Once Human has a built-in survival guide to clarify many of its varied, and sometimes confusing, mechanics. But even after reading the entry on fishing, new players might still feel unenlightened. It seems simple enough, but once you get your hands on a fishing pole, you might find that the question remains: how do you actually fish in Once Human?

Fishing in Once Human

Get yourself a fishing pole

This is the simplest step, as you’ll probably already have the mats required. Go to the Supplies Workbench, where you can craft your own fishing rod almost right away. You just need 20 Logs and 10 Copper Ingots.

Make or buy fishing bait

Hopefully, as you’ve run around Once Human's post-apocalyptic, Stardust-polluted world, you’ve picked every bit of corn you came across. At the Supplies Workbench, you can make 1 Dough Fish Bait using 1 Corn.

If you’ve made it to Meyer’s Market, the second zone in Once Human, you can also buy bait. There are docks on the south side of the settlement, where a lady named Margerie sells Bait for 50 Energy Links, as well as Formula: Bait so you can learn how to make your own at the Supplies Workbench for 3 Rubber.

During fishing events, Margerie also sells other types of bait, and you’ll find vendo??rs with different stock as you progress further into the world. Upgrading your Cradle will also unlock better bait recipes and fishing poles.

How to catch fish

Drag your newly crafted fishing pole to the hotbar, then find yourself a body of water big enough to house fish. Hit the hotke??y to equip your fishing pole, and a stamina bar will appear onscreen. It will decrease as you attempt to reel in your catch and also conveniently displays the bait you currently have equipped and the number you have remaining.

Press R to open the b??ait menu. Every fish you hook, whether it’s successfully caught or escapes, uses one Bait, so make su?re you have plenty.

Bait selected, hold down the left mouse button. Just clicking the mouse button will give you an error message that you “cannot fish here.�Some players (not me) will believe the message and run around to different water holes, trying to fish and growing increasingly frustrated. So, hold down LMB.

A green circle indicates where you’ll cast your line; it turns red if you’re over a non-fishable area. Move the circle to an ideal location and release LMB to start fishing.

Once you cast your line, a new indicator appears on the screen to represent the fishhook’s location on the water’s surface. When it bobs downward and the icon turns blue, click and hold LMB to begin reeling in your fish. You only have fi??ve seconds to click, or the fish will get away.

Keeping LMB?? pressed down will fill a ring on the outside of the indicator. If it fills up, the ring will turn red and your line will break. You also don't want to allow the ring to empty, as the fish will escape.

Simultaneously to watching the fill state of this ring, you'll get button prompts to press A or D to counter the direction the fish is swimming. Follow the prompts while keeping the ring sufficiently filled and you'll succ??ess??fully reel in the fish. Hit F to take it off the line.

What to do with caught fish

Fish decays over time, like other perishable foods in Once Human. At the beginning o??f the game, you’ll have a basic recipe to grill it up on the Stove, but it will still go bad in 24 hours. To preserve it, you can dry it out with Salt on the Meat Drier or keep it cool in the Refrigerator once you’ve unlo?cked those facilities.

Other uses for fish include:

• Put one in a Fish Tank (Cradle > Building > Display Facilities)
• Use special catches as currency at certain vendors like Margerie
• Make melee weapons with certain species

Now that you know how to fish, you have a readily available food supply as you combat the Stardust pollution in Once Human and work to heal the land.

The post How to fish in Once Human appeared first on Destructoid.

The interface of Starry Studio’s Once Human is a bit overwhelming, to put it mildly, for newcomers to find their way around. Only after clicking random tabs in one of the many menus does it become clear that players can obtain free in-game goodies by watching some live streams. But how exactly do you nab these Twitch drops for Once Human?

Free Once Human loot from Twitch

• Link your Once Human and Twitch accounts
• Watch eight hours of Once Human streams
• Claim your loot from Twitch and check your in-game mail

Get to the correct screen

First, you need to link your Once Human game account with your T?witch a??ccount. From within the game:

• Hit Esc, then Shop Events, and finally Events (F3)
• At the top of the next screen, select Event
• You’ll see a box on the left that says “Twitch Livestream Dropsâ€?/li>

• Select it and then click on Participate (F)

This will open your web browser and take you to oncehuman.game/twitch. That said, it’s easier to go to the site directly from your web browser.

Step 01 - Logging into your Once Human account

• Scroll down the page to the blue box marked Step 01/Step 02
• Select whether you want to sign in via Google, Facebook, or Twitter
• In the new dialog box, select your server and enter your user ID

The servers are not listed in numerical order, and there are a lot of them, so don’t feel concerned if you don’t find yours right away. Also, some of the server names are similar �PVE01-00019 versus PVE01-00119, for example. If you ge??t a message saying your account doesn’t exist, double check that you’ve selected t??he correct server.

How to find your Once Human user ID

Your user ID is the number with UID in front of it in the lower left corner of the screen. If your number has dash-number at the end (123456789-0), the dash-??number isn’t part of your UID.

The UID also doesn’t show up on every screen. To find it at any tim??e, hit Esc and click on?? your profile picture in the upper right corner to display your UID number.

Step 02 �Link your Once Human account with Twitch

The hard part is done. In the second step, just enter your Twitch login details, get through two-factor authentication, and grant the game access to your Twitch info. Then your Once Human and Twitch accounts will be linked.

Now, head to Twitch, find a Once Human stream, mute i??t (optional), and let it play in the background for eight hours to earn your five free cosmetic items.

Claiming your Once Human Twitch drops

From Twitch, click on the Notifications icon at the top of the screen; it'll let you know when you've earned each item. Clicking on the notification will take you to the Twitch Drops & Rewards page to claim your new goodies from the Inventory tab. They will be sent to your in-game mail.

How to equip your new cosmetics in Once Human

• Hit Esc, then Backpack
• In the Backpack sub menu, select Cosmetics
• Click on any piece of gear and it’ll open another, more easily navigable menu

You’ll be able to see all the Once Human cosmetics currently available, and you can browse for?? a specific item slot using the sidebar on the left. If you find an item you like, clicking on Purchas??e or Obtain will take you to the confusing item shop so you can try to figure out how to actually get it.

The post How to get Once Human Twitch Drops appeared first on Destructoid.

Dinosaurs are cool. Prehistoric super-monsters that actually did roam the planet at one point in time? Creatures one step removed from being real-world dragons? They're awesome! Why is it, then, that dinosaur-themed video games are neither here nor there, with so many of the??m?? being multiplayer experiences, specifically?

Note, too, that I'm not talking about the usual suspects her. The mainstream dinosaur-themed games like Ark, Dino Crisis, and Exoprimal (though you might be hard-pressed to call the latter mainstream) have some strange sci-fi quirks that - in my book - take away from the dino fantasy angle. No, today I'd like to talk about games such as Path of Titans, The Isle, Beasts of Bermuda, and Isles of Yore. This is an inexhaustive list??, too, so the ?odds are good that you may come across a few more as you look them up.

The thing about these games is that they are survival experiences where players step into the... uh, paws? Of dinosaurs. They are also almost exclusively multiplayer games, and I take personal offense to those. All cheekiness aside, it is quite strange that so many of these gam?es are practically dedicated online survival experiences.

It's the survival of the fittest, with pettiness thrown in for good measure

I'll be perfectly honest here: I don't understand the strange level of intertwinement between dinosaur survival games and multiplayer/MMO mechanics. Is it because programming the dinos' AI is hard? AI is, generally, problematic to develop and while I've got no doubt that setting this up for multiple unique, distinctive species of prehistoric creatures would be a feat in and of itself, the developers of The Isle stated in 2022 that "While we will have varying degrees of AI, they aren't aimed at providing a balanced singl??eplayer experience as that's not the focus of the game."

In the case of Path of Titans, on the other hand, the game does allow you to set up your own private server, but as there's only a minimum amount of AI present, it's not really worth playing as-is. Players have been discussing this option for years now, and the general consensus is that solo players can enjoy their embodying a dinosaur on official servers, but they run the risk of running into general assholery. While some do enjoy the immersion provided by Path of Titans, a non-insignific?ant number of players are just in it to attack, ma??im, and kill others on sight.

It's a curious predicament: both The Isle and Path of Titans are trying to offer a deeply engaging RPG-tier experience of growing a dino basically f??rom the moment it hatches onwards, but a good chunk of their communities wants to play straightforward PvP with a prehistoric skin, instead.

Will dinosaur survival games ever untangle themselves from multiplayer?

From my point of view, the issue stems from the fact that we're seeing two comp?letely different playerbases being forced to interact with one another by default. Those who are trying to play for immersion and enjoy a dinosaur-based ecosystem often simply have no recourse against those who are in it to rack up kills willy-nilly. The bit that's confusing, then, is why is this highly specialized niche so insistent on staying within its self-appointed limits.

Isles of Yore is the newest game of the bunch I've highlighted here, having released in 2022, but it too succumbs to many of the same problems ?as its predecessors. There is a clear and pointed insistence from multiple development studios that the dinosaur survival? niche ties in phenomenally well with multiplayer, but I'm not sure I subscribe to that same idea.

And that's not only because I always end up play??ing multiplayer games on my own, just for the heck of it.?? It's just really strange that so many sep??arate, unrelated studios would be trying to deliver on that one particular promise over and over again. There's also the fact that none of these games are even close to being feature or content-complete, so they're clearly not projects to be taken lightly.

A solo survival dinosaur game, please?

It's a bit sad, I think, that the best option for single-player dinosaur survival gaming is none other than Ark: Survival Evolved. Not even the new Ascended version, mind, as it's loaded with performance issues and other assorted problems that don't plague the old build. And, of course, there's the brachiosaurus in the room: you don't get to play as an actual dinosaur in Ark, but a human survivalist, which is inf?initely mor??e boring in my book.

I'd mention Saurian here, which was - credit where credit is due - trying to do something similar to The Isle without resorting to multiplayer. Saurian, however, released as an Early ?Access project back in 2017 with the developer estimating it'd take about two years for the game to be completed. It's 2024 now, though, so your mileage with that game may vary.

From the look of things, the market simply isn't there for a solo dinosaur survival game. It is a bit strange to consider, given how ridiculously popular survival games were for a while, and especially since games like The Sons of the Forest end up commandeering entire armies of fans by default. Yet, no such luck for our favorite oversized lizards (yes, yes, I know).

So, it is what it is, in the end. There may well be a dinosaur survival game for solo players on the horizon, eventually. For the time being, though, it's jus??t not in the cards I guess.

In an ideal world, we'd have something like Ancestors: A Humankind Odyssey but for dinosaurs. This wasn't an amazing? game, I'll?? give you that, but it sure as heck was interesting and it did try to do something new with its concept. Dinosaurs, too, deserve this, and this is not just my inner kid saying it. I genuinely hope something like this comes up eventually, even if there's no obvious mainstream studio tackling the concept yet.

But hey, if you're in the market for dinosaurs and dinos??aur-themed games, here's a shortlist that may or?? may not be helpful:

• Dino Run DX
• Jurassic World Evolution 2
• Paleo Pines
• Prehistoric Kingdom
• Parkasaurus

Not perfect, of course, and not even remotely close to the niche discussed in this article, but there are cool dinosaurs in each and ev??e??ry one of these, so have fun.

The post Why are all the dinosaur survival games MMOs? appeared first on Destructoid.

You can create hundreds of different types of characters with all sorts of silly traits that are both beneficial and detrimental in Project Zomboid. However, developer The Indie Stone doesn't think this is enough and has expressed plans to bring ideas like a full vegetarian playthrough to life once Build 42 has settled.

While you could craft your own self-imposed vegetarian playthrough in Project Zomboid, The Indie Stone has plans for all sorts of benefits and debuffs that would come with the trait or role. Fans have immediately latched onto the idea and shown that they're eager for?? more food and health-related traits or playthrough options. I thought the game was open enough already, but these options have shown me just how wrong I am.

Vegetarian playthroughs in Project Zomboid could add a sadness debuff for a character forced to eat meat

The Indie Stone posted on Twitter about its ideas for a vegetarian playthrough in Project Zomboid. It explains how characters gain a sadness debuff if forced to eat meat just to survive. The concept ??is wrapped up in a planned food/cooking overhaul for the future. Fans will also need to wait for it once Build 42? has been released and any bugs are patched.

In a display of support and enthusiasm, the complete opposite of the community backlash that once made the developer consider selling off the IP, fans jumped into the replies to the post explaining how excited they are for Build 42 and suggesting other food/cooking-related overhauls Project Zomboid would benefit from.

User Cassie-Trion is elated about th??e news that cooking and food will be getting a decent look-in. "Omg like two days ago was thinking there should be a Vegan trait that makes you happier when eating vegan foods and depressed when eating meat."

User Andrey Syroyezhkin went much darker than was necessary with their thoughts?. "I play on Apoc with a Cannibalism mod. Human intestines 10/10." But my favorite reply is from user Babydactyl. "could u add a lactose intolerant trait as well?? I think it'd make for a fun challenge as well! A lot of new possibilities with a new food system."

I'm lactose-intolerant and have to say that I'm not looking forward to the food in the zombie apocalypse. It would certainly make for a hardcore Project Zomboid playthrough, though? maybe not as har?dcore as what user Markverb1 has suggested. "diabetic trait would be cool."

It's astonishing just how much this game could still be added to based on what players are asking for in this one Twitter thread alone. At over a decade old, Project Zomboid still shows no signs of losing popularity. In fact, it's almost certainly going to see a massive influx of new and returning players when Build 42 eventually releases, and th??is food/cooking update will just be icing on the cake after that.

The post The Indie Stone wants to bring vegetarian playthroughs to Proje?ct Zom??boid after Build 42 launches appeared first on Destructoid.

Since Helldivers 2 was first released, players have been trying to put together the perfect stealth build that will let them sneak through the thick jungles like futuristic sci-fi stealth operatives on planets such as Malevelon Creek. Now that we have the Viper Commandos Warbond, one player has gotten us one ??step closer to ??making this dream a reality.

While it's been possible to put together certain pieces of gear in Helldivers 2 to create a build that looks like it should be stealthy, nothing has actually worked in practice until very recently. Over on the Helldivers 2 subreddit, user CalypsoThePython?? has crafted a build that hides y?our character from enemies even when right up close to them. While there are limitations, they've included a video showing just how well the build works against bugs and bots.

Now you too can hide in plain sight from Terminids or Automatons in Helldivers 2 and quietly spread managed democracy

This build consists of the Ballistic Shield Backpack Stratagem, which you'll need to call down at the start of a mission, and the K-2 Throwing Knife from the Viper Commandos Warbond in Helldivers 2. As you can see, the shield makes you pretty much invisible to ??enemies. You can walk up to? Automatons without them noticing you.

Even if the bots do see yo??u, there's a tiny window of time in which you can pull up your shield to hide your Helldiver and make them forget they saw anything. Of course, all this hiding makes it hard to kill anyt?hing, which is where the new silent grenade alternative comes in.

The K-2 Throwing Knife might not be the most powerful weapon in Helldivers 2, but it packs? enough of a punch when hitting an enemy in the right location that it'll make short work of them. In the video demonstration, we can see?? automatons being downed before they have a chance to react.

However, Terminids are a slightly different matter. You can kill one of them, but it'll alert the other bugs nearby and probably bring a swarm down on your position. However, this doesn't make the build useless because it's still a great way to sneak past bug patrols. I can't help but think of how many more kids the community could have saved if we'd had this build sooner.

The key to this almost perfect stealth build is always keeping your shield up and your eyes ?on your enemies. It's one step closer to active camouflage, which I hope we get in the future. Sneaking their way through hordes of enemies instead of failing to shoot their way through them should help players struggling on higher difficulties survive for longer.

The post Helldivers 2 player cra??fts a fully functional stealth build thanks to the Viper Commandos Warbo??nd appeared first on Destructoid.

If you’ve been keeping an eye on Palworld reveals, you’ll undoubtedly have seen some of the new Pals coming our way with the Sakurajima update on June 27. Well now the Paldeck videos, released every weekend over on Twitter and YouTube, are providi?ng deeper glimpses at some of those Pals.

On June 16, in what seems like a wonderful Father’s Day gift to Palworld-playing Dads everywhere, Pocketpair? showed off one of the Pals which has become a secure fan favorite �Croajiro. 

Meet the newest water type Pal in Palworld, Croajiro

In the Paldeck video, the little frog-like creature, obviously a Water type Pal although it’s unknown whether it is a dual-type, can be seen facing off against another new Pal, Chillet Ignis. The Fire type Chillet Ignis was shown? off yesterday, June 15, in the other of this weekend's Paldeck videos. 

It’s nice t??o see that we’re finally being given sneak peaks rather than recaps of Pals we’ve already become very accustomed to, as all previous Paldeck videos have been for Pals which we already know and have likely captured. 

Croajiro's attacks

Among the scenes in Croajiro’s Paldeck video were?? attacks which are very familiar from?? other Water type Pals, as well as what we can expect when Croajiro is petted. The best part of the Paldeck happened at the end, though, with Croajiro casually wielding its stick against four Mossanda, killing them effortlessly. I doubt it will be that easy in-game, but it’s a fun image.

We were given a sneak peak of the next Paldeck video, too. Next week, on June 24, we’ll find out more about Katress Ignis. Though we already know it’s a Fire type, I’m ??interested to see what else we may gather from the Pa??ldeck.

The post Palworld: New Pal Croajiro sh??owcased in the la??test Paldeck video appeared first on Destructoid.

We’ve become very accustomed to seeing new Paldeck videos released by Palworld every weekend, bu??t the one releas??ed on June 15 is slightly different. Rather than showcasing a Pal we’ve come to know, they showed off a Pal that we’ve yet to meet �Chillet Ignis. 

Chillet has become a huge fan favorite among players. The original Ice type Pal is a fluffy looking Dragon capable of inflicting huge damage, all while looking cute, and the Ignis vari??ant is no different. 

Chillet Ignis looks like someone took the original Chillet and turned up the color temperature, which is apt, because as a Fire type this Pal is likely to bring the heat. Apparently, Chillet Ignis is capable of spinning so f??ast it will emit sparks, so it m??ight be best to give this one a wide berth until it warms up to you. Pun intended. 

The Alpha Chillet Ignis shown in the Paldeck video is a level 52, which is an exciting reminder that more levels are coming when the Sakurajima update arrives on June 27. This is excellent news to ??anyone like myself, who has taken a break through a l?ack of levels to climb or new content to experience. ;

We’re usually given two Paldeck videos each we?ekend, so the next should release tomorrow. The sneak peak at the end of the Chillet Ignis?? video shows another much loved Pal, despite the fact that it’s not even in the game yet â€?Croajiro, the small frog armed with a stick. 

The post Palwo?rld showcases a new Pal in latest Paldeck video ahead of Sakurajima update appeared first on Destructoid.

As any fan of Palworld will tell you, the game is ripe with possibilities for merch and goodies to decorate our homes. From plushes to figurines, clothing and even terrifying nightmare fuel, if you look hard enough you’ll be able to find everything Palworld related, but none of it is official merch. 

Posting on Twitter this morning, Pocketpair has assured that there? is indeed some official merchand?ise on the way, if fans can wait a just little longer to get their hands on it. 

Accompanying this plea was a purposefully faded image of a Cattiva plush, giving fans something to get excited about. However, the comments were mostly focused on fans asking for their favorite Pal in plush form - although a staggering lack of those ar??e after a Depresso plush, I must say. 

Unofficial Palworld merch is hit or miss

It’s safe to say there is a lot of unofficial Palworld merchandise out there. A quick search for â€?em>Palworld merchâ€?on Google will prove that the internet is positively overflowing with plushes and clothing that is almost good, but just not quite right. There’s a scale of not quite right, starting with wonky-eyed plushes and going all the way to the sleep paralysis demon costumes I wrote about a while back. 

The demand for Palworld merch is obviou?sly there. There’s a whole string of websites dedicated to selling unofficial merch from the game, and they’re all sold out of plushes, so that’s got to say something for how much fans want these items in their homes. 

The problem here is that every player has a different favorite Pal. Of course there are some Pals with a larger fanbase, like Chillet, but there is a Pal for every person. The only way to keep every plush-loving player happy would be to bring out a line of plushes for the entire Paldeck, which may? prove problematic, especially considering the ever growing number of Pals. 

I’m just hoping for an offi?cial Depresso plush who ca??n keep me company while I hide away from the world, avoiding human contact.

The post Pocketpair assures fans official Palworld merch is coming if the??y can wait a little lo??nger appeared first on Destructoid.

Gaddy Games first brought the survival crafting action of Dig or Die to Steam Early Access back in March 2015, followed by the full launch in July 2018. Now, nearly a decade after its initial Early Access debut, publisher Blitworks Games revealed that Dig or Die is digging (and dying) on over to PlayStation 4, PlayStati??on 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

You can see more of what awaits in Dig or Die in the new Console Edition trailer below.

Dig or Die is another cautionary tale that warns of the risks inherent to crashing your spaceship on a hostile planet. While you attempt to rebuild your ship and escape, you'll n?eed to find a way to survive through crafting and, particularly after the sun sets, fending off hordes of vicious creatures.

There's a lot of playing around with physics to be had here. Beyond just building structures, Dig or Die tasks you with making sure you actually do so thoughtfully. Build without care or consideration and your structures run the risk of ??collapsing, pushing your escape back even further. There are also water cycl?es—including threats of rain, underwater rivers, and other aquatic obstacles—that play into the integrity of your base and your basic survival. 

Down in the underground

Outside of the main areas, Dig or Die is full of procedurally-generated locales, so the layouts of everything from the surface to the depths of caves can change each time you play. There are also custom game modes that let you start out under a massive ocean or in a world made up of flying islands. Or simply skip all the exploration and play the stri?pped-down Base Defense mode for concentrated building and defending. 

You can dig and/or die when Dig or Die hits consoles on June 5, 2024.

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Stunlock Studios�V Rising launched out of early access on May 8, and Version 1.0 brought multiple exciting changes to the alr??eady sizable game. One of these was the ability to transmog armor, which many players had been clamoring for. Customizing the look of your armor is a welcome addition, but it’s easy to overlook just how?? to do it.

Change the color and transmog your armor in V Rising

In your inventory in V Rising, there’s a ??little arrow above each armor piece. Clic??king the arrow will open a menu that allows you to pick from pre-selected palettes to change the color scheme of your chest, leg, feet, and hand armor.

To the left of the array of tantalizing color combos is a grayed-out icon that represents the?? currently selected armor slot. Transmog your gear by dragging and dropping another armor piece from your inventory onto this icon, and you can use any armor you have access to. So at level 85, you can still sport the look of that the low-level armor set that you enjoyed so much, and the Midnight Ball Gown with no armor value that you've been carrying around finally makes sense.

Change your character’s appearance with a mirror

You can also change your character’s physical attributes in V Rising at any tim??e, once you’ve learned how to craft mirrors. To do this, track and kill your first V Blood to complete the “Blood Hunt�quest. This will unlock the Research Desk blueprint, and interacting with the desk will reward you with the ability to make mi??rrors and access the character creation options.

V Rising 1.0 added all kinds of new goodies, like passive buffs, rift events, and even Castlevania's Simon Belmont the Vampire Hunter. But for t?hose of us who enjoy decorating our castle and tweaking our appearance, the ability to transmog our gear was one?? of the best additions.

The post How to transmog gear in V Rising appeared first on Destructoid.

Nightingale, the steampunk victoriana survival game by Inflexion Games was released back in February 2024 and since day one, many players have been asking for one thing more than any other â€?Offline mode. Well, with the implementation of update 0.3.0, they’ve got their? wish. 

Offline mode is finally coming to Nightingale, which should mean an end to the server woes which plagued the game soon after release. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the original plan for the game to be online only, owing to the aspect of random generation within the Realms, but it did cause a lot of problems that I can personally attest to. 

Nightingale 0.3.0 update adds more than just offline mode

Offline mode is the star feature of 0.3.0, but it’s certainly not all that’s been updated with the patch. Also included with this update was the ability to build using items from storage, something which seems like it should have been included fro??m the ve?ry beginning. Players can now also skip the tutorial, a glorious feature for those who want to have multiple characters without seeing the same instructions repeatedly.

Another feature ?that was added with 0.3.0 is the first in-game event, the Spark of Hope. This event will be live until the implementation of 0.4.0, which is expected in 'early July'. The Spark of Hope event sees a new trader within Abeyance Realms, ready to offer players unique wares in exchange for event currency. 

Along with these changes,?? there were other t?hings updated with 0.3.0:

• New Bound variants
• New tiered variants of the following creatures which offer higher quality drops

  • Apex creatures
  • Eotens
  • Swamp Giants
  • Bound

• New player outfits, body types and professions available
• Players can now edit existing characters
• New POI encounters
• Tier 3 & 4 Throwing Knives and Grenades

This is far from everything that was included with 0.3.0, but you can find the full update notes over on the Nightingale Steam page.

The post Steampunk ?survival game Nightingale finally gets an offline mode with 0.3.0 update appeared first on Destructoid.

As a fledgling vampire trotting around Farbane Woods in V Rising, you’ll probably have noticed the cave icons on the mini map. Heading over to investigate will reveal seemingly inaccessible glowing red portals. What are these cave entrances in V Rising and how do you reach them?

The caves in V Rising are fast travel points, similar to the Wayg?ates, though they only go one way. The four caves that appear on the map in Farbane Woods are exits, apparently just there to taunt you.

The cave entrances and exits in V Rising

• Dunley Farmlands > Farbane Woods Central, near Bandit Logging Camp
• Silverlight Hills > Farbane Woods East
• Cursed Forest > Farbane Woods West
• Cursed Forest > Dunley Farmlands North
• Gloomrot South > Farbane Woods Central, near Bandit Copper Mine

There are five connections, meaning 10 total caves, in V Rising. The exits are on unreachable ledges, so once you’ve traveled through and jumped down, t??here will be no going back.

What are the caves in V Rising for?

Since there are already numerous Waygates for foot-weary vampires to use in V Rising, you might wonder what purpose the caves serve. By default, there are many items in the game that are marked “Cannot Be Teleported�and can’t be taken through a Waygate. Likewise, humans that you’ve enthralled in V Rising to become servants or prisoners cannot be taken through Waygates.

The caves, ??however, allow you to transport these locked items, including people. So they’re useful? on farming excursions when your castle is perhaps an inconvenient distance away. Particularly, the caves can literally be a lifesaver for servants and prisoners, as they’re often already low health from being captured and can be killed before you get them safely home.

So if you’re a low-level vampire, puzzled by the tantalizing yet unreachable glowing cave entrances, you'll just have to wait to progress to?? Dunley Farmlands before you can finally enter one.

The post How to reach the cave passages in V Rising appeared first on Destructoid.

A true vampire, like the player character in V Rising, has underlings to do menial chores for them. Minions se??rve an important role in the game ?because they free you from spending valuable time farming for the resources necessary to keep your vampiric strongholds running. But getting your first servant won’t be an easy task.

Getting servants and putting them to work in V Rising

You need to progress through a decent amount of the game to complete the steps required to command underlings in V Rising. This? means doing the quests displayed on the upper left-hand corner of the scree?n.

• Build a Stone Coffin
• Build a Servant Coffin
• Dominate a human
• Convert them into a servant
• Build a Castle Throne
• Send the servants out to hunt

Building Servant Coffins

The first step will be building and binding yourself to a Stone Coffin, which can be done once you’ve progressed far enough in V Rising to get the “Lord of the Manor�quest. The reward will be the ability to make Servant Coffins, though crafting them might take a little time. You’ll need 12 Planks, 8 Copper Ingots, and 1 Greater Blood Essence. This last item requires 4 Unsullied Hearts to make, and while those occasionally drop from random mobs, they’re more reliably found on elites or V Bloods in V Rising.

Blood Quality in servants

Once you’ve built a nice red coffin or two and lined them up in your castle, it’s time to go minion hunting to complete the next quest, “Army of Darknes??s.�You can grab anybody, but humans with high Blood Quality are the ?best choice.

In V Rising, Blood Quality impacts the Expertise level of the servant once they’ve been converted into a vampire, and Expertise determines their maximum hea?lth, damage output, success rate on hunts, and the amount of loot they’ll bring back. So take y?our time to find the right prey, look for people with a dark red glow indicating they have an exceptionally high Blood Quality, but don’t fret if you can’t find somebody amazing right away. You can always discard your servants (i.e. kill them) and find another.

Dominating a human

To dominate a human in V Rising, you’ll need to whack at them until you get the prompt to Feed. Quickly open your radial menu to select Dominate Human, then hit the hotkey for Subdue Human (C by default). This will cause your chosen victim to stop fighting and begin to follow you. While you’ve got a person leashed like this, you won’t be able to use spells, teleport, or shapeshift. You’re going to have to trek all the way back to your castle, on foot or horseback, and this can be precarious because your pet human can still take damage and die?.

Converting a human into a vampire

Safely back at the castle, ?interact with the Servant Coffin to place your new hire inside. The conversion process will take 40 minutes, and once the human is undead, you’ll want to equip them with the best gear you can. Servants don’t benefit from armor set bonuses, but their gear level directly impacts how successful they’ll be on missions.

Sit on your throne and command your servants

Now you’ve got an underling or two traipsing mindlessly around the castle; it’s?? time to set them to work. You’re going to need to build yourself a throne. You’ll have gotten the blueprint after completing “Army of Darkness,â€?and you need 24 Stone Bricks, 4 Reinforced Planks, and 4 Greater Bl??ood Essence.

Once it's built, sit on the Castle Throne to send your vampiric servants out to fetch resources. You’ll probably have noticed that each minion has different perks, making them more? suited for completing tasks in certain areas. If you select a location that shows a low chance of success, try picking a new area or assigning a different underling.

For best results, you’ll want to choose the longest hunt duration, 23 hours of real time. The wait?? might be long, but the payoff will be worth it and the servant will have a higher likelihood of survival. Dead underlings can be revived, but it’ll take 10 minutes and cost 50 Blood Essence.

You’ve now set up the beginnings of what can become a somewhat lucrative operation. By default, you can have two castles in V Rising with nine servants each. Command them to do all the tedious resource gathering while you go about dominating the wor??ld of Vardoran.

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As a new V Rising player, one of the first resources that se?em??s hard to come by is leather. Up until then, nearly everything you need for crafting will either already be in your inventory from regular killing and looting, or you’ll know how to get it. Not so with leather.

Once you outgrow Plated Boneguard Armour and begin getting recipes for the next set, Nightstalker, you’ll notice that you need 24 Leather and 16 Coarse Thread. You might already have plenty of thread rolling around the bottom of your bag, but probably very little leather. And you'll need a lot because it's also used to make weapons, bags, castle decorations, and even a key for some reason �so here's how to get more Leather in V Rising.

Looting leather in V Rising

The less efficient way to gather leather is by wreaking havoc in the bandit camps scatter??ed around Farbane Woods. Destroy every box?? and barrel, look in every chest. You’re most likely to get the goods wherever humans have gathered.

Make your own leather

The better, yet initially more difficult, method to get leather is by making it with a Tannery. Unfortunately for lower level players, this will require tracking down and vanquishing V Rising's level 20 V Blood enemy Keely the Frost Archer.

This bow-wielding foe can be found in a Bandit Trapper Camp on the far eastern side of Farbane Woods. ??If you chose to leave the starting area by taking the east exit, you’ll have a head start. Either way, yo?u can track Keely’s blood to easily find her exact location.

Fighting Keely the Frost Archer

As her name suggests, Keely the Frost Archer uses two different frost attacks. The first consists of three arrows that shoot in a V-formation and inflict Chill on any unwary passerby that they hit. Less frequently, she’ll launch 10 arrows into the air, but you can avoid these easily because their landing spots are outlined on the ground in blue. It’s a fairly tough fight, mainly due to? the bandits that spawn and patrol in the area. Try to clear out as many of them as possible before engaging Keely.

With the Frost Archer defeated and her bl??ood drained, you’ll be rewarded with a Frost spell point, the blueprint to build a Tannery, and the crafting recipes for Empty Waterskin, Traveller’s Wrap, and most important, Leather. To craft one piece of Leather, you’ll need 16 Rugged Hide, which you undoubtedly already have a ton of just from exploring Farbane. After all that hard work, you’ll finally be able to craft the Nightstalker Armour set and strut your stuff in some level 3 gear.

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Any good vampire worth its silver knows how to transform into other animals, and there are six different forms to unlock in V Rising. The first, the Wolf, is straightforw??ard and will be foun??d almost by accident. Learning how to shapeshift into Rat form, on the other hand, requires a few more steps and could be easily overlooked by new players.

Unlocking Rat Form in V Rising

• Create a Vermin Nest
• Summon Nibbles the Putrid Rat
• Slaughter him and drink his blood

Building a Vermin Nest

The first step towards being a cute little red-eyed rat in V Rising entails building a Vermin Nest in your castle. This is one of the firs??t crafting recipes you’ll learn, but it will require 360 Stone and 80 Bone to build. If you’re like me, by the time you learn how to make the Nest, you’ll have more than enough mats from breaking and killing everything you see. Less destructive players will have to farm for a bit.

Summoning Nibbles the Putrid Rat

Once the Verm??in Nest is built, you’ll notice that there are three types of rat that can be summoned into your castle, with the last alarmingly named “Nibbles the Putrid Rat.�This critter won’t be a loving pet to brighten the castle’s dark halls; his in-game blurb notes that he is deadly, and his blood could be useful.

To summon Nibbles, you’ll need 4 Grave Dust and 1 Unsullied Heart. I already had these on hand, but if you don’t, Unsullied Hearts drop from random mobs �rarely from normal rabble like bears and wolves, more often from elite enemies and V Bloods. Grave Dust can be randomly found by looting in graveyards or killing the various undead denizens of V Rising. Or? if you’ve defeated Goreswine the Ravager, you’ll know how to make a Grinder. Tossing 64 bones into the Grinder will result in a single Grave Dust.

Taking out Nibbles

Vermin Nest built and mats gathered, it’s time to call forth Nibbles, the only V Blood that needs to be summoned. Be careful not to put in m??ore resources than required, because the Vermin Nest will spit out multiple Nibbles if allowed. He’s level 30, so you’ll want to be at least gear level 25 with appropriate weaponry. A spell that can slow or do AoE damage will be helpful as well, as Nibbles periodically calls smaller rats to assist him. Just stay out of range of his attacks, and? he’ll go down fairly easily.

Upon extracting Nibbles�blood, you’ll learn how to transform into a small rat, which is supposed to allow you to “blend into the environment, making it harder for enemies to detect you.�Mobs will still react when you’re a rat, though their aggro radius may be a bit smaller. It’s still a nice ch??ange from being bipedal all the time.

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Deep Field Games' indie "survival crafting experience" Abiotic Factor has been doing a bit of alright lately. It came out a couple of weeks ago, and is currently showing as "Overwhelmingly Positive" on Steam. It might not be setting the Top Sellers alight (it's currently at number 56), but it's been selling pretty well, make no mist??ake.

In a recent post on X, the team behind Abiotic Factor were excited to announce that the game had sold more than 250,000 copies since launching on May 2. To go along with this, there's also a message posted to the Steam page that gives thanks for this 11-day achievement.

It's always a positive moment when an indie outfit gets to see the fruits of their labor reach lofty heights. It's a tough ol' world out there in Video Game Land, so it's encouraging ??to see these bursts of non-AAA titles have their moment in the spotlight, even if it's sometimes ?short-lived.

Half-Life meets Rust

For those who haven't played it yet, Abiotic Factor is essentially a survival sim with crafting elements. It tasks 1-6 players with working together "against the universe's biggest threats." ??The story reads thus:

As a GATE employee you extend the bounds of human knowledge, and seek to explain the unexplainable - including anomalies and paranormal entities: from gravity-distorting artifacts to supernatural creatures with an unbridled instinct for violence. Safety, ?security, and secrecy are of the utmost importance�usually.

Thematically and almost visually, it takes a lot of cues from Half-Life, Valve's maiden release from back in the day that went on to become one of the most infl?uential first-person s?hooters in gaming history. Who wouldn't want a piece of that action?

Developer Deep Field Games also released the "First Week" update a few days ago. There's also a roadmap showing what's being planned, which includes a Crush Depth update coming this summer, as well as a Halloween patch. Ma?rvelous.

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When first digging into V Rising, you’ll quickly get the opportunity to build a little vampiric stronghold all your own. One of the objects you can add to your castle right away are Growing Plots, tho??ugh it might be a struggle to figure out how exactly to plant any seeds in them.

How to find Seeds in V Rising

To plant anything in your castle in V Rising, of course you’ll need seeds. I got my first lot after chopping down some Blood Rose bushes as I ?terrorized the local townsfolk. Another way to get your claws on seeds is by breaking crates and barrels �a great location to do this is the Brighthaven Traders Market in Silverlight Hills �scouring shelves in houses, and even happening upon them in chests.

There are also merchants who will give you coveted seeds in exchange for Silver Coins, and another method is to take down V Rising's various V Bloods and other tough foes you’ll encounter in the ga??me’s open world.

Planting the seeds

Okay, seeds obtained. Now the puzzle is how to actually get them into the ground. When interacting with most other items in V Rising, you just approach it until the button prompt appe??ars. However, Growing Plots don’t give a button prompt, and dragging/dropping the seeds from the inventory onto that confounded pile of dirt just drops them on the ground.

To plant seeds in V Rising, add them to your hotbar. Then press the correspondi?ng hotkey, and a glowy outline of the plant will appear. It's similar to other objects when you’re building. Move the plant to the desired location on the Growing Plot and confirm as usual.

Figuring out how to plant the seeds I’d collected took an embarrassingly long time, and its inconsi??stency with the othe??r interaction mechanics in the game is still a little baffling. But at least I got it done!

Where to buy Seeds in V Rising, map and locations

Although you can purchase seeds from different merchants available in the game, they don't all carry the same stock. So you'll want to make su?re to hit up the correct t??rader if you have a particular crafting recipe in mind.

Gavyn the Shady Dealer, who patrols the sou?thern half of Farbane Woods, sells seeds for 15 Silver Coins.

• Blood Rose Seed
• Fire Blossom Seed
• Snow Flower Seed
• Mourning Lily Seed
• Hell's Clarion Spores

Berk the Traveling Trader?, who patrols the roads o?f Dunley Farmlands, sells seeds for 45 Silver Coins.

• Sunflower Seed

Ottar the Merchant, who lives in a house on? the south end of Brighthaven Slums, sells seeds for 200 Silver Coins.

• Ghost Shroom Spores
• Highland Lotus (removed from the game)

Getting seeds from plants

If you want to get seeds the old-fashioned, and less exp??ensive, way, you’ll need to head to the zones where the differ??ent plants grow.

• Blood Rose Seed - Dunley Farmlands, Farbane Woods, Silverlight Hills
• Fire Blossom Seed - Farbane Woods
• Snow Flower Seed - Dunley Farmlands, Farbane Woods, Silverlight Hills
• Mourning Lily Seed - Dunley Farmlands, Farbane Woods
• Hell's Clarion Spores - Dunley Farmlands, Farbane Woods
• Sunflower Seed - Dunley Farmlands
• Ghost Shroom Spores - Cursed Forest

Now you know where to find or buy the different seeds available in V Rising and, most importantly, how to plant them. The flora you'll grow as a result can be used to craft various potions and other magical items like yarn, cursed wood, and even Ghouls that can be animated after building a Tomb.

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