Classic survival horror has seen a resurgence in recent years, aiming to capture the essence of the old style of gameplay made popular in the late 90’s and early 2000’s through titles such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

More than ever, we’ve seen authentic new takes on this format crawling from the grave, with games like Tormented Souls, Signalis, Crow Country and most recently Hollowbody, ?crafting dreary atmosph??eres within grungy, unforgiving worlds.

This same DNA is wrought throughout Becrowned, a new psychological horror game from the team at 13th Street Studio, founded by its lead?? developer, Earnest ?Anpilov.

“We are a small indie studio?, and we are making the game of our drea??ms,�said Anpilov in an email interview.

“We've been developing the game for several years in our free time, which sometimes isn't enough to fully commit to the project. It's a hard and lengthy process.�/p>

First conceived in 2021, Anpilov began working on Becrowned on his own, introduc??ing more people to the team as the project took shape.

“The b??est part of development is interacting with the team. Each of us is passionate about this project.�nbsp;

The game features classic survival horror gameplay, including clunky combat??, constrained camera movement and, of course, traditional tank controls - although a more modern control scheme is also available.

But most importantly, Becrowned is faithful to the genre in its atmosphere, with a haunting s?oundscape that compliments the stylisti??cally antiquated visuals.

“Thanks to a special rendering style, the graphics have a classic PS1 - PS2 aesthetic w?hile still incorporating modern technological advancements,�said Anpilov.

A demo is available on Steam as of Sept. 27, taking place during a chapter from the middle of the main game in which the protagonist,? Richard, finds himself trapped in the run-down Karpenter Asylum.

This mental hospital previously treated patients with psychosis and other illnesses, including Richard’s father, Clint, who suffered from severe C-PTSD upon returning home from military duty. The further Richard ??delves, the more details he uncovers on unethical experiments ru??n on the patients, as well as his own family’s history and trauma.

As players step forth into the dilapidated halls of the abandoned facility, they are greeted by the eerie soundtrack that creates a sense of discomforting calm, reminiscent of the early Silent Hill gam??es; a tranquility that could be distur??bed at the drop of a hat.

“We are heavily inspired by old-school survival horror games like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Alone in the Dark,�said Anpilov.

“We also draw inspiration from old horror films, and our writer is a huge fan of Lovecraft and similar literature.�/p>

Amid the bizarre puzzles and punishing difficul?ty, there are a number of thoughtfully placed scares and tense set piece sequences that make your skin crawl as you escape enemy pur??suit.

Resources are extremely limited but tightly ??balanced, keeping even the most careful player under tension to scrape up eno?ugh ammo and health pickups between each of the conventionally janky enemy encounters.

However, not all of the demo’s jank is quite so intentional or charming. Fights with enemies are unbal?anced, as the attack patterns of close-combat foes are easy to exploit, while ranged enemies are instead rather difficult to avoid and can wipe out a full health status in only a couple of hits.

In addition, the demo still has a few bugs to iron out, rang??ing from small UI errors, to loading glitches that can soft-lo?ck your save file.

But all of these issues are easily excusable from a demo version, especially from such a small indie game ?develo??per.

“There are various challe??nges, ranging from? the technical difficulties of implementing certain mechanics we want in the game, to the simple lack of resources,â€?explains Anpilov. 

With over an hour of gameplay, the demo provides a surprisingly succinct and contained story, but Anpoliv expressed that “this is just one of many locations.�/p>

“Becrowned will feature a dark fantasy setting with the ruins of majestic castles, industrial horror ?with concrete jungles, and classic Lovecraftian horror with sea monsters. Al??l of this is connected by a grand narrative,�said Anpilov.

“This year, we all got together to film video material for in-game live-action content. It was amazing! We had very little time for the shoot, and each of us worked perfectly as part of a big, well-oiled machine.�/p>

Becrowned is targeti?ng a release on Windows and macOS, with full Steam Deck optimization??. The team hopes to be able to bring the game to Nintendo Switch in the future as well.

The post Becrowned is the manifestation of fans’ love for old-school horror appeared first on Destructoid.

Yesterday, a cryptic series of patch notes and social media posts released for Vampire Survivors hinted at a quiet update made to the game. Patch 1.?11.1 contains a mysterious new stage with a boppin' track, a new character, 9 new achievements, and 5 new arcana cards. The update is out now on all platforms except PlayStation, where it will release with the whole game on August 29.

The biggest part of this content drop, which we now know is called "The Darkasso Update," is the experimental "Dark Arcana" cards, which come with bizarre effects. The Moonlight Bolero, as an example, spawns an additional stage boss every minute, who might carry special treasure chests that let you gain additional Arcana or Passive Weapon past your max capacity. In the patch notes, the devs are requesting feedback on thes?e new arcana to inform further designs down the ro?ad.

As another part of this update, you can get new variations of Imelda Belpaese and the garlic-loving Poe Ratcho. To unlock these, you need to complete their respective Adventure Mode cam?paigns. If you've already beaten them, you may need to select "Adventure Mode" on the main screen to activate the achievements.

This entire update came unannounced, outside of the sudden cryptic messaging a day before its drop: It was never on any roadmaps or anything. It's the kind of fun, weird updates you love to see from indie developers.?? And the fact that th?ere's more room for new Dark Arcana down the road is a great sign that we'll be getting plenty more updates for this incredible game for a while.

The post Vampire Survivors releases ominous “Darkasso” update appeared first on Destructoid.

Gaming’s indie horror scene has hit it off strong in 2024 with the likes of Crow Country and Withering Rooms making a great impression among critics and players alike. But the second half of the year is stac?ked with even more excellent looking horror games on the horizon from smaller publishers and independent development teams.

The following games have been lurking in the shadows for long enough. Here's a spotlight on what's to come for indie horror?? fans during the rest of 2024.

CONSCRIPT

Unlike any of the other games listed here today, CONSCRIPT does not feature supernatural entities or undead ghouls. Instead,?? it focuses on the atrocities of war, and the toll it takes on the soldiers ordered to conduct it. The game is played from the perspective of a French soldier during World War I attempting to survive in the trenches over the course of the years-long conflict.

Inspired by the likes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, CONSCRIPT adapts the combat and puzzle mechanics from classic survival-horror games in its portrayal of the historical horrors. After seven years in the making, CONSCRIPT is finally available now as of July 23, 202?4, as well as?? a demo currently available on Steam.

Zoochosis

Anybody yet unfamiliar with Zoochosis would have thus been unable to draw obvious comparisons, so now is as good a time as any to head that off at the pass: if John Carpenter’s The Thing was set in a zoo, you would have Zoochosis.

With that established, this first-person simulation ga?me casts players as a night-shift zookeeper while an infectious disease spreads among the animal residents, causing them to undergo a macabre metamorphosis into hostile, disfigured abominations. Job responsibilities involve socializing with the animals, feeding them, cleaning up their spaces, and monitoring them to ensure they don’t grow an excess of limbs and scale the walls of their enclosure. Standard procedure.

In order to prevent further loss of life - be it the animals or their own - the protagonist must develo??p vaccines to spare the ani??mals from transforming. The player’s decisions will affect whether or not they can be saved in time, as well as which ending they receive.

Prepare to capture all the grisly body horror through the body camera lens when Zoochosis is freed from its cage on September 23, 2024.

Post Trauma

With its unsettling designs and focus on psychological horror, Post Trauma is shaping up to be a very promising debut title from Red So?ul Games.

Our protagonist, Roman, is a heavy-set train conductor in his late 50s, who find?s himself trap??ped in a warped subway system inhabited by disturbed creatures and infested with malignant tendrils, lining the dismal tunnels the deeper he explores.

The cryptic puzzles and fixed-camera angles are inspired by classic horror franchises, with the setting in particular evoking the opening hours of Silent Hill 4: The Room. Post Trauma is on schedule for a fall 2024 arrival, but for those eager to get on board, a demo for the game is available on itch.io.

Clock Tower: Rewind

The Clock Tower series has a storied history as one of the original gaming horror franchises that ended up fading into obscurity. The premier game in the series, Clock Tower, was released for the Super Famicom in 1995 by Human Entertainment, but now WayForward is debuting it outside of Japan for the first time with Clock Tower: Rewind, an enhanced port for modern platforms.

This point-and-click adventure horror title puts players in the role of a young girl named Jennifer, who is among a group of orphans that have recently been adopted and sent away to an old Norwe??gian mansion. However, shortly after their arrival, the children find themselves pursued by a half-pint killer wielding a set of scissors tw?ice his stature. With the aptly named Scissorman stalking the manor halls, Jennifer must locate the rest of her adoptive siblings while evading the murderous prowler.

Get your oversized scissors ready, the ribbon cutting for the game’s release is set for October 31 in Japan, with other regions listing a October 11 - November 11 shipping window.

Bye Sweet Carole

Developer: Little Sewing Machine - Meangrip Studios
Publisher: Maximum Entertainment
Platforms: PS5, PS4, XSX|S, XBO, Switch, PC (Steam)
Release: 2024

On the subject of Clock Tower, this twisted take on a classic Disney animation blends the run-and-hide gameplay and side-scrolling perspective of the former with the aesthetic of Snow White or Alice in Wonderland. From the creator of the Remothered series, Bye Sweet Carole’s a?uthentic hand-drawn ??presentation appears pleasant and inviting, starkly juxtaposing its dark themes and violent imagery.

When a young girl named Carole goes missing from an orphanage, her fellow resident and friend Lana goes searching for her, and in the process finds another ??world unlike her own full of stran?ge creatures and homicidal hares that will hunt Lana throughout the game.

Be prepared to get lost going down this rabbit hole when the game releases later in?? 2024.

Hollowbody

At first glance, Hollowbody presents itself as a sci-fi noir story, starring an illegal smuggler named Mica in search of their partner Sasha, who went missing on a dangerous job in a restricted area alone. Mica?? attempts to follow after her, but upon entering the restricted airspace, her flying vehicle malfunctions and crash lands amid a dilapidated suburb hidden bene??ath the clouds. With the futuristic-cyberscape veneer stripped away, Mica is left stranded in a morose town full of plague-ridden monsters.

Emulating the aesthetic of a PS2-era horror title, Hollowbody features a mix of dynamic- and fixed-camera?? angles along with traditional survival-horror combat and puzzle solv??ing.

Hollowbody will only be roughly three hours long, aiming to be a short-story, but players that are on the fence can try out a newly updated demo on Steam b?efore the game releases later this year.

Sorry We’re Closed

A vibrant standout from the pack, Sorry We’re Closed is n?o less rife with macabre creatures, rustic environments and?? unholy imagery.

A curse has been placed on our protagonist, Michelle, that threatens to cut her life short in a manner of days; however, the demon that inflicted the curse barters an opportunity to lift it if Michelle ventures into the dangers of the demon world to fulfill their bidding. Sorry We're Closed is p??layed from a fixed-camera perspective and, with the use of a Third Eye granted to her, Michelle can peer into the parallel reality of the demon world. This vision can also expose weak points on enemies, allowing her to dispose of enemies in first-person combat.

With numerous diverse characters to engag?e with and influence, player’s choices will lead to multiple outcomes in determ?ining the fate of Michelle’s story.

A demo is available?? on Steam now, wi??th the full release expected for some time in 2024.

Echoes of the Living

Perfectly encapsulating the visuals and atmosphere of the Resident Evil (2002) remake, Echoes of the Living is a love letter to the classic franchise, with two playable chara??cters, zombie filled streets, fixed camera angles, and elaborate puzzles.

The plot is a direct homage to Resident Evil 2, right down to the dual protagonists of a young lady looking for her brother father and a new guy in town looking for a fresh start right before ??a zombie outbreak sweeps through a small town, all set in the late '90s.

While it may not be an original idea, it is certainly a welcome one if it can pull off the same level of tension and design as its inspirations. A playable demo was previously available during the October 2023 Steam Next Fest, so hopefu?lly the game will receive another demo prior to launch, which is listed for release in 2024.

Tormented Souls 2

Keeping in theme with Resident-Evil-like games, the original Tormented Souls from 2021 garnered attention for its traditional approach to survival horror, including restrictive fixed-camera exploration an??d combat?? paired with perplexing puzzles, all set in a detailed and claustrophobic hospital.

Tormented Souls 2 retains these core elements as it furthers the story of protagonist Caroline Walker, who now must seek out a cure for a supernatural illness that plagues her younger sister, Anna. Her search brings her to the South American town of Puerto Miller that harbors a deranged cult with a dark and storied history.
Although details are still scarce, this up-and-coming horror franchise is set to arrive later this year.

Fear the Spotlight

As part of the Blumhouse Games publishing initiative for smaller horror projects, Fear the Spotlight leads the pack with an impressive start. This polygonal adventure garbs itself with a retro aesthetic, but features a modern thir??d-person perspective with a fully voice-acted narrative.

The story follows a you??ng girl named Vivian, who has been convinced by her friend Amy to break into their school after dark in order to perform a hokey séance for fun; that is, until actual spirits are summoned forth, and Amy’s demeanor changes from thrill-seeking teen to an indoctrinated acolyte of dark forces. Now pursued by a spotlight-head monster, Vivian must hide from its gaze to survive, all the while solving puzzles, uncovering mysteries, and trying to find Amy to escape the school with their lives.

Although Fear the Spotlight was originally released in 2023, the developers removed this version in order to undergo a major overhaul of features and content before re-releas?ing in 2??024.

The post 10 promising indie-sized horror games slated ??for the second half ??of 2024 appeared first on Destructoid.

Closing out the Latin? Americ??an Games Showcase was an impressive new trailer for the gorgeous pixel-art hack-and-slash Mariachi Legends, with a mixture of live-action scenes and high-fidelity side-scrolling action.

You’d be forgiven for overlooking the Latin American Games Showcase last weekend. Let’s face it, with over a dozen unique showcases over the span of a few days, it is unlikely most audiences will catch? them all, particularly when the shows are each focused on a specific niche.

But this show in particular was littered with beautiful works and inventive concepts, a description no less fitting of the presentation’s final game, Mariachi Legends from Halberd Studios, which was unveiled at last year's PC Gaming Show.

Opening to a hazy sunset, the trailer begins with a live-action sequence introducing the fictional town of S??anta Mascota and the lead character, Detective Pablo Cruz, who has been assigned by Lady Death to delve into the Realm of the Dead and collect a mystical amulet that is compromising her rule over the underworld.

This is no simple task, as the group of beings known as the Mariachi Legends protect this dominion at all costs. In order to stand a chance against t??hem,? Pablo must don the powerful garment, La Sombra, which grants him otherworldly strength and abilities.

With a transition to gameplay, it makes an immediate impression with its smooth and fluid animations, such as Pablo brandishing his pen and notebook with a flourish when taking investigation notes and trotting around with a swagger that closely resembles Castlevania’s Soma Cruz.
Although these two protagonists may share a last name and running animation, ironically what they do? not have in common is being part of the Metr??oidvania genre.

Unlike the studio’s previous work, 9 Years of Shadow, which was a full-fledged metroidvania, Mariachi Legends describes itself as a branching beat-em-up platformer, with bounding, swinging, and dashing along platforms to navigate the game’s levels and ??????????????????????????an emphasis on extravagant combo-centric combat.

Pablo dual-wields a set of sabers and a pair of flintlock pistols, firing off point-blank barrages before effortlessly eviscerating his enemies in a spinning cyclone of carnage. He has a variety of special abilities as well, including a noxious face-cracker whip that melts flesh from the bone and morphing into a spec??tral skull enveloped in a sickly green flame to consume enemies whole.

The end of the trailer blends more l?ive-acton cuts with gameplay, this time to the kitchen to demonstrate the cooking component to the game. Pablo can spice up his special abilities by dishing up recipes he learns along his journey.

Mariachi Legends will be available for Switch and Ste?am, with a 20?24 release window listed on the store page.

The post Don’t miss the live-acti??on gameplay hybrid trailer for Mariachi ??Legends appeared first on Destructoid.

You'd be forgiven for playing through the entirety of Selaco's 10-to-12 hour campaign and being surprised to learn that the game was not only incomplete, but only a portion of its intended length. The first episode of Selaco launched recently into Steam early access, but there's more than o??ne reason to avoid judging this shooter by its box art.

Bringing mindfulness to mayhem

Lately, I've been sort of half-assedly practicing that "dopamine detox" thing you see young adults try: setting screen time limits on your phone, disabling certain apps, or even just reading a book before bed instead of scrolling on my phone. It actually works, by the way; I find my time with screens a lot more engaging than I did before. Well, Selaco is sort of like dopamine detox in shooter form.

I adore breakneck shooters like ULTRAKILL, Turbo Overkill, DOOM Eternal, and Mullet Madjack. I also find them.. kind of exhausting, after a while. Each encounter in these games demands more than just shooting or even proper positioning: they demand a dance with a death that's double time, every time. Selaco is more evenly paced, punishing poor play swiftly but giving you ple??nty of ?time between shootouts to recoup.

Playing on the second-hardest available option, I was regularly having to restart fights, but it wasn't ever because I missed a super-bounce or neglected to quick-swap to the correct weapon. It was because I played carelessly. Careless play can get you pretty far in "movement shooters" like those listed above, as long as you're carelessly moving around at Mach 9. In Selaco, you're going to want to slow down, reposition, and outwit the worryingly intelligent AI befor?e can deposit lead in your flank.

Spacing the pacing

A typical fight in Selaco usually applies pressure (in the form of dudes w?ith guns) from one direction, then expands to fill the gaps. Enemies flow in from set points, but will swiftly move through the available space to get the jump on you, obscured by flying debris, smoke, and dust. Your foes are deadly, tanky, and smart. Your best bet is to lay traps, think ahead, and use your tactical power slide to out-position them.

Of course, if a fight goes sideways you're almost guaranteed a long moment to gather yourself, and some resources, before the next. Rather than smashing from room to room populated with baddies, Selaco's explorable space is punctuated somewhat sparsely with ??fights. Some people might call these moments of quiet exploration and light puzzling boring. I call them an exercise in mindfulness.

There's a wide range of enemy types to fight, and they evolve in both weaponry and tactics as you progress. Later on, "Squad Leaders" will intelligently command their?? soldiers while buffing them. If you manage to kill a Squad Leader, their underlings will helplessly scatter, ripe for the gibbing. Shotgun goons will flank so aggressively and so mischievously you'd swear they spawn in right behind you. The?? only way to stay alive is to peek, kill, and reposition. A dance with death, but more of a waltz than a shuffle.

A world worth getting lost in.. most of the time

The world of Selaco is astoundingly rich in detail (made even more impressive when you remember it's made in GZDoom), interactive options, cleverly-hidden secrets, and worldbuilding. While there's no through-line of a story (yet), the environs themselves paint a clear picture of the lives of the crew and citizenry aboard this artificial ecosystem. Birthday parties held in office spaces, arcades with playable machines, and shopping malls complete with int??erior burger joints are just a few of the spaces you'll be combing through between engagements. They're liminal spaces bereft of nostalgia, replaced with an eerie, futuristic loneliness.

Getting lost in such spaces is fun, for a time. There were a handful of occasions I was stuck hugging the left wall - a tried-and-true technique I use in corn mazes and the like - just to find where to go next. Green lights help most of the time, but there are a few times when a critical switch or path are just a little too hard to locate?. I don't think there should be a waypoint system or anything, but I think a bit more diegetic highlighting?? of key details would go a long way.

If I'm making Selaco sound like a game about wandering liminal spaces punctuated with brief shooter action, it's because that's sort of what it is. There's plenty of shooting to be had and it's best-in-genre stuff, with satisfying weapons that feel and sound powerful as they shred enemies to bits. The level of viscera and flying debris is enough to make Brutal DOOM blush. But ??blasting guys is only a piece of the formula, and despite getting turned around a few times I found the interspersed methodical secret hunting and resource gathering just as essential to the experience.

In its current state, Selaco is a no-brainer for anyone who's in the mood for something a little more Half Life than DOOM. There's still some headway to be ma??de in terms of storytelling, and I'd love to see some additional bosses and set pieces, but the meditative pace, tight action and incredible attention to detail across its generous runtime were more than enough to win me over.

The post Despite its best-in-class action, Selaco’s pacing is where it truly shines appeared first on Destructoid.

My relationship with survival crafting games is l??ike one you may have with an appetizing but bad-tasting food �think black licorice. You might think, "My taste has changed a lot in the last few years, I bet this is really going to do it for me now!" only to take a bite and twist your face in revulsion. That's me and survival games.

I keep trying games in the genre, and I keep glazing over and quitting in mere hours (as do my frustrated friends, to whom I always hastily recommend said game). But Abiotic Factor is, so far, a much different story.

To me, the world in which I'm being asked to survive is just as important as the survival mechanics themselves. I've survived in so many forests, caves, and even oceans that, at this point, I'm just sort of sick of the usual suspects. I don't want to make a mattress out of logs and leaves - I want to repurpose an ugly sofa into a bed. I refuse to distill any more rainwater - I'd rather collect it from water coolers in hallways. Pens as crossbow bolts. Chair cushions as makeshift armor. Vending machines as hunting grounds, rich with a variety of salty and sugary species. That's Abiotic Factor.

Taking place entirely in a simulacrum of Half Life 1's Black Mesa, you play as a pencil-pushing scientist that you'll customize both aesthetically and mechanically through a very Project Zomboid-style perk and class selection. T?he hand-crafted map, even in Early Access, is massive and stunningly detailed, with unique resources and? surprises hiding around every questionably-carpeted corner.

Trees, rocks, and streams suit the naturalism typical in other survival games, but it's so satisfying to walk into an industrial, prebuilt space, flick on the tactile light switches, and rummage through some filing cabinets. It's my favorite genre of survival: something I call "Pick-'em-Up" games. Prey (2017) is the shining example of this. Now that was a good Pick-'em-Up - you could even break down whole rooms into little cubes of material to hoover up into your inventory. Abiotic Factor nails this feel, as you smash apart whole computer terminals into ?an explosive confetti of various bits and? bobs you'll snatch from the ground like a starving animal.

There's combat, of course, and while beating a hostile alien hound to death with a metal pipe feels surprisingly good?, it's best approached in a more thoughtful manner. Crafted traps, explosives, and ranged weapons make use of the game's interlocking, nearly immersive-sim level systems. Just don't forget to carve their corpses up with a chef's knife for parts.

From baiting enemies into spinning saw traps to warming yourself up by a makeshift heater while the power shuts down for the night, there's a very immersive sense of physicality to the affair that I feel many titles lack. You can watch the temperature change in real time, using your digital watch, as you move from room to room. Your character will complain about cold or hunger in that quintessential Half Life scientist cadence. And while hunger and thirst don't gnaw ?to the point of annoyance, it can be pretty tricky to figure out how to squeeze resources out o??f a concrete bunker filled with hostile lifeforms.

Along with temperature, things like radiation, "dryness," and other elements will affect your character's frail body. It is, once again, very reminiscent of Project Zomboid's survival systems that approached Dwarf Fortress lev??els of thoughtfulness. Aprons can prevent you from being coated in fluids, while more protective threads can shield you from radiation. You'll always have your little scientists' presence in the world in the back of your mind, and it makes sneaking around and resource gathering feel even more tense.

And, of course, the multiplayer shines fantastically. With up to five of your friends you can delegate ta??sks, choose different "builds," and conquer the GATE facility level by level. If you need any more motivation to ask a buddy to join, I present this image of my friend coming to heal me with our only syringe after a long day of exploring:

Abiotic Factor just feels like one of those classic labors of love. Steam players, like truffle-hunting pigs scouting their next prize, have honed in on the title, skyrocketing its player count to over 15,000 concurrently and reviews to a 97% "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating. After the creator Geoff Keene's unfortunate experience of being "Among Us before Among Us" with his last title, Unfortunate Spacemen, it's a deserved, if belated, blowup.

The post Abiotic?? Factor has cured my survival crafting malaise appeared first on Destructoid.

Stardew Valley is supposed to be about farming but often ends up being about anything else. Killing monsters, romancing townsfolk, and, yes, standing by a pond for days upon end catching fish. The go-at-your-own-pace is part of its charms â€?you can approach Stardew Valley however you'd like.

However, the game does lock certain milestones behind dabbling in a little bit of everything, so even for those with the greenest of thumbs or the bloodiest of swords, there will be a time when tools must be put down and fishing rods picked up in their place. Instead of turnips or slimes, your new target is the common Carp, a fish that's not the hardest to come by, but you may need a little help, so here's where and how to catch a Carp in Stardew Valley.

Where to catch Carp in Stardew Valley and its Seasons

The Carp is am?ong the many fish in Stardew Valley you'll encounter. Carp have both some seasonal and location-specific restrictions for c?atching it. Thankfully, this fish has more than one window, more bountiful to come by for its many uses.

Carp Fishing Locations and Seasons

• Mountain Lake - Spring, Summer, Fall
• Wilderness Farm - Spring, Summer, Fall
• Secret Woods - All Seasons
• Sewers - All Seasons
• Mutant Bug Lair - All Seasons

The Mountain Lake is where most pl??ayers will go to catch Carp, as it is accessible?? from the start of the game, and the fish is fairly common there.

For those a little later in the game, the Secret Woods has the highest spawn rate of Carp in the game, as well as having them spawn during every season. To reach the Secret Woods, players will need to have at least upgraded to a Steel Axe. In the Northwest corner of the Cindersap Forest is a log that can be removed with a Steel Axe, granting access to the Secret Wood????s.

What quests require Carp, and how many?

Se??veral Help Wanted board quests in the village require Carp for completion, along with a Community Center Bundle.

• Lake Fish Bundle Community Center Bundle

  • 1 Carp required

• Townsfolk Help Wanted Quest

  • 1 Carp requested during Spring, Summer, or Fall

• Fishing "Help Wanted" Quest

  • 1-5 Carp requested during Spring, Summer, or Fall

• Fish Pond Upgrade Quest

  • 2 Carp required

The post Ho??w To Catch Carp in Stardew Vall??ey: Carp Locations and Seasons appeared first on Destructoid.

The first flower we’ll be growing is the Windmill Wort in Botany Manor is quite particular.

How to Complete Chapter 1: A Fresh Start in Botany Manor

The Windmill Wort requires one thing in particular to really flourish: heat! And to ensure it has those perfect conditions, we’ll need to adjust the temperature of the conservatory. If you just want the solution, then place a planted Windmill Wort in front of the heat vent at 60 degrees Celsius. But if you? want to know how to get to that ??solution, read on.

First, we’ll need to collect our three clues.

• Clue 1: Wildflowers. Inspect the poster of flowers on the blackboard.
• Clue 2: Temperature. Inspect the poster of ideal flower temperatures on the blackboard.
• Clue 3: Postcard from Marianne. Examine the back of the postcard on the desk beside the heat vent.

By examining the Wildflower clue, we’ll learn that the Windmill Wort is a volcanic flower. We can then use the temperature clue beside the poster to determine the general temperature of the Windmill Wort migh??t prefer. But we’re missing one key item �the city in which the?? Windmill Wort grows.

That’s where the postcard from Marianne comes into play. In this postcard, Marianne explicitly states that the Windmill Wort grows in Sicily. Now, we can check the temperature chart again and find that the Windmill Wort prefers its temperature to 60 degrees Celsius. Now, to put that information to use.

Go to the seed station in the back of the conservatory to get the Windmill Wort seeds. Next, use the soil in the pot. Then, take the seed from the seeds inventory and place it in the pot. Water the seed, and it’s ready to go. But don’t take the pot yet. Instead, turn right towar??ds the copper heater.

You’ll see a dial thermometer which shows numbers in 10 number increments. We’ll need to move the red wheel to the right. Each time we do this, the arrow will move up by five degrees. Click the red wheel until it lands on 60.

Pick up the pot and then place it in front of the heat vent, beside the postcard. Interact with the heat vent to open it ???and the Windmill Wort will bloom!

There’s flower one. But next, you’ll have two new flowers on your plate: the Fulguria and the Ash Plume.

The post How to Grow the Windmill Wort in Botany Manor appeared first on Destructoid.

A flower that only blooms in a lightning storm? Here’s how to grow the Fulguria in Botany Manor.

How to Grow the Fulguria in Botany Manor

The Fulguria is a flower with very precise requirements to bloom in Botany Manor. But if you want a qu?ick and easy solution, simply place a planted Fulguria in front of the camera and take a picture of?? it. But for more details, read on.

First, we’ll need to collect five clues.

• Clue 1: Photographs. Find this on the side table beside the grand staircase.
• Clue 2: Folklore Book. Find this clue just beyond the fireplace in the dining room.
• Clue 3: Flash Lamp Manual. Find this clue in the drawing room on the table in front of the fireplace.
• Clue 4: Letter from Farmer. Find this clue on the writing desk in the drawing room.
• Clue 5: Flash Powder Bottle. Find this clue on the writing desk in the drawing room.

So, let’s kick this off. The moment you walk into the house, turn right and you’ll find yourself at the base of the grand staircase. Here, you’ll find the Fulguria seeds, along with our first clue: the photographs. Ultimately, our goal is to take a picture of the Fulguria to make it bloom.

And the rationale for this can be found by examining the folklore book in the dining room. This book will explicitly state that the flower is seen blooming during lightning storms. And if you examine the letter from the farmer in the drawing room, you’ll learn that a camera flash is not unlike a lightning flash.

To use the camera, we’ll need to create flash powder. Head into the apothecary to find a chemistry set. By examining the Flash Powder Bottle in the drawing room, we learn that flash powder can be made by using two portions of potassium per one portion of magnesium.

Select the green bottle on the far left labeled potassium, then interact with the empty beaker in front of you. Add potassium twice. Next, select the orange bottle labeled magnesium right beside the potassium bottle. Add it to the beaker. When you’re done, the bottom should be black and the top should be a foa??my white, like the worst beer on earth.

Take your concoction to the drawing room and approach the camera. Use the flask on the white silver plate on the table beside the camera. Interact with this plate again and it will close. Now, you simply need to place the flower on the counter in front of the camera. When the Fulguria is in place, press the red button on the table. This will cause the Fulgeria t?o bloom!

It’s worth noting that there are two secret achievements you can get at this camera. The first requires you to create the wrong flash powder, then use it. The second requires you to take a picture of a f??lower th??at isn’t the Fulgeria.

But the Fulgeria is far from the last flower we’ll need to see bloom. Here’s how to grow the mysterious Ash Plume and the Pixie Tears.

The post How to Grow the Fulguria in Botany Manor appeared first on Destructoid.

The Ash Plume is our hardest challenge yet. Here’s how to get the Ash Plume to bloom in Botany Manor.

How to Grow the Ash Plume in Botany Manor

The Ash Plume is one of those flowers that makes you work for its blooms. If you want the quick and easy solution for growing the Ash Plume, you’ll need to germinate it on the stove in the kitchen, then place it in the smoke room while using oak logs. But ??if ?you want a more in-depth description, read on.

First, we’ll need to collect seven clues.

• Clue 1: Dartmoor Poster. On the wall in the screens passage.
• Clue 2: Pyrophiles. On the side table in the screens passage.
• Clue 3: Seed Log. Found in the back terrace on the table with the Ash Plume seeds.
• Clue 4: Cooking Book. Found on the large table in the center of the kitchen.
• Clue 5: Dartmoor Lecture. Found in the kitchen on the table against the far wall.
• Clue 6: Poem. Found on the wall in the Servants Hall.
• Clue 7: Smoke Book. Found in the kitchen garden beside the smokery.

From clue 2, the Pyrophile book we found in the screens passage, we learn that the Ash Plume seed will only bloom when surrounded by smoke in the natural habitat. And to find out the Ash Plume’s natural habitat, you’ll need to go to the back terrace, where you can find its seeds.

If you don’t have access to the back terrace yet, go to the drawing room where you’ll find the camera. If you’ve already had the Fulguria blossom, you’ll be v?ery well acquainted with this room. The back terrace key is in the bowl behind the writing desk.

Once you have the key, head into the back terrace and down the stairs. You’ll find a small table that will have both the Ash Plume seeds and the third clue, the Seed Logs. Here, Arabella will note that she found the Ash Plume Seeds in Wistman’s Wood. This is a location that’s actually described on clue 1, the Dartmoor Poster.

Continue through the back terrace until you reach the gazebo that overlooks the river. Here, you’ll find the kitchen key in a bowl. The kitchen is opposite the back terrace door, so head back to the house. But before you do, pot an Ash Plume seed and bring it with you.

Once you’re inside the kitchen, make a beeline to the island and the cookbook. This is our fourth clue, and it tells us something significant: hard shells can be cracked by fire. Place the Ash Plume pot on the pan above the fire. This will cause the seed to germinate.

Pick up the pot and head into the closed room beside the oven. Look right and you’ll find clue six on the wall. There’s only one light that’s impor??tant to us, and it’s the first one. “The ancient oaks stand tall in Wistman’s Wood�

Take your pot and head up the stairs in the servants�hall to find the smoke shack on the far left and back. Place the pot on the plate in the smokery, then return to the door that leads you to the servants�hall. Here, you’ll find wood stacked and divided by type. Select oak, on the far left. Bring it back to the smokery and place the wood in the coal-filled hole in the ground. The Ash Plume will then bloom! And while that was quite challenging, I think the Pixie Tears flower was even harder!

The post How to Grow the Ash Plume in Botany Manor appeared first on Destructoid.

Despite its name, the Pixie Tears flower is all sugar. Here’s how to grow Pixie Tears in Botany Manor.

How to Grow Pixie Tears in Botany Manor

Once you reach the orchards, you’ll have a brand-new flower to discover: the Pixie Tears! If you want the quick solution on how to get it to bloom, use the Knobby Russet, Kingston Black, and Lord Peckover at the press with the Pixie Tears on the nearby stan??d. But if you’d like a more in-depth description, read on.

First, we’ll need to collect five clues.

• Clue 1: Pot Notes. Found in the shed in the orchard.
• Clue 2: Microscope Slides. Beneath the overhand in the orchard. Open the suitcase.  
• Clue 3: Chloroplast Book. Beneath the overhand in the orchard. On the table.

One of the most important clues for unraveling the Pixie Tears�secret is the first one. Head right from the orchard’s entrance and you’ll see a wooden shack. Enter it, and you’ll find the Pixie Tear seeds on the left counter and clue one, pot notes on the right. These notes are important because it tells you that for a standard pot, you’ll need 97 grams of extra nutrition.

Head to the shaded porch-like area opposite the gazebo and you’ll find a table. Open the suitcase and inspect the slide third to the right to find the Pixie Tears slide. Inspect the book on Chloroplasts and you’ll find an image that’s identical to the Pixie Tears cells. From this, we can glean that the Pixie Tears flower needs sugar to grow.

From the porch, head left, and through the closed door to get to the cider press area. Inspect the counter on the right and find the Apple Blending note. Here, we can see how much sugar content each apple has. Because we need to add 97 grams of sugar to the Pixie Tears flower pot, we’ll need to find a combination of apples that will ????reach that. There are multiple options, but I used the following:

• Knobby Russet â€?40 G
• Kingston Black â€?35 G
• Lord Peckover â€?22 G

Now that we know what apples we want to use, head over to the wall to the left to see an infographic that shows apple images and their names. Memorize the three apples you need, then look around the counters to find them. You can only carry one apple at a time, so when you’ve found one you need, put it on the stone press. Next, place your pot of Pixie Tears beneath the cider pressesâ€?spout and turn the handle. If you find that the combination of apples I gave you doesnâ€?™t work, double check that you used the Lord Peckover apple and not the Seymour’s Delight. They look very similar!

Now, while we’re in the orchard, it’s a good time to tackle one of the most challenging flowers yet: the Wolfglove! Or perhaps you missed a clue for the Ash Plume, like I first did?

The post How to Grow Pixie Tears in Botany Manor appeared first on Destructoid.

The most difficult flower to unravel in chapter three of Botany Manor ?is u?ndoubtedly the Wolfglove. Here’s how to get the Wolfglove to blossom.

How to grow the Wolfglove in Botany Manor

The Wolfglove is challenging not just because of the conditions it needs, but because of how hard it is to make those conditions happen. But if you want the quick and easy solution, simply put the Wolfglove flower on the fourth floor of the tower in the orchard grounds, following the fifth test research instructions. For a more ?thorough explanation, read on.

First, we’ll need to collect seven clues.

• Clue 1: Letter from Builder. Found on the path up to the tower in the orchard.
• Clue 2: Tower Wind Research. Found on the table outside the orangery.
• Clue 3: Alpine Exploration. Found on the table outside the orangery.
• Clue 4: Letter about Alps. Found in the orangery, following the railing to the end.
• Clue 5: Envelope with Stamp. Found in the orangery, following the railing to the end, inside the bowl.
• Clue 6: Coin Collection. Found at the bottom of the orangery, on a side table.
• Clue 7: Nursery Rhyme. On a side table beside toys and a bench at the orchard entrance.

So we can gather quite a few clues before we even touch the Wolfglove seeds. It’s a good idea to do that before we fix the broken stairs. All the clues, except the nursery rhyme, will be either inside or outside of the orangery. The ??most important clues are clue 1, clue 2 clue 4, and clue 5. For now, pay close attention to clue 5, the envelope with the stamp. Memorize the ram image?? in the top right.

Once you’ve gathered all the clues in the orangery, grab the painting room key in the bowl beside the back terrace door. Then, open the back terrace door to permanently unlock this passage. Head back into the manor proper and turn immediately left to open the painting room. Examine the desk and you’ll learn two things: there are some straight weights in the kitchen and some information about religious symbolism. Before you leave the room, note the blueprint of the manor on the wall and the year the manor was made: 1593.

Head to the kitchen and examine the Religious Blessing on the wall. The last verse is the most important. It reads, “To those who serve the lord, who seek their sanctuary, remember the year of construction, for this, friends, is they key� With this knowledge in hand, turn left and enter the side storage room?? off the kitchen.

You’ll find weights and a scale against the w?all. Put the following weights on the scale:

• 1 OZ
• 5 OZ
• 9 OZ
• 3 OZ

This will create the year of construction, as we saw on the blueprints. The door will then slide open to reveal a hidden passage and sanctuary. This was a priest hole, and we can follow it to reach the bottom of the orangery. Now that you’re at the bottom, you can collect the Wolfglove seeds and find two clues. The most essential clue is the coin collection. Look at the collection to the left of the door you came through, then find the one with the ram that matches the stamp on the letter about the alps clue. Flip it over, and you’ll find that the ram represents Mount Weisshorn.

We can now go back to the top of the orangery and re-examine clue 2, Alpine Exploration, to see the Wolfglove’s preferred wind speed. That speed is 40f/s. With that in mind, look at the book just to right of the Alpine Exploration sheet to Tower Wind Research. The diagram that shows 40 f/s is test 5/6. Note the window placement.

• Floor 1 â€?Window half open.
• Floor 2 â€?Window closed.
• Floor 3 â€?Window open.
• Floor 4 â€?Window open.

With this in mind, pot ?your Wolfglove seed and take it to the old tower. Place it on the plate, then use the lever to move up and down the floor. Interact with the windows so that it follows the placem??ent listed above. Fun fact, if you take the lift all the way to the top, you get a secret achievement. If you did the window placement correctly, the Wolfglove will bloom. Nice!

But if you’re not done with chapter three yet, you might want to check out how to unravel the mystery of the Pixie Tears next. Or perhaps you’re ready for the next challenge: the Sapphire Gloom.

The post How to grow the Wolfglove in Botany Manor appeared first on Destructoid.

Though it's not a part of the apparently premiere tier of Triple-I I??nitiative of indie games, the all-new SWAT door-kicking strategy No Plan B already enjoys some acclaim on Steam.

Having just released its 1.0 build, No Plan B affords ample customization and infinite replayability, as per the developer. No Plan B is, indeed, a rogue-lite indie, albeit it does take a wholly different approach to this niche than most other indies do. Notably, No Plan B has fixed, albeit entirely randomized door-breaching missions set up into campaigns that players need to wrap up in one go. If your operatives are wounded or downed, they remain in that state until the campaign is wrapped up, upping the ante a fair bit. The Steam release tra?iler illustrates the point of the game very well.

No Plan B is available on Steam as of today

What's really enticing about No Plan B is that the game got acclaim from the developer of Door Kickers 2: Task Force North, which some consider to be the very pinnacle of this niche. According to the review, No Plan B is "the next best thing since Door Kickers 2, and [the developer in question, Vulpe Nebuna] made Door Kickers 2. Seriously, it's very cool!"

Many players specifically praise No Plan B's timeline tool, which allows you to time your squad's movements and actions to an extreme level. Further, the timeline also has dedicated features that make it easy to do several things simultaneously or use one squad member's movement as a trigger for another squad member to do something else. "We totally need to steal that timeline thing," said the Door Kickers 2 developer.

No Plan B was in Early Access for about two years before its 1.0 release, and its key features include the aforementioned timeline tool, extremely in-depth character and weapon customization, a powerful set of modding tools, and heaps more. Certainly, the game's generic-looking low-poly visuals are emblematic of its indie roots, but there's merit to No Plan B for sure, and the game is currently sitting at a 'Very Positive' review rating? on Steam, w??ith over 350 players having left a review so far.

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As if the gaming industry wasn't going through enough already, one of the studios behind the beloved Life Is Strange series, Deck Nine Games, issued today's latest round of layoffs. The studio's a?nnouncement was issued on the heels of others today, like PlayStation, and yesterday with developer Supermassive.

According to an announcement from Deck Nine Games' official Twitter, 20 percent of their staff were let go due to the "worsening market conditions." This isn't the first time the studio has gone through something like this, either. In 2023, Deck Nine laid off 30 employees, with others still at the company reporting s??ome team leads at the studio offered up t??heir own jobs to save other staff.

Deck Nine Games' Game Director, Stephan Frost, explained on Twitter that "leadership took paycuts" in an effort to avoid as many layoffs as possible. But, desp??ite the team's strong foundation, it wasn't enough to reduce it entirely.

The impacted team members were responsible for the follow-up titles to Life Is Strange, like Before the Storm and True Colors, and the latest addition of TellTale's The Expanse. More recently, Deck Nine revisited the original game, branching o??ff with a remastered collection recapping the heart-wrenching tales that first began with Max and Chloe. Unfortunately, the studio's history of producing emotional, personal journies shared with millions alongside the legacy of LIS creators, Dontnod, did not protect workers in a time of rampant, industry-wide layoffs.

Sony has also announced another surge of layoffs today, cutting over 900 employ??ees across PlayStation. Combined with this and Deck Nine Games' recent events, 2024 is definitely off to a bad start, including the cu?tbacks made with Activision Blizzard and Xbox.

It isn't quite clear what the future holds for Deck Nine Games and the people remaining at companies impacted, but hopefully, there's still a ?light at?? the end of the tunnel.

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If you're a fan of the Mega Man Zero series but always thought it was a tad slow, you'll want to keep an eye on Berserk Boy. The action-platformer from the appropriately-named BerserkBoy Games is coming to Ni??ntendo Switc?h and PC on March 6. 

Ahead of its release, the devs have shared a new trailer that confirms the launch d??ate and shows off a bunch of fast-paced action. Throw in a mix of Saturday morning anime cinematics and you have a pretty compelling reason to go berserk yourself.

Berserk Boy is Mega Man meets Sonic the Hedgehog

True to its inspirations, which appear to range from the Mega Man series to Sonic the Hedgehog, Berserk Boy ticks all the expected bullet points. There's jumping, dashing, and sliding. There are different abilities to harness and toggle between, including Lightning, Fire, Earth, Air, and Ice. There's even a mad scientist and his "army of darkness" to contend with. I'm a simple man, I don't ask for much more of a setup th?an that.&nbs?p;

The tunes have a solid pedigree to them, too. The Berserk Boy soundtrack comes from Tee Lopes, known for work on Streets of Rage 4, Sonic Mania, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, and more. The real standout for me, though, is the speed. It looks like there's a nice mix of combo-chaining, acrobatic challenges and, of course, rail-sliding. We'll see if it lives up to all the games that paved the way for it when Berserk Boy lands this March.  

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In the year 2024, a new Castlevania-like title is coming our?? way - for the Game Boy Color.

Coming to us courtesy of Incube8 Games and the development team at Spacebot Interactive, Dracula: Dark Reign is unique in that it's the first video game ever to be equipped with the Stoker license. Bram Stoker published his iconic novel Dracula in 1897.

Bram's great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker created the StokerVerse label alongside his partner Chris McAuley. The duo aims to publish games, comics, and novels under the Sto??kerVerse banner. Each of these is inspired by the works of Bram Stoker.

Because Dark Reign sports the StokerVerse license, it's able to take a deep dive into the world of the 1897 novel. Players will take on the role of the story's protagonist, Jonathan Harker, as he attempts to escape the vampire's castle. The upcoming Game Boy Color Metroidvania title even features a?? never-before-seen prologue to the original ?book that's pulled from Bram Stoker's personal notes.

Incube8 Games promises a "unique blend of storytelling, exploration, and action" within Dracula: Dark Reign??. All of whic?h is based on Stoker's source material from many, many years ago.

Dracula: Dark Reign makes its physical Game Boy Color cartridge debut in 2024 for $59.99. A future Digital Edition is also planned that will be playable via PC or Mac emulators. A demo is available for players to try out on the Dracula: Dark Reign demo page.

The post A Castlevania-style Bram Stoker’s Dracula game is coming to Game Boy Color appeared first on Destructoid.

The developers behind 2D platformer Hardcore Mecha have a new game on the way, and this one is taking a tactical turn. The latest from RocketPunch Games, Anomaly Collapse, is described as a turn-based ro?guelite strategy game. Following in-progress previews on social media, you can see what that entails below.

The trailer puts character designs on display with a dash of humor and a peek at the gameplay. Set on a "one-dimensional battlefield grid," Anomaly Collapse emphasizes making the most out of what little ?movement you have. You can flank, backstab, and get up close a??nd personal with your opponents, but the key lies in "abnormalities."

Critical gains

The furry fighters on the frontlines can equip these abnormalities over the course of the game to enhance abi?lities. These include both active and passive effects depending ??on what you discover. Using them at the right time can turn the tide of battle, so it sounds like a pretty crucial component to the overall strategy.

Beyond the wrinkles that abnormalities introduce, the battlefield itself can change when you least expect it. From literally shifting planes to incoming objects and projectiles, these changes will force players to think fast. If this sounds interesting, the official Twitter has been sharing everything from character art to gameplay clips for the past year. There's currently no date in place for Anomaly Collapse, but it's on the way to PC and a Steam page is live. 

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Unexpected Studios has announced that their co-op furniture building game KallaX will release on PC September 18, 2023.

I don’t know why prefabricated furniture instructions sometimes tell you to work with a partner because building furniture together is one of the quickest ways to drive someone to desperate ends. When we moved a few years ago, my husband and I bought a lot of Ikea furniture, and it’s amazing that we’re still together. However, near the end of it, I was quietly assembling media centers by myself in the other room.

KallaX, for some reason, is attempting to replicate that experience endlessly in a co-op video game format. You play as little space men who must work together to gather parts and assemble furniture to ship out. It’s one part Overcooked and two parts malicious intent. It’s the whole experie??nce: instructions, construction, and violent urges.

I usually bring these sorts of games to play with my parents and test their 40-some years of marriage. After all those years, my father has become an expert at annoying my mother, and it has never stopped being funny. Unfortunately, the current release is PC only. It’s a lot harder to gather people around my computer monitor, and while there are options to stream to my TV, I’m not lugging my PC to my parents�house. Hopefully, a console port will follow, but for now, KallaX will have an online co-op if you feel com?fortable playing with people outside the range of a good, motivating c?harlie horse.

KallaX releases for PC on September 18, 2023.

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The sequel to 2018's highly acclaimed arcade racer Horizon Chase Turbo has officially launched on PC and the Nintendo Switch, though many might've missed this due to its Epic Games Store exclusivity. Indeed, the king of free game giveaways has scored yet another exclusivity deal, following a relatively long period of not going after them. The last high-profile Epic exclusive was Dead Island 2, discounting the variety of Ubisoft titles that are specifically avoiding Steam, ?but this time, it makes sense that it's happening.

Notably, Epic Games acquired the Horizon Chase developer, Aquiris, earlier in 2023. Given that he studio had previously released Horizon Chase 2 on mobile ??phones with plans to rele??ase it on the Switch and PC later on, it was rather easy to see the writing on the wall.

Horizon Chase 2 is unlikely to release on Steam

The availability of a solidly reviewed new arcade racing game on PC is great news, but the fact that Epic had previously acquired the developer means it's not going to be coming to Steam - or any other PC gaming platform, for that matter - anytime soon. In and of itself, this isn't necessarily a huge deal for Aquiris' desktop audiences, but it does mean installing it on, say, the Steam Deck, won't be as straightforward as it?? could've been.

This puts Horizon Chase 2 in the same situation as the upcoming Alan Wake 2. Remedy Entertainment's new flagship is due to launch in late October, and it too will be an Epic Store exclusive. The situation is particularly interesting as Epic decided to fund the development of the game in the first place, meaning that Alan Wake 2 wouldn'??t even be a thing without the company's involvement.

Epic Games Store exclusivity isn't as big of a deal in 2023 as it was?? when the company first started putting its foot into the PC game store market, but it may well end up being an issue for some gamers still, depending on how easy or hard they find it to juggle multiple game launchers around.

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The inexorable charms of Lil Gator Game are officially making their way to P?layStation and Xbox platforms. Playtonic Friends and developer Me?gaWobble confirmed plans for the ports, which will launch on October 10, 2023. Newly supported platforms include PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. 

Those who pick up the PlayStation or Xbox versions will get access to the full game and the new content that dropped on Switch and Steam last mo?nth. That includes New Game+ mode, as well as the "baby mode" that's accessible from the main menu. 

An updated trailer is here for a refresher on the adventure game that emphasizes joyful exploration.? The preview offers another look at the game's quaint action and playful sense of fun. 

A view to a chill

In addition to the main content, Playtonic provided details on the presentation of the ports. Lil Gator Game will run in 4k on PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 5, Xbox One X, and Xbox Series X. It will be 1080p on Pla?yStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox One S, and 1440p on Xbox Series S. All of the PlayStation and Xbox versions will also run at 60fps. 

With less than a month to go before the October 10 launch, the PlayStation and Xbox store pages are now live for Lil Gator Game. Those who long for bygone days of wide-eyed exploration and want an experience that goes light on pressure might find it to be a quiet delight. 

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Total Mayhem Games has announced that We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip, the next game in their series of co-op?? puzzle tit?les, is dropping now. Right now. It’s on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms, and it’s also free until October 13.

The Friendship is the first in Total Mayhem Games�bite-sized subseries, We Were Here Expeditions. These are meant to be shorter, more casual co-op experiences. According to the press release, “The FriendShip offers a more casual experience where the focus lies not on escaping but on having fun together and testing the strength of your friendship.�/p>

The plot involves two explorers finding an abandoned amusement park on a deserted island. Amusement parks are at their best when they’re aba?ndoned because there are no lines or people. 

I haven’t played any of the We Were Here games. Mainly because I’m a socially awkward misanthrope, and I don’t have a consistent co-op partner. Plus, playing a co-op game takes scheduling, and humans are my least favorite people. I’d be much more down with a concept like “I Was Here.�Which, as it turns out, there is a game called I Was Here, and it doesn’t look so hot. So maybe I’d just be better off trying to tolerate the presence of another person for We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip.

We Were Here Expeditions: The Friendship is available right now for Xbox One, P??S4, and PC. It’s free until October 13, 2023.

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But who is the dreamer?

There is no shortage of games that claim Twin Peaks as a primary inspiration, but the legendary TV multimedia experience is yet to take the leap into a full game adaptation. And it's not out of a lack of interest in the medium from its creators. Twin Peaks writer and director David Lynch once started to work on a game that would continue the series called Woodcutters From Fiery Ships, and Mark Frost, Twin Peak's co-writer, met with the creators of Link's Awakening to give them a few ideas.

Then in 2019, both of them signed off on a Twin Peaks VR project, though it's more of a collection of interactive sets than a full game. Anything where you get to play as leads Dale Cooper or Laura Palmer, interact with other characters from the show, ?and work to solve any of it's many mysteries, has yet to materialize in all the years since the show's debut in 1990.

The Blue Rose Team is looking to fix that problem with a short PS1-style demo game based on the franchise. Like the original Resident Evil, it uses fixed camera angles to establish the strong sense of place, and the occasional moment of disorientation, that is part and parcel of any true Twin Peaks experience. Playing it is less like a stressful, survival horror romp and more like a point-and-click adventure, which also makes a lot of sense. Though the show and corresponding movie had some action scenes, the heroes of Twin Peaks are more likely to so??lve their problems through d??eduction and communication than gunshots and stabbings.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhSUEChBu74

The aesthetics are also a perfect fit for the subject matter. Like with the City of Lost Children for the PS1, taking Lynch and Frost's uncanny reality to low-poly character models and stiff-but-fluid animations just makes sense. After all, this is a show where people regularly m?ove and speak backward and then reverse their actions. Being transformed into some simple geometric shapes before skating around a sherif?f's office with tank controls is not the wei??rdest thing most of these folks have ever done.

After having played the demo, in all its FMV cut scene glory, I was immediately left wanting more, which is exactly what Twin Peaks is supposed to do to a person. Seeing as the two primary musical artists behind the show, and many of its beloved actors, died after Twin Peaks: The Return was released in 2017, continuing in live-action without them wouldn't really be Twin Peaks anymore. But in games, dreams can be?come reality, and people can live forever.

Let's Rock.

The post Twin Peaks: Into The Night is a fan’s dream game appeared first on Destructoid.

Games have CHAINGED

Anthology games are not my thing. I just can’t get into DreadX titles and prefer to take my short-form narrative experiences à la carte. The concept itself, however, is rad as hell, which is demonstrated by CHAINGED. The overarching idea is that a buttload of developers all contributed short experiences that make up a choose-your-own-adventure. It’s like Give Yourself Goosebumps? books, ??except sometimes it’s a disturbing version of animal crossing.

CHAINGED was organized by Andrew Pype and consists of a heaping helping of the HauntedPS1 Community. However, the real draw here ?is just how unhinged things can get. Each developer w?as only given the context of the games preceding theirs in the branch and wasn’t allowed to communicate with one another. The result is extremely unique.

[caption id="attachment_384838" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Antichrist on a tidal wave

You play as Catherine, who finds herself at the end of the world. She clings to the last precious possession she has: her daughter, Lucy. Unfortunately, L??ucy is snatched away by the Antichrist, an??d Catherine turns to her good friend Chronos for help. Her plan is to travel back in time and prevent the Antichrist from ever happening.

Your first choice is a whole lot of nothing. You get to choose whether you travel to Wyoming or Kyoto with no guidance on which one makes more sense. The choices from there, however, get a little more clear-cut. Do you fight tooth and nail, or do you seek help and cut a deal? It’s always a binary choice, though one is not obviously meant to be “good�and the other “bad.�Often, both decisions suck, but you just have to choose the one that might suck the least.

Whatever you choose, you’re dropped into a game that could be any genre. First-person games are well-represented, but you’ll also find?? games that lean more toward RPGs or even rail shooters. None of them are particularly deep, nor are they very long, but that’s kind of the point of the whole experience.

[caption id="attachment_384843" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The CHAIN gang

I initially chose a route that wound up turning me into some kind of time god. That’s pretty cool. Once you’ve reached a conclusion somewhere along the chain, you can view the whole string of games and choose a different branch. You can replay games, but if you just want to skip ahead to the decision-making, there’s the option to fast forward. One of the best parts of CHAINGED? is the ease with which you can explore new na?rratives.

CHAINGED is the sequel to a previous anthology simply called CHAIN. CHAIN was a linear experience with the same idea of having different developers forge ahead in a narrative using incomplete knowledge of what’s going on. The choice-based progression in CHAINGED is not only structurally more interesting, but it also means that if you hit a game that isn’t as well executed as the others ??(it happens), you can choose another direction and hit a conclusion elsewhere. You can then easily return to the link that you backed out of and try again.

The downside to the format is that I don’t feel it really highlights the developers involved all that well. While the final product is compelling as a whole, the inset games are too short and simple to really get a f?eel for a creator’s approach. I was more excited to see folks that I recognized, but I don’t think I came away with any new back catalogs to dig through.

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Communal toil

It’s great to see communal art projects become more widespread in video games. ??Considering any singular creator is a mash of focuses, perspectives, and skills, seeing them all directly compare in a singular context is always interesting. I also like to see it evolve past simple themed anthologies and into cohesive narratives.

I sort of wish that the package was similarly cohesive, however. Really, CHAINGED is a launch platform. Every time you select one of the nodes along the chain, it launches a separate executable, possibly in a completely different resolution. I imagine compiling them all into a singular executable would be extremely ti??me-consuming, and CHAINGED is offered for free, so it’s something not worth complaining about. My capture program just really hated it, so I couldn’t record video of it. Whatever.

Oh, wait. It recorded. But it saved it under Stealth Inc. 2: A Game of Clones. That's weird. I wonder why that is.

Anyway. As I mentioned, CHAINGED is free, and while there’s a lot of content to sift through, it can be easily put down and picked back up later. It’s a well-executed concept and a great showcase for the community’s talent, even if the format make?s it difficult for any of them to stand out. It’s exactly the sort of thin??g that reminds me of why I love this community.

The post C?HAINGED strings tog??ether haunted games in a horrifying anthology appeared first on Destructoid.

Past nastification

Do you feel like you need to kick your cooking up several notches? Have you considered traveling back in time and stealing all the recipes your ancestors used to kill their hearts and teeth? I bet you have! Thankfully, A Time Traveller’s Guide to Past Delicacies is here to help you make that a reality.

Produced by Fantasia Malware and developed by Gabriel Helfenstein, A Time Traveller’s Guide to Past Delicacies is an educational game where puppets from the present tea??ch you how to steal and cook food from the past. It’s the sort of game that I can o??nly accurately describe by screaming until my vocal cords tear while I struggle against the bindings of my straight jacket.

So, I will do that.

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Captain Cooooolimbus

I’m going to need a minute to classify A Time Traveller’s Guide to Past Delicacies. Here we go. It’s a, uh, FMV game mixed with lo-fi pop-jank. During most of the gameplay, you’ll see a screen showing instructions from one of the game’s puppets. This initially is set up where you manipulate objects with bad physics to cook food, but every so often, it breaks from that and has you play someth?ing that resembles a game but really isnâ€?™t.

The first moment of this has you collecting ingredients on an abstract playfield before murderi??ng your ancestor. Later, you’re put in first-person exploration sequences where you need to seek out recipes and s??nap photographs of them.

Then it starts getting weird.

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Maybe some message

According to the itch page for A Time Traveller’s Guide to Past Delicacies, “This game as been made for the first edition of Fantasia Malware Presents, an event showcasing games and performances in Berlin.�Despite this, I feel like you can get the ful?l effect just playing it yourself. In fact, I have no idea what value other people watching would really add to it. It’s a self-contained narrative tha??t plays out with simple input from your bad self. It doesn’t need any input from the audience.

It’s a short experience. It will probably last about 20 minutes unless you get snagged on the somewhat unusual cooking challenges. There’s maybe some message in here about cultural appropriation, but I’m not sure A Time Traveller’s Guide to Past Delicacies is interested in much more than riffing off the soft science behind time travel. And it does that well whil??e being nauseatingly intriguing.

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Universal language

A Time Traveller’s Guide to Past Delicacies is another Web 1.0 nightmare, similar to Suburban Basketball or the slightly more mainstream Hypnospace Outlaw. I feel these sorts of games, and the aesthetic in ?general, is something that either speaks to you or doesn’t. I don’t wa??nt to believe that, though. I’d prefer to believe that games like this just know how to peel back our mortal scalps and stick their tongues deep into our instinctual grey matter. A long-forgotten universal language, once spoken to us by the Elder Ones.

In any case, A Time Traveller’s Guide to Past Delicacies is available for free (or any amount you think it’s worth) on itch.io. If you feel like finding out if this is the straw tha?t breaks the mental bridge that keeps you connected to reality, you don’t have much to lose.

The post Learn to cook from time puppets in A Time Traveller’s Guide to Past Delicacies appeared first on Destructoid.

The true meaning of wrestling

If there’s two things I love, it’s wrestling and cuddling. Both of these things are already very adjacent, but Wrestling With Emotions: New Kid on the Block is looking to flying elbow-drop? them into one sexy package.

The sequel to Team Lazerbeam’s 2016 indie title, Wrestling With Emotions: New Kid on the Block looks to continue the team’s weird?? take on love and suplexes, and it’s everything I want it to be. It’s got meat, it has all types of hunks, and it’s about rugged embraces and tender smooches. It’s what wrestling is all about!

And now, there’s a demo, and after playing it, I can confirm that t????his is the next big thing in big things.

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Yeah! Beef!

Wrestling With Emotions: New Kid on the Block has you following your dreams to become a greased-up grapple-person. You’re then thr??ust directly between the meatiest muscle cuties this side of the ropes. It’s then up to you to train yourself to train your MEAT (Muscle, Elegance, Attitude, and Theatrics) to become a real contender in the squared circle. Also, maybe there’s love in there, as well. It’s kind of ambiguous about that.

The demo guides you through applying to Wrestling With Emotions (the WWE), gives you a bit of training, then sends you to Cuddle Mania to stand on the sidelines of people better than you. I really don’t think I can talk about Wrestling With Emotions: New Kid on the Block without putting some gravel in my voice and flexing cont?inually.

Yeah! Brother! Ungh!

You get to design your wrestle-person and their gimmick. Furthermore, you outline your own strengths and what makes you awesome. Wrestling With Emotions: New Kid on the Block knows that we’re all just tightly concealed bags of beef and feelings, so you pick your pronouns and what your meat l???ooks like.

Argh! Yeah! C’mon!

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Cuppa coffee in the big time, YEAH!

Effective and punchy writing puts the ripples in Wrestling With Emotions: New Kids on the Block’s abdominals. Its bizarre world and setting really oils its muscles. But th?e demo also gives a hot slice of its gameplay pizza.

Rather than being a simple visual novel, you’ve got to train your suplex machine. To do this, the demo has ??you judging music samples and painting your nails. You’re given a surprising amount of freedom, and these little asides show that there’s more than narrative to this bout.

Additionally, everybody and everything is absolutely beautiful, with wrestlers being an explosion of the nacho-cheese �0s. The characters look ri??pped from the pages of an extremely awesome teenager’s notebook margins. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if you should be disgusted or enamored. This means there’s one word for it: Captivated! Ung!

The demo is about 30-45 minutes?? long, but I couldn't stop ??taking screenshots. Woo! I have so many!

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Ung! C'mon! Woo!

I’ve had my eye on Wrestling With Emotions: New Kids on the Block for a while now, and I’m glad to see that it’s already pumping up to pile-drive us with?? good times. C’mon! Yeah, brother!

I couldn’t find any indication of a release date for Wrestling With Emotions: New Kids on the Block, nor does there look to be any platforms planned beyond PC. Thankfully I haven’t played the original yet, which is available on itch.io. So rather than running m??y mouth here, I’ll drop that one on the mat, then frog splash myself all over it in the meantime.

Yeah! Oh, yeah! Brother!

The post Wrestling With Emotions: New Kid on the Block is a well-oiled body… I mean, game appeared first on Destructoid.

I wish there was a hole I could just crawl into and die

One of the titles that had the greatest impact on my consciousness in the past few years was Happy’s Humble Burger Farm. What seemed like a novel concept on the surface turn?ed out to have a lot of beef underneath. Centering a horror game around cooking is engrossing enough, but it then gets tied up in interesting ways and dunked into an unconventional world full of mystery and horror. The narrative tells the story of trying to escape from an obvious simula??tion, but the world in which this simulation exists is an entity worth exploring on its own.

Immediately after stepping into the game, you’re hit from all sides with flavor lore. The TV plays an almost unending list of shows, the coffee table prominently displays a book on the history of the Barnyard Buds, and a Walkman sits nearby to fill your ears with radio skits that inject fat into the world around you. None of it is necessary to understand Happy’s Humble Burger Farm’s main plot, but act?ually digging through it is a trip on its own.

It’s obvious someone really loves the lore and creating it because there’s a lot more of it than a five-ish hour game really needs. That’s because the Scythe Saga Universe is a sprawling concept originally dreamed up by?? Jon of the Shred (Jon Reilly) back in 2005. I wanted to get to know more about where this came from, so I got in touch and talked shop. Now I’m sharing that shop with you.

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Beef underneath

The Scythe Saga Universe didn’t actually originate as an idea for a video game. It was a world to base a rock opera in. “I’ve been developing all of this stuff personally since 2005 when I was just a teenager developing a rock opera,�Jon told me. “I kinda wanted all my music to be set in its own world. That ballooned out into a record label in 2012. My buddy Kaleb joined, and when he joined, he brought art and music of his own to the table. It was me and him that went forward and started a dev team with his childhood friend Blake, but it was the three of us making games that really made it a universe. Before that, it was just concept albums, like what if Dark Side of the Moon had 90 sequels.�/p>

The short-form horror genre has taken off recently, carving a niche within a niche. Most of the time, the inspiration comes from horror movies themselves. Chillah’s Art stays in line with Japanese horror, while Puppet Combo loves their grotesque �0s slashers. While there is some of that inspiration, especially in Scythe’s Northbury Grove games, it’s less identifiable in Happy’s Humble Burger Farm.

“A really good comparison point is Mortal Kombat because of how they take so many different genres, and they manage to wrap it into their own unique take on how all this stuff could co-exist.�With mystical monks, sorcerors, movie stars, monsters, and special ops, the Mortal Kombat series does manage to juggle a lot of different genres. “I just really like how they’re able to connect so many different types of stuff that I love and create their own universe for it. It all feels earned.�/p>

With slasher killers, evil corporations, and even a defined solar system to explore, the Scythe mythos already offers opportunity to a lot of different interests. For the DreadX Collection, Scythe Dev Team provided Carthanc, a game about futuristic archeology. It was set thousands of years after another game of theirs, To the End of Days, which depicted the end of the titular world, Carthanc. This is depicted as a completely different planet in the same solar system that Happy’s Humble Burger Farm takes place on. In HHBF, and even as far back as Northbury Grove, you can f?ind mention of it within dia??grams of the solar system.

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Goldeneye meets Twisted Metal

Despite the grandness and depth of the Scythe universe, you don’t need to have knowledge of it to understand the plot of the individual games. Happy’s Humble Burger Farm is about escaping a simulation. What happened in the earlier title, Happy’s Humble Burger Barn, may be directly connected, but the important details are given to you, and playing the previous game just means you have a wider insight into what’s happening. “I like to reward people with that deep lore if t??hey’re paying attention, but it’s not necessary to fully enjoy the experience. They’re all standalone as well.

“The universe was so expansive that, by the time we started making video games, any genre we wanted to cover already existed in a pocket of this universe.�According to Mr. Of the Shred, Happy’s Humble Burger Barn started off as a first-person vehicular combat game. �i>Goldeneye meets Twisted Metal.�Which somehow morphed into “a drive-thru at a restaurant.�After the gameplay, Kaleb and Blake brought Jon in to “tie it into the Universe and make it scary.�/p>

In many ways, it sounds a bit like creating a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, where there are certain standards and places to draw from for whatever story you want to tell. The big difference here is that Scythe Dev Team is drawing from lore that they themselves cr??eate??d.

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Sticking with you

In terms of inspiration, Jon doesn’t turn to video games. “For my writing, my music, my sound design, I’m more inspired by film.�He specifically mentions director John Carpenter as a big draw. Despite that, Scythe Dev Team tries to invoke the sense of exploration found in games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, where there’s a sense of? ??wonderment at what’s unfolding around you.

Jon follows through to the extent that he doesn’t play other short-form indie developments like those from Puppet Combo. “I don’t go out of my way to play these games ‘cause I don’t want to get inspiration from them or take their ideas inspiration from them.�/p>

I brought up the similarities between Happy’s Humble Burger Farm and Five Nights at Freddy’s. Notably, they’re set in restaurants where you’re harrowed by mascots. I asked if he played them. “What’s funny is no,�he said. “I never played any of them. I don’t know if anyone else [at Scythe Dev Team] did. When Tinybuild picked us up for Burger Farm, they told us, ‘You should use these mascots; why wouldn’t you?�and we were, like, ‘Yeah, okay, if you’re telling us it’s a good idea, we’re going to go with it.’�/p>

“Kaleb came up with Happy, and I came up with the rest of the Barnyard Buds based on that. My inspiration was The Animals of Farthing Wood, which is some old cartoon where the animals die viciously. It’s like Walking Dead meets Winnie the Pooh. It’s really strange.�He went on to mention Plague Dogs, Watership Down, Bambi, Land Before Time, Lion King. “They all had dark subject matter that would make them stick with you.�/p>

“That was the Barnyard Buds. The whole joke was that meets McDonald’s.�/p>

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The Scythian Future

Beyond the games, Scythe Dev Team does a lot of augmented reality game stuff. There are numerous in-character sites related to the universe, including Maverick Cooper News and Justice for Toe. They’re currently leading into their next game, Project Meganet, which is to be a VR title. To help with this, they’re gradually releasing microgames in a series such as Love at First Squeak.

I don’t have VR, so that kind of sucks for me. However, it’s not going to be the end of the Scythe sage. “The whole universe �the games �will all eventually come to a head, and everything will connect in ways that people don’t expect,�Jon explains. “There is a storyline that we’re following for the greater universe that we’ve alluded to so much, but no one would possibly know it’s going to happen until we do the big twist to contextualize all the hints we’ve left.�/p>

Hopefully, we don’t get there too quickly. For now, you can get Happy’s Humble Burger Farm wherever fine video games are sold, but for some of Scythe Dev Team’s earlier titles, you’ll need to grab them off of itch.io.

The post World-building with Scythe Dev Team’s Jon of the Shred appeared first on Destructoid.

First time caller, long time listener

Telling a narrative in an interactive way is something that’s still being explored and developed today. Video games have long emulated books and movies to tell their tales, both of which directly rip all control out of your hands and force you to sit and watch or, ugh, read. Part of Half-Life’s appeal in 1998 was that it didn’t do that. It let yo??u experien??ce the story without taking it away from you.

And for a lot of games, that was far enough. As long as you could poke at the mic??rowave while someone spoke to you, that was interactive storytelling. Never mind that you could tell it just as easily in film.

Part of the issue is that playe?rs have a hard time sitting still when there are things to kill. When you’re a hammer, and there are nails everywhere, it’s hard to be invested in anything else but pounding.

Drive Time Radio has a solution to this: coerce the player into interacting, but trap them with the story. You’r?e on a long stretch of highway, the radio is playing, but your life is forfeit if you try to stop. It’s not the only way to captivate an audience, but it’s certainly an effective one.

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Distracted driving

Drive Time Radio has you starting off in a traffic jam. You pas??s out while waiting for people to move, and when you wake up, the highway is empty, and you’re speeding along. The r??adio plays your typical talk radio setup where two hosts banter about the upcoming Beach-A-Palooza Spring Break Beach Blowout. It’s your chance to win free tickets to this exciting event! And you’d better play, or else the show’s hosts are going to eat you.

You're on a completely straight highway, but the car continually drifts to one side or another, kind of like in the legendary pain-maker Desert Bus. It requires you??r constant attention in order to not run into the traffic barriers. Also, one of the hosts is playing dirty and will create obstacles directly in front of you??, so you probably should stay awake.

If you want to live to see Beach-A-Palooza, you’re going to have to answer a series of trivia questions. The bar for success is rather low, but you’ll need to think, drive, and answer to get through the end of Drive Time Radio.

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The moon is an illusion

Even if your trivia chops aren’t up to snuff, Drive Time Radio is going to take up about 20-30 minutes of your time. There are frequen??t checkpoints for when you screw up, so it’s a rather easygoing experience.

Beyond its novel concept, Drive Time Radio is just some enjoyable writing. Talk radio is a pretty simple concept to write about, but developer Birthday Boy pulls it off with some otherworldly flair. It taps into the insipidness of conversational radio while tying in some eldritch horror. Despite its genre trappings, there’s a lot of amusing comedy overlaying things, and it displays a fondness for lang??uage. It’s probably not going to blow anyone away, but it should definitely entertain.

For the price of free and 20 minutes of your time, Drive Time Radio is an excellent, light-hearted experiment in interactive storytelling. It ties in? a lot of familiar concepts into a package that hits all of its marks. Gambling your soul in a game of trivia is definitely a better use of your time than actual talk radio.

The post Drive Time Radio ??captures the horrors of talk radio appeared first on Destructoid.

Get some gum on your shoe

Here’s what a great detective I am: I was playing Shadows of Doubt, walking through the city of Neo Misery on some sort of casework. I hear an altercation ahead of me and see this guy hit the ground. My first thought is that the guy is getting mugged. The person who did it tries to?? act naturally and walk away. I stop, look at the murder weapon and the guy’s wallet lying on the ground in front of his lifeless body, and then I continue on about my day. Just left the guy lying there i??n a pool of his own voxel blood.

It’s only later that I get a?? report about the?? murder scene and return to start my investigation.

Let me be clear that Shadows of Doubt ?can sometimes break in interesting ways and defy logic, but this wasn’t one of those moments. I witnessed a murder and decided it ?wasn’t worth interrupting my current task over. That was me being broken.

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Collect the clues

A lot of my time spent with the Early Access of Shadows of Doubt was spent praying that the game wasn’t breaking on me. Another good time was trying to take advantage of the broken parts of the game. Some more of it was spent trying to regain lost progress because Shadows of Doubt doesn’t w??arn you that you’ll lose unsaved progress when you quit. If you forgot to manually save, it will just let you lose everything since the last time you did. Save early, save often.

If that all sounds awful to you, hear me out. As it stands now, Shadows of Doubt is intriguing and has the potential of being amazing.

In the Early Access blurb, the developers state that Shadows of Doubt is “functionally comp??lete,�which is both reasonably accurate and somewhat misleading. The core of the game is definitely in place. You play as a gumshoe dropped onto the streets of a procedurally generated city, and you work to solve procedural cases. These range from surveillance to theft to actually solving crimes.

Currently, there’s the first chapter of a planned story and a sandbox mode. If you’re hoping the story mo??de might cut down on the amount of jank involved, it really doesn’t. It’s a decent way to introduce the player to the ins and outs of detective work, but it ca?n still be a pretty rough experience.

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Follow the Leads

Where Shadows of Doubt succeeds best is in creating a believable world. The city you create is a number of distinct blocks, ?and every room in the buildings is accessible. Every person exists persistently. They have jobs, they have homes, or, I guess some of them don’t. Some people just end up with a bad roll of the procedural dice.

Upon generation, Shadows of Doubt? sets all these little people up with unique appearances, relationships, and backstorie?s. It goes right down to their blood type and fingerprints. You can squint and see the checklist that the game is randomizing from, but it’s able to generate a convincing environment to play in.

As one of these characters, you have needs. You need to be warm, fed, and not smelly. With the current systems in place, none of these needs are hard to fill and can be made easier by owning an apartment. However, I’m hoping that there will eventually be more to do in the world and more things to spend your money on in the finished product. The casework is fun, but some sort of progression system would go a long way in making an inescapable sa??ndbox game.

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Find the ugh... uuurgh!

There are a lot of methods you can employ to find the culprit and crack the case. As I mentioned, every? person in the city is static. If you knock on the door of 104 Cesspit Lane, the same person will always come to the door (unless it’s their roommate). Building a Rolodex of helpful people can be helpful. Keeping a lot of fingerprints on file can prov?ide shortcuts over time. However, footwork is always your best friend.

You typically receive leads to go off from the hop. If someone wants you to find an envelope of secret documents, you might be given a name and not much else. You then ask around until someone tells you that they know the person and grad?ually narrow down where they live. After you find their location, you might break into their apartment or get invited in. Once inside, you can probably determine where they work, break in there, and steal the envelope.

That’s on?e solution. You could also just? get their address from the phonebook, or perhaps I’m even leaving some possible solutions out.

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Everything shatters

The current state of Shadows of Doubt is pretty rough. Beyond the problems outlined above, I’d constantly run into little quirks. One time, I had to steal an envelope. I finally track down the office, only to discover three secret envelopes sitting on a desk. The only way to determine the one I needed was to pick them up individually until the objecti?ve got c?hecked off my to-do list. Detective’s intuition, I guess.

I also find that the punishment fo?r doing anything wrong is unclear at best, and potentially broken entirely. Not once did I get arrested, and it's not because I’m a smooth criminal. For example, a police officer caught me breaking into his home, and he just chased me around until I busted out the front doo??r and ran to the street. After he lost sight of me, everything was forgiven and forgotten.

Another time, I was lockpicking someone’s mailbox. Someone in the lobby with me took exception to that and pulled a knife. They stabbed me, at which point someone else in the lobby pulled a knife of their own, and the two went at it. One finally collapsed on the floor. Another witness came by and resus??citate??d the first person, who then sauntered over and pulled the alarm. Then we all just stood there. The automated turrets became active and scanned the room, but didn’t know who to shoot. Meanwhile, the two people who had been stabbing each other decided they were done with that and just milled about in the lobby. I guess we decided we’re just all guilty, and we should stop judging.

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Pick up the pieces

Shadows of Doubt may sound broken right now, but I think that implies it doesn’t function. It does. Everything that it claims to do is implemented and functioning. The world is just a little out of sorts right now. You solve crime, but the logic in this city is like a wine glass in a tumble?? dryer.

I enjoyed my time with Shadows of Doubt. As it stands, I think the Early Access bu??ild is a good foundation for what’s to come. With the majority of the game’s concepts in place, it seems like it will just be a matter of touching up the seams and splinting all the bones so the whole thi?ng doesn’t shake itself apart. There are definitely some areas for improvements, but that’s exactly what Early Access is for.

So definitely do some investigation, but don’t b??e surprised if you decide to come?? back later after you see what a mess the crime scene is.

The post Early Access Review: Shadows of Doubt appeared first on Destructoid.

The newest, latest, hottest thing

The octopus gets a bad rap. It’s a perfectly awesome creature with brains to spare, but it often is treated in media like a horror of the ocean. Listen, there are much more horrific things down there, not least of which are the Old Ones that slumber in the corpse city of R’yl??eh. Also moray eels. Also anglerfish.

However, catching a virus from an octopus isn’t great. Future Racer 2000 begins with you quarantined in your apartment due to such an afflic?tion. One thing leads to another, and you find yourself in possession of a game console?? that suspiciously resembles our cephalopod friends. Just what are those little sea puddings up to?

You can find out in Future Racer 2000 on PC, if?? you’re lucky enough to not ??have it bug out on you.

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Infested

At about 15-30 minutes long, it doesn’t hurt to try. However, on my first playthrough, everything started off unintentionally in medias res. Events overlapped each other, played out of order, and I couldn’t even unbox my octo?-console. I played the entire game without the meta game even being present.

I somehow managed to complete it in that state, t?hen started fresh. Things went in ??a much more logical order, but everything locked up very close to the end, and I had to force-shut the game. Yeesh.

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Painted like cardboard

It’s unfortunate because Future Racer 2000 does a lot of things right. It’s largely a walking simulator with small hints of gameplay beyond exploration. Its strength is, perhaps, rooted in the fact that it doesn’t take itself very seriously. The protagonist is largely blasé about the horror going on around them, which leads to some humorous moments. Despite this?, it? doesn’t completely undermine its atmosphere or narrative.

It’s a very minimalistic experience, never leaving the apartment bloc in which the protagonist lives. Despite this, it does much to bring you into its world. One segment of the game just involves watching a bizarre television show. The game console you receive is depicted in sumptuous detail. The narrative is segmented by sleeping. For a game with very little interaction �especially one so heavily scripted �Future Racer 2000 does a lot to draw you in.

It’s not the perfect narrative. Some of the storytelling fee??ls somewhat undercooked. When it doesn’t have something interesting to say, you’re just shown some creepiness. Then the whole thing ends?? without resolving anything. Or, at least, I think it does�Maybe I just hit a bug.

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Sea puddings

It’s just a shame that it’s so buggy. The developer is actively trying to squash bugs, but the scripting feels so rickety right now. On the bright side, for the next couple of weeks, Future Racer 2000 is available for free on itch.io.

Future Racer 2000 feels like something from a talented amateur. It excels in some often neglected areas while dropping some fundamental balls. Developer Tim Oxton has stated that they’d like to revisit the concept in a sequel, which I’d personally love to see. In the meantime, it’s worth checking out Future Racer 2000, if only to see how fa?r someone will go to disparage the good name of octopi.

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Rainbow beach racer

I’d be surprised if Victory Heat Rally didn’t catch your eye. It’s an intoxicatingly colorful and energetic-looking title. Based on the aesthetic from Sega Super Scaler racers like Power Drift and Rad Mobile, it’s a far cry from the mostly drab modern racing market. I’ve been following it for what feels like forever, but it’s taken me some time to get around to the demo.

Thankfully, Victory Heat Rally is more than just appearances. Without hyperbole, this is one of the most compelling racing titles I’ve played in a long time. It’s fast, vibrant, and deftly captures the attention-grabbing magic of old arcade titles. Just by following its development, I knew that Victory Heat Rally was going to be a worthwhile title, but I couldn’t imagine it would be this good.

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Super Scaler power

The most recent demo, Shakedown Demo Gold, is actually a considerable slice of game??play. While it took me a half-hour to see what I wanted to see, it was more than I expected it to give up. Of the 12 planned racers, three of them are featured in the demo, but only one is unlocked from the start. I lost count of how many tracks there are, but at least more than four of the planned 36.

There’s a career mode that takes you through a series of challenges ranging from avoiding traffic cones ??to straight-up racing. This culminates in? a more standard grand prix event.

After finishing that, you can noodle around with arcade mode or time trial. There?’s also multi-player present in the final version. As I said, it won’t keep you going indefinitely, but it’s more than just a quick sampling.

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Stay off my lawn

While Victory Heat Rally bases itself on the visuals of Super Scalers, I’m reasonably certain the tracks are fully 3D. Early videos showed it using sprite scaling for the tracks, but this seems to have been dropped somewhere down the line. The track design does still harken back to Power Drift with its looping desi?gn and tall bridges. Likewise, the cars are all still 2D, as is the set dressing at the side of the road. The aesthetic is still there, even if the technique isn’t.

Another carry-over is an absolutely mad camera system. It tilts and rolls in with the car in a way that isn’t seen very often today. Probably because it likely i??nduces motion sickness in anyone vulnerable. I don’t have a problem with it, possibly since I’ve had a lifetim?e of watching movement with a stationary body. However, anyone who does have trouble with the effect can turn it off in the options.

For people like me who prefer young people to stay off their lawn, there’s a pixel scale option in the video menu. While this may be for performance purposes, I liked playing with it off. It essentially makes the sprite rotation less smooth and distant objects feel more pixelated. Sort of like a low-resolution 2D game. What I’m saying is it heightens Victory Heat Rally’s retro look. If you love the arcade aesthetic, make sure to switch that of?f in ??the options.

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Happy wheels

But this wouldn’t matter if the driving wasn’t up to standard, and thankfully, it’s great. The drift button is separat?e from the brake, which is as the Gods of Inertia always intended. The Brake is, after all, a vestigial feature; no one actually use??s it.

Drifting isn’t just a good way to get around curves. Victory Heat Rally also takes a page from recent Mario Kart games and builds up boost while your wheels are shaved down by the pav?ement. It’s a very similar system in which the longer you ??hold the drift, the larger your boost will be coming out of it.

While the demo only features three c?ars, you can tune each one to your liking. I didn’t get that creative, but again, it ?only took me a half-hour to get through the campaign. Still, you should be able tune the cars to your liking. I just want to see the colorful graphics.

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The Lost Arcade

Victory Heat Rally feels like this branch of racing games that just never grew. We got 3D graphics, and then everyone seemed to agree that we’re just going to make simulators now, and truly unique and outlandish racing games are the outlier. Motorstorm and Burnout are basically as ridiculous as cars get recently, and both of those properties are just dead. We’ve still got Mario Kart, so that’s something.

I want Victory Heat Rally to be a massively influential title that spurs on a wave of cartoony arcade racers. It probably won’t be, but talking enthusiastically about som?ething is all I can really do to try and make that a reality. I just love it so much, and I can’t wait until the full version comes out.

I don’t know how long that will be. The Shakedown Demo Gold is a few months old, but there isn’t much indication on when the finished version is coming. Things have slowed down because the core developer has become a parent, and ??they’re trying to practice healthy working habits. I can respect that, but I’m really looking forward to playing more.

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