PC – Super Game Reviews

Wallet Crusaders – Kingdom: New Lands

Sometimes a gamer needs a break from the fast-paced action games that have been very popular in the past and still continue to be to this day. Usually after a long adventure game or a heavy RPG with a steep learning curve, I need something more casual to chill out while watching anime or martial arts movies. Kingdom: New Lands is an expanded and improved-upon version of the original indie hit: Kingdom. If you’re looking for an addictive time-killer with simple controls and surprising amount of challenge, look no further.

Kingdom: New Lands

Systems: PC, OS X, Linux

Developer: Noio

Publisher: Raw Fury

Release Date: August 9th, 2016

Price: $14.99 (on Steam)

The first thing you will definitely notice in Kingdom: New Lands are the absolutely beautiful pixel graphics. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous! Everything is so minimalistic, yet so atmospheric and alive. There are multiple foreground and background layers moving independently as the player character travels which gives the illusion of a 3D-type effect. Every bit of the game looks amazing. I was immediately immersed, although I’m still somewhat shocked at the game’s seemingly simplistic nature. Simplicity, however, is actually Kingdom: New Lands’ biggest strength.

Speaking of simple, controls don’t get much simpler than the controls in Kingdom. The only buttons used during gameplay are left, right, and down (or ASD on the keyboard). Left and right move the character left or right, respectively, and double tapping them will allow you to sprint for a short duration (tip: letting the horsey eat grass will recover it’s stamina faster!). After collecting a few coins, you can press the down button to drop those coins. “Why would drop your coins?!”, you might ask. Good question, allow me to explain.

In Kingdom: New Lands (as well as the base game) you don’t have access to any weapons, attacks, or magic. Not personally at least. You begin the game as a randomly generated king or queen riding a horse (tip: you can re-roll your characters appearance during the loading screen! The game never mentions this and I found out by accident). You are led to a campfire by a ghost of a former king or queen. Along the way you will collect a few coins. Once the campfire is lit, a base is built. Now it’s time to spend that cash money!

In order to spend the coins, you will need to look for vagrants. Vagrants are the homeless looking fellows who set up camps throughout the wilderness. These desperate men will willing join your cause for the price of a single coin. Once recruited, vagrants become commoners in your kingdom. In order to make use of these recruits you must first supply them with gear. To begin with, you can hire them as hunters or builders. Hunters hunt wild animals like bunnies and deer, while builders will craft fortifications, cut down trees, and repair your defenses. Later on, farmers and knights can be hired. Farmers tend to your land once you’ve built a farm and become a constant supply of money. Knights will be your stalwart defenders and can be assigned a team of archers as his or her guild to enter the fray of battle together.

The gameplay mainly revolves around walking back and forth to discover what lies in wait behind your walls, collecting coins (or taxes), and wisely investing in your kingdom as you expand it’s borders. Kingdom: New Lands adds a solid amount of new content to expand upon the base game. After building up your kingdom, you are now able to repair a wrecked ship. Repairing this ship and protecting it until it reaches the dock is how you will move to the next land. Each land offers increasing difficulty and challenges. Kingdom: New Lands also provides a handful of reworked mechanics and a generous serving of new unlockable mounts and other nifty bonus content.

If this is sounding much too simple, it’s because the trickiest and biggest challenge to your success hasn’t even been mentioned yet. Allow me to introduce your eternal nemesis: The Greed! The Greed are not to be trifled with. These ghoulish, mask-wearing fiends will do anything to get their hands on your crown. There are different ranks among the greed, generally distinguishable by the look of their masks. The most noticeable difference is the amount hits they can endure before dying. Every few nights, especially during a blood moon, these monster beings will charge in and attack your kingdom in attempt to steal the royal crown. To keep them at bay, you must construct and fortify your walls and defenses. Walls alone won’t save you, however. To survive, you must also recruit and arm enough hunters, knights, and catapult engineers who will fight tooth and nail to defend the kingdom as the waves of enemies increase over time. When defeated in battle, your recruits will either be turned back into commoners and vagrants. They can sometimes also be dragged off by The Greed, never to be seen again.

Final Judgment: 82%

I found Kingdom: New Lands to be quite addicting and very enjoyable. These are hands down some of the best looking pixel-graphics I’ve ever seen. The game is very simple and somewhat repetitive, yet still manages to be entertaining and require a decent amount of strategy to survive. The recruiting, base-building, tower-defense, and resource management all compliment each other very well and together create a very engaging and interesting gameplay experience. Kingdom: New Lands goes from casual to hardcore at a very well designed pace. The simplicity of the controls and style of the game might seem basic but once you’ve gotten the game of it, it can be extremely rewarding. I would recommend picking this game up. At such a great price you really cant’ go wrong. Prepare to build, explore, and expand!

Pros:

Beautiful pixel art
Simple controls
Unique gameplay
Unlockable bonus content
Challenging
Perma-death

Cons:

Cannot attack or defend yourself
Somewhat repetitive
Almost no direction or explanation of buildings/other objects

Wallet Crusader: Human Fall Flat

As a huge fan of physics-based games, Human Fall Flat immediately caught my notice. I bought it, downloaded it, and then accidentally forgot about it. After hearing news about it coming to consoles in the near future, I figured I’d boot it up and give it a shot. Human Fall Flat is a challenging physics game in which you control a clumsy, boneless, blob human to navigate obstacles and solve puzzles.

Human Fall Flat

Systems: PC, OS X, Linux (Coming soon to consoles!)

Developer: No Brakes Games

Publisher: Curve Digital

Release Date: July 22, 2016

Price: $14.99 (on Steam)

Human Fall Flat is quirky. I’m not sure any other word more appropriately describes the gameplay. The main objective is basically just reaching the next stage. Sometimes you will press buttons to open nearby doors, other times you may be hauling wooden boxes on top of switches to open other doors. There are all kinds of other challenges such as destroying walls, swinging on ropes, and jumping from platform to platform, but despite the variety, there is very slow, clunky, and boring progression between levels. So boring, in fact, that I never managed to complete the entire game.

The controls on PC are very simple to use but difficult to master. Similar to Gang Beasts, Human Fall Flat gives you nearly full control of the character movement. It Left and right mouse buttons are used to control the left and right arms, respectively. When you press down on either button, the gooey little player-character will raise his arms and extend his sticky hands. By “sticky”, I mean that his hand WILL stick to anything they touch until the mouse button is released. Movement is controlled with WSAD and the camera is controlled via mouse movement. Sounds easy enough in theory, in practice it takes skill to maneuver your clumsy, seemingly drunken player character.

The biggest selling point in Human Fall Flat is the physics engine. The way the player-character reacts to the environment is neat and almost realistic. The environments also work well together. Round things should roll like the do in real life. You can push objects around and even lift smaller objects. If you encounter a rope, grab on and take a swing off a cliff like a true Tarzan. Toss a television out of the window. There are all sorts of things to play with. Each level is a sandbox and offers some sense of freedom.

Some goals can be accomplished in unusual ways (probably not even thought of by the developers), but for the most part, most objects are simply set pieces and add nothing to the game other than some extra stuff to break or toss around.

Final Judgment: 65%

Don’t get me wrong, Human fall flat IS neat. I just personally can’t say that it’s very much fun. I liked the way the physics engine made interacting with the environment so realistic. The controls were extremely clumsy. At first it was funny and a bit charming but after the first few levels, it was more annoying than anything else. Jumping felt shockingly awkward. Climbing was a very neat idea but was executed so poorly that I didn’t last long after the first climbing area of the game. The puzzles weren’t as challenging as much as they were frustratingly time-consuming. If you don’t have LOTS of patience, this game might not be for you. No Brakes Games has included a workshop add-on which adds countless hours of replay value. Unfortunately, I’d rather not replay at all.

Pros:

Realistic physics engine
Puzzles
Nice looking graphics
Funny at first
Workshop adds replay value

Cons:

Drunken movement controls
Annoying sticky hands
Boring af
Climbing and jumping are horrendous
No real goal other than getting from point A to point B

For Honor Open Beta will be live soon!

Participants from the Closed Beta, as well as the unfortunate few that were unable to play For Honor when it went live January 26-29, will have another shot! Open Beta access will be live on February 9th – 12th for Playstation 4, Xbox One & Windows with the full game launching on the 14th!

These are the time listings for the Beta starting February 9th and ending on February 12th.

Starts 2/9 – Ends 2/12

2PM – 1AM (2/13) GMT
3PM – 2AM (2/13) CET
9AM – 8PM EST
6AM – 5PM PST

For those who did play during the Closed Beta, simply keep it downloaded, and when booted up the player will be prompted to update it.Those who didn’t get a chance to play, or have deleted their save file, this link below will guide players to registration!

https://forhonor.ubisoft.com/game/en-US/home/

Twitch Prime members will also receive some benefits, ranging from a 10-day Champion Status, a special emblem and more! Beta Access participants will all receive some in-game redeemable prizes, but the champions of the 3-way war between the factions will win something special!

With the Beta going live in just a few hours it seems like some updates are happening as well as server maintenance! Perhaps we will get a chance to demo the 4th character class that was absent during the Closed Beta Access.

Stay tuned for Super Game Reviews’ coverage on For Honor, set to launch February 14th, 2017 on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 & Xbox One!

Below is the official trailer for this title!

Telltale Games: The Walking Dead Season 1

If you aren’t familiar with The Walking Dead, you probably don’t get out much, as it consists of a comic book series, books, video games, and a television series. It all takes place in the Unites States of America, mostly in Georgia, during the zombie apocalypse. Told episodically with three seasons to date, Telltale Games’s The Walking Dead is by far the most popular of the video games. Since the third episode of season three is delayed, it’s a great time to go back and relive raising Clementine in the new world.

The Walking Dead: Season 1

Systems: Android, iOS, Kindle Fire HDX, OS X, Windows, Ouya, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, Xbox 360, and Xbox One

Publisher: Telltale Games

Developer: Telltale Games

Release Date: April 26, 2012 – November 21, 2012

Price: $24.99 + $4.99(DLC)

Single Player

Season One starts with the player as Lee Everett, a college professor that had recently been found guilty of the murder of a state senator, being driven to prison during the beginning of the apocalypse. You don’t end up getting too far as the officer ends up hitting a zombie in the middle of the road and rolling his cruiser over a guardrail and down a steep embankment, with you both in it. Handcuffed and disoriented, you come to some time later and have to make your way out of the car to retrieve the handcuff keys from, the now dead, officer. Turns out that he was killed by a zombie and you end up having to kill his now reanimated corpse with his shotgun. This action draws a lot of zombies and, thanks to a cut-scene (which, as a story heavy game, are very prevalent), you end up finding safety. Shortly after finding safety, you find your new travel companion and new impromptu daughter, Clementine. The rest of season one depicts how Lee and Clementine handle loss, starvation, kidnapping, extortion, and lots of death. It even brings some of the characters from the television and comic book series into the mix.

They even added 400 Days, a downloadable content (DLC) add-on for Season One. In 400 days, you go through the stories of 5 different survivors from day 1 to day 400. Being an add-on for Season One, the choices you made will be echoed throughout. Also, the choices made in 400 Days will be carried on to Season Two.

Final Judgement: 80%

Graphics – 12/15

Cell-shading can take a while to get used to in some games. This, however, is not one of those games. From the very beginning, you notice that the choice in graphics and shading are absolutely perfect, and when paired with the fact that they do cut-scenes with in-game graphics, you stay lost in the story.

Sound – 14/15

The soundtrack isn’t anything special; though as with the graphics, improves the overall atmosphere of the game.
Sound effects in this game are very well done, from police sirens to the wet smack of an ax into a skull.
Now, being that this is basically an interactive comic book, the voice acting cannot be lacking in any way. In this aspect, this game succeeds greatly.

Gameplay – 15/25

The point and click gameplay gets old, so Telltale Games revamped it with context actions, which definitely don’t get old.
The progression in this game, albeit a little slow, is balanced by the telling in episodes.
Having a static difficulty, this game is kind of stale here.

Replayability – 14/15

400 Days, the sole addon is okay but could be better if it forced you to play the days in order as it is easy to get mixed up.
Being that a large majority of the decisions and dialogue choices effect the late game and later games, this has a very large replayability factor.

Fun Factor – 22/30

The Walking Dead games, being the first Telltale IP using this game style is very original.
Storytelling is one of the big hitters in this list as this is a story game that will easily make you laugh or cry.
For being as simple a game as it is, this game is very unique in the way it delivers the story.
Being a big fan of the comic book, I was pleased to see that Telltale decided to stick to the comic story, rather than the television story.

Final Thoughts

Telltale Games wowed the gaming world with the first installment of The Walking Dead with the incorporation of the “comic book feel” with the use of cell shading and interactive story arcs. That wasn’t all the first season of the game brought with it. Although they are short (around two hours per episode), Telltale Games’s The Walking Dead games are quite possibly some of the most emotionally driven games ever created. Choices are often time sensitive and can end in certain death for some characters; which draws you into the story deeper, since you have to pay close attention.

Wallet Crusader: Starbound

Welcome back, gamers! Today I’ll be discussing Starbound; an affordable indie gem that I’ve been following throughout it’s development. After launching a Kickstarter-style pre-order on the Humble Store and Steam back in 2013, Chuckle Fish Games was able to raise over 2 million dollars. After a few years, Starbound was released from its early-access beta. At the moment, Starbound is only available for the PC but will be coming to consoles in the near future. Fans of Terraria will find Starbound’s gameplay to be quite familiar. Despite the similarities, Starbound remains a unique and pleasurable experience. Prepare yourselves for a grand adventure across the unknown universe!

Starbound

Systems: PC, OS X, Linux (Xbox One, PS4, PS Vita TBA)

Developer: Chuckle Fish Games

Publisher: Chuckle Fish Games

Release Date: July 22, 2016

Price: $14.99 (on Steam)

The first step before blasting off into space is character creation. Starbound offers 7 different races to choose from. The effects of choosing a race are mostly cosmetic but will decide your characters general appearance, which type of spacecraft they receive, which clothing and armors are available, and the way NPCs interact with your character. The Novakid race, for instance, has cowboy themed clothing, armor, ship, and can craft guns instead of the typical swords and axes that are available to other races. Each race also has their own history, architecture, culture, and settlement types to discover while exploring the universe.

One of the biggest additions featured in the final release is the major quest line. The game now begins with a full intro that also serves as a tutorial. The tutorial teaches basic movement controls and how to interact with the environment. But most importantly, this is where you receive your own official matter manipulator. By the end of the prologue, disaster strikes and you have no choice to flee to your newly acquired spaceship and escape destruction. After reaching the starter planet and following the first few instructions, you will open up a gateway to a universal hub called The Ark. This is where you will find the main quest giver who will send you across the stars in search of ancient relics. Each race has their own heavily guarded relic and in order to find them, you will have to track down settlements of each race looking for clues to each relic’s location.

Much like Terraria, Starbound’s main focus is on survival, exploration, gathering resources, and crafting. To survive, you must eat regularly, keep warm/cool, manage radiation, and fend off dangerous alien beasts. Food comes in all shapes and sizes. You have the option to hunt for meat, gather fruit and vegetables, and even prepare cooked meals. If the hunter-gatherer lifestyle doesn’t suit your taste, you may also settle down and build a farm to grow food. There are also some animals for sale at The Ark which produce other foods such as eggs and milk. Once you’ve built a campfire or stove, you unlock different recipes that are much more beneficial than eating raw food.

Exploration is vital in Starbound. You never know what lies in wait at the far edges of the universe. What sets Starbound apart from Terraria the most is it’s HUGE variety of planets and planet types. Planets are procedurally generated with billions of potential variations, so each playthrough will be unique, and you never know for certain what you might find while exploring. Each planet has its own biomes and mini-biomes. This means some will have forests, some may be completely engulfed in darkness, while others may be entirely ocean planets. Each planet surrounds a star. Stars come in different tiers of difficulty which show on the ship display, so be cautious before venturing onto an unknown planet or you may become some overpowered monster’s next meal.

In order to progress between tiers, you must gather resources from each planet and craft the necessary equipment to survive on the next type of planet. Although this makes the game quite a bit more linear than it had been in beta, it sets a good pace to progress along the main storyline. Each tier of planet type has it’s own types of ore that will be required to craft better sets of equipment, weapons, and other survival gear. To obtain enough ore for crafting, you must dig deep into each planet. Ores and items can also be obtained from within treasure chests, or by performing side quests.

Side quests can be obtained in most of the non-hostile settlements across the univers. Most of them are simple fetch quest. You may also be given some rescue/escort quests where you must locate a stranded settler and escort them back to their friend. My favorite mission types were the bounty hunting missions. These tasked you with tracking and eliminating a target. Sometimes the target is a group, an animal, or an outlaw. Be very careful when taking bounties because they are often quite difficult compared to regular enemies. Sometimes, when an outlaw has been injured to half of their health, they might surrender and offer to join your crew. Just keep in mind that these outlaws are masters of deceit and if you show mercy, you may end up unarmed with a rocket-launcher pointed at your face.

I learned this the hard way.

As you complete side quests and defeat outlaws, other NPCs will begin to become available for recruitment. These crewmembers can come in a variety of roles such as soldiers, medics, engineers, mechanics, and tailors. Each role has with different abilities to aid you during your travels, and two of them can even join you as followers to aid in battle. After recruiting a few crew members, you will need to upgrade your ship before any more recruits are able to join you. Ship upgrades require upgrade modules which can found scattered across the universe. Ship have multiple upgrades and allow you to expand you ship by at least twice it’s original size. I really liked the extra room in my ship to hoard all of my ill-gotten loot and display my finest items collected during my expeditions. Crew members can be helpful, but ultimately seemed more like an extra feature added at the last minute.

Crafting is life in Starbound. Not only is crafting essential to progress, the crafting system is very robust and fun to use. There are so many things to craft and the system functions almost identically to Terraria’s crafting system. Best of all: it’s simple! To begin, you just need to gather basic resources like wood and stone to craft a workbench. There are various workbenches, such as sewing machines, anvils, and alchemical workshops, which can be used to craft different kinds of items. As you scour the dungeons across different planets, you will also collect blueprints for crafting new weapons and furniture. After completing the first planet or two, you will need to craft an Environmental Protection Pack. The first EPP will give you the ability to breathe on moons or anywhere without a breathable environment. Later you must upgrade the EPP to be able to endure harsh radiation and extreme temperatures.

After collecting enough information on the race you have been tasked to investigate, you will receive coordinates to their sacred relic site. Each area has a challenging dungeon area that you must complete. After completing an obstacle course and downing a few baddies you will encounter a checkpoint and a boss arena. Once you reach the checkpoint you will no longer have to start from scratch if you die while fighting the boss. Each boss is completely different and requires a different strategy. Even if you are a skilled combatant, you will still have some problems with these bosses without adequate armor and weapons. I really enjoyed each boss fight and only managed beat one of them on my first try, and that was only because I was over-loaded with health items.

Not only are the worlds procedurally generated, but so are many of the weapons and enemies. There are countless swords, shields, hammers, axes, guns, throwing stars, and so much more. You can mix and match any of the one-handed weapons, so you could even use a gun with a shield if you’d like. Two-handed weapons have an alternate attack instead. These secondary attacks are usually pretty awesome. There are shotguns with grenade launchers, remote control rockets, flame-throwing swords, teleport abilities, and all sorts of other epic abilities. There are other neat items like grappling hooks and flashlights to get you out of a tough situation or to help with mining. I collected hundreds of items during my playthrough and probably haven’t even seen half of them. There are even some pokeball-like items you can use to capture animals to use in battle! Need I say more?!

Final Judgment: 88%

There is so much to do, explore, craft, and build in Starbound that I could fill a small book trying to cover it all. I really enjoyed the expertly-crafted pixel-graphics and engaging soundtrack. Starbound does a lot of things right. Unfortunately, many of those things have been done before and some of the features that set it apart from it’s competitors (:cough: Terraria :cough:) were a bit too ambitious. I enjoyed the procedurally-generated weapons, animals, and planets but I think after a while they all just seemed kind of bland and repetitive. The fact that they included 7 playable races gives it some replay value but I think I’ll give it a rest for a while or just continue to build fancy buildings on my current character. Terraria fans and anyone else looking for a fun, challenging crafting adventure across the universe should definitely not pass up a great game like this. Especially at such a great price!

Pros:

Amazing art style
Great soundtrack
Tons of items
Unique alien races and ships
Sandbox building
Deep crafting system
Electrical wiring and rail systems
Challenging boss fights
Character creation
Survival aspects
Multiplayer
Permadeath option
Tons of biomes, creatures, and settlements.

Cons:

Lots of noticeable lag
RNG woes
Lots of the content is purely cosmetic
Very linear
Some creatures appeared far too often on most planets
Items can randomly disappear
Fetch quests
Gimped pickaxes (worthless and uncraftable)

Early Access Review: Rimworld (Alpha 16)

Having launched a successful Kickstarter campaign, Rimworld set some very high expectations for itself. I’m often quite weary of Kickstarter and Early Access Steam games, and avoid playing them until many of the kinks have been smoothed out. This time around I decided to give it a try due to the fact that it reminded me a lot of Prison Architect, and seemed like a fantastic idea for a game. Rimworld is a sandbox simulation/strategy/base-management game where you must build shelter, grow food, hunt, and trade to survive in a hostile environment. This small description hardly does any justice to the sheer amount of things you can actually do in this game. Even though Rimworld is still missing content and is unfinished, I’m already finding myself obsessed with the gameplay and am very anxious for the final release.

Rimworld

Systems: PC, Mac, Linux

Developer: Ludeon Studios

Publisher: Ludeon Studios

Release Date: July 15, 2016 (Still in Early Access)

Price: $29.99 (on Steam)

The Gameplay:

Before getting down to business, the first thing you must do is choose a scenario. This adds a lot of variety to each new game. I was very excited to see how customizable the scenario options were. Rimworld offers three generic scenarios to start with: Crashlanded, The Rich Explorer, and Lost Tribe. Each option offers unique starting conditions. In the Crashlanded scenario, you take control of three colonists who have crash-landed on an unfamiliar world. The Rich Explorer scenario puts you in control of a single rich entrepreneur who yearns to see the stars and finds themselves stranded alone. Last but not least, is the Lost Tribe scenario which starts you off in control of five tribal people who have been driven from their homes and must rebuild a new life from scratch. Each scenario grants a different amount of starting materials and offers a unique experience. If none of these options please you, you can open up the scenario editor and create your own starting conditions!

Thanks to the scenario editor, I was able to alter the Lost Tribe scenario to my liking. The first thing I did was issue each of my tribespeople one wooden spear and one wooden bow. I also changed the starting amount of colonists from five to three. The next step I took was to limit the age range of potential tribespeople to avoid having any old geezers in my group. The last thing I decided to do was add 100% chance for my tribespeople to have the psychopath and cannibal traits. There was no real reason for doing this at the time but I wanted to test the limits of the scenario editor. The results were so much more satisfying than expected, but I’ll continue that story in a moment.

The next step involves choosing an AI storyteller and deciding how difficult the game will be. There are three different storytellers: Cassandra Classic, Phoebe Chillax, and Randy Random. As their names suggest, Cassandra Classic is the classic storyteller who offers gradual difficulty progression, Phoebe Chillax offers a much more relaxed experience, while Randy Random offers a randomize experience for players who like to live on the edge. Being the sissy that I am, I chose Phoebe Chillax during my playthrough to avoid any unnecessary roughness. After choosing the storyteller, you must choose from one of six difficulties. These basically just increase the amount of horrible events that plague your colonists/tribespeople. There is also a permadeath option for players who want a hardcore survival experience. With Permadeath Mode activated, you will only have one available save that can only be used when quitting. If your colony dies with this option turned on, it’s a wrap. Game over.

After you’ve finished choosing a difficulty, you must generate a playable map. Before the alpha 16 release, Rimworld generated a smaller flat map. Now with the new update, a whole spherical planet is generated. Once the map finishes generation, It’s up to you to choose where to start. Different areas have different types of terrain, temperature, weather conditions, environmental hazards, and various forms of wildlife. Starting your adventure in a Jungle will be drastically different than choosing to set up camp in the artic tundra. Areas can also be mountainous, hilly, or flatland. Hills and mountains can be mined for resources or turned into shelter. Choosing a jungle increases the chance to transmit disease and cause heatstroke, whereas settling in a boreal forest will increase chances of frostbite and slow movement during snowy seasons.

Selecting your colonists comes next. Sadly, there is no character creation in Rimworld (yet, at least). Colonists are randomly generated but can be re-rolled until you get a group with a decent spread of skills. Each colonist has their own backstory, traits, skills, and sometimes even health problems and relationships. Colonists can be anything from bloodthirsty tribal chieftains to optimistic mad scientists. Each colonist also has a certain amount of skill in each of the twelve available skills. Some excel in combat but refuse to do labor work. Others may have lower skills but are fast learners. I loved the variety of possible personalities this system created. The character generation reminded me a lot of re-rolling stats in Baldur’s Gate. A lot of the time the game generates lousy colonists, so I definitely spent too much re-rolling them until I got a somewhat desirable crew. Once you’re satisfied, it’s finally time to begin the game.

Similar to Prison Tycoon, you rarely take direct control of the colonists. Instead, you give out orders for the colonists to follow. You have the ability to define their schedule, set the priority of each task, and completely design the base layout. This may sound rather limiting, but it takes a lot of time to fine-tune a schedule, find a good work flow, plan a suitable layout for shelter, plan to grow enough food, and tend to each colonist’s mental health needs, and prepare to deal with anything else the world might throw at you. You will also have to choose which technologies to research, which was made easy with the new skill tree introduced in update 16. There are tooltips that work as a tutorial of sorts, but there are no missions or quests to complete. The goal in Rimworld is survival. You are set loose in the world and get to choose the best way for your group to survive. The results are often disastrous.

Throughout the game, you will also encounter visitors from other colonies. Some visitors will be friendly and willing to trade, other times you may be raided by tribal man-hunters or pirates. You can even be given the choice to save a refugee fleeing from their captors and let them join your colony. Maintaining good relationships with other colonies will cause them to visit more frequently or come to your aid in times of need. Attacking friendly visitors will cause their faction to turn hostile. Keeping good relations with your neighbors can mean the difference between life and death. You are also given the opportunity to take prisoners. This, combined with the ability for colonists to perform surgery creates some pretty gruesome possibilities.

There is so much to do in this game, I think the easiest way to sum it up would be to give brief rundown of my most current playthrough. On the first day, my colonists discovered an area that displayed an “ancient danger” warning. I decided to pop it open and discover what was waiting inside. When my tribe member was finished deconstructing part of the exterior to create an entrance, the rest of the tribe entered to find no danger, but instead three cryo-sleep pods. Since it was still only the first day, I decided to leave them be while I renovated the space into a livable shelter. To do accomplish that, I chopped down a few trees to create beds and a door to close the hole I had created in the wall. Meanwhile, my other tribespeople were busy planting a large field of potato plants, plants with healing properties, and also some “smokeleaf”. This plant was rolled up into medicine that was smoked to keep colonists happy but also made them lazy. Once I that was finished planting I hollowed out a small hill to create a small room to hold whatever came out of the cryo-sleep pods.

I decided to risk it and open the cryo-sleep pods the next morning. To my surprise, the contents of the pods were human. Two of them were dead, one was unconscious. This was a delight to my starving group of cannibals who had been living off of foraged berries up until this point. I immediately butchered the dead and prepared their meat into a food called pemmican so that it would last for the rest of the year and not spoil. The unconscious man was dragged to the empty room I had dug out of the hill and taken prisoner. In order to keep his meat as fresh as possible and also to eliminate the risk of escape, I had my most medically-gifted tribeswoman install two peg legs and a prosthetic jaw. After that I removed them all so that the prisoner couldn’t run or talk. Then I removed one kidney, and one lung for kicks. Turns out organs sell for big money! While the prisoner was unconscious, I realized that they could be placed back into cryo-sleep. Thus began the tale of my psychopathic, cannibalistic, organ-harvesting tribe of savages. From then on, they continued to capture and consume anyone who dared to visit what came to be known as “Corpse Rot Cavern”. This all came to an abrupt end when one tribesman went hunting for elephants. After downing the giant beast, the rest of it’s herd went on a warpath of revenge, rammed down my walls, and murdered every last cannibal.

Final Judgment: 76% (Subject to change due to Early Access)

If you enjoyed Prison Architect, there is little doubt that you will not enjoy Rimworld, even in it’s current state. There is so much potential in this game and each update has added tons of fixes and content. If Ludeon Studios continues to deliver at this rate, Rimworld will be an almost guaranteed success. I loved nearly every moment of it. This truly is a sandbox experience with few boundaries. I loved that they (intentionally or not) gave me the freedom to create a tribe of cannibals and harvest organs for profit. There are tons of items, weapons, clothing types, technologies to research, and challenges to overcome. Rimworld really offers enough replay value to keep me busy for quite a while. I can’t wait to see what else Ludeon Studios has in store for us.

Pros:

Challenging and realistic survival elements
Completely sandbox
Lots of scenario customization and difficulty options
Tons of weapons, clothing, and items to craft and trade
Organ harvesting
Cannibalism
Fun setting
Lots of different personality traits and health conditions
Replay Value
Randomly generated characters and maps
Large modding community
Base building
Resource Management
Realistic heating/cooling and weather systems.

Cons:

Basic graphics
Soundtrack is nothing special
No character customization
Learning curve
Weird combat controls/commands
Strange progression for tribes

Retro Throwback – Planescape: Torment

With Torment: Tides of Numenera currently in Early Access on Steam, I’ve been extremely anxious to dig back into the realm of Planescape. Since the last few Early Access games I purchased were somewhat underwhelming, I decided to reinstall the original cult-classic Planescape: Torment and get reacquainted with the planes. Originally released for PC in ’99, Planescape: Torment is a truly original RPG with a large focus on choice and morality. Although the game wasn’t originally a commercial success, it has since received critical praise from many classic RPG fans and continues to receive attention to this day. With the sequel currently being developed, I figured now would be the best opportunity to remind my fellow gamers of the magic of the planes, and perhaps inspire those who haven’t experienced this masterpiece to find out what they’ve been missing.

Planescape: Torment

Systems: PC, Linus, Mac OS X

Developer: Black Isle Studios

Publisher: Interplay Entertainment

Release Date: December 12, 1999

Price: $9.99 (on GOG.com)

The Gameplay:

The game begins as the player character, generally referred to as The Nameless One (or TNO), awakens on a slab in the Mortuary mistaken for a corpse. After awakening with no memory, TNO is approached by a friendly face (a floating skull, rather) who warns him that the employees of the Mortuary will have him cremated unless he can escape. After interacting with the inhabitants and finding one of the multiple ways to escape, TNO finds himself in Sigil along with his new floating friend. This is where the game really begins as TNO comes to the realization that he is immortal and embarks on a journey of self-discovery.

The initial area you enter after exiting the Mortuary, known as Sigil, is an excellent example of PS:T’s excellent setting. Sigil is known as the center of the planes; A place where all worlds connect through various obscure portals. These portals are everywhere but each requires a specific key to enter. Sigil is also home to various factions and interesting individuals to converse or combat with and is broken down into several districts. The majority of the game takes place within Sigil, but fear not! TNO’s adventures also lead him throughout various other planes on his search for truth; each with their own unique design, inhabitants, and enemies. Each plane generally represents a different alignment. Some planes are chaotic, some lawful, and others are pure good, neutral, or evil.

Although TNO looks like a half-nude barbarian, choosing what skills he excels in is up to you. I played a mage during my playthrough and it was very enjoyable. Nearing the endgame I wished I had invested more into my constitution stat due to the fact that enemies could kill me very easily at close range. Luckily for me I had recruited a team of companions who usually soaked up the majority of the damage while I attacked enemies from afar with high-powered spells. You may also choose to increase dexterity or strength and try your luck as a thief or warrior. Having high strength and dexterity can also come into play in conversation; sometimes to perform feats of strength and intimidation, or to test TNO’s reflexes. Thieves also have access to typical skill sets, such as lockpicking, pickpocketing, and stealth. Regardless of how you level, keep in mind that the various companions you meet during your travels can make up for most skills you lack. I would recommend putting points into wisdom regardless of the class you choose. Wisdom has a massive influence on the choices you are presented with during conversations and also grants a bonus to experience points which helps to level up more quickly.

The available companions in PS:T are extremely well written and add an additional layer of depth to conversations. Many of them have had a connection to TNO in the past which can only be discovered by traveling with each companion and conversing with them. Companions in PS:T are far from average. Aside from the floating skull mentioned earlier, you may encounter plenty of other unusual potential companions such as a demonic temptress, a human torch, a robotic automaton, a living suit of armor, and more. Each companion has some very interesting things to say and can also help TNO uncover lost memories. Some companions even have the ability to increase your skills or teach TNO new spells and abilities. Although these companions can be extremely useful, none of them are necessary to complete the game. On the other hand, none of the companions are completely trustworthy and some may even attack TNO if not treated with respect.

Combat in PS:T is similar to the combat in Baldur’s Gate, but with some noticeable differences. Instead of having the portraits along the side and the action buttons across the bottom, PS:T has all of the portraits along the bottom of the screen and different commands are accessed by right clicking anywhere on the screen. This was a bit different than what I’m used to, but the controls are very easy to learn. The game can be paused at any time during combat so that you can take a moment to decide on which strategy to use. There’s a variety of weapons and equipment available for each class including unusual things such as tattoos, removable eyeballs, severed arms to use as clubs, and intestine wristbands. Many weapons in PS:T have similar damage dealing potential and the main difference is what type of damage the weapon deals. There are exceptions to this rule that include certain powerful weapons and artifacts. Make sure to identify unknown weapons before equipping them because some have devastating negative effects or curses on them. There are also a decent amount of spells for mages to learn. Some of these spells can destroy entire groups of enemies on their own and some have animations that are unique to PS:T.

After finishing the game last night, I feel like I’ve read an entire book. This is a huge bonus to some, but may deter others from finishing or even playing. In my opinion, the storytelling was amazing; perhaps the best I’ve ever seen in any game. There is so much lore to be found about the world and it’s inhabitants that there is always something new to discover. The locals speak slang, sometimes with broken speech and unfamiliar terms, which takes a while to get used to. I wouldn’t count that as a bad thing however, because it really adds to the immersion of the world and gives you a feeling of what it would be like to live in the Planescape universe. Outside of conversations, sometimes the cursor will change into a question mark. Clicking on objects and scenery with the question mark will display more information that isn’t always obvious due to the old school graphic style. I would guess that PS:T has more text than both Baldur’s Gate games combined, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

The graphics in PS:T are similar in quality to many other RPGs of the era. Despite the older style, the sprites and backgrounds are very detailed and still look great. There are also a handful of cinematics that are surprisingly good for their time. In order to play at a better resolution, I downloaded a Hi-Res patch (I’ll include links at the bottom) and it looked much better. PS:T also uses the popular isometric view which I always enjoy, so navigating the world is also similar to the Baldur’s Gate series. The game performs well except for a few issues that similarly affect other games of the genre, such as awkward path-finding and unresponsive NPCs (which can usually be solved by exiting to a different map and returning). The voice acting was excellent but I really wish there was more of it. The soundtrack was atmospheric but otherwise nothing to write home about. One thing you can expect from PS:T is a classic role-playing experience in a very strange and interesting setting.

Final Judgment: 92%

Planescape: Torment was an overall amazing experience. If I was judging on lore, setting, and originality alone, I would give it a perfect score. The gameplay is up to par as far as 90’s era RPGs are concerned, but there are some obvious flaws. One of the biggest issues was the bugs and certain things not working correctly. Luckily, many of those issues have been fixed by fans (I’ll include links below), so they are no longer a problem as long as you can get the patches downloaded correctly. Another downfall was the path-finding that sometimes was annoying and awkward. I really loved the idea of having different body parts replaced or recycled into weapons and equipment. This game had me immersed from the first few moments of playing, right until the ending. That’s not something that can be said for many games I’ve played lately. If you happened to enjoy any other Black Isle games or isometric RPGs, then this is a game you cannot afford to miss out on. Even 24 hours after completing it, I’m still asking myself, “What can change the nature of a man?”

Pros:

Amazing setting
Top-Notch storytelling
Well-written characters
Great voice acting
Choices matter
Multiple ways to solve problems
Interesting lore
Creative weapons and equipment
TONS of dialogue!
Cool alignment system
Handy journal to help remember events

Cons:

Wonky path-finding
Buggy (without fan patches and fixes)
Not enough information during character creation
Some classes restricted to followers
Reused character models

LINKS TO FAN-MADE PATCHES AND FIXES!
https://www.gog.com/news/mod_spotlight_planescape_torment_mods_guide

Wallet Crusader: Dead Space

Dead Space is a science fiction game that served as the grounds for the survival horror series that developed after over the years. We follow space engineer Isaac Clarke as he and the rescue crew of the USG Kellion are sent to a distress call from a planet cracking starship called the USG Ishimura. What was intended to be a rescue mission quickly ended up being a fight for survival against waves of mutilated creatures called Necromorphs. Will Isaac be able to stop this infestation before it engulfs humanity?

Dead Space

Systems (s): PS3, Xbox 360 & PC

Developer: EA Redwood Shores (now Visceral Games)

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Release Date: October 12, 2008

Price: $9-12 (Steam $20)

The Gameplay:

Dead Space is a third-person shooter that feeds off jump scares and exploits the Player being overwhelmed while following Isaac Clarke’s fight on the mining starship. Fueling the Player’s paranoia within the depths of survival horror, little to no breaks for recomposure are given throughout story’s progression. Throughout 12 chapters the Player accesses different parts of the USG Ishimura via tram, completing varying objectives and fighting.against relentless hordes of Necromoprhs. These reanimated monstrous creatures are the result of an extraterrestrial contagion that is spread when pathogens transfer and recombinant within the corpses they leave behind.

As the game progresses the Player will encounter several different types of Necromorph, each exhibiting different abilities and requiring different tactics and methods of execution. Using the different vents and other parts of the ships these creatures will hide in the dark and violently attack anyone that isn’t infected. The combat will generally be aimed towards dismembering the Necromorphs strategically, first by taking their legs out and then the arms. Shooting their head off will not stop these creatures from mauling the Player to death

Outside of the different stores places around the USG Ishimura, the Player will be left scavenging for items and ammunition left around the ship or dropped by Necromorphs. Isaac will find various weapons created from improvised mining equipment and every weapons encountered can be upgraded as well as features a secondary-fire mode. Blueprints for suit upgrades, ammunition and other items of importance will be hidden throughout the level designs, becoming available for purchases upon redeeming within the store.

Breaking away from normal HUD experienced within games over the years, the Player operates a holographic projection during real-time within the game. This will not only act as an Inventory grid but offers a 3D map, the game’s archive and shows current objectives, but the Player is ultimately exposed to elements of the game while in menu.

The Player’s health is indicated by a Rig on Isaac’s back while the ammo count for weapons are holograms that appear by the sights of the weapon. (At anytime the Player can press R3 and a Marker indicating the correct path will appear.) Isaac will also discover two special weapons that will be used to solve puzzles as well as aid in his survival aboard the USG Ishimura: the Stasis ability and a Kinesis module. The Stasis ability will allow Isaac to slow down enemies or different mechanics on the ship, utilizing this mid combat can be beneficial to the Player.The Kinesis module will move items and also throw them, heavy and sharp objects become deadly weapons on the fly when ammunition is scarce.Power Nodes are hidden around the ship as well and can be used at Workbenches, which upgrade Isaac’s suit and weapons.

Different environments within the ship range from zero gravity to toxic environments and Isaac is kept safe with a limited air supply. Learning the level designs and different hazardous elements of the game is essential for survival.

The Single Player:

En route to the starship, the USG Kellion experiences guidance system issues and crashes, leaving the crew aboard an empty ship. During some brief exploration the group is attacked by Necromorphs and most of them are dismembered and killed. Isaac, commander Zach Hammond and Computer Specialist Kendra Daniels, the surviving crew, are then left to keep the USG Ishimura’s systems from failing long enough to be rescued. During Isaac’s journey repairing the ship and fighting for survival he uncovers the truth about Aegis VII and the Red Marker and perhaps an end to the Necromorph infestation. The question is will he be able to survive long enough to end it though?

Final Thoughts: 85%

Dead Space is an epitome of survival horror which was sadly bastardized as the series continued. Capitalizing off jump scares, a grim atmosphere and strategic gaming in order to survive, this title holds no bars when it comes to punishing the Player for making wrong decisions. The story that unfolds is well written and further compliments the gameplay of the game itself. Although enemy waves become predictable at times and some of the level designs recycled, the overall dreadful feeling rarely lifts. This game goes deep into the realms of distrubing and gruesome fantasies, showing mutlations, dismemberments and carnage with close attention to details.

Pros –

The mini games were fun additions
Enemy design and how they vary in abilities
The brutal nature and unforgiving manner makes this a fun and invigorating playthrough
Fun and challenging boss battles
Tons of different ways to die

Cons –

Repetition within level design
Glitches and bugs within combat, zero gravity and Kinesis.
If the Player strays away from vents and other openings, many of the enemies patterns become easy to memorize.

For a better idea of what Dead Space is like, look below for the official 2008 E3 trailer!

DOOM’s newest DLC Bloodfall gets a trailer!

DOOM’s newest and last DLC, Bloodfall, will be featuring new maps, features and more!

The 3 maps announced were: Outbreak, Boneyard and Empyrian. New additions that were revealed during the trailer were the lateral thrusters, grenade launcher, new armor (the cultist) as well as new taunts.

We even see a brand new demon called the Spectre Pinky! To see these features in all of their bloody glory be sure to watch the trailer below!

DOOM launched on May 13, 2016 worldwide for Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4 and Xbox One.

Demo for Nier: Automata gets released later this month!

Square Enix not only announced a release date for Nier: Automata during the PSX Experience on Saturday, but they also leaked a date for the demo!

Nier: Automata is a sequel to Nier, an action RPG, and besides the little bit we were given during the press release there really hasn’t been an indication of how expansive the story will be. We really don’t know what the story will consist of, but what was leaked about the demo was the following:

“With an abandoned factory as the backdrop, the demo follows android 2B’s mission to destroy a massive enemy weapon that lies within”

Here is the 2016 PSX Experience Trailer for Nier: Automata! The demo for Playstation 4 will be in the store and available to download December 22nd!

Nier: Automata is set to launch on both Playstation 4 and Steam. The only confirmed release date is for PS4 which is March 7th, 2017.