For the architect on the go

Townscaper is one of those projects I've casually followed on social media since it was in earl?y development, and man has it come a long way. It looks relatively simple at first glance, but from what I know of game development, it's an incredibly impressive undertaking to get procedural generatio??n running so smoothly and looking so good, especially for only one guy.

The creator in question, Oskar Stålberg, took to Twitter today to announce that his project would now be available to play right in your browser, as Townscaper had previously become available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS earlier this year. Even better, it's completely free! When trying to new version of the game, some were surprised to find that the browser version is almost identical to the full one, the only difference bei??ng the grid on which you can build your town is smaller.

//twitter.com/OskSta/status/1466059785703460870

Apart from his work on Townscaper, Stålberg also developed Bad North, along with programmer Richard Meredith and sound designer Martin Kvale. The game is a real-time tactics roguelite where players are tasked with defending their kingdom from invading hordes of Vikings, and it's pretty easy to see Stålberg's signature art st?yle in its visuals.

Townscaper is certainly a smaller project, but its success is evidence of the rise in procedural generation in games, whether it's the art, like in Error City Tourist, the world, as seen in No Man's Sky, or even the game's narrative, like in Road 96.

In addition to being incorporated into games as features to be enjoyed by the player, procedural generation can also make a world of difference when it comes to game development itself. Tools like those in Townscaper w??ill only continue to make development easier and more accessible, so I can't help but think that Stålberg is making the future of games even brighter.

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Shoot'em up, bang, bang

In any other year, we'd be finished with E3 by now and all the new game announcements. But nothing is that easy in 2020 So instead of wrapping up our coverage of the biggest show in games, we're j?umping around from stream to stream finding the best reveals to share with y'all. And this is one hell of a reveal.

As revealed during the Guerrilla Collective Day 1 Showcase, GONNER2 has been announced and it's coming to Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Like the first game, it features rogue-like elements and procedurally generated levels for Ikk to blast his way through. Developed by Art in Heart, GONNER2 releases later this year.

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The dead walk among us

Like a high noon shootout, I've had my eye silently affixed on West of Dead for a few months. Combing two of my favorite genres, the twin-stick and tactical shooter, while taking place in the dying days of the wild west in Wyoming, West of Dead looks to tick a lot of my personal boxes and look s??lick as hell while doing it.

Boasting a leading voice role from industry veteran Ron Perlman as a dead man coming back to punish the sinners, th??e game has been quietly working through a public beta since the beginning of the year with no concrete release date named. Today at the Guerilla Collective stream, it was announced that the game will release this coming week, June 18 on Steam and Xbox One with PlayStation 4 and Switch coming later this summer.

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Here's a little something that I've been working on...

Hello Games has released a new update for its interstellar adventure game No Man's Sky, a?nd this one is particularly unique, bringing the joys of music to the vast l?oneliness of outer space.

Update 2.21, which is available in-game right now, adds a new feature known as the ByteBeat Device, which is essentially an audio creation utility that allows players to place a stave of notes, before fine-tuning adjustments such as pitch, length, and tempo. Once the player has the required blueprint, the ByteBeat can be placed in-game and, with a little dedication, can be programmed to play music, complete with backing beats, and giving your explorer something to chill out to while gazing upon NMS' colourful vistas.

For those of you maybe a little tone-deaf when it comes to music creation, fear not, as the ByteBeat Device is capable of procedurally-generating its own waveforms, offering an almost endless selection of tunes. According to the update's official blog post, multiple ByteBetats can be li??nked in unison for even more layered music, and can also power other in-game items, creating lighting effects that? are synced with the rhythm of the music

This feels like one of those updates where, a few weeks from now, we might start seeing some jaw-dropping videos from people who are able to harness the creativity of the ByteBeat device, illuminating ??the stars with complex music and light shows. Keep watching the skies.

No Man's Sky is available now on PS4, PC and Xbox One.

No Man's Sky latest update adds audio crea??tion tool [Eurogamer]

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Live, Die, Repeat

2018's smash hit roguelike Dead Cells is getting some free DLC today. The Rise of the Giant expansion is now available on Switch and PS4 and will be hitting other platforms in short order. The recently announced mobile port will also receive the DLC later down the ?line. Accessing the DLC requires that you have beaten the game at least once, which then grants you access to the Cavern area.

Rise of the Giant will feature 10 new enemy types including the Arbiter, three new skills for you to unlock, 10 new weapons, a replaced door in the Prisoners' Quarters that leads to a new shop, and a hidden level. A new skinning system allows players to craft skins and change their look (with over 50 skins available). Playing on higher difficulties will also reveal a few different things, making subsequent playthroughs more unique over time. You can see the full list of changes over on the official website.

If this all sounds great to you, you can currently pick up Dead Cells for 20% off on all platforms. Developer Motion Twin mentions that the game has currently amassed two million sales across all platforms, so this sale is to commemorate both the new DLC and sales landmark. That's impressive for a game jumping into an overcrowded market, but Dead Cells really is worth it.

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Jack of all trades FPS coming May 29

Publisher Humble Bundle, in association with developer Blue Manchu, has announced that space shooter Void Bastards will launch on PC and Xbox On??e May 29, and will be made available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers on la??unch.

Void Bastards blends multiple gameplay elements, many of which may be familiar to fans of titles such as Rage and Borderlands. Void Bastards takes comic-book visuals, eccentric characters, and an irreverent sense of humour, and mixes it with strategic gameplay and an improvisational approach to weapons and events. Players guide teams?? of nothing-to-lose prisoners - each equipped with their own skillsets - through a series of procedurally-generated vessels, completing missions and fighting it out with a slew of enemies.

There is some risk here. Void Bastards is a first-person shooter that also features, strategy, independent character skillsets, crafting and scavenging elements, procedural generation, multiple choices, sardonic comedy, open-ended gameplay and other roguelike tropes. Essentially, it's at risk of becoming overbooked as it widens the net to inclu??de every buzz cultures currently in gaming.

However, in perfect balance (as all things should be) Void Bastards could ultimately prove to be one of the year's biggest surprises. It??'s looking like it's set going to be a lot of fun, and fortunately we won't have to wait much? longer to try it out for ourselves.

Void Bastards launches on PC and Xbox One May 29.

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iOS first, then Android later

The wonderful roguelike action game Dead Cells will be heading to mobile devices this year. Developer Playdigious ??will b?e porting over the game to iOS this summer for $9.99 with an Android port being released later on. This new version will support custom control schemes, touch controls, a new "auto-hit" game option, and external controller support.

Playdigious made it a point to add that Dead Cells will not have any advertisements or free-to-play mechanics added to this port. This will be the full console experience in your pocket. One fee and you'll be set for life. It's sad that mobile games need to carry that disclaimer, but at least Playdigious isn't shortchanging anyone.

Dead Cells [Playdigious]

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The Harvesting of Isaac

I'm not sure what else I can say about the roguelike genre that I haven't already written. So many of these games play by the same rules that describing one can be easily applied to another. Just swap out some names and platforms and you're all set. Last year's PAX had an abundance of roguelike titles, but 201?9 thankfully toned i?t down quite a bit.

That doesn't mean they weren't on the show floor, though. I already wrote a preview for one, Colt Canyon, but I happened to play another while in Boston this weekend: Atomicrops. As the name suggests, this pixel a?rt roguelike game deals with sentient plants during a post-apocalypse. It already sounds like a bunch of tropes thrown together, but the game is surprisingly fun to play.

Brought to life by an excellent art style, Atomicrops marries a lot of different influences into a game that could be described as an action-packed Harvest Moon. Living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, you'll be tasked with planting and harvesting crops to feed your village while odd creatures come to kill you and ?steal your food. The world around you is randomly generated on each run, but the general location of certain areas will always be in the same vicinity (so walking East will bring you to the forest, for instance)??.

The basic gameplay is that of a twin-stick shooter. You'll move with the left stick and aim with the right stick. You'll start with a basic gun that can later be upgraded with the money you'll earn from selling your successfully harvested food. With that out of the way, the only thing left to do is plant, water, fertilize, harvest, and repeat. You'll go through five different seasons before the game ends, which takes roughly one ho??ur to complete from start to finish (if you can survive, that is).

Each season is broken up into a few days of planting and exploring that will then culminate in a seasonal show. You??'ll be graded on your performance, have the chance t?o woo some potential suitors, buy upgrades, and then be thrust back into the action to gather more crops. It makes for a compelling loop, even if it is derivative of other roguelike titles.

It's easy to get sucked into Atomicrops' loop thanks to how charming everything is. I briefly mentioned the art style, but the way in which characters animate i?s just so cute. The different types of crops have completely unique expressions, your character bo?bs and weaves with excellent fluidity, and even the gigantic sprites for boss fights are expertly detailed.

I was surprised when the rep from Raw Fury (publisher of Atomicrops) told me that the same artist of Nighogg 2, Toby Dixon, did work here. That's not a knock against the artist or that game, but I remember how off-putting the change in art style was during the initial reveal. Coming from a minimalistic pixel art game to this goofy looking Sesame Street thing gave people a huge shock. Without any expectations for Atomicrops, ?though, the art style is free to express its own personality. It works wond??erfully, too.

Apart from that, this build of Atomicrops was far too early to really extrapolate much about the game. The banner on display showed two main characters, so I inquired about a potential co-op mode. While designer Danny Wynne would love to add that feature, getting the game running is his main priority at the moment. Right now, Raw Fury is mainly showing the game off to let people know it exists, more than anything. One of the pratfalls Wynne encountered at PAX was the demo breaking itself and not allowing players to shoot their weapon. That's obviously a huge bug, but it's ??impressive ??that he was able to circumvent the issue so quickly while still maintaining the other stations.

So I don't have a whole lot to add about Atomicrops. It's funny, charming, enjoyable, and other adjectives for good. It has a lot of potential that I ho?pe will grow into a distinctive whole. The game is aiming to release sometime in 2019 and will be coming to PC when it does. Other platforms are not off the table, but I wouldn't expect to see them soon.

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He'll boost your Linkedin profile

Watch Highli?ght: PAX EAST 2019 - DR?AGONFLY THEATRE - We Made a Bot Watch 1000 PAX Panels, And It's Moderating This One from PAX3 on www.twitch.tv

Last week at PAX East, I ended up on a panel with the developers of Soda Drinker Pro, one of the producers of Home Movies, and a talented stand-up comedian. The panel was moderated by a Max Headroom-style virtual host named Merrill Grambell who used a procedural generation system to ask us questions like "If you ha??d a sword, what sword do you have" and "What is a secret song you like to sing?"

There were at least 300 people in the audience, which only added to our stress as we attempted to answer these questions in a natural, engaging way. Later, someone would give birth, and an apple would steal the show. In fact, the only part of the panel that didn't really land with the crowd was scripted by the writers of Fraiser, so we didn't feel too bad about it.  

Yes indeed, by the end of the night, several people told me that they were crying form laughing so hard. Then they asked us to ??sign autographs. I was shocked. Maybe you had to be there? I don't know, because I was there, and I still don't really get it.

I think you should decide?? for yourself. The panel starts around the 2:45 mark. Good luck. You might need it. We sure did. 

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Mutants are rad

Bandai Namco invited me by its PAX East booth to get a look at Double Fine's upcoming action rogue-like Rad. The top-down action game has you pummeling mutants for survival in a randomly ge?nerated world that has succu??mbed to not one but two apocalyptic events. 

You play as a human from a?? local settlement pummeling mutants and healing the irradiated groun??d you step over. The path of green plant life you leave behind you makes it easy to keep track of where you've been and increases movement speed when passing through areas you've already explored. 

Your survivor's w??eapon of choice is a baseball bat, but as you kill more enemies and absorb their radiation, you'll mutate your character with new abilities. I tried out two of these, one which saw my head turned into a flaming skull I could lob at enemies like a grenade and another that gave me a shoulder-mounted mutant buddy that fired projectiles at enemies. My mutant hitchhiker could also be dropped and detonated like a landmine. 

The setting gives off a real '80s apocalypse vibe with the synth-heavy soundtrack to match along with some newer looking technology buried in the landscape from that secondary apocalyptic event. The devs also noted that you don't fight any human characters in Rad. That choice was very deliberate as they didn't want to go for that Mad Max vibe of hu??man psychopaths murdering one another. Any humans you encounter are just doing their best to survive in a mutant-infested wasteland. 

Rad consists of three different biomes? made up of two levels each. Each level ends with a random boss encounter. The boss I fought in my demo could only take damage from behind, so I had to make pretty frequent use of my mutant companion's landmine ability. 

While I refuse to make the obvious joke here, I will say that Rad looks...awesome. We don't have a set release date just yet, but Rad is coming to Play??Station 4, Xbox One, ?Switch, and PC this summer. 

The post Double Fine’s Rad welcomes you to the post-post-apocalypse appeared first on Destructoid.

The team 'just never figured out what it was'

Before Celeste was even a thought, the devs over at Matt Makes Games were working on Skytorn. A procedurally generated Metroidvania, the title was sidelined when Celeste began development. After a few posts reassuring that the action game would eventually get released, designer Noel Berry has confirmed in a blog post that Skytorn is no more.

"Having worked on the game for several years," Berry writes, "we constantly struggled with what the game was. To its core, it was a procedurally generated adventure game without permadeath, but the procedural elements always clashed with the Metroidvania themes??, and I didn’t know how to design around that." That last element seems to be the sticking point. Berry couldn't conceive a?? reason for why the game should be procedural but didn't want to drop the gimmick, either.

"Taking out the procedural parts felt like it defeated the purpose of w?hat the game was," Berry continues, "so as it shifted towards a more linear adventure, the procedural map stayed but simply got more and more constricted, until the procedural-ness of it didn't really mean anything."

Restarting the project would mean throwing out much of the code for the game, so the team has decided cancelling it was the best course of action. The team will remain together, though, and will be showing off something about its follow-up to Celeste in the new year. "The Celeste team is sticking together and working on something new," Berry concludes, "but we're?? not ready to talk about what yet. We'll have news to share in the new ?year."

Skytorn is Cancelled [@NoelFB via Medium]

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More visible than intended

[Update: Following on from yesterday's leaked trailer. Hello Games has announced that the latest update to No Man's Sky, Visions, will launch today, November 22, across all formats. For further details, check out the official site right here.]

Due to some sneaking chicanery on YouTube, fans of Hello Games' interplanetary explorer No Man's Sky have discovered an unlisted t?railer, revealing the next major update for the sci-fi title.

Visions, as the new content is titled, will add another huge selection of planets, biomes, flora and fauna to NMS' ever-expanding world. While details pertaining to the next update are obviously tied only to this video, the scope of the expansion appears to be comparable to the recently released Abyss.

Procedurally-generated crash sites will allow not only for the salvaging of scrap and resources, but also for archaeological digs, enabling players to possibly discover the remains of long-lost species and civilisations. Alongside these feat??ures, players should expect new emotes?, building materials and Community Missions.

Assuming it hasn't been removed, you can check out the leaked trailer below. The content looks pretty good, as NMS continues to build upon its rocky start to create a genuinely interesting interstellar experience. No Man's Sky is available now on PS4, PC and Xbox One.

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Gun 2: Hypergun

Nothing -- NOTHING -- gets me going like neon, synths, and wanton violence. There's something about that combo that'?s so inherently visceral and primal that as soon as I see those lights and hear that robotic melody go, I start to lose my mind. It's a beautiful mix.

Hypergun, the frenetic new shooter from NVYVE Studios, hits all of those notes for me. I'm thinking it'll hit some good ones for ?you, too.

Hop into the world of Hypergun, where aliens have taken over Earth and mankind's only hope is the eponymous weapon being developed in secret to combat the spaceborne oppressors. Hypgergun features:

• Create the HYPERGUN - With over 150 weapon modules to collect, no two runs in the simulation will be the same. Each module you pick up will change your weapon in exciting and often questionable way?s, all in the name of determining the ultimate weapon to defeat our alien oppressors.
• Procedural Levels - Fight through increasingly difficu?lt simulate??d arenas which are randomly generated with each playthrough.
• Alien Hordes - T??ake on a host of (simulated) vicious a?lien invaders, recreated in immaculate detail.
• Badass Bosses - Throw down against epically powerful bosses at the end? of each level to put your skills and weapon to the test.
• Unlockable Classes and Abilities - Unlock your co-worker's simulation profiles gaining access to a selection ??of more than 40 unique abilities giving you the upper hand in alien-destroying combat.

Get your fingerless gloves on one of our 10 Steam keys by commenting ?below with your favorite add-on to the Hypergun. Mine is the one that allows the weapon to shoot mustard at my enemies. It doesn't kill them, but they'll be right pissed when they realize they can't get that stain out of their favorite jeans!

We'll be drawing our random winners on Tuesday, August 28, so get your entry in now. You mu??st comment from a Dtoid-generated account with your current email address on file in order to win. If I can't email you, I can't tell Al Gore how to invent the internet. Then no one gets a key.

Hypergun is available now on Steam, and will be hit?ting consoles sometime later this year.

The post G?iveaway: Empty your clip for a Steam key of Hypergun appeared first on Destructoid.

Live, Die, Repeat

The procedurally generated, roguelike FPS game Immortal Redneck is now avai?lable on Nintendo Switch for $19.99. Being one of only two FPS games currently out on the platform, I'm sure fans of the genre will be eager to eat this up.

This is merely a port of the game, so no new or different content will be on of?fer. Stil??l, getting to take a never ending shooter on the go could lead to me sitting in Grand Central long after my train arrives.

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Retro blaster reaches stretch goals

Not too long ago we featured an article about Xeno Crisis, a brand new Sega Mega Drive title being developed by British studio Bitmap Bureau. The game just closed its Kickstarter this week and, in the final 48 hours, r??eached the to??tal required to secure ports for PC and Nintendo Switch.

Xeno Crisis is a top-down shooter in the vein of games like Smash T.V., Alien Breed and The Chaos Engine. It features one or two space marines runnin' and gunnin' their way through space colonies, that have been overrun by an alien menace. Xeno Crisis features ?multiple modes, procedurally-generated levels and classic '90s-inspired sound and visuals.

The game will see a physical release for the Mega Drive/Genesis system, and had already reached a previous stretch goal to guarantee a Dreamcast version. Having passed the £65,000 mark, Xeno Crisis will now also be ported to PC and Nintendo?? Switch, meaning there will be multiple ways to check out the frenzied arcade action.

Xeno Crisis is currently in d?evelopment now and is slated for release October 2018.

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The return self-exploding, pad-throwing nightmares

At the very end for the pre-show for Sony's Paris press conference, a trailer was unveiled for Spelunky 2, the sequel to ?Mossmouth's highly add??ictive puzzle-platformer.

Though no in-game footage was shown, we got a tr??ailer that seems to show that the famous whip, hat and large red nose will be passed down to the next treasure hunter in the family lineage. Let them deal with those fr??ikkin' giant spiders and that angry shopkeeper.

Mossmouth's Derek Yu has since confirmed via Twitter that Spelunky 2 will launch on PS??4 first, then is planned for a PC release thereafter.

The post Sony and Mossmouth reveal Spelunky 2 for PS4 & PC appeared first on Destructoid.

COBRAS!

Nicalis, developers of indie darling The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth & Rebirth, have announced that their new published title, Knight Terrors, will charge headlong onto N?intendo Switch October 24.

The game, developed by FreakZone Games (of AVGN Adventures fame) features visuals recalling ZX Spectrum games such as Stormlord and sees a brave night charging endlessly at?? threat and danger. Quick reactions and lightning reflexes are needed to avoid the bevy of mon?sters, obstacles and traps threatening you at break-neck speeds.

The game's Gothic horror?? design is perfect for Halloween week and would make for a pretty good title to play late into the witching hour. Alongside the endless run main game the game features four unlockable modes and high-score tracking.

Knight Terrors launches on Nintendo eShop on October 24.

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Channeling No Man's Sky, Metroid, and the '80s

Morphite looks really similar to No Man's Sky at first glance, but it seems to have enough key differences to set it apart, including '80s movie references and animals that look more like actual animals than the creatures No Man's Sky generates.

Its story follows Myrah Kale, a space station worker who's looking for a mythical substance called Morphite to discover ?how it connects to her mysterious past. The worlds she visits on her quest ?are painstakingly handcrafted, while procedurally-generated worlds offer side missions and discovery. 

Real-time combat -- on the ground and in space ?-- is balanced with platforming and exploration. Myrah will meet fellow explorers willing to trade resources, and she can sell information she gains ??from her travels in exchange for ship, suit, and weapon upgrades.

"Morphite recreates the humbling experience of looking at the night sky ??in awe, while providing the toolset to explore each and every star on an epic interstellar adventure," said Ben Lee, CEO of Blowfish Studios. "With one of the largest universes ever created in gaming, we know Morphite will provide more adventure than one person could ever complete in a lifeti??me."

Morphite is available for $14.99 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It's currently on sale on Steam for $12.74 through the 27th. You can also pi??ck it up on iOS for $7.99, and a Switch release is planned for sometime later this year. Check out s??ome low-poly goodness in the screenshots below.

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Groovy!

Phantom Halls may be in Early Access, but it already oozes coolness. It's a procedurally generated game based on horror B-movies with appealing papercraft graphics. Developer Incendium Games is run by Llexi Leon, who's also Digital Cr??eative Director to Iron Maiden. And you can play as the Kin??g of Cool himself, Ash Williams.

Today, Incendium is releasing an update full of licensed content related to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 -- the first time Evil Dead has hit video games in over five years.

Choose Ash as your playable character and run through quests based on the movie. Return to the iconic cabin, cut down? deadites with your trusty chainsaw, and deal with an angry Necronomicon. Battl??e Gooseneck Henrietta and Evil Ash. Do it all with style and witty one-liners. 

I've played a few hours of Phantom Halls and enjoyed it, but it does feel like an early build. I'm hoping a multiplayer mode will eventually be rolled out because the gameplay would lend itself really well to online co-op. You control up to three characters at a time, each with their own?? unique abilities, and you ??can equip them with different weapons or items. The atmosphere and dialogue are top-notch, and I'll definitely be diving back into it with this update.

Phantom Halls is available on Steam at 50% off until September 26, making ?it only $4.49, so go get some.

The post Phantom Halls adds licensed Evil Dead 2 co??ntent in free update appeared first on Destructoid.

Trippin' the light fantastic

Space, science-fiction, and "expanding your mind" have always gone hand-in-hand. Whether it's something as worthy as Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, or as campy as Jane Fonda vehicle Barbarella, many creators like to partner the vast unknown of spac??e with, well, tripping your balls off.

Songbringer, an action-RPG from indie outfit Wizard Fu Games and its auteur, Nathaniel Weiss, also marries sci-fi adventure with a healthy injection of New-Age philosophy, all presented under 1980s aesthetics. Some would like to call it "Zelda on acid!" but that's not strictly accurate on either count, ???as well as being awful writing.

Songbringer is the story of intergalactic explorer and top hat wearer Roq, who crash lands on the ever-adapting planet of Ekzera, separating him from his mothership, the titular Songbringer. Against the advice of his companion droid, Jib, a seemingly innocent action causes Roq to unleash demon spawn upon the planet. Armed with a humming nanosword and no shirt, Roq and Jib must explore the unknown to locate their lost crew-mates, vanquish the demons, and return to the mothership.

Songbringer is a procedurally-generated RPG. The player enters a five-letter "World Seed" which establishes the layout of Ekzera, for a new map every game. The gameplay does recall Zelda, w?ith Roq exploring the hub map, finding currency in the scenery, and dispatching small foes with a swor??d, a pouch of bombs, and his boomerang top hat. The game's nine dungeons can be raided for weaponry, crafting materials, and extra hearts, with the goal being to defeat the bosses housed within.

Very unlike Zelda are Roq's ?meditation abilities, used to regain health and interact with the scenery for area access and even psychic communication. The native cacti that grow across the planet's surface can also be collected and eaten for temporary, psychadelia-soaked stat-buffing. Various materials discovered can be crafted with weaponry to add elemental effects and damage boo??sts.

As Roq and Jib progress through their adventure, lore will be uncovered about Ekzera's history, the fate of its population, and the role our hapless hero has to play in its future. This, I'm sure, will be fascinating to some players, but I personally found all the characters disconnecting, and I'm far too square for the game's "Whoa...man...?" ?philosophising.

The gameplay itself is very smooth. I struggled a little with the combat at first, but given some timing practice with the sword (no mashing, kids) I was carving up Ekzera's wildlife with reckless abandon. The bosses, though light on animation, look good, ar??e unique in design ?to each other, and provide strong opposition.

The 8-bit pixel visuals are colourful, quirky, and inventive, but the game looks muddy. In a stylistic choice to create a detailed world with simplistic pixel art, Wizard Fu have succeeded in over-complicating the imagery, which can be annoying when enemies and life-sapping area effects are hidden behind a wealth of dots. On occasion I was killed by something that had blended into the background, particularly infuriating during boss fights. Add to this the cacti-indu??ced vis?ual disturbances, and bullet-dodging can become a bad trip indeed.

The game has a great sense of exploration, with an array of hidden items and bosses to be discovered. It's possible to complete the game without even knowing y??ou missed an entire dung?eon, so a spirit of experimentation is well-rewarded. When I reached the finale I had, through intention or otherwise, defeated every dungeon. My completion time was around ten hours, which admittedly includes a fair chunk of  "Oh shit, I'm stuck" meandering.

Songbringer is clearly a very personal game to Weiss and his life experiences, and as such may not be to everyone's tastes. It is definitely a competent title, with good exploration elements. It also has replay value, with its wealth of secrets, adaptable map, and even a sadistic permadeath option. But I ??personally found the flat comedy, ??hollow characters, and acid-inspired thematics kept me from embracing the experience.

Songbringer is an adventure that is both reminiscent of many other popular titles, but also has a heart of its own. This makes for a juxtaposition of recognisable, rigid structure and a desire for free, rule-breaking indie design. It's an odd mix that I think will turn off as many people as it turns on. But many players will find the clean?sing o?f Ekzera a weird, dizzying challenge, that's curiously familiar yet very unique. For this reason the game is a trip worth considering.

I may have not been quite as enthused with its new-age pontificating and prog-rock aesthetics, but, you know, that's just like, my opinion man.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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I'll sleep when I'm dead!

It's hot in the UK, right now. Damn hot! So even though this is the third wintery game I've played already, right after Kona and The Wild Eight, I'm actual?ly okay with it as long as the illusion keeps me cool.

Luckily, Distrust also happens to be a neat concept that has kept me entertained for hours. Even in its current demo form, Distrust's mix of This War of Mine survivalism and FTL's forceful progression makes for an interesting B-mov??ie horror game.

When an Arctic research base sends out a distress call, a rescue tea?m is quickly dispatched, only for their helicopter to be brought down by alien lights. The survivors find themselves battling not only the elements, but also their own paranoia and madness. Going to ??sleep has never been so dangerous.

"Inspired by John Carpenter's The Thing" is something you'll probably hear or read a lot when it comes to Distrust. Though, for all the intent and purposes, Distrust doesn't play that way at all. It's more reminiscent of La Hora Fría, another sci-fi horror that deals with the cold and ethereal aliens, and everyone's favourite "Ron Perlman battles a ghost moose" movie, The Last Winter. But useless movie trivia aside, Distrust's use of paranoia is a grim handicap, where an already ??ineff?icient team falters even further.

Players control up to three survivors (only two are available in the demo), each with their own backgrounds and related skills. Putting together a balanced team is essential, and it's up to the player to command them around a procedurally generated area. The aim is to scave?nge for supplies, find tools to progress, and get the generators up and running, but the overall goal is to escape into the next area. How you do that is also randomly generated, from making a bomb to charging a snow plow's battery.

Keeping warm and fed is easy enough, but Distrust preys upon your stamina bar. If you decide to rest, it attracts the aliens' attention, which then go on to destroy generators and drain everyone's health. Staying awake keeps them at bay, but this is where Distrust's brand of paranoia starts to shine.

When any character tires out, they gain a detrimental status effect. These can range from camera warping, crippling hallucinations, or becoming insatiably hungry. Distrust is all about ta??king a g??amble with your characters' lives and breaking them if it means saving a generator or keeping someone else able-minded.

Admittedly, the demo is rather imbalanced for now. The aliens are overpowered, turning a good run into an unwinnable situation within minutes, and they're rarely fun to fight. Also, the game is clearly designed to juggle three characters rather than two, going by how hard it is to cover the map as the missions progress. It's a difficult game to master, even for roguelike standards, so hopefully, it'll be revised somewhat when Distrust releases later on in the summer. Maybe they'll even take out those Silent Hill samples, too. Ahem.

Still, the pros outweigh the cons and Distrust has been a fun surprise. If you like procedurally generated games or survival horror in general, definitely give it a spin before ?the Steam Summer Sale hogs all the attention.

Distrust comes out August 23 on PC, but you can download the demo now.

The post Put some trust into sci-fi horror Distrust appeared first on Destructoid.

It used to take one, now it takes four

I was a bit of a strange teenager. While most of my peers were busy playing the latest in flashy games, I tended to look for obscure titles and different genres. I remember having a grand old time on the original Xbox playing things like Gunvalkyrie and Jet Set Radio Future, but my friends never seemed to understand. Then came along Rallisport Challenge and I found my answer for a racing game.

I always loved how intense off-road racing felt and was taken with the breathtaking graphics. It looked like live action and DICE (yes, the Battlefield developer) managed to create one of the most r??ealistic racing games ever, for the time. I just loved plowing through water, dirt, and grass while careening on th??e edge of cliffs. It was thrilling in a life-or-death kind of way.

Much to my dismay, Microsoft didn’t continue the franchise on the Xbox 360. I figured we would never get another rally game on then-next-gen hardware, but Codemasters seemingly stepped in to fix that issue. While not the first rally game developed by the company, Colin McRae: DiRT brought the excitement of off-roading to the ??next-generation and?? it was a blast.

I, stupidly, didn’t get into the series until DiRT 3, but I’ve been hooked ever since. After an absence of six years, Codemasters has returned to the main DiRT series with DiRT 4 and has m??ade some great changes to keep ??the game feeling fresh and wild.

DiRT 4 (PC [reviewed], PS4, Xbox One)
Developer: Codemasters
Publisher: Codemasters
Released: June 6, 2017 (US), June 9, 2017 (EU)
MSRP: $59.99

Many people bemoaned the lack of focus on rally racing with DiRT as the series progressed. While DiRT 2 was seen as the high point by fans, DiRT 3 and Showdown kind of took the series in different directions. 3 brought in a plethora of modes that had nothing to do with off-roading and Showdown might as well have been a different IP with how little resemblance it bared to its predecessors. Codemasters was seemingly aware of this divide, so that led to the development of the second spin-off game, DiRT Rally.

For DiRT 4, it looks like Codemasters has taken inspiration from the success of its Early Access title. While the amount of content isn’t staggering, the number of options dedicated to purely rally racing is awesome. This is a game that is about recreating the sensation of barreling through the woods or hills and doesn&rsq?uo;t really care if you want something else.

That isn’t to say other modes aren’t present, but DiRT 4 has a laser focus that hones in on why people started to gravitate towards this series to begin with. This is also helped by a more traditional gameplay style that puts emphasis on performing well over handing out too many assists to players. If you’ve come to love the rewind feature that almost every racing game has adopted, I’ve got some bad news for you: DiRT 4 a?xes that entirely and doesn’t ca?re if you screw up five minutes into a track.

While I had begrudgingly accepted rewind features in other games, I forgot how amazing it feels to conquer a difficult course without such a safety net. It makes sense, too; rally racers aren’t magically rewinding their cars and reversing damage in actual races, so why should a simulation game h??ave that?

As accessible as previous games have been, DiRT 4 is eager to be more realistic. While you can still toggle a bunch of different driving options on or off (like anti-lock breaking, steering assist, and throttle control), there is no map or driving line to guide you. You have to pay attention to your co-driver a?nd actually watch the track to succeed.

At least if you are brand new to rally games, DiRT 4 offers a handling option that should prove sufficient. When you first boot up the game, you’re given the option of ??playing with "Gamer" or "Simulation" handling. For the purposes of this review-in-progress, I’ve only played with "Simulation," but that is mostly because I have past experience with these games. I’ll be taking a look at the "Gamer" option for the full review, but it handles a lot of the more sophisticated ma?neuvers you’ll need to employ on the tracks.

The career mode is also wonderfully pared back from the bloat that most racing games suffer. You’ll find the majority of your challenges in "Rally" mode, but "Rally-X" and "Land Rush" are also present along with "Historic Rally," which is mostly a repeat of regular rally, but with classic cars. Events follow the standard racing game archetype of starting off with single tracks and burgeoning out to have multiple events with multiple races each. It can be tiring, but it thankfully doesn’t repeat the sin that DiRT 3 did of just havin??g the entire campaign again for no reason in a final tier.

Along with that, there is something similar to the Battersea Compound that was present in DiRT 3. It goes by the name of Joyride and it allows you to freely roam around to get a handle on your cars. It also has a few challenges that you can complete. They don’t seem to do much for you, but it's fun to ??try and reach time trial goals while dodging pick-ups that will add or subtract time from your score.

"Smash Attack," one of the modes that was a part of Gymkhana in DiRT 3, also makes a return in Joyride. It offers the same idea as time trials, just that you’re smashing through things instead of ?racing. I loved Gymkhana, but I know a bunch of people were very indifferent to it, so at least this doesn’t comprise a part of ??the main career mode.

Then there is the widely touted "My Track" mode, which randomly generates a track in rally mode for you to race on. It's as easy as going into the menu, selecting "my event??s," and then picking a country to put your track in. After that, you get sliders for intensity and length and you just press a button to generate the track. You can even save what the game comes up with, if you’re so inclined.

I haven’t put a huge amount of time into testing this feature, but it makes me wonder how much of the "Rally" campaign is actually made up of carefully crafted tracks. It may not be the ultimate answer for endlessly creating new courses, but the results are pretty damn convincing. I even generated a track that was close to nine miles long, so you could poten?tially have a race that takes upwards of 15 minutes to complete.

My biggest complaint with DiRT 4, thus far, mainly lies with the price point. I’m fine with the game not featuring as much content as previous entries, but charging $60 for less is concerning. Refreshingly, Codem?asters has not announced any DLC for the game, so maybe new modes and features will be added for free.

Still, to run ou??t and drop $60 on the game today might not be what most people should do. I do really love the way the racing feels, but I’m not sure how much time I’ll spend with this game after I’ve completed the campaign. For that matter, I still have to look at multiplayer, which doesn’t seem to sport a lot of options.

I’ve refrained from talking about graphics as the version of the game I played for this review-in-progress was based on a beta build of the title. Parts of it looked odd, but that is set to be fixed with a day-one patch. Any screenshots I’ve included in this article come with?? ??the caveat of not being on final code, so if you notice any oddities, those are set to be fixed.

Even with the lighter amount of content, though, DiRT 4 feels like a totally different game f?rom its immediate pr?edecessor. Hopefully the multiplayer works fine on launch, but there isn’t much to worry about as far as single-player content goes. Everything works as advertised and feels exhilarating.

DiRT 4 may not redefine what a rally racing game should be, but its focus on providing the pures??t experience possible is admirable in an industry that tries to be everything for everyone at once. I can’t wait to get back into the campaign, even though it's nearing midnight (at time of writing) and I’m ??tired as hell.

_{[T??his review in progress is based on a ret??ail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review in Progress: DiRT 4 appeared first on Destructoid.

To infinity and beyond!

Starbound is getting a new update that will allow for player created space stations. Using a snap module, players will be able to pick from a selection of different options to craft their very own home away from home. You'll start the process by launching some probe into space which then generates a spacebox with a teleporter. From there, you just get your Sims on and decorate to your heart's content!

Along with space stations comes player created mechs! That sounds awesome as hell. Not much is mentioned about that, but I'm sure it will work similar to how space stations are crafted, just on a much smaller scale. Developer Chucklefish is also working on fleshing out interplanetary activities so that the game more readily lives up to its name. Sounds like good stuff and? it makes me more intrigued by this game.

There isn't a release date for the planned 1.3 update, but seeing as how Starbound has been receiving generous updates for? years, I doubt most players will mind ??waiting a bit longer.

Starbound is adding player-built space stations [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

The post Starbound is getting custom space stations soon appeared first on Destructoid.

Heavy on Dungeon, light on Soul

I have conquered the first level of Dungeon Souls. Its boulders and explosion-traps were?? ineffectual; its skeletons and bats (who are also skeletons!) have been reduced to glaringly bright coins and shards of bone. I have activated the last mark, and the portal has?? activated.

"THE REDEEMER HAS ARRIVED," the screen declares.

As the gigantic spectre rushed across the screen, filling it with projectiles, my first thought was, "Oh, it's basically the Spelunky Ghost."

Dungeon Souls (PC)
Developer: Lamina Studios, Mike Studios
Publisher: Black Shell Media
Released: December 2, 2016
MSRP: $12.99

This thought process, I feel, aptly summarizes Dungeon Souls, a foray into the action-roguelike subgenre by Lamina Studios. Much like how its name is meant to capitalize on the popularity of From's Souls franchise, Dungeon Soul's plays like an amalgamation of the genre. As I was playing, I couldn't help but constantly notice similarities in the game's elements to those from its popular brethren - the ghost of Spelunky, the items of Risk of Rain, the level structure of Nuclear Throne - and?? so on. Al??l said, that might not be a bad thing.

Picking from one of ten heroes (only three are available to start, the rest are unlocked through various means), you spawn into a procedurally-generated dungeon, the theme and enemies of which changes after each boss battle (every few levels, à la Nuclear Throne). Regardless of theme, the ??????????????????????????goal is always to activate all of the ritual markers scattered throughout the stage, in turn activating the portal to the next stage. Each marker will spawn a small horde of enemies when touched, creating more than a few hectic moments where a boulder chasing me down a long, narrow hallway drove me right over the marker, spawning enemies and leaving me? nowhere to run.

Monsters will also spawn at random throughout each level, and are usually extremely aggressive, with skeleknights and yetis attacking on sight, necromancers that run and hide to animate more enemies, and enemy spellcasters setting the screen awash with bullets. While this can reduce the tedium of backtracking ??across the stage, it also led to more than one instance of me being killed instantly as an enemy spaw??ned on top of me.

The layout of each dungeon is pure procedural generation, for better or worse. This usually amounts to the game creating rooms out of various-shaped squares and rectangles, va??rying the size by smashing them into each other without intervening walls or adding narrow corridors. In addition to destructible projectile traps, there are floor traps, helpfully marked by a red target. At first, I was confused as to why I only saw these along walls, and almost always in c??orners.

This is a programming shortcut to make sure that the floor traps will appear in as many corridors as possible - as well as in ritual marker rooms, where the amount of enemies and debris make it easy to lose sight? of the trap markers. Thus many of my runs were ended at the hands of a?n explosion or an insta-kill rolling boulder, triggered as I dodged around the room's inhabitants.

The placement oddities continue in the form of its items. There are a lot of items in Dungeon Souls (looking similarly to the item sprites from Risk of Rain), and to the game's credit, a lot of them are very useful; extending from basic stat-boosters to life-stealers, eyeballs that shoot fireballs, shields to block bullets, or even items to ma?ke your foes explode on death – it's all here! That said, chests are placed entirely at random in the dungeon, as is the shopkeeper, who is present on most levels. Unlike other titles, this shopkeeper can be found with enemies swarming nearby, blissfully unaware of what is going on around him, acting as an invulnerable shield for enemies behind him.

Chests will often spawn intersectin?g with the shop's items, as will dropped items from monsters, and there is no way to distinguish between the two. Even more vexing are the secret levels. Objects will sometimes appear to warp you to the aforementioned levels when you possess the correct item. The problem is, it can do so from about half a map away, and activates with the same key to pick up items. It?? took about six warps to the game's first secret level to finally figure out why I was suddenly switching levels while opening chests and buying items from the store.

If one thing stands out in Dungeon Souls, it's the character classes, which all feel distinctive and enjoyabl??e to play as. All have a basic attack, which may be physical or magic, ranged or melee, as well as two side abilities. With so few powers, it's good that each adds significantly to gameplay. Most (but not all) have an area-of-effect damage ability, along with a more utility-friendly one.

The Barbarian is a strong physical melee class, with a ton of health, that can either throw a thunder axe for AoE, or speed himself up to wipe out enemies in a hurry. The Cleric, on the other hand, is a magic ranged class who's projectile bounces off of walls. Sure, he has a se??lf-heal, but he can also set up a barrier that splits his spell into three when fired through, prompting a little more strategy. By strategy, of course, I mean filling the screen with bouncy death.

Despite the variety and fun of each class, the game still manages to take a step back. You, see, Dungeon Souls likes to fashion itself a bit of a bullet hell title (in the vein of The Binding of Isaac), with some ranged enemies and every boss being obsessed with filling the screen with waves of bullets. Melee characters have to be at point-blank range to deliver their attacks, monsters only rarely telegraph their attacks (those that do seem like an afterthought), and the game contains no dodge mechanics. I'm glad you can gather up to six health potions, because you'll need them all the moment you need to survive all of that. It's not that melee characters are useless, it's just that the game didn't seem to actually take how they? play into account.

Making all that dodging and smiting more difficult is the mixed bag that the game presents visually. Environmentally, it's a mostly-bland set of tilesets that blend together, with props and slight color changes to differentiate dungeon from sewer from devilish lair. By comparison, the heroes and monsters are detailed enough to be consistently entertaining to look at. With the exception of an outdoor Tundra theme, all of the levels are incredib??ly dark, with only a small glimmer around your character. I couldn't help find this annoying, since enemies and traps were just as visible as ever, it only served to increase my eyestrain. In contrast, coins, projectiles, and other particles that hover over the landscape do so with retina-searing intensity.

Dungeon Souls proudly wears its inspirations on its sleeve (and its Steam Store description), a mishmash of inspirations that takes a step backwards even as it steps forward. Yet, despite that, it still manages to create a tiny universe of its own, full of engaging heroes and tenacious foes. It's a fun title, but when you have so many standout games that you can combine them to create something like Dungeon Souls, it's hard not to recommend those instead.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Dungeon Souls appeared first on Destructoid.

Places that creak in the night

The phrase "ghost town" conjures up specific imagery. Abandoned homes and forgotten storefronts are the visible remnants of lives upended. Perhaps the ghost town's residents left because of some natural disaster or economic downtu??rn. Maybe the businesses and houses lie dormant because of something more sinister. No matter their origin, ghost towns are evocative relics where time se?ems to stand still.

Silent Crossing is a game for peop??le whose eyes light up at the idea of exploring ghost towns. 

While Silent Hill and Animal Crossing might be on opposite ends of the video game spectrum, Silent Crossing -- as the name might imply -- borrow??s scenery from both to rando??mly created haunted towns.

There are no secret cults or anthropomorphic animals in Silent Crossing. Instead, there are low-poly houses and smooth stretches of grass and trees. Every town is blanketed in fog and wrapped in a foreboding atmosphere. Placid rivers cut up the map into segments, creating for towns that feel like a much creepier version of Animal Crossing New Leaf's randomized villages.

Wandering through Silent Crossing's lonely towns is haunting despite a lack of interactivity. Every house's interior can be entered and lamps -- should the building spawn with one -- can be flicked on. The rays of light cut through the darkness but also represent the extent of player interaction. There's ??not much to do other than exist in the foggy towns, even if for a few moments.

Silent Crossing is more spooky, digestible diorama than a full-on game. Programmer Lycoan aptly describes it as a "haunted town generator." The limited scope might turn some players off, but for a certain kind of person -- the one who leaps at the chance to look for things that go bump in the night -- Silent Crossing will be the pe?rfect little game to spend an evening with.

The post Explore spooky small towns in Silent Crossing appeared first on Destructoid.

May I have this grind?

Skateboarding is my escape from life's chaos. Whenever I feel stressed out, my skateboard is always there as a reliable means of much-needed relief. Afte?r countless hours skating, a few hundred major falls, and ?a handful of broken bones, my skateboard and I have become inseparable.

Because skateboarding has always been my form of meditation it's wickedly ironic that Proc Skater 2016 had me so frustrated earlier. It's a free game developed by Joseph Parker and Ryan Jones that manages to take ?everything I normally appre?ciate about skateboarding -- the muscle memory of a familiar trick and the fine-tuned turning of worn-in trucks -- and toss it to the wayside.

Proc Skater 2016 was developed as part of the Procedural Generation Jam. It's silly and challenging all at once, with physics that fly in the face of logic and skaters that control with all the grace of a semi stuck in reverse. Ev??en an ollie, the foundation from which all skateboarding tricks evolve, is a rec?ipe for disaster.

But that's part of the fun.

Though Proc Skater 2016 makes "realistic" skateboarding next to impossible, the game excels at creating a silly environment where pandemonium reigns. Every new game spawns a randomly generated skater (complete with cool nicknames like "Charizard") and a unique park to shred. The skaters are disproportioned and goofy, with clay-like faces that seem to understand ?the pain that awaits them. Each park defies the skate gods by mashing curved rails and steep ramps together with random, reckless abandon.

It's by no means a spiritual successor to Skate 3. In fact, Proc Skater 2016 feels more like a nightmare Techdeck park fused with the soul of QWOP. You ride around, trying to stay straight and upright. You launch off of a ramp, flipping and spinning through the air before hurtling towards the ground. You bail -- sometimes landing underneath the park's geometry -- and get right back up. With sketchy parks and wonky physics, the nonsensical tricks of Proc Skater 2016 make for a hilarious and frustrating experience.

I think that it's safe to assume the developers understand how glorious Proc Skater 2016's cacophony of aerials and crushing falls are since you can record gameplay with a s??ingle button press. Doing so captures the both moments of death-by-asphalt and insane combos that can occur at a?ny time, saving them as GIFs for easy sharing. It's a nice touch that works to not only capture your skateboarding misery, but also memorialize the occasional combo. 

Proc Skater 2016 and I got off to a rocky start. At first, I was annoyed by the game's clunky controls. They felt unnatural compared to the simplicity of my daily skateboarding routine. After a few sessions, the game's absurd stunts grew on me. I found myself whipping around different parks, twisting and contorting with pure glee. Proc Skater 2016 is an uncanny take on skateboarding, but just like its real-world counterpart, i??t still managed to let me have some pure (if not chaotic) fun for a few hours today.

Proc Skater 2016 is available as a pay-what-you-want game on Itch.io. All proceeds go to the Southern Poverty Law Center. You can check out the other games created during the Procedural Game Jam here.

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A lot to dig into

I'm glad I stuck Renowned Explorers out. For the first ??couple hours it was kind of a slog. Not exactly bad, but dense, unwieldy, and unexciting. I would finish an expedition and quit, not wanting to get back to it until days later, forcing myself to play for this review.

Then the other night, something clicked. The interactions between all of the different resources started to make sense. The nuance o??f the combat revealed itself. I finished an expedition and then immediately started a new one. I finished a ?full run and then immediately started a new one of those. Once I got into it, it wasn't half bad.

Renowned Explorers: International Society (Linux, Mac, PC [reviewed])
Developer: Abbey Games
Publisher: Abbey Games
Released: September 2, 2015
MSRP: $19.99
Rig: AMD Phenom II X2 555 @ 3.2 GHz, with 4GB of RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5700, Windows 7 64-bit

In Renowned Explorers, the goal is to become a particularly renowned explorer among the group known as the Renowned Explorers. This is achieved by going on expeditions, recovering valuable tr??easures, making scientific di??scoveries, and navigating combat situations.

Basically, an expedition is separated into tw?o parts: resolving text-based events while traveling between nodes on a map and tactical combat on a?? modified hex grid.

Both sections have elements of procedural generation, so there's always a sense of exploring the semi-unknown, even on an expedition to ??the same location as a previous run. Area maps are covered in fog of war, with only the nearest nodes visible. Combat arenas will vary the layout of obstacles, choke points, and healing zones.

Indeed, Renowned Explorers is a "roguelite," meant to be played multiple times in order to truly master it. Herein lies one of the biggest hurdles I had to get over in order to enjoy it. For a game meant to be played again and again, it just takes way too long. A single run consists of five expeditions, and each expedition can take 30 to 45 minutes depending on how many encounters there are. It took me days? to get through my first run because of the time commitment.

This does speed up with experience, because com??bat becomes much faster after learning the ins and outs of it. Even so, expeditions?? easily last 20 minutes or more, so it's not the kind of "just one more" experience a roguelite needs to really grab somebody.

This is exacerbated by the planning phase that occurs in between expeditions. Here, players spend the resources gathered during the previous expedition to purchase improved gear, recruit followers, and perform research. This is easily the densest part of Renowned Explorers for a new player. Every resource is connected to another in some way, and the game takes a laissez-faire approach; it presents a bevy of options and lets the play??er sort out what to do with them. Navigating the nooks and crannies of the planning phase can be exhausting at first, which makes the thought of taking on a new expedition right away seem that much more unreasonable.

By far, ??my biggest disappointment starting off was with the combat system. It advertises multiple ways to resolve encounters; an explorer can be aggressive with physical ??attacks, be devious with insults and threats, or be friendly with encouragement. The three styles have a rock-paper-scissors relationship, so an aggressive approach is advantageous against a friendly enemy for instance.

The problem with it is that each form of "attack" draws from the same "hit point" meter, which represents a foe's willingness to keep fighting. You could punch an enemy until he has only a sliver of health remaining, then finish him off by encouraging him to believe in your cause. Fighting and talking don't feel like they function differently. The battle system is hardly different t??han a simple three-element magic system at first.

Only after really digging in did I spot the nuance. Some encounters will provide different rewards depending on how they are resolved. More importantly, it's the asymmetry in the rock-paper-scissors system that makes it interesting. Aggressive ??attack damage is a function of physical power, where devious and friendly attack damage comes from speech power, so an orator might have a stronger pair of scissors than he has a rock, so to speak.

Within the speech powers, there is asymmetry as well. In general, devious skills ca?use debuffs while friendly skills cause buffs -- on friends and enemies alike. So while the curren?t mood might call for a friendly attack, it is still necessary to weigh the risk of increasing the enemy's attack power in return. The point is: the combat system is deeper than it initially lets on, but it takes some effort for a player to really understand that.

That basically describes Renowned Explorers: International Society on the whole. ??It features a set?? of deep systems with complex mechanics and relationships, but it places most of the burden on the player to discover it. I'll admit, I disliked it until it all fell into place and revealed itself for what it is.

I'm not chomping at the bit to keep playing,?? but I am curio?us to delve deeper. Different combinations of explorers can beget different tactics both in and out of battle. That thought alone is enough to keep me from uninstalling it.

The post Review: Renowned Explorers: International Society appeared first on Destructoid.

Developers should keep this in mind

The placebo effect is a well-known psychological concept wherein perform????ance and results can be altered when a subject believes conditions are different even when they aren't. Classically, placebos are given in medicinal studies in order to account for the effect. Unsurprisingly, this effect extends to video games.

University of York professor Paul Cairns designed an experiment in which participants played two rounds of Klei's procedurally generated survival game Don't Starve. For the first run the players were told the environment would be g?enerated randomly, then for the second playthrough they were told the game would use an advanced artificial intelligence to alter the difficulty based on player skill. The builds used were actually identical.

The results were not just an effect of players becoming more knowledgeable and skilled for the repeat performance, as some players reported having a more difficult time the second time around. Others reported a more enjoyable experience due to the more well-planned map. Of course, the layout of? the world was equally random (though not necessarily equally difficult) for both runs. So while participants may have experienced a discrepancy in difficulty, the fact that they attribute??d it to a fictional change in the code demonstrates the placebo effect.

Placebo effect works in video games too [New Scientist]

The post Don’t Starve used to demonstrate placebo effect in games appeared first on Destructoid.

Control your tears watching the video

The first few moments of the Kickstarter trailer for Home Free bring up sad memories of the Futurama episode "Jurassic Bark," which I apparently cannot even read the Wikipedia entry for without getting misty-eyed. Dogs, man. Dogs are the best peopl??e.

Thankfully, Home Free isn't all heartwrenching. Eventually, the pit bull in the video realizes it ?needs to learn to fend for itself, striking out into the unknown city full of other stray dogs, scav?enged food, and dangerous traffic. Maybe the doggy even finds a new home.

Home Free's city is proce?durally generated, so it should really give the feeling of being lo?st, even on repeat play throughs.

This is one of those Kickstarter projects that makes me wish I were independently wealthy. Sure, I want to play this game when it releases, but more than that I'd love to see my best furball friend Halley ??in it as a playable pup. Alas, that'd cost me a??lmost a thousand bucks.

The crowdfunding campaign for Home Free launched today and is currently over 25 percent of the way to its $50?,000 base funding goal. Certain Destructoid readers might be happy to see the stretch goal if that total is doubled; the "Tiny Legs Dog Pack" adds corgis to the city.

The post Control an abandoned dog in the? city in action-RPG Home Free appeared first on Destructoid.

More structure, risk/reward

The Binding of Isaac is one of the kings of procedural generation, but Greed Mode in the upcoming DLC Afterbirth is set to give it a little more structure. Instead of a random layout, each floor has the same plan, with a store up top, some treasure rooms to the side, and large combat room as the centerpiec??e.

In that room, Isaac can spawn waves of enemies that drop pennies for him to spend in the store. At any point, he can take some damage to shut off a wave and cash out. Series creator Edmund McMillen explains it as a stronger risk/reward scenario with less ran?domness than the main game.

McMillen discusses the new mode in detail over on The Binding of Isaac website. It looks and sounds like a pret??ty significant change of pace from the usual basement? journeys of Isaac.

[Thanks, JBroXNari99!]

The post The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth’s Greed Mode changes up the format appeared first on Destructoid.