Sword and Fairy: Together Forever Review

Sword and Fairy: Together Forever by developer SOFTSTAR and publisher EastAsiaSoft—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

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Sword and Fairy: Together Forever, or Chinese Paladin: Sword and Fairy 7, by developer SOFTSTAR and publisher EastAsiaSoft is the latest in the long running Chinese RPG series. Set in a mythical world with realms of Humans, Deity and Demons, life is about to quickly change for our protagonists as one's failed mission sets off a series of other events bringing everyone and everything together.

Starting off with a bang, we are introduced to the latest entry of this series with a hands-on tutorial of hacking, slashing and dodging a variety of attacks as the deity Xiu Wu is being chased by a winged race known as the Garuda. Fighting their way out of this situation, it doesn't take long for another of Sword and Fairy 7’s features to shine before switching gears and into the real adventure with our primary protagonist Yue Qingshu.

Slowing down the pace for a spell, this is where I probably fell in love with the latest in the Sword and Fairy series. Graphically, everything is stunning to look at. From the lush summer forests of the starting area to the more autumn, wintery and even desert-like areas later on, even the "blandest" of areas have details just waiting to be showcased. Now while graphics are never everything, as even the prettiest experience can be poorly designed, this is not the case with Sword and Fairy 7. Instead, these elegant visuals help immerse yourself into this world filled with people, monsters and plenty of lore to help you better understand everything going on around you.

Only helping this immersion are the stellar musical tracks that accompany every cutscene, battle sequence, town and field explorations. This music has range and while there may have been a track or three that I didn’t personally enjoy, that’s more from personal taste than it was from how well the music itself was. Continuing on, and only adding more to the experience, each of these musical tracks can not only be listened to within your in-game glossary, but these musical tracks are also accompanied by descriptions of the music and the styles used in order to compose them.

While the rest of the experience does hold up on its own, the above graphical and musical elements really help to bring this adventure together. Having moved away from a more turn-based RPG approach, Sword and Fairy 7 is handled in real-time and in a few ways made me think of the latest in the Tales of series with Tales of Arise (Richard’s PS4 review). What makes this adventure a bit different though is that there are no shifts into a battle sequence or overt results screens, everything is done in real-time and there’s never a need to stop and be taken out of where you are currently exploring which keeps the immersion running.

Starting with exploration, Sword and Fairy 7 always has something to look at on screen and the world never feels empty which is a big thing when you have large areas to explore. Towns have people and vendors that can be talked to. Fields can also have people to talk to which can result in side quests. Also out in the fields are fairies that can give you items and monsters can be fought for experience points and money. This can be done either because they are on your path or because it’s part of a sidequest and while not an open world, there are still plenty of fairly large areas that you’ll be visiting a few times over the course of the adventure.

Only helping to make the world of Sword and Fairy 7 feel more real are the cast, main or supporting. Each character brings a little something to the table helping you stay in the adventure wanting to know more. What are our protagonists' stories? What are they hiding from you? Each other? Best of all? Unlike a lot of western or Japanese RPGs, there were no character archetypes where you basically roll your eyes and are like, not another one. While some characters may have a trait or two in a certain direction, and I won’t say anything as to not spoil anything, there’s a depth to everyone that you meet and adventure with. I wish we could see more of this across the board instead of relying on the same old cast molds which have gotten fairly old in a lot of cases.

This leads me to perhaps one of the less shiny moments of the adventure, the amount of time that you’ll spend backtracking through an area. Whether due to a main storyline quest or a side quest, some of these areas will see you running through them dozens of times which is softened a bit by how pretty they are to look at. That said though, these areas only really have a couple of quick travel points and as the adventure goes on, these points are VERY far from where you need to go and when you have to go back and forth? It does become a bit of a slog especially when it’s a fetch quest and it takes longer to “quick travel” between points than to simply walk.

So while the back and forth can be a slog, I was happy that the side quests, whether fetch quests or monster dispatching, didn’t feel like an add-on. If they did? It was only a matter of time before they yielded a bit more of this world’s lore. Whether big or small, each of these mini-adventures to help people out made the world feel that much more real and lived in which is something that I appreciated. Could it sometimes get in the way of the main story? Definitely. Was this a problem? Not really as we come to expect these worlds to come with their own bits of flavor outside of the main quest. Finally if the side quests feel like there are too many and you simply want to move on? Nothing is stopping you!

Finally in terms of gameplay there is the element that I thought was an absolute treat, the combat. From running around the fields with weapons sheathed to having weapons drawn, the switch is effortless allowing you to smoothly transition back and forth as needed while exploring. Holding to many of the same mechanics as exploration, you can run around, you can jump, you can dodge and finally kicking it up a notch, you can attack with combos or abilities. Combos can be performed by attacking with the default button “X” and then hitting the “Triangle” after a certain amount of hits. These don’t cost anything and can be fairly useful in their own right.

From your standard combos to abilities though? While they needed magic points (MP) to cast, they fit in with the rest of the visual presentation and were generally amazing to see in action. What I also appreciated with both these abilities and the above combos is that no two characters felt the same. Each felt as individual as they were presented and it made for an interesting to figure out who worked best in which situation. From the initial character of Xiu Wu who uses a larger sword and has long range magical blade attacks, Yue Qingshu by contrast has a slimmer blade and uses spirits in combat for lightning and ice attacks. Adding in the two remaining characters, Bai Moqing casts magic and should never be up close in combat while Sang Yo uses a crossbow and status effects which were always something to count on especially in tough boss battles.

From start to finish though, Sword and Fairy 7 isn’t perfect as there are some issues that sadly I can’t let slide. Technically appearing together, my issues came from both the localization text and how it was presented on screen. Starting with the localization text, there are some moments where the words just don’t fit and without knowing the spoken language, I really have no idea what should have been said. Adding to some of these instances are some very limited typos and some cases of just the wrong tense being used.

The second issue is that the text appears directly on the screen. There are no available backgrounds, whether solid or transparent. It is what it is and it’s always written in white making it really hard at times to keep up especially when the text is moving forward with you without you in a giant block. It may not be as big of an issue for someone that knows the language and can simply follow along by listening, but for others? I can honestly tell you that I’ve missed certain parts and depending on how far along a cutscene I was? I wasn’t going back to find out…

Overall though? Sword and Fairy: Together Forever was a pleasure to experience. From the richly detailed environments and musical accompaniments to the solid storyline, great characters, exploration and combat design, it was hard to believe at times that this was a sequel to Sword and Fairy 6. This latest entry to the series has made a massive jump forwards and I’m looking forward to what comes next.

Score: 8 / 10

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Phantom Breaker: Omnia Spicy Edition is Now Available on All Platforms

Los Angeles, Calif. – July 28, 2022 – Publisher Rocket Panda Games has turned up the heat this summer with the release of Phantom Breaker: Omnia Spicy Edition! This FREE update is available on all platforms, features two levels of spicy play-by-play by THE ANNOUNCER (as featured in Phantom Breaker: Omnia’s Release Date Trailer), quality of life improvements, along with some gameplay adjustments.

Key Features

• THE ANNOUNCER – He’s back, and his voice is just as buttery smooth as before.
• Choose From 2 Levels: Spicy and EXTRA SPICY! – In addition to the original announcer, there are now two special commentary tracks available—original commentary by THE ANNOUNCER and fiery hot commentary by THE ANNOUNCER.
• Twenty-five Thousand 100% More Spoken Words! – This is a lie, but it sounds great, so we’re leaving it in.
• It’s Free! – THIS INCREDIBLE UPDATE TO PHANTOM BREAKER: OMNIA WILL BE AVAILABLE ON ALL PLATFORMS AND IS SO FREE THAT WE’RE CAPPING EVERYTHING.

Full release notes here: https://bit.ly/PBOSpicyEdition_ReleaseNotes

About Phantom Breaker: Omnia

THE FIRE IN YOUR HEART IS BURNING!

Phantom Breaker: Omnia is a fast-paced 2D anime fighting game that features 20 unique characters pitted against one another to make their greatest wishes come true. The ability to choose between 3 fighting styles will appeal to seasoned gamers while making the game accessible to newcomers. The game features 2 guest characters, Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate and Rimi Sakihata from Chaos;Head, as well as two brand new characters created specifically for Phantom Breaker: Omnia.

About Rocket Panda Games

Yeah, we’re new, but our team has been around the game industry block. We’re gamers and we’re fans, and we want the same things you do: cool games, more options, and a better gaming experience. We’re in the business of fun!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Discord or on our official website.

About THE ANNOUNCER

Jamison Boaz is a singer and voice actor known for voicing Death Metal Retsuko from Aggretsuko and Devil May Cry 5’s Cavaliere Angelo, as well as for his music in Epsilon Zero and Rezodrone, featured in Cyberpunk 2077.

You can check out more of his work on YouTube, Spotify, and Bandcamp.

 

Article by: Susan N.

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XEL Review

XEL by developer Tiny Roar and publisher Assemble Entertainment—PC (Steam) review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

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What would happen if you take Breath of the Wild and make it a little closer to the older Zelda titles? Well, you'd get something close to XEL. A more futuristic take on a Zelda with its own twists thrown in. XEL would be a rather nice title in the Zelda-like series if it weren't overshadowed by some rather heavy technical issues.

XEL tells the tale of a young girl who crashes her spaceship on a planet, giving herself amnesia. Pretty soon she discovers that angry robots have overrun the space vessel, not a planet, and she decides to help try and fix things, because why not? Along the way she discovers a lot of things that get little to no resolution or relevance, and promptly forgets about major plot points she just learned five minutes prior, so you don't need to worry too much about the storyline. Actually, I'm going to throw out an issue I had right away which involves the storyline, or lack thereof, I suppose.

Basically, I had very little knowledge of what was actually going on. I mean, I'm sure I was supposed to learn about it at some point, maybe? But like, there were a lot of times where I would return to town between main mission objectives and the characters would be like "remember this thing we told you about?" and I would be like "yeah, no, you didn't". Heck, the transition to the final cutscene before the point of no return for the final boss talked about some stuff I had no idea about, but apparently the characters did. Not to mention the main character, who gets named Reid by the way, completely forgets about an important piece of information she just found earlier which would help her out against the bad guy.

But nah, we don't need to worry about that.

Gameplay for XEL has a pretty good basis. You have a 3D isometric world to explore where you can hack at enemies, use a shield to block, acquire new weapons and tools, such as a shock trap and "not-a-hookshot". There are plenty of chests to find and loot, and varied areas to explore with puzzles to solve to get at chests or items in the main areas for story progression. As per Breath of the Wild rules, you have a stamina wheel that depletes when you roll or when you get hit while blocking, and will regenerate slowly. You can also "craft" food at campfires, making stat boosting or life healing items you can use from the menu whenever needed.

Combat is, for the most part, surprisingly smooth. You attack and guard when you need to, making sure to keep an eye on your stamina. You can roll away from enemies, as well as do side and back steps if you're targeting an enemy. You can equip two tools as well, which can be either utility or potential damage dealing weapons. Combat with normal enemies, and even some of the larger miniboss type enemies, is generally pretty good. If you have a bunch of both melee and ranged units, it can be a little frustrating, but that's more due to number of enemies, rather than any inherent gameplay issues. Some of the bosses on the other hand, hoo boy. While I understand the devs are still putting patches out to resolve some of the issues, some are just sketchy gameplay design if I'm being honest. Let's just say it's really hard to get a swing off when icicles are raining down on you and you have no control over where they appear.

Let's move on to the audio and visual department. Visually, characters are pretty alright, and environments are pretty nice looking, provided you ignore the grass. Where XEL excels at however is in the audio department. First off, I'd like to note that there is a ton of voice acting that went into XEL, and all of it is at least decent, so props to the devs there. Secondly, the BGM is really nice, and while you may quickly stop noticing due to a number of reasons, the sound quality is actually quite good, for both music and sound effects. Dialogue would occasionally skip forward sometimes though, and there were a few jarring transitions between scenes, so that could probably be smoothed out somewhat.

So, if what I just mentioned was all there was, I would say XEL is decent, but could do with some improvement here and there. Unfortunately, the game is, largely, incredibly bug ridden. I'll list off only what I've personally seen, and while patches are being released to address some of these issues, at least from what I've seen in patch notes, I still experienced these issues just before writing this review, so take that into consideration.

First up, NPCs roaming around tend to slide instead of walk. I know it's a minor issue in the grand scheme of things, but it is very clearly noticeable. Best part is that sliding isn't restricted just to NPCs. Occasionally I would find Reid also sliding around, much to my chagrin, especially if I opened the menu after or while running. Next thing I know I'm halfway across the map falling into a pit. Which also presents a similar problem, because I would walk at a ledge to jump off it, miss and fall, only to be respawned mid-walk right on the edge, causing me to immediately jump. This was most apparent in the final boss fight where you have to jump across some platforms at one point. It took me about 12 attempts to get off the final platform, because I would either slide off the platform without jumping, another chronic and serious issue, or I would respawn almost mid jump, which was exceedingly frustrating.

Don't go anywhere, because there's a lot more. During the game you will discover segments where you can travel into the past in localized areas, usually in order to get across dilapidated bridges, or to solve puzzles by changing something in the past to help in the future. Well, there is one of these puzzles fairly early on after you discover the ability, where you need to push a block onto a grate. Well, I accidentally pushed the block out of the "time zone", which meant I could no longer solve the puzzle.

Yay.

This is also where I first started really noticing that the game has some issues loading in assets. Occasionally textures and objects would take a long time to load in, sometimes not at all. I fell through the floor here because a segment of the floor just never loaded in. Something similar happened toward the end of the game for me as well, where I loaded my game, went to enter a door and ended up falling through the world and getting a game over for it. XEL may be pretty fun, but it is also one of the games I've played that I've managed to softlock the most. Jumping out of bounds, getting stuck in plants, losing blocks you need to push, glitching into areas you aren't supposed to be in yet, suddenly just being unable to move are all of the ways I managed to cause issues where I needed to reboot the game.

On a lighter note, map recognition is really wonky. What I mean is that you will occasionally get notices that you are entering different areas, despite not actually entering them. Additionally, there are a few areas where the minimap doesn't update properly, either showing a different area or not at all. Another comment on the map is that some chests are displayed, not all though, and sometimes they show an opened chest icon. Sometimes. This also appears to reset to a closed icon if you get too far away or restart the game.

Let's talk a bit about the subweapons/tools. Each is unique and has its own uses, but the amount of info you get about them are very little. As an example, the sonic weapon needs to be used at least a short, if not medium, distance away otherwise it doesn't really work. That one took me a while to figure out. Also, the targeting for the webshot is a little awkward and needs some finagling, but is mostly alright. What makes this a little more annoying is the camera orientation. It's sometimes a little too far away, and you can move around to have the camera show behind walls where nothing is there. The camera angle also means that more often than not you will target the nearest webshot location, often the one you just got to, and not the one you want to get to.

The last issue I have has to do with interacting with things, particularly chests. A lot of the times you'll walk up to a chest, try and interact with it, only to have to walk back and forth a few times before you can actually interact with the thing. Other than the glitches, I would have liked to see a run/sprint and for the fast travel function to be unlocked sooner.

All in all, I actually had a fair amount of fun. The crafting system isn't too complicated but is still a nice way to upgrade gear and make items for stat buffs and regaining health. The stages and puzzles are pretty interesting and they all have different themes to them. The voice acting and music is solid, and combat is surprisingly fluid for the most part.

Ultimately, XEL currently has way too many issues for me to seriously consider suggesting it, which is a shame considering the promise it shows. While updates are being made, at the moment it can be an absolute struggle to get through, and even when it isn't, the little things start wearing on you pretty fast. I highly suggest to wait at least a month for some fixes to the issues before you consider picking up XEL.

I really hope the issues get resolved and the developers continue making games, because I'd really like to see more refined titles from them.

Score: 4.5 / 10

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‘Please, Touch the Artwork’ Releases September 3rd on Nintendo Switch

Warsaw – August 03rd, 2022 – Niche publisher Nakana.io have today released a playable demo of Please, Touch The Artwork on Nintendo Switch – entirely designed and developed by one Belgian man, Thomas Waterzooi. 

Scheduled to release on eShop on September 3rd, 2022, this game already obtained many awards for its innovative blend of modern art, puzzle mechanics, and poetic storytelling.

Have you ever thought “…but anyone could have painted this!” while looking at famous abstract art?

Please, Touch The Artwork developer, Thomas Waterzooi, sure has and says:

“I made this game because I wanted to explore my complex relationship with modern art. What should I feel? Can my little sister do this? I’m still not 100% sure, but I do know that modern art has had an impact on everything and everyone in the world today. And so I hope my game can have an impact as well”

Please, Touch The Artwork doesn’t have miraculous answers about modern art. 

Instead, it created new game mechanics and stories inspired by famous Mondrian paintings – and let people engage with them.

The game features 3 unique puzzles each based on a different painting/style.

• De Stijl (The Style)
• Boogie Woogie
• New York City

Each puzzle has a different mechanic and should be challenging/relaxing in its own way. All puzzles are procedurally generated so that each player has a unique copy of the game. The games do not require skill and there’s no timing pressure. Accessibility is key.

Gameplay & Stories

The first puzzle tells the origin story of pure abstract art. It’s a challenging puzzle where you’ll add colors and lines to a canvas to recreate paintings.

The second puzzle is about Boogie & Woogie, two squares who just want to be together, but a rapidly growing world is making this harder and harder. You’ll help Woogie reach Boogie by figuring out how the obstacles influence Woogie’s path.

In the third puzzle, you’ll move to the big city, only to be overwhelmed with mixed emotions. From joy and excitement to feeling homesick and missing your friends and family. You’ll be maneuvering through the craziness of the Big Apple while collecting letters to form a poem.

Features Summary

• Elegant puzzles
  • 160+ puzzles
  • Based on iconic art by Piet Mondrian
  • Each puzzle based on a different painting
  • Randomly generated levels for replayability and uniqueness
• Accessible
  • Simple controls (only touch screen on Switch)
  • Suitable for ages 12 – 99
  • No skills required
  • Color-blind mode
  • Big text
• Zen
  • No-stress puzzle-solving, no time-pressure
  • Subtle challenges
  • Jazzy-soundtrack that complements the time spirit.
• Educational
  • Get to know the story behind abstract art pioneers
  • Fun facts & artist-quotes
• Playmodes
  • Hints when stuck 
  • Story mode with 3 unique stories

More Information About Please, Touch The Artwork:

• Watch the Nintendo Switch trailer here: https://youtu.be/tAcHTu6DGfM
• Visit the official page/press kit: http://www.studiowaterzooi.com/
• Visit the game on Nintendo.com: https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/please-touch-the-artwork-switch/

About Developer Thomas Waterzooi

Studio Waterzooi is the one-man company behind Thomas Waterzooi. Thomas previously worked on Divinity Original Sin (Larian Studios) and Hitman (IO-Interactive ) as a gameplay and AI developer before becoming a solo indie developer in 2018. He focuses on making accessible interactive stories and playful things inspired by art, culture, society, and human interest. His games are not about skills or high scores. They are about relaxing, reflecting, playful tinkering, and being sucked into the story and aesthetics (nowadays also often referred to as “wholesome”). In the past Thomas did collaborations in the field of serious gaming, AR, and VR but “Please, Touch The Artwork” is Thomas’s first big solo project. It has received, though still in development, several awards, and international nominations.

About Publisher Nakana.io

Founded by Mikael Bourget, Nakana.io is an independent publishing label for games that have something to say beyond the entertainment they provide (11 titles so far).

Since 2019, Nakana.io has been exclusively working with atypical games, experimental or with a serious message, far from the mainstream concepts. They have been able to be successful anyway and reach many gamers on the three biggest consoles: Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox. They believe that these kinds of games will continue to be appealing, and that we’re only at the dawn of culture in digital form.

 

Article by: Susan N.

5 Min Read

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EnglishSpanishFrench-------- [ All ] --------AfrikaansAlbanianAmharicArabicArmenianAssameseAymaraAzerbaijaniBambaraBashkirBasqueBelarusianBengaliBhojpuriBosnianBulgarianCantonese (Traditional)CatalanCebuanoChichewaChinese (Literary)Chinese SimpChinese TradChuvashCorsicanCroatianCzechDanishDariDhivehiDogriDutchEmojiEnglishEnglish United KingdomEsperantoEstonianEweFaroeseFijianFilipinoFinnishFrenchFrench (Canada)FrisianGalicianGandaGeorgianGermanGreekGuaraniGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHawaiianHebrewHill MariHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIlocanoIndonesianInuinnaqtunInuktitutInuktitut (Latin)IrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKazakhKazakh (Latin)KhmerKinyarwandaKlingon (Latin)KonkaniKoreanKrioKurdish (Kurmanji)Kurdish (Sorani)KyrgyzLaoLatinLatvianLingalaLithuanianLower SorbianLuxembourgishMacedonianMaithiliMalagasyMalayMalayalamMalteseMaoriMarathiMariMeiteilon (Manipuri)MizoMongolianMongolian (Traditional)Myanmar (Burmese)NepaliNorwegianNyanjaOdia (Oriya)OromoPapiamentoPashtoPersianPolishPortuguese (Brazil)Portuguese (Portugal)PunjabiQuechuaQuertaro OtomiRomanianRundiRussianSamoanSanskritScots GaelicSepediSerbianSerbian (Cyrillic)Serbian (Latin)SesothoSetswanaShonaSindhiSinhalaSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTagalogTahitianTajikTamilTatarTeluguThaiTibetanTigrinyaTonganTsongaTurkishTurkmenTwiUdmurtUkrainianUpper SorbianUrduUyghurUzbekUzbek (Cyrillic)VietnameseWelshXhosaYakutYiddishYorubaYucatec MayaZulu

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Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 Review

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II by developer Black Isle Studios and publisher Interplay Entertainment Corp.—Microsoft Xbox One review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes 

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Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II is one of those games I wanted to like a lot more than I did, because from a nostalgic standpoint, it ticks a lot of boxes for me. It’s always easy to get me to try something Dungeons & Dragons related. I appreciated that these games moved away from the text-heavy, strategic combat of the PC games in favor of a more Diablo-like action style of play that better suited consoles and controllers. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II has some things going for it, but there’s some rough patches here too.

For starters, while the game has gotten a 4k visual update here, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II is still not a very pretty game most of the time. Chunky characters, repeated textures and some pretty rough cinematics (especially at the beginning) quickly remind you just how old this title is (closing in on a couple of decades). Still, some of the presentation still works rather nicely. Even if the dialog’s a bit stiff given the age of the title, it’s voiced. There’s lighting effects at play that seem a bit dated by today’s standards, but were pretty impressive for the time. The music, as is so often the case in Dungeons & Dragons games, is pretty great most of the time. Caverns are appropriately haunting and ratchet up the tension nicely, though a bit more variety would have been nice.

Still, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II reminds you of its age at almost every turn. The city itself feels surprisingly small and lifeless. Character upgrades feel pretty basic, but generally meaningful. Combat is a little clunky at times but still enjoyable. It is an odd mixture of reminding me of what was while also demonstrating how far gaming has come. Other than the graphical paintjob however, there doesn’t appear to be anything particularly new about this. This is simply a new coat of paint and little more. There was an opportunity here to tweak a few things, and perhaps make Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II a better experience instead of simply a nostalgic one.

It is also worth noting some technical issues. There was a cave that has since been patched, that caused crashing when I entered it. There was another scene early on in the game where some of the goblins I was fighting simply froze into place and became unkillable. That was an issue since my quest to advance the story relied on killing them. I had to reload to an earlier save to eventually break out of that cycle. Twice I had to revert to earlier saves because quest enemies got ‘stuck’ in walls / structures and couldn’t be killed. I was able to press on and recover with some minimal backtracking in the end, but it was not the most pleasant of experiences when those glitches occurred.

All of these complaints aside, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II still delivers on its core promise of fantasy adventures, character progression and reasonable action. Using melee attacks can be a bit unwieldy at times. I found myself preferring ranged / magic – which is usually the opposite for me. In most fantasy games I gravitate towards the brawlers. Not sure I can exactly put my finger on why that’s not the case with Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II, but I started with the barbarian and found myself enjoying the other classes more.

There is a lot of just pressing the attack button over and over again though, as the combat itself does not have a great deal of depth. You can unlock new skills as you level up, and it gives you something to do during more challenging fights. I would say at least ninety percent of the combat can be won just by spamming away at a single button and pointing yourself in the right direction.

I will say that playing the game in co-op is a good time. It’s easier to overlook the warts when you have someone playing it with you and you are simply smashing away at your opponents. It makes the gameplay feel a bit better balanced too, as one of the common challenges that the game throws at you has more to do with sheer numbers than anything most of the enemies are actually doing. That said, I will say that the melee classes seemed to have the upper-hand in co-op. Not necessarily because they were more effective in combat itself, but because they generally attacked faster and are already next to fallen enemies. That means they tend to generate more kills (for more experience) and are in position to pick up more loot than their ranged counterparts.

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II is not a bad game, but by more modern standards it is not really a good one either. Fans just looking for a trip down memory lane will probably get what they need out of this, but Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II is a barebones remaster that touches up the in-game visuals and little more. On those merits, it is hard to argue that Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II is good bang for the buck at roughly thirty dollars, unless you are a diehard fan of all Dungeons & Dragons games.

Despite some technical quibbles and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II’s evident age, there is fun to be had here for those who enjoy an action RPG.

Score: 6 / 10

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Frogwares Announces Sherlock Holmes The Awakened Remake of the 2006 Original!

21 July 2022 – Kyiv, Ukraine + Dublin, Ireland | Ukrainian developer Frogwares has revealed their new game – Sherlock Holmes The Awakened – will be a full remake and substantial rewrite of their 2006 release of the same name. Previously teased under the name Project Palianytsia, The Awakened is a dark, HP Lovecraft-inspired story infused with the narrative arc of a young Sherlock Holmes taking on his first big case once he settled in London.

The Awakened will be coming to PC, PS4, PS5, XB1, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch with a Kickstarter campaign set to launch soon to help secure the game’s final production funds and offer fans a few more bonuses and rewards for supporting the studio at a time when their country is at war.

The first official trailer, a video update from the team, and more details about gameplay mechanics will be released alongside the start of the Kickstarter campaign. For now, the team are sharing the first screenshots, extensive details on what the game is and is asking fans to opt into observing the Kickstarter campaign to be notified once it goes live.

KS Campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frogwares/sherlock-holmes-the-awakened

What is this game about?

The Awakened remake sees a young Sherlock take on his first major case alongside his newly acquainted sidekick, John Watson. What seems like a straightforward case of a missing person quickly spirals into a web of conspiracies by a nefarious cult that worships the eldritch god Cthulhu and is attempting to bring about an ancient prophecy. The game will take the detective duo across 4 locations – Victorian London, a Swiss psych ward, the New Orleans bayous, and the Scottish Highlands – as they try to separate reality from the supernatural while trying to put a stop to these shadowy madmen.

Why Are We Making This Game Now?

The idea of using the unsettling and horror-filled events in The Awakened to continue our young Sherlock arc has been floating around the studio for a while. The supernatural, all-consuming cosmic horror setting and gameplay work extremely well as a monumental, life-altering moment in Sherlock’s formative years. Something that tops what we already did in Sherlock Holmes Chapter One and lets us continue our creative take on what Sherlock could have experienced to become such a broken and haunted genius. The story is also set up well as a great opportunity to give our take on how the profound bond between Holmes and Watson could have cemented itself. It’s something we intentionally didn’t cover in Sherlock Holmes Chapter One, but a part of the Holmes story we knew we’d like to one day cover. A profound and haunting experience that essentially brings them together. “

“So we’ve always wanted to remake this game at some point, but the war has forced us into making it now. By working on a title that has the bulk of its content, scope and narrative all locked in place after just a few weeks, we are giving ourselves a much more predictable and structured development cycle. And stability and predictability is exactly what we need right now while the rest of our days remain so uncertain.” – Denys Chebotarov, Producer, Frogwares

What is being remade?

“No assets or code are being repurposed from the original game. We are essentially rebuilding the entire game from scratch to run Unreal Engine 4, using all new assets or ones we can cleverly rework from Sherlock Holmes Chapter One which came out only a few months ago. We’re also adding entirely new gameplay mechanics while reworking the original ones to expand the ways players will be solving the cases. The changes to the story and timeline mean entirely new voice acting will be recorded. We’re also reworking the camera to feel like modern third-person perspective games, remaking all of the UI, animations, cutscenes. The list goes on. It’s essentially an entirely new game with only the underlying story in the cases staying more or less intact” – Jaroslav Martyniuk, Feature Designers Team Lead, Frogwares

A list of the major changes to The Awakened include:

• All new graphics and assets made in Unreal Engine 4
• New and redone animations
• Full cutscene overhauls
• Additional investigation of gameplay mechanics
• Rewriting the story to connect with the case from The Awakened to a younger Sherlock
• Amplifying the story behind how Watson and Holmes came to be so close
• Minor story rewrites to the cases
• Additional side quests
• New English voice-over recordings and translations into multiple languages
• UI overhaul
• Change to contemporary 3rd person perspective camera
• Additional quality of life features

What is Being Rewritten?

“The original Sherlock Holmes The Awakened was a standalone story with a mature Holmes and Watson taking on a case of what seemed like a simple kidnapping but turns into something much more supernatural and sinister.  We’re extremely proud of the original writing in The Awakened which over many years seems to hold up as quite a few fans and critics have told us that they consider it one of the best Cthulhu-inspired game stories out there.”

“So we are taking this foundation and keeping much of the horror, Cthulhu storyline intact but rewriting it to be a direct continuation of our young Sherlock history. Most notably we’re shifting the timeline so it’s Sherlock, a few years after the events that took place on Cordona. Watson is at his side but they are just acquaintances at this point and this is their first major case together. Much of the character interactions and lines are being rewritten to reflect this. We’re making some changes to the stories in the cases as well as some entirely new side quests. The story of how the bond between Holmes and Watson could have formed is being amplified in the writing now as well as changes to the ending to line up with all this and the psychological impact the events would have on both of them.” – Antonina Melnykova, Lead Narrative Designer, Frogwares

Why Are We Doing Crowdfunding?

“Under normal circumstances, we would secure the funding for our next game ourselves from the sales of our previous titles. But this war is continually throwing new challenges at us that each time requires we stop, regroup and adapt. This takes time, effort, and in some cases money that would normally be marked to fund the production of a game.”

“We have the bulk of the content, new features, and storyline all mapped out and locked in.  But we have rewritten the original story a fair bit and plan to use all-new voice acting so we need to now record and also translate all this from scratch. As the plan is to launch the game on five platforms we will also need extensive QA time and resources. And lastly, the team has additional features and enhancement ideas that we would like to consider adding if we were to have additional resources.”

“Through crowdfunding, we can secure all these needs and also safeguard the overall funding of the game, knowing full well we now have the guaranteed means to finish the game and handle any hurdles we could face as this war evolves. This safety net will allow us to put our team’s needs and safety first as we adapt further without derailing the entire development and funding.”

“And lastly, we also know we have a group of dedicated fans who enjoy and support our games and want to help us as best as they can right now. Through Kickstarter, we can offer these fans the chance to buy our next game now and be rightfully credited for their support in the game itself while also helping to determine some of the game’s final content and giving them a few extra rewards and bonuses.”  – Sergey Oganesyan, Comms Lead, Frogwares

Article by: Susan N.

7 Min Read

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Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards Review

Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards by developer N-Fusion Interactive and developer and publisher Digiart Interactive—Sony PlayStation 4 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

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Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards is a hack & slash adventure RPG that, like several others, has made its way over to the consoles from the PC. Born of a Goddess and a Mortal, our titular protagonist Aluna has demigod powers through a fragment of a meteor that is infused with the power of her mother that destroyed it in order to save both Aluna and others. Tasked with finding other shards with her mother's power to prevent them from being misused for evil, Aluna sets out to locate them.

I’m a sucker for a good hack & slash adventure. There’s just something both challenging and satisfying in facing off against hordes of enemies and collecting loot in order to face off against even tougher hordes of enemies, elites and boss ranked foes. So when the chance to review Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards came up, I was in as this didn’t look like it would be the standard hack & slash adventure and looked like it could be a bit of fun.

This is a little bit where I may have been wrong, but not in the way that I had expected. From the top, Aluna’s adventure starts off with a bang with a gorgeous montage leading up to the current point in time through an animated comic book style. This style shows up a few times over the course of the adventure and I would watch / read an entire series of this. Both the style and of Aluna’s adventures as I’ve recently discovered that animated manga is a thing.

From this point though, you are brought over into the third person top down isometric view often used in a hack & slash adventure. Once in control of Aluna however, the visual presentation looked like there was something missing, almost like the image had been stretched too far out to fill in the default PlayStation’s resolution. That aside, as I could make do, it turns out that may have only been part of the issues with the current build.

Following the almost stretched out visuals is that I was getting a lot of screen tearing and would have liked for there to be an option to enable V-Sync. Funny that we now need that option on a console, but here we are. I definitely could have used it as that’s not something you can really get used to with lines appearing in the middle of your screen. Finally, some of the environment effects were very hard on the eyes. Lightning strikes for example flashed the screen making me have to either squint when a storm came in or simply close my eyes every time it struck. Let's just say that it made surviving combat a little bit tougher as I could only hope to not be taken out.

Not to be stopped however, I plowed on regardless of the above as these are things that will hopefully be patched in at a later date. In the meantime though, the general adventure has a decent premise to push things along which is what a lot of hack & slash adventures lack. Aluna while searching for the shards will be running into evil forces trying to claim her mother’s power for themselves and have no issues corrupting others to stand in her way and take what they want. This makes up for a good portion of the gameplay as you are on a straight enough path forwards as you fight your way through.

Equipped with whatever you can get your hands on, Aluna can use either single or double-handed weapons, slings, bows or muskets to make her way through an enemy crowd. Other armor pieces will affect stats such as an off-hand item or shields, earrings, bracers, chest pieces and boots. Part of the fun is looking through what you’ve picked up to see if it will work for you and your current build, or, keep it for later as there’s a unique ability that will definitely shine even if the stats don’t follow along.

Combat itself is pretty straight forward. You move Aluna around with the left thumbstick and default attack with “X”. Square, Triangle, Circle, R1, R2 are each reserved for special abilities on top of two passive ones that can be equipped inside of your menu. Melee, ranged and magic abilities can be unlocked as you level up making fighting the hordes of enemies easier over time as you find new ways to engage them. Spinning around in a whirlwind attack, slowing them down, poisoning them or growing larger for more attack power. There are plenty of options and it was fun enough once you get into the groove.

Where things didn’t quite work as much for me is how streamlined it all is. I know that can sound a bit odd being a hack & slash, but the areas are pretty linear even if they are large. You “have” to go this way, you “have” to go that way, and in the middle of all of it? There are no side quests that come out. Whether you go back to town or are out in the field, you’re there for one reason, to move the main story along. This wouldn’t be so much of a complaint, if the grinding for experience was a bit easier…

If you leave an area and come back, not all enemies will respawn. Some of them will, but it makes for a slog to grind experience if you find that you are having a hard time especially against some bosses that can seem unfair until you've done said grinding for five or six character levels. It also often means that you have to go back several areas and fight whoever you can find in order to hopefully give you that said leverage as Aluna’s adventure isn’t that easy especially with a few difficulty spikes that can occur.

Topping that off, if you run out of hit points and “die”, it’s basically game over and you have to restart from the previous checkpoint. There’s no resurrection in town with a gold loss penalty but you get to keep the experience earned or get a penalty on the experience earned. Instead, it’s selecting that restart from the previous checkpoint and hope that you’re not too far back.

Finally my last issue with the gameplay is in how the skills themselves are presented. Colorful to look at, they are still colorful after being used and the distinction isn’t really clear until you’ve had a chance to actually stop, use them, and check to see the difference in luminosity. Used skills should have been much easier to tell from unused ones and this was especially the case when dealing with your potion for health recovery. Otherwise? You’re spamming on that button and hope that it comes back in time!

So while there are some good ideas behind Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards, I found that the console port may need a bit more work in order to better shine.

With a comic book storytelling approach and a decent skill system for character customization, there’s plenty here that works well, but unfortunately the current visual presentation elements hold it back.

Score: 5.75 / 10

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Freedom Games Coromon Targetted in NFT/Crypto Copycat Scam

The following is a copy/paste of an email received by Freedom Games PR in late July 2022.

What has happened

An NFT/Crypto scam appeared yesterday on social media pretending to be publisher Freedom Games' and developer TRAGsoft’s modern monster tamer RPG, Coromon, but with supposed blockchain technology and promising NFT giveaways. This is patently false. There is absolutely no NFT or blockchain integration in the real Coromon or with any other titles from Freedom Games.

“Coromon (BSC)” illegally uses the real game’s assets and the trademarked name. The scam appears to use the face of CertiK, but at this time we are unsure of the validity of the relationship.

You might recall, a similar, but more egregious, situation happened earlier this year with another of Freedom's titles, Outerverse.

What we are doing

Freedom Games and TRAGsoft have been informing our community of the copycat and encourage them to report any associated accounts they see.

Likewise, Freedom Games has its legal team looking into any and all remedies and protections for the Coromon team.

What we will do

Freedom Games will continue to do everything within its power to protect the developers we support. Likewise, Freedom Games will always vigorously protect its copyright and trademarks, to safeguard our community to the best of our ability.

Public call to action

Please help spread the word to avoid this scam on social media or any other places it may appear. The real Coromon is only available on Steam, Epic Game Store, and Nintendo Switch, with no ties to NFTs, cryptocurrencies, or the blockchain whatsoever in any form.

The statement above is from Bryan Herren, Director of Marketing at Freedom Games. Please let us know if you have any further questions for their team about the ongoing situation.

Article by: Susan N.


2 Min Read

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