Tag: single player

Gears Tactics. Get tactical Gears!

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Gears Tactics is the new turn based strategy game developed by ‘The Coalition‘ and ‘Splash Damage‘ and published by ‘Xbox Game Studios‘. Gears Tactics is an Xbox exclusive said to be coming the 10th of November 2020 out on Xbox Series X and Xbox One. It’s already out on PC though. Gears Tactics is coming into a serious genre. Let’s take a look.

Gears Tactics is another big genre change for Gears of War. Gears pop has a big matchmaking and balancing problem. Gears Tactics though is going to be very different and we trust to be a very good game. The story in Gears Tactics is set 12 years before the first Gears of War game. Remember ‘E-day’? Yeah that basically. The focus is on Gabriel Diaz or Gabe for short who is the father of Kait Diaz. He was a lieutenant colonel in the pendulum wars but now a sergeant due to his own decisions and disagreement with the Cog. When things got real crazy the Bog call him back into the action. The problem is a locust monster called Ukkon. A ‘monster who creates monsters’. This locust, Ukkon, is the master mind who genetically engineered the Reaver, Corpser and Brumack. So this guy is the top priority target. So you must gather and recruit people as the Cog is basically in disarray. So it’s a squad of survivors. Get to it. 

So straight of the truck we know this is a turn based strategy game. This means intelligence is needed. The golden rule of the Cog is take cover or die. Now it’s only natural to compare turn based strategy games to the best which XCOM 2 War of the Chosen. Now Gears Tactics no doubt will have the visuals and graphics advantage especially being on the Xbox Series X. We also trust Gears Tactics will have the advantage in terms of story. So what truly matters will be the gameplay and mechanics. Now Gears Tactics has been described as fast paced. It has to be. Especially when you have wretches around who like to rush you for melee damage while drones move around to flank. The action has to be strong in Gears Tactics. Plus it feels good to finally be able to face the locust again. We getting along with the swarm but they aren’t in the same league as the Locust. 

Now off course there is character and equipment customisation. It’s a necessity at this point. So expect Lancers with extended drum magazines. Expect rifles with bayonets for close range action. There are five different classes for your characters: Vanguard, Support, Heavy, Sniper and Scout. Obviously each of these have their own roles and advantages but also get their own skill tree. The skills is where things get interesting. It’s too deep to get into real detail but let’s simplify. The Vanguard loves bayonet charting and gets bonuses like damage reduction for successful charges. They also heal by themselves every turn. The Sniper has a reduced accuracy penalty against targets far away. Killing targets can lead to damage bonuses or extra actions. The support literally focuses on buffing everyone from giving out extra reloads, extra actions, healings etc. The scout gets a cloak ability. It’s all about attacking from cloak and regaining your cloak. Mobility and deadly. The Heavy brings explosives, damage reduction and all about standing it’s ground and dishing out big damage (at times). 

Now gamers who have played turn based strategy games should know what to expect at this point. Just apply the Gears of war formula. There will be missions of variety. Some off course will be more favourable for certain unit types. Some situations are better for the cloaking of the scout. There will most likely be a mission where you need to hold your ground for a time so the heavy is best. We hoped that each branching of skills are pretty much equal instead of one branch of skills clearly being better or more practical than the other. That’s a hard thing to do when you have so many. We were checking out the skills and for example concerning the Vanguard , the ‘Shock trooper’ branch is easily superior to the ‘Warden’ branch. Warden isn’t useless at all but doesn’t compare. As a Vanguard we would get shock trooper and Paladin. Easy. Hopefully they make a patch to improve the weaker paths.

You see the green badge? Off course you do. You know what that 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 120 FPS.” So you expect the best visuals, graphics and performances on Xbox Series X. Yes Gears Tactics has been confirmed 10th of November for Xbox Series X. We will leave a screen shot right below.

We checked out some Gears Tactics gameplay and it’s what we expected from this game. It looks good already and it’s going to get better. There’s a lot of detail on the screen. Overwatch is here to keep enemies in check, executions grant allies an extra action. Use disabling shot to ruin the enemies plans and shut down their overwatch. We hope the building up of your characters leads to you eventually become unstoppable for the most parts. Excellent turn based strategy games have loads of options and powerful combinations if the players know how to do it. Intelligence needs to be rewarded. The difficulty needs to be nice and high. Players need to find what works and what doesn’t. We like the details you get provided with while aiming at an enemy. From what we have seen we believe this is a good game.

Overall Gears Tactics is going to be a good game for sure. Whether it becomes the best turn based strategy game we will have to see for ourselves. It’s Gears of War, it’s turn based strategy and it looks good. There are boss battles and obviously it would be against the brumack, corpser, reavers and Uddok himself. The boss better not be a complete joke but can’t be tedious and annoying either. The developers  ‘The coalition’ and ‘splash damage’ have done a very good job. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what else Gears Tactics has to offer. Now Gears Tactics might be getting tactical but none of their tactics will work against… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. This getting serious

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is the new action adventure game developed by Ninja Theory and published by ‘Xbox Games Studios‘. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is said to be coming out… well we don’t know… or do we. Definitely not this year though. It will be coming out on the Xbox Series X  and PC. A Xbox exclusive. This game has certainly got our attention. Let’s take a look.

Senua is back! They should have locked her up and threw away the keys. She crazy… but we like her. The story in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, off course follows the main characters Senua. Senua will probably be facing beings not from this world once again. It’s probably going to be an even bigger battle than last time. Now this would be a task by itself but it’s worse for Senua as she is dealing with psychosis. This effects her brain and how it processes information. So it’s tough to know what’s real and what’s not, whether what she is saying is true or not etc. It’s a problem. So we got an unusual adventure here. It’s not the same but imagine master chief has to face the banished but he suffers from Schizophrenia. Yeah think about it.

We just have to say it… the Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II trailer was bumping for sure. Who knew Senua got bars. She was spitting a whole mixtape in that trailer. By the way what you see in that trailer is all in engine. It looked outstanding. Only matched by the in engine trailer of Forza: Motorsport. If you haven’t seen the trailer then shame on you. We linked it down below. The work they have done even with the facial expressions. It’s excellent. X35 Earthwalker, the most talented person alive, has done motion capture before and let’s just say motion capture can allow for some awesome stuff. We are actually excited to learn more about Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.

Here’s a more of what we do know. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is set in Iceland… so bring a jacket maybe. Unreal engine 5 is being used to develop Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. The developers are planning to have actual locations or things in Iceland for the game. The team working on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is twice as big as the team who worked on the first Hellblade game. Also Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II will be on Xbox game pass. That’s awesome news for Xbox gamers. This game definitely seems to be going in deep and dark here.

Now we looked at the Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II trailer and there’s some details and clues in there. Senua is chanting and the symbols appear around a village. The same village that gets shown multiple times throughout the trailer. So clearly this village is important and Senua is there. Probably her headquarters or home. You may have also noticed that the symbol being formed from the chanting is the same symbols on the shields of the group of men or warriors. This symbol basically looks like the ‘helm of awe (or terror)’ which is an icelanic magical stave. It’s also referenced in germanic mythology too. This is all telling us that Senua and the people with her are getting real defensive. Think about, she is at a location and chants to set up those symbols around the village. This is defensive. Meaning they are going to get attacked. What’s also interesting is that the symbol reminds us of algiz runes which are connected to protection, safety, divinity and even the gods. Off course it’s all mythology but the Hellblade games deal with these things so it makes sense in the context of the game. Not only that but the trailer showed a rocky giant creature which was on a mountain. It looked at the soldiers who has the rune symboled shields. Maybe the rock giant thing is a guardian. Either way it looks like a stand against something.

Overall there isn’t that much information out there concerning Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II but there is hype for it and many gamers are showing interest in it. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II hits heavy with the trailer and the contents of the last game so now we need to see heavy hitting gameplay. We want to know more and trust the developers with a now bigger team will do that. The developers ‘Ninja Theory’ have done an outstanding job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker are looking forward to Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. Now Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II may have chanting, symbols and even mixtape but all of those are useless against… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Halo Infinite. What we want to see

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Halo Infinite is the game that so many many people have been waiting for. It’s a First Person Shooter looking like an open world game developed by ‘343 Industries‘ and published by ‘Xbox Game Studios‘. Halo Infinite is coming out on 2021 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. Halo Infinite has so much potential that it’s crazy. There’s so much room for the good stuff to make this the best game of the year easily. So here we will just talk about what we want to see but we won’t give away everything. Let’s take a look.

Now as the universes ultimate strategist and easily the most intelligent gamer ever, X35 Earthwalker knows what he is talking about is is the most authoritative. Off course we like to hear from you guys so let us know what you think. First things first, Halo Infinite has dropped huge hints of open world. We are convinced that it’s open world and if you want to see our first G-blog post on Halo Infinite then use the link here. Hall is one of those games who can easily make their game open world. Look at the previous halo games and check out those levels where you ride a warthog through the mission and there are trees, structures, rocks etc and you can see how Halo is capable of exploration. When you look at the map in Halo Infinite, just imagine it bigger. Imagine being able to eventually explore the entire Halo ring. After all the Halo ring is basically a planet.

Open world is just the start. The next thing that we want Halo Infinite to have is wildlife. We mentioned this in out first blog post about Halo Infinite. Halo Reach had large animals that can attack and kill you in the night mission with the spartan Jun. Those things were cool but so easy to kill. Halo Infinite showed deer or antlers. We need the wildlife yes as it adds to the environment. After all Halo is a massive planet sized ring. Surely there has to be bears, sharks, insects etc. Bring them in. Imagine killing the banished in the area but you take cover to regain your shields but a bear comes out from behind and one shots you. Scary ain’t it? Hold up though. This is Halo as in the 26th century… the future. Bring in some alien advanced looking animals too. Bring in beasts with large forearms and tusks. Animals that clearly aren’t from earth. Get creative! We want to see a dangerous but passive sand worm thing that you can detect through the rumble of your controller or headphones and you have to stay out of its path or its instant death. 

Another thing we do want to see… is the return of warzone. Warzone is the best game mode in Halo history in our opinion. It’s the perfect representation of a war. You could get ran over by a ghost, a dude snipe your head of with a sniper rifle, or a guy with a sword with three speed boosts running around. Anything can happen, like in a war. It forces players to react, adapt and deal with the constantly changing situations that happen. You think you are safe with Nornfang but then you get assassinated, robbed and tea bagged by a guy who is invisible thanks to active camouflage. Warzone is an excellent mode which does need some adjustments though for Halo Infinite. Warzone is crazy. So they need certain limits of the number of vehicles a team can have, the req weapons be split into tiers and thus make it easier to limit and manage. 

The next thing we want to see in Halo Infinite is a Battle Royale. Hate on it all you want but if there is any game that has the universe, design and right to do a battle Royale… it’s Halo. Look at the view of the land and level in Halo Infinite during the lift segment of the gameplay trailer. It looks perfect for a battle Royale. Imagine a huge map with mountains, grass, forests etc, someone is high up on. A Spartan on a hill with a sniper rifle trying to snipe but there’s someone with an active camouflage sneaking up behind them. Or someone with a banshee flying around looking for the right moments to strike but a player finds a rocket launcher that has homing capabilities goes to take him down. Imagine maybe 100 players. Everyone starts with the assault rifle. There are loot drops in the form of ODST style pods. Boosts to your shields can be found, armour abilities like active camp, sprint and even hard light shield or even bring back armour lock can be found but have limited uses like twice or whatever depending on how strong the ability is. Maybe each player can earn a respawn depending on the number of kills they acquire like killing 1 person gains a respawn but then need 5 kills to earn a second respawn. When respawning you can pick within a radius of where you died that you can ODST drop back in. It’s possible here. 

That’s some of the things we want to see in Halo Infinite and will make the game much better. Make it open world, bring in wild life, bring back modes like warzone and even breakout and do Battle Royale. This is just some of the stuff we want to see in Halo Infinite. Simply put, 343 Industries should not be afraid to try new things. Halo Infinite is being called “the most ambitious Halo game ever made” and even “the most expansive Master Chief campaign yet”. They need to live up to these. Get ambitious. Now X35 Earthwalker is excited for Halo Infinite. We will keep an eye on this game and see what happens. Now Halo Infinite may have all the potential but it’s nothing special when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Inmost. Dark, atmospheric and action

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Inmost is a horror puzzle platformer game developed by ‘Hidden Layer Games‘ and published by ‘Chucklefish‘. Inmost came out on Nintendo Switch, iMac and PC. Inmost isn’t our type of game . It’s pixel styled and very simple controls. It did catch out attention at some point we can tell it is very good. Let’s take a look. 

Inmost is quite simple to understand. It’s a dark, sad world with danger. You play as three different characters: A knight, a stranger and a little girl but yet their stories are interconnected. The story isn’t suppose to be pleasant. There’s a warning on their website which says, “player discretion is advised. INMOST is an intimate story of loss and hope that some may find upsetting.” That should tell you quite a lot. You see. little girl get neglected, mistreated, afraid, bad dad, she cut herself and the mum didn’t care at all. Abuse, kidnapped children, a cursed knight, etc. This game is dark but the monsters are darker. This is a shorter game as it’s been described as something you are suppose to play and finish in one go on a dark stormy night. 3-5 hours long. 

When you play as the little girl it’s the heaviest with narrative and story driven. There’s no actual enemy or danger but just figuring out what needs t be done. You may need to move a table or chair. Carry certain things around the house. You even play hide and seek with a toy who thew girl has conversations with. You see her pain and what she goes through. With the stranger it’s the main part of the game. You platform, move around, evade hazards and dangerous creatures, you climb, collect items, cut away tall grass, break down weak walls, mine things, break down wooden structures and use your wits and to defat your enemies and survive. The knight is the action part of the game. You actually aren’t defenceless. You can slash and destroy your enemies easily, dash, grapple around etc. As the knight you are powerful and can take a hit before dying. Three different styles. 

The game is very silent for the most part which is a type of atmosphere still. Your footsteps and pulling stuff and interactions with environment are louder than anything else. So when something actually happens it acts as an alarm, alerting the player to take action. Some dangers are just like traps, a tentacle on the ceiling while others are small dark substances on the ground waiting for you to walk over it. Then there’s real threats like real monsters that pop up and chase you down. Dangerous and very hostile. You can beat them as the stranger and need to hide, out climb, duck and outsmart them. Players will need to think fast and do the right things to survive. It is a simple game at the end of the day with move, jump and action. It’s simple but very well done. Sounds, lighting, music and different play styles work well together. Not everything is consistent though like with the girl voice narrating the first section of the knight. You don’t hear her again until much later.

We checked out some Inmost gameplay and what it says on the box is what you are getting. It is dark as in there will be candles, fire, lights with some stuff you can’t see yet. Very atmospheric as most of the time things are quiet and your actions, movement are the loudest things in the game. Horror well the game itself isn’t scary but there are shadow and monsters of darkness that are real aggressive and jump out to get you. Thinking is needed to get through the area, and evade death and there is definitely platforming. Expecting climbing, jumping, moving stuff etc. The game is very simple to understand and it’s almost always clear what you have to do. The music or lack off does act to the atmopshere. The story was very predictable though even though they didn’t well to add emotions, sadness and disaster. The story connects up concerning the three characters you play in the game.  

Overall Inmost is a good game. It does what it said it would do, provides different styles of gameplay through the characters, a variety of enemies, dangers and even threats you will have to face later. Players have to be focused when playing and get strategic at times. Inmost’s graphics for a pixel style game is excellent. The music is very well done and adds to the experience. We didn’t get scared or emotional at all though so it failed there for us. The developers ‘Hidden Layer Games’ have done a very good job with this game. It something a number of gamers would get into. We at X35 Earthwalker  like this game and know it’s good even though it isn’t our style or our thing. Inmost may be telling a dark sad story but it has no effect on… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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The Gunk. Oozing with adventure

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

The Gunk is a new third person action adventure game developed by Image & Form Games and published by ‘Thunderful‘. The Gunk is an Xbox exclusive and said to be coming out September 2021 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Windows 10 PC. The Gunk is clearly going to be an adventure and there’s something strong going on with this planet. Let’s take a look.

The Gunk is about two space haulers (scavengers) who make a living by travelling from planet to planet looking for cool and valuable resources they can harvest and off course sell. This isn’t paying out too well but everything changes when they land on a new planet. The planet from a distance does look lifeless and dull but once they get there, they discover that a gunky substance which is actually a slimy parasite is actually destroying and covering up the colourful and vibrant world. This planet I cursed and dying. It’s up to you to help… or is it?

Here’s the problem and it’s what’s causing issues between the two friends. One wants to help this planet and do something about the situation while the other believes it’s not their problem as it’s not their planet and they are just here to try and make money. The developers said this about The Gunk, “To be honest, the game has frightened me many times.” and “Here’s a game about really scary stuff, slimy things and real conflict.” A game like this has potential to be scary. We hope they explore horror attributes in this planet.

You decide to help the planet after learning more about it. That there was a civilisation here and it’s off course ruined and destroyed by this gunk parasite. Now how do you deal with the Gunk? You use your vacuum like device and suck it all up. You ain’t running away from the gunk, you’re going towards it. Now whether there’s a limit to how much you can suck up isn’t clear. Maybe players will need to use something to destroy the gunk since it has been identified as an enemy. Do not take the Gunk lightly. The Gunk can hurt you and some creatures are hostile too.

We checked out some The Gunk gameplay and it’s looking really good. It’s definitely an adventure. There’s a mystery, a broken civilisation, a mysterious gunk parasite. There’s quite a bit to discover and solve. There are enemies in The Gunk and they seem very hostile. They aren’t plentiful though. This game needs enemies besides the gunk but they need a good amount of frequency. Action is needed so we hope there’s enough combat and encounters. The whole reason for the two space scavengers to be at conflict with each other or should we say disagreement concerning the planet comes down to a sense of duty, realisation, kindness of the heart. We like conflict with good meaning that’s realistic. The game does need to be more interesting. It feels more like exploration mostly right now. It needs something more explosive involved.    

Overall, The Gunk looks like good game. It isn’t a simple run and jump and open doors type of adventure. There’s mystery, danger, conflict, scares, basically more going on that initially thought. It’s not a just a blob you have to suck up. The graphics look very good and we are liking this colourful and creative world with great visuals which will be better on the Xbox Series X with the raw power. The developers ‘Image & Form Games’ have a done an excellent job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see more of what’s going on but liking what’s already been seen. Now the Gunk may have a gunk parasite but even that’s insignificant when compared too… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Tetris Effect: Connected. Next level

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Tetris Effect Connected is a new arcade puzzle game developed by ‘Monstars Inc.’, ‘Resonair’, ‘Stage Games’ and published by ‘Enhance‘. Tetris Effect: Connected is said to be coming out 2020 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC. It’s Tetris, that alone should tell you what this is all about. Let’s take a look.

Tetris Effect: Connected is Tetris at the end of the day which means you got to place falling blocks of different shapes and patterns in places to fill up rows to get rid of them and score the big points. If you don’t know what Tetris is then you should be ashamed of yourself for the most part. We never cared about Tetris but we knew what it was. Now Tetris Effect: Connected is like Pac-Man Championship Edition 2… a bigger, better game with the same foundation formula but with new features, mechanics, more colours and more flashiness.

The Single player has been upgraded and levelled up. There are all new modes like ‘Zone Battle’ which has “time-stopping Zone mechanic” which can be the thing that helps bring someone from behind in the game or maybe in front. This shakes up the 1v1 battles. New features and mechanics means new tactics and new things to taken into account. There’s said to be over 10 modes in Tetris Effect: Connected so expect lots of things to do in this game. This isn’t the main thing nor what we care about that much.

What we really care about is the multiplayer as that’s the biggest upgrade in our opinion. The multiplayer has what’s called connected mode. This where up to three players can actually connect their playing fields together and play as a team. This team must do their best to defeat CPU bosses. A whole series of them and they keep getting harder and harder. So working together and doing your best is the solution. We don’t know if there is a difficulty adjustment for the number of players working together or not. 

Tetris Effect: Connected has the green badge of Xbox Series X approval. You know what this 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 frame rates up to 120 FPS.” So expect 120 frames per second of Tetris Effect: Connected goodness.

We checked out some Tetris Effect: Connected gameplay and it’w what we thought it would be just more flashy. There over 30 different stages to play on, more than 10 modes. The effects don’t make things hard to see. It’s Tetris at the end of the day, so don’t expect any sticky plasma grenades. Our favourite thing is clearly facing the CPU bosses like that scorpion. Tetrtic Effect: Connected will have both cooperative and competitive gameplay which will be both local (old for that) and online. There’s options. 

Overall Tetris Effect: Connected is looking like an excellent game so far. Tetris Effect was good but this new game is even better. It has all the previous great stuff plus more. The multiplayer is definitely going to be the best feature of this game and we like the flashiness and work that’s gone into this game. The developers ‘Monstars Inc.’, ‘Resonair’, ‘Stage Games’ have done an excellent job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what else Tetris Effect: Connected has up it’s sleeves. Now Tetris Effect: Connected may have a new flashy upgrade but it’s incredibly dull when compared too… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. It’s not over

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a new First Person Shooter and horror game developed and published by ‘GSC Game World‘. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is said to be coming out on the Xbox Series X and PC. The release date has not been given but we’ve got clues. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is again one of those games we never heard off and didn’t care about. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is looking big though. Let’s take a look.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is big. Let’s just start off with that. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has been described as an open world game. The developers specifically said, “The zone in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is one of the biggest seamless open worlds to date.” This is. Abigails claim to match the size of the game. So expect loads of exploration, multiple locations, quests, discoveries and more. 

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 story itself is suppose to be the heavy focus of the game. What we know about this game is that it’s trying that game technique where the players decisions make a difference. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is said to feature a non linear story where the choices you make has both short consequences and effects outcomes on a global scale which would make sense as it’s an open world game. Many games try this and don’t do it well. Hopefully S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developers learn from others failures and do better.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is an Xbox console exclusive and has a certain green badge. You know what this means. “Games built using the Xbox Series X development kit are designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of Xbox Series X. They will showcase unparalleled load-times, visuals, responsiveness and framerates up to 120FPS.” So expect top the highest levels of performance of the Xbox Series X.

There is a lot going on in 3. There is multiple endings. The story branches off. Players need to keep this in mind when going about objectives, completing the story and whatever side missions are available. Multiple endings off course mean replayability is here. Now will it be clear on how to get the different endings or not. We at X35 Earthwalker for the most part enjoy multiple endings as you get to see what you truly got when you do a blind run of the game.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 being open world there are many locations and quite a bit of mystery. We have seen what looks like facilities for experiments and growing creatures. There are large woods which must be risky to explore at night. There are underground sections which may require certain equipment to explore like masks for breathing. There are houses, wrecked structures and what looks like ruined civilisation. 

We checked out S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and saw some interesting things. There are mutants and anomalies. Some of these creatures just seem straight up supernatural and have big effect on the environment. One looked like an enemy from Skyforge, a water elemental being (we hate them). It was cool and you should keep your distance. Don’t get distracted as there are other threats around so put your gun to use. First person shooter and horror is a nice combination. The horror tends to be lacking. They need to make sure the horror is strong. If it’s horror then players should be afraid. 

Overall S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 seems like a good game. It isn’t a special game nor has it made us want to play but S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a good fan base and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 did get the attention of a number of gamers during the Xbox Showcase 2020 so the players will be there. Concerning the graphics they said “The trailer demonstrates the level of graphics and atmosphere we are aiming to achieve on release.” Well do your best guys. The developers ‘GSC Game World’ have done a good job. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what’s happening later. Now S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 may have horror in there but it’s never capable of scaring… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Coffee Talk. Amazing and relaxing

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Coffee Talk has been classed as a visual novel game or simulation or adventure or whatever… to us it’s a coffee game. It was developed and published by ‘Toge Productions’. Coffee Talk came out on the Xbox One, Nintendo switch, Playstation 4 and PC. Coffee Talk got our attention and we decided to take a look and ended up playing it. This isn’t normally our type of game but this was amazing. This G-blog is going to be quick fire. Let’s take a look. 

The world of Coffee Talk is a familiar one. Not on the surface but once you meet the ‘people’ you’ll understand why. The game takes place in America, Seattle… in the year 2020. A great year for us by the way. So this game is as modern as it gets. The citizens aren’t humans, well not all of them. There’s werewolves, orcs, nekomimis, dwarves, vampires, elves, succubus (demons), mermaids and even an alien. There are a bunch of non human beings but with human problems. You as the player is a Barista (dude who serves drinks). Your job is to serve drinks… that’s it. No seriously, that’s what you do. The customisers come in and you just serve them, listen to their problems and hear what’s going on. Oh and just relax.

Let’s quickly sum this up. The coffee shop only opens at midnight. So it’s a late night place. When a customer comes in, they will normally sit down and order a drink or start talking to you, which ever is first. You must then make that drink for them. There are ingredients for the player to mix and combine to create different drinks. For example you can use coffee as the base, primary and secondary to create espresso. Over time you unlock more ingredients which means more options. This is important as some customers mix things up and ask for a specific drink which has specific ingredients. If you don’t know them, then you will mess up an order which doesn’t help your customers relax. There’s a load of different drinks and you have to discover them for yourself. Our advice to gamers is to experiment and try to learn as many drinks as possible.    

Coffee Talk is all about relaxing and listening (well for us reading) to others and hearing what’s going on. Hearing their stories in the night time of Seattle. You can tell Coffee Talk was inspired by the feeling of having a warm drink at night or maybe after escaping the rain and trying to warm up and talk with your friends. It rains quite a bit in that game. What adds to the atmosphere is clearly the music. Even better you have control over the music. You can through your mobile phone device cycle through and select the music you want playing. Coffee Talk does have a very good selection and some are more relaxing than others while some are more bopping and can get the body moving but still on the chill side. The music plays a big part for us and we are glad that’s it’s there. We certainly know our favourite tune, that’s for sure.

To make things even more relatable and interactive there is a social media that everyone seems to be using called Tomodachi. All the characters in the game are using this. As you interact with the characters you will gain access to more information concerning them in Tomodachi. As you can see below there are four stages to each character. In stage 1 the bar is empty and all you can see is the name of the person. Stage two you get simple basic information. When you max it out you’ll see their hopes, bit more personal information and even their likes. So make sure to come back from time to time to see the new information and learn more about them. It was interesting to learn more about Freya. Makes things more relatable for sure and realistic.

As you listen to characters and go through the days, you will see their stories continue. For example you see how things with Freya develop concerning her goal to become a successful book author, you get to see her hard work and struggles fuelling up on espresso (unhealthy). You will see Rachel and her issues with her dad, here she is right and wrong and what drama surrounds that. You are in their business and they tend to be comfortable and come to you and your coffee place. It’s the get away from everything else. A place to chill, relax, drink and talk. Every character has a story and will unfold. Even the Barista (you) has some mystery and it’s up to the players to try and figure some stuff out. A lot of what we are hearing from these characters sounds similar to what we have heard in real life in some cases. So anyone whom plays this will understand or relate. 

As we said before, Coffee Talk isn’t our type of game at all but this one got our attention and we had a great time with this game. Like we got real into this game. Very few games have done what Coffee Talk has done to us. We even started a little tradition where before we play this game we must make a cup of green tea. We had to be prepared. So yes Coffee Talk is a visual novel as it’s a store for sure containing stories. It’s a simulation as you take the role of the Barista. It is an adventure as each day you go in hoping to get an update on the characters situations. It was exciting getting to know what will happen and how we can make it all more exciting or cheer someone up with a drink.  In addition there are extra game modes like where you have to try to serve as many correct drinks as possible in a period of time from memory. There’s a bit of extra content but we did wish the main story was longer. We wanted more. Yes, we know there’s endless mode.

Sadly, Coffee Talk is another great game that got little to no exposure. We haven’t heard anyone talk about this game. What a shame. This is something way more people should be playing. No it isn’t as huge and detailed as Halo 5 Guardians or Final Fantasy XV but it’s excellent at what it is. It does what it says on the box. We plan to make more videos of this game in the future. The best way to play Coffee Talk is to play at night, alone and with a warm drink. The developers did an excellent job. Now Coffee Talk might be fun and relaxing but it’s no where near as relaxing as… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

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!’

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Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Get revenge soon

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

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!’

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