Mere spec sheets? Old news, friend. This Steam Deck vs Asus ROG Ally comparison is new and improved with actual testing results, both hard data (I may even borrow some benchmark graphs from the ROG Ally review) and those of the observational/anecdotal/downright take-y variety. Hopefully, by the end of it, these will give you a far better idea of which handheld gaming PC will suit your travelling needs, performance preferences, or even specific games to play on the go.
The confusing, violent, and cataclysmic events we know today as the Bronze Age Collapse shook the Mediterranean 3200 years ago, which is roughly how long it feels like it’s been since we last had a main series historical Total War game. But much as Ramesses III led Egypt out of this dark era, Creative Assembly’s Sofia studio (which most recently released the semi-mythological A Total War Saga: Troy) brings us Total War: Pharaoh. The mysterious Sea Peoples are coming, and as a variety of competing leaders from the Egyptian, Hittite, and Canaanite cultures, it will be up to us to weather the storm.
While we haven’t gotten to see the campaign map yet, I was able to get a few details on it. We’ll fight over the Nile Valley as far South as Nubia and Kush – modern-day Sudan, basically. Heading North, we’ll get to explore Canaan, the region we usually refer to today as the Levant. Opposite Egypt, across the sea, we’ll also get to battle for Anatolia, the peninsula today which makes up most of modern Turkey.
We won’t be going as far East as Mesopotamia, so don’t expect to be tangling with any Assyrians or Babylonians. But the developers were quick to point out that this is a “full-fledged,” main series Total War game, though, and not a Saga. So we should expect sandbox gameplay and a scope similar to Rome II or Three Kingdoms.
While the marketing for Pharaoh centers on Egypt, there is no faction called “Egypt” to begin with. Similar to Three Kingdoms and Troy, each faction is organized around a specific historical or semi-historical figure who is in a position to potentially unite their culture under one rule. For the Egyptians, this obviously represents the ambition to become Pharaoh, including the historical winner, Ramesses III. The Hittities in Anatolia have an equivalent office called the Great King. And the Canaanites are kind of stuck in the middle of it all, just trying to survive.
There’s quite a bit more variety than just those three cultures in terms of the available units, too. Egypt, by itself, has four different regions with their own local, “native” units to recruit, in addition to a base roster tied to your starting character which is always available. You have Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, Nubia and Kush in the far South, and the Western Desert on the outskirts where the most rugged and hardy warriors are available. The Hittites will be able to recruit from other Anatolian people like the Phrygians, and the Canaanites have two subcultures with unique units that represent the more settled city-state dwellers closer to the sea, and the pastoral hill folk of the East.
As this campaign focuses on the Bronze Age Collapse, the world will grow darker and more dangerous as the turns tick by, partly based on how well you’re doing at holding everything together. One of the main ways this manifests in battle is a dynamic weather system, in which you might start a fight under a baking desert sun only to be caught in a raging downpour moments later. This can change the terrain mid-battle, with large areas of ground turning into mud that slows down chariots and heavy infantry. Likewise, this marshy muck can dry up if the sun grows too brutal.
Each culture is equipped to handle their native lands better than others. Egyptians are typically lightly armored, which makes them nimble and very capable at fighting in extreme heat. The Hittites are much more heavily-clad in bronze, shrugging off the cold and the rain and able to endure quite a bit more damage, but they will be more susceptible to the relentless desert sun.
Then we come to the enigmatic Sea Peoples, who seemingly overran many ancient and powerful cities during this time. We know very few concrete facts about them, so their depiction in Total War: Pharaoh is assembled from fragments of art and written accounts, along with some historical “best guesses,” but their main role is to serve as a major endgame challenge like the Huns in Total War: Attila.
They’re ruthless raiders and obviously quite talented seafarers, visually realized as a multi-ethnic coalition with eclectic combat gear that suggests they have gathered warriors from all over the ancient Mediterranean. Some of their troops are clearly riffs on Total War: Troy’s Mycenaens. They have multiple units with “Aegean” in their names. Others borrow from ancient depictions of Corsican, Sardinian, or Cretan islanders. They won’t be playable at launch, though the DLC roadmap promising multiple “Faction Packs” makes me think that’s likely to change.
Back on the battle side, the siege AI seems remarkably competent for once, though the city defense I played saw the entire opposing army retreating almost the second their general died despite making it past the walls and still outnumbering us. Total War: Pharaoh is promising more granular customizable difficulty settings for campaign and battles than ever before, though.
Another addition is the ability to damage enemy armor over the course of a melee, with units like clubmen being particularly good at this. We’re still living in an era without battlefield cavalry, like in Troy, so chariots are your fastest and smashiest units. We’re also getting some new “stances” that cut down on micromanagement for infantry a bit, including one where you can tell them to simply advance until they run into the enemy and then attack.
From what I’ve gotten my hands on so far, Total War: Pharaoh doesn’t feel like a revolutionary step forward for the series. Not yet, anyway. I really look forward to seeing more of the campaign. This is an era I find especially fascinating, and the fact that we know so little about what actually happened is both a challenge and an opportunity for Creative Assembly. The path ahead lies clear for us to claim the title of Pharaoh this October.
Despite all the fun that could obviously be had unleashing rampaging sphynxs and hippo-headed warriors on the battlefields of Total War: Pharaoh, Creative Assembly Sofia are currently steadfast in keeping their latest historical release firmly in the realm of history, with “absolutely no plans” to release a similar expansion to Troy’s Mythos, which added magic and minotaurs to the otherwise relatively grounded Aegean setting.
Raking in the Ninten-dough.
The latest Japanese charts are in and, to the surprise of absolutely no one, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has once again topped the pile with a further 148,482 sales, bringing its current total up to 1,515,673.
This puts the game comfortably ahead of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which managed 8,373 sales to land it in second place. The only newcomer this week is BUSTAFELLOWS Season 2 in third place, raking in 7.514 sales.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
I first heard about the “The Expanse” novels when the series was described to me as “Game of Thrones in space.” That seemed appropriate as the co-writing collaborators – known singly as James S.A. Corey – were an understudy of George R.R. Martin some years ago, so broad epics spanning numerous novels seemed like an apt description.
Now with nine full-length novels and multiple short stories – many I’ve enjoyed quite thoroughly — and an incredibly entertaining television show that just wrapped up a year ago, it feels time for the world of The Expanse to… well… expand into next-gen gaming with The Expanse: A Telltale Series. The team at Deck Nine Games seem to be the perfectly suited to deliver on that experience.
The writers [Ty and Daniel] encouraged us to explore creating new characters and adding to the lore.
“The Expanse has a massive universe with wildly varied settings, characters, and stories,” explains Deck Nine Games Director Stephan Frost. “The writers [Ty and Daniel] encouraged us to explore creating new characters and adding to the lore. There’s a section in the game where we explore what life was like for first-generation belters that we’re very excited for players to see, and that was a lot of fun to explore and create. We have characters fans will recognize and we have some new ones that players are going to love meeting when they play the game.”
When Deck Nine initially pitched the game, Ty and Daniel liked the idea and added a few suggestions for these characters and plot points. As development continued, they would receive notes from the authors and the show’s production company, Alcon, regarding world building to make sure it all felt and looked like “The Expanse” as seen in the television series. Looking at some of the existing footage it’s clear Deck Nine Games is on the right path and have captured the hit sci-fi show — having access to its “art bible” helped.
“We are huge nerds for The Expanse, so really this was a passion project for a group of talented game developers to play in a universe we love,” Frost says. “Our cinematics team really studied the cinematography of the show, and the goal was to make it feel like a playable episode [of the show]. We can’t wait for Expanse fans to see what we’ve cooked up.”
The adventure game formula that Telltale Games has established over the years has gone through many iterations, but the core of delivering an interactive adventure game has been at the heart of every release. Part of that formula has been player choice and Frost wasn’t shy in sharing that we’ll have some tough choices in store — the selections we make will affect the last episode of the game — who lives, who dies, and various crew actions will be affected by the decisions made from all the previous episodes. Helping to land that emotional connection to those repercussions will be some very expressive and well animated characters to help reinforce that feeling of playing in world of The Expanse.
We are huge nerds for The Expanse, so really this was a passion project for a group of talented game developers to play in a universe we love.
“We are using motion capture technology that allows for some extremely nuanced performances thanks to our actors and animators, and these performances really help tell a story with heart and emotion,” explains Frost. “We’ve also added a zero-G exploration mechanic, with a much larger space to explore derelict ships while talking to members of our crew abord the Artemis. As an interactive storytelling device, it’s fun to float upside down and attach to hull walls with our magboots and get perspectives from the crew on what we’re seeing.”
Development on The Expanse: A Telltale Series started a little less than two years ago and Frost mentions that once the game was greenlit, the team wanted to really lean into what was exciting about the universe. Coming out of that planning session, everyone seemed to land on the character of Camina Drummer as one of the team’s favorites. Relative to the other main characters of the show, her backstory wasn’t nearly as fleshed out like that of the crew of the Rocinante as seen in “The Expanse.”
“We loved the idea of exploring her past to find out why she became so awesome in the show,” says Frost. “The Belt and zero gravity were more awesome parts [of the show], so we knew we had to have gameplay that felt like it was leaning into that part of the universe. When we put all that together, we needed to get approval from the book’s authors, so we pitched them the idea and they were very supportive with the direction we were heading.”
Obviously if you were going to center a game around Drummer, you would want to bring on the talented Cara Gee to reprise her role from the show — ot only because her character is amazing, but doing so would bring a tremendous level of authenticity to the game’s immersion factor. As it turns out, Gee was more than willing to return to her belter roots and made herself available as often as possible during the game’s development.
“Cara was awesome to work with, 10/10 would do again,” says Frost. “When we met her, we needed to do an ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) recording while she was filming for a TV show in Canada. We contacted a remote studio to have her come in and do some voice over work, which was in a small studio in someone’s backyard. She was extremely friendly, funny, and patient and hearing her sweet everyday voice drop into the basement for Drummer’s iconic sound was awesome to see and hear. When we were recording on set, we maintained a relaxed and positive atmosphere and she was a big part of that. No ego, worked hard, and brought great insight from her time on the show. We wouldn’t have done it without her… and couldn’t have even if we wanted to.”
We can’t wait to become part of Drummer’s story in The Expanse: A Telltale Series when it launches July 27, 2023, for Xbox Series X|S. You can pre-order the game today on the Xbox Store here.
Telltale
A TELLTALE STORY LIKE NO OTHER
Immerse yourself in the role of Camina Drummer, the Executive Officer aboard the Artemis, a scavenging ship hunting for a big score in the outer regions of the Belt. You must corral a crew rife with tense relationships and powerful personalities, and make tough decisions that will decide everyone’s fate.
EXPLORE THE BELT IN ZERO-G
Scour shipwrecks, use mag boots to walk on walls and ceilings, and utilize Zero-G thrusters to float through the void. As you fly through sections of ships and the open expanse of space, interact with objects in the world and converse with members of the crew in the largest and most immersive exploration of any Telltale game to date.
DIFFICULT CHOICES, GRAVE CONSEQUENCES
Contend with the unforgiving brutality of space, the politics of a corrupt solar system, the animosities of your crew, and Drummer’s own conflicting responsibilities to the people she cares about and The Belt she has sworn to protect. There is no right or wrong path – only your choices and the consequences they unleash.
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As someone who really loved the narrative-focused Telltale games of yesteryear, playing another opening episode in their instantly recognizable style reminded me just how much I’ve missed them. Good ol’ zombie Telltale picks up right where the original incarnation left off, as the studio’s newest licensed project, The Expanse, is full of drama, tough decisions that leave lives hanging in the balance, and NPCs who will certainly remember your choices. Though there are many notable improvements to the look and feel of the expected Telltale system, The Expanse largely follows in the footsteps of earlier projects, at least going by the first episode, and that comes with advantages and disadvantages in equal measure.
In case you didn’t know, The Expanse is a wildly successful television show based on novels written by James S. A. Corey, and its DNA has all the makings of a series ripe for a Telltale game. There’s deeply troubling political turmoil, war, uneasy alliances, betrayals, and just about everything else you’d want players to worry about as they make their next dramatic decision. Much like The Walking Dead before it, the setting mostly serves as a depressing playground for the developer to pile on high-stakes tension and imminent tragedy. But the science fiction flavor affords for some interesting new moments, like scavenging for scrap in the vacuum of space, or shooting your fellow crewmate out of an airlock for doing you dirty.
Aside from the theatrical new setting, not much has changed from the familiar episodic formula. You’ll walk around exploring the world (or in this case, spaceship) and solve small puzzles in between the real meat of the episode – building up or irreparably ruining relationships with your comrades as you careen towards impossible decisions with far-reaching consequences. In the first episode, I had the opportunity to choose how to deal with a disloyal crewmate and was forced to pick between procuring valuable supplies by dismembering a friend, or losing those supplies but keeping 20% more of said friend. Per usual, making choices and watching the story unfold are an absolute joy. I didn’t realize just how much I missed these bite-sized episodes every couple of weeks.
There are some minor but noticeable upgrades too, like the fact that The Expanse looks and sounds better than any Telltale game before it. It’s not a mindblowing leap forward or anything, but there’s a very tangible jump in quality that’s certainly welcome. In the gameplay department though, the improvements are somewhat heftier, as the episode I played had me floating through space and magnetizing to the sides of a derelict ship in search of scraps. It’s by no means enough to excite those who aren’t drawn in by the story that’s clearly still the main attraction, but they’ve definitely come a long way from the janky tank controls of The Walking Dead Season One.
The only concern I’ve got is that, after going dark for so long, recreating the Telltale magic without changing up the formula too much might not be enough to recapture people’s interest. It certainly felt good to be playing high quality, narrative-focused adventure games again, but without any major surprises to shake up the Telltale recipe, it mostly felt like business as usual. If you were expecting Telltale’s return to blow you away with amazingly improved gameplay and graphics, The Expanse is more likely to be a moderate upgrade than anything revolutionary. For me, that’s fine – I loved Telltale games to begin with and am happy to see them keep the party going, but I don’t see it winning over a ton of new players who weren’t already convinced.
The first episode was only an hour long and only gave me a small taste of the characters and drama that surely lie ahead, but I’m already committed to seeing the series through to the end and basking in Telltale’s glorious revival. Besides, I gotta see how my crew reacts when they find out I straight-up murdered one of their friends.
Somehow it’s June already, which means it’s time for the Indiescovery crew to suppress our existential dread at the fleetingness of existence and take a look at our favourite indie games from the first (almost) half of 2023! Don’t worry, we very quickly realise that June has such a slammed line-up we can probably give it a best-games episode all of its own to make up for the fact that we tackled this topic a bit early.
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Veteran developer admitted to insider trading.
Former Sega and Square Enix developer Yuji Naka could face a prison term of two years and six months in relation to the insider trading trial held in Tokyo, Japan, as reported by denfaminicogamer (thanks, Time Extension).
In addition, Naka may be fined 2.5 million JPY along with a surcharge of 170 million JPY. He, along with two former Square Enix employees, Taisuke Sazaki and Fumiaki Suzuki, had been accused of purchasing shares in developers Aiming and Ateam based on information not yet made public regarding the free-to-play mobile games Dragon Quest Tact and Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier. The three suspects had intended to sell their stock in each company once the respective games were publicly announced.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Arcade racer Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged is speeding our way on October 19th, developer Milestone have announced. Like the first surprisingly great game, you’ll race over 130 toy cars through real-world locations, zooming past dinner tables, out of windows, and across gardens. Seems like more good fun, whether you’re a five-year-old or a five-year-old stuck in an adult’s body.
I put olives in my bolognese. Olives, objectively, do not belong in a bolognese. But without fail, I’ll dunk half a jar of those salty little bad boys into my bubbling wok without hesitation. Peppers? Why not. Carrot? Absolutely. Spinach? Don’t mind if I do. My bolognese is about as authentically Italian as Super Mario, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not trying to make Massimo Bottura cry by reminding him of his nonna’s cooking. It’s a dreary Tuesday night and I’m craving my olive-laden concoction. I’m making this bolognese just for me.
Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer reminded me a lot of my bolognese. It’s a game created for particular tastes, a unique proposition that sort of defies conventional thinking. A big, bold swing that – if you have the palette for it – is absolutely brilliant.
