Grime. Fight, absorb, mutate

Posted on December 16, 2022 by X35 Earthwalker

Grime is an action adventure game developed by ‘Clover Bite‘ and published by ‘Akupara Games‘. Grime is said to be coming out the 25th of December 2022 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS5 and PS4. We heard it will also come out on Nintendo Switch but no date has been confirmed. It’s already out on pc though since like last year. X35 Earthwalker saw this game last year. Let’s take a look.

Grime is an unusual game but easy to understand what you are dealing with. You control this void black hole head but rock body dude. Your origin has been described as “An unusual material collapses in on itself, the world shudders and contracts, and suddenly you are squeezed into existence.” What we do se is that there’s two beings. One by the looks of it breathes life into the other. This also causes our character to form as well. This does suggest that this whole game takes place inside a body. Interesting and weird. The enemies have been said to be born from this world itself.

Grime. G-blog. X35 Earthwalker

So use your dash wisely, parry your enemies and smash them to death. Or maybe crush them. there’s lots of enemies and the action stays being action. airborne enemies exist too so watch out. Absorb your foes to get stronger and maybe acquire new abilities. You fight with a weapon. there’s multiple in fact and they aren’t ordinary. They are made from living creatures that can mutate their form during combat. Swords that claw, a centipede whip and even a big axe that cuts the enemy multiple times with its jagged teeth. Find your favourite weapon or pick the best one for the job.

Grime. G-blog. X35 Earthwalker

Now off course there’s bosses in Grime. A number of them. They are all much bigger than you and will try to destroy you. Find a way to beat them and then absorb their abilities. These abilities are described as game changing and may even allow you to explore places in the world you couldn’t reach before. So don’t be afraid to back rack if needed. You can also absorb other tough enemies to make progress on your skill tree. This is where the combat customisation takes place. Grime claims you can upgrade “only those traits you feel most suited to your unique style.” So find your style and make it stronger.

We checked out some Grime gameplay and it’s mostly what we expected. You can describe the environments as surreal. Clearly unusual places but require exploration still. there’s deserts, civilisations and off course caves… “rendered in unearthly 3D.” It’s quite fast paced and will be an adventure for sure. Grime is trying to stand out from other games. Didn’t hear anything about this game when it was on pc. Now that it’s coming to consoles it has a chance to do better. It’s not coming alone though. We hear that the free dlc called ‘The colours of rot’ is bundled in as well. so it’s the game plus more.

Overall Grime looks like a good game. We like the art style, how good the graphics are. We like the animations which are very good but not the best. We like the combat and combos but it feels like more could have been done with it but you can’t go too crazy now. We do wonder about the difficulty of the game though. We hope it is punishing but only allow an easier mode for the weak players. The developers ‘clover Bite’ has done a very good job with this game so far. X35 Earthwalker will keep an eye out for this game. Now Grime may have you absorbing abilities but it could never absorb… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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The Callisto Protocol. Big survival horror

Posted on November 30, 2022November 30, 2022 by X35 Earthwalker

The Callisto Protocol is a survival horror game developed by ‘Striking Distance Studios‘ and published by ‘Kraft‘. The Callisto Protocol is said to be coming out out the 2nd of December 2022 on the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and PC. The Callisto Protocol is aiming to set the standards and bar for survival horror games. X35 Earthwalker will know if it can succeed or not. Let’s take look.

The Callisto Protocol takes place on the moon… Jupiter’s moon called… Callisto, It’s the year 2320. So a little bit ahead of where we are right now. The action takes place in prison. Maximum security black iron prison. It’s another day in good ol prison when inmates start transforming into horrible creatures. There’s screaming, panic, running, death and chaos everywhere. Players control a scumbag called Jacob Lee. Surviving is priority one right now.

X35 Earthwalker The Callisto Protocal

Now off course everyone when they learnt about The Callisto Protocol or saw it, they thought of Dead Space. Understandable for sure. Gamers loved Dead Space. Gamers wanted a sequel. So many are welcoming The Callisto Protocol and treating it like the sequel they never got. Being compared to Dead Space is a good thing. It’s futuristic, a survival horror, dark, humanoid creatures, space suits and more similarities. In Dead Space it’s ‘shoot the limbs’ but in The Callisto Protocol it’s ‘shoot the tentacles’. We like that.

There’s off course something messed up happening in black iron prison. Inmates don’t just turn into monsters for no pure good natured reason. Discover these secrets which have been described as disturbing. The worst part?… Is that it looks like it’s under the surface of Callisto. It’s going to get dark. This means, expect loads of silence, jump scares and some… dead space. The official website describes The Callisto Protocol horror as “Blending atmosphere, tension, and brutality with terrifying moments of helplessness and humanity”. We did wonder about this. The balance between atmosphere, tension and enemy encounters is important. A game like The Callisto Protocol needs many enemy encounters but there needs to be constant tension and the feeling that you are really never safe. Jump scares have to be majority good ones with a few cheap ones. We will leave this matter here.

X35 Earthwalker The Callisto Protocal

We checked out some The Callisto Protocol gameplay and it’s what we expected. If you enjoyed Dead Space then you will most likely enjoy The Callisto Protocol. Unlike Dead Space though, The Callisto Protocol has more emphasis on both long and close range combat. You will need to get up and close to your enemies at time and literally fight back. The enemies are said to ‘rapidly evolving creatures.’ We want to see how they apply this mechanic in the game. Hopefully they do it much better than Phoenix Point did. Players will be proper scavenging for gear, weapons and even abilities. The Callisto Protocol has also stated it has “a pulse-pounding story where unspeakable horrors lurk around every corner”. We won’t them to stay true to this.

Overall The Callisto Protocol looks like it’s going to be fantastic game. The developers ‘Striking distance studios’ have to be trash at their job to mess this up. We like the tactical side of The Callisto Protocol with regards to the targeting tentacles, appendages, cutting off legs and destroying limbs. Players will need to not panic and have precise aim. We will see if The Callisto Protocol will set the new bar for survival horror or fail. The developers ‘Striking distance studios’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker are definitely looking forward to this game. Now The Callisto Protocol may have a deadly, dark, disturbing world but it’s still too tame for… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Stranger of Paradise. Intense Combat

Posted on November 11, 2022November 11, 2022 by X35 Earthwalker

X35 Earthwalker Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a good game. It has its problems and they are very clear but we are focusing on the combat. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has fantastic combat gameplay and mechanics. X35 Earthwalker has gone crazy in the combat and off course mastered it. So we can take his word for it. We will keep this G-blog quite short. Let’s take a look.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has fast paced combat. If you aren’t trash and actually play on high difficulty then this game will be difficult. Some enemies will trash you and even making one mistake can lead to death at times. Players will need to have good reflexes and a decent level tactical mind. There’s multiple styles, mechanics and abilities. If we dived in ands broke things down then this would be large G-bog for sure.

The main thing is that there’s multiple classes which can have different weapons from maces, swords, dual blades and even your fists. Each class you can enter the battle settings which determines your weapon (if your class can handle multiple weapons), combo abilities, equipment and command abilities like Light bringer. This is where all the customisation and style design takes place. Equipment level determines your character level. Combo abilities can be done in specific sequences of attacks and can truly lower enemies break meter. command abilities allow for powerful effect that can change the course of the battle. Command and combo abilities both require MP.

Now if you are a lower level than what the level recommends, then you will actually suffer in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. The enemies will do much bigger damage but even worse is they drain your break gauge extremely fast. Once the break gauge is drained you are temporarily just sitting there. Meaning you get punished heavily. This is another reason why combat is intense. On high difficulties and being a bit under levelled or facing a really strong enemy, the battles become very intense. You have to focus, time your attacks and dodge/block everything. Getting hit once really costs you. Also the enemies break gauge is harder to reduce as well. Sometimes those fights are the better ones.

Players must be careful of their health and, manage their MP wisely as both can go down really fast. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has multiple options for multiple things. You can straight up block or use the soul shield. Soul Shield lets you block an attack and restore MP while also increasing your max MP. You can also quickly follow up a successful soul shield with an attack. So why use regular block like ever? Well that’s because unlike soul shield, blocking can block against multiple attacks in rapid succession. Soul shield blocks that one attack. So any attack like a volley of projectiles counters soul shield as you block the first projectile but all the others will strike you. Soul shield also drains your break gauge making stunning you all the more easier if used wrongly. So pick which defensive option based on the enemy and situation.

X35 Earthwalker Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

There’s a few classes that truly dabble in magic. The mages are powerful and can bring out some serious effects and attacks. The sage is better as it can use both attack types of the mages. elemental attacks and powerful buffs for yourself and the team. There’s even an Ultima attack which completely destroys all things… most of the time. Strongest attack in the game and is a boss slayer. Then there’s the Ninja class which has resources exclusive to the class which can be used to activate a few powerful abilities and even perform elemental attacks or throw shurikens (regular and big). Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, smartly, allows you to switch between your two selected classes. So switching up the abilities and getting optimal is an option here.

Overall the combat in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is excellent. The combat is the best thing about the game. When you master it, memorise enemy attacks and upgrade your classes, the combat rises to a different level. You end up really enjoying it. Soul shield, combo abilities and then finishing them off. By the way, the executions for these enemies are very good for the most part. Skeletons get stepped on, head ripped off and then used to destroy them. Flying bird hybrids get swung and smashed into the floor… hulk and Loki style. An aquatic enemy gets its back broken. Final Fantasy Origin: Stranger of Paradise do need to add more flavours to the combat and give players more free control when it comes to elemental attacks. X35 Earthwalker sees all the changes the need to make but this ain’t the G-blog for that. Now Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin may have excellent, fun combat but it’s still not up the level of… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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CounterAttack. Side scrolling time

Posted on November 2, 2022 by X35 Earthwalker

CounterAttack is a side scrolling shooter developed by ‘Relative Games‘ and published by ‘Relative Software‘. CounterAttack is said to be coming out the 5th of November 2022 on the Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. counterAttack is already a released game on Linux, Mac and pc. CounterAttack is coming to consoles… the Xbox Series X. X35 Earthwalker is the best in the gaming industry. Let’s take a look.

X35 Earthwalker Counterattack

The story here in CounterAttack is simple. Earth is under attack. So defend it. Basically. The enemies this time are ‘Automations’. Created by humanity themselves. They have rebelled against us and now we got a problem. The solution is to fight back with the ‘Experimental Space Fighter Program’. Basically pilots who pilot powerful space ships made for combat. Blast away, evade incoming fire and try to survive. You know the drill.

CounterAttack has an amazing feature that many other games don’t have and that is… local co-op! So locally you can do 1-4 and online you can do 2-8. The amount of good games that don’t have local co-op is pathetic. A game like this does need local co-op. So gather friends and family and go blast some ‘Automations’.

X35 Earthwalker Counterattack

Each pilot is different as they have their own ship and unique ultimate weapon. So check them all out first. Carl has the Plasma Strike, Biff has the Big Biff Laser, Joe has Overcharge, Jinx has the Hack Wave, Ayumi has the Tactical Nuke, Sarah has the Quantium Shield, Marcus has the Mesonwave and Sloane has the Fighter Squadron. So yeah, Looking forward to finding out who has the best ultimate weapon and who is the most versatile in use.

X35 Earthwalker Counterattack

We checked out some CounterAttack gameplay and it’s what we expected. The graphics and visuals are not very good though. It’s the simple style that they went for. Gameplay is more important though and that’s definitely there. You can unlock upgrades to make you more powerful. Enhance your ship and maybe do it your way. Equip attachments to basically create new weapons as in how they function. We hear there’s over 500 attachments concerning your ship. There’s even 3 endless survival modes. Sounds like quite a semi packed game.

Overall CounterAttack sounds like a very good game. CounterAttack is cross platform for multiplayer. This means Linux, Mac, pc and now off course, the best, Xbox. The story mode has 32 levels. There’s even a level editor, so players can of crazy with that. Medium high levels of customisation. The variety of enemies is a big factor that we need to see. The developers ‘Relative Games’ have done a good job with this game. X35 Earthwalker himself will see what becomes of this being on console. Now CounterAttack may have 8 different pilots but all of them together accomplish nothing against… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Signalis. Find her dreams

Posted on October 26, 2022 by X35 Earthwalker

Signalis is a survival horror game developed by ‘rose-engine‘ and published by ‘Humble games‘ and ‘Playism‘. Signalis is said to be coming out the 27th of October 2022 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and PC. Signalis is here to bring a new dark adventure. It’s cool to see new games try things out and bring their mix to it. X35 Earthwalker notices such things. Let’s take a look.

Signalis is set in a dark and dangerous world. Mysterious world too but let’s calm down for now. Players control a lady called Elster. She’s described as a “Technician Replika”. Her goal? To find her “lost dreams” and lost partner. Sounds strange but wait until you see what’s happening.

X35 Earthwalker Signalis

We hear that Signalis has “cosmic dread” and not just survival horror but ‘classic psychological survival horror’. This makes a difference as horror and psychological horror have clear distinctions. We have spoken about this multiple times already so go read our previous G-blogs. Psychological horror games better deliver.

X35 Earthwalker Signalis

There’s puzzles and mysteries to solve and understand. It’s not just kill monsters and manage your resources. This is a cold world and players will need to explore the derelict spaceship. It’s a “doomed facility” and there’s another secret beneath it. Now off course Signalis is a survival games so managing your weapons, resources, ammo etc is a big factor and we hope that Signalis actually balances the difficulty and level of resource management to create a good and difficult experience.

We checked out some Signalis gameplay and it wasn’t really what we expected in terms of the camera view and art style. We do like how dark the game is. They going for some atmosphere round here. We see the Dead Space stomp attack for enemies on the ground. There’s multiple weapons like automatic weapons and even a shotgun. There’s always a shotgun. Signalis seems to actually have something going on here.

Overall Signalis seems like a good game. There’s a cool design style here. This game isn’t our style. There’s off course many who will be into this. The developers ‘rose-engine’ have done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep man ear open for news concerning this game. Signalis may have a cold world with mysteries but it would be solved instantly by… he ‘Earth Walk!’

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Temple of Horror. Okay then

Posted on October 19, 2022October 19, 2022 by X35 Earthwalker

Temple of Horror is a… well… horror adventure game developed and published by ‘EpiXR Games‘. Temple of Horror is said to be coming out the 26th of October 2022 on the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC. This game on first looks doesn’t inspire much confidence right now but X35 Earthwalker gives games chances out here. Let’s take a look.

Temple of Horror has a more ominous setting. Basically you are dead. The end. Well maybe not dead. It just says that your soul is trapped in the Temple of Horror like many others. The Temple of Horror is not a good place as it’s name suggests. It’s described as unreal and filled with wandering lost souls, “evil monsters” and “forgotten evil” that are trying to make their way out of the temple. This says a lot already.

X35 Earthwalker Temple of Horror

Your objective in the Temple of Horror? To get out of here! Obviously. Now you need to avoid all the dangers that’s present in the Temple of Horror. Some things you have to just straight up hide or run from. You can’t beat them. Other things you can outsmart. On top of all that, there’s even traps. The description describes them as ‘”countless deadly traps”. So expect them everywhere.

Now off course a place like the Temple of Horror must have many secrets and mysteries concerning not just it’s denizens but also the place itself. When did this place exist? How do souls get here in the first place? How do you leave? What happens if you leave? Who runs the place? Or does the place run itself? Is the place alive? etc. Obviously the game developers are not as deep and intelligent as X35 Earthwalker so no the game won’t explore as deeply as we can but it’s stuff that sort of smart players would think about.

X35 Earthwalker Temple of Horror

We checked out some Temple of Horror gameplay and it’s less than what we expected. The game is very slow paced and not just the characters movement speed. Lifts are so slow too. the beings in the place and mazes are not impressive so far. We know these developers past work and things aren’t always great. We played Tanky Tanks and that game was fun but has multiple issues. The Temple of Horror is going to be a big game for them. People must start of small and grow that’s true but we don’t have confidence in Temple of Horror right now.

X35 Earthwalker Temple of Horror

Overall Temple of Horror doesn’t look like it’s going to be good. The game claims to have environmental puzzles, scary ones too. Multiple souls to rescue, that the enemies have different skills that the players must learn to know how to deal with them. We expect the bare minimum but will give this game a chance. EpiXR have a lot to prove. Now we at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what others think about this game. Now Temple of Horror may have countless souls trapped but this little place is a joke compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Fuga: Melodies of Steel. Heavy strategy

Posted on September 30, 2022 by X35 Earthwalker

Fuga: Melodies of Steel is a tactical role playing game that was developed by CyberConnect2. Fuga: Melodies of Steel was released on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4 and PC. This game is excellent. X35 Earthwalker is playing it now and it’s been a good treat so far. There’s a lot to say and talk about but we will try to keep it short. Let’s take a look.

Fuga: Melodies of Steel is all about a group of children, a dozen at most, who are controlling a tank. Why? Their village got raided by an invading military force and their families were taken captive. So They ended up finding a powerful tank called the Taranis. It’s massive and bigger than any other tank. It’s a super tank. They will use this to chase after the Berman army. Sounds like a plan. Right? It’s children after all.

X35 Earthwalker Fuga: Melodies of Steel

We like the graphic style of Fuga: Melodies of Steel. It sort of reminds us of Astria Ascending. The game looks good. The characters look good and are distinct. The character designs alone give you a lot of information about the characters. That kind of designs top level and many people can’t do that. The story telling is effective. The voice of the lady communicating with the children sounds almost perfect. Sounds like a guardian… their guardian but who is this person? The illustrations + voice and the events work very well together. We already have characters we care about… a lot. X35 Earthwalker will not allow harm to come to these children.

X35 Earthwalker Fuga: Melodies of Steel

The main thing about this game is the strategies. Fuga: Melodies of Steel has many mechanics that allow for deep strategies. It’s not just fire cannons at enemy tanks. Each tank has weaknesses that when exploited with a specific type of tank cannon, can cause the enemy vehicle to be delayed. Making them act later. The weapons have different damage and accuracy. Some enemies are harder to hit and so it’s wiser to use certain weapons against them. There’s status effects that can be inflicted like stun, burn and smoke (here’s more). Smoke reduces their accuracy and burn inflicts damage after each action. Special abilities and attacks require SP to use. Another resource to manage. Some enemies have armour which reduce the damage they take but there are special ammo and abilites that can get rid of the armour. There’s buffs you can give to individual characters or there whole team like increasing luck, speed or damage. We can explain more but lets’ keep it short.

The strategies don’t end on the battlefield. There’s more thinking required during the intermissions. During the intermission you have 20 AP (action points). Having the children talk to each other, to build their relationships, costs AP. Planting seeds to grow crops cost AP. So does, fishing for scrap and cooking a meal. Why are you doing any of this? They all yield great benefits. Building relationships allows for link attacks and stronger support effects. Growing crops produce ingredients for cooking. Cooking meals gives buffs to your characters. Scrap fishing creates a chance to obtain materials. Materials are needed to upgrade the Taranis. Upgrades include more health, damage and maximum SP. You never have enough AP to do everything you want or need. You have to decide what to do, prioritise and conclude what’s most important. You’ll understand easily when you play it. Bottom line, you’ll redoing heavy thinking both in and out of combat. Nothing must be wasted. Every decision and move counts. Even the paths you take on your journey, safe, normal and dangerous matters. Tactical gamers and players with some intelligence will thrive here. Off course no gamer is even close to X35’s intelligence.

Overall Fuga: Melodies of Steel is a fantastic game. Graphics, sounds, story, emotions, investment, decisions and deepness of strategies are all very good. The animations of the Taranis are weak though. There’s seriously more to the strategies. There’s the link attacks which are powerful and must be unlocked through a bond between characters and then charged up. Then there’s ‘Hero mode’. This is where things get real crazy. Maybe we will go over more of this stuff another time. Fuga: Melodies of Steel is available on the Xbox Game Pass right now. Fuga: Melodies of Steel isn’t normally our type of game but this game has been a real treat for sure. X35 Earthwalker is invested. There you go. We tried to keep this short. Fuga: Melodies of Steel is worth checking out if you have the brains for it.

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