Cyberpunk Tencent Edition?

STAHP! Bad, Tencent!

It seems that the undeniable success of Cyberpunk 2077's marketing campaign, whether that translates to strong games sales or not, has lionised a good many imagineers out there who were just sitting on their perfect cyberpunk fantasies waiting for the tech to catch up to their dreams. Looking around at the state of the industry it isn't hard to see that there has been something of a renaissance for futuristic, Sci-Fi-esque and even straight-up Cybperpunk titles coming at the gaming public from every which where. You have indie titles like 'Ghostrunner', (Mirror's Edge with cyborg ninjas) Bigger budget affairs like 'Watch_Dogs Leigon' (Ubisoft's latest confused attempt to create commentary about- sticking it to the man? I guess?) and absolutely diddly-squat out of Square Enix despite, you know, them literally owning the license to the single most beloved gaming Cyberpunk licence of all time; Deus Ex. (Just tell me what sort of profane demonic rituals I have to perform in order to see a proper 'Human Revolution' sequel and I'll do them!)

But where there are a good dozen or so creators who's long dormant ideas have been liberated by the newfound attention that CDPR have fuelled into this genre, there are those with the eyes to see opportunity from this situation, but whom are woefully lacking in anything resembling talent. Enter Tencent. You remember these guys, right? Pretty much every major censorship debacle that has struck the gaming industry over the past 10 years can be traced back to them and their 'maybe-they're-more-than-just-friends'-type relationship they've held with the Chinese Government. (With the exception of the 'sexual torture' scene that was planned for Outlast 2. That scene was scrapped because they were bade to by 'the whims of their intentions'. Yeah, I call the Australian government 'my intentions' sometimes too.) We have the time when all images of skulls were removed from a map in 'Rainbow Six Seige' at their behest; that time when they got a Blizzard competitive player fired alongside the two commentators there for standing up for his home country of Hong Kong; and the time when they assumed chief financing over 'Top Gun 2' and thus forced them to remove the Taiwan flag from Tom Cruise's famous jacket. Those are the sorts of goons you've got running things over at Tencent.

They aren't just a company known for rolling and dangling financial support over people's heads in return for hoop jumping, however, they are also a cynical husk of a company that tries to actively taint the creative landscape of the industry by forcing themselves into other properties because they lack the imagination and skill to invent their own. (No, it isn't a 'means' thing. They're one of the biggest conglomerates in the world; they're just that pathetically untalented that they've not an original idea since their pox-ridden company was founded) Gamers found this lesson out most famously when Tencent partnered with Blizzard to offend and astound Diablo players by announcing the money-gouging spin-off 'Diablo Immortal'; and more recently were reminded of these antics when the same company pulled it again with 'Pokemon Unite'. And no, you can't really avoid these guys even if you're trying. They own Riot games, Miniclip, Grinding Gear games, The Clash of Clans people, parts of Ubisoft and Paradox and so many more.

And yet with all of that apparent 'experience' in the industry there are precious few 'original' projects that these people have got their hands behind. Nothing interesting that was spurheaded by them and has the potential to, not only grow into something substantial, but also have a positive reflection on the industry. But after their most recent announcement, people will now have to come to the conclusion that practically nothing has changed in that regard and that they are just as creatively-void as ever; expect now it's for being a derivative scumbag rather than just a repugnant leech. (So I guess that's an upgrade?) And yes, just as the title of this blog and my 'subtle' indications have implied; the target of Tencent's brand new copy and paste job is none other than the Cyberpunk genre. (Watch your ass CDPR; Tencent's coming for ya!)

'Code: Syn' is an attempt at hopping onto that ol' Cyberpunk train long after it's left the station and without any remote clue of the thematic norms that the genre typically promotes. (Such as anti-corportism) In fact, it seems like a game, that's apparently slated for Consoles and PC, that has been constructed with literally no grasp of how modern video game marketing works. Let me start with their reveal trailer that dropped just a few days back; what an absolute waste of a reveal, do these guys not have a marketing department? (Yes, I know it's meant to be a tech demo. It still doesn't make it any less impressive) The introduction of the world of 'Code: Syn' felt about as dry as an investor call, complete with flashes of uninspired Cyberpunk tropes, (such as neon holographics and distant Asian influences) unenthused narration that sounded like the voice had been constructed by an AI and an action-packed indepth dive into- the customisation system? That- that's your idea of putting your best foot forward?

It's not hard to see the attempts to ape the Mike Pondsmith inspired adaptation, it practically exudes from every single pore of 'Code: Syn'. You can see the monolithic skylines inspired by the Ridley Scott 'Blade Runner' vision, the push of technology that is meant to be 'futuristic' but not removed from the current day, and they even replicated the retro-futuristic angle in the 80s-inspired vehicles that are teased. (Although 'Code: Syn's vehicles are considerably less high quality both in design and fidelity.) In fact, even the thumbnail for the Youtube video showcases a young-looking Asian woman who appears to be wearing something that very much resembles the, now-iconic, Samurai jacket. (As I said, not one original thought has been generated) In fact, the only way in which Tencent have diversified their vision from CDPR's is through the same way that they've always done; horribly misplaced sex-appeal.

Now don't get me wrong; exploiting sex appeal doesn't just have it's place in Cyberpunk, it's actually one of the ways in which the themes are expressed. But whereas CDPR explore this knowingly and aware of what they are depicting, not as an endorsement but as a condemnation; Tencent are typically clueless. (In the same way that 'This is Vegas' was envisioned as a critical commentary on the seedy commercialism of Vegas, whilst intending to have the player partake and fight for it. Confused commentary is confused.) One of the first main character models they teased was clearly just a cybernetic Harley Quinn from her Suicide Squad condition complete with an automatic weapon and jiggle boob physics. (classy) Another is the Samurai lady from the thumbnail, only with skin tight leather and no gun, for some reason. It's clear that Tencent think this is what's going to get butts in seats, so to speak, and thus this is where the effort went; but even then they've half assed it with overly-cluttered designs that lack the purpose, context and heart which everything in Cyberpunk 2077 was lovingly imbued with. If there is one thing I can give 'Code: Syn' over Cyberpunk 2077, though it hurts me to admit it, it's that 'Code: Syn' has cybernetic pets and that's pretty cool. Robot bear? Sign me up. (No really. I wouldn't pay 2 cents for this game.)

I could waste the next week of my life individually picking out every bum note from this reveal and spitting on it with gusto, but I'd rather just forget this travesty were ever referenced and go back to watching that Cyberpunk B-roll on a loop again. (I have a problem. Send help.) Let this serve as a learning moment for any company who feel the desire to ride a trend rather than pursue something they are passionate for and have ideas within; stop it, you're just wasting your own time and everyone else's. Unfortunately, morbidly curious fool that I am, I will be keeping a close eye on Cyberpunk dime-store-edition, so when it flops it's way into stores you can bet I'll be there to hiss from a distance. I suppose we can pick up on the extent of Tencent's disgrace on that day, until then.                                                                               

Oddworld: Soulstorm!

"I just had to escape, I had to be free; and I didn't even know I had a destiny"

Enough of the baby stuff, okay? I putting an end to it all right now. Whilst the Playstation 5 event was resplendent with newborn IPs and teases about this infant console's capabilities, at the end of the day the reason I was there was to see the wizened, old franchises I loved from back in the day get continued. Yet even then I will readily admit that I did not expect to see this latest game at such a time, in such an event, or even at any feasible time in my entire lifetime. Not because I was unaware of it's existence, far from it, but because I'd seen the project literally be teased all those years back and have followed it diligently ever since. Every sliver of fan art, every twitter-reveal goal, every 5 second spanning breath of a cutscene was all appetiser for this; a childhood fascination revived all these years later. I watched the team pass event after event with either not enough content to show or not enough pull to get featured, and I convinced myself that this was just the kind of game that no one wanted to see other than me. Then, the impossible happened during the PS5 event; the studio logo melted onto screen and in that brief second we all knew that it could signal no other; Abe had returned. Here, during the biggest game-reveal event of the year, we were going to get to see the full trailer of 'Oddworld; Soulstorm'. (What a day to be alive.)

So what exactly is Oddworld and why is this new 'Soulstorm' game such a big deal? Glad you asked, me, so here's rub. Released all the way back in the deeply personal year of 1997, 'Oddworld Abe's Oddysee' was a surreal and twisted platformer which confused and delighted audiences, and me, with a mixture of adventure, puzzling, dark themes and surrealist humour. Even coming back to the title today, with two decades of playing video games behind me, it still stands out as one of the weirdest and yet best constructed platformers that I've ever played. It follows the tale of a Abe, an enslaved Mudokon who is accidentally thrust into the shoes of a liberator for his kind after stumbling onto a secret plot from his corporate overlords to amend their self-caused resource shortages by resorting to cannibalism. (Although, I suppose it's not exactly 'cannibalism' as they're not interested in eating each other but rather their Mudokon slaves.) What follows is a journey for Abe as he tries to survive the deadly world he finds himself on whilst solving various headscratching puzzles, freeing his fellow slave brethren and using his mind-control powers to force his pursuers to jump into meat grinders. (Fun for all the family.)

Many gamers have that story about getting into the habit by enjoying the activity alongside their parent(s), and for me that was not so much the case. I was just left in the same room as a controller and before you knew it I was playing 'Metal Gear Solid'. But I did get the chance to experience that chance of family game-bonding due to the robust 'Abe's Oddysee' world and the way it relied as much on player's ability to analysis and deduce as it did on their reflexes. (Although reflexes weren't entirely moot either; just ask that Paramite escape scene which I still have nightmares about to this day.) Me and my father played through the entirety of 'Abe's Oddysee' together and even reformed our team to tackle 'Abe's Exodus' too. (Yeah, I remember that game's existence; unlike it's creators, it would seem.) Those are the sorts of cherished memories that I wouldn't give up for all the Cyberpunk 2077's in the world and will likely be among the fond recollections that I pack up in the ol' head bank and take to my ultimate grave. (Whichever shallow highway that ends up being.)

As such, to say that I have been waiting for this game for a very long time is a supreme understatement. 'Oddworld Abe's Exodus' came out all the way in 1998, and I likely played it roughly ten years later, which means that I have been waiting about 12 years believing this entire franchise to be a relic of my past, never to be seen again. There was the odd title throughout the years, 'Munch's Oddysee' and 'Stranger's Wrath', but none of those caught that strange, even sometimes morbid, magic of those old classics. Imagine my distress to learn how literally no one else in the world that I've met has ever played or even heard of Oddworld, I felt like a lunatic bringing up my experiences with this surreal, almost nightmarish (at times) game that most people didn't even think existed. In fact, I began to think that I was only one who'd ever played those games until 2014 with the release of the fangame; 'Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty', which completely remade the original game on Unity, albeit at the cost of some of the charm. (Still, it let me know that I wasn't alone!)

So here we are in 2020 with Oddworld Inhabitants finally getting the front stage once more to show off Soulstorm, and the game looks... newer. Oddworld was always fortunate to be one of those old school properties that hit the sort of artstyle that just sticks. Even in modern day graphics engines with all the bells and whistles attached, that characters, worlds and creatures are absolutely unmistakable and I somewhat envy that audience of fresh-faced newcomers getting the opportunity to be exposed to this weird universe for the first time and going "Woah, that looks funky." On the topic of aesthetic direction; I have noticed that there has been somewhat of a departure (or perhaps one could argue a revolution) from what fans of the original were familiar with. One of the most enduring locations from the first game was the heavily industrial Rapture farms, with it's perpetually moving pieces and turning gears livening up the long dark shadows by the factory line. Soulstorm, on the otherhead, focuses on wide open bright vistas that seem almost reminiscent of Madmax in their vaguely post-apocalyptic desolation.

Now of course, the outside of the facility was thoroughly explored in 'Oddysee', but there what we saw more of were forests and ancient temples, whereas this title appears to be leaning more to the 'arid badland' depiction we saw from the 'New 'n' Tasty' characterisation of the world. Although to their credit, the lack of wildlife and nature does certainly better fit the subthemes of pollution and over saturation by the tyrannically avaricious Magog Cartel. Seeing the scars they've torn into the land provides a handy visual impetus to prod Abe towards tackling his former employers; which I do believe is intended to be the next step of this 5 game journey that Oddworld Inhabitants have been planning for the last two decades. (Was it five games? I forget.) Overall, I can say that I like what I'm seeing and am not too upset by the slight thematic departure. Besides, I already know we'll get some good old fashioned factory gameplay down the line. (I've seen their other footage.)

What I have a harder time getting to terms with, and I understand that it's my familiarity with the franchise that's doing this to me, it's the speed of it all. (Yeah, I still haven't quite gotten over that.) Abe's Oddysee was by no means a slow game, but it was one that you could certainly take at your own pace if given the time, but that's not the impression I get from anything I've seen regarding Soulstorm and that does slightly perturb me. From the looks of it the saving of the Mudokons is less going to be about a herculean task of puzzling out the problem and more about how best to outwit the moment to moment onslaught of Sligs. Every bit of gameplay has Abe running around with lights and explosions flying off everywhere, quickly scrambling something together in the crafting system that this game now has for some reason, and racing against his steadily diminishing number of followers. It just doesn't really feel like Abe to me right now and I'm struggling with that. I want this game to be something I love and it feels like something else, which obviously is the wrong way to approach a situation like this but I can't help it. I want to see what newer things can be done with the concept, I do; I just hope that the gameplay still hits with the same level of accessible fun that it did all the way back in 1997.

We'll have to see about that though, won't we, as the game will be out at sometime this year according to the prospective release date which is absolutely subject to changing on a dime. And in a strange way I don't feel ready for it, like the game is just going to be here far too soon. Somewhat similar to the way in which Bioware revived the Mass Effect brand far too early, without giving fans a time to really come to terms with the old games and grow wistful; I get similar sensations thinking about a 2020 release of Soulstorm, which is silly seeing as how the last game was literally 23 years ago. Maybe my nerves are just getting the better of me and I just need to get my grubby mitts on the title and finally play it. No more trailers, no more gameplay; just give me the game so I can judge for myself, that's the way I want it done. (I can't wait to see how many cruel and embarrassing ways I can get killed in the first hour alone.)

Goodbye Volcano High

It's not like we're gonna just... disappear.

I play a lot of different games, that's something that you'll have likely picked up on if you've spent any amount of time on this blog. I just have an knack for jumping into experiences that catch my eye even a little bit, which is why I can count both 2016's 'Doom' and 'Life is Strange' in my games library. I've a thirst for some of the more oddball games too, like 'Doki Doki Literature Club' and other types of VN games; as such when a title comes along that is so obviously niche like 'Goodbye Volcano High', it's going to be the sort of game that might possibly be up my street. The good old story-based visual novel game isn't my personal choice for game to jam out to, but I won't pretend that there aren't a few I hold close to my heart either. (Even more so than DDLC, in fact!)

That being said, I'm unsure whether or not 'Goodbye Volcano High' even fits into the VN category; that's just sort of the impression I get. I mean on Steam they've called it a 'Cinematic animated adventure' in order to make it all sound fancy, but at the end of the day I'm going to guess that just means they just put together their own engine instead of just using Ren'Py. Either way, I do find it funny that this is one of the games that Sony has decided to front for their 'Future of Playstation' stream as I can preempt the release and pretty definitively declare that is not a title that needs to be a next gen exclusive in any way, and I don't think it will be. It's just a VN, it could probably run on the PS3. But I do understand why Sony picked it; in order to showcase the wide variety of games that they are willing to accommodate for and market during their next generation. (And probably for a little bit of 'moral points' for the game apparently featuring LGBTQ+ representation.)

But what is 'Goodbye Volcano High' and what exactly is up with that title? Good question, let me break it down. Okay so bear with me here, GVH (the acronym I'm going to start using) is about an anthropomorphic highschool full of dinosaur students wherein you play Fang and have to guide her through her final year with all the whirlwind of emotions that comes along with that. So yeah, the last year of high school is a typically emotionally charged period in a lot of people's life (not so much mine, but then I'm a weirdo) so it's likely not all surprising to you for that to be the synopsis. You'll go through the straining of relationships, trying to make up before the last day and undoubtedly some hammy romance; everything you'd expect from a title like this. Only, everyone involved is an anthropomorphic dinosaur and the school is called 'Volcano High'. (Which, now that I think about it, is in extremely poor taste. Are you subtly implying that their entire species is going to end once high school is up? Just seems like a particularly melodramatic metaphor. But then what do you expect from a story like this?)

I'm jumping ahead again aren't I? I should probably address that Velociraptor in the room- the kids are all dinosaurs wearing human clothes; that's probably putting a lot of people off. But let me stand up for KO_OP here,(Though not entirely, that studio name is awful) I think the whole stylised approach with the humans being animals does provide a significant opportunity for some great characterisation. Animalising humans is done often in animation as it allows the animators to embody complex, or even simple, traits and personalities of the character's in their appearance and species, so that they can be inherently recognised by the user. Take a look at Zootopia for instance; Nick is a fox so you instantly connect him as being sly and snide; Judy is a rabbit so you already know she has a peppy attitude and will be energetic. Embodying this, 'Volcano High' might be able to easily establish a more memorable cast of characters than your typical high school drama game like, for comparison, 'Life is Strange'. If I put up a list of characters and asked you to pick out Juliet from that lineup, could you? Even if you were a fan of the game? (She's not important anyway, don't feel bad.)

Now when I mention 'VN's in the same sentence as this title I am being a little facetious; this game is certainly capable of a lot more than a lot of them. For one, the game seems to have full motion animation scenes that are actually voice acted by an actress who... is Lachlan Watson? (I though I recognised that dulcet drone) This makes for some pretty visuals that match the aesthetic and art-style in a way that I quite like. (The game looks pretty- there it is.) Although, as with any choice-based storygame, the real meat of the matter will lie in the quality of the story and, more importantly, the breadth of the narrative branches. Rarely in genres like these can a game get away without shifting storylines, (In fact, only DDLC managed that sufficiently from my memory) and that is something that can't be shortcutted with all the bells and whistles in the world. The game just needs some good old fashioned strong storytelling; which puts the weight on the project on the writing team. (good luck to them.)

From everything I can deduce from the admittedly limited materials available to us regarding GVH, I can only imagine that this will be a title to firmly confront personable relationships and a coming-of-age; hence this will likely be a game to at least vaguely interest me. As a amateur in the field I've never quite gotten the hand of accessing that sort of vulnerability, insight and empathy required for stories like this, and sometimes I fear that some actually employed and working writers for projects like these haven't either. If I were to look to an example of one that has, a blueprint of sorts that I think it rightly fair to compare with, I'd say to look to the works of the unreasonably talented Toby Fox and his titles. Yes, Undertale and Deltarune may have slightly more fantastical whims to their plots but the heart of those games, if you'll forgive the pun, lies in the very human-emotions of connection, friendship and love. If GVH can tap into that level of intimacy with it's characters then we could have something enduring and endearing on our hands. (Despite this, somehow I'm going to guess they have their eyes set more on the 'Life is Strange' crowd, unfortunately.)

Yet there is one question I have regrading this title that is entirely separate from it's content, and in fact it's a question to the future; just how will a title like this be received? Although, as of yet, nothing is confirmed, the implication surrounding all these games that were showcased at the console manufacturer's events is that they would be launch titles, or close enough. GVH has a prospective release date of 2021, but if my guess is right then that will be early 2021 and this will be one of the very first platform-advertised titles to hit the PS5 storefront. How will that role out be? Compared to everything else I've spoken about and will speak about, I don't think I've seen a single title that matches this game in terms of niche-iness and that could prove a huge hurdle to clear. Early PS5 adopters might not be the type to try their hand at a weird looking interactive story title when they'll be looking to push the limits of their brand-spanking new hardware, and that's not even taking into account the fact that a console has got to be the single worst way to play a VN ever. (Of course, I doubt the game itself will suffer too badly; it does have a Steam release on the way.)

At the end of the day, 'Goodbye Volcano High' is a weird surprise of an announcement that I am interested in, but not for the reason that I should be interested in a game at a next-gen reveal event. In the absolute best case scenario where I actually buy this game, it'll be on mouse and keyboard like a civilised person, I can't fathom what Playstation were thinking donating presentation time to this. (Particularly considering they apparently had alternatives like freakin' 'Crash Bandicoot 4' up their sleeves which they had to instead save for a random reveal date. Does this really all just come down to scoring Internet points? Is Reddit Karma truly that valuable?) Whatever, I'm not part of Sony marketing so I'm not going to sweat their headscratchers too hard. GVH looks alright, but I'm here to look at the eye pleasers; next game!

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

You've met a terrible fate, haven't you?

God, it feels like an entire world of stuff has happened since I last talked a game reveal on the Internet. Where was I- Kena? What's that... Oh, I remember! And that's quite the quirk, wouldn't you say, for a single game to be so instantly memorable even in the deluge of gaming news and reveals that have been hitting us not just this month but this week alone. I mean, we've already had a new 'Crash Bandicoot' be announced, had an open table reveal of that new 'Avengers' game and even seen a plethora of Cyberpunk 2077 footage that I have watched in triplicate by now. Yet through all that this game seems to have found it's way under my skin and into the ol' 'recall' section of my cortex. What I'm trying to say is, this game must be doing something right already!

Okay, so what was it exactly about 'Kena: Bridge of Spirits' that made me sit up straight and start paying attention? Well, look at the trailer yourself and I'm sure you'll get an inkling in no time straight. This game looks gorgeous from the quality of the textures to the animations to the lighting and the artistic vision; everything bleeds quality and passion. In fact, the trailer looks so good that whenever I see a frame or still from it, one thought alone jumps into my mind and it's 'Pixar level animation'. Now of course, the scenes I'm talking about are all cinematics; this isn't one of those games where you struggle to tell the difference between action and cutscene due to the sheer quality of it all. In actual gameplay you can spot the natural clunkiness of player controlled actions, but even then this still just looks positively stunning. In fact, the quality of this game's animation reminds me of those old Blizzard animations we get once a blue moon, except this is somehow an entire game full of them. (That blows my mind)

In fact; this game looks a little too good; Where exactly did this 'Ember Lab' come from? Let me take a little look at them on Google and... Oh! It all makes sense now. When it comes to the topic of 'fanmade homages' there are a few examples that comes to mind; that stunning Warhammer 40k animation 'Astartes'; the great live-action 'Uncharted' video starring Nathan Fillion and 'Majora's Mask: Terrible Fate'. That last one in particular is loved for it's fantastic animation that blends real-life locations with computer generated creations flawlessly and it's stunning fidelity which vastly surpassed the source material and bought a beloved old-school Zelda game to life and yep, you guessed it, that video was put together by a studio called 'Emberlab'. It seems that their love for video games and undeniable talent has finally paid off as their work now is being used to demonstrate the capabilities of the next generation of Playstation. (From fan-creators to another extension of the corporate machine; everyone's dream, no?)

But back to the game in question; what exactly is it about? Good question, I would say, because I'm having trouble nailing that one down to anything exactly satisfying. Don't get me wrong, I've read the synopsis; but the 'heart' of the game is escaping me right now as I'm struggling to identify the purpose of it all. (Which isn't a huge problem yet; this is just a trailer.) 'Kena: Bridge of Spirits' puts us in the shoes of the eponymous heroine, Kena. She is a young, vaguely Asian-looking girl who serves as a 'Spirit Guide' with some tasks and probably a little prophecy ahead of her. (These stories tend to follow similar routes) What follows appears to be a 'destiny-fulfilled' story as she journeys through this decently diverse forest in search of answers and in order to free the many spirits who are her ward. Of course, the trailer also takes time to introduce us to the minion-like 'adorable' fodder in the black-fluffy 'Rot'. Creatures with such a misplaced name that I'm 90% certain that some super secret ending is going to involve sacrificing them because in actuality they are indicative of the plague spreading and destroying the forest. (I've played these sorts of games before, Ember Lab, I know what's up.)

It's in motion that the world of Kena really shines; with the otherwise typical forest setting seeming bright and vibrant in action. I think this represents one of the advantages of the stylised game presentation, in that the artists can paint this lighter note into the scene to make it seem fluffy and whimsical in the puzzling sections and then drop it all to stark colourless blackness in the perilous battles against corrupted Spirits. It's important for the team to make such a distinction apparent, as from the footage it is apparent that the spirit-affecting malady which Kena seeks to cure is affecting the forest. This makes for a very impressive scene for when this corruption is healed, as we she in the moment where she destroys some totem only to watch the world around her bloom to life like she's some sort of Hamon maestro. (No! You can't make me stop the JoJo references. No one can!) In fact, in a weird way this actually reminds me of 'Shaun White Skateboarding' in that game's whole 'paint the city in order to free everyone from the authoritarian government through the rad power of Skateboarding' angle. Though I'd imagine the team were probably going for something more akin to the 'Prince of Persia' cell-shaded remake's 'curing the kingdom' plot.

Speaking of her quest, something else that Ember Lab seemed keen to show us was the fast and fluid looking combat system. As of so far we've seen very creative and dynamic-looking scenes that effortlessly capture this unique cinematic flair to them; honestly I wonder if this is something the whole game can keep up. It all looks rather simple at face value, with your typical dodges, bows and magic blasts, but the marriage of motion, shot composition and liveness of the action seems to elevate everything impressively. In fact, and knowing what I know about Ember Lab I simply loathe to make this comparison, it all reminds me of 'Breath of the Wild'. I know, it's 'lazy' to draw such a conclusion, but honestly this was the exact first thought that popped into my head when I saw this game and everytime I look at more footage to analyse I keep coming back to it. We already know these people are Zelda fans so it's possible that such inspiration made it to their game. If I'm right; then I'm just glad the team went their own way with it and didn't just copy-paste the game like 'Genshin Impact' did.

But now for the one question that I force myself to forever ask on this topic; is the game worthy for showcasing the PS5? And strangely I think it is, despite the fact that what we see isn't traditionally what one would associate with 'pushing the boundaries of the technology.' Typically I think of the more tangible elements in questions like that, such as the load speed of objects or the ability to move quickly through cluttered environments without a hit to the frame-rate; but this game cuts it's teeth on the crispness of the animation. Everything we see appears to be of the utmost, movie quality, in terms of texture and movement, to the point where I find myself decently sure that current gen hardware couldn't accomplish it. Off course, we do have those late gen consoles like the 'PS4 Pro' and the 'Xbox One X' which could probably just manage it, but I believe the team when they say that PS5 is the only way to do the title justice.

Ultimately; 'Kena: Bridge of Spirits' is a title that appeals to me mostly on the strength of it's visual appeal, and that's completely okay. The whole backstory seems somewhat derivative and reminds me of 'The Last Airbender' for some reason, but when I look at the rest of the gameplay I know all of that is just window dressing; the real treat is the talent of the studio who put all of this together. It's refreshing to know that such a high-quality looking product can be put together by a studio practically on their own and hope this sets an example going forward; you don't have to bend to the whims of big business to achieve something special. (At least, not all the time.) Kena is presented as a Playstation title, but has a listing on the Epic store so I feel it's safe to assume it won't be an exclusive, I say give it a look in at the very least, Ember Lab deserve that much. (Oh and before I go' why is it not "Ember Labs"? That's driven me nuts this entire blog!) 

Peering into the unannounced future of Pokemon

Let me peer into my crystal ball...

With it's eighth generation, Pokemon has entered entirely new ground in the way that they form their games. Some steps were taken backwards, to be sure, but a fair few marched decidedly onwards and now we're in a peculiar state wherein we could go a full year without a new mainline Pokemon game. To put that into context, such an occasion hasn't occurred since 2015 after the launch of, arguably the best games in the series to date, 'Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire'. (And even then, it was only because 2015 was taken up by the launch of 'Super Mystery Dungeon.' If we include major side titles and the odd staggered launch dates then the only year of no Pokemon was the year after the franchise's birth; 1997.) With little in the way of huge announcements being made at the past Pokemon direct, Nintendo being entirely quiet this whole year, and there just plain not being enough time to mount a marketing campaign before the end the year, it's wholly possible that Nintendo intend for 'Pokemon Sword and Shield' to carry the fandom for longer than a single year. (Egads!)

Of course, 'Gamefreak' and 'The Pokemon Company' wouldn't achieve this feat by making a title strong enough and with sufficient replayability to keep fans playing, that'd be silly; instead they've hooked us all on the 'expansion pass' train and set us off on the journey. This is very similar, in fact, to what the rest of Nintendo's major brands are doing, as they are all acting this generation as though they've only just discovered what DLC is and our tipping their toes in. (Luckily this means that they're still at the adorable; "charging for content that effort goes into" stage, they haven't figured out Microtransactions yet.) This appears to have been their plan from the start too, as 'Gamefreak' recently let slip how they started work on 'The Isle of Armor' before 'Sword and Shield' even shipped (which is long before they announced that such a plan would be happening) which means it's fully possible that there's a greater journey being planned here. What journey, you ask? Well, I believe that Gamefreak want to try and bring every single Pokemon from past entries into 'Sword and Shield' before moving onto the next game, using Gen VIII as a sort of genesis for their next series of games. (Which would explain the abrupt murder of the traditional national dex for Gen VIII.)

But then how could that be possible, I hear you ask. Afterall we've learnt very definitively that the contents of the 'Sword and Shield' expansion pass would only be 'The Isle of Armor' and 'The Crown Tundra'; which between them only reintroduce about 220 old Pokemon back to the franchise. Well, dear readers, I suspect that there is a secret expansion pass 2 that shall be announced not long after the release of 'The Crown Tundra' with the intent of extending the life span of 'Sword and Shield' for yet another year. Quite the accusation, I'm sure you're thinking, but make no mistake in assuming such a move would be outside of Nintendo's wheelhouse. Whilst the rest of the gaming community might gawk at the concept of a second DLC pass (unless you're part of Bungie, that is. Never forgive.) Nintendo pulled exactly that for 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' despite the game's director, Sakurai, indicating that he was done not only with the game but the franchise. (He's tries to get out but they keep pulling him back in!)

So let's assume that 'Game Freak' and 'The Pokemon Company' have set their sights on a similar announcement for 'Pokemon Sword and Shield', what actual evidence do you have to back that up? Well, only circumstantial and observational pieces, to be honest, but I feel there's potential for a compelling argument wrapped in there nonetheless. Take, for example, the wider story of the Galar region as we currently know it. Much of the events of 'Sword and Shield' and colourised around an Galar-unique gimmick we call 'Dynamaxing' which allows for Pokemon to grow huge and powerful through the exploitation of glowing beams of 'Dynamax energy' shooting into the sky. Despite the defeat of 'Eternatus' at the base game's climax, there isn't much resolution when it comes to the question of identifying what 'Dynamax energy' is or where it comes from. We know that Eternatus seemed to use a lot of it, but that's about the extent of our revelations on that matter. In fact, Sonia even devotes her new professor-position to forgoing the documentation of history and refocusing her talents to studying this anomaly. Wouldn't it make sense for the DLC to follow along with this mystery as she and her new assistant Hop slowly unravel it?

That certainly seems to be the direction that the DLC is going in so far, as many were 'delighted' (see: Horrified) to find out that Hop decides to crash your Isle of Armor holiday nearer the end of the DLC's storyline. He claims that he was dispatched here to find out more regarding 'Dynamaxing', and takes particular interest in the 'Max Mushrooms' exclusive to Armor that you have been using to 'Gigantamax' your fighting beasts. He learns little to nothing, as one would expect from the kind of person who still gets surprised everyone uses a type advantage against him, but he does leave an interesting stinger in some of his dialogue. He mentions that Sonia is out and about in research too, only she has gone to a place much more "Cold." Undeniably he is implying that Sonia is in the Crown Tundra, implying that some strange Dynamax shenanigans will be going on up there. (Perhaps those legendary-filled adventure dens we've been promised.) All this seems like background noise, but it could be the through-line of a plot that is actually leading to some wrap-up conclusion by the end of it.

"That still seems far-fetched" I'm sure you're thinking. "Just because there's a few returning characters doesn't mean it has a purpose to it. You need something more explicitly indicative. Where's your smoking gun?" And you know, you're right. I don't have any explicit indicator. Or at least I didn't until the closing moments of 'The Isle of Armor' DLC. As I'm sure anyone who played through this story will remember, as it's just odd-enough to stick in your head, after a surprisingly tough bout against your master Mustard, the old man encourages you to keep training "Just so we're ready for when the time comes..." Now this could just be some throwaway ominous line, had he not then persisted to say "Oh, don't worry! You'll find out what I'm talking about eventually!" Now if that isn't future DLC hints I don't know what is, and something tells me that 'The Crown Tundra' alone isn't going to be enough to resolve a set-up as obvious as that.

In some ways, though you'll have to forgive the slightly 'apples-to-oranges' comparison, this actually reminds me of the DLC saga for 'Fallout: New Vegas.' That game's storyline was fairly open and shut from beginning to end, meaning that there was little room for narrative expansion DLC as 'Fallout 3' had received, however, Obsidian didn't just do the 'one-off-story' route either. They created four very unique (and fantastic) DLC adventures and peppered the first three with hints about the fourth, even long before any latter one's had been announced. Most will probably remember the bewilderment they felt when hearing how their brief-companions didn't think of them again "until they heard about the battle of the Divide. Where two Couriers fought under an old world flag." It rang with this foreboding tone of mysticism and legend that completely undercut 'sense of being hunted' that the developers were aiming for. (For the better, I must stress.) Now, Mustard's little senile outburst can hardly be compared to such epic foreshadowing as Obsidian established, but you can see where I'm coming from, no?

However, at the end of the day this is all just conjecture and assumption; I have no insider knowledge or Oracle-like abilities to know what the future of Pokemon might hold. I just have my gut and every now and then that proves to be just enough. It's hard to imagine where Gamefreak might go with more DLCs, I'll admit. They're already giving us Legendaries from past games with 'The Crown Tundra' so it's difficult to figure out how they might top themselves with further DLC, but with the introduction of regional legendaries, the foreboding lore behind Regidrago, and the ongoing mystery of the protagonist's father still not being in the game, (Huh, that last one is just Gamefreak's style? Oh.) I think there's room for more stories on ol' Galar. But maybe that's just the fleeting fancies of a hopeful Englishman speaking...

Is Cyberpunk 2077 losing content?

Hey, where'd my subway tickets go?

Yes, yes; I know I talk about this game way too much but I have too; literally nothing else get's me the same sort of excited as this game does by the merit of merely existing. (as sad as that might sound) But what I want to address today is less a comment on the many features that have revealed to us within the past week or so; nor a comment upon the B-roll footage that I'm still watching daily because I am definitely a Cyberpunk addict at this point. Rather the opposite, in fact, I want to talk about a topic that runs contrary to something I declared in my last blog; about how this game was 'uncompromising at every turn'. And that is because this title very much will be making compromises just not the sorts of ones that you would expect as we barrel towards that latest deadline firm in the fact that CDPR are literally incapable of prolonging the release date any further else they risk the poetic rhythm they'd achieve by nailing a release this year. (That and some boring financial promises would be at risk too, I assume.)

Recently is has begun to pop off on Twitter about the smattering of ideas and features that have been expressed by the CDPR team, not just distantly but recently (as in, within the last two years) but which were revealed to be left on the cutting room floor. Of course, this is the way that things work during the construction of literally every single game ever, one must always juggle their ambition with what they can afford else they end up becoming 'Cloud Imperium Games'. (And not even they went to be themselves.) But something about this revelation being made for 'Cyberpunk' seems to have set a few folk off, and I think it's because this project has adopted this 'infallible' reputation that it seriously shocks people to the core when it turns out that not everything made the cut. But perhaps  these particular omissions that have made the news cycle aren't quite as 'world changing' as some news outlets, specially, are painting them.

Perhaps the first cut feature that has made it to my attention over the past week, and probably yours too with the speed at which this story has been picked up, is the removal of wallrunning. This "promising" feature was bought up during an interview with the Lead Level Designer for the game, Max Pears, as conducted by Eurogamer. This is one that struck home likely because it was a feature that wasn't only spoken about with some excitement, but one that was actually demonstrated in that iconic 2018 gameplay trailer that won over so many people's, including my own, hearts. (albeit, this specific feature appeared but briefly.) According to Max, this decision was made for "design reasons", which would makes sense given his position. But let's explore a possible reason why the choice could be made for such an omission; shall we?

The act of wallrunning is one that comes with it a certain freedom for the player's exploration at it allows them to traverse the environment without following the set-path of the world layout. However, by that same merit it does demand that the world be catered for such an ability as much as possible else the entire system ends up being a useless gimmick that rarely, if ever, gets used. Perhaps this could be the reason for the loss of wallrunning, as CDPR might have feared that they couldn't build enough opportunities to use it in the gameworld in order to justify it's existence. On the otherhand, maybe the mere existence of wallrunning made it difficult to design the world, as we already know how the majority of the game will take place on the steetlevel instead of in or atop those impressive skyscrapers we seen on the skyline. Perhaps wallrunning allowed folk to reach areas that the Devs didn't want them to be, and proofing that method of travel in an environment so big and detailed was just impossible. Of course the last, and most simple, explanation is thus; maybe the system itself just didn't feel/function right and the team didn't have the time to dedicate in order to get it right. As I said, CDPR are up against a wall right now when it comes to deadlines so it makes sense that something is going to give eventually, perhaps that something was wallrunning.

The second omission making the rounds is certainly a bit more esoteric, with CDPR having not shown any example from which to base our expectations, but it still makes me a little sad none the less. Apparently the 'unparalleled' customisation that is heading towards us this November will not be extended to vehicles as that feature has been scrapped to the graveyard of ideas. Again, this was a concept presented at a time when folk were still struggling to wrap their heads around what it was that this game could be, so it's hard to say that any lasting attachment was built with the feature, but I'd imagine more than a few 'dreamers' were set off by the implication. The ability to mess around with and customise one's car was so openended that simply anything could have come of it, but now it seems we shall never know as the concept met the reaper before it could ever touch us.

Although to be honest I never really accepted that vehicular customisation would ever be a thing, especially not after seeing the actual cars themselves that CDPR had designed and being consistently blown away. The amount of believable detail that has gone into the futuristic cars of the Cyberpunk world is simply unparalleled by any other sci-fi property that I have ever seen; I don't know who they got to design those beauties, but they knew exactly has to evolve upon what we see in the world today with fidelity and tact. What I'm trying to say is that every vehicle in this game comes out the box as a work of art, why do we need to tweak with it anymore? Of course, the hard truth of the matter likely comes back to workload and that which would be needed to create alternative looks for every high-quality car in the game without sacrificing that design integrity; it was probably just too much to juggle. Another possibility is that the scope of the planned customisations just didn't align with what the team were going for; perhaps they were all cosmetics whilst the team were shooting for something more tactile, or perhaps they were more physical upgrades whilst the team couldn't finesse a way for, said upgrades, to be necessary. And the most simplest explanation; maybe another system and interface just proved to be too much clutter for the game and the team wanted to streamline things. (God knows CDPR are no strangers to throwing too many systems to the player at once)

This last removal, at least that I've been made aware of, is an honest-to-goodness headscratcher. Something I've turned about in my old noggin' time and time again but can't get to the heart of, not because the omission itself is so blasphemous, but simply because I'm struggling to come up with reason why it was killed off. Did you know that 'Cyberpunk 2077' is, apparently, not going to feature any subways or trains? I know, right! Wasn't that first trailer that we saw (after the teaser trailer from years back and before the gameplay reveal) characterised by V entering Night City via train link? In fact, hasn't a more recent (as in last year) official marketing image for Cyberpunk featured V sitting on a subway train holding a gun whilst Arasaka Corpo Security try to break their way in? (As shown above.) Why feature such locations in the marketing if there's no place for them in the finished game, this one literally makes no sense to me. Sure, the wallrunning was shown off in a 'proof-of-concept' gameplay showcase, it's honestly more surprising how much of that footage made it to the final game over what got omitted, but the subways getting the axe doesn't fit into that; it's bizarre.

To really stretch at playing Devil's advocate; perhaps CD Projekt Red found it hard to devise an actual gameplay purpose for the subway system? Like, maybe they figured that with the inclusion of fast cars and byways there was no longer a requirement for a train fast-travel system. (Although that doesn't track considering how this world is slated to be as large, or larger, than 'The Witcher 3's and even that game had fast travel points) Or perhaps they team couldn't find an actual story reason for having subways, as in they couldn't figure out how to get a mission down there, and thus the choice was made to get rid of them. (But then they obviously had some ideas, as displayed by last year's concept art. Yeah, maybe it was 'just for the posters' but there was a story in that image which, apparently, now will never be told.) And finally; maybe it was the act of coding in a train system itself that proved to be a hassle; I don't know, this one really does confuse me. Personally, I'm hoping that this omission in particular turns out to be joke because it just doesn't compute with me.

So is Cyberpunk 2077 'losing content'? No, not really. What is happening is that a decent amount of the 'chafe' and 'half-formed concepts' are getting reduced or cutdown in order to allow for the good of the game to thrive; as what happens with most entertainment products: games, movies, television shows and books. At the end of the day, the health of Cyberpunk 2077 is assured by the team focusing on nailing those features that they have the capacity to, rather than stretching themselves too thin and leaving everything feeling a little flimsy. Nothing that has been 'removed' thusfar has been a dealbreaker with me, and I'd imagine that's the case with most out there as we've been sold on so much more than a few customisation systems and wallrunning. (The Subways do sting abit though, strangely.) Fingers crossed that the months to come are dominated by headlines talking excitedly about the features that Cyberpunk will be delivering us, rather than those it will not. (But then, knowing current gaming media; that's not really their style, is it?)

I played the demo for The Survivalists

From Escaping to Survival-ing 

Let me tell you one thing about me straight away; I am typically a Minecraft fiend. The amount of hours I put into that build-and-survive simulator is honestly obscene; I would probably burst into tears upon reading that number. (Whilst fully aware of the fact that I've sunk even more hours into the 360 version, which didn't keep track of my play time.) I've also blazed through the console version of Terraria (Back before they mutilated the console's UI) and have beaten 'Starbound' a decent three time all on different versions of the game. Throw 'Stardew Valley' in there for good measure and I think it's safe to say that I'm familiar with, and have played, a vast majority of the resource based survival games on the market. But, as I'm sure you well know, that doesn't mean I've even so much as glanced the surface, let alone scratched it. Pretty much ever since the runaway success of 'Rust' (Although probably even further back to the initial success of Minecraft) there have been survival games popping out of the Steam maternity ward on a near daily basis.

The trend grew so huge that even the big-money titles tried to emulate it, such as Fallout 76. In fact, survival-games began to grow into a problem where their mechanics began to find their way into games in which they did not belong, pretty much proving detrimental to the overall experience. (Looking at you; 'We Happy Few'.) The craze grew to the point where, predictably, a lot of people grew sick of the gimmick and I was chief among them. I hated the constant pressure to maintain resource bars, the need to return to base every few minutes that limited the scope of exploration and the badly optimised drain rates which often had people go from full to starving over the course of 5 minutes. It just rang 'bad design' to me and thus I have a hard time looking at any upcoming survival game with anything less than scorn.

This was the mentality I had when someone first recommended 'The Surivalists', but the devs had a demo for the time so I figured it was bullet-biting time. Developed by Team17, a positively storied developer and publisher who have made or had a hand in numerous titles from the old school worms games to the Overcooked franchise; 'The Survivalists' is a game that is said to take place within the same 'world' as 'The Escapists', only with a focus on surviving the trails of a desert island instead of conspiring to break out of jail. Now, this again is another good omen on the project; because I freaking love 'The Escapists'. For those unaware; 'The Escapists' is a free-form prison escape simulator experience that pits players against increasingly fortified holding facilities whilst tasking them with solving the puzzle of breaking out. It's methodical, taxing and ultimately rewarding when that plan you've spent the past 40 days working towards finally pays off. So if Team17 are willing to invoke that game's name and brand in the marketing of this title; then surely that must mean something special. Right?

Well perhaps it did in their heads, because it's with a heavy heart that I share how, not only did I dislike playing The Survivalists, but I was reminded of everything I hated about the genre by the mere act of partaking. It's a though a thousand repressed thoughts are rose up and shouted at once, before being embodied on screen in pixel detail. My own body started to rebel against me playing and tried to shut down from torpor as time and time I was struck with a desperate struggle to conjure one iota of caring for anything I was going through. Within the hours I lent to this title, I felt as though I'd undergone days of nauseating repetition and sloth to the point where I wanted to dig out my eyes rather than endure another second. So I think it's safe to say that this wasn't the game for me.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself; 'The Survivalists' takes players to a 2D desert island on which they have just washed up and asks them to take the measures necessary to survive the experience and, importantly, find a way out. Personally, I'm not entirely sure what any of this has to do with 'The Escapists' apart from a vaguely similar art style; but that's the angle they're looking to ride so I guess we just have to presume that this is the island that our ecsapee hit after all those breakouts. Rather than actively maintaining stats, items and all the other things that made 'The Escapists' special, this game puts all of it's eggs behind it's genre-mandatory crafting system which has you cutting down tree and smashing rocks to- yawn-. Oh, what's that? I yawned? Must be because even describing this concept sounds like I'm talking about literally 50 other games and nothing stands out as being special. Gah, I suppose I should scrounge about for some positives!

Visually the game is a treat; similar to 'The Escapists 2', the game makes use of this 2D perspective mixed with a pretty pixelart that just comes to life under their gorgeous lighting engine. It's truly lovely to look at during those evening moments or the early morning, and there's an apt encapsulation of the scenario in those lazy crimson suns that really sells the mood. The team tried their hardest to bring something new to the genre through doubling down on multiplayer mechanics. (Which was entirely lost on me due to me having no friends) They even went so far as to throw in a multiplayer substitute through their 'Monkeys' system which see's you befriend and then training Monkey's to help you around the island with repetitive tasks. Admittedly, I may have found the system tedious and obtuse to the point where I gave up on it entirely, but the intent was there.

Ultimately, however, I just found the game to be a total chore that was lacking in any initial grab. The scenario wasn't interesting enough to hook me in the same way that the weird world of 'Don't Starve' did. The building mechanics weren't extensive enough to spark the throes of my creativity like 'Minecraft' or 'Terraria'. The camera was fixed in one direction for some reason, making it difficult to see where I was in dense forests. The crafting tree was constructed in this oddly linear fashion wherein you are forced to make one thing in order to learn how to craft another, completely robbing progressive freedom from the equation. The fighting mechanics felt notably stiff, even for a 'The Escapists' universe game. I don't know if the world I was in was randomly generated but I sure hope it was because it felt really cumbersome and unintelligibly designed. I saw no direction for the future of this title nor evidence how it could prove to exceed my initial impressions.

Of course, take my opinion with a supreme grain of salt; I only played a short demo of the introductory scenes, but then I did choose to stop playing before the end of that demo because I was so bored. (So take that for what you will.) It had been many years since I'd been gradually weened off of liking, or even respecting, the survival genre so I was curious if this game would be the one to win me back. (Spoilers, it wasn't.) If you've managed to stay aboard the survival train, however, than perhaps you can see some latent potential here that I couldn't, but if you've any reservations about whether or not the Survival genre has anything new to show you, this is not the game to do so. (Look at it more as a celebration of Survival over a revolution to it.) That's my last demo for the Steam event and I'm sorry it ended on such a downer. (I also played Desperadoes 3 but that game just came out so you can look it up for yourself if you're curious.) That being said, I absolutely loved this idea from Steam and feel it's an ingeniously unique way to host a marketing storm; by allowing players to play the games they are seeing trailers for. I look forward to see if the other institutions start taking note. (And I really hope that they do!)

I played the demo for Ghostrunner

Robot and Katana; tell me a more iconic pairing.

I wasn't joking around when I said that I was consuming demos last blog, friends, and in fact today I want to talk about my time playing the demo for a game that I actually discovered and discussed on my blog! (What are the chances of that, right?) So of course the very moment that I saw there was a playable demo for a game that so tickled my fancy I immediately queued it to play and also plugged in my controller which is the reason why all of the proceeding demo's I'm going to talk about will be addressing controller control schemes and PC titles. (I really thought about going back and trying them on keyboard to be ultimately fair but then I thought, nah. I've been surprisingly busy I'm sure it'll be fine.) But enough of that, today I want to take you all into a cybernetic dystopia as we discuss the neon drenched world of Ghostrunner.

First I want to hearken on a point I made in my original blog; yes, the game does indeed focus itself on a live-die-repeat model. In the way that the game moves (effortlessly fluidly) the combat plays out (You die from a single hit) and the speed of the reloads, (instant) it's clear that this is the sort of title that thrives on the ol' trial-and-error routine. Thus it may not exactly be the robot samurai cyberpunk title of my dreams, but it does promote a degree of self-competitiveness as, due to how quickly you get back into the action, you cannot help but stop and postulate on the quickest and most efficient routes through each scenario. (Something which the world design helpfully supports with subtly divergent pathways.) This very vibe of game, in fact, struck me hard with memories of another speed-based parkour game with heavy replay value and a sub-culture of self improvement; Mirror's Edge.

To call this the 'Mirror's Edge' sequel we never got is- factually incorrect as in 2016 there was a sequel under the subtitle 'Catalyst' - but spiritually dead on the money! Whereas 'Mirror's Edge: Catalyst' felt more like remake/modernisation rather than an actual step forward for the concept and what you could do with it, 'Ghostrunner' feels like it actually picked up that old baton and started leaping rooftops with it. (Just, you know, with a different character, thematic signature and world. Maybe this 'sequel' analogy isn't quite as one-to-one as I thought...) The simple movement scheme that make freerunning as easy as holding one button is there, the flashy eccentric presentation is there (albeit, with an almost polar opposite gradient) and so is that empowering aura of embodying an agility god. Before getting promptly shot in the face and dying, that is. (I'd imagine an actual god to be a tad tougher than that.)

Of course, the game itself is actually a lot more gory than Mirror's Edge actually was, as here we take control of a katana wielding cyborg who looks like he's late for the 'Warframe' dress rehearsals. Armed thusly, the player is tasked with navigating industrial looking areas (so far) and dancing around active fire zones so that they can close the distance for that satisfyingly meaty slash. Just like 'Metal Gear Rising: Revengence' before it, Ghostrunner features a dismemberment system wherein the runner's blade cuts through skin like butter, even going to far as to cinematically slowdown the final opponent of each area to emphasise that final cut. Of course, that doesn't quite make it a patch on the gruesome action of 'Revengence', not even remotely, but it's pleasing to the eye nonetheless.

This sort of split-second, death-at-any-moment, action is only as prevailing as the variety of the gameplay, however, and for that I'm afraid I haven't much experience to share. The demo only appeared to be the very beginning of the game and that only featured the standard onehanded pistol-slinger enemy who seemed to never have heard of leading your shots. That isn't to say this archetype didn't prove a challenge, the very nature of the game lends it's self to such, but I feel this game will need a little more variety than, say, 'Mirror's Edge' had to feel complete. (Huh, I keep bringing that game up, don't I?) Luckily, there have been some trailers released teasing some of the later chapters of Ghostrunner and from that I have seen at least one Gekko-looking weapons-platform firing vertical laser bolts that the player had to slide under. Gently hinting that we may see some truly incredible/excruciatingly tough enemy rooms in the late game. (Exactly what I want for a game like this.)

In terms of the movement, a very important aspect of a freerunning-based game like this, I'm pleased to report that everything feels ergonomic and natural to perform. You have your sprint, wall run, slide, leap, and even a grappling hook later on; as well as the ability to dash both on the ground and midair. This really comes into play in the bigger fights as, due to your inhuman robot agility, the player is capable of freezing time for a short amount of time and changing their flight trajectory mid-air; making for surreal and pleasing moments of stillness amid the incessant action. I don't know if there are plans for anything else in the player's movement repertoire later down the line, but even if there isn't this is all fine by me. It all serves as a great and powerful toolset that allows players to feel in control of every stunt they pull off, something which I resonated with greatly during my short time with the title.

As for the story, Ghostrunner remain this curious enigma that has me intrigued but not exactly foaming at the mouth to see it out. (And I get the sense that's not the point anyway.) As you've likely caught on, you play as a cyborg robot that has a slight murderous edge to him, and a package-deal Katana for some reason. (Maybe that's standard issue for future robots, I don't know.) Some entity known as Whisper has contacted you, however, and set you 'free' under the stipulation that you then free him from his 'prison'. I don't think I'm really spoiling much by revealing how, at the end of all this demo, you discover that your mysterious benefactor is some sort of corporeal entity, I assume and AI, who's set you loose presumably in order to exploit to his own ends. So yeah, there's nothing that truly takes advantage of the genre and it's ramifications on the human condition, but it doesn't need to be. (We're getting Cyberpunk this winter, I think that'll cover it.)

Ghostrunner is one of those titles that I cannot fully file away in the annals of my memory, under the dozens of other games I learn about on the daily. There's a special spark of life emanating from this game that I find appeals to my morbid lust for death-fuelled action titles. Getting to actually play this title hasn't really changed my mind on it but more reinforced what I already knew, that this is the sort of game I want to get my hands on as soon as possible. In conclusion; I love the concept, love the direction, love how it's shaping up, could do with some optimisation (though that could just as easily be on my end) and the game looks great. Look out for this one.

I played the demo (Alpha) for Starmancer

Feeling closer to the stars

Hardly a week back, Steam decided to do something very interesting in order to piggyback off of the 'completely online' E3 that we found ourselves dealing with. Taking the advice and example from last year's VGA's, E3 decided to actually bite the bullet and reach out to smaller indie devs in the hope that they could provide their platform with E3 exclusive demos. That's right, the age of demo's are back ladies and gentleman! I remember those evenings of yore spent browsing through countless snippets of titles you'd never quite forsee, all the time experiencing gameplay that you'd never expect. Of course, back then it was mostly for title that were firmly out, what we're looking at today is even more bizarre than that; this are in-development titles that have conjured some mid-dev vertical slice for the public to try out. Truly it's an odd situation, but one I encourage greatly and hope really catches on for future E3s. (What's cooler than actually getting to play these games?)

Through this I was able to try some games that I've had my eye on and others which just caught it, such as this one title which was published by a studio with whom I'm quite familiar; Chucklefish. (The guys who published 'Starbound' and 'Stardew Valley') Now I'm always up for a romp through a pixel-rocking title (which is odd considering how condescending I typically find that 'faux-retro' aesthetic) so when I saw the ominous, almost horror-esque, flash card for a title called 'Starmancer', I immediately downloaded the demo with no questions asked and no idea what I was getting into. Which is yet another cool thing about embracing the world of demos, jumping into something without extensive prior research is usually a sure recipe for buyers remorse, yet that robs some of the mysterious fun of picking up something wild that surprises you. Point in case, I downloaded this title expecting some sort of space-gothic Metroidvania; and that was absolutely so far afield of this game that it likely touched down on another continent.

Starmancer is a pixel-styled space-station building title that, according to the Steam, was built by a team of two people using Unity. With that in mind, I must say that I'm quite impressed with what they achieved (Aside from the way that the fullscreen kept clicking off but I'll choose to blame that on Unity) It's a game in the style of 'Prison Architect' or, in their own words, 'Dwarf Fortress'. (Personally I've never played Dwarf Fortress so I'll have to defer to their expertise on that matter.) That is to say, the core loop of the gameplay is based around slowly expanding your operations and the scope of your base whilst managing the various needs and wants of your buildings/staff. In this way the game both resembles this sort of dynamic puzzle element of solving management issues and this creative side of creating an entire station completely to your own whims.

In terms of story, the game takes place after some catastrophe on Earth has forced humanity into the stars in order to fair their best amidst the cosmos. You take control of an AI assigned to lead this effort and ensure the survival of the Human race, maybe, your really left to your own devices at that point as far as I can tell. (I am really curious about how much of a malevolent AI you're capable of becoming.) Humanity have gone full SOMA and uploaded their consciousnesses to your artificial systems so that you can grow their archetypes from scratch in a manner reminiscent of 'Oxygen Not Included'. Of course, building and sustaining a new space station home is just the beginning of your work and, as the trailer hints, the later game will require the handling of situations largely outside of the AI's control such as invasions from roaming space-pirates. (Avast!)

The demo, however, contained none of that as it was only the opening hour of gameplay, that being said I still played enough to get a general feel of what things were like and to become hopeless addicted to a title that doesn't even have a prospective release date. (Darn) As I implied I have played this sort of game before in 'Prison Architect' and I have seen enough of 'Oxygen Not Included' and 'Rim World' to roughly recognise the ins and outs of this genre. So what does 'Starmancer' have that those games are slightly lacking on? Well, accessibility; at least based on the little I have tried of the game so far. Some of those games, 'Prison Architect' in particular, have this tendency of drowning the player in information overload to the point where the actual meat of the game becomes difficult to just pick up and play. Master that difficulty and you'll have lots of fun, to be sure, but that's still an initial hurdle to overcome. Starmancer, on the otherhand, was straight forward. To the point where I could pick up the ins and outs within a single hour time limit. (Something I never imagined would be the case for a game like this.)

The controls and tasks at hand at incredibly simple and easy to learn. You have to maintain your power and bio levels at the beginning of the game, with water and fuel becoming a factor as you start to expand. The trick comes in hitting that sweet spot where you can keep your residents fed and productive whilst growing out the base and ensuring that the power doesn't cut out. (Because if it does, so does the life support.) The basic act of designing the layout, expanding, laying cable and (I imagine) isolating sectors from the grid, (I didn't get to play long enough to achieve that glorious moment) is all the basic fun of these games wrapped up in a nutshell. For those who get excited about the idea of planning and reiterating to find what suits them, this is exactly the sort of game up your alley and I cannot recommend it enough. What kept me coming back again and again to this demo, however, was the challenge of balancing everything when it could all fall apart due to a single blunder. Several times I managed to completely wipe out my station by suffocating everyone. (And most of the times it was an accident. That other time they really did deserve it.) I can only imagine how this might expand and develop as more factors are wound into the equation, as is the promise of that eventual final release.

Any gripes I had with the overall experience are honestly minimal, even more so considering that this is apparently being worked on by a team of two. All I can really say is that I feel the HUD could use a bit more work in order to feed information a bit easier, (It took forever for me to realise how much energy I had at my disposal) and maybe there could be some sort of map with icons included to get a quick overview of your base at a glance. Again, this wasn't really an issue in the short demo but I can imagine things getting a little confusing in a full game. But all these complaints are based on an Alpha for game that is months, maybe even years off, so it's likely that the team already know and have plans for all of it. Personally, I just can't wait for this title to get fully realised so that I can get a proper session with it; the promise of randomly generated factions and universes holds quite the allure for the stubborn endurist like me. (Excluding that one game of Stellaris where I got mauled by my neighbouring empire right out of the gate. Which was also my first game of Stellaris. That was uncalled for and I still have that save file so I'll return someday. Don't hold it against me.)

Already I have to say that I positively adore this new initiative, whether it be a product of the E3 staff or just Steam's prerogative. (I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this was more Steam.) Finally this is a system that allows those smaller titles to really stand out and connect with an audience in a very personal and unique way. Point in case; I'd never heard of Starmancer and might never of until this event, and now I'm an excited fan who's ready to buy that full game as soon as possible, all because of these demo days! It's rare when I have something so unilaterally good to say about somewhere the industrious gaming landscape is trending, but this is one of those exceptional moments of clarity. Keep this up, Steam. And keep up Starmancer, Ominux Games, I can't wait to see what becomes of it.