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Crumbling World - PC Preview


Crumbling World by developer Dani Marti and publisher Dume ArtsPC (Steam) preview written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher / download.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes 


Right before the end of last year, I got to spend some time with the Alpha version of Dani Marti and Dume Arts’ Crumbling World which I covered in a Sunday Bite’s article. With the recent news that this Action RPG will be launching on May 21 of next month, we had the chance to take the latest Beta version out for a spin and it’s looking even better than it did before the holidays.

To recap, Crumbling World is an Action Adventure RPG that quite believes in killing you off at what is basically the end of the world. Equipped with a sword, shield and physical prowess, you’ll have your work cut out for you as you fight your way through groups of enemies and try not to fall off the map. This for the most part remains the same but there’s a lot more now under the hood and even more incoming later once they add in the other characters.

Taking things from the top, once you’ve gone through the cutscenes you’ll be treated to a quick tutorial on how to play. You can run around, jump, block and attack your enemies. Thankfully compared to the Alpha even if you get swarmed by enemies it’s possible to block and attack back as an enemy hitting your shield will momentarily halt them allowing you to counter. You’ll probably still take a few hits as each enemy is not attacking at the same time, but, it’s easier to manage than it once was.

Running around though, you’ll see that pathways are narrow and connect up to larger areas in almost a block like fashion. Before the holidays, I thought the layouts were cool as while you can fall off and hold onto the ledge to pull yourself back up, you can also kick your enemies off and simply be done with them. NOW THOUGH? Oh you can still kick your enemies off, however, you can now fall into the underworld which leads to some new and interesting adventures as the ground you walk on is now very much relatable to the title. It crumbles once you’ve walked over it so now not only do you need to fight for your life, you have to be quick about it!

With the world above crumbling below your feet and shown on your minimap what state of decay it’s in, you’ll also be visibly seeing this drop as the square will drop either once or twice below the rest before falling away completely. Once it’s gone, it’s gone and if you went the wrong way, you’ll literally have to jump down into the underworld and have to fight your way through a series of Anubis looking soldiers while looking for a portal back to the mortal world. And while things don’t exactly crumble below your feet down here, you can only stay so long through a meter that can be filled that allows you to survive in the underworld. Once it runs out, you’re just as dead as you would be if your health ran out keeping in line with the above ground’s “there’s no time to waste” theme.

With all of the improvement, it’s not to say that things are yet perfect as there were a few issues on my list that had me grumbling at times. Difficulty wise, Normal is a bit too hard and Easy is too easy. There was no real middle ground between the two so even on normal, there was a lot of dying. Thankfully, as of yet, there were no penalties for dying short of having to restart the current stage that you were on however you did get to keep your experience points, your level ups and your stat boosts. So eventually, with enough attack and defense bonuses you could survive, but in the meantime? It felt brutal.

The other major issue is how the collisions are currently handled. It makes sense that you can’t run through enemies or the NPCs following you but sometimes if you run into them, you get stuck. The same can be said with rocks and trees often making you have to wiggle out and almost mash the jump button to get enough distance between the two of you. Lastly, there isn’t enough opacity when running under the forest’s canopy so you have no idea if there’s someone there and you only really find out once your health bar loses a chunk.

Overall though, comparing the Alpha version from December and the Beta version from April, there’s already been a significant amount of work done making me easily believe that it could be ready for launch in May. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next and I’m excited to finally be able to try out different characters!

Score: N/A



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Castle of Illusion HD - Retro Reflection

Castle of Illusion HD by developer SEGA Studios Australia and publisher SEGAPC (Steam) retro reflection written by Hamza with a purchased copy.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes


Sometimes all you need is a little innocence in video games. If you agree and your black heart needs something fun, innocent, sweet, charming, and whimsical to act as a much needed balm, then look absolutely no further than Castle of Illusion HD: one of recent year's most lovable games - even if the whole premise is unoriginal and clocks in about a little under two hours. A high definition remake of the 1990 Sega Genesis classic, this is the fifth in the ever lovable Illusion series which, in chronological order go; Castle of Illusion (1990), Land of Illusion (1992), World of Illusion (1992), Legend of Illusion (1995), and finally Castle of Illusion HD (2013). With all installments receiving positive reception (and continue to do so among the more retro of gamers), the gameplay has always been the same, with only slight and subtle differences implemented to better accommodate the ever-growing list of interested gamers.

Mickey Mouse, since his creation by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney, has always been a persistent presence in media. As one of the biggest icons of the entertainment world, it came as no surprise when the big eared vermin decided to pixelate himself and jump into the world of video games. And why not, seeing how he had conquered the TV, movies, lunchboxes, shirts, radio, daily English vernacular et al. But perhaps the video game industry was in need of another icon to lead the way and thus Mickey could not be as ubiquitous in this medium. But where he failed in making a mark, he succeeded in capturing our hearts every single time he appeared in a video game.

Developed by Sega Studios Australia, the HD remake retains the same formula, story and gameplay of the original; Once upon a time the evil Mizrabel kidnaps Minnie when the helium-voiced rodent and her eternal fiancé are taking a romantic stroll down the garden. Mizrabel intends to steal all of Minnie's youth and beauty and use it for her own dark, witchy use - and it is precisely these sort of things that equal to a serious no-no in children's fantasy imaginings. Our brave protagonist (albeit with shaky knees) must enter the dreaded eponymous castle, brave the unspoken horrors, best the perils, collect the 7 rainbow gems, rescue his eternal bride-to-be and save the day. Oh, and collect apples and other miscellanea and open chests along the way.

When the original Castle of Illusion hit the shelves back in 1990, the initial reviews were quick to point out several similarities to Super Mario Bros., and although the original has now come to be appreciated under its own spotlight, a sense of deja vu happened when the HD remake was released in 2013. Though it is still a side-scrolling platformer, it has dimension and perspective twists that are reminiscent of Disney's Hercules for the Playstation 1. In both the games (at specific moments) you can walk towards the camera and away from it. Both even include running segments. Unique to this game only is the overhead view in the early chapters. All this constant camera changing and perspective shifting is done seamlessly and majestically, with no awkwardness to speak of. Really, it was smooth and I hardly felt the bumps.

Mickey's primary method of taking down his enemies is via bouncing on them and this either knocks them out or makes them disappear into the void. As the game progresses, you're given projectiles (each chapter has its own unique projectile that keeps with the theme) and Mickey can use them to either take out enemies or obstacles that block his path. This addition does not eliminate our hero's original method of mowing down his foes as Mickey still needs to bounce off enemies if he is to reach higher places; usually where the Magic Cards and Golden Stars are hidden. Don't worry if you didn't time your jump correctly or misjudged your landing spot as the enemies or whatever it was you jumped on will respawn infinitely. Respawning enemies are a serious cause for concern for me in other games (I'm looking at you Castlevania and your GBA sequels), but since they are easy and swift to deal with in here, I hardly flinched.

The character animations, suffice to say, won me over. I have seen my fair share of impressive character movements but the level of fluidity and attention to the tiniest of twitches seen here is beyond impressive. Throughout the game I kept engaging Mickey in various tasks just so I could see again and again the beautiful movements in motion. The personal favorite has to be the standing-too-close-to-the-edge animation where Mickey tries to regain his balance by wildly flailing his arms and standing on tiptoe. This specific action has been an integral part of the Illusion games - and one feature that fans fondly remember - and all execute it beautifully; and seeing it once again in attractive (and big) 3D has left me with a feeling that is akin to meeting a dearest friend after a lengthy gap.

Over here I wish to digress just a tiny bit; If the more intrigued of you are hunting down the Illusion games (or roms) right now, I also want to recommend another platformer also starring Mickey Mouse but unrelated to the series mentioned here. Best known for as the first video game David Jaffe ever worked on - he's the mastermind behind the Twisted Metal and God of War franchise - Mickey Mania for the Sega Genesis is to me perhaps the quintessential Mickey title. With its implementation of huge sprites, engaging gameplay and enchanting production, Mickey Mania should please every gamer. Also, it has some pretty solid character animations going on, giving the effect that you're directly controlling a classic Mickey Mouse episode from the Golden Era. I cannot recommend it enough!

As far as platformers go, this game is arguably one of the most super attractive titles out there. Since Castle of Illusion's audience demographic was kids, naturally vivid colors are what permeate the game. Lush forests with neon colored leaves and spectacular use of natural color; the dark and stormy canyon tops with strong, bold hues with the odd muted tones thrown in for tremendous effect; the atmospheric residing place of benign and mischievous ghosts, with soft colors and strong shadows highlighting the path - it goes on. The world is alive, fresh and invigorating, and even the most smallest of areas brim with activity, giving the effect of a living, breathing world. Everything is kinetic and every activity is worth watching (from a safe distance, that is). Honestly speaking, I haven't seen a world so inviting, beautiful and captivating since Rayman 2: The Great Escape and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time released on the N64 yonks ago. There's something charming about the locales and scenery that reels you in, and in Castle of Illusion HD, you really want to be there.

The game is divided into 5 sections, with a few having their own mini-section and each has its own distinct theme. The sections are accessed via Mizrabel's eponymous castle and further areas get unlocked when you meet the requirements of each, such as collecting the appointed gems or stars. Every section has three chapters and the third houses a boss battle which are among the most interesting, albeit easy, boss battles I've had in gaming. The strategy remains the same; evade them long enough until they do something stupid that knocks them silly, then bounce on them to take away one portion of their life. Once their health bar depletes, they will topple over and the gem is yours. This is the only strategy and alters only so slightly in terms of evading. Because the game has tight, responsive controls and easy combat, any failure is solely your own and your lack of mastering accurate timing and precise aim.

As much as fun the battles are, the ultimate showdown with Mizrabel herself is a tad disappointing; it's basically nothing but a lengthier version of the battles that came before. I was hoping to see some innovative techniques with which to defeat her, but as it was the case with previous bosses, you have to keep dodging her attacks and when the time is right, bounce on her to decrease her health bar. What was surprising, however, was the immediate cutscene that followed. Since this is a Disney game I guess you could say it was expected of them, but I never thought it would be so sudden. I won't spoil it for you but will say it has the potential to leave you slightly stunned.

From the voice-overs, there can be no argument that Richard McGonagle's warm narration ranks as one of the most best examples of sonorous voice-acting not just in video games, but in any medium where narration applies. It has the perfect recipe for a nice bedtime storytelling formula; conversational, trusting, warm, friendly, and smooth Even if the whole game had been one narration driven ride (a la Dear Esther), I would have given it the same praise I'm giving it now. Though his narration segments are lengthily spaced, they are worth every second; for when his voice comes up, it's like a coffee-warm hug from an old, dear friend. Bret Iwan voices the protagonist and does an excellent job in resonating the Golden Era Mickey Mouse's nervous stutter and chatter for the modern age, albeit with a slight twist around the edges. Nika Futterman voices Mizrabel, and though her voice-acting is strongly commendable.

In conclusion, Castle of Illusion HD may or may not be remembered in the annals of the industry as fondly as the original, but one thing can be of certain; it will be one of the most charming and attractive games you will have played and though you will have moved on to other game more quicker than Taylor Swift moving off her "boyfriends", the memory of Mickey's quips and Mr. McGonagle's warm narration will undoubtedly remain by your ears.

Score: N/A




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Biped - PC Review

Biped by developer NEXT Studios and publishers NEXT Studios, bilibili, META PublishingPC (Steam) review written by Susan N. with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes


Introduction

Biped is a cute co-op puzzle game with protagonists Aku and Silo who embark on an Earthbound adventure. Their mission is to activate the beacons that are located at the end of various levels. But before players can dive into the levels, they are taken through a nice little tutorial where players learn the extremely basic controls. Once players start to play through the levels, they realize the challenge it can pose - especially on the bonus levels. After playing through the entire game with my boyfriend we both found it to be quite fun and enjoyable.

Gameplay

Biped is a fairly easy game to understand. If played in single-player mode, the levels are challenging but still doable. These levels are very much the same as the co-op ones but done with AI bipeds. Some of these bipeds are non-functioning characters that players need to pick up and place, while others are sentient and move at a set speed. As a result, I found that certain instances of the single-player mode were harder at times. Where human players can zip through levels with ease, AI characters don't think outside the box, forcing a specific method of completion. Therefore, the single-player mode was more frustrating to me because the AI doesn't make up for my shortcomings ( ^.^ )

In co-op mode, the mode that players are meant to experience, the game reminds me of Overcooked where it requires cooperation and mayhem at the same time. Biped is cute and made me laugh ridiculously, especially when watching the devs play through some of the levels. No one ever said Devs were the best players at their own game!

Anyways, I found the levels to be easier to complete with another person. Players can accidentally kill their partner and can have some hilarious missteps in levels. However, coop mode has its own challenge because the two characters have to stay relatively close to each other. If not, as players move further apart from each other, a bar appears that tells players that they are steering too far from the course. Some of the levels that require players to step on platforms of their color will end up with a large distance between the players. In the water rapids level, players are tied together by a rope, which ensures that they don't stray too far off course - especially since that typically meant falling down a waterfall!

A fun feature that Biped has is a clothing/apparel store. Players are able to customize their characters with hats, wigs, or even sunglasses. These are purchased through coins collected in each of the levels. It should be noted that coins carry over from the single-player game and the co-op game. Once a purchase is made, the outfit can be applied to either character without having to buy it again. When players have completed enough of the levels, they have enough coins to buy all the outfits! Personally, I love the pink and blue hair.

Controls and Puzzles

Players enter Biped Training before they progress. It is here that they learn how to walk, which is not done in a way that players expect.

Unlike other games where the left analog stick is used for forward or backward movement, where the right is camera vision movement, Biped uses the analog sticks individually. The left analog stick is used to move the left leg and the right analog stick for the right leg. Picking up items requires the player to be positioned close to the object and lifting one leg up. By doing this, players will 'attach' to the object they which to pick up. It is at this point where players can do all kinds of things like swing around on one foot, pick up carrots for coins, or open lockboxes. Another thing is that Aku and Silo are able to hold onto objects that need to be carried to other locations on the map. One might ask how that is done, well, when a player is on one foot, they can slide on it. Just don't forget which foot is being used! Sometimes this leads to interesting situations and possible death, so be careful.

Each level has different challenges. In the first set of levels, the Dense Forest, players are learning how to move in unison, as well as basic movement. Once they reach Cactus Valley, levels will require more cooperative tasks like both players need to grab onto certain containers to unlock them. Later on, players go through Snowy Peaks where snow and ice play an interesting role in puzzle solutions. My favorite set of levels is the Blue Rapids where players are bound together by a rope. This was important because one of the objectives is to save the stragglers that are stuck along the waterways!

Once players complete a level set, they unlock challenge maps. I found some of these to be rather easy and some of them were painful. In each level set, there is a 'Pro A' and 'Pro B' group which will test players' cooperative abilities. Each of these levels can seem deceptively simple, but require a lot of coordination. Sometimes this leads to hilarity. Often my boyfriend and I managed to complete areas with PURE SKILL (re: Luck). In other cases, I'm proud to say that we were able to complete the grab and pass tree chopping level faster than the developers did. In other words, while the game is fairly short, Biped provides a lot of entertainment.

Four-Footed Final Thoughts

Before I talk about my overall impressions, I have to address a couple of minor issues about Biped. The first is that in some of the menus, there is no back button! In order to exit out of the game, players have to leave a level to fully back out. But if players are in the lobby, there isn't a way to leave. While this doesn't do much when it comes to the gameplay, it was something that I noticed.

The second thing has to do with the controls. At times when my boyfriend and I were playing, the character wouldn't always execute an action. Since the whole game is played with analog sticks, sometimes the controller dead zone would think that the player was holding onto an object when they had already let go. Now, I realize this might not be a dead zone specific issue, it was something that made it challenging to complete certain puzzles. A controller dead zone is the only thing I could think of for this type of in-game issue.

The final issue I have with the game are some little grammar and spelling errors. Since the dialogue is sparse and often short, I found that the errors were much more noticeable. When porting a game to the English audience, hiring an editor or a proper translator goes a long way.Labels - Pick the ones you need for the article and delete the rest. Can have max of 200 characters.

To add to the final issue, I noticed that when players progress through the game in solo mode, none of the dialogue changes. When players begin the first level, the Biped addresses both Aku and Silo when only one of you stands before him.

However, my minor grievances about Biped are just that, minor. The two robots Aku and Sila are too cute to be mad at, and the 'store' that players can purchase adds character. Sure, one could argue that Biped is a little short but perhaps in the future, more levels could be added or perhaps a player-created section could be explored. Who knows what the future might hold?

Overall, Biped was a cute cooperative experience that my boyfriend and I both enjoyed. While there isn't a lot of dialogue in the game, the Bipeds had character. This is a perfect game for a wide range of age groups and is a great buy for it's price. As such, Biped receives an 8.5 out of 10 in my books.


Score: 8.5 / 10




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La Mulana 2 - PS4 Review

La Mulana 2 by developer Nigoro and publisher NIS America Inc.Sony PlayStation 4 review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes


Editor's Note: This is the second of two reviews. The Reviewer wanted to concentrate on both titles separately. Check out their review of La Mulana!

Hoo boy, here we are again. Those of you who regularly drop by our site probably noticed that I recently reviewed La Mulana earlier this month, and well, this is the sequel. But is it better? Is it worse? Did they do the original justice? Are the puzzles still arse? The answer to all those questions is "yes".

After the events of the first game, which will be spoiled for you in the second if you haven't played the first, the ruins that Lemeza Kosugi, ninja archaeologist, was exploring have mostly collapsed and have since been turned into a tourist attraction. Unfortunately, monsters have been recently coming out of the ruins ruining Elder Xelpud's business model. He sends a message off to Lemeza asking for help, but instead his daughter, Lumisa, shows up. Less of an archaeologist, more of the adventurous sort, she sets off to explore the ruins of the newly discovered Eg-Lana.

For those of you who've played the first game, the play style is going to be extremely familiar, with a few little tweaks. For those who haven't played the first game, do so. If you really aren't going to, your loss. After having played both games, I feel like the gameplay primarily revolves around vainly attempting to solve puzzles you have no idea how to even approach while dealing with some of the most frustrating bats I've ever seen. La Mulana 2 is quite similar. Lumisa, like her father, starts off with a whip to attack, a jump that you can actually control midair now (praise be the devs), sub-weapons that are generally ranged consumables, and an "action item" that can be generally used whenever by holding it above your head.

La Mulana 2 is a lot of platforming, a lot of puzzle-solving, and a decent chunk running around in circles. Being a 2D platform, Lumisa can jump, climb ladders, double jump (upon getting the item for it), and a number of other options as you progress through the game. You will also collect new items for sub weapons, main weapons, andantino items, in addition to the "gameplay enhancement items. New for those who've played the first title, you can crawl, and YOU CAN FINALLY GRAB LADDERS WHILE JUMPING.

Also, a lot of the handy items from the first game that take a while to find, such as the app that lets you record text, are given to you basically right off the bat. You veteran players are probably currently eyeing that last sentence and thinking warily "what's the catch...". Well, in exchange for making the puzzles a little more manageable, and not having the clue 20 hours later into the game, or having the puzzle somewhere you'll forget the clue by the time you get there, there are a lot more instant death traps this time around. Often after you've beaten a boss. Or near a boss room. Guess how I found that out?

Overall, La Mulana 2 plays almost exactly like La Mulana: you run around ruins whipping bats, getting knocked off ladders, shouting at tablets that don't make sense, and hoping you won't get crushed by a random wall. Thanks to adjustable jumping and ladder grabbing being implemented, this feels really great. In addition, you get way more sub-weapon drops and money. The trade-off is that things are generally more expensive, and you'll be using those sub-weapons a lot.

Many of the room guardians this time around are rather...resistant to melee weapons, as in they stay away from you, or have counters to close range combat that will take half your health at least. The computer applications that can affect gameplay are still around, allowing you to combine different programs to still get that increased damage on hit. The axe is a lot less broken now though. Speaking of, I never did find the bombs this time around... I know they're there, you can buy the ammo, I just never found them before writing this review, which is at 7 of 9 guardians killed and about 35 hours in. But hey, the game gives you TONS of leeway in how you approach the game, with tons of different branching areas and different entrances and exits into those areas.

The graphics are similar to the remake of La Mulana, but with what seems to be slight upgrades, although not super noticeable if you don't play them back to back. Characters all now have actual portraits instead of just pixel art when you talk to them, and they're dynamic too! The individual areas that the game is split up into are generally sprawling, and while it doesn't follow that wonky "fit the zone into a 5x5 box" like the first game, this just means areas can get much larger. Let's not forget the music, either. Just like its predecessor, La Mulana 2 has an absolutely stellar soundtrack. With areas themed after well-known mythologies instead of historical ruins this time, the individual zones feel like a solid departure from the first game, while still keeping a similar feel to them.

Characters from the first game return in the second, a few of which you might actually remember fighting from the first game, now distinctly more amicably. Well, at least until your dad and gramps try digging through a wall. Turns out deities aren't too fond of people breaking their temples. La Mulana 2 is, at its core, very tongue-in-cheek. A lot of the dialogue is pretty quirky, occasionally mocking the game itself, or the state of gaming as a whole nowadays, or is meant as a gag. This isn't to say there isn't also serious dialogue, it's just that La Mulana knows what it is and doesn't shy away from the fact.

Overall, La Mulana 2 is a great successor to La Mulana, much to both my joy and chagrin. With gameplay improvements that don't make me still want to throw something out the window and more reasonable puzzles, to harder platforming, enemies, and enough instant death traps to make me flip a table, La Mulana 2 really didn't trade out any of the difficulty, just shifted it. I can't express just how great this game is to play, especially for those looking for a bit of nostalgia for those tough as nails old-school games. With some rocking background music to accompany you, grab a pen and paper to write everything down in each room, including background objects, and try and play through the game without touching a walkthrough. Trust me, it's a lot more fun that way.

 

Score: 9 / 10




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Tangledeep - Legend of Shara - Switch Review

Tangledeep - Legend of Shara by developer and publisher Impact GameworksNintendo Switch review written by Pierre-Yves with the Base Game Provided by Publisher, Legend of Shara is a free DLC.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes 


Early in 2019 I had the pleasure to sit down to Impact Gamework’s Tangledeep which had just seen a port to the Nintendo Switch. Well designed gameplay with a ton of different classes that you either start off with or that you can unlock, there was enough gameplay to survive being stuck inside for a while, see present 2020 global situation. Instead of just leaving things be however, the team have kept working on it and have recently released two massive updates that have been on the PC for a while to the Switch which is what brought me back to this Roguelike wonder.

The first of these that I will be covering today is the free DLC of The Legend of Shara that revamps most of the framework and even adds another character to experience Tangledeep from another point of view. Adding in a new class for your main protagonist, she’ll have new ways to explore Tangledeep, new dungeons to test her might and new items to help keep moving forward all under an already seemingly well balanced package.

So taking things back from the top, Tangledeep is in essence a traditional Roguelike RPG. As you move across each floor, your enemies move at the same time. Adding a few unique to Tangledeep features are that while you can eat food, you don’t need to do it in order to stave off starvation. Instead, eating food and drinking potions can be used to regenerate stamina and energy that are used for different types of abilities that can be learnt from the various classes that you change into. Another neat feature is that there’s a meter that exists granting you an extra turn once it fills out allowing you another edge to this adventure, and believe me, you’ll often need every edge and dirty trick that you can think of.

So the best way to experience this new content is from the beginning as it changes things from fairly early on. And by fairly early, I mean the beginning. Now after having completed the tutorial there’s another more challenging path that has been designed and opened up to explore on the way to the first boss instead of taking the one that a player may know fairly well having already played through either multiple times or with multiple classes. This new area was great for leveling up a bit faster even if it was a bit tougher to go through. I’ll admit I died a few times having moved up the floors a bit faster than I should have so if anything, it keeps you a bit humble.

Speaking of humble, alongside the new starting area and the experience that can be found therein, there’s a whole new set of dungeons that can be explored and unlike the rest of Tangledeep, you don’t need to be leveled. Instead, these dungeons are challenge dungeons in which you head in as level 1, with no skills, often no items, and an extra set of conditions that are along for the ride. Why would you do and do these you ask? For the awards that can be found within. Some of these dungeons let you bring back items. Others let you bring back loads of cash. There’s one dungeon in particular that granted me a purple weapon that honestly made certain floors in the actual adventure be ridiculously hard, to moderate as I cheaped out the denizens of those floors for experience points.

There are loads of other modifications however the biggest new addition to the adventure is a brand new story mode that acts as a prequel to the main story’s events. The Legend of Shara is the story of how Shara came into her power and the journey that lead her to the point. Gone in this mode are classes to change into and learn abilities from as Shara has only her own power to rely on as she doesn’t even have a hub in which to rest at or teleport to for safety. Compared to the core experience, this truly felt like a Roguelike as there really was no way back, only forward.

To make things more unique, Shara because she doesn’t have job classes in order to learn skills from, instead gets to use the accumulated job points in order to raise her base stats as she also doesn’t level up in the traditional sense. Each stat point will raise an attribute by several points and then increasingly cost more in order to further level it up. So strength which increases attack and health was a good place to start. So to answer the obvious question, Shara if she doesn’t learn skills the traditional way learns skills in one or two ways.

The first way to learn skills as Shara is to find the Pandora boxes on each floor and open them. Once you’ve opened the box, you get the choice of one of three skills that can be learnt. These skills are random from any of the core game’s classes which means that you won’t always be getting what you want or even get choices that help you out at that current point in time. It also means that you get to create your own custom class as you go but the challenge factor is that you have to work with what you’ve got.

The second way to learn skills as Shara is to keep plowing forward and to make it to those wonderful camp sites which let you either fully rest or use the campfire in order to create stellar items to restore health, stamina or energy. Once you’ve made it to these floors Shara will have the choice between two new abilities that can be chosen. So between the Pandoran boxes and the campsites, it doesn’t take long before you’re trying to figure out which skills go where in your setup and which passive abilities you want equipped and which you’ll keep on standby.

Now like the original, the new flavour of gameplay also comes in two of the original three flavours. The first of these is permadeath as there’s no hub to go back to. If you die. It’s all over. The second of these will have you respawn on the floor while losing half your money and your job points but let you continue moving forward so that you don’t need to start all over again. While this changes the gameplay, it will not change the story so it really factors down to what kind of player you are and what level of challenge you are up for.

Being a free update to the core experience is honestly a steal if you’ve been thinking of diving back into Tangledeep or starting it up for the first time. The amount of items and features that have been revamped or added it almost felt like a new game at times, and this is just the beginning. Also new, and the review coming soon, is the Dawn of Dragons DLC which launched at the same time for the Switch which adds post game content and its own new gameplay flavours to the mix.

Score: 8 / 10



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Half-Life 2 - Retro Reflection

Half-Life 2 by developer and publisher ValvePC (Steam) retro reflection written by Hamza with a purchased copy.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes


When you get off the tram in the original game, a security guard by the name of Barney greets you. Among the many things he says in his short appearance, he mentions something about buying you a beer after when the shift's over. But, as we all know, the day soon takes an unexpected turn via the cataclysmic resonance cascade and sets in motion the raison d'etre of Half-Life proper; thus Barney and his proposal is all but forgotten. The friendly guard quickly becomes a distant and unimportant memory the more you progressive into the game, until comes a point where you cannot remember him unless reminded so - at which your face takes on the expression of someone lost in an ancestral memory.

Now, in Half-Life 2, as soon as you get off the train you're taken to an interrogation room where a Combine soldier is waiting for you. When the soldier closes the door to the room and turns off the CCTV cameras, he then takes off his headgear and, while revealing himself to be Barney, reminds you of his long-due promise of the beer he owes you. The mere mention of the word 'beer' brings back the nostalgic memory of meeting him for the very first time. Seeing him again is like running into an old, dear friend, and given the context it could not be more fitting and relieving. While this brief surprise is rather nondescript in front of the bleak and terrorizing world you get to witness, it is precisely because of this that his unexpected appearance makes you want to venture on with renewed confidence... and appreciate the game just a little more for staying true to its larger than life approach to the Half-Life universe. Just because we never get to see Barney for the remainder of the original game doesn't mean he met with the inevitable cliché. Valve's intent was to make believable, realistic characters, and Barney was one. Anything could've happened to him, and out of all the scenarios that come to mind, this one - that he survived - is the one I like best.

You are in City 17. You arrive here from an unknown location with two other passengers, and with the mysterious G-Man and his cryptic sentences once again in the picture, you know it's going to be yet another strange day at the office. Once you step off the train and witness a Combine soldier harassing a citizen (and then later you), you realize that the two ends of the spectrum have successfully balanced out. In the original you were a respectable scientist who was the cause of the trouble; now you're the victim of it, reduced to the lowest common denominator. In this introductory level, the signs are all but clear: an Orwellian nightmare has froze over and there's nothing you can publicly do about it. You must plan your moves in the shadows and move with caution. Right from the outset - with the Combine bullying you, with them forcefully breaking into citizen's dwelling areas and ram shackling it - the game masterfully conjures up a deafening silence before the storm.



The second you open the double doors to the majestic looking center of City 17, you just know you stepped into something both philosophically and literally bigger than yourself. The tightly packed tenements are a mix of different era Eastern European architecture and they palpably invoke a sense of Orwellian society - which is not far from the truth, given the numerous flying scanners and Dr. Breen's Big Brother-esque ubiquity over the City. Citizens with frightened expressions and hunched shoulders slowly make their way to their destinations while several Combine soldiers stand uprooted menacingly. Approaching them alerts their awareness of you. Stay in their line of sight slightly too long and you'll receive a smack on the head with their electric probes. Since you're not armed, you cannot hit back - and this marks as prove of the game's unmatched realism and tangibility. City 17 is easily one of the most impressive locations in a video game ever. The use of mute colors (ie: brown) brilliantly accentuate the desolation, forlornness and trapped nature of the city and its denizens. Never before have I entered a location and felt exactly like the habitants and have had this euphoric phenomena called fernweh - where a person becomes homesick for a place he's never been to. This is great work on Valve's part, and possible madness on mine!

Right from the outset this game tells you that it will be providing a much bigger playground to traverse in than the one you were used to in the original. While Half-Life 2 does have its claustrophobic moments, the larger areas never feel like they're being replaced nor do they lose their touch. The only complaint I have regarding the size of the locations is how vulnerable you suddenly become to enemy attack. Whenever you emerge from, let's say, a house or underground dwelling, to a more open landscape you're exposed to enemy attack like an exposed nerve - because they appear from multiple directions and often-times one of them would be in a difficult position. This "invisible shooter" has been a thorn on my side from the Ravenholm chapter onward, and the number one cause of unfair death and/or ungodly level of low health.

The primary gameplay remains the same. You make your way through various locations - and from it - battling enemy forces and occasionally encountering a rebel hideout. The latter is a new feature in the game, and through it further portions of the backstory get uncovered. In the original you had scared-stiff scientists and lone security guards; here now you get groups of rebel fighters who are more than capable of holding the fort all by themselves. This is an interesting change of pace, as it makes the in-game world a little more alive and varied than it already is. The shooting aspect is now more refined and aggressive. Compared to the first game, the guns and hitting power feel more heavy and weighted - but they still have a slight "floaty" feel to them that makes them far from robust. While the subtle technicalities make for a better playing experience the second time around, nothing expresses the power of freedom more explosively than the driving aspects of the game.



As still one of the few first-person shooters to include driving sequences from a first-person perspective (others tend to switch to third-person), the driving parts, though executed in a nice way, have me sharply divided. You see the game uses the same physics mechanic for driving as it does for the characters, and the translation doesn't go over too well. In fact they feel too uncomfortable, uncontrollable and awkward. The mudskipper (water boat) sequence is fine, no serious complaints there, but it is when you man the dune buggy that you acquire in the Highway 17 chapter that the trouble starts. The physics engine is so sensitive that any bump with a rock or an Antlion sends it flying across the screen, losing viable health and time along the way. Just a few minutes into the buggy and already I had begun loathing it. When I finally had enough of turning it over via the Gravity Gun - of which you'll have to do constantly - I ditched it and continued the adventure on foot. Imagine my anger (the one I usually reserve for the 30 second ads before every YouTube video) when I found out that in order to proceed to the next area I had to be on the friggin' buggy. Since I had ditched it a long way back, I had to travel all the way back to retrieve it, all four minutes of it. Bringing it to the close-off point took longer than making coffee. Had it had better physics model, who knows I might be crying about lack of more driving sequences; but since there aren't many, all I can say is Good Riddance!!

Graphically the game is beyond awesome looking, even to this day. Many of the locales look absolutely gorgeous - even if they aren't gorgeous in the traditional sense, they do invoke a sense associated with the word. The entire Ravenholm chapter not only stands as testament to the graphical prowess of the game, but is also perhaps one of the most intimidating and creepiest areas ever designed for a video game. To sum it up Ravenholm is a negative copy of City 17. While the latter isn't exactly flowers and sunshine, it is well maintained and horrors contained. Ravenholm is like a living carcass, a rejected Silent Hill location. Crawling to the brim with even darker versions of zombies and headcrabs, Ravenholm effectively conjures up a feeling of palpable dread and insecurity only matched by a certain few, like Doom 3 and F.E.A.R. The heavy use of grotesque props - such as mutilated bodies and large pools of blood - only add to the already scary atmosphere. Really, I could go on and on about this particular chapter but such praise will go pointless if you don't (or won't) experience it for yourself. It will be like you stepped into another different game altogether.

The voice acting is simply amazing and definitely an improvement over its predecessor. Not to say the first game didn't have good voice overs (it did actually) it's just this time around they've definitely gotten richer and rounded. The tigress' share of the adulation obviously goes to Merle Dandridge for her masterful and iconic portrayal of Alyx Vance, the first female protagonist of the Half-Life universe, as well as the first fully fledged supporting character. Merle did such an excellent job that she forever ensured Alyx's position in the annals of the video game industry as a legendary character. A job finely done, I must say. The rest of the supporting cast, major and minor, also provide various shades of appropriate realistic emotions and tones and they're all worthy of two thumbs up. Half-Life 2 may very well be one of the very few video games to have great voice-acting from virtually everyone - something I last noticed in Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars and its third sequel, Angel of Death.



With all being said and done, Half-Life 2 is a technical and graphical milestone in the video-game industry. It is one impressive looking shooter that has brains as well as brawns. Rarely has there been a sequel that is as epic as this one… but still, the original is miles better in my book. Maybe it's the B-movie feel to it, maybe it's the cult look to it; I really don't know what is it about the original that reels me in, but perhaps I've already given a solid reason: that it reels me in. Whereas this one doesn't.

Score: N/A


Note: Screenshots from all platforms that were available at the time can be found here at Moby Games.



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Dreamscaper: Prologue - PC Preview

Dreamscaper: Prologue by developer Afterburner Studios and publishers Afterburner Studios, Maple Whispering LimitedPC (Steam) preview written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes


Dreamscaper: Prologue is the first chapter in an upcoming series by Afterburner Studios that sees a young woman named Cassidy combat her subconscious by lucid dreaming at night. Successfully Kickstarted last summer, I’ve just recently had the chance to take out both the first stage and boss fight from the Prologue as well as the “second stage” currently labeled under the Supporter’s Addition. If there’s anything I know for sure after spending a couple hours on the current build of this title? I both want more, and hope it doesn’t take too too long to make it over to the consoles.

So where to start? If we start with the tutorial, it’ll teach you everything you’ll ever need to know about Dreamscaper. Starting off every night, you’ll land in a central room that links to a series of other rooms. Each room that you move into can, and I say “can”, contain a variety of different experiences. Some have enemies, some have items, some have shops to buy abilities or weapons, others have trade-off, puzzles or combat challenges. It doesn’t take long to move from room to room as you work your way towards the boss. All said and done? This process takes about ten minutes per venture before going back to the real world for a small break to your hands before doing it all over again.


The controls are absolutely solid and fully configured for a controller which for me? Made me quite happy as it’s my preferred gaming method and the default layout is honestly perfect. You move around with your left thumbstick, you attack with “X”, your secondary attack is “Y”, you dodge with “A” and you interact with the world with “B”. Adding onto these are two special attacks on your left and right bumpers before moving over to being able to use a shield with the left trigger and being able to fire projectiles with the right thumbstick and trigger. Nothing is wasted in terms of finger placement and everything is calibrated to the point that if you want to dodge, you’re dodging and there’s no delay on it which brings me to the next set of items, ability and item upgrades.

Moving around and dodging by default are alright, but they can be improved by upgrading them both in terms of speed, sub-features and distance. Some of the first upgrades that I found made Cassidy a little faster and added the probability of say a 20% chance of freezing enemies every time I dodged. Later and much more interesting was the ability shadow step that honestly looked like Cassidy stepped through the shadows instead of dodge rolling as it left shadow versions of herself as she stepped three times before landing where you intended to. There are other types of dodging available and some of them may be too good to be true as there are tradeoffs such as no longer being able to block, move twice as fast but not being able to dodge and so on.


Weapons were just as varied and interesting to learn. One of the first and a tribute to Cassidy’s favorite RPG is Cloud’s Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII. With the remake just in a few days from the time of this writing and last week by the time of the posting, I thought it was fairly appropriate to start off with it. Otherwise, you have a series of blades, hammers and martial art styles with being able to punch your enemies. Every weapon has a base range of DPS (Damage Per Second) and upgraded versions or different weapons can be randomly found throughout your adventure. The same applies to ranged weapons like the starting bow into frisbees, kunai and slingshots.

All of these features boil into a very quick and compact roguelite dungeon crawl that will either see you succeed, or fail and sent back to the real world but at the cost of not having the energy to head out and get to know people in a coffee shop, bookstore and a bar. The better you do in the dreamscape, the more energy you have to stay out in the real world after you’ve finished working for the day. Sitting on her bed at 6PM, it’s up to you as to whether Cassidy head’s to bed to fight another night or head out and chit-chat with people. A little like Persona or Stardew Valley / Rune Factory, chatting bit by bit will help you get to better know people however giving them presents will advance the process much quicker.


Now starting off I wondered what the point of advancing these relationships was but it came back two-fold. On one hand, as you advance getting to know these people you’ll unlock new items to be used in the dreamscape. Melee weapons, ranged weapons, shields and abilities. On the other hand, and the more important of the two, is that as you really get to know these people you also get to better understand Cassidy and how she views the world. She’s not just a young woman with a PlayStation hooked up to her living room TV. She’s a young woman with an actual depth of character and worries of her own in this world that she exists in before she battles her subconscious in order to hopefully actually sleep through the night.

And this is only the Prologue.

Note(s): I don’t do this often, but before concluding, I would honestly suggest if you are a fan of roguelites or hack & slashers, to head over to Dreamscaper: Prologue’s Steam page and Wishlist it to show your interest. I have.


So all in all, Dreamscaper: Prologue is a fantastic title and it’s not even in its final format. From the care that was taken to how Cassidy moves, to how she swings her weapons and how she interacts in the real world before diving back into another night of combating the nightmares of her subconscious, there’s nothing I want more than honestly “more”. Being the first chapter there’s more to come and I certainly can’t wait for it.

Score: N/A

Update (2022): You will find on all pages listed with Dreamscaper: Prologue that the game and the supporter edition has been removed with this written in a block:



Notice: At the request of the publisher, Dreamscaper: Prologue - Supporter's Edition is no longer available for sale on Steam.



All of those pages publish the new release and updated Dreamscaper 1.1.

Expired link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257640/Dreamscaper_Prologue__Supporters_Edition/




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Tharsis - Switch Review

Tharsis by developer and publisher Choice ProvisionsNintendo Switch review written by Jim with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes


I'm a fan of board games but I unfortunately often have no one to play them with and that's what drew me to Tharsis. It looked like a digital single-player board game and for the most part, I was right. Tharsis is a space-themed game where you have to keep your crew alive for a set amount of turns until you arrive at Mars. You will have to managed stress, food, and damage all determined by a roll of the dice.

Tharsis has two modes. First up there are missions that are stand-alone and objective-based. Up second there’s the main game that is a story mode. The story mode starts with only four crew members but you can unlock more by playing and then pick them as part of the four-man crew you want at the start of your run. You will also pick a difficulty setting like most games but even easy mode can be a challenge. It took me a few tries before I fully understood everything in the game, and once I did, I enjoyed the game.

When you start the game you will have damage to certain parts of the ship that can affect your overall hull damage (lose all of this and it's game over), your crew can lose health, or your crew can lose one of their dice. You can fix these more physical problems by moving a crew member onto that part of the ship and then rolling the dice however there are hazards in these spots such as “voids”,” stasis”, and “injury”. Rolling a number that has a void makes that dice disappear for that turn. Stasis makes it so you can not re-roll that one die. Finally, Injury makes the crew member that you're controlling lose health.


Now you can use more than one crew member to fix an issue. An example of this would be if you need a total of twenty to fix a part of the ship, you can move a crew member who has two dice over and roll two fives. By adding that crewmember’s total it will bring the remaining amount down to ten allowing the second crewmember to finish the fix. This is the main objective of the game. Do not let the ship get destroyed.

After every turn, each crew member will lose one of the dice that they can roll. These dice are required to gather food, use skills, or to perform other operations on the ship with a high enough roll. Food can be attained in the greenhouse by rolling two of the same numbers while other parts of the ship all do something to help you out if you can roll the right numbers. Without food though, you can not regain dice that you lose for your crew members but you can resort to eating human flesh. Luckily in the tutorial, a crew member died so you start with some meat.

Eating human meals does have a negative side effect as it makes that crew member that eats it lose some of their max health that can not be returned and they gain a lot of stress. Interestingly, eating human flesh turns the dice bloody so you won’t forget who’s eaten what. If you do run out of food, and meat, you can resort to sacrificing a crew member to make food. So if one of your crew members gets too stressed out, they’ll acquire “space madness” which can end up making them kill someone else or kill themselves. In either case, that’s the food problem taken care of for a little while longer.


Every turn adds a new problem to the ship so fixing the most critical ones first is key to surviving. Other things the game does after every turn lets you pick who eats food followed by your crew chatting which lets you pick one of two things to say, and in turn, you receive a perk and a negative effect. An example of this is you may repair 1 hull damage but lose 1 dice on your crew. You can also save your dice for research, letting you activate perks like instantly fixing the hull one damage or healing up a crew amongst other things. The crew all have an ability, the mechanic, for example, can repair the hull one damage if he rolls a five or six if you want to use the dice to do so.

Unfortunately, Tharsis’ story is hard to understand and even after beating the main mode multiple times I am not sure what happened in the end which is a little disappointing after trying hard to make it to Mars with all the crew alive and not eating any humans along the way. The main story mode does not last long making this a good game for the Switch to be played in short bursts but that’s also one of the low points. I can beat it on Easy in thirty minutes. A nice touch though is that Tharsis is voiced over in little comic book style cutscenes and the voice acting isn't too bad. Another cool aspect of this is that they factored the voice acting in for both genders when for your Captain.

There are the missions, but I was not a huge fan of these as there was no story or anything and it felt like they were added just to add length to the game. An example of a mission would be a one-man crew must survive five weeks or turns on his own while trying to repair damage to the hull. This alone took me a few tries to beat it and it was only a tutorial mission.

Summary

Overall I liked Tharsis. It’s a fun, but short experience, that has you managing resources and trying to keep your crew alive. Yes there is some replay value as there are a few different endings it’s still not enough. I do think with some tweaking this would make a really good single-player board game that I would gladly play.

 

Score: 6.5 / 10





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Overcooked 2 Gourmet Edition to Deliver a Feast!


Tuesday, 7th April 2020 – Team17 and Ghost Town Games are heading back to the kitchen and the cooking chaos of Overcooked! with Overcooked! 2: Gourmet Edition. Available digitally today for Nintendo SwitchTM, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One – with the Steam version to follow on 16th April – Overcooked! 2: The Gourmet Edition features the base version of Overcooked! 2 along with every piece of downloadable content released for the game to date in one complete meal.

Before you tuck into the Gourmet Edition, feast your eyes on the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9bGzKrOjaQ

Key Features:

  • Every mouthful: Overcooked! 2: Gourmet Edition features Overcooked! 2 and every piece of previously-released DLC for the game, including Surf ‘n’ Turf; Campfire Cook Off; Night of the Hangry Horde; and Carnival of Chaos

  • A banquet of chefs: 58 chefs are ready to cook up a storm, including those featured in the Too Many Chefs pack

  • Dozens of kitchens: The base game and the DLC takes players on a journey through 130 weird and wonderful levels with equally bizarre kitchens!

  • A smorgasbord of dishes: From s’mores to sushi, there is a delicious selection of 26 recipes to serve up

  • Co-op multiplayer: Up to four players can aim for high scores either online or couch co-op through local multiplayer

Overcooked! 2: Gourmet Edition is available digitally on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam for £37.49/$48.49/€42.49, but a launch discount of £28.12/$36.37/€31.87 is active for a limited time.

To keep up to date with all the information on Overcooked! 2 please like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and join us on Discord.

About Ghost Town Games 

Founded in 2015, Ghost Town Games is a BAFTA winning independent developer based in the UK, comprised of Phil Duncan, Oli De-Vine and Gemma Langford. For more information please visit: www.ghosttowngames.com.

About Team17 Digital Ltd

Founded in 1990, Team17 Group plc is a leading international video games label and creative partner for independent developers. The portfolio comprises over 100 games, including The Escapists, Overcooked, Yoku’s Island Express, Yooka-Laylee, the Worms franchise and many more from developers around the world.

 

Article by: Susan N.



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Jaggy's Corner - April 10th, 2020


Welcome back to another Jaggy's Corner where I discuss various video game topics. Today I'm finally going to get some things off my chest. Yes, it's going to be a rant, and I didn't want to do it, but here we are.

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes


Brace yourselves, I'm going to rant hard about Destiny 2 right now and you should know that THIS IS A LONG POST.

A couple of years back I scored myself a copy of a wonderful game known as Destiny 2. At the time, I played through the story, completed strikes, and found myself being hooked. The game showed me beautiful scenery, a couple of awesome NPCs, and the power of its community. I worked through as much content as I was capable of, and found myself really interested in gambit - a PvEvP mode.

Destiny 2 has since brought me a great group of friends that have better skills than I do. And for the most part, the game has been awesome. However, lately, it has brought me significantly less joy. Season of the Worthy, in my opinion, has been the absolute worst season. And I'm not saying this because I am the only one that thinks it's bad, other people I've talked to or others who have posted articles or Tweets have struggled with something this season.

So here is a very short list of issues I've had and I'll elaborate on each one for the rest of this piece.

  • Season of the Beaver

  • Cheaters/Hackers + Other Players Impressions

  • The Bunkers

  • Other Issues

Again, be warned, this is long.

We are the Beaver

We are in Season of the Worthy but in reality it is truly Season of the Beaver. This is an issue that has become infinitely more prevalent during this season than any other to date and the Beaver error is one of several errors of different types that players can encounter. While some players have had their games crash, others have been shunted back to orbit causing a loss of progress in an activity. I was kicked from three matches of Gambit earlier in the season and I received a temporary half hour ban for something that was not my fault. Also, imagine being kicked out of any competitive match because someone ranked up their season pass. What if a person was going for solo flawless pit of heresy or running through Shattered Throne only to be Beavered? You get the idea. The Beaver screwed you. No pun intended... (That's a lie...)

The best part is, Beavers are rampant in all areas of the game, be that in PvE or PvP activities. But don't worry, it gets better. Some friends and I entered Iron Banner. Of the four of us, three players were constantly kicked out of the match (in rapid succession I might add.) This occurred to those on the opposing team as well. About two or three minutes in, the match consisted of me in the fireteam I was running with and two guys on the other. Some of my friends were finally able to connect for a few moments to see that we were winning. Rejoice! But, one person was the odd one out. When he reconnected, he ended up on the opposing team! (I will add that it was my other half who ended up there. Even though we were in the same fireteam, something screwed up and he ended up winning the match for the other guys.) Now, this issue was unique in that it wasn't a Beaver error code or an Anteater or anything, it was a Steam issue. After the painful loss, my friends and I had to restart our Steam launcher before entering Banner again...

Season of the Worthy

Cheaters/Hackers and the Playerbase

So, as I said before, I play alongside gamers who are way better at shooters. Some of them have simply played Destiny 2 longer while others play competitive PvP in other games. And throughout this season, I've heard about the rampant cheating / hacking that plagues the PvP sphere. Mostly this is related to Crucible or Iron Banner and lately with Trials, but still, the amount seems to be higher than usual. In fact, I'd argue that the increase in hacks and cheats stems from Destiny 2 being on Steam but I'm not going to delve into that right now.

The thing is, the players that I know are actually good PvPers but they feel like hot garbage because of cheats or match manipulation. I'd also like to add that the people I know aren't looking to be competitive gods, but when several people have stopped playing the game because of how shitty this season has been, I find myself less inclined to play. I don't even PvP much and I'm really tired of seeing / hearing how upset players are. This has led me to stop wanting to play.

Now, Bungie has been cracking down on cheaters in the game. They have even made it a point to disable the artifact level boost in Trials and Banner, but I am wondering how effective they are at curbing the cheaters especially since there is very little restriction or proper rating to balance the scales. There isn't any region lock which is frustrating when matched against players from the other side of the world who have horrible levels of ping. Frankly, I think letting new light players have boosted gear to the current Light level was a bit of a misstep on Bungie's part. Couple that with the fact that Bungie has to work through Steam's massive access to a player base has made Destiny 2 easy pickings for the spineless cheaters out there. Balancing everything has likely been a pain in the ass, though, that is merely speculation on my part.

I already suck at shooters and I don't need to go into modes that are rampant with issues just because weapons or armor sets might be shinier. Until the game has a more level and fair playing field for scrubs like me, I'm still going to avoid most PvP modes. For now, I will stick to gambit which is much less frustrating.

Here's a clip of a gambit match I was in. It's the closest to losing I've been in a match and you hear my voice when we won.

The Bunkers and Seraph Tower Events

I'll say it, this is the least engaging content I've ever experienced regarding PvE content. I'm sorry, but I had much more fun playing through the Vex Offensive and the Sundial. I even had fun getting lost in the Corridors of Time which was a special community puzzle that took weeks to decode. Plus, the story from the last two seasons was way more interesting to me because it was the first time where we encountered Barrier, Overload, and Unstoppable Champions. To defeat them, players needed to rank up their artifact so that they could modify the weapons they were allowed on. Since this was a new mechanic, along with the seasonal artifact, Destiny 2 was exciting.

Leading up to this season, we were shown a video outlining that our world was in trouble. We needed to do whatever we could to defend against it. We are Guardians after all! Anyways, we were able to see the integral roles that Zavala and Ana Bray (voiced by the awesome Erika Ishii) play. Guardians were given a strong sense of urgency. But then you actually play it, and it sucks. Yes I know. The world is about to be hit with certain doom and I've never cared less than I have with this current series of events.

Why you might ask? Well for one thing, I've never lagged so hard during a public event in my life - even when I had a terrible graphics card. This isn't some minor manageable lag either, the game would actually lag hard enough to show me an EPIC SLIDESHOW. Never in the history of Destiny 2 has my game had such a struggle during a PUBLIC EVENT. It's so bad that no matter which computer I've played on (mine or my boyfriends), I can't do much. I'm left to afk and die, feeling like it was a waste of time. Yeah.. Thanks for that. Even more perplexing is the fact that when the season first began, I was able to participate in the public event without issue, so I don't know.

As for the bunker itself, I find the daily clear of it angering. I believe it is because the weapons we're given to take down the special enemies are weak as shit. But what's more infuriating to me is how do they keep getting into the bunker?! Are they using some kind of portal or breaking the threads of time again? Come on...

Anyways, I know that Destiny 2 is a grind and I get that content needs to feel worthwhile but even with 1000 LL, I am murdered quickly. Light Level, it seems, is just a number...

I used to have confidence in this game but I've never felt more deflated than I have in this whole season. See, in Season of the Dawn I achieved my first 'real' title (outside of Wayfarer). I worked my butt off to get the +20 artifact level. I managed to get the gambit and crucible weapons, with a little help and some confidence-boosting from my friends. I felt GOOD about myself at the end of the season. Yet, Season of the Worthy has really kicked me back to kindergarten and it pisses me off. I've spent so much time learning, practicing, and improving my skills to end up in a corner where not only am I not having fun, but neither are my friends. Considering that this is the only shooter I play, Destiny 2 is in a bad place right now.

As for the bunkers and tower events, I honestly could care less about them. I get more enjoyment out of strikes or gambit or even the odd stint of Iron Banner than I do with the PvE content. Considering I'm a predominantly PvE player, the fact that I would rather do PvP-lite modes is not a place I expected to be in at this point of the game.

SeraphBunkerEDZ

Other Issues

At one point in Destiny 2, I did feel like I was skillful enough to do some raids or help teach new light players a thing or two. But there are several events that I can't run without dying 50+ times. I'm a player that has a 1000 Light Level and can't run someone through Shattered Throne or Pit of Heresy because I can barely do it myself. I'm a player that runs strikes and somehow gets picked off by an add from across the map in ONE SHOT. It makes me wonder, how did Destiny 2 go from a game I loved to something that I'm sick of? I - a player who started in Destiny 2 at Forsaken - have progressed from a decent level player to a terrible one; it's as though my playtime has not mattered.

The best character in the game is already dead. The lore is scattered in weird places that are so disconnected to a point that most people don't realize the how much lore is in the Destiny universe. And as a writer, it bugs me to no end that one of the most interesting pieces of lore was given to us by Saint-14 in the Corridors of Time event which will never be experienced by new players. There isn't even a recap video that they can go and watch to see what happened.

I will briefly talk about the mostly useless character stats too. I used to stack resilience, but no matter how much resilience I had, I would get one shot by trash mobs. It's like hunter shields don't matter. And let's also remember that we are no longer invulnerable to attacks for the two seconds we can dodge. Am I just doing hunters wrong? Do I have to maintain only one spec to effectively play this game? ARGH!

What the heck happened?

Final Thoughts

There are so many other things I could talk about but the sum of this whole post is: this season has been the worst ever. Even the PvP players have been really annoyed with the game as of late and I can't really blame them.

I've stuck with Destiny 2 and with Bungie because I believe that the game will improve, but right now my hopes aren't high. Sorry Bungie, but that's just the way I feel. Today, I can't love the game like normal because I haven't really felt like I've been able to achieve anything. And I'll be surprised if I manage to max out the bunkers before the end of the season...



Until next time peeps.




Article by: Susan N.




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