Though Capcom's action game series has always had a particular sound for its gothic-horror-aesthetic, the current game, Devil May Cry 5, features music that really goes the extra mile to get players to feel something more as they're working their way up to SSS rank. GameSpot recently interviewed DMC5 composers Cody Matthew Johnson and husband-wife team Casey and Ali Edwards about the making of the action game's main tracks for its cast of characters. During this talk, they spoke about their collaboration with Capcom, how the game's energizing and dynamic soundtrack is a game-changer, and what it's like having the internet embrace their new sound.
Editor's Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and readability.
Can you talk about what it was like working with Capcom for this project, and how they first got in contact with you?
Casey Edwards: Funny enough, even though I ended up writing the track Devil Trigger, I got found through one of Ali's older tracks that she did for another video game called Killer Instinct with Mick Gordon [B. Orchid's Theme, in particular]. I actually did some work on that game as well, assisting the composer.
Ali Edwards: Yeah, it's like they wanted both of us without knowing that we even knew each other, or that we were married at all.
Casey: Yeah, Capcom heard that particular track and they really liked the drive that it had. It really just stood out to everyone. When I wrote Devil Trigger, I pitched her as the vocalist and they just immediately fell in love with it. So, it kinda just worked out in a weird, coincidental, ironic way.
And Cody, this is actually your third collaboration with Capcom, the first being for Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite?
Cody M. Johnson: That is true. My career is still in the early stages, which is really exciting as all these things are happening. My collaborator Jeff Rona and I did three games back to back for Capcom. We didn't really stop. We started off with Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. Right after that came out, word got around to another development team about what we were doing, and they liked what they heard. So they came back to us. Right out of the gate I was working with Jeff, who wrote "Crimson Cloud" [V's Theme], and I ended up writing "Subhuman" [Dante's theme]. We worked on Devil May Cry 5 first, but then shortly after that, another team at Capcom hit us up to do Resident Evil 2 shortly after. So it's been pretty exciting.
Were you fans of the series before you worked on this game?
Cody: I had played Devil May Cry 4 and the previous games a lot. I was still young enough to sneak away and play them with my friends, but it was so hard, I didn't get very far. Even as an experienced gamer now, I've come back to try to play them, when I first picked up Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite--but they're just so hard. They're still one of the hardest games I've ever played to date.
Casey: I actually grew up playing Devil May Cry. So I remembered the whole Devil Trigger aspect of the game pretty vividly, and that was what was sticking out in my head as I was writing the song. I couldn't get it out of my head and yeah, I don't know, I just wrote it and we just went with it. I thought for sure someone from Capcom was gonna send me an email back saying, "Hey, you need to change that."
Ali: But that didn't happen. They all loved it.
The big line of the song, "bang, bang, bang, pull my Devil Trigger," is such an earworm, and it feels so appropriate for the series.
Casey: Right, I remember writing that. I wrote all these lyrics in one sitting, pretty much. For that particular part, I was looking at Ali, and then I verbalized what she was about to sing.
Ali: You were so worried I was gonna hate it!
Casey: To me, that was kind of a fun phrase. I just wasn't sure if it would latch on to the Devil May Cry fans, you know?
Last I checked, Devil Trigger has over 21 million views on YouTube. Having those earlier reservations, are you surprised to see how much it has taken off?
Casey: Well, first of all, it's pretty freakin' crazy. That's a lot of plays. It kinda blows my mind a little bit. I think there might be a few factors involved in that. People have been really excited to see a continuation of [classic] Devil May Cry. I guess in the sense that you say, the song is holding its own water a little bit as well, yeah, I don't know what to say other than it's pretty insane that people have played the song that many times.
Ali: Yeah, it's definitely something we didn't expect. We were more worried that fans would hate the track, and it would become a meme. Instead, it became a meme in the best possible way.
Both of you even got to perform the song live at The Game Awards. They had Rivers Cuomo from Weezer introduce your performance.
Casey: Yeah, that was awesome. We actually got to run into Rivers after that, and it was pretty great getting to take pictures with him and nerd out. I mean gosh, yeah, I was listening to them back in high school, so that was pretty awesome. And yeah, getting to play at The Game Awards was, I mean, a dream come true. And I know it's a relatively new awards show, but they had so many awesome people on stage, and we got to share a stage with Hans Zimmer. That's nuts.
Ali: Yeah, that was pretty crazy, it was a blast. It was such a crazy production if you think about it. It takes a huge team to put on a production of that magnitude. It's crazy seeing it all happen, and being a part of it, continuously.
As far as working on Devil May Cry 5, I can only imagine how much planning went into writing the tracks and getting them just write. Can you talk about what the collaborative process was like with the other composers at Capcom.
Cody: Yeah, from the very beginning, Capcom wanted, I should say, independence. They wanted to make sure each of these key tracks could exist separately from one other, but still work together within the Devil May Cry universe. We worked with Kota Suzuki [DMC5's main composer], who actually wrote the track "Legacy," which was in the final trailer. He was part of the development team that flew out to LA when we did the recording sessions for the bigger tracks, including "Subhuman" and "Crimson Cloud." Other than that, Capcom didn't really restrict us; they really wanted the score in these scenes to give identity to their characters.
Casey: When we were working with Capcom Japan, they had some clear visions for what they wanted for some of these tracks, and it was really nice getting to implement previous work I had done in the game, and getting to bring it to new light towards the end of the gaming experience.
Ali: After they heard me on "Devil Trigger," I guess maybe that's when they reached out for "Legacy" with me. I didn't think was going to happen until the game was released. I wasn't sure that was ever going to see the light of day in trailer form. And so I remember being pleasantly surprised when that came out. It's an exciting track, it's really beautiful, with swelling strings, and it was amazing for the fans to finally hear that. Working with Kota on that was a great experience as well.
That song really comes up at such a great moment in the game. It also highlights how different a lot of the tracks are in the game, yet they work really well when you bring it all together.
Casey: Yeah, for sure. I think that's one thing people can get lost sometimes. They forget, "Devil Trigger," for instance, is some weird hybrid rock pop thing, but I am also a classically trained orchestral composer and Ali does anything from soft, ethereal vocals to just mind-blowing powerful pop vocals, and stuff like that.
Ali: I started out as a jazz singer, so there's that, too. But we got to be totally crazy with it. Working on a session musician, you can be asked to do anything, and I think your willingness to be a chameleon is really where your usability as a session musician really comes into play. The more I can become a chameleon and adhere to different genres of music, I mean, that's why I'm being asked to work on video games. If I couldn't do that, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to work on so many incredible games so far.
Looking back on the history of the series, Devil May Cry has this really deep focus on presenting bombastic and energizing tracks. Another game in the series that had a really eclectic soundtrack was Ninja Theory's DmC: Devil May Cry--featuring Noisia and Combichrist. Did the style of that game have any influence on this one?
Cody: Well from the very start, everything was based on Devil May Cry 4, as in all the references they sent us. But of course, it was something I personally looked into. It's important to understand the trajectory of all these games, where it's been, and how the fans reacted. And you need to make a decision about where you want your art to align with. It was very conscious from the very beginning that this game is Devil May Cry 5. That was a very conscious decision, not to stay away from that version of DmC, but to separate from it, stylistically. But yeah, the combat system that matures and alters the music was something we really liked about that game.
It's really thrilling to hear DMC5's music evolve depending on how well you're playing.
Cody: Yeah, It was just something we were very conscious of from the very beginning. We don't want to leave any players behind, but we didn't want to make it easier for players either. It's all about challenging yourself. But the worst thing that could happen would be if the game's music was boring. I know this as a gamer, I know this as someone who goes listens to the same 32-second track on loop for hours. It's the worst thing in the world: You're stuck on a level for three days, you don't wanna be listening to the same piece of music.
We really tried to craft these songs in a way, that if you don't hit SSS rank, you don't ever hear the chorus or the breakdown. By doing that, those parts of the song will never get boring. The goal from the start was to incentivize the player. There is something more, you should do your absolute best to get to your SSS, and you'll get the payoff. There should be rewards for those players that accomplish that, and I think we achieved something beyond the normal combat music.
Did you enjoy your experience working with Capcom on Devil May Cry 5?
Cody: They've always been happy with what we've done and we're always happy to give it to 'em. They're such an amazing collaborator, and they really care about artistic vision, and they care about what you can bring to the table, and it's truly an amazing experience working with them.
Casey: I was super excited to work on Devil May Cry. I've been playing this game since Devil May Cry 1, which came out in 2001. I remember my mom taking me to Blockbuster to rent it. And then you fast forward to 2017, when I was asked to work on it, I was already so freaking pumped to get started on it. We're classically trained and I play guitar as well in the STEM program, right? I love doing so many different things and different genres. So being asked to genre hop is one of the best things about working in the field. TV and video games and film, all alike, and one day you could be writing a solo piano piece and the next day you're writing "Devil Trigger."
Ali: Yeah, for me, video games have always been a pretty large part of my life. It's always been a love of mine. So, I remember playing games with my cousins when we were all kids and it was this bonding experience for all of us. And I never would've imagined that I'd be working on video games today. It's kind of crazy to think about, but I absolutely love what I do. I love being able to work on various projects across various genres and kind of become a different person for a little while. And it's really, really humbling, seeing how the fans have accepted our work. It's very humbling, it's very exciting, and, all in all, we're very grateful to be a part of the Devil May Cry family.
Like many games in this genre, The Division 2 plays best with a well-coordinated squad of friends covering each other and using unique abilities to fend off mobs with tactical efficiency. Even a squad of random players simply taking down enemies together is sufficient enough to get through most of the game's missions. But sometimes I just want play as a lone wolf and go at my own pace without the pressure of keeping up with others. And I often ask with these types of games, how viable is it to go solo?
It's the same question I had recently with Fallout 76 and Anthem, and one I've been asking since jumping into the original Destiny. Naturally, I thought about the same thing going into The Division 2, and I'm glad that more so than other loot shooters, playing by yourself turned out to be an enjoyable experience that still captures many of the game's high points.
My Division agent can take care of the evil that's permeated Washington DC on her own.
Something about The Division 2 makes the lone wolf approach work. I mainly attribute it to the fact that it revolves around being a cover-based shooter that taps more into a tactical mindset rather than your ability to eliminate enemy hordes and huge bosses that soak up tons of damage. Don't get me wrong, The Division 2 has elements of that, but your ability to control combat scenarios and find clever ways to handle sometimes overwhelming firefights are much more important factors.
One particular experience solidified this feeling. The initial firefight in the Air And Space Museum mission proved more difficult than anything before, despite me being the proper level for it. I was downed in short time, twice. In the first attempt, I got caught out of cover for a little too long, and on a second try, flanked by enemies while desperately trying to find safety as my riot shield got torn to shreds. On the third and successful effort, I scouted for higher-level (purple) enemies so I could plan to take them out first before a full-on firefight broke out. With the use of my chem launcher skill and a few well-placed sniper shots, I took out the biggest threats at the outset.
I made my way through the rest of the mission consistently challenged, but ultimately relying on smart use of cover and taking advantage of openings. In the final phase of the whole mission, things played out differently; it forced me to think my way out of a heavily-armored boss pressuring me and encroaching on my space of limited cover. With my back against the wall, I pulled out all the stops; grenades, skills, and unloading both primary weapons directly on a weak spot while dancing around a slim pillar to keep changing my cover angle. I finished the fight by the skin of my teeth.
After 15 hours spent as a lone wolf, I'm still going, and I think that says a lot about how great it executes the core gameplay loop in a playground of fascinating set-pieces.
These moments aren't unique to solo play by any stretch, but they illustrate why The Division 2 works as a single-player experience. You're constantly on your toes, considering your position in these battles and trying your best to take out enemies before they get the jump on you and catch you off guard. Of course, there were a number of cases where I simply took aim and landed precision shots with a semi-auto rifle to get through the many phases of missions, but even fairly standard tactics still have a definite satisfaction thanks to a variety of tools at your disposal that have an effective, impactful feel upon using.
Another thing to consider is that playing solo means no one is around to revive you. Missions are usually generous with checkpoints and keeping your progress even when you get killed, but it's not always the case. As a result, the not-so-forgiving moments give combat somewhat higher stakes like 'no respawn zone' phases. Dying in the open world also forces you to respawn at a fast travel point and run back to what you were doing. It's not ideal, but it does play into how carefully you approach combat when you're alone.
The Air And Space Museum is rich with detail and real exhibits.
The Division 2 makes the lonesome journey worthwhile in another capacity; I had the time and space to embrace the wonderfully detailed--albeit dilapidated and abandoned--environments. This is a fairly accurate rendition of the nation's capital after all, and I'll be damned if I didn't treat it as a little field trip. I found the ViewPoint Museum mission to be utterly fascinating as a display of history, media, and politics just as much as the American History Museum's Vietnam War exhibit. Calling back to the Air And Space Museum, I took the time to actually examine what was on display. It's a testament to the incredible set-pieces featured in several of the game's main quests, real-world locations, and museums and landmarks that communicate a history that eerily complements the dark backdrop of The Division's storyline.
Speaking of story, there's unfortunately not much to see. I often go into these types of games solo in order to soak up narrative bits, reflect on in-game events, and speak to every NPC possible to get the full picture, but that's certainly not the case here. In the original Division, I loved finding ECHOs, which painted a vivid picture of New York was before the Dollar Flu and right when poor folks scrambled to survive, and in turn, tried to understand an entirely new lore. However, The Division 2 falls short in delivering a story worth caring about. The canon has already been built, we know how dire the virus made things, and it rests on that. It's a generic story about rebuilding with perfunctory attempts at emotional stakes. Factions exist to put a name and evil archetype on enemies that you don't feel bad fighting against. And NPCs primarily serve functional purposes at settlements and bases, nothing more. In a way, The Division 2's design flows like it's specifically tuned for the squad that wants to churn through missions at a rapid pace with narrative as an afterthought. If anything, this approach keeps the action moving and places less emphasis on a weaker aspect of the game.
It's not an entirely seamless experience on your own; there will be times when waves of Hyenas or True Sons just become too much to handle, and prove more frustrating than challenging. These are often scenarios that would've been easier with a mate or two to pick you up when you get downed, lay down covering fire, or take out imminent threats. Admittedly, I haven't delved too deep into the Dark Zone, so I can't speak to how one of the more captivating features of this game fares with no one to watch your back. But for the majority of The Division 2's main questline, a solo player should be just as excited to engage in the game's satisfying combat system while being able to handle its bigger fights.
At some point, you'll inevitably squad up with randoms or friends because, of course, that's what a multiplayer shared-world game is going to push you to do. But overall, the grind of The Division 2 delivers plenty of fun and a challenge that's manageable, especially when incorporating more of your skills and devising ways to move from cover to cover and create your own flanking routes. After 15 hours spent as a lone wolf, I'm still going, and I think that says a lot about how great it executes the core gameplay loop in a playground of fascinating set-pieces.
Valve has announced it's revisiting user reviews on Steam in order to combat review bombing. In a blog post, Valve wrote it will now "identify off-topic review bombs, and remove them from the Review Score."
"We define an off-topic review bomb as one where the focus of those reviews is on a topic that we consider unrelated to the likelihood that future purchasers will be happy if they buy the game, and hence not something that should be added to the Review Score," Valve continued. The company admits there's still a bit of a grey area with this definition, so it's developed a tool that "identifies any anomalous review activity on all games on Steam in as close to real-time as possible."
After the tool has identified possibly troublesome reviews, it will inform Valve and the company will then begin an investigation. If Valve decides the user reviews are an off-topic bomb, the company will inform the developer that every review within the time period of the review bomb will be removed from the game's overall Steam score. At this point, however, the user reviews will still be live. It will be up to the developer's discretion over which are deleted.
The downside to this process is that every user review during an off-topic review bomb will be removed from a game's overall Steam score, even the good ones. "But as we mentioned back in our first User Review post, our data shows us that review bombs tend to be temporary distortions, so we believe the Review Score will still be accurate, and other players will still be able to find and read your review within the period," Valve wrote. Plenty of negative comments that focus on DRM or EULA changes will also be considered off-topic review bombings as well.
Developers who don't want this new tool combing through their games' comments and Valve declaring when an off-topic review bomb is happening can opt out of the process by going into their Steam Store options. Valve is working on a few more changes to user reviews as well, but they'll be shipped out at a later date.
As Game of Thrones Season 8's April 14 premiere date quickly approaches, one question dominates all others: Who will sit on the Iron Throne when all is said and done? This is the show's final season, after all, and unlike George R.R. Martin's forever-in-progress books, the HBO production will actually have a conclusion.
We had that all-consuming question in mind when we recently got the chance to sit down with Harry Lloyd, who's set to play Charles Xavier--Professor X--in the third and final season of FX's X-Men adaptation Legion. Game of Thrones fans, however, will probably know Lloyd better as Viserys Targaryen, Daenerys's abusive brother from back in Game of Thrones Season 1.
Lloyd couched his opinion in the fact that he's "not quite up to date, shamefully," though he plans to catch up before Season 8 arrives. But his nomination for Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, King or Queen of Westeros, and Warmer of the Iron Throne is nevertheless perfectly valid: nobody.
"I kind of want no one on it, to be honest," the actor said, grinning. "I just want it to become a really nice, kind of democracy."
He did offer one more alternative, though: "I'll tell you what, I always wanted Hodor to be in charge," he continued, laughing--clearly aware of the character's fate in Season 6. "But, yeah--maybe with some time travel?"
With this line of questioning begun, we couldn't stop at one. To this day, Viserys's gruesome death at Khal Drogo's hands in Season 1--with a pot of molten gold poured over his dome--stands as one of the show's best. We asked Lloyd whether there's been another since then that topped it. Surprisingly, he went all the way back to another Season 1 death.
"You know what one of my favorite deaths has always been, was just a couple of episodes after mine, in Episode 8 of Season 1, when Khal Drogo rips that guy's tongue out," Lloyd said. He remembered discussing the scene with Jason Momoa, who played Khal Drogo (and, of course, went on to portray Aquaman in Justice League and his own standalone movie). According to Lloyd, the scene was written as a more straightforward sword fight, but Momoa had other ideas.
Momoa apparently got involved personally, asking the art department to whip up a convincing tongue that looked like it had been ripped out root and stem. "And it's Game of Thrones, so the art department, you know, they rustled one of them up--they probably had a couple already on file," Lloyd recalled.
"I just thought that was a wonderful little sequence, and the fact that it was so collaborative,even in that first [season]," he continued, "I always liked that."
The Guardians of the Galaxy will, indeed, live to fight again with director James Gunn at the helm. Well, at least some of them probably will. Who knows what's going to happen in Avengers: Endgame? However, the news that Disney has rehired James Gunn to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after firing him last summer has been met with unabashed positivity by fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as Gunn himself.
In his first tweet since he was fired in July 2018, Gunn shared a message on the heels of his being hired once again by Marvel Studios. "I am tremendously grateful to every person out there who has supported me over the past few months," he wrote. "I am always learning and will continue to work at being the best human being I can be. I deeply appreciate Disney's decision and I am excited to continue making films that investigate the ties of love that bind us all. I have been and continue to be incredibly humbled by your love and support. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Love to you all."
Gunn was first removed from the project after years-old tweets surfaced, in which he made jokes about rape and pedophilia. At the time, Gunn apologized and noted that he had apologized in the past. At the time, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn explained the director's dismissal, saying, "The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James' Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio's values, and we have severed our business relationship with him."
His return to the project--and the Marvel Cinematic Universe--was celebrated by Gunn's fellow MCU directors. Ant-Man and the Wasp director Peyton Reed tweeted, "Welcome back, James." Meanwhile, Doctor Strange helmer Scott Derrickson offered up a "GLORY HALLELUJA" to the news. Lastly, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi joked, "What the hell?? I thought I was going to do it!!" Waititi has formerly been rumored as a replacement for film, though he previously confirmed that he had no intention of taking over out of respect to Gunn.
With Gunn back in the driver's seat, it's now believed Guardians Vol. 3 will go into production following the director's commitment to the Suicide Squad sequel he's signed on for. The Suicide Squad sequel, which is reportedly eyeing Idris Elba as a replacement for Will Smith in the role of Deadshot, is expected to begin filming later this year.
Story updated to include Taika Waititi's statement.
Out of nowhere, a new type of item--jump pads--have appeared in Apex Legends near Market. And these are not just any jump pads either; they're the ones the rumored new Legend Octane places as his Ultimate ability, suggesting that developer Respawn Entertainment could be teasing what's coming to the game soon.
We've stumbled upon it ourselves (as you can see in the video above), and we aren't the only ones, as evidenced by posts on Reddit. Other players are reporting they've found Octane's jump pads as well. Respawn is just leaving coy-looking emoji comments in response, which implies this is a purposeful tease of what's to come, and not a mistaken leak on the developer's part.
Prior to this, Octane has leaked a few times, which is why so many people believe he's the next scheduled character for Apex Legends. The first mention of the Legend was a leak that showcased the character's ability page. The leaked image stated Octane's Passive allowed him to heal over time while not in combat, his Tactical caused him to move 30 percent faster for six seconds at the cost of 10 percent of his health, and his Ultimate deployed a jump pad to launch Legends into the air.
After that leak, another one--this time detailing the upcoming battle pass for Apex Legends--also showcased Octane, seemingly confirming he's the next playable character in the battle royale game. In this second leak, the Origin landing page had accidentally changed early, promoting the battle pass with a picture of the Borderlands-looking Legends. "Survive the the [sic] arena, meet the Apex Games' latest Legend, Octane, wield new weapons, and score unique loot. The Season 01 Battle Pass is here, purchase it at the in-game store for 950 Apex Coins," the launch page said.
After these leaks--and a few other less credible ones--Respawn responded, clarifying the battle pass would not launch on March 12 like some data miners had suggested and that not everything on the internet should be taken at face value. "There's lots of stuff that has been datamined from Apex since launch and is swirling around the Internet," Respawn community manager Jay Frechett wrote. "We know this stuff is fun to dig up and speculate about, but you should not treat any of that info as a source of truth. There's stuff in there that is very old, or things we've tried in the past and cut--remember our design process is to prototype and play lots of ideas--and some of it may be things we're still building for Apex Legends."
There seems to be some semblance of truth to Octane at least. Respawn hasn't clarified whether his launch pads will stick around near Market or eventually be removed from the game when the Legend does officially release--which is due this month. Apex Legends is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Sony has unveiled another new color joining the PlayStation 4 DualShock lineup. This time it's a color scheme evocative of a forest ski trip, titled Alpine Green. It sports an evergreen shade across the front, with a white backing and white buttons and sticks.
The announcement states it will be available in the US and Canada in April for $65 US / $75 CAD. You can get a look at the new controller below or pre-order now.
Last August Sony introduced four new colors at once: Berry Blue, Sunset Orange, Blue Camo, and Copper. Alpine Green is getting the celebrity treatment by comparison with the spotlight all to itself. Sony has been offering color variants for its DualShock controllers for quite a while, including some that are exclusive to special edition consoles. Microsoft similarly offers special edition controller colors, but also has a Design Lab feature to let you customize your own paint.
If you're looking for something to play on your PS4 while you wait for your Alpine Green controller, you may want to peruse the Great Indoors sale. The giant PSN sale has more than 600 discounts and runs through March 29.
Hold onto your hats, because the PlayStation Store's latest sale is here, and it's a big one. Hundreds of games for PS4, PS3, PSP, PS Vita, and PS VR are marked down, and it's all part of The Great Indoors Sale--a.k.a. more reasons to not leave the house in these final, dreary days of winter. Besides all of the game deals, one-year PS Plus subscriptions are also discounted at just $45 (and membership pricing is rarely that cheap). While the PS Plus deal is available only until March 26, the following game deals are all valid until March 29 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET. And these discounts will be even greater if you're a PS Plus member.
There are almost too many great games included here to name--but here are the highlights. You can get the complete edition of Horizon Zero Dawn for only $17, along with its amazing DLC, The Frozen Wilds, for $8. Bloodborne's DLC, The Old Hunters, is another worthwhile puchase at just $15. Red Dead Redemption is marked down to just $12.89, while Red Dead Redemption 2's special edition is $60. Borderlands 2 is down to just $5, The Last Guardian is selling for $14, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight is $42, and The Witcher 3's complete edition is only $20. The list goes on and on. And if you're on a budget, there's even a handy section for all the cheapest deals--most of them are under $10.
Epic has released a roadmap for 2019, which includes the new features scheduled to appear on the Epic Games Store. The full roadmap can be viewed on Trello, but Epic has issued the disclaimer that the new features listed and the times they're scheduled for are "subject to change."
Exact timetables are not provided for each feature, with each one falling into a category of one-three months, four-six months, or long-term (more than six months). In the short-term, Epic isn't implementing too many major features. The company plans to redesign the Epic Games Store's website, and add search tools that utilize both genre and tags. The Epic Game Store will also start hosting video, provide an "optimized delta solution" to help developers reduce the size of game patches, support DLC add-ons, and streamline the sign-in process to allow players to "get into their offline games faster." The one major feature during this window of time is cloud saves support--a long-requested addition from the Epic Games Store community.
You'll see a lot more community-requested features added in the mid- to long-term. In four-six months, Epic plans on adding user reviews, wish lists, additional payment methods/currencies, player time tracking, and mod support. The Epic Game Store is also scheduled to see improvements to its newsfeed and follow features, as well additional sorting and filtering methods for its game library. In the long-term, the Epic Game Store will support game achievements, direct carrier billing, and a shopping cart. Epic also plans on overhauling the store's social features as well.
Epic has a few more improvements scheduled for its game store that don't have any planned date. These include more generalized PC game store features, such as automated refunds and gifting, and specific ones, like an Arabic translation for the store and support for games that released in Korea. Epic also plans to have the Epic Games Store be accessible on Android devices.
Getting these features out the door is important for the survival of the Epic Games Store, as many of them already exist on its number one competitor, Steam. The Epic Games Store has managed to attract an audience by securing several major triple-A 2019 releases, such as Metro Exodus and The Division 2. However, PC gamers have come to expect many of the features listed above, and will probably gravitate back to Steam if all the Epic Games Store can deliver is a few good exclusives.
The Epic Games Store also offers a free game every two weeks. Right now, you can download the indie game Slime Rancher, which is normally $20 USD on PC. Slime Rancher will be available until March 21, when it will be replaced by Oxenfree.
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