The ultimate resource for cloud gaming. Now with Utomik
Eindhoven, Netherlands, 19 February 2024 – This partnership will allow gamers to easily search for any game, discover its availability on Utomik, and explore the extensive library of over 300 games on the cloud and over 1400 games overall. Players are sure to find old favourites and new quests.
Cloudbase also offers an extensive overview of all the subscription gaming platforms featuring cloud games. The guide dissects the top providers available in 2024, helping players find the ideal service to match their gaming style and needs.
In addition, Cloudbase will keep users updated on new cloud-based games arriving on Utomik, ensuring that Cloudbase users are among the first to experience these releases.
“Utomik is delighted to be a new partner and featured on the Cloudbase site and we can’t wait for Cloudbase users to discover more, and play a huge variety of games across PC, Android, and Smart TV”, states Doki Tops, CEO and Co-founder of Utomik.
With Utomik’s enormous library of games both for smart download and on the cloud, Cloudbase users have a fantastic new resource to call on for all of their gaming needs. With brands such as Samsung, LG, and Hewlett Packard already partnered up with Utomik, you might be closer to their cloud gaming library than you think.
About Utomik
Utomik is a worldwide gaming subscription service that services the B2C and the B2B markets with its hybrid gaming platform. The platform delivers an excellent user experience through cloud gaming and fast-download tech, which ensures smooth game performance for all locations. Partners such as Samsung, LG, and Hewlett Packard embrace this progressiveness by adapting Utomik’s services to their products.
Supporting a games library of 1400+ high-quality titles on PC and currently a subset of those for Smart TVs and Android devices users in the cloud, the platform appeals to casual and core audiences of all ages. Cloud gaming allows Utomik to offer an accessible gaming experience, allowing people to play whenever and wherever they want.
About Cloudbase
Cloudbase.gg is the definitive cloud gaming directory and the go-to destination for anything cloud gaming. With Cloudbase, gamers can discover which cloud gaming service supports a game.
Cloudbase checks the availability of over 5000 games on the most popular cloud gaming services every single day, ensuring no game is left behind. Users can register for free and take advantage of personalized features, including game tracking, cloud gaming service comparison, and email notifications.
Pistol Shrimp Games Celebrates the Free Stars Universe with the Re-Release of the Cult-Classic Game that Inspired the Visionaries Behind Mass Effect, Subnautica, and Stellaris
San Francisco, CA (February 19, 2024) – Pistol Shrimp™ Games — an independent studio founded by Toys for Bob veterans — is thrilled to announce today the release of the classic science-fiction action-adventure game Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters® on Steam.
Experience the retro charm of this cult-classic space game and embark on a riveting, quirky adventure to save Earth from the ruthless Ur-Quan armada. The Alliance of Free Stars needs YOU!
Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters is a return to an award-winning space saga. The setting has inspired countless other creators in the video game industry, including the visionaries behind Mass Effect, Subnautica, and Stellaris — to name just a few. It’s renowned for its colorful cast of characters, rich story, and radically open universe. Its passionate fandom continues to quote the galaxy’s unforgettable alien species, including the cowardly Spathi, the menacing Ur-Quan, and the enigmatic Orz.
“It was the perfect game at the perfect time. It’s exactly what I wanted, exactly what I needed to be playing. When I then had an opportunity to make a game… I was like, ‘this game. It’s gotta be like this game.’”- Tim Cain (Fallout, Fallout 2) of Obsidian Entertainment.
“It was funny, and it was smart, and it was interesting and complicated… I played that game to death.” – Ken Levine (BioShock, System Shock 2) of Ghost Story Games.
Watch the Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters Steam Launch Trailer below:
Your story begins as the captain of the last human starship, with Earth trapped under a hostile forcefield. You are the last hope for humanity in a fight for control of the galaxy. Build your fleet and battle enemy starships, exchange colorful insults with fully-voiced, quirky characters, and explore thousands of uncharted worlds across hundreds of stars to gather important resources and technology. When you’re not adventuring, showcase your battle skills in online or split-screen PvP duels.
Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters Key Features:
Experience an “open-world” galactic adventure through space to defeat the invading Ur-Quan and its hierarchy of battle thralls.
Travel through extra-dimensional HyperSpace and discover nearly 500 unknown star systems filled with thousands of alien worlds, collecting resources and technology to upgrade your flagship and grow your fleet.
Fight enemies in fast-paced space battles with 25 different starships, each with its own unique attacks and powers.
Befriend, threaten, or fight a diverse cast of aliens with unique personalities, from scary to funny, to just plain weird.
Play standalone Super Melee to practice space combat against AI opponents or to duel against a friend.
Mod and tinker with readily available, open-source code and content.
With the founding of Pistol Shrimp Games by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford (the original founders of Toys for Bob), Ken Ford, and Dan Gerstein, the legacy of this celebrated part of gaming history continues under the Free Stars name. A direct sequel to Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters is currently in development.
Intrepid galactic adventurers should stay tuned for future Free Stars announcements. For more information about Pistol Shrimp Games, please visit https://pistolshrimpgames.com.
Established in 2021, Pistol Shrimp Games is the new studio founded by Paul Reiche III, Fred Ford, Ken Ford, and Dan Gerstein. In 2002, Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford made The Ur-Quan Masters available for free when they licensed their game’s copyright to the open-source community. This kept the Free Stars universe alive in the public imagination while Reiche and Ford led Toys for Bob, the studio that created the wildly successful Skylanders series. Reiche and Ford have since founded Pistol Shrimp Games to tell new stories about the Alliance of Free Stars and celebrate the legacy of The Ur-Quan Masters.
Executive Soundtrack Producer will be available for purchase in post-launch DLC pack
Today, 2K announced the WWE® 2K24 Soundtrack, curated by music icon Post Malone. An avowed fan of both WWE and the WWE 2K franchise, Post Malone took on the role of Executive Soundtrack Producer and assembled an eclectic collection of songs across a variety of genres including rock, country, rap, electronic music, and pop.In addition to his soundtrack duties, the music megastar will also appear as a playable character in WWE 2K24, and will be available for purchase in a post-launch DLC pack.*
“The secret to a great video game soundtrack is a little something for everyone and for every mood. It gets you excited and it gets you pumped up to play,” said Post Malone. “This has been a total blast. We have a lot of cool ideas, so I’m super excited.”
“Austin’s passion for music is on full display with the artists and songs he chose for WWE 2K24, which accurately reflects the current soundscape of WWE,” said Neil Lawi, Head of Music, WWE. “It’s been so much fun working alongside him to make this all come to life and more so to witness the excitement it brings him. We are just getting started.”
The WWE 2K24soundtrack features 12 songs, including:
Post Malone – Chemical;
Post Malone – Laugh It Off;
100 gecs – Hand Crushed By A Mallet;
Busta Rhymes – Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See;
Colter Wall – Motorcycle;
Grimes – Genesis;
Militarie Gun – Do It Faster;
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Big Rig;
Speed – Not That Nice;
Turnstile – Mystery;
Tyler Childers – House Fire;
Yeat – Bëttr 0ff.
Three editions of WWE 2K24 will be available:
The Deluxe Edition will be available digitally worldwide, and physically in the US and select territories, on Tuesday, March 5, 2024*, and will be available physically for the rest of the world on Friday, March 8, 2024;
The Forty Years of WrestleMania Edition will be available – in digital format only – worldwide on Tuesday, March 5, 2024;
The Standard Edition and Standard Cross-Gen Digital Edition will be available worldwide on Friday, March 8, 2024.
Additional information on the WWE 2K24 roster, Superstar ratings, DLC, and more will be shared soon.
For more information on WWE 2K24, visit the game’s official website, become a fan on Facebook, follow the game onTikTok, X,Instagram, and subscribe on Twitch andYouTube. Official campaign hashtags #WWE2K24 and #FinishYourStory.
Visual Concepts is a 2K studio. 2K is a wholly owned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).
*Playable character Post Malone is available via separate purchase of a post-launch DLC pack. Base game required to access DLC content. Online Account (13+) required to access online features. See www.take2games.com/legal and www.take2games.com/privacy for additional details.
**WWE 2K24: Deluxe Edition (Physical) available on March 5, 2024 at select retailers in the US, Canada, UK, Republic of Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. See local retailer store or site for details.
The Hamburg-based studio celebrates their tenth anniversary creating popular space shooters
Hamburg, Germany – February 17, 2024 – Today, ROCKFISH Games celebrates 10 years of development and self-publishing popular top-tier space shooters, standing as a poster child for successful independent studios in Germany’s video game industry. Since founding in 2014, the studio has launched multiple releases in its EVERSPACE series on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo, with over two million copies sold across all platforms.
Watch the ROCKFISH Games 10th Anniversary Lookback Video below
Michael Schade and Christian Lohr founded ROCKFISH Games shortly after their previous venture had been acquired. A small team of developers stuck by the two began working on what would become the studio’s core franchise. Kickstarter served as both a marketing and crowdfunding tool for EVERSPACE, putting the game in front of space game fans around the world.
“EVERSPACE hit at just the right time. Rogue-likes were on the upswing in popularity, and our space shooter twist clicked with fans,” said ROCKFISH Games CEO and Co-Founder Michael Schade. “What makes ROCKFISH Games is our team. We could not have done this without the talented developers who followed Christian and me from our previous venture, most of whom are still with us today, as well as the team members who have joined us over the years since we opened our studio’s doors.”
Following the success of EVERSPACE, ROCKFISH Games pivoted from the first game’s roguelike experience to a more open-world adventure, a change warmly received by space game fans around the world. The studio’s launch of EVERSPACE 2 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S was both a commercial and critical indie success with more than 400,000 copies sold across all platforms alongside healthy Metacritic, OpenCritic, and user reviews. At its current course, EVERSPACE 2 is on track to triple its predecessor in sales and quadruple the revenue.
“Our journey through Early Access with EVERSPACE 2 these last few years has been an exciting one. Pivoting from our rogue-like roots to an open-world action RPG looter shooter was a risk we were willing to take, as this game is so much closer to what we’d originally envisioned for our EVERSPACE series,” said Schade. “I’m glad to see that players around the world were so on board with this shift, and it certainly resonated with the media as well. We still have so many fresh ideas, so many amazing stories left to tell, and fantastic adventures lined up for space fans around the globe.”
ROCKFISH Games has added two notable team members to a growing roster of industry veterans. Veteran sci-fi storyteller Chris L’Etoile now joined the EVERSPACE series’ narrative design, bringing a wealth of experience from prior roles working on Mass Effect 1 & 2, The Outer Worlds, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, and other storied franchises. Videogame veteran Bleick Bleicken has also joined the team as its new Art Director, bringing creative vision and over two decades of industry experience to the studio.
The story of the EVERSPACE series is far from over. ROCKFISH is busy working on a major free update titled Incursions, which will be released Spring 2024. Incursions will bring a host of new weapons and equipment, fresh features, and the game’s migration to Unreal Engine 5. With a sizable expansion also in the works, fans of the EVERSPACE series have much premium content to look forward to.
With exciting projects in the works and planned for the coming years, ROCKFISH Games is expanding their team to include more artists, designers, and programmers. Multiple open roles are available on the ROCKFISH Games Jobs page.
About ROCKFISH Games GmbH
ROCKFISH Games is an independent AA game studio specializing in cutting-edge space action RPGs for PC and consoles. Industry veterans Michael Schade and Christian Lohr founded ROCKFISH Games to create a new breed of adrenalin-filled adventures for space shooter fans through their acclaimed EVERSPACE IP. After spending 30 years as joint entrepreneurs in the 3D graphics and mobile gaming space, Schade and Lohr built ROCKFISH Games from the ground up alongside their former team of veteran talents to the current studio of 30 game developers and community experts from across the industry.
Using Kickstarter as a platform to build a new community in 2015, ROCKFISH Games reached a runaway success with EVERSPACE, which has sold over two million copies on PC and consoles. Building on this success and propelled by yet another wildly successful Kickstarter campaign in 2019, ROCKFISH Games is dedicated to crafting a compelling next-gen single-player open-world space shooter experience that is driven by quality storytelling while being highly accessible at the beginning and yet deep in its gameplay mechanics to appeal to casual as well as hardcore space action aficionados from around the globe with EVERSPACE 2.
DUBLIN — February 16, 2024 — Baldur’s Gate 3’s latest patch is out now! Today’s update brings improved kisses, camp idle animations, new Legendary Actions for bosses in Honour Mode, along with a wealth of quality-of-life improvements, additions and fixes based on community feedback.
Patch 6 introduces new and randomized kisses for every romantic partner! These unique scenes will now better reflect the personalities of each character, and have been improved to better accommodate taller and shorter body types. We’ve also breathed new life into the player camp, with a bunch of all-new idle animations that let companions spend their free time doing more than standing around.
Today’s update isn’t all about romance. Brave adventurers can look forward to new Legendary Actions in Honour Mode, while those who want to tweak their experience can now switch to Custom Mode from any set difficulty. Patch 6 also brings numerous quality-of-life improvements, including the much-requested ability to dismiss recruited companions while speaking to the companion you want to replace them with. In addition, when a dialogue triggers automatically, the game will also now try to prioritize your avatar character as the main speaker, rather than whoever was at the front of the party – sorry Astarion!
Get comfortable, because there are many, many more additions, improvements and fixes to read up on in the full patch notes here.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is out now on PC, Mac, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Larian Studios is an independent RPG developer founded in 1996 in Ghent, Belgium. Over 400 people work between worldwide studios in Ghent, Quebec, Dublin, Guildford, Malaysia and Barcelona. Larian is best known for the Divinity universe, which they introduced to the world with Divine Divinity in 2002. In 2014, Larian launched Divinity: Original Sin, a classic CRPG that won over 150 awards and nominations. The company released its critically acclaimed sequel Divinity: Original Sin 2 on September 14, 2017, followed by the Definitive Edition in August 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One to a 93 Metacritic rating. The Nintendo Switch version released in September 2019 featuring cross-save progression between Nintendo Switch and Steam. Divinity: Original Sin 2 won a BAFTA for Best Multiplayer Game. On August 3, 2023, Larian Studios released Baldur’s Gate 3 on PC. On September 6, 2023, Baldur’s Gate 3 was released on PS5. On December 7, 2023, Baldur’s Gate 3 released for Xbox Series X|S.
LOS ANGELES – February 16, 2024 – MapleStory,Nexon’s popular, side-scrolling 2D MMORPG and light novel KONOSUBA: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! are bringing Maplers an exclusive crossover experience with MapleStory x KONOSUBA. The month-long event, taking place from February 20 to March 19 features Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness, who arrive in Maple World looking to train and get stronger before going back to their own world.
Maplers level 101 and above can gain a variety of rewards by joining each KONOSUBA character’s quest:
KONOSUBA Nothing But Luck – Kazuma’s small fortune is a daily login quest resulting in a variety of Great Gift Box items and buffs given out five times a day.
KONOSUBA The Hopeless Priest – Aqua gives support with her powers once per hour, 24 times a day, in major towns. There are two different buffs depending on an odd or even hour and the buff effect will last 30 minutes.
KONOSUBA The One-Track Wizard – Megumin’s explosion magic helps players attack once a day when hunting monsters.
KONOSUBA Strange-Eyed Crusader – Darkness’s joyful sacrifice lets players survive a boss attack once a day.
The MapleStory x KONOASUBA event also features extensive shop items where players can purchase KONOSUBA themed clothing, accessories, faces, equipment and more.
Make sure to join Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness in Maple World before this limited-time event is over!
AboutMapleStory
MapleStory is a popular side-scrolling MMORPG serviced globally including Korea. The Global service was released in May 2005, and with over 13 million registered players to date, this is the 18th year the game has been loved by players.
About Nexon America Inc.
Founded in 2005, Nexon America Inc. delivers outstanding free-to-play online game expertise and live game support, taking the strengths of NEXON Co., Ltd. (“Nexon”) and applying them to uniquely Western audiences. Nexon America has consistently sustained iconic franchises such as MapleStory and Mabinogi for more than a decade, which have gone on to break records and captivate players. With new projects on the horizon, Nexon America maintains the pioneering and innovative spirit of its parent company, employing its player-first approach, while designing the best possible gameplay experiences for the Western market.
When it comes to light novel series out of Japan, the isekai genre has been a flooded market for well over a decade to the point that a number of extremely strange adaptations have been made, especially in recent years. However there was one such series that managed to be one of the first to take a more humorous and parody styled approach to the isekai genre in the form of KonoSuba. This series flourished both in Japan and the West with an incredibly popular anime series with a third season currently in production and a fully translated and released in English set of light novels. Longtime fans of the franchise have likely been eager to see the various misadventures of Kazuma, Megumin, Darkness, and Aqua in new forms of media, especially since the novels finished their English release in 2022 and now PQube is here to deliver a new story that relishes in the series’ unique brand of humor and some solid fan service. KonoSuba – God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! Love For These Clothes Of Desire! approach to a visual novel is one that fans will love but may find a tad bit frustrating and certainly one that only fans will appreciate.
Story
One day while out on a quest to eliminate a number of monsters Kazuma and the rest of the group find themselves struggling as usual. Megumin has already used her Explosion magic, Aqua is panicking, and Darkness is flailing around as little more than a tank while Kazuma does his best to dispatch the targets. After managing to survive the situation, Megumin reveals that she has found a strange black tablet and red gemstone on the side of the path and, with the help of Wiz, learns that the strange black tablet can be used to create clothing with the help of magical items and other supplies. This seemingly innocuous clothes creating slab is nearly abandoned until the next day when the real issue with the slab appears in two forms.
Aqua, Megumin, and Kazuma find that Darkness is no longer acting like a massive masochist and has instead started taking a stern tone with the rest of the group, acting more like a sadist commanding them around and to make matters worse, Sena from the city’s government appears and accuses Kazuma and the rest of the gang of being thieves as the magical tablet belongs to a noble that has reported it stolen the day before. The unknown noble is willing to forgive their “apparent” theft if they create clothing that he desires within a certain timeframe but therein lies the other issue. Upon reading the fine print hidden on the mysterious slab the group learns that every time it is used to create a set of clothes it will randomly curse one member of the party that used it, twisting their personality to often the complete opposite of their usual selves, revealing the truth as to why Darkness is now ready to drive the group into corporal punishment compared to gushing over being verbally abused or used as bait. With their party’s personalities and their personal freedoms on the line, Kazuma and the rest must work as hard as they can to reach these deadlines all while managing their ever-changing personalities by fulfilling both the physical and mental desires the affected person has.
KonoSuba: Love For These Clothes Of Desire! is written as something of a side-story to the original novel and takes place after the second season of the anime, meaning that characters such as Wiz, Vanir, and others will appear so anyone who hasn’t watched at least the anime will feel like they are lost throughout most of the game as it does not make any effort to really build or explain the story for newcomers other than having the premise be ridiculously humorous and showing how helpless most of the cast is right from the get go. That being said, any fan of KonoSuba should almost immediately know that they are going to be in for a good time as the writers for the game have managed to nail the humor and characters perfectly here. A lot of this enjoyment comes of course from being able to see these characters in a brand new scenario separate from the novels/anime but also because it allows for a perfectly explainable collection of “what-if” style interactions. Thanks to the curse of the stone, all of the characters including Kazuma will suffer from personality shifts that will have them act completely different from how fans are used to often leading to some truly hilarious laugh out loud sequences and some wonderful consequences afterwards.
Throughout the game players will make various choices and interact with the various female characters and either raise or lower their affection depending on the choices made or whether or not they are given an outfit to try on. These dialogue choices are generally obvious in nature and there is even a readily available “affection meter” on the pause screen as well as the ability to quick save and quick load should players make a mistake. The title features a rather surprising amount of endings, two each for the main girls Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness, and a single ending for Wiz, Chris, Yunyun, and even Sena. These endings are rather meaty in size and offer some rather enjoyable scenes in their own right, feeling natural within the setting of the series while also offering plenty of replay value. In fact, the amount of optional content throughout KonoSuba: Love for These Clothes of Desire is shockingly high as players will stumble across unique scenes that can only appear when certain tasks or jobs are done a number of times or assigned to certain party members, including ones that might be terrible at them. These scenes usually don’t affect the affection gauge but are enjoyable nonetheless and stumbling across them is always a pleasant surprise even if actually finding them can be a pain.
Gameplay
KonoSuba: Love for These Clothes of Desire is a split between a visual novel and time management game, giving players a bit of extra intractability with the title beyond a usual visual novel where usually only choices matter. Every time players are given a set of clothing they must make, they are given a time limit where they must then schedule out a three day set of jobs followed by a day of rest/character interaction and a fifth day for possibly creating clothing. This means that every phase is five days long, so players will need to plan accordingly as the deadline can approach quite quickly if they aren’t careful. Assigning individual party members to small jobs will provide rewards if they are successful with certain characters preferring specific jobs while quests involve the entire party and can involve hunting monsters or gathering materials with better success rates depending on how long they are on the quest for.
This means that players may want to play a bit fast and loose with the save and load system to make sure they manage to actually get all the materials they need within a time limit. This is because while every chapter has a plot-focused piece of clothing to create, there is often one or more optional pieces of clothing that players can also craft that are only available in certain chapters and can be used to unlock brand new scenes when given to a character and raise their favorability as well. There are even special items players can purchase using the in-game money “Eris” to unlock additional CG variations of some of these optional outfits. While creating extra costumes isn’t necessary, the new scenes and temporary personality shifts that accompany them are well worth it for any fan of the franchise and trying to play optimally can be a bit frustrating, especially since success and failure for some jobs/quests is seemingly random.
Of course, players don’t need to try and focus so hard on trying to obtain everything at once as the game does offer the usual visual novel elements of being able to skip previously read text to zip through the game faster on replay and focus on obtaining new endings or new costumes they weren’t able to previously. It is worth noting that alongside the randomness of some failures and the hidden nature of some scenes, the game does get a bit grindy when it comes to gathering materials. This isn’t too much of an issue as there are usually small scenes with Kazuma talking to different members of the cast every week but it can be a bit repetitive. There are also a rather surprising amount of spelling errors throughout the game as well, something that isn’t too obnoxious but is noticeable when they appear.
Audio & Visuals
The visual novel makes use of the anime’s take on the characters and features a wide variety of portraits for each character including a few when they are wearing special outfits. These portraits are expressive and are bright and colorful, fitting the aesthetic of the anime. The numerous CG scenes are wonderfully designed and often filled with various types of fan-service, be it Darkness wearing Dominatrix gear, Megumin in a school outfit, or even Yunyun wearing a cat maid costume, there is tons of fan service here and it is all presented gorgeously.
It is worth noting that PQube has not provided an English dub for the game but all of the Japanese voice actors have returned to reprise their roles here, meaning any fan of the franchise will be able to feel right at home with these characters as they talk to one another throughout the visual novel. This is an extra special touch especially given how the personality shifts give us a new unseen side of some characters, with the aforementioned sadistic Darkness being the best early example. The entire voice cast has handled their characters expertly here which makes sense given how long they’ve performed as them. The background music is fairly standard fair for a visual novel but the opening theme is certainly quite catchy even if it is only heard once outside of viewing it through the gallery.
Overall
KonoSuba – God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! Love For These Clothes Of Desire! feels like a natural side-story within the grander tale of the franchise and gives fans a chance to see their favorite characters act in new and unusual ways all while providing the series’ signature humor and wonderful visuals to match. There is fanservice galore but the title also doesn’t really explore much beyond this element and the humor involved. The gameplay mechanics are straightforward and a bit on the repetitive side which is unfortunate and anyone unfamiliar with the series will be left in the dark, but those looking to experience more of their favorite KonoSuba characters will find this a great way to do so.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Game development is not easy, we all know that by now. Especially if we compare it to how things were 10-15 years ago. The stakes are now higher, the budget is way bigger, you need a publisher most of the time, a good PR campaign, and so on. You have to be brave to release something, to put your trust in some product you wholeheartedly believe in, and even then you’re not 100% sure it will leave a mark or turn a profit.
So how should we call developers that change the genre of their IP halfway through releases? Crazy, insane, inexplicably brave? I don’t know, you be the judge. To be fair, it is an infrequent occurrence but it happens now and then. For example, Yakuza: Like A Dragon turned out to be a big genre departure by making itself a turn-based brawler and somehow it worked! So how does all of that relate to HELLDIVERS 2? Read on, because you’re in for quite a ride.
Story
It is evident how the sequel draws a lot from the iconic Starship Troopers movie. Patriotically imbued PR videos will make you enlist and become one of the helldivers in the blink of an eye, but what is it that you do? You’re one of the elite Earth soldiers (in a team of 4) taking on assignments across the galaxy and decimating alien life or as they say in the game – bringing them some “managed democracy”. As of right now, we have two main fronts in our galaxy, the one with automatons, bots/robots (however you decide to call them) on one end and the oversized alien bogs on the other.
Gameplay
So what’s different about the sequel? Uhh, a whole lot. First, it’s not a co-op twin-stick shooter anymore but a co-op third-person shooter. And you know what, it works! I like the new point of view, our new spaceship hub for operation planning, new weapons, and new stratagems. Ooh, let’s talk about stratagems! To give you some upper hand, aside from the usual weapons arsenal (primary, secondary, and a grenade) you also can call for support from your mothership. Now that support can be a strong orbital strike that will obliterate everything where you throw the support beacon, a jet carpet bomb attack, an automated turret support, supplies support, and so on. Every single one of those stratagems has a cooldown and the stronger it is, the cooldown is usually longer.
Now, the factions. Each of them has weak points and gimmicks to make your life harder. The robot faction is susceptible to standard auto weapons (rifles, machineguns, grenades) while they are durable to fire and melee. On the other hand, the bug faction is weak to fire but it will take a lot more bullets to take them down, especially on higher difficulties. So what’s the incentive to play anything on higher difficulty then? Well, after every completed mission you’re rewarded with some medals and higher difficulty means more medals. You use them to unlock various weapons, armor sets, and cosmetics for your helldiver. You can also upgrade ship modules that will give you things such as faster stratagem deployments, more support ammo, and so on. What’s great is that most of those resources you can find by exploring the planets you’ve just been dropped on doing the side objectives. Every planet/mission has a couple of hidden objectives that you need to engage in by exploring the area thoroughly.
The last burning question is how do you progress in this game? This being a live service game means the progress is a bit tricky. Doing various missions over and over again will earn you enough medals to unlock new armor sets and weapons but the progress is global. A joint, collaborative effort. By playing together with all you increase the liberation percentage of the planet until it is eventually fully liberated (and that is usually followed by some big reward for you in the form of credits and such). Again, this being a live service game means that sometimes you’ll have to experience surprise attacks by factions and defend the assigned planet with others.
Visuals
A new genre switch also means a new visual switch. In this case, it was a good change since the new perspective makes the game far more immersive and engaging. And even since this is a third-person shooter every weapon has a first-person switch so if you want you can play it completely in the first-person as soon as you land on a planet. What makes this game stand out in terms of visuals is the creativity poured into different planets or should I say – different biomes. You’ll have deep forest planets (where the running is a bit harder since the foliage will slow you down), planets with hard weather conditions, and barren and desolated planets filled only with alien life and almost nothing else.
Things get even more fun once you realize you can use some stratagems (like orbital strikes) to decimate the buildings and fortifications and only then you can see just how much of the environment is destructible. I mean, why even go up close when you can decimate enemies with orbital lasers and carpet bombing before they even realize you’re watching them from afar.
Audio
Let me tell you about the music here. It elevates everything to a new level, especially if we compare it to a previous game. The hyped-up orchestra as we descend onto a planet is sure to give you a short adrenaline nudge no matter how many times you replay the missions. The weapon arsenal has some distinct sounds that are so detailed that eventually, you’ll be able to distinguish the machine guns by sound alone when you hear your teammates using them far far away.
Team communication and listening around is something you’ll have to incorporate later on, especially on higher difficulties. You don’t want to be around once your teammate calls an orbital strike or shooting at the enemies when they’re in the line of fire. Remember, friendly fire is nothing to joke about in this game and if you’re not paying attention you can do more damage to your buddies than any other enemy.
Overall
In the end, HELLDIVERS 2 is an experiment that gave some pretty good results. A gamble that paid off. It feels fun playing the sequel in a whole different way and this being a sole co-op game where you have to work together with your team members means that toxicity is down to an absolute minimum and pretty much nonexistent. And we’re just getting started, who knows what kind of invasions, events, and new content awaits us down the line. In any case, I’m all here for it and I’ll see you all on the battlefield.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The Persona series is something of a strange one as, despite being a spin-off of the Shin Megami series, its eventual popularity ended up eclipsing what it was derived from. While most of this popularity bloomed when Persona 4 was released and especially with the arrival of Persona 5, Persona 3 and its numerous re-releases with various improvements and added content saw some of the first additions that would make the franchise as popular as it is today. That being said, it also features some of the oldest holdovers from the first few entries in the series that leave it feeling quite archaic in nature to the point that the first two Persona games are barely even acknowledged, as such ATLUS ha seen fit to give Persona 3 a full blown remake with Persona 3 Reload, looking to bring this game a bit closer to modern day while still retaining many elements of the original release. This effort proves to be quite successful in some ways while leaving some things still to be desired.
Story
Players take on the role of a fresh transfer student on his way to the dorms of Gekkoukan High School who happens to be so entranced in his music as he heads to his destination that he doesn’t quite seem to care that the world around him has taken on an eerie green hue and mostly everyone has transformed into coffins. Even upon arriving at the dorms he finds that his new dorm mates are shocked to see him as the group finds themselves quickly being attacked by a Shadow. After proving themselves capable of wielding the power of a Persona which is needed to survive, the player is recruited into the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (S.E.E.S) in an attempt to use their unique power to discover the truth behind what they call the Dark Hour.
The Dark Hour happens every night past midnight and transforms the region of Tatsumi Port Island into a sinister one where the local high school transforms into the towering dungeon called Tartarus and dangerous Shadows spill out, slaying anyone unlucky enough to not transform into a “safe” coffin. Those that can remain mobile during the Dark Hour are few but even fewer still are Persona users capable of defeating the Shadows and with the player now joining the S.E.E.S. and leading the team, it is up to them to find out the source of the Shadows and face down the dark groups maneuvering within the shadows themselves in an attempt to save the world all while still living the life of a mostly normal teenage high schooler during the day. Just one that happens to talk to a dog and robot quite often.
While Persona 3 Reload may have plenty of bright colors and feature a very eclectic cast of characters that make up the main party, perhaps some of the most interesting ones even compared to more recent entries, it is worth noting that the overall tone for this story is far more sinister and grim than one might expect. While this is true for all of the Persona games, including both 4 and 5, this is true throughout nearly every aspect of Persona 3 Reload. This of course includes the Persona summoning tool of the Evoker being a gun pointed at the user’s head and nearly every Social Link as well with even the “happier” ending ones usually resulting in accepting one’s fate and either moving forward/giving up or trying to redeem something terrible that has happened in the past. In fact, a few of these Social Links can be downright depressing at times and these darker themes can feel rather uncomfortable despite how impactful they can feel.
Of course, this darker nature doesn’t mean that Persona 3 Reload isn’t afraid to let its lighter side show as there are still plenty of goofy moments and heartfelt ones as well. As mentioned before, the main cast of characters is absolutely wonderful here and some of the best story moments come from interacting with your classmates. Persona 3 Reload adds a number of “hangout” opportunities with your fellow S.E.E.S. members that aren’t Social Links but do eventually provide buffs to a character’s skills as well as new and unique story interactions that give players a new look at their team members, even if they happen to be longtime fans of the franchise. This, plus the various twists and reveals that happen throughout the storyline, make the game’s narrative as gripping as ever even if it mostly follows the same story beats as the original minus some of the brand new side interactions. It is worth noting however that, unless it is coming later as DLC, the epilogue that was eventually released in Persona 3 FES called The Answer is not currently in the base game.
Gameplay
Players familiar with the recent Persona formula will feel mostly at home still with Persona 3 Reload as the game still breaks down into two halves. During the day players will attend school, occasionally answering questions in class for a social stat boost, and after-school they will be able to choose from a wide range of activities around town. This can include those that don’t pass time like shopping at various stores, visiting a certain fox shrine, or even talking to random NPCs that all seem to have a little bit of a story of their own throughout the year. Most activities do take time however as these involve working part-time for some quick cash, visiting a store for a social stat boost of which there are only three to manage this time around in the form of Academics, Courage, and Charm, visiting the shrine to pray to be closer to someone, and of course taking part in character interactions through the Social Link system as mentioned before or even a hangout session with the gang.
During the day players will find that nearly every Social Link will be found available over the course of the game as the title does a fairly poor job of actually balancing the split between Social Links available during the day and at night. Unlike during the day, the areas available for players to travel around the town at night are far smaller though players will immediately be able to venture out at night starting day one. Certain stores only offer specific menu options for various social stat boosts at night and there are also locations that are only available at night as well that can offer unique ways to increase the player’s capabilities. There also happens to be only two Social Links at night, meaning players will likely max these two out quite quickly if they plan accordingly with their Social Stats. It is also worth noting that while more recent entries gave players various extra benefits for raising their Social Links with characters, the only gameplay benefit for doing so here is to increase the amount of bonus EXP given to Persona fusions and unlocking ultimate Personas of various tarots.
To try and balance out the limited nighttime Social Links most of the game’s hangouts with the members of S.E.E.S. occur at night. This can involve going on a walk with Koromaru, cooking or watching a movie with various members of the team, and even tending to vegetables players can plant on the roof to add extra benefits to the produce when it is harvested. Not only are these interactions an extra bit of story for players as mentioned before, they also can unlock extra abilities for team members if pursued properly.
Alongside these nighttime activities players will also find that night is when they will be traveling into Tartarus and venturing up the endless floors while facing off against bosses and countless Shadows along the way. Despite being given a facelift, Tartarus is still randomly generated as players progress through the dungeon with certain set locations where players will face off against bosses and eventually reach a “roadblock” that will prevent them from climbing higher until a certain date has passed. This generally means players can explore Tartarus as much as they want and as often as they want thanks to its randomization but it isn’t necessary for a number of reasons, mostly due to repetition and the general grinding feel of climbing the tower. While not necessary, it often feels like players are meant to crush through an entire stage of Tartarus in a single night and it is certainly possible on Normal or even harder difficulties even at the beginning and there are very few actual rewards for going back through previously completed stages.
Of course, this is partially do the fact that the largest overhaul to Persona 3 Reload over the original release is its combat system. In the original, players could only control their character and while that option is available, it isn’t recommended as players can now control their entire party in combat and dictate exactly what skills and attacks they want them to use. Players can still target various elemental weaknesses to “down” an enemy and any time an enemy weakness is hit or a critical is struck the attacking party can make another attack or “shift” their attack to an ally. This allows players to shift their follow-up attacks to specifically target a number of enemy weaknesses at once to down every foe and give players the chance to trigger the “All Out Attacks” that deal immense damage and almost certainly slay most normal enemies.
Alongside the ability to actually control your team Persona 3 Reload now features “Theurgy” attacks that work as ultimate attacks for the player’s team members and charge up through various means, be it healing in the case of Yukari or buffing the party for Aegis though it will still fill normally as well. These powerful moves are incredibly effective as they ignore resistances and can deal plenty of damage to bosses. To go along with these new attacks players can also find new “Monad” doors where they can challenge new harder Shadows that often hide useful treasures, extra costumes, and most importantly extra tarot cards behind them.
Since players do not directly fight the Personas that they are using on their team, the actual recruitment of Persona is far simpler this time around and a bit more random. Every battle has the chance to trigger “Shuffle Time” at the end of a fight with All-Out-Attack finished fights always triggering it and during this time players can choose one card (initially) that will provide a reward. This can be some healing for the team, some money, a skill card, extra EXP, a Persona that will be added to the player’s roster, and larger Tarots that provide additional bonuses. The usual Persona fusion methods remain the same with players choosing exactly what Persona they want to fuse for and selecting skills to inherit, though there is the chance for some fusion accidents to happen though this appears to happen incredibly rarely to the point that it happened only one time in our entire playthrough.
Audio & Visuals
One of the biggest draws of Persona 3 Reload is of course the fact that it now features updated graphics alongside a brand new voice cast and set of background music. The visuals this time are incredibly striking with all of the character models being lovingly recreated to modern-day standards and every party member even having a large variety of costumes players can unlock for use in Tartarus. As for Tartarus itself, while the floors are still almost all randomly generated they now follow certain themes as players travel up through various floors. Some locations can be dark and difficult to navigate while others are a mix of confusing neon colors, adding some extra spice to an otherwise randomly generated series of stages that, even with this extra touch, can feel repetitive. The Personas that players acquire remain impressive as ever looking and the Shadows players fight are also recreated nicely, and it is worth noting that unlike the most recent game, Personas and Shadows are not the same meaning players won’t be always fighting the same things they are recruiting.
Atlus USA has released Persona 3 Reload with both the brand new English voice track as well as the Japanese voice track and players can choose to swap between them at any time. The new voice actors do a solid job with their characters here, especially in some cases such as Akihiko coming off as far better sounding characters compared to the original release while Aegis’ stylistic approach is also quite wonderful here. It is also worth noting that nearly every element of dialogue involving a named character is entirely voiced, this includes every step of all Social Links, not just the beginning and end. This does an incredible job at making these scenes more impactful, especially with how heavy some of the Social Links in this entry can be. The soundtrack features a redone version of nearly every piece of music from the original game including a number of new tracks as well. The vocal tracks do have different vocalists this time around though and for the most part they fit perfectly fine with some wonderful battle music though some extra variation in battle themes would have been nice.
Overall
Atlus has done a surprisingly impressive job at keeping the Persona 3 still in Persona 3 Reload. The remake features just enough in the way of updates to make it play better than ever and look as impressive as fans would hope while still trying to make sure that its various themes and mechanics remain mostly untouched both to its benefit and detriment. This has led to some unbalanced time constraints for certain interactions that require some tight planning and repetition with the exploration of Tartarus but these issues are minor when compared to the grander package that delivers an emotional tale that fans will be eager to see through to its ending, hopefully one that will be expanded upon properly again in the future.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
After dealing with a massive encounter with the British Navy we hit the ocean with a freshly built ship to try and establish our own legend as a pirate in Skull and Bones, including sinking numerous ships and smuggling contraband.
Enter the perilous world of Skull and Bones, a co-op pirate open-world action RPG experience, to become the most infamous pirate kingpin!
Skull and Bones Developer: Ubisoft Singapore Publisher: Ubisoft Platform: Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S Release Date: 16th Feb, 2024
Not Recommended – “Skull and Bones nails its ship combat and sailing so wonderfully it becomes a highlight amongst generic gameplay loops, bare bones story, and chore-like endgame tasks.”
