The team over at Interstellar Marines came out with a nice holiday update that introduced competitive multiplayer for the first time in their game.Firs off, if you have no idea what Interstellar Marines is check out first overview/impressions post on it back in October. The new mode is called Deadlock and it has a fully dynamic weather system, an overhaul to animations, open door development and cloud based multiplayer on all the the reworked Combat Range map. The open door development is all about letting players bring “unfiltered insight” into the development of the game. Players will be able to introduce anything from new weapon models to changes in net code. Also with Deadlock they will be updating it more frequently than ever before, now releasing updates on a weekly basis.
Deadlock is unfortunately only available to those with Spearhead of Frontline pre-order access. I do believe this is their first release that is not available openly to all. They do still have running man, bullseye and the vault still available to anyone who is registered on their website. The game has been in development for quite some time and I have tried all the free modes, which are all pretty enjoyable, but with this new release I hope it means they are stepping it up and heading to some kind of full release in the near future. For more on Interstellar Marines or the new Deadlock mode head on over to their website and check it out. Thanks for reading and be back shortly with more news.
Main Website: http://www.interstellarmarines.com/
Silence before the storm – The journey of Open Door Development begins here!
I haven’t written about the open world Samurai game Kenshi since it was first announced, but the one developer has done quite a bit to the game since then. Before I do that let me give a short overview of the game, for anyone who knows of the game already skip to the next paragraph. Kenshi is a small open indie Samurai game that is made by one person at Lofigames. The first build of the game came out back in October and while it was very crude it was easy to see the large amount of exciting possibilities that could come from Kenshi. The game has an open pre-order module, like Minecraft did, where you can play the newest versions of the game and own the game once you pre-order. The game has a lot of great ideas, like building settlements, an interesting combat system that makes injuries quite significant, a party system that requires you to rely on others to survive, factions and a lot of promise. It’s really easy to compare it to the game Mount and Blade for it’s lofty aspirations of a huge open world and it’s party based system. Check out this first trailer for some idea of how the game looks, so far it has fairly poor graphics but the developer really wanted to get down the ideas of the game before graphics and promises to make it more visually appealing by the end.
Trailer – Indie DB
Most recently the developer has been talking about the newest update which has to do with carrying. What that boils down to is merely being able to carry corpses or injured allies but it also means you can now capture enemies. With this he plans to have bounty hunters capturing people for ransom, police taking prisoners, cannibals taking prisoners to eat and all kinds of interesting options. Carrying also has to do with being wounded. So when you are injured to the point where you character falls, or one of your allies, that character will stay down for a while because of their wounds. In order to get them out of that area, since healing in such a state takes quite a while, you have to have someone carry them. To make this idea a little less harsh there is now a new type of med kit that allows you to heal individual body parts, so you may heal an injured leg in order to let someone walk again.
There are quite a few things that are being coming up next after this carrying update. The developer wants to bring in the option to purchase buildings soon, which will allow you to heal quickly and store equipment. There will also be imprisonment in the near future, which ties back to some of the ideas about carrying/capturing people. You will also be able to get captured by enemies, so you may have to go on some rescue missions in order to save a comrade who was captured by slavers, police or an enemy faction. After you are able to purchase buildings you will be able to outfit it for crafting and research. The best equipment in the game will taken out of shops and only available through crafting or research once it gets to that point. You will also eventually be able to make a building you own into a shop or hospital. All of that is high priority for the near future and there is also a list of loftier aspirations, like siege warfare, ranged combat, mining, farming, larger world map, building your own outpost out in the desert, huge armies traversing the land, a larger complexity and number of factions, wildlife, creatures and so much more. To check out that list head over here. Assuming the developer stays focused on the game and keeps releasing updates in a timely fashion then Kenshi is going to turn out to be quite fantastic, keep your eyes on it. If you want to check it out now you can head over to the main website and pre-order for $10. Here is a more recent video that shows off a little bit of combat, healing, vendors and inventory management. Thanks for reading and I hope to be back shortly with more news. Main Website: http://www.lofigames.com/index.php IndieDB Page: http://www.indiedb.com/games/kenshi
We are just about to hit 60,000 views, just in time for Christmas. Big thanks to everyone who reads any of our work. We also hit a milestone for number of views per month, just surpassing 11,000 for December and the month isn’t even over yet. I don’t have anything to write up, except for these sales, for this weekend but on Monday I will be back at and writing as much as I can find. Thanks everyone and Happy Holidays.
*Updated for December 25th
Here are some holiday sales going on right now for anyone interested. Get Games Go and Green Man Gaming are both reputable and the majority of their games are Steam compatible. All deals are PC only except for Amazon. Don’t miss the Amazon ones, they have some wonderful PC download sales like Deus Ex for $10 and Tropico 4 for $5, plus they have Dungeon Defenders for $2 instead of $15.Also, Gamersgate has a huge amount of sales going and I highly recommend picking up Baldurs Gate II Complete Pack for $2!!
Green Man Gaming Lord of the Rings: War In The North $30.79 Elders Scrolls V: Skyrim $53.79 (look to Steam Sale) Saints Row: The Third $39.97 -With this voucher, FIFTY-SAINT-XMASS, you can get it for $19.99 until December 26th. Batman Arkham City $44.37 (Amazon has cheaper but it’s not digital, see below) Fear 3 $15.37 Nuclear Dawn $6.23
Steam’s Daily Deals IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 $3.39 IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliff of Dover $16.99 Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition $4.99 Killing Floor $4.99 Football Manager 2012 $26.79 Fallout 3 $4.99 Atom Zombie Smasher $2.49 Nuclear Dawn $4.99
Alice: Madness Returns $7.49 Call of Duty MW3 $44.99 Dungeons Series 75% Overlord Series 75% Off X3 Series 75% Off
Get Games Go Deus Ex: Human Revolution $14.99 (cheaper from Amazon, see below) Red Orchestra 2 $11.99 Alien vs. Predator $3.49 Alpha Protocol $3.49 Men of War Assault Squad $14.99
Amazon Batman Arkham City $47.90 (consoles) $30.56 (PC) Uncharted 3 $49.99 (down from $59.99) Call of Duty MW3 $49.99 (everything, down from $59.99) Battlefield 3 $47.99 (xbox 360) $53.47 (ps3) $50.95 (PC digital) Deus Ex: Human Revolution $10 (PC digital) $39.96 (xbox 360 and ps3) Shogun 2: Total War $14.99 (PC digital) Tropico 4 $5!!! (PC digital) Dungeon Defenders $1.99! (PC digital) Sid Meier’s Civilization V $14.99 (PC digital, Mac digital, PC hardcopy) Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood $9.99 (PC digital) Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition $7.50 (PC digital)
GamersGate Battlefield 3 $40 Red Orchestra 2 $20 Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 $15 Revolution Under Siege $12 Delve Deeper 4 for 3 Pack $4 Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword $5 Dungeon Defenders 4 for 3 Pack $22.49 Ghostbuters: Sanctum of Slime $5 Fate of the World $2.50 Just Cause 2 $12 Bunch of Heroes $5 Cthulu Saves The World 4 for 3 Pack $3 Need for Speed The Run $30 Sid Meiers Civilization V $10 Jamestown $5 Total War Shogun 2 $15 Warhammer 40K: Space Marine $38 Bastion $7.50 Baldurs Gate II Complete $2.50
Space Pirates and Zombies $5
Too many sales too list, head to Gamersgate to find plenty more, they have fifty-eight pages of sales right now.
It is indeed mysterious. This game feels like I’m playing an old Ultima game mixed with some kind of turn based tactic games, all with an old school graphical style. You start in a randomly generated forest, with a town in it, and choose three party members to start the game with. You can select some options for how big you want the world to be, how bright, how many enemies and few other customization. Your party is fully customizable, with typical rpg attributes and inventory, but you don’t level up to gain new points in attributes you learn them by finding books. Everything moves around in real time until you run into enemies and the it becomes turn based. The game is tiny little indie game that is available free on PC and MAC but also on the iOS for $3. The most stable versions of the game are for mac and iOS, but the PC version ran perfectly fine for me, but the newest version doesn’t have any music.
I played the game for several hours and the first time I played it my entire party was slaughtered by a group of koblods five minutes into the game. The second time however I decided to be a bit more cautious and immediately found the town, gathered a few healing supplies, talked to several NPC’s and found a nearby cave full of the undead. So far the game seems to only consist of undead enemies, skeletons and zombies, and various types of koblods. They are always in groups and can be quite a huge threat to your party, especially if they manage to land critical hits or flanking blows. I like the way they did combat, took a bit of typical hack and slash mechanics and mixed it with some ideas from tactical rpgs like Final Fantasy tactics. You can flank enemies, surround enemies, sneak attack enemies, critical enemies, hit glancing blows and do several different types of attacks. Of course all of that can be done to your characters as well and in that regard the AI is quite good at flanking you when it can.
The game is made by one developer, Jeremy Jurksztowicz, and he is planning to add a full editor mode that will allow you to view the whole map and mess with it however you wish. It also looks like you will be able to make your own maps beforehand and save them. Here is the one screenshot on that.
The game is pretty enjoyable in the state it is in and it is very challenging. The developer plans to keep the game free for PC and Mac forever, eventually making it into a pay what you want kind of game. You can download the newest version of the game over at IndieDBor you can check it out on your phone at the App Store. Thanks for reading and check it out if you are into old rogue likes or party based tactical rpgs. Main Website: http://www.mysteriouscastle.com/
Thanks RPS for alerting me of the game’s existence. -Written by Sean Cargle
ModDB and IndieDB have just released their winners for best indie games and modifications of the year, plus some winners for best unreleased mods and indie games. I was thrilled to see that so many of my favorite indie games of this year are winners, including Bastion and the splendid Sword & Sorcery EP. Both of these awards are editor choice awards and the winners of community choice will be announced in the beginning of January. Here is the video they made to announce the indie game winners.
IOTY 2011 Editors Choice Awards – Mod DB
Now if you feel like watching a similar video, with the same music, then here is the video for the best mods of 2011. They did a splendid job making both videos and there are some great mod’s that won that I’ve never heard of but now I must research them and check them out.
MOTY 2011 Editors Choice Awards – Mod DB
To check out the announcements and full info: ModDB and IndieDB
I don’t know how many people check out these two websites as often as I do but they have some great games and developers working through them. Thanks for reading and watching.
They have done quite a lot of work on Planetside 2 since I last wrote about it when it was announced. Since then they have revealed a number of new features about the game and a faction video. First off, watch this video showcasing the three factions and describing what they are about.
Now for the features. So we already knew that Planetside 2 was going to be like the first game with regards to the three factions battling it out over territories but now they have revealed that each territory will have it’s own special resource that will make it worth fighting over. If your faction manages to hold a resource long enough then your faction will receive fuel, ammo, tech and other bonuses. They have revealed that each of these territories will be part of several continent maps, every part of which can be fought over. The game will have several of the classic roles from the first game but will also be introducing new ones alongside a persistent class system. In the first game they gave you a big map and told you were battles were taking place, now they are going to handle it by letting players, plus SOE, create missions to drive new players into the action. One of the biggest problems with the first game was finding battles, often the combat icons on the map represented very small scale battles if anything, so if they use missions to drive people to work together then battles should be easier to participate in as well as being larger in size.
One new feature, compared to the first game, is a much more extensive player customization system. Now not only can you customize your class with weapons and abilites but you will also have unique skill trees to unlock. The skill trees will apply to weapons, vehicles, equipment, attachments and specialized skills. They also seem to be doing a Battlefield kind of unlock system where you unlock weapons and unlock attachments for those weapons, but I don’t know whether they are doing that based on use or rank. That’s about it for features and they haven’t shown off any of these features so far, unless you are lucky enough to be in the beta to see them. Speaking of the beta that brings me to my last point, you can now sign up for their beta here. If you were an original planetside player you get extra bonuses if you still have the same account for SOE. Thanks for reading and I will be certain to do more posts on Planetside 2 once they start releasing some gameplay screens, video and info.
Like space adventure games where everything goes horribly wrong? Well Stasis is that kind of game. Adventure games generally have a side view but Stasis is using an isometric graphical style. Another unique part of this dark space adventure game is how you use your Emergency Medical Kit to break down any object into it’s base elements in order to combine it with other elements or you can merely do so to store it easier. The story is about an ordinary man who is trying to help his family but he is trapped in a horrific environment aboard a space ship. The game has been in development for a year and is to the point where they are starting to finalize details, like release date, and get everything finished. Normally I don’t get into these types of adventure games much but this one looks unique enough and dark enough to get me excited, plus it’s graphically appealing and to me that is something uncommon these days for this genre. This is a small indie PC game and it’s the kind that I’m always throwing praise at damn near everyday here, so apologies for that but do take a look. The game has an Aliens look to it that I hope develops into something terrifying. Thanks for reading and watch the trailer, gameplay starts about halfway through. Main Website: http://www.stasisgame.com/
Also, I had to throw this image in there because it actually shows off some kind of UI.
In Trendy Entertainments normal fashion, despite the fact they just launched a rather large paid DLC, we are getting a free Christmas themed DLC today. One that adds one new challenge maps, new enemies, new costumes, four new weapons and a giant mega snowman boss. Like all of their holiday DLC it is free around the holiday itself and then will become paid DLC later on. Also like all of their DLC it will not be arriving immediately onto XBLA and PSN, due it to having to get approved and all that. Dungeon Defenders is also having a holiday sale on Steam right now for 50% off, getting it down to $7.49. That’s it for this tiny post but watch the Holiday Extravaganza trailer!
Infinity Blade 2 has been out since the beginning of December and once again available for the iPad and iPhone like it’s predecessor. Like the first Infinity Blade it brings a fairly hardcore experience to the an area of gaming that has very few, if any, other games like it. The first game had you travelling through an old castle in order to defeat the evil God King, you used the motion touch of the iPhone/iPad to dodge, parry, block and strike back against your enemies. The game was also an rpg, letting you gain experience and loot through every fight, plus you could find chests and money pouches throughout the world. The castle you traveled through was fairly linear, you had several options for different paths but they all lead to the same place. It was a deep game that had an entire bonus area once you finally managed to get the god kings blade, an area complete with several difficult bosses. Infinity Blade also had multiplayer that was surprisingly well done and enjoyable. The new game takes all of those ideas and builds upon it by creating more paths, more enemies, more loot, more bosses, new spells and so much more.
One of the biggest new features of Infinity Blade 2 is the new weapons. Not only is there a plethora of new weapons to use but they also added two handed weapons, dual wielding on top of the original sword and shield style. They all have their own particular uses against specific types of enemies and for the new weapon styles you have to get super good at parrying, which requires you slash across the screen in the same direction that an enemy is swinging. Parrying was a lot harder to do in the first game but now it is a little easier since it is almost a necessity, especially with two handed weapons. Two handed weapons do absolutely massive amounts of damage while dual wielding doesn’t do much damage by comparison but it does allow you to dodge/parry without becoming exhausted as easily as any other weapon type. Exhausted is something new they added so you cannot indefinitely keep dodging, especially when you have a heavy shield or full plate armor. It will still allow you to dodge but you will now take some damage if you are out of stamina.
Yeah it does actually look this good
With the new weapons they have also added gem slots to every piece of equipment, including rings, shield, armor, helmets and well everything. There are many different types and gem shapes, but they do things like increased damage of a specific type, shield power is restored upon casting a spell, parrying heals you x amount of health and many other effects. The gems are something that you find in chests or earn through battle and they can be worth quite a bit of money. Money has been far less of a problem in this game thanks to that but also thanks to how much bigger the world is. Compared to the first game this new area has quite a few more paths, each of which ends at three different bosses and half the time you can travel sideways through the level in order to get to different areas. For instance there is an arena and in the middle of the arena is a giant tree, you can climb up that tree which will take you straight to one of the bosses but far from the boss that you would have encountered if you had traveled through the doors of the arena. This world is also full of secrets to unlock, as you defeat each boss a part of this mural lights up, eventually leading to some interesting situations and rewards.
Infinity Blade 2 takes everything good from the first game and expands upon it. They have created a world with more options, more loot to find, more enemies to fight, more items to unlock and more ways to play through it. It also still a very challenging game and by no means a casual game. The game runs surprisingly well on the iPhone 3GS, even though it recommends you use a newer phone (4G) to run it. The game isn’t all good though, they have gotten rid of survival and multiplayer, two of the latest additions to the first game. The size of the app is also huge and problematic for people like me who only have an eight gigabyte phone. Other than those complaints the game is one of the best games on the iPhone, hands down, and definitely the most gorgeous one. If you have an iPad then Infinity Blade 2 would be absolutely love to behold but even on the iPhone it still looks quite good and runs fairly well. Both games are developed by Epic Games and Infinity Blade 2 costs $7. Main Website: http://infinitybladegame.com/ App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/infinity-blade-ii/id447689011?mt=8
Yes that is indeed the name of this game. What we have here is a 4x space strategy game that is quick, fairly simple, addictive and quite a lot of fun. If you’ve ever played a game like Galactic Civilization or A.I. War you will understand the basic concepts: research, conquer and colonize. The game is made by some indie developers who called themselves The Goblin Lunatics and I applaud them for their efforts. Rarely do people make “quick” 4x strategy games that are still filled with some depth and is still enjoyable. You start a game by choosing how many players you want to fight, how many planets are present, how rare planets and how large the star map is. I’ve played it through three times on medium in thirty to forty minutes and each time playing as a different race is interesting, especially since many have their own unique buildings and they all have their own customizable traits. The game ends as soon as you defeat the other players but there are also tons of neutral alien planets that you can conquer.
The graphics are very minimal, as you can see above, but they are continually adding to the game with the hopes of eventually making it a paid game. The game can get quite difficulty as you add in many players and you have balance between trying to colonize planets and creating massive fleets of bombers and fighters. Fighters destroy everything in the sky while bombers are the only thing that can successfully make an enemy planet become neutral, which it needs to be in order for you to colonize it. When you send out colony ships it takes out away 1.0 of population from that planet, so you have to specialize planets with specific buildings, like cities, to make population increase quickly enough to accommodate many colony ships. Every planet you colonize is different as well, each with their own building capacity, unique perks, and planet types. Based on your races original homeworld you can populate other homeworlds easier.
10 min space strategy, gameplay video – Mod DB
If you are a fan of these types of games then I definitely suggest you take a go at this one. Even if you only play through a couple matches you will hopefully appreciate what they have created and how it feels like a splendid homage to the full scale retail versions of 4x space strategy games. It’s been out for quite a while and I just saw it on MODDB today, for some reason, but you can download the free 1.0 version over at their website or MODDB. Thanks for reading and checking it out.
