Black Desert is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Pearl Abyss. Black Desert came out on Xbox One, PS4 and PC. This is just a first impression G-blog post. We saw this game time ago but didn’t really feel like it. We decided to try this game for the first time and so here’s a quick view on some stuff. Let’s take a look.
So Black Desert didn’t get off to a good start. Choosing our name was a task in of itself. It gives us set of rules concerning our names. Examples would be 3-15 characters, A-Z, 0-9. They mentioned how to use underscores etc. We tried to do ‘X35 Earthwalker’ at first but off course that has a space. So fine. We added an underscore but it still wouldn’t allow it. We sat there and tried to get the name to work from capital letter to common letter. We had to change the name to ‘X35’ only. At one point we didn’t know why we couldn’t use our name. We were ready to uninstall the game right there. The game’s mantra or slogan or whatever is “Be your true self”. Yet we can’t have the exact name we want. Our name isn’t a swear word, curse or racial slur. Very lame.
Now character creation is very loaded and we would say the most detailed character customisation of any game. You can literally adjust (slight) both butt cheeks, individually. Not joking. Most games especially if you have a female character forces you to have a pancake flat butt when in real life that’s mostly not the case. Body parts are split into smaller sections which you can just individually to be more precise. They need an undo option for each action you take though as if you restore to default it resets everything in that category. Now why are we a female? The game forced us! Let us explain. We wanted the Dark Knight class. It’s only available for female characters. This is the same stupid thing that Tera did concerning the Gunner class. Only women can be Gunners even though the gun itself is BIGGER than the woman herself. BFG 9000 from DOOM is nothing compared to the gun in Tera. Now we know it’s a fantasy game where anything can happen, logical or not but the dark knight is literally all about wielding a big tall two handed blade. It would be heavy. It’s naturally a style more fit for men. Don’t give us that sexist feminist nonsense. It’s a fact that some combat styles are more suited men or women. We can say from experience as X35 Earthwalker has many years of martial arts training and worked with weapons. Can you imagine a regular lady outside a supermarket swinging the blade of Siegfreid from soul calibur? Exactly. It’s north same size but you get what we mean. Even so we couldn’t have a male character as the Dark Knight class which was stupid design and Black Desert’s one huge flaw in character customisation. Again the slogan is “be your true self” yet we can’t pick the character we want. Fail.
Black Desert isn’t clear from the start. It’s actually the most confusing of all the MMORPGs we have played. Especially after the trouble with choosing our name, not getting the character we want we are already fed up at this point. You eventually get use to the controls and how interacting with characters work. Understanding where to go and finding your quests wasn’t easy but even that eventually makes sense. Now the best thing about Black Desert hands down is the combat. The game nailed this. So let’s break this down. You have full control of your character, everything is real time and you can run and sprint real fast making travelling easy. Everything is fast paced, very fast paced. You run up to an enemy, they get alerted if they notice you, they try to attack you can move fast and dodge and get into your preferred range. Definitely feels good for sure. The combat can get exciting.
The Dark Knight class in Black Desert is what we imagined it would be. We are so happy with it’s designed from a combat perspective. You have like maximum mobility. You can dash and zoom bot forwards and left/right at fast response. The attacks are strong, deliver bleed states effect and even launch enemies into there air. Dark Knights can also use magic as well, even a projectile that stuns enemies. We haven’t even unlocked everything yet but already we found our style. It’s fast, strong, melee and range with high mobility. We don’t even care what the other classes have to offer right now. We even faced our first boss, a big red nose monster and we successfully dodged and returned attacks of our own. We dominated that boss. We loved the Dark Knight at sight because it reminded us of Caius from Final Fantasy 13-2 (The story so far). He used like dark chaos energy for attacks and buffing himself. He was fast, deadly blows and had great mobility. Caius was incredibly powerful. We feel like him, an inferior him but we will only get stronger. The combat is the best part of Black Desert right now by far without question.
Overall Black Desert looks like a very good game. Yes we bashed it pretty hard at the start of this G-blog but those are things at the start and once you get past them and start to understand how the game works you then don’t have as much problems at all. We are only level 16 and have only recently played so there’s way more for us to discover, learn and do. So far we are having fun.
Manifold Garden is a first person exploration puzzle game developed and published by ‘William Chyr Studio‘. Manifold Garden came out August 2020 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PS4. October 2020 on PC. Most importantly Manifold Garden is said to be coming to Xbox Series X November 10th 2020 BUT not the PS5. Once again another game that’s coming to the Xbox Series but not the PS5. There’s a trend here. Now this game looks real cool. Let’s take a look.
Manifold Garden is strange but cool. The story is… well… there isn’t really one from what we know. We do know that one of your main objectives is to restore this world, which has been described as barren, with vegetation and life. So maybe something happened that caused it to go barren or maybe it always was barren and you are somehow there to make a difference. Maybe. So all of that is mystery and not the focus of the game at all beside the garden/vegatation part.
Here is the entire description for the game, “Rediscover gravity and explore a beautiful Escher-esque world of impossible architecture. Geometry repeats infinitely in every direction, and falling down leads you back to where you started. Manipulate gravity to change your perspective and see the world in new ways. Master the rules of the universe…”. Now this is short and leaves out a lot but also says quite a bit too. Pay attention. This game is all about exploration. It’s a massive world that expands and pretty much keeps on going. Players have to get around the place but not by natural means.
It’s emphasises that physics don’t work normally here. Rediscover gravity means gravity can now swap, change and maybe even bend or not be there at all in certain places. The buildings have some of the most unreality but creative designs. The world itself has been described as infinite, so constantly moving in one direction won’t make a difference. Fall damage is non-existent. Matter of fact if you fall down, you will get back to where you “started”. Not only is gravity weird but you will have ways to change and mess with gravity yourself.
You can literally just walk up to a wall to start walking along it like it doesn’t matter. When you activate certain panels or area with the blocks you see the same colour run through what can be described as a circuit route to a door or whatever to activate it. Giving players clear directions and indications of what triggers what. The designs of the structures in the distance or nearby shows you that there is some resemblance to real structures but clearly impossible. You get to see how large the place is and that you won’t reach the end of the world anytime soon. You can even jump of the edge of your platform to fall to reach the other side because when you fall you land back where you were. It makes players have to open their minds more to get creative for what’s needed.
The green badge is here. You know what that means. Manifold Garden is one of those “Games built using the Xbox Series X development kit are designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the Xbox Series X. They will showcase unparalleled load-times, visuals, responsiveness, and framerates up to 120 FPS.” It’s optimised for the Xbox Series S too. Not only that but Manifold Greens has ‘Smart Delivery’. So if you bought it for the Xbox One, you will get it automatically on the Xbox Series X.
We checked out some Manifold Garden gameplay and it looks real cool. There are small cubes with arrows on them which allows you to control various things around the world. For example they send signals to open doors, effect water, paths, gravity, move entire structures. All to solve puzzles and make your way around. It’s a growing world and there’s lots of mechanisms here. Lots of creativity. Sort not reminds us of Sable but off course going for a more chaotic, physics, puzzle world where things don’t have to make sense but the mechanisms do. It’s definitely a journey with no direction but an objective. The graphic style works very well here and makes things more defined and solid with the heavy lines design. The sounds though are very nice and suit what’s going on and quiet at times during puzzles for peaceful thinking.
Overall Manifold Garden looks like a very good game. Simple in concept and design but complex in what goes on. We like that you go at your own pace and things are quite peaceful. The puzzles don’t seem too difficult or mind bending. It’s different from what’s out there currently for the most part. The developers ‘William Chyr Studio’ have done a very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing what this games got. Now Manifold garden may have a limitless world but it’s embarrassingly limited when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Indivisible is a RPG platformer game that was developed by ‘Lab Zero Games‘. Indivisible came out on Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Right of the truck etc just say this is an awesome game. This is once again another awesome game that didn’t get enough attention. Silly games like Among us gets attention but not Indivisible. It’s the world we live in. We have beaten the whole game, written about it before, had a lot fun and so here’s our views. Let’s take a look.
Indivisible has many strong points but our favourite has to be the characters. From their design to most specifically their interactions with each other. As you go through the game you’ll meet a whole host of different characters with very different designs from each other. Very different. Our favourite characters are Thorani, Zebei and off course Dhar. The characters have made us laugh more than once. We have cared about some characters, one by far the most. Before all that though take some time to actually look how Zebei fires his bow with his up-based attack where he’s in the air. He got too much skill and swag.
Our favourite scene of character interaction has to be when Thorani, Zebei, Baozhai, Dhar and Ajna tried the strong alcohol during their escape from the slime at the iron kingdom. It had everything. Clear relationships between certain characters, age reveals, behaviour, humour and more. That moment when Kushi asked to try the drink and Zebei simply said “None for you child” then kushi got upset just made us laugh and reminds us of a father with a daughter or big brother little sister sort of relationship. It makes sense as Zebei is a full fledge protector while kushi is an apprentice. Zebei is responsible for her. We learnt that Dhar is 20 years old while Ajna is 16 (clearly). Thorani is the clear mother of the group and clearly mature and behaves wonderfully. An excellent example woman. We won’t cover everything as you should see for yourself but Dhar can’t handle his drinks and Baozhai is a fun strong person to have around.
Next let’s talk about the adventure itself. It’s a big game. You won’t complete this in two hours. You seat in an Ashwat village, then get to a Flying Fortress, then reach Mt Sumeru, then a desert, then a lovely city at the end of the desert with a port, water, merchants, everything. Then the adventure becomes less linear and opens up for access to three more places: Iron kingdom, Tai Krung and Kaanul. We enjoyed the variety of environments and each place is very different from each other which is a good thing. Tai Krung is basically china town but for some reason has reggae music. Hey! Shut up! That background level music wasn’t chinese. It was reggae, off course a bit of a twist to it but reggae nonetheless. Iron kingdom is clearly the military power country with machinery and advanced technology. Kaanul is so nature based with trees, plants, temple styled buildings and more. It’s a jungle. These levels also have a Metroid feel to it in terms of you can’t go through here because you need a certain ability. So you go to another place to learn it and progress. Lots of travelling to and fro through the places.
Next let’s talk about the combat. It’s so different from other games. We like and respect uniqueness. You start with two characters and one button on your controller controls one character’s actions like ‘A’ button and the other button like ‘B’ controls the other. You use those buttons to attack AND to defend. To get a perfect defence you need to time it and press the button at the same time as the attack comes in from enemies. So it can get confusing at first. An enemy will choose who to attack or both and you must control the right character for defending and attacking. Then you will have four characters fo A for one, B for 2, Y for three and X for four if on Xbox for example. This is where some peoples brains can get confused. Holding up or down while pressing the button does a different attack from default. There are advanced combat techniques too. So you have to remember and juggle all this information at the same time. Seeing new players trying to manage all this is funny. You get use to it quickly though. The combat has layers to it from juggling enemies to generate more iddhi, to combo-ing into an ultimate back into a juggle etc.
Another great thing about Indivisible is that we could easily understand the characters. What they are about, their mentality and what their negatives or issues were. We understood Gingseng’s passion for botany and his goals. We knew he would be honoured to study under angwu at the tower of wisdom. Gingseng for the most part was normal. We liked him. Ajna right from the start we knew she was a typical troublesome teenager. She wakes up late, not very responsible person, backchats and argues with her dad over everything. Even a smack across the head doesn’t help (if she had a Jamaican dad her attitude would change). She claims she listens while interrupting people. You just knew she had to go on a journey or maturing, listening and being a better person. It was good to see her development. She cares though, values friendships greatly, loves to help others, determined to help the world and right her wrongs. Thorani is empathetic, sense others feelings like if they are sincere or not. She has a strong desire to want to help others and cares for others. Even calling Ajna and others her children (well she is old enough). We knew her problem would be that she would want to help others so badly that she is willing to over tax herself. Risk or harm herself in the process. She also doesn’t open up to others has much and keeps it in. Sure she’s over a thousand years old and can’t relate woman problems to 16 year old immature Ajna but there’s Zebei who’s an adult. Phoebe was married so she can understand. Baozhai is a no no as she might make some moves if you know what we mean. So not her.
The game wasn’t cryptic at all. Most stuff was easy to figure out, a good amount of clues was given concerning what to do but the game didn’t hold your and. There were secrets to find, hidden characters to discover, ways to upgrade yourself through the ringsels. Each character had a personal mission of their own for you to discover and complete which results in… we aren’t entirely sure what the benefit is except sometimes getting a new costume. We think the characters gets stronger too as they get way more hearts which the game didn’t explain by the way. We believe they get stronger, the new customer is cool though. We didn’t even get an achievement for completing all of them. Their own personal quests were fun to pursue and complete though. It definitely relates with the character in some way and were for the most part interesting. The most unique character was Zahra. gamerant are terrible at analysis and overall not good gamers as they said she was a terrible character in combat and not worth a space. They are so wrong. So they lost any credibility they had with us. Zahra buffs your team one by one and you can stack the buffs which are speed, damage and defense. The buffs are gone if you get hit. You need to perfect block with her to keep the buffs. So if you are skilled you can stack speed, damage and defence boosts on all characters which makes them very powerful. Zebei with a speed boost makes him so fast it’s actually over powered. We have seen Zebei use all his attacks, run back, recharge and go back in before the other characters even get a chance. Zahra is amazing.
Most characters have their own clear uses while there are some who are basically useless from a combat perspective. For example Yan just gets outclassed in damage, juggle and effects. Naga rider is a better version of her when it comes to juggling, ultimates and straight up damage (unless there’s something we don’t know). Zebei is faster than her. We don’t see a reason to use her. Kushi and Altun get outclassed by Tungar for area of effect damage. Her ability to fly isn’t as useful as you think, quite limited. The dog Lanshi hasn’t impressed us. The dog is for set ups and we definitely like how different the dog operates from the other characters though. Sadly Baozhai isn’t good either. Her default attack does no damage but powers up the cannons which aren’t impressive damage and can hurt our own teammates, so little to no combo potential. It would have been good if all characters had their own use or advantages. Even Phoebe eventually got replaced on our team and we liked her.
Another negative about Indivisible is that we started new game plus but there’s nothing so far that’s different about the game. We even saw someone claim there’s nothing different. Ajna has different colour hair, and has the same design as the new Ajna after her interaction with Kala but still no difference. We thought maybe what she says would be different or maybe the characters would recognise her and engage with her differently. Off course we haven’t finished new game plus but so far everything is the same which is very disappointing. We also noticed a very small map mistake where the ma shows you there’s an incarnation (blue flame symbol) on the map when there isn’t.
Here’s two more negatives we had with Indivisible. First is a secret hidden boss called meownster. We found this secret boss and we are sorely disappointed. First of all it looked stupid. We just a huge disappointed sigh when we first found it. That’s not how a powerful super strong final boss should look. Kala looked cool but meownster was lame. Next it was badly designed. You take its life down and it then gets a bit bigger and gets full health back. You do this 5 more times and you wonder how many times do you have to beat it. It’s annoying when you have no idea. It then gets stronger moves with a few that can one shot your entire team. The entire boss fight was boring, it was long, we couldn’t be bothered and worst of all, you don’t get anything for doing it. No over powered move/ability, no epic custom, no cheat menu no nothing. Don’t waste your time on this boss. Not worth it.
The last thing that was a negative that we certainly hated was Ajna’s tribute to Dhar. Spoiler alert. We were mad that Dhar died. Made us not want to continue playing. He sacrificed himself for the Ajna, for the team. Ajna finds his sword and her tribute to him was that she didn’t like him, blames him, will never forgive him but thanks him for preventing her from becoming something she would hate. That’s it! What kind of bullcrap tribute it that for someone who went on a whole adventure to you, dedicated himself to help you save the world, the first person you encounter (not on good terms) and last of all gives his life to help you, for the mission. We disliked Ajna after that. We didn’t care about her anymore. We were done. We don’t care if Dhar killed her dad and that she’s 16. Childish or not. Let’s defend Dhar. Dhar killed her dad yes but they were on opposing sides of a battle and normally in battles and wars one side loses and people die. Dhar was raised in a lying dictatorship like country in an army that believes what they are doing is right. He was indoctrinated as he grew up. He knew no better. Ajna and the crew fought and most likely killed many beings and people on their journey like the soldiers of the iron kingdom. How many of them were dads, brothers, sons, husbands etc. She didn’t care… but when it’s her dad its bad. That’s called battle, war whatever. Dhar learnt the truth, admitted what he did was wrong and explained how he was indoctrinated and thought his leader would help bring world peace but Ajna still won’t forgive him after death. Lame. Pathetic. Forget Ajna and her stupid tribute, rather they didn’t have that scene. Dhar is our favourite character.
Here’s another good thing about Indivisible. The final boss and main villain of the game is Kala. She looks cool, clearly powerful and has her own issues and story. Even Kala does through some development and learning too. Every encounter with Kala was a good one. At the start of the game we thought she was some particle thing ike energy. Then we see she has a body and solid form. She is huge and can step on you. The final battle is completely different from everything else we ever faced. The very end where we had no hope of beating her due to her power but by remembering the basics of solid defense you out last Kala’s assault. Kala was a great villain. She made sense, especially in terms of combat and power. Unlike other video games like god of war where kratus is able to kill zeus who is supposed to be the strongest of all the gods by far and way superior to kratus. In Indivisible it makes sense that Ajna is no match for Kala and can’t beat her. It’s realistic in that sense. So victory must be taken in another way. It was exciting to be right outside of Kala’a area about to head in to settle the fight.
Overall Indivisible is an excellent game. We had lots of fun playing it. 100%-ing this game isn’t really hard. Just got to put in time. The bosses were cool to face with the serpent queen being the most cryptic. For a bit we didn’t know what we were suppose to do at one point. Off course we aren’t going to go over every little thing. Oh by the way. Everyone go get this game. It’s available on the Xbox game pass (greatest deal in video game history). We literally just surfed the game pass and saw this game and was like yes we get to play it. Downloaded it and had a great time. Indivisible is an adventure that you have to go on. We didn’t talk about the clear cultural inspiration for this game. Indivisible is a 9/10 for us. Try it for yourself. Truly an amazing game. Now Indivisible may be an amazing game but it’s nothing special if you compare it to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Samurai Shodown is a action fighting game developed and published by ‘SNK‘. Samurai Shodown isn’t a new game and has come out in 2019 on the Xbox One and PS4 and also 2020 on the Nintendo Switch and PC. Also game out on Stadia. Interestingly though it will come on the Xbox Series X BUT not the PS5 in 2020. This game is definitely flashy and about powerful battles. Let’s take a look.
Samurai Shodown takes place between the events of Samurai Shodown V and the original game. Samurai Shodown is said to “carries on the legacy of the one true weapon-based fighter”. Simply put this is a fighter game like Street Fighter in the sense that it’s two characters on opposing sides of the screen and you use your attacks and whatever to bring the enemies life to zero. Off course this isn’t street fighter but something still very different. In Samurai Shodown it’s more about weapons like Soulcalibur but no 8 directional movement. The game being called samurai has an obvious theme. So expect swords, blades and flashy abilities.
Let’s talk a bit more about the fact that Samurai Shodown is coming to the Xbox Series X but not the PS5. We are seeing a number of games doing this. Develeopers are picking the Xbox Series X over PS5. Even one of the recent games we just wrote about called R-Type Final 2. A number of games are moving like this. On top of that. The Xbox Series X has been selling out like crazy in Japan. Japanese developers are going to be releasing games on the Xbox Series X and not PS5, especially thanks to Sony and it’s unnecessary censoring. Japan is a significant place when it comes to video games. It’s a fact that PlayStation, Sony is losing ground to Xbox, Microsoft. How many more nails is Xbox going to put into the PlayStation coffin?
We have never seen this game before so it’s new for us. We noticed that there’s mechanics around the weapons themselves. For example you can knock a player away from their weapon and off course they then are a much smaller threat, have limits and less range. This leads to certain tactics like knocking the enemy away from the weapon then backing off to get the weapon off screen or stand by their weapon and play keep away. It’s an interesting feature and reminds us off when Vega looses his claw knives in Street fighter.
We checked out some Samurai Shodown gameplay and it’s what we expected. There’s strange symbols, imagery, lots of flash and explosive moves. Weapons are the focus, a heavy theme and action, action, action. The characters don’t look that interesting to us though. No one stands out to us but the gameplay does. The special powerful moves get right to the point and does what you’d expect. It does look good and the background settings are very fitting and relevant to the Samurai theme.
Overall Samurai Shodown looks like another fighting game to us just having a mechanic that makes the game stand out but clearly still falls into the group. The graphics and visual aren’t impressive but possibly that could change with the next gen console Xbox Series X. It’s definitely flashy though. The developers ‘SNK’ has done an alright job. We know some gamers are looking forward to this. Now Samurai Shodown may have swords and flashy action but that’s all super dull when compared to the action of… the ‘Earth Walk!’
R-Type Final 2 is a new side scrolling shooter game developed by ‘Granzella‘. R-Type Final 2 is said to be coming out in 2021 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. R-Type Final 2 definitely has something going for it. Side scrolling shooter games have a tough time standing out and a number of them are just too similar. Let’s take a look.
Now we didn’t know anything about R-Type Final 2. We never heard of it. Even the story we aren’t sure of what’s going on. We do know that the main enemies in the R-Type are the Bydo. Humans are in a serious battle with the Bydo… for years. Simply put it’s man vs aliens with space battles and machines. Now that’s not the focus here. The focus is that you control big ships with mad firepower to destroy pretty much everything. So focus on that.
One of the main focuses on the R-Type Final 2 gameplay is to make players feel real good about destroying the enemies. There’s multiple weapons for clearly different purposes. There’s a charged up weapon that has piercing effect that flies through multiple enemies. Good for a line up. There are bombs for when extra damage is needed or just to clear out a group of them. Laser beams which have obvious purposes. There’s spiral based flaming attacks. There’s loads of weapons in R-Type Final 2 from what we have seen.
Your weapons can be frontal or backwards which is a good feature. Games like this need loads of weapons, there needs to be a form of upgrade system. Some games do have this but something more is needed. R-Type Final 2 does try something that’s actually different. It seems like some levels have special conditions. There’s one stage that has decaying organisms. So new enemies are formed from the destroyed remains of other enemies. So basically as you play R-Type Final 2 you will face new and stronger enemies. Stage factors like this a good spin.
Now the stages evolve as well. Off course players will be making changes to their fighters over time with different weapons and features. So the stage, enemies and fighters will be going through changes over time. What stands out to us more than any of that stuff in R-Type Final 2 is the ship designs. Like seriously look at them. There’s all sorts and types with some looking like living creatures. Technology has come a long way hasn’t it.
We checked out some R-Type Final 2 gameplay and it’s what we expected for the most part. R-Type Final 2 brings a sense of progression as players will unlocked and develop new fighters of different types as they go through the game. Some ships (fighters) are clearly better for some levels than others because of their features. So it’s up to players to know what’s the best options for the situations ahead. We like the level of flashiness and explosives and special effects. Thos look amazing and the design of the aliens. We always respect creativity and we hope to see more unique and cool looking alien enemies.
Overall R-Type Final 2 looks like a real good game for sure. There’s loads of action, unique and cool looking enemies, customisation, multiplayer is going to make R-Type Final 2 a serious game. Just being able to play with others is a big deal. The graphics of the ships, enemies and the visuals of the firing and attacks are very good. The developers have done a very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing what R-Type Final 2 will do. R-Type Final 2 may have loads of action but that action is real boring when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Sword of the Necromancer is a new dungeon crawler action role playing game developed by ‘Grimorio of Games‘ and published by ‘JanduSoft‘. Sword of the Necromancer is said to be coming out in the last quarter of 2020 on the Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and PC. Sword of the Necromancer doesn’t look flashy but looks like solid action. Let’s take a look.
The story of Sword of the necromancer is actually quite simple. You are this dude called Tama. The girl you love is dead but you won’t leave her dead. So you do whatever it takes to bring her back. This apparently means acquiring the Sword of the Necromancer (the title by the way) and slaying enough monsters and even the necromancer himself to get enough soul power to bring Koko (the girl) back to life. We at X35 Earthwalker condemn the practice of necromancy, so don’t go grabbing death swords to bring back a loved one. You’ve been warned.
Now just take one look at Sword of the necromancer and you already know what you are getting yourself into. It’s pixel graphics, you going through what looks like dungeons and you are swinging your sword at many foes. That’s all you need to know really, but there’s something more though. This sword, sword of the necromancer, has an unsurprising ability where the enemies you kill can be brought back to life under your control. You keep what you kill. So eventually you need to raise an army of monsters to help you destroy necromancer and the guardians.
Now it’s not just your sword that you will be wielding. The weapons are different and there are relics to acquirer to help you out. Also the weapons are random generated so you will get something different from your friend… or by pure chance you do get the same thing. The problem is you only have four item slots. So you can equip a monster you defeated to summon it against your enemies, or you can equip the bow and arrows or go for a giant axe, or maybe equip a shield which protects you from projectiles. There’s a whole lot of different combinations of resurrected monsters, relics or weapons. So get creative.
As you fight and defeat enemies you will level up. As you fight alongside the monsters you turned and summoned they will get stronger too. So there’s quite a bit of management to do. Levelling up is key as you need levels to improve your stats and upgrade. If you die (you will die… probably), you lose all your equipped weapons and monsters but keep half the levels you gained. On the other hand there may be opportunities for you to leave the dungeon. Doing this let’s you keep all your equipment but lose all your levels. So you need to take risks to become the ultimate killing machine.
We checked out some Sword of the Necromancer gameplay and it’s what we expected. It’s nothing flashy or fancy. It’s your dungeon crawler, action game. A solid game at that with a cool new concept of turning defeated enemies into allies. This concept along will catch the attention of gamers. We like this concept and it makes you wonder what monsters you want to aim for, how useful they will be and who to spend time fighting alongside to level up. The pixel style works here and the designs look good. Work went into this game for sure. Again, nothing big or special but solid.
Overall we like what we see. It’s interesting and cool. Best of all Sword of the necromancer has local co-op. You can play with a buddy and face the dungeons together. Local co-op is just the best. You hear that Halo Infinite! MAKE SURE TO HAVE LOCAL CO-OP!!! Sorry readers we don’t know what came over us. *clears throat* The graphics are nice, the combat is solid and the options seem plentiful. This game just needs a bit more and some flair. The developers ‘Grimorio of Games’ have done a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what Sword of the Necromancer truly brings to the table. Now Sword of the Necromancer may have a great concept but it’s a dumb one compared to the creativity of… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Hood: Outlaws & Legends is a new multiplayer, action, stealth game developed by ‘Sumo Digital‘ and published by ‘Focus Home Interactive‘. Hood: Outlaws & Legends is said to be coming out in 2021 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and PC. Hood: Outlaws & Legends is definitely doing something different concerning the concept. Let’s take a look.
Hood: Outlaws & Legends is set in a violent medieval place with an oppressive government. It’s being called a state. This place is crazy though as there are rebels, scum, thieves… basically outlaws out here and they are making some moves. Simply put, it’s Robin Hood. Hood: Outlaws & Legends is based on a rare concept that’s not easy to do right. There’s so many rival gangs and are trying to steal from the rich to give to the poor which will of course gain the support of the oppressed people. These gangs are competing against each other while off course the rich will want to protect what’s theirs too.
So it’s basically a three way battle in Hood: Outlaws & Legends. The guards of the rich/soldiers vs the players and their team vs other players and their team. That’s right. While you are sneaking around, assassinating soldiers and making your way to the goods. There are other players doing the exact same thing with their team. You might be hunting or being hunted. The treasure is right there and the area looks clear but they could be right there hiding. Waiting for you to turn your back. So it’s PvEvP. The game has a saying, “We are all outlaws… but some of us will become legends.” You need to prove you are the best. This concept does remind us ofHunt: Showdown. Hood: Outlaws & Legends is a fight but also a race.
Since Hood: Outlaws & Legends is also a stealth game and dangerous A.I enemies are around, you need a plan. It’s like trying to rob a big super secure bank (obviously not as difficult). Running through the front door scream with weapons out is a bad move for sure. Each character in your squad have their own skills and “mystical abilities”. So know your characters, know the situation and know what needs to be done and who ought to do it. Now when it comes to facing the other players, there’s where things will get loud. Think of it sort of like ‘For Honour’ where you need to judge your distance and timing very well to get the hits on your enemy and back off, evade etc. So mix it up out there.
There isn’t that much on Hood: Outlaws & Legends. The concept and past games tells you everything you need to know. It’s a team based game for the most part. Whether you need a group of friends or if there’s matchmaking, we don’t know. So pick your character, have your team, sneak around towards the objective, take out guards and get the goods. Most likely running into the other teams of players. How many teams per match or world, we don’t know either. Just prepare for a fight.
We checked out the Hood: Outlaws & Legends trailer and it gives a good idea of what to expect and it’s what we expected. It’s definitely more brutal than we thought though. There appears to be executions of some sort. Weapons with special effects, possibly stuns. Not clear if there’s a penalty for losing an ally. Is there permalinks death? Who knows.
Overall Hood: Outlaws & Legends looks like an alright game for now. It has potential to be much better and very good but only when we see more. The concept is rare and difficult to pull off. There’s many factors. The developers ‘Sumo Digital’ have done an alright job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what Hood: Outlaws & Legends becomes. Now Hood: Outlaws & Legends may have a brutal battle of outlaws but those outlaws are just children in comparison to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is a new action role playing game developed by ‘Cyanide‘ and published by ‘Nacon‘. Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is said to be coming out the 4th of February 2021 on Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PS4 and PC. We heard there are werewolves in this game. Well there’s more to it but hey. Let’s take a look.
Now Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is set in a dark universe that has werewolves in it. Now that should already get some people excited as there are way more vampire games. Basically players control a character called Cahal. He was born under a full moon, and proud werewolf Warrior of the Fianna Tribe. So yes he is a werewolf basically and a strong one at that. Cahal also use to be a protector of gaia. What’s gaia? Well basically it’s the earth. We will explain.
In Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood, gaia is in a battle against the Wyrm which is a cosmic force all about destruction and decay… so not friendly. The wyrm is getting help from Pentex, a multinational corporation who want nothing more than to feast on the corpse of gaia. Cahal (the main character) who willingly went into exile because he lost control in his werewolf form is coming back into action, to help his tribe and off course also help gaia.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood doesn’t keep things basic. Cahal is has three forms. His human form, his wolf form and his werewolf form. His human form is best for interacting with people because as you know werewolves can be scary and cause people to run away or attack you. The wolf form is the best for travelling around because of it’s fast movement and it’s also capable of sneaking around so it’s the stealth form. The werewolf form is all about the combat, the fighting and destruction. So players need to know where to use what in Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood.
Now remember this. Your greatest strength is also your greatest threat (sort of). Your werewolf form thrives and goes in with the rage. The rage is your weapon but if you don’t control your rage it will probably lead t your death. This is because when you lose control you give the chance for the wyrm enthrall to consume your soul. That’s right Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood isn’t going to let you go completely crazy.
Lastly the type of enemies we have seen. Well humans are in this world confirmed and we know that Pentex is a human corporation and so as the enemy we expect human based enemies. Now humans can’t stand up to a werewolf without the right tools. So we expect powerful weaponry and powerful machines like power suits maybe. Not something as high tier as Optimus prime but something powerful. We did see an image of a dude in a exoskeletal construction machine that you control with your body. Reminds us of the machine Ripley used used in her battle against the queen xenomorph alien in the movie ‘Aliens’. So that’s interesting.
We checked out some Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood gameplay and it’s what we imagined actually. When you go into werewolf mode you run around slashing and smashing enemies around, even joggling some. Some enemies are too big and sturdy so you may have to leave them for last. Lost of humans with good weaponry to put you down and you can even square up with other werewolf enemies. Werewolf on werewolf violence is always encouraged around here. So get ready for it. It’s definitely action with abilities.
Overall Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood just seems like another action game all about wild fighting. Reminding us of Dante’s inferno and god of war in some ways. There’s much more to learn about this game. We like werewolves and like the multiform game mechanic. Like alucard being able to turn into a bat, gas, or wolf. The developers ‘Cyanide’ have done a good job with this game. Now werewolves may be destroying with their rage but even that can be slapped away by… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a new action role playing game developed by ‘Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio‘ but published by ‘SEGA‘. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is said to be coming out 2020 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4 and PC. This game did get our attention but by only a medium amount. We are curious as to what this game has got. Let’s take a look.
In the world of Yakuza: Like a Dragon players control Ichiban Kasuga. This guy is a yakuza… and a low ranking one at that. His boss is someone he has complete loyalty and trust in but gets betrayed… shot and off course left for dead. Off course he is out for answers and by the looks of it… revenge. It makes you wonder though. Why didn’t the boss and his people kill Ichiban right there and then to make sure? Did the boss want Ichiban to survive?
Not much is known about Yakuza: Like a Dragon. What we do know is that all this takes place in todays Japan and you are armed with a bat. Off course it isn’t a regular bat but incredibly deadly and powerful. This is where things get comical and we like that. It sort of reminds us of ‘Saints row the third‘ and ‘Scott Pilgrim vs the world‘. In a sense that this is super serious gang realistic thing. It’s more comical, more fun, more silly and relaxed. Just get in there and get ready to give a beat down with some serious action. This is a good approach and the right approach.
The biggest difference in Yakuza: Like a Dragon is that it’s combat is now basically a party turn based RPG. So give commands, get strategic about it and make your turn count. There are multiple different abilities with some being funny. One guy used a move called Pigeon Raid where you throw beans at an enemy and then a bunch of pigeons come along and attack the enemy. Yep we got stuff like that in this game. That should tell you a lot already.
We have seen that there are physical attacks and what can be described as magical attacks. For example we mentioned Pigeon raid but there’s also Pyro belch which targets one enemy but has area of effect and can caused the enemies to get burned. There’s a physical attack called ‘push and shove’ which let’s you shove an enemy with a cane which has a chance to stun the enemy. They have power rankings too like Light, medium and heavy.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon has been optimised for Xbox Series X which means “Games built using the Xbox Series X development kit are designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the Xbox Series X. They will showcase unparalleled load-times, visuals, responsiveness and framerates up to 120FPS.
We checked out some Yakuza: Like a Dragon and it’s not what we though it would be and old fans of the series will notice the heavier differences. It’s a very simple thing to understand. It’s action, it’s RPG, it’s strategy, it’s relaxed, it’s comical in a way. There’s humour and it’s about smashing your enemies. Not only that and what really stands out is that there are some powerful enemies you will face. These guys don’t play around and they will not let you do as you please. The enemies are really interesting looking and even from a trailer we haven’t been this interested in enemies in a video game in a good while. We want to know more about these suckas.
Overall Yakuza: Like a Dragon looks like it’s just going to be a wild ride for sure. Abilities, weapons, allies a whole city and some cool enemies who ain’t about to let you do as you please. Yakuza: Like a Dragon actually looks like a fun action game to play where it’s not 100% serious and stiff but flexible, silly and just straight up have a blast. In time we will learn more. The developers ‘Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will be waiting for the release of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Now Yakuza: Like a Dragon maybe have a powered baseball bat but even that is a weak toy compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
HITMAN 3 is a new stealth game developed and published by ‘IO Interactive‘. HITMAN 3 is said to be coming out in January 2021 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PlayStation 5 and PC. HITMAN 3 has been described as the conclusion to the assassination trilogy. Things are about to get real serious in the assassination world. Let’s take a look.
What’s the story in HITMAN 3? Well Agent 47, aka baldi, is back and this time he’s handling the most important contracts of his assassinating ‘career’. This time something is different. Sure he is being backed up by his agency handler Diana Burnwood… BUT!… he is working together with his long lost friend Lucas Grey. Teams overall are better than solo. The words “Death awaits” is a recurring thing and we are not sure why. Maybe HITMAN 3 is the game where agent 47 dies. Maybe not. After all will no one not notice and want revenge?
Now this mission that agent 47 is on is suppose to be the most important ones yet. The goal is to wipe out the partners of Providence. When you make your target people like the partners of Providence then you know real trouble is coming your way. You don’t wipe out one important person and think nothing bad will happen to you. As you carry out your mission, things will get harder and harder. The action will become more intense.
Expect a lot of scenery and environment as your mission takes you across the world. Sandbox locations included. Now the theme of freedom is quite strong with this game. A good number of these modern games especially lately and with next gen aim to have open world and more freedom for players. This is a quote from the developers website, “We’ve made sure that players will have unrivalled freedom to complete their objectives and the game world will react to everything they do. All of this is made possible by our award-winning Glacier technology, which powers HITMAN 3’s immersive game world to offer unparalleled player choice and replayability.”. Multiple gems have tried the whole consequence thing. We think HITMAN 3 has the world and setting to do it. Just don’t mess up developers.
We were never fans of the HITMAN series but from our experience with the games like HITMAN Absolution we know they are good games overall. HITMAN 3 won’t function as one game. In HITMAN 3, players can play all three games and carry some content over. There’s a whole section explaining this on their website so we will just quote it here, “The World of Assassination trilogy is fully realised with HITMAN 3 and we are establishing our new game as the ultimate place to play all three games. Players of our previous HITMAN games will be pleased to know that it will be possible to ‘import’ locations that they own from the previous two HITMAN games into HITMAN 3, essentially putting all 20+ locations from the entire trilogy in one place. Playing the entire trilogy from beginning to end, from within HITMAN 3, also means that the progression systems in HITMAN 3 work across all locations. You can unlock an item in Dubai and take it with you to Paris, for example. We’re pleased to say that HITMAN 2 players will have the option to carry over their hard-earned unlocks and progression into HITMAN 3.”
We checked out some HITMAN 3 gameplay and it looks like another HITMAN game. The graphics are great, the environments are excellent. Same formula so far. You know what you got to do and you sneak around. You stay undetected, pay attention to routes, blind spots, hiding places, using everything to your advantage. You have different disguises and stuff to wear but ultimately the prize is that kill. It’s HITMAN… what do you want from us? It’s not suddenly going to be Halo. Off course more information is going to come out.
Overall HITMAN 3 just seems like another HITMAN game but obviously bigger, more action, more intense, consequences to your actions, allies, three games in one, carry over content, more freedom and whatever extra they be bringing. HITMAN 3 has a big opportunity here so don’t waste it. Now the developers ‘IO Interactive’ have done a very good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will leave an ear open for what HITMAN 3 be up to. Now HITMAN 3 may be sneaking up on gamers but one thing it can’t sneak up on is… the ‘Earth Walk!’
