How Mud-Covered Oysters inspired the Indie Automation Game, Atrio: The Dark Wild

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Keep your disposable android-body alive by automating everything. Automate farming, foraging, crafting and capturing – and even assimilate creatures into your production lines during your impossible mission to relight the world. But how did it come to be?

Oysters. Dirty, mud-covered oysters.

We’ve always been fascinated by how humans discover so many technological advancements from nature. I stumbled across a video of oysters filtering water.

In just five hours, a couple of oysters turn a completely filthy tank into something clean! In fact, they can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day. We had a discussion over lunch about if they could alter fresh water mussels to filter out bacteria, we could just ship them worldwide and have a living filtration system. (You can’t, by the way. Please don’t do this and expect not to get sick!)

While fleshing out details for Atrio: The Dark Wild, we knew we wanted an assembly line, but we thought, “what if instead of building everything out of metal, we incorporated living things?” You could capture living creatures, and have them do tasks machines can’t do – digest and produce other compounds the same way we can’t print spider-silk. Pushbacks will split  lines for you, tornatoads will pluck plants on your behalf, mini-deer will process and poop out new materials, and bees will replant mushrooms.

With that, our tag line was born “Capture creatures, and add them to your assembly line”.

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Atrio: The Dark Wild is out now on Xbox One  and Xbox Series X|S

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Atrio: The Dark Wild

Isto Inc.


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Keep your disposable android-body alive by automating everything. Automate farming, foraging, crafting and capturing – and even assimilate creatures into your production lines during your impossible mission to relight the world.

FEATURES:
Hand Crafted Open World – Explore a beautiful and unique world, shaped by the contrast of sharp neon lights and darkness, while you fight to turn the lights back on.
Witty Story- Unravel the real reason that you’ve been sent to the surface in this witty narrative experience.
Unique Creatures – A roster of unexpected, half robot, half organic creatures wait for you on the surface.
Pooping Deer? – That’s right! Something as unusual as deer poop may be the key to your survival.

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Guide: Best Nintendo Switch Wacky Physics Games

Slapstick is the highest form of comedy.

Comedy has evolved a lot over the centuries and millennia, but one particular comedic mainstay has passed the test of time over and over again: Slapstick. It turns out that civilisation, no matter how advanced, will always appreciate a good pratfall, or even something as simple as a human being moving in a way that human beings aren’t supposed to. We’re all just complicated upright monkeys, at the end of the day.

And so, in honour of the humble-yet-hilarious form of comedy that is slapstick, we’ve assembled the very finest physical comedy games that the Nintendo Switch has to offer. “Wacky Physics” is its own genre of games, usually to do with either intentionally frustrating controls, ragdoll characters that feel like piloting a mech made of jelly, or physics simulation dials turned up to 11.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The Best Board Games for Parties and Large Groups (2023)

Many of the best board games are geared towards smaller groups of players. So what’s one to do when you have a party or other gathering of fun-loving people in higher numbers? Thankfully, board game and card game makers have not left these scenarios in the cold. If you know where to look, you can find some awesome tabletop experiences that cleanly and elegantly scale up to 10 or even more players, giving everyone something to do.

If you’re seeking a good board game to break out at your next party, these are the best board games for parties and large groups.

TL;DR The Best Party Board Games

Don’t want to read a bunch of words? These are our favorite party board games.

Wits and Wagers

  • Players: 3-7 (standard), 4-18 (party), 3-10 (family)
  • Playtime: 25 minutes
  • Also at Target

Do you enjoy trivia board games, but aren’t very good at them? If you answered yes, then Wits and Wagers is the game for you. It’s a trivia game, but instead of using your own answer, you bet on who got the right answer. So if a football question comes up and you have no idea how many Super Bowl rings Peyton Manning has, you can bet on your friend who is a huge football nerd. If they get the question right you earn a point. It’s that simple. Because you don’t need to be versed in every topic under the sun, Wits and Wagers is the most accessible trivia game around. There are three versions of the game, with the party and family games having easier questions than the standard version. The party game, as the name suggests, also accommodates more players. You’ll have no reason to go back to Trivial Pursuit after picking up Wits and Wagers.

Codenames

In this approximation of a spy thriller, players are split into two teams, with one player on each team assuming the role of “spymaster.” It’s the spymaster’s job to make their team name the codewords that will earn them points. In any given game, there are 25 available codewords arranged into a five-by five grid, and the spymaster must, without actually speaking the words, use a code phrase to describe what words belong their team. For example, if three of the words are “fence,” “tree” and “door,” the spymaster might say “wood, three” to indicate that three of the words might have to do with wood. Codenames depends heavily on the spymaster to think quickly, and poorly thought-out clues can lead to some hilarious arguments. If you tire of seeing the same codewords after a handful of plays, Codenames has seen severalexpansions and reimaginings since its 2015 release, which can add a great deal of replay value.

Time’s Up – Title Recall

  • Players: 3+
  • Playtime: 60 minutes

Like all the best party games, Times Up builds a neat twist into a very simple premise, in this case by combining the best bits of pop culture quizzes and charades. You start with a pool of 40 cards showing the titles of famous films, TV shows and songs which are used over three rounds of clues and guessing. In the first round, you can say anything other than the title on the card. In the second, your clue has to be one word. And in the third, it has to be a non-verbal pantomime. This escalating series of restrictions keeps delivering the most hilarious associations that only work because players have an idea of what’s already in the pool after the first round. A fascinating combination of trivia and free-association wordplay, and all fun, all the way.

Snake Oil

  • Players: 3-10
  • Playtime: 30 minutes

Cards Against Humanity has come to dominate store shelves and nearly every online party game recommendation list, but for my money Snake Oil is an infinitely better option. It sticks to a similar formula as CAH, but injects a healthy dose of player creativity. On the active player’s turn, they randomly draw a “customer” card. The other players then take turns pitching a product to that active player by combining two object cards from their hand. For example, if the active player draws the cheerleader card, other players must combine two cards in order to make an item that might appeal to a cheerleader. The sales pitches are the meat of the game, and it’s an absolute blast to watch your friends scramble to sell a “meat bicycle” or a “puppet helmet” to a caveman. In a perfect world, Snake Oil would replace Cards Against Humanity on every game shelf.

The Resistance: Avalon

The original The Resistance was a sci-fi bluffing game in which a pool of players had to discover and out rogue agents. The Resistance: Avalon shifts the action to King Arthur’s court and ups the ante with some new roles and rules to enjoy. Everyone gets a secret role and then loyal knights have to try and complete five quests while keeping Merlin alive. The Merlin player knows who is loyal and who is not, but can’t reveal this without also revealing who they are and painting a target on their back. There are various other named roles with special powers like Percival and Mordred, creating an incredible, escalating soup of paranoia in which players have to stew for twenty or so minutes. After which it’s almost irresistible to deal some new roles and do it all again.

Sushi Go Party!

Sushi Go! Is a simple, compact card drafting game released in 2013 that sold a huge number of copies. Because of its success, Gamewright was able to expand on the formula with Sushi Go Party!, a larger and more varied version of Sushi Go! The gameplay remains largely the same, with players choosing a card from their hand, playing it, and passing the rest to the player next to them. Party! includes several types of cards not in the standard version that mix up your strategy in different ways, and the variable setup means that every game will play out differently. As far as simple and quick party games go, it would be a mistake not to take a look at this one.

Bang! The Dice Game

  • Players: 3-8
  • Playtime: 15 minutes

The original Bang! was long considered a party game go-to, but one of the major complaints was its length–it was too long for what it was. The dice game version fixes this in a big way, and is now the best version of Bang! you can play. Players are dealt secret roles, with the sheriff revealing themself at the start of the game. Everyone is also dealt a random character card that gives them a unique power. A turn consists of a player rolling five dice Yhatzee-style, then applying the effects to the table, but because nobody is sure of the others’ role, figuring out who to deal damage to and who to heal takes on the form of a logic puzzle. There are different victory conditions depending on your role: the sheriff wins if all the outlaws are defeated, the outlaws win if the sheriff is defeated, and so on. Because of Bang! The Dice Game’s easy ruleset and quick playtime, it’s a great game to play while waiting for the rest of the party to show up.

Telestrations

This is a commercial version of a popular family of games that involve image-based Chinese whispers. You start with a card with a phrase on it and do a sketch to illustrate that phrase. You then pass that to the next player in line who guesses the phrase, writes it down and passes that on for the next player to draw. And so on, until the whole thing comes full circle and you marvel at the garbled nonsense that’s come back to you, and every step in between, complete with ridiculous drawings to delight and amuse. For real party animals, there’s a twelve player expansion pack available to make the chains of nonsense even longer.

Dixit Odyssey

  • Players: 3-12
  • Playtime: 30 minutes

In 2010, the original Dixit won the Spiel des Jahres, Germany’s coveted game of the year award. Since then, its unique approach to storytelling in games has been expanded on and reiterated nearly a dozen times. Despite all the new content in recent years, 2011’s Dixit Odyssey remains the best version of the game. The concept is simple: each turn one player is the storyteller, and uses a simple word or phrase to describe one of the cards in their hand. Then the other players choose a card from their own hand that they feel best fits the description the storyteller gave. The cards are shuffled and then revealed, and everyone attempts to choose which card was the storyteller’s, who gets points if people correctly guess their card. The rub is they get no points if nobody or everybody guesses their card, so it’s important to find a balance between vague and descriptive when describing the card. Dixit boasts surreal and beautiful artwork that makes the game a joy to experience and discuss, and the reliance on creativity will bring out the storyteller in even your most stubborn friends.

Wavelength

Wavelength brings a new dimension to guessing games by getting players talking about their opinions rather than their trivia knowledge. Each round posits a pair of extremes, such as “straight” and “curvy”. Players take turns giving clues to their teams, which involves spinning a dial in secret to get a point somewhere between these two limits and then trying to come up with a hint to guide them to the right point. So for those clues, if the dial is showing two-thirds toward “straight” a good clue might be “hand-drawn line”. Not only is this a fun, fresh challenge every time but it’s subjective enough to be a real talking point for your party. With cooperative and competitive modes, Wavelength is a great pick across all tastes and ages.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf

The One Night franchise has become nearly synonymous with the term “party game,” and for good reason. It’s simple to learn, encourages a lot of player interaction, and plays in about 10 minutes. At the start of the game, each player is dealt a secret role, and it’s the goal of group to weed out who the werewolves are, unless of course you are a werewolf yourself. Each role has a special ability that help offer clues, such as the seer who can look at some of the roles, or the troublemaker who can switch roles with someone else. Because there’s no 100 percent way to know who is telling the truth, the game depends on your ability to read your friends’ tells. Each game is a chaotic flurry of accusations that will have the table in lively conversation during and after the game. If you want a good idea of what One Night Ultimate Werewolf has to offer, check out this video of a sample game. There are also several different flavors available, from vampires to aliens, if werewolves aren’t your cup of tea. Fair warning if you choose to pick this one up: friendships may be destroyed while playing this horror board game.

When I Dream

  • Players: 4-10
  • Playtime: 20-40 minutes

Fall asleep and and heed the whims of the dream spirits in this team-based game of clues and storytelling. Every round, one player is appointed the “Dreamer,” and must wear a cloth mask over their eyes. Then, players take turns drawing a card from the dream deck and the “good spirits” attempt to describe the picture using only one word in an effort to get the Dreamer to guess it. The “bad spirits,” however, are able to throw off the Dreamer with inaccurate clues. There are also “tricksters” who can switch sides during a game. What makes When I Dream such a good party game is that it’s so easy to learn and a round is over quickly, giving players the chance to drop in or out whenever they want. This accessibility makes it one of the best options for larger gatherings.

Mysterium

Communing with the dead may not be the first choice of activity when hosting a bangin’ party, but Mysterium proves that it’s one of the best ways to keep guests entertained. As mediums and paranormal investigators, it’s your job to uncover a decades-old murder mystery in a haunted house. The spirit that inhabits the house gives clues to each player in the form of dreams, which help to inform the specific weapon, suspect, and room related to the mystery. Think Clue, but much more abstract. One player, as the ghost, gives each player a card that relates somehow to their specific clues. The ghost in unable to speak, though, so the players are left to interpret the vague illustrations. There’s a ton to love about Mysterium, from its incredible art to debating the meaning depicted on the cards. The back-and-forth between the ghost and other players that takes place at the end of every game is an absolute delight that very few games can match. Who knew a seance could be so lively?

Monikers

  • Players: 4-20
  • Playtime: 60 minutes

In Monikers–a brand new take on the old Charades-like game Celebrity–you’ll act out a variety of goofy characters like Count Chocula, Drunk Jeff Goldblum, a dead horse, and literally hundreds more. Rounds get progressively more limiting as the game goes on–for example, words and gestures are legal in round one, but you can only use one word in round two, and round three takes away your ability to speak altogether. Because you’ll be using the same cards in every round, you’ll wind up making clever in-jokes with your group as you start to repeat cards. The subject choices pay homage to not only celebrities, but to modern viral memes and videos like David After Dentist and Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress. Shut Up and Sit Down put it quite bluntly in its review: “It’s the most you’ll laugh playing a game.” Truly, Monikers is the be-all-end-all of party games.

Decrypto

  • Players: 3-8
  • Playtime: 15-45 minutes

In Decrypto, two teams attempt to work out a numeric code by interpreting clues given to them by an encryptor. At the start of a round, four words are randomly assigned to the numbers one through four, and the team’s chosen encryptor secretly draws a three-digit code. Their job is to make the rest of the team guess the code–in the proper order–by giving clues about the words associated with the numbers. It’s a bit like Codenames in that way, but the twist comes thanks to a clever “interception” mechanic that allows a team the opportunity to guess their opponents’ code. This means encryptors must be careful about giving out too much information about their code, making Decrypto a fascinating balancing act that does an admirable job of making players feel like actuals spies.

For more ideas, you can check out the complete other end of the spectrum to find the best solo board games. And if you and your gaming group fancy yourselves to be pretty darn smart, you can test that hypothesis with the best trivia board games.

Callisto Protocol Outsold in Debut Month in US by Mario Kart After Reportedly Missing Sales Targets

The NPD Group has released its analysis of US game sales for the month of December and for the full year 2022, and while the full-year results aren’t shocking, December specifically has some interesting tidbits in the game sales charts that shed a bit of light on how well two supposedly “underperforming” games have done lately: Callisto Protocol, and Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.

First, Callisto Protocol. It debuted in December at No.17 on the US sales charts (ranked by dollar sales), reaching No. 10 on the PlayStation charts and not cracking the top 10 on Xbox at all. That’s not bad in and of itself, to be clear: Callisto is a brand new IP by a brand new studio, after all. It was never going to beat out giants like Elden Ring or Call of Duty.

But it’s a little bit surprising it didn’t do better than some of its competition. For instance, it was beaten out by the nearly nine-year-old-and-only-on-one-major-platform Mario Kart 8 (which admittedly had some DLC recently that likely bolstered sales), the even-older Minecraft, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – another console exclusive that had no meaningful updates in December.

And it’s notable too that reports have indicated Callisto Protocol didn’t meet the company’s sales expectations after being billed as a “quadruple-A” game and having an absolutely massive budget. Given that context, a multi-platform game with essentially an entire month of sales included in the report debuting at No.17 isn’t great news.

That’s Callisto Protocol, but what’s going on with Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope? Just last week, Ubisoft stated in a press release that Sparks of Hope “underperformed“, citing it as one of multiple motivators behind a reworked business strategy that involves restructuring, canceled games, and delays. Sparks of Hope released in October of this year, debuting at No.6 on the NPD during its launch month and dropping to No.13 in November and No.14 in December.

Though we don’t have the actual numerical sales numbers on hand, that seems solid enough, especially when you consider it’s a Switch exclusive and Nintendo doesn’t share digital sales numbers, meaning it may have actually done even better.

So what does “underperforming” really mean? We can’t know what Ubisoft’s expectations for it were, but it’s interesting to compare its ranking at least with its predecessor, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Kingdom Battle came out at the tail end of August 2017, but wasn’t included in the August charts due to not landing during that month’s reporting period. But it debuted at No.5 in its September 2017 launch period, arguably with much less tough competition (Destiny 2 was the best-selling game that month, and that year’s Call of Duty hadn’t come out yet, for instance).

Then, it mysteriously vanishes from even the top 20 for the rest of the year. It didn’t crack the rankings in the US in October, November, or December that year. We have to take this with a grain of salt of course – rankings don’t equate to any specific dollar sales numbers and all of this can be explained away by particularly tough competition in a given month, games costing different amounts, or any number of other weird quirks.

But it’s still fascinating to see Sparks of Hope doing relatively well compared to its competition even months after launch (it also beat out Callisto Protocol in December, and was the third best-selling Switch title last month!), while its developer and publisher insists it’s still not enough.

Overall, US spending on games reached $7.6 billion in December, up 2% year-over-year. Hardware was up 16% with PS5 as the best-selling console of the month in dollar sales and Nintendo Switch as the best-selling in unit sales. Meanwhile, content and accessories spending dipped very very slightly. Content specifically was impacted by mobile, subscription, and physical software spending declines even as digital spending rose.

For the full year 2022, total video game spending was down 5% to $56.6 billion, with increases in hardware and subscription spending offset by declines elsewhere. NPD Group analyst Mat Piscatella sites “continued supply constraints of console hardware, a relatively light slate of new premium releases, and macroeconomic conditions,” as factors impacting the year’s sales.

The PS5 was the best-selling console of the year in terms of dollar sales, and the Switch was the best-selling in unit sales. The best-selling game of the year was (unsurprisingly) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, followed by Elden Ring.

Here are the best-selling games of December 2022 in terms of dollar sales:

  1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
  2. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
  3. God of War Ragnarok
  4. Madden NFL 23
  5. FIFA 23
  6. Sonic Frontiers
  7. Elden Ring
  8. Need for Speed: Unbound
  9. Mario Kart 8
  10. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII: Reunion
  11. NBA 2K23
  12. Just Dance 2023 Edition
  13. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
  14. Minecraft
  15. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
  16. Nintendo Switch Sports
  17. The Callisto Protocol
  18. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
  19. Splatoon 3
  20. Gotham Knights

And here are the best-selling games of the entire year:

  1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
  2. Elden Ring
  3. Madden NFL 23
  4. God of War: Ragnarok
  5. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
  6. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
  7. FIFA 23
  8. Pokemon Legends: Arceus
  9. Horizon II: Forbidden West
  10. MLB: The Show 22
  11. Mario Kart 8
  12. Call of Duty: Vanguard
  13. Gran Turismo 7
  14. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
  15. NBA 2K23
  16. Sonic Frontiers
  17. Gotham Knights
  18. Minecraft
  19. Nintendo Switch Sports
  20. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Note that for both rankings, Nintendo and Take-Two do not share digital sales data, and thus digital sales data for their published games are not included.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Game Makers Flee Dungeons & Dragons Amid Growing Licensing Concerns, Wizards of the Coast Responds

In the short time since a draft of Wizards of the Coast’s new Open Gaming License (called OGL 1.1) leaked, the tabletop gaming landscape has undergone incredible change.After overwhelming backlash online, several creators announced their intent to move away from the D&D ruleset, Fifth Edition (or 5E), in favor of open-source alternatives.

The leaked changes would do away with the game maker’s longstanding policy that empowers third-party Dungeons & Dragons creators to make and sell their own content to support the game, replacing it with a much more strict set of rules that would include a royalty and a controversial clause stating that Wizards has the right to use those creators’ content however it likes.

First Kobold Press, which makes products under OGL, announced their intent to “work on a new Core Fantasy tabletop ruleset: available, open, and subscription-free for those who love it – Code Name: Project Black Flag.” Though a move away from OGL and 5E is noteworthy, Kobold coupled this announcement with the news that none of their current OGL projects would be impacted by the new rules and would be proceeding as normal.

Other publishers weren’t so light-handed, as just two days later, Paizo, which makes Pathfinder, announced a similar initiative called Open RPG Creative License (or ORC), alongside some strong words directed at Wizards’ planned deauthorization of the original OGL.

“We believe that any interpretation that the OGL 1.0 or 1.0(a) were intended to be revocable or able to be deauthorized is incorrect, and with good reason. We were there… Paizo owner Lisa Stevens and Paizo president Jim Butler were leaders on the Dungeons & Dragons team at Wizards at the time. Brian Lewis, co-founder of Azora Law, the intellectual property law firm that Paizo uses, was the attorney at Wizards who came up with the legal framework for the OGL itself. Paizo has also worked very closely on OGL-related issues with Ryan Dancey, the visionary who conceived the OGL in the first place.”

The company added, “Paizo does not believe that the OGL 1.0a can be “deauthorized,” ever. While we are prepared to argue that point in a court of law if need be, we don’t want to have to do that, and we know that many of our fellow publishers are not in a position to do so. We have no interest whatsoever in Wizards’ new OGL. Instead, we have a plan that we believe will irrevocably and unquestionably keep alive the spirit of the Open Game License.”

The ORC announcement came alongside the news that fellow OGL publishers Kobold Press, Chaosium, Green Ronin, Legendary Games, Rogue Genius Games, and “a growing list of publishers” had already agreed to participate in ORC as an OGL alternative.

Chris Pramas, founder of Green Ronin Publishing told IGN: “The current leadership of WotC talks about the OGL only in terms of D&D but the reality is that many games that have nothing to do with D&D have been released under the OGL. The leaked OGL 1.1 took no account of this whatsoever. A revocation of the original OGL would create chaos in the tabletop gaming industry and put many small companies under existential threat.”

That sentiment seems to be shared by others, like indie publisher The Rook & The Raven, who tweeted, “In light of recent events, cancelling our @DnDBeyond subscriptions didn’t feel sufficient. We have also formally withdrawn from all licensing negotiations with @Wizards / @Wizards_DnD / @Hasbro.” In reply to a commenter, the publisher also claimed that Wizards “had been issuing not-very-veiled threats us [sic] and our business every few months by video chat, phone, and email since 2019, and that’s a large part of the reason we decided to cut ties.”

Free League Publishing also announced over the weekend their own effort to move away from OGL and create two new open licenses of their own, citing OGL 1.1 directly. “It’s clear that it is high time for Free League to have an OGL that is fully our own,” Free League CEO Tomas Härenstam was quoted as saying in that press release.

Shortly after Paizo announced their OGL alternative, Wizards quietly cancelled their planned livestream to discuss OGL, before releasing an official statement the next day on their blog. In the statement, the publisher laid out their intent to make changes based on the community’s feedback, writing, “It’s clear from the reaction that we rolled a 1.” Notably, Wizards now says that the new version of OGL will not contain any royalty structure, and language that will allow content creators to own the content they create.

Wizards also seemed to push back against the narrative that they were changing course with OGL 1.1, adding, “You’re going to hear people say that they won, and we lost because making your voices heard forced us to change our plans. Those people will only be half right. They won–and so did we. Our plan was always to solicit the input of our community before any update to the OGL; the drafts you’ve seen were attempting to do just that.”

Advocates for the newly-announced ORC though, don’t seem convinced, as Chris Pramas told IGN after Wizards’ comments that, “People thought the OGL was a safe haven for both D&D compatible material and original games. WotC decided to assert that it was no such thing. Many publishers, content creators, and fans felt this was a betrayal. Something like ORC then became an inevitability.”

Wizards’ decision to upend the 20+ year OGL policy has already made very large waves in the tabletop space in a short period of time. Here’s hoping creators across the board can avoid a full party wipe.

Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and read his games coverage here.

Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Fire Emblem Engage

Your move.

After trailers, gameplay leaks and enough character reveals to fill a small novel, we are finally on the home straight for the release of Fire Emblem Engage. While we still have a few more days to wait before we can all get our hands on the game on 20th January, we can today see what the critics have had to say about the latest in Nintendo’s tactics series.

We have collected together reviews from across the internet to bring you the critical round up, but before we dive into the other outlets, let’s first recap our thoughts on the game.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Dead Island 2: Who’s Alive in HELL-A

LA is a city known for its influential inhabitants: from silver screen stars to rock ‘n’ roll legends, they all seem to settle right here in Tinseltown. Fast forward to the zompocalypse, however, and most of the movers and shakers are no longer moving or shaking. Or, uh, breathing.

So, I hear you ask, who’s still kicking in HELL-A?


The Slayers


Dead Island 2 features six playable slayers; here’s a little bit about four of them.


Jacob


This Brixton boy and former banker upped sticks and moved to LA to pursue a career as a Hollywood stuntman after the death of his beloved mum. Unflappable in the face of danger, Jacob brings a cool and collected attitude to every situation, no matter how hairy it is. An appreciator of the classics, you’ll often hear Jacob quoting Shakespeare as he rips through a horde of zombies. It’s safe to say this Brit is certainly making his mark on HELL-A!

Dead Island 2 - Jacob

Amy


An LA native and former Paralympian, Amy now competes at the highest level in the discipline of zombie-slaying. Years of honing her mental and physical abilities has left her with lightning-quick reflexes, iron focus, and a winner’s determination. A skilled and confident mistress of her own destiny, she’s accepted the situation in HELL-A and is even managing to bring a little positivity to proceedings as she takes on the undead across the city.

Dead Island 2 - Amy

Dani


County Cork’s own rockabilly daughter. Dani originally made her way across the Pond to live and work in Boston. One icy cold winter later, she decided to relocate to the much warmer paradise of Los Angeles. She may not quite fit in with the influencers and pop stars residing in LA, but since landing in the city, she’s made herself a fixture of the local punk and alternative scenes, and found that joining a roller derby team was the perfect way to let out some pent-up aggression. The zombies won’t know what hit ‘em!

Dead Island 2 - Dani

Ryan


This Fresno native’s success as a sexy-firefighter-o-gram and exotic dancer (call ‘The Big Hose’ – ask for Ryan) often sees him under the bright lights of LA. When he isn’t entertaining bachelorette parties by making his pecs dance, he’s devoted to his family. He has an especially close bond with his little brother, whom he raised for many years after their parents passed. Now that the city has gone to hell, his goal is to get back home to make sure his bro is safe. His lifelong pessimism has finally been justified, which is how he’s managing to take it all in stride with an eye-roll and desert-dry sense of humor.

Dead Island 2 - Ryan

Residents of HELL-A


And hey, while you’re touring HELL-A, keep an eye out! Certified celebrities have been spotted around the city. Former Hollywood leading man, Curtis Sinclair, is said to be still residing in his mansion in Beverly Hills. Apparently, he has enough single malt and cigars on hand to last two apocalypses. We’ve been informed that vlogger and internet prankster, Amanda Styles, has taken to documenting the current situation in HELL-A and is looking for volunteers — both alive and dead — to star in her videos. Jimmy Montana, Star of the long-running police procedural drama “The Badge” and notorious Hollywood-level diva, has been reported to be holing up in a hotel with a group of survivors somewhere in the city. And finally, former lead axeman for the iconic rock group “Gods n Whiskey”, Rikky Rex, is said to be sleeping off a hangover with his partner, Roxanne, after the couple hosted a rager of an evacuation party at their home in the Hollywood Hills.

See You in HELL-A

That’s a rundown of just a few of the faces you can expect to see in HELL-A come April 28th, 2023.

Head to the Dead Island 2 website for more information: https://deadisland.com/

Xbox Live

Dead Island 2

Deep Silver

$69.99

The much-loved zombie saga is back with a unique formula of horror, dark humor and over the top zombie-slaying, spanning an epic pulp adventure.

Dead Island 2 is thrilling First-Person Action RPG, stylish, vibrant and flooded with zombie infection. Explore iconic, gore-drenched Los Angeles. Meet larger-than-life characters. Slay countless foes in exquisitely bloody detail. And evolve to become the ultimate Zombie Slayer!

Pre-order now and get the Memories of Banoi pack, featuring two unique weapons, a special weapon perk and skill card.

FEATURES

Explore HELL-A – Dead Island 2 takes players across the most iconic locations of the City of Angels, now stained with horror, in an exciting pulp journey from the verdant suburbia of Beverly Hills to the quirky promenade of Venice Beach.

Brutal Melee Sandbox – Combat delivers the most intense, visceral and gory first person experience possible, with plenty of weapons and tactical (and brutal) options to chew your way through the zombie horde. Whether you’re slicing, smashing, burning or ripping, we want you to truly feel it.

Be the Ultimate Zombie Slayer – There are six characters to choose from, each with their own unique personality and dialogues. You can fully customize the abilities of each Slayer, with our brand-new skill system allowing you to re-spec instantly and try out the craziest builds.

Zombie Infestation – Ready to experience the most advanced dismemberment system in games? Our LA is crawling with zombies that look and react realistically. These mutated wretches are the reanimated, rotten heart of Dead Island 2 with dozens of distinct zombie types, each with their own mutations, attacks and hundreds of visual LA-themed variants. Our monsters are relentless, challenging, and true Los Angelinos. Will you be able to survive?

A Cinematic Co-op Adventure – As a proper RPG experience, Dead Island 2 offers plenty of exciting quests, a crazy cast of characters, and a thrilling pulp story, to truly immerse you in its twisted universe. Re-playability is guaranteed. Add an over-the-top co-op mode for up to three players, and you’ll stay in LA for a very long (and gory) trip.

Xbox Live

DEAD ISLAND 2 DELUXE EDITION

Deep Silver

$74.99

The Deluxe Edition includes the Xbox and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game, two premium character packs, featuring a unique costume and weapon, and the Golden Weapons Pack. Pre-order now and get the Memories of Banoi pack, with two weapons, a special weapon perk and skill card.

The much-loved zombie saga is back with a unique formula of horror, dark humor and over the top zombie-slaying, spanning an epic pulp adventure.

Dead Island 2 is thrilling First-Person Action RPG, stylish, vibrant and flooded with zombie infection. Explore iconic, gore-drenched Los Angeles. Meet larger-than-life characters. Slay countless foes in exquisitely bloody detail. And evolve to become the ultimate Zombie Slayer!

FEATURES

Explore HELL-A – Dead Island 2 takes players across the most iconic locations of the City of Angels, now stained with horror, in an exciting pulp journey from the verdant suburbia of Beverly Hills to the quirky promenade of Venice Beach.

Brutal Melee Sandbox – Combat delivers the most intense, visceral and gory first person experience possible, with plenty of weapons and tactical (and brutal) options to chew your way through the zombie horde. Whether you’re slicing, smashing, burning or ripping, we want you to truly feel it.

Be the Ultimate Zombie Slayer – There are six characters to choose from, each with their own unique personality and dialogues. You can fully customize the abilities of each Slayer, with our brand-new skill system allowing you to re-spec instantly and try out the craziest builds.

Zombie Infestation – Ready to experience the most advanced dismemberment system in games? Our LA is crawling with zombies that look and react realistically. These mutated wretches are the reanimated, rotten heart of Dead Island 2 with dozens of distinct zombie types, each with their own mutations, attacks and hundreds of visual LA-themed variants. Our monsters are relentless, challenging, and true Los Angelinos. Will you be able to survive?

A Cinematic Co-op Adventure – As a proper RPG experience, Dead Island 2 offers plenty of exciting quests, a crazy cast of characters, and a thrilling pulp story, to truly immerse you in its twisted universe. Re-playability is guaranteed. Add an over-the-top co-op mode for up to three players, and you’ll stay in LA for a very long (and gory) trip.

Xbox Live

DEAD ISLAND 2 GOLD EDITION

Deep Silver

$89.99

Dead Island 2 is thrilling First-Person Action RPG, stylish, vibrant and flooded with zombie infection. Explore iconic, gore-drenched Los Angeles. Meet larger-than-life characters. Slay countless foes in exquisitely bloody detail. And evolve to become the ultimate Zombie Slayer!

The Gold Edition includes the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game, two premium character packs, Golden and Pulp Weapons Packs and Expansion Pass.

The Expansion Pass gives access to two brand new chapters of the story coming after release. Pre-order now and get the Memories of Banoi Pack.

FEATURES

Explore HELL-A – Dead Island 2 takes players across the most iconic locations of the City of Angels, now stained with horror, in an exciting pulp journey from the verdant suburbia of Beverly Hills to the quirky promenade of Venice Beach.

Brutal Melee Sandbox – Combat delivers the most intense, visceral and gory first person experience possible, with plenty of weapons and tactical (and brutal) options to chew your way through the zombie horde. Whether you’re slicing, smashing, burning or ripping, we want you to truly feel it.

Be the Ultimate Zombie Slayer – There are six characters to choose from, each with their own unique personality and dialogues. You can fully customize the abilities of each Slayer, with our brand-new skill system allowing you to re-spec instantly and try out the craziest builds.

Zombie Infestation – Ready to experience the most advanced dismemberment system in games? Our LA is crawling with zombies that look and react realistically. These mutated wretches are the reanimated, rotten heart of Dead Island 2 with dozens of distinct zombie types, each with their own mutations, attacks and hundreds of visual LA-themed variants. Our monsters are relentless, challenging, and true Los Angelinos. Will you be able to survive?

A Cinematic Co-op Adventure – As a proper RPG experience, Dead Island 2 offers plenty of exciting quests, a crazy cast of characters, and a thrilling pulp story, to truly immerse you in its twisted universe. Re-playability is guaranteed. Add an over-the-top co-op mode for up to three players, and you’ll stay in LA for a very long (and gory) trip.

Related:
Dead Island 2: A Day in the Life of a Slayer
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