• With winter inbound, it’s time to head south!
• Welcome to Call of the Wild: The Angler’s latest reserve – Spain Reserve.
• Find new fish species, take on new reserve activities, and make new friends in unspoilt scenery.

With the cold weather setting in, everyone here at Expansive Worlds is excited to invite you to fish in the beautiful Spanish hills.

Our latest reserve, Aguas Claras, is located in Andalusia, Spain, and is full of opportunities to explore. We’ve added new fish, new landscapes, and new activities, which we hope you’ll enjoy as much as we do.

New Fish – Eel ‘em in!

Anglers can find 16 distinct species, 11 of them being entirely new discoveries, unique to this DLC. Whether you’re keen to test your skill and your gear against the Andalusian Barbel or the European Eel, we’re sure you’ll find the challenge you’re looking for, especially if you’re lucky enough to come across a Mirror Carp – a real treat for all aspiring anglers.      

On top of that, the free new Patch 1.4.0 that arrives alongside Spain Reserve introduces the Trophy Shot, a new feature in the reward screen that that allows you to frame your catch how you want, a Tune-up of the 4×4 vehicle, a Map Refresh to make each location more unique, and a Halloween Seasonal Event.

New environments

This fishing paradise has been separated from the outside world for some time, leaving you with an unspoiled landscape to explore. We’re especially keen to show you the unique biomes that the area around Aguas Claras has to offer. Check out the wild, untouched waterways, or their manmade equivalents, as well as caves and walkways. There’s a perfect fishing spot for everyone here.

New activities

Come for the fishing, stay for the friends!

Meet Daniel and Karim – the cheeky Shopkeeper and the vibrant Warden of Aguas Claras, who are ready to send you to exciting new areas, including an underground cave deep inside the mountains. We’ve lined up a main story consisting of three chapters, over 40 fishing missions, and over 20 gear challenges amongst other things like photo spots, hidden caches, and collectibles.

New Player?

If you’ve not played Call of the Wild: The Angler yet, then don’t worry. Now is the perfect time to join our amazing, supportive Xbox community by checking it out with Xbox Game Pass, and Game Pass for PC.

The Journey Continues

Our Xbox players have been nothing short of incredible in their support and passion for the game. We can’t wait to hear what you think about our little slice of paradise, so make sure to join the official      Discord. Thank you!

Call of the Wild: The Angler

Expansive Worlds

☆☆☆☆☆
239

★★★★★

$29.99

$23.99

Get it now

PC Game Pass

Xbox Game Pass

From the creators of theHunter: Call of the Wild comes an open world fishing experience! Relax and unwind at your favorite spot or explore the beautiful great outdoors with friends as you embark on the journey to become a master angler.

Explore the great outdoors
Experience the freedom of fishing in a vast open world inspired by real-life locations. Travel through the varied and atmospheric environments by boat, off-road vehicle, or on foot, and discover hidden ponds, tranquil lakes, and local points of interest. Whatever you decide to do, every trip will have you coming back for more.

Fight and catch distinct fish species
Fishing in the open world is as fun as it is challenging. Each species has its own individual behaviors and traits, which influence what bait they’re attracted to, how they fight when hooked, and what actions they can perform to try to escape. Combined with a system that spawns fish relative to water depth, time of day, and temperature, every spot offers a unique challenge.

Become a master angler
Master different fishing techniques to land the most impressive catch. Purchase tackle and build custom fishing rigs using a wide selection of rods, reels, lures, hooks, floats, and jigheads. Create your angler and customize their look and attributes. Complete challenges to earn rewards and uncover the open world through meaningful story missions.

Play on your own or with friends
Relax at your favorite spot on your own or ride the open waters with friends in online co-op multiplayer for up to 12 players. Meet other anglers and create memories that will last a lifetime. You can also play offline for a peaceful solo experience.

A game that grows and evolves with you
The team will continue to work closely with the community to deliver engaging features, content and updates inspired directly by player feedback. Keep coming back for new and memorable fishing experiences!

The post The Angler Spain Reserve appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Hello Guardians!

I’m Elliot Yun from the RyseUp team, community manager and game designer for Roboquest and I’m here to give you our five beginner tips for a successful run!

Note that these tips have been validated by the Confrérie du Croissant here in France.

Let’s dive right in.

Tip #1 – Always Stay in Movement!

You have several movement options available right from the start and you will unlock more as you progress into the game. Make sure to use them all to stay ahead of the game. Enemies are merciless and numerous and evading their attacks will be a key part in your success and in getting further into the game. Master the movement, master your character (regardless of the class you’re playing as).

Tip #2 – Use your Primary Ability

FPS games and Roboquest in particular can be intense, so intense that you forget some of the gameplay possibilities offered to you. One of those possibilities in Roboquest is using the primary ability of your character. They are powerful, cooldown-based abilities that you can specialize into through your builds but that can always be relevant, even if you’re not necessarily spec’ing into it. And since it only has a cooldown as a cost, it won’t hurt to use it even if you’re not exploiting it to its full potential. Don’t have the “too good to use” syndrome and spam that key!

Tip #3 – Grab the Healing Cells

There are two ways to heal in Roboquest: using the Repair-o-bot that you will come across in safe rooms or picking the Healing Cells enemies are dropping upon death. The trick is that these cells quickly disappear. Being offensive enough to be able to retrieve them is important to maintain your health high. Usually, being offensive in Roboquest will pay off

(as long as you manage to do it while evading damage). Fear not and drive forward guardians!

Tip #4 – Help the Friendly Robots

While Roboquest is pretty fast-paced, there are also times where slowing down to try helping the friendly faces you come across while playing is a good thing. Those little (and big?) yet friendly robots will have things they need done for them. Helping them out will net you permanent rewards or access to additional places. But this will require you to pay extra attention to your environment and solve some specific and alternative situations. Help those guys and they will help you back, robot loyalty.

Tip #5 – Find the Data-Logs

Data-Logs are little pieces of lore and story scattered across the levels. While not mandatory to understand the story or for your progression as a whole, finding one will grant you several Wrenches. Wrenches are a currency you can use to upgrade your basecamp and unlock permanent upgrades that will help you dive further into the game each time you retry. If you find yourself struggling to unlock some of these upgrades a good way to boost your out-game economy would be to find those data-logs (if you feel like exploring, if not they aren’t mandatory anyway).

And that’s all for the five tips. Following those should have a positive impact on the success of your runs!

One last bit of tip I could give you would be to check out the different game settings. As weird as it may sound to advise you to do that, we actually spent a lot of time crafting and designing tons of quality-of-life and settings options to make yourself comfortable. FPS games are this type of game where everyone plays differently and we tried to take that into account while making the game (yes, those reverse-Y-axis, jump with scroll-wheel and flat pink-coloured crosshair players, I’m looking at you).

So that’s it  for real. Guardians, we hope you’re having fun with the 1.0 version of Roboquest and we wish you the best robot-smashing experience.

Roboquest

RyseUp Studios, Starbreeze Publishing

☆☆☆☆☆
247

★★★★★

$24.99

Get it now

PC Game Pass

Xbox Game Pass

Free Trial

Roboquest is a fast-paced FPS with Roguelite mechanics playable in singleplayer or 2 players co-op.
Shoot and run your way through randomly generated environments, pick-up upgrades along the way and blast the powerful big bad bosses you encounter.
Upgrade your basecamp and unlock persistent upgrades to customize your playstyle and dive further on each subsequent run.

The post Five Beginner Tips for a Successful Run in Roboquest appeared first on Xbox Wire.

I’ve been working as a Designer at NetherRealm Studios for over 10 years, and during that time, the team has had the opportunity to design truly special guest characters. We view this as a privilege but also as a serious mission to make these characters stand out in our games.

We were already huge fans of Omni-Man and the Invincible series, often referencing things he’d done in our office. Designers often communicate through references to explain ideas or concepts when coming up with Fatalities, Brutalities, and sometime even standard attacks. “Fist through the back, Omni-Man style,” as an example, communicates an idea perfectly.

For the most part, every special move we’ve created for Omni-Man in Mortal Kombat 1 relates to something we’ve seen from the show, even down to subtle nuances. During the design process, we compiled tons of references for motions, poses, FX, and sounds to be used as a basis to form a gameplay design. From there, we went into the motion capture studio where tremendous care was taken to capture performances that in some cases exactly match the references we had.

Something people might not notice right away is that even his cape moves similarly to how it does in the show. The chest bump special move is an example of an animation where we were looking to have the cape sway in a specific way based on a scene from the show.

One of the things I appreciate and respect the most are all the creative ways Omni-Man exacts his vengeance, something I think we have in common with the Skybound folks, in the sense that we’re constantly thinking about and coming up with creative Fatalities. When coming up with one of the Fatalities for Omni-Man, the choice was just too obvious, and I think it turned out to be one of the best we’ve ever done. While I don’t want to give it away for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, it is directly based on an iconic scene from the show. Fun fact: The Fatality set is also inspired by elements of an iconic Mortal Kombat 3 stage…

From the perspective of character abilities, we were inspired by Omni-Man’s speed, power, personality, and brutality. These were the keys to the overall design language of the character. Oftentimes, the actual ideas are the easy part of the design process, while the implementation part, including capturing the look, feel, and power through a compelling gameplay style is the challenge.

With Mortal Kombat 1 our design and workflow processes have taken a quantum leap forward from the past, mainly stemming from an engine change, thereby allowing us to do things with effects and animations that were previously not possible. We leverage these abilities all over to translate the overwhelming feeling of speed and power Omni-Man has from the show to the game.

Gameplay-wise, Omni-Man is a rushdown character that revolves around speed and power. One of his go-to special moves that I think embodies him the best is his Viltrumite stance. From the ground or air, Omni-Man goes into a confident pose where the player can execute four unique attacks each serving a specific purpose. This both serves a mind game for the player and a way for Omni-Man to surprise the opponent and secure significant damage as most of these attacks will allow him to follow up with more moves.

Passively, while in his Viltrumite stance, Omni-Man avoids projectiles, almost dismissing them in a nonchalant way, making him strong in matchups where opponents rely on projectiles. Moreover, the enhanced version of the Viltrumite stance allows Omni-Man to quickly dodge high and mid attacks up close. Lastly, the player can teleport out of the Viltrumite stance and end up behind the opponent effectively acting like a cancel.

As a design group, we’re so pleased with how he turned out and grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the Skybound team on an awesome addition to Mortal Kombat 1.

Omni-Man will be available in Mortal Kombat 1 starting on Nov. 9 as part of the early access period for all Kombat Pack owners, followed by wide availability on Nov. 16.

The post How Mortal Kombat 1 Built Invincible’s Omni-Man By Using the Show Itself appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Ebenezer and the Invisible World, releasing today,is a fantasy reimagination and sequel to Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas ghost story, “A Christmas Carol”. In this beautiful 2D Metroidvania, players play the role of Ebenezer Scrooge after the events of the original story as he sets off on a Victorian adventure to help the people of London from the greedy industrialist Caspar Malthus.

Jacob Marley as Archetype for a Ghost Filled London

The creative process for Ebenezer and the Invisible World began with exploring one character in particular: Jacob Marley.

As many of us know, Jacob Marley was Ebenezer’s friend and business partner who died after living a greedy life. Marley explains that he is condemned to walk the earth among his fellow men while wearing “the chains I forged in life” made “link by link, and yard by yard.”

We thought to ourselves, what if Jacob Marley was not the only ghost in London tethered to the mortal world? What if there were others? In fact, what if the world was full of ghosts just like Jacob Marley – all draped in the chains they forged in life? Jacob Marley became our visual archetype for a ghostly population that would fill Victorian London.

This is a natural extension of the “Christmas Carol” universe. In fact, Charles Dickens contemplated this same concept. He wrote in “A Christmas Carol”, “the air was filled with phantoms. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power, forever.”

This idea that Dickens puts forth – ghosts wanting to help people but are unable to do so – inspired our next concept: What if these ghosts who want to help “in human matters” but were unable to do so asked Ebenezer to help on their behalf? Afterall, Ebenezer can see and speak with Jacob Marley, so wouldn’t Ebenezer be able to speak with other ghosts? And if they could speak with Ebenezer, we think these ghosts would do more than just seek him out, they would implore Ebenezer to help them.

And so, from this premise the core gameplay loop was born: Ghosts would ask Ebenezer to help a mortal, and he would then engage on a mission to help them on behalf of ghosts.

Importantly for making a fun game, ghosts provide incredible freedom in developing compelling gameplay. We focus on the potential of ghosts in creating gameplay mechanics and a narrative universe that is compelling, meaningful, and engaging.

Powerful Ghosts and the Unrepentant

In Ebenezer and the Invisible World, a ghost will join Ebenezer on his adventure after completing a mission on their behalf. In gameplay, this means players can toggle between ghosts in the Ghost Select Wheel and, with the press of a button, summon the ghost to perform a special attack or movement. Each ghost has a unique special ability, contributing to the core gameplay loop in our Metroidvania, such as accessing previously gated areas, discovering secrets, and defeating new enemies.

Ebenezer and the Invisible World also features ghosts as enemies, known as the Unrepentant. These are wicked ghosts that do not regret the misdeeds in their human life and instead are content continuing along their old ways. These ghosts spurn humankind and occupy abandoned areas, such as forgotten tunnels, the deep forest, abandoned homes, and other places typically void of human presence. Because they separate themselves from humanity, the Unrepentants’ spectral shape begins to lose its human form and appears more creature-like… more monstrous.

Ebenezer Reimagined

With this framework of the Dickensian universe, we began crafting the journey that our redeemed Ebenezer would embark on. Our central premise revolved around the notion that the events experienced by Ebenezer Scrooge during “A Christmas Carol” were not isolated incidents. Dickens implies that Ebenezer Scrooge is the only person to ever be visited by the Christmas Spirits, but we like to think that following Ebenezer’s first adventure, the connection between this “invisible world” and the real one only became stronger.

In our game, ghosts tethered to the mortal world who witness the moral decline of a friend or loved one call upon the Christmas Spirits to offer a chance at redemption, much like Jacob Marley did for Ebenezer before he was visited by the Christmas Spirits.

The story of Ebenezer and the Invisible World starts with the spirit of a deceased British naval officer Eric Fellows warning his childhood friend, the cold-hearted industrialist Caspar Malthus, that he would be visited by the Christmas Spirits. However, in the case of Caspar, rather than being persuaded by the Three Ghosts, he uses the information he obtained during his visit with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come to develop a technology that he would not be able to invent until far into his future. This future technology puts the workers of the city in crisis and brings chaos to London. Eric is horrified by this result and recruits Ebenezer to help rectify the situation. This is where our game begins.

A Deep, Story Rich Metroidvania

Players will explore various segments of London from a celestial observatory to a terrifying asylum. They will meet ghostly friends and foes eager to lend a hand with their ghostly ability, or hell-bent on stopping him by any means necessary.

The game is filled with features including an Heirloom slot system, multiple attack Canes and Spirit Weapons, stat-buffing Spirit Kids, and a wealth of ghosts and NPCs with rich dialogue and backstories, with gameplay that reminds players that everyone deserves a second chance. And since it’s a Metroidvania, players will likely need a second…third…fourth…more chances to progress through the game and discover the true evil at play.

We hope Ebenezer and the Invisible World brings players a new way to celebrate the holidays, as well as pays homage to one of the most famous pieces of holiday literature of all time.

Ebenezer and The Invisible World

Play on Worlds

☆☆☆☆☆
1

★★★★★

$19.99

Get it now

Join Ebenezer Scrooge and a team of spectral allies as they battle to save London from the clutches of the wealthy industrialist, Caspar Malthus, and his militant Private Guard. With each Ghost lending their unique abilities, explore the dark corners of London and uncover the sinister influence of the Dark Spirit and an army of Unrepentant Ghosts. Will you have the courage to confront Caspar and stop his malevolent plans before it is too late?

The post How Ebenezer and the Invisible World Adapts “A Christmas Carol” into a Metroidvania appeared first on Xbox Wire.

“What is going on in their head?” a commonly asked question when it comes to our feathered pigeon friends and their slightly hypnotic, moderately creepy, and always incessant head bobbing. After years of extensive research on the topic an answer has finally been found, and that answer is music (and probably also bread, but mostly music).

Headbangers Rhythm Royale lets you experience the pigeon-verse first hand. Transporting you – feathers and all – to a world fit to burst with music, melodies, and a medley of chaotic mini-games that will test your memory, rhythm, reflexes, reaction time, and (obviously) your ability to rap on command.

With 23 musical minigames to test your pigeon prowess against, there’s loafs of content to sink your beak into. The mini games will pit you against 29 other player-controlled pigeons, with each round whittling the flock down more and more until just one, the Master Headbanger, reigns victorious.

Peeking into the psyche of a pigeon makes for an exhilarating experience – you’ll need to showcase your im-peck-able memory skills in Yes Commander; master the piano with a slingshot in First Piano Shooter; and be the first to blast off into the solar system in To The Sky to name just a few of the joys that await.

With the free in-game pigeon pass, your efforts on and off the dancefloor will be generously rewarded, by collecting delicious breadcrumbs, (please take our word for it and don’t try and eat them), and in game XP, earned through collecting powerups in game, and acing the bonus rounds sprinkled between mini games, you’ll level up, unlocking unique customisation to help you prune your pigeon to perfection.

With your wings piled high with your hard-earned breadcrumbs, your next stop is sure to be the pigeon store – outfits, hats, glasses, voices, taunts, and more are on the menu, and the mixture of full outfits and individual items, makes for thousands of unique pigeon designs. Want to see T-rex arms on a pigeon? You got it. Or how about an Elvis pigeon? We’ll take one of those, thank you, thank you very much. Castle costume? Your princess can’t be in another castle if you are the castle.

It’s time for you to pigeon dive headfirst into the world of Headbangers Rhythm Royale as it is out now on Xbox Consoles via Xbox Game Pass. Dress up your pigeon, take to the dancefloor, and put your best foot forward as you battle to be the Master Headbanger.  

Headbangers: Rhythm Royale

Team17

☆☆☆☆☆
148

★★★★★

Get it now

Be the best Pigeon in the coop! Show off your style with our Pre Order Exclusive Sombrero!

Included in the preorder is a stylish Sombrero in Green.

About this game:

Have you ever looked at a Pigeon and thought, “what is going on in your head?”

Well, think no more! Headbangers puts you and 29 others into the eye of the Pigeon while you battle it out in rhythmic challenges to find out who is the ultimate Master Headbanger.

Compete against each other in mind- bending musical minigames, screw over your competitors with powerups, and collect Crumbs to customise your very own Pigeon!

Gameplay Features:

Minigames:

Grab your friends and battle through minigame madness through online cross platform multiplayer. With 23 minigames across 4 rounds, each Headbangers level contains a new challenge with a stimulating and unique musical twist! Each round escalates in difficulty, progressing musical frenzy until the final round– keep as cool as a coo-cumber and get that bread!

Minigames will test your memory, rhythm, reflexes, reaction time and most importantly… your rap ability! Simple controls paired with engaging gameplay, means this musical party is available for all!

Customisation:

Design your Pigeon from hundreds of unique items, including outfits, hats, glasses, voices, taunts and more. For every game you play, you earn Crumbs which can be spent in the Shop to purchase full costumes, costume items, taunts, sounds and more! Your Pigeon is your common canvas to mix and match items, allowing players to create and craft your ultimate Pigeon masterpiece, just like the famous painters Pigecasso and Michelangelcrow.

Found yourself at the top of the leader board? Besting your friends? Be sure to spend those hard-earned Crumbs on some in game taunts to rub your wins in your fellow Pigeon’s faces, making your victories so much sweeter!

Progression:

Complete challenges to unlock customisation for your pigeon and progress through the in-game battle pass. Collecting Crumbs and XP through in game powerups, extra bonus rounds, and completing rounds will help you be the most stylish bird in the flock!

Cross play + Multiplayer:

Play with up to 30 Pigeons on any platform. No matter your friend’s device of choice to play on, you can flock together, battling it out to see who is crowned the Master Headbanger!

The post Headbangers Rhythm Royale is Available Day One with Game Pass appeared first on Xbox Wire.