Overwatch 2 has been available for a while on multiple platforms, though it was in Early Access. With the Invasion update, the game left early access and officially launched on August 10.

Reception hasn't been particularly good, and the game currently sits with "Overwhelmingly Negative" user reviews on Steam. The main reasons for the review bombing relate to how the free-to-play model was implemented, as well as the lack of previously promised content.

[caption id="attachment_373661" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Blizzard Entertainment[/caption]

Overwatch 2 has had a less-than-perfect launch

One of the main criticisms Overwatch 2 is facing is that it is far more money-oriented than its predecessor. For example, some Heroes and game modes are locked behind a Battle Pass system. They can be unlocked through normal gameplay, though paying players can simply bypass it all. Some content has also been cut from the game, including the planned PvE Hero Mode.

Explaining why this is the case, Blizzard's Aaron Keller wrote a blog post revealing how plans were made but developers struggled to find their "footing with the Hero Mission experience early on,"  leading to the decision to cut it. The Invasion update does come with PvE Hero missions, but they are locked behind the Battle Pass system, leading to further annoyance.

When scrolling through the user reviews, it is easy to see a trend among the complaints. They're succinctly summarized in Steam user BraySC's review: "They released Overwatch 2 as a free-to-play business model, which leans more heavily into microtransactions, overpriced skins and predatory behaviour. To make matters worse, they shut down the first game, making it unplayable for people who purchased it, meaning the player base has to move over to this free-to-play business model to keep playing the game." There are also plenty of mentions of Blizzard's history of workplace sexual harassment allegations in the reviews.

As of August 13, only 9% of the 92,028 reviews are positive, making Overwatch 2 one of the most negatively reviewed games on Steam. The negative reviews aren't limited to Valve's store, and players have also been voicing their dissatisfaction on Metacritic where the game sits a user score of 1.4 as of August 13, indicating "Overwhelming Dislike."

Things haven't been all bad for Overwatch 2, however. On Metacritic, the critic review score is a respectable 69 as of August 13. It also hit a commendable peak of 75,608 concurrent Steam players on August 11, indicating that there may still be hope for the colorful FPS.

The post Overwatch 2’s Steam launch met with “Overwhelmingly Negative” reviews appeared first on Destructoid.

QuakeCon announcement incoming?

Everybody's favorite spoiler, The Game Rating and Administration Committee of Korea, is at it again, this time apparently lifting the lid on an incoming remaster of one of the most genre-defining shooters of all time, id Software's Quake II.

While Activision is yet to officially announce said remaster, we have been here once before, as game ratings board previously leaked the remaster of the original Quake, ahead of its official reveal at the annual gathering of all things id, QuakeCon. Given that QuakeCon 2023 is set to take place in a little over a month from now, it seems pretty snug that Quake II Remastered is scheduled to make its appearance.

Originally released in 1997, at the height of the second major FPS boom, Quake II is a violent, sci-fi shooter that sees top-tier marine Bitterman fend off an entire alien invasion with an arsenal of bombastic weaponry. With its smart, interconnected stages, multiple player characters, and commitment to chaotic destruction, Quake II was highly praised by critics and fans, becoming a mainstay on the early online multiplayer circuit and boosting the Activision coffers long before Call of Duty was even in consideration.

We will be sure to give you a heads-up when an official announcement is forthcoming. QuakeCon 2023 takes place at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas from August 10-13.

The post Quake II Remastered surfaces on Korean Ratings Board appeared first on Destructoid.

Don't Pay to Play

Gaming can quite quickly become an expensive hobby. The non-stop conga line of fantastic games this year has made it harder than ever to play without hurting your wallet. Not every worthwhile experience has a price tag on it, however. With the following PS5 titles, you'll have a blast without spending a cent.

[caption id="attachment_387340" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image by Respawn Entertainment.[/caption]

10. Apex Legends

When it comes to free-to-play games, fans of first-person shooters have more than enough to pick from. Apex Legends is a battle-royale style game featuring a cast of characters serving as either Recon, Support, Skirmisher, Assault, or Controller. With a good variety of guns and maps, it is a title that easily hooks players for hours at a time.

[caption id="attachment_387345" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image by Bungie.[/caption]

9. Destiny 2

Yet another first-person shooter appears on the list in the form of Destiny 2. It has managed to remain relevant thanks to constant expansions, including Lightfall in 2023. With Sony's acquisition of Bungie, it appears the franchise will be supported for a long time to come.

[caption id="attachment_387344" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image by Digital Extremes.[/caption]

8. Warframe

The third-person shooter Warframe was first released in 2013, and it has maintained popularity since. It uses a mix of both procedurally generated and fixed levels that have players using guns and stealth. With new expansions regularly released, it's always a good time to start playing Warframe.

[caption id="attachment_387342" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid.[/caption]

7. Sky: Children of Light

Sky is a game that is best experienced instead of described. Players who enjoyed titles like Journey and Flower will instantly fall in love with Sky. Much like the aforementioned titles, Sky features a minimalistic style of storytelling along with multiplayer elements implemented in unexpected ways. Play Sky, it may be the best thing you do all week.

[caption id="attachment_387339" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image by Maxis Studios.[/caption]

6. The Sims 4

The popular life simulation game The Sims 4 went free-to-play in 2022, breathing new life into a somewhat dated game. Although the controls on consoles are occasionally awkward, The Sims 4 is definitely worth playing. It has earned its longevity through its expansive gameplay, detailed character creator system, and quirky humor that has characterized the franchise for years.

[caption id="attachment_387343" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image by Epic Games.[/caption]

5. Fortnite

It's hard to make any free-to-play list without including Fortnite. Over five years after its initial release, it has since grown into a phenomenon encompassing celebrities, music concerts, and various other gaming franchises. Nevertheless, it remains ol' reliable when it comes to exciting battle royale gameplay.

[caption id="attachment_387359" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image by Blizzard.[/caption]

4. Overwatch 2

The first-person shooter Overwatch 2 is one of the most popular games of its type around. Gameplay is fast-paced and fun, with a learning curve that's not too steep. The player base is very active, ensuring you can jump into the action at any time.

[caption id="attachment_387341" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid.[/caption]

3. Rocket League

When it comes to addictive gameplay, it's hard to do better than Rocket League. Released in 2015, it has players playing soccer with rocket-powered vehicles. It has since developed a competitive scene, though casual players can still easily join at any time. In 2020, it went free-to-play, opening the game to an even wider audience.

[caption id="attachment_387338" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid.[/caption]

2. Fall Guys

Fall Guys launched in August 2020, and it was an immediate record-breaking hit. Though it may not make as many headlines in 2023, Fall Guys is still a silly battle royale game with an active user base. Much like the show Takeshi's Castle, players are tasked with completing an assortment of games and obstacle courses. Little beans are the competitors, which makes things all the more sillier.

[caption id="attachment_387336" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

1. Astro's Playroom

Astro's Playroom is bundled with the PS5, and it familiarizes players with the features of the DualSense, as well as the blinding speed of the console's SSD. It is, without a doubt, a must-play for every PS5 owner, and years later it remains one of the best showcases of the PS5's abilities.

The game features gorgeous visuals that reference many classic PlayStation franchises, and the platforming gameplay is both fun and varied. The only wish now is that the PSVR 2 receives a similar title.

There is a good variety of free-to-play games available on PS5, and they'll satisfy fans of sports games, shooters, and platformers. Upcoming free-to-play games to look out for include the soccer game UFC, as well as the MMORPG Throne and Liberty.

The post 10 best free games to play on PS5 right now appeared first on Destructoid.

Sexy both on AND offline

No More Robots has announced that the FPS spin-off of Hypnospace Outlaw has a release date. Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer is dropping on June 1st.

Hypnospace Outlaw was an extremely special game. While it took place in a fantasy reality, it created a loving time capsule of Web 1.0. The developers created various fictional characters to present a very accurate depiction of the internet in its awkward adolescence. It was rather spot on, and I know this because I lived Web 1.0.

One of the characters was this edgy teenager called Zane Lofton. Like many teenagers, Zane lived in a self-centered fantasy land where he was the king of cool. Slayers X is a further exploration of that character, this time through an FPS that he and his friend developed. It looks to drag us by the hair right back to 1998 when teenagers tinkered with Doom and Duke Nukem 3D modding tools.

I also did that, but I wasn’t a teenager yet, so nothing ever came of it aside from a few poorly textured rooms.

https://youtu.be/-bZRPUTNJBc

Zane Rocks

We’ve had plenty of shooters try to recapture the ‘90s to varying degrees of success, but Slayers X might be the first one to try to present itself through the lens of a character living at the time. As such, it’s packed with everything edgy teenagers found cool back then: bad guys, real-world environments, and poop. It’s trite and tacky, and that’s exactly how it should be.

As a fan of everything jank-pop, Slayers X absolutely sings to me. Hypnospace Outlaw still lives in a corner of my brain, and I’ve been excited to see more from the concept. The spin-off was announced a while back, and I was recently wondering if I had somehow missed it. I’m glad that’s not the case, and I can resume being excited.

Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer releases on PC June 1. It will also be on Xbox Game Pass the same day.

The post Hypnospace Outlaw spin-off FPS Slayers X releases June 1 appeared first on Destructoid.

Server and progression issues are to blame

[Update: A new tweet from the official XDefiant Twitter account suggests that the beta will be closing as planned on April 23 at 23:00 PT and April 24 at 02:00 ET.]

XDefiant is in the middle of its first closed beta test, but there's trouble in paradise for the potential Call of Duty competitor. Ubisoft San Francisco developers recently hinted at a possible extension for the closed beta due to many ongoing problems.

[caption id="attachment_373891" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Ubisoft[/caption]

XDefiant closed beta extension, teased

Problems during the XDefiant closed beta test first popped up a few days after it went live on April 13. Notably, players weren’t able to advance past a certain point in the progression system and unlock any items. Additionally, loadouts that should allow players to save their favorite equipment didn't function properly. Ubisoft San Francisco has since pushed updates to address the problems, but patches took days to hit all platforms.

These issues are on top of unsteady servers that continue to hinder players' enjoyment of the game. These range from difficulty finding games online to even connecting to the servers in the first place. Even after a full server configuration replacement, players still struggle to play matches in this online-only game.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for the game’s executive producer, Mark Rubin, to address the situation on Twitter. Rubin not only noted when the issues would hopefully be fixed, but also teased the possibility of a closed beta extension.

https://twitter.com/PixelsofMark/status/1647380740429205505

Fortunately for Rubin's Team, players have still praised the game despite the problems stemming from the beta.

"I've been absolutely floored by the reception so far even with all of the issues that we've had," Rubin said in a twitter thread on April 17. "We wanted to make this game out of our love for gaming and we can't be successful without you, the players."

[caption id="attachment_363483" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Ubisoft[/caption]

The closed beta is full of technical problems

If these issues continue for the remaining days of the closed beta, an extension could be in the cards. Hopefully, fixes arrive soon so all beta testers can get a feel for how this Call of Duty alternative plays.

The XDefiant closed beta will run until April 23. It is playable on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

The post (Update) Ubisoft considers extending XDefiant beta due to technical issues appeared first on Destructoid.

Shoot Now, Laugh Later

The PSVR 2 has been on the market for a while, though it still has a somewhat skeletal library. Nevertheless, there is enough of a variety of games to keep fans of all genres satisfied. First-person shooters are one of the most popular genres on the platform and for good reason.

In VR, gunplay is more realistic than ever, and developers have experimented with the genre to introduce new and innovative gameplay styles. Players looking for the best FPS games on PSVR 2 have a few titles to choose from. Some titles, like Pavlov, follow a traditional FPS structure while others, like <Runner>, add an innovative twist to things.

Pavlov

Developed by Vankrupt Games, Pavlov has been available on PC VR headsets for a while. On PSVR 2, it has quickly become one of the most addictive and adrenaline-raising games currently available. The game has players going online and partaking in several different game modes that are either co-op or PvP. It shines through its startlingly wide array of available weapons and the realistic weapon handling which ensures players remain thoroughly immersed.

[caption id="attachment_374044" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid.[/caption]

Though it can be played offline, that sucks almost all of the fun out of it. Pavlov has a very active community, so players will never struggle to find a server of players to join. One of the best modes is the frenzied Team Deathmatch which has two teams going up against each other to score the most kills. Each time a player is killed, they respawn with a new random weapon. There is also the regular Deathmatch where it's every man for himself, and all players compete to rack up the most kills.

Pavlov also features a handy tutorial mode, so players are never thrown into the deep end. It’s probably the best FPS VR game to start with thanks to its bustling community and its endless heaps of fun.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution

[caption id="attachment_374041" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid.[/caption]

For gamers looking for something a little scarier, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution has what it takes to keep players on the edge of their seats. What it lacks in visuals, it makes up for immersive gameplay that has players using a myriad of weapons against hordes of zombies.

The gunplay is responsive and impactful, but players aren’t limited to blasting bullets. There are also knives, cleavers, and chainsaws available to debrain the walking dead. For games that want more PSVR 2 horror, consider titles like Switchback VR and Resident Evil Village.

<RUNNER>

[caption id="attachment_374213" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid.[/caption]

Developed by Truant Pixel, <RUNNER> is an eclectic title that brings a fresh take on the FPS genre. Players will be immediately overwhelmed by the anime-style visuals, and as players ride a zippy motorcycle through a neon-lit city, it is hard to not feel like one has been transported into Akira. Armed with a futuristic handgun, players can shoot at obstacles and objects in the environment as they ride their motorcycle, making it a heartstoppingly exhilarating experience. As players progress, they unlock even more upgrades and weapons, including grenades.

<RUNNER> excels thanks to its striking aesthetic, catchy soundtrack, and high-energy gameplay that utilizes VR in the best way. It also has a 'Cruising' mode which provides a more laidback experience for players who just want to enjoy the music and the colorful visuals. Gamers craving more eccentric FPS titles should explore Pistol Whip, which blends gunplay with rhythm-based gameplay.

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge

[caption id="attachment_374214" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid.[/caption]

The Star Wars VR game was originally released in 2020 on the Oculus Quest. It's a blast for Star Wars fans, although newcomers can still have tons of fun. Players assume the role of a droid repair technician who finds themselves on an epic adventure after crash-landing on the planet Batuu.

The game runs for about 10 hours, which is plenty of time for gamers to immerse themselves in the sci-fi atmosphere. Weapons are easy to use, and the environments are gorgeous enough to rival what's on display in Horizon: Call of the Mountain. For gamers who are still on the fence about the title, a free demo is available on the PS Store.

PSVR 2 may be going through a bit of a drought at present, but there are plenty of games lined up that promise to keep the rest of the year full of activity. To enhance gunplay when using PS VR2, there are several gun stocks available which can be attached to the headset's controllers.

The post Top 4 First-Person Shooters on PSVR 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

To Live and Die in HeLL.A.

During the 2014 Sony E3 press conference, viewers were treated to a surprise cinematic trailer, one that has since gone down in history. The trailer featured a meat-headed jogger taking a casual dash down Venice Beach, blissfully unaware of the absolutely bombastic chaos that was exploding all around him, as hordes of flesh-eating creatures lay waste to the beautiful people of California. Ultimately becoming one of the infected himself, the jogger is eventually wiped out by a speeding minivan, before an onscreen graphic finally reveals the trailer as a preview for Dead Island 2.

That trailer debuted almost 10 years ago. And on April 21, 2023, Dead Island 2 will finally release, two console generations on from its initial announcement, and after passing through no less than three development studios. Having been mired in development hell for almost a decade, and been the subject of cancellation rumors, internet jokes, and even a reference point for other games and studios, it seems a miracle that we finally have anything in our hands. But can the talent of British developer Dambuster Studios resurrect this long-since-decayed release, or would it have been better left dead and buried?

Look, we all know the story, so there ain't nothing left to it but to do it.

Dead Island 2 (PlayStation [PS5 reviewed], PC, Xbox)
Developer: Dambuster Studios
Publisher: Deep Silver
Released: April 21, 2023
MSRP: $69.99

It must be noted that, with Dead Island 2, Dambuster Studios is not attempting to reinvent the wheel. The long-time-coming sequel essentially builds upon the general design and gameplay structure of its now-decade-old predecessor. That isn't to say that this is a case of "If it ain't broke...", because Dead Island was fucking broke. This is a title where I once kicked an inflatable beach ball, which resulted in my character screaming, keeling over, and dying on the spot. No, rather than attempting a full conceptive rebirth, Dead Island 2 is more a "Take Two" on what came before, with stronger efforts made to deliver the player experience perhaps expected of that release.

Our story concerns a party of six survivors — each one the worst person you've ever met — who crawl from the wreckage of a failed evacuation flight, crash-landing in the heart of Los Angeles, or "Hell-A" as it is now known. Beginning in media res, the outbreak is already underway, covering the City of Angels in blood and bodies while the local authorities attempt to put a band-aid on an oozing, pustulous wound. Choosing one member of the pity party, our "Slayer" is thrust into the thick of the carnage, and must utilize adaptation, improvisation, and smart-mouthed quippin' (boy howdy, the quippin') to find their way out of the city and to higher ground, away from millions of arm-munching, TikTok-filming posers.

What follows is an open world odyssey, as the Slayer treks through a million-dollar city of broken dreams — From the closed gate communities of Bel Air and the splendor of Beverly Hills, to the baking, radiant sands of Venice Beach and, of course, the star-studded avenues and alleyways of Hollywood. It goes without saying that these venues have all seen better days — less brain-encrusted days, at least — and this bizarre juxtaposition of celebrity and atrocity never fails to remain an unnervingly attractive take on a potential armageddon. I'll still take it over Florida.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f70Uz0fnX7E

You Ought'nt Be In Pictures

Initially, Dead Island 2 appears poorly plotted at best and baffling at worst — why your punk-rock character chooses to instantly do the bidding of The Rich makes zero sense whatsoever — but, as the story progresses, an evolving tale of survival and desperation unfolds, joined by elements of conspiracy, human evolution, and man's endless inhumanity to man.

And though our ensemble cast is, for the most part, intolerable, a pragmatic realization gives way; These aren't bad people, per se, they're just in a bleak and thoroughly miserable situation. As the story progresses, we come to understand the stage and its players better. Even beginning to develop an actual kinship with the same folk that we originally couldn't stand the sight of. They aren't necessarily terrible. They're just human... Except for "Who Do You Voodoo, Bitch?" singer Sam B. He is terrible.

Though disconnecting at the outset, the spirit of Dead Island 2 and its world grows on the player as they come to understand the hopelessness that faces these stragglers — From the whiskey-soaked rock stars and uptight Hollywood divas, to bronze-skinned beach bums and simple folk just trying to survive, let alone thrive. The mask of humanity is off, and the outbreak is making a monster of many, as viral outbreaks tend to do. There are no real "good guys", just different shades of survivalist.

While it's fair to say that the plot of DI2 is hardly original, it's still surprisingly compelling. By the time the final act rolled around, all of sudden, the realization dawned that the survival of this pack of awful bastards had suddenly become the most important thing in my life.

Look, I know the trailers are terrible. There's some great performances in here. Honest.

Sun's Out, Guns Out

The core of Dead Island 2 is its combat. It's the decaying meat of the piece, and the melee-based carnage on offer here is brilliantly devised. Whether wielding swords, baseball bats, axes, steel pipes, or Triple H-esque sledgehammers, there is an effective, wholly satisfying weight and impact to the violence on display, bolstered by the addition of counters, parries, and gleefully explosive execution maneuvers. It's important that the melee is enjoyable, as it is ultimately 90% of the player's activities, and Dead Island 2's "crunch" is so delicious, that it actually becomes a tad detrimental to the game when guns finally do come into play, (though they do add some variety to all the home-run swingin' action).

In addition to the weaponry, Dead Island 2 has a mix-and-match build system, that affords your chosen Slayer various skills and perks, sometimes for free, sometimes at the detriment of other abilities. These range from defensive tactics such as dodges and slides, to bonuses such as damage boosts for downing zombies, or awarding health for severing undead limbs. Without giving too much away, things get pretty funky after a point, and you can make your Slayer quite the force to be reckoned with, finely tuned to your own bespoke playstyle.

Still, despite the enormous range of customizable weapons and skills on offer, Dead Island 2 remains challenging. Even as the Slayer levels up, the difficulty remains in a sweet spot that prevents the player from ever becoming too powerful. As kitted out as you become, the infected are perpetually a legitimate threat. But with clever combinations of weaponry, skills, elemental boosts, and environmental attacks, DI2 ensures that while the numbers are on the side of the undead, the wits are with the player.

A special tribute must also be paid to the most satisfying dropkick in video game history. A move that, I guarantee, will become your best friend. Especially on rooftops and in front of windows.

You can't spell slaughter without 'laughter'

Dead Island 2 is a repetitive game, wholly and unashamedly. It is essentially a title that tasks the player with going on endless "Locate this person/item" quests, almost always boiling down to making your way to the location in question and slaying triple figures' worth of zombies en route. There are plenty of side quests in each district, all of which offer rewards in the form of rare weapons, blueprints, and perks, but ultimately, Dead Island 2 only has one real trick, and that is to ask the player to get to an undead infested venue and back alive.

This in itself was a major problem with the first game, and would lead to boredom just scant hours in.

While DI2 doesn't stray too far from this design path, what it does do to combat fatigue is ensure that the environments are legitimately fun to explore, while constantly drip-feeding the player new characters, fun conversations, and a wide variety of different enemies to be hacked 'n' slashed. There is also a metric ton of environmental storytelling, much of which is of the tired "audio log" variety, but some of which is executed via simple set design and in-universe audio — distant screams, abandoned radios, a wedding from hell, a strongman competition turned massacre, a frightening theme park, and a horror movie set where things got a little too meta.

Dead Island 2 has a gameplay mentality that is generations old, but it uses the benefits of modern tech to polish up its 2010's vibe. The infected are large in number, varied in design, and look gruesomely gorgeous. The world itself is well-realized and intelligently mapped. Elemental and gore effects are dazzling, and cleverly limited use of music ensures that, while the combat is relentless, the player knows when shit is really going down.

Dead Island 2, at its heart, is an old-fashioned game, but it's wearing a damn flashy new suit.

Don't Forget to Bring a Towel

Dead Island 2 is far from an excellent title, and its flaws might turn away those without the patience to fully explore its world and mechanics. While it certainly gets better the deeper you delve into its world, this style of explorative, combat & craft-heavy action isn't going to be to everyone's tastes, especially in 2023. The endless grabbing of crafting components, audio logs, and keycards — actions that are so repetitive the Slayer themselves repeatedly rags on it — may lead some players to consider double-checking the calendar.

From a technical standpoint, the sequel is a massive improvement over the notorious original, but still suffers from choppiness — Minor frustrations such as immovable prompts, occasional clipping, failed enemy spawns, or unresponsive enemies. Strange one-off bugs, such as a character's voice remaining echoed even after they had left a building, (all of which fixed themselves after a reload). Performance-wise, however, the PS5 edition played for review was sound, maintaining its framerate in even the busiest and messiest of zombie massacres. Most importantly, I kicked a beach ball and kept breathing.

When you combine the small technical troubles with the generally Gen-7 approach to gameplay, Dead Island 2 becomes something of a divisive release. Those who perhaps crave more in the way of firearms, vehicular mayhem, or more variety in its quests and activities may struggle to persevere to the point where Hell-A opens up its vulgar box of delights. That said, those who enjoyed the original Dead Island, or similar relentless, zombie-smashing experiences — such as Capcom's Dead Rising, will think it's fucking Christmas, with perhaps the best gaming interpretation of a Zack Snyder zombie flick yet.

Rewarding player experimentation and exploration, you get out of DI2 what you put into it, and thus, it's very much a game for a specific and dedicated audience. And given its exceptionally lofty $70 price tag, "dedicated" is doing a lot of lifting in that sentence.

Gods and Monsters

I'll level with you. I didn't want to review Dead Island 2, and I sure as hell didn't want to play it on my own time. If you'd had asked me to point to a 2023 release that I felt was going to be an absolute slog to play, as well as being a chore to write about, then this sequel would've probably been number one with an acid-tipped bullet. 10 minutes into playing, I still felt this way, eye-rolling and deep sighing at the characters, the setup, and the teasing of 15 hours of fetch quests and keycard searching.

But, as time passed, as Hell-A opened up, as the combat evolved, and as I met more and more denizens of Hollyweird, I warmed up immensely to this title. I became excited to explore each new district, while digging the world design, the attractively gruesome visuals, and the "Glam Apocalypse" aesthetic. I appreciated the wanton, salacious, and satisfying violence, and, most surprisingly of all, this atrocious cast of characters eventually became my friends, (except for Sam B.)

It is testament to the talent of Dambuster Studios that they picked up the remnants of the most development hell title of the past 15 years — a game that had "contractual obligation" written all over it — and have turned it into a great sequel. Dead Island 2 sports a solid world, great audio/visuals, and an excellent combat system, wrapped up in a resonant, bleakly comic story of mankind's inability to ever save itself. Is it perfect? No, it's not, but it is the redemption story Dead Island needed, as well as perhaps the greatest example of a seemingly doomed release that actually delivered when it finally crawled out of purgatory. I was wrong. I had a fine time with a game I absolutely did not want to play.

And, y'know what? I actually think I'm gonna play through it again.

It shouldn't have worked. It should have been a disaster. A decade-long internet joke ending in a comically terrible release. And yet, with Dead Island 2, Dambuster delivers a sequel that hugely improves upon the original, offering raw, no-nonsense chaos, wrapped up in a gaudy wrapper of sun, sand, and slaughter. While the old-school, repetitive gameplay won't be to everyone's taste, decadent violence, tastelessly compelling environments, and a surprising amount of heart await those who have the patience to wade through the misery of a paradise lost.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Dead Island 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

It's out on May 23

If Warhammer 40,000 is too futuristic for you and you’ve wanted to dial it back a bit, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun might be the game for you. Styling itself after late-‘90s shooters, Boltgun strips away distracting graphics and asks you to just shoot the crap out of everything in front of you. And now, we’ve got a date for it: May 23, 2023.

I know so very little about Warhammer 40,000. This 30-second trailer tells me absolutely nothing about the property, while at the same time telling me everything I need to know about the game. There’s jumping. There are people blowing up. And everything is pixelated.

https://youtu.be/DJzGLICnZrg

Honestly, I’ve played tons of Total War: Warhammer, which is sort of unrelated? Like, it's a different universe or something. However, you don’t really need much context for it. There are vampires, beastmen, and BDSM elves, and that’s all you need to know. Or, at least, that’s all I need to know.

Similarly, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun has it all: rocket launchers, shotguns, and bloody messes. You play as a space person, and I may be an outlier here, but I really hope that they don’t make constant wisecracks. That part can stay in the ‘90s.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Switch on May 23, 2023.

The post Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun gets short trailer and release date, but I haven’t played 1-39,999 first appeared first on Destructoid.

GZDamn that looks good

I’m glad our community is looking out, since this one nearly got past me. Retro-engine FPS Supplice has been released on Steam Early Access today.

Designed by modders and built on the GZDoom engine, Supplice is the latest FPS looking to take you back to the days when 3D wasn’t made of polygons and enemies queued up to be exploded.

https://youtu.be/dRtT28_HBPI

Currently, developer Mekworx is presenting Supplice’s first episode of five missions for Early Access. They’re attempting to release a new episode every 2-3 months until completion. Supplice has technically been in development for 14 years, but began its life as a total conversion of Doom. The team got ambitious and decided it was time to spin off into a full product.

I saw a few seconds of footage from the trailer and immediately recognized the exaggerated head bob from the Doom engine. That classic engine’s bones form the foundation of GZDoom, allowing for techniques that weren’t possible back in the day. Along with Supplice, another indie game called Selaco is utilizing the engine to create something both familiar and unique.

I love old raycasting engines and think it’s great that developers are utilizing them again. While they’re certainly more constraining than your typical polygonal 3D engine, they have a quality that is difficult to replicate. I’m hoping to see more like it going forward, as Ken Silverman’s Build Engine has also seen some love from games like Ion Fury.

Supplice is available on PC right now through Steam Early Access.

The post Supplice raycasts it way to early access on PC today appeared first on Destructoid.

The darkness comes

Fulqrum Publishing has announced that a sequel to Byte Barrel’s 2022 retro-inspired shooter, Forgive Me Father, is on the way to PC. Forgive Me Father 2 is said to “build up on the satisfying action of the first game and double down on the striking pulp, comic book inspired visuals.”

A teaser has been dropped alongside the announcement, and as with most teasers, it doesn’t really show off anything in terms of actual gameplay. Just a pair of hands reloading a revolver.

https://youtu.be/fJPxUZthqn0

At least that small bit of gameplay has shown off what is definitely an FPS. The first game in the series was a Lovecraftian twist on the classic shooter formula. It tied in creepy eldritch weapons and a madness system that let you go nuts on enemies. The graphics also strikingly feature 2D hand-drawn images.

In our review of the game, Noelle Warner found the original to be rather dull and repetitive. Hopefully, for Forgive Me Father 2, Byte Barrel can address feedback and knock this one out of the park. It certainly has a visual style that makes it worth a look.

Forgive Me Father 2 is coming to PC at some point in the future. No release window was given.

The post Lovecraftian retro shooter Forgive Me Father 2 is in the works appeared first on Destructoid.

Counter-Strike 2 news gets the squad pumped

Valve's tactical shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has smashed its own concurrent player record for the third time in just two months — This past weekend saw CS:GO pull in over 1.5 million players on Steam, beating a record set just a fortnight ago by almost 50,000 players.

According to the figures on Steamdb, 1,519,457 squaddies leapt into action on March 25, beating the peak player count of 1,470,183 recorded on Saturday, March 11, and further surpassing the previous record of 1,308,963 recorded back in February. And while CS:GO has never truly ever entered an era of unpopularity in its near two decades of operation, the reason behind this sudden resurgence is quite clear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExZtISgOxEQ&ab_channel=Valve

Just five days ago, Valve finally confirmed the recent whispers that Counter-Strike was in line to receive a long-awaited upgrade, bringing technical improvements and mechanical overhauls to the tactical shooter's aging engine. Titled Counter-Strike 2, (though the project is more of an upgrade rather than an actual sequel), the free, Source 2-powered release will feature redesigned maps, a U.I. upgrade, improved ballistics, and new, further immersive effects for elements such as smoke, shadows, and light.

Valve has already confirmed that all statistics and gear from current CS:GO accounts will be carried over into the new edition. A release date was not announced, but the update is expected to roll out this summer, with limited testing windows made available to players in the meantime. You can check out the full details for Counter-Strike 2 over on the official website.

The post CS:GO smashes player record for the third time in 2023 appeared first on Destructoid.

Stalwart shooter will not be denied

Not content with having beaten its own concurrent player record just last month, Valve's tactical shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) smashed its own numbers out of the sky this past weekend, with a staggering 1.4 million players simultaneously logged in on Steam on Saturday, March 11.

As noted by Eurogamer, this incredible feat was achieved, in part, by a Twitter campaign that saw the community come together to spotlight the live 'n' kicking nature of the legendary release, which is celebrating over a decade on the Steam platform. A peak player count of 1,470,183 was recorded on Saturday, beating out the previous record of 1,308,963, recorded back in February. The official CS:GO team took to Twitter to thank the community for showing out.

https://twitter.com/CSGO/status/1634576070770057221?s=20

Quote your Source

Another reason that CS:GO is seeing a record resurgence in its (already healthy) community is likely due to the recent rumors that the near 20-year-old shooter is potentially about to receive a major upgrade, with whispers on the web suggesting that a Source 2 edition is currently preparing to launch — And might even be with us as soon as the next few months, even weeks. The update, if it indeed exists, is expected to bolster CS:GO's connectivity, textures, visual support, and servers. It should be noted that developer Valve is yet to confirm that a CS:GO Source 2 upgrade is incoming.

Still, with such amazing numbers clearly still on deck, CS:GO has proven without a doubt that it has a community, healthier and arguably more dedicated, than many newer and more expensive shooter franchises. Much like Valve's own Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a title that appears set to just run, and run, and run. Here's to the next decade of twitchy, trigger-happy action.

1.4m of us were simultaneously playing CS:GO this weekend [Eurogamer]

The post CS:GO hits new record high with 1.4 million concurrent players appeared first on Destructoid.

Shit's about to get even heavier

Publisher Funcom, in association with Swedish developer The Outsiders has announced a release date for Dream of the Beast, a brand new DLC expansion for its hellish shooter Metal: Hellsinger. The new expansion will be bringing new songs and weapons to the award-winning actioner on March 29.

Two new headbangin' tracks will be included in the DLC. The first will feature the powerhouse vocals of Lacuna Coil frontwoman Cristina Scabbia, who I've super-duper fancied for literal decades, but don't tell her I said that because I'm shy. The second track is performed by Will Ramos of New Jersey's Lorna Shore, who I haven't heard of, but don't tell them I said that because I'm super-duper old. The searing vocals of both artists will soundtrack your next trip out of the underworld.

https://twitter.com/MetalHellsinger/status/1633120493497638913?s=20

In addition to the new songs, the Metal: Hellsinger Dream of the Beast DLC will also include a devastating new machine gun "The Red Right Hand", as well as a selection of new player skins that will add new modifiers to the game. So, even if you've already run this unique and super-cool shooter into the ground, it seems that the new update will give you more than enough reason to bust out the devil horns once again. And it looks like the lost soul known as "The Unknown" still has a helluva lot more lead to fling in harm's way.

Metal: Hellsinger is available now on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms

The post Metal: Hellsinger ‘Dream of the Beast’ DLC launches this month appeared first on Destructoid.

Recon Mission

This weekend saw the unearthing of a rumor that Valve may be gearing up to release a new edition of its popular tactical shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and perhaps even release this supposed surprise title as soon as the coming weeks/months.

The news comes from veteran CS:GO leaker and esports journalist Richard Lewis, who noticed that the latest updates for NVIDIA graphics cards feature item entries for "CSGOS2" and "Counter-Strike 2". The items, which were initially dug up by community member @aquaismissing, suggest that a potential new title is prepped to make an appearance in the very near future. Leading many to assume that a sequel to the 2012 release is locked, loaded, and preparing to open fire in the very near future.

https://twitter.com/aquaismissing/status/1631087468366659584?s=20

However, @aquaismissing poses a far simpler and more believable theory: that Valve is simply preparing to release an updated, Source 2 edition of the now 11-year-old shooter, complete with better connectivity, modern servers, a tauter engine, and perhaps even improved visuals and textures. As such, it seems more likely that it is an updated version of the original game that is being prepared for release — similar to Ubisoft updating Rainbow Six Siege for Gen 9 platforms — rather than a straight, ground-up sequel to the popular competitive shooter

We'll be sure to keep you updated once the official word is forthcoming from Valve.

The post Is there a new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive incoming? appeared first on Destructoid.

Back in the U.S.S.R.

Yesterday, my Review in Progress for Atomic Heart went live, focusing on a few of my thoughts covering the first ten hours of the game. When I submitted my draft for edits, I honestly didn't know where I stood with the game.

There were elements I liked about it, mostly centered around its art direction, as well as some design choices that didn't necessarily sit well with me. With a lot of games, ten hours is more than enough time to draw a clear conclusion about how you feel about it. With Atomic Heart, I needed to see it through to the end.

And then I needed to see it through to its other end.

[caption id="attachment_364428" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Atomic Heart (PC, PS4, PS5 [reviewed], Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S)
Developer: Mundfish
Publisher: Focus Entertainment
Released: February 21, 2023
MSRP: $69.99 ($59.99 on Steam)

The opening moments of Atomic Heart can best be described as a Stalinist's wet dream with how it depicts its idealized vision of the Soviet Union. A city, floating in the clouds, with people lining its streets and waterways conversing about how great life is under communist rule as they prepare to learn about the future of their empire. Dmitry Sechenov, arguably the most famous scientist in all of the Soviet Union, is set to unveil Kollectiv 2.0, a neural network that will connect all Soviets using a small invention known as the THOUGHT.

Its full launch is imminent, but before it can be brought online, some matters need handling. Back on the surface world, an area known as Facility 3826 is no longer operational. Robots, built with a substance known as Polymer that has been the backbone of the Soviet's successes, have lost control and killed most of the workers at the facility. To mitigate this disaster, Sechenov employs Major P-3, who, along with his Polymer-powered talking glove, CHAR-les, sets out to get to the bottom of this robot rampage.

The early hours of P-3's journey across Facility 3826 are easily the most troublesome he'll face. With just a melee axe and a gun at his disposal, players will have to adapt quickly to Atomic Heart's combat system lest they fall victim to the many robots that are out for blood. P-3 will have three different attacks at his disposal, including guns, melee weapons, and glove skills. As he kills robots and the other creatures that have ravaged this once-picturesque land, he'll collect Polymer and materials he can use to craft and upgrade his skills and weapons. The first glove skill he unlocks is Shok, which lets him cast out an electrical charge that can stun enemies for a very brief time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQOeZPLHook

Other glove skills include a frost attack and shield, but Atomic Heart's choice of control scheme really limits a player's ability to use their full suite of skills. While Shok is always equipped via the triangle button, P-3 can only equip two of his other glove skills at once, and only one of those can be used at a time. You can switch between these two skills by hitting up on the D-Pad, but I didn't find it to be an intuitive system when trying to survive an onslaught of robots. Switching between weapons is just as cumbersome on a controller as you scroll through them pushing left or right on the D-Pad. Given that most of Atomic Heart's menus point to a game that was primarily optimized for a mouse and keyboard rather than a controller, the controls on the PlayStation 5 leave something to be desired.

That's not to say I struggled with the game. In the early buildings of Facility 3826, I did encounter the Game Over screen more than I would have liked to, but it wasn't an issue with the controls. Part of that was me getting into the rhythm of the combat. But it was also due to just how quiet these robots can be. You really have to be aware of your surroundings in this game because these robots enjoyed trying to take me from behind. And it wasn't unusual to face off against several robots at once and have one or two try to sneak their way around me when I was distracted by other enemies. It's a sound tactic, one I was able to counter once I gathered enough Polymer to improve P-3's speed and dodge capabilities. Once I did that, I was able to peel back the curtain on Atomic Heart's combat and realized it was rather elementary.

Certain enemies do have elemental weaknesses that you can learn via scanning, but if you don't have any weapons boosts that can exploit said weaknesses, then all you can do is hit them with a combination of dodges, melee attacks, gunshots, and whatever glove skills you have equipped at the time. While that combination might sound ripe for experimentation, the anemic nature of the glove skills can be a real letdown. Shok was the only consistent glove skill in my arsenal, though I got a good amount of use out of a skill that hangs your enemies in the air, letting you swing at them like pinatas. That's pretty much how I spent all my Polymer beyond upgrading P-3 himself, and honestly, it was all I needed.

The game does attempt to amp up its difficulty by hitting you with clusters of enemy types, but as long as you stay on top of upgrading P-3's capabilities, once you get out into the open area of Facility 3826, you probably won't face too much trouble.

[caption id="attachment_364441" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

What you may have trouble with, however, is caring about Atomic Heart's story. It's a rather basic tale of people in power trying to tighten their control of the world with P-3 standing in the middle. Social commentary is kept to a minimum, though various audio logs, emails, and audio attachments within emails do add some flavor to the world and show that life in the Soviet Union isn't as glorious as they would like you to think it is. As for P-3, the secret to his backstory is largely predictable given that several early bits of dialogue tell you exactly who he is. Speaking of the dialogue, it's atrocious in English, so you're better off turning on subtitles and switching the language option over to Russian. Just know that, because Atomic Heart is heavy on the conversational dialogue between P-3 and CHAR-les, you might miss a great deal of exposition when trying to read the tiny subtitles during the heat of battle.

I was hoping the story would actually have something new to say, but there's nothing here that hasn't already been said countless times before. While the narrative threads do touch on some interesting topics, such as how Russian robots are changing life for workers in America, it ultimately plays it rather safe with two equally unsatisfying endings. When looking at P-3, he doesn't venture far from his initial view of the Soviet Union. He comes into this journey as Communism Fanboy #1 and rarely ever bends.

I actually become frustrated by his lack of growth given the many conversations he has that should have been the catalyst for some introspection. Not that I'm arguing his adventure should have ended with him getting a massive erection for western capitalism, but this dude straight-up waffles on basically every piece of information he gets. I thought perhaps the developers were molding him to be a dumb hero who just doesn't absorb anything he's told, but he's not dumb. He just chooses to ignore most of it because it clashes with the beliefs he already has.

If I were being generous, I would say that P-3 was Mundfish's way of critiquing those who refuse to change their points of view despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, but that might be giving the developers too much credit.

[caption id="attachment_364426" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

What I can say is Atomic Heart's narrative does not do its setting justice. Facility 3826 is a monumental achievement of design, with an outstanding representation of Stalinist Architecture and Socialist Realism. From the propaganda posters to the statues that tower over the land, Mundfish has crafted a Soviet Union that, outside of the floating cities and advanced robotics, feels like something Stalin and Lenin could have achieved if they weren't so busy murdering their own people. There are so many breathtaking sights that I would often stop playing just to soak it all in. Credit where credit is due, the environmental artists and programmers who brought this world to life did an outstanding job.

It's a shame, then, that the gameplay does this world a disservice by filling it with so much bloat. In the early hours, the bloat can be seen by all the keys you need to fetch to open doors. P-3 even comments on how he's a magnet for shitty door-locking mechanisms. Once you get outside and into the fresh air, you can feel the developer padding the game time again with an open world that connects all the different stations that make up Facility 3826.

On paper, a sandbox open world sounds like a good idea. Why not connect all these intricate locations with the actual land and houses the workers of this facility call home? In practice, however, it's mostly just a lot of open space. You can take your time and hoof it from place to place on foot, fighting robots and avoiding sensors along the way, but the game will supply you with poorly-controlled jalopies that hasten travel time. Though, given that most roads are littered with disabled vehicles and robots for you to crash into, you're going to have to walk through these sections more than you might plan to.

[caption id="attachment_364425" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

If there is anything that makes these long treks across the land worth it, it's the outstanding music you'll hear along the way. Admittedly, the game is a bit overeager to explain why so much music that would never exist in 1955 Soviet Russia can be heard here, but that really doesn't matter when the soundtrack is this good. Composers Mick Gordon, Geoffrey Day, and Andrey Bugrov did an outstanding job scoring this game, whether it's music that sounds like it was ripped from an old Russian propaganda film or the ear-shattering metal that accompanies some of its fight sequences.

While you can wrap up Atomic Heart in about 15 hours, there are ways to extend your stay in Facility 3826, including puzzle-based training facilities that unlock upgrades for the weapons you can craft. After publishing my Review-in-Progress, the game was updated with a patch that added a way to return to the grounds of the facility after beating the game, allowing me to go back and finish up any tasks I may have missed. It's a nice addition, but I honestly don't have much reason to return to Atomic Heart other than to gawk at its architecture.

And really, unless an extensive photo mode is added in a future update, I don't see myself ever booting up Atomic Heart again. I admire the gusto with which Mundfish approached its debut game because it's created one hell of a world to explore. But beyond its pristine setting and ass-kicking soundtrack, it's largely forgettable. Maybe if the gameplay evolved beyond its basic beginnings or if the story was — I don't know, good — I might be willing to give it another go. However, given how unlikely such a monumental change like that would be, Atomic Heart is destined to be a one-and-done type of experience.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Atomic Heart appeared first on Destructoid.

Another grab for the brass ring

Ubisoft has announced that its crossover first-person-shooter, XDefiant, will be holding its latest "Insider" playtest this week, giving its dedicated community the first opportunity to check out the crossplay functionality of the incoming military mash-up.

Announced in 2021, XDefiant — previously known as Tom Clancy's XDefiant before fans took umbrage to its quippy nature — sees operators from titles such as Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and other UbiShooters battle it out in six-vs-six rat-a-tat-tat action. The title is Ubisoft's latest effort to score a piece of the lucrative free-to-play pie, following on from unsuccessful ventures such as Roller Champions, Elite Squad, Hyper Scape, and canned endeavors Ghost Recon Frontline and Project Q.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmlhRFabV6w&ab_channel=UbisoftNorthAmerica

The XDefiant playtest will kick off tomorrow, February 16 and will run until Sunday, February 19. During that time, PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X owners who have a "Ubisoft Insider" account can download the XDefiant client on their platform of choice, before waging wars against players on all available platforms. Four modes, (Escort, Domination, Occupy, and Zone Control) will be available across 13 of the game's maps. The tests are held under NDA, so don't be taking any screenshots.

Please forgive a wanton bout of editorialization... I just don't think this is happening. Ubisoft seems determined to conquer with the lucrative, free-to-play, "juggernaut title" market — To find its own Overwatch, Apex Legends, League of Legends, or Call of Duty Warzone. And the string of failed releases, complete with the publisher's own cancellation of multiple free-to-play projects, stings of "Just keep throwing, something's bound to stick eventually".

Ubisoft has a successful multiplayer shooter, Rainbow Six Siege, which also happens to be very popular and, incidentally, an excellent video game. But the Elite Squads and Frontlines and Hyper Scapes of the world just aren't cutting it.  So many of these AAA "Next Big Thing" endeavors — from ALL publishers — seem so much noise, time, and effort, seemingly queueing up to enter a crowded market already conquered by a handful of stalwart releases.

Maybe XDefiant will prove me wrong. Maybe it won't close down within two years. We shall see.

The post Ubisoft’s latest free-to-play effort, XDefiant, holding crossplay test appeared first on Destructoid.

They later become the Doom Illuminati

The retro-inspired shooter genre is really in high gear. Following in the wake of the big-budget revival of Doom in 2016 and the indie hot flash of Dusk in 2018, there are now a tonne of indie games vying for recognition in the genre. It’s a bit overwhelming, to be honest. It’s a favorite genre of mine, but it seems hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. My current approach is to just dump milk over all of them and dig in.

Dread Templar is in the bowl. Having entered Early Access back in August 2021, it’s finally time for it to get its 1.0 and get kicked out the door. I wasn’t quite sure what would make it stand out back in its initial test period, and now I’m even less sure.

[caption id="attachment_359682" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Dread Templar (PC)
Developer: T19 Games
Publisher: Fulqrum Publishing
Released: January 26, 2023
MSRP: $19.99

Dread Templar is the story of the eponymous protagonist, who gains unholy powers to fight the armies of the unholy. Or something. In typical retro-inspired fashion, there isn’t a very prevalent narrative. That’s probably a good thing, since the narrated cutscenes between episodes are kind of better off ignored.

The gameplay is pretty similar to Quake, though the movement and physics remind me more of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. It’s fast and punchy, featuring a larger arsenal of weapons than your typical pre-3D accelerated shooter. It also doesn’t throw hordes of enemies at you in a way that Doom 2 does, but rather gives you tougher baddies to chew on. That’s kind of disappointing, and really reminds me of the drawbacks that came with moving to polygons.

One place that Dread Templar distinguishes itself from its inspiration is in its upgrade system. You can unlock slots for the upgrades you find in each of your weapon categories, which allow you to expand damage, firing rate, and ammo, as well as some other tweaks. You obtain these upgrades through finding secrets and clearing side areas. The upgrade system is gravy, as is the variety offered by the side areas. The secrets, however, are somewhat maddening.

[embed]https://youtu.be/Zka-HOFMetY[/embed]

Rewarded for wall-humping

To be fair, I’m not sure that secret areas were very well handled by most FPS games of the era. A lot of them came down to humping the walls and trying to jam yourself into small spaces. Dread Templar is no different. Sure, some of the walls look suspicious, but it’s easy to convince yourself that all the walls look suspicious. So you wind up grinding yourself against the wallpaper, hoping that some of it will peel off.

At the very least, Dread Templar rewards you for all your wall-humping. The upgrades you collect are a little more interesting than the ammo and health you’d typically come across in Doom or Duke Nukem 3D. However, that also makes it more vexing, since with a press of a button, you get to see how many are still left in a level. That’s maddening because it makes you feel like you can’t leave a level until you’ve licked all the paint off the walls and picked up every little thing. It becomes onerous, and eventually, you’ll just need to compromise and learn to live without them. It’ll eat at you, though.

[caption id="attachment_359688" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Double-barrel: Check

There are five episodes and 25 levels to Dread Templar, and the levels are rather lengthy. Throughout the episodes, there’s a decent amount of variety, both in terms of visuals and challenges. Most introduce new threats, but unfortunately, some of them seem to be mostly palette swaps.

While some of your foes are completely braindead, charging directly at you in a way that was common for the era, there are others that are much more interestingly designed. My favorite was a monster who shoots up a cloud of smoke when you engage it. It then hides in that cloud, moving about somewhat unpredictably, leaving you to target it based on brief glimpses. Or just fire wildly into the cloud; that can work too.

There are maybe too few enemies for Dread Templar’s lengthy runtime, but the way more gets added throughout helps to alleviate this. There’s also a smattering of bosses spread around for good measure. These are largely just a matter of circle-strafing while dodging as many attacks as you can, but there’s an appreciable grandeur to them.

[caption id="attachment_359681" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Foreboding clouds

The levels themselves are slightly uneven, but they at least have a variety to them that makes some more memorable than others. They all tend to take place in twisted fantasy places, which I personally feel was a weakness of early-3D shooters. Demons are bad, yeah, but they’re just hanging out in gloomy corridors. They’re much cooler when they’re hanging around an arcade in a movie theatre. But then, isn’t everybody?

There’s also the soundtrack, which starts off as some decent heavy metal, and then just becomes… background music. I’m not the biggest fan of heavy metal, but it works from an aesthetic standpoint in video games. However, while it stood out in the beginning, the later tracks don’t scratch the same itch. They’re far away from being unpleasant, but they don’t feel as integral to the experience.

[caption id="attachment_359684" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Far away from being unpleasant

Dread Templar could generally be described entirely as “far away from being unpleasant.” From beginning to end, it’s a reasonably well-designed experience, and it never gets to be too much of a slog. It just never really finds a unique identity. There’s no real hook that makes it stand out or will keep you coming back.

Competent is definitely not the worst descriptor a game can attain, but I’d be happier if Dread Templar had found a way to truly distinguish itself. When I find myself with that retro-shooter itch, I can’t see myself coming back to this one. It takes more than good gunplay to make an experience memorable, but there isn’t much more to Dread Templar than that.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game purchased by the reviewer.]}

The post Review: Dread Templar appeared first on Destructoid.

Nightdive Studios insist game finally ready to rock

Developer Nightdive Studios has announced that its troubled, long-in-development remake of sci-fi horror classic System Shock is entering its final development phases, and is officially expected to launch on PC, via Steam, this coming March.

One can forgive fans for eyeing this news with suspicion, as the System Shock remake has been through a helluva lot of delays and licensing troubles ever since its initial announcement way back in 2016. Since then, System Shock has been tentatively announced for several release windows, from 2017 through 2020 and into 2021. In a new update on the project's Kickstarter page, however, Nightdive Studios openly acknowledges the remake's delayed development.

"As some of you have already pointed out this is not our first time announcing a tentative launch window, but over the past few years much has changed — the scope and scale of the project has evolved dramatically and with Prime Matter joining the project it’s enabled us to focus on quality-of-life improvements, bug fixing, and localization support — the last major steps towards releasing a game we’re all incredibly proud of." writes the team on Kickstarter.

"This has also given us time to go back and polish various aspects of the game that needed that extra shine."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWUYz9x_I18&ab_channel=NightdiveStudios

In addition to the release window, developer Prime Matter has released several new images, showcasing the locations, enemies, and weapons that will be encountered by the player as they pick their way through Citadel Station en route to a fateful encounter with the terrifying rogue A.I.: SHODAN. A few short in-game clips are featured, but unfortunately, there is no full trailer, which will hopefully be incoming soon.

The launch of System Shock will finally put the long development cycle to rest, and will hopefully result in a faithful recreation of one of the genuine classics of the sci-fi/horror genre. It's understandably tough to approach this release with 100% confidence, given the multitude of hurdles it has had to clear en route to fruition. System Shock is a hugely beloved game, a genuine classic in an era that tosses that phrase around liberally. It remains to be seen whether the problems faced over the past six years of development will have hindered the studios' desire to pay it fair tribute. We shall see soon enough.

System Shock launches March 2023 on PC.

The post System Shock remake finally receives March 2023 release date appeared first on Destructoid.

My top 12 games of the last 12 months

2022 was my best year for games for what feels like a good, long while. There was excellence across the board from all of my favorite genres, including narrative titles, farming/life simulators, and rhythm games, just to name a few. I know I'm not alone in saying that it was really difficult to narrow down my choices for my favorites games of the year. I wanted to have a clean top ten, but I've had so much fun this year I had to make way for a few extras.

In all honesty, I've spent the last few years repairing my relationship with games — I don't think it's a secret that working in this industry is rough, especially when it comes to working QA. Looking back now over all the games I've played and truly loved this year, I can't help but feel a bit sentimental. In spite of my complicated feelings when it comes to this medium, I keep getting pulled back in by the sheer passion that game developers continue to put on full display.

2022 has been a year of reminders of why I was drawn to this industry in the first place. I was worried that the emboldened, on-fire version of myself was dead, but little did I know it would only take a few extraordinary indie titles (and some therapy) to slowly wake her up. For me, this year was about finding the fun in games again, and even when it comes to the more serious titles on this list, I had nothing but fun all the way through. In no particular order (except the last one, I guess), here are my favorite games of 2022.

Vampire Survivors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HXNxWbRgsg

I love playing games while listening to podcasts or video essays, which is how I ended with around 400 hours in both Hades and Slay the Spire. After burning out on both of those, I was in desperate need of a new podcast game. Thankfully, it was Vampire Survivors to the rescue, and when I finally added it into my rotation after hearing of its greatness for weeks, I knew it was going to be an instant favorite.

It's such a simple, easy-to-pick-up game, but I can tell there are still so many secrets to uncover. I also never play games on my phone because it's just not my thing, but I keep coming back to the mobile version of Vampire Survivors, which I think really speaks to the strength of its streamlined design.

Disney's Dreamlight Valley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY5KdtnK4dU

I was a little late to the party on this one, only having started it a few weeks ago, but it turns out Disney's Dreamlight Valley is exactly the kind of cozy experience I have been looking for. It's got my favorite Disney characters, it's got the cozy cooking/farming/foraging quests, and it's all streamlined in a way that doesn't require me to use any brain power whatsoever. I was in desperate need of a "turn my brain off" kind of game, and the calming, warm embrace of Dreamlight Valley helps sooth my anxiety like climbing into a fluffy bed on a cold, rainy day.

Stray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uP2MyUL49s

I'm a cat mom, so it would basically be illegal for me to hate this game. I feel like I've written about it to death at this point, but I can't deny that it was one of the prettiest, most heartwarming games I've played all year. Something else I've dealt with has been getting over a crippling existential dread after leaving my cult-like religious upbringing, and Stray's story had what I thought was a really hopeful story about the end of the world. It helped me reconcile with some of that existentialism more than I realized at the time.

Ooblets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RcMRQo7Rl0

God, Ooblets was such a breath of fresh air. I was lucky enough to get to review the farming sim crossed with card-based Pokémon style battles for Destructoid, and I had an absolute blast playing through it. It was yet another game with a bright, happy art style and sugary sweet writing, so of course it was right up my alley. It was easy to fall into the relaxing gameplay loop, and the story surprised me in how delightful it was to go through, especially toward the end. My only regret is that I didn't play it on the Switch.

Pentiment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxJ5sOpqw-o

I'm always a sucker for a murder mystery, but one that's set in the middle ages with an authentic art style to match? Yeah, I was hooked from the beginning. One of the other things I really love about Pentiment is that it has a ton of small design choices that all come together to a really streamlined point-and-click experience, and when all of those little improvements came together it made a world of difference.

In a landscape of storytelling that also seems so obsessed with having definitive answers (see any "END OF X MOVIE/SHOW/GAME, EXPLAINED" video essay on YouTube), Pentiment dares to leave you with ambiguity and a lack of closure in some scenarios. What happens, happens, and you kind of just have to roll with it. It's one of the most refreshing approaches not only to the whodunit genre that I've seen in a long time but also to stories in general.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeVapCrI1pY

On the flip side of my cutesy, cozy sensibilities, I am an absolute simp for the Call of Duty series. I'm a big fan of first-person shooter gameplay, and few other franchises have gotten it down to a science like Call of Duty has. I got into the series back with Cold War, and of the few titles I've played, Modern Warfare II is by far my favorite.

The movement is fluid, the guns are a ton of fun, and it has the best maps of any other CoD games I've played, hands down. I had a ton of fun going through the campaign this time around as well, and of course I'm happy as long as Shipment is around. This is the multiplayer game I've been reaching for the most this year, so of course it had to have a spot on this list.

Potion Permit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uQPlRP5XC4

I was surprised that I felt so compelled to put Potion Permit on this list, but it truly was a delightful experience all the way through. It's another game I got to review this year, and while I'm clearly a sucker for farming/life simulators, Potion Permit is a particularly good one. For one thing, it's the first in the genre that doesn't require you to actually farm, and instead switches up the usual formula by having players go out into the wilderness to gather ingredients to create potions for various reasons.

The town was incredibly charming, and the developers did a great job of making each character feel incredibly unique and complex. It was fairly buggy when I played, but I'm sure those issues have mostly been patched by now. If you're looking for a cozy Switch game to curl up with, I absolutely recommend Potion Permit.

NORCO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lARSSx_dDOw

NORCO has to be one of the weirdest and most-thought provoking games I've ever played. Another entry into the ever-growing subgenre of Southern Gothic narrative games, NORCO's story centers on a family living in the cyberpunk future of New Orleans. The story takes some crazy twists and turns, and while a few of the gameplay sections felt a bit stale, the surreal story and breathtaking pixel art were more than enough to secure a spot as one of my favorite narrative games of the year.

Signalis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfi7ivjXD3Y

I really thought I wasn't going to be able to play Signalis on account of my being a wimp, but I'm so glad I proved myself wrong. There's such clear inspiration from horror classics like the early Resident Evil and Silent Hill games, and yet Signalis carves out its own gut-wrenching, beautifully orchestrated niche. I love the unique art style, I love the creepy and engaging worldbuilding, I love the understated storytelling that says so much. Signalis got some great hype this year, but I still don't think it was enough.

Cult of the Lamb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsPtUNB1z-Q

Cult of the Lamb is one of those games I was intrigued by since the first trailers I saw, and I am pleased to report that it did not let me down in the slightest. I'm always a sucker for cute art styles, but it was the combination of simulation and action roguelike mechanics that really hooked me.

While I've recently struggled to play a game for more than about an hour at a time, I could not put Cult of the Lamb down, and played through it in a few marathon sessions. I loved the gameplay loop so much, I ended up writing a feature about how "perfect" it is, so it's safe to say that Cult of the Lamb was one of my favorite games of the year, especially when it came to that addicting gameplay.

Trombone Champ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpQ8a3c7EAQ

I don't play rhythm games enough, but when I do, I'm reminded that it's one of my favorite genres. I'm mediocre at best, but I've always been a dancer and musically-minded person, so it's a good time. Then when Trombone Champ came out, it made failure part of the fun — which means it was perfect for me. Part of my struggle in enjoying games again has been that for a while, I took them way too seriously. Trombone Champ is so delightfully goofy and ridiculous, it helped a lot in me breaking out of my shell and having some unadulterated fun.

Immortality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8tV-R7Rfhg

Okay bear with me, because this is the one where I get a little pretentious — when I initially decided to get into video games, it's because I was so impressed at how the medium was telling stories in entirely novel, innovative ways. While I've come to a whole new level of appreciation for games being just games, every once in a while I'm reminded of how exciting I find games that bring something new to interactive storytelling. This year, that game was Immortality for me.

The performances, the themes, the interactivity itself, it was all so beautifully executed. The way my stomach dropped during the game's famous twist is a gaming moment that I will absolutely never forget. I think it's safe to conclude that Immortality goes down as my favorite game of the year, and when the releases were as stacked as they were in 2022, I think that's saying something.

The post Noelle Warner’s favorite games of 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

Drop your socks and grab your... well...

Activision Blizzard sequel Call of Duty Modern Warfare II is opening the doors to all and sundry today, as the gazillion-dollar shooter launches its first free multiplayer weekend. Players on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox can download a truncated version of the title for free to check out its hi-octane action.

The trial kicks off today and will run until Monday, December 19 at 10:00 PT / 13:00 ET / 18:00 BST. During that time, squaddies can check out a variety of Modern Warfare II multiplayer modes including Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, and, my own personal specialty, Kill Confirmed. Three maps will be made available for digital pew-pew desires — namely Farm 18, El Asilo, and the recently added battlezone, Shipment, which features a ton of containers and blind corners for all your hide 'n' seek needs.

Launching in October of this year, Modern Warfare II was mostly well-received by critics and fans, praising its top-tier visuals and atmosphere, while chastising the franchise's general sense of repetition even when bolstered by the power of the ninth generation of gaming. The campaign mode serves as both a reboot and a prequel to the original Modern Warfare canon, and sees Task Force 141 attempt to take down a global weapons cartel.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare II is available now on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms.

The post Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 gets first free multiplayer trial today appeared first on Destructoid.

Grab the popcorn

Squanch Games' newest release High on Life has certainly gotten a lot of buzz this year, for better and for worse. The game has been highly anticipated by Justin Roiland fans, and has at the very least encouraged curiosity among the core gamer base. High on Life is finally out today, and there are plenty of surprises waiting ahead, including the fact that you can watch four different licensed full-length movies in the game, as well as a bunch of new shorts from Justin Roiland and pals.

Basically, there's a TV in the living room of the player character's house, and instead of just having a blank screen sitting there, the developers decided it would be more fun to create, and license, some content that players could actually watch, if they wanted to. I will say that there is something cozy to me in hunkering down in your house to watch TV while you're supposed to be out saving the world.

https://twitter.com/pearsonsmith/status/1602483788382359554

There are over twenty animated shorts in the game, many of which are parodies of the classic TV commercials and infomercials that we know and love. Executive producer Matty Studivan said that Roiland had been wanted to get back to the popular "Interdimensional Cable" bit from Rick & Morty, and that the game was a way to breathe new life into the idea.

The real star of the show here, though, are those four full-length movies. These include the 1994 sci-fi comedy Tammy & The T-Rex, as well as 1978 horror film Vampire Hookers, 1987 slasher Blood Harvest, and we're still waiting for confirmation on what the fourth one is. You can sit down and watch a movie when it comes on, and the movies will change depending on what part of the game you're in. The official High on Life Twitter even issued a warning to streamers because some of the movies apparently have nudity in them, so I guess there's that to look forward to.

The post You can watch full-length movies in High on Life appeared first on Destructoid.

Scream for me, Cleveland!

The devil really does have all of the best tunes — And anybody who doubts this would do well to check out Funcom's sleeper hit of 2022 Metal: Hellsinger, which is not only celebrating hitting the one million sales mark, (and a Golden Joystick Award), but has also launched brand new ports on last-gen platforms PS4 and Xbox One!

Developed by Swedish studio The Outsiders and released in September of this year, Metal: Hellsinger is a frenetic first-person-shooter that combines the explosive and chaotic action of the genre with the guitar-styled wailings of some of the metal scene's finest. Portraying a lost soul monikered "The Unknown", players guide our hero through the bowels of the underworld in an effort to regain her lost voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFAFzl_Tr7s

Metal: Hellsinger's hook lies in its encouragement of the player to fight to the "natural rhythm of the universe" — shooting, dashing, melee attacking, and reloading to the beat of the game's soundtrack. Power-ups and bonus points are awarded for extended synchronization of soundtrack and action, with soundtrack vocals performed by such screechers as Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquility), Matt Heafy (Trivium), Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), and Dennis Lyxzen (the Refused).

Launching on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X, it was thought that the PS4 and Xbox One ports of Metal: Hellsinger had been canceled. But it would appear that The Outsiders has managed to complete its work on the last-gen editions, bringing the boom-boom to the wide audience that the game deserves. In addition, a new update has launched on all platforms, offering a new "Archdevil" difficulty setting and adding a new Elite Seraph demon to the armies of the damned.

Metal: Hellsinger is available now on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms.

The post Metal: Hellsinger hits one million sales, launches on PS4 and Xbox One appeared first on Destructoid.

Keeping everyone on their best behavior, at least in theory

The Overwatch team has put in a lot of effort over the past few years to help make the game as enjoyable for players as possible by curbing toxicity, and one of the best moves in that direction was adding endorsements to the game.

Apparently, the mechanic helped curb bad behavior by 40% back in 2019 when they were first added. Originally introduced back in the days of the first Overwatch game, endorsements are a way for players to reward their teammates for good behavior, like good communication, teamwork, or just generally good play. Back in the day, they were broken out into categories like "Shot Caller" or "Good Teammate," but now you get awarded with a simple "Endorsement."

So the endorsement system in Overwatch 2 has obviously changed, but how exactly does it work this time around? Let's break it down.

Giving endorsements

After each match, you'll be able to give out up to two endorsements, but with a few caveats -- you can't endorse the same player more than once every twelve hours, and you can't endorse your friends or enemy players. Other than that, feel free to dole out your endorsements as you please. Every time you give out an endorsement, you all get some extra XP to work through the Battle Pass tiers faster, but if you're like me and you don't care about the Battle Pass, you get the satisfaction of making someone else feel good, which is even better.

To endorse other players, all you have to do is wait for the game's end screen, and then press "N" on the keyboard if you're playing on PC, or click the left stick if you're playing on console (there should be a prompt that says "Endorse other players"). Then scroll over to whichever player you want to award, who is shown as the hero they ended the game as along with their name, and simply click on them. Ta-da! You've endorsed someone. Feels good, doesn't it?

Receiving endorsements

Of course, you can also receive endorsements, a notification for which will pop up on the left side of your screen after a match if you've received one. You can't miss it. Every player has a different endorsement level based on how many endorsements they've received, and the frequency with which they've received them. The levels go from 1 to 5 (1 being the worst, 5 being the best), and each player's current level is shown to the right of their character portrait. If you want to check on what your own endorsement level is, just click on your profile icon in the top right corner of the main menu, and the number will be in the little pop-up menu right next to your name.

Endorsement levels can also go down, which happens if other players report you, go you a certain number of matches in a row without being endorsed, or if you leave too many matches too early. Speaking from experience, maintaining a high level, especially a five, is a difficult task, so any highly-endorsed players you come across are really doing the work to be a good teammate.

Making the game better for everyone

The endorsement system certainly isn't perfect, and it's not a cure for all of the toxicity you can still encounter in the game, but it's a nice feature that helps you acknowledge and encourage your teammates, especially when not everyone is communicating in the team chat. While the Battle Pass XP is a suitable reward, I'd love to see Blizzard take extra steps to incentivize players to get a higher endorsement level. Considering cosmetics are such a huge deal in the game, I'd love to see them add something like an exclusive Level 5 endorsement emote, charm, or skin to make good behavior all that more desirable.

For now, though, keep dishing out your endorsements to deserving players, and hopefully, you'll get some in return.

The post Let’s break down how endorsements work in Overwatch 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Blood Money

Recent bullet-pumping sequel Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II continues to smash all-time series records, with the stunning revelation that Activision's latest military shooter has raked in a staggering $1 billion USD in revenue within its first 10 days of release.

This financial feat is just the latest in a series of records broken by Modern Warfare II, which is already the fastest-selling entry in the series to date and also broke the storied franchise's milestone for Most Concurrent Steam Users, (with a peak of 263,174 players on launch night). The previous record to hit the Big Billion was held by the excellent 2012 entry Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which hit the 10-digit mark in 15 days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeVapCrI1pY

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II continues the reboot/reboot storyline that began with 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The plot details a violent, globe-trotting campaign that sees Task Force 141, once again headed up by Captain Price, attempt to dismantle a dangerous arms cartel that threatens to bring death and destruction to the United States. In curious fashion, the game works as both a brand new title and a prequel to the previous Modern Warfare releases from the mid-'00s.

Following on from the relatively blah welcoming received by 2021's Call of Duty Vanguard. Activision will no doubt be breathing a sigh of relief that, for now at any rate, the Call of Duty franchise remains untarnished from both a popularity and financial standpoint, with MWII's success likely pointing to further years of entries in one of the industry's most lucrative franchises.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is available now on PlayStation, PC (Steam/Battle.net), and Xbox.

The post Modern Warfare II has hit $1 billion in revenue in just 10 days appeared first on Destructoid.

Biggest opening in franchise history

Activision has proudly announced that its recent release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II has smashed all previous launch records held by the storied franchise, having raked in an incredible $800 million USD in sales over the course of its initial launch weekend.

Released on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms on October 28, Modern Warfare II immediately became the most successful entertainment product of 2022. Not only has the rat-a-tat-tat sequel beat out the Call of Duty franchise's own launch record — previously held by 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 — but MWII has also surpassed the combined opening box office revenue of blockbuster movies Top Gun: Maverick and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1587416310199336963?s=20&t=H6WNN-O6lyY3nphogrdQ7w

As previously reported, Modern Warfare II also smashed all previous Call of Duty records in regards to concurrent Steam players this past weekend, with an amazing 263,174 players logging in simultaneously on Sunday, October 30. These impressive numbers will most certainly be welcomed by the money men at Activision Blizzard, given that 2021's Call of Duty: Vanguard was one of the franchise's most underperforming releases — Though, obviously, "underperforming" in a CoD sense just means "mega-millions" instead of "ultra-millions".

As always, however, the new release has not been without its fair share of controversy. Some players were bewildered by a sequence in the Modern Warfare II campaign in which the player points guns at unarmed civilians in order to "de-escalate" a situation. Additionally, a real-life hotel situated in Amsterdam is considering legal action after their resort was allegedly featured in a violent action sequence without the company's consent.

A Call of Duty title asking for forgiveness instead of permission? Shock Horror!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is available now on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms.

The post Modern Warfare II hits record-breaking $800 million launch weekend appeared first on Destructoid.

Captain Price is Right

As inevitable as death, taxes, or Hamster's Arcade Archives release, Activision's newest entry to the Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare 2, is enjoying an incredible launch  In fact, the Steam edition of the billion-dollar head-popper has already broken the series record for concurrent players on its first day.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, available today on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms is currently entertaining an amazing 192,524 players as of this writing. While this number, in itself, is already the highest number of concurrent CoD Steam players to date, this isn't even the peak, as MW2 already hit a pretty nutso high of 238,522 players during its first hour of launch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeVapCrI1pY

That's a stunning 100,000+ players more than the previous record, which has been held by the original Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer since 2010. Once North America wakes up and has its first cup of Joe, it will be interesting to see if this peak number can be smashed even further. Of course, this Steam count represents only one faction of the CoD playerbase, with many choosing to play on PlayStation, Xbox, or Activision Blizzard's own Battle.net app.

The success of the newest Call of Duty title has been something of an annual inevitability, with even "lesser" entries such as last year's Call of Duty: Vanguard still pulling in sales numbers and player figures that most games can only dream of. And it seems, some 18 years from the series' initial inception — and despite perpetual complaints that the series has "peaked" — Call of Duty will remain one of video gaming's most lucrative and fiscally reliable franchises.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is available now on PlayStation, PC (Steam/Battle.net), and Xbox.

The post Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sees series’ biggest Steam launch appeared first on Destructoid.

Can your PC run it yet?

Crytek has announced that its visually stunning shooter compendium Crysis Remastered Trilogy will be arriving on PC via the Steam platform on November 17 — The sci-fi revisit was previously made available to Epic Games Store in the fall of 2021, but is now close to surpassing its exclusivity deal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N45pDqpfm8g

As one would naturally expect, Crysis Remastered Trilogy contains remasters of the three highly-explosive adventures in the Crysis franchise. Odd, that. Famously resource-hungry upon their initial PC release, the titles are well known for their dynamic action, dazzling visuals, and groundbreaking special effects. Of course, this trinity of remasters only serves to add further polish to all three games, with improved lighting and weather effects, high-resolution textures, and visual enhancements to the in-game models.

If you never got around to experiencing this exciting series of actioners, (perhaps your 486 DX 2 wasn't up to the task), then this release could prove the perfect opportunity to check them out. Steam will be launching the trilogy at a discounted price for the first week of release, with a pretty chunky 40% off of the asking price. In addition, players who already own the original Crysis Remastered on Steam will earn further discount, allowing them to round out the collection for not too many dollarydoos.

Crysis Remastered Trilogy launches on Steam November 17. It is available right now on PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Epic Games Store.

The post Crysis Remastered Trilogy blows up on Steam November 17 appeared first on Destructoid.

Time to strike

First-person shooters splintered near the turn of the millennium. Goldeneye 007, Half-Life, and Halo all had massive impacts on the genre, and their formulas would be the ones imitated for years after. The old key-hunt style of shooter practically died off, only to be revived recently. Now, the indie shooter marketplace is flooded with homages to the pre-3D accelerated years of gaming.

It’s the best time ever to start reassessing games that may have been overlooked. When it comes to leaving no stone unturned, Chasm: The Rift is one of the rockiest. Released in 1997 by Ukrainian developer Action Forms, it wasn’t one I was familiar with. As I looked into it, I saw it referred to as “poor man’s Quake” and “Eurojank.” Yet, those almost seem like terms of endearment, as it does have those that look back on it fondly. Now, General Arcade has taken to bring it back, breathing new life into it, and providing it to new audiences.

Chasm: The Rift (PC)
Developer: Action Forms, General Arcade
Publisher: SNEG
Released: October 10, 2022
MSRP: $24.99

Chasm: The Rift gives briefings in these cutscenes that are zoomed in really close to the characters’ faces. They look pretty decent for 1997! Apparently, someone called the Timestrikers (I’ll try my best not to refer to them as Timesplitters) are causing some trouble, and you’re just the person to stop them. With guns.

The “poor man’s Quake” comparison is pretty obvious from the start. There are blocky, grungy environments and blocky, grungy monsters walking around in them. The comparison starts falling apart once you get to later levels that take place in different time periods. Quake might have taken place in different time periods, but how would you know? Every level just looked like a bunch of derelict corridors. Some were more castle-y than others. Here, you start in metallic corridors, go back to ancient Egypt, then it’s time for a bunch of castle-y levels.

It’s also much shorter than Quake, surmountable in around 5 hours. The boss design is similarly obtuse. The weapons are different. The levels are more basic. You start to get a feeling for why Chasm: The Rift got left behind.

[embed]https://youtu.be/KjPqHQpiq1A[/embed]

Eurojank

Much ado was made about Chasm: The Rift not being a true 3D game, lacking room-over-room design. This may seem like a weird thing to complain about, but back in the early days of first-person shooters, room-over-room was highly sought after. Pre-polygonal games competed over who could fake the effect the best, and it was considered a big attraction for full polygonal game engines.

With that in mind, Chasm: The Rift’s levels do feel rather basic. This comparison applies to both games that came before and those that came around the same time. For example, in 1997, Goldeneye 007 was released. Doom 64 came out the same year. Duke Nukem 3D was the year before. It’s not that Chasm: The Rift had bad level design, but by comparison, it was left behind before it was even launched.

However, Chasm: The Rift lets you blow off body parts. If you went to 10-year-old me and asked what she cared about more in a video game, room-over-room or dismemberment, it wouldn’t be a contest. Dismemberment all the way.

More castle-y than the others

The only downside to the combat is that the weapons don’t really communicate their usage. The sawblades, for example, seem to suggest easier separation of limbs, but I never found that to be the case. Instead, the laser crossbow provided better precision and quicker results. I never found much use for the sawblades when compared to more direct weapons. Maybe some are more effective against certain enemies, but Chasm: The Rift never seems to imply this. However, it is apparent that the grenade launcher works on everything, but that's just common sense.

Aside from that, however, gunplay is absolutely solid. While the confined levels don’t really let you stretch your legs and confront hordes of enemies, the speed and impact feel pretty good. It’s exactly what I look for in a shooter.

If there’s an issue with the combat, it’s that you never really face more than three or four enemies at a time. The levels are too cramped, which can also be an issue when you want to break out the grenade launcher. You’re never afforded a lot of space to be really mobile, and splash damage definitely isn’t your friend. This is made use of when confronting bosses, as there’s always a trick to beating them, but in general, it’s not very complimentary to the combat.

That said, I wouldn’t say Chasm: The Rift is truly deserving of being called Eurojank. Outside of a few instances, it doesn’t really feel that janky. Maybe that’s due to the work put into porting it, but it’s a rather solid product for what it is. Not perfect, but maybe not down to the levels of jank.

More of this, please

The port of the engine is extremely well done. A lot of care was taken to modernize things without taking too much from the original release’s design. I did have some issues with the darkness and shadows, but everything can be adjusted. It reminds me of Nightdive Studios’ handiwork, as it’s a much better conversion than what you’d typically expect for a niche title. Rather than package it with DOSbox and send it out into the world, it runs beautifully on modern systems.

It’s also worth noting that the add-on levels and the original version of the game are included as part of the package.

As it went with Powerslave: Exhumed, while the game is maybe not the apogee of its time, its modernization of it is still extremely appreciated. Maybe it won’t blow your mind, but the care put into its rejuvenation is infectious. You can see the love that went into the final product, and that just makes you love it all the more. Maybe it’s not quite love that I feel when playing Chasm: The Rift, but after playing it, all I want to say is, “more of this, please.”

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Chasm: The Rift appeared first on Destructoid.

Ongoing Operations

According to murmurs circulating the information superhighway this week, Activision might be considering eschewing its annual Call of Duty release in 2023, and is instead looking into the potential of instead releasing a DLC expansion for this year's entry, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

The speculative news comes from regular Call of Duty leaker TheGhostofHope, who posted the proposal on their Twitter account this past weekend. According to TheGhost, Activision will instead use 2023 to boost the content of 2021's release, adding new campaign missions, and a 20th anniversary "Best of" map pack, featuring revamped multiplayer maps from the billion-dollar shooter's storied history.

Bloomberg's Jason Schreier would offer his own corroboration of the news a day later, suggesting that the paid DLC expansion for Modern Warfare II would replace the launch of another series sequel. While Schreier notes that they themselves are unsure as to the expansion's contents, he does speculate that Activision would eventually release a brand new sequel in the fall of 2024.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOaUcJIxX9k

Call of Duty games, provided that they are decent entries, do have incredible longevity, despite the regular releases. Just last month I dived back into my recent favorite, 2020's Black Ops Cold War, to find packed lobbies and busy-busy playlists still readily available, despite the title having been superseded by 2021's Call of Duty: Vanguard, and the ongoing success of battle royale spin-off Call of Duty Warzone.

Thus, provided that Modern Warfare II delivers a solid experience, Activision could easily rake in big money from releasing a meaty expansion pack over developing an entirely new release from scratch. This approach could affect the bottom line somewhat, but the loss would likely be offset in the DLC's development, which would be understandably cheaper than producing a full game. Importantly, this approach might also reduce the workload on MWII's developer, Infinity Ward. This in itself is enough to warrant the experiment. No doubt the sales of MWII will, ultimately, make or break this decision.

Look, just let me play Nicki Minaj in multiplayer, that's all I'm in for.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II launches October 28 on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms.

The post Activision may choose a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 expansion for 2023’s release appeared first on Destructoid.

Who loves you, and who do you love?

Developer Embark Studio and publisher Nexon have released a "pre-alpha" gameplay video for its upcoming multiplayer shooter, The Finals — Following its grand debut at Gamescom Opening Night Live, the new video gives us our first look at the deadly competition's hyper-violent rat-a-tat-tat action.

The Finals, which is currently in development for PC, will see contestants from all over the world compete in a chaotic and explosive virtual universe, laying waste to one another with all manner of ranged and melee weaponry. Featuring fast-paced world traversal, rapid-fire guns, razor-sharp blades, and all manner of explosive devices, The Finals will challenge its hapless party of contestants to be the last person standing, bagging themselves big cash prizes while they wow the bloodthirsty audiences watching from home. Get me the Justice Department, Entertainment Division.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxloMQgfoYI&t

The core gameplay construct of The Finals is to allow players to adopt their own form of strategy, be it an acrobatic knife-wielder, a stealthy assassin hiding in the shadows, a rooftop running crack shot sniper, or a rocket-launcher-toting building leveler, The Finals hopes that players will find their own particular combat style with which to survive until each show's end credits. Environmental destruction is another key element of The Finals' makeup, with collapsing buildings, smashed ceilings, and hiding places being reduced to rubble all a required part of the action.

Hmm... This would seem to suggest that power players will be favored over stealthy types, but we'll see.

If you fancy joining the green room for The Finals, then you can register for a playtest over on the game's official Steam page. The playtest kicks off tomorrow, September 29, so move fast, aim straight, and be sure to smile for the cameras. After all, audience connection is the key to modern-day survival.

Parasocial relationships and all that.

The post Tune into the bombastic action of violent gameshow The Finals appeared first on Destructoid.