“Maybe one day”.
Developer Sabotage Studio launches its new RPG Sea of Stars on the Switch later this month, and while it’s got its hands full right now with this upcoming release, it hopes to possibly revisit its 2D platformer / Metroidvania title The Messenger.
Speaking to Game Informer, Thierry Boulanger mentioned how “there’s more to be told” about The Messenger, and “that specific arc” and “maybe one day” it could be returned to.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Get ready for another “world premiere”.
Ahead of Opening Night Live at Gamescom next week, the show’s host Geoff Keighley has teased a “world premiere” for the upcoming fighting game Mortal Kombat 1.
Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon will apparently be taking to the stage for this reveal. Although nothing else is attached to this latest update, it’s expected to be another character reveal – with the Mortal Kombat 1 social account sharing the following line alongside this announcement:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Big-time Xbox exclusive FPS STALKER 2 has a rumored release date that’s coming up soon…but do we believe it? We discuss the rumor. Plus: we engage in a lengthy discussion about Xbox’s new eight-strike behavior-enforcement system for Xbox Live, go over the great Xbox Game Pass lineup leading up to Starfield’s release, and more!
Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out my recent interview with Todd Howard, who discussed the realization of his vision for Starfield after eight years, how Red Dead Redemption 2 was something of an inspiration, what his future holds, and more!
For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox Series S review, and our PS5 review.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
Larian Studios has revealed the preload times and release schedule for the PS5 version of Baldur’s Gate 3, ahead of its full PlayStation release on Sept. 6 early next month.
Per a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) from Larian Studios, players who have payed for the $79.99 Digital Deluxe Edition of Baldur’s Gate 3 will be able to begin preloading the game on Aug. 31 starting at 16:00 UTC, and will be able to jump into the game at the same time on Sept. 2 courtesy of early access.
Meanwhile, those who have pre-ordered the $69.99 Standard Edition of Baldur’s Gate 3 will be able to begin preloading starting at 16:00 UTC on Sept. 4, in preparation of the RPG’s full PS5 release on Sept. 6, once again at 16:00 UTC.
PS5 players, prepare for adventure.
Pre-loads for @baldursgate3 begin August 31st for Digital Deluxe Edition owners.
Not Pre-Ordered? There’s still time: https://t.co/XPEHAxzByn pic.twitter.com/AjP4ccotFN
— Larian Studios (@larianstudios) August 16, 2023
Back in July, Larian revealed that players would not be able to preload any of the 122 GB PC version of Baldur’s Gate 3 – a decision which upset some players with less than stellar internet, and saw Steam struggle to cope with the download demand for the game.
Thankfully, Larian has been able to enable preloading for the PS5 version of the game, so PlayStation gamers should have a smoother ride of it. The PC version of Baldur’s Gate 3 has been out in the wild for a couple of weeks now, and in that time it has delighted hardcore and casual RPG fans alike, while securing its place in history as one of the horniest titles ever to grace gamers’ collective screens.
As a matter of fact, Baldur’s Gate 3 players managed to get up to so much so fast that Larian was forced to push out an emergency hotfix for the game to expand player’s personal story database to an “infinite” size in order to allow them to continue perpetrating shenanigans. Since then, some members of the Baldur’s Gate 3 community have gone even further in their attempts to explore the game, with some even now competing for numerous speed run records.
Be sure to check out IGN’s list of 16 crucial tips and tricks, and to make use of our interactive map to track quests, find chests, and generally get the most out of your journey through Baldur’s Gate 3.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
As the release date for Starfield draws near, Bethesda Game Studios recently held a Q&A on its Discord server where Starfield’s Lead Quest Designer Will Shen and Lead Designer Emil Pagliarulo answered 16 questions fans had about the upcoming sci-fi action RPG.
If you missed the Q&A session, IGN attended and found ten new things we learned during the Starfield developer Q&A, which you can check out below.
Similar to previous Bethesda RPGs, Starfield will have companions you can recruit, but little is known about them so far. Fortunately, the developer Q&A confirmed that “over 20 named characters” can join you in your adventures.
While the names were not revealed, we did learn from the Q&A that four of the companions are members of The Constellation, though all companions have “their own backgrounds” and can follow you around and carry any items you acquire on your travels.
“When we first began Starfield pre-production, we looked back at our previous games and realized how popular and effective the companions were,” Pagliarulo explained. “So they were a big priority for us, and we really wanted to tie them directly to the main quest.”
In the Elder Scrolls series, most notably Skyrim, there is a jail system where you can be imprisoned for crimes you commit. Starfield is no different, though you will have a few options if you are caught committing a crime: you can either go to jail, pay the fine when you are apprehended, or if you’re really bold, you can resist arrest and evade the law.
If you prefer to play games where you can complete an entire playthrough without harming a single NPC, sadly you won’t be able to do so in Starfield (although we’re sure that won’t stop some from trying).
Shen and Pagliarulo noted that there’s no guarantee a player can complete every mission in Starfield without harming someone. But they did mention that “a couple of systems” are available to help those who want to avoid minimal physical confrontations.
One of those systems are Speech Challenges, where you can use the art of persuasion to avoid someone fighting you.
“The Settled Systems is mostly civilized, but it can be a dangerous place if you’re going off the beaten path,” said Pagliarulo. “And you’re absolutely going off the beaten path!”
When asked if any sci-fi media had influenced some of the quests in Starfield, Shen and Pagliarulo explained some of their influences, many of which are thoroughly unsurprisingly.
Shen, for example, explained how he is a history nerd and listens to a lot of history-centric podcasts, such as Hardcore History. Pagliarulo, a child of the late ’70s and early ’80s, explained how he has “very fond memories” of sci-fi during that time, citing Star Wars, the original Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, and even Event Horizon. He talked about what he called “headier” sci-fi, including Contact, Interstellar, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the writings of Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein.
“In all of those examples, you realize that outer space is two things: 1.) A source of mystery and wonder, sometimes terror, AND 2.) A giant blank page on which you can write any story” said Pagliarulo. “And we have written a lot of VERY different stories in Starfield.”
In one of the animated shorts Bethesda released last month, we saw a brief glimpse of mechs. Pagliarulo revealed more history on the role of mechs in the Starfield universe, noting that they are around, but you cannot use them.
Pagliarulo explained that the mechs are “leftovers” from the Colony War. Both the United Colonies and Freestar Collective had mechs, but to varying degrees, and they were outlawed when the war ended.
While the mechs are not useable, Pagliarulo teased that there’s an old mech battleground in the game.
One of the traits available in Starfield is called Kid Stuff and if your character has the trait, the duo confirmed that your parents will look like you. While not further elaborated, the feature is similar to that in Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, where the father and son’s looks are based on your playable character.
When asked what are some of their favorite small details in Starfield that help add to the immersion, Pagliarulo talked about how the environmental storytelling, from the books lying around to the notes on the bulletin boards, offers a ton of immersion.
Pagliarulo also explained how Starfield is a “NASApunk” game: that although humans live in space, the aesthetic is still “a very lived-in universe.”
Shen and Pagliarulo confirmed that you can purchase property in all the major cities in Starfield. Some you can purchase with the money you earn and some are rewards for completing specific
Shen and Pagliarulo went into detail about the religions in Starfield. We previously learned that the three in the game are the Sanctum Universum, Enlightened, and Great Serpent.
“Existing, IRL religions are part of the Starfield universe, (with folks of all religions and denominations out there) but we don’t really focus on them,” Pagliarulo said. “Instead, we highlight three new ones specific to the game.”
A quick recap on the three religions in Starfield is that Sanctum Universum (aka Universals) believes God exists in the in-game universe. The Enlightened “are essentially organized atheists” that focus on humanitarian efforts. And The Great Serpent, which the faction House of Va’ruun worships, is filled with mystery with Pagliarulo explaining that “in the game, you’re not really sure what the complete truth is.”
Outposts in Starfield can be used in different ways: you can either build a domicile or make an outpost designed to manufacture things or mine for resources. And during the dev Q&A, we learned that you can assign crew members to work in the outposts. You only have to pay them once when assigning them to the outposts and you can even use the Speech Challenge game to negotiate the price.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Hybe, the company behind immensely popular K-pop stars BTS, is getting into video games. The first release from the Korean company’s newfounded games publisher Hybe IM (with IM standing for “Interactive Media”) will be Astra: Knights of Veda, a 2D RPG with more than a touch of Dark Souls and Elden Ring to its heavily-armoured bosses and big scary dog monsters, if its first gameplay trailer is anything to go by.
Give it away, give it away now.
We’ve all done it. Whether through necessity to fund a new purchase or streamlining our collection during a spring clean, we’ve all sold, traded, donated, or just given away a game or console at some point and then wished we hadn’t.
Sometimes cold hard cash was required, other times we were just in a different mindset or feeling particularly altruistic towards our fellow gamers — and a broken heart has caused us all to do things we later regretted. When am I ever going to want that again?
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The year 2020 was tough in all meanings – COVID restrictions and business problems. Before we created Boxville, I tried to cope with all this stress by diving into immersive games, but not suspense ones, rather those which give a feeling of safety and coziness. Soon I realized that there are not so many anti-stress games around. Almost all of them brought you some drama, which was more than enough in my life. So I decided to make a game for myself and for those who needed the same. I needed a safe place to rest off all everyday stresses.
But what to start with if you have absolutely no experience in game development and even no connection to this sphere? I started by experimenting with Unity and with gathering a diverse team of unique specialists. Some members of our team came from the “previous life”, other ones were found by coincidence. The only thing which united us all – nobody had previous experience in game development. All processes looked like constant experiments with everything – from engine customization to animation creation and even sound recording. Everything was done as we felt right and not as it is common in the industry.
The first part from the concept creation till the demo release was challenging but fun, till the war came into our lives. War brutally broke in with huge blasts of Russian rockets right near our homes in the early morning on February 24, 2022. A new reality unfolded quickly: empty streets, long queues for food, and harsh curfews. All this was accompanied by constant blasts and gunfire.
Game development paused because our team was disrupted, someone had to move to safer regions, and someone lost their development equipment and regular workplace because of occupation. One month later, when we coped with the first shock, we decided to resume our workflow. Although sometimes it was not easy to motivate yourself to work especially as this work requires positive and creative energy, the process of creating something beautiful and contrasting with our new reality was a healing in itself. Also, one of the biggest supports in these hard times was our small but loyal community – we tried to keep them informed about the game development process and overall situation and they paid us back with their support and care.
Generally speaking, there were a lot of difficulties even without the war. Indie game developers do not have so many funding possibilities everywhere in the world, but in Ukraine, they are even more limited because there is no possibility to start a Kickstarter campaign from Ukraine, so you have to use some intermediaries to launch the campaign. Also, not all platforms are working with Ukrainian studios, and trying to get development equipment is another developer’s pain. As with all great stories, ours has a happy ending – we managed to create and release our game Boxville, despite all difficulties and obstacles and now we are happy to bring it to Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One on August 16, 2023. I hope Boxville will bring you a cozy and warm atmosphere and take your stress away.
Triomatica Games
Boxville is an adventure puzzle game about speechless cans living in the city of boxes and drawing doodles on cardboards to tell the stories.
Boxville is good for playing alone to dive into the atmosphere and challenge your brain with sophisticated logic puzzles and riddles, or playing with a friend or family to share unique audio-visual experiences and solve the puzzles together.
Design
The core idea of the game is that it’s not just a game – but also an animated film that you can watch and play at the same time.
We designed Boxville’s gameplay with the purpose of taking away your anxiety and stress. You can explore and observe the world without rushing and pressure.
The game is full of environmental quests and logical puzzles that we have carefully picked from among hundreds of options.
Story
Boxville is a city of boxes populated with old cans. They live quiet and happy lives with their everyday routines and habits. But one day, unexplained earthquakes disturbed their idyll…
Blue Can (our hero) lost his best friend because of that. He started his search but it is not so easy to move through the city after earthquakes. He has to find a way to move forward, return the friend back home and discover the real reason for all those earthquakes. There are many adventures, new friends and it’s not only friends that are waiting for him on the way.
He has to be curious, inventive, careful, and to help others, to reach his goal.
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Back in 2022 there was a brief bubble of enthusiasm over a video game called Dorfromantik – “village romance” in German. The player had to create an ever growing landscape of forests and fields, railways and rivers, trying to complete tasks in order to earn more tiles and keep playing. At the time, there was a lot of talk about how much like a board game it felt. Now, we’ve got a dedicated tabletop version which went on to win the 2023 Spiel des Jahres, the most prestigious prize in board gaming.
The Dorfromantik: The Board Game box is like a Russian doll, because most of what’s inside the box is more boxes. But you’re not supposed to open them right away: a key part of this game’s appeal is that it’s a campaign. Each game lets you tick off boxes on a campaign sheet based on your overall score and, as you progress through various branch points, you get to open different boxes and find out what’s inside.
When you start out, you only get to use what’s available inside the main box itself, which is lots and lots of hexagonal tiles. They’re all decorated in much the same way in a chunky, simplistic yet appealing art style that delineates various landscape features, just like the tiles in the video game.
There are also a bunch of counters, one for each landscape type, with numbers on the back. You also get a pad of scoresheets and campaign sheets. That’s your lot, and the relative dearth of content is more than enough to make you super-curious about what’s in those six additional sealed boxes nestled in the component tray.
Dorfromantik is easy to learn and play and, since it’s also a cooperative board game with all the players working together to build the landscape, it’s a great candidate for play with friends and family. On your turn you draw a tile, which will feature a mix of terrain elements, and fit it into your growing landscape. Most terrain elements can abut anything else you want them to. The exception are rivers and railways, each of which must be contiguous and can’t be cut off mid-flow with a different kind of tile.
There are two kinds of tiles: landscape tiles, which feature a mix of terrain elements, and task tiles, which are the same but also include a blank box. You fill this by drawing a counter of the matching terrain type and flipping it to reveal the number. That task is finished when that terrain type expands to the number on the counter, then you score that many points and draw another task. There must always be three tasks in play, so the first three turns always consist of adding task tiles. Otherwise, unless an existing task is finished, you must draw an ordinary landscape tile.
The only other feature of note to begin with are flags, which feature on three landscape tiles. These fit into the board like any other tile, but if you manage to close off the terrain type with the flag on it, so that none of that terrain is on the edge of the board, you’ll get points for each contiguous tile of that feature. When you run out of tiles, you add together the closed-off flags, your completed tasks and a point per hex of the longest river and railroad on your board, and that’s the final score.
At first, you’ll probably find this recreates that famous Zen-like calm of the original video game very well. It’s pleasant and undemanding, yet it’s just enough to occupy your brain and hands with the simple rules of the game to try and tot up some extra points here and there. The expanding landscape is attractive on the table. You can have a laugh and a joke as you play. It’s good fun. Your first game will almost certainly cross of a feeble single box on the campaign sheet, and you’ll wonder what you can do to score better and get down the track faster to find out what’s inside.
You won’t know it, but at this point you’re a Dorfromantik: The Board Game addict and there’s nothing you can do about it.
The genius of this game is that there’s a lot of shallow but subtle strategic decision-making beneath that placid exterior. There are indeed lots of ways to improve your score, some down to luck and some down to skill, several of which you probably realized mid-way through your first game. You’ll spot a couple more each time you progress those initial games, as none are particularly hard to grasp. But when you’ve got them down, you’ll realize that knowing what to do and putting it into practice are two very different things.
What makes it tricksy is the sheer openness of the landscape. Besides rivers and railways, you can stick any tile anywhere. Most tiles feature multiple terrain types and so can help advance more than one task. Despite the straightforward scoring conditions, the sheer array of options makes it far harder than you initially realize to work out what the best thing is to do with each tile as it comes up. It’s not difficult, as such, so the game still feels pleasantly undemanding, but you’ll often realize later there were better choices, and the way your skill grows with each attempt is even more enjoyable.
If you’re familiar with the video game, you’ll recognize quite how much of these mechanics mimic the gameplay elements of the original. But there’s one crucial difference. In the computer version, scoring tasks earns you extra tiles to prolong your game and increase your score. It isn’t long before the landscape you build gets out of control and your placement options alongside it. Trying to keep on top of this is a key skill. Here, though, you’re always using the same fixed pool of tiles to try and work towards bigger and bigger scores. This is, in many ways, far more manageable and satisfying.
I won’t say too much about what’s in boxes for fear of spoilers. Suffice to say that each adds another, simple rule to the game and increases your opportunities to score points. So, as you progress, additional strategic wrinkles are revealed and your high scores slowly go up and up, meaning you can meander across the paths of the campaign sheet a bit faster each time. It’s hugely gratifying to do so and feel like your mastery is increasing over time, in addition to the reward of opening new campaign elements when you reach them. If anything, Dorfromantik: The Board Game only gets more addictive the more you play.
