Square Enix hosted its Fan Fest for Final Fantasy XIV today, spotlighting all the updates coming to its massive MMORPG. Among the announcements of an expansion and new platform being in the mix, one of the biggest rounds of applause came for something that seems a little less grandiose, at least to less XIV-familiar folks: two dyes per gear piece.

It sounds plain, but it's a notable piece of what's looking like a big update for the fashion fans of Final Fantasy XIV. Which, really, is everyone. The big non-secret of Final Fantasy XIV is that the endgame is not Ultimate raids, or hardcore Crystalline Conflict, or even necessarily maxing out all the jobs. Those are all things you do in service of the true Final Fantasy XIV endgame: fashion. And boy howdy, did the feral fashion aficionados get some good content today.

For the unfamiliar, Final Fantasy XIV has a transmog system—a tool that lets you put the appearance of one cosmetic item on another—called Glamour, or glam for short. Think of it like putting a pullover on top of a shirt. While your actual stats are determined by the "shirt" below, your outward appearance is the "pullover." These glams can be used on armor pieces and set on specific presets, letting players have a closet full of fashion at their fingertips, and those glam pieces can also be dyed to change the color, and sometimes material look, of the cosmetic piece.

[caption id="attachment_358040" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Eyes go wide for two dyes

Two dyes per gear piece means that instead of having a single point of color customization, would-be look-book creators can have two channels of color to dye. If you've visited the Eorzean Collection, you already know what a talented designer can do with the tools available. Adding another? I cannot wait.

That wasn't the only update, though. Also included was the news that glasses are getting fully separated from headgear, so you can don a cap and glasses at the same time. All of this arrives through the graphics update that's due alongside Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, the newly announced expansion.

But even the graphical update itself is a big win for fashion fans. Old clothes will get a natural spruce-up from the improved textures and graphics. Final Fantasy XIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida said today that the team is steadily going back through content for the update, stretching back to 2.0.

[caption id="attachment_337316" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Come on, vogue

And for the GPose fans, who love to snap shots of their Warrior of Light using the in-game group pose (a.k.a. GPose) tool, get some great benefits from the graphics update too. More lush scenery and backgrounds for snapping pics is always a bonus.

It's charming to outsiders, it seems, seeing Final Fantasy XIV fans get so excited over simply being able to use more dyes. But it really is part of the appeal. It's that way for most RPGs, not just XIV; games like Elden Ring and Destiny 2 often see players pore over their fashion in the same way Final Fantasy XIV fans do.

Having more options, with so many different choices for color customization and glasses getting much more malleable? It's fantastic for the players that love to design their characters and put cool clothes on them. So yes, new jobs, dungeons, raids, and more are always exciting. But two dyes? That's a big win for the Final Fantasy XIV fashion fanatics.

The post Final Fantasy XIV fashion fanatics are winning in its next big update appeared first on Destructoid.

A new expansion, platform, collaboration and more were all announced for Final Fantasy XIV. This year's Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest really seemed to roll a ton out.

The big news is, of course, the reveal of 7.0 and the new expansion, Dawntrail. It'll see the Warrior of Light (that's you, player) set off for the New World that's been mentioned in content like the Blue Mage quests, now officially named as Tural.

And the Scions will be getting deeply involved with the local politics again, it seems. A competition for the throne is heating up, which draws the WoL and friends in, and may even see the Scions face off on opposite sides. It's intriguing, for sure. Though it's some testy potential subject matter to handle, the tropical setting does make for a great showcase of all the graphical updates Square Enix is rolling out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onGE1-I2T6Y

Normally, the expansion would be the big headline. But today's Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest keynote also had a surprise guest: Xbox head Phil Spencer. Taking the stage alongside XIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida, and later the new Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu, they officially announced that Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Xbox.

Xbox Series X|S consoles will be able to join in the MMO, starting with an open beta set for sometime next year. Spencer and Kiryu both intimated that this was the start of a greater collaboration between Xbox and the Final Fantasy team, which will surely set speculation ablaze for a little while.

All of that, plus some 6.5X news and teases, a Fall Guys collaboration in the works, and of course, Hildibrand. Final Fantasy XIV has a ton in store for 2024, it seems. Here's all that lies ahead.

All of the headlines from the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest keynote

• Final Fantasy XIV’s next expansion Dawntrail charts a course for summer 2024
• Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail will introduce two new DPS jobs
• Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is getting a massive graphical update
• Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Xbox
• Final Fantasy XIV is expanding its free trial to include Stormblood

The post Everything shown at today’s Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest keynote appeared first on Destructoid.

A big MMORPG is making its way to Xbox consoles. Final Fantasy XIV is heading to Xbox Series X|S.

Xbox head Phil Spencer took the stage at Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest today alongside XIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida to announce the news. It will have 4K support on Xbox Series X, and have "faster loading" too. An open beta is scheduled for 2024, during the 6.5X patch cycle. It will also be a digital-only release.

No mention was made of Xbox One, so it looks like that platform won't be getting access to Square Enix's MMORPG.

Spencer says he sees this as a "seminal moment" with the Final Fantasy team, and hopes to collaborate more with them in the future, which is sure to set speculation ablaze. Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu took the stage too, reaffirming a desire to collaborate more with Xbox. This could be interesting to see pan out, with the historically PlayStation-focused Final Fantasy series.

A new world

The Xbox news arrived during an information-filled Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest presentation. Yoshida and the XIV team unveiled its plans for 7.0, the Dawntrail expansion, which heads to the New World of Tural. A bunch of new content is coming, including two new DPS jobs.

And for those incoming Xbox players, the amount of XIV content immediately available is expanding too. The famous free trial of Final Fantasy XIV is expanding to include its Stormblood expansion. That's a ton of extra content for incoming Xbox players to dig into, or any aspiring Warriors of Light to check out on PC or PlayStation.

The post Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Xbox appeared first on Destructoid.

Square Enix is setting out for new horizons in its next expansion. Final Fantasy XIV will get its next expansion Dawntrail in summer 2024.

Revealed at today's Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest, the trailer spotlights the new locales that the Warrior of Light and (former) Scions will be visiting in the next expansion. Dubbed Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail, the journey takes the crew into the New World. If you've been keeping up with Blue Mage content, you might already know a bit about this landmass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onGE1-I2T6Y

Director and producer Naoki Yoshida describes this new expansion as the "very best summer vacation" a hero can have. The Warrior of Light heads to the New World, a.k.a. Tural, to aid someone in a rite of succession, which takes them out across the Indigo Deep. And this adventure will also apparently see the Scions "divided" into opposing groups.

On an exciting note, we do see Endwalker favorite Erenville playing a big role, it seems. We also caught glimpses of the rest of the Scions adventuring around, eating some incredible-looking food, and taking in the sights.

[caption id="attachment_394144" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Square Enix[/caption]

A new arc

Since Endwalker brought an end to the major arc starting with A Realm Reborn, Square Enix is framing the Dawntrail expansion of Final Fantasy XIV as the start of a new journey. The general theme is a "journey of discovery." Personally, I'm curious to see how this pans out.

What's also really neat is to see the world map expand with this expansion. The new hub city is in Tuliyollal, the seat of the federal nation-state governing Tural. It's ruled by a two-headed Mamool Ja named Gulool Ja Ja, who's hosting the competition to see who will succeed him.

[caption id="attachment_394158" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Square Enix[/caption]

We got a good look at the new areas players will be visiting. It's got a lush tropical vibe, which all looks very good with the graphics update. "We’ve never been able to create such dense foliage in a forest before," Yoshida mentioned as the XIV head took the audience through different snapshots of both the hub and outlying areas.

The Pelupelu are a new tribe, and familiar to those who have played some Final Fantasy X-2. They're a smaller race and dig coffee, which is relatable.

Upping the cap

Of course, the level cap will tick up, from Level 90 to Level 100. Final Fantasy XIV will finally hit triple-digits, and new skills will arrive for all Jobs. Crafter and Gatherer will go up in cap, too.

And with a new expansion comes new jobs, too. Two new DPS jobs will arrive, one melee and one ranged magical attacker. Yoshida gave a hint, in the form of a TMNT: Mutant Mayhem shirt. No clue.

New dungeons, threats, and content will arrive too, with Normal and Hard versions. We got some artwork of one of the bosses, the legendary Valigarmanda.

[caption id="attachment_394173" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Square Enix[/caption]

Duty Support will also get an update, as well as new Gear and Recipes for Crafters and Gatherers. There will also be new Variant Dungeons, and new Raid content for Alliance, 8-player, and the Ultimate players out there. PvPers will get an update too, including new maps for Frontline.

Somehow, impossibly, inconceivably, even further adventures

Even more ongoing content is on the way, including new updates for Blue Mage, new plans for Deep Dungeons, and Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures. And a Gold Saucer update is on the way, too. (It's not Blitzball.)

We also got a big look at all the graphical updates coming as part of the 7.0 update, a.k.a. the Dawntrail expansion. They look pretty solid, and Yoshida says the team is working to go back and update content all the way back to 2.0, or A Realm Reborn. Auto-generated environments will also roll out, and it really looks like it's filling out some of the areas in earlier content.

Some big systemic updates are hitting too, including one very exciting one for glam fans: two dyes per gear piece! Eyeglasses are also being added as a separate piece, which can be equipped independently of headgear. The furnishing limit is getting increased at some point in the 7.X cycle, too. Raid players can also rejoice: a strategy board function is on the way, with editable strategy layouts.

Requirements shift

With all the new graphical updates, the system requirements are also going up for PC Final Fantasy XIV players.

[caption id="attachment_394193" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Square Enix[/caption]

The PlayStation 4 will still be supported for Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, so no jump to PS5 just yet. Though, as Yoshida mentions, there is another Final Fantasy on PS5 that you could check out too.

That's all for 7.0 today at Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest, but there's plenty of other news for crossovers and upcoming pre-7.0 patchs. Looks like there's quite a lot on the way for the critically acclaimed MMORPG.

The post Final Fantasy XIV’s next expansion Dawntrail charts a course for summer 2024 appeared first on Destructoid.

The Suikoden successor Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is pushing back its launch date. Developer Rabbit & Bear Studios announced today that it won't be launching this year, as the studio aims for a Q2 2024 window instead.

Originally set to launch in 2023, Rabbit & Bear is opting for some more time to deliver the RPG they want. Here's an excerpt from the Kickstarter backer update:

"In order to deliver a game that so many fans have supported, we announce a revised release date of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, with the game now due during Calendar Year Q2 of 2024. The decision was made in order to ensure the best possible story, and to reward the legion of backers with the best game experience possible."

On the upside, there's some new gameplay to view today. There's also a dev update from Yoshitaka Murayama, the director. Murayama says he has already completed the story, including the DLC, and is now working on setting material and supervising the "detailed text."

Character illustrator Junko Kawano also shared some art updates, including a look at the three protagonists of the prequel action-RPG Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising in their Hundred Heroes looks. And CJ, Isha, and Garoo all look great.

[caption id="attachment_394116" align="alignnone" width="640"] Edit by Destructoid via Rabbit & Bear Studios[/caption]

We also get a look at some other voice reveals, and a tease of more information to come. Kawano says the team hopes to have new information around the time of Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2023.

Gathering the Hundred Heroes

While it's a bummer of a delay, 2023 is already pretty stacked with huge games. Two big RPGs are set to arrive in the next month or so, with both Baldur's Gate 3 and Starfield. So getting a little extra space for Eiyuden is probably a good thing, for both the dev team and eager RPG fans.

Given how surprisingly well Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising turned out, I'm hopeful for Hundred Heroes. Hopefully, we can see some more of it in action soon, and we'll get a clearer idea of what the whole game looks like as we approach that new window in 2024.

The post Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes has been pushed back to Q2 2024 appeared first on Destructoid.

Update [July 27, 10:16 a.m.]: The new trailer is live, and features a whole lot of vampire slaying. Richter's journey takes place amidst the French Revolution, as he teams up with some new allies to take on a "Vampire Messiah." Already love the vibe and setting of all this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYvJZ3Itw8A

Our original story follows.

A new Belmont takes up the whip and mantle for the animated Castlevania series soon. Powerhouse Animation Studios has announced that Castlevania: Nocturne will have its Netflix premiere on September 28.

A teaser image was posted from the Castlevania Twitter account earlier today, with the confirmed date. There's another news beat on the way too, as a trailer for Castlevania: Nocturne will arrive on July 27.

Nocturne will follow Richter Belmont, the lead in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood who also appears in several other games. We don't know too much more at this point, but the forthcoming trailer will probably illuminate what's at stake. (Hold for applause.)

The original Castlevania run from Powerhouse followed Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, and Alucard in a loose adaptation of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. It soon veered off into its own story, tying in plot beats from Castlevania history ranging all the way to 2005's Curse of Darkness. And it was, in my humble opinion, a pretty damn good series. The castle entrance fight in Season 2 is still an all-timer for me.

Streaming at large

Of course, this series arrives during a tumultuous time for streaming in general. Both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) are currently on strike over, among other complaints, disputes with streaming companies. Animated work is part of this issue too, as late night host Stephen Colbert recently noted at a WGA animation rally.

Neither the WGA nor SAG-AFTRA have called for a boycott at this time, so it doesn't seem to affect Castlevania: Nocturne. But it's an issue worth looking into and learning about. A lot of creative talent goes into making shows like these. It's frankly amazing we get adaptations like Castlevania these days.

The post Castlevania: Nocturne passes the whip to Richter in September appeared first on Destructoid.

If you've thought that playing fighting games with friends gets a bit too contentious, Riot Games is working on an answer. The League of Legends company showed off more footage of its in-development fighting game Project L today with the reveal of Duo Play, a co-op option for the tag-team fighting game.

Project L is a two-on-two tag fighter, similar to games like BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. This means each side fields two characters, picked out of the League of Legends universe of Runeterra, for its matches.

While you'd normally pilot these teams solo, Project L is also offering Duos, which lets two players team up and each handle an individual fighter. It basically turns Project L into a co-op tag fighter, where you can combo off each other, throw out assists, and tag in and out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KalbPq3Ic4

This Duo Play is something that other tag fighters have done before, but does seem particularly well-suited to Project L. Aside from the fun tie to duo queuing in League, it could make the arena feel a bit approachable for newcomers. Alongside the breakdown video above, Riot also published a showmatch, where its developers showed off the Duo Play mode in Project L.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4a7UzySL9o

If this seems like it's up your alley and you also happen to be in Las Vegas for Evo 2023, then you're in luck. Riot will be hosting show floor demos of Project L at the big fighting game event, with four playable characters: Darius, Ahri, Ekko, and one to-be-revealed character.

Squaring off

That's not the only Project L content that hit today, either. A bunch of fighting game players and community members apparently got a hands-on session with Project L recently, and were able to talk a bit about it today.

From the sounds of it, there are still some restrictions around how much they can say about the roster and characters available. But still, we can get a pretty good sense of how all the systems are coming together. Alongside Duo Play, there are some other neat concepts for the fighter, like a Capcom Vs. SNK 2-alike Groove system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn0NSqDLyMs

Project L has been in the works for quite some time now, and the team's been taking its time crafting this game. But I have to say, it looks like it's paying off. Everything here seems ready to entice a lot of players who don't often pick up fighting games, while still having some really nasty options for long-time competitors. The roster could be the cherry on top too, as League of Legends certainly doesn't have a shortage of champions to pick from. (I also secretly hope Riot pulls in a Valorant cameo or two.)

With the demo headed to Las Vegas and a super-secret surprise developer reveal scheduled for Evo 2023's Friday Showcase, I imagine we'll be hearing more from Riot soon. But it's nice to know that I won't necessarily have to always PvP my friends in Project L.

The post Project L showcases Duo Play, its co-op tag mode appeared first on Destructoid.

The studio behind The Witcher and Cyberpunk video game series is parting ways with a chunk of its staff. CD Projekt Red is laying off around 100 workers, which it estimates is roughly 9% of the entire team.

As announced in a letter shared on CD Projekt's site from CEO Adam Kiciński, the layoffs will run up through Q1 2024. Its announced the layoffs now in the "spirit of transparency" and to give team members a chance to process. Additionally, CD Projekt assures that those affected have been offered a "comprehensive" severance package.

The reasoning behind these layoffs is CD Projekt Red's new direction, it seems. Kiciński writes that CDPR has reshaped its development process and incorporated Agile methodologies, and is now turning its eye towards staff.

"We’ve carefully assessed all teams in the company in terms of their expected contribution to the delivery of our strategy," said Kiciński. "There’s no easy way to say this, but today we are overstaffed. We have talented people on board who are finishing their tasks and—based on current and expected project needs—we already know we don’t have other opportunities for them in the next year."

The future of CD Projekt Red

CD Projekt has quite a few projects in development, as the letter notes. There are new Cyberpunk and Witcher games in the works. Plus, CD Projekt is also working on a new franchise, under the codename Hadar. All that, plus the impending release of Cyberpunk 2077's first and only big DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, in September.

With all these games in the works, it's a little strange to see a cut like this. Especially since CD Projekt also made fairly recent cuts on other projects, like Gwent and Molasses Flood's Witcher spin-off. Hopefully, those affected can land on their feet.

The post CD Projekt Red is laying off roughly nine percent of its staff appeared first on Destructoid.

Starfield isn't that far off now, with a release date of September 6, 2023. But that's still a ways off, and at least one eager fan is spending the time by trying to sleuth out of all of the Starfield skill system.

In a post on the r/Starfield subreddit (as spotted by GamesRadar), user u/asd8dhd has posted their deductions from "around 200 hours" of reverse engineering. Alongside a 44-page Google Doc, they also shared a massive library of suspected skill images, collected from all the information and footage the public has seen so far.

It is, to put it frankly, exhaustive. Even though u/asd8dhd acknowledges there are some misses—and asks for readers to point out anything provably incorrect—it's an impressively in-depth investigation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMOPoAq5vIA

Given the amount of publicly available footage to trawl through and identify, it's commendable. And now I'm certainly invested in seeing whether u/asd8dhd's educated assessments pan out. They include not only skill names and descriptions, but a short explanation of how the actual leveling and skill system works.

The skills they surmise are in the game range all over the place, from boosts for yourself or companions to special skills, like instigating an NPC to attack their allies or slowing down time. It's largely theoretical, to be clear. Still, it's a lot of info to trawl through, and Starfield fans still have time between now and launch to do just that.

Skill check

It'll be a good few weeks before we know whether this Starfield sleuth hit it on the head or not. In the meantime, though, August looks to be starting off a stacked fall season with a bang.

In fact, Starfield seems to have led to a bit of a summer launch shuffle. Baldur's Gate 3 bumped up the launch date of its PC version, and role-playing musical Stray Gods was delayed a week later in additional response. Those two, plus Armored Core VI and several other intriguing games, could make for a stacked start to the second half of the year.

The post Starfield fan spends around 200 hours trying to piece together its skill system appeared first on Destructoid.

The Steam Deck has only been out for a year at this point, but already, it's becoming a popular topic of conversation. And with even games like Elden Ring seeing big popularity on the portable PC platform, it's an obvious question as to whether FromSoftware's next title Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon will also be Steam Deck compliant.

We got the chance to play Armored Core VI in a recent hands-on preview and chat with two of the team's leads, director Masaru Yamamura and producer Yasunori Ogura. During the roundtable interview, the pair were asked about the prospects of Armored Core VI on the Steam Deck.

"Obviously, seeing how Elden Ring performed on Steam Deck, we're very happy, and we wanted to at least create that as a baseline going forward for this handheld," said Ogura. "So it is fully supported for Steam Deck. Nothing in particular this time we've done differently, just want to reassure players that it will be fully supported."

AC on PC

Notably, this is the first Armored Core game to get an official PC launch. Armored Core VI is due to hit PC alongside PlayStation and Xbox on August 25.

"We do all of our development on PC, first and foremost. So of course, we wanted to optimize it to that experience," said Ogura. "And just being a modern FromSoftware game on modern hardware, we wanted to try and at least meet that bar, and deliver a good experience to our PC players. So we tried to incorporate our knowledge over the last several years of game dev, and try to correct, and try to optimize as best we can for the PC audience."

The PC specs for Armored Core VI will be coming soon, the team says, and it will be interesting seeing what hardware the mech game will require. Still, for those hoping to take their mechs on the go much like they took Elden Ring around, this could be promising. We'll learn more as we approach Armored Core VI's release date on August 25.

_{Travel for this media preview was provided by the publisher.}

The post Armored Core 6 will be fully supported on Steam Deck, devs say appeared first on Destructoid.

Every mission in Armored Core VI  Fires of Rubicon throws something new at you. Whether it be a special scenario, challenging objective, strong enemy pilots, or a gigantic colossus, evolving and adapting is key.

We recently got some hands-on time with Armored Core VI ahead of its August release, along with the chance to speak to the developers behind it. And as director Masaru Yamamura puts it, building the Armored Core (or AC) you pilot is a key place FromSoftware built upon.

"This has always been a staple of the series, and it’s always been a part of Armored Core’s identity," said Yamamura in a roundtable interview. "So we wanted to see what that would look like in a modern-day AC. We felt like that was an element that could translate very well, even in a modern day game and a modern day mech game. So we kind of used that as the impetus for this project."

[caption id="attachment_393344" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Bandai Namco[/caption]

Players can observe this in many places. While Yamamura notes that different parts have usually denoted different stats or parameters, the team wanted choices in the garage to be felt in the game. "For instance, if you change up the leg types, you get a very different feeling mech or mobility system," Yamamura explains.

In my own experience, I saw how different loadouts could deal with different challenges. Where some missions with swarms of smaller enemies meant dual-guns were effective, I gravitated towards the sword in one-on-one duels with other ACs. It's all about the right tool for the right job.

Hitting the garage

Customization isn't just about guns and parts, though. Past Armored Core games have let the player customize to a degree. But there are some bells and whistles FromSoftware included for Armored Core VI that get pretty interesting: texturing, weathering, even the reflection of a particular piece.

While I spent some time blowing up enemy ACs, I also fooled around a bit with the custom mech creator. I made an EVA Unit-01 mock-up, as well as an Optimus Prime and Gundam-inspired look. (I sadly didn't have capture on hand, but trust me when I say: they looked great.) It was really fun to see just how in-depth and creative these tools were, for making a mech of my own.

[caption id="attachment_393345" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Bandai Namco[/caption]

"So in this sense, we hope that players will be able to depict their ideal AC," said Yamamura. The director hoped players would be able to "bring their mech fantasy into the game" and showcase it.

Corporate backing

When it comes to the parts in Armored Core VI, I did ask whether there were any outside inspirations on the new designs. Of course, series like Gundam got mentioned. But more importantly, FromSoftware looked toward its own world for inspiration.

The world of Armored Core VI is embroiled in a corporate war for control of Rubicon. Those companies develop weapons and field their own forces, and when thinking of what new parts might be in play, Yamamura says the team looked at the corporations' backgrounds.

[caption id="attachment_393342" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Bandai Namco[/caption]

"We wanted to study the backgrounds of those corporations and factions and figure out what they prioritize, and what they develop," said Yamamura. "Maybe like, where they originated, in their sort of company development. And then what that would look like in terms of parts, and how you identify each corporation based on its parts."

Idiosyncrasies

Of course, I did ask Yamamura and producer Yasunori Ogura what their own mech loadouts would be, were they to duel at that very moment. Yamamura opted for a double Gatling gun approach, with a missile launcher and cannon. Ogura went for a rapid-fire ballistic weapon in one hand, high-impact bazooka in another, with a couple of plasma rifles for good measure.

"This is part of the fun of AC," said Ogura. "Is sharing your own idiosyncrasies with other players."

Armored Core VI  Fires of Rubicon arrives on August 2, 2023.

_{Travel for this event was provided by the publisher.}

The post Armored Core 6 devs share how assembly lies at the core of the mech action appeared first on Destructoid.

There came a point, in playing Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, that I determined I simply wasn’t going fast enough. By this point in my hands-on time, I had overcome plenty of enemy mechs, from simple cannon-fodder to named adversaries with callsigns. I was already a heavy-metal death machine. But I could be faster; not just in raw speed, but turning, target acquisition, and elimination. I could push this steel body faster than I currently was, faster than I probably should.

So I went into the garage and fine-tuned my machine. In battle, I practiced using my minimap and scan functions to see things my eyes, with one focal point, couldn’t. Heck, I cranked my camera sensitivity to the highest sensitivity it would go so I could pivot faster. If any of that sounds appealing to you, then Armored Core VI is right up your alley.

I got a chance to go hands-on with roughly the first chapter of Armored Core VI at a preview event, seeing the story unfold as the player character—a “dog” under the command of Handler Walter—gets embroiled in the conflict over the planet Rubicon 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcDjyestr4Y

Climbing the wall

It is what you’d expect story-wise from an Armored Core, in a good way. You pick up callsigns and handles, as you bounce between mercenary gigs for different factions in the ongoing battle for Rubicon. Some are fairly straightforward; go to a location, take out the target. They all, in some way, demand combat. And frequently, the odds are heavily stacked against you.

This is the first wall that I can see for some fans of developer FromSoftware’s more recent work. Though FromSoft has made a huge impact with its Souls series and spin-offs, the studio is unabashedly returning to the formula of an Armored Core game with its sixth numbered entry. Where other games might offer some alternative paths, Armored Core VI is a mission-based game. You can complete additional objectives and side content for more resources, but you have to proceed on the set path.

[caption id="attachment_393347" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Bandai Namco[/caption]

Personally, I dig this. A big part of the early first chapter is about getting the opportunity to “climb the wall.” What that means in-universe is just a looming mission objective. But for the gameplay demo, it was an obstacle I knew was coming. I would, eventually, have to scale a wall the developers had created. And it wasn’t going to be without obstacles.

Challenge is a well-known draw of FromSoftware’s games too, and Armored Core VI certainly has that. While smaller enemies can be easily dispensed with, a swarm of them may quickly become dangerous. Larger foes will bring more powerful weapons to bear, forcing you to adapt. Enemy mechs pose a massive risk once they start to have names and callsigns, posing an equal challenge to your own war machine. And bosses? Well, I think a lot of the footage and gameplay shown off speaks for how dangerous the bosses are.

[caption id="attachment_393349" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Bandai Namco[/caption]

By comparison, you are one mech; sometimes you’ll be accompanied by some allies, but for the most part, assume you’re alone. You certainly have a solid machine, with plenty of weapons and tools at your disposal. But you can also push your machine to its limits to see how far you can take the weapons platform you’re piloting.

My personal preference was the sword and rifle, a very Gundam RX-78-2 loadout. Twin missile pods sat on my shoulders, and I was able to carefully dance around enemies, picking away at them with ballistics before finding my opening and swooping in for a devastating strike. The whole time, I was carefully managing my resources. Missiles and guns have ammo counts, and a sword dash could leave me vulnerable if I missed my swing.

Boosters engaged

The boost meter was a constant concern, and probably the most important mechanic for any pilot to master. FromSoftware has found a really good balance of speed and control in Armored Core VI; in an interview with the game’s leads, they said they set the speed back a notch from Armored Core: For Answer. But while you’re not topping out at the same speeds, there’s still certainly a sense of rapid movement.

A standard boost keeps you moving at a good pace, while an extra blast can add a quick burst of speed to dodge incoming attacks. Meanwhile, the Assault Boost feels like a way to immediately traverse great distance. Its massive spike of velocity can carry you far, but the start-up and slow-down could leave you vulnerable. Managing all of these options is crucial, alongside tracking your weapons, ammo, and terrain.

[caption id="attachment_393341" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Bandai Namco[/caption]

This can, at times, make Armored Core VI feel overwhelming. Early on, I felt myself hit a wall with a certain boss. It was heavily armored in the front, meaning I had to focus on striking its back. And while the fight started off easy enough, I was soon left to fend for myself against an enraged behemoth, launching tons of firepower at me and littering the arena with explosives.

Hitting that wall, though, pushed me even further. I carefully watched the boss’ motions. Over time, I gauged the ranges he preferred to use certain attacks from, and when. I’d find ways to position myself perfectly, so that when I leapt over and stabbed him in the back, I could safely escape before he did a damaging spin-out.

Going back to the garage and retooling my mech helped a ton with this, and to FromSoftware’s credit, this is where some leniency comes in. The checkpoint system feels generous, and lets players hit the garage mid-stage or after a wipeout to retool and re-enter. Customization is a big factor in Armored Core VI, where bringing certain weapons or tools can give you the exact edge you need in a given situation. Some missions were well-suited to my “Heavyarms” loadout, dual-wielding automatic guns. Others, like the boss above, were much easier with a sword and rifle.

Still, I was left with one big question, after playing hours of Armored Core VI. This is a game that is, unabashedly, a new Armored Core. I don’t personally feel like it’s trying to make a bid for newcomers’ hearts through any concessions; rather, FromSoft is trying to create a modern Armored Core, potentially bringing in new players while retaining the pieces that made this series what it was. I wondered if that would land with anyone who never tried Armored Core, or bounced off of it years ago.

Armored Core VI is a game that appeals to me, personally. I like mechs. I dig customization. Constant improvement and challenge have steadily become a go-to beat for me. There really wasn’t a question of whether I would be into this game. But for less mech-inclined, challenge-seeking players, I wondered what they would think of Armored Core VI.

[caption id="attachment_393348" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Bandai Namco[/caption]

Within mission parameters

If anything makes a bid for those players’ hearts in Armored Core VI, it’s the missions themselves. Rather than exploring some steadily expanding world with hubs and spokes of exploration to uncover, you’re sent on specific sorties. But those confines let individual missions sing. They can narrowly focus on a specific, interesting objective, like taking out certain targets or hunting down a unique mech. Even through narrative, they can resonate. One mission pit me against a clear novice in a prototype, and his frightened radio chatter as he found himself in a duel with an ace pilot left a haunting note on all the action.

These missions can also expand into massive, exciting battles, like one against a giant walker with a devastating laser turret. I had to fly through the desert, taking cover in sandstorms and behind dunes as a terrifying laser tried to swat me like a fly. Then, I had to take down a leg and climb the walker, taking out defense subsystems on the way, and eventually knock out its main cannon. The whole experience feels thrilling, and it’s easily replayable thanks to the mission structure. No need to rekindle a flame or anything; just head to the missions tab and re-run it.

Those incredible moments, alongside the customization that I suspect is a bit more interesting for FromSoft players than they’ll expect, seem like enough to draw newcomers in. I do hope they give this game a genuine try, too, and discover what I enjoyed about it.

[caption id="attachment_393351" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Bandai Namco[/caption]

As much as I dug the garage, and the giant fights, and all the morally gray ethics of my mercenary work on Rubicon on the battlefields of corporations and resistances, it was the speed that stuck with me. Handling a mech in Armored Core VI just feels good. It’s almost violently fast at times. There’s a sense of friction, as you try to manage four different weapon slots and a boost meter, while eyeing the terrain, dodging incoming attacks, and plan your next strike.

It felt, early on, like potentially too much data for the brain to manage. But that overwhelming feeling gives way to a flow state. As I internalized it more and more, shoved more pieces of Armored Core VI into parallel processing, where ammo management felt like checking my side mirrors on the highway, I could feel how I could push further. And the arena matches, which are essentially Gran Turismo license test-style duels against opponents in their own mechs, saw me tackling increasingly intimidating opponents, pushing even further, until I emerged victorious.

So if all of that sounds good, then Armored Core VI is really something you should be watching for. There are many ways to make a mech game, but few in recent memory have had me teetering on that edge, of either glory or ruin, quite like the fast and furious mechs of Armored Core have.

_{Travel for this media preview was provided by the publisher.}

The post Armored Core 6 hands-on: A devastating steel ballet appeared first on Destructoid.

Think you can beat the ads?

Have you ever been absent-mindedly scrolling, or maybe watching YouTube, and been pulled in by the sudden and absurd interjection of a mobile game ad? Maybe even thought to yourself, 'hey, I can solve that.' Well, Yeah! You Want "Those Games," Right? So Here You Go! Now, Let's See You Clear Them! might be for you.

This collection is a video game that I'm going to shorthand down to Those Games, and it is indeed centered on 'those games': the kind of absurd logic problems that you see pop up over and over again in dime-a-dozen mobile game ads. Well, rather than download something that might be filled with extra transactions and bizarre stories, Those Games lets you have at it right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixmG35AhgFI

Climb the towers! Mix the solutions! Escape parking lots! Do...  I'm really not sure what you're doing in some of these, but you can certainly slide and tap your way through them. Those Games is on both PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch, for a fairly reasonable $9.99 at that.

Clear Those Games off

Interestingly enough, the developer behind this isn't just anybody. Studio Monkeycraft Co. Ltd. worked on the Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series and Katamari Damacy HD updates. Seems like they did a pretty alright job, too.

Is this what we expected from the folks working on Klonoa and Katamari to move onto? Maybe not quite, but it's certainly whimsical and interesting. And now, I can finally see if I can pull all those slider bars right, to keep the puppy safe. Or clear the parking lot, or safely travel across a long walkway using only a giant stack of wooden beams. There's even a little gacha-style machine in there, for collecting titles. Guess you can't avoid every segment of mobile games, but at least there doesn't seem to be an energy meter in sight.

The post Those Games lets you play all ‘those games’ you’ve seen in ads appeared first on Destructoid.

Hiiiigh definition Riiiidge Racer

The video game documentarians at NoClip have been steadily preserving and archiving a wealth of old industry footage, ranging from tech demos and presentations to classic commercials. Importantly, the team is also getting higher definition captures of certain events than we've ever seen before, like a 1080p HD recording of the infamous Sony E3 2006 presentation.

For those who weren't around or closely watching the industry at the time, 2006 was an important year for Sony. Notably, the console maker was soaring on the success of the PlayStation 2. Kaz Hirai, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America at the time, took the stage to lay out the future ahead for both the PlayStation Portable and the impending launch of the PlayStation 3.

Sony's ensuing showcase would result in many long-running memes stemming out from the showcase, including historically based crab battles and Riiiiiidge Racer. And of course, the price tag. The reveal of the $600 ($599, to be exact) price point for the 60 GB PS3 was the stunning conclusion to the show.

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

Massive damage

This was streamed at the time, but due to restrictions of the time, was only ever available in lower resolution. With NoClip's restoration work, we can see the whole show at glorious 1080p.

Besides marking the start of a very rough generation for Sony, there's a lot of historical value in this recording. There are trailers for some eventual big PS3 games, like Metal Gear Solid 4. But there's also the canceled Eight Days, the AR game Eye of Judgment getting a live demo, and early looks at games like Final Fantasy XIII, in a now obvious mock-up of its eventual battle system.

This was an era where conferences had big showcase presentations while maintaining the slide presentation and industry side forward facing. Nowadays, E3—or whatever we're calling the summer of games news now—is a very consumer-focused show. You don't really see CEOs standing in front of fiscal projections these days. Not on a big stage, at least.

So enjoy this trip down memory lane with the Sony E3 2006 press conference, and a huge thanks to the folks at NoClip doing all this preservation work. Because of this, the giant enemy crabs can reach their true resolution potential.

The post Sony’s infamous E3 2006 press conference is now in glorious 1080p appeared first on Destructoid.

Gather your party

I've taken only a few steps into the darkened hallways of Demon Lord Reincarnation, and already, I know I'm in trouble. My first battle is tense and brutal; I knew it would be. But as my party members start to drop like flies against the horrors of only the first floor of this godforsaken land, I start to get it. This is going to be difficult, punishing even. I shouldn't get attached to anything. Because it's going to take a lot to make it down to the Demon Lord.

Demon Lord Reincarnation is the latest RPG from Graverobber Foundation, a team that's made a number of throwback role-playing experiences. This one in particular conjures up memories of Wizardry, in particular. It's a first-person dungeon crawler where you command a party of adventurers, heading down into the final resting place of the Demon Lord Leinad. Long ago, a group of heroes defeated Leinad and sealed him underground, and a maze was built up over it. Now, the seal is broken, monsters are swarming, and it looks like the Demon Lord is intent on resurrecting.

So, upon starting Demon Lord Reincarnation, you're given a selection of adventurers to pick from, building up a party of four to venture down. It's only five floors. How hard could it be?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UCfkewb6Kw

Time for some hubris

Well, after losing two party members in the first fight, I got my answer pretty quick.

The first thing to know about Demon Lord Reincarnation is that it's not exactly a cheerful adventure. You can, and will, lose party members. That happy Valkyrie joining you, cheerfully believing they can help stop the great evil? Yeah, she's dead now. In fact, I had to fight her reanimated corpse on a later run. Yes, the Graverobber Foundation exhumed my dead party member and threw the reanimated corpse back at me in a random battle, with all their powers and skills still intact. It was both a wonderful and terrifying surprise.

[caption id="attachment_392651" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Every party member hails from a different class, with various weapon and magic types that can have different effects in battle. At first, you might not notice this; but after your three swordfighters fail to put a dent in one beefy enemy, you'll want to consider diversifying your damage pool.

Every turn, you can commit a fighter to defend themselves or use an action, which costs varying amounts of skill points. Everyone has a basic skill that costs nothing, but during battle, they can have a spark of inspiration and learn a new move.

[caption id="attachment_392653" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

These abilities are crucial. They're often not only useful for damage, but add much needed utility for surviving against the brutal waves of enemies in Demon Lord Reincarnation. Stunning, tripping, and even gouging a skeleton's eye out—yes that works, don't ask me about the logistics—will stop those swarms of nasty monsters from turning your optimistic party into gruesome maze décor.

Knowledge is power

It's at this point that I'll stress the same thing the developer stresses: read the manual. Every copy of Demon Lord Reincarnation comes with access to a little PDF manual, and it is filled with useful, borderline essential information. How do I know this? I played for an hour without realizing you can rest in the maze. Learn from my mistakes.

Either way, it's not all doom-and-gloom. Over time, you'll build up power. Characters get noticeably stronger the more they survive. They don't really level up in a conventional sense, but gain extra stat points as they overcome battles. Worse odds mean greater rewards. So maybe leading your party into battle against a swarm of butchers and imps isn't a terrible idea. Anyone who survives the meat grinder will be stronger for it, right? And the replacements you can recruit at the campfire gradually scale to be within your range, too.

[caption id="attachment_392654" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Graverobber Foundation[/caption]

A real appeal of Demon Lord Reincarnation is its adherence to the classic first-person dungeon crawling, though. And by that, I mean there is no auto-mapping. Unlike more modern entries, you'll need to manually track your location and create your own map of the dungeon if you want to remember where you are. Or, you can just let yourself get blissfully lost. Either way, the dark, gloomy vibes of the corridors create a delightfully dreary ambiance.

[caption id="attachment_392652" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Graverobber Foundation[/caption]

Surviving the dungeon

I've only played a little bit of Demon Lord Reincarnation, but I can't really seem to get it out of my head. There's the incredible art, making use of an eerie dithered style much like another indie RPG favorite of mine, World of Horror. (It actually uses art from Toriotto, through an archive the artist has approved for other commercial projects.) It's punishing, but in the right amount, like a particularly good hot sauce. The way it looks back on first-person dungeon crawling and adds a bit of its own flair is really compelling.

But Demon Lord Reincarnation also feels focused, laser-set on what it's trying to do. There is a task at hand, and you'll need to slowly understand and learn its systems to overcome it. Sure, the descent to the Demon Lord is not going to be easy. But it's the challenge that makes it feel rewarding. Demon Lord Reincarnation's maze may seem simple at first, but those tiles and doors hold a world of adventure and challenge ahead. I'm pretty eager to head back down them.

The post Demon Lord Reincarnation is a dark throwback to graph-paper RPGs appeared first on Destructoid.

The Endless Waltz comes to a close

Bandai Namco has announced it's sunsetting its team-based first-person shooter Gundam Evolution. The giant mech battles come to a close on November 29, 2023, when service will end.

As announced in a blog post, there will still be some updates leading up to the closure of Gundam Evolution. Season 6 will still roll out more content on August 23, with two maps and a new unit. A final season will also go live on October 25, adding a new unit and map.

"We wanted to create a title that brought FPS fans and Gundam fans together. We challenged ourselves to create an authentic Gundam FPS game that could be played globally," reads the statement on Gundam Evolution's closure. "Unfortunately, we have determined that it is no longer possible for us to provide a service that satisfies our players."

Starting on July 26, sales of various currencies like EVO Coins and EC Pod Limited will cease, and updates to EC Pods, CAP Pods, and Ticket Pods will end. Refunds won't be offered for any previously purchased EVO Coins or other paid services. Bandai Namco says it will create "more opportunities" for players to earn Capital Points, so they can have a chance to unlock and play the new units.

Seasons 6 and 7 will roll out, as mentioned above. And then, on November 29 at 5 p.m. PST, the service will come to an end; the game will no longer be playable and items no longer usable.

Live Gundam service

I know this has become the trend for most multiplayer live service games, but it hurts a little bit extra to see the Grim Reaper (Gundam Deathscythe?) come for Gundam Evolution. Its back-of-the-box description could have very well been Overwatch-meets-Gundam, but it was a genuinely enjoyable shooter that I found more appealing than most of its competitors.

Seeing it close all the way down, shuttering its servers on the way out, is a significant bummer. A final season will launch, and fans will have roughly a month to try it out before the doors close for good. Hopefully the Gundam fans can still get some good times out of Evolution before it's gone.

The post Gundam Evolution is shutting down in November appeared first on Destructoid.

The veil between launchers thins

Blizzard is bridging the gap and bringing some of its PC games over to Steam. The publisher announced that select games will appear on Valve's launcher, starting with Overwatch 2 hitting Steam on August 10.

The free-to-play team shooter will launch with a few Steam tie-ins. Namely, there will be some Steam Achievements and the ability to invite Steam friends into matches. Players on Steam can also match and play against Battle.net users too, in case you were worried about that. You will, however, still need a Battle.net account to play Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2's Steam launch also coincides with the release of Invasion, the seasonal update that will add Blizzard's pared-down and reduced PvE plans.

While Overwatch 2 is the start, more games from Blizzard are headed to Valve's storefront. "As far as what’s next for Blizzard on Steam, we’ll be sharing more about potential other games coming to the platform when the time is right," reads a blog post from the company. Obvious hopes would lie in big games like Diablo IV, though I'd love to see some classics come over too.

Watch over me

The news comes at a tumultuous time for Overwatch 2 in general. Alongside the aforementioned scaled-back PvE plans, the hero shooter is declining. Activision Blizzard's Q2 2023 earnings report says engagement and player investment in Overwatch 2 has declined "sequentially" in the quarter. Its hopes seem to be that the Invasion update will bolster the game.

But on the esports side, the Overwatch League is also headed for a crossroads; teams are set to vote on an updated operating agreement, putting the fate of the league in the team owners' hands. League commissioner told The Verge that Overwatch will remain committed to a "competitive ecosystem in 2024 and beyond." But Activision Blizzard is also laying off workers in its esports department, per The Verge. We'll see if a seasonal update and Steam launcher appearance can right the ship.

The post Blizzard is bringing some PC games to Steam, starting with Overwatch 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

A little extra time to ensure it goes through

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are pushing back a notable deadline in the ongoing merger talks. Originally set for July 18, the merger agreement deadline for the companies has now been pushed out to October 18.

This extension is to allow for "additional time to resolve remaining regulatory concerns," according to a statement from Microsoft president Brad Smith.

"We will honor all commitments agreed upon with the EC and other regulators and continue to work with the CMA on the issues raised in the UK," said Smith. "We are confident about our prospects for getting this deal across the finish line."

Microsoft recently won over the FTC in a court case, denying a preliminary injunction on the deal. Not long after the decision was rendered, Microsoft and the UK's CMA seem to have gone back to the table, after the latter blocked the deal earlier this year.

"Given global regulatory approvals and the companies’ confidence that CMA now recognizes there are remedies available to meet their concerns in the UK, the Activision Blizzard and Microsoft boards of directors have authorized the companies not to terminate the deal until after October 18," said Activision Blizzard CCO Lulu Cheng Meservey in a statement. "We’re confident in our next steps and that our deal will quickly close."

Xbox head Phil Spencer also stated the company is "optimistic" about getting the deal done. Though it's worth noting that with these exceptions, the termination fees also go up. Microsoft's payable fee if the agreement doesn't go through bumps up to $3.5 billion on August 29, and higher to $4.5 billion on September 15.

The future of Xbox

Even with that billion-dollar pressure, the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal seems to be full-steam ahead. After the FTC ruling, it seems much more likely that Activision-Blizzard will fall under the Xbox umbrella by year's end.

The next big calendar day to watch for August 29, which is the CMA's updated final order date.

The post Microsoft and Activision Blizzard extend the merger agreement deadline appeared first on Destructoid.

How to find new life in space again

Citizen Sleeper was one of the biggest surprises of last year for me. It was a stellar combination of virtual and tabletop mechanics in a gorgeous, distant space setting that drew me in and quickly became a favorite. So when Citizen Sleeper 2 appeared out of the blue, you can imagine how eager I was to hear more about it.

The first game follows a rogue, copied consciousness on the run, trying to avoid the hunters of their corporate overlords while attending to a steadily deteriorating body. It's a battle against planned obsolescence, in a cold station on the fringes of space. A place where a "Sleeper" like you could find a home, or at least a crossroads towards a new one. But following a series of DLC updates, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector heads in a new direction. We talked to creator Gareth Damian Martin, of Jump Over The Age, to see just what that direction looks like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFOYaEQP9ks

Pushing your luck

To start, you're still a Sleeper. The corporate-owned android body is still your home. But, as seen in the trailer above, your relationship with a critical chemical compound called "Stabilizer," necessary for survival in the first game, has changed. In Citizen Sleeper 2, an attempt to free yourself from dependence on Stabilizer has left your body malfunctioning. So you steal a ship and head on the run, with a body on the fritz and a price on your head.

As Martin puts it, you no longer have a declining body, but a malfunctioning one. "The distinction being that it's no longer predictable," they said. "It's no longer like, 'Well I know tomorrow, I'm going to be a little worse off.' It's much more of a push-your-luck situation, where the more that you push your body, the more likely it is that you're going to suffer a malfunction, but it's not a guarantee."

[caption id="attachment_392347" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Jump Over The Age[/caption]

This idea of pushing luck is an interesting one. It's something you can see in tabletop games like Blades in the Dark—an influence behind the first Citizen Sleeper. These gambits can pay off, and the resources can be both bountiful and crucial to survival. However, they may come with a cost. Martin points towards a feeling of being "on the edge" of being overwhelmed, and the stories that can come from that.

"That’s always my kind of endpoint, is just thinking about, what’s the narrative like," said Martin. "I don’t really care about the mechanics on their own. I’m interested in how they will serve and drive interesting narrative outcomes, where there’s not really a kind of pure success on offer. There’s instead just a series of compromises and variations."

A stressed-out Sleeper

If you map out a typical Citizen Sleeper run as a line graph, you'd see continuous dips and sudden spikes back to full. That rocky, alpine road of upkeep is what keeps the dice flowing in, and dice are how you get things done every day.

Citizen Sleeper 2 will maintain a good chunk of those systems. There's still a three-level system of risk, depending on what kinds of dice you have to place down. There are still, right now, a number of dice every cycle that can decline based on your current status. But stress is a new factor. For a game where you're already on the run, that's a powerful motivating factor to keep moving forward—and to take the risks you might normally avoid.

“When the game is kind of about crisis, and about entropy, about fighting against things falling apart and what that takes, then something like stress is a really valuable concept and mechanic simultaneously,” Martin explained to me. “So that's kind of like, the big thing that unites Citizen Sleeper 2’s changes, really.”

[caption id="attachment_392348" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Jump Over The Age[/caption]

As you move through the system on your ship, you can pick up contracts. These can give you the resources you need to keep going. But you'll need to ensure they succeed, too. Having a crew, then, helps a lot. While you're talented, you can't be perfect at everything in Citizen Sleeper 2. Selecting a crew for your jobs can play a big role in them succeeding. Martin points to Into the Breach as a "guiding intent."

“I often think about Into the Breach as the apex of the game where you spend more time looking at the problem in front of you than you do actually clicking buttons,” said Martin. “And while I’m not making Into the Breach, and Citizen Sleeper wouldn’t kind of ever be able to reach that level just by design, that is still something that I take as a kind of guiding intent. I very much like to have the idea of players sat there, scrolling around, looking at what’s in front of them and being like, ‘Okay, how am I going to solve this cycle in the best possible way?’”

Squats in space

With that crew-involved story, Citizen Sleeper 2's influences may not be a tremendous surprise. Martin names series like Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, and Deep Space Nine. Particularly, Martin calls attention to the episodes of DS9 where the "plot engine" turns off, and we get to zoom in a bit more on the crew. Stories about the crew, and their interpersonal drama, can often stand out in ways we don't see often in games.

At least, not in the scrappy crew manner we do in Citizen Sleeper 2. Compared to Commander Shepard's "flying office building", as Martin puts it, the ship of CS2 is more like a "squat in space." All the NPCs have their own agency, too. They're people, who have their own drivers that are not always aligning with yours.

Making personnel choices—who you take with you on jobs, who you get along with, and who you let on the ship in the first place—seems like it could be a big differentiator for Citizen Sleeper 2. It certainly adds a unique twist to the interactions and relationships of the game, compared to its predecessor.

[caption id="attachment_392346" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Jump Over The Age[/caption]

But that's all in the future. Citizen Sleeper 2 doesn't have a release date at the moment; for now, it sounds like Martin wanted to let fans know it's in the works. That's alongside a lot of other CitSleep content too, like a solo tabletop game and Design Works book.

When it comes to the finished sequel, Martin looks forward to getting the players into trouble, it seems. That mix of narrow successes, of making it through but not without a mark, looks to carry forward. And now, you'll have a crew of characters to add into the mix.

“I’m hoping it will feel quite different to the kind of space games that people are used to playing,” said Martin. “But at the same time, will feel like a continuation of Citizen Sleeper’s ideas about freedom, ‘freedom’, in story, and meaning, and characters. Getting to be part of their story, whatever that means, even if that’s not necessarily even helping them, or enduring them, specifically. [laughs]”

The post Citizen Sleeper 2 interview: Using stress to take the story further into the stars appeared first on Destructoid.

I'm BLU, da-ba-dee

Final Fantasy XIV Patch 6.45 arrives today, as an interstitial content patch adding a plethora of side content. The big draw for 6.45 across all players is probably the new Variant Dungeon, but Final Fantasy XIV is also adding some more to do if you're feeling Blue.

The Blue Mage crew of Final Fantasy XIV gets a sizeable content drop today. The specialized class, built around learning magic from monsters and undertaking full-Blue challenges separate from the usual Duty structure, gets a level cap bump up to 80. Alongside that, Blue Mages have a new series of spells to discover and learn, and new quests to undertake. And thanks to the heightened level cap, the content will run all the way to the end of Shadowbringers, and then some.

I've been poking around the new spells as other Blues discover them, and it looks like you'll definitely want to be through all of base Shadowbringers and into the post-launch patches. The Eden raid series also looks to have some spells to pick up, so unlocking those through normal means first will help.

A new Variant

But if you're not a Blue Mage fan, there's still some content to play today. The Mount Rokkon Variant Dungeon has been added, with new encounters to take on and loot to plunder. Those cosmetics are slowly being discovered by players as well.

Surprisingly, we also got a new hairstyle in 6.45. Reports seem to indicate it works for all the player races, too.

And of course, for those working on the Manderville weapons, the Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures quest line continues. It will probably continue to escalate and get stranger, as those quests do. (I'm still fairly early on in the quest line, but enjoying it a lot.)

You can find the full Final Fantasy XIV Patch 6.45 notes here.

The post Final Fantasy XIV Patch 6.45 is out now, with some new Blue Mage content appeared first on Destructoid.

How to beat down the dinos better

Capcom's new team-based competitive shooter Exoprimal is out, and well, it's a bit of an oddball. It's got guns, mechs, and it's all about whittling down the dino horde. And while it's still early on in this game's lifespan, we have a few tips for making life in Exoprimal easier.

Keep in mind, Exoprimal is a relatively full price ($59.99)  game, with additional progression and add-ons for extra cash. I don't personally recommend dumping that kind of cash unless you just want to fast-track through the suits. Some of the early suits you get will tide you over well to the later ones, and most of Exoprimal is about efficiency in PvE, though you will have to fight a player from time to time. (It's worth noting that Exoprimal is on Game Pass too, which makes a difference if you're looking to save some cash while testing the waters.)

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

With that in mind, we're keeping our tips oriented towards the basics: what little tips and bits of advice we'd give to a brand-new player, in order to get an edge over the other rookies.

Make sure to set your favorite suit

I've seen many players spawn into a match as Deadeye, the default Exosuit, and then start swapping around to others. Not only does this create confusion, as everyone tries to orient the team composition around the sudden swarm of Deadeyes, but it gets awkward when everyone swaps off, and then back, and then back again... It's a hassle.

Head to the hangar and you can hit a special button (Square on PlayStation) to "favorite" a suit, making it the one you always spawn into a match as. Bam! No more awkward Deadeye conventions.

Check out your rig options

While you're digging around in the Exosuit options, take a look at the rig options too. Rigs are a special piece of equipment, mounted on your shoulder, that can persist across suits. (Default button is Triangle on PlayStation.) You start out with a cannon, which is great for knocking Pteranodons out of the sky.

But, if you need some different options, there are some good ones you'll unlock as you level up. The small healing field can be great for tanks that like to hunker down, like Krieger. Or the catapult option can help a melee-focused Exosuit like Zephyr get into the air, away from danger, or into the face of an enemy.

[caption id="attachment_391870" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Equip some modules

One last thing to look at in the hangar is modules, and these are surprisingly important. Modules are pieces of equipment that you level up with BikCoin, the awkwardly named currency you accrue through matches and levelling up. After you open a module up in the hanger, you'll need to spend BikCoin to enable it, and more to level it up.

These bonuses are worth it in a lot of ways. The universal ones offer some great buffs, like extra movement speed when your health is low. These little bits of help can make a tangible difference in the field. And that goes doubly-so for Exosuit-specific modules.

Main some suits to unlock specific modules

Some modules are designated just for their respective Exosuits, powering up their abilities. These range from helpful utility to extremely useful, amping up the skills and abilities of Exosuits to make them take down dinos even better.

You get these Exosuit-specific modules by levelling up the individual suit, which you can do by playing matches as said suit. Play the Exosuit you like, get things to make it better. Simple, right? If you want some direction, I particularly like Deadeye's module that upgrades consecutive Ravager damage, as it helps the Soldier 76-esque character chew through larger, tougher enemies.

[caption id="attachment_391871" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Don't be afraid to switch it up

You might want to create a team composition and stick to it, but in my experience, it's worth swapping out Exosuits if you feel a specific one just isn't working. Exoprimal is surprisingly lenient in this regard, letting you get out of one Exosuit and into another in the middle of a match rather than waiting for a respawn or sticking it out.

Of course, this does mean playing as your lone pilot for a short moment, which can feel like an eternity if a wave of Raptors is bearing down on you. I recommend doing your swaps while waiting for some dinosaur portals to open at a Watcher's waypoint. A helpful note: in my experience at least, it seems like you don't lose charge on your ultimate ability when you swap suits. So feel free to mix it up!

Create chokepoints

If you've played any horde defense games before, you know all about good chokepoints. They're a way to funnel the overwhelming numbers of the enemy down to a manageable size, and Exoprimal gives you some good methods for doing so. Walls, tank shields, and even the terrain itself all lend well to make concentrated areas of attack.

Clumping up enemies also helps you pull off some good combos, so if you notice your Roadblock is taunting and gathering up dinos, get ready with some AOE attacks. Working together is how you clear dinosaurs faster, and that's one step closer to the next phase, and beating the enemy team.

[caption id="attachment_391818" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

It's all about the data

If you wind up in the data cube PvP final mission, which involves escorting a data cube from one end of the map to the other, I'll repeat what hundreds of Overwatch players have been screaming into their microphones since 2016: push the payload.

But seriously, the payload (data cube) of Exoprimal is pretty crucial. In addition to being your win condition, this payload is a bit more fragile than most; damage, from dinosaurs or enemy players, can temporarily halt its advance, forcing the team to hunker down and revive the data cube to progress forward.

There are other objective-based modes in Exoprimal too, some we've played and some we've only heard about from others digging into the game on day one. But the saying remains the same, whether Exoprimal, Overwatch, Battlefield, or anything else: play the objective. And if you're an invading dinosaur, taking out the enemy payload can be a surprisingly helpful use of your limited Dominator time.

The post 7 beginner tips for starting Exoprimal appeared first on Destructoid.

Dino-mite

Exoprimal seemed to drift on and off my radar leading up to its launch. It was the game that would show up on a stream, I'd gleefully take in all the cheesiness of a mech-powered dino-horde defense shooter, and move on. Even after playing the beta, Exoprimal didn't leave too much of a lasting impression.

So maybe that's why, as I spend today playing the launch version of Exoprimal, I'm a bit surprised by how much I'm enjoying the experience. It's not taking my breath away, but it's not boring either. Exoprimal is pretty okay. And yes, part of that is because it's a game about piloting a mech suit against a horde of otherworldly dinosaurs. It's fun for a squad, but it's got an asterisk or two on it.

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

If you're unaware of the pitch, Exoprimal is a new shooter from Capcom where mech suit (Exosuit) pilots team up in virtual wargames to take on hordes of dinosaurs that spawn from interdimensional portals. Using a variety of powerful Exosuits—with apparently quite shapely posteriors—you fend off the prehistoric threat alongside your team.

Prehistoric payload

The actual cadence of Exoprimal is bizarre, to say the least. After booting up the game, you watch a few fake commercials for Aibius. They're the sort of overly produced and polished, cheerful corpo-messages you'd expect to see at the start of a zombie outbreak film. Rather than the walking dead, it's dinos. And Aibius dispatches willing volunteers, your own create-a-character named Ace included, to deal with the literal torrential dino downpours.

It's nonsensical. But, it also feels like Capcom knows just how bizarre its premise is, and leans into it. Some of the line deliveries and gags gave me immediate Wanted: Dead vibes. The very premise of being trapped on an island, after some catastrophic events transpire, and forced to participate in war games by a seemingly rogue AI is already bonkers. Then, add dinosaurs.

[caption id="attachment_391817" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

I still don't really know why the dinosaurs are in Exoprimal, to be honest. That's part of the appeal; as you complete multiplayer matches, you unlock lost data. This feeds into a literal mystery circle, where you unlock text entries, static briefings, and eventually story cutscenes delving into the island's mysteries. It would feel more like Lost, if Lost also had robot suits and dinosaurs.

It works, though! Seriously, it does, if only in a cheesy, not-at-all-serious manner. I'm weirdly curious about how Capcom is going to string this all together. Already, some of the strange early twists have given me a chuckle, if nothing else. But that's the bizarre, strange story that will take many, many multiplayer matches to see through. Let's talk about the combat itself.

Past vs. future

Each match will roughly play out the same. In the first phase, your team of five races against a paired enemy team to move around a map, taking out waves of dinosaurs. The different varieties require different tactics; Raptors are easy enough to mow through and act as cannon fodder, while soaring Pteranodons or charging Pachycephalosaur spawns require some positioning and awareness. Also, Exoprimal does do a few common colloquialisms like "raptor" and "T-rex", but I dig that it will still use full names for something like a Carnotaurus.

While it's a horde game, much of the first phase felt like dealing with effective and efficient crowd removal rather than "survival." You can certainly drop down to a big-enough pack of Raptors if you're by yourself, but the real tension is in efficacy; you're trying to complete objectives faster than the other team, as you move towards phase 2.

[caption id="attachment_391821" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Phase 2 will either see you tackle more PvE content, or enter the PvP mode, which will feel familiar to those who like to push payloads. The team has to escort a data cube to the end point of a map and upload it before the other team. The twist? Rather than ethereal ghosts in each other's realms, now the player teams can fight each other as both payloads approach the same endpoint. Add in the Dominator, which lets a player hamper the enemy team as a special dino, and it can feel a bit chaotic.

This follow-the-light, shoot-the-targets set-up can start to feel a bit routine at times, so I'm curious to see what obstacles and new challenges Exoprimal throws at me over time. I do wish there was a more PvE-focused mode, though. Even in the PvE section, you're still racing another team. If Exoprimal had an option to just drop into a map and wipe out hordes of dinosaurs on various difficulties, it might scratch that EDF itch. For now, there always seems to be some competition, and I'd like to see that competition have some variety.

[caption id="attachment_391818" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Jurassic combat

The actual shooting and moving feel solid, if not spectacular. It is exactly what it needs to be, and some of the abilities do feel great to land just right, like the sniper suit's freeze or Deadeye's frag grenade. Exoprimal really feels like it's about the mass carnage, almost like a multiplayer dino-mech musou.

It's really important to note, though, that Exoprimal is a live service multiplayer game, in a day and age where live service multiplayer games come and go pretty fast. This is also a $59.99 game, with a free-or-premium battle pass too, and that's frequently reason enough for some to stay away. On top of that, if you don't pitch in for the extras, suits have to be unlocked; we received a deluxe copy for coverage consideration, but have also been looking into what progression looks like for the base game, and it seems "OK" is the consensus.

Game Pass obviously makes the prospect a bit less daunting, if you have that. In fact, Exoprimal really feels most at home there, as a service-y free-to-play game where you can hop in and see if it's for you. Makes it easier to rope some friends in too, and like a lot of multiplayer experiences, that's where I feel it shines. Randoms can be hit-or-miss, like any game, but a leaver means a bot will take their place, and that's not always ideal.

Overall, Exoprimal is a bit more interesting than I'd thought it be. It's not anything to shout from the rooftops about, but it's got a little more charm and more enjoyable combat than I was expecting. But that's just day one. The big question now is, does it have more to offer, or are the 20th and 30th hours going to feel a lot like the first? And does its strange monetization hold back its better ideas? We'll find out as we frag some more dinos, I guess.

The post Exoprimal makes a decent first impression, if you’ve got a squad for it appeared first on Destructoid.

Making 'ample space' for the gods

The summer is becoming increasingly packed for games, especially as dates start to shift around. With Baldur's Gate 3 moving its release date up, it put Larian's RPG in direct contention with another RPG, Stray Gods.

Now, Summerfall Studios is taking the opportunity for a slight delay. Originally scheduled for August 3, Summerfall is pushing the launch of its musical RPG to August 10. And in a statement on the matter, the studio was pretty straightforward about why:

"We want everyone to have ample space to check out Stray Gods when it launches," said the studio. "Baldur's Gate 3 is hotly anticipated (by us, too!) and we want to give our fans room to celebrate Stray Gods."

The extra time may prove a boon, though. As the statement goes on to say, Summerfall is taking on a lot by launching on a plethora of platforms—PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and the Nintendo Switch.

"This is a huge undertaking for any team, let alone an indie shipping its first title," said Summerfall. "This extra week allows us to have performance parity as close as possible—across every platform."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coQQ-K8Iwi8

The song remains the same

I admire the candor, as well as the hope that players looking forward to both of these games could finish the titanic Baldur's Gate 3 in a week's time. Jokes aside, though, an extra week can be a silver lining for a team to put extra polish on something.

Stray Gods is definitely on my shortlist for the summer. It's a role-playing adventure centered around actual musical performances, with quite a star-studded cast. Having a little extra time to space these games out will be nice, and hopefully give Summerfall whatever extra time it needs to fine-tune all its launches.

Stray Gods arrives on August 10 for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch.

The post Musical RPG Stray Gods slightly delays in face of Baldur’s Gate 3 appeared first on Destructoid.

PC owners will have to wait until August

Larian Studios is nearing a moved-up launch date for its massive RPG Baldur's Gate 3. But while the adventure is arriving sooner than announced, it comes with a caveat that PC owners won't get an extra-extra head start.

Originally, Larian had planned to give a 72-hour head start to everyone who picked up the Digital Deluxe Edition of Baldur's Gate 3. This Early Access would allow a head start on Act 1, the same area already in the current Early Access build, but in the 1.0 version. It would've been a lot of players too, as Larian upgraded everyone who bought the Early Access of Baldur's Gate 3 to the Digital Deluxe Edition.

With the release date for PC moving up almost a month, though, there was some curiosity about what would happen to the head start. In a recent community update, Larian confirms there won't be a head start for PC owners.

"The PC Digital Deluxe Edition does not include a 72 hour head start, which would have essentially made the game’s release date July 31st. Shifting the release date – and thus communication around the Digital Deluxe Editions across PS5 and PC – came with a few complexities that we didn’t manage to communicate very well, so we thought it best to clarify it here, given that a 72 hour head start on PC wouldn't have been plausible."

PlayStation 5 Digital Deluxe owners will still get a head start though. So those who are waiting on the console version will get a little bit of catch-up time on PC players on September 3, rather than its September 6 launch date.

The waiting is the hardest part

It's a bit of a bummer, but to put a glass-half-full spin: we're essentially getting the RPG a month earlier anyways, so three extra days isn't too drastic. The appeal of a head start in Baldur's Gate 3 would, at least in my eyes, be good for those with a lot of hours in the Early Access to rebuild their characters, as saves from the EA version won't carry over to launch.

Plus, there's a ton to do in Act 1 that isn't in yet anyways. In its community update, Larian estimates that Act 1 has roughly 33% more content in it compared to the start of Early Access. And Act 1 also apparently makes up "less than a quarter" of the total content available at launch.

Baldur's Gate 3 is looking unbearably massive. Even if there isn't an extra head start, there's still plenty of time to dig in when Baldur's Gate 3 hits on August 3 for PC.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3 PC Digital Deluxe owners won’t get a 72-hour head start appeared first on Destructoid.

Seal of approval

Valve's team-based shooter Team Fortress 2 isn't exactly the most grim, serious game. While it centers around mercs fighting each other for control of objectives, its tone has certainly been light-hearted. And that carries over to the latest, community-driven update that brought an adorable seal into Team Fortress 2.

As part of the Summer 2023 update, which is seeing Team Fortress 2 hit some new player count records, there are 14 new maps to play. One of these, Selbyen, is a Player Destruction map with a simple objective: be the team that feeds the most fish to the seal.

While carnage ensues, players can pick up and give buckets of fish to the seal that will routinely hop through the center of the map. Really, it should be obvious how the fanbase has reacted to an adorable plump seal hopping its way to the ocean. Everyone loves it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viRaGizKxf4

There has, of course, already been fan art of the adorable oceanic mammal.

https://twitter.com/_AltoArcadevere/status/1679507150950006784

As many have concluded, the seal is a fantastic addition to Team Fortress 2. Thankfully, the seal is invincible to all the explosives and ballistics flying around the arena, too. The seal is a vibe one can aspire to, honestly; peaceful, cheerful, vibing, in its lane.

https://twitter.com/heavyfortres/status/1679304909437501440

The seal update

So yes, players have taken to calling the Team Fortress 2 Summer 2023 update the "seal update." It's worth noting that this is a community addition to the game; while Valve put out the call and selected the new additions, Selbyen is a map created by TF2 community creators FGD5, Lo-fi Longcat, Rhamkin, bakscratch, and Zythe. You can see their Steam Workshop page here, where players are congratulating them and praising the seal.

There's a bunch of other neat stuff in the Summer 2023 update too, aside from the adorable seal. 14 new community maps, including some in the asymmetrical VSH (Versus Saxton Hale) mode, are in. There are also new community-made taunts in the store and 25 new community-contributed items in the Summer 2023 Cosmetic Case, as well as some War Paints and Unusual effects. It's a lot for an old game. But it's also a testament to how the TF2 community has stuck with it over the years.

The post Team Fortress 2 Summer update adds a seal, and everyone loves it appeared first on Destructoid.

The boys are back in town

Team Fortress 2 got a surprisingly large update this week, and it seems like players are flocking to it. Steam charts show Team Fortress 2 hitting an all-time player high following the Summer 2023 update.

Judging by Steam tracking site SteamDB, Valve's team-based shooter climbed well above its previous player count records with the Summer 2023 addition to Team Fortress 2. Anecdotally, it seems like a lot of people are hopping back on, too.

What's in the content update, though? It's actually a lot of community content. A while back, Valve had put out a call for Steam Workshop submissions for a seasonal update. The Summer 2023 update looks to be the fruits of the community's labor, bringing in 14 new maps and even fully incorporating a game mode, VSH—Versus Saxton Hale—an asymmetrical battle between a team and one souped-up Saxton.

Hopefully, this kind of renewed interest in Team Fortress 2 could see the classic game get some more attention. While it's a big update, it's also a primarily community-developed one. And the community clearly still loves this game, even through all the years. It's hard  to think of many other (non-MMO) games that could have this kind of fervent resurgence.

Here's the content updates for the Summer 2023 update. For the full patch notes, including the general gameplay and backend updates, head here.

Team Fortress 2 Summer 2023 update patch notes

Summer 2023!

• Featuring 14 new community maps: Sharkbay, Rotunda, Phoenix, Cashworks, Venice, Reckoner, Sulfur, Hardwood, Pelican Peak, Selbyen, VSH Tiny Rock, VSH Distillery, VSH Skirmish, and VSH Nucleus
• Added the Summer 2023 Cosmetic Case
  • Contains 25 new community-contributed items
• Added 6 new community-contributed taunts to the Mann Co. Store
  • Taunt: Killer Joke
  • Taunt: Star-Spangled Strategy
  • Taunt: The Head Doctor
  • Taunt: Tuefort Tango
  • Taunt: The Road Rager
  • Taunt: The Killer Signature
• Added 20 new community-created Unusual effects
  • 12 new effects for Unusual hats
  • 8 new effects for Unusual taunts
• Added the Summer 2023 War Paint Case
  • Contains 10 new community-created War Paints that make-up the Summer 2023 Collection
  • Has a chance to give a taunt Unusualifier as a bonus item
• All cosmetic and taunt cases will grant Summer 2023 Unusual effects instead of their normal Unusual effects during the Summer event. This does not include crates.
• The Summer event runs through September 15th, 2023

The post Team Fortress 2 hits new all-time player peak after Summer 2023 update appeared first on Destructoid.

Who says you can't go home?

There are points in life that can feel outside of time. Maybe you're leaving one big era of your life behind and moving to the next, or maybe a big decision is causing you to escape, flee, and reassess. It's time enough for the ghosts of the past to catch up to you. And it's those fears and doubts that Night School Studio plays on again with Oxenfree II: Lost Signals.

Night School's follow-up to the 2016 adventure game Oxenfree will feel very familiar. Though it follows an older lead, it deals with many of the same threats. Even its geography will feel familiar, as rather than exploring Edwards Island, you're running around the mainland town of Camena.

For all its familiarity, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals still pulls off some twists, frights, and touching moments. It might not be as big of a surprise the second time around, but Oxenfree II does feel like a worthwhile return for fans of the first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI_YGza2jt8

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals (PC [reviewed], Switch, PS4/PS5, iOS, Android)
Developer: Night School Studio
Publisher: Netflix
Released: July 12, 2023
MSRP: $19.99

Riley Poverly, the lead of Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, is a bit different from Oxenfree's Alex. While the latter was dealing with high school, coming-of-age woes, Riley is older. She's returning to her hometown of Camena to deal with her own issues, after spending a good chunk of her life away. Some of this is freeform and left up to the player to dictate, as they choose how much of Riley's backstory they tell other characters. It's an interesting bit of tension, in whether you want to learn more by trusting someone else. Or maybe lying feels more fitting to how you play Riley.

Regardless, there are a lot of opportunities to make these choices. Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is a dialogue-heavy adventure game, and feels even chattier than its predecessor. For one, Riley has a near-constant companion in Jacob, the well-meaning but talkative coworker. Without saying too much, he's got big Golden Retriever energy. He's an interesting foil to Riley, and frequently felt like a character to role-play your vision of Riley around, questioning or reaffirming different personality traits.

The overall cast is much larger, though. There's the mysterious teens working under the guise of Parentage, a local cult, who seem to be encouraging the destructive events of the night along. But Riley's walkie talkie opens up a lot more conversation. As the player progresses, different channels become the residence of characters who Riley can check in with as the night goes on. For the most part, you don't meet these characters in-person; they exist as voices on the other end of the line, providing little story beats and updates.

Those storylines were some of my favorite bits of Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, to be honest. An ongoing dialogue with a grizzled sailor named Nick was a highlight, and other characters like Maria and Shelley really add to the experience. I think I'm a little less keen on the general mechanism, as the need to constantly check and see if there were more dialogue options as I wandered between story beats could start to feel tedious. But overall, I thought the walkie was a solid addition.

You can (not) re-do

You might have noticed that I'm not saying much about the main story itself. Well, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is a heavily story-driven game, and a bit on the shorter side, clocking in at about eight hours for my own playthrough. Much like its predecessor, it is bite-sized enough to knock out in a weekend, and I do genuinely enjoy that. It also makes this a hard game to talk about, without talking directly about its narrative twists and turns.

Riley's gig, as someone basically called in to set up radio transmitters to look into the anomalies that have been taking place in and around Camena, predictably goes awry. And as you could guess if you played the first, time starts to blend and meld into a haze, too. Riley isn't coming home just for a temp gig, and over those eight hours, you'll get at least some insight into why she came back. It's not all laid out in plain terms, but you can get a pretty good sense of where her head's at, both in conversations and in the flashbacks to her past.

It's a compelling story, possibly because I'm in a stage of life close to Riley's. A lot of Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is about that aching feeling of time encroaching back in on you. Where life once felt like it expanded out ahead with infinite possibilities, time gradually reels that scope back in. And what you have to decide is whether you feel like those margins have truly narrowed or not.

It's effective. I do think it stumbles a bit at times, especially as it starts to tie in a lot of threads. And maybe it's that late pivot into a much broader, less personal story that left me with a few lingering wrinkles after credits rolled. They're minor and don't really detract from the overall experience. Maybe it's a sign of a good story that I wanted to jump back in and answer some questions I had about how my story resolved.

Over the river and through the woods

The more noticeable rough patches were in traversal. A big part of Oxenfree II: Lost Signals isn't just all the different people you can talk to while traversing Camena, but also the ways you get around Camena itself. There are, vaugely, some time portal shenanigans. You can also clamber around the environment a bit, climbing up and down cliffsides. But the big new tool is a climbing anchor and rope, creating avenues for exploring and backtracking.

Some of this felt valuable, as I found some items that opened up areas later or letters from Maggie Adler, which return as a collectible. Areas in Oxenfree II are big though, and especially late-game, as I was trying to retrace steps to find collectibles and finish side stories, there were some frustrations in getting around. It would've been nice to sprint through big, long stretches you'd already been through before. And the rope always felt a bit wonky, jittering down the cliff. That's also where I'd run into weird moments of interaction in general. Nothing bugged out or broke my progression or anything, but it was a bit distracting at times.

I did end up enjoying the overall area of Camena, though only a few spots felt truly memorable. As much as I dug the vibes of the caves, they started to blend together as areas. They don't stick out to me as much as the big moments, like a really wonderful section set in the community center much later in the story. Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is gorgeous to look at, and the music and dreary tones—mixed with plenty of radio static, of course—set the mood right.

Is leaving possible?

I've had a decent amount of time now, to wrap my head around Oxenfree II: Lost Signals. In some ways, it does feel very familiar. Riley's adventure has many of the same vibes, a few scattered puzzles mostly centered around turning knobs and dials, and plenty of moments where I made a choice and wondered how it might ripple out. But a few wrinkles and hang-ups left me feeling a bit weird after credits rolled. For those who enjoyed the first game, it's a no-brainer; but I'd also really recommend newcomers play the first game before checking this one out, too.

Oxenfree II feels like Night School returning to its roots in a way, and I think the confidence with which they do so is laudable. There's enough here that keeps true to its creepy, radio-static origins while expanding out the possibilities. The studio's style has clearly evolved in the years since, and seeing that come together back in the coastal town of Camena is exciting. It might not be the out-of-left-field surprise it was then, but Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is a solid adventure for those who can't get enough of strange frequencies and existential dread.

The post Review: Oxenfree II: Lost Signals appeared first on Destructoid.

You and me could have a bear romance

Baldur's Gate 3 is just under a month away, at this point, and today Larian Studios hosted a Panel From Hell to celebrate the impending launch on PC. It featured a new Origin character with a unique playstyle, tons of gameplay details, and one very fraught scene with a Druid.

One of the big reveals of the Panel was the new Origin character, teased in its online mystery game, who is more like an Origin archetype: the Dark Urge. Much like Larian's work on Divinity, Baldur's Gate 3 will have the option to play as either a created character or one of the Origin characters who would otherwise be party members, like Shadowheart or Astarion.

The Dark Urge is a fully customizable Origin. Though they default to an alabaster dragonborn, you can play them as anyone. The Dark Urge is more about what resides in your character: an insatiable need for blood and carnage. While others deal with normal concerns, the Urge's battle is all about ignoring or indulging their impulses. They'll be guided by a vile servant named Sceleritas Fel, voiced by Divinity: Original Sin 2's narrator Brian Bowles.

Additionally, Larian added a little more voice talent to the lineup today. Maggie Robertson, who voiced Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village, is playing the third central antagonist of Baldur's Gate 3: a shapeshifter named Orin the Red. Alongside Jason Isaacs' Lord Enver Gortash and J.K. Simmons' General Ketheric Thorm, that's a star-studded rogues gallery.

The wait is un-bear-able

Of course, there was one moment of today's Panel From Hell that lit up social media. Larian showed off some of the romantic scenes in Baldur's Gate 3, which are an obvious draw for any weary, impatient BioWare fans. The first was a sweet, innocent scene with Karlach, the newly announced Barbarian character, as they go on a date with a created character.

The next scene was not quite so innocent. The player, as Astarion, met with the druid Halsin in the woods for a romantic rendezvous. And when Halsin wild-shaped into his literal bear form, things... escalated. I'll let Larian's own spokesperson take it from here:

"Have you ever considered the joys and pleasures of sexual congress with a wildshaped Druid?" said lead writer Adam Smith in a press release. "Because at Larian, we have, and ultimately landed on the side of giving the people what they want: tender, consensual romance with a man temporarily transformed into a grizzly bear."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW846h6FyU4&t=19999s

As Larian founder and creative director Swen Vincke noted, the bear scene was steamy enough to get the studio banned on TikTok. The news was met with uproarious cheers from the live studio audience.

Thoughts on wild, wild-shaped romance aside, it does at least show Larian is doing the due diligence of recreating a tabletop experience. I can count the times I've played Dungeons & Dragons on one hand, but know enough about tabletop pals to know there's no way this exact topic hasn't come up before, amid suppressed giggles, at some table, somewhere. And it seems like Larian's light-hearted about the matter, too; in an interview with IGN, Vincke characterized the scene as "hilarious." Indeed, the cut-away to the squirrel got a good laugh out of me.

So if the goal is to take the infinite possibility of a tabletop game and its theater of the imagination, and try to capture it so that a virtual, prepared campaign could recreate the same possibility space, nothing says Larian's making it happen quite like comically raucous Druid romance.

For all that and more, Baldur's Gate 3 arrives for PC on August 3. PS5 players will get their own shot at love on September 6.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3 gets a new, dark Origin and some wild bear romance appeared first on Destructoid.

Where there's Smoke...

A fan-favorite is confirmed to be returning to the Mortal Kombat grinder. Today's new trailer for Mortal Kombat 1 reveals both Rain and Smoke will appear in the new entry.

Smoke is a well-liked member of the Lin Kuei, who finally gets a human re-debut in Liu Kang's new era. Here, Smoke is a fellow member of the Lin Kuei who joins with Scorpion and Sub-Zero to defend Earthrealm.

Also arriving is Rain, a High Mage of Outworld who wields water magic. He's looking a bit more robed and wizard-like, compared to his original palette-swapped appearance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66opZ1Go_ZA

Some Kameo fighters also make an appearance here, too. Scorpion pops up, of course. But the cyborg side of the Lin Kuei appears, too; Sektor and Cyrax are in as Kameos, as well as a human version of Frost.

For our two main roster fighters, both look pretty excellent. Smoke is obviously a highlight. His teleportation and quick jabs look fantastic, and that knife looks devastating in the X-ray attacks. Rain, meanwhile, is like a Waterbender that gets to actually do some damage with their aquatic magic. I really dig the big lightning ball attack that he can call down from a raincloud.

Kombat history

The Kameo fighters bring their own flavor too, and it's nice to see the cyborgs appear. I was curious about whether they would. With a new era and re-envisioned versions of characters, having the robo-fighters reappear or not felt up in the air.

After playing it at SGF 2023, though, it definitely seemed like Kameos are NetherRealm's way of including more fan-favorites from its ever-expanding universe without having to make them fully fledged fighters right away. If it keeps up the nostalgia and klassic references, I could see this being a really enjoyable experience for long-time MK fans.

Mortal Kombat 1 arrives on September 19, 2023.

The post Mortal Kombat 1 trailer unleashes Smoke, Rain, and more Kameos appeared first on Destructoid.

The longtime Ubisoft developer has passed away

Emile Morel, a developer with a long legacy including many years at Ubisoft, has died at age 40.

News first began to spread around on LinkedIn, with colleagues posting tributes to Morel on the site (via IGN). Ubisoft Montpelier, his studio, has posted an official confirmation and statement:

It is with a heavy heart that we share the sudden passing of our friend and colleague Emile Morel. We send our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and teammates all over the world.

We would like to take a moment to acknowledge the significant impact he made over the years on different games that make up the rich history of our studio.

For us, Emile was a close friend and a boundless source of positive energy. We all valued his passion and the way he told stories.

We will never forget Emile and his immense contribution to the BGE2 universe will forever endure.

True Freedom Lies Beyond.

Beyond good and evil

Morel had worked at Ubisoft for some time, with 14 years of experience at the company working on several notable titles. Morel served as a senior designer on Rayman Legends, as well as working on Test Drive Unlimited 2, 2008's Alone in the Dark, and Rayman Fiesta Run.

After the departure of several leads from Beyond Good & Evil 2, Morel took over as creative director on the project. The sequel was revealed at E3 2017 and has been in development for some time since.

We extend our thoughts and condolences to Morel's loved ones and colleagues.

The post Beyond Good & Evil 2 creative director Emile Morel dies at 40 appeared first on Destructoid.