There's a surprisingly substantial amount of fun Easter eggs in Far Cry 5. A lot of what you find are generally references to past entries in the series, but there are even subtle nods to Ubisoft's other franchises, as well as a slew of pop culture references. With so many fun secrets to discover in the tumultuous region of Hope County, Montana, we've highlighted 10 of the most intriguing Easter eggs.
Discover any Easter eggs that you don't see here? Feel free to let us know about them in the comments below.
When you purchase a standard vehicle, you're able to customize it in small ways. One of the options allows you to add a Hawaiian Bobblehead onto your vehicle's dashboard. After you make your purchase, you'll notice that the Hawaiian Bobble head is none other than Far Cry 3 villain Vaas rocking a hula skirt and ukulele. If you're hankering for more cool Hawaiian Bobbleheads, you can also get ones of Far Cry 4 villain Pagan Min and a Rabbid by spending Ubisoft Club points.
Far Cry Primal Cave Paintings
South West of Rae-Rae's Pumpkin Farm in the Holland Valley is a location known as Frobisher's Cave. The walls within are covered in primitive cave paintings--no doubt this is a reference to series spin-off Far Cry Primal.
A Blood Dragon Movie
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is one of the series' finest entries, so it's great to see it getting some well-deserved love in Far Cry 5 with an entire side mission devoted to referencing it. If you go to the Grimalkin Radon Mine in the Henbane River, there's a side mission involving a shoot for Blood Dragon 3, a movie helmed by a narcissistic director named Guy Marvel. While the side mission makes for a fun distraction, the best part about the whole excursion is getting to listen to Blood Dragon's fantastic synth-laced soundtrack.
It's funny to see Far Cry 5 make fourth-wall-breaking references like this, but it doesn't stop there. The game even makes a joke about that awful Far Cry movie directed by Uwe Boll in 2008. Splendid job, Ubisoft.
Outfits Referencing The Past
There are outfits you can wear that references past Far Cry and Ubisoft games. For example, completing the Blood Dragon side mission unlocks the Omega outfit, which dresses you up like a Cyborg Soldier from Blood Dragon. In addition, there's a Far Cry Primal outfit and an outfit that lets you look like Castle from Rainbow 6 Siege, which you can unlock by spending your Ubisoft Club points.
It's Red Balloon
Surprisingly, there's a reference to the famous Stephen King novel, It. Pennywise's signature red balloon can be seen near an open sewer entrance. If you want to find it, head to the Hope County Jail Bus, which is West of Fall's End in the Holland Valley. Follow the river a short distance south and you can't miss it. All credit goes to TassadarHD on Reddit for finding this reference.
Davenport Farm
Out of all the Easter eggs in the game, this one is the most fascinating and obscure. Last year, PC Gamer editor James Davenport wrote an open letter to Ubisoft asking them to put his dad, a born Montanan, into the game. Davenport's letter wasn't serious, but lo and behold, there's actually a location in Holland Valley called Davenport Farm. If you search the premises, there's not much to allude to Davenport's dad until you find a note which reads: "It is a well known fact that bovines are the most erotic animal on God's green Earth. Sometimes I sneak out here, so I can watch bulls have sex with the cows. Please don't tell my father." This could be a massive coincidence, but if the farm is a indeed reference to Davenport's father, then Ubisoft has completely trolled Davenport.
Climbing Towers Joke
While not exactly hidden, this Easter egg alludes to the infamous tower-climbing structure of Ubisoft's open-world games--which has actually been removed from Far Cry 5. It occurs during the game's tutorial when you're made to climb a radio tower. By the time you make it halfway up, you'll receive a radio transmission from Dutch telling you to not worry and that you won't have to climb towers anymore.
Secret Ending
Like Far Cry 4, there's a secret ending you can unlock during the opening sequences of the game. Follow the Sheriff and Marshall into the church and keep playing out the scene until you're instructed to arrest Joseph Seed. When prompted to press the X/A button to handcuff him, simply do nothing instead and wait out the scene until the secret ending triggers.
Firewatch Reference
There's a reference to indie studio Campo Santo's well-received debut, Firewatch. It appears in the form of a phone voicemail that you can listen to in the fire lookout tower on Dutch's island. The caller addresses the fire lookout as Henry, which is the name of the main protagonist in Firewatch.
All The Assets In Arcade Mode
Far Cry Arcade is a new mode where you can participate in co-op challenges and PvP multiplayer. However, the catch is that all the places you play in are created using the game's robust map editor, which gives you access to not only all the assets in Far Cry 5 but other Ubisoft games as well. For example, you have access to stuff like Far Cry 4's Himalayan statues, Watch Dogs' urban buildings, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's pirate treasure, Far Cry Primal's tribal huts, and even Assassin's Creed Unity's French architecture. With so many assets at the community's disposal, we can only imagine the crazy sort of maps people will come up with.
Donald Trump Pee Tape
While Far Cry 5's narrative mostly avoids connections to modern day events and politics, it seems the devs at Ubisoft couldn't help but sneak in a real-world reference to Donald Trump in the side mission "Patriot Acts." Special Agent Willis Huntley, who is a returning character from both Far Cry 3 and 4, tasks you with removing a tape filled with sensitive information. As the mission progresses you learn the tape is being held by undercover Russians and it has something to do with liquid? If you haven't figured it out already, Huntley is not so subtlety referring to the infamous Donald Trump pee tape.
Dragon Ball FighterZ has just added its first two post-release characters on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. As of March 28, Broly and Bardock became available for purchase, bringing with them new moves and some epic new Dramatic Finishes. Watch our video above to see how Broly and Bardock finish some key matches.
First up in the video, you'll see the Legendary Super Saiyan Broly. He devastates his opponents with his immense size and power; but, as the saying goes, the bigger they are the harder they fall, and his Dramatic Finishes don't disappoint. Then, the video switches to Bardock, a close-range fighter who emphasises rush attacks. Of course, he goes full Super Saiyan in his Dramatic Finish. Frieza never stood a chance.
Broly and Bardock are available to download for $5 each, and each character also comes with his own Lobby avatar and Z Stamp. If you purchased the game's $35 FighterZ Pass, you'll receive the two new Saiyans at no additional cost. There are at least six more DLC characters on the books for Dragon Ball FighterZ, all of which are also covered in that FighterZ Pass. Bandai Namco won't say who those characters are yet, but here are the 15 DLC characters we'd love to see in the game.
A new update is now available for Fortnite, bringing a lot more content to both Battle Royale and Save the World. Along with the Sniper Shootout limited-time event, Epic has added an entirely new weapon to Battle Royale and reintroduced one that was temporarily removed from the mode.
Following the update, the Boogie Bomb has returned to Battle Royale. The weapon was disabled earlier this month due to an exploit that allowed players to bomb themselves and effectively pick up an unlimited amount of items. That issue has since been resolved, and players can now find it again in treasure chests and supply drops.
Along with the Boogie Bomb, Fortnite's v3.4 update introduces yet another new weapon to Battle Royale: the Guided Missile, a powerful remote explosive. It comes in two rarities, Epic and Legendary, which do 105 and 110 damage to players, respectively. Once fired, you can take direct control of the missile from its point-of-view. However, your character will be unable to move at all while you're doing this, though you can stop controlling the missile at any time and it will continue its trajectory on its own until it explodes.
The Guided Missile is the most recent in a string of new weapons that Epic has added to Battle Royale. Last week, the developer introduced the Heavy Shotgun, and the prior week brought the remote explosives. One item that still hasn't arrived, however, is the Jetpack; that was intended to launch several weeks ago but was delayed due to a last-minute issue.
On top of the new weapons, Fortnite's 3.4 update marks the start of Sniper Shootout v2, a modified version of the sniper-only event from last month. It also makes a number of bug fixes and adds a new Easter-themed quest line to the game's paid Save the World mode. The mobile version of Fortnite also received its own update that makes a number of platform-specific improvements.
THQ Nordic has announced a remaster of the 2009 action game Red Faction Guerrilla, coming to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The updated version will sport the pun-tastic name Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered when it comes in Q2 of this year.
The overhaul is primarily visual, with reworked textures, lighting, shadow rendering, and post-processing. It also adds 4K support for that ultra-high-res dusty Mars charm. The core gameplay hasn't been changed, which means it still has an appetite for destruction. Guerrilla became known primarily as a physics playground, with structures that can be dismantled by sledgehammer, vehicle, or explosive device.
In the GameSpot review, Randolph Ramsay gave credit to the satisfying "thunk" of destruction even after hearing it hundreds of times, as watching structures crumble was really the hook. While the story was weak, it made up for it with the sandbox elements. Guerrilla was enough of a hit to warrant a sequel, Armageddon, which was also fairly well-received.
Valve hasn't released a full game since it launched Dota 2 in 2013. When the company revealed that it was working on a Dota-themed card game as its next project, the news drew the ire of some fans. On the surface, Artifact might seem like it's piggybacking off the success of Hearthstone, but Valve asserts that it's been working on the game for well over three years and mainly wanted an excuse to develop a game with Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield.
In addition to using Dota heroes, Artifact also borrows gameplay elements from MOBAs. For instance, it features three-lane gameplay and has respawning minions called creep. While it's not important to have played Dota to fully enjoy Artifact, having a grasp of the lore acts as a nice bonus. For instance, it's neat seeing hero cards embody their full characters and talk among themselves. Valve also wanted its Dota heroes to keep their abilities as much as they could given the new trading card game format, though the company did have to make some tweaks here and there.
Gameplay
Like many other trading card games, your cards represent heroes. Each of them have their base health and attack damage. After each round, you will get the opportunity to use in-game gold you've amassed to purchase magic cards. These special cards will grant you and your heroes extra abilities at the expense of mana, which is replenished after each round. Some of these cards might buff your defense or attack damage. Certain cards may destroy everyone in a lane (including your own units). The more powerful the card, the more mana it will generally cost. Most card buffs also remain for the entire duration of a match. This means that towards the late game, heroes who have received multiple buffs will feel especially powerful.
There are four different color archetypes to choose from: red, black, green, and blue. Red cards represent warriors, who are adept at close-range melee combat. Blue cards, on the other hand, represent mages, who can cast powerful spells. Each color has their strengths and weaknesses. Artifact puts a heavy emphasis on synergistic deck building. Valve says every deck color arrangement should be viable under the right circumstances. Having a deck that's mostly blue and green, for instance, will mean you'll likely be powerful late game, but will leave you vulnerable at the start. Conversely, a red and black deck will allow you to dominate early at the cost of a lackluster late game.
As noted earlier, there are three lanes. You and your opponent take turns playing through them sequentially from left to right and choose where you want to allocate your troops. This essentially feels like you're playing three mini matches at once. Each lane has a tower that you need to destroy, and to win, you have to be the first to destroy two towers. In general, your cards will attack the enemy cards in front of them when you pass on a turn. If there isn't an enemy card in front of yours, your card will automatically deal damage to the tower ahead. Once you destroy a tower, an artifact will arise, which acts as a sort of super tower that has more HP. You could also focus on attacking an artifact to achieve your second tower knockdown to win the game in the event that you're getting demolished in the other two lanes.
Playing across three lanes means you really have to strategize and think ahead. Your actions in one lane will ripple across the others. This is especially true when you consider that there are magic cards that allow you to teleport heroes and creep from one lane to the next.
Most matches should last anywhere from 12-15 minutes and Valve says it's working to implement tournament modes.
You can use arrow keys to switch your view among lanes
Presentation
Visually, the game looks slick. Built on Valve's Source 2 engine, the graphics are mix of 2D cards sprinkled with some 3D character models. Throwing down certain magic cards may trigger short little cut-scenes that pan across the entire map to display fiery bouts of destruction and more.
On the audio front, the music, sound effects and voice acting are excellent and sound like they come straight out of Dota 2. Valve says there are hundreds of voice-acted lines from Dota heroes.
Pricing Model
Unlike Hearthstone, Artifact is not free to play. Valve hasn't revealed pricing yet for the base game, but said it wants to provide "reasonably priced packs" to give you that old school card game design vibe. Players will also be able to buy and sell cards on the Steam Community Marketplace.
Valve said that the game will launch with more than 280 cards and 44 heroes. It also made it a point to say that common cards don't mean they're sucky. The company asserts that rare cards will simply mean you have access to more specialized use-cases.
Conclusion
Valve didn't reveal any specific release date yet, but said it's targeting a late 2018 launch. Artifact will initially launch on PC, Mac, and Linux, but the company plans to release the game on iOS and Android later in 2019. Valve is also considering a VR version later on down the road.
The trailer has arrived and the anticipation for a new season of Westworld has reached a fever pitch. HBO has released the best look yet at the new season, which reveals so much, while also conjuring up dozens of new questions about what fans of the series are going to see when it arrives.
The clip runs over two-and-a-half minutes and makes it clear that the robot uprising has arrived and nothing will ever be the same in this world. While it seems as though Westworld will still be flashing back to the conversations between Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) before either of them realized they were artificial intelligence, so much of the trailer is set after the events of Season 1.
Dolores and Teddy (James Marsden) are traveling the west and killing humans along the way--although Teddy doesn't seem as fond of it as his robotic love. Maeve (Thandie Newton) is in search of her daughter, and everyone else is simply trying to survive as the bodies pile up. "Up until this point the stakes were never real," the man in black (Ed Harris) says. "But now, you and the rest of your kind are free."
One of the most intriguing moments of the trailer, outside of the glimpses at Shogun world, is seeing William (Jimmi Simpson), before he became the man in black, going to see Dolores in the Delos labs. The look on his face isn't entirely friendly but looks to be more plotting than anything else. Perhaps this is the moment he makes the change from the lovesick guy who has feelings for a robot to the heartless monster that caused so much chaos in the first season.
Whatever the case, there is no denying who's in control now and it's the hosts. "Here we are, the kind that will never know death and yet we're fighting to live," Dolores tells Bernard. "There is beauty in what we are."
It has been a little more than a year since the release of Nier: Automata, one of last year's greatest games--we awarded it the #10 spot in our Best Games Of 2017 list. It's also part of the recent resurgence of Japanese games, and having sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide, it represents the largest success for eccentric series creator Yoko Taro. This collaboration between Yoko-san and developer Platinum Games performed so well that it exceeded expectations of publisher Square Enix and captured a newfound interest in a series that was once relegated to cult classic status at best.
In celebration of Nier: Automata, the creative minds behind the game--Yoko Taro (director) and Takahisa Taura (designer, Platinum Games)--visited the GameSpot office during the 2018 Game Developers' Conference. In the video above, Yoko-san and Taura-san joined us to look back at the game as we played through the early Amusement Park chapter that leads into Pascal's Village with plenty of revealing commentary.
How does Yoko-san define player freedom? Did Taura-san have trouble designing a combat system that switches between third-person, side-scrolling, and top-down views? How did they incorporate story elements that only made sense after plot twists that happened later in the game? What's their favorite fishing game of all time? Kick back and watch our let's play with Nier: Automata's creators!
Xbox One's backwards compatible library continues to grow little by little. Microsoft's Major Nelson announced on Twitter that one more Xbox 360 game is now playable on the current-gen system, and it's a particularly notable one.
Beginning today, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is backwards compatible on Xbox One. The game originally launched for Xbox 360 in 2007 and kicked off the Modern Warfare subseries, which took the Call of Duty franchise out of its usual WWII setting and into more modern-day conflicts. You can read more about the first-person shooter in our original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare review.
As always, if you own a physical copy of the game, you can now pop the disc into your Xbox One, which will initiate a download and allow you to start playing. If you own the game digitally, you will find it waiting in the Ready to Download area of the My Games and Apps menu.
If you don't own the 360 version of Modern Warfare, it is one of the games discounted as part of the big Xbox spring sale, which is underway now until April 10. If you're an Xbox Live Gold member, you can download the game right now from the Xbox Store for $15 (or $17 without Gold).
The remastered version of Modern Warfare is also on sale right now for $28. That version was originally packed in as a special edition bonus with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, but it was released as a standalone title on Xbox One (and PC) last July. It includes the full Modern Warfare campaign and multiplayer mode with enhanced visuals and audio. You can watch a trailer for Modern Warfare Remastered above.
As promised, Blizzard plans to bring back a revamped version of Overwatch's Uprising event. The first details of this year's iteration have now been announced, and players will be able to take part in all of it starting on April 10.
Blizzard explains that Uprising "turns back the clock, giving you the chance to relive a pivotal moment in Overwatch history." What that means in practice is that you'll be able to play a special co-op Brawl where you "join Tracer on her very first mission."
In addition to that, there will of course be cosmetics to obtain. More than 100 "declassified" Loot Box items will be up for grabs, though specifics on new additions haven't yet been shared. You can see a brief teaser video in the tweet below.
Initiating archive declassification… Mission files unlock: April 10.
Back in January, director Jeff Kaplan stated Uprising would return for 2018 but that Blizzard "want[s] to evolve it" in some way. At the time, he also said the Anniversary event would make a return to give players another chance to unlock the items that were only available last year. A date for that has not been announced, but it'll presumably come in May, when Overwatch will celebrate the two-year anniversary of its release.
No matter what system you play on, Fortnite has something new for you to check out with its new update. Those who are in the ongoing Fortnite mobile test for iOS, however, can look forward to some platform-specific improvements.
Fortnite's 3.4 update is headlined by its new content--namely, the Guided Missile weapon and Sniper Shootout v2 mode--but there are other changes of note. As detailed in the patch notes, mobile players will now get a new message if they try to run the game on an unsupported device. It'll let you know specifically which iPhone and iPad models can run the game. There's also a message pointing out that the game doesn't support jailbroken devices.
Regardless of which iOS device you're using, you'll now benefit from 4X MSAA anti-aliasing, which should sharpen the look of the game. You can also use whispers and party text chat, and the way doors auto-open has been modified. Additionally, there's a new tutorial when you first play to explain the tap-to-swing controls.
Also of note is a new "game data download system" that Epic says should allow future updates to be "much smaller." You can grab a small update on the App Store, and when you open the game, a 1.8 GB update will download. During this process, you'll be presented with the screen above, which cycles through a series of images highlighting the key features of the game, tips on how to play, and an explanation of the basic controls.
Alongside these new features, a variety of mobile-specific bugs have been fixed. You can see all of the patch notes that only pertain to mobile below. Battle Pass owners also have new Week 6 challenges to now complete.
Fortnite Mobile-Specific 3.4 Update Patch Notes
Added 'Unsupported Device' message at startup for certain devices. That message is:
"We're sorry. Fortnite requires a device with 2GB of memory to run. Fortnite works with: iPhone SE, 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, X; iPad Mini 4, Air 2, 2017, Pro."
Added new game data download system, which will allow us to make much smaller updates in the future.
When you start up this new version of Fortnite, it will start downloading all the game data, which will be the full size (around 1.8GB).
Antialiasing (4x MSAA) is now enabled on all supported devices.
Whispers and Party Text Chat are now enabled on mobile.
Added a quick tutorial for 'Tap to Swing' which appears upon first startup.
Added a message informing players that jailbroken devices are not supported.
Auto-opening of doors is now based on input instead of your player's current speed.
Bug Fixes
Continuously attacking with the Harvesting Tool is now more consistent when double tapping and holding the right side of screen.
The left fire button is now more reliable and responsive.
Opening treasure chests now feels more responsive.
Fixed various inconsistencies with tap to shoot, making it more accurate.
Fixed the minimap blocking movement and look input.
Fixed an issue which caused misfiring when single tapping the screen and interacting with the HUD.
Fixed some issues causing Tap, Tap + Hold actions to not register.
Fixed longer than expected loading times on iPhone X.
Fixed a crash that could occur when tapping the Epic Friends list rapidly.
Fixed Impulse Grenade effects not being visible enough on Low settings.
Turbo Building and Automatic Material Swapping settings now save correctly.
Weapon and consumables dropped can no longer be auto-picked up by the dropping player.
Indie studio PanicBarn has announced its next game is Not Tonight. The political satire pokes at an alternate Britain in which a collapse in Brexit talks has resulted in far-right extremists taking control of the government.
Persons of "European Heritage" have been exiled and those remaining have designated roles and close supervision to be permitted to stay in the country. As one of these persons assigned as a bouncer, you have to scrape by on odd jobs and decide whether to keep your head down or join a resistance. You can put your pay slips toward upgrading your apartment, clothing, and equipment, all to be prepared for navigating this world safely. All this may sound dire, but the devs promise a touch of dark humor to pair with its political bite.
Not Tonight will be launching on Steam sometime "soon," and then later this year on consoles. This will be the second game from No More Robots, which published the downhill mountain biking game Descenders. You can sign up for the Not Tonight beta at the Not Tonight Discord.
The end of the month is upon us and that means for digital subscription services, it's out with the old and in with the new. Sony's PlayStation Plus line-up will rotate on Tuesday, April 3, which means the next few days are your last chance to get March's selection of free games.
Once April 3 comes, they'll each go back up to their regular price. As always, claiming these games before the change-over means you can play them as long as you have your Plus subscription. The April PS Plus line-up is no slouch itself, headlined with Mad Max and Trackmania Turbo. Other offerings include Q-Bert Rebooted, In Space We Brawl, Toy Home, and 99 Vidas.
PlayStation Plus routinely offers games spread across PS4, PS3, and Vita, but those days are numbered. The company recently announced that PS3 and Vita games will no longer be offered as part of the program starting on March 8, 2019. Any games you've already added to your digital account through the program will remain valid as long as you're a Plus subscriber, but chances are the sheer number of Plus offerings per month will drop at that point.
Following an extended round of maintenance, a new update is now available for Fortnite. It introduces a handful of new content to both the game's Battle Royale and Save the World modes, including a new limited-time event for the former.
For the next few days, Fortnite players can take part in Sniper Shootout v2, a modified version of last month's sniper-only event. This time around, Sniper Shootout offers solo and squad variants. Epic has also added the Hunting Rifle and Crossbow to the mode, both of which were introduced to the game after the first Sniper Shootout. However, the Magnum has been removed from the mode.
In addition to that, players can only find Legendary weapons in supply drops during Sniper Shootout, while Epic weapons will only appear in treasure chests. Epic has also disabled the downed state for the mode, meaning downed players will now immediately be eliminated. You can find more details about the limited-time mode in Epic's patch notes.
Epic hasn't announced an exact end date for Sniper Shootout v2, but limited-time modes are typically only available in Battle Royale for roughly a week, giving you only a few days to play it before the mode is removed from the rotation. However, be aware that there are currently some issues with Sniper Shootout not granting XP, rewards, or progress to players. Epic says it is currently working on the problem.
Sniper Shootout v2 arrives for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and mobile alongside Fortnite's v3.4 update. That patch adds a new weapon to Battle Royale--the Guided Missile--and an Easter-themed quest line for the paid Save the World mode. It also marks the start of a new set of weekly challenges for Battle Pass owners.
Join Sam and Rob as they go around Hope County hunting down all the animals down.
The reckoning is almost here. Season 2 of Westworld arrives April 22nd 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment