Certainly, there is a glut of Early Access shooters on the market right now, but some of them genuinely are trying to innovate. Contain, for one, is due to release in beta form on January 16, and it is trying to combine Control, SCP (Secure, Contain, Protect), and Ready or Not into one.

Shoving experimental New Weird storytelling techniques into a tactical FPS envelope is, naturally, a rigmarole in and of itself, but Contain appears to be trying to go a step further still. Notably, the game features comprehensive gunsmithing and operator outfitting systems that appear to rival even those of Ground Branch and Escape from Tarkov. Talk about being prospective right off the bat.

Contain combines Weird horror influences with tactical FPS gameplay

The thing that makes Contain particularly interesting is, of course, its horror take on tactical FPS gameplay. Players are put into the shoes of poor sods that need to... well, secure, contain, and protect anomalous entities and phenomena. As an Early Access title from an unproven developer, SinginGiant, Contain may well end up falling flat on its face. Yet, the conce?pt is nothing to scoff at, and the focus on customization could be one of the game's strongest features, to boot.

Contain is coming out as an Early Access title later today, on January 16, and the folks over at SinginGiant "anticipate staying in Early ??Access until the game reaches a solid build," which says precious little. On launch, "Players can enjoy the current missions in the early beta build of the game. You can take a look at gunsmithing and character customizations. Also, we can easily say the current version holds our vision for the game," as per the official statement.

Curiously, Contain isn't even the only game on the market trying to tackle the Weird fiction tactical shooter niche. In fact, the slightly older SCP: 5K is an honest-to-goodness tactical FPS set in the Secure, Contain, Protect universe, and there's more than a passing similarity between it and Contain. It's going to be interesti??ng to see how the two compare as they close in on their respective release windows, and with a bit of lu??ck, the niche will be all the better for it.

The post Cont??ain combines Control, SCP, and Ready or Not into one horrific tactical shooter experience appeared first on Destructoid.

Ray'zing the bar

If you’re only a casual or intermediate lover of scrolling shoot-’em-ups, it’s easy to drown in the deep end. The genre has been unfathomably popular in Japanese Game Centres for decades, so just about every publisher of arcade games at the time had multiple series going. So, you’ll have to excuse me if I haven’t played every game featured in the Ray’z Arcade Chronology. I mean, I’ve heard of them. Not that I could tell you when and where because the names RayForce, RayStorm, and RayCrisis are so laughably similar that I can’t? keep them straight.

That’s okay. A lifetime of experience with the genre has given me ample framework to a??ppreciate each of these games, and appreciate t?hem I did.

[caption id="attachment_389830" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Ray'z Arcade Chronology (Switch [Reviewed], PS4)
Developer: M2, Taito
Publisher: ININ Games
Released: June 30, 2023
MSRP: $49.99

Ray’z Arcade Chronology consists of three games in the “Ray�series. This is 1994’s RayForce, 1996’s RayStorm, and 1998’s RayCrisis. This is why you need to be careful with your nomenclature. We’re left with Ray’z to cover the who?le series. Who’s Ray? I don’t know. ??Some guy who likes arcade shooters.

In any case, each of these titles is fantastic and brings something of their own to the table. RayForce is 2D, using a layer stacking technique to give the whole experience some 3D depth. RayStorm takes the series into actual 3D, which results in quite a ride. RayCrisis has the whole thing take place inside a supercomputer. This might sound lame, but there’s a feature where you’re given a specific route through the game, and your initials keep track of which ones you’ve cleared so you’re pre??sented with a different series of levels each time you p?ick it back up.

The collection was overseen by M2, which should tell astute readers everything they need to hear. M2 is generally considered the gold standard when it comes to porting games, and scrolling shoot-’em-ups are their specific area of expertise. I probably don’t have to tell you they did an immaculate job with the Ray’z Arcade Chronology, but I will anyway: They did an immaculate job with the Ray’z Arcade Chronology.

Rather than just bare ports, each of the games gets a bunch of bells and whistles. You can play with the DIP switches to customize the experience. The borders are filled with more UI stats than you could even need (including one that tells you the name of the music track currently playing). You also get an HD version of both RayStorm and RayCrisis that literally does just that. It increases the resolution so you don’t get a pixellated look. I love the pixellated look, but maybe you?? d??on’t, weirdo.

//youtu.be/dm1DyVDmkV8

RayCast

Anecdotally, I see RayForce as being ?the most highly respected of the bunch. It’s not hard to see why, as the sprite work is fantastic. It also has a smooth transition from level to level, making the whole thing seem continuous. It introduces the series staple of having a lock-on, which is necessary for hitting enemies that appear in the distance.

RayStorm is a lot of fun too. It might be my favorite in the bunch, but it’s harder to describe why. On paper, it really just sounds like RayForce in 3D, but while it loses the?? stylish transitions, it still feels like a great trip. It really kn??ows how to make good use of the backgrounds to heighten the action without getting in the way.

On the other hand, I enjoyed RayCrisis far more th??an I thought I would. It feels more innovative than the other games, and gives more incentive to replaying and building up your skill. Not only do you get a different set of levels on each playthrough, but you’re also graded based on how well you do. You’re given an incentive to prevent enemies from simply exiting the screen unscathed. Considering most shoot-’em-ups are less than an hour long and replay value is usually just reducing continues used and increasing score, I appreciate something more tangible to help elevate it.

The downside is that, because it takes place in a computer, the levels aren’t quite as cohesive. They just sort of happen. In a way, the progression of RayCrisis is the antithesis of the one-take of RayForce. It’s not a deal breaker. It’s more like ??a ?compromise to get the sweet, sweet replay value.

[caption id="attachment_389831" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

RayTracing

Unfortunately, if you want to play the prototype for R-Gear, you need to order through Strictly Limited Games. R-Gear was initially in development as a sequel to RayForce that would have retained the 2D art style, but development instead moved to RayStorm’s full polygonal 3D. It’s just a prototype, and it only includes one level, but it would have been cool to have it as part of the digital version. Maybe I’ll just have to pony up for a physical copy. Goodness knows I enjoyed Ray’z Arcade Chronology more than enough to justify it.

Oh, hey, that leads us to this little summary paragraph. Ray’z Arcade Chronology is really good. It’s a great collection of great ports of great games. That’s it. No notes (aside from the ones already provided). If? you haven’t played any of these games, you definitely owe it to yourself to check out the collection. If you have played them, this is just a great way to get all the titles together with some bells and whistles. I could scarcely ask for more.

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

The post Review: Ray’z Arcade Chronology appeared first on Destructoid.

Overwatch 2 hasn't been hitting the same for some

When I covered Overwatch 2 at its "release," I was anxiously waiting for the major PVE element that would eventually come down the pipeline. It sounded absolutely fantastic and would have added a true PVE element to the game, something Overwatch sorely needed for longevity. Sadly, those plans were scrapped, and although the team is still excited about what they'?re putting out, it's not the same.

But all that is still a little ways out. For those of you who are still playing, here's what to expect in Season 5.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GGam7tHwts

More modes are booked for Overwatch 2 Season 5 as we wait for the big August 10 update

Dubbed "Questwatch," a new "role-playing campaign" (micro-event) will commence, which allows players to discover the "magical kingdom of Overland." "New chapters" are linked to Season 5 Battle Pass tiers, which is one of the iffiest sentences I've typed since the release of Overwatch 1. You'll also have the opportunity to "defeat the Demon Lord" (Reinhard??t) in a new community-created 1v4 mode, which also has "key quests" tied into it.

Here's what those key quests actually do:

"Complete five of the Key Quests and you’ll unlock a treasure chest of 1,500 Currency, which can then be used to unlock your favorite past skins from the Hero Gallery. Plus you’ll earn as much as 20,000 XP in the Battle Pas??s!"

Sounds like a lot of busy work!

Oh, and if you were a big fan of the Summer Games event, it's coming to Overwatch 2 in Season 5. Prop hunt will be a part of the Season 5 festivities too, via a 5v5 elimination mode that will have a "limited-time run" starti??ng on July 25. An epic Ana sk??in and 50,000 battle pass XP are in it for you if you participate.

As for the big story/"campaign" additions, that won't come until August 10.

Mystery Heroes mode will come back in Overwatch 2 Season 5

Just a few months ago, the Overwatch 2 team eliminated the "Mystery Heroes" mode ?(where players fight in randomized 5v5 teams) without warning. It was a tone-deaf decision, and it was met with an outcry among the community.

Thankfully, Blizzard has confirmed that it?? will be coming back in Season 5.

Competitive mode is getting revamped a bit

"Team Queue" will be introduced in Season 5, which lets groups of five play in Overwatch 2's "standard ro?le lock ruleset" without the extra team restrictions. Players will be able to "compete and climb the ranked ladder together," which is great news for folks who were previously locked out of the festivities.

To go along with those alterations, Mei is getting tweaked a bit, and the team "also made changes to playing against heroes with quick kill potential a little more fair to play against including Cassidy, Hanzo, and Widowmaker." The Overwatch 2 team has provided their thoughts?? on the changes here.

[caption id="attachment_386269" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Activision Blizzard[/caption]

Weekly Challenges won't use a FOMO system starting in Season 5

Every publisher has a different strategy for rolling out weekly challenges. Some of them allow players to "bank" weekly challenges throughout an entire season, so you don't have FOMO (fear of missing out) knocking on your door). Some publishers force you to finish them week to week, ensuring that players log in and engage with a limited amount of titles for key progression. Some oscillate between both (as Fortnite has done in the past).

But for Overwatch 2 Season 5, "any weekly challenges that are not completed by the time the reset hits will simply roll its progress over to your next week." The team uses the phrase "starting in Season 5," so hopeful??ly this is a permanent change.

The post Overwatch 2 Season 5 looks absolutely packed, but I’m still lamenting the loss of the original PVE pitch appeared first on Destructoid.

Maybe we'll get a Boardwalk Empire reference or two

Fallout 76 still gets monthly quality-of-life updates and ?bug fi?xes, but every six months or so (give or take), the team gives us something new to chew on. This past weeken??d at the Microsoft Summer Game Fest showcase/conference, we got a brief look at what's next for Fallout 76: a new adventur??e set in Atlantic City (New Jersey).

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZR25_y5XL4&t=122s

Billed as "coming soon" (which no exact date or window in mind), the clip is presented in a sing-along format, showcasing old Fallout 76 content and gameplay before getting into the new stuff at the 1:30 mark. I should point out that this footage is extremely brief, as we only get a few panned shots of what's to come in the Atlantic City update: including a shot of a casino, a?? bit of the boardwalk, and an enemy roaming t?he streets. We've collated all of those shots in the gallery below.

Info is very slim on the Fallout 76 Atlantic City update

Beyond the tr?ailer, all the info we have is from the game's offic??ial blog:

"Prepare for high rollers and higher stakes when Fallout 76 embarks players on an all-new Expedition t??o Atlantic City �coming soon for all players! With so many ways to play, you too can answer the call of 76."

That's it! You can expect a mid-to-late Q3 release at the earliest, given the prior cadence of major content d??rops. Ideally, this update/expansion isn't a repeatable Pitt style expedition: but a full-on new zone to explore.

[gal??lery link="file" columns="2" size="large" ids="386155,386157,386158,386159"]

The post Fa??llout 76 is still chugging, heading to Atlantic City n?ext appeared first on Destructoid.

Infinite shards for a finite time

By the time you're reading this, chances are Bungie developers will be hard at work at Destiny 2 headquarters trying to fix this rampant and easy-to-perform glitch, so let's get to it. There's a new method to easily acquire legendary shards in Destiny 2, and odds are it'll be gone before the weekend.

Want to get infinite shards in Destiny 2? Well, then this is what you have to do

• Meet up with Ikora at The Tower, and take one of the exotic quests. Any will do the trick, so maybe get the first one.
• Follow the quest steps until the fourth step. No more, no less.
• Head back toward Ikora, talk to her, then get away from her without taking the armor.
• Open the menu and chose to abandon the quest.
• Talk to her again, and congrats, you'll now be able to take infinite pieces of exotic armor.
• Now you just have to dismantle the exotic pieces of armor until you get tired of being rich or Bungie fixes the leaky golden fountain.

You'll get legendary shards each time you dismantle something, and you can keep doing it constantly. Youtuber Di??vide managed to blow this wide open, and you can watch their tutorial on how to use the glitch below:

//youtu.be/x5KDoBoUh9Y

Bungie will surely make short work of this bug very soon, so we highly recommend you check out this sweet early summer gift ??as soon as yo??u can.

[Update: Some players are reporting that there was a quick server-side fix that kicked them out of the game at roughly 6PM ET. If you're still in, you might be able to squeeze some shards in.??????????????????????????]

The post Check out th??is glitch for infinite shards in Destiny 2 befo?re it is gone appeared first on Destructoid.

They're continuing the cryptid storyline

It's been a while since we've heard about Fallout 76, but the team is still pushing out updates: including one coming up very soon on April 18. Due out on that date at 10AM ET, the next update is referred to as a "smaller patch," which addresses bugs and performance issues. New content is actually coming this summer in the form of more cry??ptid quests and challenges.

[caption id="attachment_373792" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Bethesda[/caption]

The Blue Ridge Caravan returns: a?nd with it, we're getti??ng two new cryptids, Public Events, Side Quests, Rewards, and a Daily Ops Mutation. The Blue Devil and Ogua are the aforementioned cryptids are entering the fray, and here's a bit of background on each:

The Blue Devil: "Blue Ridge has renovated the Middle Mountain Cabins ?to be their latest and greatest Brahmin pitstop, but they just can't seem to keep the local critters at bay. The Repeller Speaker system they use to repel the creatures and keep their Brahmin safe has been damaged. To retake the pitstop and create a safe haven for their Brahmin to rest, they will need your help! Clear out the creatures, defend the Repeller, and the Blue Ridge Caravan will reward you handsomely for your assistance!"

Ogua: "After a trade deal goes wrong, Luca Costa finds himself in need of some help. A group of local Cultists has stole??n his Brahmin and cargo of makeshift explosives. His Uncle Vinny will not be happy if he catches wind of it. Be extra careful not t??o disturb the local wildlife, however, as Cultists have recently noticed strange rumblings in the woods nearby."

I'm constantly amazed at how much raw lore the team is building in this game, to the point where I hope we get a full-on revamp one day without all of the live service elements: like a traditional Fallout game. A lot of the reworks have essentially already done this, but I'm talking about a completely non-live-service, no add??-on version here.

Related: Fallout 76: How to Get Deathclaw Eggs on GameSkinny

The post Fallout 76 is getting a new update for Apr??il, summer ??plans revealed appeared first on Destructoid.

Another ride

You really have to give it to Supermassive Games for helping to keep the horror genre alive. They've been cranking out spooky games since 2015 with a degree of regularity, and generally, they're OK at worst, and are known to go above and beyond. I'm glad they're still making games, and that includes spinoffs like Switchback VR.

[caption id="attachment_368664" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR (PS5 [reviewed with PSVR 2])
Developer: Supermassive Games
Publisher: Supermassive Games
Released: March 16, 2023
MSRP: $39.99

If you don't mess with the Dark Pictures series at all and are wonderin??g what the hell is going on, we got yo?u.

In 2015, developer Supermassive Games released the hit horror adventure Until Dawn, which hosted a seated first-person VR shooting gallery spinoff a year later with Rush of Blood. Switchback VR is the equivalent for the Dark Pictures series: Supermassive's loosely connected franchise that carries on the spirit of Until Dawn. The same principle applies to Switchback VR as it did years back with Rush of Blood: you don't need to play the proper series to really enjoy it (since both are arcade-style shooters at heart), but there are references a?nd locales that will add a little? bit "extra" for folks who are fans.

It goes without saying, but the PSVR 2 Sense controllers are a massive upgrade from the prior Move technology implemented in Rush of Blood. Like, leagues better. I felt like I was fully in control in Switchback, with the ability to independently manipulate each hand (which controls a pistol by default, with room for finding temporary in-level upgrades like SMGs), and reload by pressing a button on the Sense controllers or shaking each device (which can be useful in a pinch, or directly following a jump scare, which Switchback has many of). It's?? just elegant enough to feel like the game is taking advantage of the new tech without overcomplicating things for what is ostensibly an arcade b?lueprint.

Minor functionality is implemented in a few other ways, like bobbing your head from side to side (or ducking) to avoid beams and hazards; often while your cart is racing along the track at top speed. Then there's the eye-blinking tech (which se?veral PSVR 2 launch window games have utilized) to create more chaos, as enemies will be more relentless if you blink in certain areas (it's not throughout the entire game).

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=HniskV3aJ7o

Gunplay is responsive thanks to the Sense controllers, and Supermassive isn't stingy with the default magazine size (18), coupled with quick reloading. You can generally just unload on enemies with both pistols as they walk/run/teleport up to your car and attempt to kill you (there's three difficulty settings in all), and there's a satisfying click when running out of ammo, coupled with some nice haptic physical feedback on the well-designed Sense tech. It's very easy to aim and see targets that count for "extra poi?nts" too, since they're cle??arly marked with a glowing seal. Again, Supermassive struck a good balance here, and didn't make things too overwhelming.

After completing the short-ish tutorial to learn most of the above concepts, you'll embark on "rides" through haunting locations, like the shipwreck (and the surrounding area) from Man of Medan. Little Hope, House of Ashes, and The Devil In Me (all part of "season 1" of Dark Pictures) also make an appearance. Because this is an "all-star tour" of sorts, the environments have a lot more variety to them compared to Rush of Blood. Playing through them in fairly rapid succession, I was reminded of all of the wacky '90s arcade shooters in the best way, where you visit a harbor in French Polynesia in one moment, and a Mesopotamian tomb in the next. There's also a vague story thread woven in (much like the series proper likes to do) that's sort of interesting, but also so vague that it'?s hard to really connect to it until you're forced to later on in the game.

Switchback was delayed a bit from its original ??launch date; and from a visual standpoint, I can see why. There's still some pop-in presen?t amid some less inspired bits of each track (mostly the wide open outdoor areas), which result in a literal rollercoaster of high and low points throughout the game. The good news is, as I've espoused multiple times throughout this review, it's an arcade game in spirit. So one small pitstop is going to be just that, a short stop, and it's time to move to the next thing.

[caption id="attachment_368666" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

After you've ridden ??through each level there's a score-attack element baked in (with leaderboards), a level-select option (giving you the chance to c??heck out the extra paths in each stage), and a few trophies to potentially mess with on a replay (like if you messed up key moments when you have the opportunity to save other people); as well as several secrets dealing with the credits. I do wish there was a bit more replayability here, especially when you factor in the opportunity to iterate more with this VR-generation-leaping sequel. But I did enjoy blasting away creatures on a world tour rollercoaster ride, and I did get freaked out a few times by some jump scares: so mission mostly accomplished.

At $20 more than Rush of Blood was at launch, Switchback VR is a bigger pill to swallow, but does plenty to sate anyone who is looking for AAA VR horror, and makes use of the PSVR 2's technological enhancements. I expect Switchback VR to be similarly polarizing because it caters to a very specific niche, but if you enjoyed Rush of Blood, you'll likely have a good time here as well.

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

The post Review: The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR appeared first on Destructoid.

40 million players also confirmed

Blizzard, in addition to reconfirming "over 40 million players" have interacted with Overwatch 2, has also provide??d details for their "Def?ense Matrix Initiative," which is apparent?ly "making strides to push toward a fairer gaming experience for all players." In short, it's an enhanced anti-cheat system.

Overwatch 2 now has custom game moderation and "disruptive voice chat detection"

This is th??e big one. The workshop system and custom games have been causing issues since launch, and Blizzard is trying to "provide ways to make sure custom games remain safe and enjoyable for all players." Moderation tools will "automatically remove custom games containing inappropriate titles or content," while penalizing accounts that do so.

As for the chat b??it, Blizzard i??s implementing voice-to-text transcription and "AI learning" to assist in moderation, which started with Season 2. Blizzard says they've "already begun working to stop disruptive players with applicable chat silencing and account suspensions as needed"

A new "streamer protection" system is in place, and there's more of a focus on taking down cheaters

In the ever-growing gaming landscape, considerations for all types of players are always a concern, including streamers. While Blizzard admits "stream sniping" (the attempt of queuing into a streamer's game to disrupt the stream) is a tough nut to crack, they are trying a few things to mitigate it.  This one is arguably the biggest policy rollout: "Players will now be able to hide their current BattleTag or hide the tags of the other players in the same game they play in on their own game client. This will prevent those who may be watching that player’s live stream from identifying if they’re in the same lobby. Players can also now hide the current queue time and even delay it for a random time before the game actually begins to find a match for that player. Replay Codes can also now be hidden from appearing in the game client. These features will be available s?tarting in Season 3 for all players and can be found in the Social options in your settings."

Blizzar??d also re-ups their commitment to taking down cheaters, noting that "over 50,000 accounts" have been dealt with. When Season 3 hits, they'll be able to more easily identify cheaters with the Defense Matrix Initiative, and controversially, will sanction players who are "grouping up with anyone who uses cheats and hacks." The idea is to take out "players who knowingly group up with cheate??rs," which will involve suspensions (while the player who is directly using cheats will be banned permanently).

We'll see how this one shakes out! Overwatch 2 and Blizzard as a whole aren't in the best spot in terms of public perception, so I expe??ct this facet of the initiative will be the toughest to enforce?? going forward.

The post Overwatch 2 team announces new anti-ch??eat initiatives appeared first on Destructoid.

Sharing the wealth

February is a packed month, and part of that is due to the Destiny 2: Lightfall expansion arriving in a few weeks. Before that happens Reddit user goboy3133 has done a public service of sorts: sharing the contents of the Lightfall Collector's Edition with the world.

Bungie is no stranger to esoteric puzzles and scavenger hunts, and we're getting another one in the Collector's Edition itself. Beyond story bits (including Vanguard Reports on various story facets dealing with Osiris, Calus, and Elsie, all of which are available to read in the above link), Bungie has also hidden redemption codes for Destiny 2 emblems in the Collector's Edition reports.

As usual the community answered the call, and uncovered all of them. If you want to grab the Destiny 2: Lightfall Collec??tor's Edition for yourself a?nd figure out the puzzles within: stop here!

All Destiny 2 Lightfall Collectors Edition emblem codes

Note that the first code can only be redeemed once (typically by the owner of the Lightfall Collector's Edition). The rest can be used openly, and goboy3133 has created instant-redemption Bungie.net links for them, which can be found below. I tried them out myself: they work! You just need to sign into Bungie.net with the platform of your choice, and you're good to go. If the links don't work for whatever reason, you can enter them manually here.

• LF CE Emblem 1: (Can only be redeemed once)
• LF CE Emblem 2: YAA-37T-FCN
• LF CE Emblem 3: 993-H3H-M6K
• LF CE Emblem 4: XVK-RLA-RAM
• LF CE Emblem 5: J6P-9YH-LLP

The post Destiny 2 player shares Lightfall Collecto?rs Edition emblem codes with community appeared first on Destructoid.

Things are back to the old way

Epic Games has unveiled their full plans for the return of the Dragon Ball Z franchise in Fortnite, and the fairly big content patch is live now.

On top of the return of the Kamehameha a?nd N?imbus Cloud items (as well as the capsules that deliver them), we're also getting Gohan and Piccolo. Here's a full breakdown, as well as a brief overview of a very welcome weekly quest change.

Here is all the 2023 Dragon Ball stuff that was added to Fortnite

Both Gohan and Piccolo were added in as premium outfits (charac??ters), which you can buy with V-Bucks.

Gohan Outfit

• Gohan's Cape Back Bling - A gift from Piccolo to inspire him to return to training. (Included with the Son Gohan Outfit. Can only be used with this Outfit.)
• Gohan's Beast Axe Pickaxe - Go beyond ultimate!
  • Reactive â€?surges with lightning upon hitting Weak Points.
• Capsule No. 576 Glider - Property of Capsule Corporation.

Piccolo Outfit

• Piccolo's Cape and Turban Back Bling - Cape and turban that Piccolo can put on and take off with his demon power. (Included with the Piccolo Outfit. Can only be used with this Outfit.)
• Piccolo's Demon Symbol Back Bling - The mark that Piccolo used to wear. (Included with the Piccolo Outfit.)
• Piccolo's Handheld House Pickaxe - Piccolo's unique shell-like house.
• Red Ribbon Army Aircraft Glider - Property of Red Ribbon Army.

You can also ??once again access the Dragon Ball Adventure Island area (through code 5642-8525-5429), which will earn you Orange Piccolo and Gohan Beast Spra??ys.

Five more Reality Augments were added too

• Rift-Jector Seat (anytime your shield breaks, you'll rift into the sky after a short delay)
• Shadow Striker (Become able to get Shadow Bombs from containers)
• Icy Slide (Get a brief icy speed boost after sliding)
• Harvester (Foliage you destroy will drop Big Bush Bombs and forageables. Also increases the effectiveness of eating forageables)
• Mythic Ammunition (Obtain a Mythic Pistol)

Most importantly, Epic Games dropped the weekly quest FOMO timer

As of this season, Epic Games made a number of ch??anges to the quest system, much to the chagrin of the playerbase. Arguably the biggest alteration was the addition of adding timers to weekly quests: forcing players to "??earn them or lose them" during a certain timeframe. That's changed.

Here's the full rundown from Epic games:

"From v23.30 and onwards, Battle Royale Chapter 4 ??Season 1 Weekly Quests will no longer expire after a week. They will remain until the end of Seas?on, meaning players can complete a set of Weekly Quests anytime until Chapter 4 Season 1's end date."

In short, from today until the end of the season, you can finish weekly quests at your leisure????. It took long enough! Hopefully the next season has this system implemented day one.

The post Dragon Ball returns to Fortnite, along with a much-n??eeded we?ekly quest change appeared first on Destructoid.

Maybe this'll reinvigorate the game for a lot of people

Exotic (unique) weapons in the Destiny series have always been a way to add more flavor into the game: and that's especially the case with marquee expansion-centric exotics. Bungie just showed off seven more that are arriving in the mix with the Lightfall expansion, and things look promising so far:?? especially from an aesthetic perspective.

[gallery link="file" colum?ns="?7" size="medium" ids="360761,360762,360763,360764,360765,360766,360767"]

Here are the exotics shown off in the newest Destiny 2: Lightfall trailer, as well as how they work:

• Final Warning (Charged tracking rounds)
• Deterministic Chaos (Rhythmic debuffs)
• Cyrtarachne's Facade (Grappple gives woven mail)
• Abeyant Leap (Barricade spawns additional lashes)
• Quicksilver Storm (Grenades create tangles on kills)
• Swarmers (Destroying tangles spawns threadlings)
• Winterbite (Freeze enemies with frost orb)

Expect more exotics to show up as the seasons progress, as well as raid-specific ge?ar that will be kept secret unti?l the raid itself hits.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK2zmFr5wV4

Keep moving forward

Looking back on the last few years of Destiny, it's been a wild ride. One of the most off-the-rails tracks was definitely Destiny's foray into the Stadia realm (with hiccups): followed by its recent crash. I know some of the playerbase has been worn out by the last few expansions, but the vibrant neon hues of Lightfall could go a lon?g way in terms of bringing me back.

We'll see how it turns out on February 28!

The post The new Destiny 2 exotics coming with Lightfall lo??ok like fun appeared first on Destructoid.

Update version 1.7.2.18

You gotta hand it to the Fallout 76 development team. Despite each new patch adding its own set of bugs, and the incredibly rocky launch, they're still plugging away with updates. And sizeable ones, too! If there isn't a major content patch in any given month, typically some other large update will go live to spruce things up: including this one for January 2023.

Live now on all platforms (including Steam, where the game shifted over to instead of the Bethesda Launcher), the patch has over 100 art and animation, audio, mechanical, and quality of life adjustments. One core focus is a weapon change that removes "illegal attachment combinations that violate the EULA," which is an inc??redibly rough spot to be in! That fix (which impacted the PC community, and dealt with weapons that were not supposed to be present in-game) was previously delayed due to locking out other legitimate weapon types, so go figure.

You can find the full rundown below. If you've been curious about how Fallout 76 has been getting on lately, this is a decent gli?mpse.

Fallout 76 Update 1.7.2.18 full patch notes

DESIGN CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS

WEAPON CHANGES

Although we are playing in a post-apocalyptic world, we still want to keep that world fair, fun, and inviting to all. While you have been exploring and rebuildi??ng, we have been working on a new system that works behind the scenes to remove illegal attachment combinations that violate the EULA to ensure that every single player is using?? and trading the same items and has the same advantages as you.

In today's update, we are implementing a system that will remove illegal mods attached to weapons that cannot be obtained in-game. Most players will not notice any change to their existing weapons, however, players who are in possession of a weapon with a mod that cannot be equipped naturally to the weapon may notice a damage decrease to the ??weapon, and the mod will no longer exist.

BUG FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS

ART & ANIMATION

• Backpack Flairs: Various adjustments to the view of Backpack flairs in the crafting menu.
• Cryolater : Made adjustments to the frosted texture on the weapon model.
• Flairs: Increased the Zoom out of Backpacks to allow more visibility on the flairs.
• Loot Bags: Various fixes to Loot bag skins that were missing collision.
• Power Armor: Adjustments to the player's 1st person view while wearing the Alien Invader Power Armor Paint and using a Heavy Weapon.
• Power Armor: Fixed an issue where X-01 Prototype paint could not be reapplied after changing paints or skins.
• Power Armor: Fixed an issue that can change the color of the highlighted weapon parts at a weapons workbench after entering and exiting Power Armor.
• Rifles : Applying the Aligned Stock mod to a Laser Rifle or Ultracite Rifle now changes its appearance to reflect the mod.
• Vault-Girl Arm Wrestle Machine: The player character no longer clips through the machine during its animation.
• Weapon Paint: The Nuka-Dark paint for pump action shotguns now displays correctly.

AUDIO

• Scout's Banner: Using a Scout Banner now plays the correct sound effect while being used.
• Weapons: The spinning barrel sound effect from Miniguns, Gatling Plasmas, Gatling Lasers, and Pepper Shakers now stops when entering water.

C.A.M.P.S & SHELTERS

• Allies: The proper name is now displayed for Sam, Katherine, and Xeno when inspecting or placing Allies in the players C.A.M.P.
• Buffs: The 9 Ball Table now correctly provides a +2 Charisma buff to players after being used.
• Buffs: The Spore Plant Bed now correctly gives the Well Rested Bonus after being used.
• Displays : The Thirst Zapper can now be displayed on the full-sized Wall Weapon Rack.
• FreeCam: Players can no longer place floor objects on top of their character while in FreeCam mode.
• Message Board: Neon Letters can now be applied to the Message Board Kiosk.
• Roofs: The Abandoned Mine C.A.M.P. Kit Roof now correctly uses the same amount of budget as other roof corner variants.
• Trophies: Fixed an issue that caused Nuclear Winter trophies and statues to not be buildable in C.A.M.P.s and Shelters.
• Pirate Ship: Adjustments to the collision and snapping on the Landlubber Pirate Ship and Sea Legs Pirate Ship.
• Radioactive Holiday Tree: Fixed an issue where the Radioactive Holiday Tree would leave persistent radiation when stored in a Blueprint.
• Recipes: Players who have learned the recipe for Cappy and Bottle's Couple Sign can now correctly build the object.
• Survival Tent: Fixed an issue which could prevent players from fast traveling to their team member's APC Survival Tent.
• Watch post Prefab: Fixed the collision on the top stair.

CHALLENGES

• Nuka-World on Tour: Events completed in Nuka-World on Tour now correctly count towards "Complete Events in the Ash Heap" Challenge.

ENEMIES

• Mad Dog Malone: When in his downed state, Mad Dog Malone no longer appears in the nearby corpse's menu.

ENVIRONMENT

• Garrahan Mining HQ: Addressed an issue that prevented players from entering the Garrahan Mining Headquarters from the Garrahan Mining Lobby.
• Nuka-World on Tour: Lady G's stall is now in its proper place.

EVENTS

• Distinguished Guests: Players will now receive proper rewards for each completion stage of this event.
• Feed the People : Food canisters will no longer despawn during Feed the People when a player enters the loading dock.
• Nuka-World on Tour: All Nuka-World on Tour Public Events now correctly drop Legendary Cores upon event completion.
• Nuka-World on Tour:"What Slept Beneath" now grants the correct amount of XP.
• Nuka-World on Tour:"Seismic Activity" now properly grants Ultracite Scrap as an event reward.
• Nuka-World on Tour: The "Deposit Buckaroos" counter in Most Wanted now displays the number of Buckaroos needed instead of using a progress bar.

ITEMS

• Junk : Gold Table Spoons now provide gold instead of silver when scrapped.
• Gunpowder: Gunpowder is now classified as a junk/scrap item.
• Nuka-Cola: Nuka-Grape now shows the correct value of rads removed after drinking.
• Power Armor: The T-65 right arm now correctly requires Aluminum for crafting, to match the left arm.
• RadAway Diluted: Reduced the debuff timer from 2 hours to 7 minutes to be more aligned with RadAway, which has a 15-minute debuff timer.
• Sunshine Oil: Adjusted the Sunshine Oil to use the correct Damage Resistance effect. The Damage Reduction now also is increased by the Herbivore mutation.

LOCALIZATION

• Localization: Various Localization Fixes.

PERKS

• Quack Surgeon: Mire Magic Moonshine and Vintage Mire Magic Moonshine now work with the Quack Surgeon Perk.
• Perk Sharing: Added a gameplay setting to allow players to reject Shared Perks from Team Members.

QUESTS

• Disarming Discovery: Dagger will no longer become hostile to the player prematurely.
• Flavors of Mayhem: Players will no longer receive Syringer ammo upon relog.

STABILITY

• Client Stability: Addressed a client crash that could occasionally occur when returning to the Main Menu from an Expedition.

USER INTERFACE

• Local Looting: Allies in a Downed state will no longer appear in the nearby corpse's menu.
• Fanfare: Adjusted the "Seismic Activity" event start banner to not overlap animations.
• Pip-Boy: Bobblehead: Big Guns now displays its Buff in the Pip-Boy.

WEAPONS

• Ammunition: The Explosive prefix on weapons only applies to bullets (Excluding Railway Spikes).
• Ammunition : Recoverable projectiles from the player's weapons are no longer able to be looted by other players.
• Flamer: Addressed an issue causing the Flamer to give false positive damage numbers when hitting enemies in VATS. The Flamer will now hit enemies during VATS more efficiently.
• Mods: The Auto-Axe and Chainsaw now show the number of mods unlocked at workbenches.
• Melee : The Cultist Dagger and Bowie Knife can now be modded.
• Melee: The Deathclaw Gauntlet and Meat Hook no longer use One Handed Weapon Perks. They still benefit from Unarmed Perks.
• Mods : The Sleek Mod effect now stacks when applied to two pieces of leg armor.
• Mr. Handy Buzzblade: Reduced the VATS AP cost for Mr. Handy Buzzblade.
• Rifles : Assault Rifles now correctly have the Rifle classification regardless of how it is modded.
• Rifles: Radium Rifles now have an increased chance to learn mods when scrapped.
• Thirst Zapper: Fixed an issue that caused unlimited throwables with a Thirst Zapper equipped.
• Thirst Zapper: Fixed a bug where the water ammo for the Thirst Zapper appeared in the Favorites Wheel.

WORLDS

• Private Worlds: Fixed an issue causing several quest and event related NPC's to not be present on Private Worlds.
• Private Worlds: Fixed an issue causing Legendary Exchange Stations and the Encryptid Terminal to not appear in Private Worlds.

The post Fallout 76 just got a sizable pa??tch mostly meant to ??address bugs appeared first on Destructoid.

It's a fun word to say

I don’t know how Steel Empire snuck up on me, but I had never heard tell of it until I held the Genesis clamshell case in my hands. A horizontal shoot-’em-up where you can pilot a blimp? Get out of my dreams and into my Genesis. However, I later learned that Steel Empire had been ported to 3DS and then to PC. Our boy, Chris Carter, even reviewed it back in the day. Since I was an avid reader of Destructoid at the?? time,? I probably saw it, but it didn’t connect.

So, here I thought I discovered some lost gem of the Genesis library, and really it’s be?en in circulation this whole time. Ah ?well, it’s not some sort of competition. If it was, I would have so many participation trophies.

Rigid airship

Steel Empire is a 1992 game by Hot-B. Hot-B was the developer responsible for Hoshi wo Miru Hito, which was a Japan-only release that achieved the reputation of “kusoge no densetsu�or �a href="//jbsgame.com/famicom-friday-spelunk??er-ii-2-kusoge-retro/"?? target="_blank" rel="noopener">crap game of legend.�Despite this, they were never really considered a bad developer. They had some success in the fishing genre, and previously created Insector X on the Genesis. Most developers have? their off days. Just ask John Romero.

Truth be told, and blimp aside, Steel Empire is more of a mid-tier shoot-’em-up. I could name, off the top of my head, a number of better shooters that came out before and around the same time as Steel Empire. That’s fine because I’ve played those a bunch, but not as much Steel Empire. It’s not like there’s only room to play o?ne shoot-’em-up. How long does the typical game in the genre actually run? Like, an hour, ?tops?

What I like about Steel Empire is that there’s an earnestness about it. It doesn’t feel like an all-in effort. It wasn’t made by veterans of the industry. Steel Empire isn’t Raiden. It just is. It has a vision, and it shoots for it. Comparing i??t to other games in the genre doesn’t seem useful because it doesn’t seem to be trying to compete. However, I’m going to do that anyway to let you know how excited you should be to try it. You sho??uld be medium excited.

Emperor Lenny

Steel Empire tells the story of an evil empire that’s kicking everyone’s ass until its neighbor decides to stop them with their wicked blimp. Pretty much every shooter tells the story of someone’s cool, cool spaceship, but Steel Empire is the only one that’s, like, “Aw, check out our awesome blimp.�I don’t really know what makes this blimp so special, but it is definitely better than any of the rigid airships that the enemy can throw together. It is absolutely the best lighter-than-air combatant ??in the sky.

There’s a plane too, which has different stats. It’s actua??lly a good idea to pick it for certain stages. It’s kind of neat, but it’s not full of hydrogen, so that sucks.

You then go through a series of stages that has you pushing back the Motorhead Empire. You start off by kicking them out of your territory, and then you invade theirs and go for their emperor. It’s kind of a neat bit of cohesion that builds as you go. Most shoot-’em-ups don’t really tell much of a story, so it’s sort of fun that there’s a whole narrative arc to Steel Empire, as simplistic as it is.

The downside is that they chose to present all the cutscenes in a way that’s supposed to emulate the flic??ker of a projector. This might have looked okay on a CRT back in the day, but on ?any modern display, it’s a good way to ruin an epilepsy sufferer’s night.

Going all Hindenburg

The actual gameplay is rather straightforward. You try to get from the left sid?e of the level to the right while losing as few lives as possible along the way. The levels are nicely varied, and the pixel art is fine. Power-ups are linear, but you get to keep everything but your options (little floaty balloons that shoot alongside you) when you die. You keep leveling up, and I’m not sure if it actually caps out. Eventually, you stop getting more bullets, but it’s hard to tell if your shots become more powerful.

There's also a health bar, which is somewhat unusual for the genre. You can ta??ke multiple hits before going all Hindenburg, and the amount you have each life is increased as you gain levels. You can also grab dropped items that will refill your bar. The plane has, by default, less health than the blimp, which makes sense because that sort of airplane is usually made of canvas, while a blimp is made of blimp.

If there’s one major downside to Steel Empire, it’s that the Genesis version suffers from severe slowdown when things get messy on screen. It’s noticeable, but I don’t personally mind. I bring it up because slowdown is one?? of the biggest sins a shoot-’em-up c?an commit to some people, so it sounds like an important detail.

If there’s another major downside, it’s the repetition toward the end. Certain sub-bosses repeat with only minor differences, so while the background action may change up constantly, things can get kind of repetitive where it really matters. Like most shoot-’em-ups, Steel Empire i??s a rather short experience, so it doesn’t get too stale, but it does diminish its climax.

I'll say it again: Blimps

I was somewhat surprised to see that Steel Empire had received multiple ports. I’m not saying it isn’t deserved. I believe that every game, regardless of quality, should be available and playable in perpetuity. It’s just that there are plenty of other games less obscure than Steel Empire that have never been renewed for later hardware.

However you choose to do it, Steel Empire comes recommended if you enjoy fun or blimps. Or both. Just don’t come in expecting it to set your hydrogen alight because it probably won’t do that. It isn’t Raiden. The only thing that could be better than Raiden is Raiden but with a blimp.

For other retro? titles you may have missed??, click right here!

The post Steel Empire for Genesis is a shoot-’em-up with blimps appeared first on Destructoid.

13.5 million total players is the main stat

Fallout 76 has had a wild ride since its release...wow, over four years ago?! It's crazy to think how many things have changed since then, Fallout 76 included! It's gone from one of the biggest AAA disasters in recent memory to a respectable main/side game for many. This week, Bethesda release??d a "2022 retros??pective" of sorts, complete with an infographic.

As is usually the case with these things, the info therein ranges from useful to silly. The main stat is that 13.5 million players engaged with the game in 2022 (keep in mind it's on Game Pass, and was offered fo??r free several times): and from there, it gets a little more ??inside baseball.

If you play the game, you might find some of the other useless stats humorous, like the thumbs up taking the crown as the most popular emote, or the fact that there's been 2.9 million nukes dropped. Oh, and that folks prefer forest locations for ??setting up their camps/home base. "Boiled water" taking the top spot as the most prepared food/drink (combined!) is also funny to me.

With the massive Pitt update in the rear view and the new season afoot, folks are wondering what 2023 has in store for Fallout 76. Hopefully it still includes some combination of ??free access via Game Pass, as well as a hea??lthy mix of smaller/bigger patches.

A great big Fallout 76 2022 recap:

The post Fallout 76 is?? still alive and kicking, based on this infographic appeared first on Destructoid.

It's live today through January 3

Although Overwatch doesn't seem to have the same cachet it once enjoyed in the Overwatch 2 era, it's still chugging along with the seasonal model: which includes new heroes. This holiday update is a little less exciting, but it does involve a nearl??y-free ??skin.

Blizzard has announced today that the Legendary Gingerbread Bastion skin will cost one Overwatch 2 coin (the main currency of the new iteration of the game). The promotion will run from today through January 3. You can check out the skin in the header image, and see if it's even worth your time logging in (or installing it at all, depending on your reaction to the s??emi-s??equel).

I guess it's a good thing Bastion was fixed

You may recall that late in the year, Bastion was busted, and was taken out of the rotation completely. As a recap, Blizzard posted the following Twitter message o??n Oct?ober 10: "Bastion and Torbjörn will be taking a quick trip to the workshop while we iron out a few bugs in their ability kits! Bastion will be unavailable in all modes during this time, while Torbjörn will still be playable in Quick Play." Bastion? in particular was able to exploit? his ultimate, leading to a swift recall of the hero.

Bastion was added back to the g?ame on October 25, and joins a line of heroes (among other things like at least one map) that were removed from the game due to bugs.

The post You can get this n?early-free? Legendary Gingerbread Bastion skin in Overwatch 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

5mg of Delta-5.5

Oh geez High on Life. You know, like, on one hand I'm keen on the whole "Justin Roiland voice" shtick, especially when it comes to Solar Opposites. But oh man....on the other....it's getting a little old, you know? Especially if most people in those worlds feel like they're just riffing, like everything is a stream of consciousness...like we're all just...part of one big galactic party that never ends? Like how Shrek was mostly just a series of riffs from the actors, and a lot of it didn't work? Look it up! On...Wikipedia...or Bing...or something.

Anyway, yeah, a lot of the Roiland shtick does still make me laugh, but there isn't a strong enough game around it to really hold up High on Life.

High on Life (PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S [reviewed on a Series X])
Developer: Squanch Games
Publisher: Squanch Games
Released: December 13, 2022
MSRP: $59.99 (also on Xbox Game Pass)

High on Life is an irreverent exploration-heavy shooter that's very much inline with a lot of Justin Roiland's prior work. If you've never played one of Squanch Games' releases before, or have never seen Ricky and Morty or any number of his projects: it's a lot of shock (sudden death)/gross-out humor, along with some really insane premises, typically in sci-fi setting. Imagine a Rick and Morty epi??sode where Morty takes over the role of a bounty hunter an?d has a solo adventure, and you're pretty much there.

In this particular game? though, you play the role of a random human on Earth, in the midst of an alien invasion. One thing leads to another and you (and your house) is transported to another planet, and you're making a deal with an ex-bounty hunter for their suit and their former glory. Oh, and you're tasked with stopping an evil organization from taking over, potentially saving humanity in the process. You'll do that by warping to different biomes/sandboxes to take down bounty targets (bosses).

To accomplish all this, you'll be thrusted into a first-person viewpoint, with locomotion options like a jetpack and a grappling hook (which can attach to hooks or grappling lines that you can slide down); as well as sentient weapons that somewhat resemble a pistol, a shotgun, a rapid-fire SMG, and an alien-summo?ning...thing. All of these tools have an alternate fire of sorts, which typically double as puzzle-solving tech.

The weirdness of it all is easily the best part. Like many Roiland joints, High on Life is filled with twists, meta humor, and Easter eggs. There's silly optional menu-based forums to read filled with jokes that you don't actually need to engage with, random alleys that have interesting NPC interactions that serve no purpose other than to make you laugh, and good old fashioned video game secrets. The humor will be hit and miss for many though (just watch some gameplay to see if you vibe), and I felt like Squanch Games' previous effort (Trover Saves the Universe) was funnier: because of the way the game riffs off of the?? Trover character, rather than a blank s??late.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCk1__TYksU

Gameplay-wise, High on Life is what I'd call a "serviceable" shooter. The team does a good job at making each weapon unique, from the simple fact that all of them talk (and are all voiced by comedians), to the aforementioned alt-fire mechanics. There is an incentive to use them all, and in?? nearly every combat sequence I was swapping guns an?d wielding their specific strengths (the "set it and forget it" nature of firing off goons with the summoning gun, then swapping to something else, is fun). There are some cool battlegrounds too, where you can use the grappling hook feature on full display, dashing and jetpacking around like a madman while you aim.

Where High on Life really falters is enemy variety. In any given zone, there's usually standard trash/fodder that slowly fires a pistol with bad aim, some small flying UFO/drone thing, and a bigger elite that make up 90% of the collective you'll be fighting. That formula applies to a lot of games, but none of those three types here are particularly exciting, or are even that unique from zone to zone. Bosses are sometimes a bright spot, but a bit of jank (more on that later) kind of sucked the spark out of ???several encounters.

While those high octane moments I mentioned earlier do exist, they're not common. A lot of zones really lack oomph, and just throw enemies from the same few doorways at you until you're allowed to proceed. Oth??er sequences straight-up allow you to skip every enemy entirely, which is easy to do by the time you get the jetpack. Throw in a really shoddy objective marker and a bit of imprecise area design and y?ou have an annoyance stew goin'.

Depending on your view of puzzles in shooters, the way High on Life handles them is either going to be a boon or a burden. They're really breezy, so if you generally hate them on ?principle, you're going to be happy. I'm sort of on a case-by-case basis, but I would have preferred if the puzzle complexity?? here was dialed-up just a bit. There's a lot of potential there with the movement options, but a lot of it can be completely bypassed or quickly deduced: since most of them are solved through the same few weapon abilities.

One big issue with High on Life (and where the game mainly slipped for me) is jank. In my run I had multiple critical path doors that wouldn't open, or a delay in a few similar sequences. I was able to sidestep these with a swift checkpoint reload, but in one particular case I wasn't aware that there was even an issue until 20 minutes in. My objective was listed as "???" and I assumed there was some sort of trigger I needed to hit, before realizing that I was stuck in a glitc??h. There is a day one patch coming at launch (December 13) with fixes and quality of life upgrades, but I did not have access to i??t, and cannot confirm it addresses everything.

As-is, High on Life is great weekend Game Pass pickup, and something to go into with caution if you're a fan of Roiland's work. I appreciate what Squanch Games is doing in the industry as a whole, but Trover Saves the Universe was a much better distillation of Roiland and company's humor in a s?ounder ?package.

The post Review: High on Life appeared first on Destructoid.

It's an aesthetic

Despite its technical shortcomings, the Famicom (and, by extension, the NES) was a great platform for the vertical shooter sub-genre. It might even be my favorite because, although there was never a port of Raiden for the 8-bit console, developers had to be a bit creative. Famicom shooters are more measured since bullet hell is technically not possible within the strict sprite limitations. Not that I dislike bulle?t hell, I just prefer a saner approach.

While my personal favorite to point to is Gun*Nac, Konami’s Japan-exclusive Crisis Force is a close second. In fact, Crisis Force even has a few advantages over my beloved Gun*Nac. I don’t think the decision-makers at Konami are even aware that Crisis Force exists, which is criminal. No top-shelf Famicom game deserves to be forgotten lik??e this, but I su?ppose the top shelf is the best place to collect dust.

199X

Released quite late into the Famicom’s lifespan, Crisis Force may be the most technically impressive shooter in the system’s library. Maybe. Summer Carnival �2 - Recca was pretty awesome, as well. The point is it was very difficult to create a shooter like this without any slowdown while still throwing in some flashy effects and lots of on-screen sprites, and Crisis Force makes it look easy. It doesn’t have the option to reduce flicker �something that games like Gun*Nac did �but it works well enough out of the box.

The story is rather predictable. Aliens attack Earth ??(Tokyo, to be specific), and you’re the last competent pilot in the world who is equipped with a really good ship. The aliens are bad, so you have to shoot them all.

The aliens also have, like, Pharaoh heads on their battlecruisers, which reminds me of ancient aliens conspiracy. You know those ones where star people came down to teach us how to build really big rock piles because we couldn't do it ourselves? And the rock piles are for communication or starship refueling or something. I don't know; my parents ??sometimes have the History Channel on.

Your ship transforms into three different configurations, which affects which direction your bull??ets go. There are also the somewhat traditional red-and-blue upgrade paths, with blue being â€??œnormalâ€?and red being “special.â€?Normal essentially just lets you put ordinance out in directed paths, while special is a bit fancier. The transformation is honestly not the most well-utilized feature. Not all that much creeps up from behind you, so spraying death in the most direct manner is a functional strategy for much of the game.

It belongs in a museum

The best and worst part of Crisis Force is that it is the absolute image of an NES or Famicom shooter. I think if an AI had to take a whole bunch of data on the system and cobble together the image of what a standard shooter looks like on the console, it would look like this. If a developer wanted to emulate the visual style of NES shooters for their game-within-a-game, it would look like Crisis Force. That takes?? aw?ay from the technical impressiveness of the title, however.

The gameplay, as mentioned, is rather traditional. If there’s one thing that it does differently, it allows you to power up into a bigger form. In 2-player mode, the tw?o ships combine into one. This not only makes you invincible, it also sends death in all directions for the amount of ??time it lasts.

There’s?? also the typical area-clearing bomb. Couple of things to note about them: first, they change dependin??g on what form your fighter is in, and second is that they’re refilled every time you lost a life. There isn’t much reason to hold onto them, especially in a boss battle.

Gone and probably forgotten

There isn’t much more to really say about Crisis Force. Your little fighter travels from the bottom of the level to the top and then there’s a boss. Other than that, it’s your typical solid late-release Konami effort. While the design team didn’t go onto bigger and better things, the programmers had a hand in some great efforts including Shadow of the Colossus and the Ganbare Goemon series.

As I mentioned earlier, if Konami knows that Crisis Force exists, they haven’t really given any indication. It doesn’t seem to ever have been ported to another platform or landed in a collection. The price of a cartridge on the collector’s market is relatively high for a Famicom game. It was never localized to North America, though there is no Japan??ese text in the game. It used Konami’s custom VRC4 chip, which might be the reason it never made it over here.

It’s shame, as it’s o??ne of the console’s best shooters, and now it languishes in obscurity.

Check out previous Famicom Fridays right here.

The post Crisis Force is perhaps the most Famicom of Famicom shoot-’em-ups appeared first on Destructoid.

Season 11 is coming on December 6

An an interesting move, Bethesda has revealed the theme for season 11 of Fallout 76: and it's going to fold o??ver into the upcoming December 6 expansion. Yep, it's none other than Nuka-World, complete with ?a season map that depicts the theme park before the post-apocalyptic setting of the series.

Like past seasons (wow, has there really been 11 at this point?), Nuka-World will offer "cosmetics, CAMP items, atoms, caps, and more" as you progress through the track. There's a sh?ort trailer you can watch below that shows off the season of?ferings/rewards, as well as some of the expansion itself.

As a reminder, the ammo box is also coming, but only if you pay up for the game's subscription servic??e: "Active Fallout 1st members can also unlock exclusive rewards and special S.C.O.R.E. boosts throughout the Season, but there’s more! This update also grants an all-new feature for Fallout 1st members at no additional charge: the Ammo Box! Keep unlimited numbers of your bullets, shells and such in safekeeping, like the existing Scrap Box currently available to Fallout 1st members. Note that the Ammo Box is for stackable ammo types only and won’t store Fusion Cores or Plasma Cores."

In addition to a few other "holiday games," I'm thinking I might hunker down and play through this expansion when things get slower in mid-Dece??mber: the game is in a decent place to r?ecruit friends into, especially with Game Pass.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfLWJ30kIvs

The post Fallout 76’s Nuka-World expansion theme will be incorporated in the season pass appeared first on Destructoid.

Nuka-World on Tour is still slated for December 6

In case you missed it, Fallout 76 is still around, and still pushing out major free updates. On December 6, the "Nuka-World on Tour" expansion is set to drop,

Bethesda and the powers that be are still pushing the "Fallout 1st" subscription, and it'll apparently offer a new feature called the "ammo storage box." Yep, it's exactly how it sounds, as the team is offering "unlimited space to store all your excess munitions [with the exception of Plasma Cores and Fusion Cores." It's fascinating to see premium elements that impact direct gameplay creep in over time, and how the community responds to it.

Whether you're thinking about jumping back in or you're excited for the update: there's some gameplay and developer commentary you can watch below. One of the best parts of the episode ??is actually near the sta??rt, where Carl McKevitt, senior quest designer, talks about how they carved out an exist??ing area to make room for the actual "tour" in the Nuka-World on Tour location.

We don't really have a clear view of many things coming after this, so we'll see what 2023 brings. Next up, the team promises an? update on December 1 with more info on Nuka-World on Tour.

Fallout 76 �Nuka-World on Tour (Developer Gameplay)

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

The post The Fallout 76 team gav?e us a glimpse at the next big update: Nuka-World appeared first on Destructoid.

The Splattershot Nova and Brinewater Springs are coming in the new season

Splatoon 3 is about to get a whole lot busier with its new "Chill Season," unveiled this week. But thanks to some new tweets, we now have a better idea of ???what the patch will usher in.

Coming on December 1, we're getting more stages (I stress more, because some are old), including the Brinewater Springs arena; as well as more weapons, like the Splattershot Nova. The latter is really interesting based on the description: "Its power won't blow up a planet or anything, but you can fire all day long without affecting your aim. Splat speed ahead!" Both can be viewe??d in th?e tweets below.

While we knew another season was upon us, the high-energy Pokemon Splatfest and this new season are a great shot in the arm for Splatoon 3. While the game had a lot go?ing for it at launch, a lot of folks were a bit tired of it a month in. For me, Big Run could be the crown jewel of the update/Chill Season: which allows players to swap the standard Salmon Run ?map for a rotating selection of core multiplayer levels (beginning with Wahoo World).

Hopefully more of these types of updates are on the way. The frequency likely won't ch??ange, but at the very least, the team can supplement them with surgical quality of life changes and tweaks to build?? on the foundation that's already there.

Here's a look at the Splattershot Nova

//twitt??er.?com/SplatoonNA/status/1592564555397431305

And here's Brinewater Springs, the new Splatoon 3 level

//twitter.com/SplatoonNA/status/159256?4656177963008

The post Nintendo gives us a closer look at the new Splatoon 3 stage? and we?apon appeared first on Destructoid.

And runs through November 28 at 12PM ET

Bethesda has provided a new update on Fallout 76 happenings,? and this time around, you'l??l get another event before the next big patch.

It's called the "Call to Axe-ion," and lets you pick up the Redd-Upper Auto-Axe skin on the Atomic Shop (free): and adds "unique daily and weekly challenges." While things are relatively quiet for now, the next big thing for Fallout 76 is still scheduled to arrive in December. That month will kick off season 11 of the season pass, as well as the "Nuka-World on Tour" update, which will ring in new public events, a region boss, and of cou?rse, more events.

For hardcore players, there's also some mechanical changes com??ing in regards to weapons:

"Although we are playing in a post-apocalyptic world, we still want to keep that world fair, fun, and ?inviting to all. While you have been exploring and rebuilding, we have been working on a new system that works behind the scenes to remove illegal attachment combinations that violate the EULA to ensure that every single player is using and trading the same items and has the same advantages as you. In today’s PTS update, we are implementing a system that will remove illegal mods attached to weapons that cannot be obtained in-game. Most players will not notice any change to their existing weapons, however, players who are in possession of a weapon with a mod that cannot be equipped naturally?? to the weapon may notice a damage decrease to the weapon, and the mod will no longer exist. This is intentional and does not need to be reported on the PTS Bug Reports channel in our Official Discord, but we encourage you to report anything unusual you observe outside of this change."

Here are the times when the Fallout 76 Axe-ion event starts and ends:

Event Start: 12:00 p.m. ET on November 15
Event End: 12:00 p.m. ET on November 28

The post The Fallout 76 Axe-ion event starts today appeared first on Destructoid.

Network campaign co-op and campaign mission replays are among what's added

I enjoyed Halo Infinite at launch, but there was a lot that was promised that needed to eventually make it in. It seems as if this November update is going to make due on a lot of prior delays.

Here are the main sticking points of the Halo Infinite 2022 November Patch:

• Network campaign co-op (four player co-op in the campaign)
• Campaign mission replay (this seems like a launch type feature, but it's here now)
• More campaign achievements (420 additional Gamerscore)
• Forge mode (in beta form)
• Season pass progression updates (more of a focus on match XP)
• A 30-tier winter battle pass is live

Studio 343 explains that you can play the "entire Halo Infinite campaign together" with up to four players in total, so it doesn't seem like a half-measure. As for the Forge, 343 stresses that it's in beta form: "Halo Infinite Forge mod??e is currently in a beta state, meaning that additional improvements are planned. The Forge Beta will support canvas maps and not developer-made maps (such as Live Fire, Recharge, Fra??gmentation, etc.). Support for developer-made maps will be implemented in a future update."

Weirdly, 343 still hasn't figured out battle pass progression yet, and will be implement??ing a "match XP beta" (what?) on top of the challenge system.

Here's a brief look at the changes to Halo Infinite's XP progression system:

• Arena Match Complete: 150 XP
• Big Team Battle (BTB) Match Complete: 250 XP
• Featured Match Complete: 200 XP
• Winning Team: 50 XP
• Match MVP: 50 XP
• Top 50% of Team: 50 XP
• Free-For-All placement
  • 1st: 150 XP
  • 2nd: 100 XP
  • 3rd: 50 XP
  • 4th: 50 XP
  • 5th: 50 XP

If you can belie??ve it, progression systems in live service games that have been in operation for nearly a ye?ar need betas.

The post Massive Halo Infinite update adds more?? achievements and much-delaye?d modes appeared first on Destructoid.

She's out until November 15

There's a massive Overwatch 2 Mei bug afoot, and it's going to take some time to fix. How lon??g? Well try November 15.

Here's everything Blizzard has shared on the matter, via their official forums:

"We are temporarily disabling Mei to ??address a bug with her?? Ice Wall ability that allowed heroes to reach unintended locations when used with their abilities. We are working to address these issues as quickly as possible and aim to bring Mei back in our next upcoming patch which is set for November 15. Thank you for your understanding and patience."

Mei is the third character that's had critical issues in Overwatch 2

Sadly for players who call any number of Overwatch heroes mains: Mei is the third hero since the launch of Overwatch 2 that's been taken out of the rotation and put on ice. Previously, Bastion and Torbjorn were removed from play, and now it's Mei's turn.

I'm mostly thinking about all of the brand new players who are dealing with the revised system, which requires you to unlock everyone manually like a fighting game. It would be a huge annoyance to finally pick up ??a character you've been wor??king toward, only to see it disabled because of a bug.

The post Mei getting disa?ble??d in Overwatch 2 continues a trend of bugged heroes appeared first on Destructoid.

"Add PVE now, and delete the battle pass system"

An Overwatch 2 survey is rolling out for a numbe?r?? of users, and so far, it's a chance for active players to voice their ire for the new systems put in place in the "sequel."

Shared on the game's subreddit, scores of users are reporting that they've obtained an email from Blizzard, asking for feedback for the battle pass and Overwatch Store (read: the cyclical direct payment cosmetic store). As Eurogamer points out, some users are getting different "triggers" for the emails, that range from purchasing content, to not purchasing content. So it seems as if they're trying to? get an array of feedback from pretty much everyone. As of publication, I personally have not gotten an email yet.

We're gonna need a bigger survey

As we've pointed out (particularly in the past week), Overwatch 2 is not running very smoothly post-launch. Some of t?he microtransactions feel partic??ularly predatory, and one of the first major seas??onal events isn't up to par.

While the game itself does still mostly feel like Overwatch, the main thing I noticed when first booting it up (and still deal with now) is how busy the game is. The?? season pass system isn't an upgrade, and I'm particularly worried about future seasons, especially ones that add characters into? the mix.

One of the chief issues is that Blizzard, when erasing the original Overwatch and adding this free-to-play scheme, didn't really add much value: even for premium season pass owners. Maybe the PVE update will change that, but most of us are wondering when that will even happen (and some of you will be long gone, and won't wait that long to find out how it impacts Overwatch 2).

The post Blizzard sends out surveys asking how to improve Overwatch ?2 appeared first on Destructoid.

$5 straight cash compared to 700 Overwatch bux

Yikes! That's just about the only thing that can sum up a lot of Overwatch 2 news post-launch, but this Overwatch 2 charm situation is so funny it has to be shared.

Over on the Overwatch Reddit, user hi_im_redbeard shared an anecdote that showcased how out of control the monetization scheme is in Overwatch 2. In short, they purchased a real life Pachimari keychain/charm that they can hold in their hand for cheaper than it costs to buy the same Overwatch 2 charm in-game. Showing their work, the Pachimari charm (litera??lly just an in-game side item, almost NFT-like in nature) is 700 Overwatch Coins, which is more than $5 (which converts to 500 Coin??s). Yep, you have to do the standard scummy "buy more than you need" conversion here, so it's even more expensive than roughly $7 if you need to top up.

There are plenty of economic nuances afoot, and this wouldn't be the first time something like this happened; as some games (Pokemon Unite included) can put out insanely high-priced limited-run skins that are more expensive than an action figure of the character in question. But this particular incident showcases how Overwatch 2, in its mov??e to "free-to-play" (and erasing the origina??l premium game) has shoved in even more ways to monetize its audience with new cosmetics.

When some fans are asking to bring loot boxes back, you know you have a monetization problem. It'll be interesting to see just how much content Overwatch 2 gets over time, how it's even furt??her monetized, and what ??the PVE element brings to the table (more monetization?).

The post Hilariously, someone pointed out that it’s cheaper to buy this Overwatch 2 charm in real life compared to the game appeared first on Destructoid.

"A bug has been found in the Ver.1.2.0 update of Splatoon 3 that affects the Rainmaker Anarchy Battle mode"

Another Splatoon 3 bug has crept up on the team, as version 1.2.0 (which just came out) caused an issue with Rainmaker mode: found in the Anarchy Battle (ranked) pla?ylist.

Here's the full tweet from Nintendo:

"A bug has been found in the Ver.1.2.0 update of #Splatoon3 that affects the Rainmaker Anarchy Battle mode. We w?ill release an update soon to fix this issue. In the meantime, Rainmaker has been temporarily removed from Anarchy Battle. We apologize for the inconvenience.??"

So in short, as described by reliable dataminer OatmealDome, the actual bug involves a score counter reset if you touch a checkpoint. That's...instant-shutdown worthy for a competitive mode. Funnily enough I've seen some chatter in my circles that some folks seem to like it: as they didn't enjoy Rainmaker anyway, and are en??joying it being out of the rotation.

While I'm still really enjoying Splatoon 3, it's been hit by multiplayer bugs since launch, including connection issues. That last patch had roughly 100 fixes, so it was bound to mess up something else. It's the Bethesda open world RPG patch effect! That's pretty much how every major Fallout 76 patch?? played out in the early days, with a minor patch afterward to smooth things out.

[Update: As of October 28, Nintendo has implemented patch 1.2?.1, which fixes the Rainmaker problems stated above. The mode is now back in the rotation.]

The post Nintendo pulled a Splatoon 3 mode becaus??e it found another bug ??(Update) appeared first on Destructoid.

I hope we get a single player version of this region eventually

Bethesda has given us a glimpse into more Fallout 76 concept art, thanks to a special (SPECIAL) post on their blog this week.

As the blog suggests, and as is usually the case with con?cept art, a ton of potential ideas were sketched on various canvases:

"Hundreds �if not thousands �of individual pieces, from napkin sketches to entire painted landscapes, are created when crafting the world of a Fallout game. Concept art like this not only gives the developers details for making ass?ets, they help set the look, feel and tone of the world players are about to inhabit??."

In a small series of "never-before-released" concept art, we got to see a Scorchbeast, as well as the emergence from Vault 76, a look at The Pitt, and some environmental designs. The last piece, a collage of life in a vault, looks lovely. The blog concludes with a link to Ad?am Adamowicz's concept art gallery on Flickr, who provided a lot of the artistry for Fallout 3.

While Fallout 76 has made big strides since its tumultuous launch, this concept art really showcases how much potential an Appalachian fully-fledged, kept-in-the-oven-until-it-was-done new Fallout could have been. It could take a while, but I hope that Fallout 76 isn't the last we've seen of this region. I guess there's always an opportunity for DLC in some far future Fallout iteration.

[gallery colu?mns="6" link="file" ids="348162,348163,348164,348165,348166,348167"]

The post Bethesda shows off Fallout 76 concept art for the series’ anniversary appeared first on Destructoid.

The upcoming amiibo trio are now implemented

Splatoon 3 version 1.2.0 Nintendo Support: How to Update Splatoon 3, and it's a big one: one of the biggest patches in Splatoon history, actually.

There's a few aspects of this patch that we can break down ???individually.

More amiibo support

For one, amiibo support is in for the Inkling (Yellow), Octoling (Blue) a??????????????????????????nd Smallfry figures. Those wi??ll arrive in several weeks, on November 11.

Faster data transfer

Here's a quick rundown of how Nintendo is summing up t??he new data transfer improvements:

On average, data will be transfer?red about 0.5 seconds more quickly than before. Users can expect to see a reduction in time it takes from a player being dealt damage to them being defeated, the time it take??s from touching a golden egg to actually picking it up, and other similar actions.

Tons of fixes

The biggest part of the Splatoon 3 1.2.0 patch is fixes! And ton??s of the??m! There's over 100 in tow, including alterations to multiplayer and story mode.

While not strictly limited to the fixes portion of ?the patch notes, the team also "improved the efficiency of matchmaking" for anarchy battles (open and series), as well as splatfest battles (open) and t?ricolor attack. Simply put, this should theoretically lead to "shorter wait times."

What's in store for the future?

Nintendo says that "the next update," which is slated for "the season beginning in December," will usher in weapon balance changes, as well as more meaningful changes to the Splatfest ?Tricolor Attack mode. It will be released "at the end of the current season."

The post Splatoon 3 just got a huge 1.2.0 patch with fixes and mor??e amiibo support appeared first on Destructoid.

"This update will be smaller than some of our larger updates that bring new content into the game"

A Fallout 76 Halloween event is happening very soon??, and it'll be ushered in by a "smalle??r" update to boot.

Here's the full rundown from Bethesda:

"Tuesday, October 25th we are planning on releasing a new update to Fallout 76. This update will be smaller than some of our larger updates that bring new content into the game. With this update, we’re bringing new items into the Atomic Shop to release over the coming weeks, addressing a number of bugs, and kicking off a brand-new Challenge event for the 25th Anniversary. We are currently looking to begin maintenance for Fallout 76 at 10:00 a.m. ET on October 25. We will be sure to share update with you in the Bethesda Studios Discord and the Fallout Twitter so that you know precisely when you can log back in. Starting October 25, you can hunt do?wn costumed Scorched throughout Appalachia to loot Mystery Candy, Spooky Treat Bags, and of course, legendary items. Track down Scorched at their usual haunts, keep an ear out for ??their spine-tingling sounds, and you’re bound to find at least a few who are dressed up for Halloween."

It's been a busy month for Fallout 76 amid the 25th anniversary celebration, and the game just hosted the Invaders from Beyond seasonal event, which ended on October 18. Current??ly the ??team is going from event to event: and even if some of them are on repeat at this point, there is some movement beyond the mega-patches.

We'll have to wait until the day-of most likely to see what this "smaller" patch actually entails, but suffice to say like most of the micro-updates, they'll involve tons of bug fixes: some of which address issu?es that have been lingering for a while, or crept up in the patch before it.

The post Fallout 76’s Halloween event kicks off October 25 with a “smaller” update appeared first on Destructoid.

A New Generation, How to Reveal a Fallout Live, and The Great Green Debate

In case you missed it, Be??thesda is running a Fallout retrospective series on their official YouTube channel, and more episodes just dropped. Beyond the inaugural clip that reminded us where Fallout came from, we're immediately moving into th??e ??Bethesda era.

You can watch the first episode here, but we'll go over the gist of the ad??ditional epi??sodes that dropped this week below.

Fallout Retrospective: A New Generation

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8APJIukXySU

In A New Generation, the team talks about showing off Fallout 3 to Tim Cain, a creator of the franchise: and how Bethesda was able to move into the "next generation" of Fallout

Fallout Retrospective: How to Reveal a Fallout Live

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSePOZU2WsQ

As we move into the more polarizing parts of the series' history, this video features Todd Howard, and his role in presenting Fallout games to the world (and how he had the idea to do one giant presentation instead of multiple ones per game). We also get some talk about the pressure to succeed from Fallout 3 to Fallout 4.

No matter how some of these entries turn out, you can't really deny that Bethesda is one of the best in the business in terms of promising early g?ameplay.

Fallout Retrospective: The Great Green Debate

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

In one of the more interesting videos so far, Bethesda defends its "green color palette" in games, and talks about the "right" colors for the series. The team recounts "endless discussions about th??e color gre??en."

The main point they hit is the n?eed to really get it right for the Pip Boy UI, as the player is going to be looking at it constantly over the ??course of the game.

The post The official Fallo??ut retrospective just posted more? episodes appeared first on Destructoid.