Telltale Games is best known for its games based on big-name, established franchises such as The Walking Dead, Minecraft, Borderlands, and Game of Thrones. The studio has not made an entirely new IP since Puzzle Agent, but now the company has basically confirmed it is working on something new--but fans might have to wait a while to see it.
"An original, new IP is definitely still in our future," Telltale Games head of communications Job Stauffer told GameSpot in an interview at E3 today. "It may not be as immediate as the next few things we have coming up. We haven't been able to say a lot about it in the last few years."
Stauffer gave no indication as to the genre or story for what the new IP might be. Intriguingly, however, he mentioned VR and streaming services.
"I think the landscape of what's possible in digital interactive media, particularly in the streaming environment, and quite frankly the VR space, is very exciting," he said. "And while there is nothing to announce right now, I think you can look forward [to a Telltale new IP] further on in the future. Yes, it's still something we very much have in our minds."
Also in our interview, Stauffer doubled down on how Telltale plans to bring its games to new platforms beyond console, mobile, and PC. Interestingly, he suggested Telltale might bring its catalog of games to set-top boxes and possibly even Netflix ... somehow.
"I think there is a lot of space for Telltale to move on to platforms that most people don't even really consider to be game systems," he said. "A lot of boxes of many different varieties in homes--millions and millions of homes across America, where people don't even think game-playing is possible on them, but maybe they're watching stories or consuming narrative-driven content or streaming it.
"And for us, we're looking at that. It would be unfathomable to think about playing a Grand Theft Auto [game] over Netflix. But it wouldn't be so unfathomable to think about playing a Telltale game over a streaming video service of that calibre."
Telltale's Eric Stirpe told GameSpot that when he walks around the studio, he sometimes has a peek at what the UI team--"a bunch of wizards," he called them--is working on. Stauffer cut him off as he was about to say something more about what the UI team was working on. Stauffer went on to reiterate that Telltale is eager to bring its games to new platforms, saying more details on the plans will be announced this summer.
"The Telltale experience will be expanding onto services and devices that are already on millions of homes across the world," he said. "And we'll be talking more about it this summer."
Also in our interview, Stauffer said Telltale--which has as many as 400 employees these days--is capable of working on four projects at once. We know the team is making more Game of Thrones, Minecraft, and Guardians of the Galaxy episodes. Beyond those, fans can expect to hear about "a handful of things" this summer that Stauffer believes people will be excited about.
As always, we'll report back with more details as they're announced. GameSpot's interview with Stauffer and Stripe covered a number of other topics, including Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch, more multiplayer features, and a lot more. Check back with GameSpot soon for more from our conversation with the developers.
Telltale didn't have any announcements at E3 this year, but other companies did. Click the links to see roundups for all the big Xbox, PlayStation, EA, Ubisoft, and Nintendo news.
Call of Duty: WWII aspires to be an authentic, accurate representation of the war--a Saving Private Ryan for the current video game generation. However, it also includes a Zombies mode, a mode popular for its absurdity and over-the-top weapons. This year's mode is a return to Nazi Zombies, and according to Sledgehammer studio head Michael Condrey, balancing these two elements of the game is difficult, but the studio is working hard to make it happen.
Speaking on GameSpot's stage show, Condrey fielded a question about the necessity of including a fan-favorite mode like Zombies, even while the studio is developing the game's story to reflect the horrors and brutality of war.
"Each of the modes has their own creative drive and priorities, and campaign is really about delivering that authenticity and deeply personal story," he answered. "Multiplayer is really social and competitive, and there are some liberties there. And return of Nazi Zombies--we can't sit here and say there's authenticity to that, and nor do fans really want that. This is a creative outlet."
Condrey did argue, however, that the Zombies mode isn't entirely outlandish or incongruous with the rest of the game. "Now, it's rooted [in] where the franchise began. Zombies in Call of Duty started in Nazi Zombies [in Call of Duty: World at War], so that's an honor for us. We get to put a Sledgehammer Games stamp on that, [with] our background with Dead Space, and so it'll be an adrenaline-fueled take on it. It'll be rooted in some research we found about some of the beliefs that Germans had."
Keep an eye on GameSpot the rest of this week for more news, impressions, and videos coming out of E3 2017. The week's not over yet, and we'll have a lot more on all the big games at the show.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix will be the next part of Fox's ongoing mutant superhero series, and the movie's main cast and director have now been announced. Many of the stars of the last three films will return, and it will be directed by series producer Simon Kinberg.
As reported by Deadline, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Alexandra Shipp, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, and Kodi Smit-McPhee will all reprise their roles. After last year's X-Men: Apocalypse failed to match the success of previous entries, there had been rumors that the studio was looking to reboot the entire franchise. However, this no longer seems to be the case. The site also states that Jessica Chastain (Interstellar, The Martian) is in talks to play the villainous role of Lilandra Neramani.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix will be Kinberg's directorial debut. However, he has been associated with the franchise since 2006 as both a producer and writer. He now oversees the entire connected X-Men universe, which also includes movies such as Deadpool, Logan, and the upcoming New Mutants.
"I think everything that hasn't been told from First Class and Days of Future Past is up for grabs going forward," he said. "So, it would absolutely be a story that we could tell in a different way."
The character of Phoenix--aka Jean Grey--was played first by Famke Janssen, and most recently by Turner. Dark Phoenix was an extended storyline that ran in issues of The Uncanny X-Men throughout 1980. It focused on Jean Grey becoming corrupted by the Phoenix Force that provides her with her powers, and turning them against the X-Men.
By Anonymous on Jun 14, 2017 11:59 pm Matterfall combines old school platforming with all of the tense grazes and dodges of a bullet hell shooter, we had the developers on our E3 stage show to give us a gameplay demo.
Call of Duty fans likely think of the multiplayer mode when they hear "headquarters." But in Call of Duty: WWII, Headquarters actually refers to the game's new social space. Speaking on GameSpot's stage show, Sledgehammer studio head Michael Condrey explained what you can expect from the space when the game launches.
It sounds similar in concept to something like Destiny's Tower or Reef social spaces. You'll gather in this area along with a bunch of other players for a bit of downtime between battles, and it lets you show off your customized character and gear. However, it also has plenty of Call of Duty-specific touches.
"This is taking you into a true space where your character, your investment, division, advancements, and customizations now have a place to live," he explained. "48 players come together in this living world where you can compete in new ways, like our one v. one, or shoot-offs in our virtual firing range that now becomes a living firing range. You can be rewarded, be social, and show off in ways that I know the community loves to do."
Condrey also explained that Headquarters brings a big change to the process of gaining Prestige levels. In Call of Duty multiplayer, once you hit the level cap, you can elect to "Prestige," which resets your level and gear progress. In the past, this consisted of clicking on a button in a menu, and you'd receive an emblem or a special skin as a reward. In Call of Duty: WWII, gaining a Prestige level will have a lot more fanfare.
"In Headquarters, you get to go to what we are, in development terms, calling Prestige Overwatch, where you go up on the cliff above the whole Headquarters and you Prestige in front of the whole community, and you celebrate," Condrey described. "And they get to celebrate with you. And that's how it should be; this is a moment in your progression that's important, and now we give you a space where you can do that with your friends and other members of the community."
Condrey and Sledgehammer seem very confident that the social spaces will be a huge improvement to the Call of Duty multiplayer experience, and he went so far as to say, "We think this is the biggest innovation in multiplayer this year."
Keep an eye on GameSpot the rest of this week for more news, impressions, and videos coming out of E3 2017. The week's not over yet, and we'll have a lot more on all the big games at the show.
Call of Duty: WWII is bringing the series back to World War II for the first time in a decade, and developer Sledgehammer Games has said that it's focused on making it a faithful and respectful representation of the conflict. In pursuit of this goal, Sledgehammer is drawing a lot of inspiration from other media, including Saving Private Ryan. But more than that, Call of Duty actually aspires to fill the same role as that film as a cultural touchstone for a generation.
Saving Private Ryan came out in 1998 and is one of the most famous war films ever made; it's largely considered a brutally realistic, and very accurate, depiction of war, and it acted as an inspiration for countless more war films in the years after its release. Speaking on GameSpot's stage show, Sledgehammer studio head Michael Condrey stressed that the team did a lot of its own research, but that the game has certainly been influenced by the film and other media about World War II.
"For us, giving the chance to give a new generation, maybe generations who've never seen Saving Private Ryan or maybe Band of Brothers, which was ten years ago, or played Call of Duty that hasn't been [to WWII] in nearly a decade, this might be their first exposure. So we wanted to capture that, in our own way."
When asked if Sledgehammer wants Call of Duty: WWII to be "the Saving Private Ryan of the current gaming generation," Condrey replied without hesitation. "Absolutely, absolutely," he said.
"For people who are coming back, like you and me who've played Call of Duty from the beginning, we want this to feel really powerful and new. And for people who are playing it for the first time, we hope that that's an experience that they'll look to now as their pop culture, iconic experience of World War II."
Keep an eye on GameSpot the rest of this week for more news, impressions, and videos coming out of E3 2017. The week's not over yet, and we'll have a lot more on all the big games at the show.
Samus's surprise return has been eagerly anticipated by fans for years; not only is it the first proper Metroid game since 2010's divisive Wii installment, Other M, it's also the first side-scrolling entry in the series since Zero Mission was released in 2004. Development on the title started roughly two years ago, following what Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto described as a fateful meeting with MercurySteam (developer of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate). The Spain-based studio approached Nintendo with the idea to remake one of its classic games. After some enthusiastic discussions, the companies settled on Metroid's Game Boy installment, Return of Samus. Sakamoto was personally interested in revisiting the title as he wasn't originally involved in its development, and it seemed like the perfect choice for the project based on MercurySteam's experience with Castlevania.
Samus Returns is not an exact remake of the original Metroid II, but a reimagining in the vein of Zero Mission, the Game Boy Advance retelling of the original Metroid. The basic premise remains the same: the Galactic Federation, realizing the deadly threat the life-sucking Metroids pose, orders Samus to eradicate the entire alien species. She touches down on the Metroids' homeworld, the planet SR-388, and begins her quest to eliminate every remaining Metroid from the galaxy. As in Zero Mission before it, the story is set up through a series of comic-like stills, adding a bit more narrative framework to your expedition.
From the outset, the most noticeable change in Samus Returns comes in the game's visuals, which trade the spritework of previous 2D Metroid titles for polygonal characters and environments. While the new style may not seem particularly impressive on video, it's much more striking in person, especially with the handheld's 3D effects turned on; backgrounds appear much more cavernous by receding into the distance, giving the planet an eerier feel. And despite the move to 3D models, Samus is just as responsive and agile to control as she was in her 2D incarnations (though her Morph Ball seems to move with a bit more heft this time around).
As in the original Metroid II, your quest in Samus Returns is paced slightly differently than other Metroid titles. You still acquire power-ups and use the abilities they bestow to delve deeper into the planet's labyrinthine depths, but your progress is effectively tied to a Metroid counter; in the Game Boy title, exterminating a certain number of Metroids would cause the planet to quake and open up new areas to explore. Samus Returns replaces the Metroid counter with gates, though their purpose is effectively the same; slaying the number of Metroids depicted on a gate will drain the area of hazardous liquid and allow you to venture further into the planet.
That isn't the only difference in Samus Returns; Samus herself also has a number of new tricks in her repertoire to help exterminate the Metroids. While previous games limited you to firing at 45-degree angles, now you can freely aim your arm cannon around using the 3DS's Circle Pad, allowing for much greater precision. Samus's arsenal has also been expanded. In addition to traditional Metroid tools such as the Grapple Beam, you'll acquire a set of new Aeion upgrades that grant another unique clutch of abilities; one, the Scan Pulse, reveals breakable walls and hidden portions of the world. Another welcome addition is the ability to drop pins on the map to mark areas you want to revisit. This makes navigating the planet's complex layout much more manageable, as you no longer have to make mental notes of all the areas you'd like to explore later.
But the most unconventional addition to Samus Returns is the new melee attack. Outside of the more action-oriented Other M, Samus could never engage foes in hand-to-hand combat before; now, however, she can bash an enemy with her arm cannon by pressing the X button. This attack can be pulled off at any time, but it's most effective as a way to parry a charging monster. There's a strategic benefit to doing so as well; parry an incoming enemy at the right time and you'll follow up with a more powerful blast from your arm cannon that'll result in extra pickups. The first Metroid mutation you encounter hinges on this new skill; the alien attacks primarily by swooping in at Samus, and you have to parry at the right moment to expose its underside to a stream of missile blasts. Not only does this make battles feel more thrilling, it's integrated well into the gameplay, making what initially seems like an unorthodox mechanic for a Metroid game a natural addition to the series.
While our hands-on time with Metroid: Samus Returns was brief, the demo we played left us wanting to explore more. Like the best Metroid titles, Samus Returns integrates its new mechanics seamlessly into the gameplay, subtly teaching you how to use your new skills through visual cues and clever level design. Whether or not the final game will be worth the nearly decade-long wait will be seen when it arrives on September 15, but so far it certainly looks like a promising return for one of Nintendo's most respected franchises.
Destiny 2 will not run at 60 FPS even on Xbox One X, leaving the PC version as the only one to make that possible. Game director Luke Smith confirmed the game runs at 30 FPS on Xbox One X at E3 this week when he appeared on Geoff Keighley's show to reveal some technical detail. 30 FPS is the same frame rate as Destiny 2 on PS4 Pro.
Some thought Destiny 2 might run at a higher frame rate on Xbox One X because the console is more powerful than PS4 Pro, but that's not going to be the case, it seems. One possibility is that Bungie wanted to keep the frame rate the same on platforms to ensure the experience is as close to the same as possible--a subject Phil Spencer discussed with us at E3. "30 frames per second on all consoles," Smith said. The PC edition of Destiny 2, meanwhile, has an uncapped frame rate and other PC-specific features.
In other Destiny 2 news, the game's beta trial dates have been revealed, with Activision confirming that pre-order customers will be able to play the beta on PlayStation 4 starting July 18, and on Xbox One beginning July 19. The beta will end on both platforms on July 23. The company also stated that a PC beta is planned for late August, with more details coming "soon."
Conan Exiles will launch for Xbox One in the console's Game Preview program on August 16, Funcom announced today, and an Xbox One X update will come later. The game is already out on PC, and has sold more than 500,000 million copies in its unfinished, Early Access state.
The other big news about Conan Exiles today is that the open-world game is getting a free expansion on August 16 that adds a new region for players to adventure go. You can get a glimpse of this new zone in the teaser trailer below.
"By releasing the free expansion update on PC and Xbox One simultaneously with the Xbox One Game Preview launch, we will provide players on both platforms with a new and fresh experience that expands the world of Conan Exiles by roughly 50 percent and comes complete with entirely new environments, monsters, buildings, game features, and more," Funcom's Lawrence Poe said in a statement. "As the game is still in Early Access, everyone who has already bought or decides to buy the game while it's still in development will get access to this massive update at no extra charge."
In other news, Funcom has confirmed that it will release an update for Conan Exiles to support Xbox One X. The update will "[take] advantage of the system's superior hardware power to bring the world of Conan the Barbarian to life in beautiful 4K resolution," Funcom said.
The new Conan Exiles expansion will be announced in full this summer. Today, June 14, the developers will appear at E3 to talk more about the content and tease further details. Check back soon for more. For now, you can see some screenshots in the gallery above.
Call of Duty: WWII does not seem likely for a release on Nintendo Switch. Speaking with GameSpot at E3 2017, developer Sledgehammer Games senior creative director Bret Robbins said there are "no plans" to bring the World War II-themed FPS to Nintendo's hybrid console. That's not to say it never will, but with its release slated for later this year, it looks as if will only launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Versions for last-generation consoles have not been announced.
Call of Duty: WWII not coming to Switch is no big surprise. Sledgehammer boss Michael Condrey said on Twitter that the decision about not supporting Switch was made by the "[Activision] business guys." The Call of Duty series has skipped Nintendo's consoles for a while now. The last installment in the shooter series to come to a Nintendo console was Call of Duty: Ghosts for the Wii U, back in 2013.
Call of Duty: WWII launches in November, but you may not need to wait that long to play, as a multiplayer beta is coming up this summer. The first multiplayer trailer for the game was released this week at E3--watch it here.
Nintendo was the final company to host an E3 2017 press conference this year, but Tuesday's broadcast was a noteworthy one. While not nearly as long as Sony or Microsoft's respective briefings, there were big announcements, including that of a new Pokemon RPG for Switch and Metroid Prime 4. Nintendo's E3 Presentation was followed immediately after by Nintendo's Treehouse livestream, which brought word of another Metroid game that's on the way, this one for 3DS.
When a Mario and Rabbids crossover game for Nintendo Switch leaked last month, I didn't think much of it. It looked pretty absurd, from the selfie-taking Rabbid dressed as Peach to Mario wielding a massive gun. But when Ubisoft and Nintendo showed gameplay of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle for the first time at Ubisoft's press conference, I was intrigued. And after I went hands-on with a short demo for the game, I realized that Kingdom Battle might actually turn out to be a really great turn-based strategy game.
This is not a watered-down XCOM; in spite of its cute art style and the inclusion of Rabbids, Kingdom Battle has a surprising amount of depth. Its battle mechanics are way more like XCOM than I expected, and fights challenge you to keep track of your team members and all of the enemies on a battlefield.
When you enter a battle, you're greeted by a field filled with walls and obstacles. Much like in XCOM, managing your team members and making sure they're in cover at all times is of vital importance. Several times during my demo, I positioned one of my characters dangerously out in the open in order to take a clear shot at an enemy. And every time I did, the opposing Rabbids took advantage of this and easily did a lot of damage.
But you have a huge range of motion in battle to help you flank enemies. Characters are able to move around about a quarter of the battlefield during a turn, and this can be extended even further by being catapulted into the air by one of your teammates. This emphasis on mobility caused me to play aggressively; instead of sitting back and waiting patiently for the perfect time to strike, I knew that the enemies could just as easily flank me. As a result, I made sure to move as far and as deliberately as possible with every character on every turn to be able to both attack and return to cover somewhere on the battlefield.
Although I only saw a few of these battlefields, they got progressively more complicated as I went through the demo. The earliest one was a straightforward arena with only a few walls scattered across it. The final map, however, had a large range of different environmental features. A handful of blocks would either explode or send a large ball careening across the level if you shot them; pipes let you or enemies traverse across the level further than you otherwise could; and two raised platforms housed Rabbids that would take potshots at your characters from their vantage point.
On this last battlefield, I also faced down what is one of the stranger bosses ever to appear in a Nintendo game: a Piranha Plant-Rabbid hybrid that could shoot fireballs and move across a huge swath of the battlefield. Alongside this hybrid creature, four Rabbids provided support. It was an intense battle in which I was forced to sacrifice two of my three characters to beat the Piranha Plant. My Luigi-outfitted Rabbid, with his special ability that creates a resistance to most attacks for a turn, was able to outlast the boss.
This battle only lasted about six or seven minutes, but it was involved and exciting. It was certainly not an easy battle to complete, and I had to use every special ability and aggressively attack at every chance I had to defeat the boss. It felt like a faster but no less high-stakes XCOM battle. This comparison extends even down to an overwatch-like ability that the characters have: at one point, as a Rabbid ran across his sightline, Mario sniped it automatically even though it wasn't my turn.
And these fights are only one part of the game. Outside of battle, you explore a world with Mario and his Rabbid companions that looks similar to the vibrant, lively world of Super Mario 64 or other 3D Mario games. It will seem extremely familiar to Mario fans, except for the addition of Rabbids roaming around it. At one point during my demo, I even had to complete an environmental puzzle and find eight red coins. Collecting all of the coins unlocked a chest which contained a new, more powerful weapon for Mario. Finding better gear is essential, as you'll encounter stronger enemies and more difficult battlegrounds.
Although I only got to use Mario and the Luigi and Peach Rabbids, the game's stage demo made it look like there'll be other Mario characters and Rabbids to play with. In addition, at the end of my demo, a short cinematic teased that Bowser Jr. will be an enemy you'll have to confront.
As I completed the final fight with the Piranha Plant, I remained pleasantly surprised at the game that Kingdom Battle is shaping up to be. A Mario and Rabbids crossover seems like a bizarre idea on face, but Ubisoft has--at least at this early stage--put together a title that's both entertaining and involved, an XCOM-like Mario game that you can take on the go. That's enough to get me excited, and to keep me looking forward to seeing more of the game when it launches on August 29.
Following the Xbox One X announcement at Microsoft's E3 2017 briefing this week, the company has now posted a cool video in which an engineer puts the system together piece by piece. Watch the video below to see Major Nelson and Xbox Hardware GM Leo Del Castillo assemble the console, starting with the chip at the heart of it at all, before moving on to things like the motherboard, voltage regulators, the power supply, the hard drive, and more.
It is an incredibly fascinating and in-depth look at the guts of the Xbox One X, the likes of which we rarely get from big companies like Microsoft. The segment starts at around 2 hours and six minutes, and pressing play on the video should start it at the right moment.
The Xbox One X launches on November 7, priced at $500. The console plays all Xbox One games and work with controllers you already own. Regarding the price point, a number of analysts said this week that they believe $500 is too expensive.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will receive an update to provide support for Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro. A rep for developer CD Projekt Red confirmed this at E3 this week. "I can confirm that we are working both on Xbox One X and PS4 Pro patches for The Witcher 3," CD Projekt Red told Eurogamer. "No extra details at this moment. More info is coming."
In September last year, CD Projekt Red said it would not release a PS4 Pro patch for The Witcher 3. At the time, the Polish studio said it wanted to "fully focus" on Cyberpunk 2077 and Gwent, adding that patching the game for PS4 Pro would be "too much of a time and resource-consuming process." It appears the developer has now changed its mind.
It is no big surprise that CD Projekt Red wants to continue to support The Witcher 3. Last month during an earnings report, the studio revealed that the game sold better in Q1 2017 than it did the same period before, demonstrating the game's continued popularity.
It's a bit of an understatement to say that seeing Monster Hunter World's reveal was a surprise. During Sony's E3 presser, we caught a glimpse of the new adventure title in the Monster Hunter series, which is not only the first Monster Hunter on a PlayStation console in 11 years, but it also happens to be a bit of a departure from the standard MH gameplay. Its a more story-driven title with a focus on exploration and balancing single player and online co-op gameplay. This refocused take on the classic Monster Hunter setting will enable players to take their hunter and explore massive open areas to find new monsters, forge new gear, and take on the toughest challenges the new world has to offer.
While at the Capcom booth on the show floor at E3 2017, I got to see a rather extensive live demo of Monster Hunter World, and it's aiming to shake things up for the series. Though while die-hards fans will likely find the new premise and design of this title to be a bit of a departure from what they know, the developers have fleshed out this more adventuring take on the series to offer a more open world to explore with its own living and dynamic ecosystem to engage with.
Set in a newly discovered continent, hunters from all over make their way to the new land to work with a newly established science organization that aims to discover, track, and study the various new monsters that inhabit this vastly different ecosystem. Playing as a new hunter, you'll have to explore the continent and its various regions to see what this new land has to offer, and along the way you'll find new challenges and dangers that even seasoned hunters will have to train hard for. These regions are massive, and they feature no loading when traveling across the landscape. The setting also has a day and night cycle--which switches up monster behaviors.
Judging from the debut trailer alone, it's easy to tell that there have been a number of changes from past Monster Hunter conventions--such as the focus on more solo-oriented experiences, more traversal options, like the grappling hook, and some more action oriented gameplay. With that said, Monster Hunter World is still about finding resources and slaying tough beasts.
During the demo, we saw our hunter take on a quest solo to find samples of mucous from a new monster known as the Anjanath. A cross between a giant feathered lizard and a T-Rex--with some fire-breathing capabilities--the Anjanath is one of the apex predators in this region, and many of the smaller beasts avoid it. One interesting thing about this demo was that it showed off the dynamic AI present in the monsters. The developers refer to it as a living ecosystem, and monsters will react in real-time, either avoiding apex predators, or engaging with weaker or weakened monsters to find an easy kill. During one moment, the Anjanath was on the run after the hunter sprung some traps and weakened it, and the smaller monsters took the opportunity to jump in to try and finish it off, only for it the take them out swiftly.
Like in past games, hunters will have to utilize materials and other gadgets to stay ahead of the game. While in the field, the hunter can find material such as the new scout flies to track particular beasts. Over time, these scout flies will level up and become more useful in their tracking skills. In addition to new materials, the hunters now have new gear and gadgets to use. Much like the grappling hook, which allows for easy traversal and for staying on top of beasts that try to shake you off, ghillie suits are now a thing for the hunters. One suit allows the hunter to stay invisible from monsters, while another will create aggro from all large monsters in line of sight.
With the open space to move around in, the hunter has to become more versatile to adapt to the dangers of the continent. Scattered around the regions are safe huts, which allow players to stock on supplies and change their load outs, which is a first for the series, as past titles forced you to commit on your choices before you go on a mission. All 14 weapon types from across the series make a return, and customization will play a larger focus in Monster Hunter World. What I really appreciated was that there seemed to be a clearer indication of what gear types are effective, showing all the stats and buffs they offer players. There's much more clarity here, which I think many many fans will appreciate.
As the hunter catches up to the Anjanath, the hunter climbs on top of it and hits it multiple times. During this section, we got to see the expanded combat gameplay, which feels far more dynamic. Just as the hunter chopped off its tail, which could be harvested for materials, the infamous Rathalos, a famous Monster Hunter beast, swoops in hoping to steal the kill. The Anjanath and the flying beast head off into a tense battle, sending the hunter flying in the chaos. This is another example of the dynamic world which reacts in real-time, which will make exploring the space interesting, as opposed to the more static placements of monsters in the last games.
Eventually, the Anjanath--despite being on its last legs--forces the Rathalos to flee. Just then, the hunter swoops in to deal several shots from the bow gun's new ammo-types, such as the short-range Wyvern Ammo, which delivers the final blow against the beast. After its defeat, the hunter harvests the remains, completing the quest. It was a really exciting mission to watch unfold, and it was impressive to see just how dynamic the space of the world is. I got some strong Dragon's Dogma vibes -- a game that focused a lot on verticality in epic fights -- and that sort of style is used really well here.
Monster Hunter World will no doubt be a departure for the series, which will likely ruffle the feathers of fans. At its core, it's still very much a Monster Hunter game, but now decontextualized to focus more on exploration in a far more open and lived-in space. With no loading screens and online drop-in and drop-out play, there are a lot of improvements from past titles present in Capcom's new take on Monster Hunter, while still retaining much of the tried and true resource-gathering and hunting gameplay. I'm impressed with how it managed to transition to open spaces, and it'll be exciting to see the sort of adventures that will come from these new locales in the Monster Hunter universe.
For more information on Monster Hunter World, which is set for an Early 2018 release, check back with us at GameSpot and our E3 hub page.
Recent Articles:
You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website.
Matterfall combines old school platforming with all of the tense grazes and dodges of a bullet hell shooter, we had the developers on our E3 stage show to give us a gameplay demo.
No comments:
Post a Comment