Celeste is a serious game

Posted on February 22, 2019 by X35 Earthwalker

Celeste looks cute simple and quite quick but actually that changes quite quickly. Let’s explain. When you start Celeste you see the work put into the music and the details. You start the first area, the prologue and get use to running, jumping and climbing. Once you learn about the dash, experienced gamers just know it’s about to get more complicated.

The first actual level is not even easy. You must learn to control yourself while in the air, time your dashes and interactive with some mechanics that’s exclusive to this level. You learn that Celeste definitely requires precision and timing. Spikes in abundance to punish all mistakes and even a spring trap that launches you into death. You learn the hard way that there’s no mercy in Celeste. Each level has their own mechanic which players have to master. Trust us when we say, learn them now.

In every level players can initially aim for certain things. Off course beat the level, collect all the strawberries, find the blue crystal heart and find the B-side tape. The B side tape is medium difficulty in our opinion, a few are well hidden while most just requires you to look around. Collecting all the strawberries is hard as they are in places that tests the players skill and ability to use your available action in the right order, most of the time. The crystal hearts though are a different story. They are basically tricks. You either know the trick or you’ll never get them. The first one requires you to dash in certain directions in a specific order. You know what direction based on the direction the colour coded birds are moving and you get the order from the machine which keeps flashing the same colours in the same order. Cryptic right? We know!

Celeste Strawberry ending

The game tells you that the strawberries don’t do anything and that’s a lie. We at X35 Earthwalker hate lies! You have youtubers and big review companies agreeing and saying they don’t do anything too. Just shows how inexperienced and not good at paying attention they are. The strawberries actually only have an effect at the end of the game. When you complete it, your character will bake a strawberry cake for certain guests. How much strawberries you collect will effect the selfie that Theo takes and the dialogue. If you hardly collected any, then it will be a plain cake and the guests will look confused, disappointed and even skeptical of whether it still counts as a strawberry cake or not. If you collect all of them then the cake is loaded with strawberries everywhere and everyone looks like they are having the time of their life or completely amazed. They also give some serious compliments. So go get those strawberries.

Once you beat the game, your next challenge is to take on the B side of the levels which you unlock with the B side tapes. Let us warn you now. This is where the fun stops. You thought the reflection and summit levels were hard then you aren’t ready. B side is basically a much harder version of the level you played. More spikes, less mercy and more death. You will fail and die, again and again. Many players have given up because of the B side levels and they are crazy. They force players to get good or git gud. Every trick you have learnt and every combination will be used here. There’s no way around it. The levels are as long as the original but when you see what the game wants you to do to get through it, you just have to say “come on Celeste… This isn’t fair”. Once you figure out what the game wants you to do though, it’s only a matter of time before you execute it right and get it done. These levels aren’t impossible. You need all the crystal hearts and hearts you get for beating B side to challenge the B side of the chapter 8 ‘the core’. What we haven’t seen though is a video of the developers beating these B side levels. We bet they can’t. Now if you beat all the B side levels you can call yourself a Pro level Celeste player.

Congratulations you beat the B side levels. You can rest now… actually you can’t. What? You thought you was done? Nope! Beating all the B side levels and finding all the crystal hearts will allow you to challenge the C side levels. C side are the real deal. They are completely unfair, punishing levels that only the best can beat. They are harder than B side but much shorter than B side. The most is three rooms while there are some with almost only two rooms. Each room requires all the tricks and at times including the new trick you learnt from the B side level of Summit. That’s one thing we hate. Celeste teaches the players a new trick at the end of the game and they then expect you to master it and use it for the rest of the levels and challenges ahead, instantly. C levels are so tough that only 0.64% of all the Celeste players on the Xbox One have beaten them all! The last C side level is brutal but fair and that’s how all the challenges should have been but some felt very chance based especially with some mechanics like the clouds and getting the exact timing. The last level is the longest room in the game with all the mechanics from the previous levels and no check points. You can watch how X35 Earthwalker, the legendary soldier himself took on this level.

As you complete the different challenges in Celeste, your ticket (your save file) gets different stamps on it. When you beat the game, you get a mountain top flag stamp. When you get all the strawberries you get the strawberry stamp, another thing the strawberries do (the strawberries don’t do anything… liars). When you beat all the B sides you get a heart stamp but when you beta all the C sides you get another heart stamp. Fill your cards up with stamps and feel proud of yourself. Also the last challenge in our opinion is to now get all the Celeste achievements which are reasonable. You can also collect the golden strawberries but after beating C side, you start to get fed up with the game. It’s fun to play from time to time but the difficulty and what you go through makes you want to finally put it down when you are done.

Celeste stamped tickets

Overall Celeste is very difficult and requires a lot to master. There are unlockables and challenges that most gamers just can’t do. There’s a lot to like about this game. The characters stand out and are very different and weird in their own way. Theo keeps taking selfies. The music is very well done and the story is something that you have to pay attention too otherwise you won’t really get it. Now Celeste may have a special mountain that effects those who climb it but this mountain cannot stand before… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Apex Legends. Good combination

Posted on February 18, 2019 by X35 Earthwalker

Apex Legends is the latest big Battle Royale that came out and almost all gamers are talking about it. Apex Legends was developed by ‘Respawn Entertainment‘ and published by ‘Electronic Arts‘. Since it’s a Battle Royale, gamers should already know what to expect. Apex Legends is the latest game to challenge Fortnite. Let’s take a look.

Apex Legends takes place in the same universe as TitanFall. Players control one of the legends. The legends are characters who are all competing in the Apex games to be known as the Apex champion. Each character has their own story, abilities and off course strengths. How you use these characters and work with others will make a big difference in matches. That’s right, we said work with others.

In case you couldn’t tell Apex Legends drop players in teams of three. So working and communicating with your team is essential. Sure you can go by yourself and even still win but that’s unlikely. Don’t be the players who just wants to do what you want and just leave your team behind or not care. If you are a selfish gamer then don’t play as you’ll just ruin other gamers experience. Many gamers are trying to figure out what’s the best character combinations in the game. Players want to have characters that can cover all the needs in a team based Battle Royale.

Apex legends characters

There are currently 8 characters but only 6 are available from the start. The other two must be unlocked. Each legend has a passive, tactical and ultimate ability. The legends are: Lifeline, Gibraltar, Mirage, Pathfinder, Bloodhound, Wraith, Caustic and Bangalore. To simply give a few examples, Lifeline produces a shield while reviving knocked down allies, use healing items faster and call in some very good defensive gear. Gibraltar produces a small shield while aiming down the sights of his weapon, can create a dome shield that blocks projectiles and call in a mortar strike. Mirage can create holograms of himself to fool and trick enemies while up and kicking or even downed. Pathfinder can create grapple lines for himself and his team to reach any location and also use terminals to reveal to his team the next ring location ahead of time. Bangalore gets a speed boost when she is being shot at, can fire out smoke canisters to create a wall of smoke and even call in an artillery strike. These legends are serious.

Like other battle royale games, players start in a transportation vehicle that flies across the map and it’s up to the players to decide when to launch from the vehicle and where they want to land. In Apex Legend the only player who decide when a team launches is the ‘Jump master’. The Jump master after launching then controls and directs the whole teams flight and movement to the surface. Off course players have the option to stop following the leader after holding a certain button for a few seconds but normally the jump Master is in control.

There are supply bins that carry potentially carry armour pieces, weapons, ammo, grenades etc. Items and gear can also be found in buildings, on roofs, care packages, in small droids, basically everywhere. The game map is quite detailed but provide all the information you need for locating and finding your team and way around the map. The circle that closes isn’t that dangerous initially. The first time the circle closes, the area outside of the circle does very very little damage; however the second time it closes in the damage increases drastically. Players in Apex Legends don’t have armour in the same sense as Call of Duty Blackout. They have shields from the body armour. 50, 75 or 100. The shields always take the hit before your health does. The helmet only reduces the amount of damage you take from headshots.

Apex legends map

Apex Legends does stand out from other Battle Royale definitely. We feel that Apex Legends is a combination of Call of Duty Blackout and Skyforge Battle Royale (our favourite battle royale). It moves and has a more realistic feel like Blackout but has the different characters and abilities like Skyforge. You can read our blog on Skyforge right here. The different abilities allows for different layers to the game, more skill to be displayed and off course different strategies. We like that the game is quite deep with a nice menu system, different types of ammo and the communication options. You can tell your team that you are defending an area, that someone has been here, mark locations for your team to travel to or look at and mark enemies you see. Communication is key. You can bring back your dead allies by returning their recovered tag to a specific machine. There are lots of goods things that we won’t go into detail on.

There are some problems though. For starters the shields feel too weak. You can have purple body armour giving you the maximum amount of armour but one enemy can still melt your shields and health at times almost instantly. Shields should be stronger. This is also the same for Gibraltar’s passive shield ability. His shield doesn’t make a big enough impact. We’ve seen a purple armour wearing Gibraltar use his shields and face one opponent in a one on one and get downed first even when not missing much shots. The shields need a buff. The incinerate grenades need to cover a wider area to be more useful as the other two outclass it easily and therefore not worth carrying around. Apex Legends needs to keep it’s console and PC players separated. The main problem with Apex Legends though is that since it’s heavily team based, you will most likely lose if you have a bad team. X35 Earthwalker twice had a match where both team members literally split up and went their own different ways while landing. Both died within 30 seconds of landing but X35 Earthwalker lived. You are dependant on your team. They need to have a solo mode quite soon. This game isn’t perfect.

Overall we do like Apex Legends. It’s made very well, things run smoothly but there’s always some players with bad connections. The graphics are great ad the sounds are very good. You can clearly tell where your opponents are when nearby thanks to their noisy footsteps. As it stands right now, Apex Legends is currently our second favourite battle royale and the second best overall. We definitely recommend that players give this game a try if they haven’t already. It’s free so if you don’t like it, then uninstall. Now Apex Legends may have legends but even they are nobodys when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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A Plague Tale: Innocence. Sounds serious

Posted on February 13, 2019 by X35 Earthwalker

A Plague Tale: Innocence is a new action adventure game developed by ‘Asobo Studio‘ and published by ‘Focus Home Interactive‘. A Plague Tale: Innocence will be coming out the 14th of May on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. No normal person likes plagues but this game has it. Let’s take a look.

In A Plague Tale: Innocence, players are in France but don’t get carried away, this isn’t a holiday. This is France in the year 1349. The game has called it the darkest hours in history. The plague is just causing all kinds of problems in France. The disease has destroyed and ruined villages and many lives. Players control 15 year old Amicia and her five year old brother Hugo. They will face some real bad times through this story.

A Plagues Tale innocence

Now let’s look at the characters so far in A Plague Tale: Innocence. Amicia is even though only 15 years old is described as a strong woman, independent and physical. We also learn that she has been trained to hunt by her father. Those skills will come in handy. Her brother Hugo is a different story though. Hugo is described as a frail child. Also doesn’t help that he’s five years old. He suffered from an unknown disease. Thanks to the disease he was kept locked up for most of his childhood and has very little contact with his big sister. He’s a smart kid though and both siblings must work together to survive.

Things get worse though, in A Plague Tale: Innocence, as the Inquisition is after them for reasons we don’t know. These knights are dangerous and will seek to harm you if found. They are also capturing young children which let’s us know that Amicia and Hugo aren’t the only ones left. Off course the soldiers of the inquisition are too much for the siblings to handle straight up. It is advised that clever thinking and being strategic is the way to beat them. So yes, stealth is a part of this game too. Sneaking around, crunching and avoiding being seen are essential.

A Plagues Tale innocence

Wait… you thought the knights of the inquisition were bad? It gets worse. Remember that plague? Well let’s just say the rats are connected to it. They are a deadly horde of vermin that can’t be stopped. They devour and eat everything in their path without mercy or even thinking about it. You have even less chance against the rats then you do with the knights. Run from them, get somewhere where they can’t reach you. They do have one weakness though. Fire. The light from the flames keep the evil rats at bay. Remember this when playing A Plague Tale: Innocence.

We checked out some A Plague Tale: Innocence gameplay and we quite like what we see so far. The graphics for the demo are good. The sounds are very good too, giving quite the detail. The knights don’t look scary except their leader. The rats definitely look dirty indeed. Their eyes light up in the dark when you use a torch. Eventually the player will find and work together with other children, orphans to be exact. Amicia can use her equipment and wit to knock torches or lamps out of the hands of certain knights allowing the rats to eat them alive. Pretty cool.

Overall A Plague Tale: Innocence looks like a good game. We do wonder how much of a balance is there between knight and rat encounters. The rats clearly seem like the main factor. Also there is quite a bit going on in this game and mysteries for the players to figure out. We will have to see more in the future. The developers ‘Asobo studio’ did a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an eye out for A Plague Tale: Innocence. Now A Plague Tale: Innocence may have dangerous rats but those rats can’t do a thing against… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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One Piece: World Seeker. Big adventure

Posted on February 11, 2019February 11, 2019 by X35 Earthwalker

One Piece: World Seeker is a new action adventure anime game developed by ‘Ganbarion‘ and published by ‘Bandai Namco Entertainment‘. It is coming out the 15th of March 2019 on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. A game based on a anime as popular as One Piece is going to have lots of expectations from fans. Let’s take a look.

In One Piece: World Seeker players take control of Luffy, the captain of the straw hat pirates. So playing from Luffy’s point of view in a new big adventure is what’s going on. You are in a big expansive world full of different areas and some structures. For example players can reach and explore beaches, plains, castles and cities. So it’s all about exploration so players need to spend time doing that.

One Piece: world seeker

Luffy can easily get around by stretching his ams and then swing, like Spider-Man. Our question is what is Luffy’s top speed when he does his arm swinging. In One Piece: World Seeker, Luffy isn’t alone as the whole star hat crew is here too. Franky, Brook, Sanji, Zoro, Chopper, Nami and Robin are ready for action.

What would a One Piece game be without battles and fights? Good thing we won’t have to find out as there are many battles and fights to be had in One Piece: World Seekers. Use the signature and famous rubber rubber attacks to smash your foes around. For some enemies you can aim to target certain parts of attacks. You can even upgrade Luffy too. This makes sense as when you watch the One Piece anime you get to see Luffy improve, get stronger, learn new techniques and even forms.

One Piece: world seeker

Eventually you can use haki to increase hitting power and be able to defend against devil fruit users and even hit logia users. Eventually players will be using second gear for increased strength and speed, third gear for large mega attacks. We have seen Gear four, bounce man form to be exact. Now if you watched the anime you would know that gear four is not something to take lightly, unless you are an emperor like Big Mom who can shut it down with one elbow. Either way being able to use Gear four is a big deal.

One Piece: world seeker

Now concerning the enemies in One Piece: World Seeker there are some obvious clues. You can see the Marine signs around the place. Off course the enemies will be marines. We have seen vice admiral smoker, some strong marines and even Admiral Akainu is here too. We hope to see more types of enemies though. For example will there be rival pirate crews or famous ones like warlords in this world? We hope so. For example will they be wandering around or appear based on the story progression.

We checked out some One Piece: World Seeker. It does look like how we would imagine. The way Luffy traverses the world is very good. The combat is what we expected, sort of like a beat em up game style. We don’t know if there are any difficulty levels. The game doesn’t look difficult right now. The enemies see quite easy to deal with. We hope that changes. Off course it will be different when you actually play the game.

Overall One Piece: World Seeker, looks good for a One Piece anime game but doesn’t impress us. We definitely like the forms and progression of Luffy’s powers. The graphics are very good and definitely have a anime feel to it. Either way the developers ‘Ganbarion’ did a good job with this game but it hasn’t impressed us. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t looking forward to this game. Now One Piece: World Seeker may have the whole straw hat crew but even the whole crew doesn’t stand a chance against… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Silver Chains. Unshackled for us soon

Posted on February 4, 2019 by X35 Earthwalker

Silver Chains is a new first person horror game developed by ‘Cracked Heads Games‘ and published by ‘Headup‘. It is rumoured to be coming out in the second quarter of 2019 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. We can expect some spooky atmosphere in this one.

The story in Silver Chains is a bit mysterious. Players control a guy called Peter. He was driving but somehow hit a tree (take away his license) during a stormy night. He then wakes up inside a mansion. No, not Luigi’s Mansion. An abandoned mansion. This all takes place in England… rural area. Peter doesn’t remember what happened and definitely doesn’t know how he got in here. Off course it wouldn’t be a horror game if there wasn’t something going on. Peter quickly learns that he’s not alone in this mansion.

Silver Chains

So off course the aim of Silver Chains is to get out of the mansion. While doing this you quickly start to learn that this mansion has some secrets… dark secrets. Some messed up things happened here. It gets worse. He also learns that this isn’t his first time in this place. So instead of being wise and escaping the place and forgetting he’s ever been there like CoryxKenshin. Peter instead acts like he’s Mystery inc and searches for clues and wants to figure out what happened here.

Gamers can expect puzzles in Silver Chains. There will be multiple ones around the mansion. Remember that since it’s a mansion it’s going to be a large area, with many rooms, places and even hidden areas. It’s clear that Siulbver Chains has lots of emphasis on exploration and off course the story. Players will need to explore the whole mansion, find items, find clues, read notes and all that horror game stuff. Expect back tracking as well since not everything can be done when you see it.

silver chains

Yes, like Visage, Silver Chains is all abut that atmospheric horror. A lot of work and effort has gone into the graphics. The developers wanted photorealistic details and graphics. So make sure to look around in the mansion (when you should have ran away a long time ago). A good horror game will also have the appropriate music. Expect Silver Chains to have some music that has been described as “eerie”.

Now what kind of horror game would Silver Chains be without some form of danger. There is danger and it’s not in plain site. The danger lurks in the shadows. This danger though isn’t something you can fight. Players must either have a good hiding spot or run (maybe you shouldn’t have skipped P.E in school). This monsters is will coming for you and won’t stop so solve puzzles, explore and hide while it’s on your trail.

We checked out some gameplay. So far it definitely gives a familiar vibe that other horror games have given. The question is whether Silver Chains does what it’s trying to do better than the others. The details are there, the setting is there, the mystery is quite typical but works. The main factors will be how the monster and dangers work. Will it get tiresome, will layers get use to it? The difficulty of the puzzles? Many factors but it’s still early and gamers will just have to wait and see.

Overall Silver Chains looks like a good game so far. You can tell work went into it. The graphics are alright so far, the sounds are good, no info on the dangers really. The developers ‘Cracked Heads Games’ did a good job with this so far. We at X35 Earthwalker are going to keep an eye on this game. Now Silver Chains may have some dark secrets but one thing that doesn’t have any is… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Please Don’t touch anything. Updated version

Posted on February 1, 2019February 1, 2019 by X35 Earthwalker

Please, don’t touch anything is a puzzle game that got updated and was developed by ‘Four Quarters‘. It is coming out the 8th of February on the Xbox One but already on Nintendo Switch. The update has stepped up the quality of the game. Let’s take a look.

Please, don’t touch anything has a very simple story for a initially simple game. Basically the player is covering for a fellow colleague who went of to the bathroom. This room you are in has an interesting set up. There’s a monitor screen that’s constantly displaying a city. It’s live by the way, so what you see is actually happening there and then. Also in front of you is a big red button and you are given one simple instruction… do not touch anything! Yep, we can see it… you’ve already decided you are going to touch everything.

please don't touch anything

So yes, Please, don’t touch anything sounds like a simple boring game and you aren’t suppose to wait until your colleague comes back. Remember, this is a puzzle game. The red button has a function. Pressing it once may not do anything but pressing multiple times might. Also around the console in front of you are hidden secrets like more buttons, switches, hidden compartments, tools and much more. Players will need to use their heads to figure all these secrets as activating and doing certain things will trigger certain events, known as the endings. For example in one ending a UFO comes down and destroyed the city. In another ending it’s a giant monster.

Thanks to the update that Please, don’t touch anything got, things have been changed and improved around here. For starters, everything is 3D now, meaning you can look around the room itself. Check out the corners and see if their are clues or something to take notice off. Oh and the endings… there are now more than 30 different endings. Think you can find them all? So yes, get Botton pushing crazy as players will need to press everywhere.

please don't touch anything

The graphics in Please, don’t touch anything have been improved and the endings have better visual effects and look much better than before. Sounds are better as well, so listen out for them. Yes Please, don’t touch anything can be played with virtual reality. So if you have a Oculus rift then you get into the game and push that Button yourself.

We checked out some gameplay and it’s how we remember it from the original Please, don’t touch anything and it’s basically the same but just improved. There isn’t really much to say about the gameplay as it is simple. Touch everything, find clues and discover the endings. No enemies, no timer or anything like that. It’s simply a test. So you are either a gamer who likes this kind of stuff or you don’t.

Overall, Please, don’t touch anything, is a clever game and definitely requires patience and very good puzzle solving skills. The update even added an introduction. The developers ‘Four Quarters’ did an alright job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t looking forward to this game but we know there are some fans who would want this. Now Please, don’t touch anything may have many puzzles but what’s not puzzling is… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Indivisible. Awakening to us in time

Posted on January 25, 2019July 30, 2020 by X35 Earthwalker

Indivisible is a new RPG platformer developed by ‘Lab Zero Games‘ and published by ‘505 Games‘. It is said to be coming out in the 2nd quarter of 2019 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. This game has impressed some people already. Some good things have been said already. Let’s take a look.

The story in Indivisible is quite simple really. Players control Ajna. A girl described as “a good-natured tomboy with a rebellious streak”. She was raised by her father in the outskirts of their rural. Things are normal. Things changed real fast though, as her village was attacked. The warlord Ravannavar and his army. Ruthless lot they are. Ajna also learns that she has a power. This power allows her to absorb certain individuals into her being.

Off course these two events will make anyone want answers. So Ajna goes on a journey, a world wide journey to one, face Ravannavar and two, learn about this power and eventually her true nature. The beings she can absorb are called ‘Incarnations’. They have their own personalities and stories which players should take note off. Ajna not only absorbs beings but they can be manifested to fight alongside her. It gets a bit more strange. Ajna can also enter inside herself, a dimension that’s forming inside of her. This realm is where saving the game, quests and upgrades is found.

Indivisible

Games like Indivisible will always have things to find, abilities to collect and areas to explore. It’s a big world indeed. From the world map you will areas like the Iron Kingdom, the Almutah sands, tai Krung, Ashwat forest and more. Now off course Indivisible is 2D but when you look at the environments and worlds you will explore you will see all the 3D of this game, and that’s how players will truly see the wonderful visuals.

Hopefully you would notice by now but one of the main things that stands out about Indivisible is the graphics style and visuals. All the art here is hand drawn, just like with Cuphead. That’s right. Indivisible looks wonderful. If you while playing don’t stop to take a look at the backgrounds and what’s happening, then we, at X35 Earthwalker, automatically lost respect for you. The levels and world definitely looks alive. The levels are well designed and the attention to detail is very well done.

Indivisible

The characters are another standing out good things about Indivisible. Ajna definitely has that tough tomboy look and it suits her well. She looks like someone who would constantly clash with Natsu from the anime Fairy Tail in heated battles. She’s just the start. There’s Tungar who weilds a long ribbon like flexible blade which when not being used rests on his head as a turban. His body covered in scars from years of training. There’s Ginseng and Honey who are a duo. Honey is a plant creature while Ginseng is a youngster with great knowledge of herbology. They aren’t the combat types but their skills will come in handy. There is said to be more than 20 different incarnations.

We checked out some gameplay and Indivisible currently looks very good. We already mentioned the graphics which are very good. The gameplay is smooth, the actions are well animated. The enemies are weird looking and each area of the world has different types of enemies based on the environment which is good stuff. The combat is turn based from what we can see and it looks like you can have up to three incarnations fight with you during combat which also means that combinations, techniques and strategy will have a big impact in Indivisible.

Overall Indivisible definitely looks like a very good game. The hard work with the art being hand drawn, the variety of locations with relevant enemies, unique different characters with their own stories, range of items and abilities to find and much more. The developers ‘Lab Zero Games’ have done a very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are looking forward to seeing Indivisible come out. Now Indivisible may have lovely visuals but it’s ugly when compared to the beauty of… the ‘Earth Walk!’

For more information check out the link below:

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Rage 2. Not calming down soon

Posted on January 21, 2019 by X35 Earthwalker

Rage 2 is a new action first person shooter developed by ‘Avalanche studios‘ and ‘Id Software‘. It is coming out the 15th May on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. This game is suppose to be bigger, more action and more rage than before. Let’s take a look.

There is quite a bit of information on Rage 2. Rage 2 is set in the year 2165. So basically 30 years later from the first Rage game. There has been some positive changes to the world as humanity has found a way to change parts of the wasteland into tundras, jungles and even wetlands; however the ways and mindset of the people haven’t changed. Gangs now want control of these areas for their resources.

Rage 2

The authority is back in Rage 2. Just a reminder, they are the main enemy of the previous Rage game. They have a much higher level of technology than the other factions so they are more dominate than them and are a bigger threat. For example the Authority’s troops have personal energy shields and also recharging stations. The authority is fighting everyone and anyone who doesn’t agree with them or gets in their way.

The players take control of Walker, who is one of the last rangers. The rangers used nanotrite technology to enhance their abilities and weapons. The Rangers were destroyed by the authority. Off course Walker wants revenge. Players will face factions like bandits, mutants and even monsters who have no problems killing.

You won’t fight like a normal person as there is a nice variety of weapons that can be upgraded. Use nanotrites to trigger and use powerful abilities. There’s also the Overdrive which basically forces your weapons past their mechanical limits. These will be useful as the enemies vary in size too.

Rage 2

Vehicles are off course available in Rage 2. The official website claims that “If you see it, you can drive it.” So whatever wasteland looking vehicles you coke across is useable. We hope that’s true. Players can expect gyrocopters and off course monster trucks.

We must remember that Rage 2 is also an open world game. There is going to be a lot of areas, territories, battles, different environments and things to do. There is racing too. Not Crash Team Racing but explosive and dangerous. There are some crazy brutal events like Mutant bash TV. Explore cities where activities and life is happening.

We checked out some Rage 2 gameplay and things don’t look as crazy and rage filled as we expected. It’s definitely wild and running over mutants with a monster truck can be fun (from personal experience). The gameplay is definitely action packed but what is quite concerning is that the Rage 2 world looks like the typical open world game. The question is what makes Rage 2 different from other open world games.

Overall Rage 2 does look like a good game. They have lots of room to get creative and we hope to see more creativity. Will the enemy factions fight each other and if yes, will we see it? There’s a lot to say. The graphics are looking very good and the sounds go well. The area design is okay. We hope the tundra and jungles truly stand out. Now Avalanche studios and Id software did a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will just keep an ear out for Rage 2. It’s currently not our thing. Now Rage 2 may have faction wars but their wars are puny when compared to the size of… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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The Division 2. Coming to us soon

Posted on January 18, 2019January 18, 2019 by X35 Earthwalker

The Division 2 is a new action shooter open world game developed by ‘Massive Entertainment‘ and published by ‘Ubisoft‘. The Division 2 is coming out the 15th of March 2019 on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. The Division 2 is going to need something big in this game to have a stand amongst the other games coming out. Let’s take a look.

So what’s the story? Basically Washington D.C is in trouble (again). A whole lot of instability and that goes very well with lawlessness. This creates lots of chaos. So Washington D.C just might collapse. Even worse and adding to the chaos is that some say a coup will take place. A situation this big and serious requires every division agent on the scene. Time to save the capital.

In the Division 2, Players take the role of a Division member. The Division is a group of civil agents. They are an elite group and they are the last line of defence when everything else goes wrong or fails.

The Division 2 will be quite different from the previous release as this game’s Washington D.C is suppose to be the representation of the real city. The Division 2 aims to be as authentic as possible. So when moving around in the city, players can actually go see views of actual neighbourhoods, landmarks, natural landscapes and off course enemy hideouts. So be a tourist and go look around.

The devision 2

Also players need to watch out for Dark zones. Basically almost anything can happen here. What are dark zone? Go do the research yourself you lazy- what we meant to say is, Dark zones are areas that haven’t been touched for months. It’s a dangerous walled of section. If you go inside, expect enemies in the form of enemy players and even the environment itself. So are you sure you want to go in? Think about it.

Also within Washington are warring factions. There are three. The Hyenas, True sons and Outcasts. The Hyenas are basically scavenger scum. They steal whatever they can and destroy everything else. They target struggling civilian encampments and use violence and intimidation to have their way. Opportunists but of the worse kind. They have a council for leadership made up of the strongest leaders. One thing to note is that they aren’t that organised.

The True sons are a very militant group. They are a bunch paramilitary warlords, experienced fighters who rely heavily on their high amounts of firepower. They continue to expand and dominate. their leader is a former JTF officer who thanks to his combat expertise and ruthlessness have made the true sons a force to be feared and taken seriously. They are very organised and smart. Take note that since they are ruthless, they might be easier to bait.

The devision 2

The Outcasts are the bitter survivors of a forced quarantine. They hate you, your mother and everyone else. They are all about revenge against society who didn’t help them and those who imprisoned them in the first place. Their leader is all about blood shedding, very charismatic and pushes her followers to bring justice to the guilty ones. They also like to kill indiscriminately and spread sickness, so probably biochemical weapons.

So yeah, players will have to face these three factions. So you need to be prepared. Division 2 claims to offer fully customisable gear. There will be a variety of armour, cosmetics that can be found, exotic items that are only for high level players, just like in Destiny 2, more gear sets and lots of weapons. Further expansion of abilities and equipment basically at endgame.

You can customise the abilities and equipment that you bring on your missions. Think carefully about what you use and what you depend on in situations. You can use the Hive which can be used to release small drones that will attack enemies within an area. There’s also the assault drone which can be controlled remotely to target and bring destruction on enemies. Seeker mines are basically mobile mines that chases enemies down within a range. The chem launcher can fire different types of rounds from acid and explosive to repairing nano bots.

We did mention above that you can face enemy players in dark zones. There are also modes for PvP action like Skirmish which is basically death battle and Domination which is more objective based and capturing areas.

We checked out some gameplay and so far things look much better than the previous release. The animations are very good. The graphics look very good. The sounds seem good too. It does seem slower in pace than Call of Duty. A nice variety of weapons. The rewards you earn in multiplayer can be used in the main campaign. The health seems fair for now but when you play it, it may be a different story.

Overall The Division 2 so far seems like a very good game right now. The story is like that from a movie. Since it’s open world we can expect lots of quests which we hope aren’t mandatory. Open worlds aren’t easy to get right but we won’t say more. The developers ‘Massive Entertainment’ have so far done a good job. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t looking forward to the Division 2 as it hasn’t got anything that attracts us. We will keep an eye on it though. Now the Division 2 may have stepped up their game but they are still nowhere near the level of… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Phoenix Point. New deep strategy

Posted on January 16, 2019 by X35 Earthwalker

Phoenix Point is a new turn based strategy game being developed by ‘Snapshot Games‘. It is coming out in June 2019 on the Xbox One and PC. Phoenix Point is being developed by not just any group but by the original creator of XCOM. So we just have to check this out. Let’s take this out.

The story in Phoenix Point is sort of complex but we like how they are doing it. Listen carefully. An unusual virus was discovered. Discovered in melting permafrost. It’s described to have a very large genome. The weird part is that only 1% of it’s genes match anything in existing databases. Basically 99% of this virus is completely knew stuff to humanity. Once again humans never learn. If you find something that’s clearly alien, then have nothing to do with it. Destroy it!

Later within the 10 years, after research and all that good experimenting that scientists love to do, the seas transform into something living… something not natural… something “totally alien”. Now aliens called mutagens started invading the land through the means of an airborne microbial mist. These aliens definitely aren’t friendly (when are they ever friendly). They are hostile and must be handled. Now if the Earthwalkers were there, we would handle the situation easily within some hours.

Phoenix Point

Since the original creator of XCOM is behind Phoenix Point, we know that the tactical side is going to be real deep. Matter of fact we are expecting more than what’s in XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. We even want it to be complicated and have many layers that clearly separates those who have deep skill and those who are beginners. For starters players will be controlling different soldiers, taking turns, hiding in cover, taking shots, blowing away cover and all that good stuff but there’s more.

In Phoenix Point, players will be using the Geoscape. The Geoscape is what we use for a strategic view of the world and the different situations going on. It’s also from this that you make your plans and decisions. So research, operations, missions and construction is done from here. As you play make sure to search and make contact with scavenging sites for resources and new things, phoenix project sites for the real good stuff and havens where surely more humans are located and possibly some soldiers.

Phoenix Point

Let’s focus on more things that stand out. Your soldiers will have endurance and willpower. Will power points are used for heavy physical or mental exertion, meaning that pushing your soldiers too hard will have consequences. You can also use will power points to activate special abilities. This means there are now more stats and resources for players to manage in Phoenix Point. Also there will be times where your soldiers will not go out alone. They may be joined by drones, both aerial and land based. These will make a difference on the field.

The soldiers in Phoenix Point have deeper mechanics going on. Your soldiers do gain experience during missions and combat. They also gain experience through certain facilities like in XCOM. They gain skill knowledge through interactions with the other human factions like alliances, trading and even conflict. There are skill trees that affect and cover a large amount of stuff in this game. So think careful about your soldier development.

There’s now more equipment and weapons than before. They are based on different technology so don’t expect the same old research. Some of the stuff you develop will be based of old stuff while others will be brand new stuff while some will be alien in nature. In this war, nothing seems to be off limits. As expected you can develop and combine technology through your own research. Who doesn’t want a shoulder mounted missile launcher. Also each human faction has their own technology as well which you can get from them through trading (the nice way) or conflict (the mean way).

Now let’s talk about the enemies in Phoenix Point. The Pandoravirus has the ability to mutate living forms. This means sea creatures will get some alien upgrades and come for us. The Pandoravirus can incorporate DNA from multiple species and clone them at a fast rate too. This means expect more enemies than naturally would be in the sea if they are left alone. The aliens will mutate into new forms depending on the tactics you are using. So some enemies won’t be simple melee anymore since you keep your distance, meaning you will then face ones with ranged attacks, increased defence etc. So combat will be different and dangerous each time. Phoenix point also has a procedural generation system for the aliens meaning, players must expect a whole lot of different surprises and situations up ahead on the battle field.

There’s more. Players can expect to face bosses in Phoenix Point. These huge bosses are completely new. They have multiple abilities. Expect multiple defensive abilities and offensive ones. Some can generate mist and some can even spawn larvae, which off course means more enemies. This is also where the body part targeting system really comes into play. Players can target a specific limb to disable a certain weapon or reduce their combat effectiveness or for whatever reason. Strategic is just as needed when it comes to the bosses too.

We checked out some early gameplay and it’s looking good so far. From the Geoscape you can monitor the thick microbial mist’s approach from the sea indicating where the alien activity threats will come to. The Alien crabman, mindfragger and mist sentinel are definitely new and interesting enemies. Watch out for those grenades. Almost everything is destructible. So blow up the buildings, structures and more to bring your enemies down. This applies to your soldiers too so be careful where you hide. There’s obviously a lot more to come and that’s good to know.

Overall Phoenix Point is looking real good right now. From the early gameplay alone, the graphics look very good for what it is. The sounds need some work but again it’s the early build. The monsters we hope get more detail and have more clear variety between them. The developers ‘Snapshot Games’ have done a very good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing Phoenix Point come out. We have very high but reasonable expectations as fans of the XCOM and XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. Now Phoenix Point may have lots of strategy but it’s completely simple and basic when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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