Code Vein is a new action role playing game (RPG) developed and published by ‘Bandai Namco‘. Code Vein is said to be coming out the 27th of September 2019 on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. Code Vein is out here trying to be a good vampire game. Vampire games tend to not do well. Will this be any different? Let’s take a look.
In the world of Code Vein you control a Revenant. A Revenant is basically a vampire. So you are a Vampire in a ruined world. It’s been described as “gone”. In the center of all this is a group, or should we say society of Revenants called ‘Vein’. These Revenants fight for survival. They do this by trading their memories for gifts of power. Doesn’t sound like a good trade to us but when it comes to survival it’s up to you. Not only do they get power but they also get an increased thirst for blood. A Revenant who gives into the bloodlust fully risks becoming one of the ‘Lost’. A lost is a “fiendish ghoul devoid of any remaining humanity who wander aimlessly in search of blood.” So yeah, avoid that.
In Code Vein players must team up to survive this journey… a journey to some dangerous and dark places which some describe as hell. You must find a way out of the mess the Revenants find themselves in. You must work with a partner: A.I or a real player and work together to survive. You will go through dungeons as this whole game is about the dungeons. Facing many enemies. Some are tto powerful for you in a straight up fight while others wait for the right moment to strike you unprepared and unawares. Watch out.
Now off course your Revenants can be customised. Character customisation is always a good thing. You can change their accessories, face paint, make up, eye brows, hair, mask frame. purifier mask and clothing off course. It doesn’t end there. You can also customise concerning combat and weapons. So what do you want? Spears, bayonets, axes and more. You can finish of enemies with your blood veil. A blood veil is a blood draining tool and each one has their own attack style and looks different. Your blood veil will open up the means to new strategies concerning combat.
Remember when we mentioned gifts of power? Well Code Vein takes that seriously. You can enhance your characters abilities with blood code enhancements. Each blood code enhancement has their own various gifts, that you use to weaken enemies, gain super powerful attacks, increase your strength and even utilize new weapon abilities.
We checked out some Code Vein gameplay and there’s quite a lot going on. There’s quests for players to face together. Mechanics in combat like dodge and parry which off course require timing. The A.I characters have their own plot and fighting style. Like Final Fantasy 13 (the story so far) you can switch up your build at any time (oh so they claim). There’s difficult bosses and hordes of Lost. The graphics and visuals is very good. The action in combat is nothing special. The range of enemies is very good. The sounds are good. Some players may feel like it’s some combination of Final Fantasy and Dark Souls when it comes to combat.
Overall Code Vein seems like a good action Role playing game. There’s constant action, nice environments to look at. A range of enemies with different designs, multiple combat styles and strategies and options concerning character design. The developers ‘Bandai Namco’ have done a very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing what Code Vein has to offer. Now Code Vein may have blood lust but something as simple as that can be cured by… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Decay of Logos is a new action role playing game developed by ‘Amplify Creations‘ and published by ‘Rising Star Games‘. Decay of Logos is said to be coming out the 27th of August on PlayStation 4, 29th for Nintendo Switch and 30th for Xbox One and PC. Decay of Logos is looking like a real adventure, a serious game. Let’s take a look.
Players control a lady named Ada. Ada is on a journey… of revenge. Her village got attacked and destroyed. You only have faint remembrance of the banners of the attackers but you need more information. You were when up by a mystical Elk. Ada feels an overwhelming sense of calm and safety. There was no reasonable explanation for it, but Ada somehow felt connected to the creature. So the whole game takes place in a very fantasy styled world. Expect fictional stuff everywhere and lots of imagination. You are in a ancient kingdom. The ruler is a king who is a big fan of wars and military affairs. We do know that the king was that good of a father and showed little affection for his sons.
Things get worse for him as his wife the queen died during childbirth. Now this child is his only daughter. He pays attention to her and sees to only care about protecting her. So off course the sons now bigger are becoming more distant from their dad. You can see where this is going. Eventually the family divides. The sons all hate their sister, they themselves separated from each other with each prince controlling their own part of the kingdom. All have a huge thirst for power and heavily influenced the parts they rule, “each territory reflecting their particular idiosyncrasies.”
We like the story so far of Decay of logos. It’s got a lore and some deep situations going on. It believably explains the world and why the kingdom is the way it is now. You can understand the sons and why they hate their sister, even though they are wrong to hate her. It’s the dads fault in this case. The player starts in Laetus grove. Players will also quickly learn that the world in Decay of Logos is not an ordinary world. You will see all kinds of beings: mythical creatures, wizards, ancient species and even knights.
Now remember that Decay of Logos is an action role playing game. Decay of Logos shows a lot of emphasis on exploration, inventory management and off course tactical combat. The elk is also a big part of the gameplay as it’s needed for combat, puzzle interaction and definitely exploration. Your greatest ally. We’ve played enough video game to know when somethings up. Clearly this elk isn’t just an elk and it’s probably going to be someone from her village and it being an elk is a result from the attack on the village. Either the person died and is now an elk spirit or they became an elk through mystical means or whatever. This was sort of similar in terms of the game Never Alone with the fox being a boy all this time… oh what… we are suppose to say something?… that’s right… spoiler alert.
Now throughout this world there are some friendly NPC’s which are said to be a good source of tips, game lore and even some items so make sure to check them out and socialise. Now remember that this whole game is filled with monsters, mythical creatures, wizards and even ancient species. So you will face many dangers and different foes. The combat is confirmed to be difficult… but also worth it. Players must take into account that the type of enemy you are facing and your location. Those are factors.
Decay of Logos allows you to fight back. Your character Ada has got some mobility to her name and a good fighter. She jump, parry (learn this), roll, sprint, backstep and slide. So use this stuff. It will save your life. Players can have different long and short range weapons. There’s more. There’s defence equipment too like shields. Elemental effects are here too so take this into account when facing certain enemies. Ada can also perform powerful combos so make sure your timing is right.
Now to make the game more realistic, and force players to pay more attention, there’s also stamina. Your actions requires stamina. Evading and counter attacking requires stamina so don’t run out. Decay of Logos is also quite a magical world as Ada is able to also use magic but that’s something you’ll discover as you progress through the game. So combat mobility, stamina, elemental effects, magic and powerful combos.
There’s more though and we do like this feature. When you get hit by enemies, your stats decrease making you weaker until you find and use a camp and rest. When you die you will wake up from a nightmare at the last shrine or camp used. Since you wake up some enemies will respawn and your stats will be reduced temporarily.
Remember that Decay of Logos is also as role playing game (RPG). There is a level up system. Your stats grow as you interact and activate mechanism, off course kill enemies and even finding chests, we mean secret ones will boost you up. Don’t forget that getting hurt reduces your stats temporarily. Lastly know that Camps and Shrines aren’t the same thing. Shrines are basically checkpoints while Camps can be used to save the game and sleep to recover which has it’s risks as you can get ambushed during your sleep.
We checked out some Decay of Logos gameplay and it does looks cool so far. We like the design style. We like that you have to gain the elk’s trust through protecting it and feeding it. There are secrets in the lands, your interactions with some NPC’s may effect your game later on, it’s pretty much an open world and that there’s a good variety of enemies so far. The graphics are good and the environments are cool too with the variety. So far Decay of logos is doing some stuff right.
Overall Decay of Logos seems like a very good game. It’s doing it’s own thing and not a Zelda: Breath of the Wildclone as some internet people have said. The developers ‘Amplify Creations’ have done a good job with this game so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to keep an eye out for this game. Now Decay of Logos may be a fantasy world but one more awesome world that’s completely real is… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Aggelos is a 16-bit style adventure RPG game developed by ‘Storybird Games‘ and published by ‘PQube Limited‘ and ‘Look At My Games‘. Aggelos is said to be coming out the 12th of June on Xbox One and PS4 but already out on Nintendo Switch and PC. This game clearly has a particular target audience in mind. Let’s take a look.
In the world of Aggelos there’s a huge battle going on. Basically the battle takes place in a peaceful kingdom called Lumen. Beings from another dimension has shown up and are invading Lumen. So off course the hero must set out and defeat this evil threat. As you can see, the story is simple and traditional. Everything about this game is suppose to be about the old gaming days. From one look you could tell this was 16-bit styled. That’s what Aggelos is all about.
In Aggelos, players must find magical elements in order to save the world from total destruction. This won’t be easy as the levels and how the game plays should remind some players of Metroid and even Castlevania. You will go past multipolemplaces that you can’t initially explore due to a lack of certain abilities and upgrades. Players will to take note of certain places and what’s required before revisiting.
Now Lumen isn’t some simple plain place. Players will end up traversing and exploring seas, caves, forests and even temples… ancient temples. We do hope that these different locations show clear diversities amongst them. From the types of enemies, to the types of secrets to the types of hazards. It may be a 16-bit styled game but it’s the year 2019 so we expect up to date type stuff implemented into this game. No excuses.
Now there’s the main quests that you follow concerning the Aggelos story but there’s also basically side quests which come in the form of tasks and job offered to you by the citizens of Lumen. So it’s sort of safe to say that there’s almost always something to do. We just hope that the rewards are actually worth it.
Now concerning the enemies there is certainly a variety. Expect fishes, turtle like things, scorpions, little dragons, flying creatures, and much more. There are also large bosses in Aggelos. We have seen a large squid creature, humanoid flying bird, a armoured armadillo thing, large dragon and more. It definitely has old gaming style written all over it. This will off course instantly appeal to some gamers straight away.
We checked out some gameplay and it does look like an old 16-bit old game but not exactly giving of the same feeling though. You can obtain magical abilities and some powerful high-level attacks. There’s also a chaining system where chaining these abilities you can destroy entire screens worth of enemies in seconds. There’s quite a bit to this game. Sort of deep.
Overall Aggelos looks like a fun game. I’s simple but sort of deep and pretty much accomplishes what it sets out to do. The graphics are good for it’s style and the sounds like an old game for sure. The developers ‘Storybird Games’ did a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what becomes of Aggelos. Now Aggelos may have 16-bit style but it looks lame when compared to the style of… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire is a new open world action RPG developed by ‘The Gentlebros’ and published by ‘PQubed Limited‘. Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire is said to be coming out in the second quarter of 2019 on the Xbox One, Android, Nintendo Switch, IOS, PS4 and PC. Now if you like cats, this game might be for you. Let’s take a look.
In Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire the world os basically cats and dogs with off course more emphasis on the cats (not barking fair). There’re two kingdoms and they are at war with each other. They are: the cats of Felingard and the advancing dogs of the Lupus Empire. Why can’t cats and dogs get along? Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire tells the “tail” of two kings who have to work together in order to reclaim their thrones. This is where the player comes in. Control the cat and dog and do your best to get your thrones back. Off course it won’t be an easy journey.
Those who played the previous Cat Quest game will somewhat know what they are getting into when they enter Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire. Except this time there will be more battles, more explosions and more magic to make you into a fur-midable enemy. Cat Quest but basically bigger and expanded upon. There is a wider range of attacks and weapons too. Some of the new weapon types include staves and even master swords. Obviously master swords are better.
Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire allows two player co-op. Someone controls the dog while the other controls the cat. Readers should hopefully by now know how we feel about co-op in games. Players should have the option of playing with friends and others in local co-op. Good move developers. Even more good since there are dungeons to dive into explore. Your team mate can help watch your back as there are traps in there. Challenges and problems are easier to solve with others.
Like with other RPGs players need to get tactical and quite creative. Players should make combos concerning their abilities, weapons and more. For example the attributes of the passive abilities allow for quite a bit of options. There’s more to this game than just simply hitting attack all the time. Get the right timing for dodges and evade all damage, know what types of enemies you are facing and what’s the best way to put them down.
There are side quests too in Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire. What RPG doesn’t have side quests? They aren’t suppose to be just missions to pass the time. Each one is said to have it’s own story which off course will help explain what’s going on in the Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire universe. The lore will be expanded and probably hear some interesting stuff.
We checked out some gameplay and it’s not what we thought. How you move around on the map is very cool. You are literally running from area to area, walking around ponds, seas and seeing all the world structures too. Also enemies will just run up to you too and try to “axe” you a question. Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire has actually gave us a bit of a surprise. Not bad. From what we have seen, the graphics look very good and the sounds are good too. Clearly good work has went into this game.
Overall Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire seems like a very good game so far. From the smoothness of the gameplay to how expanded it is. There’s quite a bit going on in this game and we like what we see but the game does seem to easy in terms of combat and difficulty. It looks so easy to evade and handle enemies and we hope there are more enemies and greater difficulty. The developers ‘The Gentlebros’ have done a good job with this game. Now Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire may have some serious cats and dogs but none are as serious as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a new action side scrolling role playing game developed by ‘ArtPlay’ and published by ‘505 Games‘. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is said to be coming out in the third quarter of 2019 on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. Now this game will remind certain players of a past game. Let’s take a look.
The story in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is quite straight forward. Players control Miriam, an orphan girl who is afflicted by an alchemist curse. This curse causes her skin to slowly crystallise. She must fight fight her way through a castle that’s just loaded with demons and monsters. She must reach the castles master and stop him. This master is called Gebel and his flesh is also slowly crystallising but at this point, he’s more crystal than flesh. So defeat evil in a race against time type plot.
So certain gamers who look at Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night will be reminded of Castlevania. The action, side scrolling, many scary looking monsters and even the scenery all looks like it. That’s the point. People really enjoyed Castlevania and so a good idea is to go for a similar style but do it better. So yes, the jumping, attacking, exploring, creed environments and scary monsters are there but there’s more. Players will need to get their hands on good weapons. This can be done by unlocking, crafting and collecting them. So yes, explore the area and see what you can find.
Literally there isn’t that much to say about Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night because it is similar to Castlevania. The graphics are very good and the environments are very detailed as well. The movement animations are very good indeed. Each movement is done well. There are numerous and we mean numerous enemies of different types, behaviour and looks. There are many bosses too with the dragon boss grabbing probably the most attention right now. The gameplay looked good right now.
We’ve seen many cool weapons too in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Blades and swords that have different ranges and effects. We’ve seen guns and other projectile weapons. Even what looks like magic. There’s a summoned dragon mouth that breathes special flames on enemies. Special abilities and effects in abundance too. Off course not everything is known and we hope there is a huge variety of options when it comes to weapons. This game has the setting and potential to do so.
Overall Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night seems like a very good game so far. Gameplay is definitely good so far. The level design and environments are very good and detailed. The variety of enemies is good too and we hope there is more. The developers ‘ArtPlay’ have done a very good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker are looking forward to seeing what Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has to offer gamers. It definitely looks bigger, and better than Castlevania. Now Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night may have demons and many weapons but all of them are useless when it comes against… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Remnant: From the Ashes is a new third-person co-op survival-action shooter game developed by ‘Gunfire Games‘ and published by ‘Perfect World Entertainment‘. It is coming out the 20th of August on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It looks like Remnant: From the Ashes plan to make an intense survival game. Let’s hope they got the formula right. Let’s take a look.
In Remnant: From the Ashes, players start of in a world that is pure chaos now. Basically something evil, something ancient has caused all these problems The even bigger problem is that this ancient evil is in another dimension. That sounds fair right? At least the covenant in Halo attack from orbit. The chaos mainly comes in the form of dangerous creatures that come from different dimensions also. As you can see, humanity has their hands full.
Humanity isn’t going to accept this. They fight back but off course are losing. Players play as one of the last remnants of humanity. Humanity has the technology and means to go to alternate realities and other realms through portals. The main mission is to find where the evil is coming from and stop it. So get weapons, work together and scavenge for resources in order to survive and hopefully win.
Lets get to the main points about Remnant: From the Ashes. It’s post apocalyptic so expect busted cities, streets and not much people. Oh and lots of enemies. These creatures shouldn’t really be avoided though as defeating them will get you experience. Also you can get materials which are for building or modifying armour, attachments and off course weapons. We hope that there is a good range of modifications, weapons and armour.
Since you are travelling through and to different realms and realities there will be different worlds with different designs and environments. The world we can travel to are said to be dynamically generated worlds that change each time you play in them. So expect new encounters each time you enter that world. There will be new objectives and quests too. There are four worlds and all have their monsters waiting and ready for you. So Remnant: From the Ashes is suppose to give us different experiences all the time.
Concerning the enemies we have seen quite the variety. We’ve seen darkness red glowy enemies that look like trees and can duplicate themselves.. Mechanised enemies that go on all fours and has a cannon on their backs. Humanoid beast enemies that walk with large axes. Half insect half horse enemies that move in groups. What looks like a fire breathing bone or vine dragon. Giant butcher looking enemy wearing an apron and looks like it will eat you. Enemies that look like giant versions of the Interns from Oddworld Munches oddysee. We are definitely liking the variety of enemies you can face in the game. They even have their own group names like The Root and Pan.
We checked out some Remnant: From the Ashes gameplay and it’s what we thought it would be. Traversing and exploring the worlds, coming across enemies, face them or leave them alone. Gather resources, upgrade and get stronger. Big powerful enemies, small numerous enemies, using good guns and even melee weapons. We even know that there are some powerful bosses who will not give up their lives easy. From what we have seen it looks good. We will wait to see more though and see if we are impressed or not.
Overall Remnant: From the Ashes looks like a good game. We have no information on the game difficulty though. We hope games like this have a long curve in terms of progression so that players don’t end up just walking through enemies and slapping monsters around too soon. It should be a survival and struggle right to the end. Graphics look alright so far. The developers ‘Gunfire Games’ as done a good job with this so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an eye out for this game but we need to learn about a few more things. Now Remnant: From the Ashes may seem promising but is a complete fail when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Ash of gods is a new turn based strategy and card role playing game developed by ‘AurumDust‘ and published by ‘WhisperGames‘. Ash of gods is coming out this year, 2019 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PS4 but already out on PC. This game has a feature that definitely makes it stand out. Let’s take a look.
In Ash of gods the story has been described by the developers as “This is the story of “angels” who after being given free will turned the life of humans into hell in the absence of a god”. This doesn’t make sense but it’s a fictional video game set in a fictional world, so go with it. The game wants to centre it’s theme around moral choices and right and wrong. With people behaving like monsters and at times something that isn’t human behaves more human like than actual humans. That kind of stuff.
The style of the story telling is rouge-like but very serious. Ash of gods forces players to really and truly think things through. First things first, all of your characters can die. Yes, even the main character. If you truly mess up you can lose everyone and the game continues even when the main character dies. This is very good and already sets this game apart from others. Next is that every decision you make affects further plot development. It could either be immediate consequences or something much further down the line.
So like in life do not just focus on what’s right in front of you, or what you will gain immediately or you could start a war much later in the game or get someone killed. The developers gave examples, “A rude word may provoke a lethal conflict and a wound in battle may lead to death in a story mode”. That’s not all. Players will need to manage their resources carefully too. If you fail to do so the whole party of characters will die. Scared yet? Well don’t be, it’s a game after all.
You already know that Ash of gods is tactical as it’s turn based strategy. You think about what moves and options you have. What do you want to accomplish in the end? Also as a card game you will need to collect cards, have an effective build and use what you got wisely. Characters have classes which off course determines their moves and what you can do with each one. So turn based + characters classes + cards = quite a deep strategy game.
Concerning the combat with enemies, in Ash of gods, there is something players should know. The A.I has been described as smart. The developers have stated that there is no invincible team build. The A.I will constantly adapt to how you play so the challenges you face will always be different. Rushing in hard and fast won’t work multiple times in a row. This is good because many players like to be cheap and do things the super easy way. Good move developers.
Games like Ash of gods will off course have some risks. It’s up to players to decide if it’s worth it and whether to do it or not. You can save resources by taking the shorter but more dangerous route. Sacrifice some hit points for a all or nothing strike. Even take a smaller team into battle to acquire the better cards have rounds be quicker.
We checked out some Ash of gods gameplay and we like the character animations. They are very good. There’s lots of options and lots to do in Ash of gods. There are shop keepers, a large adventure and even multiplayer modes: PvP and PvE. Communicate with your friends by selecting from text options to let them know if they good or suck. This game is definitely very big and has a lot of work put into it. We even saw powerful magical spell like attacks such as using electricity and fire to shock and devour enemies. Looking good so far.
Overall Ash of gods is looking very good. There is more to the story such as that the Reapers are here and they want to drown the world in blood in an attempt to wake up the sleeping gods (That always ends well). The graphics are very good for it’s style and there is a lot of work that went into the music, so listen up. The developers ‘AurumDust’ did a very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an eye on this game. Now Ash of gods may have some real consequences for decisions but the events that take place are child’s play when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Yaga is a new action roleplaying game developed by ‘Breadcrumbs Interactive‘. Yaga is said to be coming out in the fourth quarter of 2019 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. This game plans to actually make the players decisions effect the game. Let’s take a look.
In Yaga players control Ivan. Ivan is a blacksmith. While everyone is out living ordinary lives, Ivan lives life differently. He’s working hard at his forge, crafting, building, hammering etc making cool weapons and items. He plans to go on another adventure. He is in a situation that’s effected by three people. The Tzar who is jealous of Ivan and keep giving him impossible quests which Ivan is unaware actually weaken and destroys the magical creatures and ancient spirits, a witch called Baba Yaga who plans to protect the spirits and use Ivan for her goals and last of all Ivan’s grandmother who simply wants him to find a wife. Ivan clearly has his hands full. Oh did we mention that Ivan only has one arm? Yep, just one.
The developers describe this story as one “about greed, manipulation and dealing with impossible odds.” Don’t feel sorry for Ivan though as he knows how to work with his disability. A forged attachments that allow him to wield crossbows, shields and other weapons. So players must equip themselves to suit their style or the situation and head out on a strange adventure. One more thing. Yaga is set in slavic folklore. 14 century slavic folklore through the eyes of Eastern European peasants. So expect a lot of superstition, house spirits, magic (off course), unclean spirits (copying the Bible) and pagan beliefs. This will not be your simple adventure.
Now Yaga is going to attempt to be the game that gets the players decisions to effect the game done right. How you play and what you do effects things. You can pick pocket people, steal, trick, lie, attack and be totally unfair. The peasants and other characters will remember that you did these things and they will act accordingly. An NPC might place a curse on you while another might place a charm on you for helping them out etc. We hope they actually make it so that decisions and behaviour does matter.
There are levels and it’s done by a level generator which produces a mix of combat and roleplaying all from a huge library of quests and special rooms like shrines, merchants and more. Each level is different and has it’s rules. The area or region of the level will effect things, the focus of the story will effect things. Think for a bit first before making your way through the level. So expect different action and levels of drama each time.
While out on adventures make sure to gather all the materials and resources you can find. These are needed for all the crafting that Ivan does. Yaga gets quite detailed too as there are different types of Wood (like Minecraft), different types of ores and enhancements which you can find and even collect from fallen enemies. You can even get charms and curses which are long term effects for your character. They can seriously have big impacts concerning combat and even interacting with characters and things in the world. Some perks may grant different effects depending on your character and how you’ve played already. NPCs can charm or curse Ivan and even witches and priests in exchange for donations. Remember this.
The combat is always one of the main questions. Combat in Yaga is mainly close range. Where the hammers and melee weapons are effective. Where you position Ivan during combat is very important. You have to be just outside of attack range from enemies and then run in at the right moment to do a couple of strikes. Timing is key. We did mention magic before so you know that’s a part of the combat. Talismans and magic items will add in completely new factors like shields, ranged attacks and more.
We checked out some Yaga gameplay and it’s not exactly what we thought it would be. We liked how the folklore changes each time and Ivan has things differently each time. The talismans can be found throughout the world and they can add effects to your attacks and defences, mess with enemies and boost your stats. Magic items have supernatural powers and are rare. Do not use them too much or you will attract attention…
Overall Yaga seems like a good game. It’s quite deep in terms of crafting, materials, multiple play throughs, enemies, combat and in game mechanics. They better pull of the actions have consequences mechanic well. The developers ‘Breadcrumbs Interactive’ did a good job with this game so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear out for what Yaga will truly bring to the gaming community. Now Yaga may have folklores and different tales but stays awesome is.. the ‘Earth Walk!’
Anthem was released and many gamers had their eyes on it. Almost everyone heard about Anthem and there was some hype for it. Some were already salty because of what they think about Electronic Arts. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t childish about these things. We look at the game that that’s it. We have checked out what some of these reviewers have to say about Anthem and so far a good number of them didn’t give a good review at all. Some like Angry Joe and others aren’t even that good at it and it shows. Check out what we think of it so far. We say “so far” as we haven’t completed the game yet or anything like that. Also this isn’t a full review as there is literally so much to say.
Anthem can be played both single player and multiplayer. How we see to do it is that when it’s a story based mission, as in it forwards the story, we tend to play it solo but when it’s agent missions and others we then decide if we want others there or not. Now we do prefer single player overall because we get to do things at our own pace, explore around that corner if we want to and even get stylish when facing enemies. You can’t really do that in multiplayer. In multiplayer you have players who just want to complete the mission as fast as possible and so they zoom from objective to objective flying everywhere. If they reach the next area you have around 24 seconds to get there also or you’ll be teleported there. So it’s a rush. This doesn’t mean multiplayer isn’t fun. In multiplayer we have come across some playful and friendly gamers. If we throw a flare, they all do. In fact we once had a flare party where everyone was emoting and tossing flares everywhere. In multiplayer, there enemies don’t stand a chance. You feel powerful. Plus we have to admit that some levels, especially bosses are very difficult to beat alone and off course a team makes a difference.
Now when do you get to play with others? The answer is whenever you want. Every time you go on an expedition you have the option as to whether to play with other or private. What they shouldn’t have done is keep presenting a warning or reminder that Anthem is better experienced with others and if you are sure you want to play private. Yes we are sure, that’s why we selected private and not public. It’s annoying that every time they have to ask you. It’s like they want us to doubt our choices. Just stop please. Other from that, the system works fine. You choose public and they find a team. The levels of your team mates are questionable but not a big deal at all. It’s minor.
We tried three of the four Javelins: Ranger, Storm, Colossus (haven’t tried yet) and Interceptor. These four play very different from each other. Rangers are fighting like actual soldiers using mainly their guns and equipment as backup. Storm normally stay at long range and use elemental based attacks like lightning, ice, fire and even wind. The Interceptor is all about getting fast, do quick damage and then get back out just as fast. The colossus wants to get up in the enemies face and use some melee action while tanking some damage. When you play each one, it does feel different but the principle is still the same as in, don’t die, take cover to recover shields etc. Your strategy and style of play changes with each Javelin type and that’s a good thing.
The enemies are quite similar to each other in some areas. The main enemies are: Scars, Dominion and Outlaws. They have foot soldiers, elite versions of those soldiers, unique units and even a shielded unit. The three main enemy groups are different when it comes to their unique units. The Scars have a big flame throwing unit that uses a big physical shield to completely negate all frontal damage. It’s weakness is it’s fuel tanks. The Dominion have a large animal like thing that has a cannon on his back which is really fast. There are even more enemies too including the wildlife. An Ursix is a giant beast that throws rocks, charges and smashes you with brute force. There are more enemies to but some are passive and will not bother you at all, only until you scare or disturb them.
We haven’t completed the main story yet but so far we do understand what’s happening. The shapers, shaper relics, anthem of creation, what the dominion wants, cataclysms etc. You can learn a whole lot more through the items that have information and lore like scrolls and books found in fort tarsus or certain identified areas in the main world that give the the background story and more. There is a lot of information to find and they do explain quite a lot. Some not good critics like PC Gamer complained that the story was complicated and confusing. We didn’t find it confusing, they were obviously rushing through the game to complete it to give their review. Take your time and you will see that it’s not that confusing at all. It’s a fictional game with fictional rules. So see it from Anthem’s universe perspective.
The characters are interesting. Haluk is straight forward to us and he needs to stay cool at all times and not just on the battlefield. Owen is quite easily understood and his actions can make sense but not justified. Faye its quite realistic, she’s one of those people who’s so into their field of study or interest that people forget she has hobbies like radio series. Matthias is the brilliant but reckless type and the whole manifold incident made him even better. The other characters just add to the social flavour. You can speak to them from time to time and they clearly have their own views, focuses in life and stories. There are other characters that you can speak to and you get to decide how you respond to questions and situations. In one of them we convinced Amal, the bartender, to always do the right thing and be honest. We also couldn’t deceive the old woman (Marelda we think) by letting her think we are her dead son. What she needs is the truth, gentle but straight up truth. We truly helped her in the end. Yes, it has been said that no matter what you choose, the outcome isn’t effected by much but these conversations do test the player themselves, their morality and what they think. Nice touch.
Now let’s talk a bit about what we don’t like. We don’t like that you can’t really decide what you can craft. From the earlier parts of Anthem we happened to find a harvestable source during a mission (we played in private) and it released a crazy amount of masterwork ember. We had a lot of crafting material but couldn’t craft anything great. We later learned that you need to collect and then upgrade blue prints by completing certain weapon challenges. That wasn’t made clear to us. It should have been spelt out to players.
Another issue is that moment in the story where you needed to enter four special tombs and those tombs can only be accessed by those who are worthy. You are worthy by completing specific challenges. Now what’s the problem? The challenges can take quite a while especially if you haven’t started anyone of them while you are playing missions. This whole section feels like a wall. Until you complete the challenges you cannot progress. We were fortunate to have only three more challenges remaining: melee kill a certain amount of enemies, complete world quests and find 15 chests (15 we think). It took quite a bit but not that long but we know other players had to spend a long time on it which isn’t fun. If they made it so that getting into the temples unlocks you weapons, upgrades, blue prints, techniques or whatever then it would be better and feel like rewards, instead of making that the actual main mission. We weren’t happy about this part at all.
A small sized complaint is that we can’t feel that much of a difference when we equip gear that increases our armour and shields. We even crafted a couple of stuff and really increased both armour and shields but enemies seem to kill us at pretty much the same speed (we always play on hard difficulty). Maybe when we get much better gear we can feel the difference.
Another issue is that the story could have included more encounters with the different groups like the regulators and how messing with them could have consequences. The outlaws could have their own branch of missions along with the scars; giving players the opportunity to know more about them and their whole system. There’s opportunities in there and we want to see Anthem take advantage more of what they have in their universe.
One more issue is the items drops you get for beating certain enemies. X35 Earthwalker, the legendary soldier himself, literally earlier today in free play mode defeated an Ursix and got two epic items from it but later X35 fought a War Titan and beat it solo and the reward was a rare and uncommon. The war titan was stronger, had way more health, can do way more damage and took five times longer to beat but the drops were inferior. That needs to be fixed as that’s clearly not right. By the way we will show that fight against the war titan in a video in good time.
Now some critics were complaining about the characters and the conversations you have with them. Let’s be real, the characters do what they need to do. They said the characters just stand around. Well what do you want? You want the characters running around in a route in fort tarsus so players have to chase them down just to get a mission or talk. Some really slammed Anthem for not having big story effected consequences based on your responses to some characters. This isn’t that kind of game (what’s wrong with these reviewers). Anthem isn’t about meeting clans, persuading them to join your cause and them lead an army and if you anger clans then they become enemies. It’s just conversations to keep things fresh, different and these conversations are interesting. People go through different things and it’s good to talk to others. Others slammed Anthem for having repetitive missions. We don’t find them repetitive. The developers can’t keep adding in completely different gaming mechanics all the time, there needs to be some sort of formula. Rescue and protect missions are not fun at all. There are limits on games especially those that are open world, RPG with world events and stuff to come. It can’t go on forever that’s why DLC have to come in bringing new stories and adventures. It’s sad that reviewers and critics don’t understand this. Like we said, ignore the critics and reviewers and certainly you tubers like angry Joe who just hop on the hate train to get views. Do your own research check out some gameplay and if you like what you see, try it for yourself.
Now another thing that’s good is the Javelin customisation at least in terms of the colours. You can change the colour of each limb separately. It gets better. You can decide what shade of the colour, the fabric, patterns and even the texture. Players who have some level of creativity will go to work with these options and we still haven’t seen a javelin that’s just like ours. Even better we haven’t see one that looks like ours. What we don’t like is how long it takes to get different helmets and javelin body parts. Keep doing missions to get coins and then rely on those. Or you could buy shards but we aren’t doing that.
Overall we are really enjoying Anthem. The option to play with others is easy and just as easy to play alone. The Anthem world looks very nice and it does make you want to explore. Little things like how flying in rain helps your thrusters and reduce overheating while going in water or waterfalls completely cools you off, extending the amount of time you fly for. The weapon types definitely feel different. The pistols don’t feel like the scout rifles. The LMGs don’t feel like the assault rifles either. We like how much of a battle it is to take down a titan and when you finally do, it feels like an achievement because of how strong they are as enemies. The rabbits and other wild life creatures are cool. You can walk up to them, chill with them and even follow them around. The world definitely feels alive. Anthem has way more positives than negatives. Don’t forget that we haven’t gotten to the end of the story yet and we still have more to see.
Now what’s our current verdict? Anthem is currently 8/10. We recommend it to other players. It’s negatives especially the challenges to enter tombs does hold the game back as it makes certain things annoying. There is so much more we can say about the game but we want to leave it here for now. Now many have a lot to say about Anthem but there’s way more to say about… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Biomutant is a new third person combat, action, open world RPG developed by ‘Experiment 101‘ and published by ‘THQ Nordic‘. Biomutant is said to be coming out in the second quarter of 2019 on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. This game certainly stands out from everything else at the moment. Let’s take a look.
Not a lot is known about Biomutant right now. Concerning the story we know that there is a tree. Not an ordinary one. It’s called the tree of life (once again getting their ideas from the Bible). This tree is for some reason bleeding death from it’s roots. A plague is also on the loose and it’s negatively effecting everything, including the land. There are different animal tribes and are currently not in agreement and against each other. So it’s up to one, the player to solve this. Either unite everyone or put everyone down.
Now since Biomutant is a open world game players will assume there are ways of traversing the world. There is. Players can get around by foot (off course), jet-ski, mechs and even a air-balloon. Interesting since the game is set in an post apocalypse world. There are more methods of travelling like mounts but you’ll see for yourself. There’s more to this world than what you see. There is more under the planet surface and even high up. There are mountains to climb, tunnels to explore, the wildland which has seen better days, bunker networks and even an archipelago which looks cool by the way.
So if it isn’t clear by now, players will need to be big on exploration in a game like this. Biomutant has a lot to do. First of all you have to learn what’s happening with the tree of life, handle the plague and deal with the tribes… but wait… there’s more. There are more mysteries to be solved, probably concerning the inhabitants. There are certain characters for you to find and meet. Some creatures need to be dealt with and discoveries to be made. The players action are said to play a part in the story, a major part. We have heard this all the time. Most games don’t do a good job at handle the “actions and decisions effect the story” system. We hope Biomutant can do this well. By the way, the story will be told through a narrator.
Biomutant does remind us of Metal Gear Survive in one very particular way. Areas that require certain equipment for the player to explore safely. In Metal Gear Survive you had the dust which was toxic for humans and you need an oxygen tank to temporarily survive. In Biomutant, players will need an gas mask and oxygen tank in order to explore the Dead Zones. Equipment is very important in this game. Players can equip protective hazard like gear to protect from bio-contaminated enemies and substances. You can even equip thermos-resistant clothes to handle those really cold areas. So the kind of gear you equip and wear is completely up to you but it makes a difference.
Biomutant wants to keep things new and exciting and here’s how. It’s third person combat and there’s some good emphasis on mobility and agility. You can move how you want and that’s how it should be. Combat is a mixture of melee, shooting and even powers and abilities from your mutations. The melee is martial arts. Your character can learn new Wushu combat forms through natural progression or from master fighters. Some make sure you know some kung-fu. Decide when to get up close and beat your enemy down and when to get some distance and range down the pain. We are looking forward to seeing how they mix these things together.
If you was paying attention you would notice that we mentioned mutations. Your character is able to have his genetic structure re-coded. This will off course effect many things. For starters how you look will be different. Your attributes will be affected. If you receive exposure to radioactivity like the kind found in bunkers you” experience psi-mutations, your mind will be affected and you’ll learn abilities like elevation and telekinesis. If you get exposed to bio-contamination that will cause physical mutations like getting a barbed tail or even mantis claws. So there are many ways to develop your character.
There is crafting in Biomutants too. Developers claim players are “totally free when crafting weapons”. You can craft guns like shotguns, revolvers and rifles (off course). Craft melee weapons, whether they be heavy melee type, or sharp like slashing and piercing. You can add different parts to add modifications like a battery powered chainsaw (Gears of war inspired) and go even further with bio-contaminated sludge vials. We did say players should explore, as you may encounter a character who might craft some stuff for you. These things can include, a jump pack, bionic wings (sounds awesome) and even upgrade your automaton.
We checked out some gameplay and from what we can see, things look great. The graphics are very good, the world and areas look really interesting. The sounds are just good so far. The different animal mutant enemies don’t look so tough. The customisation and outfits your character can wear are showing some good variety right now. The giant monsters look like a real problem though. So far we are seeing high potential with Biomutant.
Overall Biomutant seems really good. Not much information on the main character though. This open world looks like players will have lots to do. We hope the creativity expands more. More interesting mutated animal enemies and a good amount of super dangerous enemies that players can’t face in combat. The developers ‘Experiment 101’ did a very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing what Biomutant fully has to offer. Now Biomutant may have some kung-fu but their skills are nothing compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
