Indie studio Heart Machine, founded in 2013, received a great deal of acclaim after Hyper Light Drifter releases in 2016. The 2D action-RPG found its way to the Nintendo Switch two years later with a host of new content, and now studio founder Alx Preston has revealed a TV adaptation.
According to a report by Polygon, Hyper Light Drifter will receive a TV series from Castlevania producer, Adi Shankar. Preston told Polygon that he and Shankar are actively developing the TV adaptation. No writer has been confirmed, but Preston and Shankar are actively seeking writers to lead the project. There's also the matter of translating a semi-open world game to a TV show where there's no interactivity with the viewer.
"The difference between a series and a game is vast in a lot of ways. Hyper Light [Drifter] as a game was pretty atmospheric and kind of overbearing at times," Preston said. "For a series, the question is: how do you sustain and keep your attention on a non-interactive run? Does it get really, really dark and serious? Does it have some levity?"
Hyper Light Drifter the game lacks verbal, distinguishable dialogue, relying solely on world-building and environmental storytelling to tell its narrative. Preston wonders how he and Shankar will translate this to Hyper Light Drifter the TV show. "There's still a question of how much dialogue we really have, if any. Could it be a more silent series or would we have voice acting?" he said.
Shankar expressed his love for video games as a medium and stated that he enjoys translating works by passionate creators like Preston. "It's important for me not to just all of a sudden become the AAA junkie," Shankar said. "To just go like, 'OK, what are the biggest franchise, I'm going to jump on all of them.' That's not why I'm trying to do[with] this."
Earlier in March 2019, Heart Machine unveiled its next project, Solar Ash Kingdom. The game features a familiar, vibrant aesthetic, but in a 3D setting. The announcement trailer didn't divulge much information in the way of a release date or platforms, but it did conclude with the Epic Games Store tag, seemingly confirming the title will make its way to the Epic Games storefront when it launches.
Hyper Light Drifter is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Linux, and macOS.
By Anonymous on Mar 29, 2019 11:48 pm Xur is back with some old exotics and random rolls. Stop by in Destiny 2: Forsaken and meet up with him to get both a new Invitations of the Nine as well as to check out his wares. Captured on PC.
Fans of the original Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and Tales from the Borderlands: A Telltale Series, both Jean-Luc and Jordan are happy to see several beloved characters return in the trailer for the new game. Most notable is an adult Tiny Tina, who was still 13-years-old in Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, but the return of characters from Tales from the Borderlands is a welcome surprise. There are plenty of other familiar faces as well, such as Sirens Lilith and Maya (the latter of whom is now sporting longer hair), Ellie, Marcus, and Sir Hammerlock.
Although the sight of so many beloved Borderlands characters is nice, both Jean-Luc and Jordan are wary of just how little the Borderlands 3 trailer touches on the franchise's strongest points. The characters' hilariously ludicrous dialogue is absent, and there's little individuality in regards to the new heroes and villains. Jean-Luc and Jordan are also a little worried that the environments in the trailer all look a little too much like Pandora. If Borderlands 3 takes place on multiple worlds--as Borderlands 2 implied and the new trailer claims--then the people and places in this new game should be fairly different from what's been seen before.
Obviously, with this being the very first look at Borderlands 3, neither Jean-Luc or Jordan are ready to condemn or praise the game--especially not before they can get their hands on it. As is, after watching this trailer, they are optimistic Borderlands 3 can carve out its own identity in the now loot shooter heavy market.
Borderlands 3's announcement was accompanied by the reveal of an enhanced Borderlands GOTY Edition coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC. A free update is also being released that adds 4K graphics to Borderlands: The Handsome Collection--a bundle of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel--which is also available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Since its pre-video game years as a Japanese playing-card company, Nintendo has designed games that combine strategy, competition, and luck. This mixture takes competition-centric pressure off players, making the game less about winning and more about having fun.
Franchises like Mario Party, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros. are designed to put advanced players and novices on a more equal footing. These games are easy to pick up and understand, can be played alone or with others, and have high replay value.
However, some players rebel against luck in video games, arguing that skill and technical prowess should be the ultimate arbitrators of who wins or loses. They see games as a meritocracy and view luck as punishing some players for being good, while unjustly rewarding other players who didn't put in the time and effort to improve. But for many Nintendo games, the focus on competition isn't the point.
Dr. Nicholas Bowman is an associate professor at the Interaction Lab at West Virginia University. He researches interactivity and media psychology, analyzing how people react to media on screens. Bowman says Nintendo games such as Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros. use elements of luck to downplay cognitive aspects of gaming (strategy, reflexes, choosing what button to push at the right time, etc.) to enhance the social experience of playing.
"In some ways, they take after board games, which always have that element of luck, whether you are playing Monopoly or even something like Dungeon and Dragons," Bowman explained. "No matter how good you are, you still have to roll the dice."
What Nintendo knows is that an important part of having fun is those around you also having fun. Adding dice rolls to Mario Party, or items based on your place in a Mario Kart race, or stage obstacles to Super Smash Bros. creates an element of surprise that makes each playthrough unique and offers novice players a chance to win. Bowman argues that these Nintendo games are meant to allow players of varying experience levels to have fun playing against each other.
"You know that if you had five friends come over, and they never touched a video game in their life, you could have them play one of those games and they'd be fine," Bowman continued. "But the most important thing is they think they have a chance of winning."
Bowman also studies video games and nostalgia, and said the ease and casual nature of these Mario multiplayer games facilitates greater levels of social connection.
"What you find out is people aren't nostalgic for the game itself, but the game reminds them of the people they were around when playing it," Bowman said. "Putting Smash Bros. on 100 lives is ridiculous--unless you want to spend hours with your buddies--then it's awesome. The things that are most nostalgic are things that have these social connections with them."
But many casual gamers, for whom competition isn't a big motivator, often feel the broader gaming community looks down on those in it for the "play." In his book, "The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games," Dr. Christopher Paul is critical of the ways in which gaming culture has come to over-emphasize meritocracy at the expense of enjoyment. He writes that, as games became more popular and the community sought to carve out space as a legitimate sport, gaming culture uncritically accepted the idea that "success in video games is something that is properly earned by players through effort and labor."
Paul, an assistant professor at Seattle University, argues that this thinking and other cultural assumptions underlie toxic in-group versus out-group dichotomies of who gets to be called a "real" gamer. Those who accept this framework are likely to think luck has no place in a game, because randomness erases complete control and makes the game "unfair."
The logic goes that if a game is easy to learn, it takes less skill and less time to learn that skill; therefore it isn't a good or fun game, and those who play games like Mario Kart or Party are not serious about gaming or are "not real gamers." If luck makes it so that "anyone" can win, why play the game?
Super Smash Bros. is the traditionally considered the most skill-based of the Nintendo games previously mentioned; there are tournaments such as EVO, where items and certain stages are banned in order make the battles solely about skill. Mario Kart, meanwhile, has gotten some of the worst flack, mainly for what critics feel is the unfairness of the "blue shell." Many advanced gamers are critical of Mario Party, seeing it as too random, as opposed to being a genuine test of skill.
These critiques are indicative of what many more advanced gamers feel about Mario spin-offs, but also highlight that they are likely conflating skill, competition, and technical mastery on one hand, and "fun" on the other. Not being able to see the value of games like Mario Party is overlooking and diminishing the social intent behind them.
The rationale behind critiques of these multiplayer Mario games can be a bit contradictory. The stigma placed on luck or randomness is often at odds with how unexpected moments in games are often the most enjoyable. If you flip through Fortnite highlights on Youtube or Twitch, a constant thread is moments where players, even professional ones, get lucky. It doesn't mean these players didn't have skill, but shooting an opponent from a distance so far that you can barely see them is as lucky as hitting the first place driver with a red shell right before they cross the finish line.
Also, some gamers defend gaming as a sacred space of competition in ways they would find unacceptable in more traditional sports. If you and your friends went to shoot some hoops, and someone came over to say what you all were doing wasn't "real basketball," what would your reaction be? So why do we do this--either implicitly or explicitly--in the gaming community? Bowman thinks sometimes our competitive drive can bring out the best and the worst in us.
"Most people don't realize, it's not the in-group that's dangerous, it's once you start calling other people out-group," he said. "It's okay to be proud of who you are or the time you put in, but when that means other people who aren't you can't be proud, that's a problem."
What may be overlooked is the fact that the chance and probability elements of these games are meant to alter and augment player strategy, not diminish it.
There are scenarios in Mario Kart games where the best position to be in is second place, but if you are in first, you may want to hold on to a Super Horn to neutralize attacks from possible red and blue shells. After a few times playing Smash Bros. games, you understand how going after items is both an opportunity and a distraction. The randomness of their appearances forces players to constantly adjust their strategy and to see offense and defense as simultaneous choices, not separate ones. In Super Mario Party, players can take a risk and roll their special dice to move around the board faster, but also have to account for the probability that buying a star can help an opponent as well, since it moves the Star Space to another place.
Good players learn how to not only navigate the balancing elements of these games, but use them to their advantage. But while these games use chance as a way to even the odds a bit, they don't overcorrect to the point where skill and strategy are no longer vital.
For example, being good at mini-games gives you a big advantage in Mario Party. Anyone who has played Smash knows that the random item appearances or the obstacles on different stages aren't going to help a novice opponent who doesn't know how to block and dodge, or who hasn't learned how to overcome edge guarding. Mario Kart's director and producer Hideki Konno previously noted that Nintendo wanted an experience where "everyone was in it until the end," but the "best" player is still going to win most of the time--like they would in pretty much any other game.
On its website, Nintendo's marketing for the Switch includes phrases like "keep the focus on fun," "connect and make memories," and "something for everyone." These Nintendo favorites don't eliminate the incentives for mastery or autonomy, but they do place a premium on social interaction. Nintendo designs its games for families and those who want to have fun social experiences.
Skill and technical prowess will always be a key aspect of gaming. Wanting to win isn't an inherently bad thing. But adding a little bit of luck can make each playthrough unique and give players of different skill levels a chance to compete--all of which place more emphasis on the "fun" and not the "win."
With the arrival of the weekend comes the return of Xur, Agent of the Nine, in Destiny 2. This means there's another crop of Exotic weapons and armor to help you fill out your collections. Xur can now sell Exotics from the Forsaken expansion thanks to a recent update, but his inventory is random--and this week, there are no Forsaken Exotics in Xur's haul. You can still grab a new Invitation of the Nine, though, which offers new story info and Powerful gear.
You can find Xur hanging out in the Tower, near the back of the Hangar on a catwalk. From the entrance to the area, hang a left and walk toward the drop-off, then up the nearby stairs. Xur's weapon offering is Sunshot, a powerful Solar hand cannon that fires rounds that explode. Anybody damaged by the gun or the resulting explosions gets marked, making it a pretty handy weapon for both the Crucible and fighting around the solar system.
As for armor, you won't find any Year Two Exotics among Xur's inventory, but there are solid options if you need to fill out your collection. Hunters can snag Foetracer, an Exotic helmet that marks any enemies you target, allowing you to see their movements on the battlefield even behind cover. You'll also deal additional damage to enemies who you've marked if they're already low health--making it great for finishing people off in the Crucible. Warlocks can pick up Sunbracers, a set of gauntlets that increase your Solar grenade duration and give you Solar grenade energy when you make Solar melee kills. For Titans, there's the Helm of Saint-14, a helmet that blinds enemies who pass through your Ward of Dawn Super and nearby enemies when you guard with your Sentinel shield. Meanwhile, any allies who pass through your Ward of Dawn get an overshield.
Here are all the Exotics Xur offers this week and what they'll cost you:
Sunshot (Exotic hand cannon) -- 29 Legendary Shards
Helm of Saint-14 (Exotic Titan helmet) -- 23 Legendary Shards
You can also buy a Fated Engram, if you can afford it. Dropping 97 Legendary Shards on the item will grant you one Year One Exotic you don't already have for that character. Xur also offers the Five of Swords challenge card for free, which allows you to add difficulty modifiers that increase your score in Nightfall runs.
As has been the case for a couple weeks now, Xur also offers an Invitation of the Nine, a special weekly bounty that gives you a Powerful gear reward and new lore about the enigmatic entities known as the Nine. You'll need to go to the EDZ on Earth to complete it--shoot Cabal, Fallen, and Taken enemies there to gain Samples drops from each one, and complete the Lake of Shadows Strike. It's easiest to get the Fallen and Cabal Samples from Public Events, while the Taken ones you're likely to acquire from the Strike itself. Once you've finished the Invitation's steps, head up to the Drifter's Haul location in the Gambit menu for a new scene and your reward.
Wrestlemania, WWE's biggest PPV of the year, is right around the corner, airing on Sunday, April 7. If you're familiar with WWE, then you know there are multiple ways you can watch this event from your phone to TV to PC. Here's a breakdown of the easiest ways for you to watch Wrestlemania.
The cheapest and easiest way to watch the PPV is through the WWE Network. While the network normally costs $10 a month and offers replays of past PPVs, weekly television events, and original content, new subscribers can sign up for one month free. So you can watch Wrestlemania without paying a dime, from the comfort of your own home. Just make sure to decide after the event whether or not you want to keep your subscription to the service.
Additionally, Wrestlemania is available through your cable or satellite provider. However, if you plan on doing that, be prepared to pay between $60-70 for the event. Why would you pay that much for the event? Well, internet service isn't fast enough in some parts of the country to handle streaming the show.
If you are staying home and streaming the event, there are multiple ways to watch Wrestlemania through the WWE Network. The show can be accessed through phones, tablets, or through your PC, among other devices. Both iOS and Windows 10 have apps available and it is accessible through your web browser.
The WWE Network app is available on certain smart TVs as well as devices like Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Chromecast. You can watch the network using your Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, and PS4 by downloading the app through its stores. Sorry Nintendo Switch users, but the WWE Network is not available on the console yet.
Wrestlemania 35 comes to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday, April 7. The show's start time is set at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET / 12 AM BST (April 8) with a Kickoff Show starting two hours prior. Check out our predictions, the full match card for the show, and the rumors leading to the event. Also, come back to GameSpot that day for live coverage of the event.
Ubisoft has confirmed the time and date of its E3 2019 press conference. The company said on Twitter its briefing would begin on Monday, June 10 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST (6 AM AEST on June 11).
We could also hear more of the heavily rumored Watch Dogs 3, which is ostensibly set in London. However, the publisher's staple Assassin's Creed reveal is unlikely, since it has already stated no "full-fledged Assassin's" game will launch in 2019.
In English, most fairy tales lead with the phrase "once upon a time." In Hungarian, they begin with the word "Operencia," which roughly translates to "far, far away." And that's exactly where Operencia: The Stolen Sun transports you--to a realm steeped in magic and mystery, wonderfully detached from all things real.
Operencia is a dungeon-crawler RPG set in a fantasy world. It begins by plunging you into the salivating jaws of a three-headed dragon. However, as soon as you slay the colossal serpent, the prologue ends. Before you know it you're no longer a dragonslayer, but a runaway farmhand determined to follow their dreams. Those mad powers you had ten seconds ago? Gone. You'll have to make your own destiny if you're to retrieve the mythical land's stolen sun.
Composed of 13 different levels, the world of Operencia boasts some breathtaking vistas. You explore a variety of locations, from the murky depths of a castle cursed by tears to the metal wilds of The Copper Forest--which is infested with copper soldiers sporting chainsaw-like utensils for hands. The diversity of the game's art makes for a journey that is at all times fresh, awe-inspiring, and wonder-inducing. Its bright colors and intricate art style create an aesthetic that complements the mystique imbued in its magic, and it boasts a score that screams tales of monsters and creepy crawlies told around the warm hearth of a dirty tavern. This envelops you in a world of imagination and fantasy, more concerned with evoking a sense of wonder than any sort of fantasy realism.
After you embark on your journey across this fantastical realm, you slowly begin to come across a whole host of intriguing companions. These characters all speak in pre-written conversations, leaving you no option to intervene with your own dialogue. However, conversations between characters are so well-written that it doesn't really matter. The banter between companions while resting at bonfires--which replenishes your health and energy--is no less arresting. Every companion you come across is their own person and has their own sense of humor--the witty Joska hurls jests at everyone in the party, whereas the strong-willed Kela ensures that you don't falter on your quest. I enjoyed sitting back and drinking in the conversation more so than I experienced a longing to interject with my own thoughts. This world is so wonderfully weird that it's better for telling you its stories, rather than affording you the chance to write your own one within it.
Combat in Operencia is fast-paced, fluid, and engaging. It revolves around turn-based mechanics, involving a mix of physical, ranged, and magic attacks. The magic attacks utilize a strength/weakness system based on elemental typing such as frost, lightning, and fire. Your build can either lean heavily into one fighting style, or encompass all of them in order to gain versatility at the expense of specialization. While maxing out a single stat allows you to deal devastating damage in some cases, immunities can render you completely ineffective if you've overcommitted to one particular attribute. I played as a mage, as I usually do in fantasy RPGs, but without my Strength-based companions I would have been Ancient Elemental bait before I could say abracadabra. After battles, you'll gain experience and loot. For every level you gain, you'll get three ability points to pump into attributes. Leveling up feels well-rewarded, and the game allows you to carve out a combat niche for yourself with its myriad permutations of attribute/ability point combos.
Managing the ability cooldowns and energy point costs of each individual character in your four-person team can be tough, especially in the late-game when a mistake can mean death, or game over if you're playing with permadeath enabled. As a result, it's important to play smart. Even the strongest of enemies can be quickly incapacitated if you're willing to exploit their weaknesses and be savvy with your potions.
Operencia's combat takes customary turn-based RPG mechanics and makes them feel fresh with its own pacing and style. The only thing it could use is a little bit more versatility, as at times it feels as if your own character is a bit vanilla compared to the more advanced predetermined builds boasted by late-game companions. At the same time, you have seven characters to build a team of four from, so you can always change things up if frost spam is starting to get a little watery. As for enemies, there is a whole range of different beasties of all shapes and sizes who would love to eat you for dinner. Some of their niches can be very annoying, but not in a way that seems unfair.
Traversal in Operencia is tile-based, creating opportunities for intriguing environmental puzzles. However, at times this system complicates attempts to look at the finer details of the world's beauty. There were moments where I wanted to look at objects caught between tiles or move an inch closer to the horizon in order to take the perfect screenshot, but I couldn't because the traversal system got in the way.
Operencia: The Stolen Sun transports you to a realm steeped in magic and mystery, wonderfully detached from all things real
Most of Operencia's puzzles are excellently designed. In one case, you have to defeat four powerful enemies, all of whom drop a token. These tokens are then placed in slots around a magic circle; you need to place each one in the right position, and then spin the circle's three tiers to match animals with the tokens' likeness. This might seem like the kind of puzzle you'd come across in similar RPGs, but Operencia's aesthetic really makes the solution feel special. Before you know it, a surge of color and light encapsulates the circle and magical powers begin to work in wonderful and mysterious ways.
The puzzles that aren't solved by environmental manipulation or visual prompts usually require you to use creative key items, which range from magic shovels to griffin feathers. These feathers can be attached to any object with a feather marked on it, and cause that object to become drastically lighter. This allows you to uproot trees and move heavy weights with the flick of a wrist. You even get magic beans to grow beanstalks with! The puzzles get progressively harder as you make your way through the game, but are almost always intuitive and fair.
Some don't fit this formula, though. While optional puzzles used to unlock secrets and legendary items are understandably best fitted with esoteric solutions, ones that are tied to story progression shouldn't be as niche as they are. On one occasion, I spent almost an hour and a half looking for one of four keys, all of which were used to unlock a series of doors that led to the mould for yet another key. While the first of these was an easy find, the second one was randomly hidden far away from the cave and could only be found by using the magic shovel in a certain area. This made me decide to scour the whole map looking for hidden doors and buried treasure, of which I found neither.
As it turns out, the third key is actually obtained by returning to a melting pot I used to acquire a different key. There are so many keys. When I solved the puzzle I felt annoyed, not relieved. And I still had one more to get. Lo and behold, the fourth key was right in front of the last door, requiring no puzzles or exploration. After such arbitrary solutions to the previous puzzles, this was subversive. It was also incredibly irritating. I couldn't stay annoyed for long though, as the joyous booming of your relieved companions is infectious, and the game picks up so quickly that you're bounding onward into the next dungeon before you can get sufficiently annoyed to stop playing.
Operencia tells a wonderful story derived from Central European folklore, mythology, and history, and it does so with unwavering confidence in its makeup. Companion characters are funny, and the banter between them makes for a fun experience that's not without its heartfelt moments. In terms of combat, the strategizing is so engaging that you'll likely end up charging rat warriors headfirst instead of hopelessly attempting to avoid bumping into them. Best of all, though, this world is so stunning that you'll just look at the trees, the water, the rocks--everything. It's a shame that some of the puzzle solutions are needlessly frustrating and present significant obstacles in getting through the story, but aside from that Operencia provides a truly special experience.
Operencia transports you somewhere far, far away, and once you get there, you'll probably want to stay a while.
By Anonymous on Mar 29, 2019 07:37 am Assassin's Creed III has been remastered and we have the first 15 minutes of the opening cinematics and gameplay featuring Haythem. Captured on PS4.
By Anonymous on Mar 29, 2019 06:44 am Borderlands 3 has finally been revealed, and Borderlands fans Jordan and Jean-Luc explain why it was a weak payoff for 5 years of hype.
By Anonymous on Mar 29, 2019 06:39 am Gearbox Software has officially announced Borderlands 3 showing a gameplay trailer introducing old and new characters.
By Anonymous on Mar 29, 2019 06:32 am So ya wanna go fast? Here's our Apex Legends Octane guide to help you become the best Adrenaline Junkie on the field.
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