Cyanide's Call of Cthulhu RPG has now arrived alongside generally positive reviews
- By Ash
- in News
Call of Cthulhu is Cyanide Studio's newly released video game adaptation of the classic pen and paper RPG of the same name. As you would expect from anything inspired by Lovecraft's work, Call of Cthulhu will have you investigate a mysterious cult filled with otherworldly horrors and misshapen figures in robes, all in an effort to figure out what in the world is happening before your sanity finally slips away.
Since words alone aren't exactly the best at describing horror games, allow me to share with you the recently posted trailer. It's a little bit disorientating, but it should still give you a pretty decent idea of what Call of Cthulhu is aiming for. Have a look:
Steam's annual Halloween sale has now arrived alongside a variety of excellent horror games
- By Ash
- in News
With Halloween season now in full swing, it was only a matter of time before the various horror games started going on a bit of a discount. As such, I'm sure it won't come as much of a surprise to hear that the annual Steam Halloween Sale has now arrived, bringing with it a large assortment of good games at equally good discounts.
So if you're looking to dive into a couple of 'spooktacular' horror games, you might want to go and give the sale a look sooner rather than later, as it's expiration date is quite close indeed. To be more specific, the Steam Halloween Sale will be closing down its doors a mere two days from now, on November 1st!
Vermintide 2's Halloween update has brought in nighttime versions of the original maps
- By Ash
- in News
It would appear that Fatshark has been quite busy this past month or two. Just recently they have released a beta update that has reworked, rebalanced or simply fixed the vast majority of weapons, careers and enemies, and now they have also released a Halloween update that transforms all of the daytime maps into much spookier nighttime ones.
While it doesn't change the gameplay in any significant way, the addition of these new map variations is definitely a welcome one in my eyes. The atmosphere is almost entirely different at night, especially when you're sneaking through the giant fields in Against the Grain while lit only by the green light of the cursed moon - a perfect combination with the recent change that made the eyes of the enemies glow in the darkness!
The atmospheric and psychological horror game Layers of Fear is getting a sequel
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
The original Layers of Fear is a first-person psychological horror game with a focus on storytelling and exploration, as is tradition. From what I can recall it had a pretty darn good start with some solid atmosphere and interesting events to back it all up, but as I went further along the jumpscares became more and more predictable and the horror elements kind of faded away. I'd still rate it as a pretty decent horror game, but if you ask me, the studio's next game >observer_ was much more impressive.
It would appear that I am in the minority here, however, as the developers have just recently come out to announce that Layers of Fear 2 is getting a sequel! Not much is known about it so far, but if you'd like a couple of hints points you towards what Layers of Fear 2's story will be like, you'll find the recently posted teaser trailer right below. Have a gander:
Gwent's singleplayer campaign Thronebreaker has arrived with a solid mixture of RPG storytelling and card game strategy
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: CDPR is working on a new singleplayer-focused card game adventure based on Gwent - project Golden Nekker.
Gwent's singleplayer campaign Thronebreaker was supposed to arrive in the ancient times of 2016, but due to some unfortunate issues it ended up being delayed for a while. Since then Gwent has received numerous large updates and even undergone a massive rework, but Thronebreaker was still nothing more than a whisper in the wind. As such, I hope you can realize just how demoralized people were when CDPR announced that not only will Thronebreaker's release date be pushed back yet again, but that Gwent itself will be redesigned for the second time.
While all that faffing around was definitely annoying, I am glad to say that the long wait is now finally over as Gwent's absolutely gigantic Homecoming update has arrived alongside the Thronebreaker singleplayer campaign. Perhaps most importantly of all, both have ended up being pretty damn good despite their troubled development!
After many years in Early Access, the incredibly varied colony sim RimWorld has now released in full
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: RimWorld's very first expansion Royalty has now suddenly been released alongside Update 1.1!
In a world where Steam Early Access is most often used as a tool to avoid legitimate criticism, RimWorld stands as a shining example of what it can truly be used for - community interaction, tons of changes, and an endless stream of new content to keep backers occupied. And so, after many years in Early Access, I am very happy to announce that RimWorld has just recently launched in full alongside a nearly perfect (and most certainly well deserved) 97% approval rating on Steam.
For those of you wondering what RimWorld is actually all about, however, it would probably be best to just say that it has been inspired by Dwarf Fortress. That alone should tell you how complex, interwoven, and often times absolutely bloody insane the gameplay can truly get. Thankfully, RimWorld is neither as insurmountable or as unwieldy as Dwarf Fortress, so if you're even remotely interested in experiencing what I can only describe as 'self-writing stories', you should definitely give it a look.
Vermintide 2 beta update has rebalanced just about every single weapon, career and enemy
- By Ash
- in News
Despite Vermintide 2's arsenal being pretty damn enjoyable to use, as I've noted many times throughout my review, the unfortunate reality is that many of them are currently woefully inadequate when it comes to the hardest difficulty setting. This is usually because they lack armor-penetration to help deal with those pesky Chaos Warriors, but some also have issues with ammo efficiency, cleave size, attack speed, and naturally, moveset.
With that in mind, I am delighted to announce that Vermintide 2's latest beta has not only rebalanced just about every weapon and career, but has also tweaked all of the enemies in order to prevent some of the more annoying bugs and behaviors from popping up. Chaos Warriors now no longer do instantaneous 180° turns in order to clobber you in the face, Berserkers and Plague Monks no longer break the laws of physics and home-in on you during their jump attacks, regular enemies no longer track you with their swings despite you dodging their blows, and the list goes on for quite a while.