeing the town of South Park in 3D is a bit enjoyable, especially since there are countless references to various locations and episodes buried in the snow, but the actual aesthetic of a blizzard covered town is incredibly bland. The character models make the transition to 3D well enough though enemy variety is extremely poor and, as mentioned before, the character costume items are as simple as they come, including no ability to change the appearance of your weaponry. That being said, the card art being crayon drawn is a nice touch while Henrietta’s goth cards are similarly spooky.
Thankfully Matt and Trey have made sure that all of the characters sound exactly like fans should expect them to sound as longtime fans of the series. This includes even characters not voiced by the pair as their voice actors have all reprised their roles in the game. The background music is unfortunately rather generic without even taking advantage of many of South Park’s original tracks to work with.
Overall
South Park: Snow Day! tries to place itself as a sequel to previous games in an attempt to establish its world and that works fairly well from a story standpoint as, what story there is in this fairly short and cheaper than average game, is a perfect fit for any fan of South Park with some great comedy and attention paid to what characters are present in the game, but unfortunately it falls short nearly everywhere else. It may sound like South Park, but between clunky combat, poor AI, lack of crossplay, and poor incentives to replay through stages simply to take part in a generic gameplay loop to try and see a few extra variations here and there or grind out upgrades, South Park: Snow Day! harkens back to the days where Acclaim held the reigns and that is far from a compliment.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
What makes the game stand out? Is it the gameplay, the graphics, or a bit of both? One of my factors is immersion; the feeling of getting lost in the game, playing it every single moment, and getting lost in the world-building, the lore, and the engaging gameplay. Games with such a level of engagement are sporadic and they’re based on your subjective tastes. My picks when it comes to these criteria would be Deus Ex: Human Revolution, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut – just to name a few.
And I wrote before about Sony’s expansion to the PC market in the last few years and that was something that was nothing but beneficial for PC players. Previously console-locked exclusives are now free for all to enjoy with added benefit of PC engine tweaking and modding. Now, looking at Sony’s extensive catalog of former console exclusives, there were a few hits and misses once they arrived on PC but for the most part, they were good. Some were great and a few were incredibly engaging. One of those games was Horizon Zero Dawn. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has regressed technologically to post cavemen era and I a constant clash with animalistic robots. I liked the story there, the worldbuilding, the lore and it is one of the few games where I made an extra effort to complete and discover almost everything that the game had to offer. So it goes without saying that I’m extremely excited about its sequel Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition and about more of everything that comes with every sequel.
Story
The story of Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition continues basically where the story of Horizon Zero Dawn ended. In case you haven’t played the previous game, there is a convenient recap in the Extras menu of the sequel but the gist of it is that the vicious storms and the floral blight are ravaging the landscape, and life on Earth is pretty much heading to another extinction. It is up to Aloy to uncover the secrets behind these threats and restore order and balance to the world. Along the way, she must reunite with old friends, forge alliances with warring new factions, and unravel the legacy of the ancient past. The area of the Forbidden West was merely hinted at in one of the last side quests in Horizon Zero Dawn but we’re here to finally make the trip to the dreaded West. New enemies, new weapons, some new and old characters and to wrap it all up, this PC release comes with a strong expansion called Burning Shores that expands upon the ending of the base game. All in all, if you dedicate yourself and go for almost everything available in the game, you’ll likely extract more than 50-60 hours of the game (expansion included) which is not bad by any count.
Gameplay
To be fair, not much has changed regarding the gameplay in this sequel. On the one hand, I can understand that. Why change something that works flawlessly for the most part? This is a careful sequel, where there are no revolutionary changes, but there are quality improvements to the gameplay. Perhaps the most significant improvement – side quests became more interesting story-wise and more diverse in terms of gameplay. Also, we get some new gimmicks such as new types of bow ammo, a glider, grapple, flying mounts, new skills, and so on. The combat mechanics are pretty much the same and that’s one part of the game that I feel is the missed opportunity for some fine tuning. Aloy is still agile and responsive but still easily stun-locked and can be rag-dolled from one place to the next by overly aggressive enemies, especially on higher difficulties. Now each selection of armor has its stats. No more are they just aesthetic, but now they provide protection and add their extra skill (each outfit has different stats) which can be improved by upgrading at a workbench and you can now change the color of your outfit at a dye merchant which is a great bonus. And to be completely honest, upgrading armor and weapons isn’t mandatory but it is essential, especially if you want to tackle some more serious side quests and apex machines (stronger versions of the regular ones) in the world of Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition.
A lot of the combat mechanics revolves around patiently evading and rolling out of the way of machines before waiting for an opening and placing a well-aimed bow shot to some critical part of the machine. While the side content isn’t mandatory, it is recommended to get through some of the optional quests because a good number of them will reward you with a legendary weapon or armor. There is certainly a lot to do and even more to discover but the game does a marvelous job of drip-feeding you all the available content so you never feel overburdened with too many things to do.
Visuals
First off, the game comes with a plethora of customization options in the settings, for graphics, HUD, controls, quality of life settings like an auto-loot option, difficulty tweaking, etc. I am seriously amazed by the degree of customization available for the HUD. If there is ever an award for the most beautiful and most optimized game for PC at the same time, it should go to Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition. Once again, Nixxes guys showed us why are they the masters of their craft. The sequel is visually breathtaking and far better than the first game in terms of visual details. The characters feel lifelike and without the syndrome of “dead behind the eyes” which was somewhat noticeable in the first game.
From my experience, both CPU and GPU did not exceed 63 °C even on maxed-out settings in an air-cooled PC. There were some strange frame dips every once in a while, but they all happened during engine cutscenes while the open-world exploration managed to be as smooth as butter in terms of framerate. In any case, the visuals in Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition are so refined and polished that shipping this game without a photo mode (which is more expansive this time) but be seen as nothing but a crime against humanity.
Audio
The visual and motion capturing in this game shrewdly evaded the syndrome of uncanny valley and the voice action and audio in general are nothing short of superb. I’m sad that this game turned out to be one of the last performances for the late Lance Reddick because he did a stellar job as Sylens. The soundtrack is not so much thrown in the spotlight as in the previous game but you are never alone while fighting the open-world machines with the dynamic soundtrack that significantly amps up as you’re going against harder enemies. Sometimes the soundtrack will cunningly kick in with some serene notes as you’re admiring the gorgeous vistas all over the game. Another time you will be constantly on the edge while hunting dangerous machines for crafting parts because the biomes feel so alive with random critter sounds, wind strongly blowing, and muffled growling of the machines as you observe them while hidden in that red grass.
Overall
So in conclusion, let’s not beat around the bush. What I have in front of me right now is one of the most optimized and best-looking games of 2024. Aside from the occasional frame dips mentioned above, I haven’t encountered a single bug or a crash in my almost 50 hours of playtime which is pretty impressive for such a complex and expansive sequel. I’ll go even far to say that if you’re thinking of getting even one AAA game for this year it should be Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition. At least until Nixxes blows us out of the water with (what I assume it will be) another impressive port of Ghost of Tsushima sometime in May.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
PARIS – March 29, 2024 – Focus Entertainment and Rundisc are honored that Chants of Sennaar, their critically acclaimed puzzle game, continues to be recognized for its creative and technical achievements since its launch last year. In addition to its recent nominations in the Game Beyond Entertainment and New Intellectual Property categories at the BAFTA Games Awards, Chants of Sennaar has now been nominated for prizes at two of science fiction and fantasy’s most distinguished events: Best Game Writing at the Nebula Awards, as well as Best Game or Interactive Work at the Hugo Awards.
Inspired by the myth of Babel, Chants of Sennaar draws visually from European comic artists’ mixture of architectural styles. You’ll embark on a captivating journey deciphering ancient languages to restore the connections between the People’s tower and unravel the mysteries around you.
Chants of Sennaar has already taken home the Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game at the New York Game Awards, as well as a Games for Impact Award nomination at The Game Awards. It was also a finalist in the Excellence in Design category at this year’s Independent Games Festival Awards.
The 20th BAFTA Games Awards will take place on April 11, 2024. The 59th Annual Nebula Awards, organized by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), will be held on June 8, 2024. The 2024 Hugo Awards is set to run on Aug. 11, 2024.
Tune in for an exclusive first look at the New Season ‘Whispering Mist’
XD Games, Shanghai — March 29, 2024 | Gather up, hunters! It’s time for a new season of Torchlight: Infinite. The wait is over as the developers of this action-packed ARPG announce an exclusive season preview livestream event. Mark your calendars for April 13th at 9AM PST to catch a glimpse of the thrilling new features and adventures that await in the latest expansion, ‘Whispering Mist.’
Rumours have been swirling among fans about the enigmatic theme of Torchlight’s upcoming season. Legend has it that there is a place — desolate and eerie — where reality warps, time bends backwards and a sinister mist holds sway. This land is none other than the mysterious – Mistville!
The forthcoming season will plunge players into the heart of this foggy and foreboding city. As hunters traverse this Netherrealm, they will encounter its denizens — the Mistville Residents — whose defeat is crucial to unravelling the mysteries that lie within.
The season preview livestream promises fans an array of riveting reveals. These include brand-new gameplay elements exclusive to this season, innovative hero traits ready to be mastered, epic outfits, and significant feature adjustments aimed at enhancing gameplay for an all-round smoother Torchlight: Infinite experience.
Fans can also expect the unveiling of a hot and highly-anticipated feature that has been eagerly awaited for some time, giving them all the more reason to tune into the livestream for some thrilling debuts.
Torchlight: Infinite players — whether seasoned hunters or budding newcomers — can tune into livestream for a sneak peek of SS4 via Twitch or YouTube on April 13th at 9AM PST so save the date today!
Following a number of successful seasons Torchlight: Infinite is proud to be gearing up for another season of high-octane, dungeon crawling action which will officially commence on April 18 at 7PM PST. You can find out more about Torchlight: Infinite by checking out the game’s Steam, iOS, and Android pages.
XD Games
Founded in 2003, XD Games. is a global video games developer and publisher with extensive experience across development, publishing and operations. As of 2022, XD has 38 free-to-play and paid games with over 50 million monthly active users worldwide. In addition, TapTap — a mobile games community and app store — was launched by XD in 2016 and is estimated to currently have 44 million monthly active users.
XD’s mission is to assemble like-minded talented games industry craftspeople with a common goal of touching the hearts of players around the world. XD produces games of the finest quality with passion, offering a pure gaming experience, and encouraging players of all ages to embrace the unique joy of video gaming.
The original Slave Zero is a third-person shooter which was released back in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast and Windows PCs. Slave Zero X serves as a prequel to the original Slave Zero, but in terms of visuals and gameplay, it’s a completely different beast.
Story
A dictator known as SovKhan rules atop Megacity while the general populace suffers. Underground, a group of rebels plot to overthrow the SovKhan, ending his reign of tyranny. As Shou, players must climb the Megacity with the help of Biomecha X and eliminate the SovKhan and his minions.
The story plays an integral role in Slave Zero X, which is uncommon for such a fast-paced action game. There’s a lot of voiced-over dialogue that plays during intermissions and even during gameplay. Players can choose between English and Japanese VOs. After watching some bits and pieces from the game, I liked what I heard and decided to try the English VO. I was pleasantly surprised because the English actors mostly do a very good job. Their voices fit the characters perfectly. You can feel a lot of emotion and effort went into bringing these characters to life.
Gameplay
Slave Zero X is a side-scroller hack n’ slash focused on ground and aerial-based combos and crowd control. What’s most striking about Slave Zero X’s gameplay is the use of fighting game mechanics such as special moves, EX moves, combo breakers and extenders, and so on. It sounds complicated, but it’s actually quite simple. Special moves are mostly simple inputs, like up plus attack. Their EX versions are activated by pressing an additional button. There are also two unlisted secret special attacks that require a bit more tight execution from players.
The game is difficult, and there’s no easy mode. Despite that, players can upgrade Shou’s stats and even heal mid-stage by using points accrued each mission. That said, it’s fundamental to know how and when to use certain essential game mechanics, such as burst and fatal sync, in order to stay alive. The game does a good enough job introducing those to players, but it’s up to you to “get good.”
At some points, the game requires players to make use of Shou’s jumping abilities to climb up walls or traverse gaps. Some set pieces that don’t involve fighting are introduced in some stages, and they make for a nice, if too brief, change of pace.
As a downside, the game keeps throwing the same enemies at you over and over. While new enemy types are introduced further into the game, in general, they lack variance in terms of attacks and patterns. Knowing what Shou and X are capable of is fundamental, not only to overcome the many challenges present in the game but also because your enjoyment of the game is heavily tied to your ability to style on and pulverize your enemies. Unfortunately, the cinematic bits end up spilling into the game too much. That’s mostly aggravating during certain boss fights. Contrasting with the rest of the game, they end up being a bit too easy and unimaginative.
Visuals
Slave Zero X ditches the Western, fully polygonal look from the original in favor of a 2.5D look, employing 3D backgrounds and sprite-based characters to that end. The art direction now follows a Japanese aesthetic. The game features cool and gory biopunk imagery combined with shoujo manga (manga for girls in Japan) art to portray the main characters, making for an interesting contrast.
Audio
The soundtrack comprises techno beats fit for an action game like this. The problem is that it’s hard to pay much attention to it due to how crazy the action gets in the game. To add to that, the characters simply refuse to shut up which is a tad distracting while you’re trying to keep your 30-hit chain going.
Overall
Slave Zero X offers a decent action game experience with responsive controls, a unique system and a gripping story. It does get a bit too repetitive for its own good, and the story bits during gameplay should be dialed down a couple notches. The sound design is chaotic, with voices, effects and music competing with the rest of the game at some points which can be distracting. The lack of interesting boss fights is probably its gravest fault, but it’s still a game that should be on the radar of enthusiasts of the genre.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
