Space Trails And Trailers: Deep Space Settlement
By Graham Smith on July 8th, 2014 at 2:00 pm.
It has quickly become trite to say there are a lot of space games currently in development. How about this: there still aren’t enough space strategy games. Sure, cockpit fetishists are well satisfied, but there’s still too few opportunities to command fleets from a spacebird’s-eye-view.
Deep Space Settlement may correct this. It’s an in-development “4X RTS”, meaning it’s about forming enormous armadas and directing them in real-time space battles. There are plans for story and sandbox modes, systems of trade and ship customization, and a lot more. And there’s the first trailer below.
Video Preview: Epic’s Fortnite Is… Interesting, Early
By Nathan Grayson on July 8th, 2014 at 3:00 pm.
For the past many years, Epic was known as the One True King of console grimdark. Gears of War was about colossal mountain men with veins running rivulets through their stone hewn necks and stubble-dappled chins, their rage matched only by their apocalyptic sorrow and love of running in slow motion to popular songs that described their situation eerily well. But now we have, well, pretty much the opposite. Fortnite is bright, silly, and PC-only. It’s also basically Gears of War’s ever-popular horde mode plus Minecraft, Left 4 Dead, and a bunch of its own ingredients. It’s certainly unique, but I don’t think it’s great. Yet. Watch below to hear my impressions after a full day of playing a pre-alpha build.
Ashen Looks Beautiful: An Open World RPG About Friends
By Graham Smith on July 8th, 2014 at 4:00 pm.
The Ashen website promises “open world”, “passive multiplayer”, “non-linear progression” and “high risk combat”, which are all things that sound exciting and Up My Street and My Bag so on. That’s not why I’m posting about it though, because those things don’t exist yet and I haven’t and can’t play the game. I’m posting about it because its concept art is gorgeous and because of a five-second animation clip of the scene pictured above.
Blues On Rails: Hurry the Sorry Word
By Alice O'Connor on July 8th, 2014 at 5:00 pm.
It’s funny how “on rails” is used disparagingly. I like riding trains. They’re pretty great. Hurry the Sorry Word is on figurative and literal rails, and both make it splendid. It’s icefishing v creator Nate Gallardo’s exploration of ‘Death Don’t Have No Mercy,’ a blues song by Blind Gary David.
It’s a walk along ghostly train tracks during a storm, nails rising out, sleepers falling away, and scenery blowing apart as the song echoes. If you have a few minutes, Hurry is free and takes about as long as the song to finish.
Fortnite To Be Online-Only, Will Have Mods… Somehow
By Nathan Grayson on July 8th, 2014 at 6:00 pm.
Quick recap: once upon a time Epic’s Fortnite was set to be kinda grimdark and more than likely a premium game (i.e. money upfront, party in the back). Over the course of a couple radio silent years and some fairly large revisions, however, it’s emerged more lighthearted and – rather crucially – free to play. It is, then (as is usually the case with these things), an online-only affair, an action/building game built for co-op and PVP, but not really single-player. Also it’ll have MMO-style persistent progression. So Epic will run the servers and sell (largely) cosmetic items. Problem: where do mods enter that picture? The answer, per producer Roger Collum: somewhere, somehow, someday. But “definitely.”
A Mysterious State Of Mind: Virginia Interview
By Adam Smith on July 8th, 2014 at 7:00 pm.
Virginia set up camp in our collective consciousness the moment we saw its stylish agents and what looked like a small town diner. Inspired by Twin Peaks, The Outer Limits and The X-Files, it’s a game about the investigation into a missing person case in one of America’s first States. This is an America in touch with its fictional history as well as its actual past, and I wanted to know more about how those influences will sit together, and how the game would actually play. I also took the opportunity to ask the team about a few of their favourite things. The team are designer/writer Jonathan Burroughs, animator/artist Terry Kenny and composer Lyndon Holland. Here are their answers.
Love In The Dark: Steenberg Releases Exo Test
By Alice O'Connor on July 8th, 2014 at 8:00 pm.
You may think you’re something of a video games whizz. After a few minutes of button-bashing and mouse-waggling you’ll figure out any game, you like to think. No. Nope. Not with this. Love maker Eskil Steenberg has released a public test version of his next game, Exo (formerly Dark Side of the Moon), and you should read the helpful file named How_to_play.txt. Without it, you may not even twig that it’s a stealth RTS about heavily-armed exosuits hiding in shadows. I certainly didn’t.
Testing’s centred around a thread on The Crate and Crowbar’s forums (it’s some manner of cyberpod, I told), so grab the build and head over there.
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