The classic Shadow Warrior is now free on GOG
- By Ash
- in News
With Shadow Warrior 2's October 13th release date just around the corner, GOG has decided to drum up a bit of excitement by giving away the game that started it all - Shadow Warrior Classic. You can grab it by heading over here, and don't worry about compatibility issues with modern systems, this version should work perfectly fine on pretty much anything you throw at it.
If you've never experienced the Wang-tastic Shadow Warrior and are currently wondering if its even worth the trouble, here's the recent trailer for Shadow Warrior Classic Redux - essentially a graphical remaster. As you might expect from the name alone, the graphics are obviously going to be significantly less detailed on the old school version, but all of the gameplay is still exactly the same! Have a look:
Obduction Gameplay Showcase - The first 30 minutes
- By Ash
- in Gameplay Showcase
Obduction is Cyan's spiritual successor to the long-lasting Myst series. As you might expect, this means that Obduction features some extremely beautiful environments, a mysterious and compelling story, and naturally, a whole slew of hellishly difficult puzzles for you to wrack your brain against.
Since puzzle-adventures tend to be notoriously difficult to get into, allow me to give you a glimpse at Obduction's gameplay so that you can decide whether its the sort of thing you're interested in or not. The gameplay video below features the first 30 minutes, including brief story bits, but I wouldn't worry too much about spoilers as I've intentionally avoided the difficult puzzles and massive revelations. Have a look:
The Witcher 3 Gameplay Showcase - The wolf, the fat man, and the bleeding tree
- By Ash
- in Gameplay Showcase
When it comes to open world RPGs The Witcher 3 is my gold standard for quality. The game-world is absolutely massive and the majority of the locations are well worth visiting; the graphics are some of the best you will encounter in any game today; the characters are well written and quite complex; and most importantly, none of the side-quests are designed to waste your time by making you collect a dozen bear asses. That doesn't mean you are going to save any time, however, as The Witcher 3 has already robbed me of well over a hundred hours, and because I hate seeing other people have free time I would like for you to discover how fun it is as well.
Since showcasing this through words alone is pretty much impossible, allow me to instead present you with a bit of gameplay. The video below contains a single, random quest I encountered in the middle of nowhere and like the majority of the classics it all begins with a giant wolf, a fat man, and a bleeding tree. Have a look, its a rather entertaining one:
Overwatch's Competitive Season 2 has arrived to live servers alongside a massive balancing patch
- By Ash
- in News
While it was originally slated for September 6th, Blizzard has decided to throw the community a bone by unleashing Overwatch's Competitive Season 2 onto the live servers a few days in advance. Besides the long-awaited return of Competitive Play, Season 2 brings with it Eichenwalde, a brand new map, as well as a whole slew of balance changes.
If you're interested in the full patch notes you can find them by heading over to the Blizzard forums. On the other hand, if you're just interested in all of the hero changes and balance fixes, you'll find them right below:
Obduction Review (Spoiler Free)
- By Ash
- in Reviews
When it comes to puzzle-adventures I am utterly helpless. Their strange, convoluted logic and complete lack of direction often leave me dazed and confused, unable to figure out what the puzzle even is, let alone solve it! And yet I find myself always coming back to them, simply because the stories they tell are equally as strange and convoluted, a stark contrast to what you might encounter in most other games.
As you might expect, the same applies to Obduction - Cyan's spiritual successor to the long-lasting Myst series. The puzzles are deviously difficult, especially near the end game, and there is almost no indication of where you're supposed to go or what in the world you're supposed to do. While all of this gave me quite a headache by the end of it, I'm still incredibly happy I decided to play through Obduction as the slowly evolving story and bizarre, alien landscapes combine to create a truly irresistible adventure.
Whether this is something you'll enjoy or not, that's a difficult question to answer, but allow me to give you a glimpse at what Obduction really is and you can decide from there.
Starward Rogue devs have pulled their latest game from Steam after less than a week
- By Ash
- in News
Arcen Games, the folks behind AI War and Starward Rogue, simply cannot catch a break these days. Back in January they were forced to lay off a good portion of their studio after the roguelike SHMUP Starward Rogue ended up selling an abysmall amount of copies despite good reviews, and sadly it appears that history is repeating itself.
According to a recent blog post, Arcen's latest game "In Case of Emergency, Release Raptor" has been met with an entirely underwhelming amount of sales and as such is being pulled entirely from Steam's Early Access program. Everyone who purchased Raptor is now eligible for a full refund, while the game itself is being given away free-of-charge in an attempt to test the waters and see if people like the idea of going on a raptor-fueled rampage.
Instead of simply summarizing the whole story for you, however, allow me to instead quote Arcen's CEO Chris Park as he does a rather good job of explaining the whole situation:
Arcanum, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight, and other Sierra classics are now available on Steam
- By Ash
- in News
If you're a fan of retro gaming you'll be happy to hear that a brand new batch of "Sierra Classics" has been released onto the Steam store. Some of them, such as Arcanum - Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura, you might recognize due to their status as a cult classic these days, but there's also some lesser-known games such as Phantasmagoria and Police Quest.
Most of these games have been available for a while on GOG and other marketplaces, but if you feel the need to have all of your games united under Steam's banner, now you have a chance to do so with some of Sierra's old school stuff as well. Here's the full list: