CD Projekt seems to be working on a standalone version of Gwent - The Witcher 3 card game
- By Ash
- in News
Given that your starting Gwent deck in The Witcher 3 sucks more than a black hole its very easy to dismiss the whole minigame as just a simple diversion, something like dice poker from the previous games in the series. However, after investing a tiny bit of time with it I found Gwent to be strangely irresistible, so much so that I've managed to collect every single card and probably add a good dozen hours to my playthrough, all thanks to this fairly simple card game.
If you share a similar experience, and I know for a fact there's many of us out there, you'll be delighted to hear that CDPR is working on an official Gwent card game! This news comes from Nerdleaks who had managed to spot a new trademark and logo registered by CD Projekt, one that quite clearly states Gwent: The Witcher Card Game.
Wasteland 2 is free on Steam for the next two days
- By Ash
- in News
Another weekend has arrived, and with it a brand new "free" game on Steam. This time around its Wasteland 2, an oldschool turn-based RPG that might not be the best looking game around, but is still filled to the brim with interesting decisions to make, compelling characters, and some great writing.
You can try out Wasteland 2 for free on Steam over the course of the next two days, and if you find yourself interested you can grab it at a 50% discount, which brings the price down to €20/$20. If you're looking for some gameplay footage to sway you either way, here's the relatively recent launch trailer, and I hope you like constant jump-cuts:
The Witness has been demade into a 2D NES game
- By Ash
- in News
I'm sure most people will agree that The Witness is a beautiful game, but at its core its mechanics are about as simple as they get. If someone was determined enough they could quite feasibly re-develop The Witness for any of the old consoles... and as it so happens, someone did!
After two months of work the indie developer Dustmop has managed to demake The Witness into an NES game, both as a reinterpretation and as a tribute. There are 32 puzzles with various rules to discover, and all of this is done by navigating an overhead world with 4-way scrolling.
Bloodstained's latest developer video shows off the first level, a playable demo is coming next week
- By Ash
- in News
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a Castlevania inspired action-platformer headed by Koji Igarashi, a veteran designer with numerous Castlevania games under his belt. Ever since the project successfully secured $5,545,991 via Kickstarter it has received a steady slew of updates, but the most recent one is particularly exciting.
The reason behind this is that the latest update has an actual in-game level to show off, rather than just concept art or rough animations on a dull gray background. The first level is set on the Galleon Minerva during a raging storm, and if you're interested in seeing it here's the video in all of its early alpha glory:
Remedy Entertainment, the devs behind Quantum Break, are working on two new games
- By Ash
- in News
During the recent "State of the Studio" blog post Remedy Entertainment, the folks behind Quantum Break and Alan Wake, had a couple of exciting announcements to share. The good news is that after the success of Quantum Break the team now has enough resources to develop two new games simultaneously, the first of which has been in the works for a while now.
The somewhat bad news, however, is that neither of those those two games is the long awaited Alan Wake sequel. Here's a couple of excerpts from their blog post and a brief explanation of the Alan Wake situation:
The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine - Spoiler-Free Review
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Watching the Witcher series evolve over time has been a truly inspirational experience for me. Even though it all started with the incredibly buggy and downright unplayable Witcher 1 CDPR has managed to not only correct their mistakes, but steadily improve upon their formula to the point where they're now considered one of the best RPG developers out there. Quite the turnaround when you consider the... colorful reception they've garnered with their first release.
Speaking of the original Witcher, the final expansion for The Witcher 3, Blood and Wine, reminds me of it in many ways. Instead of struggling against nearly godlike foes and ancient prophecies you're simply plying your Witcher trade by investigating crime scenes, tracking down monsters, and attempting to figure out what in the world is going on. Politics do eventually rear their ugly head as well, but for the most part its just Geralt, the gorgeous duchy of Toussaint, and a monster that doesn't make itself easy to hate.
If this is to be the final expansion for The Witcher 3 and the end of Geralt's long and storied journey, I cannot imagine a better way to say farewell than by taking all of the good elements from the entire series and combining them together to form one last, grand adventure worthy of a true Witcher.
Ubisoft has officially confirmed Watch Dogs 2, its coming in November
- By Ash
- in News
After a couple of days filled with wild rumors Ubisoft has finally confirmed the existence of Watch Dogs 2. It is set to arrive on November 15 and bring with it a brand new protagonist, a brilliant young hacker by the name of Marcus Holloway. Unlike Aiden, the protagonist from Watch Dogs 1, the plan with Marcus is to make him an expressive and relatable character, someone the players can actually get along with.
This whole announcement comes in the form of a rather long and detailed "premier video", so if you're interested in some Watch Dogs 2 footage and developer commentary I would recommend you check it out: