Darkwood

Darkwood is a survival horror adventure game developed by ‘Acid Wizard Studio‘ and published by ‘Crunching Koalas‘. Its is coming out May 17th on the Xbox One, May 16th on Nintendo Switch and May 14th on PS4. It’s already out on PC but we don’t care. Now Darkwood is said to be quite the serious experience. Let’s take a look.

In Darkwood, players will have to explore, travel and survive in the unforgiving world of Darkwood. There is danger everywhere and survival isn’t guaranteed. The game basically starts with a doctor. He keeps going on and on about how this forest (that we are in) has trapped everyone and that the exits are gone. He also mentions how he failed to get rid of a certain plague. This doctor will stop at nothing to escape this place. Even if it means kidnapping a person and torturing them for information concerning the exit. Things are quite dark as you can see already. Oh and no, you cannot  just simply chop down al the trees. They grow back faster than you can chop them all down. 

Darkwood

Players will primarily control a character known as the stranger. Now Darkwood should remind some players of a certain game because of a certain in game mechanic. Minecraft. Why? Simply because during the day is the best time to explore the world and off course scavenge and find supplies. At night time it isn’t safe to go outside. Players must stay in doors and defend themselves and their hideout. Also like Minecraft, players will need to find the resources, lots of crafting, upgrading through a workbench and combat. There are different biomes too for players to explore and each one will have different supplies too. Use a stove to cook certain things too and believe us when we say the cooking is important as players can also get different skills that way. 

So defending yourself is more than just a swinging a diamond sword. Players in Darkwood need to come up with strategies. You can lay traps and make sure they are good ones that can actually slow down or even stop whatever comes for you. Barricade those doors and the windows too because danger isn’t always just a dude with a knife you know. Some things in the woods are scarier and more dangerous than that. Ever seen a wolf standing on two feet with a long trench coat? Well we have and it’s not good at keep it’s saliva under control. No, we won’t explain more. It’s up to you if you want to trust a wolf man or not. 

Darkwood

Now the game doesn’t end if you fail to survive the night but do your best to survive because there is something to gain, just as there is something close for dying. What you gain for surviving is reputation with the trader. Allowing you to get more expensive and new items. Now if you die, then you wake up in the morning without any bonuses at all. Worse, if you die while out during the day then you lose half of your inventory. Don’t worry though as you have a chance to get it back. Your lost stuff will be marked on the map, so you can collect it later. That’s just the easy mode though. If you play in the harder difficulties then expect worse consequences like losing lives and even permanent death. 

It’s also one of those games where your decisions, actions and reactions shapes the storyline. It effects even the other characters in the game will get affected and their actions are different too. It’s all about progression though. There are multiple chapters to Darkwood and as you get further, the map changes too. The story here isn’t that simple at allemande players will need to think and take things into account during the whole duration of Darkwood. 

Darkwood

We checked out some Darkwood gameplay and it’s not what we thought it would be. It’s not like Minecraft and certainly isn’t for children. The sounds are very well done. You can hear the footsteps, stepping on grass, the rain, noises in the woods, lightning strikes and more all for setting the atmosphere and getting players nervous. The visuals are good too. The woods, shadows are very well done but the characters themselves aren’t as good. The lighting is the best, especially when it comes to your flashlight, just don’t get scared of your own shadow. That’s right. Bet you forgot this is also a horror game. Things can be waiting in the dark for you… remember that. We like that you have to stay on guard and keep your eyes open pretty much always. The different characters and item management allows for multiple ways of doing things and getting different results. It’s top down so you may need to get closer to something to check it out and when you find a certain item, you have to decide if you’ll need it or not.. Check out gameplay for yourself to understand more. 

Overall Darkwood seems like something that gamers will try for themselves and many will get really scared from playing. We checked this out and it’s gameplay was quite different. Darkwood is a interesting game but once again it’s a limited game audience type. It doesn’t seem like many gamers would get into this but the ones who do will run a mile with it. The developers ‘Acid wizard Studio’ did good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will just have to see how this goes with others. Now Darkwood might have some dangers in the night but those cannot scare… the ‘earth Walk!’

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Bloodstained - Ritual of the Night

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a new action side scrolling role playing game developed by ‘ArtPlay’ and published by ‘505 Games‘. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is said to be coming out in the third quarter of 2019 on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. Now this game will remind certain players of a past game. Let’s take a look.

The story in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is quite straight forward. Players control Miriam, an orphan girl who is afflicted by an alchemist curse. This curse causes her skin to slowly crystallise. She must fight fight her way through a castle that’s just loaded with demons and monsters. She must reach the castles master and stop him. This master is called Gebel and his flesh is also slowly crystallising but at this point, he’s more crystal than flesh. So defeat evil in a race against time type plot.

Bloodstained - Ritual of the Night

So certain gamers who look at Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night will be reminded of Castlevania. The action, side scrolling, many scary looking monsters and even the scenery all looks like it. That’s the point. People really enjoyed Castlevania and so a good idea is to go for a similar style but do it better. So yes, the jumping, attacking, exploring, creed environments and scary monsters are there but there’s more. Players will need to get their hands on good weapons. This can be done by unlocking, crafting and  collecting them. So yes, explore the area and see what you can find. 

Literally there isn’t that much to say about Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night because it is similar to Castlevania. The graphics are very good and the environments are very detailed as well. The movement animations are very good indeed. Each movement is done well. There are numerous and we mean numerous enemies of different types, behaviour and looks. There are many bosses too with the dragon boss grabbing probably the most attention right now. The gameplay looked good right now. 

Bloodstained - Ritual of the Night

We’ve seen many cool weapons too in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Blades and swords that have different ranges and effects. We’ve seen guns and other projectile weapons. Even what looks like magic. There’s a summoned dragon mouth that breathes special flames on enemies. Special abilities and effects in abundance too. Off course not everything is known and we hope there is a huge variety of options when it comes to weapons. This game has the setting and potential to do so. 

Overall Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night seems like a very good game so far. Gameplay is definitely good so far. The level design and environments are very good and detailed. The variety of enemies is good too and we hope there is more. The developers ‘ArtPlay’ have done a very good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker are looking forward to seeing what Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has to offer gamers. It definitely looks bigger, and better than Castlevania. Now Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night may have demons and many weapons but all of them are useless when it comes against… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan

The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan is a new horror game developed by ‘Supermassive Games‘ and published by ‘Bandai Namco‘. The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan is said to be coming out in 2019 on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. This isn’t just a horror game. It’s suppose to be supernatural horror game. Let’s take a look.

In The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan, players will watch and follow the story and adventure of 5 characters. 4 are young Americans while the fifth is their boat driver. They are on a dive boat and have got some plans. Firstly there’s rumours of a world war 2 wreck which they hope to find. Second is off course a boat party. It wouldn’t be much of a game is something doesn’t go wrong. A storm shows up and causes all of them to be stuck on what’s described as a ghost ship. This is a horror game remember.

The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan

This ghost ship isn’t your regular ghost ship at your local supermarket, as once on board the passengers are subjected to some serious terror and immense stress because of what’s going on around them. The objective is simple, they must escape this place and the obviously bad history it has. So expect danger, expect things to mess with your thinking, expect hard decisions, expect quick decisions, expect death, expect mistakes and more. 

The ones who developed ‘Until Dawn‘ are the same ones developing ‘The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan’. Therefore if you have played Until Dawn or watched it then you should know what you are in for. This is because from what we have seen they are similar. It’s dark, there’s a bunch of people and players have to pay close attention to certain details and think about what decisions to make carefully as there are repercussions… there’s always… repercussions.

The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan

So since you know what to expect there isn’t that much to say but here’s what we think about the whole thing. Games like this which are more cinematic based are good. They are different and offer variety to the game genres. Halo and Gears of War aren’t anything like this and that’s good. What games like this need is to provide enough obvious information about the characters, information that will come in handy for future moments in the game like their skills. There needs to be a good blend of obvious and more subtle consequence decisions and danger. For example deciding whether to walk across an unsafe bridge is obvious while deciding whether to hide or keep running when being chased is more subtle. 

Games like The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan also need to make sure that players cannot cheat their way through. Some youtubers and streamers will go back to a previous save if they make a bad decision or get someone killed. This needs to be stopped because when you can simply with two clicks undo a decision it tales away from the tension and stress of playing the game. If they want to redo then they need to start from the beginning again. Also the developers need to not allow pausing during timed decisions as this defeated the purpose of it being times and completely nullifies the pressure a player should feel. Supermassive Games, do these changes or gamers like X35 Earthwalker will have no tension or horror at all as we can simply undo everything and paste giving ourselves 30mins to think.

We checked out some The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan gameplay and yes it is what we thought it would be. We are liking how much darker and serious this game is compared to Until Dawn. The setting is nice too. We saw leeches, skeletons, other beings, holes, traps etc and that’s a good start. The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan has been described as a supernatural horror which means pretty much anything can happen and we hope they get creative here. It’s a ghost ship after all. So we do want to see what else they bring into the ship. 

Overall The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan seems like it’s going to be a very good game. The graphics are a step up from Until Dawn and the sounds are also good from what we can see and hear. We will wait for more details though. The developers ‘Supermassive Games’ have so far done a good job. We truly hope the developers apply what we suggested above. Now The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan may have repercussions but even those don’t matter when there’s… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Resident Evil 2 has been remade and is being developed by ‘Capcom‘. It’s coming out the 25th of January 2019 on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Now many have been saying how great Resident Evil 2, the original. We were never impressed with it but some gamers are looking out for this remake. Let’s take a look.

Now those who have played Resident Evil 1 and 2 you should know the deal about this game and how they function. It’s all about survival way more than combat. It isn’t a straight up gun fight. Many times players had to emphasise that running away from enemies is the best and smart thing to do. That reserves ammo, which is in short supply. So Resident Evil 2 should feel like how it use to… or does it?

Resident Evil 2 still revolves around Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. The main difference with all these reimagines and remakes is that graphics and visuals. Resident Evil 2 has improved graphics which means the zombies look more gross, more blood and splats more. The buildings and locations look very good. Fans will like what they did with the interior. 

Controls and camera is one of the main things that were considered negatives for the originals. In this reimagine of Resident Evil 2 both have been improved greatly. The controls are tighter, more responsive and better. It should be easier now to fire and kill enemies. The camera is better too. There is now immersive camera angles too. This works well especially when you are being grabbed and attacked, you get to see the damage and blood.

Resident Evil 2

Now it has been said that the Resident Evil 2 reimagined will have some new stuff like game modes which is basically mandatory for remakes like this. After all it is the same thing but improved graphics. There are also some changes to the story mode as well. Remakes need new features, new stuff and more to make it worth buying.

We checked out some gameplay and it’s what we thought it would be. The monsters do look very good though. Visuals are good too. The noises have been done very well. We haven’t seen anything to get us excited about Resident Evil 2 though. We can clearly see the improvements in control and camera from even short gameplays. 

Overall Resident Evil 2 looks good and plays better but that’s pretty much about it. It’s more for the fans who have played the originals and want that old feeling back of how they first played the game. As we thought we aren’t impressed nor do we want to play it but off course there will be many gamers who do want to play it. The developers ‘Capcom’ have done an okay job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t looking forward to Resident Evil 2 but will keep an ear out to hear how it does. Now Resident Evil 2 got remakes but one thing that doesn’t need a remake is… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu is a new Investigation RPG developed by ‘Cyanide Studio’. It’s coming out later this year for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. This isn’t your typical Sherlock Holmes investigation story. this is something much darker. Let’s take a look.

Now this may be an investigation game but it isn’t as boring as it sounds. Call of Cthulhu has some stealth and psychological horror mechanics in it. Some have described Call of Cthulhu as a survival horror game as well. This should liven things up for gamers. Seriously when we first heard about this game we were so close to ignoring it because investigation and detective games were never our thing but Call of Cthulhu has gotten our attention.

In Call of Cthulhu you play Edward Pierce who is a former veteran and private investigator in Boston set in the 1920’s. Quite the interesting past. Edward is on a mission to find out what really happened concerning the death of an acclaimed artist and her family. The artists name is Sarah Hawkins. It doesn’t take long for the player to realise that a whole lot more is going on than a simple death or murder. Things get real dark as the ‘Great Dreamer’ called ‘Cthulhu’ prepares for his awakening (so is he asleep? if yes then how is he preparing his awakening?).

We checked out some gameplay and it did surprise us to quite an extent. The game looks very good visually. The rocks, the water. the creepy locations, the lighting all does a very good job at making players feel uneasy about where they are. There definitely is some horror aspect to the game but it’s clearly all psychological. Like players will question whether certain things are real or not. Then there are moments where the player has to leap into action like a good ol fashion chase or hiding and knowing when it’s safe to get moving again.

Overall ‘Call of Cthulhu’ is very interesting. It’s more than your typical detective game. The blend calm moments with orzo go well from what we have seen. The graphics and sounds are done very well indeed. The developers ‘Cyanide studio’ did an very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear open for ‘Call of Cthulhu’. Now Cthulhu may be making preparations but he certainly ain’t prepared for… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Bulb Boy is a 2D point and click horror adventure developed by ‘Bulbware’. It’s coming to Xbox One 6th of October but already out on PC and Nintendo Switch. This game looks creepy but we hear it’s quite unique. Let’s take a look.

 Players control Bulb boy who lives in the bulbhouse (get it?). One night though, Bulb boy suddenly wakes up from a terrible nightmare to learn that terrifying monsters are around and that his family has disappeared. What’s a bulb to do? He has to use his “glass head” to save the day.

Point and click games always have puzzles. They have to, otherwise there really can’t be much to the gameplay. So there will be puzzles. The horrifying monsters are there and will put up a fight, so defeat them you must. Also, what’s a point and click game without some secrets. Yeah, so go find them.

Bulb boy has a big task ahead of, good thing he has abilities. He can withstand electricity and even unscrew his head to accomplish certain things. Bulb boy also isn’t the only playable character. That’s right, you can play as other family members and relive Bulb boys childhood memories.

We checked out some gameplay and the game works well with the whole bulb head mechanic. For example we saw bulb boy screw of his head and place it on a knights armour and then he used the weapon in the armours hand to slice a monster. He attached his head to a chandelier for greater light. The monsters are definitely creepy and the horror is done quite well, we would say. 

Overall, Bulb Boy is a unique game but we don’t believe it’s our type of game. Not a big fan of the style and it doesn’t seem interesting enough but then again this could be just the thing for other gamers, so we do encourage that you do your own little research on the game. The graphics are good and the sounds are nice too. The developers ‘Bulbware’ did a good job with this game. Bulb boy might be worth checking out. Bulb boy must use his inner light but one thing always lights things up… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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