Kingdom Come: Deliverance II – How Your Character Becomes Unique to You

John Bedford, Marketing Support, Plaion

Summary

Build a unique character that reflects your in-game choices and personality.
Explore an authentic medieval world that reacts to your words and deeds.
Specialize your combat prowess to develop your character further.

Warhorse Studios has meticulously crafted the open world of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II to give its players a historically authentic, deeply immersive portrayal of medieval Europe.

One of the truly exciting features is the personal journey you’ll take through this world as Henry, the humble blacksmith’s son of the original game, whose tale of personal vengeance now evolves into an epic saga starring kings, noblemen and villagers alike.

The characters of Henry and Hans Capon are designed to be multifaceted, each with their own flaws and strengths; Henry is more upright and honourable, while Hans has a more carefree (and sometimes reckless) approach to life. Their behavior – including how they interact with others – is meant to reflect their personalities and the world they live in.

To achieve the game’s unique sense of player freedom, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II employs a complex web of systems that sit largely unseen beneath your experience of the world. Through these systems, the world tracks your behaviour in granular detail, working to ensure that every decision you make is reflected in the actions and behavior of the characters in the world, which can unlock (or hide) dialogue options and even quest lines.

For example, and without going too much into spoiler territory, you’ll meet two men who are very aggressive (and probably plan on murdering you). Your natural choice is to remove them from the equation, with the use of a handy axe. But, if you spare them – despite their ill intent – they will then come back and assist you later in the game.

Even Henry’s interactions with his partner in crime, Sir Hans Capon, can take you down different paths, depending on if you address him like a lord or like an equal (Sir Hans doesn’t take too kindly to the latter).

Performing your more nefarious deeds in the shadows offers only limited protection from the consequences of your actions too. Your secret misdemeanours may not be directly acknowledged by the local population, but the world will react to your malevolent influence regardless.

Choose to unleash a secret reign of terror and the locals will become more fearful, arming themselves in the process. Guards will watch you far more closely and you can forget about any discount from local merchants. Push it too far and you may even be (literally) branded a criminal and the burn marks will make clear, to everyone who sees you, that you’re not to be trusted.

However you choose to navigate this complex medieval world, the solutions to many of the moral quandaries you’ll face are rarely a simple choice of good or bad. Indeed, the greyer the morality, the more advantageous the reward may prove to be; however the world will remember how you crumbled in the face of temptation and will judge you for it accordingly.

Many of the more visible systems in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II are built around the concept of mastery, rather than simply allocating stat points to gain an instant advantage.

Combat is deliberate and tactical in this world and deepening your skills with any given weapon class provides an unrivalled sense of accomplishment. Focus your efforts on mastering the darker arts of stealth-focused combat instead and you’ll find it easier to slip between your objectives unseen. Additionally, you can choose to invest more time into your crafting expertise and enjoy more potent potions and more effective equipment as a result.

As all these systems ebb and flow in response to your actions and your decisions, your experience of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II – and how your own Henry emerges from the story’s conclusion – becomes one that’s uniquely your own.

The skills you master, the decisions you take, and the way you behave all weave together effortlessly to form a deeply immersive and unparalleled RPG experience.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Gold Edition

Deep Silver

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

$89.99

Pre-order

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is an exhilarating Action RPG, set amidst the chaos of a civil war in 15th Century Bohemia.

You are Henry of Skalitz – an ordinary man doing extraordinary things – caught in a gripping tale of revenge, betrayal, and discovery as he embarks on an epic journey, ‘from a humble blacksmith’s forge to the court of Kings’, searching for purpose in this beautiful but brutal medieval world.

From bustling city streets to lush forests, explore this open-world Medieval Europe through an unforgettable adventure filled with action, thrills, and wonder.

FEATURES

A Tale of Love and Revenge
Live life through the eyes and actions of Henry, a young man on a quest to avenge his murdered parents. His story – illustrated with over five hours of stunning cinematics – takes him from aspiring warrior to rebel, crossing paths with a charismatic cast of characters and an unforgettable set of adventures, as he faces off against the King of Hungary, Sigismund the Red Fox, and his fearsome allies.

A True RPG Experience
Your actions shape Henry’s destiny and how the world will react to him. Customize his appearance, skills, and equipment freely while taking a moral stance on the events around you. Travel around the land engaging in unique activities, such as blacksmithing and archery, to fully immerse yourself in this vibrant region of Europe that will remember your actions forever.

Live a Medieval Life
This stunningly authentic rendition of 15th Century Bohemia allows you to experience this fascinating setting like never before. Get lost in a sprawling city, interact with peasants, and converse with nobles while exploring a vast and rich countryside with taverns, bathhouses, castles, and more.

Authentic First-Person Combat
Feel the clash of steel and visceral combat as you engage in thrilling real-time battles. There’s a range of authentic weapons and combat styles to suit every player. Whether on foot, horseback, or through stealth, you can specialize in elegant sword mastery, brutal blunt weapons, or deadly ranged attacks.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

Deep Silver

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

$69.99

Pre-order

Pre-order now to receive the bonus quest, The Lion’s Crest.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a thrilling Action RPG, set amid the chaos of a civil war in 15th Century Bohemia.

You are Henry of Skalitz – an ordinary man doing extraordinary things – caught in a gripping tale of revenge, betrayal and discovery as he embarks on an epic journey, from a humble blacksmith’s forge to the court of Kings, as he searches for purpose in this beautiful but brutal medieval world.

From bustling city streets to lush forests, discover this open-world Medieval Europe through an unforgettable adventure filled with action, thrill and wonder.

A Tale of Love and Revenge
Live life through the eyes and actions of Henry, a young man on a quest to avenge his murdered parents. His story – illustrated with over five hours of stunning cinematics – takes him from aspiring warrior to rebel, crossing paths with a charismatic cast of characters and an unforgettable set of adventures, as he goes up against the King of Hungary, Sigismund the Red Fox and his fearsome allies.

A True RPG Experience
Your actions shape Henry’s destiny and how the world will react to him. Customize freely his appearance, skills and equipment while taking a moral stance on the events around you. Travel round the land engaging in unique activities, such as blacksmithing and archery, to truly immerse yourself in this vibrant region of Europe that will remember your actions, forever.

Live a Life Medieval
This stunningly authentic rendition of 15th Century Bohemia allows you to experience this fascinating setting like never before. Get lost in a sprawling city, engage with peasants and talk with nobles while exploring a vast and rich countryside with taverns, bath houses, castles and more.

Authentic First-Person Combat
Feel the clash of steel and visceral combat as you engage in thrilling real-time battles. There’s a range of authentic weapons and combat styles to suit every player. On foot, horse or by stealth, you can specialise in elegant sword mastery, brutal blunt weapons or deadly ranged attacks.

The post Kingdom Come: Deliverance II – How Your Character Becomes Unique to You appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Floatopia is coming to PS5 in 2025

Hello, PlayStation community! I’m Zane, the Lead Game Designer of Floatopia. Today, we’re thrilled to show you the World Premiere trailer for a new life simulation game where you travel in a superpowered world and meet new friends. We look forward to bringing Floatopia to the PlayStation community and joining you on your journey above the clouds.

Embark on a journey in the clouds

Our story is set in a fantastical world filled with superpowers that can be acquired through just a phone call. Unfortunately as the protagonist, you find that all the best superpowers in the world have already been taken, leaving you with – well, frankly, the much less impressive ones. This situation has led you into a dead end job, and you feel marginalized and underappreciated. But, by chance, you come across a floating island and there, you join others with similarly “useless” superpowers. Together, you embark on a healing journey, exploring the new chapters of your lives.

This world is made up of unique miniature toys with an art style that is bright, fresh, and full of fantasy. It feels as if you handcrafted it piece by piece. Here, you will see residents that look like figurines, houses made from milk cartons, and stations seemingly crafted from clouds. We have put a great deal of effort into the details of this magical world, utilizing high-quality rendering techniques, exquisite material details, and delicate lighting… These elements work together to showcase the game’s unique miniature world, creating a believable and immersive experience.

In Floatopia, you can travel with your own island to explore various fantastical realms. We integrate fantasy elements based on different regional cultures and natural landscapes, and plan to regularly update the game with new realms for a rich and novel experience.

Let’s build a beautiful life together

We hope that beyond traveling, you can truly “live” in Floatopia. Here, you can meet residents with unique superpowers and personalities, and share in the joy of becoming friends! The game also features whimsical fauna and flora, magical crops with superpowers, and much more. As long as you keep exploring, you’ll encounter countless wonders and adventures.

We want you to unleash your creativity. Our diverse themed decorations offer a high degree of freedom in gameplay, allowing you to build an island that’s uniquely yours.

We’ve designed numerous natural opportunities in Floatopia for you to connect with strangers and build friendships. Of course, you can also invite your friends to throw a party and fully enjoy your time together!

A delightful and healing journey

Our vision is to create a whimsical, heartwarming, and fantastical world through the continuous release of engaging, high-quality, and cross-platform content. We aim to provide you with a relaxing and joyful dream vacation in Floatopia. Let’s embark on this journey together!

Floatopia will be arriving on PS5 in 2025, and we can’t wait to share more exciting news with you! Thank you for your support. See you then.

VP Candidate Tim Walz Was a Big Dreamcast Fan, and We Think We’ve Found His Favorite Game

It’s been a while since a known gamer resided in The White House. The first, and last, to do so was former President Barack Obama, who brought a Nintendo Wii with him when he took office and, according to someone who played against him, apparently mains Captain Falcon in Super Smash Bros. But depending on the outcome of the 2024 election, The White House may soon have a second gamer in residence: current Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.

But Gov. Walz isn’t bringing a Nintendo Wii with him (that we know of), nor has he attempted to settle his political disputes in Smash to our knowledge. His gaming habits are, surprisingly, a bit deeper a cut than that. It turns out that Gov. Walz is reportedly a fan of the Sega Dreamcast. And through some sleuthing, we’ve managed to not only track down Walz’s old Dreamcast console, but we may have also uncovered at least one game that the former teacher-turned-politician has historically enjoyed: Crazy Taxi.

Little Dreamcast, Big Adventure

We first learned that Gov. Walz was, at one point, a Dreamcast enjoyer due to an article in The New York Times. In the report, a former student of Walz’s recalls that he used to share “unusually relatable” stories with his classes, “like the time his wife had seized his Dreamcast, the Sega video game console, because he had been playing to excess.”

Obviously, this immediately sparked a flurry of community memes speculating what game had Walz so enraptured. Was it Sega Bass Fishing, a quintessential “dad” game that seemed in keeping with Gov. Walz’s overall demeanor? Was it Sega Sports NFL 2K, an apropos choice given he was a football coach and then-Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss was on the cover? Was it something more left-field like Shenmue or Skies of Arcadia? Theories abounded. We, and probably a number of other journalists, reached out to Gov. Walz’s office weeks ago looking for the answer, but didn’t get any response.

I get a little kick out of knowing our future VP might know who Big the Cat is.

That would have been the end of it, but for one member of gaming forum ResetEra. The user, Bryn Tanner (who goes by Aaron on the forum), had posted way back in 2018 that they were in possession of Gov. Walz’s old Dreamcast. “Oh I bought a Dreamcast for $25 back in 2012 from one of his former high school students who worked on his campaign. Walz was just like ‘hey we have this old video game thing, do you want it?’ And the guy took it.”

When I reached out to him, Tanner was taking a well-deserved and humorous victory lap as news about the Dreamcast surfaced. “lmao yes I still have that Dreamcast this fucking rules,” he wrote in a post following the NYT piece. Tanner went on to tell me that while the Dreamcast he purchased at the time came with a VMU, a third-party rumble pack, two controllers, and a controller extension cable. It did not come with any games, though Tanner bought a copy of Crazy Taxi for $4 at Pawn America the night he purchased the console.

“I get a little kick out of knowing our future VP might know who Big the Cat is if he ever played Sonic Adventure,” Tanner tells me.

Though Tanner didn’t know what games Walz played, he did know someone who might. He referred me to Alex Gaterud, one of Walz’s former Global Geography students at Mankato West. Though Gaterud doesn’t remember Walz ever speaking with him about video games, he was roommates in college with another Mankato graduate who brought along the Dreamcast in question and left it behind when he moved out. Gaterud then says he sold the Dreamcast to Tanner, though he points out to me that “advertising something ‘formerly owned by a U.S. Congressman’ doesn’t add any value on Craigslist.”

What games came with the Dreamcast? Gaterud doesn’t know – there weren’t any around when he handed it off to Tanner, and he can’t recall ever playing anything on it. Fortunately, Gaterud was able to connect me to one more person who might be able to sort this out once and for all. So I called up Tom Johnson, another Mankato West graduate and a former campaign intern for Gov. Walz.

Tim Walz and the Nerd Herd

Tom Johnson graduated Mankato West in 2007, and spent the summer before he went to college working for Walz’s congressional campaign. As an intern, he would send out mailers, coordinate volunteers, and drive around Minnesota, occasionally with Walz along for the ride.

Given that it wasn’t an election year, Johnson says the vibes were fairly relaxed and quiet, and the campaign office had a break area in the back with a mini putt set, a couch, and a TV. One day, he recalls, Walz brought in a box of stuff that he had planned to donate, saying he thought the staff might like to use it. Inside, of course, was the Dreamcast.

Johnson and the other staff didn’t play the Dreamcast much during its stint in the campaign office, so when he left for college, Johnson just took it with him, which is how it reached Gaterud and later Tanner. But while Johnson wasn’t doing much Dreamcast gaming, he tells me that in high school he was a part of a group of individuals known (“affectionately, I hope”) as the “Nerd Herd” at Mankato West. The group would have LAN parties together, and play World of Warcraft late into the night. Many Nerd Herd members, Johnson says, went on to work on Walz’s campaign for Congress in 2006. “I would say the Nerd Herd of Mankato contributed greatly to [Walz’s] election to Congress in 2006, which had the domino effect of him being nominated for vice president of the United States.”

“Walz really is just such a great, normal guy,” Johnson continues. “He’s one of those guys, it’s like, he’s your friendly neighbor, and then you find out that guy has the Guiness Book of World Records for free throw shooting. He’s just a normal guy, he just happens to be a governor too. Everything people say about him being this down to earth guy, really nice, really friendly, really earnest, it’s all true.”

But what video games does he play? Johnson thinks he remembers one disc sitting inside the Dreamcast when he took it from the office to go to college.

“I wanna say there was Crazy Taxi,” Johnson says.

Is Crazy Taxi the game Gov. and VP candidate Tim Walz played so much that his wife took his Dreamcast away? We still don’t know for sure. It is, as Gaterud put it to me, “basically law that all Dreamcasts need a copy of Crazy Taxi,” so at minimum, Gov. Walz almost certainly owned a copy. And in a TikTok video posted by Tanner about the Dreamcast, one commenter seems to imply they at one point knew Walz, and that he talked about Crazy Taxi a lot – we’ve reached out to them for more details. I’ve also reached out to his office again to see if he’ll confirm, but nothing so far. And I reached out to Sega for comment on the possibility that their goofy driving franchise played a tiny role in the current presidential election. No comment there either.

Whatever the case, Gov. Walz’s however-brief flirtation with the Dreamcast would make him the first known gamer vice president if he and current vice president Kamala Harris are elected. Given that Crazy Taxi is apparently getting an open-world reboot, maybe we’ll see it make an appearance in the White House one of these days.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Casually Namedrops the Classic Indy Disneyland Ride

Bethesda and MachineGames are carving out a place in Disney history with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but the upcoming action-adventure spinoff will also include at least one reference to a more obscure (at least on the big-screen) story from the franchise’s world.

Bethesda revealed a new look at the Wolfenstein developer’s latest during a trailer shown at the gamescom Opening Night Live presentation yesterday. It’s a video that confirmed a release date of December 9, 2024, for PC and Xbox Series X | S, while also revealing that PlayStation 5 players will be able to join in on the adventure next spring. In between shots of Indiana punching nazis and solving ancient puzzles, X/Twitter user @tylerllewtaing noticed that the footage briefly namedrops the location featured in Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure, the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.

Indy has visited all sorts of distant lands… https://t.co/Dc3Zr8nX3m
— Bethesda (@bethesda) August 21, 2024

Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye opened in the ‘90s and sees park attendees immerse themselves in the world of Harrison Ford’s legendary adventurer. It involves exploring abandoned areas, uncovering long-forgotten treasures, and coming face to face with powerful, magical forces. It’s a Pirates of the Caribbean-style ride that has guests tag along on a classic Indy adventure, and it’ll be mentioned, at least in some form, in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Bethesda did officially acknowledge the cute reference, though it’s unclear if players will actually be able to visit or interact with the temple in-game in any way. While MachineGames hasn’t gone as far as to outright confirm the extent to which the Temple of the Forbidden Eye is included, fans were quick to speculate and hope for a full-on tie-in.

Holy crap!!
Indiana Jones and The Temple of The Forbidden Eye is “technically” canon now from the popular attraction at #Disneyland in Adventureland, is reference in the upcoming #IndianaJonesAndTheGreatCircle game coming Dec. 9th!! 😱🤯‼️#DisneyParks #IndianaJones #Xbox pic.twitter.com/a2LiQRKxRC
— Brian Saeger (@SkywalkerBrian) August 21, 2024

If there’s an entire segment that’s the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, I will literally pass out. This has been one of my most anticipated games for YEARS
— Brett (@KeybladeBrett) August 21, 2024

i’m like one of the 5 people that cares about this game being good so they did this for me I fear
— tyler “llewyn” taing (@tylerllewtaing) August 20, 2024

We learned more about how MachineGames will explore a new corner of the Indiana Jones universe yesterday, but there’s still so much yet to be revealed. We took an even closer look at the Great Circle recently and shared our findings in a hands-off preview that you can read here. While we wait for more news ahead of its winter launch, you can read up on everything else announced at gamescom Opening Night Live 2024.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

BioWare detail Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s PC-specific graphics features and controller options

I’ve never really understood the charm of ultrawide monitors. I dare boldly to maintain that there is such a thing as Too Wide, a point beyond which the extra visual estate becomes a waste of electricity, unless you watch the screen in pairs. I can only assume people who use ultrawide monitors live in constant terror of flanking manoeuvres and demand the maximum amount of peripheral vision. Mind you, I tend to play games with my nose about 10 centimetres from the screen. Forget being flanked – it’s the prospect of snipers up ahead I’m worried about.

If you’re among the people who fret excessively about flankers, I’ve got great news from Uncle BioWare. Forthcoming RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard will support 21:9 ultrawide monitors. The ultrawide functionality extends to cinematics – you can disable “cinematic aspect ratios” to switch off the black bars that otherwise hem in the view. It’s one of several PC-specific flourishes they’ve just blogged about. Have a look.

Talking Point: Would $499 Be Too Much For ‘Switch 2’?

Money where your Meowth is.

We know that the ‘Switch 2’ is real. We know an announcement is coming this fiscal year. We know “Switch successor” is the most accurate description of it. All of the other big details — what form it will take, how big it will be, whether it will finally give us that flipping Wind Waker port — are all up to speculation and analysis for the time being.

Take, perhaps, one of the biggest questions of them all: How much will ‘Switch 2’ cost? In the absence of an official announcement, we still have no idea, but that hasn’t stopped certain analysts from throwing out predictions and it won’t stop us from looking to the past to try and determine the future.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Atomfall: The First Hands-On

Category: gamescom

Atomfall: The First Hands-On

Announced at Xbox Games Showcase earlier this year, Atomfall is the surprise new title from Rebellion (Sniper Elite, Zombie Army) that, on first glance, feels like a very British Fallout. A retro-future, post-apocalyptic setting, first-person RPG mechanics, and a world stuffed with weirdos all hearken back to Bethesda’s epochal series. But in my time with a first-ever hands-on build of Atomfall, it quickly became clear that there’s much more to this game than a location transplant.

Set in an alternate timeline following the real-life Windscale Nuclear Disaster of 1957, the first thing you’ll notice about Atomfall is that, for a game set after an atomic meltdown, this place is beautiful. Set in the rolling hills of the Lake District in Cumbria, this is a truly bucolic take on the end of the world – streams babble, nature grows unabated, and semblances of the old world still exist; never more so than in the picture-postcard village of Wyndham you’ll find early in your travels.

It’s a unique location for this kind of game, and sets the tone perfectly – this is less about a world destroyed than a world gone wrong. Outlaws roam the hills wearing cricket pads as armor, vicious rats with glowing blue eyes swarm around tumbledown farm buildings, and druids are said to be performing pagan rituals in the woods, towards ends unknown.

From the outset, how you choose to engage with all this is up to you. For the first portion of my time with the game, I simply hiked the backroads, taking down bandits to loot for their weapons, and scraps of material with which to craft bandages or throwables. Combat will be familiar to players of first-person RPGs, but comes with some distinct touches – you can only quickslot four weapons at any one time, and ammo is extremely scarce, making at least one melee item a must. You’ll also want to keep a stock of healing items, as death is quick here – it quickly becomes clear that avoiding a fight can be as helpful as starting one.

Once I felt suitably tooled up, I began to engage with what might be Atomfall’s most interesting design choice. In Rebellion’s take on the genre, you don’t get quests – you get leads.

From the beginning of the demo, it’s clear that my character is on a journey simply to find out what’s happened here – there’s no grand objective, no hero’s quest. You just have a simple question driving you: What’s going on? And to support that, your journal isn’t full of concrete explanations of what to do, but rather clues you’ve amassed. Early on, I met a trader, who’d throw in local gossip with every barter deal we made – that gave me a lead to a local bunker I might explore, and an approximate location on my map.

Later, I visited Wyndham, and decided to see what was inside the local church – and here’s where the promise of leads became very exciting. Inside, I found a vicar standing over a murder victim – he asked me not to investigate, for fear of inciting the wrath of the soldiers that have occupied the town. I could have left it here, but I searched the body and found a bloodied note that pointed me to a local hotel. Again, I could have followed that clue and gone to explore – but I chose to speak to the church caretaker, who revealed she’d seen the victim entering an out-of-the-way cellar the night before.

Now I had two leads about the same thing – the game didn’t tell me if one was the primary quest, or give me any indication as to the right path, it was down simply down to my own interest. I chose to look through the cellar and, on first glance, thought I’d hit a dead end – until I saw a chink of light from under a wall and realized I could crawl through. Here I found a note that pointed to the local shopkeeper as the murderer, and a clue that he was in-line with the local faction of druids. I went to confront him, and was presented with multiple options – I could report him to the soldiers, explain his part in the murder to the vicar… or even make a deal for his silence.

I chose the latter, and wasn’t just given a physical reward, but an entirely new lead that seems to be drawing me to meet those druids rather than confront them. What the domino effect might be here is unclear this early in my time with the game, but the sheer number of choices I made after effectively stumbling over a quest by accident leaves me very intrigued.

You’re being rewarded for curiosity more than anything else, and I think this speaks to Atomfall’s key interest – this isn’t a game about just exploring a world, but following your own intuition, rather than what the game might tell you is the correct path. Even in this small slice of the game, I could have walked in a different direction – nothing told me to look in that church in the first place.

The secret to Atomfall may be that it’s as much a mystery game as it is a traditional RPG – every quest I’ve completed so far has led me to more quests, more questions, more leads. The game’s form might be familiar, but there’s something unfamiliar bubbling under the surface – I very much want to see more.

Atomfall arrives for Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC in 2025, and will be available with Game Pass on day one. Available to wishlist now.

Atomfall

Rebellion

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

Get it now

A survival-action game inspired by real-life events, Atomfall is set five years after the Windscale nuclear disaster in Northern England.
Explore the fictional quarantine zone, scavenge, craft, barter, fight and talk your way through a British countryside setting filled with bizarre characters, mysticism, cults, and rogue government agencies.
From Rebellion, the studio behind Sniper Elite and Zombie Army, Atomfall will challenge you to solve the dark mystery of what really happened.
Player Driven Mystery: Unravel a tapestry of interwoven narratives through exploration, conversation, investigation, and combat, where every choice you make has consequences.
Explore this Green and Unpleasant Land: The picturesque British countryside, with rolling green hills, lush valleys, and rural villages belie the dangers that await you.
Search, Scavage, Survive: You’ll need to scavenge for supplies, craft weapons and items, and fight desperately to make it out alive!

The post Atomfall: The First Hands-On appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero – creating the Majin Buu saga

Joining us today is the main producer of the highly anticipated game Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Jun Furutani. This game has generated a lot of buzz in the gaming community, and we are thrilled to talk with him about it.

In Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, the team has taken this legacy series to new heights. Today, we have the privilege of peeking into the creative process behind the game, exploring the inspirations and challenges the team faced during development, and getting an inside look at what makes this installment so unique.

To understand the challenges behind this project, we will be asking Jun Furutani some questions about characters from the iconic Majin Buu saga, which will be playable for the first time in Europe at Gamescom 2024, giving attendees a first-hand experience of these beloved transformations and abilities. With that in mind, let’s dive into the details and explore what makes these characters and their transformations so special!

What challenges did you face when animating Majin Buu’s unique abilities and transformations?

First, the characters that can transform are getting stronger in the game. That’s why we have made adjustments that allow you to experience them in terms of tactile comfort, such as their speed and number of attacks, as well as their status.

However, it has been difficult to adjust so as not to upset the overall balance of the game, partly because of the large number of characters. Majin Buu has many special moves, and compared to human characters, he has many unusual movements, such as extending his arms and making his body look like a ball, so it was a little challenging. Hope you will pay attention to those points as well.

How did you ensure that the game’s combat system reflects the intensity of the Majin Buu Arc battles?

What we value is the recreation of the actions depicted in the original work. Many techniques of the characters active in the Majin Buu arc are modeled after scenes from the story. For example, Ultimate Gohan’s normal attack movements are based on his fight with Super Buu, and he has a special throw that only activates when fighting Super Buu. We have paid attention to these details so that players can recreate the original scenes and experience the excitement firsthand.

Are there any unique interactions between Majin Buu Arc characters and other characters in the game?

There are special interactions between certain characters before and after battles, and in this game, there are also characters who have interactions with characters from Dragon Ball Super. We hope you will enjoy these elements as you have in previous games.

How did you approach the storytelling for the Majin Buu Arc within the Episode Battle mode?

It’s not limited to the Majin Buu arc, but in order to deepen the experience of playing as a character, you can enjoy challenging battles against powerful enemies, and in some scenes, you can see a special ending depending on the outcome of the battle. I hope this feature will have everyone who plays wondering “What would have happened if I had done this in that battle?” and that leads them to try something new next time!

What are you most proud of in terms of the Majin Buu Arc content in Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero?

This may overlap with the previous question, but I would like you to pay attention to the detailed reproducibility of the action. I would like everyone to experience the fun of fighting through a famous scene firsthand.

How did you handle the portrayal of Majin Buu’s absorption abilities in the game?

The performance is short, but like the original work, it is designed to highlight the absorbed character. Not only do Buu’s character and techniques change, but you can also enjoy reversals in a battle like those in the story, with status boosts and ki recovery.

What was the inspiration behind the visual effects for the Majin Buu Arc characters’ attacks?

We have heavily referenced the original anime, especially scenes with distinctive actions that differ from normal movements. For example, when Super Saiyan 3 Goku deflects Majin Buu’s Kamehameha using both hands, we incorporated it into the game. In the game, when deflecting a Kamehameha with Super Perception, Goku uses both hands, unlike other characters.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, the first entry in the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series in more than 15 years will be released October 11 on PlayStation 5, with early access opening on the October 8 when pre-ordering the Deluxe and Ultimate editions. The game is now available for both physical and digital pre-order.

Dying Light: The Beast Literally Brings Out the Big Guns for a Shooting-Heavy Spin-Off | gamescom 2024

The original Dying Light’s story ended with protagonist Kyle Crane suffering a miserable fate; either blasted to atoms by a nuclear bomb or twisted into an infected. But that, it turns out, wasn’t the end of his story. Techland’s new entry in the series, Dying Light: The Beast, appears to lock in the latter of those endings as canon, revealing Crane was held captive for 13 years, subjected to experiments by a villain known only as The Baron. Now free, Crane seeks revenge for the trials and tortures that have turned him into the titular beast. But, if what I’ve seen of this new Dying Light is representative of the entire game, it’s not the beast powers that change the game – it’s the guns.

Dying Light: The Beast began life as DLC for Dying Light 2, but developer Techland changed course after some of its work was leaked. The project bloomed into a full, standalone game (although if you did buy Dying Light 2’s ultimate edition you get The Beast for free – Techland promised DLC and intends to fulfil that promise). Perhaps because of this origin, The Beast feels very familiar. Much of what I saw in the 45-minute hands-off demo was very much a continuation of the 2022 zombie smasher, from the robust parkour, to the world design, to the ‘follow the yellow cable’ puzzles that activate UV-protected safe houses. This certainly doesn’t seem like a ‘full’ sequel, but there does appear to be enough fresh ideas to justify its transition to a standalone game.

The new map is more rural, with something of a ‘village’ feel. Yes, there are still buildings and rooftops to leap and vault across, but these are surrounded by dense woodland. The demo showed Kyle creeping through tall grass in an effort to avoid nighttime horrors (which, once again, are much stronger than the zombies that appear during the day). Kyle notably doesn’t seem to suffer from the same infection Adien did in DL2 – there’s no immunity gauge ticking down on the HUD – so he can seemingly stay out in the dark as long as he wants. His own mutations mean he can see the illuminated skeletons of approaching foes, Batman: Arkham detective vision-style, which should aid with stealth encounters.

In beast mode Kyle can perform a ground pound that sends damaging ripples through the concrete.

The most significant new idea, though, is a more prominent use of guns. If you’ve played Dying Light 2 with its recent Firearms update then you already know a little of what to expect – the pistol, shotgun, and assault rifle featured in this demo were all the same as those added to DL2 earlier this year. But they seem key to the experience here, not just a powerful accessory. The Baron’s henchmen are all paramilitary types with body armour and rifles of their own. That means combat encounters with them are very, very different from the melee scraps with zombies and raiders that Dying Light has previously almost exclusively survived on. The Techland employee playing the demo for us used grenades to flush out entrenched gunmen and flanking tactics to snipe others. These encounters were lengthy, too; Kyle seems able to carry more than enough ammunition to chew through multiple squadrons.

Techland’s franchise director, Tymon Smektala, emphasised that Dying Light hasn’t been turned into a shooter. But I’d estimate nearly half the demo was played as an FPS. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, though, provided the combat encounters, associated level design, and weapon feedback all prove successful. It’s a smart way to provide a new spin on Dying Light’s otherwise largely unchanged formula. Not being able to play myself means I can’t say how good all this actually is, but it at least looked like a competent shooter – hardly Call of Duty, but solid enough.

The search for The Baron led Kyle into an underground lab where some kind of huge creature had torn its way out of a cage. A scientist there revealed it could be lured by a special gas, and so a cylinder of it was loaded onto a flatbed truck and driven to a junkyard. Yes, driving returns from Dying Light: The Following, although the truck doesn’t look quite as fun as the expansion’s buggy. Still, being able to hit and run zombies looks as enjoyable as ever, as their undead bodies burst and splatter against the headlights.

Releasing the gas in the junkyard summoned the Behemoth, a hulk-like freak with an inflated health bar and the strength to hurl cars. Firearms were effective at whittling that HP down, but when ammunition ran dry it quickly became clear that melee weapons wouldn’t cut it. And so, with just a few minutes of the demo left, Kyle let the titular beast out of its cage.

In beast mode Kyle becomes stronger and faster. He can pick up stone blocks and hurl them at enemies, as well as perform a ground pound that sends damaging ripples through the concrete, Hulk style. Easily tearing through the Behemoth’s remaining health, the battle concluded with Kyle ripping the monster’s head from its shoulders in a gory victory move. Safe to say beast mode looks very powerful, but also quite similar to the infected powers Aiden had in Dying Light 2. Unlike Aiden, though, it seems like Kyle can transform into the beast freely rather than only at specific story moments.

I’m surprised that Techland left the titular power to the very end of the demo. It meant there was little room to properly explore why the beast is so central to the game, so much so that I do wonder if it actually is as important as the title suggests. Instead, I left more interested in how guns and soldier enemies will change the overall rhythm of Dying Light. Hopefully they’ve been smartly woven into the campaign and feel fully integrated rather than awkwardly tacked on. If so, The Beast could well prove a worthy standalone game rather than just a respectable DLC sold separately.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.

Cupiclaw wants to do for claw machines what Balatro did for poker

Gamescom is exploding all around us, but there is still time to lower a pincer into the pile of Steam indie game announcements and reel up the occasional treasure. In this case, it’s the demo for Cupiclaw, which is possibly the first ever “roguelike deckbuilding claw machine game”. You know how Balatro made you feel about Joker cards? Well, this game wants to make you feel the same about claw machines. It’s a terrible turn of events, frankly. I’m sorry for inflicting yet another potential bingeplay upon you. Here’s a trailer.