Posts tagged “preview”

Runescape’s newest update, Archaeology, adds a whole new skill to the almost two-decade-old MMO, but there’s some necessary context for what it brings to the table - at least historically speaking. At only 10 years old, I was as industrious as they came, and actually set up my own in-game business. I had people - probably much older than I was - chopping wood for…

Tagged with feature, Jagex, preview, Runescape.

As you may have noticed, we've been throwing a Rezzed Digital party over the last few days, and were inundated with demo and preview builds for a whole plethora of interesting indie games. We weren't able to play them all - but we played a lot. As is our way, a few of us got together to share our pick of the bunch, which coincidentally…

Tagged with EGX Rezzed, EGX Rezzed 2020, feature, preview, Rezzed Digital, A Monster's Expedition, Circle Of Sumo, Desperados III, ScourgeBringer, TerraTech, The Almost Gone, The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos, Trials Of Fire, Wingspan, Wunderling.

If you play tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons - heck, if you play a lot of video games like Hitman or XCOM where you rely on a blend of skill and luck - you'll know that it's more fun when everything goes wrong but you manage to make it through anyway. Things going according to plan are boring. This is why it was great…

Tagged with feature, interview, Larian Studios, Owlbear, preview, roll for initiative, Baldur's Gate III.

I'm surrounded by three people, each trapped in a vertical cot. We're staring at each other from respective cages as we plunge into the depths of our prison, having been pressganged into resolving the warden's monster problem. It won't be long until we're at each others' side, tiptoing past sleeping abominations. It won't be much longer until we're screaming and scurrying away, after one of…

Tagged with 10 Chambers Collective, feature, hands on, preview, Steam Early Access, GTFO.

During their Saturday opening keynote presentation at ExileCon in Auckland, New Zealand, Grinding Gear Games announced three projects: Path Of Exile Mobile, a double expansion for POE this December, and Path Of Exile 2, due late next year. I got three hands on playthroughs of the sequel's show-floor demo, and I think all action RPG fans should be paying attention to it, even if you…

Tagged with ExileCon, feature, Grinding Gear Games, preview, Path of Exile, Path Of Exile 2.

Pearl Abyss’s recently announced single- and multiplayer blended RPG Crimson Desert started life as a prequel to their similarly named MMO Black Desert Online. Since then, though, it’s shimmered, mirage-like, into its own IP, still linked to the preexisting world, but more nebulously. Its lore connection isn’t the only thing that remains indistinct on the horizon, but I spoke with lead producer Jason Jung to…

Tagged with feature, Pearl Abyss, preview, Crimson Desert.

Black Desert Online developers Pearl Abyss are in the process of branching out of their MMO roots, having announced a clutch of new games this week. But while they might be working on games as far removed as a shooter and a cutesy monster catch ‘em up, it’s Black Desert’s battle royale-esque spinoff Shadow Arena that’s furthest through development. I got my hands on it…

Tagged with feature, hands on, Pearl Abyss, preview, Black Desert Online, Shadow Arena.

The Crusader Kings franchise has always had a massive Game of Thrones vibe. Indeed, the first two games in the series got their own Westeros mods, and our own Adam Smith called CK2’s “such a blindingly obvious combination of worlds and mechanics that it simply had to exist”. Now, however, looking into the new dynasty mechanics for Crusader Kings 3, it’s clear what Paradox are…

Tagged with feature, Paradox Development Studio, Paradox Interactive, preview, Crusader Kings II, Crusader Kings III.

If you’ve played one of Overwatch’s lore PvE events, you probably know what to expect from the bulk of the new stuff that’s unique in Overwatch 2. The mostly-sequel format of its release means that a cleaner UI, new heroes, and a new map type will be added to the first game at the same time that the sequel launches, leaving a new look for…

Tagged with Blizzard Entertainment, BlizzCon 2019, feature, preview, Overwatch, Overwatch 2.

Diablo 4 was revealed yesterday in a swirl of blood and grime and men talking about the lure of the darkness both in the trailer and onstage. I chatted with a couple of the developers about the new world they’ve created, the monsters they filled it up with, and their painterly inspirations. And I played a bit. It was surprisingly well lit.

Tagged with Blizzard Entertainment, BlizzCon 2019, feature, preview, Diablo IV.

When Imperator: Rome was released in April this year, I really enjoyed it. My colleague Ghoastus absolutely loved it. To be honest, both of us were happy with it as it was. Nevertheless, in response to a good deal of player roaring on launch, Paradox have been working hell for leather to rebuild whole sections of the game, and after two big free patches, we're…

Tagged with feature, Ghoastus, Paradox Development Studio, Paradox Interactive, preview, Imperator: Rome.

Riot’s freshly announced card game Legends Of Runeterra just finished its first testing period. Though I had some hands on with it at a preview event, it wasn’t an especially natural setting, with all the cards unlocked and a narrow pool of opponents, so I came back to investigate the Preview Patch event to see how well it stands up in its first tentative steps…

Tagged with feature, preview, Riot Games, Legends Of Runeterra.

One of my favourite tropes in Science Fiction is aliens whose cultures are built around some hangover from the time before they made it to the stars. Take the Kelpiens from Star Trek: Discovery, whose existence is dominated by the inbuilt anxiety that comes from having once been prey species. Or Iain M Banks’s Idirans, the “top monster on a whole planetful of monsters'”, who…

Tagged with feature, Paradox Development Studio, Paradox Interactive, preview, Stellaris.

Crusader Kings 2 isn’t the easiest game to define. It mixes Paradox’s grand strategy formula with a big bucket of RPG flavour, creating something that’s just as playable as an emergent storytelling toy as it is as a wargame. Crusader Kings 3, its freshly-announced sequel, has this same mix of ingredients. But from what we’ve seen so far, it looks like it might just have…

Tagged with feature, Paradox Development Studio, Paradox Interactive, preview, Crusader Kings II, Crusader Kings III.

I want to explore. Like, everywhere. I didn’t expect that to be the main takeaway of my Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order hands-on preview, but here we are: amongst the windswept vistas of Zeffo, or careening down its ice caves, or clambering around the crumbling red stone of a temple on Dathomir. The team behind Titanfall 2 have built some more beautiful worlds for me…

Tagged with Chewbacca sound, Electronic Arts, feature, hands on, LucasArts, Lucasfilm, preview, Respawn Entertainment, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

League Of Legends developer Riot Games are making a collectable card game called Legends Of Runeterra. I got to speak to some of the developers and do some shuffling myself at their Dublin offices a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve got the scoop: Yes, there are poro cards, yes, you can build a deck to synergise with them, and yes, the board features a…

Tagged with feature, hands on, preview, Riot Games, League of Legends, Legends Of Runeterra.

On my third or fourth game with Throne Of Eldraine, I realised I was going to lose if my opponent just kept stuffing his own damn cat into an oven again and again. Throne Of Eldraine is the newest Magic: The Gathering set, coming to both the physical game and, more importantly for our purposes, Magic: The Gathering Arena. It's a mix of Arthurian high…

Tagged with feature, preview, Throne Of Eldraine, Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering Arena.

How much of Close Combat's charm emanated from its blood-spattered sprites and non-negotiable shoegazy camera? We're about to find out. Close Combat: The Bloody First, Matrix Games' seven-years-in-development 3D sequel releases next Thursday. In preparation for the big day, I've been playing the heck out of a preview build that contains a third of the game's full complement of 36 battles. While my time in…

Tagged with Close Combat: The Bloody First, preview, The Flare Path.

According to the Iliad, the sacking of Troy only happened after a very specific set of things occurred in the right order. So, I asked Todor Nikolov, lead game designer at Creative Assembly Sofia, would players have to set up the same set of circumstances? "You're probably talking about the Trojan Horse?" he replied. HahaHAHAHha yes of course, that's what I was talking about, it…

Tagged with Creative Assembly Sofia, feature, Gamescom 2019, preview, The Creative Assembly, A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, A Total War Saga: Troy.

In Romero Games' Empire Of Sin, you play a prohibition era crime lord in Chicago, organising your rackets and engaging in turn-based combat with rivals. It's an era developer Brenda Romero has always been fascinated by. She grew up in a town in New York state called Ogdensburg, which hadn't, historically, had a lot going for it until US prohibition started in 1920, triggering 13…

Tagged with Brenda Romero, feature, Gamescom 2019, Paradox Interactive, preview, Romero Games, Empire of Sin.