OK, let me clarify before I even begin. I bought the World of Warcraft mount that outsold StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, in-game, entirely for free. Now let's back this up a little bit. In September 2023, former Blizzard developer Jason Thor Hall revealed that a paid mount in World of Warcraft netted Blizzard Entertainment more money than sales for StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. The mount, at the time, cost $15 and could only be purchased with real money. However, as of August 1, 2024 the infamous mount is now available to obtain entirely for free, in-game, for 900 Traders Tender (a free currency) for the entire month of August.

I should also clarify that Hall did not explicitly reveal which mount outsold StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, but internet users have done their sleuthing and have more or less come to the conclusion that the mount in question could possibly be the Celestial Steed. It's a horse made up of constellations, and in my opinion, not the best looking thing out there. But I guess given that the T&W Trading Post probably didn't exist in 2010, and mounts were more of a challenge to obtain, I can see the appeal of buying one right out of the shop and having one (especially since it seems to have flying) ready to go. Granted, you would still need to level up to unlock the ability to ride it, but I guess I get the appeal.

I suppose, above all else this mount is a time capsule of sort. It was probably incredible looking for the time it came out, with it's semi-transparent body and unique effects that sprinkling out stars around the horse and it's rider. At the same time, this mount more or less reaffirmed that corporations could make a hefty chunk of change for microtransactions. I, myself, am guilty for purchasing things through in-game stories. I've bought several Fantasias in Final Fantasy XIV, and a couple of cosmetic items. I've even purchase an outfit in World of Warcraft, or sometimes I buy characters in games like The First Descendant to get access to who I want to play immediately. I fully acknowledge I'm part of the problem.

It's just incredible to see a mount, that potentially set a trend, available for free in the long-running MMORPG. And I guess even more-so that I could just grab it and go without dipping into my wallet. A part of me wonders what long-time players feel about things that were originally only available for real-money now being available for free. And another part of me wonders what other mounts potentially made more profit in World of Warcraft than the Celestial Steed. I suppose we may never know that, and it's probably for the best. Because there's a part of me that feels a physical sort of pain when I know that this horse potentially contributed to the death of one of my favorite RTS franchises.

World of Warcraft is available for PC.

The post I Bought the World of Warcraft Mount that Outsold StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty appeared first on Siliconera.

Do you know how long people have been asking for Ace Attorney Investigations 2 to be released in English and show up worldwide? I’m pretty sure since February 4, 2011, one day after it launched on the DS in Japan. It only got worse when Capcom did release a mobile port in Japan in 2017, but then only released the original Ace Attorney Investigations Android and iOS port everywhere. But Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is remedying that injustice, and after playing through some early cases I think it will be a welcome prospect for players. 

Both of the games in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection star prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. They’re also a part of the canon timeline for the Ace Attorney series in general, taking place after Trials and Tribulation. (The first game is immediately after, and the second immediately follows the events of the first.) In each one, Edgeworth may feel a bit more like a detective than lawyer, as he’ll first investigate a scene after a crime, then go through a phase where people and suspects are confronted. The sequel also introduces a Mind Chess element that involves a timed minigame where you talk with your opponent to learn details and eventually beat them to get critical testimony.

When going through the first Ace Attorney Investigations, it was a pleasant homecoming. I really appreciated that spin-off when it first released worldwide, and the remastered graphics, new character sprite, and work put in to bring it to the Switch all made my initial case come together well. I especially liked the history feature, as it is a quality of life option I appreciate in other visual novel and adventure games. Considering what Edgeworth is dealing with here, it’s really helpful to be able to look back. 

As for my experiences with the first episode of Ace Attorney Investigations 2, I can’t express how pleased I was in the initial moments. The consistency with the localization honestly made it feel as though nothing changed and as if there hadn’t been any gap between global releases. The nature of the cases also fit in well, especially with the first picking up with an international incident that ties into the original game.

The one thing I did notice as I went through Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is that the new HD sprites really felt like a marked difference. I attribute this, in part, to the fact that even the original DS game used the more refined type of portraits for characters and, regardless of whether you select the HD or pixel art sprites before choosing a game or loading a save file, everything else features the remastered backgrounds, portraits, and texts. So while having the pixel art sprites is a fun bit of nostalgia, I found they felt rather out of place when actually going through the cases. 

After going through the initial cases in Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, I think everyone who has been waiting years for a chance to play this missing Edgeworth game will be pleased with how Capcom chose to honor these spin-offs. I’m not done with my new journey to bring the truth to light, and I’m already impressed with how well it’s been handled. Especially considering how the HD sprites and remastered elements look so far.

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection will come to the PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and PC on September 6, 2024. 

The post Preview: Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Deserves Attention appeared first on Siliconera.

The SteamWorld series of games has been an exploration of disparate genres, with the team always careful about returning to ideas. But it does happen! Like Dig 2 before it, SteamWorld Heist II seeks to iterate upon the original’s mechanics with years of hindsight and extra development expertise.

Heist II moves from the first game’s space setting to an ocean one, with players navigating the world in a submarine. Functionally, these are very similar! So it feels a lot like the original. Instead of the menu-based approach of its predecessor, this entry takes a Mario + Rabbids approach, using an adventure overworld with light exploration and naval skirmishes.

This scheme is designed to break up the tactical combat with world-building, and the team at Thunderful tried hard to make it fun to explore the map even if the rewards aren’t always particularly consequential. You’ll find secret passages. You’ll encounter little narrative moments. The water effects as the sub zips around are satisfying. There’s even a diving mechanic that doesn’t really get explored until the late game but serves to give the world dimension.

But the primary attraction of SteamWorld Heist II is definitely the combat missions. In a lot of ways, they’re reminiscent of the first: areas composed of rooms and doors that are regularly re-used and configured, with a variety of obstacles and enemies to aim weapons through. We can forgive a lot of the iterative nature, though, given its role as a sequel and the way this system is distinct from all major tactical alternatives. It’s accurate enough to call it “2D XCOM,” but the 2D part of that does fundamentally set it apart in both presentation and tactics.

The combat is, more than anything, about action economy and finding tricks to take out more enemies at once and keep your head above water against enemy waves. Sidearms and grenades, along with class-specific abilities, allow you to attack more than once in a turn. Weapons with a large blast radius can hit more foes if placed right. Unlockable abilities can cause attacks to not end your turn or give you extra movement to reach objectives faster. This focus, again, feels a lot like Mario + Rabbids! Which is definitely a good thing. We found ourselves emptying our cupboard of extras each turn before finally using the characters’ primary weapons on whatever was left alive.

There are multiple difficulty options in the game and you can change on the fly if needed, but if you’re having trouble with a particular stage, you can also grind for job levels and equipment. This isn’t a huge change to your power or capability, often just giving you slightly more survivability or one more skill. But that can be the difference between staying on top of enemy waves and finding yourself underwater.

The world is broken up into regions, which largely function as the game’s chapters and each feature a bar for resting, shops and narrative moments. Each party member can fight once before resting, which means you’ll eventually be able to fight a few times before returning, but that does build up over the game. Missions earn “renown,” a currency you cash in when you rest for rewards. If you’re able to use the whole team and do a lot in the same day, you’ll be able to redeem for the higher-value rewards. These aren’t necessary, but they’re usually quite nice to have. You also unlock a special passive reward for completing everything in a region. Again, not necessary, but you’ll want them and they’re not too tough to do.

You recruit new party members at these bars, each with the ability to learn any class, but carrying personal skills that could lean them toward particular strategies. You have some player freedom to recruit in different orders, eventually unlocking all ten, but with some choice of who you need first and who you can wait for until later when you have space in the crew. They’ll have little quips during missions to make them feel like a part of the story, but they’re mostly there to support protagonist Captain Leeway through his journey while he largely doesn’t participate in fights himself.

Heist II is, in a technical sense, a very smooth experience, which makes sense for a sequel to a game formulated to work within 3DS specs that’s releasing on all active platforms regardless of capability. We did review the game on PC, for what that’s worth, but it’s the sort of game that doesn’t feel like it’s trying anything that would trip up low-spec devices.

SteamWorld Heist II takes the things that worked in the original Heist and, well, gives players more of them. It’s well-considered in so many ways, making sure you’ll have a good time exploring its ideas for as long as it holds you. It ain’t exciting or revolutionary, really, but it sure is fun.

SteamWorld Heist II launches August 8, 2024 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.

The post Review: SteamWorld Heist II Aims to Please appeared first on Siliconera.

With two otome visual novels to read through and a veritable army of potential boyfriends to romance, Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom feels like it’s worth every penny. Despite its age, Otomate's consistent art style (for better or for worse) and the relatively sharp visuals keep this historical tale modern.

When I was a kid, I knew about Hakuoki in passing. My friend played it and came to school crying about Okita. Another friend watched the show and came out of it talking about how Okita is pretty great. So all I knew about Hakuouki prior to playing this on the Switch was that apparently, Okita is popular (hardly a surprise). So you can imagine my surprise when I learned that not only is Hijikata the actual canon love interest, but the story features vampires?! It was a huge shock to me, and I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. I’d spent sixteen years of my life thinking Hakuoki is a normal piece of historical fiction, only for it to be a historical fantasy otome instead.

Hakuoki covers the tale of Chizuru Yukimura, who's looking for her father, who is a missing doctor. (As a note, you can change her name if you want, but I recommend just keeping it so voiced lines don’t cut off.) Chizuru is a normal girl, outside of the fact that she can heal abnormally fast. She visits Kyoto while disguising herself as a male. However, she ends up getting into trouble with the notorious Shinsengumi when she sees something she shouldn’t have: Shinsengumi warriors losing control at the sight of blood and going berserk. In order to make sure she doesn’t blab about this to people, they force her to live with them. In time, they accept her as one of their own.

If you’re familiar with even a little bit of 18th to 19th century Japan and its politics, then you’ll be able to recognize a lot of the story beats when it focuses on the social and political climate surrounding the Shinsengumi. At times, the sheer level of detail the game gives about the group's history can clash with the more fantastical elements. The priorities just felt unbalanced. It started getting better later, but in the earlier chapters of the first game it almost felt like they were two separate stories that became one during development even originally. Some of the characters are new additions added in the Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms releases. Not everyone meshed well together at first. It’s very obvious who’s new and who isn’t, because new characters just seem to randomly appear before disappearing for large stretches of the story. 

As a whole, the localization is good. But when there were errors, they were usually ones that really stuck out. Iba’s introduction scene, for example, made a deep impression on me for reasons other than Mamoru Miyano. I had to re-read lines so many times to make sure my eyes and brain were working alright, especially since playing the game was the first thing I did that morning. When explaining the Water of Life (the serum that turns people into Furies), the doctor notes that the Chinese call it “xindn.” There is no such word. Most likely, they meant “xiandan,” if we’re using the Mandarin pronunciation.

I know that there is a lot of text to go through. I can’t even count how many times I thought to myself that I don’t envy the localizers for the workload and large amount of historical terms. But it’s precisely because the rest of the game reads well that these slip-ups become a lot more jarring.

The prevalence of terms specific to Japanese history can be confusing if you're not paying attention or if you're unfamiliar with the subject. I found myself going through the glossary multiple times because I couldn't remember certain allegiances. The story goes through the Shinsengumi history quite quickly, so sometimes it can be hard to follow. It definitely feels like Otomate aimed it at Japanese people who already learned about all of this in school.

Something about Hakuoki that I liked was that the story and characters took center stage in this otome game, rather than the romance. It’s hard for me to self-insert myself in the protagonist a lot of times in these otome games. I couldn’t connect with Chizuru at all and because she's a self-insert, she wasn't always the most interesting character to observe from an outsider's perspective. Maybe at the time of the game's original release, she was a breath of fresh air. Despite her overly considerate personality and her attempts to help even in situations where she can't help at all, she does take a proactive stance in the story. However, you could say that about tons of other otome game protagonists too. When I translated Winter's Wish: Spirits of Edo, I had a positive opinion of Suzuno precisely because of this personality type.

Despite Chizuru becoming the blueprint, rather than the exception, I enjoyed the plot and the characters nonetheless. I genuinely wanted characters like Harada, Heisuke, and Iba to get a happy ending. For the sheer amount of boys there are, the writing does a good job of giving them plenty of characterization and development beyond their basic tropes or shticks. To be frank, I didn’t finish all the routes in the game yet, but I'm excited to go back in and see what other interesting stories I still have to discover.

For both positive and negative reasons, Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom is a classic otome. The quality of the story and the characters are really good, and I can understand why people loved it. But playing it in 2024 after so many other otome games (and from Otomate to boot), it’s hard for me to see what made Hakuoki the special juggernaut it was at the time. Is it good? Oh yeah, if you’re big into otome or historical fantasy games. It’s great that you get both the Edo and Kyoto arcs in one convenient package without having to pay for two games like in certain releases. This is a game that stands very well on its own. But those curious about the legendary reputation of Hakuoki may come out of it scratching their head.

Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom is readily available on the Nintendo Switch.

The post Review: Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom Stands Tall appeared first on Siliconera.

In most dating sim games I’ve played, I’m used to a slow burn, “will they, won’t they” romance, with the eventual love confession and relationship being the final reward of the game. With The Quintessential Quintuplets: Five Memories Spent With You however, the game starts you after you’re already in a relationship. This is an interesting approach to dating sims, as it’s not often that you get to actually witness your protagonist and romance option learning the steps to make the relationship succeed.

The game takes place six months after the school festival where protagonist Futaro Uesugi confessed his love to one of the Nakano sisters. Futaro, his sister Raiha, and the five Nakano sisters Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, and Itsuki take a final trip to Okinawa together to celebrate the sisters graduating high school. In game, the player selects the character that Futaro confesses to at the festival during the very beginning. In practical terms, this means you're choosing the route for your current playthrough from the start, instead of locking it during gameplay. The main strength of this method is the number of unique routes and scenarios available with each of the five Nakano girls as Futaro’s girlfriend.

By making the most appropriate dialogue choices for your partner, you obtain “Futaro Points.” Depending on the number of points obtained by the end, you can get a Normal or Good Ending for each girl, and after watching any of the endings for the five girls you unlock a final "All Route." Because of how The Quintessential Quintuplets: Five Memories Spent With You works and the position it takes in the overarching narrative of the series, this game feels as a sort of epilogue, with the beginning of the game —the confession— acting as what would be the ending for any other dating sim game. Since this game was localized and released alongside The Quintessential Quintuplets: Memories of a Quintessential Summer it fits nicely as a sequel to it.

Perhaps the most interesting factor of starting with the confession is that the game jumps straight into developing the relationship, with the focus of the stories present being Futaro and his partner learning to coexist in this new partnership. However, this also means that you need to have a familiarity with the series prior to playing the game, or you might be choosing a romance path with no context other than how the character looks and the vibe you get from them. At the same time, the game really seems to want the player to consider playing each confession route and eventually get to the "All Route." In a way, this game feels like a "what if" scenario for the original manga and anime series, which in itself is a creative way of writing more material for the fun and well fleshed out cast of characters.

The five Nakano sisters are really fun characters, and together they form quite a formidable and hectic team. It’s always fun seeing the sisters on sync and seeing Futaro struggle to keep up with their antics. Considering that they are the main cast of characters you will be interacting I appreciate that they’re more than one note characters and you get to see different sides of them in different routes. I chose Miku as my first route and I was quite happy to see how her experience with relationship expectations, anxiety, and communication was handled.

I realy enjoyed Futaro as a protagonist. I think that having the main point of view character have a marked personality is a great choice, as it makes it feel more about the romance between the two characters, rather than have him be as a stand in for the player. Futaro is very outspoken and his personality allowed me to enjoy the characters bouncing off of each other. He's also a dork and really endearing at that. The only caveat I have about him is that, after the tutorial, Futaro’s voice actor stops voicing lines. I would have much rather have him continue to speak, like it happens with the rest of the cast of characters.

While The Quintessential Quintuplets: Five Memories Spent With You is a follow-up to Memories of a Quintessential Summer, the game doesn't contain the stat management and tutoring elements of the latter. While this makes sense due to the game taking place during a holiday trip, this also means that this game is mechanically less interesting than its predecessor and a more straightforward visual novel. At the same time, if you play them in a row, Five Memories Spent With You can be a rewarding experience as an epilogue and a window into the future of Futaro and the Nakano sisters.

I found the localization to be pretty spotty. Some sentences can read a bit awkward and too literal, and at times I heard some voice lines in Japanese that didn’t match the translated English lines. In addition, the UI for the PC version of the game is a mixed bag. Considering that the game is a visual novel I played with mouse and keyboard. However, the game will sometimes show controller prompts even when playing with mouse and keyboard. Additionally, the mouse cursor will disappear when using the arrow keys, which the game seems very intent being used.

Furthermore, I wasn’t able to make my controller work with the game when I tried, which left me a bit puzzled. I eventually got around the odd control scheme, but not after tampering with it for a bit. The text formatting quirks also remain from the previous game Five Memories Spent With You. While the UI elements can get a pass, the localization problems remained throughout my playthrough and tainted my experience with the game a bit.

The Quintessential Quintuplets: Five Memories Spent With You is a nice cherry on top of the cake for fans of the series. It is very rewarding being able to play a Quintessential Quintuplets story that focuses on seeing the relationship between Futaro and the chosen Nakano sister flourish. While the game doesn’t present original mechanics or ideas like its predecessor does, there is a lot to enjoy here, and a lot of content and attention given to each character.

The Quintessential Quintuplets: Five Memories Spent With You is available for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC via Steam.

The post Review: Quintessential Quintuplets: Five Memories Spent With You Feels Like a Sweet Epilogue appeared first on Siliconera.

I have to be honest and admit that my first impression of Kitsune Tails didn’t have me fully on board with the premise. Perhaps it was the very obvious similarities with other platforming games or how the game expects a certain level of precision and mastery immediately. However, as I made my way through it, I started to experience a full 180 degrees change in attitude and discovered that not everything was as straightforward as it seemed.

Kitsune Tails is a platformer game cut from the same cloth as classics like Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World, borrowing elements such as the way the level select maps look and the mid-world Spirit Houses that double as the mid-world castle challenges and Ghost Houses from SMW. Even the run meter from SMB3 makes an appearance as the Ki gauge in the upper right corner. I admittedly don’t love how close to this particular cloth Kitsune Games cuts. What I love is how this aspect of the game is only about 40% of the whole experience, and halfway through the developer pulled the wool from over my eyes and revealed that Kitsune Tails is also a completely different platformer closer to something like classic Ninja Gaiden.

The story of Kitsune Tails is a tad more involved than is usual for the genre. If I had to summarize the plot in one sentence, it would be “clueless disaster lesbian Kitsune causes geopolitical crisis, and a disaster ensues.” The focus for most of the game lies on Yuzu, a Kitsune on her first mission as a messenger for the fox deity Inari. On one of her reckless travels, Yuzu is rescued by the mage and healer Akko, who rapidly catches feelings for our protagonist.

As the seasons go by and the two get closer, Yuzu’s longtime friend Kiri starts to show jealousy about the girls’ growing bond. Kiri is ready to make a grand gesture to reveal her feelings to Yuzu during a dance festival. In the ensuing confusion Akko is captured, with Kiri as the main suspect. Yuzu embarks on a trip to commune with the five elements to free Akko from her entrapment, figure out why Kiri captured her friend, and if it had to do with her feelings of jealousy. I really appreciate seeing Kitsune Tails handle the conflict of three overtly queer friends learning to understand their feelings for each other and communicating them, while also seeing some asexual representation in the mix.

As a rule of thumb, I try to avoid comparing titles I review with other games as much as possible, as I prefer to explain the inner workings of a game on its own merits. However, there is too much of Super Mario World in Kitsune Tails. I think that my feelings towards the first half of this game come from how derivative it feels from this formula. For a good chunk of the game there is little variation to how enemies and power ups work compared to Mario, and when Kitsune Tails tries its own spin on a classic Mario mechanic it is often not to the best results. As an example, salamander and snowman suit power ups very similar to the ice flower and the fire flower from Mario games get introduced very late into the game. This means that the early game leaves you with your basic jump to fend off enemies and more situational power ups that don’t feel as useful or critical for that part of the game.

Similarly, the aforementioned Ghost Houses include ghost enemies similar to Boos. While they are similar to Boos these ghosts act differently, and you’re only safe from them as long as you’re inside the light of nearby fires. While I appreciate the variation in design, it’s not as balanced a threat as Boos, as these ghosts usually hover around your last position and there is no way to stop them unless you have a source of light, making them feel more unfair. Coupled with the fact that these enemies appear on levels with moving platforms or vertical levels, it makes for some of the most tricky in the game.

Aside from enemies and power ups, the demanding level design is definitely a step up from your average Mario game. Some levels are short and sweet and manage to scratch the itch for that platforming goodness Kitsune Tails is so eagerly and lovingly trying to recreate, while other levels go on for too long, feeling like two challenging levels stitched together. The frustration of very long challenging levels can be increased when checkpoints are sparse, making you start from very early into the level after dying. This is only really a problem when playing on the highest difficulty, or playstyle as the game calls it, as you can easily use power ups stored in your inventory to replenish your defenses in the other 2 available playstyles. Additionally, you can spend coins in the small hub village to purchase power ups.

Despite my criticisms, some levels shine through their creativity and fun design. I found the entirety of World 4 to be brilliant and a breath of fresh air. Having access to the ice power up means that you can stun nearby enemies and create platforms to make your way up very fun vertical sections. This felt like an appropriate level of challenge, as I had an effective way to defend myself without the game pulling any type of “gotchas” on me. Not to mention that what I have described above is only true for half of the game’s run, as you make your way through the 6 worlds in offer.

After completing the game, you are given access to a special character that can’t use the power ups that Yuzu can. Instead, this character has a completely unique moveset that revolves around swordplay, hitting enemies to refresh traversal attack skills, and flowing through the levels swiftly and precisely. This second part of the game absolutely, positively, immensely rules. I couldn’t stop myself from playing once I reached this point. Even though you go through the same levels again, the difficulties I previously had in some levels disappeared as the new playstyle instantly clicked with me.

I think this unique playstyle is what makes this second half so special, and I would have liked to see Yuzu play in a more unique way than Mario, with her power ups being something she learns in each world and can use with a different degree of freedom. I kept thinking about this when I unlocked the adorable shark suit power up, and how I would have preferred if it was an innate ability in the character’s arsenal, as it would have made the water stages fairer, in addition to helping the game distinguish itself more from Super Mario.

The pixel art in Kitsune Tails is as lovely as you’d expect, and every character and enemy have distinct designs that are easy to clock, even if you have never encountered before. Walking and flying beetles are the equivalent to Goombas and their flying variations, with armadillos being akin to Koopa Troopas, and so on and so forth. The music is fun and playful, borrowing from the style of the NES and Super Nintendo. Perhaps the most impressive element of Kitsune Tails is that the game also includes its own “Kitsune Maker,” featuring a level editor using the Lua script language used to develop the game, as well as the plenty of minigames available.

Kitsune Tails presents itself as a charming homage to classic NES and SNES era platformers with an adorable Queer story, and hides underneath a deep and challenging double album of platforming goodness with a second campaign focused on speed and precise movement, all the while featuring a simple level editor to boot. Despite borrowing a little too much from some classic platformers, I feel like genre fans and speedrunners are going to have a field day with Kitsune Tails.

Kitsune Tails will come to the PC via Steam and itch.io on August 1, 2024.

The post Review: There’s More Than Meets the Eye in Kitsune Tails appeared first on Siliconera.

Earth Defense Force is a series known for its campy, B-movie vibe. It’s known for being far from the greatest in its genre, but a perfect game for when you want to turn your brain off and blast some bugs. Earth Defense Force 6 is no different, but maybe we should be asking for more at this point.

Earth Defense Force 6 begins with you being brought in as a new recruit for the titular military group. However, you’re the hero of Earth Defense Force 5 who has somehow been mistaken for a rookie that now has to undergo basic training again. Along the way, you and your fellow new recruits take on a series of missions to eradicate the remaining alien threat that’s been wrecking Earth.

It’s a silly opening, and one that set a tone right out the gate. The story here is poorly written, melodramatic, B-movie grade schlock, by which I mean it’s amazing. Aside from heroes being somehow recruited for basic training, the opening missions feature a lot of ham-fisted dialogue clearly meant to impart an important message about humanity and war but stumbling over itself at every turn.

For instance, after fighting off your first batch of giant bipedal frog monsters who shoot you on sight, your squadmates will openly discuss the possibility of them simply being refugees from their home planet that we’re misunderstanding. This is naturally peppered with some awkward, entirely out-of-place “what if we’re the real monsters” comments while you’re being chased by giant ants that have no qualms about devouring you. This is then replaced in a later mission by every squad member reminding you that the aliens killed their entire family at every opportunity, completely ignoring the attempts to humanize them moments ago.

Every line of dialogue feels like something out of an Ed Wood movie or The Room. The clumsy attempts at gravitas. The characters who openly discuss their backstories in stilted, inhuman ways. And a story that often feels meandering and full of cliches. However, every part of it feels deliberate, as each terrible line is comedy genius. One exchange in a mission about the appearance of humanoid aliens legitimately caught me off guard in how silly it was, especially when the eventual punchline was revealed.

In terms of gameplay, this is a standard third-person shooter. You pick one of four classes of soldier, with different abilities and play styles. There’s the Ranger, a basic grunt with an assault rifle and various other weapons. The Wing Diver is a flying unit who swoops around with a jet pack. The Air Raider specializes in throwing drones and traps around for maximum damage. And finally, the Fencer is a big stompy suit of power armor that can tank through most trouble.

Or at least in theory, these are the things that differentiate them. However, one thing that becomes abundantly clear after a few hours of playing Earth Defense Force 6 is that none of them are particularly great to play. Each class has strengths and weaknesses, but at times the weaknesses can become such a hassle to deal with it can be frustrating. The Wing Diver is best swooping around in the air, and yet is given a ton of weapons that only work from short range. The Air Raider is capable of causing a ton of damage but is awkward to use. The Fencer is slow and unwieldy to control, and sometimes doesn't feel as resistent to damage as it should be. And the Ranger is just…kind of boring.

These problems are often exacerbated by the bland mission design. Every mission feels the same. You move to one portion of the city overrun by monsters that mostly resemble bugs, kill them all, then repeat the process roughly three or four times until the game feels you’ve had enough. Sometimes you might get to blow up a spaceship or some wasp nests, as a treat, but most of the time the level design repeats this same formula over and over.

Even the enemies begin to feel samey. Sure, they’re all different species of bug or weird alien beings and spacecrafts, but the attack patterns are consistent across the board. The only real changes are later missions when your alien foes get endlessly firing automatic weapons that are next to impossible to dodge. Usually while also gaining the ability to fly into a position you don’t see them. Which turns the tedium into frustration very quickly.

It doesn’t help that Earth Defence Force 6 is not a good-looking game. Every mission map feels like a bunch of ruined city assets thrown together without much rhyme or reason. There is some mild entertainment to be had from the generic ants and spiders being presented as horrific Eldritch beings, but the joke does wear out its welcome fast.

On top of this, the visuals have all the fidelity of a game from 2006. It certainly doesn’t try to make up for its dated, low budget visuals with a coherent art design either, as nothing was visually interesting enough to pay much attention to. There is a point where the visuals do get an upgrade, but even after this the game feels at least a decade out of date.

I get that this is part of the charm of this series. Earth Defense Force has always been intentionally bad. But while the b-movie grade writing feels purposeful and fun, the gameplay and visual design feels sloppy. It’s a tough tightrope to walk between making a game deliberately bad in a fun way and making a game that’s just bad. Unfortunately, EDF6 lands firmly in the latter category, as its tedious mechanics and limited strategy simply don’t feel good to play.

Fans of the Earth Defense Force series probably don’t care about any of this. If that’s you, you’re probably here for everything I just described. Feel free to add a couple of points to the score in your head if that’s the case. However, I did come into the game fully aware of its reputation and perfectly ready to mindlessly blast away some bugs, but even I felt disappointed with the end result.

Earth Defense Force 6 is a joke that outstays its welcome. The writing definitely has its moments of brilliance, but it tries so hard to be "so bad it’s good" that it just ends up bad.

Earth Defense Force 6 is out now for the PC, PS4 and PS5.

The post Review: Earth Defense Force 6 Is Funny, But Tedious appeared first on Siliconera.

The Pokemon Trading Card Game Shrouded Fable set is 2024’s special summer release, which means it’s largely only available as part of special boxed collections. Like 151 and Pokemon Go before it, it’s meant to be primarily for collectors. It builds around the story of Scarlet and Violet’s expansion adventures, and chooses as its centerpiece the new Pecharunt and its darkness-possessed legendary minions.

Given that this premise isn’t “mobile game phenomenon” or “Kanto nostalgia” levels of broad appeal, Shrouded Fable has its work cut out for it. It feels like The Pokemon Company knows that, as it’s introducing a Poke Ball foil pattern in the set to make it feel a bit more special. We're not sure that will be enough for a lot of players to invest, but for now, we’ll just break down what’s here and leave it for you to decide for yourself.

So first? Yeah, Pecharunt and the Loyal Three are here. Base versions of the Three showed up in Twilight Masquerade, so the ones here are all about being poisoned and mind-controlled by Pecharunt. Okidogi poisons itself to power up. Munkidori delivers ex-level strength but only offers one Prize when it falls. Fezandipiti watches on and offers card draw when the opponent downs its teammates. Meanwhile, Pecharunt manipulates from the shadows, switching out its team for free with poisonous side effects.

You can extend its power beyond its three usual subjects with Binding Mochi, a new Tool card that powers up poisoned attackers by 40. With all this poison going around, it’s a good reminder that special conditions go away on the bench and Pecharunt’s switching means you should be able to keep things in control. Still, that damage is going to add up no matter how careful you are. A non-ex version of Pecharunt also shows up as a promo in Shrouded Fable products, instead chaining and punishing poisoned opponents. So, weirdly, Pecharunt might be a Pecharunt counter.

In addition to the Scarlet & Violet DLC characters, Shrouded Fable also sees appearances from other “dark” characters from the franchise’s history. Team Plasma leader Colress shows up on a Trainer card, as does Team Flare scientist Xerosic. And she isn’t exactly evil, but she’s certainly all about the poison, so Janine, a gym leader and Koga’s daughter, gets a Supporter card that accelerates energy while poisoning your own party.

Rounding out the set are a selection of creatures, most of whom fit the theme of darkness and poison. You’ve got Houndoom, Sneasel, Dusknoir, Toxicroak, Crobat, Malamar and more in here to make sure you get this set’s vibe. There’s even an Electric Tera-type version of everyone’s favorite pollution machine, Revavroom!

And hey: that new foil pattern ain’t nothing. It features a hexagon grid with Poke Balls in each hex, and it’s a nice enough look without getting in the way of legibility.

Shrouded Fable, as a set, is on the smaller side, clocking in at 64 cards before the secret rares kick in and 99 all told. This isn’t unprecedented — special sets have been small in the past — but after 151’s full Kanto Pokedex and Paldean Fates’ ludicrous lineup of shinies, it’s definitely an adjustment. But hey, that does make it easier to collect! So perhaps it’s a fun full set project.

The Pokemon Trading Card Game: Scarlet & Violet — Shrouded Fable special set launches in various boxed products starting August 2, 2024. Elite Trainer Boxes will be available on August 23. For more on the Pokemon TCG, check out our archive.

The post Pokemon TCG Shrouded Fable Explores Scarlet & Violet’s Most Toxic Relationships appeared first on Siliconera.

Thank Goodness You’re Here is one of the silliest and most absurd games I’ve ever played. In fact, I’d almost consider it more of an interactive experience, rather than a proper adventure game or platformer, given how essential everything about the town of Barnsworth and its citizens are to it. Coal Supper is completely committed to the bit, making it a joy to experience.

Rather than starting with any sort of solid explanation as to what’s going on, Thank Goodness You’re Here begins with a series of advertisements for oddities like Peans (“not quite peas, not quite beans”) and Big Ron’s Big Pies. It pulls back to your avatar, a very tiny, very yellow man, being told that Barnsworth needs exactly what you’ve got to offer. After jumping out a window to land on top of a bus to the village and riding it to the mayor’s office, you find yourself halted by his secretary. Instead of waiting there for your turn, it’s off to explore the town to “assist” the citizens.

While Coal Supper and Panic describe Thank Goodness You’re Here as a “comedy slapformer,” this is an adventure game through and through. You’ll wander around town, punching people to talk with them and things to interact with them. In so doing, you’ll make the town a better place (maybe). For example, one of the earliest tasks is to assist a man in the town square whose hand is trapped down a grate… because he refuses to let go of a tuppence. This means heading to a pub that needs kegs punched to get a locksmith having a morning drink to unlock access to the butter store, so you can knock down and ride a slab of butter to the growing crowd surrounding the trapped man at the fountain. 

I mean, it’s all very good. Like this is Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned cat hair mustache good. 

It is absolutely ridiculous. There are so many absurd situations and hilarious moments that I don’t even want to talk about the others outside that initial example. It would absolutely ruin it to know what’s coming. Especially since these moments keep happening. The incidental NPC chattering is fantastic, while still sometimes pointing you toward or hinting at certain situations. The character designs are the absolute goofiest. There a situation involving asbestos, of all things, that makes me laugh thinking about the commentary even as I write this review. 

Everything is also handled in such a way that it is perfectly paced and you may occasionally need to do a bit of thinking. Coal Supper set Thank Goodness You’re Here up in such a way that the game is always sending you naturally in the direction you need to go to for the next objective. So while you may be temporarily walled off in an area or unable to backtrack, odds are in 10-15 minutes your natural momentum will take you where you need to be. One situation involving retrieving a screwdriver even took me a minute, because of the unexpected additional platforming and exact inputs needed to properly facilitate its delivery.

I honestly love a lot of things about it. However, as much as I enjoyed Thank Goodness You’re Here, I’m not sure it will be a universally beloved game. There is some very British humor on display here. (Coal Supper is from Yorkshire after all, and there’s even a dialect option in the menu.) If you enjoy Monty Python’s Flying Circus or A Bit of Fry and Laurie, you will absolutely love it. However, I do think there are probably people who won’t find it as funny as others or may take issue with how easy and effortless it is. It’s very much the type of game where you basically need to hit or jump on everything to eventually make things happen. 

I have never seen so many people not only asking me to make a complete mess of things, but thanking me for doing so, in my life. But that’s exactly what Thank Goodness You’re Here feels like it is about, as the game rewards you for your goofy and occasionally destructive behavior with ridiculous, hilarious, and even sometimes a delightfully inappropriate response. It might not end up being a game for everyone, but those who do give it a chance and enjoy this kind of humor will likely be delighted.

Thank Goodness You’re Here will come to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC on August 1, 2024. 

The post Review: Thank Goodness You’re Here Is an Absurd Comedy appeared first on Siliconera.

Tentacular is one of those VR games that is a joy for many reasons. One thing I noticed is that it is the type that once you’re done with it, you can step away and feel satisfied. What’s great about the free Island Builder update for Tentacular is that it adds this additional creative element that could be ongoing, yet also builds on what’s fun about the game in general.

For those who didn’t get into the Firepunchd Games and Devolver Digital title back when it first showed up on the Meta Quest, PS VR2, or Windows PC VR headsets, the concept is simple. In Tentacular, you are essentially some sort of kraken-like creature. You were raised alongside humans after hatching from an egg. After coming of age, you step into the workforce and start helping out everyone on La Kalma island with odd jobs. It’s primarily a physics-based puzzle game with various situations littered across stages, but there’s also an overarching storyline that offers some insights into the characters, island, and situation they’re dealing with.

But the real fun involves figuring out how to solve problems when you only have two tentacles.

While there are some extra missions in the Tentacular Island Builder update, which are quite fun and feel different from what came before, the selling point is the titular Island Builder. This gives you access to a sandbox space that lets you create your own own island or see other people’s islands. I just couldn’t stop playing with the new suite of tools.

Some of the basic ones involve just being able to create landmasses and elements. Others involve getting a whole building toy box of different elements and features to help you put things together. There are pieces that allow you to combine items. Basically everything I encountered in the main game was available as an option when building or decorating in this supplemental area. While the first hour or so involved just messing around with the creation glove and building blocks for developing my own unique island, I really felt like I’d gotten to a point where I could build a small town that made sense to me. But also, I will admit that I had fun sort of destroying things a bit when my vision wasn’t adding up either. Since they weren’t the NPCs I was used to from the real game, I didn’t feel the same guilt as I would like… tossing a car or boat around there.

The ability to visit other people’s islands is also a fantastic perk. Tentacular’s base game is very good at presenting puzzles someone can play without getting VR or motion sick. Because I was moving around so much more when constructing my own island in the sandbox element, I did notice I’d need to take breaks a bit more frequently. If I knew I only needed like five or ten minutes, I’d usually keep my Meta Quest 3 on and head to some other players’ creations instead. 

The only thing I didn’t like is, honestly, the Tentacular cheat terminal. I ended up using it to play around with and unlock a thing, and I absolutely hated the inputs. The nature of it means you need to grab letters from the board and place them in the area in the proper order to spell out the correct phase. But because of the lack of the precision, when I grabbed “O” I also got “F” or “G.” The only time I could get the exact single letter I needed was if it was in the front row (so R, S, T, Y, V, W, X, Y, or Z). It was incredibly frustrating and I would have appreciated a little break in the immersion to make it more accommodating.

Before the Tentacular Island Builder free update dropped, it was probably one of the absolute best VR games you could get due to how well the concept and execution come together. After that new addition, I think it is absolutely in the top five. It feels like the perfect playground who ever got sucked into a SimCity or Sims style game for hours because they just wanted to design how the metropolis or house looked. It provides an even better excuse to head back to the game and maybe play it more often after beating the original levels.

Tentacular is available on the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest Pro, PS VR2, and Windows PC VR headsets, and the Island Builder update is live.

The post Tentacular Island Builder Expansion Adds More Life to the Game appeared first on Siliconera.

When Blizzard Entertainment had Overwatch playable to the general public for the very first time at Gamescom in 2015, I queued up for line with a swarm of attendees and waited for hours to get my hands on the game. I liked what I played. So much, in fact, that I played a healthy amount of the game when it first released. And I've been craving a similar Hero Shooter ever since. Marvel Rivals has more or less scratched that itch with it's 6-vs-6 formula and lack of Role Queue, reminiscent of the early era of Overwatch, but it's a shame I can't seem to get a Closed Beta key through the Twitch Drops campaign — because I would really like to play with my friends.

Mine is not an unpopular opinion on this matter. The Reddit is full of users complaining about how bad the roll-out for Closed Beta keys are, with bots swarming the redemption page every 5PM PST/12AM UTC. As of July 27, 2024 eBay is full of keys that can be purchased between the range of $30 to $100, which is steep for a Closed Beta. But given that you will be able to unlock an exclusive Venom skin, one that is reminiscent of his color scheme in Marvel versus Capcom 2, and the desire for players post-Closed Beta to want to show off their participation in this limited test, it doesn't surprise me that keys are being snatched up and sold for a profit.

I'll provide a quick breakdown of how these keys are acquired. You can watch any Marvel Rivals Twitch stream for an hour and be eligible to obtain a key. Keys are distributed through the Marvel Rivals website, assuming you're lucky enough to redeem one. Every time a new period of key distribution starts, the page where you can redeem your keys lags out. Sometimes it logs you out of your Twitch account, which means you need to spend a few seconds or a minute logging back in, or you have to make it through a CAPTCHA. All of these things mean you are probably not getting a key to the Closed Beta.

If you are fortunate to get a key, then you can only redeem one key through the in-game client for the entirety of the Closed Beta. Keys also go particularly fast, with 20% to 14% being available to redeem maybe a minute or so after key redemptions go live. Which sucks. Because if you aren't on at the exact time redemptions refresh, you're probably not getting a key.

And playing Hero Shooters without your friends is no fun. I mean, I've definitely solo queued in Marvel Rivals enough to get me over half-way through the Battle Pass and close to that Cyan Venom skin during my three days with the Closed Beta. But when even one of my friends also got access, I was having a lot more fun. And even more when two and then three were able to jump in. We were queuing together and figuring out team synergy. We were having fun and working together to box in enemies for me to swallow them up as Jeff the Shark and spit four opposing players off the map! It was great! And it required a lot of coordination to make happen. I'm sure you can do that through communicating in game with randoms, but there's a lot of fun to be had with friends.

These kinds of games have become social activities, ways for friends to spend time together overseas, or even just for a handful of matches to satiate their desire for carnage — or yearning for something like Overwatch that isn't Overwatch. That's me, I'm that person. And I want to be able to get my friends to join in on the fun so they can also experience the really cool moments I'm experiencing in game. Because I want to drag them into this, and I think the way Closed Beta keys are being distributed is making that really hard, and even potentially leaving a bad taste in the mouth of those that can't participate.

I will probably play Marvel Rivals when it releases. It's my kind of slop. But I genuinely feel bad for people that have been looking forward to this, or even dedicated time watching streams that won't be able to participate. Because who knows, maybe they'll feel burned enough to just not play the game.

Marvel Rivals is currently in closed beta on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

The post Marvel Rivals Twitch Closed Beta Keys are Impossible to Obtain appeared first on Siliconera.

I love Billy Kid from Zenless Zone Zero. Even though I’m not exactly sold on it in other ways, due to things like pacing and the freebies taking forever to earn, I can’t fault this one element of his design. Almost every part of him is perfectly executed, and the fact that we got such a wonderful character from the very start leaves me inclined to give Zenless Zone Zero a little leeway.

Part of this comes down to the general design for Billy Kid. He’s an android, which means you’d worry about him perhaps looking a bit generic. However, his robotic face manages to be as expressive, if not more so, than other characters. This is because of the exaggerated approach HoYoVerse artists use. So even though he can look stoic and severe at a glance, in motion we see a range of emotions as varied as anyone else’s. There are also other touches, such as a red leather jacket filled with fandom patches and an exaggerated hairstyle that rivals any shonen hero’s.

Billy Kid also has the absolute best personality type in Zenless Zone Zero. Those who kept up with Trigun will know what I mean. He’s absolutely a Vash the Stampede type. This is a character who genuinely means well and is a good person (robot)! He can be delightfully goofy about things! He adores the show Starlight Knight. He has a crush on a celebrity. He refers to his guns as the Girls. However, we also know that there’s more to him. He’s a more than competent Agent. He’s an established Intelligent Tactical Unit. His character teaser from 2023, which featured his beta phase voice actor Michael Schwalbe, noted he used to even be an infamous Outer Ring “combat weapon” and feared warrior. He’s skilled, competent, and cares!

The Billy Kid English and Japanese voice actors in Zenless Zone Zero even enhance that. Both Clifford Chapin and Yu Hayashi give these enthusiastic, earnest, over-the-top types of performances. You can tell there’s an opportunity for seriousness in their portrayals. At the same time, they both do a perfect job of geeking out and bringing him to life.

Honestly, I think that combination of the right personality and voice actors make it feel like Billy Kid is the best part of the early Zenless Zone Zero story. He absolutely steals the show in the tutorial, when we’re helping Phaethon get him and Anby out of the Hollow during the introduction. He’s a constant source of humor, being genuinely and completely funny due to both his responses to Anby and reactions. At the same time, he’s an absolute badass. He handles situations efficiently and is smart about dealing with enemies. He’s practical when it comes to successfully navigating and escaping the situation. He’s also just a generally good buddy to the Phaethon siblings, being genuinely appreciative of his “manager.” No matter what the situation or who the person in the scene with him is, the writing means he plays off of them perfectly.

The only bad thing about Billy Kid in Zenless Zone Zero is… well, actually using him. Which is a shame since there’s so much potential when it comes to the concept behind the character! He’s a DPS, but a completely ranged unit in a title where you’re most likely going to get up close and personal when beating baddies up. His attacks honestly look amazing too. I absolutely love how he looks when he uses his Fatal Shot Assist. His Stand Still and Clearance Time Specials? Also fantastic to watch. 

However, Billy Kid is clearly a case of form over function in Zenless Zone Zero, and it keeps him from being one of the best possible party members at the very least for the moment. His playstyle is very forgiving, which is a plus! While his Basic Attack only hits one, it’s easy to use his other moves or build off of it to deal AOE damage. The problem comes when you look closer. He’s a Physical Attack Agent with the Cunning Hares. Know who also is and happens to be a better DPS due to her nature as an S-rank character? Nekomata. It also doesn’t help that Anby and Nicole are more versatile members of the group who can slot into other teams more easily than Billy. There’s no Physical type Stun or Support unit in-game yet who could support a Billy team, and someone going for an A-rank Physical DPS could also perhaps pick Piper instead. 

I know it is early days with Zenless Zone Zero. At the rate at which HoYoVerse tends to add new characters to games, which can be between two and three per patch, we’ll likely see lots of Agents to fall in love with as time goes by. However, there is just something special about Billy Kid in Zenless Zone Zero. His combat prowess aside, everything about him feels perfectly in tune with the game, not to mention appealing to a general audience.

Zenless Zone Zero is available for the PS5, PC, and mobile devices.

The post Billy Kid Can Be the Best Part of Zenless Zone Zero  appeared first on Siliconera.

When there are collaborations between properties or crossover merchandise appears, there can be varying degrees of success. Sometimes one brand or character isn’t well-represented. It could be superficial. The Tamagotchi Uni Sanrio Characters model is an example of a perfectly executed crossover, with fantastic representation and integration of Sanrio characters alongside Tamagotchi staples.

As with the Hello Kitty Nano variant, we aren’t actually raising Hello Kitty or a Sanrio character in this Tamagotchi Uni. We are raising a normal Tamagotchi character. However, the Sanrio elements are actively involved. This is due to the implementation of the Tamaverse that grants access to Sanrio Puroland. So if someone already owns an Uni unit, it is $7.20 for the ticket to unlock that area, the elements, and the possible evolutions. If you don’t have the unit, it’s $69.99 for one that includes the ticket and the model features Hello Kitty ribbons all over its face.

Once you get the ticket applied, which can be done immediately once your first Tamagotchi is in the baby stage, it’s so easy to start kitting out the unit with the Sanrio elements. After your first character becomes a child, you can select Tamaverse and head to Sanrio Puroland by choosing to go to a DL Area. You’ll be greeted by other characters who also are from those variants, which is fun. It gives you a chance to see what to possible shoot for.

From there, you can start seeing actual Sanrio characters in the Tamagotchi Uni or purchasing virtual items. Going to the Entrance of Sanrio Puroland triggers a parade of mascots. These can vary. One time, I saw an array of characters that included Pompompurin, Little Twin Stars, and more obscure characters like Usahana and Cogimyun. Fluffy Ribbon House is the designated minigame for this area, granting access to a Hello Kitty Ribbon Jump. It’s fairly simple, given you’re pressing left or right when directed, but pays better than normal minigames for a three-star performance. (600 Gotchi Points!) That features Mimmy White and Tiny Chum appearances as well.

However, it’s the Kawaii Shop in Sanrio Puroland that really makes this Tamagotchi Uni crossover work. Yes, you can redecorate with accessories, furniture, and one of two 500 G room styles. However, the food, snacks, and items help make the real difference. I bought a 200 G Kuromi Diary and, after making that my character’s exclusive toy, I got a Melodytchi dressed like Kuromi. For my second character, I only fed them the 100 G Star Pancakes to boost their happiness. The result? A Little Unimarutchi character appeared.

I just love how it all opens up once you access Sanrio Puroland for the first time. Especially since the crossover items in a Tamagotchi Uni Sanrio Characters model are all affordable. Getting 600 G from a perfect performance in Ribbon Jump is enough for a room redesign and a snack. I went through two runs, and I had the Kuromi Diary and some other toys purchased in case I decided to wanted to play around with Cinnamoroll instead. I didn’t need to spend a lot of time saving up for items I wanted, and thus possible evolutions. 

What’s also fun is that the Tamagotchi Uni toys tied to Sanrio characters also summon the mascots to play with your character. The Kuromi Diary means you get to see Kuromi, My Melody, and Baku. The Purin Bag brings in Pompompurin. When the Cinnamon Cup is played with, you see Cinnamoroll and an array of other puppies he’s friends with. I love the attention to detail.

I love how the Tamagotchi Uni Sanrio Characters model and Sanrio Puroland Tamaverse are handled. It really makes it easy to quickly start integrating the mascots into your virtual pet’s life. Not to mention that also means there’s a low barrier of entry when getting certain characters unlocked. It’s a perfect example of how to make one of these crossovers a success.

The Tamagotchi Uni Sanrio Characters model and Tamaverse ticket are available now.

The post Tamagotchi Uni Sanrio Characters Model Results in a Perfect Crossover appeared first on Siliconera.

The Star Named EOS is the latest game from Silver Lining Studio, and like Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery before it, the game tells a very personal story of art and connection in between puzzles set in panoramic scenes. Said puzzles aren't intended to be taxing, and I had a few issues with the slightly saccharine story, but if you can tune to the game's wavelength you'll find a very pleasant story with some lovely visuals here.

The game plays from the perspective of Dei, a young photographer following in the footsteps of his mother by recreating (very literal) snapshots of her life. Most levels in The Star Named EOS start with a letter from Mom as well as a photo, which you will need recreate with what you have available in the scene. There's some decent variety in the puzzles, though perhaps a few too many leaned on finding a code in the level and inputting it elsewhere. Sometimes you'll find what you need after a few puzzles and simply have to arrange it, but sometimes you'll need to get a little inventive. My favorite was one that involved holding cutouts against a poster to recreate a camping scene in the middle of a city. Complete the photo and you'll move to the area depicted as you piece together what happened to Dei's mom.

My copy of The Star Named EOS came on Switch, and while it ran perfectly and looked good I did find the point-and-click gameplay a bit clunky with the analog sticks. It was nothing huge, but searching out specific clickables without adjustable sensitivity was definitely more irritating than it could have been with a mouse and keyboard. This only got worse when I had to go back and forth between several screens to check the sequence I was inputting, so if you plan to play the game you should make things easier for yourself by bringing a notepad and, if possible, playing on PC.

The environments and art in general have a lovely, slightly painterly style and the game makes use once again of Silver Lining Studio's panorama tech. There are also a few cutscenes interspersed, usually where another character appears, and the designs there have this slightly Ghibli-ish quality to them that was pleasant. I especially liked the areas set in a train or a city cafe, which seemed like they might have had a mid-1900's aesthetic going on, though I don't know if the game is expressly set then.

There's a smidgen of replayability, should you want to go back and collect a few more bits of writing by photos of specific objects in levels, but otherwise you'll be done within a couple of hours. This will depend on how easily you take to the puzzles of course, but generally the game has a breezy pace that doesn't get bogged down despite the sentimentality of it all. I would say, however, that the pace left the story feeling a little too "broad strokes" at times.

Our protagonist Dei, for example, can come across as a little flat because we don't really know all that much about him. We're told several times that he's very talented at photography and is clearly very close to his mom, but I didn't get a sense of a real character beyond that. There's a part where a character says she envies how insightful he is, and it just felt very weird and unearned. Dei feels like a blank slate everyman meant to be projected onto, but the story feels like its meant to be personal in a way that didn't quite click together, at least for me.

[Note: The next section will contain spoilers for The Star Named Eos]

The Mom is similar, we get that she is clearly very idealistic and committed to her job but with such little information about what she's doing and why she's doing it the game kind of fails to convey the gravity of it. We don't really see what she believed was worth risking her life for, and I think that would have been a more concrete story beat for Dei learn that too. As it stands, it's not hard to come away from The Star Named EOS with the rather unflattering read that Dei simply replaces his lost mother figure with Nat, a character who appears towards the end, rather than coming to any realization or expressing any growth.

The Star Named EOS has a fairytale vibe to it like the start of a Pixar movie, but the same breezy pace and lightness of detail can also make the story feel flat or overly sentimental. Still, there's a pleasant and affecting time for those who can slow down and enjoy it.

The Star Named EOS is available for the PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The post Review: The Star Named EOS Is Short and a Little too Sweet appeared first on Siliconera.

World of Warcraft is perhaps one of the longest enduring MMORPGs, having launched November 2004, it will have been in service for nearly two decades this year. It was a game that I initially shunned, but warmed up to over time as my interest in other MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XIV waned. But as I sat with friends, discussing all of the games, specifically MMORPGs, that we played, I realized something: World of Warcraft could benefit from more linear expansion and story progression.

I meet up with a friends at a local restaurant to get out of my apartment, and we sit and talk about games that were formative to us during our youth between picking at cheese covered short ribs slathered in a spicy marinade and Korean corn cheese. We talk about Starcraft, and how despite effectively starting the Esports scene in Korea it has fallen into decline, and how incredible Warcraft III and its subsequent expansion, The Frozen Throne, was. Since I am still new to World of Warcraft, with the decades old MMORPG still retaining it's glossy shine to me (probably because I haven't had to trudge through Shadowlands or Cataclysm in full, yet) I bring it up. We are both lovers of Sylvanas Windrunner and Arthas Menethil and I talk excited with them about the attention to detail put into The Undercity, the capital city for The Forsaken — undead who have broken free from the Lich King's influence to live as a mostly independent people. I tell them about the bruised and rotten flower petals that the now undead citizens of Lordaeron threw in joyous celebration at the return of their crown prince, how the bells still sing for Arthas, and how his voice still echoes in the throne room where he slew his father in an act of patricide to overtake the city and condemn his people to undeath.

I share all of the stories told to me about Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, two of World of Warcraft's first major expansions, realizing that neither them or myself will be able to run through them as they were. And that in some cases, you will not be able to experience them at all if you progress a character in retail too far to make use of Chromie's time distortion, which does let you play through old World of Warcraft expansions to an extent. You see, there is a cut-off for this around Level 50, which prevents you from accessing other expansions as they mostly were. I say mostly, because the divisive Cataclysm expansion changed the world map in such a significant way that even major landmarks were destroyed and various locations altered with the arrival of Deathwing. Which I'm sure was exciting when that expansion launched! And further down the line, certain starting zones were changed to show the flow of time in Azeroth, which is something I actually like in World of Warcraft over Final Fantasy XIV. Final Fantasy XIV does have some time lapse between expansions, but everything is more or less static. There isn't a greater change in the world, characters don't grow up or age or die, which I think works to the detriment of the MMORPG, but it does do one thing right in terms of progression: it's completely linear.

Final Fantasy XIV requires you to go through A Realm Reborn to get to Heavensward, and Heavensward to get to Stormblood, and so on. You can, of course, purchase a story skip to bypass all of this content which I've done for alts, but for the most part you need to engage in the Main Scenario Content in a specific order to see storylines unfold in a way that ushers you through what feels like a chronicling of major, significant story events. World of Warcraft has these things — the resurgence of the Scourge and the awakening of the Lich King, the Burning Legion pouring forth out of emerald green demon gates, to name a few. Not all World of Warcraft expansions hit their mark. With the community at large disliking Shadowlands to such an extent that it's become shorthand for middling expansions that it's even permeated the Final Fantasy XIV community in terms of how that own portion of MMORPG players have come to regard Dawntrail. But I think going through the story in some linear fashion would be great for World of Warcraft.

Yes, you would have to endure old content which means a lot of fetch quests and running around old maps. But having played Classic Season of Discovery, I think that would be a great boon. That content forces you to engage with the world and learn about it in a way that has you exploring these old zones, and it would breathe life into regions that have otherwise gone neglected. You would get to learn about the relationship each of the small villages you discover have with the world at large, you'd get too experience characters grow old and change and even die, instead of just popping into the world as is. Yes, instanced zones still exist so people can experience some starting areas as they were, but it'd be cool (if not maybe impossible) to see Blizzard Entertainment impliment this on a larger scale.

Maybe this is just me wanting to see more players in old zones, or wanting people to experience some of the best story content World of Warcraft has had, or maybe it's just me being nostalgic for characters that Blizzard Entertainment just still haven't been able to top. (I won't deny, I have a huge bias for Arthas, but he's iconic for a reason!) I know I definitely feel this way because I've played Season of Discovery; because I've experienced those old starting zones and spoken to those old NPCs that I know become significant. It's nice to see where things begin and where they will potentially end, and I think World of Warcraft does have some solid character writing even if it isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But I think it's a shame people can't experience some of the best bits of what World of Warcraft does have to offer, and having that linear progression would maybe enhance their experience. I know it would for me.

World of Warcraft is available on PC.

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