Halloween fast approaches, which means you're likely in the mood to play some spooky games. Luckily for you, there are a wealth of horror games to play that are well worth your time. The genre had humble beginnings in the late '80s, with a wave of fantastic games coming out in the three subsequent decades. And thanks to the rise of indie games, there are more horror games out now than ever before.
To help you discover some of the most terrifying horror experiences available, we've compiled 13 games that we find to be the most frightening. Genre classics like Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil Remake, and Dead Space are represented here, but you'll also find more surprising choices interspersed throughout. Regardless of their notoriety, the games we highlight are all ones we that left us with lasting memories.
There's a lot of horror-related media out right now that isn't just games. The latest entry of the cult favorite horror film franchise Halloween just released, and it's quite good, so be sure to read our review. There are also some pretty cool Easter eggs in the film that are likely to please hardcore fans. In other news, the second season of Castlevania is set to premiere via Netflix on October 26, and we've got a review of the first six episodes.
Which horror games do you think are the scariest? Shout out your favorites in the comments below.
Silent Hill 2
A lot has been said about Silent Hill 2, so I'll spare you any overt critical analysis I have on this much beloved survival-horror sequel and instead share with you why this game still rocks. The premise alone should be enough to captivate you. As the widowed James Sutherland, you travel to the foggy town of Silent Hill in search of your dead wife, who has somehow managed to send you a letter. As a middle schooler (yes, I played this game in 8th grade), Silent Hill 2's story was like nothing else I had encountered. There were no action heroes, explosions, or convoluted government conspiracies. Just a crippling sense of dread, an eerie atmosphere, and intriguing characters that kept my hands glued to my PS2 controller.
Silent Hill 2 expertly handles its myriad horrors, pulling you in with disturbing creatures, clever puzzles, and haunting sound design. I can't help but be in awe of how well it stands up whenever I revisit the game every few years. Its Historical Society area remains one of its crowning achievements and one of horror gaming's most expertly designed environments, brilliantly handling tense foreboding with unexpected pathways and puzzles. There are some slow moments interspersed between its most terrifying ones, but they're never enough to detract from the chilling horror and thought-provoking storytelling on display.
If you haven't played Silent Hill 2, you're in for quite a spooky adventure. It's one of the genre greats for a reason, and it only continues to stand the test of time. -- Matt Espineli
Outlast
Red Barrels' Outlast has always stood out to me for how the game presents its world. Mount Massive Asylum is blanketed in absolute darkness, so the only way to see where you're going most of the time is by using the night vision function on protagonist Miles Upshur's video camera.
Because I'm terrified of the dark, I use the camera all the time, and this transforms everything I see into a murky green where faraway environmental details aren't clear and enemies' eyes shine with a ghoulish glow. Also, this mechanic forces me to explore--batteries need to be found to keep the night vision function on the camera working--and Outlast's chilling soundtrack make those unscripted moments of searching very tense.
Looking for batteries isn't even the scariest part of Outlast, though. It's the inhuman Variants that create most of the game's scares. Desperately running through an insane asylum while cannibalistic twins, a scissor-wielding mad scientist, and a seemingly unkillable monster chase after Upshur is terrifying. The worst of these Variants, Eddie Gluskin, appears in Outlast's Whistleblower expansion. Gluskin, aka The Groom, is a deranged serial killer who mutilates his male victims' genitalia in order to create the "perfect wife." Watching what he does--in first-person I might add--to the DLC's protagonist, Waylon Park, haunted me for days, and is still nauseating to even think about. -- Jordan Ramee
Dead Space
Three years after Resident Evil 4 squeezed new scares from one of gaming's best horror series, Visceral Games might have perfected the third-person survival horror formula with Dead Space. Players control engineer Isaac Clarke as he and a rescue team land on a city-sized spaceship to find out why it's not responding to communications. They quickly discover the reason is that the ship has been overrun by monsters that used to be its crew, which are nearly impossible to kill unless players use various sci-fi mining tools to hack off the creatures' limbs.
Dead Space is a perfect confluence of modern sensibility and old-school survival horror, pairing fantastic graphics and gameplay, specifically its limb-cutting mechanics, with slightly uncooperative controls and the desperate hunt for items to keep Isaac healthy. The game uses everything at its disposal to scare you. Its industrial setting pairs with sound design that makes you constantly feel like you're not alone, and every surface is covered in air vents perfect for delivering popcorn-tossing moments as lethal mutated creatures come squirming out, straight at your face. Visceral tops it off with a spooky story that combines Alien, Children of the Corn, and Evil Dead. -- Phil Hornshaw
Devil Daggers
Devil Daggers may not be a traditional horror game by any means, but that makes it no less scary every time I play it. It throws you into a dark arena and tasks you with eliminating waves of flying skulls, disgusting, multi-legged beasts, and other demonic monstrosities.
There is no winning in Devil Daggers; death is inevitable, whether that comes after 10 seconds or 100 (if you're good). It's minimal in terms of visuals and sound; there's no music to accompany the onslaught of enemies. Instead, enemies produce terrifying but distinct noises. This serves to assist you by letting you know where enemies are, but it also creates an inescapable sense of dread as these horrifying monsters box you in. I find it hard not to jump out of my seat when I turn and see that I'm face to face with a flying horned monster.
It's unusual that a game designed around high score runs is scary, and the threat of failure is undoubtedly part of what makes Devil Daggers so tense. But it's the combination of this tension with the haunting imagery and sounds that create a legitimately terrifying experience. -- Chris Pereira
Slender: The Arrival
I'll admit to being the perfect mark for Slender: The Eight Pages when it was released for free in 2012. The tiny, minimalist Unity experiment by developer Mark Hadley capitalized on peak Slender Man interest, expounding on the Internet-born folklore creature that was already doing a phenomenal job of absolutely creeping me out. Hadley's little game was a tightly made little nightmare: you're exploring a small, darkened park from a first-person perspective, and you're being hunted by a supernatural creature that you can't even look at without dying. Players try to gather eight pages from around a park, which detail some other poor victim's descent into madness, while the thing keeps appearing in front of you, ever closer. It was a perfect storm of jump scares, ambient dread, and a spooky creation of the zeitgeist at the height of its power.
Slender: The Arrival expanded the game with multiple levels, a full story and prettier graphics to fully realize Hadley's original concept. It didn't change the core principle of being hunted, with nothing to help you except fleeing in desperate terror, and hoping that looking away from what stalks you might be enough to save you a few moments more. -- Phil Hornshaw
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
To play Resident Evil 7 is to willingly put yourself in an inhospitable environment. The decrepit mansion where the game begins is filthy, with peeling, yellowed wallpaper, broken drywall, and garbage littering the scarred wooden floor. Wind blows through the cracks in drafts, emitting a low, constant howl. The kitchen, scattered with moldy food and unidentifiable skeletal remains, is unspeakable. You can almost smell the rot.
This is not a place you want to be--and that's before you meet the family that lives there. There's the dad, who stalks after you even after you've killed him numerous times. Mom doesn't bat an eye when he severs junior's hand at the dinner table. Somehow even worse is grandma, a catatonic woman in a wheelchair who can appear and vanish any time and anywhere when you're not looking.
The game improves on the best aspects of the series, while throwing out everything that had grown stale in recent installments. Playing Resident Evil 7 is a thrilling, crazy, scary-as-hell experience. And if you think it's terrifying on a TV screen, you gotta try it in VR. -- Chris Reed
Condemned: Criminal Origins
The Xbox 360 had a generally strong launch lineup, despite lacking a killer app like Halo. There was a Majora's Mask-lite in Kameo: Elements of Power; sports games like Amped 3 and Madden, and for those who passed on the heavily flawed, but creative Perfect Dark Zero, Call of Duty 2 was there to satisfy action fans when WWII shooters were in their prime. With other titles with mass appeal like Tony Hawk's American Wasteland or Gun, who had time for a psychological horror game?
That juxtaposition between Condemned: Criminal Origins and the rest of the launch lineup was perfectly clear in the music of the title screen. Half Se7en, half Shutter Island, you played as detective Ethan Thomas, who has to track down a serial killer to prove his innocence after his partner is murdered. Along the way, you're attacked by rattled-up drug addicts and hallucinations of demons who strategically flee, hide behind corners, and fight back in the game's surprisingly effective first-person melee combat.
What made Condemned such a memorable horror experience was the feeling of being alone in the grittiest, most desolate parts of town, with intimate combat against people who hated you. You could hear them seething around corners, flanking you in the darkness, and that was all before the game throws demonic hallucinations at you. Sprinkle in a memorable final boss, a couple of solid jump-scares, one of the best uses of Xbox achievements in requiring you to forgo using guns, and a level set in a mall with walking mannequins that culminated in one of my favorite video game moments, and you've got a horror classic. Not bad for a launch-title. -- Nick Sherman
Doki Doki Literature Club
Don't judge a visual novel by its cover. Doki Doki Literature Club looks like a simple anime-inspired visual novel packed with tropes; you have a love triangle (or quadrilateral?), the tsundere, the shy one, and the childhood friend as a potential love interest all thrown into a high school club. While the game is front-loaded with your typical story progression, it's expected that you make it past a certain point where things really pick up.
Take note of the content warning presented up front as Doki Doki Literature Club uses sensitive subjects and graphic visuals throughout its narrative. It'll subvert expectations in clever and terrifying ways that can be either subtle and in-your-face. Since this is a PC game, it has the unique ability to be meta; breaking the fourth wall is used to great effect and a few secrets get tucked away within the game's text files. There are a few moments that allow the player to impact progression, such as dialogue options or choosing which of the club members to interact with at certain moments. But that's all in service of building you up for when the game reveals its true nature. Even the wonderfully catchy soundtrack gets twisted to create an unsettling atmosphere.
It's hard to communicate exactly why Doki Doki Literature Club is one of the most horrifying games because it relies heavily on specific story beats and meta-narrative events, and we wouldn't want to spoil the things that make it so special. You'll just have to experience it for yourself. -- Michael Higham
P.T.
First revealed during Gamescom 2014, we struggled to make sense of the peculiar game known as P.T.. Presented as an indie horror game coming from an obscure developer, it stealth-launched onto the Playstation Store with little fanfare. But in the hours after its release, fans began to piece together what this horror title truly was. Coming from Hideo Kojima and a dream team of horror talent including the likes of Guillermo del Toro and Junji Ito, P.T. was actually a teaser for Silent Hills, the next planned entry in Konami's revered horror series. The short demo made a lasting impression on those who dared to experience its simple, yet incredibly effective scares--myself included.
While the concept is simple--only asking you to make it to the end of the hallway and through a door--the execution was anything but, often presenting players some mind-bending puzzles and terrifying obstacles to overcome. Like many, I grossly underestimated just how overwhelmingly tense and off-putting P.T. can be. What it offered was a hellish descent into madness and dread, featuring fourth wall breaking scares, gore, and the relentless stalking from a ghostly figure known as Lisa. After its completion, I felt that I had a greater appreciation for what horror games are capable of, and P.T. showed immense potential. Unfortunately, we would never see it fully realized in a game. Silent Hills would eventually be cancelled after Kojima's very public departure from Konami, and all we're left with is a demo for game that will never exist, which adds a posthumous allure to P.T. While the game's failure to launch is tragic, the sheer craft that P.T. showed in its short sampling is something that's still powerful to this day.
But as it stands, the playable teaser is an eerie reminder of what could have been, which is ironically summed up with the demo's ending. As the main character--played by Norman Reedus--finally makes his way out of the strange house into the streets of a deserted town, he then wanders off into the fog, disappearing from sight soon after. -- Alessandro Fillari
Alien: Isolation
2014's Alien: Isolation was a bit of tough sell as a horror game. After spending many years as disposable cannon fodder in other Alien games, most notably in Aliens VS Predator and Aliens: Colonial Marines, the Xenomorph was elevated to boss status in Creative Assembly's survival horror FPS. Serving as a sequel to the original film, it moved away from the shooting galleries and action-horror from previous games, and honed its focus on dread, anxiety, and fearing the lone alien creature that stalks the halls of Sevastopol Station.
As a deep admirer of the original Alien, more so than the sequel Aliens, I longed for the day where we could get a game more influenced by the first film--with its quiet moments of dread and low-fi sci-fi aesthetic in full swing. What I appreciated most about Alien: Isolation was that it not only respected the original film, but it also fully understood what it made it so scary. As you're desperately scavenging for supplies throughout the corridors, those brief moments of calm would almost inevitably lead to situations where you'll come face to face with the Alien, who is all-powerful and cunning in its approach to slay any human that comes across its path.
For more of my thoughts on Alien Isolation, check out my retrospective feature discussing why the game is still an unmatched horror experience. -- Alessandro Fillari
Resident Evil Remake
When Resident Evil first hit the Playstation back in 1996, it revolutionized video game horror, and created a new sub-genre in the process--survival horror. Its GameCube remake in2002, and subsequent remaster for the PS4, XBox One, and PC, utilized improved graphics and lighting to greatly enhance the haunting atmosphere of the first game.
You have the option to play as one of two STARS members (elite police officers), who have come to a mansion investigating a number of strange murders. Unbeknownst to them, this mansion is home to a number of illegal experiments operated by the Umbrella Corporation, leading to zombified humans and creatures attacking the STARS.
The entire game takes place from fixed camera angles, and you never know what's on the other side of the door, or around each corner, meaning you're just moments away from walking into a scare. You're given limited ammo and even a limited number of opportunities to save your progress, and this formula works perfectly in tandem with the foreboding atmosphere.
In one particular moment, I hadn't saved in hours and was running through a room I'd revisited multiple times in the past with 0 health left--when suddenly zombie dogs decided to jump through the windows scaring the crap out of me. A room I thought was safe had betrayed me at the worst time.
This moment alone is easily one of the most impactful scares I've ever had playing a game, and cements Resident Evil as a mastercraft in horror video games. -- Dave Klein
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Eternal Darkness took the concept of Survival Horror--already well-established by games like Resident Evil, Clock Tower, and Silent Hill--and added a brand new element designed exclusively to screw with the player: the sanity meter.
Alexandra Roivas returns to her family's estate after discovering her grandfather has been murdered. The police have found nothing, so she decides to look for herself, and finds a secret room with a book… the "Tome of Eternal Darkness." The game then takes place in multiple timelines and locations, with players choosing who they want to follow as characters battle with, or are corrupted by, ancient artifacts and the Eternal Darkness.
This allows the game to utilize a vast array of settings for its horrors, as well having every character affected by a sanity meter, which slowly drains if players are spotted by enemies. Sanity effects range from statue heads following you, to weird noises and strange camera angles. In one particular instance, I went to save my game, only to find the game telling me it was deleting my save. I jumped off of my couch, ran over to my GameCube to turn off the game, only to realize the game was screwing with me, and my save wasn't being deleted. You win that round, Eternal Darkness… you win that round. -- Dave Klein
Five Nights At Freddy's
In the years since the release of the first game, the Five Nights At Freddy's series has gone from popular YouTube let's play game to massive phenomenon. As gaming's Friday The 13th, the horror series manages to get another sequel, even when people are just experiencing the previous game. While the franchise has spiraled out in a big way, the original game still manages to turn a mundane job into nerve wracking nightmare scenario. As the late-night security guard for Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, your job is to make sure no one breaks into the place, and to ensure that the walking animatronic puppets don't murder anyone--namely you. That second part is important.
With no means of self-defense, your only hope is to survive until early morning by blocking doors and obstructing the paths of the roaming animatronics puppets, who desperately seek any humans after hours. My expectations for the game were low, mostly due to how played-out it seemed in the months after its release. However, once I got to play it for myself, I was surprised at how quickly it ramped up in intensity, despite its ridiculous premise.
Even though it manages to revel in jump-scares, almost comically so, the tension and moments leading up to those genuinely chilling encounters make for some rather memorable frights. Just when you think you're safe and only minutes away from sunrise, Freddy Fazbear waltzes into your safe room and gets the jump on you. I'll never forget the moment that this game, which I grossly underestimated, got the best of me. -- Alessandro Fillari
It's been obvious for a very long time that Lego games iterate more than innovate. If you pick up a Lego title, you are guaranteed a wholesome romp in whichever licensed universe is at hand. Everything is breakable and spits out glittery, golden collectibles when destroyed. Beloved characters are Lego-fied and reenact their famous antics with an extra dollop of cartoon absurdity. Those qualities remain appealing, but every so often, developer Traveller's Tales stumbles onto an idea that requires an extra bit of creativity to really make it sing. Sometimes TT steps up to the plate, like it did for Lego City Undercover and Lego Dimensions. Other times, well, it doesn't. It's a little sad to see Lego DC Super-Villains fall into the latter category.
The issue here really comes down to the premise. The idea of subverting the Lego Batman playbook and making a game that's all about DC Comics villains is a great one in theory. However, opening up the game to the entire roster of DC villains has the unfortunate side effect of highlighting just how weak DC's broad slate of evil is. Sure, you're doing fine when you've got The Joker using Lex Luthor as a straight man, or when big, unique baddies like Sinestro and Gorilla Grodd start showing up, but much of the game's story mode has you saddled with third-string riff-raff like Heat Wave and Malcolm Merlyn for extended stretches. Somehow, both Captain Cold and Killer Frost figure heavily into the main story, but the far more compelling Mr. Freeze doesn't.
There's a fertile concept in the idea of the loser villains hatching a plan to head up to the big leagues, but the actual plot takes a far less interesting course: The Justice League gets captured and replaced by the Justice Syndicate, who comic fans probably know as the Crime Syndicate of America, a super-powered group from alternate dimension Earth-3. On the surface, it looks like the Syndicate is doing a great job cleaning up crime, but the Syndicate's going a lot harder on the bad guys than the League ever would, leading the Legion of Doom to gather up a slew of recruits and take the fight to the Syndicate.
The wild card would appear, at first glance, to be you. At the outset, you get to create your own custom villain who ends up joining the Legion. It's an impressive slew of options you get at the start of the game, and an even more extensive selection is available as you play, earn more powers, and unlock more parts. Everything from your villain's haircut, to their weapon of choice, which arm they use to shoot energy at their enemies, to even what that energy looks like can be customized. It's an extensive collection of options from the moment you start the game, and almost intimidatingly vast by the end. My first villain took maybe an hour to create and be happy with, after which I watched as my lovingly crafted superhero was sidelined for most of the story.
Unfortunately, your custom villain is not the star of the game--they don't even have a voice--and no matter how badass you make yourself, all the other villains simply refer to you as Rookie (except for Harley Quinn, who calls you Dr. Doesn't-Talk-Much). You're occasionally called upon to use your technical skills to open a specific door, and you are able to absorb new powers along the way, but for the most part your budding baddie has almost no impact or meaningful presence in the story. Instead, most of the game's levels boil down to a formula: A group of one or two big-ticket villains and one or two small-timers go to a familiar locale--Gotham, Metropolis, Smallville, Belle Reve prison--to free some more of their criminal friends, and run into some of the remaining small-time heroes in the process, e.g. the Teen Titans or Nightwing.
The moment-to-moment gameplay remains as simple and accessible as ever; combat boils down to spamming a single attack button, with the safety net of infinite lives, and there's some very rudimentary platforming. Finding secrets usually just means running around breaking everything until a shiny new toy pops out. There's nothing really wrong with that by itself, given the Lego games' appeal to a younger audience, and watching Lego structures explode into a million pieces really hasn't lost much of its innate joy, even after all this time. The problem is, only a few esoteric sliding tile puzzles differentiate the game mechanically from things the Lego Batman games were doing 10 years ago.
The level design in particular is a major strike against the game. It attempts to evoke a sense of chaos and disorder for the villains to feel at home in, but everything is so cluttered and elaborate, it's hard to know what's breakable and what's not, which character you're controlling, and what you can actually interact with. The wanton destruction that's kind of Lego's bread-and-butter loses something when the area being destroyed looks like a mess to begin with.
The villains themselves are well-animated, and great care has gone into differentiating the hundreds of playable baddies from each other, be it all of the Joker's attacks ending with theatrical flourishes, Killer Frost's ballerina moves, or Gorilla Grodd being able to literally leap over tall buildings in a single bound. There's a ton of overlap from the small-timers, though, and the alternative choices don't provide you with a reason to want to use them. Even the relatively easy attention grab that comes from having much of the voice cast from both the Superman and Batman Animated Series from the '90s show up--including Mark Hamill's iconic Joker, and a delightfully up-for-anything Michael Ironside reprising his role as Darkseid--doesn't quite land due to the more interesting villains taking a backseat.
Playing as all villains, you'd think there'd be more opportunity to wreak havoc on Metropolis or Gotham City, even if it's in an E-for-Everyone kind of way, but there isn't. The best part of the game is once the main story is over and you can just roam around the rather expansive open areas at will. Any and all villains unlocked during the game are accessible, and there's tons of little sidequests and races to take on. This is always the best part about the Lego games, though.
Ultimately, Lego DC Super-Villains goes down as another cookie-cutter Lego game, and while there's still plenty of merry mayhem to unleash, it's the same kind of mayhem we've seen before. What should be as wild and riotous as the Clown Prince of Crime comes off as just another mild-mannered reporter.
Destiny 2 players eager to get their hands on some new Exotic items are (possibly) in luck. Xur, the mysterious merchant and servant of the Nine, has popped up once again in Bungie's shooter with a refreshed lineup of Exotic items for sale, and he's got something that may be of use for Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters. Here's what he's selling from now until the next weekly reset on Tuesday, October 23, as well as where to find him.
Xur is apparently a fan of moons of Jupiter; he was recently found on Io, and that's again where he's located for this week. Bungie continues to reuse his standard spot for each map, meaning he can be found in Giant's Scar. Spawn in at that landing zone and make your way forward through the building in front of you, and then follow the path to the left. Just up on a hill, you'll find a small cave he's hanging out in.
Festival of the Lost and Iron Banner may be underway, but there's nothing unusual about Xur's lineup of items. He has a piece of Exotic armor for each class, as well as one weapon: Crimson, the hand cannon. This is an excellent gun, firing a three-round burst and featuring the Cruel Remedy perk, which heals you when you get a kill and refills the magazine when you get a precision kill.
On the armor side, Hunters can pick up The Dragon's Shadow chest armor, which reloads your guns and provides a speed and handling buff after a dodge. Warlocks get the Crown of Tempests helmet, which speeds up arc ability recovery when you get arc ability kills. And Titans can get the Ashen Wake gauntlets, which improve fusion grenades by letting you throw them faster and causing them to explode on impact.
The full lineup and prices are as follows:
Xur Exotic Items (October 19-23)
Crimson (Exotic hand cannon) -- 29 Legendary Shards
Crown of Tempests (Exotic Warlock helmet) -- 23 Legendary Shards
Ashen Wake (Exotic Titan gauntlets) -- 23 Legendary Shards
Also from Xur, you can pick up a Five of Swords challenge card for adding modifiers to Nightfall strikes (which is needed to do the weekly Powerful gear challenge to score over 100,000 in the Nightfall). Additionally, he has the Fated Engram, which is pricey at 97 Legendary Shards but is guaranteed to decrypt into a Year One Exotic you don't already have.
As noted above, Xur's lineup may not be thrilling (though Crimson genuinely is great), but there's plenty else happening in the game. You can get curated Iron Banner rewards from taking part in the Crucible mode, and we're still in the first week of the three-week-long Halloween event, Festival of the Lost. This features a new activity called the Haunted Forest that's fun and offers a path to a 600 Power level auto rifle called Horror Story--just be careful when going for the chest at the end.
The western has had a long and strange history, which has seen it veer from being one of the most popular movie genres, for decades until the 1960s, to one of the least popular in the '80s and '90s. But while audience interest in the Old West has varied, it's an era that has continued to fascinate filmmakers, from the earliest days of cinema to the present day, both in the US and in other countries. This is a genre that allows directors to experiment with conventions, address social and political issues, and introduce other genres into mix--from horror westerns to comedy westerns, via brutal bloodbaths, thrilling action, and haunting introspection. Some of the greatest actors and directors of all time became famous for their work in the western, and there are exceptional examples still made every year.
The influence of the western stretches beyond the theater, too--to TV, comic books, and video games. When Red Dead Redemption was released in 2010, it was met with rave reviews and massive sales. This was a game that threw the player into an incredibly immersive version of the old west and Mexico, one that drew heavy influence from western movies. Grizzled hero John Marston was clearly based on Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name, the violence was straight out of Tombstone or a Peckinpah movie, and the grand vistas of the west took their inspiration from the classic movies of John Ford and John Wayne.
Red Dead Redemption 2 will finally arrive on PlayStation 4 and Xbox later this month, and fans can expect an even more detailed, immersive world in which to work, kill, and explore. So to get you get ready for what is sure to be one of the games of the year, here are 15 must-see westerns that show the great breadth of the genre. Let's saddle up and ride into town.
If you're keen to learn more about the upcoming open-world western, read our roundup feature compiling all the latest news, gameplay, and trailers. Red Dead Redemption 2 is adding a bunch of exciting new mechanics that are incredibly exciting and intriguing, so be sure to check out our in-depth feature showcasing them all. Though, if you're more intrigued about the game's development and some of its major inspirations and influences, you should read our feature discussing how previous Rockstar games, like Bully, Max Payne 3, and L.A. Noire impacted its mechanics.
In the meantime, tell us which western films you love the most in the comments below!
1. The Man With No Name Trilogy (1964/1965/1967)
Dir. Sergio Leone
For decades, the Italian film industry was known for churning out its own variation on successful American genres, whether horror, sci-fi, or crime movies. Sergio Leone's classic western trilogy--A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly--kickstarted the spaghetti western cycle that lasted throughout the late-'60s and '70s. It also made a star of Clint Eastwood, who would himself go on to direct several classic westerns. Leone's movies stripped the genre down to its most basic elements, as Eastwood's unnamed bounty hunter navigates a ruthless, immoral West with few words and lots of shooting. All three movies are marked by their violence, dark humour, and stylish direction, with Ennio Morricone delivering a series of iconic, inventive soundtracks.
2. Django (1966)
Dir. Sergio Corbucci
If the Man With No Name is the best known of all the spaghetti western heroes, then Django is easily in second place. Unlike Eastwood and Leone's great character, Django has been played by a variety of actors across many films, and to date, there are more than 30 Django movies. But the man most associated with him will always be the Italian icon Franco Nero, who starred in Sergio Corbucci's classic original. Django is a former soldier who find himself caught up in a race war between American soldiers and Mexican bandits a few years after the end of the Civil War. Django is a gritty, thrilling movie with heavy political overtones that was highly controversial at the time for its levels of violence and torture, but now stands as a true cult classic.
3. The Great Silence (1968)
Dir. Sergio Corbucci
Sergio Corbucci is best known for Django, but with The Great Silence, he delivered one of the all-time great spaghetti westerns. Set in the snowbound mountains of Utah (although shot in the Italian Dolomites), it features the great French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant as a mute gunslinger who roams the countryside, in pursuit of those he perceives as evil. His main target is Loco, a terrifying killer played by cult favourite Klaus Kinski. The Great Silence is about as pessimistic and cynical as westerns get, with the incredible location photography and intense performances making it a must-see, particularly in the beautiful restored blu-ray that was released earlier this year.
4. The Wild Bunch (1969)
Dir. Sam Peckinpah
The late '60s was a watershed time for American cinema, when the depiction of sex and violence in studio movies increased, thrilling younger audiences but also causing considerable controversy amongst older viewers and critics. Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch was a key movie at this time, one which waved farewell to an older era of western cinema. A group of veteran outlaws face the end of the line while they are pursued by their former gang-member turned lawman, and take on a dangerous mission for a corrupt Mexican general. The movie is best known for its incredible, blood-splattered, slow-motion final gun battle, but the whole movie is a masterpiece that is by turns brutally violent and deeply moving.
5. Once Upon A Time In The West (1969)
Dir. Sergio Leone
While the Dollars trilogy are Sergio Leone's best known westerns, his true masterpiece is Once Upon A Time In The West. Leone planned to retire from the genre, but an offer from Paramount to direct and the chance to work with screen legend Henry Fonda convinced him otherwise. Fonda plays against type by portraying a ruthless killer, and the movie centers around a land battle over the construction of a railroad. It's a long and often slow film, but utterly engrossing, with a morally ambiguous characters and a dark, pessimistic tone very different to the more cartoonish fun of the Dollars movies.
6. McCabe And Mrs. Miller (1971)
Dir. Robert Altman
Robert Altman tackled many genres across his long career, from the war comedy M*A*S*H* to the Hollywood satire The Player and the murder mystery Gosford Park, but his films are unified by his interest in character over story and a determination to do things his own way. McCabe and Mrs. Miller is his brilliant western, in which a gambler called John McCabe (Warren Beatty) sets up a brothel in a small town with the help of drug-addicted English traveller Constance Miller (Julie Christie). It's a strange film, with a loose structure, jarring editing, and disorienting sound design. But it's utterly intoxicating, the amazing photography, hypnotic atmosphere, and a fascinating refusal to play by the rules of the genre making it one of the best westerns of the '70s.
7. High Plains Drifter (1973)
Dir. Clint Eastwood
By 1973, Clint Eastwood had already started his directing career, and followed his debut Play Misty for Me with his first western as director. High Plains Drifter is an offbeat movie that took influence from the work of Sergio Leone rather than other American directors, such as John Ford or Howard Hawks. Eastwood again plays an unnamed stranger who is hired to protect a town from some very bad men. But while the material was generic, the movie is not. The eerie tone and atmosphere feels more like a supernatural horror movie than a western, and it's packed with wonderfully surreal touches. It might not be as well known as some of Eastwood's other westerns, but it's up there with the best.
8. Unforgiven (1992)
Dir. Clint Eastwood
The script for Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven was written by Blade Runner's David Webb Peoples, and was first given to the director/star back in the early '80s. But knowing that he was not yet old enough to play the role of veteran killer William Munny, Eastwood waited a decade, until he was in his 60s, to direct and star. The result was an all-time classic; a dark, brooding meditation on violence and redemption. The incredible cast includes Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Harris, and the movie went on to win four Oscars. Unforgiven remains one of the most powerful westerns ever made, which strips away the clichés of the genre while also delivering so many of the elements that fans love.
9. Tombstone (1993)
Dir. George P. Cosmatos
1993 was the year of Wyatt Earp, with two movies released within six month of each other, both based on the legendary lawman. Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp is a well crafted and very traditional western--but Tombstone is way more fun. It actually had lots of behind-the-scenes problems, with director George P. Cosmatos brought on to replace original director Kevin Jarre during production. But you wouldn't know it--it's a fast-moving, thrilling action western, with Kurt Russell perfectly cast as Earp, and a stellar supporting cast that includes a scene-stealing Val Kilmer (as Doc Holliday), Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, and Michael Biehn.
10. Dead Man (1995)
Dir: Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch made his name for quirky deadpan indie comedies in the '80s, and in 1995 he tackled his first pure genre movie. Of course, Dead Man is as strange and idiosyncratic as you'd expect from Jarmusch. For a start, it's shot in crisp black-and-white, and while many classic early westerns were obviously in monochrome, it's unusual choice for a modern one. Johnny Depp stars as William Blake, a man from the city who heads west after his parents die and his financée leaves him. This begins a strange trip in which he is accompanied by a Native American called Nobody. Depp spends much of the movie dying from a gunshot wound, and along the way Jarmusch offers a strange, darkly funny, and ultimately very moving film about mortality, technology, and coming to terms with the past. It also features a blistering solo guitar score by Neil Young, which he performed in a single take while watching the movie.
11. The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2006)
Dir. Andrew Dominik
One of the best westerns of the 21st century, this is an adaptation of the 1983 novel of the same name, with Brad Pitt as legendary outlaw Jesse James and Casey Affleck as fellow bandit Robert Ford. The movie flopped at the box office and there were various behind-the-scenes battles between director Andrew Dominik, who wanted to make a dark, meditation on fame and legend, and the studio who (inevitably) hoped for a faster-paced, more action-packed move. The resulting film definitely favours Dominik's approach more, and this haunting, atmospheric, beautifully-made telling of this famous story lingers in the mind long after the end.
12. True Grit (2010)
Dir. Joel & Ethan Coen
The Coen's brothers' previous attempt at remaking a classic movie--2003's The Ladykillers--was one of their worst films, so there was some trepidation about this new adaptation of the John Wayne favourite True Grit. But there was no need to worry. Jeff Bridges takes on the role of "Rooster" Cogburn, a hard-drinking, rule-breaking lawman, who is hired by a 14-year-old girl to find the outlaw who killed her father. The Coens blend their trademark quirky humor with more traditional western conventions in a hugely satisfying way. It's one of their most accessible movies and it turned out to be their biggest box office by far, making $252 million worldwide, a hugely impressive result for any western in 2010.
13. Django Unchained (2012)
Dir. Quentin Tarantino
For his first western, Quentin Tarantino borrowed the name of the legendary spaghetti western hero, and delivers a movie that, like Sergio Corbucci's classic Django, uses the western format to address issues of race and prejudice. Jamie Foxx plays a slave who is granted his freedom in return for helping a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) track down a pair of killers. This initial quest soon turns into a search for Django's wife, who is being kept by a cruel landowner, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. As you'd expect from Tarantino, Django Unchained is a movie that skirts constantly around the edges of taste, but for those who can take some of the subject matter, it's hugely entertaining, as it lurches from serious social and historical commentary to over-the-top, blood spurting violence and back again. It also contains some of the most memorable acting in Tarantino's filmography, in particular Foxx's relentless, determined Django and DiCaprio's charming but rage-fuelled slave owner.
14. The Revenant (2015)
Dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
The production of Alejandro G. Iñárritu's award-winning western survival movie was beset with problems--including budget overruns and crew members quitting--and when you watch it, it's easy to see why. There are few films that have created such a believably harsh environment for its characters, as we watch a recreation of the story of Hugh Glass, a frontiersman and fur-trapper who made an epic 200-mile journey across a savage landscape to get revenge on the men who left him for dead. Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar for his portrayal of Glass, and the movie is a harrowing, thrilling experience of the type only cinema can deliver.
15. The Hateful Eight (2015)
Dir. Quentin Tarantino
Tarantino's second western is a very different movie to Django Unchained, and in many ways is most reminiscent of his classic debut Reservoir Dogs. Set mostly in one night, it places eight strangers in a stagecoach lodge during a blizzard. Things start tense and get worse from there, as bodies start dropping and paranoia start to creep in. This being a Tarantino movie, it's long and talky, but the dialogue is as sharp as ever and the incredible cast--including Tarantino veterans Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, and Michael Madsen--make it utterly compelling viewing.
It's easy to assume that because Starlink: Battle For Atlas is geared toward younger audiences, it isn't for you. The toys-to-life component and the cast of Saturday morning cartoon characters are both major aspects of the game that might fly right over your head--it's definitely where I sat for much of the game's pre-release marketing.
But after only a few hours with the game, Starlink's strengths quickly pushed through to me: It's a satisfyingly accessible spaceship combat game, with seamless exploration that takes the best cues from games like No Man's Sky and Elite: Dangerous, and comes with all the trimmings of Ubisoft's brand of open worlds (for better and worse, according to our review.)
There's one specific thing that's really piqued my continued interest in Starlink, though: At E3 in 2018, I saw a behind-closed-doors demo of the then most recent technical demo of Beyond Good & Evil 2. And if you want to know what this mysterious sequel is going to feel like, playing Starlink is your best bet.
BG&E2 is a game that still has an air of mystery about it, especially if you haven't been following the development blogs and livestreams very closely. There's a lot to describe about what I saw (read the preview if you're interested) but essentially, the game has an ambition to be a massive and multiplayer open-world space exploration game, and Starlink is just that.
The demo I saw at E3 showed a co-op duo exploring, sneaking, and fighting in an underground tomb, and over the course of 30 minutes, seamlessly transition into city, planet, space, and galaxy exploration and combat. They hoped onto vehicles and got into dogfights above the city, flew high in the sky to marvel at the enormous curvature of the planet, blasted off into the stratosphere to reach their mothership parked in space, and hit hyperspeed to start heading towards new planets.
At the time, my only points of reference were No Man's Sky and Elite Dangerous—both games with impressive scope, and both games I thought of as outliers in terms of what to expect from massive, open-world games. But now, a few months later, Starlink has shown me a much closer example of what Beyond Good & Evil 2 looked and felt like to me, both technically and structurally. Starlink's seamless and gradual transition between ground-based combat and questing, free-range dogfighting, and space travel has distinct parallels to what Beyond Good & Evil 2 is trying to achieve, though the BG&E2's pace felt slower, making its scope--the world, the galaxy--feel much larger.
There's other Ubisoft technology I could see in Beyond Good & Evil 2 pulling from, as well. The enormous, persistent map of The Crew 2 is an example of how they're possibly going to systematically render their world, allowing multiple people to exist at opposite ends of a land mass. The sheer size of Assassin's Creed Odyssey's map makes me believe that populating the enormous planet I saw in the BG&E2 demo is a feasible feat--albeit one that could only be achieved with the enormous development manpower the company wields.
And if you've played Assassin's Creed Odyssey, released only a couple of weeks before Starlink, you might have noticed that Ubisoft is attempting to ape, or at least try their hand at integrating a lot of the major ideas from other open world games into their own. There were arguably various levels of success there, a lot of these components get me excited about how they might be adapted to the Beyond Good & Evil 2 narrative. Branching quests from The Witcher 3, with their varied consequences, has the obvious benefits of enriching world building. The recruitment system from Metal Gear Solid V would make sense in building your crew of Space Rebels. The nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor could potentially be incredibly exciting if you had bounty hunters tracking you down across the galaxy. In the same way, Starlink is the latest, and most directly analogous experiment into exploring Ubisoft's capabilities in adapting the No Man's Sky and Elite Dangerous model of open-world galaxies for their grand space opera.
Ubisoft is pulling Beyond Good & Evil out of the cult-classic status, and it's likely to become a major flagship release for them in the future. But in the meantime, their open-world releases suggest that they're taking steps towards learning how to build the enormous open-world galaxy they need to tell their story. The lofty ambition for the game that I saw in that E3 demo is now a much more palpable idea in my head, with Starlink providing a tangible jumping-off point. So, if you have any interest in Beyond Good & Evil 2, that Ubisoft toys-to-life game might be more exciting to you than you think.
PlayStation 4 owners have had a few options outside of the DualShock 4 courtesy of Scuf Gaming's series of controllers. Both the Infinity 4PS and Impact offer programmable paddles, modular parts, among other features, but cost well over $100. The new Scuf Vantage doubles down on this design philosophy by incorporating even more features while making customization more user-friendly, but for an even higher asking price. Admittedly, this makes the Vantage a gamepad for a specific crowd; those who are dedicated to competitive play and want a distinct advantage at their fingertips, particularly in first- or third- person shooters.
We spent time using the wireless version of the Scuf Vantage playing Fortnite and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, two big games that can benefit greatly from the controller's features. Controls to build structures and cycle through build options can be mapped to the paddles and side buttons (called sax buttons) so you can keep moving and aiming all the while. When it comes to Black Ops 4, looting items and managing inventory in Blackout becomes second-nature and a bit less cumbersome when mapping the proper actions to the extra inputs as well.
Additional buttons aren't the only things that Scuf changes up from the original DualShock design, and we breakdown those features throughout this gallery. The Bluetooth wireless Scuf Vantage is available now for $200 USD and comes with some optional accessories--a wired-only version is also available for $170 USD. Both controllers are highly moddable as you can get different magnetic faceplates, analog sticks, rings around the sticks, though it's at an extra cost.
We did a breakdown of Scuf's previous controllers, the Infinity 4PS and Impact, so be sure to check that out in addition to this review. If you're a PS4 user in European territories, take a look at our reviews of the the Razer Raiju and Nacon Revolution controllers, which are exclusive overseas.
What's In The Box
What's In The Box
You get a little more than just the controller if you pick up a Scuf Vantage. The wireless model comes with a 10-foot micro USB cable, two convex extended analog sticks, extended L2 and R2 trigger caps, black anti-friction rings (that can replace the neon yellow ones), and a semi-hard case to fit the controller and accessories.
DualShock 4 And Xbox One Controller Comparisons
DualShock 4 And Xbox One Controller Comparisons
The Scuf Vantage doesn't differ much in terms of overall size compared to the Xbox One controller and DualShock 4. It appears to have a lot more in common with the Xbox One pad even though this is a PS4 controller licensed by Sony.
An important thing to note is that although this is a PS4 controller, it's missing some of the functionality of the DualShock 4. For example, pairing the Vantage to your PS4 must be done manually in the Devices section of the system settings. The process is simple but in our experience, shutting off the system completely means having to pair the Vantage again. That being said, you cannot boot your PS4 with the Vantage, but you can at least wake the system from Rest Mode.
Controller Body
Controller Body
The first thing that'll jump out when looking at the Scuf Vantage is the offset analog stick placement, which takes after the Microsoft's approach with Xbox controllers. It may feel foreign to those who've used DualShocks exclusively, but it's a comfortable design that takes little to no time adjusting to.
Although it looks bulky at first glance, the Vantage doesn't feel cumbersome to hold. However, the backside of the controller's handles have a strange rubber-like texture that feels more slick than grippy when moisture gets in the mix.
Removing The Faceplate
Removing The Faceplate
The Vantage's faceplate is magnetic, meaning it can pop out if you get underneath it. There are two points toward the bottom of the handles where this can be done easily. Thankfully, it stays perfectly in place when using the controller.
Revealing the insides of the Vantage, you'll see two rumble modules are on each handle and can be painlessly removed, which of course gets rid of the rumble feature but also reduces overall weight substantially. You can also pull out the analog sticks at this point and swap in different ones if you wish--it's all tool-less. The faceplate has anti-friction rings around the opening for the sticks that are also interchangeable--if you don't like the neon yellow accent, black rings come in the package.
Paddles
Paddles
The Vantage features four programmable paddles on the back (we explain how to map these later on). These can provide a distinct advantage in games that require using both analog sticks all the time, namely shooters. Instead of using face buttons and the d-pad for critical actions, these can be relegated to the paddles to help you stay on the move.
A downside is that these paddles are quite tough to actuate since they're fairly stiff. The force required to use the paddles can get in the way of being a convenient option for repeatable actions. And it also hampers the usefulness of the innermost pair of paddles, which require a bit more reach.
Sax Buttons
Sax Buttons
S1 and S2 are what Scuf calls the sax buttons, which are located on the side just below L1 and R1. These are new to Scuf's lineup and are a welcome addition since they're conveniently located and make a total of six programmable buttons. Even though they're light to the touch, they're hardly ever mistakenly pressed.
Mapping Buttons To Paddles
Mapping Buttons To Paddles
On the left is the switch for using the Vantage in either Bluetooth wireless mode or wired USB mode. At the bottom of the controller, you'll find a 3.5mm audio input for headphones/microphones, and the slim touch bar above works as a sensible volume control option. However, the audio jack and touch bar only work in wired mode.
The slider on the right side initiates the button mapping mode. When active, you simultaneously press the button you want to program and the paddle or sax button you want that input mapped to. This mapping process is a huge improvement over previous Scuf controllers that required a magnetic tool to map any of the buttons.
Triggers
Triggers
One downside of the Vantage is that L1 and R1 are stiffer than a standard DualShock, making them more difficult to press. The L2 and R2 triggers, however, have a slick and consistent pressure. You can also shorten the throw of L2 and R2 with the adjustable nubs on the back of the triggers; it can help quicken trigger pulls since they'll bottom out sooner. Extended trigger caps come packaged, but they don't offer any tangible benefit.
D-pad
D-pad
You'll have two options for the directional pad. By default a tactile four-way d-pad comes attached to the controller. It has a crunchy feel that requires a little too much force to actuate comfortably, and it also protrudes from the controller face significantly making it unusable for fighting games.
Alternatively, there's circular disc d-pad that you can easily swap in. Unfortunately, it's made with a grippy rubberized texture. While that design choice works extremely well for the analog sticks, the grip negates its usefulness in fighting games and makes quarter-circle motions woefully uncomfortable. Despite being easy to pluck out, both options never got dislodged during use.
Analog Sticks
Analog Sticks
Like Scuf's other controllers, the Vantage's analog sticks are a highlight. Both the concave and extended convex style sticks are made with a soft, grippy rubber-like texture that adheres to your thumbs comfortably. Moving the sticks also feels great since there's little resistance or friction, resulting in a slightly smoother feel over the DualShock 4.
Face Buttons
Face Buttons
The face buttons feel more like the Xbox One controller than they do the DualShock 4. There's a somewhat cushioned feel to pressing them down and they stick out slightly more so than the DualShock.
Verdict
Verdict
There's no denying the Scuf Vantage offers distinct upsides if you're serious about competitive shooters. The paddles could benefit from loosening up in terms of actuation, but their presence along with the convenient sax buttons on the side make pulling off actions in certain games easier, freeing up your thumbs to stay on the analog sticks at all times. Some of the basic features such as analog stick motion and triggers have improved as well.
However, there are notable concessions like a lack of key system functions, stiff paddles, and a rigid d-pad. Considering the wireless Scuf Vantage carries a price tag close to a base PS4 console, it has a few too many flaws for a strong recommendation.
Barring a small handful of spin-offs, the Pokemon series is making its proper debut on Nintendo Switch next month with the release of Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee. Based largely on the classic Pokemon Yellow version, the Let's Go games return the franchise to its roots in many ways. As in the original, the story is once again set in the Kanto region, and you'll only encounter the first 151 Pokemon (plus the newly revealed Meltan) during your adventure.
The Let's Go games also diverge from tradition in some dramatic ways, particularly in their connection with Pokemon Go. Not only are you able to transfer certain monsters you catch in the mobile game over to the Switch titles, they also employ Pokemon Go's catching mechanics, meaning you're no longer be able to battle wild Pokemon.
GameSpot recently had an opportunity to sit down with Pokemon: Let's Go director Junichi Masuda and lead game environment designer Kensaku Nabana. Through an interpreter, we discussed what it was like reimagining the traditionally 8-bit world of Kanto in 3D, what changes the development team made in bringing the games to Switch, and how the new Mythical Pokemon Meltan came to be.
Despite being inspired by Pokemon Yellow, Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee seem to introduce a lot of new elements not found in previous Pokemon games. What new things should we expect?
Junichi Masuda: The main flow of the story plays out very much like Pokemon Yellow Version. One of the reasons we wanted to do this is that we imagined a lot of fans of the original game were going to be playing through it. There are different parts, but I think they'll recognize the main beats of the story and feel some nostalgia there.
At the same time, we did add a decent amount of sub-events that weren't in the originals. It kind of gives it a different feel because there's a lot of trainers alongside their Pokemon in the actual world itself, so it would be a different impression than the original game, while also covering the same story.
Team Rocket seems to play a more prominent role in Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee. Does this mean we'll see more of Jessie, James, and Meowth during the story?
Masuda: Yeah, they definitely appear more in the game than in the original Pokemon Yellow Version. With these two games, we really set out at the very beginning with a main target in mind, which was younger kids who maybe didn't own their own smartphones and weren't able to really participate in the Pokemon Go craze that happened. They weren't able to go out and join in on that fun, so really providing them with a really fun experience that also had some of that Pokemon Go gameplay. But at the same time, we wanted to introduce these new players, for whom this might be their first Pokemon game, through the original story, kind of ease them into the Pokemon experience that way.
Also, I thought it would be fun if players who maybe enjoyed the original game--they're now much older, probably in their 30s--they'd be able to interact with maybe their own kids or other kids that they know that are playing the game. They would actually know the general flow of the story, maybe able to give advice like where to go next and things like that. With Team Rocket, because the animated series is popular--it's in like 85-plus countries--I imagine a lot of those younger kids will have seen the animated series, even if they haven't played the game. So, we're trying to add in the elements like that to make it easier for them to get into the world and recognize the setup.
In the original games, your rival was a huge jerk, but the one in Let's Go seems much friendlier. Why the change?
Masuda: I think the biggest reason that rivals were more of a jerk in the early days is that we were just limited with what we could express with the pixel graphics. There's not much you can do with that kind of little sprite on the screen, so we worked harder to characterize them through dialogue and give them certain personalities. Also, because it's just dialogue and there's not a whole lot going on on the screen, it doesn't give as harsh of an impression even if they're jerks, I think. Now we have HD graphics and the visuals are much more impressive. If you also made him a jerk, the impression would be a lot stronger on players. Another thing, just my own personal take, is that it feels that people with those kinds of personalities these days are not as accepted by players, I think, as they were back then.
In the original games, there was text or some sort of setting where "Pidgey eat Caterpie," for example. That was fine back then, I think everybody liked it. But, I think, as Pokemon has gone on, the fans kind of have their idea of what Pokemon should be. If we did that now, I think a lot of people wouldn't really like it, it would give them a bad reaction.
What about the old man standing outside Celadon Gym who says he loves looking at the pretty girls? Did you have to tone that down as well?
Masuda: Yeah, we definitely re-evaluated all those kinds of things. But at the same time, the fact that you remember that means that it was something memorable. We had to be very careful about which things to change and which things to keep as they were. Definitely check it out for yourself and see if he's still around.
What was it like having to reimagine the Kanto region in 3D? How hard was it to recreate the world for an HD console?
Kensaku Nabana: I was in elementary school when Pokemon Yellow Version came out, and I remember playing those games as well as a fan myself. So, when we were first starting out in the development of this game, we all went back and played Pokemon Yellow Version again, and I just tried to remember the world of Pokemon that was in my imagination when I was playing those games, because you had to fill in the gaps a lot back then. Really try and take what was in my imagination then and redesign the areas to look like that image I had in my head.
Also, keeping in mind that we put the focus on having a lot of Pokemon in the environment, walking around in the overall world this time around, so [we focused on] making the visuals look like something where that wouldn't seem strange. We initially explored a more photorealistic direction, but we settled on this more anime style approach, these cuter visuals.
It definitely leaves a strong impression, seeing how different some very famous scenes from the old game are in Let's Go, such as the first time you come to the S.S. Anne and see how much more majestic it looks. For some areas like Lavender Town, which was very creepy in the original games, how did you go about expressing that in Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee?
Nabana: Lavender Town is definitely one that I don't want to talk too much about and have you discover for yourself, but I definitely have the same impression as you. It's kind of this creepy, unsettling place. So, I initially approached it with that in mind and designed it to make it look like it would give that impression. But that wasn't enough for Mr. Masuda. He was like, "You've got to make it feel even creepier." He gave me a lot of specific directions to do that. So, I think it will be fun to see what it looks like.
It doesn't seem like held items and abilities are in these games. What is the reason for that?
Masuda: Yeah, that was actually a conscious decision. We don't have held items or abilities or eggs, or a lot of features that weren't in the original generation that got added later on. We had to be very careful in selecting which things we would update from the original games and which ones we would keep the same. I did like the appeal of the simplicity of the original Generation 1 games, as this being an entry title for new players joining the franchise to really experience something very similar to what kids did 20 years ago, but [we also wanted people to] enjoy some of these new gameplay gimmicks, like the Poke Ball Plus and the connectivity with Pokemon Go.
But, of course, we did have to update some other things. For example, we added more types later on and Pokemon got re-typed, so those exist in the game. And, obviously, you weren't able to run in the original game. We were only able to create four-way movement, so we decided that we probably couldn't do that today and it made it much easier to move around, I think.
Even though held items aren't in it, we've seen that Mega Evolutions are. Can you tell us how that's going to work? Traditionally, your Pokemon has to hold the right item to Mega Evolve.
Masuda: No real details, but I can guarantee it's very simple. We didn't really think too much about it and just kept it very simple to trigger Mega Evolutions.
Please tell us more about the new Pokemon, Meltan. Was it always planned to debut first in Pokemon Go? And was it designed in collaboration with Niantic, or internally at Game Freak?
Masuda: We definitely planned to debut it in Pokemon Go from the very beginning. We had talked about in the early stages of even Go's development that we want to debut a Pokemon, and we worked with Niantic to kind of figure out that functionality. I've been working on the development of Go since the beginning as well, so I've always had it in mind. But the design, that was done internally at Game Freak. I gave some specific setting directions to one of our designers who was also a fan of the original games and played them as a kid, so he had a really good idea of what I was looking for, based on this kind of very simple metal nut design. He definitely probably had the original Kanto Pokemon designs in his mind and tried to keep it as simple as possible. You know, they were more kind of basic back then compared to some of the more modern designs. He worked on that, and then once it was finished, we gave all the assets and everything to Niantic, we planned the event and had them execute on that, and it worked out.
Following up on Meltan's design, here in the States he's been given a joking/affectionate nickname of "Nut Boy." I'm curious how you feel about that nickname and if, perhaps, he has a similar nickname in Japan?
Nabana: I haven't really seen a lot of nicknames in Japan yet, but for the design, we really tried to make it look like it was kind of a more realistic-looking object, like something that maybe you could see it in real life. It would look weird, but it wouldn't stand out too much. Initially, I thought this would be a very divisive design, like some people might like it but some people won't. It looks really strange, but if you look at it more closely, it's kind of cute at the same time. But it seems like the reaction has been generally really positive, and that's been a lot of fun. There's been tons of fan art already and it was revealed just recently, so it's been exciting for us.
In the DS and 3DS games, there were a lot of events at stores that gave out free Pokemon via download codes. Is anything similar planned for Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee?
Masuda: The functionality from the previous games is in there, it's called Mystery Gift. It's in the game and I'm sure there'll probably be something, but I think with the limited selection of Pokemon, they're all fairly easily catchable in other games. I'm not sure how often or how frequent it's going to be with these particular games.
We've talked about transferring between Pokemon Go and Let's Go. When the "core" Pokemon game planned for 2019 arrives, will there also be transfer possibilities between Let's Go and that title?
Masuda: We're definitely always thinking of that kind of forward-moving functionality, especially since we've introduced the Pokemon Bank. Now, up to Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, you're able to store your Pokemon. We know they're very important to everyone. I mean, obviously, people would be very sad if they couldn't use their Pokemon in a future game. So, it does get complicated when you talk about the details and we're still figuring it out, but we do have plans to find ways to let players use their Pokemon in the next game.
What are your favorite Pokemon games?
Masuda: Definitely Red and Green for me is the most memorable. It was a six year development with just nine of us, so we have a lot of memories from that time, both good and bad. One of the other things was that we didn't have much expectation that the game would be played by millions of people at the time. We were just developing it. At any time the company could have gone under and it may not have been released. But yeah, a lot of memories from that time.
Nabana: Red and Green, that's where I started as well. I played those games and I have great memories playing them, but over the 20 years as time went on, I think the memory got glamorized even more. It starts to just become this legend in my mind. Of course, we tried to make Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee, the re-imagining of that, to kind of live up to those. It gets more and more beautiful in your mind as time goes on, so that's what we tried to do. So those are probably my favorite games, just in my memory.
But as a developer, I think being able to work on these games and try and update them for the modern time and work as a team lead on these games, that was probably my favorite experience so far.
Going back to Red and Green and how arduous the development process was. Is there anything from back then that you wanted to specifically address or implement when updating the adventure for Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee?
Masuda: With Red and Green and even games after that, at Game Freak we always wanted to have Pokemon appear in the overworld, in the field itself. But, specifically with the original games, there was no way of doing that with the Game Boy hardware. It just couldn't handle it. We really wanted to make them feel like living creatures that are in the world with you, so you'll see on Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee they'll all have their own little unique movement characteristics. Some of them will run up and stop. They're kind of curious. It'll be fun to just discover how they all react to you.
One final question: any chance we see Pikachu's scrapped evolution, Gorochu, someday?
Masuda: You're probably not going to see it. None of the Pokemon that we worked on, got to a point, and then discarded them have actually ever re-appeared yet, so I would say the chances are low. One of the reasons for that is that we always have this base criteria at Game Freak of being able to explain why a certain Pokemon is in the world or why it exists in that world, trying to make it feel believable within the fantasy. And usually the ones that get rejected are Pokemon that we weren't able to justify, I think. Usually there's a reason for why they weren't implemented, and as long as that reason still exists, they probably won't be put in the game.
We always say Pokemon isn't a "character game." It's not a game where it's just the characters, but it's a game that shows this world where these living creatures are existing in a space. That's kind of a slight nuance, but that's what we always try to go for at Game Freak. It's not good enough that they're just cute. (Laughs) They have to have something more to it.
Nabana: I've worked on Pokemon designs myself and it really is a very arduous, time consuming process. You've got to talk to a lot of people, a lot of back-and-forth and really be able to justify it before we get to a final design.
Even some 20 years after it debuted, the Pokemon series remains one of Nintendo's most beloved and lucrative franchises, but developer Game Freak is making a concerted effort to broaden its appeal even further with Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee. Rather than continuing to build upon the mechanics that have been steadily accumulating with each successive generation, the upcoming Switch games deliberately simplify many of the series' elements in order to draw in new and lapsed fans. From what we've seen of the games thus far, this results in some genuinely welcome quality-of-life changes, but for hardcore players, it also makes the titles feel a little rudimentary compared to other installments.
We recently had an opportunity to go hands-on with a new demo of Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee. Whereas the E3 build was set entirely within the Viridian Forest, this demo dropped us off at the foot of Mt. Moon. In past games, caves had always been some of the most frustrating areas to explore (particularly so in the original Red, Blue, and Yellow versions) due to how frequently you would be beset by random encounters. In the Let's Go titles, however, wild Pokemon appear in the overworld, so you're now free to choose whether you want to engage a Pokemon or continue exploring. There is still some randomness to where and when Pokemon will appear; occasionally a monster will spawn unavoidably, forcing you into an encounter anyway. But by and large, having Pokemon roaming the overworld makes traversing the Kanto region more enjoyable.
Since their unveiling, Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee have been billed as reimaginings of Pokemon Yellow rather than straight remakes, and that distinction was evident as we explored Mt. Moon. While the titles seem to follow the same general story beats as the classic Game Boy game, they also diverge in some unexpected ways, most notably in our encounter with Team Rocket. In the original Yellow version, Jessie and James first appear toward the end of the cave, after you've obtained one of the fossils. Here, you cross paths with them immediately upon entering Mt. Moon. Rather than battle you on the spot, however, the villains flee, leading you into the heart of the cave. Pokemon: Let's Go director Junichi Masuda teased that there are many other new instances like this peppered throughout the game, and Team Rocket in particular will play a more prominent role, showing up more frequently throughout the course of the adventure than they did in the original.
Another notable new feature in Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee is local co-op play. While previous Pokemon games allowed you to team up with a friend for Multi Battles, the Let's Go titles are the first to give another player the ability to drop in and join the adventure at any time simply by waving a second Joy-Con. The second player is fairly limited in terms of what they can actually do; they're not able to initiate battles nor pick up items, and the camera will not follow them if they happen to venture off-screen. Rather, their purpose is primarily to assist the main player. During battles, for instance, they'll also send one of your Pokemon out onto the field, turning the contest into a two-on-one affair. They can help capture wild Pokemon as well by throwing their own Poke Ball during the catching phase, greatly increasing your chance of success. Older players likely won't have much reason to use this feature, as it makes what is already a more leisurely take on the series even easier, but it's particularly well-suited for parents who want to adventure alongside and guide their children through the game.
The biggest difference between Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee and past games is how you capture Pokemon. As previously revealed, the Let's Go titles employ Pokemon Go's catching mechanics, meaning you won't need to battle a wild Pokemon and whittle its health down in order to capture it. Despite this, your party will still earn experience points each time you catch a new Pokemon, just as they would if you had battled it, giving you an incentive to collect as many monsters as you can. This greater emphasis on catching Pokemon also means you now carry your Pokemon Box around in your item bag. This is a particularly handy change, as you can now swap Pokemon in and out of your party from the menu screen rather than having to visit a Pokemon Center each time you want to change them out. You're also able to rename any Pokemon you capture directly from the party screen instead of through the Name Rater, another convenience brought over from Pokemon Go.
Still, while you don't fundamentally lose any of the benefits you'd typically receive from wild Pokemon battles, their absence will likely be the most divisive aspect of Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee. Wild battles have always been the perfect opportunity to raise and test out new Pokemon; without them, the only battles you'll engage in are against other trainers, who traditionally could only be challenged once. The games also eschew held items and Pokemon abilities, two other staple elements of the series. While this brings them closer in line with the original Yellow version, since both of those mechanics were introduced in later games, it removes a layer of strategy from battles.
It remains to be seen if Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee will have enough depth to sustain hardcore fans' interest, but they're shaping up to be a good entry point for new and younger players. The games launch for Nintendo Switch on November 16. Alongside them, Nintendo is releasing a Poke Ball-shaped controller called the Poke Ball Plus, which retails for $50 and comes with the Mythical Pokemon Mew. You can read more about the titles in our roundup of everything we know about Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee.
It's been eight long years, but we're finally returning to the Old West in Red Dead Redemption 2. While the game may have a "2" in the title, it actually serves as both a prequel and companion piece to the original, so what better time to revisit the plot of 2010's excellent Red Dead Redemption? After all, we know for sure that we're going to be seeing a lot of familiar faces in Red Dead Redemption 2.
If you haven't finished the original Red Dead Redemption, there are going to be major spoilers in the slides ahead. While it's not required to enjoy Red Dead Redemption 2, knowing the plot of the first game could potentially enhance your enjoyment of the sequel. That said, we highly recommend that you play Red Dead Redemption anyway. Did we not mention that it's excellent?
In this feature, we summarize all the major events, starting from protagonist John Marston's first attempt to reason with former ally Bill Williamson, and rolling right into his journey to Mexico and eventually his confrontation against Dutch Van der Linde.
Once you're finished reading up on the first game's story, be sure check our our roundup feature compiling all the latest Red Dead Redemption 2 news, trailers, and gameplay footage. The game is adding a bunch of exciting new mechanics, so be sure to check out our in-depth feature showcasing them all. Though, if you're more intrigued about the game's development and some of its major inspirations and influences, you should read our feature discussing how previous Rockstar games, like Bully, Max Payne 3, and L.A. Noire, impacted its mechanics.
In the meantime, what's your favorite moment from Red Dead Redemption? And what are you excited about most in the upcoming sequel? Let us know in the comments below.
America In 1911
Red Dead Redemption takes place in 1911, and America is undergoing huge changes. The wild frontiers are being tamed by new technologies and the burgeoning ideals of "civilization", while the outlaws that once roamed free are slowly being snuffed out, one by one. And in Red Dead Redemption, you play as John Marston, a character whose story truly embodied those changing times.
Enter John Marston
After his parents died, John Marston grew up under the care of Dutch Van der Linde: a gang leader who revelled in the cruelty and brutality of the Old West. Marston rode alongside Dutch for years, but he was gravely wounded during a botched robbery, and the gang, who he called family, left him behind to die.
This acted as a wake-up call for John, so he took his wife Abigail, their young son Jack, and fellow gang member Uncle (no relation) to set up a ranch where they lived a quiet, honest life for five years.
That is, until the Bureau Of Investigation comes knocking. Ordered to clear out the remaining gangs and bring order to the land using any means necessary, its lead agent, Edgar Ross, decides to use John to find the people he needs. Ross has Abigail and Jack kidnapped and held to ransom: They'll be released if John assists the Bureau in tracking down former members of his old gang, starting with Bill Williamson.
Hunting Bill Williamson
John and Bill frequently butted heads while riding together in the gang, so it doesn't take long for their reunion at Fort Mercer to go sour. Despite John pleading with Bill to surrender, Bill has one of his men shoot John instead. Before he can bleed out, John is found by a local rancher: Bonnie MacFarlane.
A Friend In Bonnie
Bonnie pays for a doctor to treat Marston's wounds, and he does odd jobs around the ranch to repay the debt. But Bill Williamson, hearing that John survived his gunshot wound, sends some men to the MacFarlane Ranch to flush him out. John saves the ranch workers, but realizes that he'll need some assistance in tackling the heavily fortified Fort Mercer.
Building A Team
John gets involved with some of New Austin's more… colourful characters. They include snake oil salesman Nigel West Dickens, who points him towards Irish, a drunkard with a hookup to get John access to a Gatling Gun, and Seth, a grave robber slash treasure hunter who has "methods" to sneak into Fort Mercer.
John also assists the local US Marshal, Leigh Johnson, and his dimwitted deputies, but in doing so, captures one of Williamson's men. Williamson, in return, kidnaps Bonnie MacFarlane. After rescuing her, the time comes to take the fight to Bill.
Fort Siege
Using West Dickens' armoured stagecoach, Irish's Gatling Gun, the Marshal's men and Seth's distractions, the ragtag gang storms the Fort, only to find that Williamson isn't there. He has fled to Mexico to seek aid from another ex-gang member, Javier Escuella.
Journey to Mexico
Beginning with one of the most iconic moments in modern gaming, the second act of Red Dead Redemption takes us South of the border into Mexico. In order to gain information on Williamson and Escuela's whereabouts, Marston must help Colonel Allende and Captain De Santa of the Mexican Army as they struggle to quash a rebellion lead by the charismatic and amourous "man of the people," Abraham Reyes.
Playing Sides
There's one issue, though; Marston isn't exactly loyal to the Mexican Army. He's there for one reason, and one reason only: to find Bill and Javier. So he ends up playing both sides, teaming up with not only Reyes and his paramour Luisa, but also legendary gunslinger Landon Ricketts.
Ricketts, incidentally, would be a perfect character to explore more in RDR2, especially as he was the lone survivor of a massacre in Blackwater in 1899--y'know, the same year the second game is set. A game that starts with an incident in Blackwater.
The End of Bill
Allende cottons on that John isn't necessarily in his corner, and orders his execution. The rebels arrive in the nick of time, and together, they kill Captain De Santa. They storm the Army stronghold of El Presidio and capture Escuela, before killing both Allende and John's mark, Bill Williamson. Sadly, Luisa dies during the attack, not that Reyes noticed. But with John's business in Mexico over, he heads back to America to meet with Edgar Ross and get his family back.
The Hunt For Dutch Van der Linde
Unfortunately, Ross refuses to release John's family until he tracks down and kills Dutch, who's making trouble after forming a new gang. This new gang is made up of young Native Americans, angry at the US Government for taking their land and livelihoods.
John works with Yale Professor and cocaine enthusiast Harold MacDougal, who is on sabbatical after some kind of cocaine-related meltdown in which he attacked a man. He's studying the Native Americans, and the Bureau enlisted his help in tracking down Dutch's new gang.
The Final "Duel"
While MacDougal is of some help, John finds a more reliable lead in the form of Nastas, a member of Dutch's gang who's working as an informant for Ross and the Bureau. After a cat and mouse game with Dutch, eventually John tracks down his hideout, and storms the place with the US Army.
John confronts Dutch, who realizes the world is changing and that he can't keep fighting it, so chooses to kill himself rather than be captured or killed by John.
Returning Home And False Promises
Believing that his journey is over, John finally goes home, and is reunited with his family. However, Ross doesn't keep his end of the promise. He brings members of the Bureau and the US Army to attack the Marston Ranch. Uncle is shot and killed. John makes sure that Abigail and Jack escape by horseback, before sacrificing himself.
Epilogue: Jack's Revenge
The game's epilogue takes place three years after John's last stand. Abigail has also died, and Jack, now on his own, decides to take his revenge on Ross. He tracks down the now-retired agent, who is living in a cabin near a lake with his wife. Jack confronts Ross and challenges him to a duel.
Looking To The Past In Red Dead Redemption 2
In Red Dead Redemption 2, we'll be getting a closer look at the early years of the Marston family as they rode with Dutch's gang. But will there be other familiar faces we should be looking out for? Well, we don't have long to wait; the game finally launches on October 26. For more Red Dead Redemption, make sure to tune into GameSpot every Friday for Quickdraw, our show all about the wild, wild, west. See you, space cowboy.
By Anonymous on Oct 20, 2018 06:30 pm Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 makes an array of changes to the yearly multiplayer formula, morphing ideas from other games to make them its own.
Netflix has announced that Luke Cage will not be returning for a third season. The news comes just a few days after the announcement that Iron Fist has been canceled, leaving just Jessica Jones and Daredevil as the last Defenders standing on the streaming service.
"Unfortunately, Marvel's Luke Cage will not return for a third season," reads a joint statement from Netflix and Marvel. "Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is grateful to the dedicated showrunner, writers, cast and crew who brought Harlem's Hero to life for the past two seasons, and to all the fans who have supported the series."
Showing solidarity, Iron Fist star Finn Jones posted an image on Instagram in response to the news. It shows his character, Danny Rand, combining the power of the Iron Fist with Luke Cage's own overwhelmingly destructive abilities.
While the Iron Fist series had a shaky start, general consensus is that its second season showed some improvement. Luke Cage, however, started much stronger. Like many of the Netflix and Marvel shows, it suffered from bloat, with more episodes than there perhaps needed to be. Despite this, Luke Cage had a distinct identity and a grit that many appreciated. Its first season was bolstered by strong performances from Mike Colter (Luke Cage), Simone Missick (Misty Knight), Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple), and Mahershala Ali (Cottonmouth).
The series also had a visual and musical flair that many of the other Marvel shows on Netflix don't. It very much leaned into an aesthetic that could carry the feeling of living in Harlem and the culture that shaped it and represents it. In one memorable scene Mahershala Ali's Cottonmouth watches on as rapper Jidenna delivers a performance of Long Live The Chief to an empty club. In another, an iconic image of rapper Biggie Smalls is used to perfectly encapsulate Cottonmouth as a character.
The two cancellations come at a time when Disney is working on its own streaming service. Thus far Disney has confirmed Season 7 for Star Wars: The Clone Warsand a new live-action Star Wars series are in production for the service. In terms of Marvel offerings, Disney has said it will have TV shows based on "beloved superheroes" that may not have had their own spotlight on the big screen. Reports have suggested that Tom Hiddleston is lined up to reprise his role as Loki and Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch for these.
Daredevil Season 3, meanwhile, is available now and returns to the struggle between Matt Murdock and Filson Fisk that made the first season so compelling. However, the third season also introduces another Marvel villain into the mix. Read our Daredevil Season 3 review to find out whether if it's successful or not.
By Anonymous on Oct 20, 2018 07:29 am Michael Myers is back in theaters with the release of Halloween (2018), but how does the new film, which ignores all of the previous sequels, measure up to the original? Mike and Chris give their spoiler filled review on the new Halloween!
By Anonymous on Oct 20, 2018 06:00 am With Dark Souls Remastered now on Nintendo Switch, you'll be able to experience one of the decade's greatest role-playing games in an interesting new way.
Recent Articles:
You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 makes an array of changes to the yearly multiplayer formula, morphing ideas from other games to make them its own.
Michael Myers is back in theaters with the release of Halloween (2018), but how does the new film, which ignores all of the previous sequels, measure up to the original? Mike and Chris give their spoiler filled review on the new Halloween!
Get your first glimpse of Sanageyama taking on Satsuki in KILL la KILL The Game: IF.
Check out some action between Ryuko and Gamagoori in KILL la KILL The Game: IF.
With Dark Souls Remastered now on Nintendo Switch, you'll be able to experience one of the decade's greatest role-playing games in an interesting new way.
No comments:
Post a Comment