The indie platformer Celeste will be getting a fresh batch of free new levels in early 2019
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Celeste's free Chapter 9 update has now arrived with over 100 new levels, and they're pretty good!
The excellent indie platformer Celeste has recently managed to reach a rather momentous milestone - more than 500,000 copies sold in a single year! In order to celebrate, as well as give Celeste the sendoff it truly deserves, the developers have now announced that they will be soon adding a bunch of free new levels.
The details are still few and far between, but as you might expect from an update that comes an entire year after launch, the new levels will be hard as nails! As for the release date, nothing specific has been said just yet, but you can expect to see the new levels in early 2019.
Dolmen is an upcoming action-RPG that mixes Dark Souls' gameplay with cosmic horror
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Dolmen has now arrived, though sadly with a whole array of problems.
Like many games in the past few years, Dolmen is an upcoming Dark Souls inspired action-RPG with a heavy focus on challenging difficulty, exploration, and small-scale duels against tricky enemies. However, instead of the usual dark fantasy setting that comes with most Souls-like games, Dolmen has chosen to style itself after sci-fi and cosmic horror. As such, expect to see some outlandish environments, bizarre aliens, and plenty of killer robots!
Visuals aside, the biggest difference between Dolmen and the Souls-like genre is in the use of ranged weapons. Rather than simply have the whole ranged combat system be entirely separate from its melee counterpart, Dolmen will require you to constantly weave melee and ranged attacks together in order to take down some of the tougher enemies. According to the brief description, each enemy will be vulnerable to a particular element or attack combination, so if everything ends up being well balanced, it should make for some pretty diverse gameplay.
Artifact has now received its first balance update, as well as a new rating and progression system
- By Ash
- in News
Valve's card game Artifact launched a couple of weeks ago, and unfortunately it has not managed to make much of an impact in the already crowded genre. While the reasons for this are most likely going to be complex, it certainly didn't help that Artifact launched with some rather bare-bones features, no actual ranked mode, no progression, and some extremely wonky balance.
While there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, I am glad to say that the two latest updates have improved the game considerably. The first update brought in-game tournaments and the ability to communicate with your opponent, while the more recent one has added skill rating, account levels with a small progression system, and perhaps most importantly of all, some much-needed balance changes.
Prison Architect's latest update has now added the often-requested multiplayer mode
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
Despite saying they were done with Prison Architect quite a few times now, the developers have returned once more with a major update. This time around they have added the much-requested multiplayer feature, meaning that you can now build and manage a prison with up to four players at the same time! The system is still in its early days so you won't be able to play maps that require mods or mess around with the Escape or Warded game modes, but thankfully all major features are currently working in multiplayer.
As always, if you're wondering what all of this looks like in-game, as well as what the developers are planning for the future, you should check out the most recent update video. It's a bit lengthy, but I'd say it's still well worth watching. Have a peek:
Darksiders 3 has added a "Classic" combat mode that makes battles feel similar to the two previous games
- By Ash
- in News
Darksiders 3 arrived for PC and consoles back in November, and unfortunately it did so alongside a whole host of problems. The dodging mechanics were clunky, there were bugs everywhere, and the first hour of gameplay was quite possibly the worst the game had to offer. Thankfully, THQ Nordic have taken these complaints to heart and have slowly but surely improved the overall experience. There's still a lot of work to be done, but Darksiders 3 is now at the very least a pretty decent game.
Continuing on with the constant stream of updates, THQ Nordic has now also released a variety of bug fixes and balance changes, as well as added a brand new "Classic" combat mode. As you might imagine from the name alone, the Classic combat mode makes the overall gameplay feel similar to the first two Darksiders games, meaning you can now dodge to interrupt your attacks, use items instantly, and so forth.
Hearthstone devs have now nerfed some of the most oppressive cards, including Wild Growth and Nourish
- By Ash
- in News
Hearthstone's newest expansion Rastakhan's Rumble arrived a couple of weeks ago, and even though it brought in a variety of interesting new cards and mechanics, it barely had any impact on the constructed meta. As it turns out, some of the most powerful decks have become so refined that they simply didn't have room, or even a need for brand new cards to supplement their strategy.
In order to tone done some of these decks and make the whole constructed experience just a bit more enjoyable, Blizzard has now issued a variety of nerfs to some of the most popular cards. Here's what changed:
Ashen is a newly released action-RPG that styles itself after Dark Souls
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Ashen devs are working on a Souls-like RPG with skeletons, guns and magical canine companions - Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn!
As you would imagine from any game that draws inspiration from Dark Souls, Ashen is an action-RPG that will have you explore an intricate world, fight against difficult enemies with a variety of unique weapons, and naturally, repeatedly die against giant bosses. It should be a fairly familiar formula to any fan of the genre, which is why I am glad to say that Ashen has managed to pull if off quite successfully - it's thankfully not just a Dark Souls clone!
When it comes to the multiplayer, however, Ashen has a bit of a different idea compared to its predecessors. While Dark Souls intentionally tries to make you feel isolated from the world, Ashen will occasionally have you come across random players doing their own thing in the wilderness. You can choose to work together in order to solve a quest, head on into a dungeon and see how far your new partnership will take you, or simply ignore the other player entirely and continue on your merry way. A simple, but rather nifty idea to help breathe some life into the world itself.