Time for the second part of the gaming news:
GAMING NEWS
While it's unclear How Many Dudes it'd take to beat up a gorilla, I can with certainty tell you that 15 zombies, 4 samurai, 2 barbarians, 4 ghosts, and 4 dudes do a pretty good job
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/while-its-unclear-how-many-dudes-itd-take-to-beat-up-a-gorilla-i-can-with-certainty-tell-you-that-15-zombies-4-samurai-2-barbarians-4-ghosts-and-4-dudes-do-a-pretty-good-job/
There's been a question that has plagued mankind since the dawn of time—or, well, at least the section of mankind that has been in rough adjacency to gorillas. Given an unlimited supply of people, how many dudes would you have to throw at the gorilla before it went down? 50? 100? Would the dudes and the gorillas be better served by turning against the masters that placed them in this arena in the first place?
Those are some of the thoughts propelling How Many Dudes? a so-called "dudebuilder" roguelike where you amass an army of guys to pummel animals of varying quantities and sizes (and occasionally toddlers, I don't like to think about the toddlers). Really though, it's an auto-battler, and it's honestly a solid bit of fun.
WoW: Midnight beta introduces a new Mythic+ dungeon modifier that's kinda just yellow paint for routing, and you know what? Good
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/wow-midnight-beta-introduces-a-new-mythic-dungeon-modifier-thats-kinda-just-yellow-paint-for-routing-and-you-know-what-good/
World of Warcraft's Mythic+ isn't exactly easy to get into. Part of the problem is that… well, you're playing World of Warcraft, and as much as I'd like to speak kindly about the population of one of my favourite MMORPGs, let's be real, if you jump into public groups you're starting a countdown timer until someone starts rifling through their books of expletives to describe what they did to one of your familial relations.
One of the hurdles lies in dungeon "routing". Because Mythic+ dungeons are all on a timer, and because WoW's dungeons tend to be a little more open-plan than something you'd get in, say, Final Fantasy 14, every single dungeon has a bespoke route filled with little tricks. And because this is Mythic+, you are expected to know them immediately, lest you be deemed a n00b, or something far ruder, which I won't publish on this website.
Well, Blizzard's tinkering with a solution. On the Midnight beta test servers, the studio's introduced a new "affix"—basically a modifier—to Mythic+ levels 2-5. Per this post on the game's forums by a dev, "While Lindormi’s Guidance is active, certain non-boss enemies will be afflicted with Temporal Sands, visually highlighting them and reducing their health and damage done by 5%."
It's my duty as a child of the early 2000s to let you know a Beyblade-inspired roguelike was released on Steam last month
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/its-my-duty-as-a-child-of-the-early-2000s-to-let-you-know-a-beyblade-inspired-roguelike-was-released-on-steam-last-month/
The closest I ever came to ascending to godhood was on Christmas day in 2003. I was nine and a half years old, and I had been given a weapon. Beyblade was at the height of its popularity in my hometown, and I'd asked my parents for an imported Driger V2 from a website selling toys from overseas, because—as Pokémon cards had taught my generation—Japanese collectibles possess an inherently greater potency.
It was a sinister implement: a two-tiered engine of plastic-bladed violence. In its first match against my older brother's Beyblade, it detonated his feeble bit of Toys "R" Us fodder on contact. Once the ensuing shrapnel settled, I knew I had gained command of a terrible power. I wielded a battle top that should not be. And thanks to From the Top, a recently-launched top-battling roguelike, it's a feeling I can once again relive.
Marathon's free loadout option will have limitations that some Arc Raiders fans keep asking Embark for
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/marathons-free-loadout-option-will-have-limitations-that-some-arc-raiders-fans-keep-asking-embark-for/
The free loadout: a unique feature of extraction shooters that allows down-on-their-luck players to get back on their feet with complimentary gear and minimal risk. Every extraction shooter has their own take on the catch-up mechanic—typically balancing the free stuff by giving you crappy guns or limited armor. Depending on your point of view, Bungie's Marathon reboot might have the most generous or restrictive free loadout of the bunch.
New World will join the graveyard of defunct MMOs when it goes offline in 2027
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/new-world-will-join-the-graveyard-of-defunct-mmos-when-it-goes-offline-in-2027/
New World, the only Amazon game that stuck around long enough to find a steady amount of players, is now being ushered toward the graveyard with all the other games the ecommerce megacorp has shut down for good. And now we have the date for its final day: January 31, 2027.
Fatal Fury fans accuse new City of the Wolves trailer of being filled with AI slop: 'All that Saudi money and can't pay someone a couple bucks to make real s**t'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/fatal-fury-fans-accuse-new-city-of-the-wolves-trailer-of-being-filled-with-ai-slop-all-that-saudi-money-and-cant-pay-someone-a-couple-bucks-to-make-real-s-t/
SNK dropped a trailer for season 2 of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, set to kick off on January 22, and an awful lot of fans aren't happy about it. The problem isn't the second season of character DLC, but the trailer promoting it, which many of them think is laden with AI generated content.
The JRPG veteran responsible for Persona and Megami Tensei is working on a 'school life RPG' with the Neptunia series studio
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-jrpg-veteran-responsible-for-persona-and-megami-tensei-is-working-on-a-school-life-rpg-with-the-neptunia-series-studio/
Kouji Okada helped co-found Atlus and is one of the co-creators of its two biggest JRPG series in Shin Megami Tensei and Persona. He left the company in 2003 to form now-shuttered studio Gaia, and hasn't been active in game development for 16 years. Until now: JRPG studio Compile Hearts, best known for the Neptunia series, has revealed Okada is working on a new "school life RPG" alongside fellow Atlus veterans.
Dawn of War 4's combat director goes even further than the original game's sync-kill animations: 'I don't think any RTS has really done anything like this in the past'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/dawn-of-war-4s-combat-director-goes-even-further-than-the-original-games-sync-kill-animations-i-dont-think-any-rts-has-really-done-anything-like-this-in-the-past/
One of the reasons Dawn of War is still the best RTS is its sync-kill system. You'll be panning across the battlefield watching a disco storm of lasers go off, and in the middle of that inferno see two individual soldiers in a co-ordinated fight to the death right out of a movie. They'll finish with a dramatic impalement, or execution-style shots to the face. Big guys pick up little guys and crush them to death. Little guys climb big guys, plant grenades, then leap off. There's a huge variety of detailed animations for the many possible match-ups.
Dawn of War 4 will apparently expand on that with what developer King Art is calling its "combat director." As animation director Thomas Derksen recently told IGN, "Most people know the sync-kill system from all the way back from Dawn of War 1, but what we did is we tried to expand on that and instead have synced combat really. Every action that you see in the game really has a counterpart, so you see guys fighting it out between themselves. I don't think really any RTS has done anything like this in the past."
Embark dev teases Arc Raiders 2026 roadmap with 'multiple maps coming this year' that span 'a spectrum of size'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/embark-dev-teases-arc-raiders-2026-roadmap-with-multiple-maps-coming-this-year-that-span-a-spectrum-of-size/
Embark has yet to reveal the roadmap for Arc Raiders' next year of updates, but it has done the next best thing: vaguely allude to what's to come in an interview. That'd be a recent interview with GamesRadar+, in which design lead Virgil Watkins dished about a variety of topics, including maps.
"There are going to be multiple maps coming this year, and I think it's going to be across a spectrum of size to try to facilitate different types of gameplay," Watkins said. "So you might see some that are smaller, and you might see some that are even grander than what we've got now."
>> He also admits that putting together new loadouts is a pain (link)
The studio behind the best metroidvania of 2021 has a new game coming out next month—and I'm dropping everything to play it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-studio-behind-the-best-metroidvania-of-2021-has-a-new-game-coming-out-next-month-and-im-dropping-everything-to-play-it/
It looks like a fairly orthodox 8-bit platformer on the surface, but Astalon: Tears of the Earth is among my favourite modern metroidvanias. Its class-based combat and exploration is thoroughly engrossing, the depth of its secrets astonishing, and most importantly, it's a sumptuous feast for pixel art enthusiasts. If you like metroidvanias I'm begging you to play it. 2021 was a huge year for metroidvanias—think Axiom Verge 2, Ender Lilies—but this was better than all of them.
The creators of that underrated gem, LABS Works, has been working on Lovish ever since, which was originally meant to release this time last year. It's not a metroidvania this time, but rather a single-screen platformer mixing simple Astalon-style combat with puzzles.
(...)
I've been waiting for this thing for ages, but now it's upon us: Lovish will finally hit Steam on February 5. There's a free demo live right now, and I urge you to try it.
Resident Evil Requiem was originally a tense, stealth-oriented horror starring only Leon, before the team went back to the drawing board: 'People wouldn't want to see a timid Leon'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/resident-evil/resident-evil-requiem-was-originally-a-tense-stealth-oriented-horror-starring-only-leon-before-the-team-went-back-to-the-drawing-board-people-wouldnt-want-to-see-a-timid-leon/
Capcom published a lengthy Resident Evil Requiem showcase today, showing off some typically savage new footage and gameplay features. Series mainstay Leon S. Kennedy will co-star with newcomer Grace, and their sequences will be roughly even in length, with game director Koshi Nakanishi describing Requiem as essentially two games in one.
Grace's parts will resemble Resident Evil 2 and 7, and will be "really entrenched in the horror aspects of the gameplay". In other words, expect to do a lot of creeping around in the shadows, a lot of urgent crafting in corners, and every bullet expended will count. Leon's parts will predictably channel the "thrilling tension" of Resident Evil 4, as well as its action focus. If you've ever wanted to deliver a roundhouse kick to a shambling zombie nurse, have I got good news for you.
>> What an utter piece of cr*p of a headline. I had already put the article on the third news post based on that headline when I realized it has almost nothing to do with what the headline says. To make things worse, there’s another article about a piece of merchandize, a $2,175 watch, where they causally mention that the game will have a classic mode with ink ribbon saving (link). Like, what the Hell?
Yakuza Kiwami 3 includes the first official emulation of 2 bizarro Sega arcade games, including one like Crazy Taxi but you're racing an ambulance to the hospital before a patient bleeds to death
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/yakuza-kiwami-3-includes-the-first-official-emulation-of-2-bizarro-sega-arcade-games-including-one-like-crazy-taxi-but-youre-racing-an-ambulance-to-the-hospital-before-a-patient-bleeds-to-death/
In the glory days of the video arcade, no idea was too weird for a multi-thousand-dollar machine built around a CRT. Take, for example, two of Sega's more obscure late '90s arcade cabinets: Magical Truck Adventure (which does not feature a truck) and Emergency Call Ambulance (which does feature an ambulance). Released in 1998 and 1999, neither has been re-released in any sort of arcade collection or made available digitally until now, via in-game emulation in Yakuza 3 Kiwami. Both are delightful.
Nightreign's latest patch finally buffs my boy, the Executor, alongside Guardian, Revenant, and Raider
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/nightreigns-latest-patch-finally-buffs-my-boy-the-executor-alongside-guardian-revenant-and-raider/
Elden Ring: Nightreign has been collecting some dust in my library recently—not for any particular reason, I got 66 hours out of the dang thing, I'm just a human being with limited time, MMOs to keep up with, and, like, chores to do (I am aware this is quitter talk).
I might, however, blow off the dust and give it another whirl, because my favourite boy, the Executor, just got a huge sweep of buffs. Oh, and also, like, Guardians and Revenants and Raiders, but who cares about that—my Sekiro-loving heart just got everything it ever wanted.
