Game Rant interviewed producer Alexis Brutman about Kristala:

Interview: Kristala Dev Discusses Episodic Structure, Sekiro Inspirations, and Journey to Release

In an interview with Game Rant, Astral Clocktower Studios teased the Early Access date announcement for their Sekiro-like cat adventure Kristala.

Metalheads, cat lovers, and fans of punishing ARPGs should all keep a feline ear to the ground in May, as developer Astral Clockwork Studios will be announcing when players can get their hands on the upcoming Sekirolike Kristala.

Fighting against an enigmatic curse, bosses voiced by deathcore metal vocalists, and five other Raksakkars, players will engage in a less-than-peaceful pilgrimage to join the illustrious ranks of the Raksaka and unravel the mysteries of Ailur. Game Rant spoke to Astral Clocktower Studios’ founder and Kristala producer Alexis Brutman as the company prepares to announce an Early Access launch date. Brutman explained the game’s episodic structure, the vast world, and the language Astral Clocktower created for its game. The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: So... why cats?

Brutman: Well, there's a couple of reasons. I've two partners at Astral Clocktower, but when Tiffany [Gomez] and I originally started, it was just her and I. We were bouncing ideas off of what kind of each other about what kind of game we wanted to make: my idea was a soulslike kind of idea, her idea was a cutesy adventure game about a cat. So we thought, okay, that makes the most sense. Let's do that.

Then instead, we did a hybrid of the two games, and made a cat soulslike.

Part of the reason why we did that was because it allowed for more interesting mechanics. There's a million soulslikes out there, but only one where you can be a cat. And that gives us all sorts of verticality and traversal. It opened the door to some more interesting kinds of things you could do with your character.

[...]

The Turn Based Lovers present games of their favourite genre:

THAT’S THE BEST MAY 2024 HAS TO OFFER IN TERMS OF TURN-BASED RPGS AND STRATEGY GAMES

It seems like May could easily be one of the best months of 2024 for a host of promising RPGs and strategy games ready to launch on PC. Today, I’ve gathered some of the most interesting ones, and I assure you that if you’re a fan of the genre, it will be hard not to find something tempting.

A new title in the King Arthur series, some very interesting roguelites, significant strategy games like Songs of Conquest (to which I will certainly dedicate many hours), and then two very interesting tactical games, one that puts us in the shoes of superheroes and the other catapults us into the past, and right alongside all this abundance, there’s also the release of a retro RPG you absolutely need to check out. But to find out more, you’ll need to read the article. Let’s go:

KING ARTHUR: LEGION IX – 9 MAY
ROGUE VOLTAGE – 10 MAY E.A.
STARCRAWLERS CHIMERA – 13 MAY
SONGS OF CONQUEST – 20 MAY
SONGS OF SILENCE – 23 MAY E.A.
WIZARDRY: PROVING GROUNDS OF THE MAD OVERLORD – 23 MAY
SPELLCATS: AUTO CARD TACTICS – 17 MAY
C.A.R.D.S. RPG: THE MISTY BATTLEFIELD – 23 MAY
CROWN WARS – 23 MAY
CAPES – 29 MAY
SKALD: AGAINST THE BLACK PRIORY – 30 MAY

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted update 1.3 for Achilles: Legends Untold:

Update 1.3

Sinister caves avaits!

Greetings, Warriors of Ancient Greece!

We're thrilled to share the exciting updates and enhancements we've just rolled out in our latest Update 1.3, for Achilles: Legends Untold. Dive deeper into the mythic landscapes with new content, including challenging side quests, new enemies, and an enigmatic new location that beckons the bravest of warriors to explore. These additions are designed to enhance your gameplay experience and provide fresh challenges to conquer.

Don't feel like reading? Check out our trailer:

What’s New?

Exploration Expands: Discover the newly accessible ruins in Greece 2 and embark on 2 fresh side quests that promise to challenge your prowess and wit.
Formidable Foes: Prepare your weapons for battle against new enemies — the fiery wrath of Fire Skeletons and Fire Heretics awaits you.

Enhanced Gameplay

Balanced Arsenal: Experience refined gameplay with the latest balance adjustments to darts and petards, ensuring a fair and competitive edge in every encounter.

Fixes and Improvements

• We've also made several fixes to improve stability and gameplay:
• Story-tied NPCs are now immortal to prevent unintended game disruptions.
• Updated defense values for Two-Handed Swords.
• Resolved issues with boss rewards.
• Enhanced co-op rewards, offering more currency gains to enhance your shared adventures.
• Fixes across collision detection, AI navigation, and graphics.
• Camera and guide behavior corrections to ensure smoother gameplay.
• Plus, many more minor adjustments to continuously refine your experience.

This update is part of our commitment to enhancing your journey through the world of "Achilles: Legends Untold." We appreciate your passion and feedback, which help us shape the future of the game. Keep those swords sharp and shields ready, as there are always more adventures and challenges ahead!

If you haven't had the chance to play Achilles: Legends Untold yet, now is the perfect time to purchase the game. You can buy it bundled with "Green Hell" for a comprehensive gaming experience.

Couchpotato spotted the dungeon crawler Arhaekon:

Arhaekon

Become an Arhaekon, bind warriors to your will and fight your way through the corrupted world. Recover lost treasures & knowledge, bleed your minions and forge them into something more, rebuild what has fallen into decay and lay waste to the abominations holding the world captive, in our Tactical turn-based dungeon crawler.

Features:

• Mainly made by one developer;
• Dark, bleak atmosphere;
• Experimental endless procedural music;
• Roguelike elements including procedural dungeons & loot, units perma-death and more!
• 14 regions with themed dungeons and enemies;
• Battle-centered turn-based tactical combat gameplay;
• 12 units of 4 classes with unique and highly synergic abilities, experience and tier progression
• Corruption System - your unit's health is not your only concern. They will slowly tune in towards the enemies' song!
• Unit & party management - restore your unit’s resolve decisively by committing them to the Purgatory and mend their broken bodies by assigning them the - - - Medical Ward - if it isn't already full;
• Equipment in the form of augments – a punishing system designed to render hoarding useless!
• Loot – randomly generated augments, crafting recipes, pages of lore, or ritual rites of six different rarities;
• Currency system with three types of favors from gods to bless your journey, four types of refugees and materials to revitalize the continent, and, of course, ether – your very own fuel;
• Camp management - Upgrade and manage your ragged refugee camp & patch-up your facilities;
• Crafting system - The knowledge of upgrading the level of equipment or essences or obtaining new ones was lost, but the compendium of shaping is still at your disposal;
• Progress management – choose your path carefully for here be dragons!
• Punishing decision-making: from layers of management to layers of combat mechanics, all your choices matter and there’s no going back;
• Collectible lore with a twist – you don’t care about the lore? Fine, just enjoy the experience & other bonuses from collecting it – we can’t afford wasting development resources!
• Community oriented development – we want YOU to have a say regarding which features come first, give us ideas and vote for the kind of stuff you want to see in the game before we fully release it!
• Still under development – aside from being bugged, unbalanced and half-baked, this means we can end up with a zombie-shoot’em’up by release, provided you manage to convince enough players to vote for such features!

Build 0.2.200 of Archmages Rises has been released - here are the the patchnotes.

Couchpotato spotted a progress update for Stellar Tactics:

Progress update

I'm still here...

First the facts since I’ve seen a few comments:

This game is not abandoned! It will never be abandoned.
I’m running late with chapter 3 and all milestones I’ve set following that.
The last patch was 2/9/24 – a hotfix. I generally do not post minor patch updates on the main Steam page.

You can always find the latest patch notes here. 

I’ve struggled a bit with whether I should share this as I generally do not talk about my family. I do think it’s important to be transparent, so here it is.

My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in January. I’m sure some of you know how this goes. Endless tests, MRI, PET scan, samples, and doctors office visits. She is half way through the first cycle of chemo and doing well. We were lucky that we found it early as the prognosis is excellent. My heart goes out to anyone who has or has had this disease and their loved ones – or any form of cancer for that matter. It’s terrifying!

My time has been very limited since February, and I have not been making the progress I expected. I am working on the game. However, my wife takes priority, and it’s been a bit difficult staying focused. Around the middle of April, I started working at nearly my normal pace. All of the locations, enemies, enemy ships, modeling and other assets for chapter 3 are complete now. I’ve finished about 1/3 of the dialog, and when that’s done I’ll start integrating everything.

Right now I’m considering just finishing everything on my list and releasing chapter 3 and all other planned content/features in one major patch as a full BETA, rather than mini-releases over the coming months. It will save time and I won’t need to pause for bug fixes between updates. As I do this work, I’ll try to post progress updates more often. I get it, if you don’t hear from me on a regular basis – some might assume I’ve abandoned my game. Not going to happen…

I'm not posting this looking for well wishes or sympathy. Really, I'm convinced she will be fine. It's a difficult treatment though, and I need to be present and supportive. I am asking you to be patient with me as I work through the rest of this content. It will get done - I'm on it.

Thanks as always for your support and have a great weekend!

Learn more about the Banu Haqim clan:

Clan Highlight: Banu Haqim

Clan Highlight #3

The Clan of the Hunt, Assassins, Children of Haqim, Saracens, Mediators, Lawmen

Cursed with a thirst for the Blood of other vampires, the Banu Haqim stalk the night as judges and lawbringers. To this end, most Banu Haqim adhere to a strict code of conduct - derived from law, faith, or personal ethics - sating their Hunger on those that breach these convictions.

Playing a Banu Haqim in Bloodlines 2
Banu Haqim takes the role of a strategic stalker, using shadows to their advantage. You are a predator on a hunt, and your discipline powers focus on stalking, assassination, and silently moving faster than your foes can track. These skills are great assets when stalking the city for prey.

Abilities
When you choose your clan, you will start out with a passive ability unique to each clan. You are then able to unlock abilities from the Ability Tree, starting with your chosen clan. Each ability requires spending Ability Points (AP) to unlock which are earned from completing missions, combat and exploration. At the peak of the Ability Tree, you can unlock the clan Perk, a reward to those dedicated enough to unlock all of the abilities for a clan, giving a permanent passive upgrade.

Silence of Death
Clan Passive: All your actions become entirely silent for a period after feeding.

Mute
Silence an enemy/civilian. Any sounds they produce, from screams to gunfire, are completely undetectable to others.

Split Second
Move so fast that time appears to stop around you.

Bladed Hand
Slash swiftly in front of you, beheading mortal opponents.

Unseen Aura
Become temporarily invisible to enemies and civilians. Note: You can still be heard unless combined with Silence of Death.

Prowl
Clan Perk: Can remain crouched whilst sprinting.

Customizing your playstyle
There are many different ways to play your character in Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. The clan Banu Haqim focus on a stalking based playstyle to take out your enemies one by one, and the clan abilities are built to empower that. As we want to make sure this is not a game where you are required to optimize your abilities to the extreme, we’ve focused on making the base playstyles easy and straightforward. But for the players who want their experience to be a bit deeper and more customizable, you will be able to do so. By visiting important vampires who are sworn to assist the Sheriff (you), you can unlock abilities from their clan by drinking a bit of their blood.

Abilities from other clans may cost more AP depending on how well they align with your clans Disciplines. The Banu Haqim Disciplines are Celerity (speed enhancing abilities), Blood Sorcery (the ability to control blood with your arcane knowledge) and Obfuscate (abilities to easily hide, move without being noticed, and cast illusions.). If a Banu Haqim wishes to unlock a Blood Sorcery ability from another clan, it would cost less AP to unlock than an ability for a Discipline Banu Haqim don’t have. Those who unlock all abilities from a clan and get the Clan Perk, are able to stack them and have the effects of them all, elevating your power.

The activated abilities and Clan Perk can be learned from the other clans, but the clan passive can not. Because of this, you combine the clan powers in hundreds of different ways, but a Banu Haqim playthrough will remain its own gameplay experience.

Ability tree for Banu Haqim with all clan abilities and the clan perk are unlocked. An ability from the Tremere tree has been equipped instead of Split Second.

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Couchpotato spotted a new trailer for Fallout: Miami mod:

Fallout: Miami - 'Let's Go Sunning' Environmental Trailer

Couchpotato spotted the SKYBLIVION development diary 5:

Our Next Chapter On Road To Release | SKYBLIVION Development Diary 5

Couchpotato spotted a gameplay trailer for the upcoming 7 Days to Die:

7 Days to Die - 1.0 Gameplay Trailer

Rock Paper Shotgun checked out the narrative RPG Sky Of Tides:

Sky Of Tides is the anti-Disco Elysium in which balance is queen

In this lush sci-fantasy RPG adventure, min-maxing is a sin

Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man is a legendary drawing of a nude with his arms and legs reaching towards the rim and corners of a circle and square. It's often invoked as an archetype for the humanist worldview of Man the Measure and Centre of all Things, holding a perfectly proportioned universe in shape. Rin D'Lorah, the heroine of new narrative RPG Sky Of Tides, is a bit like the Vitruvian Man, and the result is a game I find at once bewitching and powerfully offputting in its refusal to satisfy the conventions of the genre.

Created by Ontario-based Lofty Sky Entertainment, the game takes place in the sci-fantasy realm of Numen, which has been shattered into nine planetoids floating within the titular sky of tides, and is contested by two groups: the Syndicate, who run a monopoly on ancient magical tech, and the Sovereign, a rebel faction dedicated to the lost ways enshrined in the banned Numen Tomes. Rin is called upon to mend this ruptured civilisation while searching for her missing father. You'll do this not just by following the plot to its conclusion or levelling up, but by keeping Rin balanced as a character. For Rin, you see, has a peculiar gift of currently unexplained provenance: she's a mirror for everything else. Or perhaps, everything else is a mirror for Rin.

[...]

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Windows Central gives an overview of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II:

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 FAQ - Release date, trailer, platforms, and other questions answered

Everything you need to know about the sequel to Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

After six years, Henry's come to see us once again in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Warhorse Studios' long-awaited follow-up to its popular historical medieval 2018 RPG has finally been announced, and it looks to be even bigger, bolder, and better than the first game that I and so many others fell in love with.

Though the Kingdom Come: Deliverance sequel was only just revealed, there's actually a ton of great information we know about it thanks to an incredible overview video Warhorse recorded within Kuttenberg's St. Barbara's Church. This includes details about its gameplay, story, open world, and more.

I'm willing to bet good groschen you've got questions about all of these topics, and luckily, I've got the answers you're looking for down below. For those as well as everything known about Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's release date and platforms, read on.

[...]

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VGC reports that the THQ Nordic Showcase has been annouced for August 2:

THQ Nordic will host its fourth annual digital showcase this summer.

Viewable on YouTube, Twitch and Steam, the event will air on Friday August 2, 2024, at 12pm PDT / 3pm EDT / 8pm BST / 9pm CEST.

“THQ Nordic will serve news for Gothic 1 Remake, Titan Quest II, and much more, but we’ll keep the grim secrets to ourselves for now,” the publisher said.

[...]

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Season 4 of Diablo 4 will luanch on May 14:

Diablo IV | Inside the Game | Loot Reborn

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Ye Old Entertainment looks back at Dragon Age Origins:

Dragon Age Origins: Review. And aaaall the things it did before Baldur's Gate 3 and The Witcher 3

02:11 - Character Creation & Character Progression
13:35 - Gameplay
26:42 - Story & Lore
47:35 - Companions Lorewise
53:20 - Companions Gameplaywise
57:05 - Secondary Mechanics & UX
1:00:28 - Sound Effects & Mix
1:03:11 - Voice Acting
1:06:17 - Music
1:09:04 - Graphics
1:13:16 - Performance & Stability
1:14:16 - Other Considerations & Final Thoughts

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Couchpotato spotted new info about the survival game Dune: Awakening on Shacknews:

Dune: Awakening New Gameplay Details, Sandworms & Private Servers

Zloth spotted a roundtable discussion talking about the state of RPGs on PC Gamer:

2024 RPG roundtable: Baldur's Gate 3, Avowed, Cyberpunk, In Stars and Time, Elder Scrolls designers

PC Gamer's RPG roundtable returns with a powerful panel of RPG experts to talk lovable and hateable companions, romance (and thirst), how you make a great intro to a massive game, and much more. Joining our panel this year:

• Swen Vincke, founder and director at Larian (Baldur's Gate 3)
• Carrie Patel, game director and senior narrative designer at Obsidian (Avowed)
• Sarah Gruemmer, acting lead quest designer at CD Projekt Red (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
• Adrienne Bazir, founder and sole developer at insertdisc5 (In Stars and Time)
• Ted Peterson, co-founder Once Lost Games and former writer and designer at Bethesda (The Elder Scrolls 1-4)

Our developers each talk about their current or recent games, as well as other RPGs that have inspired them, from Nier to Disco Elysium.

The Early Access title Edge of War will get some improvements:

Next up: Combat and VFX improvements

Hi all,

Will try to start more regular habit of sharing here as small news on the plans we have and what is currently going on.

The first major content update is now done and dusted, and seems to be stable enough to not have need for bigger patch updates, so it is time to be working on something to add on the game. The big learning point with that content update was that making bigger updates can become extremely long process when working on the spare time, so better focus now on bit smaller increments. Therefore it is currently likely that we will be sharing smaller updates in about update per two months interval. Sometimes they might take less and sometimes more time.

So, what are we working on currently?

There are multiple things to polish and add, but two of the major ones we are currently working on are VFX and combat system improvements. VFX improvements are especially important for some enemy skills missing VFX totally, but also for things like adding VFX for aura effects. It is after all nice to know when you step into that Death Aura of Juurukko instead of just trying if you'd be lucky.

Some work for aura VFX has already been done and can be seen in attached image.

How about combat system?

The combat is quite fun in many places already, but there is still things to improve. Some of the things in combat and character development that we would like to improve, include:

• Variety between weapons is very small. It does not matter that much if it is sword or axe of same size. We would like them to give some tactical difference.
• Variety between weapon sizes (including unarmed combat) is something we would also want to improve. Unarmed combat has been pretty useless so far and usually it has been most valuable to just invest the biggest weapons. However, we are looking at things like adding weapon speeds into the game that will affect AP costs of the weapon based skills and then planning possible some other adjustments as well to see that you can build for very different combat styles.
• Equipment progression is bit flat for our taste at the moment. For example, you will pretty quickly get quite high level mundane armor. We would like to increase the steps on that path, starting with lower level equipment and steadily moving to higher. This does not mean any level restrictions or such for equipment, but providing more variety and adjusting their availability.
• Make full-armored build be only one option. Currently the game plays in a way that best tactic is usually to pile up all of your characters with as much armor as possible. We have some plans on adjusting this so that unarmored or lightly armored builds would also have their advantages. We have some ideas how we could better utilize dodge as well as ability point bonuses in a way that would make it viable to have that fully armored tank, or lightly armored berserker.

In that sense, quite a lots of things we want to do. But in a way lots of those are balancing things with small additions and changes to combat logic, which already works nicely on its core.

Currently the work has already been started with implementing different weapon speeds and at that phase there will likely also be some work to do with damage ranges and such.

If you have any questions, thoughts you want to share or just want to have a chat, give us a word either here or in our Discord community.

Thanks Couchpotato!

Exputer played Dragon's Dogma 2 for 100 hours:

After 100 Hours, Here’s Why I Think Dragon’s Dogma 2 Is GOTY Material

The opening sequence in Dragon's Dogma 2 is fairly frustrating, but the later game areas add too much fun to hate the game.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 received a lot of criticism due to microtransactions and performance issues.
Capcom cleared the confusion with microtransactions, which changed the game’s reception.
In my 100-hour journey, performance issues didn’t bother me, and I think Dragon’s Dogma 2 is GOTY material.  
On launch, Dragon’s Dogma 2 was tarnished due to microtransactions and many performance issues. I agree with many of the complaints, but some of the players failed to realize that Capcom is no stranger to adding MTX on release—the developer has been following this pattern and is likely to continue doing so. 

Despite the criticism, I decided to dedicate myself and spent over 100 hours unknowingly. This made me realize that Dragon’s Dogma 2 is so far the only game that is Game of The Year material. 

Unfortunately, frustrated players’ reviews overshadowed its main features and massive world. However, some of the concerns regarding the performance are genuine, but fret not, as there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Capcom is well aware of the concerns and is looking into the fixes as we speak. 

[...]

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The Koalition checked out Remnant 2 - The Forgotten Kingdom DLC:

Remnant 2: The Forgotten Kingdom Review – The Standard Bar of DLCs

Developed by Gunfire Games and published by Arc Games, Remnant 2 released its DLC titled The Forgotten Kingdom for $9.99 which is a steal. This DLC should be the standard bar of all DLCs for the price and what you get. Amidst the eerie remnants of Yaesha’s once majestic ziggurats, now haunted by the echoes of untold stories and revenge, players will follow intricately designed murals, uncover secrets and clues, and watch the pieces slowly come together. You’ll navigate the paths where Sentient Stones prowl in search of fresh victims in a beautifully crafted land that’s perilous in every way.

From the rich history submerged in the fragmented ruins, hidden rooms, secret tunnels, and more. Gunfire Games has elevated this game in crafting a world, by expanding the already rich lore waiting to be uncovered. As I dwelled into the story, from exploring the surrounding areas, the story slowly but effectively revealed pivotal characters and happenings that led to the events of the long-lost civilization. With the addition of new NPCs, it felt like a complete chapter of a new book was laid out for me. I kept being lured farther down the rabbit hole with each discovery.

[...]

The Forgotten Kingdom focuses more on exploration and story than both the base game and the previous DLC, with many puzzles and mysteries. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a newcomer to the series, I recommend The Forgotten Kingdom. With its solid lore, engaging gameplay, new items to collect, and low price of 9.99 USD, it stands as a shining example of what DLC should strive to be in modern gaming.

Score: 4.5/5

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RPGamer reviewed Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes:

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Review

The term “apparitions” refers to “a remarkable or unexpected appearance of someone or something.” When Rabbit & Bear announced Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes in 2020, and that it was being penned by Suikoden series creator Yoshitaka Murayama, there was huge excitement from fans of the long-gone series. Suikoden fans would finally be able to get lost in one of Murayama’s worlds again, even if it wasn’t Suikoden VI. The problem for Eiyuden Chronicle is that it is the ghost of a series long gone, and while it attempts to stand on its own, it’s hard not to recognize the similarities it possesses to the classic RPG series it pays homage to. However, knowing this, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is an old-school experience chock full of interesting storytelling, adorable weirdos, and tons of content to explore. Where it falters comes from needing just a bit more time in the oven and a few more modern conveniences.

[...]

Playing through Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was an addictive and wonderful experience. When I stopped playing, I was constantly thinking about the characters, story, and the world-building that Rabbit & Bear has created. The game is very much a love letter to JRPG and Suikoden fans, and while there are a lot of similarities, I personally didn’t find that detracting. After putting more than fifty hours into the game, it reminded me of both the joy of being in one of Murayama’s worlds, and the sadness that he will never pen another game in this series. While there are elements of the game that needed more time in the oven, I cannot deny the happiness I felt every time I booted up the game.

Score: 4/5

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GameSpot checked out Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance:

SMT V: Vengeance Is Much Bigger Than You Think

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The journey of the Skywind mod so far:

Skywind 2024: The Road So Far

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Couchpotato spotted a gameplay video for Mystic Land: Search for Maphaldo:

Mystic Land: The Search for Maphaldo - First Gameplay Video

Couchpotato spotted a new Starfield update:

Starfield - Official May Update

TSA checked out Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance:

Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance Preview – Can Persona’s progenitor hit the big time?

We’ve all heard of Persona - it’s one the undisputed kings of the RPG right now, each game pitting one unwitting school kid against an evil adult, using an army of angels and demons to achieve the insurmountable odds stacked against them. But how many people have played a Shin Megami Tensei game, the franchise from which Persona was born? We’d guess comparatively few people. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is the latest opportunity to change that.

There’s no shame in not having played Shin Megami Tensei, of course. SMT is much bigger in Japan than in the West, and as a ‘hardcore’ RPG, it plays to a different audience. Its lack of availability on most consoles doesn’t help, with 2021’s Shin Megami Tensei 5 being a Switch exclusive, and Shin Megami Tensei 4 coming out in 2013 on the 3DS, of all things.

Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance seeks to address that, by bringing a god-tier RPG to more modern (and more powerful) consoles. Having sat down to play a good four-hour chunk of the game on the PS5, we can say that this opportunity to open the franchise up to a much wider audience is not one to be missed.

But first, what is Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance? How is it different to the original, and is it worth getting if you’ve already played SMT5?

[...]

Learn more about Mythical Beasts in Titan Quest II:

Mythical Beasts

In our March update, we detailed the ichthian faction, but alluded to how not all types of enemies in Titan Quest II form factions. The boss enemies that you encounter are perfect examples of this. Usually fighting alone, these enemies will generally be some of the most lethal encounters you will come across. In today’s update, we give you a glimpse of two of our minibosses: the gryphon and the hippokampos.

Gryphon
Mythologically, gryphons hail from Skythia, a region in eastern Europe and central Asia, where a tribe of them is said to sit atop a hoard of treasure. Like many monsters in Greek mythology, they are a hybrid creature, with a lion’s body and an eagle’s head and wings. When a gryphon moves into the neighborhood, there’s bound to be trouble, as they are known for picking off sheep, goats, pigs, and even wild boars for their supper. A fight with a gryphon is the perfect opportunity for a fledgling Greek hero to prove their mettle. But be warned--gryphons can be crafty creatures.

In combat, the gryphon’s most powerful ability has it take off into the air and utilize a powerful swooping attack. As an agile creature, it will also be capable of pouncing around the player, lashing out several times in a row where least expected. This then gets rounded out by several variants of regular melee attacks. While this is the first and easiest miniboss you will come across, we still intend for it to pose a threat and test your combat fundamentals.

Hippokampos
Hippokampi are what the ancient Greeks believed the adult form of the sea-horse looked like, and you can see that reflected in their colorful, almost feather-light appearance. In the world of Titan Quest II, they were coveted by the ancient Mycenaeans for their menageries. As mounts to the Nereids and chariot-horses for Poseidon, they can be quite dangerous when provoked.

The hippokampos is somewhat more advanced in combat than the gryphon. Utilizing a mixture of cold and lightning damage, it will hit the player with a barrage of powerful attacks, such as a telegraphed, but sudden geyser eruption, as well as a powerful water jet followed up by a stunning lightning strike. It will also be able to hurl ice shards at the player, and make use of several melee attacks, as well as a defensive barrier. What’s more, we are experimenting with making this creature completely immune to crowd control effects (e.g. stun, freezing) outside of telegraphed windows of vulnerability. These aspects together will require that the player makes use of all they have learned so far. A good sense of attack timings, movement during combat, and evasion will be rewarded.

As far as our vision for these boss encounters goes, studious players that learn the moves of these creatures will be best equipped to respond to them--it’s all about building a rhythm and achieving a clean execution. To aid this learning process, these creatures perform clear sequences of attacks, making it so that clean play can result in victory on a first attempt, provided you survive as you are learning the enemy’s moves! Mind you, death carries a heavy price in Titan Quest II. The entire encounter that killed you (whether it’s a boss or not) gets fully reset, and you will respawn in the previous hub (convenient teleport options will be provided, though). These creatures will certainly have the tools to put players down when they’re making several mistakes. Even defeats can teach useful lessons, however.
You can also always choose to work on getting a little stronger before returning for your next attempt. You can level up beyond the current area’s level, or simply farm for items that help against the specific boss in question, such as via resistances. On the other hand, if you are looking for even more of a challenge, you can raise the difficulty by invoking rituals.

Lastly, these fights are not one-off experiences, as you will be able to re-summon these beasts in order to reap the rewards again and again. We will talk about these rewards in more detail soon.

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The tactical RPG FRONT MISSION 2: Remake has been released:

FRONT MISSION 2: Remake

A classic tactical RPG returns! The second game in the main Front Mission storyline is finally available outside of Japan for the first time.

FRONT MISSION 2: Remake blends intense strategy with a deep and involved storyline.

12 years have passed since the second Huffman conflict. The impoverished People's Republic of Alordesh has been suffering a severe economic decline ever since the war ended. In June 2102, soldiers of the Alordesh Army rise up and, led by Ven Mackarge, declare independence from the O.C.U. (Oceania Cooperative Union).

Ash, an O.C.U. soldier, manages to survive the ensuing battle, but Alordesh is completely overrun by the Revolutionary Army. Ash and his surviving teammates infiltrate Alordesh's chaotic underground in an attempt to escape the country. However, they soon discover that there is a huge conspiracy behind the coup.

In FRONT MISSION 2: Remake, the perspective switches between three characters: Ash, Lisa, and Thomas, creating a worldview that goes beyond a simple dichotomy between good and evil.

FRONT MISSION 2: Remake preserves the mature story, strategic turn-based combat, and Wanzer customization options of the original. Enjoy the revitalized classic with updated visuals and new features and enhancements!

Features:

• Improved loading speed
• Support for many new languages
• New 'free camera' option to zoom in during gameplay and check out Wanzers in detail
• New coloring and camouflage options
• Modern in-game effects
• Renewed soundtrack

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Mortismal Gaming checked out Lords of the Fallen again:

Lords Of The Fallen - Several Months & Updates Later

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GamingBolt checked out Remnant 2 - The Forgotten Kingdom DLC:

Remnant 2: The Forgotten Kingdom DLC Review - The Final Verdict

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The retro dungeon crawler Labyrinth: The wizard's cat will be released in Q2/2024:

Labyrinth

Enter the dungeon and help the master wizard to find his missing cat in this oldschool dungeon crawler game with nice retro pixel art graphics.

Make your way deep into the dungeon. You will explore levels filled with challenging enemies and various traps & puzzles.

Discover powerful magical items and weapons and fight your way through hordes of enemies in this real time combat dungeon crawler.

To help you through the dungeon you have an automap and you can save and load the game anywhere in the labyrinth.

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The Adventure RPG Dread Delusion will leave Early Access on May 14:

Leaving Early Access!

Delusionites, your time is coming

Thank you again to each and every one of you who made Dread Delusion’s early access a success! Your enthusiasm and feedback have been essential to helping create the final version of the game, and everyone at both Lovely Hellplace and DreadXP are eternally appreciative of each one of you who has taken this journey along with us.

Speaking of the final version of the game... May 14th. That's right, 1.0 is almost here.

With the game is leaving Early Access, there is also going to be a big update that goes live at launch. This includes some much-requested changes, the ability to finally (finally) complete a playthrough (with an ending!), new mechanics, and even more that we can share when the game comes out!

We look forward to players both seasoned and new getting their hands on the full version of the game soon, the road here has been long and fruitful but this marks not the end of this journey... but a new beginning.

Until then fellow Delusionites...

P.S.
Also you can get an airship. You can upgrade them. It's awesome.

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Knight's Arcade interviewed Warhorse Studios about Kingdom Come: Deliverance II:

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 - Warhorse Studios Interview (English)

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Henriquejr spotted an article about XCOM-likes on Tom's Gaming Blog:

2024, the year of X-com-likes

The X-com genre hasn’t exactly been dead, so I can’t say 2024 is the year it will make a glorious comeback, but hot damn, there sure are a lot of games coming out in the genre making it somewhat of an event. For X-com aficionados the world over it’s going to be a very busy year with a lot of turn-based tactical combat and the building of bases. Now, I can’t say for certain that all these titles will come out this year, but the prognoses are looking good for many of the games. I will list the games under three categories. Games that are set for a 2024 release (according to Steam), games with a more unclear release, and then games that are out already. Here we go!

Xenonauts 2
Zodiac Legion
Cyber Knights: Flashpoint
Project Haven
King Arthur: Legion IX
Crown Wars: The Black Prince
Menace
Every Day We Fight
Mars Tactics
Interregnum: False Prophet
Urban Strife
Archrebel Tactics
Twilight Wars
Classified: France ’44

[...]

Noisy Pixel reviewed SAND LAND:

Sand Land Review - Raising the Bar for Anime Games

Couchpotato spotted a Todd Howard Interview at Kinda Funny Games:

Todd Howard Interview: Fallout, Starfield Updates, and More - Kinda Funny Gamescast

IGN shows some features of the Farming Sim Mirthwood:

Mirthwood: Farming/Cozy Elements Trailer

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