- By Ash
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[Update]: After nearly a decade in development, Factorio has now finally been released!
After a rather lengthy development process, the simple yet incredibly complex factory building and management sim Factorio is just about ready to launch. Once the upcoming Version 0.17 becomes stable and polished, Factorio will finally step out of Early Access and launch as a fully finished game.
There is currently no exact release date set, for obvious reasons, but what I can tell you is that after April 16th Factorio's price will be increased to 30 USD (or your regional equivalent). So if you ever wanted to give Factorio a try, or at least do a bit more research about it, now would be the time to do so as you can still grab it for a completely reasonable $20/€20.
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If you're a fan of Guild Wars 2's jumping puzzles, or just platformers so brutally difficult that you often can't decide between shouting for joy or tearing your hair out, you might be interested to hear that the Super Adventure Festival has now arrived once more! It will last until April 19th, so if you're up for exploring a brand new and highly pixelated world, make sure to visit any of the major cities as they all have a convenient portal to the Super Adventure Box.
Since trying to explain the Super Adventure Box through words alone is always going to be a bit of a pointless task, allow me to share with you the latest developer stream. The video is little bit on the long side, but even if you only watch for a couple of minutes you'll still get a pretty darn good idea whether the Super Adventure Box is something you'd enjoy or not. Have a gander:
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I have seen many examples of previously stagnating games switch to a free-to-play model in order to revitalize their population, but I can't exactly say I've ever seen a game attempt do the reverse. As such, I am genuinely curious to see what will happen once the currently free-to-play card game Faeria transitions to a buy-to-play model and cancels its mobile versions at some point this summer.
"After the release of Oversky (the first big expansion), we weren’t entirely sure what path forward to take for Faeria," reads the rather lengthy developer blog post. "One thing was clear: It was important for us to adapt our plans to maintain the game’s financial viability ensuring not only that Faeria will live on for a long time, but to guarantee we will be able to continue creating new and exciting content much more frequently."
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Kingdom Come: Deliverance is already a gorgeous game, but if you feel like taking things to a whole new level, you'll be glad to hear that the developers have now added an HD Texture & Audio pack for the PC version. Simply head on over to the DLC section on Steam or GOG in order to download it, and don't worry, it is entirely free!
Before you dive in, it is worth mentioning that installing both of these packs will put significantly more strain on your PC. For example, the HD Texture Pack recommends you use a graphics card with 6GB of VRAM, most of which are pretty darn expensive these days due to the whole cryptocurrency mining craze. You can always disable the HD textures if you encounter any problems, however, so I would still say it's worth giving them a try, even if you're below the recommended specs.
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Back in 2013 the Ultima and Ultimate Online inspired Shroud of the Avatar managed to secure $1,919,275 in funding on Kickstarter, after which it made its way to Steam Early Access in November of 2014. And now, after an incredibly long development cycle, the Shroud of the Avatar MMORPG has finally released in full, though unfortunately it would appear that the Steam reviews haven't become any more positive about it over the years.
Whether the criticism is fair or not, I'm afraid I simply cannot tell you as I haven't played it, but what I can do is share two of the most recent trailers. The first video is a cinematic trailer that will give you a bit of an idea of what the story is all about, while the second one is a co-op focused gameplay preview that should offer some insight into how Shroud of the Avatar is actually played. Have a look:
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Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is an upcoming adaptation of the 'Mutant' pen and paper RPG that has been around since the 1980s. The premise, as you might imagine from the name alone, is that humanity has managed to nuke itself into oblivion, thus leaving the planet populated by Mutants - deformed humans and animals alike.
In gameplay terms Mutant Year Zero is a mixture of turn-based combat and real-time exploration, with some stealth added in for good measure. As such, you'll be able to freely roam around the world and explore at your leisure, scavenge resources and talk to some colorful characters, and if you ever end up battle you will find yourself in a turn-based combat system that's quite similar to XCOM.
If you're wondering what all of this looks like in-game, wonder no more as the developers have posted an incredibly lengthy gameplay preview showcasing pretty much all of the major features. Have a gander, it's quite interesting:
- By Ash
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This shouldn't come as much of a surprise given that Blizzard confirmed it last year, but Overwatch's second annual Uprising PvE event will be coming this April. More specifically, it will be arriving on April 10th for both PC and consoles.
The exact contents of the update haven't been revealed just yet, but it's expected that we're going to be getting last year's Uprising PvE event, as well as a brand new one centered around Blackwatch - Overwatch's clandestine counterpart. The last part is currently an unconfirmed rumor, though it does appear to be a highly accurate one given the contents of the most recent teaser on Twitter.
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Pathfinder: Kingmaker is an upcoming singleplayer isometric RPG with a bit of a Neverwinter Nights 2 twist. What I mean by this is that instead of simply wondering the land in search of adventure and glory, you will be trying to establish your very own kingdom in the unsurprisingly hostile Stolen Lands. In order to do this you will need to recruit a variety of companions, dispatch all of the local warlords and their cronies, blaze a path through the uncharted wilderness, and naturally, make plenty of difficult decisions since ruling a kingdom is a bit more complex than hitting stuff with a sword.
If you're wondering what all of this looks like in-game, you're in luck as the developers have just posted a somewhat brief "Features Trailer" showcasing everything Pathfinder: Kingmaker has to offer. Have a gander, it's quite an interesting video:
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You've no doubt heard endless amounts of praise and criticism for Spec Ops: The Line at this point, so if you're curious to see what it's all about, you might be interested to hear that it's currently completely free on Humble Bundle. The offer will only last for another 38 hours, however, so do make sure to grab your copy as soon as possible, just to be on the safe side.
As for whether Spec Ops: The Line is actually worth playing, I'm genuinely not sure what to tell you. On one hand it has a story that packs a massive punch, even if you already know what the big twist is, but on the other hand it's a completely generic shooter that could barely keep me entertained throughout the short campaign. So the big question is: does an excellent story make the otherwise mediocre gameplay worthwhile? Well, that's something only you will be able to decide.
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While trying to fix a wide array of completely nonfunctional talents, Vermintide 2 developer Fatshark recently uncovered another massive issue: the scaling system that's supposed to limit player power was not turned on in the live version! In other words, heroes are currently dealing around 40% more damage than they should be, while their weapons are managing to stagger and cleave through enemies with far too much ease.
A single day has passed since that announcement, and already Fatshark has managed to release a beta update that corrects the issue, as well as fixes some of the more egregious problems with weapons and talents. You can find the full list of changes over at the official website, but if you're just interested in the short version, allow me to highlight all of the important tweaks. Have a look: