Outbreak: Contagious Memories is an action survival horror developed and published by ‘Drop Dead studio‘. Outbreak: Contagious Memories is said to be coming out the 6th of April 2022 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One and PC. This game is trying to get back to the world of ’90s survival horror. X35 Earthwalker has lots to write about. Let’s take a look.
So basically you control Lydia who is desperately trying to escape from a city that’s been overrun by the undead. It’s all about survival out here. Resident evil fans might want to take a look over here. Outbreak: Contagious Memories is trying to bring in that 90s survival horror. That means, weird camera angles, things jumping in from off screen, cheap jumps scares, limited ammo, so on and so on. Now off course we are being mean but let’s give Outbreak: Contagious Memories a chance.
So you should already know what to expect from this game. Outbreak: Contagious Memories has options for camera angles. There’s first person view, retro fixed camera and an over the shoulder view. You can change the camera at anytime. You will hear about other survivors and their plans for survival. You will hear new reports about what the nations are doing to combat this undead plague. Outbreak: Contagious Memories is among to get players feeling like they are in the game and feeling the weight of the situation. Get immersed as they say.
Listen to this, “Mo-cap animations, cheesy voiceovers and enhanced visuals await as you solve puzzles and fight for your life.” this does sound quite 90s and older style. Outbreak: Contagious Memories is said to have brutally gory combat. The resources are said to be extremely limited. Outbreak: Contagious Memories is also going for crushing difficulty. Now how are they going to do this? By granting high damage to enemies and keep resources extremely limited? Will it be in the layout of the areas? X35 Earthwalker easily can make a game like Outbreak: Contagious Memories very very difficult without it being lame and cheap. Let’s see if these guys can get it right.
We checked out some Outbreak: Contagious Memories gameplay and it’s what we expected for the most part. The style, the camera but weak on the visual side of things. Also Outbreak: Contagious Memories is quite a dark game. Some parts will literally require a source of light like a flashlight or you don’t know what’s in there. Expect reflections, so watch those mirrors as it could save your life. Everything is trying to kill you basically and expect blood and gore. We want to see that blood and gore, so don’t get cheap on us. We hope for a variety of threats and danger. We want the standard undead enemy but also want more that require serious thinking on the part of the players. Maybe there’s some routes you just don’t want to go because of a certain enemy. We will have to see.
Overall Outbreak: Contagious Memories looks like a god game right now. It’s another survival horror game with emphasis on extreme difficulty and being a part of the survival. The developers Drop Dead studios have done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to keep an ear open for this game to see how difficult and gory it is. Now Outbreak: Contagious Memories may have limited resources but what’s never limited is… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an action Role Playing Game developed by ‘Koei Tecmo Games‘ and ‘Team Ninja‘ and published by ‘Square Enix‘. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is said to be coming out March 18th 2022 on the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and PC. There’s going to be lots of battles going on here. X35 Earthwalker is the best so it makes sense for us to talk about this. Let’s take a look.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has an adventure here for us. Basically a dude named Jack, who has a serious drive to defeat chaos, must bring back the light of the crystals to Cornelia. Cornelia is a whole kingdom but it has been defeated by darkness. So yeah, expect multiple obstacles. It’s final Fantasy after all, so expect a prophecy or two. Basically Jack and his allies don’t know if they are the warriors of light or not. X35 Earthwalker already can see where this story can go and how to go about it in design but let’s see.
It’s Final Fantasy. So you know there’s going to be big battles, some huge monsters and bosses and lots of weapons, magics and abilities. Gamers should expect a summon or two. If Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin doesn’t have summons, we will be heavily disappointed. X35 Earthwalker is quite interested in the whole chaos aspect. There was chaos in Final Fantasy XIII-2 with Caius. There was the goddess etro as well. So we would like to see how chaos rolls in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.
We saw a lot of different locations and environments in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. Here’s a list of some: Pravoka seaport, Crystal mirage, Cavern of earth, chaos shrine, the western keep, sunken shrine, the Flying Fortress, refrin wetlands and more. We always like the variety. These places have been described as “these locations seem foreign, with strange scenery and cultural atmospheres that don’t seem to fit into this world.” Let’s see how they show this.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin claims to have “wildly different movesets”. We saw different movesets in Final Fantasy XV and it’s good. We expect Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin to be better. Like Astria Ascending, there’s job specializations which effect your skills. There’s a mechanic called soul shield which allows you to “lessen incoming damage”. Sort of reminds us of hardening in Mortal Shell. Like Elden Ring, you can rest at sites of grace – we mean save points which also brings back the enemies. So grind away. This should suggest that Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin should be a difficult game.
Read this whole description about equipment, “Each piece of equipment not only changes base stats, but helps add stylish dark fantasy flair. Equip multiple pieces in a set to not only complete the look, but deepen the stat bonuses available to your party. Job-based skill trees help craft a party that support each other with abilities and special attacks that can offset weaknesses and bolster strengths; customize your party according to your play style.” Now this can easily allow for some deep mechanics. We need to see that. Do it well please.
We checked out some Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin gameplay and it’s what we expected in terms of the combat style. Things look awesome already. The combat is looking real clean too. We also see what seems to be executions for finishing of enemies. They also get red crystallised by the looks of it. It’s final Fantasy so you know there’s elemental based mystical attacks. Use the right ones to exploits weaknesses, you know the drill. We are king what we see right now. Definitely. Why does Jack remind us of Cor the immortal? With a combat system this clean, we demand that the body battles be maximum epicness. They have the means to do so.
Overall Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin looks awesome right now. From the environments and rears, to the combat and the mysteries. There’s much more to explore and look into. Especially the deeper mechanics but for now. Awesome stuff. you can even use your abilities to effect the environment. Like clear obstacles, open up paths and a bit more. The developers ‘Koei Tecmo Games’ and ‘Team Ninja’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker are excited to see what this game brings.
Endzone: A World Apart Survivor Edition is survival simulation game developed by ‘Gentleman studios‘ and published by ‘Assemble Entertainment‘. Endzone: A World Apart Survivor Edition is said to be coming out the 19th of March 2022 on the Xbox Series X and PS5. X35 Earthwalker gives all types of games a chance. He speaks once more. Let’s take a look.
Endzone: A World Apart Survivor Edition has a simple situation going on in world. Basically some terrorists messed up big time. They blew up nuclear power plants all around the world which as you can imagine ruined the world. Majority of people died and the ones who survived did so thanks to these underground facilities called Endzones. Endzone: A World Apart Survivor Edition is all about survival. This is the manage a whole city or town simulation and keep everyone alive.
So yeah, Endzone: A World Apart Survivor Edition is a survival simulation but what’s the main action here? There’s no mutated monsters our aliens coming to destroy. Your main enemy is… the environment. There are “violent weather events”. Examples would be drought off course and even a sandstorm. The environment is hostile and there’s loads off radioactivity, “extreme climate change” and even the rain has been contaminated. Do not go singing in the rain. Ye have been warned.
We checked out some Endzone: A World Apart Survivor Edition gameplay and it’s what we thought it would be. Use your tools to build structures for housing. Eventually acquire a stable means for handling water and food. and even produce a working electrical system. Now there is another threat besides the weather. There’s raiders. These violent scum are all about the destruction of your settlement. So make sure you have the right structures and forms of defence in place.
Overall Endzone: A World Apart Survivor Edition seems like Ana right game.We do like the large amount of details in this game. Look at the trees and the designs of the buildings. Situations will pop up concerning the people and as the leader, you choose how to respond and handle it. Equip your people and workers for the job. This game goes deeper but that’s for you to find out and discover. The developers ‘Gentleman studios’ have done a nice job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker hopes this game does well. Now Endzone: A World Apart Survivor Edition may have a ruined radioactive world but it would all be cleansed in an instant with… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King is an action platformer adventure game developed and published by ‘Redlock studios‘. Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King is said to be coming out in the first quarter of 2022 on the Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch and PS5. It has come out on PC on the 27th of February though. We see a big world and it looks cool. X35 Earthwalker has the best eyes. Let’s take a look.
Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King is set in a big world The world of Hynos. Definitely big. Basically the king disappeared and the world is gone as in it’s messed up and not what it used to be. What happened? Well go find out. That’s the whole point. You are a wanderer in in this place. You must “piece together the fragments of reality”. You will retrace the fall of civilisation. Even get testimonies from survivors. Off course some survivor are more reliable and accurate than others. So figure it out.
Now we know you see that big ol sword. Yes there’s more than just a mystery going on in Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King. There’s combat. This world, this continent has foes, “mighty foes”. So as you are finding the secrets know that you will be engaged in what’s described as “experienced precision based combat”. It gets better. Think of the combat in Sekiro: shadows die twice, mortal shell. Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King is like that. Study your opponent, take your time, study their moves and get your attacks in.
These battles aren’t close range weapons only. There’s also spells. Long range spells. So there’s options but on top of all this there’s transitions between full 3D and 2.5D. We definitely want to see this 3D 2.5D transition concerning battle in action. This can easily be very effective for epicness in a fight. Angles and views makes a big difference and impact if done right. This transition can be awesome. Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King better do it well.§ Look at the scale and size of the fight against the leviathan in Final Fantasy XV. Nothing comes close.
Exploration is encouraged to some extent. Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King has described their world as semi open world. There’s branching paths and many beings to encounter. This is what Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King said about their world, “Each new zone tells a story through stunning art direction and finely crafted design.” We do like how different the zones look and you know we love variety around here at X35 Earthwalker.
We checked out some Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King gameplay and it’s what we thought it was. The combat is at a good speed. You definitely can’t trust every survivor you come across. There’s the whole consequences of your decisions and actions mechanic but we have no faith in those in games for a while now. Hopefully Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King can do it right. We doubt it though. Your character the wanderer will progress and get stronger in more than one way. Through combat off course but also through exploration. So make sure to do both. Your resources aren’t unlimited.
Overall Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King looks real cool and like it’s a good game. The art style is cool and actually works here. The bosses though are a question mark. Game like this needs the bosses to be interesting and lately developers have failed at that. We will end this here. The developers ‘Redrock studios’ have done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear open for what noise this game makes. Now Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King may have a semi open world but that’s not open enough for… the Earth walk!’
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is the latest biggest Yu-Gi-Oh! game. We will type it as Yugioh from now on. X35 Earthwalker has been playing Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel for a while now and has noticed many problems with the game and ‘modern Yugioh’ in general. Just for the sake of the ignorant readers, know that X35 Earthwalker is a veteran Yugioh player. He has played since it’s release, watched the animes and considered by smart people as the best player in the world who doesn’t use lame tactics. X35 Earthwalker doesn’t use meta decks. Glad we made that clear. Let’s take a look.
The main problem with Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is modern Yugioh itself. Yes other games suffer from a similar problem but it’s way worse in Yu-Gi-Oh! Meta! The problem is meta. Not all decks are created equally and that’s too big of a task to get done perfectly. There’s thousands of cards and so many decks and archetypes who specialise in different things so and can’t be equal. Even so there are things you can do but Konami isn’t smart enough nor top they care to fix it. Meta decks dominate in Yugioh and that’s a fact. This was the same problem in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links. Decks like eldlich, tri brigade, drytron and many many more. It’s so bad that some players instantly quit the match upon seeing these things. We don’t blame them. It’s not fun to face these decks. It’s boring. That’s problem one. Most duels in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel are not fun because of meta decks. Some of these decks take forever to do their turn. They be special summoning more times than the number of bites you take eating cereal. Not joking. People have made videos on this.
Now why do many people use meta decks? Simple. Most are pathetic losers who can’t win by themselves and have no creativity. They are desperate for a win and so copy the most broken unfair decks so they can finally have some sort of success in their life. The community doesn’t help either. youtubers and streamers need to make new ‘exciting’ content, so they find new broken decks, cards or combos and show the world. The world then just copies it (card for card in many cases) as they always show the deck recipe. The smaller group of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel players use meta decks because they are tired of losing. they try fun and creative decks but they get destroyed by meta decks (we know the feeling) so it’s a ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ kind of thing. We don’t mock or insult those guys as we understand the frustration. They aren’t having fun and no one likes losing all the time. So expect to face meta the vast majority of the time and for players to race to get the broken meta cards.
Now all this means that fun decks can’t be used. X35 Earthwalker has already reached platinum ranked without any meta decks or hand traps like ash blossom, maxx c and niburu. He has dropped rank simply because he began to use other decks he created that are fun, creative and different but not as strong as his more serious deck. He was using Earthbound Immortals! X35 says they are the coolest in the verse (game). While powerful, they can easily be stopped by those broken decks. You try to use Supay dawnwalker and boom, the brain dead meta deck using opponent uses ash blossom. You have been screwed. They might use maxx c, so when you use Ascator dawnwalker the get 3 cards for absolutely no reason. Not fair. While Earthbound immortals didn’t get any love. They are a major archetype that gor little to know upgrades or real support cards. The sacred beast cards got some crazy and even broken support cards and upgrades that make them almost unbeatable. Earthbound Immortals have no such help. They have many weaknesses. They can be destroyed, removed from play, targeted and AOE both work, don’t have the highest attack points at all, almost all their effects have little to no effect on the strongest cards who can’t be targeted or destroyed by card effects. Get rid of the field spell and Earthbound Immortals die. They have no link monster or xyz cards. Nothing broken or cheap. They also require two tributes to bring out. There’s also no get cards from deck to hand or special summon from deck etc. They are weak in modern yugioh and the meta. So no fun decks means no fun. You can try Earthbound immortals and other fun decks but expect to lose or leave matches in many cases sadly.
Another problem with Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is getting new cards. You have these basic normal packs which are always available but for the packs that allow you to target a certain archetype, which are the secret packs, are not always available. They are not there. You have to unlock them. To do this you have to open other packs and hope to get a super or ultra rare card that belongs to a secret pack which then unlocks the secret pack. Secondarily you could craft a super or ultra rare card that belongs to a secret pack to unlock the secret pack. That’s not that hard when you think about it… but… the problem is the packs are unlocked TEMPORARILY. They stay available for like a day. That’s it. That’s stupid. Opening packs one at a time hardly brings results. It’s always best to open 10 at a time which is 1000 gems. Getting 1000 gems isn’t easy at all. As getting gems is incredibly slow on purpose. Quick example. You have 3000 gems. You spend 1000 to open a pack to hope to get a rare enough card to unlock your pack. You get a card first try. You now have 2000 to grab 20 packs of the secret pack you want. That’s normally not enough to get all the cards you want. Once you are aiming for these cards, you don’t want to dismantle them to craft the specific cards you want. You have run out of gems. To try again, you need to get 1000 gems again to hope to unlock the secret pack and then another 1000 on top to just try. That’s stupid and lame.
Now Konami doesn’t want to fix Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel for obvious reasons. They make more money this way. Think about it. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t know this already. X35 Earthwalker is the smartest person after all. People want to win, easiest way to win is to have a brain dead, retarded, yes to everything, meta deck. To get those you need the cards. You mainly get the cads through spending gems to open packs. Earning gems is really slow. What’s a faster way to get them? Buy them! Easy formula. Crafting cards require having cards to dismantle. How do you get cards to dismantle? You open packs. How do you open packs? With gems! Pay attention! We don’t like to repeat ourselves. So to get the specific cards or grab as many from a certain type, it’s all about the gems. They make so much money from all these purchases. Just like in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, except it’s worse here. Everyone wants ash blossom, everyone wants max c and 3 copies of each of them. It’s all about money. The whole system is built around this, from the secret packs being temporary, to the meta decks dominating to how slow it is to get gems. It’s a design plan. Other games have done similar stuff like Raid: Shadow Legends. It’s all about making money. Game design is a business after all.
The rewards you get for wining duels are terribly lame. The legacy packs suck terribly for the most part. No excitement opening those. There’s no casual duelling mode where instead of it being ranked and facing meta brain dead decks, you can face others who just want fun duels with variety decks. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel should have a practice duel mode. Yes we know there’s solo mode but a more dedicated mode where you can maybe select what deck you want to face would be great. There’s nothing really to aim for in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. We already reached platinum and it’s so not worth it, the reward values decrease as you get higher, the duels get less fun as it’s all dumb meta decks and the level of customisation is poor. There’s so much they could do with this game but they stay lacking. Also like mentioned before, but decks like Earth Bound Immortals need help and support. Hand traps like ash blossom should be limited cards. Not 3 copies of ash blossom and 3 copies of maxx c in one deck. Also the timer for your turn in a duel is tooooooooo long. You have almost 8 minutes to make a move. 8 MINUTES!!!! Why do you need 8 minutes?! Is your brain that damaged? Are you that slow that you need 8 minutes? It makes duels too long and boring while you wait forever for your opponent to make a move or finish their turn. We hate that when you block a player, they still show up on your duel record. In Duel Links they disappear from your record. Small stuff like that matters. There’s more things to say but we are keeping this short.
Overall there’s many things wrong with Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel but we do still play it for a few reasons. Very rarely you can have a fun duel with someone who isn’t a meta deck using idiot. A good duel where it goes back and forth and you bring out your big moves to shift things in your favour. Anther reason is that there’s so many cards, some we don’t even know about, which is cool. We won’t say more. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel has so much to do to be a much better game. We have seen complaints from many people but since this is the current state of yugioh even in real life with physical cards, there isn’t that much you can do but there is some options still. Modern yugioh is far inferior to old yugioh. Now Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel may be the new big flashy Yugioh game but still is dull trash when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Aztech: Forgotten gods is an action adventure game developed and published by ‘Lienzo‘. Aztech: Forgotten gods is said to be coming out the 10th of March 2022 on the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4 and PC. Aztech: Forgotten Gods has that look and style that brings back some memories for X35 Earthwalker. Let’s take a look.
The story of Aztech: Forgotten gods is very simple. You control a young lady called Achtli, who will battle the forgotten gods. the game is set in an alternate reality. A what if scenario. Basically America wasn’t conquered but instead the aztec empire grew and really prospered. Aztech: Forgotten gods is described as a cyber-stone game. This “mesoamerican” place has really cool technology. Advanced technology, stone cities, ancient tradition and off course… forgotten gods. This is a big adventure with lots of action and big battles.
Aztech: Forgotten gods instantly interested us because it’s style and graphics reminds us of a serious game from the past. That came is also set in a strange but special world. That game is Vexx. Old game on the gamecube. Big adventure, young main character, got their hands literally on special devices/technology and relies on that to beat the big bad bosses.
So how did this happen? Here’s the description on the website, “Achtli joins her archeologist mother Nantsin on an unsanctioned dig. Inadvertently, they forcefully discharge an ancient energy cell that awakens stone colossi hellbent on destroying the city.” There you go. Like Vexx, Achtli finds her powerful stone artefacts in a dig. This stone artefact changes everything.
The big bad bosses are the main attraction here in Aztech: Forgotten gods. These forgotten gods resemble the beings from the aztec pantheon. They are massive beings with huge strength and power. Achtli doesn’t stand a chance. With her new weapon she does. With it Achtli can soar through the air, gain massive airtime, dash around with speed and deliver a punch like no other. Some say Achtli can punch with immeasurable strength. These are the battles you will live for in Aztech: Forgotten gods.
We checked out some Aztech: Forgotten gods gameplay and it’s what we expected. Achtli is an intense person. She really goes in with her attacks. There’s also more to this game than just boss fighting. There’s a whole story going on. There’s twists and events that take place. It has been described as an emotional journey. So expect something deep to happen or some type of struggle. Expect aztec lore like no other that we can think of right now. The city is a big place that you definitely need to explore.
Overall Aztech: Forgotten gods seems like a good game with a more old style but off course with modern factors. Good to see something like this. The graphics aren’t great but it’s going for that more cartoony graphic style, not a serious near real style. It’s intentional. We like that it’s a straight up action game. We like Achtli herself and the what if factor of the mesoamerican setting. We hope the artefact weapon brings multiple abilities to the battles. The developers ‘Lienzo’ have done a good job with this game so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear open for this game. Now Aztech: Forgotten gods may have powerful giant beings but those things are just insects compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Elden Ring is an action role playing game developed by ‘FromSoftware‘ and published by ‘Bandai Namco‘. Elden Ring is said to be coming out the 25th of February 2022 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and PC. Elden Ring has been expected and waited for by many for a while. X35 Earthwalker has shown interest in this game. Let’s take a look.
In the world of Elden Ring, you rise (well sort off), hoping to be “guided by grace” (sounds lame) to brandish the power of the Elden ring. So yeah, there’s a ring. There’s also the ‘lands between’ which is a whole world, which you want to conquer and rule… maybe. It currently belongs to the demigods but who cares about them. So you either be a power craving being or gain knowledge. Become a lord or something else. Elden Ring has been described as FromSoftware’s “largest game”. This is a big statement which carries weight. So off course most of our point scoring is based on their large open world here and how they use it.
Elden Ring continues the style of Sekiro shadows die twice style. You know, Nioh, Mortal shell, Dark Souls style. Big boss who does massive damage while you are small, far weaker and must dodge well and know when to strike to win. Elden Ring has been described as the largest one yet. A big open world, with creatures, beings and off course giant creatures all just wondering around, looking for a fight and doing their thing. So go ahead and cause some trouble. Oh and by the way there was a rune of death and the demigods were dying. there’s a lot of story and lore going on here, so those who care will get a nice sandwich out of this game. Elden Ring, you have a lot to meet up to.
We do know that there is different ways to play the game. From decisions, endings, character build, equipment, weapons, special abilities and magic etc. There are very big dungeons which aren’t safe places for a stroll. What we are very interested in, is the world itself. We are always like open world. We want to see how they use the space. The design of the buildings, whether creative or typical lame. Is there water, can you swim, anything under the water for us? What creatures are roaming? Will Elden Ring be fair with the secrets and collectibles or will it be random nonsense? How interesting is the world overall. Elden Ring has been described as a fantasy game so we are expecting too be amazed or interested. So the world will control a lot of the points for Elden Ring’s score.
We checked out some Elden Ring gameplay and it’s what we thought it would be but the lighting is better. We take the smaller stuff seriously. Like Sekiro, stealth is a real thing and so should be practiced. the environment can be used to give you an advantage too. Like elevation, rocky, obstacles etc. Even the weather and time of day can effect some things in a fight. Use them top your advantage as well. There’s horse riding and you can use one to face others who are on horses too. Why not call on your fellow tarnished to fight by your side? Like a coward. We seriously hope the bosses are impressive, some look scary and have a solid variety. Some Dark Soul bosses were lame, like someone who lacks skill came up with the idea.
Overall Elden Ring looks like it’s going to be a great game. Visually Elden Ring so far looks great. Not Halo Infinite level but great for sure. We mentioned that we liked the lighting. We hope it stays that good consistently. We have some thoughts about Elden Ring and just know this game has multiple missed opportunities but that’s what happens when you don’t have X35 Earthwalker lead your design and development. We have very high expectations. The developers have done a great job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what Elden Ring brings and does right. Now Elden Ring might have numerous bosses waiting for players but those bosses get swept aside by… the ‘Earth Walk!’
X35 Earthwalker has already proved years ago and even recently that Xbox has many games. Too many games right now. The biggest W is clearly the Xbox Game Pass. Many games have been played thanks to this Xbox feature. Today we just wanted to go over quickly some Xbox Game Pass games that we think you should play. just to be clear, there are many good games on the Xbox Game Pass but we will just mention some. Let’s take a look.
The first game is off course Halo Infinite. What else could we start with? Nothing else. Halo Infinite has a fantastic campaign. It’s an excellent story, epic boss battles, open explorable world, lots of information and effective vehicles. This campaign has lots of gameplay time and has a completely different style fro all previous Halo Games. Multiplayer is good but definitely has it’s issues. Big team battle is fun and ranked mode allows you disable cross platform. Halo Infinite is only going to get better and better as new things are added, actual customisations and off course the Forge mode. There’s lots of room for big things.
Aliens: FireTeam Elite is the next. This game is excellent for friends and family to play. Aliens: FireTeam Elite is all about team work. If you don’t work together, you will die! Three soldiers who you can customise will face off against HORDES of aliens on big missions. Iconic weapons like the Smart gun and Pulse rifle are here and do big damage. There’s multiple character classes with different functions except one that sucks. You can change your class in between missions anytime. Level up systems for the weapons, numerous attachments for guns and a variety of enemies including big powerful enemies who have armour and lots of health and will charge you down. Lots of action here.
Next is Scarlet Nexus. This game is excellent. There’s so much to say about this game. The best thing just might be the characters. they are so different, have numerous interactions that lead to lots of entertainment. The combat system is excellent but the lack of health is an issue. You can get creative as there’s so many powers you have access to thanks to the SAS (if you play the game then you know). The game is easy to understand, set in a very different world with mystery, betrayal, questions, very difficult fights and quite a bit of turns. Scarlet Nexus has been a real big treat and definitely having fun playing it.
Doom (the first one) is definitely fun even to this day. Just a straight up first person shooter. A very different experience to what’s released nowadays. The best part is actually the multiplayer. Yep, play through the whole game but with friends and family. X35 Earthwalker literally had a full squad of four players and they all attacked a cyber demon boss with pistols until it died. That was so silly. The game allows you to save whenever you want and you have a lot of liberty in Ultimate Doom, even with the levels. Just run around, sprinting with weapons and killing everything.
Tetris Effect: Connected is one of the best games ever made. No joke. This game is fantastic. It’s straight up Tetris with some additional stuff off course. The zone mechanic is awesome and can really save your life at times. The visuals are top tier for sure. It’s one of the best looking games ever. It’s particle and special effects are top tier. It’s music and sounds are top tier. Many locations, multiple game modes, special events, competitive play and multiplayer which includes a co-op mode. This game can be played with such a chill mode with low speed Tetrominos and endless modes while enjoying the music and visuals. Don’t underestimate Tetris Effect: Connected just because it’s a Tetris game. Definitely better than anything the PS5 currently has.
The Riftbreaker went above our expectations. It’s not only better but bigger too. Much bigger. The Riftbreaker isn’t a 1 hour game. It’s a huge adventure. You are transported to a far planet from earth and you need to build a base, harvest materials for building and defences to stay alive. You also have to go out and explore, fight dangerous flauna and creatures. There’s so much things to build, options and you can build anywhere. There’s aliens invading, sort of easy to die but honestly there’s so much going on. This game The Riftbreaker will truly take you by surprise. The graphics are excellent. The details are fantastic and there’s scanning to learn about creatures and gain familiarity. With each scan, we naturally think of Metroid Prime and the scanning. Try this game.
Spelunky 2 is a real challenge. It’s a direct improvement over the first game. there’s more levels, more secrets, more enemies, more items, more traps, more instant kills, more characters, much more difficult and more fun. Spelunky 2 is just an excellent game. You can play with friends and family. There’s a competitive battle mode and then off course the main mode. There’s even an online option, so you can play with others. You should definitely try Spelunky 2.
Raji: An Ancient Epic is a beautiful game. This game is very good too. If you like a visual delight with an adventure that’s not difficult and chill then Raji: An Ancient Epic is for you. We like the whole cultural and mythology elements too. You get learn interesting stuff while you have a good time. Basically the biggest god of the big three of hinduism did a seriously dumb move and gave a demon eternal life and a god slaying weapon… what could go wrong? The demon causes havoc, got many killed and caused your brother to get kidnapped. You are the big sister and you want to save your brother, which means fighting evil. Some of the environments reminds us of Abe’s oddysee and exodus, the whole odd world thing. Desert, full forest and a most beautiful city.
Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries is a completely different gaming experience. You control large powerful mechs and you engage in mech on mech violence on large scale battles too. There’s aircrafts, there’s tanks and smaller mechs that support or go against you. A few missions types but each of the mechs have different weight, weapon slots, armour, movement speed and more. In Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries, there’s room for tactical fighting as you can target specific parts of kill mechs faster, disable weapons and cripple their movement. Hire pilots to control other mechs you own so you can have a team move with you on the field. Difficulty balancing is an issue though.
Gears Tactics is the last one for now. If you enjoyed XCOM 2 then you’ll enjoy Gears Tactics. Of course your cog soldiers aren’t as strong or good as the XCOM soldiers who can have alien tech rocket launchers that pass through all things. The principles are the same. Move soldiers around, get into cover, flank enemies for critical chance and clearer shots. Level up soldiers to get new abilities and create combos with your soldiers. Gears of War is a cover shooter game so the XCOM style is perfect for Gears of War. We like the brand new locusts and the variety off enemies brought in. There’s big boss fights too. Like fighting a Brumack and corpser.
Remember, this isn’t all of them. There’s many more. We just wanted to mention some and keep it short. There’s basically 100 games on Xbox Game Pass. We at X35 Earthwalker have played many and can confirm that Xbox Game Pass is the best thing in gaming. Now There may be many good games but none of them can compete with… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Infernax is a action adventure platformer game developed by ‘Berserk Studio‘ and published by ‘The Arcade Crew‘. Infernax is said to be coming out the 14th of February 2022 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. Infernax is clearly going for that old school look and design. X35 Earthwalker is here. Let’s take a look.
The story of Infernax is very simple. You control a “great knight”. You finally return home. The city or town, whatever but things have changed. Your home is now “plagued with unholy magic”. So the town is cursed basically and there’s monsters, demons, horrible creatures and more. So all you got to do is find out what happened here and why. Uncover the mysteries of the curse. Oh and slay a bunch of enemies along the way. Told you it’s simple. Like an old school game.
So let’s keep this simple, like the game. Infernax is pixel graphics and old school style. If you liked the old castlevania games then you should like Infernax too. You go up stairs, jump up or down, strike enemies, find items, get stronger and talk to living people. Now there are a few modern touches though like a levelling up system. Gain experience points and get stronger.
There’s said to be loads of treasures to collect. These treasures off course have their own effects. So find what works for you or works for the situation. Like Castelvania and Metroid there’s loads of secrets to be found, so start attacking walls and exploring every hole you find. There’s a day and night cycle as well. We would like to know more about the effects off day and night. Do enemies get stronger. do civilians come out only at day? We know there are people you can talk too.
Remember those experience points? Yeah levelling up your character is essential. Why? There’s big bosses. Big bad monsters. Bosses wielding weapons. Monsters wielding magic and special abilities. These Boses have visible health bars and clearly going to take a real fight to put down. there’s shops as well where you can get useful items and upgrades. Just don’t forget too talk to the towns people, survivors and stuff.
We checked out some Infernax gameplay and it’s exactly what we thought it would be. Old school, pixels and smashing monsters. We do like that there’s multiple endings and they are based on your choices. Like whether letting that fat guy in the cloak stay or expelling them. We vote for getting rid of the evil. They might seek revenge though, so can we get the option to kill them please?
Overall Infernax looks like it’s going to be a good game. Simple old school with some modern touches. The bosses do look quite low grade to us. We aren’t scared or impressed. We also think the special effects are not exciting enough. The developers ‘Berserk Studio’ have done an alright job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t impressed with this game but we know there’s gamers who like this style. Now Infernax may have unholy magic plague but that’s not a problem for… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Halo Infinite has been out for a good while now and there’s a lot to say about this Halo game. First of all X35 Earthwalker is really enjoying Halo Infinite, as are millions of others who are inferior players. Was excited for Halo Infinite and ended up having many adventures. We won’t really talk about the multiplayer since we already made a G-Blog on it. We are going to do a quick shot review G-blog this time. Let’s take a look.
Let’s firstly talk about the campaign. The campaign is without a doubt, hands down, pants down, the best part of Halo Infinite by far. The campaign is fantastic. It’s mostly what we wanted but let’s talk about it. The campaign is big open world like we predicted and wanted. You are also given the tools to explore this world which is split into islands really. You can unlock vehicles like warthogs, mongooses, and eventually a Hornet which is a flying vehicle and even get a Scorpion tank. Your armour abilities like the grapple hook is the star of the game and it makes traversing the world real easy and fun but more on the grapple hook later. Halo Infinite looks beautiful. top level graphics for sure. When you get to the top of a high point like a mountain or installation and just take a moment to look round, you see a lot and it’s fun to do. Lots of hard work went into Halo Infinite and it’s visuals fantastic. The attention to details is excellent as well. The campaign is also riddled with Easter eggs and secrets.
We found the Halo theme song from Halo 1 (Combat Evolved). It started playing when we got to the top of a tall installation. It started playing while we was taking in the view. That was a excellent touch and the developers 343 industries did good to put that in. We also found a original Halo Infinite arcade machine… within Halo Infinite. All you need is a coin. These things are needed in a big open world as it makes exploring fun, especially when you wonder what else is out there.
There’s an upgrade system for your equipment: Grappleshot, Threat sensor, Drop wall and thruster pack. Also Armor core but that’s passive and not equipment. This is a game changer literally as it makes you become a powerful super soldier indeed. The grapple hook is not just for traversing but for mobility. You can use it to pull yourself in for a melee strike against enemies, dodge attack, get the high ground (no obi wan), pull a weapon towards you, grab those coil fusions and climb mountains. When upgraded fully you can use it more frequently, add an electric effect to shock enemies, unlocked a grapple power punch which then can have greater area of effect. The grapeshot with the reduced cool down allows it to recharge so fast that you can pull yourself up a mountain and when launched into the area after grappling, it recharges allowing you to grapple again, allowing for literal climbing. Thruster pack when fully upgraded is crazy good. You get active camouflaged when you thrust and lasts a few seconds. Helps with escaping and approaching enemies. Threat sensor is heavily underestimated. Unqualified reviewers who lack skill like angry joe downplayed and dissed everything but the grappleshot. When you play Legendary difficulty like X35 Earthwalker did, you’ll understand and appreciate how useful ALL these abilities are. Threat sensor when fully upgraded is powerful. You can launch two of them, they reveal the enemies clearly and show their health, which helps big time. Knowing how much health the enemy has makes a difference, especially with Hunters. Drop wall just ends up saving your life and giving you a few more moments to fight back or get your shields back up. Once X35 Earthwalker was surrounded and attacked by sentinels. Destroyed most and then got his back to the wall, used his drop wall which blocked all the beams and electrifies all shots he fires through at the sentinels. Use all the abilities to survive in Legendary difficulty.
The in-game cinematics are excellent. The opening scene of Master Chief fighting the banished, using his grappleshot to grab a weapon and then getting into the big 1v1 fight with Atriox himself. The fight itself was very good but a little too one sided. In actual lore, Master Chief would destroy Atriox but in terms of in game action, Atriox trashes Master Chief seeing how Atriox did 1v3 spartan red team in Halo Wars 2 and won easily. Spartan red are spartan 2s just like Master Chief, going through the same process and training so if Atriox can beat three of them, then he should easily rip apart Master Chief. Seeing the spartans, the brutes, the speeches, Escharum in showing up and even the elite spartan killer was all fun to see. The scenes are excellent. angry joe had a complaint that we never got to get revenge on Atriox. I understand him completely but that would be bad writing. Revenge would mean beating Atriox as in kill him. Atriox is too good of a villain. They need to save him for that one big moment when they clash in a final battle. When Tremonius stated that Atriox is dead, X35 Earthwalker was almost angry. He said, “What?! There’s no way. If they kill of Atriox now, especially off screen… I’m done with 343 industries and will declare them as idiot game developers.” We are glad Master Chief didn’t get revenge… not yet.
The high profile targets was an excellent idea. Placing infamous and powerful enemies around the map for you to find and beat added flavour to the campaign. These were a range of units: Grunts, Jackals, Elites, Brutes, Hunters and that new flying enemy which we referred to as Drones from Halo 2 as they practically do the same thing which is fly around and shoot. Not as fast or annoying but bigger weapons. These fights were sort of underwhelming at times though. Especially when you read their resumé. One of them called ‘Okra Vagaduun’ was described as “considered one of the most lethal infantry assets in the covenant.” Having “remarkable combat resolve”. He “hailed from a long line of sword fighters” so he’s well trained and “repeatedly defied odds, surviving even when VASTLY outnumbered”. This guy sounds like the Master Chief in some ways. He’s the real deal and should be a major problem and battle… but nope! Just put my ghost vehicle in position and sprayed at him until he died. He behaved like a regular elite really and it was lame compared to his reputation and experience. they should have made these guys big big battles like boss battles or show them do something impressive at least. Most of them went down like female dogs. Zeretus was a real problem though as long as you didn’t cheese him out. He had a homing shot rocket launcher! You can’t beat that. So yeah, the high profile targets was a good move, not executed perfectly though.
This leads to one more thing. The boss battles. They are epic. We finally got actual boss fights. They are powerful and no joke. They can kill you within second if you played on Legendary difficulty. Bassus was especially crazy as she wield a powerful gravity hammer in close corners. He has a lunging attack where he leaps forward quickly and smashes the ground. He even uses it to get across a gap and kill you. In legendary difficulty, he needs one hit to kill you. Same for the Escharum as well. All he needed was one hit and his ranged weapon shredded you. In legendary difficulty you couldn’t stand up to these guys. You have to run and dodge for your life… literally. The cloaking elite boss fight was tense and difficult. If you made a mistake you were dead. simple. We hoped the high profile targets would have fights sort of like this. The bosses are fun and each one is memorable.
We love the Grunts. Halo Infinite has the best Grunts so far. Everyone including the marines have better and more dialogues and lines but Grunts have the best. They perfectly do their role as cowards who are comical. We have heard them mock Cortana, mock the Master Chief himself, make fun of humanity. Brag about their greatness. Accuse you of being a coward when you run to get your shields back up. Point out that everyone is dying. Even beg. Act brave-ish. Even accuse you of cheating. It’s very funny and entertaining. We suggest you just listen to the Grunts talk. Especially the propaganda towers. the dialogue of everything is significantly improved. We here the banished communicate with each other. Update each other on what the player is doing. Even give instructions to others like telling one to rush the player as they know you are hiding to get your shields back. One jackal told a brute to go after X35 Earthwalker but the brute replied “Don’t give me orders” or “don’t tell me what to do”. Something like that. The enemies feel more real and like an actual team. We even saw a brute weapon top of our moving vehicle and climb on to pull a marine out from the vehicle. These additional things completely add to the game. There’s always going to be that one guy who will fearlessly take a risk like diving on to a moving vehicle.
Next is the FOB. These forward bases is part of a whole system which adds a role playing game effect to Halo Infinite. As you completed those missions like unlocking those mini bases, rescuing marine squads, destroying propaganda towers and completing main missions gives you valor. Get enough valor and you unlock new things. You can get marines who spawn at the base and can follow you. Then stronger marines with different weapons. A marine with shotguns, marine with sniper, marine with rocket launcher. You can get gungoose which is surprisingly powerful, a razorback which is the best vehicle and we will briefly explain why later. You can get the scorpion tank and even the hornet which can fly. You also unlock weapons as well which you can get free of charge unlimited amount from your FOBs (those mini bases you take back). This is awesome as you can equip your marines with whatever weapons you want. Get a Razorback, get fie marines and give them sniper rifles and rocket launchers and maybe one gets a ravager. Then get them all in your vehicle and just go for a ride. Marines have unlimited ammo and excellent aim. Able to shoot and hit targets well out of the normal optimal range. Almost unlimited at times. It’s crazy how good it is.
We don’t want this to be too long so we will make this the last positive significant thing. We liked that Halo Infinite not fully but address the issue that is Master Chief’s humanity. Cortana hinted and talked about it in Halo 4 and Halo 5 Guardians. Master Chief is a spartan 2. Kidnapped, abused, indoctrinated, forced to train etc. He didn’t have a normal life. No graduation, no part time job, no dates, no cinema, no first crush or first kiss, no normal conversations etc. You see this through the game. He hardly talks and when he does it is because a superior in rank like lord hood, captain keys etc speak to him. Or it’s military related. Short and quick. He doesn’t have casual conversations and never really mentions how he feels. He doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything either. Is he man or machine? That’s what cortana wanted him to figure out. She said something like “figure out which one of us is the machine”. That hit kind of heavy. Halo Infinite campaign is the first Halo game that forces master chief to sort of deal with this issue slightly. When he tried to delete the weapon AI which led to them having a fall out (no 76) they weren’t talking. Everyone was disappointed in master chief even the pilot. Yet master chief never said anything but kept it mission first and business.
X35 was saying that chief needs to apologise but besides when he was a child, has master chief ever apologised or had to apologise for anything? Even at the end of the game he never said I’m sorry. That’s sad. Yes the weapon is an AI and not an actual person but still… come on. She was clearly upset and felt betrayed and even got an attitude like a real woman. Yikes. When he put his hand to the console to collect the AI he hesitated a bit as if he wanted to ay something, like address the situation, maybe apologise or whatever but quickly dismissed the thought. Then when the pilot hugged master chief which is a huge deal by the way, as no one has hugged the master chief. When hugged, the chief didn’t wrap his arms around and hug back. He moved his arms then stopped them. It’s like he didn’t know what to do, which hit hard. A call detail but a big deal. He didn’t know what to do. Imagine a person who never talks about his feelings, can’t say sorry and doesn’t know how to return a hug. A broken sad person. That’s the master chief’s biggest human issue. Cortana was more human than him she didn’t want it to be that way.
So when that amazing scene happened where the pilot confronts and kind of yells at the master chief when he was afraid after chief saved him from the two spartan killer brutes. He reminded the chief that he isn’t a super soldier like him. Fearless, can fight and do anything. He’s just a man, not even a soldier, just a pilot. Like when he gets scared the chief tells him to “stop it” like he’s a child. He’s normal. He knows he’s nothing compared to the brutes, he knows he doesn’t stand a chance. Hiding the entire time. It caused chief to stop, take a knee down next to the pilot who was on his knees feeling worthless and pathetic and give the pilot a bit of a heart to heart… sort off. He tried to relate to him that he failed once. We won’t say everything but the scene was excellent. Not everyone is like you chief. He isn’t spartan blue team. He’s a normal family man who gets scared when a 10 foot brute rolls up with a big gravity hammer wanting to kill him. That was big.
Now let’s talk about what’s not good quickly. First and foremost there’s no split screen! AGAIN!!!! This clearly shows that 343 industries didn’t learn from their past mistake. Many including X35 Earthwalker are angry about this. Splitscreen is a Halo tradition. Bring it back or admit that you suck as developers. Halo Infinite has a world made for team exploration but you can’t do that. Next big issue is that there’s no reward for players who beat the whole campaign in Legendary difficulty! that’s so stupid. Always reward your players for doing hard or impressive achievements. It’s hard to beat a Halo game on legendary difficulty. Give us something cool like a unique spartan skin for multiplayer. Or a stance or armour effect that epic that shows this guy completed the campaign in legendary. Something that can’t be bought but earned. Gears of War 3 had rewards for completing in the hardest difficulty so 343 industries has no excuse. ALWAYS reward your players. It doesn’t cost you anything to make a cool reward for it. Speaking of earn. The little that you do get in the campaign which are the mjolnir cases which when found give you some customisation item. They suck! We can’t think of one thing we got that was memorable or epic. They all suck! We completed the whole campaign on legendary difficulty and it feels like we got nothing. That’s because we got nothing. None of it matters. We checked the customisation menus and everything is basically locked. Got nothing cool. No armour effects, no armour attachments, no cool helmet, not even a visor (Halo 5 Guardians gave a visor) or anything. Nothing to earn unless you have tons of free time as in you got nothing else going on in your life or you have lots of money to throw at the store. If you are in college and after doing your coursework or whatever you then have free time like we use to then that’s good for you. If you are rich or have a rich uncle, then good for you. Overall this is terrible. No rewards and no customisation and many players look exactly the same in multiplayer. So much for thousands of different combinations.
We won’t talk about the multiplayer as we already did a blog post on it. Forced to play with pc players, weak so called power weapons, pc cheaters, lack of mode selection and more all done in that post. Check the top of this blog. Next big issue is that there’s no cinematic viewing mode. Halo Infinite has excellent cut scenes which you want to watch again or check for small details but you can’t because there’s no option to view the scenes again. WHY!? Gears of War Ultimate edition has a feature where you can rewatch all those cool improved scenes. Gears of War ultimate edition isn’t a new game. Why do they have it and Halo Infinite don’t? Proof that 343 Industries don’t learn and make dumb decisions. If X35 Earthwalker was ultimately in charge of the design, as in supreme command, Halo Infinite would be so much better. Not just Halo Infinite but many other games too. So if you missed a cool scene or missed a small detail or whatever you can’t view it ever again unless you start a new campaign and play through the whole thing again. That’s stupid. We checked everywhere and didn’t see a feature for it. If you find it, then tell us. So sad to say the but there’s nothing to gain from playing the campaign. Want to know the story? Then watch the losers on youtube and twitch who played and beat everything on day one and spoiled everything with their thumbnails. You don’t get anything. Like for real. Why couldn’t you give as a reward for beating legendary difficulty a cool lightning armour effect, or water effect or a victory stance where you are posing with Escharum’s gravity hammer or that final elite boss’s red beam sword? Or where your spartan is sitting on a throne chair like a boss, learning on the arm of the chair on his hand, legs spread with a cocky look. Something! Anything!
Overall, we have more to say but it’s better done in videos and besides this blog post is long already and took us hours. Halo Infinite has a fantastic campaign which has a few issues relating to it and the rest of the issues are related to multiplayer. We will do one more that’s a quick summary but that’s it. Fantastic campaign and the campaign is what’s carrying Halo. Now Halo Infinite may have a fantastic, we mean a mid 10/10 campaign but it’s not as good as…the ‘Earth Walk!’
