In a surprising turn of events, it would seem the sequel to Spiders' widely acclaimed ARPG, Greedfall, will release as a Steam Early Access title. As per the recent livestream from Spiders, Greedfall 2 will pivot into re???lying more heavily on community feedback for future updates.

According to Spiders' producer Reba Isber, the Greedfall community was eager to provide feedback on the original game via reviews and other means. This prompted the team to send out a survey that helped inform some of Greedfall 2's earliest design choices, but also helped the team conclude th?at they needed opinions from experienced players to realize the game's potential to the fullest.

"Greedfall 2 is certainly a much more ambitious game than the first one," said Isber, "and so Early Access seemed like? the right path to take."

Greedfall 2: The Dying World heads to Steam Early Access

In his talk at around the 20th-minute mark of the livestream, Isber explains that "[Spiders is] relying heavily on Early Access to collect player feedback and see if [they] are heading in the right direction." He also says that there will be several "phases" of Greedfall 2's Early Access, the first of which will grant players immediate access to the "entire beginning" of the game. This will be followed upon by "updates at regular intervals," each of which will introduce a new chunk of the experience into ?the mix.

Isber was quick to add that "Saves won't be compatible between the various updates," which means players will be starting the game anew over and over again as Greedfall 2 moves from one stage of Early Access to another. This is difficult to fault, considering the apparent complexity of the game and, besides, Early Access is supposed to be used for testing in the ?first place, broadly speaking.

Now, if all of this sounds somewhat familiar, you're on the right track: it's almost impossible that Spiders' decision to rely on Early Access for Greedfall 2 isn't at least partially fueled by the success of Baldur's Gate 3. Larian Studios' seminal hit is conceptually similar to what Spiders is trying to do with The Dying World, ??and it too kicked things off with a relatively large chunk of Early Access content for players to peruse early ??on.

In other words, this could be a winning move for Spiders, who already managed to deliver a very interesting and engaging ARPG in the original Greedfall. Things could go either way as the development continues, of course, but there's no reason to doubt the team's heart is in the right place. Greedfall 2: The Dying World will be released in Steam Early Access in Q3 2024, and ?more information about it should be dropping in over the coming weeks and months.

The post Greedfall 2 launc??hes for Steam Early Access la?ter this year appeared first on Destructoid.

Eight eyes, and they're all trained on you

Some fucking sadist has chosen absolute chaos, and developed an edition of 2020 spider-hunting title Kill It with Fire for the VR market �Yes, you can now "enjoy" the destructive, terrifying, hide 'n' seek nature of the Man vs. Arachnid release in fully immersiv??e virtual reality fashion. Thanks?

Kill It with Fire VR will recreate the over-the-top action of the original release, as players search a variety of locations including houses, gas stations, farms, and, of co??urse, bathrooms for the eight-legged critters. Track down a menagerie of creepy crawlies, before engaging in mo??rtal combat with an arsenal of household implements, ninja weapons, firearms, and other super bombastic weaponry. The virtual reality edition of this absolute nightmare will utilize a new "VRACHNID" mechanic to allow for better detection.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCLtBfOARzM&ab_channel=tinyBuildGAM??ES

"Fans have been asking for a VR version of Kill It With Fire since the very first footage of the original game," notes Casey Donnellan, solo developer of Kill It With Fire and thus a monstrous person. "I'm really happy that we can finally put horrifying spiders on a screen less than an inch from play??ers' eyeballs!"

All jesting aside, I actually really like spiders. Oh, I'm pretty scared of them, and one actually bit me last year, (always shake out your shoes, folks). But I do think our scuttling pals are pretty darn cool, as well as being fascinating, intelligent, and important creatures. Anyway, Kill It with Fire VR is scheduled to launch "soon" on PlayStation VR 1 & 2, Ste?amVR, and Meta Quest 2.

I'm?? probably going to assign the review to CJ Andriessen. He'll love it.

The post Are you brave enough for Kill it With Fire VR? appeared first on Destructoid.

But where's Lupin III?

Nacon has announced the arrival of a new DLC expansion for its robo-revolutionary RPG Steelrising �T Cagliostro's Secrets story expansion is available to purchase now on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X, priced at?? $14.99. The new gameplay can be accessed once the player has completed the "Bastille" mission.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbfkLMOqw-o

Cagliostro's Secrets throws a little more heavy metal action in the divine Aegis' path. The DLC includes a new area, HĂ´pital Saint Louis, which features a new questline and several brand new enemies, along with variants on some of Steelrising's already established mechanical nightmares. In addition, the DLC drop adds five new weapons to our girl's arsenal of death, and includes several brand new side-quests that can be found and completed in Steelrising's other districts.

While Steelrising was not quite the gemstone it might have been, I still found it a gorgeous-looking and very challenging adventure, that rose above its budgetary shortcomings thanks to its classy visuals and in-depth combat mechanics. While certainly not for ever??yone, the ambitious adventure is a sign that, as a developer, Spiders is growing with each successive release, and I hope that a future sequel could really deliver upon the game's compelling premise.

Steelrising is available now on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X.

The post Delve into Cagliostro’s Secrets in new Steelrising DLC appeared first on Destructoid.

Liberty, equality, fraternity... or death

Paris. 1789. The Renaissance ?was so very long ago... Did it?? even happen?

Looking around the fallen capital, one?? would fairly assume not. The City of Lights, a place celebrated for its art, invention, culture, and architecture now resembles The Gates of Hell, a vision soon to be crafted by Rodin himself. The streets are awash with blood and bodies �innocent civilians, rebelli?ous conspirators, and even the king's own army lying in miserable piles of broken flesh.

And the king himself? This citywide massacre is his doing, the h?eart of his capital torn in two by a seemingly unstoppable army of robotic soldiers. Far from being the loyal guardians and entertainers of Paris, as initially designed, the automaton army has instead become her oppressor, stalking the cobbled streets and killing those who would stand against the bereaved monarch with extreme prejudice. Starving, scared, and cowering within their own homes, the city's populace has neither the weaponry nor the knowledge to take on The Clockwork King's footsoldiers, let alone flee the city for safer ground.

But there is one hope. One automaton that is not under the command of King Louis? XVI but is, ironically, guided by his own lady wife, Marie Antoinette. ?She is the Queen's personal bodyguard, built to withstand the most brutal of assault, outfitted with a devastating arsenal of weaponry, and blessed as one of the only automatons in France to possess anything close to free will.

She is Aegis, and she i?s come to open the purple testament of bleeding war.

Steelrising (PS5 [reviewed], PC, Xbox Series X/S)
Developer: Spiders
Publisher: Nacon
Released: September 8, 2022
MSRP: $49.99

Steelrising is French developer Spiders' first title since colonial RPG GreedFall, which launched to middling praise back in the fall of 2019. Much like that title, Steelrising focuses on an alternate retelling of another specific moment in human history �namely the French Revolution, which waged its bloody, class-based warfare in the late 1700s. Steelrising takes the framework of this tumultuous, world-shaping event and uses it as a backdro??p to tell its own fictional tale, blended with a phantasmagoria of anachronistic technology to create a fictional retelling of these dark days of cake and head severings.

In Steelrising, players step into the delicate chassis of Aegis, a high-level automaton who serves as bodyguard to Mar??ie Antoinette, currently residing in "protection" (see "relative captivity"), at the Chateau de Saint-Cloud. Aware that the streets of Paris are torn asunder, Queen Antoinette orders Aegis to travel into the heart of the capital and find her creator, Eugen?e de Vaucanson, who may hold the key to stopping the increasingly unstable Louis XVI and his battalion of automatons. Automatons that are already leading a campaign of death and violence throughout the capital.

Politics is politics, however, and every actor on this stage has a part to play. Queen Antoinette, King Louis, Vaucanson, the members of the Estates General, the mysterious Comte Cagliostro, and, of course, the sublime Aegis herself �who will emerge the vic??tor when the gears finally stop turning?

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-pii4ZK6wg

Rise of the Robots

For all intents and purposes, Steelrising is a Soulslike �its gameplay typified by map exploration; deliberate, brutal combat; the accessing of stat-buildi??ng checkpoints; and the mastery of both alchemic weapons and long-winded attack animations in order to win the day??, whether stood against the lowliest of guard bots or most terrifying of titans.

Strangely, however, the chosen genre does not synergize wholly with the universe Spiders has created. There is an ever-present impression that the developer should have crafted Steelrising as a straight action-adventure, akin to Horizon: Zero Dawn, or the Batman: Arkham series.

While Steelrising does offer a solid and capable Souls experience, some of its brilliant conceptual capability is certainly lost in its slow-paced, measured, and deliberate approach to world traversal and in-game action. By choosing to jump on the, shall we say, Soulswagon? Steelrising leaves some of its own potential on the table, wearing the Souls genre in an admirable, but ill-fitting fashion. One wonders what ??might have been had Spiders chosen to go with a different vibe for the chrono-bending adventure.

Still, while I do think that the world and its engine do not entirely sync, it must be noted that Steelrising is most certainly a fine �and pretty darn classy �adventure tit??le in its own? right.

I love my 18th Century Goth Robot Wife

When your protagonist is an indebted roboserva?nt, you run the risk of alienating the player due t??o a lack of character relatability. Blank-gazing automatons can feel a little flat, after all.

Fortunately, Aegis is a marvel of design, as achingly beautiful as she is painfully deadly, with a surprisingly engaging personality despite her dry, staccato line delivery. Aegis is no 2B of NieR fame �her gears and cogs crunch and grind as she runs, her engine sputters and ?chokes, and her vocal tone is reminiscent of the "What is this thing you call "'love'?" lore of old-school sci-fi. But despite �perhaps because of �her fundamental flaws, we like her. We like her very much. Additionally, a sel?ection of customization options allows us to tune Aegis' design. This includes her skin tone. An important touch, even for automatons.

As Aegis, the player journeys through several quarters of Paris, each defined by its own style, atmosphere, and variety of intriguing �and very dangerous �enemies. The automatons themselves are a veritable circus of iconic 18th-century design, from rickety, inelegant, sword-swinging guards, to fanciful trumpet-playing clowns, frightening feline scouts, and bulbous, heavy-hitting giants. In typical Souls fashion, each of these enemies is a legitimate threat to Aegis, and must be closely studied for its vulnerabilities, so that our girl may strike har?d, fast, and with?? finality.

Evening the odds, Aegis can head into battle with a variety of bladed and blunt weaponry including swords, polearms, chains, fans, and mallets, as well as firearm?s and rudimentary explosive devices. Each weapon has its own range of weak, fierce, and charged fierce attacks, as well as special skills including aerial strikes, parries, or shielding options. In addition, "Anima Essence" (XP) can be spent on increasing a given weapon's statistics, or on upgrading Aegis herself, affording her a stronger moveset, better armor, elemental resistance, or fine-tuning for her offensive and defensive animations.

Ultimately, the player is encoura?ged to build "their" Aegis, f?rom her abilities in battle and her aesthetic presence, to her internal build, weapons of choice, and her decidedly dapper robo-fashions.

Fetch the WD-40

As I noted in my review for another mid-budget Soulslike, Thymesia, control and combat are the beating heart of the genre. The core of any given example's gameplay experience. In this regard, Steelrising is, unfortunately, nothing to write home about. It is solid, but it is not great. It is precise, but it's not polished. Controls can feel a little sluggish at times, and even unresponsive on occasion, while the game's lock-on system, (which is a "Must Use" feature), can be woefully unreliable and cost me more than a few lives. Aegis, by design, is balletic chaos, a finely-honed machine of death that moves with all the grace and beauty of a dancer, but this wondrous design simply isn't reflected in Steelrising's mechanics.

When cornered, or when fighting several opponents in close proximity, Aegis is less Battle Angel: Alita and more Metal Mickey, stumbling between PoVs while the camera dawdles behind a nearby hedge. Steelrising's combat works. It's solid and it serves. But it falters under pressure, with lock-on fumbles, spinning camerawork, or obstacles posted frustratingly just out of frame aren't on a player's side. As a rule of animatronic thumb, Steelrising's combat mechanics are acceptable, but in a genre that requires scalpel sharpness, they need a littl??e tweaking, lest Aegis break down?? like yer boy Moyse on Twitter last week.

Perhaps hoping to corral players who do not sport the required Souls Sadist Streak, Steelrising features a clever "Assist Mode" option. This feature can be used to fine-tune the difficulty to your own personal level, with sliders available for enemy damage and endurance regeneration speed, as well as an option to retain all unbanked XP on death. I found that the Assist Mode offered excellent training wheels while I got to grips with Steelrising's function �switching it off once I'd cleared the first chapter. Steelrising also fea?tures three console modes, tuned for Performance, Resolution, and Graphics. I chose Performance for my playthrough (and for these screenshots) because I like it when video games play.

Oh, there is also a toggle for "Hat Visibility," which?? I want to see in every single game from now on.

Eyeful Power

Steelrising looks marvelous. From shadow-strewn woodland, mud-filled ghettos, and palatial estates to the carnage of The Bastille itself, Spiders' masterful eye for exterior locations �honed in the equally attractive GreedFall �is in full effect here. Sharp lighting, shadow, and other effects bring each location to life, while smartly shifting moods give each quarter its own distinct vibe. One moment you're taking in the opulence of The Lourve, and the next you're headed to Luxembourg, where the game goes full horror. In ?addition to the environmental design, clever concepts such as the Horseless Carriage, the "Vestal" checkpoints, and Aegis' death-dealing weaponry will please steampunkers.

Add to this Steelrising's cavalcade of memorable and disturbing automatons, (yes, of course there are arachnids), and there's no doubt that both historical concepts and slick visual design are assuredly Spiders' strong points. This is a studio of ambition. An ambition that often outweighs budget, mind, but ambition nevertheless. Even when Steelrising disappoints, it works to win back the player with a creepy? new enemy, a haunting vista, or a satisfying instrument of destruction �ready and waiting to? be brought down on the noggin of a sleazy conservative bastard.

Steelrising, ultimately, plays tug-o-war with the player, repeatedly swinging between "alright," "good," and "great" on an hourly basis. Some of its design is disappointing, such as the clunky menu system, a genuinely funny mechanic whereby Aegis converses with NPCs through closed doors (likely due to a lack of character models), and an emphasis on rooftop traversal with a character that... well... isn't exactly Ezio Auditore. Most shockingly of all, Steelrising lacks a French dub, meanin?g that the dialogue ?proffers London East End accents for its peasants, while the aristocracy relies on the time-tested "half-language" gimmick:

"Mon Dieu, I do not know what it is that we shall do next, c'est fini!"

"Calm yourself, Maitre, maybe this automaton will adiez nou."

So, here we are on jour du jugement dernier, and where does Steelrising stand?

I've personally been looking forward to this title since it was first revealed in the summer of 2020, and while I will admit that the final product is not quite the game I was hoping for, I still found it an enjoyable and challenging action RPG, despite its disappointments. We're not looking at your newest Souls obsession here, but Spiders has made a solid and agreeable title. Anyone with an interest in Steelrising's classy aesthetic and interesting take on history will enjoy guiding Aegis to her rise to glory, standi?ng proud and tall over the aimless meat bags that make up the human race. Vive la robolution!

Though slightly wanting when compared with its Souls contemporaries, Steelrising still offers up challenging combat, inventive enemies, and an attractive and atmospheric take on 18th-century Paris at a time of great upheaval. Much like its previous release, GreedFall, you can see Spiders' ambition, passion, and talent at play here, and while the final product is not quite the success it could have been, Steelrising's robot revolution is still wort??h its w??eight in cake.

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

The post Review: Steelrising appeared first on Destructoid.

She's a good girl, loves her mama

With over two million copies sold, the role-playing game GreedFall is getting a sequel. Spiders and Nacon are circling back for GreedFall 2, a prequel set three years before the r?ough but charming original game, and it's?? launching for PC and consoles in 2024.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_HS1Kb31UE

Today's announcement trailer sets the mood (and I fear for those hounds), but there's also a more detailed summary of what to expect from GreedFall 2. It's a POV swap.

"This time you play as a native of Teer Fradee, uprooted by force from your island and taken to the continent of Gacane, where the colonists are from."

"In this? old world ravaged by war and scarred by the Malichor plague and the political scheming of the different factions, you must regain your freedom and control of your own destiny. Using diplomacy, cunning, or combat, as w??ell as help from allies you make, it's up to you to end one man's ambitions of conquest, which could spell the end for the continent and your island."

Meaningful player choices in a not-that-common RPG setting from a studio that isn't afraid to punch above its weight? Yeah, GreedFall 2 should be another interesting one.

Rising expectations

If the original game ends up feeling like a proof-of-concept compared to this hopefully tighter, more confident sequel, then that's a win-win. It's great that there's still a place for big, rough, memorable RPGs that don't need to reach triple-A sales figures. Whether you're into these kinds of RPGs or not, I think we can all agree that it's nice to see something try and stand out from t?he polished-to-"perfection" big-budget crowd.

[caption id="attachment_322564" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{The Lewolans are back for GreedFall 2.}[/caption]

Now, hold on a sec �aren't these developers busy with Steelrising? Well, yes.

"While we were working on Steelrising, our love of the GreedFall universe never faded, and so we are thrilled to be returning to it," Spiders founder and director Jehanne Rousseau said in a press rel?ease. "In this new chapter, players will explore the old continent with its bigger and more diverse environments. They will meet new companions and?? new factions, and I hope they will have unforgettable adventures."

It's an early announcement given the launch timing, but 2024 sounds like a reasonable bet. Nacon hasn't committed to specific platforms yet beyond PC and "consoles," so we'll have to see where GreedFall 2 lands. For context, the first game was playable on Steam, PS4, a??nd Xbox One. By the time 2024 rolls around, who knows what the subscription service and PC?? storefront landscape will look like. I'm sure Nacon will crunch the numbers.

The post GreedFall 2 is on the way and that’s a pleasant surprise for patient RPG fans appeared first on Destructoid.

The robo-revolution is on hold for now

As some of you may have read previously, I've been pretty fascinated with Spiders' upcoming alt-reality adventure Steelrising, currently in development for PC and new-gen platforms. Unfortunately for interested parties such as myself, the fascination will need to hold a little longer, as publisher Nacon has officially delayed the launch of Steelrising to September 2022.

To help soften the blow and tide fans over, Nacon supplied Game Informer with a six-minute gameplay video, giving us our first real-time look at Steelrising in action. You can check out the new gameplay video below, courtesy of Game Informer. Commentary is provided by Spiders CEO and Steelrising lead writer Jehanne Rousseau, alongside design director Sebastien Di Ruzza, and localiz??ation lead Ciaran Cresswell.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl7vozWD94M

Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, King Louis XVI has managed to oppress the wil?l of the people w??ith a seemingly insurmountable mechanical army. The last hope for La Resistance comes in the form of Aegis, a delicate, but incredibly deadly automaton, whose precision movement, balletic acrobatics, and razor-sharp combat abilities could see the revolution turned in the favor of the downtrodden.

Players will guide Aegis through The City of Light, undertaking covert missions of subterfuge, sabotage, and assassination �pulling at the threads that will bring the monarch's fascistic reign tumbling down around his very ears. Steelrising laun??ches Sep?tember 8 on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X.

The post Nacon’s Steelrising has been delayed to September 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

Murder on the Dancefloor

As a part of last night's Game Awards festivities, publisher Nacon offered up a new cinematic trailer for its automated take on the French Revolution, Steelrising, currently in development for a summer 2022 release on PS5, PC, and? Xbox Series X/S.

The cinematic gives a little more backstory for the action-RPG's protagonist, Aegis, a masterfully created and achingly beautiful?? automaton, whose balletic performances both entertain the ruthless and uncaring bourgeoisie and prove deadly in the field of man-on-machine combat. With King Louis XVI and his unstoppable clockwork forces rendering Paris in twain, Aegis' creator decides that the time is right to unleash his creation's sublime, destructive abilities.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOIrU0H9EzM

As Aegis, we will step into an alternate-history version of one of the tumultuous times in Parisian legacy, leading a rebellion against the tyranny of the rich and powerful, while cutting down their seemingly unstoppable automaton forces with devastating and ever-evolving fighting abilities. The player will adapt Aegis?? to their own custom ideals, fine-tuning her strength, acrobatics, stealth, melee, and weapon skills to make her the one true hope of the roboti??c revolution.

I've been a proponent of Steelrising ever since its initial announcement way back at E3 2020. Each and every trailer since has further tweaked my intrigue, though the gameplay footage we have seen, admittedly, looked a tad rams??hackle. St?ill, there are still many months to go until the action-RPG's eventual release and I'm hoping that underdog developer Spiders and publisher Nacon can deliver an engaging experience worthy of Steelrising's fascinating premise and stylish design.

Steelrising launches June 2022 on PS5, PC, and ?Xbox Series X.

The post Steelrising cinematic introduces us to the su??blime Aegis, The Angel of Death appeared first on Destructoid.

Rise of the Robots

During today's Nacon Connect presentation, developer Spiders premiered an early gameplay trailer for its upcoming action-RPG Steelrising. The French developer also revealed a release window of June 2022 on PC and next-gen consoles.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI3oKkDHcGQ

Set against the backdrop of an alternate French Revolution, Steelrising sees Aegis, one of the few hopes for the citizens of Paris, engage in heavy metal warfare with the automated armies of King Louis XVI. This first gameplay trailer sees Aegis in battle with several different opponents, with a deliberately paced combat style slightly reminiscent of a Souls title �complete with a variety of weapons, long wind-up animations, and both ranged and up-close-and-p??ersonal ??combat styles.

I'm very much looking forward to Steelrising, and I'm digging its concepts and visual style, but I will readily admit that the animation in this gameplay trailer looks a little rough around the edges. Still, with around a year to go until release, work is no doubt set to continue over the coming months, ready for that fated day when we scale the walls of Paris with tattered flags and spilled cans of WD-40. Just make sure that your battery is fully charged, or thi?ngs could get pretty embarrassing.

Steelrising launches?? June 2022 on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X.

The post Pass the word, comrade: Steelrising’s robot revolution arrives June 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

And I'm Greed, GreedFallin'

Spiders and Focus Home Interactive announced today that GreedFall's big expansion, dubbed the "De Vespe Conspiracy," is launching next week on June 30 alongside its update for PlaySta??t??ion 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

The return to Teer Fradee will open up a new area of the island to explore, with a conspiracy threatening the current state of things on the island. The De Vespe Conspiracy will be available as a standalone purchase for current GreedFall owners, or as part of the GreedFall: Gold Edition, which contains both and goes live on June 30.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmqWaDwKS6M

The next-gen update, meanwhile, will have save compatibility and a free upgrade for thos?e who already own the game on PS4 or Xbox One. It'll bump the game to native 4k, target 60 FPS in performance mode, and have fast loading??.

2019's GreedFall was a little all over the place, but for those looking forwa?rd to more questing around Teer Fradee, they'll have a shiny new section of the island to explo??re soon.

The post GreedFall’s new expansion and next-gen upgrade go live next week appeared first on Destructoid.

Revolution meets Evolution

Publisher Nacon and developer Spiders have dropped a short new teaser for their upcoming steampunk RPG Steelrising, which is currently in development for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X. First revealed during last year's E3 event, Steelrising will tell the story of an alte?rnate French Revolution, with a cast populated by anachronistic android characters.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NzOe4FwPUU

The new teaser offers very little in the way of details or gameplay, but gives us a glimpse of a dilapidated French town, with the narration of its displaced townspeople speaking of the arrival of "The Machines". We also get a new look of the feminine android featured in the 2020 teaser, suggesting that it may be Steelrising's protagonist �or at least a figure?? of importance when it comes to the title's intriguing premise.

While I'll admit the animations on display in this Steelrising teaser look a tad clunky, it's worth bearing in mind that it's still early days for the mid-tier title. As I've noted before, I'm very excited for Steelrising's setting and concepts, and developer Spiders showed promise in its world-building and story-telling skills in 2019 RPG GreedFall. While Steelrising might be flying under many people's radar, I'm very much keeping an eye on this project, and looking forward to hearing more details during the July 6 Nacon Connect stream.

The post Steelrising ??teaser stokes my hy?pe fire for the incoming robo-rumble appeared first on Destructoid.

Cars, vampires, and one angry Gollum

Nacon has set a date for its 2021 virtual Connect showcase. The livestr?eam will feature a number of its upcoming projects on ??July 6, including announcements and gameplay footage.

Airing on Nacon's Twitch and YouTube channels at 10 a.m. PT on July 6, the company has a number of games it will be showing off. This includes Blood Bowl 3, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, and Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong.

No word on how long the Nacon Connect stream will run??, though Nacon is tea??sing that it has "many surprises" in store for the event.

Landing in July puts Nacon just outside the E3 2021 window, which is taking place virtually this year from June 12 through 15. With the number of showcases slotted for June—including a State of Play that's already aired and both Microsoft and Nintendo confirming their E3 events—that might be a good? thing.

It'll be interesting to see some updates on games like Gollum, as well as the latest on Spiders' Steelrising and Swansong, a Vampire game from the developer behind The Council. We'll see? what the various developers working with Nacon have in store on July 6.

The post Nacon Connect 2021 sets a date in July appeared first on Destructoid.

Let Them Eat Swarfega

For me personally, one of the most intriguing and exciting announcements made during last year's summer of livestreams was the reveal of Steelrising, an action-RPG currently in production at Greedfall developer Spiders.

My interest immediately piqued at the project's concept: a retelling of The French Revolution, but with an army of lavish, creepy, and sentient androids as the main players in this particularly grim moment of human history. For the reveal, we were given a teaser trailer showing off Steelrising's concept and steampunky aesthetic, but things have been very quiet since then, thoug??h I've remained very curious about the project.

It seems that development has steadily continued, and Spiders is now ready to start playtesting basic builds of the strange release. The studio will be testing internally, but is also opening up Steelrising to members of the public, offering them an early look at what could prove to be one of 2021's most unique releases. Interested parties can sign up by filling in this short questionnaire, which asks for the participant's platform of choice, as well as their experience with titles such as Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Darksiders - which somewhat suggests the gameplay style Spiders is aiming for with Steelrising.

GreedFall launched in 2019 to a mostly positive but mixed reception. Critics and players appreciated the world and characters Spiders created in its doomsday exploration adventure, but criticized the title for being rough around the edges and inconsistent with some of its mechanics. Hopefully, with the experience of developing GreedFall and the power of next-gen tech under its belt, Spiders can ensure that Steelrising ??delivers upon its fascinating premise, perhaps even becoming ??one of the best sleeper titles of 2021.

Regardless, I'm up to throwdown with Marie Androidette.

The post I can’t wait to take part in Steelrising’s robot revolution appeared first on Destructoid.