Riverbond is a new hack and slash dungeon crawler game developed and published by ‘Cococucumber’. Riverbond is said to be coming out in the third quarter of 2019 on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. A game like this looks very welcoming but we all know it can’t be that innocent and safe. Let’s take a look.

The story in Riverbond is quite interesting. Players head out on a journey, which takes place down a river. Get it? This isn’t an ordinary trip. It’s an enchanted river and the lands are continually shifting and moving. The world is collapsing and so there isn’t much time. Player must also rebuild the passage that goes to the great beyond. Whatever that is. So players have to save the world by the looks of it by figuring out what’s happening and the solution has to do with the great beyond. Interesting but still simple.

Now Riverbond takes place in a voxel world. What’s a voxel world?… well… A voxel represents a value on a a grid. It’s all 3D though. Think of it as cubes placed together. So if Riverbond has a voxel world, basically the style of the game is all cubes. The lands are made from cubes, the characters, and the water is designed in a cube style. It’s easier to understand when you see the game yourself. When you do however; the first things or should we say game that comes to mind is… Minecraft. The world world and characters and stuff is basically cubes. Blocky. 

This style obviously gets attention and when done right and with the right colours, can look really good. Even better is the fact that the voxel world in Riverbond is destructible. So be careful of what you destroy. There is real time physics s don’t think for one moment that the block will just stay in the air. Gravity is at work. There are 8 worlds and each off course is different and have their own threats and obstacles. Speaking of threats, since it’s a hack and slash, expect lots of combat, many enemies and lots to slow you down. There are even bosses as well. The developers have described them as deadly but cute. 

There is said to her over 50 different weapons and guns. Good to see that there is some variety to the combat. Long ranged combat and off course close range slashing. Best of all though is that Riverbond is multiplayer. That’s right, 1-4 local. So not only can you invite friends and family over to play, you don’t have to save the game and go to the menu to bring them in. It’s drop in, drop out style meaning they just have to hit start and they jump in where you are. That’s an excellent option. Great job developers. That’s what we like to see. Riverbond about to get some action from gamers.

We checked out some Riverbond gameplay and it’s what we expected based on the games description. You run around as a small character wielding large weapons and fighting through the many enemies. There are different skins for players to unlock like the shovel knight skin. Big enemies that have dangerous attacks, you can destroy structures and pillars, knock down bridges, smash through trees and much more. The co-op multiplayer looks fun as you can all team up against enemies and turn the tables thanks to the extra back up. We hope Riverbond has a means to make the game difficult even when there’s four players attacking enemies. We wonder if the game is difficult at all.

Overall Riverbond does so far look like another little fun game. Nothing huge and complicated at all. It seems like another game that we can get friends to quickly play and have a laugh and fight together. The graphics are very good for it’s style. The level design is good too and shows good creativity. We like the variety of enemies from pigs and crocodiles to golems (we think it’s golems). We like what we see. The developers ‘Cococucumber’ have done a very good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing what Riverbond has to offer gamers. Now Riverbond may have a collapsing world but even that isn’t as serious as… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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We. The revolution is a new historical strategy game developed by ‘Polyslash‘ and published by ‘Klabater‘. It is said to be coming out the 25th of June 2019 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PS4 but already out on the PC. This game looks like it’s going for the serious atmosphere. Let’s take a look.

In We. The Revolution players are dropped in France. Not the France we all know but France, in Paris during the French revolution. It’s the year 1794 (according to their website). Players control a judge. Well not exactly the honest type as he’s described as a gambler and alcoholic. As a judge, you will be overseeing, listening to and passing judgement concerning the cases brought to you. You will be dealing with regular people, revolutionaries, criminals and even your enemies. Decide their punishment or decide to let them go.

Sounds easy and fun doesn’t it? WRONG! The whole of Paris is watching your and your decisions in We. The Revolution. There are factions in France who are seeing whose side you are taking. They also want you on their side. Will you favour one faction over another? There are off course consequences for these decisions. Will you stay neutral and be a honest judge? Liar. Look at you trying to sound noble. Let’s if you stay honest when it’s your family on the line. That’s right. Your characters family is involved. What if your loved ones commit a crime, will you have them executed too? 

So yes there will be some serious decision making, but you will be fighting for the life of your family and your own life too. We. The Revolution in a way reminds us of ‘Papers please‘. Where you have a serious job, your life is on the line, must manage job and family at the same time and there can and will be serious consequences depending on what you do. You could get executed as an enemy of the revolution. The guillotine will be seeing a lot of action in this game. 

There will be multiple scenarios in We. The Revolution, many names and different characters in this game and they will hold certain positions, want certain things and have certain influence and impacts in the game, so players need to take all this into account. You could end up having certain people replaced in terms of position and job. You might end up removing someone from power who is actually loyal to you with someone who will try to ruin you, or better get you killed.

We checked out some We. The Revolution gameplay and it is deeper than we thought. In order to ask questions, you must unlock them which will require linking and some thinking from the players. You will have lots of information presented to you, from gossip, the expected results of different people and factions and more. You can even see the political hierarchy and where you rank in all of France. Your aim is to also take over France if you choose and increase you reputation. There’s a lot going on here.   

Overall We. The Revolution seems like a good game. Lots of cutscenes and quite the story to tell. Many decisions, many actions and thanks to a randomisation of events that take place in the game, players will not experience the same play through of We. The revolution. Graphics is the polygon style and it works quite well here. This game definitely seems well thought out. The developers ‘Polyslash’ have done a very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will expect to see more of We. The Revolution. Now We. The Revolution may have an oppressive atmosphere but you get the best atmosphere when you do… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire is a new open world action RPG developed by ‘The Gentlebros’ and published by ‘PQubed Limited‘. Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire is said to be coming out in the second quarter of 2019 on the Xbox One, Android, Nintendo Switch, IOS, PS4 and PC. Now if you like cats, this game might be for you. Let’s take a look.

In Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire the world os basically cats and dogs with off course more emphasis on the cats (not barking fair). There’re two kingdoms and they are at war with each other. They are: the cats of Felingard and the advancing dogs of the Lupus Empire. Why can’t cats and dogs get along? Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire tells the “tail” of two kings who have to work together in order to reclaim their thrones. This is where the player comes in. Control the cat and dog and do your best to get your thrones back. Off course it won’t be an easy journey.

Those who played the previous Cat Quest game will somewhat know what they are getting into when they enter Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire. Except this time there will be more battles, more explosions and more magic to make you into a fur-midable enemy. Cat Quest but basically bigger and expanded upon. There is a wider range of attacks and weapons too. Some of the new weapon types include staves and even master swords. Obviously master swords are better.  

Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire allows two player co-op. Someone controls the dog while the other controls the cat. Readers should hopefully by now know how we feel about co-op in games. Players should have the option of playing with friends and others in local co-op. Good move developers. Even more good since there are dungeons to dive into explore. Your team mate can help watch your back as there are traps in there. Challenges and problems are easier to solve with others.

Like with other RPGs players need to get tactical and quite creative. Players should make combos concerning their abilities, weapons and more. For example the attributes of the passive abilities allow for  quite a bit of options. There’s more to this game than just simply hitting attack all the time. Get the right timing for dodges and evade all damage, know what types of enemies you are facing and what’s the best way to put them down.

There are side quests too in Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire. What RPG doesn’t have side quests? They aren’t suppose to be just missions to pass the time. Each one is said to have it’s own story which off course will help explain what’s going on in the Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire universe. The lore will be expanded and probably hear some interesting stuff.  

We checked out some gameplay and it’s not what we thought. How you move around on the map is very cool. You are literally running from area to area, walking around ponds, seas and seeing all the world structures too. Also enemies will just run up to you too and try to “axe” you a question. Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire has actually gave us a bit of a surprise. Not bad. From what we have seen, the graphics look very good and the sounds are good too. Clearly good work has went into this game. 

Overall Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire seems like a very good game so far. From the smoothness of the gameplay to how expanded it is. There’s quite a bit going on in this game and we like what we see but the game does seem to easy in terms of combat and difficulty. It looks so easy to evade and handle enemies and we hope there are more enemies and greater difficulty. The developers ‘The Gentlebros’ have done a good job with this game. Now Cat Quest II – The Lupus Empire may have some serious cats and dogs but none are as serious as… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Devil's Hunt

Devil’s Hunt is a new third person action game developed by ‘Layopi Games‘ and published by ‘IC Entertainment‘. Devil’s Hunt is said to be coming out in the third quarter of 2019 on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Will this Hell game be any good? Let’s take a look. 

In Devil’s Hunt players take control of Desmond was the son of a rich entrepreneur who is now in the middle of a huge war. A battle between good and evil, angels vs demons. Desmond is being called the sole factor in this war. Strange that a man is the factor in a war between super natural beings but whatever it’s a video game. So what’s special about Desmond? More like what’s smart about him as he signed a pact (that always goes well right) and now he has demonic powers and has become Hell’s executor. Who’s side will he take?

That’s right. In Devil’s Hunt, players will need to decide who’s side they are going to take. The demons or angels. Your decisions in this game will decide the fate of the world and off course humanity. Players should have much to enjoy Devil’s Hunt thanks to the story and in game lore. It’s suppose to be quite deep. The developers claim to have numerous cutscenes. On their official game site is says, “One and a half hour of high quality in-game cutscenes”. They sound very proud of their cutscenes.

Yes you will be fighting demons in Devil’s Hunt. So far Devil’s Hunt may have reminded some gamers of another Hell fighting game… Dante’s Inferno. Yep, like with Dante, you must fight demons using the demonic powers you have acquired to survive and make your way through Hell. This kind of concept hasn’t been done well most of the times by different games. Only Dante’s Inferno hell traversing, demon slaying gameplay was good. We hope Devil’s Hunt can pull it off. Besides, they aren’t going for a horror approach but an action one. 

There are a wide range of attacks and abilities for players to gain, try out and work with. Slash and tear with your demon claws, punch in the face of demons with your fists and more as you combine the new demon powers with the skills you have as a human. There are loads of enemies so off course there needs to be different strategies for facing certain types. The combat has to stand out to make this game stand out. 

We checked out some gameplay and things look quite good so far. The Doom’s grenade, ground slam and eruption attacks already show off a bit in the variety of attacks but everything, mainly the animations seem quite weak. We hope this is just because it’s early game development and not anything like the finished product. Players will need to keep their eyes open for hidden areas, secrets and mirrors which are to be smashed. We like that demons can harm their allies too in they are in the way of an attack. There are quick time events too like a demon suddenly grabbing you etc. There’s a number of good mechanics 9n Devil’s Hunt. What it needs is a quality boost and hopefully a good variety in boss or mini boss enemies.

Overall, Devil’s Hunt looks like an alright game. Once the quality and smoothness of the animations, sounds and gameplay gets boosted, this game will definitely be good. The focus and work that goes into the story is very good. Seems like a fun demon smashing game for now. The developers ‘Layopi Games’ did a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker hope to see more of what Devil’s Hunt has to offer. Check out some gameplay for yourself. Now Devil’s Hunt may have demons but they are no match for…the ‘Earth walk!’  

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The city in Frostpunk

Frostpunk is a society survival game developed and published by ‘11 Bit Studios‘. It is said to be coming out within the third quarter of 2019 on the Xbox One and PS4. It’s already out on PC. Now this game is suppose to be a serious survival game with consequences concerning players decisions. Let’s take a look.

In Frostpunk, players will have to be responsible for the last city on earth. This city is set in the middle of a frozen wasteland area. The people have developed steam powered technology in order to counter the freezing cold. Players must build this city, expand and make sure to keep it a place where the community can survive. Do you think you can do that?

Off course Frostpunk isn’t as simple as now we have money so let’s build this tower and now we get energy so let’s expand. No! Frostpunk makes everything serious. Players will constantly need to make decisions. Decisions that seriously effect other things. Decisions that can be real difficult. Decisions that can even be cold (get it?). For example you could choose to enforce child labour. This will off course allow more work to be done and speed up processes etc but then children will be put to some seriously hard and maybe even dangerous work. What if someone gets hurt? So it’s about balancing your moral code with what needs to be done for survival. Is the lives of a few acceptable for the survival of many to you?

So that’s basically the game. Build your little place into a city eventually while keeping close eye and management of your supplies. Meeting the needs of the people, doing what’s right, creating laws, punishment for crimes control the propaganda and more. Now there is some more still. For example exploration of the outside world. You can’t just stay caged in for too long. So going outside to find new things, resources or even to just learn about what’s happening out there and the history of this frozen world of Frostpunk. 

Yes we know Frostpunk is way more detailed than how we are explaining but we are just boiling it down. You must decide how much funding needs to go into the propaganda centre which creates and brings the news to people’s homes. Off course this can easily be corrupted. Watch out concerning the hope of the people and their content with life in the city. If people lose the will to live then it’s over for them and for you. If there’s no hope then what’s the point in carrying on working.

Even after you have made decisions things don’t end there concerning the matter. There are levels and even a progress tree that shows in what direction you can advance that project or decision in. You can see the impacts it will have but it’s up to players to see and think long term. There is even reaction moments too. As in a decision may have triggered something else or something happened during that project. For example, remember the child labour thing? Well a child could get injured while working. This off course will not be pleasing to parents. Do you then decide to continue with the child labour, restrict the child labour or completely abolish child labour? Think about it. Do you need the extra hands that badly? 

There’s an endless mode where players can go on forever. Hence the name endless. Frostpunk received new game modes, maps mechanics etc. Do some exploration and you might just find some more people out there. Off course to survive in situations like this, man needs to develop new means and way of achieving and moving forward. So players need to develop technology. So automatons which are self powered, and really advanced infrastructure are all possible. Even airships which will make travelling much safer, easier and faster. Lots to learn and achieve in Frostpunk.

We checked out some gameplay and Frostpunk seems like how you would expect a city management to be like. Highlight and select sections and buildings, then check the requirements, then select from the options in the menu. See the stats and numbers of the city. People who play sims will probably feel quite comfortable here with how the management works. It’s not some a big action game with lots going on in your face. It’s something that gamers will have to see for themselves. So check out some gameplay videos. Trailers don’t really explain that much.

Overall Frostpunk seems like the kind of game that it serious like ‘Papers please‘, manageable like Sims but casual though. It’s one of those games that a certain audience of gamers would be into. The developers ’11 Bit studios’ did a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will just have to hear what goes on with Frostpunk. Now Frostpunk may have a cold situation going on but it’s not as serious as… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Ascendance – first horizon is a new first person platformer game developed and published by ‘Onevision‘. It came out the 10th of May 2019 on the Xbox One and. bit later on PC (steam). This game is suppose to giver players a different experience. Let’s take a look.

In Ascendance – first horizon, there isn’t that much of a story really. It’s just the players going on a journey. This whole Ascendance world is suppose to be magical to some extent and off course not realistic. Off course you are up in the sky which is why your platforming skills better be at least half decent. This game is suppose to be relaxing, so no tension, no stakes, nothing. Players just take their time through the whole thing.

Now Ascendance – first horizon should remind some gamers of other games with similar styles like Beyond Blue, Shape of the World and Abzu. They are similar because it’s all about the atmosphere, relaxing, calm and no danger at all. There are no enemies or threats lurking around. It’s just the player and the journey. Well one semi difference is that since it’s platforming players need to avoid falling down and failing. One bigger difference though is that players have “mysterious abilities” which are essential and are used to progress through the world.   

There is currently 3 levels in Ascendance – first horizon. Each one is very different in terms of looks and style. One looks more like over a sea while another looks like a desert and another looks like a neon city sort off. The variety in the design needs to be more unique as the levels still seem too similar. there is said to be hidden secrets too. So be an explorer while going through the levels and you may just find some secrets.

We checked out some Ascendance – first horizon gameplay and it’s what we thought it would be. You jump like the Master Chief from Halo and things are very smooth. If you fall of you are placed right back on the same platform. The music is definitely all about atmosphere and it’s calming for sure. The game does seem like easy mode though. There is no challenge at all. Objects to interact with that create more platforms and help shape the world. The world forms and changes around you. It has been said that more levels, mechanics and even a time mode is going later in an update.

Overall, Ascendance – first horizon looks like a good game for what it is. It’s suppose to be simple and something that most people should be able to play and get through without any difficulty. The music is good and so are the graphics but this game needs more levels and soon. The developers ‘ Onevision’ did a good job with this game. Now Ascendance – first horizon may have a unique world but it’s not even close to being as unique as… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Horde 3.0

Gears of war 4 has some serious action for gamers but one mode that certainly stands out is Horde. Gears of war is an Xbox exclusive and no we don’t care if you can play it on PC. PC isn’t a console, it’s a computer and therefore doesn’t count. Many players have tried to beat all 50 waves of horde in Hardcore difficulty and have failed. So the idea of taking on Insane scares them. Let’s take a look.

Insane is the hardest difficulty in the game. Players have way less health than normal and the enemies have more health than normal. Also the enemies are very accurate too. So when you see a drone charging a torque bow, make sure to take cover or die. Players literally die in a few shots and if you are anywhere near a boomshot or drop shot blast, then you are done for. So if you want to stand a chance in Horde then first things first… take cover or die. Second things second be completely aware of what’s going on and what enemies are around at all times. No excuses.

Plant the fabricator in a good spot where you have maximum visibility of the area and good amount of cover, preferably with some high cover too. All players must fight right next to cover and never be alone. Each player of the team needs to have from very good to excellent movement skills to be able to dodge incoming attacks, enemies and get around quickly. Each player’s selected class must have at the very least, 4 skill cards equipped. Communication is very helpful but the marking and pinging system works just fine though. Remember when we said “never be alone” well also make sure you aren’t all bunched up together so that one drop shot kills you all. We’ve seen it happen before when a team rushes to go receive someone and BOOM!

horde Gears of war 4

Let’s discuss the enemies. Some off course require more attention then others. Some enemies you can just handle yourself and the team doesn’t need to know. Enemies like the Scion Boomshot, buzzsaw and drop shot are problem with the drop shot being a major problem unless you are under a shelter. Enemies like them and guardians need to be marked and called out as they are capable of downing players instantly and running fortifications and entire structures. Once called out have the right player handle them unless you need two to destroy them quickly, the sooner the better. Lastly do not underestimate Juvies. Those little freaks can ruin everything. Just one sneaking in can down each player one by one. They can down you in two hits alone. Remember what we said, never fight alone because once downed enemies will rush towards you straight away to finish you off. Call out enemies and finish them quickly and appropriately.

Bosses are the biggest threat and can seriously kill your run. Snatchers are considered the biggest threat and require everyones attention as they can advance on your base the fastest and damage everything real fast. They also have a one shot kill attack that forces everyone to take cover. Take these down fast. Kestrels are just annoying as they do keep their distance but can fire over cover, their missiles aren’t a one though so keep an eye on where it’s firing from and make the necessary adjustments. Soldiers are needed for these things. Carrier is considered the easiest as it moves super slow and it’s attacks are easy to stop. Get the soldiers or heavies to keep the explosions coming and they should be done for. Swarmak is considered the second worst thanks to it’s huge pool of health, constant firing and that it can walk right through your base forcing all to evacuate as coming near it’s foot results in an instant death. You must defeat these fast and everyone must focus it down. Bosses are literally unstoppable and requite immediate attention. The heaviest hitters must focus on them. As we mentioned, kestrels only need soldiers to handle if there are two thanks to their rifles. It isn’t easy for heavies to hit them with their boom shots. Call out to your team when a snatcher is charging up it’s one shot kill so that everyone can hide in Time. Swarmaks and snatchers need everyone shooting at it quick. Beware though as in later waves, when you kill. boss quick, another can spawn. 

snatcher Gears of war 4

The main thing that must be discussed are the classes of the players. What to pick, what combination and what’s not needed at all. The classes are: soldier, heavy, sniper, engineer and scout. Now what’s needed? Every team for insane difficulty needs one scout (just one) because that’s where all the energy comes from. Scouts naturally gain double the amount of energy you would normally get as long as it’s during a wave. Soldiers are needed to be that versatile strong continuous damage dealer. The engineer is needed because they can seriously reduce the costs of fortifications and keep everything strong. Now the two that aren’t needed are heavies and snipers. This doesn’t mean they are useless. It just means they are not essential and it’s up to the team. Heavies deal the most damage of all classes but must stay topped up to do so but there are ways around this. Snipers can almost one shot anything with a head shot but requires more focus and skill due to aiming for head shots only. The best combination is most likely 2 soldiers, 1 engineer, 1 scout and 1 heavy. You could have 1 soldier, 1 scout, 1 engineer, one sniper and 1 heavy. Regardless never have two engineers or two scouts. We also never recommend having two snipers. Two snipers consume too much ammo boxes. Two scouts reduce the bonus of depositing energy as the total is shared. Two engineers just take up another class slot. One can easily handle the job. 

So your scout must deposit bonus in order to gain an extra 50% energy every time you deposit your energy which when combined with your double energy collection is crazy amounts of resources allowing your engineer to buy whatever you need. Scouts should also have health boost and dodge to make collecting the energy during waves much safer and keep you alive. peed boost is needed to get around much faster, rush to downed team mates to revive them and works so well with dodge. The Engineer must have repair boost as it saves a whole lot of energy by reducing the repair costs, remember you will be repairing all the time. Also turret discount and sentry cost are very good as they also save you a lot of money, especially when it comes to turrets which are the most expensive fortification. The soldier must have assault rifle damage, grenade damage and active reload boost. When the assault rifle damage and active reload boost are maxed out, your lancer becomes much stronger than the mulcher dealing insane damage to everything. Even big scions die incredibly fast. Grenade damage is to take out the clusters or that one strong target. For heavies we recommend explosive launcher capacity and damage because well max a drop shot that does 120% more damage than normal is devastating and having like 4 times more ammo than normal is a beautiful recipe but if you combine that with marked damage that’s an additional 50% damage and heavies are all about the damage. Lastly snipers need headshot and precision rifle damage for 170% damage increase on all headshots. You can then combine with called shot and magic bullet for that additional potential damage of 80% for a grant total of 250% on headshots.

Horde 3.0 cards

Now in terms of how to play that’s ultimately up to the team but we can give a good idea. If soldiers have the resupply and grenade capacity cards they can hold 8 grenades and every 15 seconds get another free grenade, which means they can plant two grenades at spots to cover areas and alert team mates of enemies that come through places the team isn’t watching. You could even plant grenades to protect the sniper. The soldier is who should be handling all the juvies, trackers and small enemies. They must give continuous damage and blow up bigger targets with their grenades. The soldier literally just fights everything. Engineers need to get the fences up, a few decoys and definitely some turrets for the stronger more final waves. They alone should do all the building. Scouts need to be out there collecting all the energy while the wave is active, this is the most dangerous and so soldiers and other should be covering them. Grab the energy and drop it off every round as it’s the same amount as if you held on to it for many rounds. Snipers need a good spot of elevation and must be safe with a good exit route in case of emergency. Get those head shots all the time, that’s all you are good for. Heavies need to blow everything up, simple. Big guys? Blow them up. Smaller ones you can just rifle them down but when it comes to higher waves you will need to use your explosives, even for drones. Engineers need to build a weapon lockers for their heavies so they can get back major ammo without taking up a ammo box, off course all can use the locker but priority should go to the heavies. Why soldiers are so good is that with 8 powered up grenades they can take down bosses real fast and anything else for that matter and having the continuous firing rifles like the hammerburst, retro or regular lancers is excellent consistent damage.  Soldiers can literally do anything. The scout is also in charge of reviving people all since they can become the fastest in the whole team. 

Off course there is much more we can say like how if you had a whole team of one class, the soldier class would do the best. Something to think about but here is just some tips and things to think about when it comes to beating horde in insane difficulty. Find what works for yourself and do your best and don’t take things too seriously. So even if you beat all 50 waves in Insane difficulty you will never beat… the ‘Earth Walk!’ 

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Darkwood

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

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

Darkwood

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

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

Darkwood

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

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

Darkwood

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

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

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Anthem Challenge of Valor

Anthem is an action RPG developed by ‘BioWare‘ and published by ‘Electronic Arts‘. Now there is a number of things for endgame players to do like grinding for masterwork and legendary gear and weapons, complete missions to get coins in order to get new emotes and more customisation. You can even aim to beat strong holds on grandmaster 3 difficulty. Anthem also has some challenges for players to complete while they wait for the next big update to the game. Now these challenges take up time and something you can’t really complete quickly at all. You do get something for doing them though. Let’s take a look.

Lancers must prove themselves to be worthy to be called a legionnaire by completing the ‘challenge of Valor’. This challenge requires that players: complete 100 world events in free play mode, Colette 25 contracts, 25 strong hold missions and 25 quickplay missions. This doesn’t sound like much as first but it’s actually quite long when you dive in. Firstly contract, quicklplay and especially strong holds can take very long depending on the difficulty you are playing on. So missions last Lon on Grandmaster 2 and 3. So off course play in an easier level… you could but then you will get gear and rewards that you literally don’t need or want making the mission pointless. You still want a chance to get the stuff you need like legendary gear. Completing world events in freeplay is annoying as you can fly around for quite a while and not see any events take place. Anthem needs to make events spawn more frequently. So completing 100 of those, especially if you never did any before starting the challenge of Valor will take a very long time.

Anthem Challenge of Valor

So if you grind and managed to complete all that then off course you get a reward. We are hearing different things from different players. Some say they got a vinyl for their javelins, others say they got 10 masterwork embers (not gear but embers) and 4000 coins. X35 Earthwalker on the other hand got more stories from the story teller (bard) who loves to talk about the legionnaires like general Tarsis, Midderon, Magna, Ardan Vassa. Which in case you can’t tell SUCKS! Don’t get us wrong, we like the lore in the game and always like to know more but this shouldn’t be a reward for all that hard work and time spent. Now maybe X35 got some embers and a vinyl but we honestly don’t know as we got no notifications, pop ups or anything. In fact we checked out the challenges before and after completion and it displayed no rewards. We are kept in the dark and we are speaking for ourselves here. This disappointed us greatly and think that Bioware needs to do much better concerning this.

In Anthem’s defence you could say that honestly Anthem players who enjoy the game would be doing contracts, strong holds and freeplay anyway even without the challenge so we should just see this as extra bonuses, which is true to some extent. We are playing even without knowing about the challenge but a number of players do not play freeplay mode as it’s so far the worst mode for getting legendary gear from our experience. Like we mentioned, events pop up infrequently and when they do and you complete it, you might just get epic gear as a reward even when playing on grandmaster 2. Not good and not worth it. So everyone does strongholds for the good stuff and it’s where we got the most legendary gear drop from too. Also we haven’t come across a player who did quickplay. All that we know off who do quickplay only does because of the challenge. So no, not all players will be doing this stuff anywhere.

Anthem Challenge of Might

Also 10 masterwork embers is a poor reward too. Not making this up but X35 Earthwalker once harvested a plant or something (don’t exactly remember) and 25 master work embers came out which has never happened to us before. One random harvesting gave us more than the grand prize for completing a challenge which takes many hours to complete. That’s lame! Oh yeah, we didn’t mention that you get one more reward… you unlock the next challenge. The challenge of might… which is another big challenge, that will take many hours to complete as, that requires you to: defeat 2500 Dominion enemies, 2500 Scars, 25000 Outlaws, 1000 elites and 200 legendary units. That’s all. Now this is something you can complete naturally while playing but its still long but we can only wonder what the prize for completing all that is… probably a top hat.

Now this isn’t the first Anthem has done something like this. As we have mentioned in previous blog posts that you had to complete challenges to advance the story. Many players didn’t like that as the challenges also did take up some time. These challenges need to be done correctly. The rewards aren’t encouraging at all. We literally lost all steam for completing these challenges. We checked online and many there players feel the same way. The Anthem developers needs to improve this by adding in rewards that are actually are good and worth it. So overall what we say to the players who haven’t completed the challenge of valor yet is, take your time. Now the rewards for completing the challenge of valor isn’t worth it but there are some god rewards in… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Colt Canyon

Colt Canyon is a new 2D action shooter game developed by ‘Retrific‘ and published by ‘Headup‘. It is said to be coming out in the third quarter of 2019 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. The Wild West just got wilder. Let’s take a look.

Colt Canyon is a simple indie game with a simple storyline with quite simple controls. So players control a cowboy who must rescue his partner who was kidnapped by a group of armed and dangerous people. You see the whole screen so keep an eye on the corners especially as you never know when enemies might show up firing all guns. Since things can surprise you that’s why some describe it as atmospheric.

Colt Canyon

Colt Canyon is a western style Wild West kind of game so off course you will have guns. Players have a revolver and even TNT. Fire and blow up your enemies and march right through without a care in the world. Keep an sharp eye out as there are hidden treasures and weapons around. You might find a shotgun and we all know a shotgun packs more power than a revolver. Treasure is always good so why not take some with you. 

Two things to take into account is that Colt Canyon has rogue like elements concerning the rooms and levels and there is even permadeath so die once and it’s all over. So replayability is definitely there. Stealth is a optional feature in this game. You can sneak past enemies and off course sneak up to enemies too for that advantage. It’s the choice gamers must make. All out loud with guns blazing or more stealth for the clean kills. We think decide based on the the situation in the game.

Colt Canyon

We checked out some Colt Canyon gameplay and it looked how we imagine it would. Running around, open space, aiming your shots, avoiding danger and blowing stuff up. It’s also quite easy to die if players get careless. There are other people you can also save in Col Canyon and it’s up to you. There are many other unlock able characters that you can play as but best of all is that Colt Canyon has local co-op multiplayer. So grab your siblings, your mom, dad or friends and shoot some bandits and cowboys together. Also, when you rescue your partner, remember that you need to also make your way back.   

Overall Colt Canyon looks like a good fun game. Casual gaming and simple. We like that there are upgrades for you and your allies to improve combat effectiveness. This adds a bit more layers to the game. There isn’t that much to say about this game though as it’s simple. The developers ‘Retrific’ did a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear open for this game. Now Colt Canyon may have TNT and lots of guns but those weapons will have zero effect on… the ‘Earth Walk!’ 

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