Construction Simulator Brands Trailer Revealed!

Düsseldorf/Germany, July 27, 2022 – With Construction Simulator^®, simulation enthusiasts can look forward to the most extensive vehicle fleet in the history of the game series. As astragon Entertainment and weltenbauer. announced today, players will get access to more than 70 officially licensed vehicles, machines, and equipment from 25 popular brands and manufacturers!

Construction Simulator®:

• Long-awaited successor to the popular Construction Simulator^® game series

• More than 70 officially licensed vehicles, machines, attachments, and equipment from 25 well-known brands

• Includes a number of vehicles known from the predecessors plus numerous newly added brands!

• Two huge and completely new maps: EU and US setting, each with an extensive campaign

• Entirely revised mission system including a multitude of challenging contracts

• Open world with dynamic day and night cycle

• Improved vehicle and earthmoving system

• Officially licensed work clothes

• Completely revamped, modern graphics

• Co-op multiplayer for up to 4 players

To be released on September 20, 2022 for PC, PlayStation^®4, PlayStation^®5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S

In Construction Simulator^®, players will get the opportunity to establish their own construction company and use an enormous selection of construction machines in two huge open-world scenarios, each with their own extensive campaign, to work their way up from a simple construction worker to the biggest construction company in town. Thanks to the great freedom and the huge selection of officially licensed vehicles and machines, construction and simulation fans can look forward to hundreds of hours of fun!

With more than 70 vehicles, machines and equipment from 25 brands and manufacturers, Construction Simulator^® is offering the most extensive vehicle fleet in the history of the popular game series. In addition to vehicles and machines from renowned makers such as Liebherr, CASE, Bobcat, PALFINGER, STILL, MAN, ATLAS, Bell, BOMAG, WIRTGEN, VÖGELE, HAMM, Mack Trucks, MEILLER Kipper, SCHWING and Kenworth already known from the game’s predecessors, construction enthusiasts can also look forward to new brands such as Scania, Doosan, Cifa, DAF, Benninghoven, Nooteboom and Wacker Neuson – and last but not least: for the first time also officially licensed workwear by Engelbert Strauss!

https://youtu.be/KgzKe9LRoKc

Construction Simulator^® will be released on September 20, 2022 for PC as well as optimized versions for PlayStation^®4, PlayStation^®5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. An overview of selected pre-order options including a discount of 10% for the Construction Simulator – Extended Edition is available here: http://shop.construction-simulator.com

Please visit us at:

Homepage: https://www.construction-simulator.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConSimGame/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConSimGame

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ConSimGame/

Discord: https://discord.gg/astragon

©2022 astragon Entertainment GmbH. © 2022 weltenbauer. Software Entwicklung GmbH. Published and distributed by astragon Entertainment GmbH. Construction Simulator, astragon, astragon Entertainment and its logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of astragon Entertainment GmbH. weltenbauer., weltenbauer. Software Entwicklung GmbH and its logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of weltenbauer. “PlayStation Family Mark”, “PlayStation”, “PS5 logo”, “PS4 logo”, "PS4" and “PS5” are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. Xbox One, Xbox Series and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. All other intellectual property relating to the construction equipment, associated brands, and imagery (including trademarks and/or copyrighted materials) featured in the game are therefore the property of their respective companies. All rights reserved.

About astragon Entertainment GmbH

Founded in 1998, astragon Entertainment GmbH, a subsidiary of Team17 Group PLC, is a leading German games developer, publisher and distributor of sophisticated ‘working’ simulation games, focusing on non-violent cooperative gameplay with very detailed, technical, and realistic environments. astragon’s internationally well-known IPs include Construction Simulator, Bus Simulator, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers and Firefighting Simulator. The distribution of high-quality licensed and distribution products such as Farming Simulator and SnowRunner complete its attractive product range. astragon games are available worldwide on many different platforms such as consoles, smartphones, tablets, and PC. Visit www.astragon.com for more information.

About weltenbauer. Software Entwicklung GmbH

weltenbauer. Software Entwicklung GmbH is a developer of computer games, interactive applications and visualizations. Since 2006 weltenbauer. has implemented a great variety of projects in the games, serious games and interactive segments. This has enabled the team to gain extensive experience in multi-platform development for mobile devices, consoles, desktop systems and browsers. The weltenbauer. team consists of 60 permanent employees and free-lance experts from the fields of 3D computer graphics, conceptualization, real time, and web development. Find more information on www.weltenbauer-se.com and www.facebook.de/weltenbauer.

Article by: Susan N.

5 Min Read

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Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Review

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin by developer Team Ninja and publisher Square Enix—Sony PlayStation 5 preview written by Pierre-Yves with a purchased copy.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes.

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Having followed in the same footsteps as their previous projects of Nioh and Nioh 2, Team Ninja this time through Square Enix had released several trial versions of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin for players to test their mettle. Having released a few months ago now, and with the first DLC of Trials of the Dragon King having recently been released, I figured now would be a good time to write a review as I've had time to really think about how I felt about the adventure.

Having streamed the first two thirds of Stranger of Paradise in co-op with Louis, I ended up both finishing the adventure and getting the Platinum post stream. Having fought side by side with a real person, and then side by side with nothing more than an AI waiting for me to tell them when was a good time to act, Strangers of Paradise felt like two separate titles. This is partly why I needed some time to think about it as while on one-hand I really enjoyed it, did I enjoy it because I was playing with a friend? Or did I enjoy it for what was being presented?

So attempting to avoid spoilers, and I'll probably fail at some point, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is the prequel to the title that started it all those years ago on the original NES. With darkness brewing in the lands it's up to The Heroes of Light to restore the balance and save the people from calamity. Though while the prophecy states four heroes, our journey starts off with only three...

Yup, you called it, foreshadowing!

Getting into the adventure itself, you'll be starting off with our protagonist Jack "Garland", Jet and Ash as they walk into the Shrine of Chaos to prove themselves as the Warriors of light. Filled with monsters, traps and ambushes, it doesn't take long for the Soulslike fangs to come out. That said, I'm almost hard pressed to even call this a Soulslite as while the difficulty is there, the rest of the elements are more of an action based RPG.

Other than the difficulty and interwoven stage designs, the reason that Stranger of Paradise maybe isn't even Souls-lite is that there are no real penalties for dying. The penalty is just having to walk back into the boss room, in shame of course, but other than that? You don't lose accumulated or unspent experience. Instead, you lose max MP bars and potions above the basic threshold which can easily be gained back by performing a few good counters for one, and slaying a few roaming monsters for the other.

Always in control of Jack, you can have up to two partners in the form of NPCs known as Jed, Ash, and later on Neon and Sophia. These partners will move around and fight autonomously unless you need them to pull out the big moves which can be done through the D-Pad. These abilities are only mentioned in a brief introduction but can be costly if you've missed it. Hours down the line and you're wondering just what is the point in leveling up an NPC's class if you're not going to sling spells!? Oops... Missed that part and while negligible in co-op it's damned near killer in single player.

That slight mishap on my part aside, you can replace these NPCs with a real player who will get to take full control of the character all while using their own Jack’s unlocked classes, skills and equipment. Now there are a few differences here. The first is purely cosmetic but kind of sucks for the person tagging along the adventure. Once in control of a chosen NPC, the other player cannot change their appearance as the appearance is set to the gear loadout you last selected for that NPC. This isn’t a game breaker, but for someone who’s going to be tagging along for the long haul? It’s a small thing that should have been thought of. Either that or replace the model with the other player’s Jack.

The second difference is the game changer. In solo play, if Jack falls, that’s that. One wrong decision, one bad dodge, one unlucky hit, that’s it, game over. In co-op mode however the party has access to three Phoenix Downs in order to get the other player back up on their feet. It’s amazing and it honestly should have been something set into the core single player experience. You can get NPCs back up with potions, but they can’t do the same for you. This changes a lot especially for some of the crazy boss fights that are present down the line. Finally, the last difference is that the players are not tied to each other. If one wants to go explore a random area away from the first to cover more ground? They can. The only issue with this is that if you are only two, the NPC will follow the leader. If you’re three, then there’s no real issue as you are all toast if mistakes have been made!

*Slight spoilers*

For the areas themselves, Stranger of Paradise is a love letter to Final Fantasy and I’m almost ashamed that it took me so long to piece together the “Dimension” numbers that are mentioned in pieces of lore and the load screens. Each stage has been designed as an homage to one of the Final Fantasy titles over the years whether from back on the NES and SNES or the PS1-2-3-4. Until I finally clued in, there was a bit of gnawing in the back of my brain telling me that I was missing something, but I just couldn’t figure it out. It was only after seeing a particular homage later in the game combined with the music that I honestly facepalmed and then applauded the design direction for real.

*End of slight spoilers*

Otherwise, the stage design for gameplay is pretty on point. Channeling the Metroidvania aspects that the Soulslike tend to use, there are often a couple ways forward and several shortcuts to unlock and areas to explore. Within these areas there are a fair amount of enemies to fight off which is where the character class system also gets to shine. Always in possession of two classes, how you go about the adventure is entirely up to you. Double melee? Might and magic? Double magic? There’s no wrong decision especially as you obtain new gear for the ride that while stat wise can make you more powerful, the bonuses applied to the character classes can make you a monster.

But was it enough? That’s where I found myself after pouring 50 hours into the Platinum Trophy after what had just been a good 68 hours into Elden Ring’s own Platinum Trophy. Completely different styles to be sure, mission based structure versus a whole wide open world, but how did it compare to something like Nioh 2 that Team Ninja had designed before it? Honestly? I think it fell short but not completely because of the gameplay elements.

Do I think that there should have been more punishment for dying like in other Soulslikes? Yes, I do as that ups the need to really learn from your mistakes. That said, I was also happy to see lighter difficulty modes for those that would want to experience the story if they so chose to. The story though is where I probably had the biggest issues. This story could have shined as there was nothing done at this prior point to the original Final Fantasy. There were tons of nods forward, sure, but the characters, and Jack specifically? He was an ass and oftentimes all you wanted to do was yell at him to stop being such a complete asshat and that's generally what the cutscenes were. I would have loved for more anything as the character writing wasn’t enough to support the rest of the storytelling which was mostly being told through the adventure's gameplay.

Overall though, I think Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin was a decent adventure. Did it live up to what I had hoped it would be? Not quite, but it was still fun to play alone and even better with a partner as some of the harder fight sequences are leveraged by being able to lend a hand instead of instantly being defeated. Would I look forward to another such adventure? Definitely. In the meantime though, this prequel chapter is closed.

Score: 7 / 10

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Free to Play Game 'Temperia: Soul of Majestic' Launched into Early Access Stage!

Rome, Italy - 26th July 2022 - Publisher Leonardo Interactive and developers MoonWolf Entertainment and A2 Softworks today announced that their strategic competitive online card game Temperia: Soul of Majestic is available today on Steam Early Access as a Free-To-Play title.

Temperia: Soul of Majestic is a strategic competitive collectible online card game that mixes the mechanics of Tic-Tac-Toe and chess as well as other card games to create a lightning-fast skill-based strategy board game. Quick, strategic, and totally open-handed, every match is different thanks to the abilities of the creatures, the equipment, the powers, and the elemental spaces presented on the board. Success in Temperia is based purely on the skill of the player!

The extraordinary, totally open-handed game style and the combination of two decks in one, comprising 20 Creature and 20 Equipment cards, are features that make Temperia a unique proposition in its genre.

“We are thrilled to finally launch Temperia: Soul of Majestic into Early Access after many months of development and closed Beta testing where we collected valuable feedback from our community” Commented Leonadro Caltagirone, Founder of Leonardo Interactive. “Working with the fantastic MoonWolf Entertainment and A2 Softworks to bring this project to life has been a real adventure and we are excited to finally release Temperia on Early Access and invite the players to join us on our journey to full release.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97drnZL_mLg

Features of Temperia: Soul of Majestic

• OPEN-HANDED - One of the distinctive traits of Temperia: Soul of Majestic resides in the open-handed game mechanic, in which all cards are face up. An innovative feature that allows you to play face-to-face against your opponent with no secrets!

• SKILL-BASED - Rise to the top of the international competitive scene based on your ability. Just like in chess – where everything is on display – in Temperia you should exploit the open-handed mechanic to plan for changing dynamics and deploy different strategies, giving life to exciting and never-repetitive matches. Defeat your opponents, prove your skills, climb the leaderboard and assert yourself in the Esports scene of Temperia: Soul of Majestic!

• RANDOMNESS - Strategy, and cold-bloodedness required. Temperia is a skill-based game where randomness is limited and the impact of chance is minimal. Have you got ice in your veins, and are you ready to put your abilities to the test?

• BY PLAYERS FOR PLAYERS - The developers, Enrico “Wolfillupo” Fedoni and Dario “Moonryde” Ferracci are hardcore gamers and Twitch streamers whose experience and expertise ensure they pay particular attention to the needs of players during the design phase of the game. Temperia is a game created by players for players.

• COMMUNITY-BASED - Temperia has been tested by hundreds of players from around the world with positive feedback. The developers have listened to their community to improve the product thanks to the responses received. Don't hesitate, play Temperia: Soul of Majestic and share your opinion!

Temperia: Soul of Majestic is available today on Steam Early Access as a Free-To-Play title. Follow Temperia’s journey on the Leonardo Interactive website here

About Leonardo Interactive

Leonardo Interactive is an award-winning video game publisher based in Rome that managed a series of productions and publications of titles available on all the mainstream Platforms. Bringing its titles to market in both digital and physical formats, Leonardo Interactive has achieved a series of hits in various genres such as our visual novel Dry Drowning, the click n’ point adventure Willy Morgan Curse of Bone Town, and our real-time strategy game Hell Architect. Leonardo Interactive's next releases are Temperia: Soul of Majestic, Shattered Heaven, Simon The Sorcerer Origins, and Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle.

About MoonWolf Entertainment

MoonWolf Entertainment is a company in the world of game development. It specializes in creating the Game Design of games for all platforms, in cooperation with worldwide developers and publishers.

About A2 Softwork

A2 Softworks is a game development studio that is most known for developing Gatewalkers (co-op aRPG & survival). It specializes in multiplayer cross-platform games for PC, mobile, and consoles. The studio designs and creates its own games as well as in cooperation with worldwide publishers.

Article by: Susan N.

5 Min Read

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Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 Review

Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 by developer and publisher Inti Creates—Nintendo Switch review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

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For a long time, I had always looked back on the old-school Megaman games and thought "where can I find more games like this?", and then I discovered Azure Striker Gunvolt. Doing a great job of taking the classic megaman formula and adapting it into something new and fresh, the first Gunvolt made its way onto the scene in 2014, or there around, I believe. Now we are receiving the 3rd title in the direct series: Azure Striker Gunvolt 3.

The world of Gunvolt is a slightly futuristic world where certain humans have awakened to a new power called Septima. Humans who have gained the power of Septima are referred to as Adepts. After the events of Gunvolt 1 and 2, Gunvolt had been sealed away, but now a Battle Priestess from the group Shadow Yakumo is tasked with controlling Gunvolt's power in order to stop a potential catastrophe. While having some knowledge of the other titles in the series will certainly help with your comprehension and references, Gunvolt 3 can be purchased as a stand-alone title, so no worries if you haven't played the other titles in the series.

If you've played the previous two main entries in the franchise you'll probably have a decent idea of how the game will play, but I'm happy to note there are some changes made to the formula. For those new to the franchise, Gunvolt is a 2D action platformer in the same vein as the Megaman games, probably closer to Megaman X in nature. The main idea is that you will generally want to "tag" enemies, before hitting them for increased damage.

In the original gunvolt this was gun based, but since Kirin is the new focus, you now have a warp slash after tagging. For a little more description, Kirin can fire off her "fetters", which will stick to enemies. Once you have at least one stuck to an enemy, you can either slash them normally with the attack button, or hit the dash and attack button together to do a warp slash at the enemy, or enemies as you can target multiple. You can layer many fetters on one target, spread them amongst targets, and even charge the fetters later on in the game.

Now, there are a few things to note about the fetters. The fetters also act as your "shield" or "dodge" mechanic, provided you have a specific skill equipped. Basically, instead of being hit, you consume a number of fetters instead, reducing your fetter count. Thankfully you can reload by double-tapping down direction, which will also recall fetters attached to enemies. I actually really enjoyed playing as Kirin more than I did playing as Gunvolt in the first title. I'm not certain why, perhaps I prefer the melee bladed aspect, but I felt a lot more invested as Kirin, and the battles were more fast paced.

Something really cool to note is that the warp attack using the fetters is actually a bit of a core gameplay mechanic for the platforming segment, and a really good way of earning higher scores in stages. What I mean to say is that there are many stages with areas where it is either possible or necessary to use the warp strike to move across pits, or up vertical segments of the stages. In addition to this, using warp strikes is one of the best ways of dispatching foes without getting hit. You also get a score bonus for the more enemies you defeat without touching the ground. Since using a warp strike gives Kirin a second jump, you can chain warp strikes in order to keep off the ground for a long period of time. Fun fact: I actually managed to stay airborne for almost an entire boss fight using the warp strike appropriately.

For those missing Ye Olde Gunvolt, you can actually switch to him mid stage. As Kirin fights out on the front line, she builds a fetter gauge. As long as the fetter gauge is at 100% or higher, you can swap to Gunvolt, although the gauge will decrease over time and as you perform actions. While Gunvolt is rather powerful, he won't earn nearly as many points as Kirin. He does however have the ability to sort of float, as well as jump infinitely, making traversing certain areas much easier. More often than not I found myself only swapping to Gunvolt in order to search for these "skill tokens" that you can collect during stages.

So what are these skill tokens I'm talking about? Well, Kirin has four active skills, and a number of passive skills she can equip, although you'll have to earn them. During a stage you will see these sort of glowing two square emblem things (don't worry, they're pretty big and rather blatant in the first mission). Each one of these represents a skill. Upon completing a stage, depending on your ranking and how many tokens you've found, you'll get some of the skills. Extra skills acquired will be converted into cash. You also earn an extra skill for collecting all the tokens in a stage, as well as meeting a specific condition while fighting the stage boss. Don't worry if you don't get anything good your first time, you can retry the stages again and again in order to build up both money and to earn the skills you want.

As you earn skills you can equip them on Kirin. While the four active skills are mapped to the four cardinal directions on the right thumbstick and can be equipped immediately after earning them, the passive abilities are a little different. See, Kirin has a level value, and increasing her level will both increase her health, as well as unlock new passive ability slots. The abilities will come in different rarities, and will take the form of a "previous memory" of Gunvolt, or essentially cameos from previous games, or characters from Gunvolt 3. If you get the rarer version of an ability, you can actually expend money to upgrade it. As an example, after clearing the first stage you get the passive ability that lets you exchange the talismans for a dodge. It starts at costing four talismans, but upgrading it reduces it to three, and then two, although it does cost a lot to do so.

One of my favourite aspects of the Gunvolt series is how unique the stages and bosses are. Each stage and boss are themed and designed in different ways, and have their own gimmicks and patterns they follow. Let's take a look at one of the earlier stages, what is essentially a floating warehouse. The first portion of the stage has you hopping on boxes and pontoons to make your way inside while avoiding rising and falling water. You need to judge whether you're confident in the warp strike, or if you should swap to Gunvolt more often. Once you reach the boss of the area, they will predominantly use large masses of objects clumped together and throw them around the boss arena. The other stages and bosses don't have similar concepts, making each stage feel fresh and exciting.

Gunvolt 3, and the series by extension, is a very interesting title. While you don't get penalized for taking it slow and exploring, you are rewarded for blazing through a stage, with fast enough times giving score multipliers. Now this isn't to say you should do so right off the bat, like I mentioned you need to find some of those skill tokens, but it is nice to see your abilities in effectively clearing a stage rewarded. Additionally, once you hit 1,000 kudos, and every multiple thereafter, Lumen will appear to sing a song for you that gives you a buff. It's a very neat mechanic.

While Gunvolt 3 is fast paced and can be quite challenging at times, it is by no means especially brutal in what it throws at you. Well, intentionally anyways. The bosses will normally banter with you during a fight, which is all well and good, except their text boxes and character portraits pop up as well, meaning they can be obscured in a corner of the screen if you leave the mid battle text activated. Super annoying, but not unmanageable. Another issue I had was with how finicky Kirin's warp strike can be, or Arc Chain as I think they call it. Occasionally I would find myself either dashing or attacking instead of using the warp move. It isn't super often, and it normally isn't a huge deal, but it can get a little annoying if you do it over a pit.

Summary

Overall, I have to say that Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 is a great addition to the series, and is easily accessible to both new players and those who have played previous titles. Gameplay and combat is smooth, bosses and stages are interesting, and it's super fun to collect all the skills and see the cameos from previous titles. While there are a few issues here and there, it isn't nearly enough to truly take away from the experience.

If you've been looking for something to meet that old Megaman / Megaman X vibe, you can't go wrong with Gunvolt.

Score: 9 / 10

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Survival Game 'Retreat to Enen' by Head West Releasing Ahead of Schedule!

Retreat to Enen, the tranquil survival game from developer Head West and publisher Freedom Games, finds true tranquility earlier than originally anticipated with an earlier release date of Monday, August 1, 2022 on PC via Steam and Epic Game Store.

Take a moment to rest with serene hubs in real-time follow-along meditation sessions. Reflect on the importance of appreciating a natural landscape and gain a fresh understanding of why humanity strived for a return to its roots.

After centuries of fighting, society finally seeks out inner peace and a more naturalistic change for the world. Enter the Island of Enen and learn how to hunt, forage, build shelters, and craft tools. Utilize the boons of nature and maintain necessary levels of thirst, hunger, and spirit.

Retreat to Enen releases on PC via Steam and Epic Game Store on Monday, August 1, 2022 for $24.99 with English language support. For more information about Retreat to Enen, please visit the official website, or join the community on Twitter.

https://youtu.be/vpfxThgkBjM

About Head West

Head West is a Seattle-based development team, with Retreat to Enen being their first game. The company’s focus is to create immersive games based in nature for players to find a safe haven. Founder Justin Hosford named the company Head West after his habit of heading to the mountains and lakes to the west to clear his head and hopes to create that same experience with the games Head West puts forward.

About Freedom Games

Freedom Games is a publisher dedicated to offering best-in-class services to partners and providing players around the world with unique and memorable experiences. With over 50 years of combined industry experience at the executive level, Freedom Games seeks to leverage its expertise to facilitate great games and even better publishing experiences.

For more information, visit the official Freedom Games website.

Article by: Susan N.

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Firegirl: Hack ‘n Splash Rescue DX Review

Firegirl: Hack ‘n Splash Rescue by developer Dejima and publisher Thunderful Publishing—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes. 

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Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue DX by Dejima and Thunderful Publishing is the latest version to be released of this 2.5D platformer roguelike. Set in a world where fire demons are being led by a Fire Lord and causing chaos by burninating everything in sight that would make even Trogdor proud, you're here to stop them with the titular protagonist Firegirl.

Firegirl is the kind of title that makes me think that it would have had a perfect home on the PlayStation Vita a few years back and caught my interest when Jim reviewed it for the PC. Never too heavy on the mechanics, there's still a fair amount under the hood as you'll be running, jumping, blasting water and using water to blast off all while exploring various areas to save survivors caught in the destructive fiery path of the demons currently setting the city ablaze.

What I appreciated from the beginning is that Firegirl doesn't overcomplicate itself which is great especially for a roguelike, or perhaps in this case, roguelite which in either case are designed to make you fail. Your controls themselves are fairly simple. By using the right trigger, you can shoot water forward. The harder you press, the further the water will shoot and this can be easily upgraded as time moves on. Going more vertically, Firegirl can jump, but, Firegirl can also use the water pressure of her hose in order to fly upwards and then across to make it across larger gaps in the terrain, or, to tackle enemies from above. Finally, Firegirl has an axe to break down doors and debris that are in the way of rescuing survivors and pets that are trapped in the burning buildings.

Once you've gotten your feet sufficiently wet by putting out the fires in your typical run of the mill apartment complexes though, you'll then find yourself running across a train, through a forest and through an extensive luxurious plaza which each have their own quirks. Just make sure to learn from your mistakes and check out your surroundings though as Firegirl's adventure is still a rogue-like / lite and it's not afraid to take you out if you're too overconfident.

While the initial mentioned goal of saving survivors is a simple one, it's never quite that easy. For starters, everything is on fire and running into the flames or the demon's flames will hurt you. Starting off with four hearts, you'll eventually be able to acquire more but in the meantime you'll have to be careful as there's a fair amount on the line. If you fall while on duty, you'll get a meager pay from the city but have to pay hospital bills. If you only rescue a percentage of the people, you only get money from the city but don't pay hospital bills. If you succeed? It's payday!

Like in real life, payday is the best day of the week. It comes into your bank account and did you hear that whooshing noise? Yes? That's the sound of it leaving. Much in the same way, most of the money that you'll get from the city and "fans" of your work will help to pay for upgrades. For Firegirl herself, you'll be able to get a few armor pieces before worrying about your hearts. Also up for sale is a new lighter axe which allows you to really move instead of having to stop every time you need to break open a door.

Aside from these direct upgrades which can be found in a shop across the street from the Firehouse that acts as your hub, there are a few others which will eventually become available within the Firehouse itself. Direct upgrades which can affect your performance are upgrades to Firegirl’s water tank for better spray and jump range as well as being able to hold more water in general. While useful, you'll need a bit of help to pay for these upgrades, by buying other upgrades. These other upgrades come in the form of bringing down the cost of all upgrades, increase the amount of money that you can get from the city, and finally, getting money from the above mentioned “fans”.

Fans are perhaps the most interesting element to your income which directly affects your cash flow. Starting off with none, you’ll soon be getting hundreds to thousands of them as you rescue survivors, cats and cuddly looking bears in the burning forest. These fans are where your real money will come in and will only give you money if as mentioned above, you rescue everyone that’s required AND make it out safely. If you don’t, you get nothing from them and by mid to late story, that’ll be the difference in receiving 2-6k from the city, or 36-40k on top of the 2-6k from the city to pay for some fairly expensive upgrades.

While there is a fair amount of rinse and repeat, which is to be expected in a rogue which constantly adds more every time you dive into it, it all comes to a climax once you manage to collect 12 of the 13 Fire Tomes. While mentioned a few times over the course of the story, finding them is the tricky part as it’s random whether one will even show up in the stage that you are doing which can add a bit of artificial padding. While I did enjoy the increasing challenges, having that progression locked by luck I found to be a bit annoying especially as I neared a point of having unlocked every single upgrade.

Once that’s done though, Firegirl gives it one more stellar go against the only boss fight of the adventure, the Fire Lord himself. And you know what? It was totally worth it! Once that’s done though and the credits roll, there’s still plenty that can be done for ingame unlockables that may not have been acquired and plenty of PSN trophies that will probably still be waiting for you to unlock them.

Sadly not everything on this journey was perfect while I played off of the PS5. I found myself quite a few times having Firegirl, both the character and the game, freeze on me making me have to close it, re-launch it and then re-do the stage that I was already close to finishing, or a new one, all over again. There was also another glitch where I found myself completely upside down making me have to do the same thing as trying to finish the forest stage while also zoomed out was just impossible. So while I would have liked to score this higher, the issues that I would run into, especially when grabbing a Fire Tome and having the game crash, keeps it lower than it should be.

Summary

Overall though, Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue DX is a fun little rogue-like / lite that can easily net you half a dozen hours to complete the main story before sticking around for more. With easy to pick up controls, especially with the PS5’s locking shoulders which makes shooting water that much more precise, if you’ve been looking for a bit of a challenge but not one that will cause you to rage quit, this could be the one for you.

Score: 7 / 10

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Monster-Taming RPG 'Coromon' is Now on the Nintendo Switch!

Zevenaar, The Netherlands – July 21, 2022 – Coromon, the modern monster-taming RPG from developer TRAGsoft and publisher Freedom Games, begins an anticipated journey on Nintendo Switch today following up its super-effective release on PC with more than 100,000 unit sales.

Assemble the perfect squad of adorable-yet-powerful Coromon while venturing on a quest to study the Velua region. Research wild Coromon to discover their strengths, weaknesses, evolutions, relationships with fellow trainers, and even epic titans. Work with friendly Coromon to track down a mysterious organization threatening the region in a modern take implementing fan-favorite features into the classic monster tamer genre.

Experience the compelling story of a Battle Researcher’s first day at work gone-wrong morphing into an epic quest across dense forests, glacial caverns, and blisterings deserts full of secrets and side quests. Catch hand-crafted pixel art companions while mastering a stamina-based battle system with more than 100 iconic Coromon across seven different elemental types.

https://youtu.be/OBewTNcJlbU

Multiple difficulty levels and game-mode options can either let the story take center stage on the easiest difficulty or put master trainer skills to the test with a built-in randomizer and fan-favorite “Nuzlocke” mode. Return to the Velua region anytime, anywhere thanks to Cross-Save functionality between PC and Nintendo Switch versions; alongside the highly-requested crossplay multiplayer to test high-level strategies against other trainers across the globe.

“The creature-catching genre has always been a perfect fit for portable gaming consoles,” said Jochem Pouwels, Founder, TRAGsoft. “We remained true to the heart of the games before us and continue to deliver on the promises we made to trainers by taking their journey anywhere in their real-world adventures. Whether Switch players are continuing their PC story via Cross-Save or starting with a brand-new team, we are proud to deliver the game Nintendo fans have been asking for for years!”

Coromon is available now on Nintendo Switch eShop for $19.99 with English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (Simplified) language support.

To learn more, visit Coromon’s official site and join the community on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Discord, and search #Coromon on social media.

About TRAGsoft

TRAGsoft is an independent game studio founded in 2016 by Two Ridiculously Ambitious Guys, Jochem Pouwels and Marcel van der Made. Based in Zevenaar, Netherlands, the developer is passionately devoted to releasing its debut project Coromon to critical acclaim in 2022 selling more than 75,000 copies in its first month.

For more information, check out the official Coromon website.

About Freedom Games

Freedom Games is a publisher dedicated to offering best-in-class services to partners and providing players around the world with unique and memorable experiences. With over 50 years of combined industry experience at the executive level, Freedom! Games seeks to leverage its expertise to facilitate great games and even better publishing experiences.

To learn more, visit the official Freedom Games website.

Article by: Susan N.

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Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Review

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town by developer Marvelous Interactive Inc. and publishers XSEED Games, Marvelous—Sony PlayStation 4 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

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Having released last year, the latest in Marvelous and XSEED Games' Story of Seasons, Pioneers of Olive Town, was phenomenal and I had a hard time putting it down. Back again, this more relaxed small town farming simulator is now on a more powerful system making everything even smoother than it already was as you plant crops, tend to your fields and take care of adorable animals.

Seriously. They. Are. Adorable. Chickens, cows, sheep, llamas, kittens and puppies. Adorable. Also, most of these farm animals make up for a good part of the gameplay design as you tend to the land that you have inherited. Backing up just a little bit though before you even get to this point, you’ll get to decide who you are first which was also a good change for the series.

While you do get to pick whether you are binarily Male or Female which affects marriage candidates and the pronouns that are used in game, you are not locked into only male or female choices for your appearance, character voice and clothing. While not super in-depth, it helps you be more of who you want to be or in the case of my second adventure, who I want my avatar / protagonist to be.

Once that’s done you’ll be packing up everything you own into your motorcycle and heading out to this small water front town to take over what was once your grandfather's farm in a cute little montage. Once you get there though, you’ll have your work cut out for you. Having not been tended in forever, there's no longer a house, there are no pre-established fields and then there ARE weeds, trees and rocks everywhere. All of these will need to be removed if you want to get anything done, but, it's a series staple and by this point I don't know if I would want it any other way.

So starting off with a tent and a few entry grade tools, how you want to proceed in Pioneers of Olive Town is entirely up to you. You can start to chop down trees, you can start to break rocks and you can also start to till small patches of land to plant crops. From there, you can go as big or as small as you want. Smaller fields are easier to tend but will bring in less money over time for things you may want or need in shops. However, it will give you more time to work on your crafting which in turn can make crops easier to manage with a sprinkler system doing all the watering for you.

This leads into another feature of Pioneers of Olive Town that I still fully appreciated the second time around, crafting. Being given basic tools you'll eventually need to upgrade them for efficiency which will in turn help you cultivate better materials to upgrade your farm, and your tools! The reason I appreciated this system is that not everything will need to cost money and be locked behind shops that close at 6pm and are closed on certain days of the week. Instead just about everything you could need is at your fingertips and as long as you plan it out, can be done on your schedule.

Chopping trees will give you logs, breaking rocks will give you ore and cutting grass will give you… grass. Logs can be turned into usable lumber, ore can be turned into ingots and grass can be turned into various threads to make cloth and clothing. With each of these materials there are grades and each will take longer to turn into usable materials which is why I was happy to be able to tackle these at my pace.

Need to do more than one set of logs, ingots or thread? With the right amount of materials you can make new machines to do the work at the same time. What I appreciate about these machines isn't just the work that they can do for you, but you're also told how many can be out in your field at the same time. It's also a great system that lets you save money for other things such as starter seeds before making your own down the line with crops that have been harvested and a seed maker once it has unlocked.

This all helps you to do things at your own pace as there are no timelines to do things or deadlines to hand things in. Requests by fellow townspeople can be found at City Hall. If you have what they need? Hand it in for a reward. If you don't? There's no worry, they won't hate you for it. Town development in Pioneers of Olive Town was also a nicer touch as there are materials that can be handed in at certain points which spruce up the look of the town so that it evolves with you and your farm.

It all helps to wrap everything together so that there's always something to do. Waiting or materials to process? Go say hi to the townspeople or try to start romancing someone you fancy. Already done that and have plenty of energy left in the tank? You can chop down a type of tree you need as long as they've grown back in the fields, you can lay down new pathways to make sure nothing grows in those specific spots, or, you can go spelunking for all the ore that you can carry.

Or if that's really not your thing? You can raise livestock! Roaming around your fields in the beginning are chickens, cows, sheep and llamas who are just looking for a home. So it's great that it just so happens that out in your fields there are barns and coops just waiting to be repaired to give these super cute and adorable animals a home. Once they've been given a home, you can call it there, or, you can make sure that they are properly fed everyday and they'll return the favor.

Chickens, if fed and happy, will give you eggs. Cows will give you milk. Llamas and sheep will give you wool. Each of these can be processed into various items like mayonnaise, fried eggs, milk, cheese, butter for the food and then thread and fabric for the other. This again wraps back around into self sufficiency where you can cook and make your own food inside of having to go eat in town or buy ingredients to cook at home. You obviously can if you want to as these products can net a good profit if you ship them out alongside the rest of your crops.

Now to not completely recap my previous review but from a slightly different stance, as it all still stands true, here's something I didn't cover the first time as to not spoil an interesting enough element to Pioneers of Olive Town, Spirits. No, not the alcohol kind, but the supernatural kind. These little wonderful beings start showing up in the beginning as you work in your fields but it's not until you meet your guide that this all comes together.

Broken into categories, each of these small spirits can be assigned to a larger one in order to help you gather "stuff". Tree spirit will net you tree related items like sap and logs. The ore spirit will give you rocks, clay, iron, silver, gold. The angler spirit will fish for you! And the chef, to not go into all of the spirits, will give you some pretty fancy dishes so you don't have to cook yourself. It's great and as time goes forward and you visit these spirits, they'll level up and be able to provide you with either more, or better quality, items so it's a good idea to make sure to visit them almost as daily as the rest of the townspeople.

Finally, while I do still wish that there was more to do with the townspeople other than talk to them for generic NPC lines to raise their affection or friendship status, I found myself not minding as much this time. Instead, I simply looked forward to the cutscenes with these people and to the town events which were always fun especially when there's pride on the line to win first place!

Summary

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is a fantastic experience. Whether you are looking for something to casually hold your attention in a soft roll of days forward or have grander ambitions in mind with wanting to grow all of the crops or raise all of the adorable livestock and be outstanding in your field, this is for you.

Score: 9 / 10

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The Dragoness: Command of the Flame is Releasing on September 1st, 2022!

PQube (London, UK) - July 21st, 2022 – PQube and Crazy Goat Games are excited to reveal that HOMM-inspired roguelite RPG ‘The Dragoness: Command of the Flame’ will be releasing on PC on September 1st, 2022.

• Heavily inspired by the Heroes of Might and Magic series, The Dragoness: Command of the Flame combines base-building, exploration, and strategic turn-based combat – but with a roguelite twist

• Set on the Drairthir Peninsula – a fractured land engulfed in conflict – you take the role of a Commander, recruited by mighty The Dragoness, in her bid to bring peace to the world

• Finding yourself in the ruined capital of Níwenborh, it’s down to you to rebuild this once-great city.

• Only by recruiting a powerful beast army and managing your resources will you be able to prepare yourself for the dangers that lie ahead - where only keen strategic thinking and tactical skill will ensure victory

• Brand new Story Trailer exploring the history of the Drairthir Peninsula and its dragon rulers, the benevolent Regals, and the mighty Va, featuring all-new gameplay!

• Releasing on Steam September 1st, 2022!

https://youtu.be/w1sgQuOHJIo

ONCE UPON A TIME…

The Drairthir Peninsula was ruled in peace by two noble dragon houses. The Regal Dragons governed justly while the Va defended the kingdoms borders with their strength. However, centuries of fighting scarred the Va's souls and their love of the Regals slowly soured into jealousy.

After discovering a scroll of dark magic, the Va were corrupted and transformed into the Shai-va, cold and brutal dragons intent on the Regals destruction.

The ensuing civil war culminated in a final battle at the region’s capital Voven-sal, with the queen of the Regal Dragons eventually emerging victorious. But with the capital in ruins, and every region of the peninsula brewing with rebellion, the Dragoness ordered her remaining forces to fall back and found a new capital far removed from the chaos in Níwenborh.

RETURN TO PROSPERITY

As an envoy sent by the Elvish Empire, you are the Commander, selected by The Dragoness to lead her royal army and restore order to these war-torn lands. Embark on an epic adventure with 16 unique main quests, as well as optional challenges to master!

Collect a wide variety of resources and take on dangerous new foes in classic turn-based battles, where only the keenest tacticians will survive.

RULE THE DARKNESS…

Defeat is not the end, cast powerful revival spells that alter your skills, abilities, and boons. Bring back resources and exotic artifacts to Níwenborh and regroup before heading back into the fight! 

Recruited by the Dragoness and tasked with building a mighty beast army, the Commander will develop powerful skills and abilities, both through experience and exploration.

Every run brings new rewards. In both victory and defeat return home with the spoils of war and use these resources to construct and upgrade buildings – unlocking new abilities, skills, units, and bonuses to aid you in your future quests!

…COMMAND THE FLAME

Through progress in the field, and by rebuilding the new capital Níwenborh, you will recruit ever more powerful beasts into your army – each with their own strengths and unique abilities. Experiment with unit selection and synergies. Merge units to create more potent versions of familiar beasts!

The enemy is both cunning and formidable. Choose your army wisely and outsmart your opponent – using a vast selection of unit types, attacks, and supporting abilities to crush any who oppose you.

Experience an epic fantasy tale, thwart a sinister adversary, and restore order to a shattered realm!

'The Dragoness: Command of the Flame' Will be Releasing on PC September 1st, 2022!

For more information and the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, Instagram, and our official website: http://pqube.co.uk/

About PQube

PQube is a leading international creator, publisher, and distributor of interactive entertainment. The company’s teams worldwide are committed to publishing games they love by working closely with development partners and reaching consumers globally on all major gaming platforms. PQube manages a rich portfolio of brands including Cat Quest, New Super Lucky’s Tale, BlazBlue, Gal*Gun, White Day, Kill La Kill, Nexomon: Extinction, Guilty Gear, Kitaria Fables, and many more. Visit: pqube.co.uk to find out more.

Article by: Susan N.

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