Crown Wars: The Black Prince is a tactical turn based game developed by ‘Artefacts Studio‘ and published by ‘Nacon‘. Crown Wars: The Black Prince is said to be coming out the 7th of March 2024 on the Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Some words are talking about it also coming to Nintendo Switch too but no specifics when. X35 Earthwalker is the best at tactical games and welcomes new additions. Crown Wars: The Black Prince is bringing some medieval brutal action. Let’s take a look.
Crown Wars: The Black Prince is set in the medieval times. Players are the lord of their “fiefdom”. Things aren’t peaceful and well as the “war of crowns rages on”. Sop definitely not peaceful times. Not just brigands but knights as well are running wild and rampant across the land. They are all about destruction and killing. Word on the streets though is that there’s something more evil and dangerous going on. Something chilling in the shadows, manipulating and being annoying. Conspiracies are here. As the lord of your fiefdom, it’s up to you to lead your forces in this battle against evil.
Crown Wars: The Black Prince is all about the take your time, think it through and then make your move. Gamers who know about these types of games should know what they are getting themselves into. Recruit and get your troops ready. Each have their class and abilities. Decide who’s best for the mission or task at hand and get them in there. Make sure you have a variety of skills at hand to meet the different needs as players will need to also search and hunt down where this evil is coming from and then deal with it.
We checked out some Crown Wars: The Black Prince gameplay and it’s what we expected. The castle is where base is and is where you plan things out. As expected there will be room for diplomacy. You must also manage the land and people. Improve your keep and keep things well for the people. Keep an eye on your resources and use them wisely. We truly hope there’s a cool wide range of abilities and options regarding attacks, strategies and the classes. This is tougher to do as it’s medieval themed. Even so we need more than swords, arrows and a chemical flask. Crown Wars: The Black Prince will have to prove itself.
Overall Crown Wars: The Black Prince looks like a good game. Set in brutal times with brutal behaviour. Slay them all and destroy the evil… or it will destroy you. The graphics are good. The amount of blood needed to step up a bit. Tactical turn based games like these normally have lots of thought gone into it and depth. We want to see how deep things can go. The developers ‘Artefacts Studio’ have done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to hear how well this game does. Currently X35 isn’t interested in Crown Wars: The Black Prince. Now Crown Wars: The Black Prince may have a conspiratorial hiding evil but this evil would be exposed instantly by… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Pneumata is a psychological survival horror game developed by ‘Deadbolt Interactive’ and published by ‘Perp Games‘. Pneumata is said to be coming out the 23rd of February 2024 on the Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and PC. X35 Earthwalker has experienced many horror games and their sub genres. Judgement of these are included. Pneumata is going for a little hybrid here. Let’s take a look.
Pneumata is set in a place called clover Hill. Things aren’t fine around here… otherwise this wouldn’t be a horror game. The residents are either missing or straight up dying. Chopped into pieces. Yeah, blood is being spilled in clover Hill. Players are the detective who must figure out what’s going on here and solve the situation. On top of that, the detective has problems with his memory. You just “recover your fragmented memories”. Listen to this, “Something happened on that island that your mind is protecting you from. Your memories fractured and fleeting, but nonetheless one thing is true: “Someone, or something killed Jamie””.
Things get even worse in Pneumata. There’s darkness here and we aren’t talking about the murders. There’s horrors moving about in the shadows. The combination of murders plus the horrors in the shadows plus the missing and fragmented memories will make players questions what’s real and what’s not. This should be the psychological survival horror hybrid. Word on the streets is that there’s even alternate worlds too. This should make everything even more complex.
We checked out some Pneumata gameplay and it’s what we expected. Our main ingredient looks like the survival horror aspects. Players will need to scavenge for supplies and weapons. Even with those weapons you can’t fight everything. Your best weapon might be to hide or even run… like the coward you are. The biggest questions is off course the difficulty and how scarce the resources are. It’s different and cool that the apartment building is the main field here. It also has hidden areas and pathways so keep eyes open, if you can. Detective work is actually here in the form of crime scenes, finding clues and piecing things together. Pneumata wants the gamers too survive long enough to solve the mystery.
Overall Pneumata looks like a good game so far. We hear and like that we hear that the AI will be diverse; and that some of them are unpredictable. We hope they successfully pull that off. Unpredictable enemies will make things scarier and force players to use their heads more and think fast. We hear that enemies can even use the environment itself to mess with you through distractions. The goods are here but must be arranged and delivered right. Last of all the enemies need to actually be scary and intimidating. They need to be a problem. Too many horror games are too easy, not scary enough, lack force or wimpy enemies. The developers ‘Deadbolt Interactive’ have done a very good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear open for this game. Now Pneumata may have a blood filled apartment building but it burns down in the presence of… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Open Roads is an adventure game developed by ‘Open Roads Team’ and published by ‘Annapurna Interactive‘. Open Roads is said to come out the 22nd of February 2024 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4 and pc. We at X35 Earthwalker think road trips can be fun. Open Roads is out here presenting a big road trip. Let’s take a look.
Open Roads is about two ladies. Tess and her mother, Opal. Opal is a cool name. They finally discovered a cache of old letters and notes in their attic stashed away. These papers revealed a lot of stuff. We talking big and deep family secrets. This includes burglaries… decade old ones. There’s a lot going on but Tess and Opal are on the case.
According to what we are hearing, there are some mysteries, even dark ones… ones that should be left alone. Off course our ladies Opal and Tess aren’t going to leave them alone. Were hear that there’s even a treasure That’s somewhere near the Canadian border. Open Roads truly is a road trip as they go to check out a whole series of long abandoned family properties where they will learn more and unearth the past.
We checked out some Open Roads gameplay and it’s what we expected. It’s a story more so than a game with the story being the main factor as well. Annapurna Interactive amazed many people with their story telling in a particular past game of theirs. So we do expect the story to be strong and interesting. A good focus is placed on the mother and daughter relationship here as well. The music truly adds impact to a game like this and Open Road has got the music. They just got to piece it all together right.
Overall Open Roads looks like a great game. Players must lock in and get immersed in this world to get the most out of it. Emotions will be a big factor and paying attention to the details revealed. There are even things that Opal herself has tried to forget. What does she know? After all what’s done in the dark will be revealed in the light. Very nice graphics style and works with this game. The developers ‘Open Roads Team’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an eye out for this game. Now Open Roads may have a emotional and deep story but it’s all children’s books level in the eyes of… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunter – Duty Eternal is a tactical turned based Role Playing Game developed by ‘Complex Games‘ and published by ‘Frontier Foundry‘. Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunter – Duty Eternal is said to be coming out the 20th of February 2024 on the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and pc. X35 Earthwalker truly enjoys a good Warhammer 40000 game and judges them. Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunter is getting DLC. Let’s take a look.
Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunter – Duty Eternal is all about the Grey knights. Probably humanities greatest weapon and soldier against the demons or should we say daemons. They have powerful psyker abilities and go through horrible even torture to be mentally ready and resilient to face the horror of the warp and whatever. These guys are ready for basically everything. So if you like Grey knights, then you should like Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunter – Duty Eternal. Go kill stuff we guess. Yeah.
Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunter – Duty Eternal is the first big league DLC. This DLC brings new missions off course and even some new classes. These classes are welcome as battling nurgle is a huge problem. Yes players will be facing the forces of nurgle. Expect filth, plagues, sickness and fat bloated things.
Listen to this description, “Overcome the rampaging Technophage Outbreak by aiding the Adeptus Mechanicus and halting the scourge. In these missions you’ll unlock potent new tools, discover new ways to strategise, and battle terrifying new foes as you further your campaign across the stars.”
What’s epic though is that players can now command the legendary machine of the imperial of man known as the ‘Dreadnought”. The thunderous dreadnought is basically a big walker machine that blasts things apart with heavy firepower. It can be the fifth member of your squad in the Technophage Outbreak missions. The dreadnought is actually customisable when it comes to its weapons. The Grey knights that get folded up by foes can instead be Dreadnought pilots. So put the dead to work. No rest for the dead around here… for the emporer.
Dreadnoughts aren’t the only new guys. Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunter – Duty Eternal brings in the techmarines. “invoke the machine go” they said. They will give players more tactical options. Tech marines are machine masters. Expect combat servitors which will support battle brothers. Even bring in big area of effect bombardments and breachers breaking up armour in melee fashion.
The Tyrtaeus sector is quite the place and a lot of war fronts. Good thing Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunter – Duty Eternal brings in the Gladius Frigate. This starship allows for more war… which is what everyone wants. There’s even additional challenges from the bridge of Edict which bring in some tasty rewards. So yeah high risk, high reward kind of stuff right there.
We checked out some Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunter – Duty Eternal gameplay and it’s what we expected for the most part. New gameplay features to make things more interesting. Your powers can be upgraded thanks to the Archeotech resource. The tech priest Dominus Lunete can be deployed “on a select mission”. There’s even technophage themed warp surge events. gGrenades, throwers, melee power weapons, rushing, beasts of nurgle and off course chaos. The action looks serious.
Overall Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunter – Duty Eternal looks like an excellent game thanks to this big DLC upgrade. The graphics look very good and the environments look corrupted by nurgle for sure and done well. We hope the weapon variety and enemy variety if off a good quantity as games like this need to bring as much options and variety as possible for players. The developers ‘Complex Games’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an eye out for this. X35 Earthwalker himself laughs at the little power levels of even alpha plus psykers. Now Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunter – Duty Eternal may have the Grey knights but even they would have a mental break down in the presence of… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Go Mecha Ball is a twin stick shooter roguelite action game developed by ‘Whale peak games’ and published by ‘Super rare originals’. Go Mecha Ball is said to be coming out the 25th of January 2024 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One and pc. Go Mecha Ball can also be called an Xbox exclusive. X35 Earthwalker will give this a look over. Go Mecha Ball will need to be all kinds of fun. Let’s take a look.
Go Mecha Ball is pretty easy to understand. Arcade style, jump into the action and blast through levels. The players is chasing after a glitch infected rouge AI. Players better get on with it as this AI is getting worse and more glitch infected. This futuristic looking place is going to be all arcade action.
Now off course an arcade twin shooter action game needs to be all about the action and keep things being new and cool for players. Go Mecha Ball has lots of enhancements, weapons and skills for players to discover. This is encouraging. You have two modes by the looks of it. Walking weapon using mech and then there’s the ball which allows for quick and fast traversing. So either blast and shoot your way through or run foes over.
Go Mecha Ball has 4 unique worlds. Each one has numerous lots of enemies. Expect destructive robots and what would each world be without a boss. What about a colossal boss? They got them apparently. Now let’s hope that they won’t be disappointing.
Now concerning the sphere ball mode, there’s whole mechanics regarding it. Devices that you’d expect on a pinball machine are here. Zoom up slopes, bounce of rebounders and even utilise the fans. So get use to being a ball. will come in handy.
We checked out some Go Mecha Ball gameplay and it’s what we expected. Players who can master the mechanics can easily make this as fast paced game where you are zooming and catapulting yourself from area to area to fight. Also to dodge projectiles, ram foes and even go up walls to come down with a mighty smash. It’s all action here. Think about it. Who else you know has a suit with weapons and then goes into a ball mode. Yep Samus Aran. A cool comparison. Let’s see what Go Mecha Ball has really got.
Overall Go Mecha Ball seems like a very good game as of now. Clear easy skill measurement for players. The levels looks very arcade and colourful. Graphics are excellent for this type of game. Gameplay definitely looks smooth and the action flows. Hopefully the differences between the 4 worlds are clear including the enemies too. The weapons and skills variety need to live up to the official description given. The developers ‘Whale peak games’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear open for this game. Now Go Mecha Ball may have fast paced action but it’s still too slow for… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Palworld is a Palworld is a creature collector open world action game developed and published by ‘Pocketpair‘. Palworld early access is said to come out the 19th of January 2024 on Xbox Series X, Xbox One and pc. Palworld is another big Xbox exclusive game as no word at all concerning Nintendo and PlayStation. X35 Earthwalker truly enjoys good creature capture games like this and knows what makes them good. Palworld is truly getting attention and standing out. Let’s take a look.
Palworld is set in a world where creatures called ‘Pals’ exist alongside humans. Players must capture them to use them for their goals. The most obvious one is off course battling. Use pals to help you take down other pals and capture them too. It’s a creature capture game. So if you like Cassette Beasts and pokemon then Palworld should be your thing as well. Cassette Beasts is a fantastic game, 10/10. Pokemon is a legendary thing that everyone knows. Palworld instantly grabs your attention visually. There’s more to it though.
Palworld has a lot going on. For example there’s poachers out here who are making some Pals endangered. You can either be like them or protect pals from them. Some pals might need help from other bigger pals. We like games with their own food chain systems and ecosystems going on. Some pals will eat other ones too. Such is nature. Some Pals have certain skills or are naturally good at certain things and so you want them for that purpose. After all one of the goals of Palworld is to build a base. Some pals are good at watering crops or even harvesting them. Some are great at sowing seeds. Some pals got hands and are strong that they can help with construction and hammer things down. No pal is useless.
We are of course did not mention the biggest thing about Palworld as it’s obvious. The player/trainer fights alongside the pals. Literally. This ain’t no stand back and watch with pokemon and Digimon but also not as powerful as Cassette Beasts. Players can have bows, throwable and even guns to attack and take down pals. Grab your assault rifles and fire away while your pal gets in there and fights. You must also dodge attacks from pals or you will go down. Work together with them. You can even hold on to a flying pal and take to the skies. Ride a water pal and cross the seas. You get the idea.
This game, Palworld looks the part. Palworld looks like how pokemon should look. Palworld has a beautiful world that has some realistic elements to it but the pals gives off fortnite style looks. It looks amazing. The idea of fighting with your pals is excellent and something wanted for years. They combined it all with base building, skills, crafting and adventure. This is a fantastic recipe. Now off course mean poachers aside, games like this have their evil organisations or heartless group who will use Pals for their own goals for evil or whatever. They will have to show up. It’s clear that something deeper is going on in the Palworld world… yeah. We want to see more.
Now yes, Palworld is also multiplayer. Pvp and increased amount of players will come later. Read this and tell us what you think, “Work together with fellow players for shared adventures in an open-world setting. Multiplayer not only allows for cooperation but also conflict, enabling players to attack one another, steal Pals, and even steal items. Players can engage in Pal battles, pitting their Pals against each other in combat.” This is the scary part. You might get attacked and robbed by others. So prepare for some salty videos and complaints. It will make a difference to know how this mechanic actually works.
We checked out some Palworld gameplay and it’s what we expected. We truly like that there’s some more mature themes here. Pals can die. Not feint but actually die. You must remember to feed your working pals or they will die. Pals will also give their life for you. Players may have to sacrifice a pal to save themselves. A tough choice maybe. What’s also strange is we saw a fox heating a pot with a chicken pal sitting in it. Chicken soup anyone? Pals can breed. The baby will inherit the characteristics of the parents. This means there’s skill in being a breeder. A wise player will use the right rare pals to make superior children. Time to get creative. Remember that we mentioned poachers? Well some endangers pals are in wildlife sanctuaries. You can try to sneak in to steal them… just don’t get caught.
Overall Palworld looks like a fantastic game already. The early access is going to be crazy and loaded. The action and weapons are great, the visuals are fantastic and it’s open world, which means there’s lots to explore and see. Cross seas, soar through the skies and crush foes. There’s going to be lots to do. Especially when you have to be aware of aggressive players who want your goods. The developers ‘Pockerpair’ have done a fantastic job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker are definitely looking forward to this game. A new adventure for sure. Now Palworld may have an open world with new creatures but it’s all far beneath… the ‘Earth Walk!’
X35 Earthwalker has played so many games over his gaming adventures and some games clearly try to stand out with a certain factor or whatever. What many inferior reviewers and lower intelligence youtubers/streamers fail to understand when reviewing games, is the purpose of games in the first place. Entertainment. Games are suppose to entertain the players. It’s suppose to be fun. Fun sums up Earth Defence Force 2025. Let’s take a look.
Earth Defence Force 2025 is pretty much the embodiment of fun. This game is so silly and stupid in many good ways. It is clearly aware of that but its main focus and goal is fun. Plain and simple. That’s why Earth Defence Force 2025 is better than many games out today,. even the newer and far shinier games. Earth Defence Force 2025 hasn’t got great graphics or animations. It’s far from the most polished game out there even at its time. That’s not always what matters though. Lethal company went viral and so many played it and had so much fun and that game looks bad on purpose. Earth Defence Force 2025 is like this too.
The simple story of Earth Defence Force 2025 is that there’s giant insects attacking the citizens, army and the world basically and off course they are mainly underground but come up to attack… just like the Locusts of Gears of War. The EDF (Earth Defence Force) are out here to combat and eliminate the insects. Off course, they are losing. It’s giant insects after all. Insects breed and reproduce like crazy. Giant ants are here. Ask yourself, “How many ants are in the world?” Now you can see the problem.
There’s giant ants, jumping spiders, orb web slinging spiders, wasps and giant red ants. Have fun with that… and you will. On top of that, there’s an old alien enemy that’s come back too. The Ravagers. So expect flying robots, giant cannon blasting hectors and transport ships who drop of giant insects. Yes, the ravagers are using the giant insects. We have written and spoken about these enemies before so read them to know more. We will say that the enemies add to the fun. Hectors with the giant blasters have launched players far into the sky and far away, to then land, receive no fall damage and get back up and run into the fight screaming at the top of their lungs. It’s hilarious. More funny thanks to the rag doll physics.
Giant red ants chase you down to grab you and fling you around in its jaws. Wasps fire their stingers at you from the air, jumping spiders will annoy you the most. Enemies even will flank you and go around to split your attention. Don’t fear though as the EDF has the tools to fight back… believe us, they do. Let’s talk about the most fun thing in the game… all the weapons. There’s soooooooooooooo many weapons. More than you know. Been playing for a long time and semi-recently got an xbox achievement stating I got 50% of the weapons. What?! Only 50%?! Yeah. There’s more I haven’t unlocked and seen yet. Pay attention.
There’s weapons for everything and Earth Defence Force 2025 doesn’t believe in being realistic. If Japan had these weapons in real life they would easily be the world power no contest. It’s what Japan wish they had. There’s assault rifles and many versions of them. There’s machine guns, machine guns with bouncy bullets, machine guns that shoot lasers. Flamethrowers have crazy reach and truly fry things. There’s shotguns of different pellet amounts and spreads. Sniper rifles of different types and ranges. Grenade launchers. Grenades. Lasers. Decoys, anti-air set ups, sentry weapons, mines and traps. Electric firing weapons, alien blasters, acid sprayers.
What? You thought we were done? Nope. There’s the crazy big powerful weapons that the Fencers have. Yeah, what we mentioned before was weapons mainly for the Rangers and a few for Wing divers. The wing divers, fencers and air raiders have a whole bunch of their own weapons. Fencers have giant hammers that have big aoe. They have chain guns which are loaded with so much ammo. Also Fencers can dual wield. So that’s two chain guns spraying down an entire area. Mortar launchers which fire big mortar shots that destroy all buildings and foes. they have shields to block damage with one hand and shoot giant harpoon like spear blasters with the other hand. Wing divers have the sci fi weapons and alien tech stuff, so expect laser lances, laser shotgun repeaters, homing blasters, electric snipers, super big bomb blast and more.
Air raiders are the most unique. Yes they are the support class who can shield allies and vehicles, repair vehicles, set up traps, anti-air, turrets, bunkers and even guide missiles from allies. They also call in powerful attacks like air strikes, salvos from a navy ship, satellite lasers, bombing runs and what feels like an artillery nuke. Kill enough foes to charge up these abilities and then use them on an army of enemies and watch them get nuked. But wait… there’s more. Air Raiders can call in vehicles. They can call in bikes, mobile missile launchers, tanks, mechs, super tanks and even helicopters. Yes, and there’s multiple variations to them. The vehicles do get crazy. We unlocked a literal super tank with ridiculous firepower, tons of armour and multiple weapons. This game is crazy.
Like we said, this game is crazy fun. You can literally destroy all the buildings as long as the retiarius spider hasn’t got web on it. It’s so much fun to demolish everything in sight in the name of defending the earth from giant insects and aliens. You might accidentally blow up your team mates and send them flying too. It has happened before. We forgot to mention that Earth Defence Force 2025 is multiplayer. 2 players for local co-op but 4 for online. It’s crazy good fun. Inferno difficulty is too hard for the most part unless you have the right character class and specific weapons to combat the threat. Hardest difficulty though is a good match overall.
Overall Earth Defence Force 2025 is just an excellent game and one of the best games ever. It’s stereotypical in a funny way with the characters speaking and even the soldier singing an encouraging patriotic song to keep the spirits high. The combat is over the top and the enemies are not scary but a giant problem which needs giant weapons. It makes sense and still brings entertainment to this day. X35 Earthwalker will continue two face giant foes. Earth Defence Force 2025 is a must try even by todays gaming standards.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is an action role playing game developed by ‘Don’t Nod‘ and published by ‘Focus entertainment‘. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is said to be coming out February 13th 2024 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS5 and pc. X35 Earthwalker sees some interesting factors of this game already. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden clearly wants to to make it a journey. Let’s take a look.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is set in 1695… in New Eden. The stars of this game are Antea Duarte and Red mac Raith. They are lovers but more than that, they are also banishers. Banishers are basically ghost hunters. They take a vow to protect the living from the dead. More specifically specters and ghosts. They were busting ghosts real good… until the last mission.
Antea got hurt… real bad. Described as fatally wounded. She also became a spirit… and she hates spirits… well the mean ones. Now they are both in North America, in the haunted wilds. They are searching for a way to free Antea from her horrible situation. Desperate people right here and understandable. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden will have players go on a journey.
So yeah, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is clearly a supernatural world. It’s a world that’s full of wandering souls, ancient things and off course supernatural creatures. Ghosts are doing their thing. Casper too… maybe. You arrive in New Eden and interact with the people who live there. You solve haunted ghost cases.
The best part? Fighting these ghosts. It’s the main thing we currently care about. It’s like a hybrid style. Red has his arsenal of weapons while Antea has spiritual powers and abilities. We like this hybrid combat. there’s room for creativity in this style. Hopefully they explore that. You must defeat the souls/specters/ghosts and banish them. Banishers will not tolerate the dead tormenting the living.
We checked out some Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden gameplay and it’s mostly what we expected. There’s going to be skill based combat. Parries and timing of actions are a thing for sure. We hope to see actual team work between the two. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden does have a your decision affects the story and the lives of the people factor. Readers should know how X35 Earthwalker feels about this mechanic by now. Hard to do and harder to do it right. We hope they nailed this. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden wants there to be a conflict for players. Between deciding to keep your vow or break some rules to save your love.
Overall Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden looks like an excellent game easily. Their story is there. The stakes are there. It will be easy to hit the emotions of players with this set up. There’s said to be challenging decisions that will impact your story (we will see). Graphics look excellent and the creativity of the spirits and ghosts are so far looking good so far. We got torches and even guns. Things to look forward too. We hope to learn more. The developers ‘Don’t Nod’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an eye out for this game.
Still Wakes the Deep is a horror game developed by ‘The Chinese Room‘ and published by ‘Secret Mode‘. Still Wakes the Deep is said to be coming out in in the first quarter of 2024 on the Xbox Series X, PS5 and pc. X35 Earthwalker knows what makes an excellent horror game and what mistakes to avoid. Still Wakes the Deep trying to be a unique horror experience. Let’s take a look.
Still Wakes the Deep is set in the past. 1975, Christmas time. Players control an off shore Glaswegian worker stationed on an oil rig in the North Sea waters. Sounds like a dangerous but happy times. It’s a typical day on the Beira D oil platform but then disaster strikes. wouldn’t be a horror game if everything was all honky dorey.
Now you out here fighting for your life. More like running and hiding for your life. All communications are cut off and all the exits are not available. Sucka you trapped. You will need to survive and keep your crew alive through a mean storm, dark, cold sea water and claustrophobic surroundings. It gets worse. The character players control will have to face some phobias like high heights (climbing towers), squeezing through tight spaces, paths that are submerged and off course leaps over high drops. None of that sounds scary to us. Still Wakes the Deep you better make this stuff scary.
The real problem in Still Wakes the Deep though is that the horror is now on board. There’s a persistent threat that’s said to be so powerful that “there’s no hope of fighting back.” So you know what that means. No fighting for you. All hiding, ducking, running, climbing and avoiding this threat. You got to survive all this stuff while helping the crew. One crew member will need you to restore power, something could be up with your boss while another member might be trapped somewhere.
We checked out some Still Wakes the Deep gameplay and it’s what we expected. The location does look dark and segregated. some parts look like a real health and safety hazard. Hopefully we get more roaring waters and loud thunder for atmosphere. You can clearly see that something wrong is going on here. Your character feels like as regular person. Nothing special, just trying to survive. A game like this can easily be good and give great scares but the horror elements need to be right. We truly hope the developers are aware of these. Concerning the horror open board, it’s clear the way to beat it, is to take it on… to face it…
Overall Still Wakes the Deep is looking like an excellent game so far but that can easily change. Horror games are getting harder and harder to get right. Atmosphere so far looks good. The horror on board will make or break this game. It will decide if this game scary or not. How annoying will the crew be? That matters too. The developers ‘The Chinese Room’ have done a great job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to hear what Still Wakes the Deep scares. Now Still Wakes the Deep may have a persistent horror but it would gotten lost trying to chase… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Mars 2120 is a sci-fi metroidvania game developed and published by ‘qubyte interactive‘. Mars 2120 is said to be coming out the 28th of March 2024 on the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4 and pc. X35 Earthwalker is the master of metroidvania games. Mars 2120 will need to make a strong impression. Let’s take a look.
Mars 2120 is off course set in the future. Basically the first Mars colony has gotten itself into some trouble. It needs help and off course we need to know what happened and what’s going on currently. This is where the player comes in. Players control Sargeant Anna Charlotte, also known as “thirteen”. You lead a team of elite space marines. No not the ultra marines… wrong dudes.
Now obviously things go wrong and you get separated. Otherwise it wouldn’t be this type of game now would it. Mars 2120 wants to really be the ones to nail the whole combat thing. There’s a lot of combat layers here. Mars 2120 has loads of melee combat. There’s even combos. skilled players can juggle enemies and even string things together for great control over the battle and big damage. combat slide, lunge, strike and more… maybe take it to the air.
On top of that are the elements. Some special abilities are tied to elements like fire, electricity and ice. Yeah we see the connections here. If it isn’t obvious by now then let us explain. It’s clear that Mars 2120 has been inspires by other games. Metroid prime clearly and castlevania: symphony of the night (the best castlevania game). Two top tier games. Getting ideas and inspiration from them can easily work out well. so about those elements. Metroid Prime had the same thing. Wave beam (electricity), ice beam (ice obviously) and plasma beam (fire). Let’s see how Mars 2120 will handle all this.
We checked out some Mars 2120 gameplay and it’s not exactly what we expected. The game visually looks better than expected too. That’s great. The animations are very good. Not the highest levels but very good and gets the job done. The elements look weak here. They need to be applied more clearly and more powerfully. The special abilities are going to mix things up but we hope the variety and the elements of them are epic. It’s a 2024 game after all, we expect bigger things than the past. Do your best game. There are also bosses off course and some look great while others looked kind of generic.
Overall Mars 2120 looks like it’s going to be a great game. We can’t give it the excellent rating as we have some real questions concerning the story and the secrets of mars and the first colony. Combat and cool enemies are one thing… a big thing still. We like the variety of the levels and the environment designs. We can see how Mars 2120 can be top stuff. The developers ‘qubyte interactive‘ have done a great job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear open for this game. Now Mars 2120 may have serious combat but it all looks plain when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
