- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
As I learned through repeated explosions, incinerations, or just being launched into orbit by giant balls, Risk of Rain 2 can be absolutely brutal if you don't know what you're doing. So to help you skip straight to the fun part, here's everything I wish I knew before I first started.
1) Rush or Farm?
Starting with the biggest dilemma - do you rush, or do you farm? And the answer is both.
The longer you spend in a run, the stronger and more numerous the enemies get. So you can't just graze across the fields like a space-cow hoping to find a chest behind every random rock. But at the same time, you shouldn't skip loot either. Because collecting everything efficiently will let you spank enemies regardless of how strong they get.
So what's the plan? Try to never retrace your steps. Clear the outer areas first, locate the exit, and then focus on chests that are far away from it. Once you're down to only loot near the exit that's when you should summon the boss. This will not only highlight all of the nearby chests, but it'll also give you the money needed to open them. So give the boss a ton of lead as a welcoming present, charge the teleporter, and then quickly grab all the loot before moving on. Do that consistently, and you'll be golden.
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
Factorio has a reputation for being impossibly complicated, and when you see some of the abominations I built, that reputation makes sense. But the truth is, it's actually a lot more beginner-friendly than it seems at first glance. You just need to avoid a few traps that'll sneakily make your life hell if nobody warns you about them. So, let me warn you.
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
While it looks just as warm and welcoming as Deep Rock Galactic, Rogue Core can be surprisingly ruthless - even on the early difficulties. So before you dig in, here's what you need to know to avoid having your butt chewed off.
1) Can You Play Solo?
Starting with an important question: can you play solo? Yes, and more importantly, it's not any harder than multiplayer. If anything, it's a lot more chill since you don't have to worry about coordinating upgrades or being held hostage by one guy who's allergic to leveling up.
Instead, it's just you and your handy robot companion Cooper going around and blasting aliens. Cooper can also mine resources for you or light up dark areas - just point him at something with your scanner and he'll handle the rest. He really is a good boy. So if you're not in the mood for people constantly shooting you in the back, solo is still a great way to play the game.
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
Mina the Hollower takes inspiration from the classic Zelda and Castlevania games, which means it's absolutely brutal despite being all cute and cuddly. So before you dive in, here's what you need to know to avoid having birds flung at your face.
1) Explore
Starting with the most important tip - explore everywhere. And I really do mean EVERYWHERE. Mina is absolutely stuffed with secrets, puzzles and awesome loot that you can very easily miss if you just follow the obvious path. I've combed through each area multiple times and I'm still finding things I overlooked. The game is that dense!
So whenever you see something out of place - a suspicious wall, a room with no obvious exit, a weirdly placed item - activate those brain noodles. The developers are clearly hiding something, and they want you to work for it. And the sneakier the secret, the better the reward at the end, so keep those eyes peeled.
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
Far Far West looks like a goofy game about robot cowboys fighting ghosts and aliens, but it's got a lot more bite than you might expect. So before you dive in, here's what you need to know to avoid getting boned.
1) Unlocking Weapons
Starting with something the game really should tell you about immediately - you can only work towards unlocking one weapon at a time, and you have to manually select which one. If you don't, you're going to be farming the shotgun by default. And while it's nice, it ain't no minigun!
As for the weapon fragments - you can find them by defeating level bosses, completing forge events, killing loot goblins, or randomly from wishing wells. On average, each weapon will take you between 3 and 5 games to unlock. And once you do, make sure to switch your focus immediately or you're going to keep collecting fragments you don't need.
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
Diablo 4 is a lot more approachable than it looks... but it'll also happily watch you dig yourself into a hole without saying a word. So before you dive in for the first time, here's what you should know.
1) Which Character to Play?
Starting with the question everyone asks first: which character should I play? Thankfully, it doesn't matter. Whether we're talking about the freshly released Warlock or the Sorcerer that has been around for years, all of them are totally viable at all stages of the game and, more importantly, a ton of fun! So just go with whatever looks or sounds the coolest.
The same logic applies to your abilities. While some might be stronger than others - the balance isn't perfect - you can beat all of the endgame bosses with any of them. For example, I tried to challenge myself with a firewall build because it felt like a memey spell, but it ended up being one of my strongest characters ever. So really, anything goes.
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
1) More is Better
Nested Lands, much like every other survival-crafting game, has a million different ingredients. So unless you're a fan of manually gathering them and then slowly, painstakingly crafting basic supplies, you'll want to automate that. And for that you'll need to get some people. How many? As many as you can get, as quickly as you can get them. The more you have the easier it's going to be to keep things running since they'll be able to gather their own food, firewood and building materials.
And how do you get people? They sometimes spawn in event zones - that's the yellow circles - so just doing a lap around the first map should net you a good few. Just make sure you have enough houses before you set off on your adventure, because if you don't you won't be able to recruit them. Now this is going to be a pain in the butt the first few times, but thankfully it'll get much, much easier once you have a couple of workers under your banner.
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
Nioh 3 is a very technical game with loads of mechanics and systems thrown at you all at once. So let me help you overcome that difficulty hump so you can focus on what truly matters - dissecting demons!
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
After forty hours of epic battles and embarrassing failures, I realized that Mount & Blade 2 is an awesome game that simply doesn't teach you how to have fun with it. So with this guide I'd like to help you skip past the learning curve and get to the good stuff.
1) What Do I Do?
Your first order of business after finishing the tutorial should be to gain reputation. Once you have enough you'll be able to pledge yourself as a mercenary to one of the kingdoms, and that's where the real game begins. At that point you can tag along with their armies, fight massive siege battles, and eventually even become one of the nobles.
So how do you do that? Fight bandits, do tournaments in big cities, and solve any quests that don't sound like a pain in the ass. It really is that simple.
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
Unlike the Arbiter who could probably face-tank a Greater Deamon, the Hive Scum is a true glass cannon. It can shred through heretics by the hundreds, but it's about as durable as that awful one-ply toilet paper you bought once, used once, and then swore never to touch again.
Or as normal people would say, Hive Scum has a pretty steep learning curve. So to make your life easier, let me walk you through a couple of fun, powerful builds that can handle anything the game throws at you - short of the most grueling Havoc missions.