X35 Earthwalker - Solstice

Solstice is a hack and slash action adventure game developed by ‘Reply Game Studios‘ and published by ‘Modus games‘. Solstice is said to be coming out the 20th of September 2022 on the Xbox Series X, PS5 and PC. Solstice is looking real serious right now. X35 Earthwalker likes to see big new games that are bringing some fire. 

Solstice is definitely looking big right now. There’s a ‘holy kingdom’ of keidas which has a balance situation going on. Then wraiths show up. These feral creature invade and they are all about getting rid of all living things. There are beings called chimeras who are like hybrid warriors. They alone can face and defeat the wraiths. We won’t say more.

X35 Earthwalker - Solstice

In Soulstice, you control two sisters who have basically been reborn as chimera. Briar got a huge strength boost. Superhuman levels. Same for her toughness. Her sister, Lute, was sacrificed to bind her soul to her sister. She is now a ghost who has mystical powers. That’s how hybrids are formed after all. Two people must unite and one must be sacrificed. So Briar and Lute are powerful enough to face the wraiths now. They have multiple abilities and weapons to bring to this battle.

X35 Earthwalker - Solstice

Don’t forget that wraiths can corrupt their victims/prey and can even take it to the next level to possess their bodies. They overran a city and really ruined it. Briar and Lute get sent there to handle the situation and get the city back… but off course the group or Order they are working for has hidden agendas. So yeah, can they be trusted? We don’t even trust Soulstice. The city f Elden has multiple secrets and to find and puzzles to solve. 

We checked out some Soulstice gameplay and it’s what we expected. Lots off team work with your spirit sister. A ghost sister has many abilities. Stuff you would expect as well. Shielding, pushing back, attacks, enhancing and lots of support. We see a variety of attacks coming your way. We do like that the wraiths look like wraiths. They are ghoulish, long, and actually look like they come straight from a horror world. Scary maybe. There’s detail here. Enemies need to look scary and dangerous… most of the time. We know there are different types off course. For example there’s: Wraiths, Corrupted and Possessed. Let’s just say Lute may be able to help with that.

Overall Soulstice looks like it’s going too be a very good game. We like the animations and the visuals of the game. The combat looks smooth and that matters here. As always there’s so much we can say but we will leave it there. We can see all the potential and mechanics that can be done here in Soulstice. The developers ‘Reply Game Studios’ better not mess this up. This can be big for sure. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see how big Soulstice becomes. Now Soulstice may have hybrids and wraiths but those beings are pathetic compared too… the ‘Earth Walk!’

For more information check out the link below:

More information

X35 Earthwalker Blackwind

Blackwind is a hack n slash shooter platformer game developed by ‘Drakkar Dev’ and published by ‘Blowfish studios’ and ‘Gamera Game’. Blackwind is said to be coming out January the 20th 2022 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, Mac and PC. We enjoy a good mech game. Let’s take a look.

Now just the genres alone should give experienced players a good idea of what to expect. In the world of Blackwind, humanity is off course advanced in technology and ideas. Humans have a mining colony on a planet called Medusa-42. Aliens known as Raknos have invaded. Now off course you realise, this means war. Take control of James Hawkins (lame name) who is the definition of a rookie. “No formal training” and “finds himself in a Battle Frame”. It’s a start at the bottom and make your way up. Become powerful and feared. 

  X35 Earthwalker Blackwind

Hack and slash which means it’s safe for players to dive head first into Blackwing and have fun. Start smashing everything you come across. It doesn’t matter. There could be a mother pushing a baby buggy. It’s her fault for being in a battlefield. Blast em all. Blackwind has melee attacks and moves. There’s off course ranged attacks for blasting foes. There’s also “special attacks” too for those more fancy kills and maneuver-ish like stuff. So don’t worry. Just fight and fight.

You can upgrade your Battle Frame in Blackwind across three branching paths. So really decide how you want to play. Either upgrade and become the mech with energy blades for ripping and tearing close range combat but you can then get tactical by backing up real fast and launch missiles to blow stuff up from the comfort of safety. Then you can combine these tactics with your more special abilities. 

X35 Earthwalker Blackwind

We do like the platforming parts of the adventure in Blackwind. It feels like exploration. Parts like this in games have room for secrets and collectibles and stuff to find that are off use. We know that there is a drone you can send out. It’s much smaller than you are so it can go into and search places that your oversized self con’s get into. Lose some weight. So players would be wise to not ignorer and rush the platforming and travelling parts of Blackwind. You could end up missing some good stuff. 

We checked out some Blackwind gameplay and it’s what we expected. We like the movement of the mech. We like the versatility of the weapons and definitely like how the energy blades look on the mech, especially when slashing. Definitely liking the graphics and visuals. The environments and levels look good. The animations and frames seem very good as well. The gameplay seems simple but good and fun. We do hope too gain more information concerning the upgrade tree branches and the weapons. Not enough info right now provided.

Overall Blackwind just seems like a good game so far. Nothing special though. We have to see and know more. Jump in, fight, slash, shoot, blast, dash and explore your way from being trash to becoming a powerful known fighter and defeat the invading aliens. We hope there will be co-op features. A game like this should have co-op action. The developers ‘Drakkar Dev’ have a done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear open for this game. Now blackwind may have mech blasting action but this whole invasion would have been stopped before it started by… the ‘Earth Walk!’

For more information check out the link below:

More information

Skeletal Avenger is a rouge lite hack and slash game developed and published by ‘10tons‘. Skeletal Avenger is said to he coming out in late 2020 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PlayStation 5 and PC. There is definitely some ‘boney’ action going on in this game. Let’s take a look.

The story in Skeletal Avenger isn’t much really. Basically there re a bunch of dead skeletons and they are waiting for their turn to get revenge. Here’s how the developers worded it, “Avenge a thousand wrongs in a reverse roguelite where the skeletal avengers ascend from the depths to demand a payment in blood!” So literally a bunch of angry salty skeletons who just want revenge but take turns to do it.

Now off course you aren’t just some skeleton, as in you get one slap and you crumble. No. You have a number of weapons to pick and use from like hammers, swords, daggers, spears and more. It gets even better. As you succeed and complete revenges you get new gears, weapons and tools. These will provide you with new perks and abilities. So make sure to get them and become powerful enough to face whatever comes your way. C’mon you are a skeleton, use your head… get it? No literally you can take off your head and throw it at your enemy in skeleton avenger.    

Remember that these revenges are always targeted against a certain being. Every run you do, you’ll need to choose who your enemy is. Then hunt them down and make them pay. Even so remember that they aren’t the only enemies around. As you make your way around you’ll face scorpions, hooded figures, worm monsters, fire traps and more. So far we haven’t seen anything unique or terrifying though. The enemies seem generic and nothing seems like a legitimate threat so we hope they step that up. The enemies in a game make all the difference. Look at Maze Time, they have numerous enemies with different levels of threats and some unique. 

Once again we are happy to hear that Skeletal Avenger has co-op gameplay. You can get revenge alone or work together with your friends. 4 player co-op. The more games that have room for co-op the better. Majority of the time it’s better to play with friends.  

We checked out some Skeletal Avenger gameplay and it’s what we imagined it would be. You are a skeleton and navigate around, attack enemies, avid damage and keep on rolling. There are area of effect attacks and you even have the ability to dash to avoid hazards, evade or just move around faster. We like that the items and gear you get is visible on your skeleton character. Not all games do this. 

Overall Skeletal Avenger just seems like another rouge lite hack and slash. This game needs more to be something special but definitely looks functional and good as it is right now. It’s style is traditional with the whole dark, stone, underground theme. It looks good too. The developers ’10tons’ have done a nice job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will just have to hear what noise Skeletal Avenger makes. Now Skeletal Avenger may have salty skeletons who’s focus is revenge but they aren’t focused enough for… the ‘Earth Walk!’

For more information check out the link below:

More information

Book of Demons is a hack and slash deck building game developed and published by ‘Thing Trunk‘. Book of Demons is said to come out the 30th of April on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PS4. It’s already out on PC. Games like this tend to gain the attention of less gamers. So it’s already tough for them. Let’s take a look.

Book of Demons is a strange world but understandable. It takes place in, Paperverse, a world that exists entirely inside a pop-up book. So if we destroy the book, does that world permanently die? 
It’s your popular good vs evil. About saving the world from the “ultimate devilry”. Book of Demons wants to stand out completely and you can tel with this game mechanic. Players can decide how long they want their quest to be. It’s called a flexiscope. This basically allows players to “divide the game into sessions of any size”. It goes further though as they claim “It even learns your pace of gaming and predicts the time to complete the next session.” Now that’s something different for sure.

Book of Demons is a hack and slash game so expect to move around and attack the enemies that come across your path or stand in your way. Instead pf regular weapons players must use magic cards to attack and do actions. This is where the deck building part comes into play. There are many cards and you need to make sure you have the right ones at your disposal. There are cards which are straight up attacks and some will strength your character and others have effects that help out. So in Book of Demons players will need: good understanding of the cards and what cards is in your deck, timing and execution for combos.

There are three classes: Warrior, Rouge and Mage. The typical line up if you ask us, which you did. The warrior is all about using his sword, strength and charging in. The rouge is all about the set up, poison and many arrows. The mage is clearly about magic, long range attacks and summoning. Wow, we wonder who sounds the best?  Each class obviously has their own fighting style and own cards. Matter of fact they each have signature cards. For example the Warrior has stink bomb and shadow sword. The Rouge has Viper cloak and epic arrows. The Mage has Glory Golem and hourglass. What they do is… actually find out for yourself.

We checked out some gameplay and it’s not exactly what we thought it would be. This clearly based on our gaming taste but we don’t like how the characters move. We know it fits the theme of story characters in a pop up book, so they hop and shuffle like pieces of a board game. Not our thing though. The gameplay is straightforward and players should get use to it real fast. The levels are randomly generated so don’t expect the same journey twice. What’s good is variety and Book of Demons has over 70 different enemies like: goatmen, scorpions, succubi, snakes, skeletons and much much more. It’s a game that looks small and simple but there’s quite a bit going on around here. Sort of deep and a good number of in game mechanics. We also like the combo potential with the cards.

Overall Book of Demons seems like an alright game with some good stand put points. It’s clear work has gone into this one. The developers ‘Thing Trunk’ have done an alright job here. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t interested in Book of Demons at all but some gamers will be and that counts. Now Book of Demons may have a whole world that needs saving but it would have been saved already if it did… the ‘Earth Walk!’

For more information check out the link below:

More information

Riverbond is a new hack and slash dungeon crawler game developed and published by ‘Cococucumber’. Riverbond is said to be coming out in the third quarter of 2019 on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. A game like this looks very welcoming but we all know it can’t be that innocent and safe. Let’s take a look.

The story in Riverbond is quite interesting. Players head out on a journey, which takes place down a river. Get it? This isn’t an ordinary trip. It’s an enchanted river and the lands are continually shifting and moving. The world is collapsing and so there isn’t much time. Player must also rebuild the passage that goes to the great beyond. Whatever that is. So players have to save the world by the looks of it by figuring out what’s happening and the solution has to do with the great beyond. Interesting but still simple.

Now Riverbond takes place in a voxel world. What’s a voxel world?… well… A voxel represents a value on a a grid. It’s all 3D though. Think of it as cubes placed together. So if Riverbond has a voxel world, basically the style of the game is all cubes. The lands are made from cubes, the characters, and the water is designed in a cube style. It’s easier to understand when you see the game yourself. When you do however; the first things or should we say game that comes to mind is… Minecraft. The world world and characters and stuff is basically cubes. Blocky. 

This style obviously gets attention and when done right and with the right colours, can look really good. Even better is the fact that the voxel world in Riverbond is destructible. So be careful of what you destroy. There is real time physics s don’t think for one moment that the block will just stay in the air. Gravity is at work. There are 8 worlds and each off course is different and have their own threats and obstacles. Speaking of threats, since it’s a hack and slash, expect lots of combat, many enemies and lots to slow you down. There are even bosses as well. The developers have described them as deadly but cute. 

There is said to her over 50 different weapons and guns. Good to see that there is some variety to the combat. Long ranged combat and off course close range slashing. Best of all though is that Riverbond is multiplayer. That’s right, 1-4 local. So not only can you invite friends and family over to play, you don’t have to save the game and go to the menu to bring them in. It’s drop in, drop out style meaning they just have to hit start and they jump in where you are. That’s an excellent option. Great job developers. That’s what we like to see. Riverbond about to get some action from gamers.

We checked out some Riverbond gameplay and it’s what we expected based on the games description. You run around as a small character wielding large weapons and fighting through the many enemies. There are different skins for players to unlock like the shovel knight skin. Big enemies that have dangerous attacks, you can destroy structures and pillars, knock down bridges, smash through trees and much more. The co-op multiplayer looks fun as you can all team up against enemies and turn the tables thanks to the extra back up. We hope Riverbond has a means to make the game difficult even when there’s four players attacking enemies. We wonder if the game is difficult at all.

Overall Riverbond does so far look like another little fun game. Nothing huge and complicated at all. It seems like another game that we can get friends to quickly play and have a laugh and fight together. The graphics are very good for it’s style. The level design is good too and shows good creativity. We like the variety of enemies from pigs and crocodiles to golems (we think it’s golems). We like what we see. The developers ‘Cococucumber’ have done a very good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing what Riverbond has to offer gamers. Now Riverbond may have a collapsing world but even that isn’t as serious as… the ‘Earth Walk!’

For more information check out the link below:

More information

Warhammer Chaosbane

Warhammer: Chaosbane is a new action RPG, Hack and slash game developed by ‘Eko Software‘ and published by ‘Bigben Interactive‘. Warhammer: Chaosbane is coming out the 4th of June 2019 on Xbox, PS4 and PC. This game has been related a lot to Diablo and others. Let’s take a look. 

Players are in the Warhammer universe. You, know the same place where the space marines are. Warhammer: Chaosbane is a world that’s dominated by magic and war. The enemy is the horde. A chaos horde. The story is simple and the action is what you’d expect.

There are four character classes in Warhammer: Chaosbane. Wielding some very powerful artefacts. There’s a high elf who’s all about ranged attacks with magic, an empire soldier who’s basically the tank of the group, a wood elf who uses lethal traps and has a bow (there’s always a bow), a dwarf who just loves melee combat. So it’s the typical tank, ranged, magic and traps. Pick your type.

Warhammer Chaosbane

Now notice that there is four types of characters and it’s a hack and slash with that high up camera and there’s loads of enemies. You just know Warhammer: Chaosbane has multiplayer. We are right. It’s four player co-op. Both online and local. We always appreciate it when developers allow local multiplayer. We respect that.

There’s more to this typical hack and slash than you think. Warhammer: Chaosbane has some replay value as there’s a boss rush mode which is all about facing the bosses (obviously), they claim to have regular updates and countless dungeons.

Warhammer Chaosbane

There’s over 70 different enemies. These enemies aren’t alone as they will also work alongside powerful bosses and even chaos gods. There are more than 180 different skills for players to learn and use to destroy the enemies and keep that advantage. Don’t forget to use your bloodlust ability. Just saying.

We checked out some gameplay and it’s what we thought it would be. Run around, see enemies, they rush you, you use your abilities and whatever to survive. A hack and slash for sure. If you’ve played games like this before, then you would understand. Games like this stick to this style. Quite a bit of work went into this game. Warhammer fans will recognise some famous locations like Nuln or Praag in this game.

Overall Warhammer: Chaosbane just looks like another RPG hack and slash. The graphics are alright, the attention to detail is good and the sounds are good. There isn’t really all that much to say about this. The developers ‘Eko Software’ did an alright job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t looking forward to Warhammer: Chaosbane. It’s not our type nor does it have anything that interests us. Now Warhammer: Chaosbane may have over 180 abilities but not one of those can do anything against.. the ‘Earth Walk!’

For more information check out the link below:

More information

Darksiders III

Darksiders III is the new action, adventure, hack and slash game developed by ‘Gunfire Games‘ but published by ‘THQ Nordic‘. Darksiders III is off course the latest Darksider game and is coming out the 27th of November on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. The Fury is coming soon. Let’s take a look.

Darksiders III is now all about Fury the only female of the four apocalypse horsemen. By the way isn’t it interesting that so many popular games, anime and books got inspiration from the Bible (Think about that). Basically the story is that the earth has been taken over by the seven deadly sins who off course have their own minions and evil creatures serving and assisting them. The charred council won’t let this slide so they send Fury to solve the problem… by fighting, slashing and destroying all enemies and things that stand in her way. It says, “from the heights of heaven dow through the depths of hell”. sounds like a big battle if you ask us. Fury must restore balance to the situation and also aims to prove that she’s the most powerful of the horsemen. Isn’t death automatically suppose to be the strongest of the four horsemen?… whatever.

Darksiders III

Now in Darksiders III the protagonist, Fury, fights differently from the others. Fury relies on both her physical abilities with her whip and magic. Now this magic also allows her to use her other forms well hollows to be exact. The Force hallow basically gets her very physical. She wields Scorn as quite a big hammer for powerful defense shattering, heavy damage attacks. This hammer while not as powerful as Thor’s mjolnir can also act as a focal point for magnetic attraction. This means she can pull in rocks, enemies and even energy and then make it all go boom. She can even travel along certain walls and ceilings  if she maintains that magnetic force ability as a sphere.

Another Hallow is the one we all know called Fury, where she wields the whip and magic at the same time acting as more of the all rounder and default form, handling pretty much any situation. Another Hallow is Flame. Now her Scorn takes the form of two flails that are on fire. So this means a whole new menu of attacks and the blazing fire means explosive area of effect attacks too. While in this Hallow she can go through lava and fire without any damage and even perform a very high fiery jump. This all means she can reach areas she couldn’t before with this hallow. Rumour has it that there are more hallows for players to discover and use to their play style and advantage. Do you prefer evasion, quick attacks and high mobility or would you rather smash things in your way? You decide.

Darksiders III

The world in Darksiders III works and reminds us off Metroid Prime in the fact that it’s a open ended big world with multiple areas that players will have to revisit at times to access new locations, discover new things, fight a boss that you couldn’t before, etc etc. It works very similar. For example there was. apart in Metroid Prime where you needed the plasma beam to get through a iced of area or certain doors in a place you already been too. In Darksiders III you will need the flame hallow to get through some lava to reach that other area. So get use to your locations as you advance the story along.     

The main real enemies in Darksiders III are off the course the seven deadly sins. They are powerful and dangerous and one is apparently very lazy…. you might even say it’s slothful… fine we’ll stop. Their personalities are off course determined by what sin they represent. each one fights differently and has a different style. Wrath carries two large sword like melee weapons which he uses to crush and destroy, Sloth when he decides to finally fight is not as slow and lazy and as you would expect in battle, Envy’s appearance is very misleading so don’t underestimate the terrible fashion statement that is it’s robes. We are sure you can guess the rest of the names. 

We checked out some gameplay and the first thing that came to our minds was Dante’s inferno which was a fun game by the way. Fighting monsters, demon looking things, combat in Hell, a weapon that extends like Dante’s scythe combined with the use of magic like Dante’s cross. Smashing open objects to collect energies or souls that pull towards you, executions etc. This is a good thing though as the way Dante played was great for it’s time. Darksiders III brings a smoother and more superior graphics game. The evasion is very good as Fury looks like she just about dodges some sweeping attacks and confirms that timing is important for those dodges. 

Overall Darksiders III looks like a very good game so far but we are more concerned with the story and how it delivers. Will it be a simple here’s a checklist of bosses, kill them, game over? The graphics and sounds are very good. The combat is smooth. The whip weapon needs to look more exciting though. The developers ‘Gunfire Games’ did a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are not exciting or looking forward to this games as there isn’t anything that gets us excited or makes us want to play it, that doesn’t mean it isn’t good though and there are fans waiting for this game. Now Darksiders III may be have a strong female horseman but even she is nothing when against… the ‘Earth Walk!’ 

For more information check out the link below:

More information

Dynasty Warriors 9

Dynasty Warriors 9 is the new hack and slash game coming out, developed by ‘Omega Force’. It’s coming out the 13th of February on Xbox One, Play Station 4 and Microsoft Windows. It’s the 9th Dynasty Warriors game and there is quite some hype from the fan base.

Dynasty Warriors 9 is a hack and slash game where players fight massive battles. Massive as in 1 vs  1000 massive. Now what’s different? Dynasty Warriors 9 does have some stealth elements which mixes things up. Also, Dynasty Warriors is now an open world environment giving players more freedom in how they play and what to do. Open world seems to be the trend lately. 

There are 83 characters! 83! That’s a large roster indeed. The characters are from the dynasty series so expect to see some of your favourites from previous games. Off course there are some new ones as well. To name two of them: Cheng Pu, a Wu officer and Zhou Cang, a Shu officer. The three kingdom story with all these characters will create something special. Everything about Dynasty Warriors 9 is improved over the previous instalments. 

Dynasty Warriors 9 - X35 Earthwalker

The combat system in Dynasty Warriors 9 has another layer added to it… the new state Combo system. There are three kinds of attacks now: ‘Trigger’, ‘Flow’ and ‘Reactive’. Basically ‘Trigger attacks’ changes an enemies state, ‘Flow attacks’ change depending on the state of the enemy and ‘Reactive attacks’ “optimally adapt to situations”. Now straight away fans of the earlier Dynasty Warriors games can see that the combat system has gotten deeper. This new layer really does force players to be aware of the surrounding conditions as this new state combo system reacts and responds to them.

Dynasty Warriors 9 has also taken interactivity to the next level too. Players can now interactive wth their environment to their advantage. For example, you can climb up walls using grapple hooks, cross rivers by swimming and even climb those mountains that use to mock you with their height. it’s even stated on their official website that players can launch fire arrows at oil barrels which will off course cause an explosion. Which is also awesome. Dynasty Warriors 9 so far sounds better in every way.

To advance the story, players need to complete the critical missions. There are also regular missions which affect the critical missions. not sure how exactly. There will be, you can call them side quests, basically requests from other characters. The in-game situation is off course affected by the missions you do and their outcomes. Off course the many and huge battles of Dynasty Warriors remains. So still be hyped for taking on a thousand warriors at one time all by yourself; or you could just surprise attack them at night. It’s up to you.

We checked out some gameplay and it’s what we thought. Lots of enemies with sharp weapons, lots of different officers to use, lots of strong strikes that send enemies flying, lots of flashy moves, lots of scenery and lots of mobility. The action is smooth and definitely fast paced when the combat is rolling. The options to strike at night or from top of buildings is really cool and is something you would expect from a game like this. So glad they done that. Some gamers may look at this style and think that the game is too simple and easy. we at X35 Earthwalker recommend you check out some gameplay for yourself and hopefully give it a go.

Overall Dynasty Warriors is a very cool game indeed. The graphics are excellent here, especially for a game like this. The sounds are what you would expect from a combat heavy game of this location and style. The developers, ‘Omega Force’ did an excellent job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are going to keep an eye out for this game when it lands in stores. We recommend you do as well. Now their may be 83 officers in this game but there still ain’t enough room for… the ‘Earth Walk!’

For more information check out the link below:

More information