We’re about to tell you everything you need to know about Atomic Heart, so strap in. This little oddity has captured the minds of just about everyone who’s seen a glimpse of it. It’s easy to see why, with a style that feels like a blend of BioShock, Stalker, and Metro, it’s hard not to find yourself dragged along with it.
The good news though, is that the Atomic Heart release date is actually coming up pretty quickly now, and that means we’ve got more information than ever. It also means we don’t have long to wait until we can dive in ourselves, and given that patience isn’t a virtue we possess, that can only be a good thing.
When is the Atomic Heart release date?
The Atomic Heart release date is set as February 21, 2023. Now, it’s possible that this gets moved again, but when release dates are as close as this, it’s less likely, especially as the initial date was a generic 2022 when we first started seeing release windows for Atomic Heart.
If you’re not sure what platforms Atomic Heart is coming to, then fear not. It’ll be launching on PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. Better yet, it’ll be coming to Game Pass on day one too, which is a nice little bonus for Xbox fans.
Atomic Heart gameplay- How Will it Play?
Gameplay in Atomic Heart is going to be first-person and have a fair bit of combat too. Not only will you be able to utilize melee weapons and cobbled-together ranged weapons, but it looks as though you’ll also gain some very BioShock-Esque powers thanks to a creepy-looking hole in your hand that constantly has wires coming out of it.
It looks as though different powers will have vastly different effects, with the player in the above trailer periodically shooting out lightning strikes, a flammable substance, freezing a group of enemies, and seemingly controlling gravity as well. If you’ve played games like Dying Light and others of first-person variety that mix melee and ranged combat in, then we reckon you’ll end up feeling quite at home here.
The game itself takes place in an alternate reality Soviet-era timezone where robots are the norm, and they all seem very upset with you for some reason. One thing we’re pretty certain of is that Atomic Heart will blend action and horror together in a few ways, and you’ll likely be hunted by things far bigger than you more often than not.
Where can I watch an Atomic Heart Trailer
There are a lot of trailers out there for it, and a lot of people talking about them, but the most recent one is just above and is from The Game Awards 2022. It shows off yet more fancy-looking explosions, more absurd powers, and some very Half-Life-looking enemies to boot. Expect a lot of gore and violence, and you’ll not be disappointed.
That’s everything we know about the game at the moment. We’re very glad we don’t have long to wait to jump into this one, as it’s definitely got the potential to be one of the biggest hits of the year thanks to its blend of over-the-top violence and uniquely unsettling setting. Plus, it’s undeniably pretty, and that always helps.
Even though 2022 had its fair share of undiluted bangers including Elden Ring, God of War: Ragnarok, Marvel’s Midnight Suns and Need for Speed Unbound to name just a few, 2023 is somehow shaping up to be even better. So to help you pull the wheat from the chaff, or something, here are our ten most anticipated games of 2023.
10) Street Fighter 6
Seemingly on course to be the apex of Capcom’s legendary fighting franchise, Street Fighter 6 has been a long time coming. Boasting a diverse roster of 18 different fighters made up of series veterans such as Ryu, Ken, Chun Li and also promising new arrivals like Jamie and Kimberly, Street Fighter 6 is certainly looking to change things up a bit. Beyond its refreshed roster and improved visuals, this commitment to change extends even further still, as Street Fighter 6 boasts an all-new single-player, open-world narrative campaign, real-time match commentary and a new Drive gauge which allows patient players to seize victory from the jaws of defeat. Put simply, Street Fighter is back in 2023 and that fact alone is worthy of celebration.
Ever since the Assassin’s Creed series pivoted into a full-blown, open-world RPG with Assassin’s Creed Origins back in 2017, it’s certainly fair to say that a sizable chunk of the series’ massive fanbase has missed the tighter, more stealth focused design of the earlier Assassin’s Creed games. Marking a return to the series halcyon days, Assassin’s Creed Mirage not only brings back improved parkour, stealth and assassinations, but it also shifts the action into ninth century Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age, as players take on the role of rogue thief Basim and chart his journey into legend. If you’ve been waiting for Assassin’s Creed to make an overdue return to its roots, then 2023 is going to be your year as Assassin’s Creed Mirage is shaping up beautifully to say the least.
8) Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Though developer Respawn rarely puts a foot wrong, the stakes were monumentally high when Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order released back in late 2019. Thankfully, the Titanfall developer absolutely rose to the occasion, crafting a hugely polished and entertaining third-person action adventure which combined compelling combat, Metroidvania style exploration and an engrossing narrative to create one of the best Star Wars games ever made. Much like its main protagonist, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor looks to have matured further still, doubling down on the superbly judged combat and exploration of the previous game, while bringing back Cal Kestis (now as a full fledged Jedi Knight), to fight for his survival as one of the last living Jedi Knights in the galaxy. Loved Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order? Then Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is shaping up to be a more than worthy successor.
7) Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
The fact remains that in 2023 there is still no game that makes the player feel like your neighbourhood Spider-Man quite like Marvel’s Spider-Man from Insomniac Games, so the anticipation for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is palpable to say the least. While a much welcomed return to Insomniac Games’ evocative take on the Big Apple is on the cards, together with expected evolutions in combat and exploration, perhaps more interesting is the fact Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 seems to bring resident Spider-Men Peter Parker and Miles Morales together, suggesting a cooperative slant to proceedings. Horror legend Tony Todd meanwhile steps into the VA booth to lend his not-so dulcet tones to the seeming big bad of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Venom.
6) Dead Island 2
Announced all the way back in 2014 and going through enough development hells that Dante could create nine more infernal circles, it’s fair to say that Dead Island 2 has been waiting in the wings for a long, long while now. Thankfully, 2023 finally looks to be the year that Dead Island 2 finally gets a release and even better still, it’s actually shaping up rather nicely to boot. Unfurling its visceral violence in a post-apocalyptic California that has been predictably overrun by face-munching zombies, Dead Island 2 places a bespoke focus on different melee combat styles, crafting, open world exploration and more over the top violence than you can shake a detached spinal cord at.
5) Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
With Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, Batman Arkham developers Rocksteady will be providing gamers with an opportunity to see how the other side lives in its latest DC Comics adaptation. An open-world action adventure that casts players as the titular villainous Suicide Squad made up of Harley Quinn, King Shark, Captain Boomerang and Deadshot, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League has the group fighting corrupted versions of DC’s most popular heroes, such as Batman, Superman and The Flash, as they attempt to restore order to a world under siege by nefarious bad lad Brianiac. Departing greatly from the design of the Batman Arkham games, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League instead presents itself as a multiplayer focused, co-operative squad based action adventure, allowing solo players to switch at will between each of the squad, while AI controls the other members of the group not in use. With cutting edge visuals, a whole heaping of black humour and an inversion of the usual superhero narrative, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is absolutely one to keep an eye on when it releases later this year.
4) Final Fantasy XVI
Taking a decidedly more adult approach to the Final Fantasy series than any game before it, Final Fantasy XVI couldn’t be more different from the ‘bro-trip’ that was Final Fantasy XV if it tried. Unfolding in the world of Valisthea where each of the six main nations have ‘Dominants’, which are essentially super powerful beings that can inhabit the form of elemental titans known as Eikons. Blending together thunderous real-time combat and exploration, Final Fantasy XVI separates itself further still from its predecessors by actually allowing players to take control of these towering Eikons as they adventure across the continent in a sweeping tale of vengeance. Boasting some absolutely incredible visuals and a surprising narrative that muses on the very contemporary notion of nations owning massively destructive weapons being leveraged as deterrents, Final Fantasy XVI is positioning itself as the shot in the arm that the series has long craved.
3) Resident Evil 4
Like Final Fantasy VII Remake before it, Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 remake carries with it a weight of expectation that would tilt the earth off its axis. That said, early reports would seem to banish any such spectres of trepidation as Capcom would seem to be hewing extremely close to the source material all the while bringing the near twenty year old Resident Evil 4 up to date for an all-new audience. Though the obvious audiovisual improvements that bring Resident Evil 4 kicking and screaming into 2023 are welcome, Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 remake rigidly maintains the essence of the beloved 2005 original. Resident Evil 4 keeps the same over the shoulder third-person combat and exploration, the same story and of course, the very same hugely satisfying survival horror beats that made the original such an engrossing prospect in the first instance. A hugely compelling case for the old maxim of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, if there ever was one.
Perhaps unfairly overshadowed somewhat by the relatively botched launch of Overwatch 2 and the various regulatory shenanigans surrounding Microsoft’s proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard, Diablo IV has been quietly simmering in the background. Now with its release due in just a matter of months, rather than years, Diablo IV is coming into clear focus at last. Though Diablo IV expectedly continues to proudly wear the mantle of its dungeon crawler heraldry, with five different classes to choose from, hundreds of different monster types to mash and a mountain of loot to scoop up, it also brings some new innovations to the table to ensure that it’s much more than just Diablo 3.5. Boasting one massive world with no loading times helps to keep the whole thing moving along seamlessly, while the shift to a more medieval setting and grounded premise away from the more fantastical locales of the previous games also helps to make Diablo IV a decidedly more refreshing entry in the series than many might have thought. It’s hard to imagine a bigger game in 2023 then, except for maybe…
1) Starfield
Perhaps the biggest question of all is just what is Starfield supposed to be? The Elder Scrolls in space, No Man’s Sky with a narrative RPG slant, or something in-between? Whatever the final result, Bethesda’s Starfield certainly won’t lack ambition and neither does it lack anticipation, being the first major new IP from the developer in an age. Casting players as a card carrying member of Constellation, a sprawling empire of space explorers, Starfield seemingly allows players to let their space fantasies run wild as they pilot ships across the galaxy, aligning with factions, double-crossing enemies and generally living out their lives as a spacebound adventurer. With the enticing promise of a massive ‘open-galaxy’ RPG filled with stories, adventures and secrets to be found, together with Bethesda’s penchant for in-depth storytelling and satisfying combat, it’s easy to see why Starfield is our most anticipated game of 2023.
No matter what rank you are, you might be wondering what the best ways to spend your Resin in Genshin Impact is. It changes a little bit depending on where you are in the game, but there are a few easy-to-follow rules that’ll help make sure that you’re not wasting your time or this precious limited resource.
Before we get into what you should be doing, let’s just break down everything there is to know about Resin in Genshin Impact. After all, new players are joining the game all the time, and they might need a little bit more information than us seasoned veterans.
What is Resin in Genshin Impact?
Resin, or Original Resin, to give it its full name, is a resource that you use in Genshin Impact to do all of the activities needed to upgrade characters, weapons, and artifacts. It’s the lifeblood of Genshin Impact, and you only get so much each day.
To be specific, you generate one Resin every eight minutes, which equates to 180 every 24 hours. However, you can only hold a maximum of 160 at a time, which means if you really want to get the most out of the game, you should dip in in the morning, and then again at night.
You can also replenish your Resin by using Fragile Resin, Transient Resin, or Primogems, all of which will net you another 60 Resin. However, we don’t recommend using any of those until you’re grinding for artifacts, and you should only do that once you’re at least Adventure Rank 45 to save yourself some agony.
What can you spend Resin on in Genshin Impact?
We’ll keep this simple and in list form because that’s just an easier way to do things:
Mystic Enhancement Ore – 10 (Never spend Resin on this)
That’s it for now, although it’s possible Hoyoverse introduce new ways to spend Resin later on in the game’s life, we’re not expecting that to be the case just yet.
What are the best ways to spend Resin in Genshin Impact?
As you rank and level up in Genshin Impact you’ll find different things more valuable. However, there’s a simple rule you can follow to help make sure you always get the most out of your Resin in Genshin Impact: spend it on guaranteed upgrades first.
In short, save artfact farming for last, because it’s RNG-based, and you’re nearly always better off making sure a character is levelled up, has high talent levels, and has a strong weapon too. This means you should look at whichever team you’re playing, and whichever teams you want to play, and see what they need to get stronger. We generally recommend getting each character to at least level 80, and keeping their relevant talents levelled up as high as you can too. It’s completely fine to stop at level 6 for talents until you’re trying to grind out the Spiral Abyss too, so don’t worry too much about that.
You should always aim to beat each of the weekly bosses once each week, but at the very least, make sure you do three of them to benefit from the cost reduction on those fights. These bosses not only drop important talent upgrade materials, but also give an artifact, and have a chance of dropping a weapon crafting Billet too.
While artifact farming does form the bulk of the end game of Genshin Impact, and there’s no harm in spending a bit of Resin to get some good ones once you’ve hit AR 45, it’s not an especially efficient way to spend your Resin until you’ve maxed out your other options. This is because the sheer volume of RNG in every artifact piece, from what main stat it drops with, to the substats, to how those substats grow as it gets levelled up, mean there are no guarantees when it comes to artifact farming.
If you’re at the point at which you are artifact farming, then you should be looking at which characters and teams you want to build. Most characters have a set that suits them best, and knowing which of these you want to go for will allow you to focus on that domain until you finally get some good rolls.
However, if you’re not 100% sure what domain to go and farm, we recommend Momiji-Dyed Court in Inazuma. This domain is the one players farm for the Emblem of Severed Fate and Shimenawa’s Resistance, both of which are useful sets. Emblem of Severed Fate reduces Elemental Burst cooldown and grants bonus damage based on a character’s Energy Recharge stat, this is the best set in the game for a vast swathe of characters, and you’ll nearly always need another set.
Shimenawa’s Resistance is a little less ubiquitous as a four-piece, but the two-piece buffs attack, which is nearly always worthwhile. Plus, any five-star artifacts you don’t keep can then be put into the Artifact Strongbox at a crafting table to turn them into other sets, which makes things slightly less disappointing, at least in theory.
Our friends at Pewter Games Studios and LoPoly Games have been hard at work making Filthy Animals, a heist simulator filled with co-op chaos, tacos, and stuff to steal. We’re proud to be publishing it and with the free online multiplayer playtests you’ll be able to get your hands on a slice of the action ahead of the game’s launch.
If you’re looking for one of the most fun and chaotic gaming experiences out there, this is the game for you. We’re sure you’re going to love pulling off heists in Filthy Animals, here’s what you need to know:
What is Filthy Animals?
Filthy Animals | Heist Simulator is a chaotic co-op action game for 1-4 players. You play as one of four mutant animals who have been recruited by a criminal mastermind by the name of Tony Baloney.
Under his watchful eye you’ll embark on a new life of crime, taking on a series of madcap heists over 21 wild and wacky levels, including bank jobs, nuclear plants, and even outer space.
It’s not as easy as it sounds though, you don’t just have to get in, you’ll have to contend with devious puzzles, vigilant and violent guards, and even each other as you slip, smash, and bumble your way to your goal.
With local and online co-op, Filthy Animals is a game you’ll be able to play with your friends wherever they are. Just remember to stock up on tacos before you start stealing, your mutant animal special abilities will need all the help they can get.
Get the Chance to Win Loot
During the free online multiplayer playtests we’re not only giving you several riotous levels to play with your friends, we’re also giving away some exclusive loot.
First up, you’ll get the chance to win an HP Omen Gaming Laptop. Entering is easy, simply play the playtest and at the end, fill out the survey and include your details to make sure you’re in with a chance.
We’re also giving away HyperX Gaming Headsets throughout the entire playtests period. We’ll be selecting winners from our Discord, so head over there and join in the conversation to stake out your claim for a brand new headset.
How to sign up for the Filthy Animals Free Online Multiplayer Playtests
We’ve made sure that signing up for the Filthy Animals playtests is as simple as possible.
The first playtest session kicks off at 18:00 GMT on the 20th of January, 2023, with more playtests announced later.
Now you should have everything you need to begin your new life of comedy crime. Come join us in Discord, over on Twitter and Tiktok, and let’s get heisting together!
It’s telling that in the nearly decade and a half since the release of Burnout Paradise back in 2008 that both video game developers and perhaps their audiences have seemingly forgotten what a truly great arcade racer should look or feel like. With its deft blending of iconic, smashmouth Burnout thrills and deceptively intelligent open world design, Burnout Paradise is something of a once in a generation genre offering the likes of which we sadly just don’t see anymore.
Thankfully, the more recent remastered releases of Burnout Paradise on contemporary PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch platforms mean that an all new generation of gamers can sink their teeth into what is arguably (at least from this perspective of this humble scribe), the best racing game ever. Don’t believe me? Well, here’s exactly ten reasons why Burnout Paradise is the best racing game ever.
A Soundtrack For The Ages
From the moment Burnout Paradise boots into its title screen and Guns ‘N Roses iconic track Paradise City kicks up, an odd sense of familiarity washes over you, even if you’ve never played the game before. In truth, the use of ‘Paradise City’ is a calculated opening gambit to entice the player into the world of Burnout Paradise, with that song’s gentle opening putting the player at rest before the madness begins. More broadly, the leveraging of a fully licensed soundtrack that straddles a swathe of artists from the alternative rock scene, absolutely compliments the on-screen white-knuckle racing action with aplomb too. It’s certainly fair to say that you haven’t lived until you’ve hit a 170MPH boost powered drift around a corner on the highest peak of White Mountain all the while ‘My Curse’ by Killswitch Engage is thrumming away in the background. In Burnout Paradise, the music is every bit a part of its design identity as anything else.
Precise, Responsive Handling That Challenges
From subtle turns to full on drifts to massive spinning leaps and crushing takedowns of your enemies that can all be pulled off with ease, there is no racing game that handles quite like Burnout Paradise. Surprisingly delicate and yet immediately responsive, Burnout Paradise prides itself on boasting a level of intensity that in turn demands extremely fast reaction times from anybody that picks up the controller. There’s a veritable well of mastery to be plumbed here too, as the numerous hulking great big vans, sleek Japanese sports cars, high-end Italian style supercars and robust American muscle cars all possess their own weight, grip and handling characteristics that make each one a unique challenge to drive.
An Unmatched Sensation Of Speed
It’s not really until you’re screaming through the busy central square of Downtown Paradise City in the Krieger Überschall 8 supercar and the vanishing point begins to distort that you come to an obvious realisation – Burnout Paradise might just be one of the fastest racing games ever made. Certainly there’s just no other genre effort that quite matches Burnout Paradise in this regard. Certainly, that feeling when you kick in the boost on a high performance car and the music punches itself up an additional notch all add to the impression that this is a game built to thrill. There’s also an anxiety attached to this hellacious sense of velocity too, as the ultra precise handling model of Burnout Paradise means that slight movements at high speed can mean the difference between a near miss and that shiny sports car being turned into twisted wreck of steel and regret in a split-second.
Visceral Vehicular Violence That Remains Unparalleled
Somewhat perversely, a great chunk of the fun that Burnout Paradise offers up comes in the form of its spectacular smashes and crashes that it permits. Working off the back of a wildly detailed car crash physics system that allows for some teeth-gritting vehicle-on-vehicle violence, no game before or since Burnout Paradise has managed to depict car crashes quite like this. Keenly showcased during the various takedown activities within Burnout Paradise, cars can generously flip into the air before crashing down onto other cars, tip onto their roofs, spin over chasms as windscreens blow out and barrel roll down a street, all the while sparks and chunks of twisted chassis fly out. It’s almost impossible not to wince and provides Burnout Paradise with a visceral nature no other racing game can draw parallel with.
Open World Design That Rewards Experimentation
Thanks to open world fatigue, it might be easy to roll an eyeball or two at the very notion of an arcade racing game which embraces open world design, but Burnout Paradise incorporates the concept superbly and deceptively. Though the open world in Burnout Paradise does have its fair share of secret areas, big jumps, billboards to smash and so on for players to discover on their own terms, the breadth of its open world actually figures directly into every single one of its different mission types too. When racing to Wild Stallion Ranch for example, you can take any route or number of shortcuts to get there and very often, you’ll discover these new routes and cheeky diversions mid-race as well. This very much reinforces the notion that the open world of Burnout Paradise is threaded through every aspect of its design, rather than just being relegated to a pretty map stuffed with icons, collectibles and busywork.
Burnout Paradise Is The Racing Equivalent Of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
A big part of Burnout Paradise being a card carrying member of the arcade racing club is that it allows players to perform all manner of different stunts and manoeuvres at pretty much any point during play. Capitalising upon such automobile acrobatics, developer Criterion Games implemented a number of stunt activities which requires players to reach a certain score by chaining together drifts, spins, jumps, flips and more in a combo like fashion not at all unlike Activision’s Tony Hawk Pro Skater games. Indeed Big Surf Island, the premium expansion pack which introduced an all-new landmass for players to smash around on subscribes to this school of thought entirely, as it’s essentially one massive vehicular stunt playground boasting under construction skyscrapers, lighthouse towers, ramped beaches and more for wannabe stunt drivers to mess about with.
Enticing Progression Tied Both Into Its Races And Open World
Beyond its compelling handling, crashes and activities, Burnout Paradise actually does a grand old job of keeping players engaged. Completing a set number of activities for example results in a licence upgrade, which in turn provides a new car for you to bomb about in. Additionally, taking down the numerous rival cars that roam Paradise City allow you to take their wheels, while hitting key milestones such as nailing a number of big jumps, smashing a sufficient number of billboards or fulfilling completeness quotas in the various districts can also provide some shiny new, four-wheeled monsters for you to take home too. There’s almost always something to strive for and it never fails to keep you hooked.
Visually Burnout Paradise Still Absolutely Holds Up Today
Despite being released two generations of console hardware ago back in 2008, Burnout Paradise still holds up visually incredibly well, even today. With the action tearing along at a rock solid 60 frames per second on all platforms while encompassing highly detailed car models with an extremely high degree of deformity, not to mention a massive city filled with a horde of other vehicles all blasting along at high speed, Burnout Paradise still remains one of the very best looking arcade racers money can buy.
It Represents Total Escapism For The Racing Genre
One aspect of Burnout Paradise that is often overlooked is just how freewheeling and unserious it is. A far cry from the usual po-faced and straight laced racers that have sprung up in innumerable quantity since its release, Burnout Paradise with its face-tearing speed, crazy crashes, thunderous alternative rock soundtrack and overzealous DJ Atomica commentary all adds up to something approaching real escapism, rather than yet another snooze-worthy attempt at replicating the reality that already exists outside of our screens.
Burnout Paradise Feels Like The Last Gasp Of EA BIG
Before EA got all super serious and decided that it didn’t want to do stunt snowboarding, arcade racing or rap wrestling games anymore, a label called EA BIG existed as a sort of bastion of counterculture to the generally risk averse output of the publisher at a time. Harkening back to an era when EA was creatively braver than it is now, EA BIG was all about putting loud and brash spins on established genres which resulted in the release of notable (and hugely missed) series such as SSX, Def Jam Vendetta and more besides. As such, Burnout Paradise feels like the last gasp of the EA BIG label in many ways, thanks in no small part to how Criterion Games arguably finest hour exudes distilled fun from every digital pore. A fitting coda to a beloved and oft forgotten time in the industry, methinks.
Since the release of No Man’s Sky all the way back in August 2016, developer Hello Games has been determinedly iterating on the game, not just fixing a veritable mountain of bugs but also implementing a hugely generous range of features and content at no extra cost.
Now almost unrecognisable compared to its launch state and fulfilling the lofty expectations that everyone had for the game all those years ago, we’ve put together this definitive No Man’s Sky beginner’s guide for 2023 which explains everything you need to do to get started with Hello Games galaxy-spanning epic.
Before You Do Anything – Repair Your Scanner
Long before you get any ambitions about building your own base, stomping around in an exomech or soaring among the stars, make sure to repair the scanner, as it is by far the most important tool that you have at your disposal since it allows you to discover crucial resources in the environment.
To repair the scanner, you have to seek out Ferrite Dust and obviously without the scanner itself working, you’ll need to identify Ferrite Dust by sight alone. Thankfully, this is something of a trivial task since Ferrite Dust can be found lurking within many of the rocks that are generously scattered about on the starting planet.
Tracking Down Essential Survival Materials
With the scanner now fully operational, your next priority should be tracking down the various ores and other materials that are essential to your survival. Arguably the most important of these materials is Sodium which provides you with much needed hazard protection, allowing you to withstand the stresses of more hostile and challenging environments.
Another highly important resource to seek out are Oxygen Rich Plants, which when collected will allow you to bolster your oxygen supply and will keep you from keeling over prematurely. Elsewhere, Carbon Crystals should be scooped up whenever you see them, too. Used to power the various machines and other infrastructure that you’ll build later on in the game, Carbon Crystals can be easily spotted thanks to their spiky, blood red forms that can be seen a mile off.
Melee Boosting Is Faster Than Sprinting
While trotting about the various planets and locations of No Man’s Sky isn’t a chore on the whole, it can prove to be a bit of a pain if you need to cover a decent length of distance fairly quickly.
Thankfully, there is a neat trick that will alleviate your traversal woes somewhat. Known as the ‘melee boost’, all you need to do is perform a melee attack and then right away follow that up with a jetpack blast. The upshot quite literally is that you’ll be propelled upwards and forwards extremely quickly, allowing you to cover a whole heap of ground in a fraction of the time that it would normally take.
How To Withstand The Whims Of A Hostile Planet
Just about every planet in No Man’s Sky has some sort of major malfunction in its natural environment that results in storms and other such phenomena which can chip away at your hazard protection bar. Luckily, before a storm kicks off properly you have a number of options. You can either saunter over to the shelter of the nearest cave, sit inside your ship or just chill out a bit inside your shiny new base.
Regardless of what you do though, always make sure you have an exit strategy when a storm decides to rock up and try to avoid fiddling around with your inventory out in the open as those storms can easily creep up.
Make Sure To Repair Your Analysis Visor
The next thing that you’ll want to do is repair your trusty Analysis Visor by collecting 50 lots of Carbon from the flora in your environment. Once repaired, the Analysis Visor will not only provide a more in-depth analysis regarding the various materials and ores that you can extract from the planet, but it will also handily highlight any far flung points of interest to boot.
How To Make Piles Of Money Early On
Money is a crucial resource in No Man’s Sky, not least because it’s needed to buy a whole bunch of materials, resources, equipment and more that you’ll need throughout the game. The main currency that you’ll be wanting to focus on are Units and luckily there’s a good couple of ways to secure piles of the stuff early on in No Man’s Sky.
The first way is by quite simply scanning and analysing everything you find with your newly repaired Analysis Visor, as you’ll earn a clump of Units for every successful scan and analysis made. Next up, it’s worth hunting around for loot in the numerous caves that dot the landscape of No Man’s Sky planets, since you can often find loot caches hidden within that might contain items which can be sold for thousands of Units.
Building A Base
Beyond just looking really cool, building yourself a base in No Man’s Sky has a whole heap of practical benefits. The first is that a base will protect you from the hazardous environment and replenish your oxygen supply at little cost, without forcing you to revisit your ship quite so often as a result.
To start building your first base, you’ll need to construct a Base Computer which requires a Portable Refiner. Luckily, this all forms part of No Man’s Sky’s fairly sprawling tutorial, so you’ll be directed pretty well as to where to find the components and necessary materials to get the job done.
How To Achieve Space Travel
After constructing some digs as mentioned above, you’ll gain a recipe for crafting a Hyperdrive to be fitted to your ship, which naturally you’ll want to do as soon as possible. First though, you’ll want to craft an Antimatter Housing and Antimatter so that you can fashion the Warp Cell that is required for interstellar travel and will allow you to leave the first solar system in No Man’s Sky.
Asteroids Are Filled With Riches, So Blast Them To Bits
When you do eventually get into space, it’s certainly worth blowing apart the various asteroids that are lazily floating around the cosmos of No Man’s Sky whenever you get the chance. Not only is it satisfying to destroy them, but when Asteroids are wrecked they very often dish out all manner of materials, components and currencies that can be used to augment your interstellar escapades further still.
Destiny 2 is a game of two halves. You’ve got a brilliant universe dripping with story, filled with some of the most exciting and innovative FPS multiplayer action you’ll ever see in a video game. On the other side you’ve got a game that can seem utterly impenetrable especially to newcomers and lapsed players.
This reputation for impenetrability has permeated the narrative surrounding the game, meaning many tempted into playing by the fantastic trailers and tales from their friends of adventures amongst the stars can bounce off the game. Given the amount that it shoves at new players, along with some notable gaps in the game’s story caused by the removal of some earlier content this reputation for inaccessibility can sometimes be justified.
But fear not, dear reader. We’ve compiled a beginner’s guide that should help you get up to speed with the game both mechanically and in terms of the game’s ongoing story. If you’ve ever wanted to play Destiny 2 but been put off by rumours of impenetrability or been overwhelmed starting the game, this is the guide for you.
It’s time to begin your journey into Destiny 2.
Destiny 2 Beginner’s Guide
Starting your Destiny 2 journey can seem daunting at first, but with a few things to bear in mind you’ll soon be hopping between planets and taking the fight to the enemies of humanity. Here’s what you need to know as you start a new life in the far future.
Choosing a Class
First up is your class. There are three classes in Destiny 2: Titan, Warlock, and Hunter.
Titans are your brutes, standing wherever the fighting is thickest, shrugging off damage and engaging the enemy up close and personal. They tend to have shields that can protect teammates and have abilities that deal colossal damage to nearby foes.
Warlocks offer support to their fellow guardians, buffing damage or boosting healing whilst utilising elemental spells to lay down ranged damage. Think of them as warrior-scholars, using deadly magical arts to level the playing field.
Finally we have Hunters. Outlaws, scouts, and deadly assassins, Hunters focus on mobility and misdirection to dance through the battlefield leaving corpses in their wake. Able to dodge damage whilst dealing it, they are skilled both with the blade and ranged attacks.
Each of the classes offers a unique class fantasy, from stalwart Titans to fast-moving deadly Hunters. That said, all classes can use all weapons, so there’s nothing stopping you playing a Warlock who specialises in shotguns or a Titan who uses sniper rifles.
It’s their abilities which help determine their role on the battlefield, so feel free to try them out and find out what best suits your style of play. We’ll cover more about abilities further down this guide.
First Mission
When you start Destiny 2 you’ll awake in the Cosmodrome on Earth, coming back to life for the first time. This tutorial mission gives you a few basic weapons and an idea of how to play so it’s definitely recommended to run through it. You’ll cover mobility, abilities, and meet your Ghost – more on Ghosts later.
This mission segues into several other story missions which will see you meet a few characters, explore the Cosmodrome, and get your hands on transport. It’s utterly essential as a new player to go through these missions as they’ll give you the solid basis on which to rest your entire adventure. Basically, if you’re following the A Guardian Rises mission you’re doing the right thing.
This mission will eventually lead you into the Vanguard playlist, which forms one of the core repeatable mission types you can perform for fun, rewards, and snippets of story.
Resist Distractions
One of the issues when starting Destiny 2 is that the game isn’t shy about trying to get you to do other things.
If you log out during your first time playing, when you log back in again you may be presented with a cutscene followed by a loading screen followed by finding yourself in current content, such as Witch Queen missions or a mission from the current season.
Should this happen to you, simply open the director (default, the M key on PC) and head back to the Cosmodrome on Earth to continue A Guardian Rises or whatever other quests you were doing.
Nothing in Destiny 2 is particularly urgent so take your time and follow the strands of plot or questlines you were already doing. You can always head to places like Savathûn’s Throne World later.
Do Campaign Missions in Order
Of course this bit of advice comes with a caveat: you’re in control so do whatever you want in whatever order you want. That said, we would recommend as a new player that in order to get the best grounding in what the hell’s going on and what you’re doing you play through the campaigns in order.
In 2023 these would be:
Shadowkeep
Beyond Light
The Witch Queen
Then work on the current season to get the full picture of the available content.
Destiny 2 Tips and Tricks
Now you’ve started playing, here’s our top Destiny 2 tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your time in-game. We won’t be going too deep into anything but these should help you get a firm grounding on the basics.
Understanding Levelling
Your character’s level in Destiny 2 isn’t the same as most games you’ll encounter. Instead of your character levelling up, your level is determined by the gear you’re wearing.
Simply put, bigger numbers on your gear = higher level, which determines how much damage you can output and how much you can withstand.
There are other stats that will determine things like how fast your health recharges, how quickly you move, how fast your abilities recharge etc. These can be found on your character screen and hovering your cursor over them tells you what their effects are and what your current stats will do. Every bit of gear will affect these so if you want to make your character as strong as possible you’ll want to keep an eye on these stats.
Learn Weak Points
If you’ve played modern FPS games before you’ll probably be familiar with aiming at the heads of foes. In Destiny 2 that’s still important…but there are exceptions.
As you’re not facing humans (most of the time) the ‘head’ of the creature you’re shooting at may not be its weak point. Vex, robotic AIs, have brightly lit weak points that are often found in the centre of their mass. The juggernaut-esque Cabal will have weak points on their heads but also on the vents of their powered armour.
By paying attention to where the weak points are on your opponents you’ll learn to be more effective in combat encounters. Also you’ll have more fun!
Try out New Weapons
Every class can use every type of weapon, so whilst you may find Warlocks a little more squishy in combat there’s no reason you can’t kit them out with close-range weapons and dive right into the fray.
There will be many websites and opinions online telling you what the best weapons are for PvP, PvE, etc. We’re not going to tell you that. All we can say is to try them out. Find what works for you. Forget the meta, find a loadout you like and then focus on that.
It’s your game after all. Don’t let anyone – least of all us – tell you how to play.
Experiment with Exotics
Exotics are the rarest of gear. Yellow coloured icons will let you know when you’ve got one and each Exotic features special effects which have the potential to drastically change how you play.
Whilst they’re rare you still will end up swimming in them after a while playing, so like weapons in general we can only recommend experimenting with them. Some will enhance abilities, some will do weird and wonderful things. Some you may simply not like – it’s up to you to find what works with the way you want to play and what enhances your playstyle.
Mobility is Key
Destiny 2 is a game about shooting stuff but there’s a big focus on mobility. Every class can double jump, glide, and has a rocket-powered jetbike called a Sparrow. Many dungeons and encounters will have puzzle-platforming sections to them, so learning how to jump, when to jump, and how best to move is key to getting to the rewards at the end of each instance.
In addition, many areas are huge with tons to see and do. Using your Sparrow to get around is something you’ll get very used to, so make sure you learn how to take corners and when to use your boost to make the most of available ramps.
Abilities are More Important than you Think
Once upon a time Destiny 2 was much more a game about shooting. Whilst shooting is still the majority of what you’ll be doing, class abilities are so much more important now.
Each class has four flavours of ability to choose from (don’t worry, you can swap these out whenever you like). Solar for fire-based abilities, Void for purple powered magics, Arc for lightning attacks, and Stasis for frost and cold skills. Each of these subclasses has options to choose from, a couple of different super abilities, different grenade types, and other passive effects you can tweak.
In addition, the subclasses have all been recently revamped and are generally much more powerful than they used to be, making mastery of them key to effective combat.
There’s a lot to grapple with, but learning what your skills do and what you prefer is how you’ll really gel with your chosen class and get the most out of the game. Just take it slow, you’ll only start out with one subclass and earn the others as you complete quests. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough.
Patrols, Bounties, and Public Events
Many areas in Destiny 2 are filled with different varieties of small, repeatable missions you can perform for rewards.
Patrols are dotted around areas, if you press Tab you’ll usually be able to see their icons around you. You can take one at a time and they offer bitesize objectives that’ll usually give you a bit of XP and currency as a reward.
Bounties are usually offered by an NPC and will play a huge part of the game. They will focus around getting kills with specific weapons or achieving certain objectives and will tend to offer greater rewards than patrols. You can take quite a few of these so load up!
Finally Public Events will appear on your map whilst you’re in an area. If you rock up to these you’ll join in a mini-mission with other nearby players, usually giving you a hefty bit of experience and a chest to loot. Tasty.
Playlists, Playlists, Playlists
Along the top of the Director map you’ll see several different icons, these are playlists. Each one focuses on a different type of activity and it’s these that are your bread and butter for things to do that aren’t usually related directly to quests.
Vanguard strikes are a rotating series of missions you run with other players that are PvE in focus. Gambit is a PvE/PvP mode that sees two teams work against each other to summon and defeat a boss. Finally, Crucible is where you’ll find all the game’s PvP modes. You’ll also see a Legends section which houses some older content, such as the Vault of Glass raid.
These are all termed ‘playlists’ as you’ll join up and work your way through a series of maps or missions. Often, you’ll gain enhanced rewards for doing a few at once rather than dipping in and out, though there’s nothing stopping you from nipping into a strike or two during a lunch break (for example).
Use the Mobile App
Many games offer mobile apps but frankly the Destiny 2 app is one of the best we’ve seen. Not only does it allow you to group up with people and check your inventory, it also allows you to check vendors and accept bounties without having to travel in-game to the NPC offering them.
It’s safe to say this is a massive time saver and with Destiny 2 taking a few moments to launch and log in, you can be ready to hit the ground running every time if you get into the habit of checking for new bounties before you start playing.
Most Importantly: Shoot Stuff
There’s a lot to see and a lot to do in Destiny and this beginner’s guide can only cover so much without being several thousand words long. So we end these tips and tricks with the following advice:
Shoot stuff.
This game is, at its core, a shooter and the feel of using its many weapons is excellent. You’ll be hard pressed to find another FPS that simply feels this good, so if you’re feeling overwhelmed or swamped by quests or lore titbits or missions…just load up an area and shoot some stuff. Do a strike. Play a playlist. Reacquaint yourself with the core gameplay mechanics of shooting stuff and being a cool space wizard from the far future.
Worry about all the other stuff later.
Destiny 2 Story Guide
The story is often where many new players fall away from the game, becoming a little lost in characters, plots, and terms. We’ve compiled the key beats and basics of what you need to know to at least keep your head above water whilst you get a real grip with the sprawling Destiny 2 story.
Warning: Spoilers up until Destiny 2: Shadowkeep will be found beyond this point.
Destiny Story Background
When you start playing Destiny 2 you’ll get a cutscene that shows people landing on Mars in the current day only to find a giant ball that’s pouring rain.
This is the Traveler, a mysterious object that has existed for millennia which travels the universe, uplifting species to fight against the encroaching Darkness.
When we found it we entered a golden age where we spread throughout the solar system with advanced technology, terraforming the moons and worlds we found.
Eventually though this all came to an end with the Collapse. The Darkness found us and brought humanity back to the dark ages, until the Traveler intervened once again to face down the Darkness and banish it from the system.
This took a heavy toll on the Traveler and its last act was to send out Ghosts, small parts of itself each with their own personality, tasked with seeking out the corpses of those long dead in order to bring them back to life. The cost to the Traveler of this act was for it to become dormant, dead and shattered, hanging above the Earth’s surface as a testament to its sacrifice.
You are one of the newly risen, now known as a Guardian – one of the defenders of humanity, granted new powers and the ability to return after death. The price is that your memories of who you once were are wiped away, giving you a completely clean start on life.
Players are given the choice of choosing to be a human (you should know what humans are), an Awoken (humans who have become changed by interactions with forces beyond our understanding) or Exos (robots who house human consciousnesses). Whichever you choose has no bearing on the story, but Exos, Awoken, and Humans all make up the last forces of humanity facing off against the Darkness.
Destiny 1 Story
In the original Destiny the player found their way to the Last City, the last bastion of humanity on Earth which had been built under the floating Traveler. Here the player encountered The Speaker, the leader of this city who spoke for the Traveler.
From here the player began to undertake missions to defend the Last City and keep humanity alive despite being beset by many terrible foes. The first enemies we encountered were the Hive, a race of alien creatures who worship the Darkness, thriving on destruction. Next up were the Vex, a microscopic robotic species who pilot mechanical frames who seek to control the universe through an AI-powered simulation of reality.
The first year of Destiny 1 saw the player Guardian, known as the Young Wolf, take the fight to the Vex’s Black Garden to fight a Darkness located at its core. In addition, a Hive God named Crota attempted to take over Earth which received a swift end thanks to the work of the player as well as Eris Morn, a researcher who has given up much to study the Darkness.
Finally this year saw the introduction of the Fallen, a four-armed alien species who once were blessed by the Traveler before it moved off to our system. Desperate to reclaim the Traveler, or the ‘Great Machine’ as they call it, they attempted to invade the Last City in the first of many altercations.
In Year 2 of Destiny, The Taken King expansion was released which saw Crota’s father, Oryx arrive with his army of Taken. The Taken are recognisably enemies encountered previously but who have been ripped out of reality, giving them blurry, dark, indistinct forms and dangerous powers. Oryx, The Taken King, was eventually defeated thanks to the intervention of the Young Wolf, a team of Guardians, Eris Morn, and fan-favourite Exo Hunter extraordinaire Cayde-6.
Finally Destiny 1 ended after the discovery of SIVA. This nanite-powered technology was harnessed by the Fallen to become cyborgs, thankfully Lord Saladin – a legendary Guardian – and the player were able to destroy SIVA, defeat the Fallen, and usher in a new era of peace for the Last City.
Destiny 2
For Destiny 2 we’ll cover the story up until we reach content that can be played in-game, which remains the best way to experience the huge narrative Bungie has created.
The Red War
Well, that peace didn’t last long.
Enter the Cabal, a warlike species of aliens who conquered myriad systems in their quest for glory. Led by the fearsome Dominus Ghaul, they managed to take the Last City and depower all Guardians by caging the Traveler, sealing it off from its Ghosts.
Ghaul didn’t account for the Young Wolf, however, as they managed to use a shard of the Traveler to regain their powers. A desperate assasination mission led by the Young Wolf, Titan Commander Zavala, Warlock Ikora Rey, and Cayde-6 saw Ghaul empower himself with Light stolen from the Traveler, becoming a colossal ephemeral monster that threatened the entire solar system.
Thankfully the Traveler wasn’t having any of it, it awoke and repaired itself after years dormant, taking back its Light from Dominus Ghaul and becoming whole once more.
Though in doing so a flash of Light spread through the galaxy, letting the Darkness know that the Traveler had survived their prior battle.
Curse of Osiris
The Curse of Osiris expansion saw the player head to Mercury to help fabled Warlock Osiris take the battle to the Vex. Their simulation known as the Infinite forest was being used to calculate a means by which they could take over the universe. Obviously a bad idea, so Osiris, their Ghost Sagira, the Young Wolf, and Ikora Rey defeated the Vex Mind Panoptes to put an end to this once and for all, leaving Osiris to guard the Infinite Forest.
Warmind
Heading to Mars the player encountered the long-missing Guardian Ana Bray, a powerful human-created defensive AI known as Rasputin, and the evil Hive Worm God Xol. Here the Young Wolf was able to defeat Xol and unleash Rasputin back into the solar system where the AI seeded satellites known as Warsats. These Warsats are tasked with defending humanity against encroaching threats, putting Rasputin back in their historical position as defender of the solar system.
Forsaken
If you speak to a long-time player of Destiny 2 then you’ll know that Forsaken is a high point for many. Instead of focusing on planet-shattering events this was a smaller in scope expansion that focused on character narratives.
In the far future it turns out we still need prisons and in one, the Prison of Elders, a breakout and riot drew the attention of Cayde-6, the player, and Petra Venj who had helped a few times in previous expansions.
This riot was caused by new faction The Scorn, resurrected Fallen who served a new master: Uldren Sov. Uldren had appeared a few times throughout the game, the brother of the queen of the Awoken, Mara Sov. Now, twisted by madness by a pan-dimensional creature known as Riven, he had turned on the Awoken, seeking to destroy them.
In the depths of the prison the Scorn ambushed Cayde-6, destroying his Ghost, leaving him vulnerable to assasination. In one of the most memorable moments in Destiny 2 Uldren Sov murdered Cayde-6, killing him with his own gun.
What followed was a hunt by the Young Wolf to take down each of the Scorn leaders one by one to draw out Uldren Sov and take revenge once and for all. Eventually the player learned of Riven’s existence, killing both it and Uldren Sov – though it’s not known to this day if it was the player or Petra Venj who finally pulled the trigger on the betrayer.
This storyline ends with a solitary Ghost locating the corpse of Uldren Sov, scanning it much as the player was once scanned at the start of their journey…
Shadowkeep and Beyond
Our story recap ends here. In 2023 it is still possible to play through the Shadowkeep and Beyond Light campaigns to get up to speed with the story, and we would heartily recommend doing so.
Now you should have more of an idea of what to do and how to approach playing Destiny 2 as a new player or as someone who’s bounced off the game before. If you’re looking to pick up Destiny 2, the best place to start would be the Destiny 2 Legacy Collection followed by Destiny 2: The Witch Queen. Finally, if you love what you’ve played, head into Destiny 2: Lightfall coming in 2023 and get ready for what’s next. Eyes up, Guardian, it’s time to head to the stars.
Welcome to our Genshin Impact beginner’s guide. Here we’re going to give you a few tips on what you should and shouldn’t do if you want to get the most out of Genshin Impact. Now, it’s important to note that this is all just advice, because Genshin Impact isn’t all that hard really, so you can ignore this and still have a good time.
However, if you’re here for the power fantasy along with all of the attractive characters, then following our Genshin Impact beginner guide is a surefire way to make sure you wind up pretty darn powerful at the end of the day, no matter which characters you decide to simp for.
Genshin Impact Beginner’s Guide – Top Tips
Do Your Commissions Daily
If you only learn one thing from this guide let it be that you should do your commissions every day. It’s literally free Primogens, which are the premium currency of Genshin Impact. Doing all of your commissions will net you 60 of these rare gems every day. All you need to do is hit Adventure Rank 12 and then do the World Quest called “Every Day a New Adventure,” and you’ll be able to undertake these.
Cough Up For The Blessing Of The Welkin Moon
While we’re talking about earning those Primogens, if you’re wondering what, if any, purchases you should make, then Blessing of the Welkin Moon is actually a good deal. Not only will you get 300 Genesis Crystals up front, which you can turn into Primogens, but you’ll also get 90 Primogens a day for 28 days. If you have this and also do your commissions daily, you’ll be able to do a 10-pull in the wishes every ten days or so.
Use Your Daily Resin
Resin is basically your energy for the day. You don’t need it for story quests or general exploration, but you will if you want to claim rewards from fighting bosses, farming EXP and gold from the Blossom of Revelations and Blossom of Wealth, and farming artifacts and character upgrade materials. Make sure you get the most out of your Resin, because it’s essential for powering up. Also, hit up Liyue and raise your reputation rank to 3 once your Adventure Rank is 25 and you’ll be able to craft Condensed Resin, which halves the amount of time you’ll need to take on some of these tasks.
Do Not Use Your Fragile Resin Until You Are AR 45
As you progress through Genshin Impact, you’ll be given a fair few Fragile Resin items, which grant you an additional 60 Resin. It’s tempting to use this as you need it, but save it until you hit AR 45 instead. This is because up until that point, any artifact farming you can do won’t be as efficient, whereas if you take on the highest difficulty in any artifact domain, you’ll be guaranteed a five-star artifact. Just don’t use them until you need to farm later on in the game. Please.
Explore Everything
Make sure you enjoy the vastness of Genshin Impact and go wherever you want to. There are so many chests, items to find, teleport waypoints to unlock, and side quests to uncover, that exploration is absolutely your friend. You also get given Primogens whenever you open chests and do other things too, so it’s worth your while.
Mark Things On Your Map
If you spot any item that you’re not sure how to get just yet, mark it on your map. The world of Teyvat is mind-bogglingly massive, and you’ll forget if you don’t make the most of the pin system. You’ll eventually want to have found everything there is to find, so make the most of being able to leave yourself reminders to help future you out.
World Quests Will Unlock More World
Quests in Genshin Impact are broken down into different categories. Story Quests are specific to individual characters, Archon Quests are the main storyline, and World Quests usually unlock new areas that you can’t get to yet. Make sure you complete the World Quests when you can, because you’ll often find new bosses for new materials, or any number of other bonus things to farm or explore.
Think About Team Composition
Genshin Impact is all about utilising your whole team. There are an almost infinite number of ways to build your team, but make sure you’re thinking about it. Having two characters of the same element on your team will give you an array of different bonuses for different builds, for example. It’s usually worth having a healer or a shielder on your team to keep you alive, having a character who does most of the damage, and then having the other two characters be ones that compliment your main damage dealer. There aren’t many wrong answers when it comes to how you build your team, but make sure you put some thought into it.
Read What Your Characters Do
Our final point in this Genshin Impact beginner guide is that you should read what your characters do. There are a lot of characters that will benefit more from having HP or Elemental Mastery than just having attack. Min-maxing can help you get the most out of a character, but you need to know which stat you should be chasing. Also, most DPS characters should have a crit rate of around 70% and crit damage of at least double that. There’s a lot of maths going on in the background of each fight, so it can change, but it’s a good rule of thumb.
It can be sometimes easy to forget that shooters weren’t always the sort of bloated budget, cinematic driven and linear offerings that they largely are now. Eschewing such recent genre conceits as regenerating health and sticking to cover like an OCD afflicted barnacle, there has thankfully been a movement of sorts to get ‘boomer’ shooters (well, retro shooters – not a fan of the boomer shooter descriptor, but I’m old so what do you expect?) onto contemporary gaming hardware once more.
Tracking the finest old-fashioned genre entries from DOOM all the way through to Quake, DUSK and Amid Evil, these are the best Boomer Shooters and retro FPS games you can get in 2023.
The Best Boomer Shooters you can play in 2023
Amid Evil
A spiritual successor to Heretic (think DOOM but replace the setting with dark fantasy and buckets of magic and monsters), Amid Evil is a sprawling, non-linear shooter that tasks players with retrieving a bunch of sacred weapons to save the universe, so no pressure. Awash with a range of colour infused vibrant settings in which players must murder their way through an increasingly bizzare legion of cosmic horrors with lightning wands, fireball ejecting staves and more besides, Amid Evil is the sort of furiously stylish throwback to Heretic that we’ve been waiting for.
Blood: Fresh Supply
Thank Crom the lovely folks at Nightdive Studios decided to remaster 90s shooter Blood, because the oft forgotten genre entry is still every bit the hoot now that it was nearly thirty years ago. Putting players into the boots of a vengeful warrior, Blood: Fresh Supply tasks players with taking down a dark cosmic entity known as Tchernobog and clearly the best way to do this is to tear your way through an apparently endless throng of cultists and demons with guns, dynamite and even a pitch fork. Gleefully dark, Blood: Fresh Supply also boasts some wonderfully creative deaths, such as immolating a cultist with a flare gun and watching them run around in a circle whilst they shout that they are, in fact, on fire.
DOOM (Classic)
Rightly regarded as the godfather of the FPS genre, DOOM was the first game to plonk a shotgun and a chainsaw in your hand and send you off to carve up seemingly endless legions of demonic beasties. With a campaign that stretches from Martian moon bases to the depths of Hell itself, ably supported by tremendously smart level design and an increasingly horrific range of monstrous foes to eviscerate, classic DOOM still holds up especially today as a shining example of just how compelling traditional, non-linear FPS design can be.
Self-described as a modern love letter to the likes of Blood, DOOM and Quake, DUSK’s premise is beautifully straightforward. Quite simply, the player is a murderous engine that must eradicate an army of corrupted militants, backwater cultists and cosmic horrors as they attempt to root out an insidious and ancient evil. In truth, such a premise is just a thinly veiled excuse to basically kill everything in sight against the backdrop of a gothic backwater American town and the horrors that lurk beneath. Get DUSK played if you haven’t already.
Duke Nukem 3D
Building upon the violent shenanigans of DOOM with the Build Engine (sorry), Duke Nukem 3D gave the otherwise po-faced first-person shooter genre the sort of outrageous swagger and charisma that it had long craved. Casting players as the titular, attitude stuffed protagonist who comes across as a mixture of Johnny Lawrence and Big Arnie, Duke Nukem 3D freshens up the shopworn repel-the-alien-invasion premise with aplomb. From a glorious dose of humour to some wonderfully wacky weaponry including a shrink-ray that lets players reduce their foes down to mere inches in height before squishing them with a well-placed boot, Duke Nukem 3D arguably deserves as much credit for infusing the FPS genre with personality as id Software’s DOOM does for laying down the fundamentals of its design.
Though it might be a touch reductive to refer to Ion Fury as a female-led Duke Nukem 3D, on initial glance there are certainly more similarities than differences between Ion Fury and 3D Realms classic shooter. Casting players as a silver tongued, gun-toting protagonist and leveraging the same Build Engine that powers Duke Nukem 3D, Ion Fury arguably pulls off some flattering mimicry to the escapades of Señor Nukem. However, developer Voidpoint goes a step further with Ion Fury in a number of ways. Not only presenting its blissfully violent shooter delights in a neat cyberpunk setting, Ion Fury also pushes what the Build Engine was capable of with locational damage and seamless level transitions too.
Look, Powerslave Exhumed is basically brilliant alright? Whisking players off into the dusty Egyptian desert to deal with an invading alien force that has resurrected and corrupted the legendary monsters and deities of Egyptian mythology, Powerslave Exhumed is much more than a retro FPS with a spicy location. In addition to having players lay waste to their enemies with a mixture of conventional and magical weaponry, Powerlsave Exhumed also dabbles a bit in the Metroidvania side of things, requiring players to scoop up valuable trinkets that will permit them entry to previously inaccessible locations. See? Told you.
Prodeus
Marrying the compellingly grungy veneer of older first-person shooters with recent advances in rendering technology, Prodeus is something of a unique prospect to say the least. Boasting a dark sci-fi campaign that takes in all manner of alien planets, derelict ship husks and abandoned tech bases, Prodeus massively enhances the notion of classic boomer shooters with highly detailed, full three-dimensional environments, a range of hugely satisfying weaponry and some gnarly gore effects work that quite literally allow the player to splatter enemy innards across walls, floors and ceilings.
Quake
With the foot-tapping thrum of its Trent Reznor scored soundtrack complimenting the bloody on-screen carnage, fully three-dimensional worlds stuffed with danger at every turn and nightmare inducing Eldritch terrors, Quake was every bit the sort of quantum leap the FPS genre needed when it originally released back in 1996. Seeing something of a resurgence thanks to its recent remaster, console release and ray-tracing upgrade, Quake has long felt like the true heir apparent to DOOM’s throne as the godfather of the genre, even though somewhat sadly, it only enjoys a mere fraction of its fame and recognition.
Taking the Star Wars setting and embedding it in a DOOM style first-person shooter template seems like such an obvious thing to do in retrospect, yet it didn’t seem that way back in 1995. As cult Star Wars hero Kyle Katarn, players must blast their way through the interiors of Star Destroyers, Imperial bases, research labs and more as they seek to shutdown an experimental program to create the Dark Trooper – a new breed of Stormtrooper that can actually shoot and hit things. With its solid level design and evocative Star Wars setting, I’m utterly baffled why the House of Mouse hasn’t commissioned a shiny remaster for this gem.
What are the best horror games in 2023? We’re not talking about the best horror games that have come out this year, but the best ones to date. With gaming having a 1,000-year history, it can be hard to know what games are currently standing atop the mountain of contenders and shouting “Yo, I’m the scariest game; look at me!”
The other issue is more complicated: different people think different things are scary. While some people may view the idea of having an office job as the one true horror, most people are more scared by demons and being hunted and stuff. We’ve stuck with the latter for a slightly easier to parse list. If your horror is one caused by living in a capitalist dystopia then, well, you could always move to the UK. On the other hand if what you’re looking for is monsters and uncomfortable brain itches then we’ve got you covered.
Best Horror Games 2023
It’s worth noting that if you want a more action-packed horror game, you could do a lot worse than the likes of Elden Ring and Bloodborne. While Bloodborne is an obvious choice, you can quite easily end up a little too powerful for it to be a horror game, at least for some. Elden Ring is similar, but it’s not as obviously horror.
The horror in Elden Ring is less in your face, with the world being so beautiful to run around, but you only have to pay attention to the grafted enemies, the terrifyingly warped Caelid dogs and birds, and the shivering Two Fingers to start to realise that everything in that world could be turned into a horror game antagonist with ease.
Westworld Awakening
Let’s kick things off with a game many might not have had the chance to play, but absolutely should if they’ve got a VR headset. Westworld Awakening is set in the same universe as the Westworld show, and puts you in the shoes of a host called Kate. Kate has started to gain self-awareness, and isn’t happy about the role she has to play.
That’s because her role is to be constantly murdered by Hank, a hulking host who introduces himself to you by holding your head and stabbing you in the face. Keep in mind this is in VR, so it’s especially haunting. You then get to spend the rest of the game trying to find out why things are like this, and to try and escape the horrible circumstances.
Resident Evil Village
This spot is kind of a toss-up between Resident Evil 7 and Village. In the end, the thing that clinches it for Village, at least in our eyes, is the whole doll section, and also the fact that you’re *SPOILERS* hunting for your daughter’s still living body parts.
Resident Evil Village is a truly absurd game with a cast of villains chasing you, a constant stream of nightmares waiting for you around every corner, and just a deeply messed up core plot. It can feel a little too actiony for some fans, but it’s still a very solid horror game.
If you like your horror to be a bit more existential in nature, then good news, SOMA is here to really mess you up. This first-person horror game is set on an underwater facility called PAHTOS-II, and has you running around with no radio, little food, and surrounded by robots that have all begun to believe they’re human.
It’s a boiling pot of disturbing circumstances that’ll leave you fearing every small sound, constantly questioning whether or not what you’re doing is right, and probably screaming every now and then too. Also, you can’t fight here, so don’t expect an action movie ending.
Layers of Fear
Nothing is more deeply unsettling than the idea of having a creative job. Do you really want to have to find inspiration every day? Layers of Fear has you playing as a painter who is desperate to finish their Magnum Opus. The only issue is, the whole thing is driving you out of your mind, and you’re beginning to wonder if this strange Victorian mansion is the best place for you.
Layers of Fear is an especially entertaining horror game because it’s constantly playing with you as the player. Images will flicker constantly, the house will move and shift, and you’ll constantly doubt your own experiences with the game as you play.
Outlast lets you live out the most horrifying role of all, that of a journalist. You play as Miles Upshur, and your job is to explore and investigate the Mount Massive Asylum. While it’s not an especially original setting, the way the horror plays out, and the personal nature of much of it, make this game deeply unpleasant.
You’ll need to navigate through the world while being constantly hunted by beings you can’t harm. Plus, the game takes things a little further by taking inspiration from real cases of criminal insanity and real asylums.
The Quarry is the newest entry on our list, and takes place in a summer camp. Again, not an original setting, but boy oh boy is it scary. It takes inspiration from a variety of different sources, and lets you guide the characters in it down different paths and different horrors as you do so.
This game’s horror is deeply tied to how much it makes you like the characters in it. It’s also an excellent game to play with other people as you all try and decide which paths to take to try and keep people alive.
The best Steam Deck games for 2023 are the ones that are either perfectly suited to gaming on the go, or the ones that naturally break themselves down into short chunks. The Steam Deck is undoubtedly one of the coolest new consoles around, and the ability to take your undoubtedly bloated backlog with you to work, bed, and the toilet, is inspired.
Picture this though, you’ve just got your Steam Deck, opened it up, and you’re excited to dive in. You open up the library and start looking for things to install. Oh no, there are so many games; you start adding up how much you’ve spent on games you’ve never even played and you spiral. You’re in the shower crying now while the Steam Deck angrily whirs at you, unused, unloved, unplayed. You can avoid that by just installing the best Steam Deck games as per our list.
The Best Steam Deck games for 2023
We’ve gone for a mix of different games here that will help you out no matter the mood. It’s also mostly indie games because AAA games have had their chance, and also the term indie game is becoming increasingly murky anyway. Look, just read the list.
Vampire Survivors
Vampire Survivors is a damn-near-perfect game. You don’t attack in it, the only buttons you need are to move, and then you just get to collect power-ups until you’ve ascended into a bullet hell boss and then you can basically walk away and let the game play itself. The only issue with it is it takes up a lot of focus on a PC, and frankly, it’s a great game to play while watching TV or something.
The reason it’s one of the best Steam Deck games is because this issue is completely solved. You can just chill on the sofa cutting down thousands of monsters while watching your favourite TV show, streamer, or anime. It’s a dream, and the only possible way to improve on the original Vampire Survivors experience.
Retroarch
If you happen to own a lot of retro game files through legal means then you’ll want Retroarch on your Steam Deck. It essentially acts as a hug for every emulator out there, and it means you can play all of the old-school games from nearly every possible generation, console, and handheld on your Steam Deck.
It’s rather awe-inspiring to see it in action. As long as you own the game files legally, you’ll be able to dive through time and play around in whatever time period you want and relive the days of your youth, or if you’re young, the days before you were born.
Elden Ring
Elden Ring is undoubtedly one of the greatest games of all time. It takes the classic FromSoftware formula, mixes in all of the glorious experimentation from Dark Souls 2, and then perfects it and yeets it into a massive open world.
Now, you might think that being an open world means it’s a poor choice. If you are thinking that, you’re a fool. Sorry, you’re not a fool. Elden Ring’s open world can be broken down into chunks, and getting into a dungeon or two as you’re playing on your Steam Deck is a perfect catharsis and compliment to also playing the game on your PC.
Stardew Valley is probably the pinnacle of the farming sim genre. Games might do individual things better than this title, but they rarely come close to matching the whole package. In handheld form on Switch it was good, but on Steam Deck where you can play the same save as on your PC, it’s truly glorious.
The story is simple; you inherit a farm from a relative, move out of the city to the middle of nowhere, then give the pixelated person you love random bits of farm produce until they love you back and you get married. Also, there are monsters and some magic sometimes. Just play it.
Terraria
Terraria is a titan. A lot of people still mistake it for being a 2D take on Minecraft, but those people are wrong and should be made to play Terraria, because it’s superior in a lot of ways. While you do still get to dig and build things, Terraria is a little more combat-focussed.
You create a character, and then work your way through a bevy of bosses as you upgrade your armour, search for lost weapons in hell or on sky islands, and eventually become so powerful that you defeat the game’s take on Cthulhu.
Hades
Roguelikes are a perfect fit for the Steam Deck, and Hades is one of the best roguelikes in existence. This combat-heavy action game has you playing as Zagreus, the son of Hades, as he tries to escape Hades and break out onto the surface.
The action is more fluid than the stuff that comes out of your taps, the artwork is stunning, the replayability is unending, and everyone is hot. What more could you possibly want from one of the best Steam Deck games?
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Finally, we have Divinity: Original Sin 2. This is a horribly large CRPG that has you trying to ascend to godhood as a range of different pre-made or custom characters. The story is a constant joy, but the combat is often what keeps people hooked.
Elemental interactions and reactions are key here, and you can do things like making it rain to moisten the floor, zap that water to stun your enemies, and then turn that water to poison to finish them off. It’s wonderful, and the turn-based nature fits perfectly on the Steam Deck.
If you’re just diving into the world of Teyvat in Genshin Impact, then you’re probably just enjoying being able to climb on things and glide around. At some point though, you’ll need to start thinking about how to build a team in Genshin Impact, and it’s not something that the game does a great job of explaining to players.
Before we dive into this, it’s worth familiarising yourself with the different roles in Genshin Impact, because knowing what you want each character on your team to do is a huge boon when building your perfect team. With that out of the way, let’s get stuck into our guide on how to build a team in Genshin Impact.
How to build a team in Genshin Impact
Ultimately, you can absolutely just plonk four characters together and call it a day, but it probably won’t work all that well. Instead, the most common thing you’ll want to do is have one Main DPS, two Sup DPS characters or offensive supports, and a single defensive support character.
An example team of this for early players could be something like Razor, Xiangling, Xingqiu, and Barbara. Razor here will be dealing a lot of physical damage and the odd bit of Electro damage as well. Both Xingqiu and Xiangling have bursts that deal incredible damage even when they’re off-field, and the two will react to each other for even larger numbers, and then Barbara is there to cast her healing abilities when needed.
Another thing you’ll need to consider when building a team is your elemental resonance and potential reactions. In the previous team, you have two Hydro characters which boosts everyone’s health substantially, but you’ve also got a lot of Hydro application and Xiangling’s Pyro burst. These two will create vaporize reactions which amplify the damage of either the hydro attacks or the pyro ones.
A lot of teams will have this kind of setup, but not all of them. Take Taser teams for example, which are built around the interaction between Electro and Hydro, which causes Electro-Charged which deals extra damage over time to everything affected by it. You can build a team like this with a combination of Hydro and Electro characters, but you can also throw in an Anemo character with the Viridescent Venerer set to help boost the damage.
A Taser team could be made up of Sucrose as your driver/Main DPS, Xingqiu for your Hydro damage as well as a little bit of a defensive boost and some light healing, Fischl for a lot of Electro damage and energy generation, and Beidou for more Electro damage and a shield to boot. You could also build this team with Heizou as the driver, or have someone like Venti or Kazuha playing the support role while you use a catalyst user like Kokomi or Yae Miko as the driver.
These teams still have a character you’ll be mostly controlling and a mix of Sub DPS and support characters, but it changes slightly depending on your own preferences and what you’re aiming to do. You can also build a team around a single damage dealer, which is generally referred to as a hypercarry.
There are a few different potential hypercarries in the game: Wanderer, Itto, Xiao, and Cyno are all strong examples. These teams tend to forego a Sub DPS character in favour of just having three supports, all of which are aimed at making your Main DPS as powerful as possible. Taking Wanderer as an example, you can run him with Faruzan as an enemy debuffer and to buff Wanderer, Bennet or Yun Jin to help boost your attack power or the damage of your normal attacks, and Zhongli or Thoma to help generate a shield to protect him from interruption and keep your health up.
A hypercarry team is generally a little bit easier to build and play because you know that all you need to do is make sure your supports have used their bursts and skills, and then switch to your Main DPS and just hit things until everything is dead. However, they can also be a little inflexible due to the rigid nature of the Main DPS.
With all of that in mind, most teams will consist of a Main DPS, two Sub DPS characters, and one defensive support character. You can swap out a Sub DPS for an offensive support if you want, but knowing what roles you need filling and which characters on your team should be doing what is a huge boon when you get to more challenging content.
Genshin Impact is a surprisingly in-depth action game and one that doesn’t do a particularly good job of explaining some really important systems within it. If you’re just getting started in Genshin Impact, you might be wondering what on Teyvat roles are, and how they impact trying to build a team in the game.
It can be tough to know how to put your teams together, but before you even start to figure out which characters go where, it’s worth understanding the different roles that characters can fill in any given team. So, to help you help yourself, we’ve gone ahead and written down what there is to know about roles in Genshin Impact.
What are roles in Genshin Impact?
Roles are basically things that each character can be slotted into. There are lots of different ways to build a team in Genshin Impact, and you can 100% just smush your favourite characters together and hope for the best, but it definitely helps if you understand what the different building blocks should be.
It’s worth noting that a lot of characters can fit into different roles depending on how you use them along with both the weapons and artifacts you’re using on them. We’ll be naming some characters for each role here to help give you an idea, but because Genshin Impact isn’t normally that hard, everything’s pretty flexible here.
What is a Main DPS in Genshin Impact?
Example characters: Wanderer, Hu Tao, Eula, Cyno
A Main DPS is a character that you’ll be relying on for most of your damage in any given team. This is usually going to be a character who can deal big damage either without support, like Eula, or thanks to elemental reactions, like Hu Tao. These characters tend to have good multipliers on their attack talents, and are usually easy to build with no dual-scaling to worry about. That means you just need to pump up their attacks and make sure they have a decent crit rate (60+) and crit damage (as high as you can manage) split.
Main DPS also sort of covers characters who are considered drivers for elemental reactions. Characters fit into this role in teams that rely heavily on having a lot of elemental reactions like the combination of Electro and Hydro. Heizou, Sucrose, and even Tartaglia can fit into this role well because, along with doing solid damage on their own, they also have elementally-infused basic attacks that help reaction constantly go off.
What is a Sub DPS in Genshin Impact?
Example characters: Nahida, Xingqiu, Xiangling, Fischl
A Sub DPS is generally a little trickier, but the easiest way to think about it is as a character that doesn’t have to be on-field to deal their damage. A Main DPS is a character you’ll be controlling the most, most of the time, while a Sub DPS tends to be a character you change into just to use their elemental skill and elemental burst, and then go back to your Main DPS again. The greatest examples of this role are both completely free in Xiangling and Xingqiu, both of whom deal exceptional damage with their bursts and require very little time on field to do so.
What is a Support in Genshin Impact?
Example characters: Bennet, Zhongli, Barbara, Kokomi, Kuki
Finally we have support characters, which is probably the largest category, and also the murkiest. Generally speaking, you can split supports into offensive, like Bennet and Yun Jin who boost your attacks, and defensive, like Zhongli and Kokomi, who either shield you or heal you. Supports are possibly the most important characters in the game because they’ll allow you to unleash monstrous damage and also keep you alive.
It’s generally a lot easier to think of supports in their different categories to keep things simpler though. Shielders and healers do largely the same thing, namely keeping you alive, while offensive supports do something specific that helps your Main DPS improve their damage output. The latter includes general supports who might give attack buffs, along with more specific characters who buff a single element like Sara or Faruzan.
You’ll generally want to have at least one defensive support on any given team, but a lot of teams will also have an offensive support or two, depending on the style of Main DPS you have. For example, a character like Wanderer, who has a somewhat selfish playstyle, can be played with three support characters to maximise his own damage.
The holidays are a time for food, drink, cheer, meeting up with folks and then soundly beating them into a festive paste at your favourite game. So with that in mind and in the spirit of festive, yet competitive, holiday cheer, here are the best local co-op games and best split screen games that you can play during the holidays.
A Way Out
One of the most entertaining co-op and split screen games you can play, A Way Out has players taking on the role of one of two imprisoned convicts who must make a daring escape together in order to leave their past lives behind. A well designed mixture of third-person combat, exploration and collaborative puzzle solving that evokes influences from both Prison Break and the Kane & Lynch games, A Way Out is quite simply an essential co-op game to play during the holidays.
Borderlands 3
A vast first-person looter shooter adventure that combines classic face shooting action with RPG style levelling mechanics, a wicked sense of humour and enough guns and loot to cover the Earth, Borderlands 3 is the sort of meaty, hundreds of hours long offering that will take you and your mates through the holiday period and far beyond. Want to blast various aliens and robots on a far off planet with a friend, while earning a ton of loot and maybe saving the universe in the process? Then Borderlands 3 is absolutely your huckleberry. Just note that on PC there’s no local coop, but console players can team up in the same place with no problem.
Escape Academy takes the concept of co-operative escape rooms and absolutely runs through the nearest wall with it. Taking place under the auspices of the titular Escape Academy, players must work together to solve all manner of logical and tricky conundrums as they attempt to graduate from the academy with honours. Whimsical, deeply clever and a whole heap of fun, Escape Academy is an easy recommendation for anyone looking to tax the old grey matter over the festive period.
One of the most popular games ever, the free to play phenomenon that is Fortnite combines frantic construction mechanics and superlative third-person shooting action to grand effect, while the frequent heavyweight Hollywood and gaming crossovers that it often showcases help to secure its mainstream appeal yet further still. An ultimately well constructed battle royale shooter that is easy for all ages to play, Fortnite also boasts split screen support, making it a great choice for players both old and young to hop into the action together over the holidays without dropping a penny.
It Takes Two
The next title from Hazelight, the same studio that brought us the rather excellent jailbreak co-op yarn A Way Out, It Takes Two is a simply delightful co-operative odyssey that casts players as two quarrelling parents that have been turned into diminutive toy dolls thanks to a wayward magic spell. Forced to find their way back into the house and to the embrace of their worried children, It Takes Two expertly melds platforming and collaborative puzzle solving all the while masterfully blending in comic relief, tenderness and melancholy to create an unforgettable experience. A beautifully wholesome and thoroughly enjoyable effort that challenges and entertains in equal measure, It Takes Two will have players grinning from ear to ear all through the holidays as they attempt to consolidate their platforming and problem solving skills to make their way through its incredible journey. It Takes Two is one of the best co-op games ever made. It’s as simple as that.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
The various LEGO licensed titles that have emerged over the years have proven to be reliably enjoyable local co-op experiences and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is no exception. Encompassing all of the key events and characters from all nine mainline Star Wars movies, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a third-person action adventure that not only blends platforming and shooter genres with aplomb, but also allows players to play out various legendary events from the Star Wars saga in all new ways. Stuffed with cheeky humour and boasting somewhere in the region of 300 playable characters, over 100 vehicles, and 23 planets for players to explore, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is value stuffed and often chuckle worthy co-operative adventure that everybody can enjoy.
Moving out is one of the most stressful things you can do in real life and for good reason. All that ordering folks about, making sure everything is packed in the right boxes and ensuring the furniture is slotted in precisely the right place can be super draining. Moving Out not only takes the sting out of the whole enterprise with its whimsical presentation and characters, but it also distils everything down to a series of digestible micro activities, tasking players to work together in order to shift various bits of furniture into different properties against increasingly challenging time limits. Moving Out is a simple, yet toweringly fun local co-op game that is perfectly suited for repeat play over the holiday season.
Similar to Moving Out, Overcooked! All You Can Eat takes a seemingly mundane vocation and spins it into an essential local co-op multiplayer offering. Overcooked! All You Can Eat tasks players with running around and serving meals to customers across a number of increasingly troublesome environments, from on top of two moving vehicles to a tilting iceberg, the tip of a volcano and more besides. It’s in the nitty gritty of Overcooked! All You Can Eat that the game really shines however, as players must work together to compose a rapidly changing menu of meal requests all the while ensuring that the ingredients are chopped, the food isn’t burnt and other hazards, such as rats, kitchen fires and more, are effectively dealt with. A fast and furious compilation of both Overcooked! games, Overcooked! All You Can Eat is essentially a fast-paced micromanagement simulator in disguise that requires all players to have near perfect timing and coordination. There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction that you get from nailing a perfect three star rating in a particularly difficult stage and for that alone, Overcooked! All You Can Eat confidently stakes its place as a thoroughly excellent local co-op game to play with your nearest and dearest.
A bewitching platforming adventure, Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince takes players on a fairy tale adventure as they attempt to release a mystical land from the nightmares of the titular regent. Supporting local co-op play for up to four players, Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince provides three very different characters, a ranger, warrior and wizard, for wannabe heroes to take control of. Much more than cosmetically different, each of the three characters has their own unique abilities which must be used in synergy with the abilities of the other heroes in order to win the day. With its painterly visuals, in-depth skill trees and innovative conundrums, Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is a must-have local co-op title for everyone over the holidays looking to take a trip into a mystical fairy tale realm.
Adding a co-operative dimension to the superb platformer Unravel, Unravel Two puts players in the wolly shoes of two Yarnys, effigies made of twine and wool as they traverse across a seemingly abandoned household and relive the memories of the family that dwelled there. Unravel Two not only brings back the platforming puzzle solving shenanigans of the first game, but the added element of cooperative play now means that the various puzzles demand a team working approach that the first game sorely lacked. Clever, visually attractive and deeply melancholic, Unravel Two isn’t the cheeriest local co-op game that you’ll play this holiday season, but is among the most highly recommended.
With Avatar: The Way of Water seemingly poised to break all manner of records after its theatrical release on December 16, 2022, attention is swiftly turning to Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, an impressively ambitious video game adaptation of the franchise developed and published by Ubisoft that looks set to thrust players into its titular alien world.
Be sure to keep this guide in your favourites as we go through everything you need to know about Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora including the release date, platforms, gameplay details, story details, latest trailer and more.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora Release Date, Platforms – When And Where Can I Play It?
The Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora release date has not been announced as of this writing, but a mid to late 2023 release would seem like a good bet at this stage. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will be receiving a full release on PC via the Epic Games Store and the Ubisoft Store, as well as PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Amazon Luna platforms. As of this writing, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is currently not slated to release on Nintendo Switch or the last generation PS4 and Xbox One console platforms.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora – What’s It All About?
A frankly gargantuan project that is a joint creative venture between Disney, Lightstorm Entertainment, The Division developer Massive Entertainment, Ubisoft Düsseldorf and Ubisoft Shanghai, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a first-person perspective, open world adventure that puts players in full control of a Na’vi warrior as they explore the previously unseen expanse of Western Pandora and attempt to beat back the aggressive RDA legions.
With sky high production values and a focus on epic open world adventure, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a world away from James Cameron’s Avatar The Game, Ubisoft’s previously risible attempt at re-creating the extremely popular movie franchise in video game form. The involvement of Massive Entertainment as the primary developer is much more than it seems too, as the Swedish studio will bring the latest iteration of its Snowdrop Engine (currently used in The Division games) to bear in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
Will Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora Follow The Events Of The Films?
Though Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora takes place in the same world as the multi-billion dollar grossing movies, the story that it will tell will be entirely new and while players can expect similar themes and worldly elements to be touched upon, they should also expect all new characters, creatures and events to be introduced as well. After all, none of the Avatar movies to date have depicted the setting of the Western Frontier and so Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has a lot of fertile ground to work with when it comes to crafting a fresh and all-new narrative set within the parameters of the Avatar universe.
This Is Why Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora Will Only Release On Current Generation Hardware
From a new micro-detail system that allows an obscene level of fidelity, through to cutting edge shaders, real-time ray tracing and dynamic weather, it’s easy to see why Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora targets current generation consoles and high end PC specifications. Much more than just a bunch of visual wizardry for the sake of it, the latest iteration of the Snowdrop Engine also allows Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora to render stunning bioluminescent scenes where the Pandoran forests and wilderness explode into life during the twilight hours with a range of vibrant lighting and shadow effects that could only be made possible by ray tracing technology.
Additionally, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora also boasts extremely long draw distances and a special volumetric fog system that provides the sort of endless horizon and deep valleys that one would expect when soaring through the sky on the back of a Banshee (more on that in a bit). Quite simply for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora to be even remotely playable on the PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch consoles, so many technical cutbacks would need to be made that it would essentially render the game unrecognisable.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora Gameplay – How Does It Play?
A first-person, open world adventure, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has players taking on the role of a Na’vi warrior as they navigate the environment, speaking to NPCs, taking on quests and more broadly pushing back the encroaching RDA forces as they greedily seek to extract the precious ore, unobtanium, from the soil of Pandora at any cost. Embracing a heady mix of ranged and melee combat, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora also allows players to soar across the expanse of Western Pandora atop a fearsome Banshee, swooping down through the valleys and striking out at both ground and airbourne foes. When you’re not smashing up the grunts of the RDA and their various high-tech machines, you’ll be spending your time exploring the frontier of Western Pandora, uncovering mysterious new flora and fauna, as well as the deeply held secrets of the Na’vi race and the planet itself.
How Events And The Time Of Day Provide A Dynamic Experience
Much more than some identikit open world adventure, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora integrates a number of neat features to keep the experience both dynamic and interesting at the same time. With a world brimming with so much life and purpose as Pandora, it should perhaps come as little surprise that the various NPCs and other denizens of the Western Frontier will react to you differently based on the state of the world as a result of your actions, overall player progression and even the time of day, with some quest lines, NPCs and creatures only manifesting when the sun sets. Certainly then with such features embedded in its design, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora would seem to be closer to the likes of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim than the typical open world efforts that we would often come to expect.
Where Can I Watch The Latest Trailer For Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora?
As of this writing, the latest trailer for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a special behind the scenes video that zeroes in on the impressive Snowdrop technology that serves as the technical bedrock for the game. You can watch the latest trailer for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora above.
The holiday season is upon us and we’re celebrating in the only way we know how. That’s right, with tons of gaming deals as part of our Holiday Sale 2022.
We’ve filled our store with festive cheer and savings that’ll brighten up this holiday season, bringing you some of the biggest and best games around at prices you won’t believe. This is the season to be merry and we’re sure you’ll be all even more merry with some PC gaming deals under your tree.
Throughout our sale new publishers and games will be hopping on board, so come with us as we take a jingling look at our Holiday Sale 2022 and let you know when your favourite games will be on sale.
Here’s the publishers you can expect to see brilliant deals for right from the start:
2K Games
Rockstar Games
Private Division
Bungie
Warner Bros.
Paradox
Team 17
Sunday 18th December
From Sunday Bandai Namco will bringing their games to the party, so if you’ve been waiting for that Bandai Namco deal all year – this is your chance to grab something good.
Monday 19th December
Plug-In Digital joins the sale on Monday the 19th, but they’re not the only ones joining our sale. You’ll also be able to save big on LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and Gotham Knights, helping you grab that perfect holiday game.
Wednesday 21st December
Wednesday is Capcom Day, when you’ll be able to get your hands on Capcom’s roster of prize-fighting smash hits all for less. If you’re a Capcom fan, put the 21st of December in your diary.
Thursday 22nd December
The 22nd is probably the biggest day for our Holiday Sale 2022. This is when some of the heaviest hitters will be slamming into our sale, helping you get much more gaming goodness for much less money. Along with Bethesda, Ubisoft, and Freedom Games there’ll be brilliant savings on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge as well as some surprise savings appearing this day.
So if nothing else, remember the 22nd of December and head back to our store for some truly world beating savings.
Friday 23rd December
Finally as we approach the big holiday day itself, Arc System Works climbs aboard our sales train speeding full on towards amazing deals. If you’ve been looking to go head to head with some of their stunningly powerful lineup, the 23rd is your chance.
Now you know when publishers will be appearing in our Holiday Sale but that’s only part of the story. There are thousands of games in our sale, meaning you’re sure to find your next favourite game for less. So we recommend that right now you stop reading this blog article and head over to our Holiday Sale and grab a game today – you won’t regret it.
Kainga: Seeds of Civilization is a game that’s done Early Access right.
From its initial launch way back in November 2021 to the release in December 2022, it has built on its solid foundations to deliver on the promise of a rogue-lite village builder dripping in beautiful visuals and immense amounts of charm.
In Kainga you take direct control over a Thinker, leader and heart of a budding tribe of villagers. You’ll shepherd them, plan your village, think up new technologies, harvest resources, and defend yourself against other tribes, adverse weather conditions, and gigantic fauna. It’s a game where you’ll try, try, and try again with new tactics, different maps, and Thinkers that each have unique ways to play.
Solo developer Erik Rempen has spent the year refining his vision for Kainga, taking on fan feedback and building something new that plays in entirely unique ways. With the game launching into its full release we thought it was the perfect time to look back at some of the many updates Erik has developed over the last year and look at the colossal journey that Kainga has been on.
Kainga Enters Early Access
Kainga launched into Early Access on November the 11th, 2021, already brimming with content. Beautiful levels like The Pebbles archipelago or the windswept Flatlands were already available, giving players stunning areas to build their first villages in.
The game’s huge fauna also saw inclusion with many wild and wonderful beasts walking Kainga’s fertile grounds. Already, even at this early stage, it was possible to see the shape of Kainga forming and play many happy hours of village building fun. But there was more to come – much more.
Trade and Travel Update
The first big post-Early Access update was titled ‘Trade and Travel’ – this massive slice of content dropped in February of 2022. Key amongst this update’s many new features was the inclusion of a brand new savannah map titled ‘The Edges’, a new Thinker named Ajowan, and an entirely new trading mechanic.
The Trade and Travel update helped deepen Kainga’s systems, allowing greater interplay between your village and the AI controlled villages. Trade, more frequent skirmishes, and more was suddenly made possible, helping round out the Kainga experience.
Inventions Update
The Inventions update brought with it a ton of new stuff for Kainga. A new map, as is tradition, saw players take to the heights of The Towers. The Firebird creature emerged to take to the skies, new festivals provided much-needed boosts to productivity and more, and loads of quality of life improvements made Kainga feel better to play.
The main focus of this update, however, was new technologies. From house types to balloons, tech got a big upgrade in April 2022. A brand new Synergy System even saw technology evolve into unique and never-before seen things, helping your Thinker and your villagers get their hands on more, more, more!
Clothing and Stone Update
Even though it was July, the Clothing and Stone update introduced a touch of frost to the beautiful world of Kainga. The Ice Ridge map didn’t just take us to a frostier climate, it gave the game a brand new snow system too.
How do you deal with the cold? Clothing of course. New clothing, looks, hats, and even weapons made Kainga’s villagers sturdier and more dangerous, helping them survive in even the most hostile of climates. A twinned Thinker also appeared, providing a brand new way to experience the game, and stone as a resource arrived in the lands of Kainga.
Skyloft Update
Kainga isn’t just about striving against adversity, sometimes you need a moment of downtime too. Enter the Skyloft, an area where Thinkers can discuss their challenges and take a moment in-between maps to plan what’s next.
In addition to the Skyloft, this update brought a raft of new features to the game. A new night event, even more technologies, a new challenge, and even the undead began to rise in November of 2022. By this point, Kainga was circling its full launch with the release date being announced just as this update hit – so we’re getting very close to seeing the final shape of the game.
Full Release Update
Version 1.0 of Kainga launched on December 6, 2022 and with that came a colossal collection of updates. Most updates saw the game get one map but with the full release two massive new maps, Greenleaf and Darkwood, became playable for the first time.
That’s not all, two new Thinkers – Galanga and Serrano – join the game, with the former specialising in beasts and the latter being able to use powerful resurrection skills. And even that’s not all as there’s new combat units, AI improvements, more languages for localisation, and over 40 new technologies added to the game.
All this means that Kainga: Seeds of Civilization is a game that’ll provide nearly endless ways to approach its multiple maps, testing your village-building skills and ensuring you never play the same game twice.
Black Friday is a name etched into every gamers’ brain. A day when deals appear on every gaming site, when the price of gaming is slashed meaning your money suddenly goes a lot further. Black Friday 2022 is no different and here at Green Man Gaming we’re making sure that you get a colossal cavalcade of gaming goodness filled with historical lows on some of the biggest games ever.
Every 24 hours there’ll be a new Star Deal that’ll give you limited time to get the best possible deal on a game. In addition to those limited time offers there’ll be new publishers joining our sale throughout.
Here’s who’s joining and when so you can make sure you get the best deal on the game you’ve been waiting for. Let’s go!
Green Man Gaming Black Friday Deals Schedule 2022
14th November
2K Games
On the first day of Black Friday we’ve got a bumper crop of 2K Games for you with incredible offers on their games. If you’ve been waiting for the ideal deal on Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Civilization VI, The Quarry, NBA 2K23 and more – this is your chance.
You know who Rockstar are. One of the biggest names in gaming, they’ve hopped on board our Black Friday sale to get you the biggest games in the world at truly brilliant prices. The Wild West has never been so attractive as it is in Red Dead Redemption 2 and when you check it out in our Black Friday sale, it’s even more attractive.
Our friends at Private Division publish some of the most unique games out there. Games like OlliOlli World, a skateboarding action-platformer with an artstyle bursting with life and gameplay to match. Right from the start of our Black Friday sale you’ll be able to get your hands on Private Division games for less so check them out now.
THQ Nordic have a ton of amazing games under their wing and in our sale you’ll be able to get some of the all-time-greatest deals on them. From Destroy all Humans 2: Reprobed to Way of the Hunter by way of The Valiant, these prices have never been so low.
You may know Frontier Developments from their work on Elite but they’ve become so much more. They bring you in-depth simulations like Planet Zoo and F1 Manager 2022 as well as meditative platformers like FAR: Changing Tides and tactical RPGS like Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters. Check out our deals on all these and more over in our Frontier section.
The Pathfinder series published by META has become one of the most interesting and solid RPG series on PC. Now, in our Black Friday Sale, you can save on Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous which will see you become immersed in role playing goodness for the foreseeable future.
If you’re looking for brilliant all time low prices on Aspyr games then you’ve come to the right place. Brilliant games including InnerSpace, Torn, and Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse all have super low prices, meaning you can get your Aspyr fix for less.
If you’ve ever wanted a game to immerse yourself in for many hours, Ubisoft are the purveyors of hits that’ll scratch that itch and they’re bringing them to our Black Friday Sale. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6, Riders Republic, and more are all going to have their prices slashed on the 17th so check back for some amazing deals.
One of the biggest names in gaming is Bethesda who have grown to publish some of the most acclaimed games in existence. So if you want to save on Deathloop, DOOM Eternal, Skyrim, Ghostwire Tokyo and more, the 18th is your day to start saving.
On the 18th the mighty Bandai Namco juggernaut is joining our sale with lashings of Black Friday deals for you. We’ve got JRPG smashes like Tales of Arise, dogfights in the skies with Ace Combat 7, beloved names like DragonBall, Digimon, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and so much more. If anime or JRPGs are your thing, this is the day you need to check out our store.
Over the last few years Warner Bros. Games have gone strength to strength. Bringing us the amazing Batman Arkham series, the gleeful LEGO games, the brutal Mortal Kombat series, and recently Back 4 Blood. All of these are getting huge discounts in our Black Friday Sale so come back on the 19th to have your Warner Bros. dreams come true.
One of the stalwarts of the gaming world, Capcom joins our Black Friday Sale on the 22nd bringing along with them world-class deals on the Resident Evil 2 Remake, Monster Hunter Rise, Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins Resurrection, and so much more. Capcom brings their A-game to every sale, and this is no exception.
With God of War and Marvel’s Spider Man: Remastered, Sony have created two absolute blockbuster games that deserve all the praise in the world. That’s why we’ve slashed the prices on both of these games and brought them into our sale, helping you get the best of gaming for less.
Destiny 2 is a game that goes from strength to strength with the recent Witch Queen expansion being hailed as the game operating on all cylinders. That’s why we’re proud to be able to offer it for less in our Black Friday Sale, so if you’re not up to date or you want to try Destiny 2 for the first time – check our store on the 22nd.
It feels like 2022 has been Square Enix’s year and with this roster of games all at low prices in our sale, it’s easy to see why. Shop our sale on the 22nd to get amazing Black Friday deals on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Outriders Worldslayer, Triangle Strategy, The DioField Chronicle, and so – so – much more.
Of course those aren’t all the deals in our Black Friday Sale, we’ve simply got too many to mention. So head over to our sale page now and browse for the perfect deal for you. Black Friday only comes once a year, make it a good one. You can even get the chance to win a 2022 games bundle or a subscription to GeForce Now – here’s how you can take part.
If you’re new to the world of little bearded dudes, then you’ll likely be in the market for a Dwarf Fortress beginner’s guide. Thankfully, we’ve got some tips for you that’ll help you find your feet in this magnificent beast of a game. It’s not a huge secret that Dwarf Fortress is kind of hard to wrangle, and while it’s definitely gotten easier to deal with in recent years, it’s still a complicated affair.
Thankfully, there are loads of resources out there to help you, of which we are but one, and we’re going to give you some Dwarf Fortress tips that’ll help you make your brain work in the very specific way that the game requires. As there’s so much to do and so many individual ways to accomplish them in the game, a lot of these are more generalised than in other beginner’s guides for other games, but these tips should help you get the most out of the game anyway.
Dwarf Fortress Beginner’s Guide
If you’ve been playing Dwarf Fortress for a while already, then these tips won’t be a huge help to you. You might still get something from reminiscing about when you were just a baby Dwarf Fortresser (that’s not what people who play the game are called), but you’re all grown up now. That being said, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the sheer, well, everything of it all, then hopefully, these tips will help you find the enjoyment in this incredible game.
Take your time
Dwarf Fortress isn’t a sprint; it’s an ultra-marathon through rugged terrain with regular taverns dotted along the course. You don’t have to know exactly what you’re doing to enjoy the experience, and with there being so many different things to learn and grasp, it’s a wall of knowledge that you might not feel like climbing. The only way to properly overcome that though, is just by playing the game. We’d expect the Steam release to include more tutorials and whatnot, but even if it doesn’t, just take your time exploring and experimenting, and it’ll all eventually click.
Don’t be afraid to start again
With that first tip in mind, you should expect the first couple of attempts to end in a flurry of “oh, I see what I should have done there.” They say that failure is the greatest teacher; we’re not sure who “they” are in this case, but they’re right. Dwarf Fortress is a game where you’ll start a fair few times again, and every time you’ll acquire more knowledge and you’ll do a little bit better a little bit faster. So, don’t be afraid to just throw in the towel and start again.
Build things with efficiency in mind
One of the easiest ways to make things a little smoother is to build all of the relevant things next to each other. If you’re going to have a bunch of wood in one area, make sure you put every relevant building in that area to save your dwarves from having to run around too much. They’ll thank you for it, and your game will go a lot faster too.
Don’t stress about the overall goal
While thinking ahead is definitely a huge boon in a game like this, try not to worry about an end goal. Your goal should just be to keep improving your little dwarf society until everyone is living the high life, so let someone else save the world while you and your dwarves just vibe until the end of time.
Make the most of multiple levels
Dwarf Fortress wants you to make the most of multiple levels, so do so. Build up and down as much as you can to bring multiple things closer together and make everything a little more seamless. Doing so will make it easier for your dwarves to get from one place to another, up everyone’s efficiency, and it’ll help you when building defences as well.
Use the internet
For a game like this, sometimes the easiest way to learn things is to seek out experts. While these Dwarf Fortress beginner’s tips might help you with the mindset, if you’ve got specific questions, then take the internet and ask them. Go to Twitch, YouTube, or just the forums and ask away. The Dwarf Fortress community adores their game, and they want to share it with the world.
Though some amount of trepidation is perhaps warranted whenever a remake of a beloved title is announced, with the Resident Evil 4 remake Capcom looks set to deliver a faithful yet contemporarily technical take on a survival horror classic. That said, while early footage certainly suggests a remake that seems happy to rigidly cling to its source material, it’s only reasonable to wonder just how precisely Resident Evil 4 remake manages to achieve this feat and what can be done to improve upon the 2005 original. So naturally we’ve cooked up this little feature outlining everything we hope will be in the Resident Evil 4 remake.
The Regenerators Are Terrifying And Absolutely Need To Return In Resident Evil 4 Remake
Easily one of the most terrifying enemies in any Resident Evil title, the Regenerators behave as their name implies, rebuilding destroyed appendages all the while lurching towards the player with whatever body parts they have left. Aside from being highly durable to say the least, the Regenerators also emanate this horrid, rasping breathing sound when they are nearby, handily planting the seed of fear in players before they would even see the horrid blighters. Given the massive leap in rendering technology and computational grunt since the original Resident Evil 4 released all the way back in 2005, it’ll be equally interesting and terrifying to see how Capcom brings this most horrendous of foes up to date for a contemporary audience.
Weapon Handling Needs To Be Desperately Modernised In Resident Evil 4 Remake
While Resident Evil 4 has long been lauded for its satisfying third-person gunplay and combat, there are certainly some aspects of its design that haven’t aged well at all. Near the top of that list is the weapon switching system. In the previous releases of Resident Evil 4, changing weapons could only be accomplished by pausing the game, going into the inventory, switching out your weapon and then returning to the action. It is a grandly laborious and inefficient system that totally takes the player out of the game and though being able to switch weapons on the fly is something we take for granted these days, it’s a small feature that would absolutely make a big difference if Capcom implemented it into the Resident Evil 4 remake.
Resident Evil 4 Remake Must Continue To Walk The Tonally Absurdist Tightrope
Resident Evil 4 was very much a product of its time when it launched in the mid 2000s, which is to say that it was developed by a Japanese studio which had one eye on super serious survival horror shenanigans and another on firmly tongue-in-cheek villains and dialogue. From Leon’s notoriously dorky quip “Where’s everybody going? Bingo?”, when he sees the villagers in the opening act collectively marching towards the central church, to the bastion of campiness that is the beloved villain Salazar, it’s clear that Resident Evil 4 knew how to walk the tonally absurdist tightrope and do it well. Though the Resident Evil 4 remake will release some eighteen years after the original release and will debut to an all-new audience of gamers, one can only hope that Capcom knows how to maintain that delicate balance, rather than just regressing the whole thing into a pointlessly grimdark and bleak affair.
Resident Evil 4 Remake Should Still Take Us To Suplex City
Speaking of absurdity, one of the greatest and most satisfying things that Resident Evil 4 allowed players to do was to bust out a bunch of pro-wrestling moves mid scrap, allowing Leon to decimate his foes with style in the process. Honestly, there was nothing quite like stunning an enemy by blasting out their knee caps and then watching Leon switch around to their back with a waist grip, before hoisting them high up in the air and dropping them square on their noggin, causing their skull to explode like a watermelon coated hand-grenade. Every game should have suplexes and hopefully the Resident Evil 4 remake is no exception.
The Krauser Fight Needs An Overhaul In Resident Evil 4 Remake
One of the most significant boss fights in Resident Evil 4, the scrap with mercenary Jack Krauser largely played out with a string of QTEs (Quick Time Events), whereby the player was required to match the button prompt as they appear on screen in order to be successful. The kicker with the Resident Evil 4 remake however, is that QTEs barely feature in the game, meaning that by proxy the Jack Krauser fight will surely need to be reworked. After all, in remaking Resident Evil 4 for modern audiences, part of that effort must surely be to cut out and replace outdated design and nowhere is that more evident than in the Krauser fight. As such, it would be much better to have that fight decided by a proper test of player skill and agency, rather than just pressing a string of button commands as they appear on the screen while the game does all the cool stuff. After all, we do indeed have the technology to make this boss fight much more compelling than it was before – so let’s use it eh?
Ashley Needs To Have A Reworked Role In Resident Evil 4 Remake
One of the main touchstones of Resident Evil 4’s plot was Ashley Graham, the wayward daughter of the US President whom protagonist Leon Kennedy was dispatched to deepest, darkest rural Spain to rescue. However, it’s certainly fair to say that the stealth and puzzle solving sections that she was involved in were Resident Evil 4’s nadir and with the Resident Evil 4 remake, Capcom has a real opportunity to change things up for the better. Now, I’m not saying that Ashley necessarily needs to suddenly morph into a gun-toting monster murderer, but there’s a whole lot of creative latitude there for Ashley to do something more compelling than just sneaking about the place and solving uninspired puzzles.
Resident Evil 4 Remake Needs Additional Scenario Content That Makes Sense
At a bare minimum, the Resident Evil 4 Remake should include the additional single-player content that featured in latest releases of classic Resident Evil 4. In particular, it should include the ‘Separate Ways’ side story which more fully unearthed Ada Wong’s involvement in the events of the game and her alignment with longtime series baddie Albert Wesker. Along the same sort of lines, Capcom should also take the opportunity to provide additional content beyond this too, engineering extra scenarios to not only encourage players to replay the game, but also shed some new light on the various characters and events that take place in the Resident Evil 4 remake.
If your internal chainsaw is revving over heading back to the mysterious villages of Resident Evil 4 in the remake, head over to our store and pre-purchase the game now. Las Plagas is out there, only you can put an end to it and rescue the President’s daughter.
