Borderlands 3 – Character Introductions

Borderlands 3 is just a couple of short weeks away, and while many players will have already chosen their preferred character class, some of you might still be wondering which of the four is for you. 

Choosing your character class is a bit like dedicating yourself to a long-term relationship, after all, you’re going to be spending a fair few hours with them. Going in well-armed with information is sure to make the whole process much more enjoyable. So, we’ve put together a little bit about each of the Borderlands 3 characters for you. 

Amara the Siren

Every main Borderlands game has a siren, and Amara is the latest one to grace our screens. She’s a bit different two Lilith and Maya though, and while she still has fantastical abilities, she’s a fair bit hencher than her counterparts. Her action skills allow here to either Phaseslam, where she leaps up before slamming the ground, Phascast, where she sends forward an astral version of herself to deal damage, and Phasegrasp, where she holds an enemy in place with a giant fist. Her skill trees allow her to focus on melee combat, stacking beneficial effects, or using elemental damage. 

FL4K the Beastmaster

FL4K is an AI who adventures around with a Skag, a Spiderant, and a Jabber. They’re three skill trees each has its own pet, so you need to be okay with the combos provided as a result. The Skag gives you access to the Gamma Burst action skill, which instantly teleports your pet to wherever you want. The Spiderant gives you access to Rakk Attack!, which summons Rakk to deal damage for you. Finally, the Jabber grants you the Fade Away ability, which allows you to disappear and recover your health. 

Moze the Gunner

Moze is the newest entry in the list of characters who use tech to attack their foes. Rather than relying on a stationary turret to do her dirty work, she summons a powerful mech called the Iron Bear. She is unique among the new Borderlands 3 characters because instead of choosing a special ability, you actually get to choose the weapons her mech comes equipped with. You can mix and match and combination of railguns, grenade launchers, and miniguns. The weapons even get stronger as you do. 

Zane the Operative

The last of the characters is Zane. Zane uses a wide array of gadgets to confuse and distract his foes while he sets up a lethal attack. He can deploy a Barrier that blocks enemy shots, send SNTNL drone into battle for him, or even spawn a Digi-Clone to help him fight off his foes. Each of his skill trees focuses on making one of these skills more effective, so you should have no issue becoming a one-man wrecking machine. 

Naturally, we can expect to see some extra characters appear as DLC for Borderlands 3 at some point, but who knows what they could be. It would be nice to see revamped versions of the classic characters, but it hasn’t happened before, so it’s more likely that we’ll get some brand-new faces to fight alongside.

Ten Glorious Indies To Whisk You Away

After a cracking hot summer, it’s pretty much par for the course here in the UK that such great weather is capped by a dismal period as we begin our gradual slide into autumn and march inexorably toward the frigid, wintery wastes that lay beyond.

Fear not, however – as we’ve put together a list of ten stellar indie games to whisk you away from the depressing prattle of the rain outside.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Based on the 90s comic book of the same name and created in the vein of those good old fashioned console RPGs from back in the day, Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a visually appealing tactical adventure with charm to spare. In addition to its attractive audiovisual presentation, Battle Chasers: Nightwar also boasts an engaging story, a cast of great characters and randomised level design which ensures that no two playthroughs are the same.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Designed by Koji Igarashi, the same talented chap who aided in the development of some of the finest Castlevania games ever made, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is arguably much more of a true successor to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night than anything Konami has released in the 22 years since. From the beautifully balanced platforming RPG gameplay to a range of unconventional beasties to vanquish (including a massive, demonic house cat), Bloodstained is pretty much essential.

Cat Quest

Speaking of cats, and doing pretty much what it says on the tin, Cat Quest is just that – a quest, with cats in it. But wait! Peer beyond the alluring veneer of its whimsical presentation and you’ll discover an effortlessly charming and streamlined action RPG that has a veritable avalanche of fun quests, cute felines and spine-fracturing puns (oh my days, the puns).

Chroma Squad

A tactical, isometric RPG that brazenly wears its Power Rangers influence on its digital sleeves, Chroma Squad takes its homage and runs through the nearest brick wall with it, as players must cast actors, craft gear, upgrade their studios and fashion massive robots out of Blue Peter style cardboard and duct tape. If you like your strategy games with more than a dash of color and irreverent charm, then Chroma Squad is absolutely your huckleberry.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition

While the storm bruised clouds of Dear Esther’s Hebridian setting might seemingly mirror the frankly pants weather we’re expecting, its tale of loss, belonging and a mystery stretching over the course of decades all succeed in deftly whisking us away into a first-person adventure, and one that lingers long in the memory after the credits complete their roll.

Iconoclasts

Bleeding colour from every pixel art pore, this effervescent platforming adventure plonks players in the shoes of Robin, a mechanic on a dying planet who must use her technical skills to do good and help others. Stuffed with bucket loads of two-dimensional platforming bliss, fiendish puzzles and screen-filling bosses, Iconoclasts is a masterpiece that has been seven years in the making.

Moonlighter

While the notion of the dungeon delving, hack and slash roguelike is hardly a groundbreaking concept, bolting on an extensive shop management aspect on the back of it all certainly is. This is Moonlighter then, a wonderfully intriguing genre effort where you’ll raid dungeons and stuff your shop with your spoils in order to sell them for a pretty penny, all the while a village stuffed with offbeat characters springs up around you. 

Seasons After Fall

It’s only fitting that with the real-life weather oscillating between drizzling and dreary that Seasons After Fall gives you the choice to change the season as you see fit. As a wild fox possessing the aforementioned ability to switch seasons, players must venture deep into a mystical forest in order to root out the corruption affecting it, all the while a delicate string quartet soundtrack provides the perfect compliment to the painterly visuals in this opulent platforming adventure.

Songbird Symphony 

A gorgeously presented and saccharine sweet world await those who delve into the depths of Songbird Symphony, a delightfully stress-free rhythm based platformer about a songbird called ‘birb’ (I kid you not) who embarks on a twee, musically infused journey of self-discovery. The feel-good game of the year? Quite possibly. 

The Banner Saga Trilogy

Flying in the face of the ill-founded notion that indies cannot be epic in scope, The Banner Saga Trilogy depicts a sweeping spectacle of Norse mythology as generations of men, giants and dark creatures do battle against the backdrop of the end of the world. Encompassing a dizzying marriage of turn-based combat, RPG elements, multi-branching Game of Thrones style plotlines and gorgeous Don Bluth animation, The Banner Saga Trilogy is quite simply a masterwork.

10 reasons why World of Warcraft Classic is perfect for new players

World of Warcraft Classic is just days away, a portal back in time to the early days of the massively multiplayer juggernaut. Blizzard have taken World of Warcraft right back to a time before expansions, before Worgen, before Pandas. A simpler time, a classic time.

Obviously nostalgia’s a huge part of why people will be checking out WoW Classic on the 27th of August, but what if you’ve not played World of Warcraft before? Why should you care?

Find out why it’s so popular

For fifteen years World of Warcraft has seen off, well, everyone. As one of the few MMOs of its era to still be left standing after the late 2000s MMO wars, it’s worth checking it out to see exactly why this won and so many lost. 

No baggage

Playing retail World of Warcraft means navigating a maze of baggage. With a load of expansions – not all of them of the same quality – you’ve got a load to learn, or disregard, when you play. WoW Classic doesn’t have that, it’s just one game, one world.

It’s hard

There’s little hand holding in the original World of Warcraft, death comes often and quickly for unprepared players. In these post-Dark Souls days you might be hungering for a challenge, and World of Warcraft Classic might just be it.

Like, really hard

Really, World of Warcraft Classic isn’t a game to be stepped into lightly, you’ll have to read up, learn, and you will die. Even things like ‘using a weapon’ require time and you won’t be proficient at first It’s a real challenge, but on the other hand…

Travel back to a simpler time

It’s a more manageable challenge. You have two continents, a handful of raids, and only a few races and classes. Whilst it is a hard game, it is one with a clarity of choice and purpose.

It’ll run on almost anything

The game doesn’t use the original engine so the requirements are higher than they originally were, it doesn’t utilise many of the effects later added. So if your computer needs an upgrade, you might still be able to give WoW Classic a spin.

You’ll have to engage with the M in MMO

With no group finder in the game and many quests requiring more than one player, you’re simply forced to engage with other people in World of Warcraft Classic. It means the world feels alive with people in a way that many other MMOs don’t.

Life’ll be a bit slower

Levelling to the max level will take you time, the world record took over four days of almost continuous play. Everything’s just a bit slower, and with the real world getting faster and busier, that might be what you need.

There’s real reward

With everything being harder, including dungeons, raids, getting loot, and professions, simply having something or achieving something has a real sense of reward to it. Looted an Epic item? Wow – people will stop and look as you pass. 

You matter

With great power comes great responsibility, as a spider-chap once was told. In World of Warcraft Classic if you group with others to take on a challenge you matter. You can’t coast, you can’t sit back and let others take up the slack. You. Matter. 

World of Warcraft Classic will be released on the 27th of August, and we can’t wait to step back in time. Are you looking forward to it? Let us know in the comments below, or on our Community Forum.

Game-inspired clothing brands you need to know about

If you’re a gamer who cares about fashion (and for many reasons, you should) it can be quite hard to find clothing that reflects your hobby without looking awkward. Bog-standard graphic shirts with tired cringe-worthy slogans stick out like a sore thumb in public and work to undermine any ensemble. To curate a tasteful look, You want items that make a homage to your favourite games and complement the rest of your layers. Here are the best clothing brands that tease your interests whilst still offering quality garments.

Insert Coin

Pretty much the premier clothing brand that centres around games, Insert Coin has been around for many years now and have come on leaps and bounds recently with massive brand partnerships and plenty of fashion-forward items. From AAA titans like Destiny and Dark Souls, all the way down to more cult hits like Jet Set Radio and Ni No Kuni, browsing IC’s selection will no doubt lead to some fashion envy. 

The design team don’t just settle for replicating symbolic imagery, they think about subtlety in their blueprints and reflect the spirit of the game they’re embodying without it being obtuse or unfashionable. It’s a very thin line to draw, but this company are known for doing so. More recently they’ve been expanding into snazzy sukajan’s and reimagining some of their most popular products to fit with modern fashion trends, so make sure you check them out as there’s bound to be a selection that fits with your gaming taste!

Uniqlo

Japanese casual wear juggernaut Uniqlo may not be your first thought when you think about fashion for gamers, but you’ll be surprised to learn that a lot of their UT: graphic print collections are with major pop culture brands and often major game companies that rarely offer capsule collections. 

As of right now, they are currently offering Street Fighter, Pokemon, Super Mario and a more general ‘Pixels’ range that you can peruse. Given the pace with which they’re revealed and pushed out, not every design is as tasteful or subtle as the rest, but there are often quite a few gems hidden in each UT drop that you can work into a solid outfit without it looking too obnoxious. 

Honourable mentions

Sites like Fangamer and The Yetee can be reliable for fashion related to games, but they mostly focus on tee shirts and not much more, and their designs tend to follow a similar style throughout, crest imagery or logos and don’t often adapt to modern fashion trends. It’s also worth going straight to the source and checking out the official store of your favourite game studio, as on rare occasions their own in-house designs can be surprisingly good. Take for example, Kojima Productions, which has a fine range of garments for the Death Stranding fanatic, from drippy socks to ‘BRIDGES’ long sleeves!

Take baby steps, and simply keep your eye on these brands for subtle pieces you can adapt into your wardrobe and you’ll be dressing better in no time. Obviously, don’t dominate your outfits with gamer tat… just throw in a tasteful tee or hoodie, or even an accessory every now and then and you can flaunt your eclectic taste whilst looking good!

No Man’s Sky Beyond and the growing trend of launch redemption

As experimental lines of communication between developers and players have opened up over the past decade, results have varied wildly. Whilst it has enabled many a hate mob to air out their grievances with their purchased products to the people directly involved, it has also resulted in some pure moments of kindness, where fans have banded together to do something heartwarming for a change.

One that caught my eye recently was when frequenters of the No Man’s Sky subreddit purchased a billboard outside of the Hello Games’ office to say ‘thank you’ for the studio’s sustained support of the game over the years, the one they’ve stuck with through thick and thin. No Man’s Sky was quickly panned by many upon its release in 2016, and due to a number of undelivered promises, fans were quick to pull the pitchforks out when the procedural generation wasn’t everything *and* the kitchen sink like the marketing had promised. 

Whilst this is part of a wider conversation about overblown player expectations and the hype machine that plagues the games industry, it got me thinking about this most recent trend of launch redemption. Specifically, where a developer launches a game in a fairly rudimentary or unfinished state, only for it to be panned and widely criticised, but later loved, many updates down the line thanks to a keen eye on the community metrics.

There are plenty of examples to talk about: Destiny is a phenom now, Rainbow Six: Siege has become a gigantic esport, Sea of Thieves is closer to its original vision and hell, even Fallout 76 to a certain extent has seen a resurgence as fans come to terms with the lot they’ve been given and latch on to the nuggets of joy. It speaks to the difficulty in creating any modern video game that some players will stick around even if it isn’t what they wanted by making their own fun in the community, by prodding the social boundaries of the world that’s been created, like starting community interior design contests or going so far as to establish their own lore to imbue the world with some much-needed life.

Interestingly enough though, there is a hypocrisy here. It seems like players will tend to look beyond the spit and polish of a game if it isn’t funnelled through an aggressive marketing machine like those mentioned above. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was a scrappy little pup when it launched out of nowhere to little fanfare. There were no expectations, which played right into Bluehole’s hands. The game was mired with bugs and was grossly unoptimized to the annoyance of many frame-counting players. Yet it had one impossible to ignore kernel of genius — the battle royale — which kept people playing, and has since been iterated upon and given a classy veneer, redeemed by a suite of developers keen to get in on the action, regardless of the toll of the quick rush to market (here’s looking at you, Fortnite.)

When an indie or a quote en-quote underdog pushes out something scrappy and endeavours to fix it, they’re given a pat on the back and legions of support.

On the flip side, if a AAA game has a magnificent marketing machine that promises too much, people don’t tend to think twice about getting angry with the developers who are endeavouring to remedy the false promises. Which is why I think this recent trend of ‘launch redemption’ is a good thing. Maybe the launch didn’t go as planned, but No Man’s Sky’s big ‘Beyond’ update launched this week, and it’s safe to say that many have been dragged back in by new features like VR.

It’s been fleshed out, each part reinvented, Ship of Theseus style, with a careful lens put on what the community has been focusing on over the past three years, whilst they’ve been waiting for the next set of patch notes. Everybody loves a hero’s journey, so it’s nice to see that players are bonding over and warming to titles that are so quickly cast aside, with the developers working in tandem to shape their ideas into a late-blooming success.

Mutant Year Zero Seed of Evil Review

Seed of Evil is the new expansion to the award-winning turn-based tactical RPG Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden and picks up right where you left off. 

Story

The Ark and its survivors face a new threat in the form of a powerful mutant named Goran who’s powerful roots have taken over. Your mission is to head out into the wastes with your Stalkers, hunt him down and take him out.  You’ll have some help from the usual suspects but joining you along the way is the new playable character Big Khan, a human-moose hybrid who you’ll encounter fairly early on in the expansion. 

Gameplay

In that department, not much has changed. You’re still going to get that great Mutant Year Zero gameplay experience that still has a focus on stealthily making your way through zones picking off stray enemies. The main difference is that this time around you’re not starting with weak weapons, your fully decked out and can hit like a train right from the get go, which makes things entirely more enjoyable. You’ll also have access to new weapons and gadgets, plus the new abilities with Big Khan. There are also quite a few new enemy types to face off against like the Pod Spawner that spews out more enemies for you to fight. 

Big Khan

Arguably the focal point of Seed of Evil is Big Khan, the big moose man brings a whole new kit to master. He has some interesting new abilities that are pretty devastating most notably being his flame breath that deals an AOE fire ball that will toast anything within it. It doesn’t have a lot of range though, so you will need to get pretty close to make the most of it. He also has another AOE move where he will stomp on the ground and deal damage and knock enemies down within its radius. With both of these abilities you’ll need to be in close proximity to your enemies, so expect to spend a lot of time up in the enemies faces with Him.

Big Khan is a nice addition to the roster and definitely mixes up the way you play. He feels more of a ‘get up in your grill’ kind of moose, where-as a lot of the others tend to suit more ranged combat. 

Audio/Visual

Once again we’re treated to some great environments with a more wintery snow covered atheistic sprinkled throughout this expansion. All the characters still have a really good camaraderie between them with conversations and quips constantly taking place that help sell you on their tightness as a group. The guns and abilities pack a nice punch in the sound department and all come with suitably big booms and nice particle effects to go with them. 

Conclusion

Seed of Evil is a solid expansion to Mutant Year Zero, it builds on the original without changing the already working formula too much. It will take you around 6-10 hours to play through depending on how much of a completionist you are and what difficulty you play on. If you’re looking for more of that good tactical gameplay that the first game offered, you will find some good legs here.

For more visit the official website or check out the Green Man gaming Community pages. Mutant year Zero Seed of Evil DLC is available to purchase for PC NOW.

The 10 best monkeys and apes in gaming

We often monkey about on the Green Man Gaming blog and thankfully that’s a theme in games too. With the release of Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, a look into survival as a group of proto-humans, becoming ever more imminent, we thought it was the perfect time to look at the best monkeys and apes in the world of gaming.

So strap your banana into its protective case and get ready because it’s ape o’clock.

Gorilla Grodd from DC Universe Online

A super intelligent gorilla from Gorilla City, a hidden African city of super intelligent gorillas, Grodd isn’t the nicest entrant onto this list, but he makes a great antagonist throughout DC Universe Online.

Sten from Breath of Fire II

Classic JRPG Breath of Fire II has a diverse roster of characters, and monkey-rogue-type-thing Sten is a key figure in the game. Lacking in power in the early game, he soon becomes essential once he merges with the Shamans and becomes a monkey-rogue-shaman-fire-genie-thing.

These things from Halo 3

Honestly I don’t know what these are, monkeys, apes, primates, proto-humans? Who knows. But they’re incredibly memorable if you came across them in Halo 3.

Monkey from Enslaved: Odyssey from the West

Before you comment: yes I know he’s not a monkey or an ape. But he’s called Monkey, and he’s played by Andy Serkis, master of apes, so that’s got to count surely. Anyway, he’s a great character from an under-rated gem of a game.

Amigo from Samba de Amigo

Eternally grinning and shaking his monkey maracas, Amiga is the musical mascot of rhythm action game Samba de Amiga. Dreamcast owners will remember fondly shaking maracas at 3am, trying to get to every special stage.

Professor Monkey-for-a-Head from Earthworm Jim

Super intelligent but also super strange looking, Professor Monkey-for-a-Head combines the two most powerful things on the planet: brains and monkeys. 

Aiai from Super Monkey Ball

What’s better than a super cute monkey? A super cute monkey in a ball that you roll about by controlling the floor, of course. Everyone loves a bit of Super Monkey Ball, and Aiai is the best of the roster. 

Your ancestors from Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Taking place before recorded time, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is a survival game that pits you against nature and the world itself as you try to shepherd in the future of what will become humanity. Even if the proto-human-primates can’t be classified as ape or monkey, they’re good enough for us and will definitely have a place in your heart after a while in-game.

The Librarian from Discworld

Definitely an Ape this one. Definitely. Don’t say the M word. Don’t even think it. Orangutans are apes ok? Got it? Now give him a banana and definitely don’t try to read any of the books in the library – you don’t want to make him angry.

Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong

It had to be, really. He’s the big daddy. He’s captain large. Originally the antagonist who bothered the original Mario (Jump Man), he’s become a hero in his own right with many games under his belt. Remember, if anyone ever asks you what DK stands for – it’s Donkey Kong.

Well that’s all the time we’ve been gibbon to macaque the most of this list, time to take a break and get a capuchin-o. If you want to let us know what your favourite monkey or ape is in gaming, hit us up on the community forum or in the comments below, and don’t forget your can pre-purchase Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey right here.

What to expect at Gamescom 2019

If you didn’t catch last week’s article rounding up this year’s games conferences, let me make it crystal clear to you: we are in festival season in the games industry. There’s a long stint that occurs from this article’s subject Gamescom all the way through to Tokyo Games Show in September and beyond, with tons of game reveals and news on the way. So if you thought you had your fill at E3, get ready for a shock as Gamescom 2019 opens its doors next week.

Pre-show conferences

Given the popularity of live-streamed shows like The Game Awards, Nintendo’s Direct conferences and Sony’s State of Play, Gamescom has joined in on the fun with Opening Night Live 2019, which is hosted by none other than Geoff Keighley himself!

There are a cavalcade of announcements and gameplay reveals expected, from the first look at Gears of War 5’s campaign and the new Need for Speed Heat to a brand new Death Stranding trailer debuted live on stage by Hideo Kojima himself. There’s also the first look at Marcus Lehto’s new game Disintegration. All of this occurs on the 19th of August, on Monday night at 7 PM GMT. On top of that, we’ve got another Stadia Connect conference from Google who will be hoping to redeem themselves ahead of launch. A special Inside Xbox will also occur as per tradition, which often involves a few minor reveals, but given the pressure from Opening Night Live, perhaps there’ll be a few big surprises.

Our best bet for guesses about what is going to be on the show floor is most likely going to be gained by looking at what’s being announced at Opening Night Live.

There’s a list here of publishers involved, and no doubt all of them will be taking up space in the Koelnmesse in some capacity.

Publisher expectations and announcements

Whilst we can’t say for sure what will and will not appear at Gamescom outside of what the publishers choose to announce and display, it’s known that Sony will have some sort of presence at the show (Demo stations for Remedy’s Control will be on the showfloor.) This is intriguing given that the company famously skipped E3 this year.

What that means is unclear, as they could drop a State of Play out of nowhere or announce something during Gamescom, perhaps surrounding The Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima. They could also keep it light ahead of a potential PlayStation Experience later in the year, where more details about the PS5 could surface.

Xbox also has a very lax lineup rolling into Gamescom, outside of it’s headliner Gears 5, which drops mere weeks after the show. They’ll most likely focus on their services like Game Pass and xCloud, with potential spotlight given to the lineup of ID games which were debuted at E3.

Nintendo has the most to show given new Pokemon, Luigi’s Mansion and Zelda games are all debuting in the later half of the year. No doubt fans will be able to get hands-on just like E3, but there could be a few sneaky games there that we’re yet to hear about, and perhaps some news about future titles like Animal Crossing. I wouldn’t hold your breath though.

GreenManGaming Publishing will also be at Gamescom this year with it’s arcade-rhythm game Skybolt Zack and Pride Run, it’s LGBTQ+ RTS rhythm mashup. Make sure to watch out for those if you’re attending!

Astral Chain: Everything you need to know

Astral Chain is on its way to the Nintendo Switch in a matter of days, and you might not know a thing about it. Despite the fanfare from Platinum disciples for it, the game has received a relatively small marketing push for a title that looks effortlessly cool. If you liked the unique, dystopian world of NieR Automata or Platinum’s previous fast-paced action combat games like Bayonetta or Vanquish,  you’re most likely going to want to know what this game is all about, so here’s everything you need to know about Astral Chain. 

What is Astral Chain

Astral Chain is the latest action brawler from Platinum Games, developed by alumni of Devil May Cry, Bayonetta and Nier: Automata and set in a future where aliens are terrorizing the earth. We got our best look at the game uring Nintendo’s conference at E3 2019, and you can check out our roundup for the rest of the games revealed during the Direct

What is the story behind Astral Chain?

Astral Chain takes place in The Ark, the last bastion of humanity which is invaded by aliens known as the Chimera, who have previously rendered most of the earth uninhabitable but have arrived once again to cause mayhem, steal humanity and corrupt everything in sight, wiping the populace out for good.

The aliens are invisible to regular humans, who are oblivious to the threat to The Ark, which must be managed by a special police force who are established to deal with the chaos. The Neuron task force is set up, and you play as two characters at once from this unique division, a rookie officer and their living weapon partner known as Legion, which is essentially a neutered Chimera synced to the protagonist via the game’s namesake, the ‘Astral Chain.’

Astral Chain gameplay – what does it play like?

Your ‘Astral Chain’ allows for a new style of combat, what Platinum is calling ‘Synergetic Action’ where you can swap between ‘Legion types’ and skills to tackle enemies with uncompromising variety. It looks absolutely wild and will no doubt offer the same kind of haptic feedback as previous Platinum titles. Often you may not just be alone in the battle, with other officers there to help you fight giant Souls-esque monsters and juggle grunts. There appears to be a lot of nimble movement and platforming linked to the combat, as you dash and jump between platforms to outwit boss creatures.

From the Treehouse Live segment at E3, there appears to be a lot of downtime in the game world, where you can customize your officer. Transporting to new areas looks a lot like Deus Ex: Human Revolution for reference. There’s also an important item known as the Iris which can rewind the clock to solve incidents that occurred in the past.

The detective work is a bit like Batman: Arkham Asylum or Judgment, with holograms and drones on display.  Players must solve puzzles and wipe out threats that civilians and other officers simply cannot see, often seen when red rifts open up in the game world and take citizens to their doom, or when red matter lines the streets. 

When does Astral Chain Launch?

Astral Chain will launch later this month on August 30, 2019, exclusively on Nintendo Switch.

Astral Chain gameplay trailer

For more details visit the official Website. Have something to say? leave a comment below or drop by the Green Man Gaming Community pages to see what our Gamers think.

No Man’s Sky Beyond – Ten New Reasons To Return to Hello Games Spacefaring Epic

With three years of extensive post-release support in the bag for its wildly ambitious space epic No Man’s Sky, developer Hello Games has gone a step further with today’s Beyond update; bringing a raft of promised features and previously unknown additions to the game.

As such, there’s no better time to jump back in and so with that in mind, here are ten reasons why you should. No Man’s Sky 2? It’s already here.

But first, Here’s Green Man Gaming Affiliate ‘Ben Plays’ with his impressions of No Man’s Sky VR.

No Man’s Sky Online Is Finally Here

No Man’s Sky Beyond brings online functionality to the game, at last, allowing between 16 and 32 players to interact with each other in the new Nexus social space, as they communicate and coordinate for the all-new multiplayer missions. Space, after all, is a lonely place so it’ll be nice to see some friendly faces, right? Speaking of which…

A Range Of Brand New Multiplayer Missions

What’s the use of having friends if you can’t fly, fight and do a bunch of cool stuff together right? You could be collaborating on an artifact treasure hunt, or dealing with hostile forces in an epic dogfight, regardless there’s no shortage of multiplayer missions for you and your mates to get up to in No Man’s Sky Beyond.

VR On An Intergalactic Scale

Whether you own a PC headset or a PSVR rig, Hello Games has you covered with No Man’s Sky Beyond’s VR update. You’re not getting a specially curated portion of the game either; this is the entirety of the full fat No Man’s Sky experience beautifully imparted through the intimacy of Virtual Reality, where there’s no shortage of slack-jawed spectacle as ships shoot overhead with daredevil flourish and where you can now inspect the smallest, most intricate details on any of No Man’s Sky’s almost infinite number of worlds.

Much Better Base Building Systems

A far cry from the simplistic and mind-numbing base construction of old, No Man’s Sky Beyond now allows players to build their high tech hovels with fully powered electrical systems. But that’s not all – now players can craft and farm on an industrial scale as new facilities can be tasked with automating all that stuff super efficiently while you spend your time doing infinitely more fun things instead. Progress!

New Cooking System 

And of course, nothing says progress quite like being able to whip up a nice home-cooked meal. If you’ve been harboring any career ambitions as the galaxy’s greatest space chef, well now you can act upon them. Even better, you can start your own intergalactic food delivery service too, brilliant.

More Aliens To Fight/Chat/Trade With

Also on the menu for No Man’s Sky Beyond is a wealth of new alien races, but more interesting than the addition of these new funky faces is how they’ll behave. No longer statically rooted to the spot, these new NPCs will instead roam about the place doing various bits and pieces, and this new Beyond update will let you interact with them in some surprising ways too, including…

You Can Tame And Ride Creatures Now

Riding! That’s right, if you’re able to tame the right aliens you can ride them around the place, enlisting them into your nefarious galaxy-spanning fast-food delivery scheme in the process should you so wish. Oh, and you can race crabs in No Man’s Sky Beyond. That’s right – crab racing is absolutely a thing you can do now too. Huzzah! 

And You Can Milk Them Too!

As if subjugating these poor creatures for your own personal, hi-octane whims wasn’t enough, you can milk the poor things too. Brilliantly, milking aliens has a multi-faceted use, not only can you use their precious milky fluids to help with your cooking enterprises (and by proxy your space food delivery services), but you can also pretend that you’re legendary milk swiller Luke Skywalker too. Bonus!

Say Hello To More Varied Biomes

Expanding upon that original promise of every star, every system and every planet being procedural is the fact that No Man’s Sky Beyond will pack in biomes that are much more varied than the bunch of sometimes similarly regurgitated worlds we’ve previously seen. This, my friends, is a good thing – especially if the repetition of world types was starting to grate.

Additional Version 2.0 Improvements

And now this is the crazy thing, those last nine reasons I just gave you to go back to No Man’s Sky were just a part of the sprawling and massive update that Beyond represents. In addition to all that stuff described above, No Man’s Sky Beyond brings new discover menus, a reworked alien dialect learning system, improved visuals, better trading, redone tutorials, easier crafting and much, much more besides. This is everything No Man’s Sky was supposed to be and then some.

Are you tempted to return? or a first time player looking to dive in for the first time? Let us know in the comments below and drop by the Green Man Gaming Community pages to see what our gamers have to say about the Beyond update.

Essential items for the traveling gamer

Whether video games are your job or just a hobby, when you travel out of the country you need to make preparations. Whilst others can subsist on a diet of books and podcasts, long-haul flights also make for some mean gaming time, especially if you’re trying to catch-up on your RPG backlog. Even so, when you get there you’re going to need a few essential items to ensure you can traverse conventions and play at a moment’s notice, without your electronics kicking the proverbial bucket. Here are five items that should be in every game-loving globetrotter’s luggage.

Portable SSD

A compact data solution that transfers at a lightning pace, you may not know you need a portable SSD until crisis strikes. If you’re travelling far away and want to keep your precious titles and their corresponding data in check, you should seek out one of these mini machines. Perhaps you’d like to capture video at a convention or a friend’s house when you make some money moves in PUBG or Overwatch? The portable SSD has your back. Due to the solid-state architecture, you won’t be waiting around like you would with a USB or portable hard drive. Samsung’s T5 Range is reliable and my personal choice, but there are plenty of options out there.

Power Bank

Now that Nintendo has up and changed the game with its portable powerhouse the Nintendo Switch, you’ll no doubt be taking that, a PS Vita if you’re old school, or your phone or tablet on holiday with you to game on the journey or when you get some downtime. Don’t miss a trick and forget a power bank! And make sure you get one that churns out enough power to make it worthwhile weight in your travel luggage. Look for the wattage and mAh when you’re shopping (the higher output the better) and ensure it has a variety of connections, from USB-C to A and Lightning if you’re using iOS devices. I use Anker’s range of power bank’s, which are nice and sturdy and always reliable.

Noise-cancelling headphones

One of the worst feelings in the world is sitting down on a transatlantic flight, plugging in your bog-standard headphones to your Switch or Vita, and realising you can hear absolutely everything around you, pulling you out of the game world’s immersive grip. The only way to fight this scourge is to pick up a pair of noise-cancelling cans that let you soak in the ambience and stay focused. It’ll ensure that the time flies if you’ve got a big RPG to power through, which is good for those of us who hate flying, or just want to tune out from all the overwhelming noise. Sony and Bose provide the high-end pricy offerings, but personally, I use the Soundcore Life 2. For less than £70 they are unbeatable price-wise and offer fantastic noise-cancelling and comfy cups.

Backpack

Alright, now you’ve got all that, you need something to store them all in. Don’t undermine your kit by slinging it in a sub-par rucksack! There are plenty of cheap and cheerful backpack options that offer up a wealth of zips and pockets for your kit, regardless of size. Think about how it’s going to store your items. If you’re using a gaming laptop or a big tablet on the go, you want a safely separated compartment that keeps them upright so they don’t get crushed by other items. It also needs to be able to keep clothes and other items away from your tech for when you’re passing through security checkpoints or travelling light, to make things easy for you. There are plenty of options out there, including Berghaus’ 30L range and even Amazon’s own laptop bags, my personal favourite being Solo New York’s ‘Elite’ backpack, that has a ridiculous amount of pockets and a perfect separator for big tech items.

So what are your gaming travel accessories you can’t leave the house without? Comment below or drop by the Green Man Gaming Community pages to see what our other gamers think.

Ion Fury – Everything you need to know (and love) about this fabulously retro FPS

Back in the deeply dark days of 1996, there was Duke Nukem 3D, a vintage first-person shooter in which the only thing bigger than Mr. Nukem’s sprawling arsenal of bang-bang, was the cuss-spewing mouth affixed to his square-jawed mug. Now, in 2019, we have Ion Fury. 

Continuing on that grand tradition, Ion Fury is a retro and visceral styled shooter published by 3D Realms that not only wears its retro inspirations so brazenly on its digital sleeve, but introduces some contemporary game design elements to that classic formula to keep things feeling fresh.

Ion Fury Looks The Part Because It Is The Part

A cursory glance of Ion Fury reveals a shooter that doesn’t just look like some facsimile of the genre efforts of yore but instead embraces the exact same tech that those games used all those years ago. 

In the case of Ion Fury this means that developer Voidpoint has leveraged the BUILD engine, the exact same game engine that powered Duke Nukem 3D all the way back in 1996, for use in a shooter set for release in 2019. This means oodles of gorgeous sprite work and more stylized animations than you can shake a hairy stick at, making Ion Fury quite the retro visual treat indeed.

What’s Old Is New Again (With Knobs On)

As much as Ion Fury might outwardly appear to be a po-faced renaissance for late 90s shooters, Voidpoint have also made a number of well-informed nips and tucks to bring it up to date with contemporary expectations, too. 

For a start, Ion Fury allows players to pull off skull-busting headshots, while detailed environmental destruction and seamless level transitions all add up to create an enticing sum of a game that lovingly cribs as much from current design as it does the DNA of titles released during the halcyon days of the FPS genre.

That Health Bar Isn’t Going To Regenerate Itself

Though Ion Fury makes overtures to the more recent fans of the FPS genre, make no mistake – it’s still, at heart, very much rooted in old-school design where a premium is placed on quick reactions and spatial awareness above all else. 

With a health bar that doesn’t regenerate, an almost complete lack of cover to cower behind, non-linear level progression and handcrafted level design that eschews the current fad for procedurally generated maps, Ion Fury is all about running and gunning with barely a moment to catch your breath. 

Guns, Lots Of Guns

A premium metric for any shooter worth its salt, the selection of weapons on hand in Ion Fury is pleasingly absurd and brings widespread destruction with aplomb. 

Though the usual selection of handguns, shotguns and automatic weapons are all available, Ion Fury has its own line in exotic destructive gear with a triple-barrelled pistol, a homing bowling ball hand-grenade and an electrically charged tonfa baton to name just a few of the more unusual weapons you can use to turn your foes into a fine red mist.

Ion Fury’s Story Is Undiluted, Full Sugar Silliness – And We Love It

As if pulled straight from the annals of bad (but good) science fiction, Ion Fury’s story is straight up, weaponised nonsense of the most enjoyable kind. As wisecracking Shelley “Bombshell” Harrison, players must defeat evil transhumanist mastermind Dr. Jadus Heskel and his vicious cybernetic cult of losers.

See? I told you, this isn’t a Call of Duty rehash or some sort of half-baked Tom Clancy nonsense, this is Ion Fury, the Good Stuff. Honest. 

To find out more head over to the official website or check out our community pages and join the conversation.

The 10 best strategy games on PC

There are few genres as synonymous with PC gaming as strategy games. The format is perfect for armchair generals, sitting hunched over keyboard and mouse as you plot your next move or ten. 

With an army of strategy games ever prodding at your borders and strategy elements being a solid part of every genre, from RPG to adventure game, we thought it was time to take a look at the top 10 best strategy games on PC.

Homeworld: Remastered

There are few moments in gaming as beautiful, as jaw-dropping, and as perfect as the intro to Homeworld. Thankfully this space based strategy game follows it up with a complex and deep strategy sim that pushes all the right buttons in a truly satisfying campaign.

Battle Chess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSnAiXKU7h8

It’d be remiss of us to not include the ur-strategy game. Chess has been with us for quite a while but one thing the board version cannot include (unless you’re a despot) is violence. Battle Chess completes the game with gory, and often quite funny, animations.

XCOM 2

XCOM 2 is that rare thing, a sequel that plays with the formula. Not only giving you more XCOM for your buck, it twists the setting and the way the game plays, adding new features and making your strategy from the first game obsolete. A modern classic.

Civilization VI

Every Civilization game differs from the previous one in key ways, and with expansions like Gathering Storm coming out for Civilization VI this is looking like one of the most feature-complete strategy games on the market.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

The Star Union is dead, long live your faction. Find out what happened to the Union whilst carving out your own empire as you fight for survival. Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a late arrival to this list, but an extremely worthy one.

Into the Breach

Mechs? Bugs? Cities? Into the Breach has it all, and with full information at your fingertips and a rewind feature, you’ll never have anyone else to blame as you try to defend the world against invasion in this sci-fi strategy masterpiece.

Mount & Blade: Warband

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX37QA9o-Co

Combining several huge genres into one, Mount & Blade: Warband is a colossal achievement. The core of the game lies in its strategic and tactical layer, as you build an army and then take the front line yourself, leading your forces to victory, or crushing defeat.

Total War: Three Kingdoms

The Three Kingdoms period has been rife for novels, films, games, and more. Total War’s foray into the era not only combines the Total War genius for strategic combat, it includes character-led storytelling that has to be played to be believed.

Crusader Kings II

Overwhelming at first, Crusader Kings II remains the industry’s best anecdote creator. Take control of a demesne or a nation and try to ensure your legacy throughout the ages as plots from within and without threaten to topple your dynasty. 

StarCraft II

Blizzard has always been masters of their craft, and StarCraft II is their crowning achievement. With a single player mode that gives a new idea every level and a multiplayer mode so finely tuned it hurts, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything as slick in the strategy sphere.

Now you’re armed with knowledge and if you have any passing interest in the strategy genre you should have an amazing game to check out next. What’s your favourite strategy game for PC? Let us know in the comments below, or over on the Community Forum.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall Meet the Factions

Age of Wonders: Planetfall is the latest in a string of intriguing-looking 4X strategy games. Traditionally, Age of Wonders has always been deeply rooted in high fantasy, elves, magic, dragons, that kind of thing. This time though, things are very different thanks to a more sci-fi focused setting, and it’s one that the developers seem to have taken too with glee. 

One of the defining features of any strategy game is the factions, who you decide to take control of, and who ends up ruling the world/galaxy/universe as a result. The Age of Wonders: Planetfall factions are particularly interesting which is thanks to the connections they share with each other, and the glorious story-telling that the team behind the game is so good at. If you’re wondering which of these factions is for you, then here is a quick introduction to the six Age of Wonders: Planetfall factions. 

The Vanguard

This is the only run-of-the-mill one of the Age of Wonders: Planetfall factions and is a good choice if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by the chaos offered by the other choices. Rather than being anything exotic, this faction is all about the standard kind of troops you know and love from other games. They are the only branch of humanity left that is still mostly human, having emerged from a cryosleep to find that things have really changed since they were last awake. 

The Amazons

If you’re here for the dinosaurs with lasers, then this is the faction you want to be a part of. These ladies are descended from great geneticists and have managed to tame much of the world’s wildlife and formed beneficial symbiotic relationships with much of it. It means they’re already on friendly terms with certain NPC factions, and it also means they have dinosaurs with lasers. It’s a little bit Dr Evil but in a good way. 

The Dvar

These little guys are the epitome of short-guy syndrome, but what they lack in height they make up for by wearing hulking suits of armour. They specialise in machinery and can even flatten or raise mountains. Rather than worrying about petty things like enemy fire, they tend to smash their way into battle with hammers and jets. A good shout if you like a good shout. 

The Assembly

The Assembly might well be the creepiest of the Age of Wonders: Planetfall factions. Each of these humanoids is descended from clones, who were vat-grown as weapons. They’ve since co-opted a huge array of weapons and augmentations in order to become a force to be reckoned with. Nothing too creepy yet though, right? Well, they also scavenge organs from their dead enemies in order to help themselves live longer. It’s a bit gross unless they’re following the five-second rule. 

The Kir’ko

Despite how some of the factions look, The Kir’ko are the only alien race to be found here. They’re basically big bugs, which means they actually get stronger if you can group them together and they tend to swarm over the map to try and win. They can also absorb other factions into themselves with the aim of reviving the hive queen who was slain long ago. Like a buggy Borg. 

The Syndicate

The last of the Age of Wonders: Planetfall factions is The Syndicate. These are a deeply unpleasant bunch of people who favour the cloak and dagger to open warfare. They’re all descended from aristocracy though, so it’s not a surprise to find out that they’re all basically terrible people. They even use slaves to fight, they’re a good choice if you’re bored of being the good guys. 

To find out more you can check out the official website or head over to the Green Man Gaming Store. If your thinking of picking up Age of Wonders: Planetfall, head on over to the Green Man Gaming community pages to see what our gamers think.

2019 in Gaming Conventions: which shows to attend and what they have to offer

E3 is all said and done and after a bombastic showing in Los Angeles, the industry heads into con season, a wild stretch that runs throughout Autumn delivering event after event in the games industry. We thought we’d cut through the fog and give you a quick summary of each upcoming convention and what they have to offer.

Gamescom 2019 (August 20-24)

Europe’s largest public gaming event returns once again in 2019, and as per usual it will feature a gargantuan presence from the publishing titans within the games industry. This year Geoff Keighley will host ‘Gamescom: Opening Night Live’ – a ‘The Game Awards’ style show with a number of game announcements and reveals just prior to the event days occurring. This event is based in Cologne and whilst the queues can be long, if you live on the continent it’s the main destination if you’re into AAA titles, with a solid indie presence too.

PAX West (August 30th to September 2nd)

For those of us across the pond, PAX West is a busy but worthwhile trip if you couldn’t quite make it to E3. Unlike Gamescom, it offers plenty of fascinating panels, tons of networking opportunities and a grassroots community spirit, with plenty of indie outreach programs like Pax Rising designed to get people talking about up and coming titles. With a number of free play stations and game rooms for you to play classic and modern titles with your friends or some kind strangers, PAX West is a cool middle ground between E3 and something like EGX Rezzed which has a more homebrewed feel, even if there is an increasing presence from the big publishers.

Tokyo Game Show ( September 12th to September 15th)

If you’ve got boundless love for Japanese games and developers (Square Enix, Capcom, Bandai Namco and the like) and the means to travel to Asia, make sure you work in Tokyo Games Show to your September holiday. With over 250 thousand people attending, the show is a bustling display and one of the oldest and most impressive game conventions on the planet, taking place in the lovely Chiba Prefecture.

EGX (October 17th to October 20th)

Operated by Gamer Network owner ReedPOP!, EGX is the UK’s biggest gaming event which has now landed in London after being based in Birmingham for the past few years. The event has a public focus with over 250 games playable to attendees, but there’s also a cavalcade of indie games due to the Rezzed Zone and The Leftfield Collection, which curate everything weird and wonderful. Well worth the trip if you’re based in Blighty, EGX is full of top publishers, brands, cosplay competitions and much more.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 and the couch co-op renaissance

It’s been a long time coming, but couch co-op games are back in style. It feels like nowadays extra controllers are destined to languish in pits of gnarled wires, obscured by our few remaining physical games and the obligatory plastic peripherals that now clutter the dusty bins of gamer tat that linger near our consoles.

The convenience of online…

It’s not entirely a bad thing – online multiplayer has seen tremendous success and experienced years of necessary innovation with the advent of esports and battle royale – but it’s pushed us all out of our friend’s houses and back into our own bedrooms. Your best online pal might live across the street, but you’ll no doubt play “together” by communicating over Discord, a far cry from when you used to just knock on their door, controller in hand.

It could be a generational shift in opinion, with younger gamers growing up on Minecraft and Fortnite – but money talks, and by removing local co-op from games, you’re forced to buy your own copy. Hell, Wolfenstein: Youngblood launched last week without split-screen, and the entire premise of the game is co-op. Though Bethesda must get some credit for including the Buddy Pass which allows an online friend to duet with you for free – it’s not ideal though is it? More like a compromise. There was a time when local co-op came as standard in stalwart Xbox and PlayStation titles like Halo 3 and Timesplitters, so now in 2019, it’s nice to see some games are bucking the antisocial trend.

A new contender bringing friends together

Enter stage left, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order. A follow-up 10 years senior to the previous game in the series, it doesn’t pull any punches – it’s a simple brawler with responsive controls and hectic combat, just like it’s predecessors. It’s the perfect pick me up on the Switch if you want to rekindle the flame and give your friends a reason to come over for an evening to topple Thanos and his goons.

With a growing roster of 36 distinguished caped crusaders, there’s enough to ensure nobody is picking favourites, as gigantic bruisers like Venom complement even the most nimble of vigilantes in Wasp. One crucial part of its clever couch co-op is the synergy attacks, where every player in a group works to build a meter and then hammer the trigger buttons to combine forces and unleash a devastating attack in tandem. A similar feature has also been seen recently in Super Mario Party with the co-ordinated high-five in between mini-games. It’s these kinds of cute prompts that forces you to communicate and yell at your partners – the secret adrenaline-building sauce to any successful couch co-op game.

The Couch Co-op Console King

Overcooked, Crash Team Racing, Smash and Mario Kart – as well as the two mentioned above, all of these popular couch co-op games have launched on the Nintendo Switch, a console that has become a vanguard for local co-op, despite the fact its latest iteration, the Switch Lite has stripped away the ability to unleash the Joy-Cons…

There’s nothing like net code to ruin a multiplayer game, so it’s nice to see that in 2019 the local aspect hasn’t been totally forgotten. Hopefully, given that most of the titles mentioned today have become wildly successful, we’ll see developers take more of a chance on split-screen, and maybe we’ll have to dig out those dodgy controllers after all!

Hell Let Loose Utah Beach Update

Operation Overlord has always provided an iconic setting in World War 2 games, there have been countless recreations over the years but Black Matter’s version might just be the best yet.

Hell let Loose Update 1

Utah Beach is the first major content patch released for the realistic WW2 FPS Hell Let Loose, which launched early this year on Steam Early Access, and with it has come the brand new map ‘Utah Beach’ as well as some other additions and balances. For the full patch notes, you can check out the Hell Let Loose Steam page.

Whilst the map might share some similarities to Sainte Marie Du Mont with large open fields and hedgerows running alongside the winding roads, there is a lot more diversity across the entire map and more areas that provide the intense firefight experience the game is looking to deliver.

Hill 5

Hill 5 sits almost central to the map, with trenches running all around it and large bunkers to set up machine-gun nests. As the name suggests, the whole area is a hill, if only slightly, meaning that teams wishing to assault the area are often fairly exposed to the bunkers

wide lines of sight. But with its central location on the map, it is also extremely vulnerable to flanks from any side. Should you decide to assault the area, take lots of smoke and stay low. 

WN5

Next stop is WN5, with its large house at the centre, and numerous barns and outhouses providing lots of cover and places to set up garrisons. With its close proximity to the edge of the map, it is a difficult location to attack, with firefights often being long drawn out affairs. But call in some good air support and artillery strikes and you just might make enough of an opening to storm the area.

There is also the addition of the two new light tanks – the ‘Luchs’ on the German side and the ‘Stuart’ for the United States. These create new and exciting ways to play with their better manoeuvrability and rapid-firing weapons, they can be just as deadly as their larger counterparts if not dealt with quickly.

Update 1 has set a high bar for the game by delivering one of the best multiplayer maps in recent times.

Hell Let Loose is a game that relies on communication and teamwork. Utah beach offers the quintessential WW2 FPS experience that Hell Let Loose is going for, with its stunning location, packed full of strong vantage points, deadly flanking routes and some of the most intense gameplay on offer. There are plenty of opportunities for your squad to make game-changing flanking plays as well. 

Since the games launch a few months ago Developers Black Matter has had a strong community presence, with constant discussion and clear communication on what is to be expected, something that is essential for an early access game. They’re looking to bring content patches roughly every six to eight weeks which will include things like new transport vehicles, flame throwers, new maps and improvements to movement, animations, audio and more. 

Wanna know more about this squad-based World War 2 shooter? Check out our Everything You Need To Know article or head over to the Green Man Gaming store.

The 10 best NFL players – according to Madden 20

Madden 20 is the latest game in the long-running American Football (or to Americans, just ‘Football’) series, and it’s getting its global release today, August 2nd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFfro2KaTLg

The Madden series is not only a faithful recreation of the sport, but EA also analyses and rank nearly 3000 NFL players, rating them on a variety of skills and attributes.

As a result, each player gets a rating by Madden between 1-99 with 99 being termed the coveted ‘99 Club’. Even though Madden 20 is a video game, getting into the elusive 99 Club is a huge deal for the NFL and American Football, with severe bragging rights becoming associated with a high rating in Madden games.

This year the developers have aimed to make the game more realistic than ever, and as a result the rankings are a bit more severe than in previous years. Only 4 players have a 99 rating this year, compared to 7 last year.

Here’s the top 10 players in the NFL, according to Madden 20.

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback – Rated 97

The only quarterback in history to throw for over 5,000 yards in a season in both college and the NFL and one of the only players in NFL history to throw at least 50 touchdown passes in a single season

Todd Gurley II, Los Angeles Rams Running Back – Rated 97 

Voted Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press in 2016, he was also later named NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2017.

David Bakhtiari, Green Bay Packers Offensive Tackle – Rated 97

Rated 91st by his peers in the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018, he’s also a massive Settlers of Catan fan and is responsible for a group of Packers appearing in Pitch Perfect 2.

Luke Kuechly, Carolina Panthers Linebacker – Rated 98 

The youngest recipient of the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award in history, he also won the Associated Press 2012 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award

Julio Jones, Atlanta Falcons Wide Receiver – Rated 98

With a career average of 96.7 receiving yards per game, Julio Jones has the highest career average in NFL history

Antonio Brown, Oakland Raiders Wide Receiver – Rated 98 

Antonio Brown is the only receiver in NFL history to record five receptions and at least 50 yards in every single game of an NFL season, he is also the highest-paid receiver in the game.

Bobby Wagner, Seattle Seahawks Linebackers – Rated 99 

The the highest-paid middle linebacker in the league, Bobby Wagner was drafted by the Seahawks in the second round of the 2012 NFL draft.

Khalil Mack, Chicago Bears Linebacker – Rated 99

The highest paid defensive player in NFL history. Mack is recognised as one of the most dominant defensive players playing in the NFL.

DeAndre Hopkins, Houston Texans Wide Receiver – Rated 99 

After playing college football at Clemson, Hopkins was drafted by the Texans in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft.

Aaron Donald, Los Angeles Rams Defensive End – Rated 99

Known as the greatest interior lineman of all time, Donald is renowned for his strength. He has also been proclaimed a unanimous ‘All-American’ during his time at Pittsburgh

Madden 20 is out today, are you playing it and are you deep into the field of American Football? Let us know over on the community forums what you think of this years’ installment.

Control – Everything You Need To Know

One major AAA release that is fast-approaching is Remedy’s Control, a mind-bending single-player thriller with a chilling aesthetic and the makings of a gripping narrative. Much like the rest of Remedy’s games, it’s definitely in need of some explanation if you want to know what you’re in for ahead of launch, so here’s everything you need to know about Control.

What is Control?

Control is the latest action-adventure game from Remedy Entertainment, the talented narrative dream weavers behind Alan Wake and most recently, Quantum Break. Beyond some (very likely) easter eggs, the game is an entirely separate story, a surreal jaunt through brutalist architecture. It’s very hard to pin down pre-release, a hallmark of Remedy’s mysteriously cool catalogue.

What is the story behind Control?

In Control you play as Jesse Faden, who sets out to look for her lost brother in The Oldest House, the headquarters of the murky US organisation the Federal Bureau of Control. In doing so she inadvertently becomes the director of the bureau when a supernatural force known as The Hiss arrive and kill the existing overseer. As Jesse, you have to restore order to The Oldest House with your assumed powers and resolve the supernatural crisis created by the mysterious invading force, liaising with FBC members throughout the narrative. The point of the Federal Bureau of Control is to contain and study strange objects that have been marked by paranormal forces, but given that the HQ has been corrupted, some of these experiments have now been set loose.

Control gameplay – what does it play like?

Control offers a contained narrative but it is also an open-world game that encourages exploration and rewards a curious mind. It’s a lot like a Metroidvania – it’s set in a gigantic space-bending map and there are secret items to find if you explore that can warp the way you play. 

Jesse must recharge her health by taking the essence from fallen enemies, and fights The Hiss with her Service Weapon, a remarkable sidearm that can shift style to adapt to the battle at hand. One fire mode is designed to shoot through penetrable objects like desks and monitors. Jesse also has a suite of supernatural powers at her disposal that she can leverage to destroy the dreaded Hiss. She can float in the air and send crumbling bits of the environment at her foes in deadly blasts, shield herself with objects and perform ‘Jedi Mind Trick’ style feats to turn her foes into friends. Enemies are A.I directed and scale with Jesse as she progresses through the game. Control’s rich progression systems are rife with statistical modifications and customisation options too to keep you interested long after you wrap up the narrative.

When does Control Launch?

Control will launch later this month on August 27, 2019 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Control PC Specifications

OS: Windows 10, 64-bit
CPU: Intel Core i5-8600K / AMD Ryzen 7 2700X or better
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080Ti / AMD Radeon VII or better
Ray-Tracing GPU: GeForce RTX 2080
RAM: 16GB
DirectX: Version 12

Control trailers

How Wolfenstein: Youngblood Freshens Up the Franchise’s Formula

Game developers don’t like standing still, and with good reason too. In an ever-changing industry, refusing to adapt and offer something unique and fresh to gamers is almost like sounding your own death knell.

For MachineGames, Wolfenstein: Youngblood is the literal embodiment of the phrase ‘Out with the old, in with the new’. Gone is the single-player mode only mantra, overreliance on ageing Nazi-killer extraordinaire B.J. Blazkowicz, and core focus on the first-person shooter genre that previous entries depended on. In their place is a co-op title centered around B.J’s twin daughters Jess and Sophie, laced with soft RPG elements, and expansive levels that encourage exploration and new ways to strategically approach combat scenarios.

A new game, a new challenge

Ripping up parts of the development manual that you’ve relied on so heavily could be a recipe for disaster but, for senior game designer Andreas Ojerfors, it was a necessity to prevent MachineGames from becoming too comfortable in their own skin.

“It’s definitely been a challenge, but I think the team was ready to try some new things,” Ojerfors told us at QuakeCon Europe. “We wanted to play around with the format a bit because we had The New Order, The Old Blood, and The New Colossus, so this was going to be our fourth Wolfenstein, so we wanted to give ourselves some new challenges in the studio.”

The where and when…

Wolfenstein: Youngblood takes place two decades after the events of The New Colossus. B.J. has gone missing in Nazi-occupied Paris and, as either Jess or Sophie, players are tasked with finding their dad – in Da’at Yichud power suits no less – and ridding France of its unwelcome overlords.

Youngblood isn’t a complete departure from MachineGames’ well-trodden path. It retains the humor, heart, and heaps of violence that the series has become renowned for. In stepping out of their comfort zone and making a game aimed at two players instead of one, however, MachineGames had to overcome numerous obstacles. Chief among their concerns was their pre-programmed AI that, according to Ojerfors, struggled with an extra playable character to contend with.

“As soon as we threw in another player, the AI became super stupid,” Ojerfors amusingly revealed. “They bounced between the two players and didn’t know how to deal with them because everything we built, when it comes to our AI, is geared towards the enemy trying to understand and respond to one player. So we spent a ton of work on making sure that our AI works well with two players. I’d say we did a really good job there and I’m really happy with it because I think our enemy AI is now more responsive and more dangerous than before.”

Teaming up

Dispatching Nazis with a friend also requires a bigger playground. With little to no experience of creating open-ended levels, MachineGames enlisted the help of a studio that knew a thing or two about developing expansive locations – Arkane Studios.

“This was a full partnership with Arkane from the beginning,” Ojerfors admitted. “We came out of the production of The New Colossus and they came out of Dishonoured 2, so we both kind of had an opening in our schedule. We were thinking about what to do next and our game director and their game director talked and said: ‘Okay, let’s try to do something together’. That made it possible to build Youngblood from a production perspective. We built this thing in a year and a half because both studios were working on it.”

In working together, MachineGames and Arkane Studios broke up development to play to each of their strengths. Arkane created the open-world levels for the game’s mid-section, as well as an entirely new weapon and dictating how one of Youngblood’s biggest boss battles would play out. MachineGames, meanwhile, focused on delivering their archetypal linear missions at the game’s beginning and end, and developing the game’s story, cast, aesthetics, and RPG system.

“Most of the RPG elements that we have are there to allow the player to have the freedom that we wanted,” Ojerfors said. “We want you to play the game the way you want to. That means upgrading your character and weapons in the way you want them to play. You can choose the order of missions and to have progression in both difficulty and player access to different upgrades.”

Taking the franchise forward

With Youngblood and its fellow spin-off Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, MachineGames brings a freshness to the franchise and, providing they’re successful, hope to offer gamers more adventures in the wider Wolfenstein universe in the future.

“Youngblood and Cyberpilot was possible because we worked with Arkane so, in the future, I’m sure we’re going to do more side products,” Ojerfors said. “We’ll probably continue with the rhythm of making a huge game and then making something slightly smaller. That’s a good rhythm for us so far, so I imagine we’ll have other opportunities to do something like Youngblood.”

To find out more you can check out Everything you need to know about Wolfenstein: Youngblood or head to the Store page. If you’ve played the game already come let us know what you think on the Green Man Gaming Community pages.