Kakuchopurei’s Best Of 2018 Awards: Day Three

Our awards week is still a thing; now we’re down to Day 3. Catch up on the past awards below:
Day One
Day Two
We’ve dedicated this day to the newcomers, the puzzlers, and the indie games. And maybe even the tender moments and memorable heroes/heroines we’ve all played with and against. Also, we sorted out the best animals and best dongs in that one Assassin’s Creed game.
As usual, scroll through the pics and stills of 2004’s Malaysian-made indie romance drama darling Sepet to see the winners.

Best Puzzle Game
Tetris Effect

How the heck does one make Tetris more engaging? The core game is already perfect to begin with; it’s aged pretty well over the past 30 years.
Simple: get the team who made Rez to do it. Somehow or other, Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Enhance Inc. blends the Alexei Pajitnov-made game with the duo’s unique visual and audio stylings to create this year’s hands-down best puzzle game. Journey mode takes you on a trip through 27 levels of pure aural and visual bliss. You will believe that random geometry can transition well to flying windmills and flying whales, as well as put you in a zen-like state of tetriminos-clearing.
Furthermore, the game’s VR mode gives people a reason to invest more than a $1,000 on a VR headset: the stuff that happens when you clear wave upon wave of tetriminos and see what unfolds is just accentuated and made so much better in VR. And that’s not even using additional substances of questionable origin to further amp up the jam.
Seriously though, don’t do drugs. But do Tetris Effect. Nice and slow. Preferably with VR. We do hope this game breaks out of its PS4 exclusivity so that other platforms can experience this acid trip.
Runners-Up: Donut County, Sushi Striker.
Best Indie Game
Dead Cells

There are WAY too many indie titles this year to keep track of; not that it’s a bad thing. Just take a peek at our runners-up for this category. All of them deserve the spotlight here because they’re well-made within their tech confines (Return Of The Obra Dinn), they worked in their message into the game well (Celeste), and they’re just fun retro throwbacks (The Messenger).
Or in some cases, they’re adventure games that’s awe-inspiring and charming like Wandersong. Gotta love a game where a bard tries to save the world in a non-violent way.
With all of that out of the way, here’s our main pick: Dead Cells. This badass of a game get our top pick because it combines what we love about tough 2D games and make us work for our victories and endings. The way it moves, it feels, it sounds, and it looks also helped exponentially.
Playing through the randomised stages and uncovering new and tougher pathways over and over? Pure invigoration, especially if you factor in the best damn controls for a 2D action game. Best of all, Dead Cells nails that “one more playthrough” replayability factor that many games lack.
You feel like the deaths you experience in this game matter because they teach you not to be complacent and always be on your toes while also working with what you got. Your gear is randomized, but your permanent skills and overall stage branches aren’t. It’s your choice on whether you want to take the easy way or the more complex-but-loot-filled way.
Dead Cells is both a case study in how to make people get good at games without requiring a huge triple-A studio budget to do so.
Runners-Up: Celeste, Wandersong, Dandara, Return of the Obra Dinn, The Iconoclast.
Best Debut
Atreus (God of War)

This year’s offerings of new heroes, heroines, and villains are plentiful, but there can only be one here. And our pick is the boy wonder Atreus.
Sure, the whiny behaviour comes with the age, but play through the 30+ hours of the game and that’ll phase out. You’ll also see why he’s essential to making this God of War game a much more enriching experience.
He’s not a liability, not by a long shot. He’s your voice of reason when you, playing Kratos, just solves problems by bulldozing through them. Once you get enough skill points, you can power him up so that he can stun baddies for you, shoot down enemies you launch up in the air, and even grapple some of them for you to headshot them with your axe.
Best of all, he helps trigger the best moment of God of War. You know the one.
The payoff at the end where both of them work in tandem against all odds completes their character arc. Truth be told, God of War would not have been one of the landmark games of 2018 were it not for this spunky kid.
Runners-Up: Arthur Morgan (RDR2), Joseph Seed (FarCry 5), B.K (Donut County), Madeline (Celeste).
Best Animal
Cheeseburger (FarCry 5)

Look, bears need more representation in video games. So it’s with dutiful honour that we get to award this loveable-if-chaotic giant mammal the “best animal” prize.
He’s loveable, the stage where you unlock him comes equipped with a banjo solo soundtrack, and he’s perfect for your outpost-claiming non-stealth approaching needs. He’s also a cuddly giant who needs no maintenance; he’s a tough mother for enemies to take down too.
Runners-Up: Your Red Dead Redemption 2 horse, Phobos (AC Odyssey), Peaches (FarCry 5)
Best Gaming Surprise
Dragalia Lost

When we heard that the Shadowverse folks are teaming up with Nintendo for their take on the mobile action RPG formula White Cat Project is famous for, we weren’t too sure how it would pan out. While Nintendo did good with their Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes fare on iOS and Android, you had to keep in mind that these were established brands from years past. And unless Nintendo is willing to take the South Korean “skimpy female hero” route with not much going for it, their new series may not take off.
And guess what? Dragalia Lost kinda did take said route (see Halloween Elisanne among others), but it also brought in a few other polished additions to make other mobile games of that same ilk take notice. Catchy pop music in and out of battle? Check. Fun action RPG action with smooth controls and dragon-morphing mechanics? Check.
A well-localized shonen-esque story about a deposed prince forming his own kingdom with ragtag paladins, elves, and dragons? Check. A super-generous rewards system that, surprise surprise, makes fans of the game pay money out of goodwill instead of obligation thanks to a bombardments of ads? Check.
Fate: GO, Honkai Impact, Seven Knight, and all you other mobile games? Try adding a catchy jingle to your game so that people won’t dismiss you as yet another phone game cashgrab. Because right now, Dragalia Lost is our surprise addiction of 2018.

Runners-Up: Err….
Best Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Penis
This One

Ask any casanova and they’ll say it’s not just the size, it’s how you use it. And the guy who made this naked man statue knows it. What it lacks in ginormous proportions, it makes it up with style and respect for the male appendage.
Runners-Up: Zeus’ other lightning bolt statue, Poseidon’s “trident” statue.
Best Story
Red Dead Redemption 2

From start to finish, RDR2’s story grips you. It’s basically a tale of a bandit group that’s trying to run away from the changing times, and failing miserably at it.
True, the tale stumbles at the 5th chapter (protip: save on a separate slot when you’re about to rob a bank in the big city), but at least it goes back on course and wraps it up with an epilogue that’s a quarter-length of the entire game. Lovely stuff, that.
Rockstar couldn’t have told its decadent tale without the details, pacing, and stellar writing, as well as its highly-lavished backdrop of 1899. Yes, the actual game is mostly compromised for this to happen, but at least we gave a damn about the game’s wild beginning all the way to its tragic yet logical end.
Runners-Up: Wandersong, God of War, Life is Strange 2.
Hottest Mess
Bethesda & Fallout 76

So what is the “hottest mess” award? Simple; it’s the piece of news that highlights the incompetence of a particular company that’s so spectacular, it’s akin to watching a train wreck from afar. In this instance, points go to Bethesda: the gift that truly keeps on giving.
It’s bad enough the game is already a trainwreck with its not-so-hot gameplay and online disconnections that should have been fixed since the beta was announced. At the end of the day, no one asked for an online multiplayer Fallout game with a barebones plot.
What sealed the deal was the plethora of marketing and PR f***ups that happened since launch. Pre-order bag material kerfuffles, Reddit downvotes, people somehow getting credit card details because of a mess-up in customer service: we do hope they can pull through this. For their sake, they better, because right now people are pretty worried about their upcoming RPGs like the next Skyrim and Starfield.
Probably the biggest slap to the face to Bethesda is original Fallout designers Tim Caine and Leonard Boyarsky announcing their new game Outer Worlds at the Video Game Awards, which happened a few weeks after Fallout 76’s launch. The timing couldn’t have been more serendipitous.
Runners-Up:Â Gamestart xÂ Armageddon Mouse, Rockstar Games’ crunch, Telltale Games saga.


Singapore Management University Crowned Winners Of Inaugural MGA UEL Valorant Series

Singapore Management University (SMU) has been announced as the winners of the MGA UEL Valorant SeriesÂ following an intense 3-day Grand Final series, while Sunway University took second place and Asia Pacific University held third place in the competition.
Having kicked off in July 2021, the MGA UEL VALORANT Series had sought out the best university esports teams across Malaysia & SingaporeÂ to compete in the recently launched collegiate esports circuit. After concluding its round of Regional Qualifiers in East Malaysia, South & Central Malaysia, North & West Malaysia and Singapore, the competition boiled down to 8 teams competing in the 3-day Grand Final Series.
The winning team took home RM2,500 in cash, while the runner-up and second runner-up took RM1,500 and RM1,000 respectively.

As part of its umbrella competition program,Â the winning teams from the UEL MGA VALORANT Series are set to advance to compete in MSIâ€™s MGA University Championship, a Southeast Asian esports circuit participated by the best collegiate teams in the region including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam.
Singapore Management University (SMU) Team ZBP captain Matheaus Tan said:
â€œWe are extremely proud of our accomplishment in the competition and look forward to competing against the best teams in Southeast Asia at the MGA University Championship.
We would also like to thank the organizers of UEL, partners, sponsors for making this possible, as well as Singapore Management University for supporting us throughout the competition.”
While the first season of UEL draws to a close, theÂ next season promises a higher degree of competition and esports culture between universities.
Last month, three Malaysian universities won the UEL Dota 2, Mobile Legends Bang Bang and League Of Legends Wild Rift categories.
For future updates and information on UEL, you can head on over to Â http://www.universityeleague.com/Â orÂ @UELMYÂ on Facebook.


EA Announces Tournament & New Brand Identity For EACC Summer 2021

EA has announced the next tournament in the 2021 competitive season of FIFA Online 4 and unveiled an exciting new brand identity for the EACC Summer 2021 (formerly EA Champions Cup). The new branding for the inter-Asian esports tournament for its free-to-play multiplayer online football game FIFA Online 4 was developed in consultation with global sports marketing agency SPORTFIVE.
With the launch of a new logo for the tournament series, the EACC brand signals a more youthful and modern identity that promises to better connect with its key target groups in-market. By merging the esports competition with the full power of the FIFA Online 4 branding, the new brand also captivates its ambition to build a much more comprehensive ecosystem that is as vibrant as the mix of players and cultures that are competing.

More importantly, the brand envisions itself to be perceived as a premium competition by all fans and stakeholders, with the aspiration for the events and its players to reach new heights â€“ symbolised by the peaks that carry the EACC wordmark within the updated logo.
Piotr Pilich, Deputy Commissioner of FIFA Online 4 at EA, said:
â€œWe are thrilled to launch a new brand for the EACC that is more youthful, accessible, and more relevant to fans than ever before.
With a new generation of superstar players and fans, we see football in Asia evolving faster than before.
These fans are demanding for access to players more than ever and we want to be at the forefront of driving the conversation not just in esports but also in football.
We are excited to partner with SPORTFIVE, an agency which boasts an outstanding international brand network and expertise in both traditional sports and esports.
We are confident that they will be able to help us expand our reach in both football and the esports ecosystem.â€
Continuing the 2021 season of FIFA Online 4 competition, the EACC Summer 2021 will be the second tournament to award teams with ranking points and qualifying them into the season final FIFAe Continental Cup 2021. The summer edition of the EACC will take place online this year â€“ from 28 June to 4 July 2021 â€“ across four markets in China, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
This yearâ€™s tournament promises a more interactive and engaging experience for esports fans across Asia, with exclusive video content and real-time social media coverage of the events to be expected. The EACC first began in 2014 as the FIFA Online 3 Spearhead Invitational, being the first-ever international FIFA Online esports competition.
It later evolved into the Asian Cup in 2015, finally becoming the EA Champions Cup in 2016. Since then, it has brought together the best professional FIFA Online 4 teams twice a year, in a battle to become champions of Asia and qualify into the FIFAe Continental Cup.


IT Chapter Two Stays Afloat With Brilliant Casting & Unhinged Pennywise

IT is back as the horrifying clown monster Pennywise (Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd) returns in IT Chapter Two, adapting the second half of Stephen King’s iconic book of the same name. While 2017’s IT Chapter One was like Stranger Things and The Goonies with its kid protagonists and 80s nostalgia.
Meanwhile,Â IT Chapter Two is a more adult affair, one that allows for more depth and fleshed out plot details, albeit with a few stumbles along the way.
Excellent Ensemble Cast

IT Chapter Two boasts an ensemble cast oozing star power, including the likes of James McAvoy (Bill), Jessica Chastain (Beverly), Bill Hader (Richie), Isaiah Mustafa (Mike), Jay Ryan (Ben), James Ransone (Eddie), and Andy Bean (Stanley).
What makes it especially impressive is the great chemistry between the members of the Losers Club that sells the idea of them being old friends who’ve drifted apart over the years but still with affection and love for each other.

They’re also essentially splitting images of their younger counterparts from the first movie, all of whom also reprise their respective roles during the many flashback sequences in IT Chapter Two.
The highlight of the adult losers has to be Bill Hader’s Richie, who brings much-needed humour, levity and wit to the movie when interacting with his other fellow Losers. The others are brilliant as well, though some are luckier than others. For instance, Isaiah Mustafa’s Mike doesn’t get much to do in the movie, as he’s been tasked for the role of spewing exposition and basically what amounts to being a plot device.
27 Years Later…

The story in IT Chapter Two picks up 27 years after the events of the first movie. The Loser Club have all but disbanded and have their own lives in different places, with the exception of Mike who chose to remain in Derry all those years.
One day when a horrible homophobic attack ends bloodier than expected, Mike realises that it signals the return of Pennywise, and chose to assemble all the members of the Loser Club by calling them one by one.
It turns out that almost everyone who left Derry has somehow conveniently forgotten their childhood experiences and life in Derry in the 80s. In fact, IT Chapter Two features a lot of conveniences, or rather, ridiculous setups to move the plot forward.

The best part about IT Chapter One is watching the kids spending time together as a group. Halfway through IT Chapter Two, the adult Losers Club are forced to split up for the sake of collecting a MacGuffin object (think Marvel’s Infinity Stone) in the hopes of stopping IT.

One of the adult Losers (bless you, Bill Hader) even point out how dumb that would be (to split up), but once again, a convenient line spoken by Mike halts the argument there and then. However, I wouldn’t say that it’s all bad, as it was necessary to get the Losers separated and on their own for the movie to work.
IT Chapter Two is all about how no matter how far or how long you run from your fear, it will always be there lingering and festering unless you gather up the will to face and conquer it.

During each of the respective Losers’ solo quests, Pennywise torments them by digging up past traumas and painful childhood memories that they have repressed in adulthood. This is when the cast of the first movie plays into the movie during the aforementioned flashback sequences.
These horror setpieces are the definite highlights of the movie, as Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd gets to strut his stuff as Pennywise and heighten up the creep factor. However, there are also a lot more CGI used in IT Chapter Two, with mixed results (though one scene, in particular, felt like an awesome homage to 1982’s The Thing).
I like how these parts serve not only as some sort of secret origin/history for the characters but also flesh them out further by exploring their unresolved issues. Once in the movie, James McAvoy’s Bill even remarks about how life doesn’t always end the way you want it to, which is poetic.
Compared to the mysterious and ominous boogeyman that Pennywise was in IT Chapter One, we learn more about the origins of the murderous entity. Though I would love for the movie to dive even deeper in the schlocky fantasy science fiction lore of the book, the movie had to hold back to avoid meandering into non-horror too much.

There are hints of Stephen King’s larger Macroverse elements at play in IT Chapter Two, and hardcore fans of the author will have a great time spotting these subtle easter eggs. That’s not even mentioning a special unmissable cameo by a certain master of horror himself.

The climax of IT Chapter Two also relies on convenience and deus ex machina, which may rub people the wrong way (they did with some of my fellow colleagues). However, I think it ultimately fits with the overall theme of the movie, and that’s okay, no matter how cheesy or corny it got in the end.
The End Of IT

Director Andy Muschietti has deftly commanded a great ensemble cast with a sense of grace, though some might find the 2 hours and 50-minute runtime a bit too bloated. That wasn’t the case for me, as I found myself engrossed in the adventures of the Losers Club yet again, facing both their fears and the abstract cosmic being that is Pennywise.
Will it be as iconic as the IT 1990 miniseries? Only time will tell.
FINAL SCORE: 80/100
We received a preview screening courtesy of BuzzpopTV and Warner Bros Malaysia. IT Chapter Two premieres in Malaysian cinemas on 5 September 2019.


Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris Gets Delayed

The upcoming Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris game has been postponed thanks to the COVID-19 coronavirus. Originally due to release on 21 May for consoles and 22 May for Steam, it will now be out on 9 July for the former and 10 July for the latter.

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— ???????????? ??????? (@sao_gameinfo) April 24, 2020

It’s currently uncertain how this will affect the game’s worldwide release date. Bandai Namco’s English site currently displays its original release date of 22 May, the same as Japan’s original Steam release date, so it’s likely that the postponement will cause the international release date to be pushed to July as well.
Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris is based on the Alicization arc of the popular Sword Art OnlineÂ series, where protagonist Kirito finds himself in a mysterious virtual realm called “Underworld”. There will be some differences, however, like the presence of new character Medina Orthinanos.
The game looks decent from the bits I’ve seen, but it looks like we’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out for ourselves. In the meantime, check out the new trailer below.


Here’s Why People Remember Sakura Wars Even If They Didn’t Play It

It’s no secret that the best themes and music can make people remember films they didn’t even watch or games they didn’t even play. I know a bunch of people who haven’t touched Halo and yet they remember that main theme melody in the Bungie-composed theme. The same goes for Mario, Sonic, and a slew of other retro titles.
Sakura Wars for the Sega Saturn in 1996, and its eventual anime adaptation, falls in this category. Not many people played this game back in Malaysia, or Asia for that matter, but they remember the game and show’s anthem Geki! Teikoku-Kagekidan when the ad for the aired incessantly on Animax Asia/AXN.
Today, I’m presenting a video that talks about the anthem and its many remixes, as well as its successors. Simply because Sega announced a new Sakura Wars in the works. We’re going full-on obscure with this one.

Check out more SoundScape videos & features on our YouTube channel.


New Avengers Endgame Posters Feature The Living Heroes In Their Avenging Glory

Fresh off yesterday’s ‘Special Look’ trailer with all-new footage of Avengers Endgame, Marvel Studios have released new character posters featuring each living Avenger in the upcoming movie.
To clarify, these are different from the ‘Avenge The Fallen’ posters released last week, which were essentially revealed who’s alive or deceased in Avengers Endgame. Those posters were focused mainly on the faces of each Avenger, while these new posters feature a more detailed look at each living Avenger.
There are several exceptions though, as the new character posters exclude four of the living heroes: Pepper Potts, Wong, Valkyrie, and Happy Hogan. Take a look at the twelve (12) new character posters below.

				Captain America

				Iron Man

				Thor

				Captain Marvel

				Black Widow

				Hawkeye/Ronin

				Ant-Man

				Bruce Banner

				Nebula

				Okoye

				Rocket

				War Machine/Iron Patriot

It’s interesting how almost all of the official promotional material for Avengers Endgame so far show Bruce Banner instead of Hulk. In fact, none of the trailers have shown the Hulk. It’s all very mysterious and a little bit suspicious. Still, it’s great that we received new posters ahead of the movie’s release on 24 April 2019.
Meanwhile, the featured image of this article is from the newly-released Avengers EndgameÂ Dolby Cinema poster. Behold:


Dragon Quest X Offline Drops In Japan This September

Square Enix has announced that Dragon Quest X Offline, or Dragon Quest Rise Of The Five Tribes Offline, is slated to launch for the PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam on 15 September 2022 in Japan.
In addition, its DLC expansion, Dragon Quest X The Sleeping Hero And The Guiding Ally Offline, has been delayed from its previously planned fall 2022 release window to spring 2023.
However, there is no news of a worldwide English release as of yet.


The Fallout Writer Who Gave Dogmeat His Name In Fallout Has Died

Scott Bennie, the writer/producer/designer for Interplay’s Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and Fallout back in the day, has died due to pneumonia complications. He was 61, according to a recent Facebook page update.
If you are not familiar with his name, you are most likely familiar with his writing and game design works. Back in the 90s he worked on the video game Lord of the Rings adaptations at Interplay. He has writing credits in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Star Trek: Judgment Rites, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, Star Trek: Starfleet Command, and the Fallout series. In fact, he was the one who gave the famous dog in the game its trademark name: Dogmeat (via Steemit interview).
“I didn’t have that much to do with Fallout. A few maps, some bits of the Hub, and some system messages. And the Mysterious Stranger Perk. And I named Dogmeat – if anything endures of my writing career, it will be the name of that dog.”
He also was known for working on the Champions tabletop game and also playing a superhero named Thundrax in the MMORPG Champions Online. Here are the kind words game developers have shared online about the man:

I was saddened to hear that Scott Bennie died today. He was a brilliant writer who worked with us at Interplay on some true classics like Star Trek: Judgment Rites and Starfleet Academy. RIP.https://t.co/fkCSVYDdFI
— Brian Fargo (@BrianFargo) March 30, 2022

My friend and former coworker, the game designer  Scott Bennie, has died from complications from pneumonia. His Champions work was groundbreaking. I hope he knew the esteem in which people held him.
— Colin McComb (@ColinMcComb) March 29, 2022

Scott Bennie was an old friend of mine. A creative genius, we met as contributors to Rogues Gallery, the Hero Games fanzine. But I had already long admired his work. He has struggled for decades with ill health and depression. 1/3 https://t.co/oAicElz034
— Jason Tondro (@doctorcomics) March 29, 2022

It is my sad duty to report – for those who've not yet heard – that RPG and computer game designer great, Scott Bennie, has flown on to the Next Great Adventure.
May Thundrax fly forever! Paladin shall miss him… pic.twitter.com/wgnYKn7Xxu
— Sean Patrick Fannon (@SeanPatFan) March 29, 2022

Rest in peace, Scott Bennie, and thank you for the gaming memories.


EA Wins Guinness Book Of World Records For Star Wars Battlefront II

Sounds like a positive headline, right? Nothing could be further from the truth.
Turns out that infamous Reddit post where EA responds to player complaints about unlocking Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: Battlefront II (2017 version) has made it in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest number of downvotes ever for a Reddit post: 683,000.

(Image via Reddit’s -amsha-)

As a reminder, here’s the full post:
The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes.
As for cost, we selected initial values based upon data from the Open Beta and other adjustments made to milestone rewards before launch. Among other things, weâ€™re looking at average per-player credit earn rates on a daily basis, and weâ€™ll be making constant adjustments to ensure that players have challenges that are compelling, rewarding, and of course attainable via gameplay.
We appreciate the candid feedback, and the passion the community has put forth around the current topics here on Reddit, our forums and across numerous social media outlets.
Our team will continue to make changes and monitor community feedback and update everyone as soon and as often as we can.

The second most-downvoted Reddit post, which is about Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, received only 88,906 downvotes.
So, congratulations EA? To be fair, The Guinness Book of World Records is infamous for getting money from helping companies invent and break new records for the sake of publicity. So being in the book right now might be dubious, arguably so.


Star Wars Tales Of The Jedi To Feature Baby Ahsoka Tano & Young Count Dooku

During Star Wars Celebration 2022, it was announced that Star Wars Tales Of The Jedi will premiere on Disney+ Hotstar sometime in fall 2022. It is a new 6-part animated short series, and each episode will focus on a specific Jedi, including the origins of Ahsoka Tano (baby Ahsoka Tano!) and a young Count Dooku.
In fact, three episodes out of the six will focus on Ahsoka Tano, while the other three will be on when Count Dooku was still a Jedi. The trailer for the series (which has not been released to the public as of yet) also teased appearances by Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, and Qui-Gon Jinn, who will be voiced by Liam Neeson reprising his role (while Liam Neeson’s own son will voice the younger version of the character).
The great Dave Filoni will serve as writer and executive producer on this series.
Star Wars The Bad Batch Season 2 will also premiere on Disney+ Hotstar sometime in fall 2022, so that means a whole wealth of Star Wars content waiting for fans this year.
Check out the official images from Star Wars Tales Of The Jedi below:


Bramble: The Mountain King Set To Release 27 April

Publisher Merge Games and developer Dimfrost Studios have revealed their horror-inspired grim adventure Bramble: The Mountain King which will be launching on 27 April for PC via Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X | S and Nintendo Switch.
The popularity of Bramble on social media, with over 44.3 million views on TikTok and support from numerous content creators globally, has caused widespread excitement among players.
The demo for its Nordic horror game, “Näcken Pond”, is currently available on Steam Next Fest and has been downloaded over 50,000 times on both Steam and PlayStation 5, generating much anticipation for the full release. Physical copies of Bramble can be pre-ordered now at Signature Edition Games, and the first 2000 pre-orders will receive a limited edition Skogsrå pin badge.
Bramble: The Mountain King draws on the powerful creatures and rich fables of Nordic myth to spin a unique tale of one boy’s courage in the face of sinister creatures and maddening darkness.
The game has received overwhelming support from players, pushing it to the top trending title worldwide on YouTube over Halloween weekend, and seeing more players immersing themselves in the dark and sodden world of Bramble through the demo each day.

Key Features

Atmospheric environments, high-end graphics, and beautifully detailed art
Traverse the treacherous land of Bramble on an emotional journey to find your sister
Unravel dark secrets and discover the depths of your courage in the face of giants
Story-driven gameplay with stunning cinematic moments
Encounter mythical creatures such as Näcken, the Skogsra, trolls, gnomes and more
Explore a sprawling landscape of tremendous heights and plunging depths inspired by Nordic nature


Tales Of Arise Is A Glossy JRPG Entry That Sticks To Type

Platforms: Xbox Series (version reviewed), Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC
Genre: JRPG
The more things try to change, the more they stay the same. That’s the case with Bandai Namco’s Tales of Arise series, the next mothership JRPG series from the Tales team. Even with the brand new coat of paint and art style, not to mention a streamlined battle system, its tropes still exist for better or worse.
The Man In The Iron Mask

So what’s the anime plot this time around? It’s about the world of Dahna where its denizens have been subjugated to slavery and oppression by the Renans (folks from another planet in the sky) for 300 years. You play as one of the enslaved, Alphen, who starts off with an iron mask covering his face and him teaming up with the local resistance group to liberate the nation of Calaglia and subsequent regions throughout the story. He manages to pull off the first liberation thanks to the help of the mysterious gun-wielding woman/tsundere archetype Shionne who somehow is cursed with thorns that severely damages anyone who so much as touches or grazes her.
And with Alphen himself not being able to feel pain from these thorns, it’s clear as day that both of them are shipping material for anime and JRPG fans, right down to the “ums” and gasps the two usually say while deep in conversation.
The duo are joined by a motley crew of fighters and spellcasters ranging from a hotheaded kungfu guy to a motherly and stern former soldier of a guard with a shield that’s vying for the “biggest arsenal ever in JRPG history” and clearly competing against Final Fantasy’s Buster Sword. The overall plot is standard anime angst with on-the-nose allegories & themes to conquest, rebellion, & discrimination, though it does wrap up quicker than in past entries. You’ll still experience the usual “Muffin Man dialogue syndrome” that’s prevalent in this genre of storytelling, so don’t expect that to change and evolve even with the high-brow themes thrown in.
Tales of Arise’s heroes are a hoot to play as and be with. They have their fair share of gripes and quirks, and while you can see them coming from a mile away if this is your umpteenth JRPG experience this year, they’re a great bunch to hang out with for your 30 to 50-hour playthrough. From Shionne’s never-ending hunger for food to Kisara’s drill sergeant mentality rubbing off onto the party, Tales of Arise’s main crew are just as memorable and endearing as Tales of The Abyss’ Luke and Tales of Vesperia’s Yuri.
Rising Up

If this is your first Tales of game, you’ll have a ball of a time with the game’s real-time combat system. Basically, you control one person in a group of four combatants in a party, fighting monsters and soldiers with regular attacks, special moves (Artes), and spells. You can chain your attacks, stagger enemies with Break effects by using special Boost moves when they’re doing some specific move (ie: using a certain shield-savvy Boost move to stop and stun a charging foe in an instant), and going in a “Super Saiyan” state that lets you trigger powerful Mystic Artes moves. You can also fancy tag team”finishing moves” to off foes who are hit and chained enough times, making it easy to whittle down a giant group of foes as long as you can coordinate attacks well.
True, it gets overwhelming from the get-go, but once you have a full roster of characters and figure out which of their Boost moves are better with what enemy attack types, and figuring out that changing enemy targets freezes the action, then it becomes a fun ride.
For Tales of veterans: every healing and support artes share a giant CP resource gauge rather than basing it on individual party member’s resources. All your offensive artes take up a pip of meter; most characters start off with 3 pips, but that amount will grow as you level up, meaning you can chain more moves and artes easily. These changes and streamlining of past Tales of mechanics are incredibly welcome and make the action all the more manageable and fast. Still, it can be incredibly hard to figure out which spells are yours and which spells are your foe’s in the heat of battle, leading to accidental deaths on your end.
That’s not to say the game isn’t challenging; the combat does get hard over time and you’ll need to be smart in deciding when to dogpile certain foes or weak points of a giant boss, or to spread out and avoid AoEs. Having said that, the Tales of tradition of making every single boss in the game a huge damage sponge that unnecessarily hits hard, arguably moreso than Tales of Zestiria and Berseria, can be taxing even for the most patient of veterans. I get that anything goes in the latter half of the game, but to have these sort of enemies in the first 20 or so hours? That’s just absurd.
This design choice of just padding out fights instead of having players rely on combat savvy just feels like a time-wasting endeavour, as if the 30+ hours you’ll spend on the overall game isn’t enough.
I should disclose that the review copy we received -at launch and not a week or so before- contains DLC and gameplay boosting packages that come with the non-standard editions of the game. You fork out more to get grinding boosts and store discounts, in other words. This goes beyond cosmetics, as the in-game shops charge an incredulous amount for curatives and items, meaning more grinding for those who didn’t pay up more for an already-expensive triple-A title.
This also makes you wonder if the game itself purposely scaled up enemy HP on a whole just so you’ll get frustrated and impatient enough to fork over extra money for the XP boost. I do question how Bandai Namco gets away with this practice since this has been happening with most Tales of games.
Hearts Afire

As a whole, Tales of Arise is a decent entry with lovely visuals, a great cast of characters, and an engaging if overwhelming combat system. However, the main plot is standard anime exposition that’s been told and paced out better in other mediums. Its many boss fights just feel unbalanced unless you grind your way through the game for a few extra hours.
Most damning of all, there’s that sense of deja vu you feel when you’re on this new Tales of game. For a series that has been around for 30+ years, it should have at least taken cues from older JRPGs and just do with a major overhaul and shaking up. As it stands, JRPG fans will just have to settle with an alright-if-not-that-perfect experience.
Pros

Battle system is mostly fun and streamlined.
Pretty graphics.
Great enhancements like fast travel conveniences.

Cons

Bosses are damage sponges that just deal absurd damage at default difficulty.
Standard gritty anime plot with unevolved tropes.
Questionable DLC practices that affect game design.

Final Score: 60/100
Review copy provided by Bandai Namco Southeast Asia.


Marvelâ€™s What Ifâ€¦? Episode 9 Finale Breakdown & Easter Eggs

The ninth and final episode of Marvelâ€™s What Ifâ€¦? Season 1 is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia. Iâ€™ll be discussing heavy spoilers so if you havenâ€™t seen it or want to avoid spoilers, nowâ€™s your chance to stop reading.
Marvelâ€™s What Ifâ€¦?Â features fan-favourite characters, including Peggy Carter, Tâ€™Challa, Doctor Strange, Killmonger, Thor and more. The new series, directed by Bryan Andrews with AC Bradley as head writer and Brad Winderbaum as an executive producer, explores hypothetical stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It focuses on non-canonical stories like what happens if Peggy Carter became Captain Britain and if Tâ€™Challa/Black Panther was abducted by the Ravagers instead of Peter Quill/Star-Lord.
You can check out my previous breakdown ofÂ Marvelâ€™s What Ifâ€¦? Episode 1,Â Episode 2,Â Episode 3,Â Episode 4,Â Episode 5,Â Episode 6,Â Episode 7Â and Episode 8 here.
If you havenâ€™t, you can check out my previous breakdown and easter egg articles forÂ WandaVisionÂ Episode 1 and 2,Â Episode 3,Â Episode 4,Â Episode 5,Â Episode 6,Â Episode 7,Â Episode 8Â andÂ Episode 9.
ForÂ The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, you can check out my previous breakdowns forÂ Episode 1,Â Episode 2Â andÂ Episode 3,Â Episode 4,Â Episode 5Â andÂ Episode 6.
For previous breakdowns ofÂ LokiÂ episodes, check outÂ Episode 1 here,Â Episode 2 here,Â Episode 3 here,Â Episode 4 here,Â Episode 5 hereÂ andÂ Episode 6 here.
Courtesy of Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia, we were recently lucky enough to participate in a roundtable interview withÂ Marvelâ€™s What Ifâ€¦?Â Executive ProducerÂ Brad Winderbaum, Head WriterÂ AC Bradley, and DirectorÂ Bryan Andrews. You can check out that interview byÂ heading over here.
Recently, we also interviewedÂ Marvelâ€™s What Ifâ€¦?Â EditorsÂ Graham Fisher and Joel Fisher, Animation SupervisorÂ Stephan Franck, and Head of Visual Development and Character DesignÂ Ryan Meinerding. You can check out that interview byÂ heading over here.

The Watcher Recruits Captain Carter In The Middle Of A Fight Against Batroc

Remember Captain America The Winter Soldier? Now we see Captain Carter in her own version of the beginning of the movie fighting against Batroc The Leaper before The Watcher recruits her in his fight against Infinity Ultron.
The Watcher Recruits Star-Lord T’Challa Just As He Saves Peter Quill From Ego

So, now we know what happens at the end of Episode 3, as Star-Lord T’Challa saves Peter Quill from being absorbed by Ego. When this is happening, The Watcher appears and recruits him in the fight against Infinity Ultron.
The Watcher Recruits A Gamora Variant Who Defeated Her Father, Thanos

This Gamora variant is described by The Watcher as a “survivor of Sakaar and destroyer of Thanos’, which means that this version of the character managed to defeat Thanos and not ending up dead like the MCU version.
The Watcher Recruits Black Panther Killmonger

Funnily enough, in a continuation of Episode 6, The Watcher recruits Black Panther Killmonger just as he’s about to be apprehended by Shuri and Pepper Potts.
The Watcher Recruits Party Thor

In a continuation of Episode 7, The Watcher recruits Party Thor just as he’s fighting a bunch of Ultron drones.
Along With Doctor Strange Supreme, These Are The Guardians Of The Multiverse

There you have it, folks. The Guardians Of The Multiverse.
And no, this is an entirely new creation. There are no Guardians Of The Multiverse in the comics. The closest thing to having the same purpose and objective as the Guardians Of The Multiverse would probably be the Exiles.
The Exiles usually consist of X-Men members, but they also consist of characters from different universes, or realities, which have been removed from time and space in order to correct problems (often called “hiccups”) in various alternate worlds and divergent timelines in the Marvel Multiverse.
Interestingly, the most recent run of The Exiles introduced a version of Peggy Carter who actually became Captain America.

The Infinity Crusher Can Destroy Infinity Stones

So, this is how this Gamora variant defeated Thanos. She probably destroyed her universe’s Infinity Stones before he could get to them.
Doctor Strange Supreme Brings Back The Marvel Zombies To Deal With Infinity Ultron

The Marvel Zombies from Episode 5 returns.
Also, it’s impressive that Doctor Strange Supreme can just easily open a Multiversal portal.
It begs the question, can the MCU Doctor Strange do that too?
Oh, and zombie Scarlet Witch too.

They Defeat Infinity Ultron By Infecting His Body With Arnim Zola

Black Widow shoots a virus arrow in Infinity Ultron’s eye and infected him with a virus that contains Arnim Zola’s consciousness.
Killmonger And Arnim Zola Tried To Take The Infinity Stones But Doctor Strange Supreme Imprisons Them In A Pocket Dimension

Now they’re endlessly stuck in a pocket dimension, and it’s Doctor Strange Supreme’s job to keep them from breaking out.

The Watcher Brings The Black Widow From Infinity Ultron’s World To A World Where There Is No Black Widow

There’s A Post-Credits Scene

Stay until the end of the credits for a post-credits scene where Captain Carter and Black Widow discover the Hydra Stomper along with Steve Rogers inside, who is still alive.
This tease is important because executive producer Brad Winderbaum already confirmed that Marvel’s What If…? Season 2 will feature the return of Captain Carter with more episodes featuring her.
Plus, Marvel’s What If…? is already confirmed to be receiving a second season, but there is no release date as of yet. However, it’s already in production, so we’ll probably get to see it by 2022 at the earliest.
In the meantime, it’s been a great nine weeks with everyone. The next Disney+ Marvel series will be Hawkeye, which will premiere on 24 November 2021. I’ll still be doing breakdowns for that series, so stay tuned!


Sony Explains Reasons Behind PS5 Activities

The PS5 has introduced many new next-gen features. This includes having one of the fastest SSDs out there, and UI improvements like the new Activities feature, which enables players to instantly jump around to different game quests or ‘activities’ by sorting through a menu.
Back in 2019, Sony distributed confidential documents to internal developers (via Vice), which were part of a presentation telling them all about this new Activities feature.
In the presentation, Sony pointed out how single-player games were thriving, but players often encountered problems like the following:
“No idea how long I might need, don’t play unless I have 2+ free hours”.“Takes a lot of time to scan through long help videos when stuck”.“How to engage socially without risk of spoilers”.“Forgot what I was doing in this game last time, hard to get back in”.
According to Sony, the main issue is that players don’t have enough information to determine when and how they should play a single-player game, especially when they don’t have a lot of free time.
Thus, PS5 Activities will not only let them instantly jump into specific parts of the game, but also suggest how long it will take to finish those particular parts.
So far, different games have implemented the Activities feature in different ways. In Demon’s Souls, players can warp between worlds. In Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales, players can just jump straight into a story mission or side quest, instead of swinging through New York to get there.
However, it can also be incorporated in other ways. Sony’s 2019 presentation suggests a “challenge” activity that lists the fastest lap times around a particular track in a Gran Turismo game and how many times the player has attempted it. This is already currently being used in Astro’s Playroom.
Some players might prefer to play a game traditionally, but Sony is right in that some players don’t have time to fully immerse themselves in a 100-hour open-world game. The PS5 Activities feature goes a long way in helping them enjoy what little playtime they have.
In the meantime,Â head on over here to check out all our other PS5-related news and feature articles.


The Witcher Season 2 Trailer Teases Iconic Monster From The Games

During a panel today at the Lucca Comics & Games Convention in Italy, The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, cast members Joey Batey (Jaskier) and Kim Bodnia (Vesemir), Production Designer Andrew Laws and Costume Designer Lucinda Wright delighted fans with a surprise drop of the highly anticipated main trailer and key art for The Witcher Season 2.
The trailer is action-packed and epic, but what’s most interesting is that it features Geralt and Ciri teaming up against an iconic monster from the franchise’s games; the Leshen.
This is what the Leshen looks like in The Witcher Season 2.

This is what the Leshen looks like in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt:

The Witcher Season 2 synopsis reads:
Convinced Yenneferâ€™s life was lost at the Battle of Sodden, Geralt of Rivia brings Princess Cirilla to the safest place he knows, his childhood home of Kaer Morhen. While the Continentâ€™s kings, elves, humans, and demons strive for supremacy outside its walls, he must protect the girl from something far more dangerous: the mysterious power she possesses inside.
The Witcher Season 2 premieres on Netflix on 17 December 2021. Check out the trailer and poster below:


2.5D Fighting Game Punchimals Closed Beta Is Now Open For Registration

Publisher and developer Two Lives Left announced that players can now register for the Punchimals Closed Beta prior to launch in 2024. However, there is no specific date given for when the closed beta will take place.
Punchimals, a physics-based 2.5D fighting indie game lets players pilot giant mechs using cute chubby animals duking it out to one another. While on the surface the game seems easy to grasp, Punchimals has deep mechanics for seasoned fighting game players. With control over the mech via the left analogue stick, and its fists via the right, the gameplay presents fast-paced strategic combat for everyone to enjoy. As players progress in skills, they will learn advanced mechanics, such as feints, wall bounces, parries, unique abilities, and strategic super moves.

Furthermore, both on the couch and online, players can engage in one-on-one combat or play Tag and Tandem for team-based fun. Explore more of the vibrant world in Arcade mode or battle against CPU. No matter the choice, you’ll get to experience fighting unique giant mechs in this upcoming fighting game!
More key features of Punchimals include:

Dual-analogue physics-based mech combat
Easy-to-learn mechanics that reward skill and mastery
Local and online multiplayer (with rollback netcode)
Single Player Campaign
Giant mechs
Vibrant arenas
Adorably chubby animal pilots

Interested players can now register here in taking part in any upcoming Closed Beta of the game. Punchimals is slated to launch sometime in 2024 and is now available to wishlist on Steam.
Stay tuned for more updates on Punchimals on their official Twitter account and Discord server.


Grim Guardians: Demon Purge Is 2D Demon-Slaying Fun

Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is the latest from developer Inti Creates, and the game features on-the-fly protagonist switching – a multitude of weapons to unlock, and enemies that you can take out in a blaze of gory – err, glory.
Inti Creates Knows Their Stuff

Inti Creates is no stranger to the 2D action platformers with a strong sense of adventure and world – having previously worked on Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, Azure Striker: Gunvolt, and Mega Man Zero to name a few. The majority of the games in their catalogue are ones with vibrant designs on both character and enemy sides, as well as a world that feels lived in, with often smart level design that doesn’t handhold the player, but rather teaches them how to use the mechanics organically.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is no stranger to the above, and a great take on the ‘games where you can change playable characters on the fly to approach something in different ways’ genre. You control one of the two Kamizono sisters, Maya and Shinobu, to navigate their school-turned-demon castle, each with their own skill sets. Maya is better at melee while Shinobu is a ranged fighter with her demon-killing Uzi.
Weapons and support tools for the ladies continue to get unlocked as you go through the game, furthering a sense of progression and fulfilment that keeps you wanting to play right there and there. It feels good to switch between the two and play as them, though this comes as no surprise given Inti Creates’ know-how.
Really Fun Visuals
The game is quite pretty, there’s no way around it. The colour palette is sufficiently moody, really bringing in the “grim” from the “Grim Guardians” title – then there are the little pops of colour within the level, the little bits of fuschia that pop up in things like curtains and other bits of decor, that mesh really well. Then the character designs – in their drawn CGs or in their pixel sprites that run around the screen, are really fun and the contrast between their colour palette, with the rest of the levels standing out quite well.
Enemy designs are also a lot of fun, looking exactly like the kind of creatures you’d like to take down in a gothic castle setting. However, there are times when the backgrounds can look a little muddy in certain stages where the palette is intentionally made grim.
Backtracking That Doesn’t Break

Is there backtracking within the game? Definitely – towards the end of it all, there’s a series of sequences that require you to revisit previously conquered stages.
However, there is still this sense of progression and it feels pretty good to go back and look at the places you had knocked down specific enemies not too long ago – it doesn’t feel like too much of a grind, and it’s not necessarily a feature, but when you get to that point, you won’t feel like you’re regretting your playthrough.
Sounds Good To Me
One of the most unique features of the game is actually the voice-over options – there are two settings, the “pure” and “refined” voice tracks. The “pure” experience is the original Japanese voices for story mode, focusing on the original experience of the game which focuses on the story mode. However, the “refined” experience features English voice acting that focuses on the action, which Inti Creates describes as “being tailored for fans of the genre”.
Neither voice cast nor experience is outright better than the other, as they have different intentions in regard to what they’re trying to achieve. It’s a bit like picking the game’s difficulty; you want to choose something that best suits your playstyle, then tries again with the other option if you feel you’d like to give it a shot after your first playthrough. In my case, I went with the “pure” experience first.

Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is overall a fun and concise experience. It is by no means perfect, especially if you’re a fan of previous Inti Creates games and you have a certain level of expectation. The world doesn’t feel as whole or fleshed out as it could be, and there’s a level of detail that isn’t quite there.
However, it is by no means a bad game, nor is it unenjoyable. It’s a little experimental and solidly fun, and that’s all it really needs to be.
Pros

A short and fulfilling experience overall.
Both protagonists are fun characters to play as.
Great sense of pace and progression.

Cons

The grimness of the colour palette can make the backgrounds look a little muddy.
Voice acting can be grating after a while.
Not as engaging as previous Inti Creates titles.

Final Score: 70/100
Review copy provided by the publisher.


Wavetale Is A Short But Sweet Surfing Adventure

Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch
Genre: Indie, Platformer, Action-Adventure
Swedish developer Zoink Games was responsible for Lost In Random, which was one of the best indies in 2021 (check out our review here). Wavetale was also originally launched in 2021 but only for Google Stadia.
Fast-forward a year later and it’s finally coming to other platforms. That’s great because Wavetale is definitely an action-adventure platformer that’s worth checking out.
Waterworld

The story in Wavetale follows a teenage girl named Sigrid, who lives on a small island with her grandmother. They are in charge of a lighthouse which helps keep a dark pollutant named Gloom away. However, one day a strange shadow figure pops up, allowing Sigrid to walk, surf and slide on water. Thus, her adventure begins as she tries to help save the world from the creeping Gloom and also find out the truth about the shadow figure.
The best thing about the gameplay in Wavetale is how simple and fluid it feels. I haven’t played a game as relaxing and cathartic as Wavetale in a while. The game’s world features a bunch of islands on the open sea, and you’re generally free to explore it. More areas will gradually unlock as you progress and clear out the Gloom (the dark pollutant). The combat is simple, as Sigrid’s only weapon is a net for the entire game, and there are no combos. You basically whack enemies until they die by tapping X (on the Xbox controller).

Wavetale is extremely easy and it doesn’t offer any challenges in terms of difficulty. As a platformer, none of the puzzles or obstacles requires much thinking either. However, that also makes the game the perfect platformer for you to relax while playing, or to introduce to younger and less experienced gamers. I love how fluid Sigrid feels to run, jump, glide through the air and surf on the open seas. If I had to compare, it feels a lot like playing Spidey in 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man by Insomniac Games or Sonic in 2022’s Sonic Frontiers.
Despite the speed of Sigrid’s gliding and surfing, it always feels smooth and never awkward to control, with perhaps the exception of the free camera that can sometimes shift to weird angles. Traversing the environment and the open seas is the highlight of Wavetale.
There are also ramps and boosts scattered around the world and the open seas, which makes gliding and surfing even more fun, and makes it feel even more like Spider-Man web zipping in comparison. It all just feels so satisfying and relaxing, almost as if you could feel the wind.

In addition, Wavetale features vibrant visuals and a unique art style, as well as a narrative and story that has more layers than expected. It explores subject matter such as environmental issues, the conflict between the old and the new generations, the effects of war and prejudice, grief and loss, and more.
My qualms with the game are that the combat is too simplistic to enjoy. There are basically only two collectibles in the game. One is a currency which you can use to buy purely cosmetic items for Sigrid since there are no upgrades or progression systems of any kind. Another type is items that look like books, which will add special drawings to Sigrid’s journal, adding details about the game’s world and characters. There was also a bug that stopped me from progressing and forced me to restart the game.

Last but not least, it only took me four hours plus to complete the game. I completed all the time trial challenges but didn’t finish all the sidequests, so if I finished the sidequests, it would have probably taken a bit more than five hours at most. That length is perfectly suited to the game’s relaxing vibe and gameplay, as they don’t overstay their welcome or become repetitive.
Surf’s Up

If you’re looking for a relaxing platformer to spend a few hours with or to finish in a single weekend (or even one night if you binge), Wavetale is the game for you. It’s also a great game for younger gamers to play due to its light difficulty and simple combat.
PROS

A traversal system that feels as satisfying and fluid as the one in Marvel’s Spider-Man or Sonic Frontiers.
Relaxing and fun platforming while surfing the open seas.
Vibrant and unique visuals and art style.
A narrative that has more layers than expected.
A bit short (which can be either a pro or a con).

CONS

Simplistic combat and not much of a progression system.
A bit short (which can be either a pro or a con).

FINAL SCORE: 70/100
Wavetale was reviewed on PC based on a review copy provided by Thunderful. It will launch for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC on 12 December 2022.


Stray Is The Best User-Rated PC Game Of 2022 As Of Now

Move over, dad God of War; there’s a new sheriff in town.
Stray has become the highest user-rated game on Steam this year according to aggregate site Steam250. As of now, Stray’s rating is at 8.61 based on 42,665 mostly positive votes. For comparison, God of War (2018) has a score of 8.56 based on 53,101 mostly positive votes. This pushes the PlayStation and Santa Monica Studio-made game to second place.
The top 10 games are as follows:

Stray
God of War
PowerWash Simulator
Teardown
Dorfromantik
Neon White
The Looker
Wobbledogs
The Planet Crafter
Raft

If we’re talking best-rated PC game of all time, however, Stray is sitting at number 49. The top game is Portal 2 which has a rating of 8.83 based on 301,930 votes of which 99% are positive. This is followed by Terraria, Stardew Valley, Hades, and People Playground.
Stray had a peak of over 62,000 players when it released this month. It’s not surprising, considering that the game has all the elements of a great adventure game: a likeable cat protagonist, a supporting companion with its own story, a lush dystopian to explore, and simple puzzles to tackle. Check out our glowing review of the game.


The Best Games From Nintendo’s May Indie Showcase 2022

Nintendo just livestreamed its indie showcase for Nintendo Switch this month.
Elechead

Made by just one designer, this 2D pixel platformer puts you in the shoes of a robot who has to navigate a dark and dangerous facility to restore light to the world. Your robot is electric-powered, so anything it touches will be powered up and active. You can also detach your robot’s head  to activate things out of your reach. Be careful though: you can only detach your head for 10 seconds before your body shuts down.
Soundfall

Looter shooter gameplay meets rhythm mechanics.
It’s out later this week for Nintendo Switch as well as for PC (Epic Games Store).
Gunbrella

A gruff woodsman has a gun and an umbrella combo who explores a dark dank town filled with cultists and monsters. So far, it looks pretty nifty and action-packed; this is made by the same people behind the black-and-white game Gato Roboto, so imagine what a game with colour from them would look like.
The game will be out for Nintendo Switch and other consoles/platforms in 2023.
Mini Motorways

Help create and build roads to keep traffic flowing in cities based on real life in this new top-down simulation game. We’re guessing Indonesia and Malaysia will be the last few levels of the game; have you seen the traffic in those places?
Mini Motorways will be out later today on Nintendo Switch.
Another Crab’s Treasure

It’s Dark Souls but brightly-lit and full of crabs and shellfish to murder. And a trash-digging mechanic to find pieces of armour you can wear on the fly while exploring the benthic dangers within.
This action RPG will be out for Nintendo Switch in 2023; it looks big and deep so far, and plans to be tough yet inviting for new players who are into a bit of a challenge.

Wildfrost

Time to bring out those ice puns for this upcoming roguelike collectible card game from Chucklefish, Deadpan Games, and Gaziter. Journey across a frozen tundra, collecting cards strong enough to banish the eternal winter while fighting off penguin ninjas and naked gnomes. You have the powers of fire, the sun, and helpful pets and acorn people to even the odds.
Wildfrost will be out in 2023 for Nintendo Switch and PC.
Check out the rest of the showcase below:


Octopath Traveler II Will Feature More Music, Side Dungeons, & Character Interactions

While it’s good to know that Square Enix is making a sequel to Octopath Traveler, little is known about it apart from its new characters and retained HD 2D art style.
Famitsu recently conducted an exclusive interview with Square Enix regarding the project. Here’s what we know (via Reddit):

The decision to make Octopath Traveler 2 happened shortly after the first game’s release, but active development didn’t start for a while after that, with composer Yasunori Nishiki only coming on at the start of 2021.
One of the biggest goals the team had was to increase the “travel” feeling the game has. The day/night system was introduced in part because of this desire, and in part because it would be a great way to show off how the game had evolved from the first game.
As with the first game, the field command system is very important. However, they recognize some players prefer to ignore field commands entirely, so like the first game they’re present but not over-emphasized.
With regards to the change in setting, the developers feared that setting OT2 in the same middle ages fantasy setting as the first game would result in the characters feeling like rehashes of the first game as well. By moving culture and technology ahead a bit, they felt the travelers would naturally find different reasons to travel compared to the first game as well.
Similarly, while the first game was set on a contiguous continent, this time they decided to split the world up across a sea to further distinguish it from the first game’s setting.
As a rule, they tried to avoid including references to the first game or specific references to Orsterra so that anyone can enjoy OT2, but there are small elements that will remind players of the first game.
Like with OT1, they decided to highlight Hikari and Agnea, the warrior and dancer, because “you can fight any NPC” and “you can recruit any NPC” are the sorts of things that make people’s ears perk up when hearing about Octopath for the first time.
The developers heard the feedback that people felt the protagonists didn’t interact enough in OT1, so they introduced the Crossed Paths mechanic in this game to try and enhance the sense that the group is traveling together. The main stories will still be focused on the individual characters, but the Crossed Path stories will supplement that and help the characters feel closer.
The “Latent Power” system in battle came about because they wanted to add something to shake up the general pattern of “break the enemy, then boost and do damage”. It also serves as a way to give the characters more individuality in gameplay and give players a new avenue to make interesting builds.
The main story is tuned to not require really deep use of the game’s systems. But like OT1 there will be side dungeons with much more difficult bosses.
Like OT1, the characters’ stories are divided into chapters, but unlike OT1, it will not follow the same pattern of “4 chapters per story”. While they can’t go into details yet, they wanted each character’s story to feel different this time, like you’re playing different RPGs.
Since OT1 released, there’s been several other HD-2D games, so they wanted to take the learnings from those games and make a kind of “Super HD-2D” this time, and even try and match the “idealized” version of old 16-bit RPGs we all have in our heads.
The camera is still locked outside of cutscenes and battles to try and avoid confusing players, but the camera is significantly more dramatic in cutscenes and battles now.
The updated pixel art style in the environments meant they had to make the character sprites taller so the proportions didn’t look too weird, but then that meant they also had to update the battle animations too.
Director Miyauchi was in charge of map design for both OT1 and OT2, but he was able to take more time on OT2 and had much more flexibility in designing the maps, and the art/environment team then took his designs and made them into the 3D maps we see now.
Music-wise, Yasunori Nishiki wound up making 85 tracks for Octopath Traveler 1, and as of the current updates 110 tracks for Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent. He can’t give a specific number for OT2, but it’s more than CotC.
Nishiki wound up composing totally new songs/arrangements for the night versions of each area, which is part of why the game wound up with so many new tracks. At first they considered just stripping down the instrumentation for the night variations, but decided to go all out and do new arrangements. Nishiki also wanted to use more vocals in OT2’s music, not just with lyrics but as an instrument.
Unlike the first game, where Nishiki didn’t have much say in where his music played (he actually only met the director, Miyauchi, at TGS), this time he reviewed the game’s cutscenes personally and decided when each track should play for important scenes.
While the first game tried to avoid using electric guitars, drums, and the like outside of battle tracks due to the middle ages setting, this time Nishiki has the freedom to use those instruments and wanted to aim for a more jazzy feel overall.
Most of the game’s soundtrack was recorded in Japan, but for some parts they recorded in Nashville in the USA. One of the musicians there was even a big fan of OT1 and was super excited to be playing on the OT2 soundtrack!
Like with the first game, the characters have special themes that continue into the boss themes. You can get a CD with all these variations by ordering the deluxe edition.

As you can tell, there’s a lot of emphasis in the game’s music from composer Yasunori Nishiki this time around. After all, the first game didn’t win our Best OST of 2018 for nothing.
Octopath Traveler II will be out for Nintendo Switch on 24 February, 2023. Check out more of its gameplay and music samples below:


Rurouni Kenshin Anime Reboot Screenings Are Coming To Malaysia

The latest trailer for the Rurouni Kenshin anime reboot features the “Kissaki” (Sword Tip) ending theme song that singer-songwriter Reol created for the anime, and it also confirms that it will premiere on 6 July 2023.
It has also been revealed (via the official website and Anime News Network) that screening events will be held in the United States, France, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and South Korea, starting with Japan.
In Japan, it will be held twice at United Cinemas Aqua City Odaiba in Tokyo on 18 June 2023. Soma Saito (playing Kenshin Himura), Rie Takahashi (playing Kaoru Kamiya), Makoto Koichi (playing Yahiko Myojin), and Taku Yashiro (playing Sanosuke Sagara) took the stage.
However, at the time of writing, there are no details or information yet from cinema chains like GSC Cinemas or TGV Cinemas. We’ll update this article when there is new information.
Since the first screening will be in Japan on 18 June 2023, the Malaysian screenings will probably be between 18 June 2023 and 6 July 2023.
Rurouni Kenshin creator Nobuhiro Watsuki originally launched his Rurouni Kenshin manga in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1994. The manga has more than 72 million copies in circulation worldwide. The manga follows Kenshin Himura, who was once a deadly assassin during the Meiji Restoration and is trying to find a new life beyond violence. Back in November 2017, police discovered DVDs with footage of naked girls in their early teens in Watsuki’s Tokyo office. He was later charged with child pornography and fined ¥200,000.
The manga was previously adapted into a 95-episode TV anime series, an anime film, three original video anime projects, five live-action films, and a stage musical by the all-female musical theatre troupe Takarazuka Revue.
Check out their trailer:


Dallas Fuel Part Ways With Coach & Korean DPS

The Dallas Fuel dropped a bombshell today as they announced the departures of Head CoachÂ Kyle â€œKyKyâ€ Souder and DPS Dong-jun â€œRascalâ€ Kim. The have namedÂ assistant coach Emanuel â€œPeakâ€ Uzoni as Interim Head Coach, effective immediately. In addition, the Fuel have signed Kang â€œVolâ€™Jinâ€ Min-Gyu of Meta Gaming in Korea to the coaching staff. Volâ€™Jin is expected to assume assistant coaching duties when he joins the team in Los Angeles in the coming weeks, following approval of his Visa.

Coach Kyle Souder and DPS Player Dong-jun “Rascal” Kim have been released from the Dallas Fuel:https://t.co/SzLWUlXHZC
â€” Dallas Fuel (@DallasFuel) April 16, 2018
Commenting on the recent development, KyKy tweeted:

Had a good run with the boys, but excited to start somewhere fresh. I will take this time to entertain all offers and positions and put 110% into whatever I choose next. Thanks to everyone who has showed support through these months; hopefully what we started in stage 3 blossoms. https://t.co/fgdK8QgCkm
â€” Kyle Souder (@KyKy) April 16, 2018
The Fuel (6-18) are currently tenth in the league having endured a three game losing streak at the start of Stage 3.Â  This move does not come as a surprise as KyKy haven’t been the most popular amongst the fans. However the removal of Rascal is the bigger question. He’s been one of the most reliable DPS players since his days at KongDoo Panthera before they rebranded as London Spitfire for the Overwatch League.
â€œWe will always appreciate Kyleâ€™s commitment to this organization. He is a true competitor who coached our team through a great run and a Contenders championship; unfortunately, we have not replicated that championship level of success in the Overwatch League this season. While we recognize many of the challenges Kyle faced with the Dallas Fuel were beyond his control, there comes a time when change is necessary for the team to move forward and we felt that time is now,â€ said Mike Rufail, owner of the Dallas Fuel and Team Envy.
Commenting on Rascal’s departure, Fuel added:
â€œWe had hoped that Rascal could add flexibility to our DPS lineup on the team this season. Unfortunately, his commitment to the team did not meet our expectations and his unwillingness to communicate with the team while playing in recent matches became a large distraction,â€ said Rufail.
Known to be very vocal in attempt to spur his teammates on, Rascal’s enthusiasm may have been his own undoing. His move to the Fuel was seen as him trying to reignite his career having fallen in the pecking order at Spitfire to Profit and Birdring.
The Fuel expect to announce a new head coach within the next week as negotiations are ongoing with numerous candidates for the position.


Side-Scrolling Platformer Promenade Scrolling Onto Consoles & PC Later This Year

Exciting news coming your way from Publisher Red Art Games and developer Holy Cap. Brace yourselves for Promenade, an awesome side-scrolling platformer that’s set to hit consoles and PC via Steam in 2023.
Described as a “collectathon”, let me give you a quick rundown of what this game is all about, according to the folks at Red Art Games:
Picture this: The Great Elevator is in deep trouble. It’s completely busted, and its gears have gone rogue, scattering themselves all over the world. Talk about chaos!
But fear not! You’re about to embark on a thrilling adventure in a world jam-packed with hidden secrets, all with the help of your trusty friend—a multi-talented poulp (a fancy word for an octopus-like creature). Together, you’ll explore uncharted territories, unravel mind-bending puzzles, navigate treacherous dungeons, engage in heart-pounding races, and a whole lot more. And get this—this game draws inspiration from some of the greatest 3D platformers out there!

Get ready to globe-trot alongside your poulp buddy, armed with an arsenal of dynamic moves that’ll make your jaw drop. You’ll also get to interact with a lively cast of characters and crack your brain on clever puzzles along the way. Oh, and did I mention there are dungeons? Yep, you’ll face off against formidable bosses lurking within.
Remember those objects you stumble upon? They’re not just there for decoration—each of them possesses unique properties that you can cleverly exploit to your advantage. Trust me, you’ll need all the help you can get to track down those elusive gears and restore the Great Elevator to its former glory. And by doing so, you’ll unlock a whole new set of levels to conquer. It’s like diving headfirst into a “collectathon” experience that pays homage to the all-time greats like Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro, and even the more recent Mario Odyssey.
So, mark your calendars, gear up for a wild ride, and get ready to unleash your platforming skills like never before. Promenade is coming to rock your gaming world in 2023! For more information about Promenade then check out its official Steam page.


Kakuchopurei Best 30 Games Of 2022: #2

For the rest of the list, head here. For #3, head here.
#2. God of War: Ragnarok (PS5, PS4)

Even if some nitpicks here and there, like a need for a better traversal and fast travel system post-game, the fact remains: PlayStation clearly wins hands-down in the exclusive games department with God of War: Ragnarok.
A sequel to 2018’s sublime God of War tale focused on a reformed Kratos and the Norse god pantheon, God of War Ragnarok packs an epic conclusion to cap the storyline with big setpieces, more bosses and enemies than Kratos and Atreus can muster, and back-and-forth gameplay style switches between father and son. All of which are truly god-worthy.
True, not much has changed control and structure-wise, but did it need to? This is a rare instance where the destination is about as impactful as its journey. With fun puzzles, challenging battles, a ton of stories & quests to discover, in-depth character development (albeit some corny lines here and there), and unforgettable revelations that may make even the most jaded and stoic of us tear up outside, it’s no wonder why everyone is still in awe at Santa Monica Studios’ magnum opus.


Bethesda To Launch Online-Only QuakeCon 2022 This August

Good news: QuakeCon is coming back this year. Even better news for Southeast Asian fans: it’s going to be online in 2022.
That’s right: this year’s QuakeCon is once again going digital-only for the third time if we’re keeping score. The dates? 18th to 20th August.
The show will go physical in 2023. Here’s the official statement from Bethesda:
“This year’s QuakeCon will once again be a digital-only event, August 18-20, 2022. Like you, we’re disappointed to not return to Dallas this year. An event of this size requires months of planning, and in this case, we had to make decisions when there was still too much uncertainty to commit to successfully executing an in-person QuakeCon.”

This year's QuakeCon will once again be a digital-only event, August 18-20, 2022. pic.twitter.com/UxJTuZDTYJ
— QuakeCon (@QuakeCon) April 13, 2022

While it sucks that some events can’t be offline post-COVID 19, and even then the virus is still lingering and affecting people, there is a silver lining to this. You won’t have to fly down to the US and pay extravagant air fare to check out QuakeCon; you’ll catch everything online and on Bethesda’s YouTube/Twitch channels. You may want to mark those August dates: Bethesda, Arkane, and id Software will have tons to announce and showcase, including Starfield, Redfall, and that Quake project that’s been in the rumour mill.


The Game Awards 2019 Will Return This December With Ads Galore…

Let’s not mince words: as much as Geoff Keighley’s production bonanza The Game Awards is a valiant attempt at honouring noteworthy games that came out in the show’s respective year, it’s also a good televised spot for ads and Hideo Kojima. New game trailers, video game announcements, title debuts; it’s a hub for sponsors and contributors to have their products shown off.
Still, let’s not downplay the fact that people will still tune into this show and even bless us with moments like the picture on this news piece. Its 2019 iteration will be up in exactly 3 months on 12th December 2019. Tickets are on sale here, if you happen to be in LA around that time of year.

?Save The Date: In exactly 3 months on 12.12.19, @TheGameAwards is live from Los Angeles at @mstheater. Can't wait to tell you more about our 5th anniversary celebration. Tickets now on sale: https://t.co/CPMVDnGFPS pic.twitter.com/xbgLQRAv5V
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) September 12, 2019

See you on December 12th for @thegameawards pic.twitter.com/P6h5NtrhFI
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) September 12, 2019

Just like last year, readers and viewers will get to vote for their favourite games in different categories. Let’s hope there are no crimes taking place like how Octopath Traveler was robbed of Best Game Soundtrack last year, or the fact that Kojima’s Death Stranding may be a shoe-in for GOTY because it’s Keighley’s show.


Shanghai Dragons Roster Reveal Is Lit

Shanghai Dragons revealed their Overwatch League roster earlier today along with a short trailer featuring the players via YouTube and we are instantly perturbed by the lack of DPS in the list. Take a look.

Building on the backbone of LGD players -Â FangÂ “Undead”Â Chao,Â ChengÂ “Altering”Â Yage andÂ WuÂ “MG”Â Dongjian, the team’s only other DPS isÂ LuÂ “Diya”Â Weida formerly of Vici Gaming. Our gut feeling that LGD players to feature heavily in the setup was spot on; however is lesser than expected. We suspect age restrictions as well as visa issues may play a big part in the final composition but does not take away the fact that it is an impressive lineup to boot. Our only complaint is that these guys need to bump up their posing game:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaK_B-NLjHc&w=560&h=315]
Overwatch League kicks off January 2018, while the pre-season starts a month earlier, December this year.


What You Need To Know About The PvP Esports Championship League

Truly, there is no spectacle like an esports tournament held in a grand locale. This time, Singapore’s getting the spotlight as it hosts its bigwig esports tournament featuring the likes of Arena of Valor, Dota 2, and Hearthstone. So that’s one MOBA, one mobile MOBA, and a digital card game.
So what should you know about the tournament? Here are the details:

The event will be from 5th to 7th October and is held at the Suntec City Convention Centre.
The prize pool for the whole tourney is US$300,000. That’s quite a sum though it’s split to three games with varying increments.
You have renowned Southeast Asia folks as part of the shoutcaster international group like The Philippines’ Riku and Singapore’s Afiz “Sodafiz”

The Dota 2 segment will have top tier teams participating, including PSG.LGD, Team Secret, Singapore’s own Resurgence, and Boom ID. Other notable Asia-Pacific teams include SaveBuyBackPlz (Australia), Team Admiral (The Philippines), Hashtag?.DOTA (Thailand), and Signify (India).
We have a messload of sponsors and partners including SingTel, Razer, Optus, Aftershock, Secret Lab, Blizzard, and SPH.

Visit the event’s official page for more information.


Embracer Group Shuts Down Onoma, Former Square Enix Montreal Studios

After only a month since what was previously the Square Enix Montreal studio, Onoma has been shut down by Embracer Group.  According to a report by Bloomberg, Embracer Group informed employees today that several members of the staff will be transferred to Eidos Montreal.
Square Enix Montreal is best known for developing mobile games like Hitman Go, before they were acquired by Embrace Group in May 2022 and rebranded to Onoma on 10 October 2022, which is less than a month ago from today (2 November 2022). No reason has been given for the shutdown at the time of writing.
According to the same sources, the shutdown is due to a cost-cutting initiative, which also allegedly includes Eidos Montreal reducing the scope of one unannounced project and cancelling another unannounced project. Eidos Montreal is currently working on a new IP (recently rescoped), a new Deus Ex (in very early development) and co-development partnerships with Xbox (which includes the new Fable).


TGV Cinemas Reopens Their Luxurious INDULGE Halls

TGV Cinemas has announced the reopening of their gourmet cinema, INDULGE. With a growing number of blockbuster movies such as Fantastic Beasts The Secrets Of Dumbledore and Sonic The Hedgehog 2, it’s the best time.
Celebrating the finer things in life, each INDULGE hall features a movie experience like no other where INDULGE guests are treated to premium recliner seating, comforter blankets, in-hall  services as well as a private lounge while guests relax, unwind and truly escape at the movies.
Tickets for INDULGE are now inclusive of TGV’s signature food platters – Golden Treasure,  Gourmet Dim Sum and Vegetarian where each are accompanied by a refreshing Classic Lime  Mojito. Guests are free to select any one of the platters that compliments their taste buds. To further elevate the INDULGE experience, an Indigo welcome drink made of fresh lemon juice with butterfly pea flower is served upon guests’ arrival at the lounge with TGV’s crowd-pleasing popcorn samplers.

Mohit Bhargava, TGV Chief Marketing Officer said:
“We have been delighted with the response  from guests over the last few weeks of our soft opening, regular Indulge customers are delighted to return and have relished the new Indulge experience. We are looking forward to welcoming more moviegoers to come experience TGV Indulge over the coming months as more blockbusters return to the big screen.”
During the reopening night of INDULGE, guests WERE treated to the full INDULGE experience accompanied with a premiere screening of Sony Pictures’ Morbius starring Jared Leto as Michael Morbius. Check out my review of Morbius by heading over here.
TGV INDULGE is located at TGV 1 Utama, TGV Sunway Velocity and TGV Toppen JB. To book  tickets and get the best seats for your INDULGE experience, you can visit the website here.


Good Smile Announces Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Figurines & Nendoroids

Fans of Studio Trigger’s brilliant adaptation of Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, is getting a bunch of Good Smile figurines.
Announced during Wonderful Hobby Life For You!!/WonHobby 36 Exhibition, the company will be creating Pop Up Parade and Nendoroids of David Martinez, Lucy, and best girl Rebecca. So far the only ones on display are the Pop Up Parade versions of all three and Nendoroid Lucy and David; they’re pending final approval from the license holders. In any case, they do look promising.
Pop Up Parade David Martinez

Pop Up Parade Lucy

Pop Up Parade Rebecca

Nendoroid David

Nendoroid Lucy

No release date or pre-order date has been set, but we’ll keep an eye out on those. No way in heck are we going to miss out on these beauties.


The Finals Closed Beta: How To Sign Up

The Finals is an upcoming team-based competitive PvP game from Embark Studios, a company made up of ex-Battlefield developers. With that pedigree, you can see why The Finals is on every competitive shooter and FPS fan’s list for 2023.
The game’s last beta is on October 2022, but that won’t be the last of the game. The Finals’ next closed beta session is happening on 7th March mid-day GMT+8. Here’s how you can sign up for the game:

How To Sign Up For The Finals Closed Beta

Head to The Finals Steam page.
Click the “Request Access” button in the “Join The Finals Playtest” box.
You’re done! Now you just have to wait for the alert through Steam if you get in.
Here’s what is on tap for the closed beta: two maps -skyscrapers of downtown Seoul and old-town Monaco- , a practice range.

The Finals’ gameplay features a ton of destruction tech being shown off, from furnitures to parts of buildings; it’s pretty impressive to look at especially when all of this is happening on servers and online. The game has no launch date at the moment, but we can expect an open beta for the title happening later in 2023.


‘Shooting in the Dark’ Gets A Whole New Meaning in Muffled Warfare

Fresh off the success of their echolocation-based survival thriller ‘Stifled’, Gattai Games is back with their second entry to the genre – ‘Muffled Warfare’. Unlike their debut game where you are fighting for survival and safety, Gattai Games changed the rules in their next game and labeled Muffled Warfare as ‘a multiplayer first-person echolocation shooter where everyone is blind and uses sounds toÂ SEE,Â SHOOTÂ andÂ SILENCE (lol) yourÂ competition’.
The official description on the game’s website read “Think that blind superhero with guns, rendered in Stifledâ€™s unique, 4K, HDR, and technicolor enabled graphics.”
Well that’s pretty Daredevil with a penchant for assault rifles then.

But we can’t help but wonder – Can we quickscope? We mean …. why a scope? Shouldn’t it be a boom mic attached to your rifle instead? We are so going to hell for this.
Can’t wait to play it? Good! The game is set to hit Steam Early Access April 27th 9am PST or roughly midnight on the 28th April (Singapore/ Malaysia).
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YnyNEeofwo&w=560&h=315]

Â


One Of Samurai Shodown’s Prominent Zoners Will Be Out Later This Month

Who needs swords and ninja dogs when a good ol’ bow and arrow can suffice? That’s basically Mina Majikina’s train of thought when she makes her 3D-slash-2D debut in 2019’s best fighting game Samurai Shodown.Â
SNK just dropped a trailer recently, stating that the bow and arrow girl (alongside her pet Chample) will be available this 26th February as part of the Season 2 pass. Like I said, she zones pretty, pretty hard.

If you really want to see her at her best, check out how she rolls in Samurai Shodown V Special in this CEC 2018 tournament.


Quake II gets RTXed at NVIDIA’s GDC 2019 Presentation

Back in the days of dial-up connection, there was one shooter that stood up out above the rest: 1997’s Quake II by id Software. It featured an awesome single-player campaign and build the foundations for great multiplayer modes, as well as looked good with 3DFX GPU acceleration support.
The Quake II engine was made open source in 2001, effectively enabling anyone to have a go at the engine, tweaking stuff here and there, releasing conversion and so on, all within legal bounds.
So for your shooter fans out there, we have the latest fan project Q2VKPT to relive the glory days, now with new tech. And it looks very, very impressive with new raytracing technology.
Why Redo Quake II?
Released in January, Q2VKPT was the brainchild of former NVIDIA intern Christoph Schied, a PhD student at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. The ‘PT’ in the name translates into ‘path tracing’,
Path tracing is a compute-intensive ray tracing technique that unifies all lighting effects (shadows, reflections, et cetera) into a single â€˜pure ray tracing algorithmâ€™. With Ray Tracing being all the rage, word of a developer making a beautiful, real-time ray-traced version of Quake IIÂ made headlines around the world.
Path-tracing has its challenges. Its algorithm introduces noise that makes the visuals appear grainy and speckled, a problem in 2016’s Q2PT. Christoph identified the problem and built upon ideas he came up during his internship at NVIDIA. A solution he co-invented by combining the result of multiple frames similar to temporal anti-aliasing.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrq1T93uLag]
Christoph stated that the game is the basis for future research and platform for future ray tracing innovations. NVIDIA reached to Christoph to ask if their ray tracing experts could chip something in. He said yes, and in this week, expect to see NVIDIA presenting the newly-createdÂ Quake II RTXÂ with Christoph at GDC 2019.
Quake II RTXÂ runs on a Vulkan renderer with support for Linux and is purely a ray-traced game. All lighting, reflections, shadows and VFX are ray-traced, with no traditional effects or techniques used.
NVIDIA says that the game has many new features, which includes:

Real-time, controllable time of day lighting, with accurate sunlight and indirect illumination
Refraction on water and glass
Emissive, reflective and transparent surfaces
Normal and roughness maps for added surface detail
Particle and laser effects for weapons
Procedural environment maps featuring mountains, sky and clouds, which are updated when the time of day is changed
A flare gun for illuminating dark corners where enemies lurk
An improved denoiser
SLI support
Quake 2 XPÂ high-detail weapons, models and textures

Let’s have a look at the screenshots from the tech demo itself.

As you can see from the screenshots below and above, there’s:

Physically-based materials with reflections.
Refraction, emissive textures, hard and soft shadows
Indirect diffuse lighting.
Dynamic effect lighting.
Dynamic weapon effects.
Real-time controllable time of day.

All running in real-time for the first time on a GeForce RTX graphics card.
Quake II RTXÂ is running with NVIDIA VKRay, also known as VK_NV_ray_tracing. It is a Vulkan extension that allows any developer using Vulkan to add ray tracing effects to their games.

For more info on Quake II RTX, stay tuned for NVIDIA’s GDC 2019 Presentation.


Total War Three Kingdoms Fates Divided DLC Drops This March

Creative Assembly has announced the Total War Three Kingdoms Fate Divided DLC, which is slated to launch on 11 March 2021 via Steam.
In Total War Three Kingdoms Fate Divided, players begin at 200 CE, a period that finds Yuan Shao and Cao Cao at a crucial turning point. These childhood friends have borne witness to each otherâ€™s growing ambition, but Yuan Shaoâ€™s patience with Cao Cao is fast coming to an end; a childhood bond is about to break.
As well as including significant improvements to several existing mechanics, this brand-new Chapter Pack also includes:

The tumultuous 200 CE start date.
A new cross-generational faction playable in 190 CE, 194 CE, and 200 CE.
Over 20 new units, including formidable Northern Army units.
Unique missions and narrative events.
Additional mechanics added to your favourite factions.
New systems and mechanics to improve overall gameplay.

In addition, the new DLC will also introduce a new faction with Liu Yan (with two new units), while Cao Cao and Yuan Shao will each receive five new unique units with this Chapter Pack. As well as these new units, players will also be able to recruit units from the Northern Army. The Northern Army will pledge themselves to either Cao Cao or Yuan Shao when their faction leader reaches rank seven. This will give them five Northern colonels, who can be assigned to characters to access the Northern Army Units.
However, only the character who has the colonel equipped can recruit the units, and once equipped the colonels cannot be unequipped. However, a colonel can be assigned to someone else if the character dies. You can also steal an enemyâ€™s colonel if you capture the character after a battle.
Alongside the Total War Three Kingdoms Fates Divided DLC, players can also look forward to a big free update for all factions, introducing a new Imperial intrigue mechanic, faction rewards for Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, tweaks to the faction council, and many more changes viewable over on the DLC’s FAQ.
The last Total War Three Kingdoms DLC was The Furious Wild back in September 2020. The developer also recently officially announced Total War Warhammer 3.
It’s good to see that Creative Assembly isn’t abandoning their historical RTS mainstays for the fantasy-focused Warhammer titles.


Avengers Endgame Won’t Be End Of Phase 3, Says Kevin Feige

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced a startling revelation in Shanghai last week (via Newsweek) when he said that Avengers Endgame (despite its title literally containing the word ‘Endgame’) will not be the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3 as was previously believed.
Instead, the movie that will mark the end of the MCU’s Phase 3 will be Spider-Man Far From Home, which releases on 2 July 2019. Feige also pointed out that this was the first time that he has confirmed the fact in public.
Although this move may seem weird, Marvel Studios has not always ended previous phases with Avengers movies. For instance, Phase 2 ended with Ant-Man and not Avengers Age of Ultron.
What this means is that Spider-Man Far From Home will probably be the first MCU movie to explore the new status quo post-Avengers Endgame. Perhaps we’ll even receive something that directly teases the first MCU Phase 4 movie since we still have no idea what the next movie after Spider-Man Far From Home will be.
It could be any one of the movies Marvel Studios currently has in development, including The Eternals, Shang-Chi, Black Widow, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, or even the Doctor Strange sequel.
Whatever the first MCU Phase 4 movie turns out to be, we’ll have to watch Avengers Endgame, which releases on 24 April 2019. In the meantime, check out our cheat sheet on what movie to watch before Avengers Endgame here orÂ our ranking of every MCU movie from worst to bestÂ here.


A Live-Action Warhammer 40K TV Series Is In The Works

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.
And in the somewhat optimistic future of our world, there will finally be a Warhammer 40K TV series.
Fans of the Warhammer 40K universe have been longing for a proper live-action adaptation of the tabletop phenomenon. There’s been a lot of novels and video games but no big production film or TV series. That’s about to change.
According to the Warhammer Community website, a live-action TV series is currently being jointly developed by Games Workshop (producers of the Warhammer 40K tabletop games) and Big Light Productions. The show is titled Eisenhorn and will be based on the novel series of the same name. The story follows Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn and his band of investigators as they fight against heretics and other horrors of space to save mankind.
Illustration of a young Eisenhorn. (via W40K Fandom Wiki)

“Iâ€™m truly delighted we are able to develop a show that will reward their (Warhammer 40K fans) loyalty. Inquisitor Eisenhorn represents one of the best-loved characters within our worlds, and weâ€™re excited to share his exploits and adventures with audiences new and old.”

– Games Workshop’s global head of marketing & media Andy Smillie.
Frank Spotnitz will fill the role of showrunner and executive producer. He has been a part of a great number of well-beloved TV shows including The X Files and The Man in the High Castle. Big Light Productions’ creative director, Emily Feller will also be one of the show’s executive producers.