4 reasons to join the hunt with Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

Capcom’s best selling game of all time has recently received a bumper content package, expanding the smash hit with a stack of new foes, items, armour and more. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne launched on PS4 and Xbox One to rave reviews last week, with critics able to play the game for almost a month before release to truly sink the necessary time into it. If you’re in the market for a game with a steep, but enjoyable learning curve where you brawl with monsters of remarkable scale (or maybe you’re a veteran looking for reasons to come back) then let us provide you with four reasons why you should hop into Monster Hunter World and experience Iceborne.

Up your arsenal

Pretty much every weapon in the game has received a few new tricks thanks to Iceborne, meaning if you think you’ve mastered your combos with a certain tool you can think again. On top of the above, we also have the Clutch Claw, which is a game-changing grappling hook you can use to cut the distance between you and the monster you’re hunting. It’s a fantastic bit of kit that I found to be revolutionary given that the game’s movement tech can feel a bit clunky without a gap closer. The Clutch Claw remedies issues that might have pushed some players away and is a compelling reason to jump back in.

New regions and masterful monsters

As of Iceborne’s launch, you can now embark on Master Rank excursions, which will challenge even the most veteran of hunters who dare to venture into the chilly climes of Hoarfrost Reach. As well as a gorgeous new snow-covered biome, Iceborne adds a whopping 14 new monsters, with several variations on already established beasts. From the Seath-esque ice dragon Velkhana to the terrifying bat boss Nargacuga, you’ll have plenty of tactical puzzles on your plate to unravel throughout the expansion. Finding out which terrible beasts made the cut is half the fun, so no more spoilers here!

Accessibility

Whilst you have to be Hunter Rank 16 to play through Iceborne, Capcom has been kind enough to fleece players with the Guardian armour set to give newcomers and veterans a welcome boost as they grind. All you have to do is log in to retrieve it, and of course, there are daily rewards for consistent play sessions. Whilst the game can seem tremendously daunting at first glance, the Monster Hunter community is easily one of the most welcoming to new players, and there’s no better time to hop in than Iceborne if you’ve got beast slaying FOMO, given that there’ll be a massive influx of new players of varying skill   levels. Seek out the many subreddits and Discords and get involved with the community — you should be having fun in no time with a little guidance and a reliable hunting group.

Post-launch support 

Much like the base game which received plenty of brilliant crossover missions and extra content in the months following its release, Capcom’s approach with Iceborne will be no different, and you can expect numerous new monsters and items in the months to come. It’s already been announced that the evil ape Rajang from Monster Hunter 2 will join the fray soon, so who knows what could be around the corner!

GreedFall – How Spiders Have Crafted The Next Essential RPG

After cutting its RPG teeth on Mars: War Logs before going onto make Bound by Flame and The Technomancer, French developer Spiders looks set to deliver its most epic odyssey to date with GreedFall.

The sort of sprawling, spectacle stuffed open world adventure that you’d expect to emanate from the creative minds of a developer such as Bioware or Obsidian, here are just a handful of reasons why GreedFall is looking poised to be the next big thing.

A Brave New World

As the Old World teeters on the brink of collapse owing to the proliferation of an incurable disease, overpopulation and dwindling resources, an expeditionary force is dispatched to Teer Fradee, a massive island seemingly steeped in magic and untouched by the hands of humankind. 

Evoking comparisons to the pioneering 17th century European age of discovery, with all the regalia, architecture and settlement conflict of that period to match, GreedFall manages to balance the fantastical and the historical with aplomb. Imagine 2005’s The New World movie (with less Colin Farrell) crossed with Amazon’s new Carnival Row series and you’re basically there. Sort of.

The Power of Choice

Like any open-world genre effort worth its salt, GreedFall defines itself in large part by the sheer amount of choice that it affords the player in shaping their journey. Echoing the freeform narrative affecting choice synonymous with genre stablemate efforts such as Mass Effect or Dragon Age, GreedFall lets players solve quests by dialogue, violence or subversion, with each approach not only creating unique consequences and outcomes, but also providing a whole heap of replayability in the process.

More than that, Greedfall also embraces a deep faction system too, where diplomacy and political discourse can be employed effectively to set one faction off against another, as new powers rise and old ones fall forever affecting the makeup of the island and how its denizens respond to you and your party of companions. Speaking of which…

You’ll Always Have A Friend In Me (Or Not)

Part and parcel with GreedFall’s approach to player choice and narrative direction is how Spiders have provided players with an ample cast of characters that can accompany them on their epic quest of discovery, heroism and monster murder.

A mixture of fellow explorers and individuals plucked from the native peoples, GreedFall’s companions are more than just window dressing, or another sword in battle, as each companion will react to the decisions that you make and can be used to affect diplomacy with certain factions that other individuals in your group may be unable to achieve.

Praise The Sun! – No Enemy Scaling

Progressing through GreedFall reveals an odd truth; the hostiles you’ll face do not scale with the development of the characters in your party. Instead, you’ll find that as you chat, quest and bludgeon your way through the game that you’ll rise above certain enemies on your upward climb towards stronger foes.

A refreshing change from the status quo when it comes to enemy scaling in the opposite sense established by fellow genre efforts such as Fallout 4, GreedFall’s eschewing of level scaling means that improving your character actually feels like a reward in itself. After all, there’s not much point getting more powerful if you don’t feel more powerful at the end of it, is there?

The Best Fast Travel Loading Screen Ever

While other open world epics oblige players with a perfunctory loading screen when fast travelling from one point to another, GreedFall takes things more than a step further in this regard.

Rather than some idle loading screen that regurgitates helpful ‘tips’ that you’ve already seen approximately 378412 times before, GreedFall instead provides players with an interceding area where crafting can take place, companions can be managed and items can be bought before you’re thrust back into the wilds of Teer Fradee. See? The best fast travel loading screen ever.

Greedfall – Trailer

5 reasons why PES is better than ever with eFootball PES2020

It’s never been a better time to love football and be a PC gamer than now, and over the upcoming days it’ll become even better with the upcoming release of eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020, or eFootball PES2020 for short.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK3_uf8FLHc

PES has always been the plucky underdog in the football world and the series hasn’t been afraid to reinvent itself. Now this year we’re getting a brand new PES game, one filled with improvements, new features, and more than anything an absolute passion for the beautiful game.

Here are five reasons why 2020 shows that PES is better than ever.

It feels more weighty

Whilst the game does on initial plays feel similar to PES2019, eFootball PES2020 has made everything feel just that little more heavy, that little more weighty. This helps not only make each tackle, pass, and maneuver feel more meaningful, it also helps make the players feel more unique. With animations that are detailed and a weightier feel, you know you’re controlling an individual player and not just something wearing Coutinho’s face.

Better dribbling

PES has always excelled at the moment-to-moment experience of playing football, and that’s exemplified in eFootball PES2020 with the improved dribbling. It actually managed to replicate the feeling of touch on the ball, meaning you can pull of truly realistic dribbling. It’s helped that Andrés Iniesta himself has been consulted during the game’s creation.

Esports is here to stay

You might have noticed something different in the title of this years’ PES game – that’s right, eFootball. That’s because Konami are shifting focus a little with eFootball PES2020 to embrace esports. You’ll find a whole raft of new online features in-game, with Konami making a concerted push onto the PESLeague and eFootball Pro tournaments. You’ll even find a new Matchday mode with players around the globe taking on their team colours each week and helping their team to glory, one match at a time.

Travel the world

As is the norm now, there’s a smorgasbord of licenced teams, players, and locations to visit when playing. With beautifully rendered and detailed stadiums, you’ll be able to head to Old Trafford, Celtic Park, Stadio Olimpico, El Monumental, and many more in a globe trotting journey around some of the finest football temples the world has to offer.

Better AI

It doesn’t matter how good a PES player you are, without good player AI you’ll be frustrated and confused. Konami have taken a hard look at the AI for eFootball PES2020 and improved on it in almost every way. With smart runs and a new feature where AI players react to certain ‘Inspire’ players by giving them space or helping them perform their signature moves, you’ll find that playing PES has never felt so real.

eFootball PES2020 is launching on the 10th of September, 2019 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC in most regions, and the 12th of September in Asia. We’re already gripping our controllers ready for some work tournaments, make sure you’re ready to dive right in by pre-purchasing today.

4 Iconic Holiday Destinations for the Travelling Gamer

For those of us who are prone to virtual cabin fever, staying cooped up in our bedrooms with the lights off bashing through the latest games — this article is for you. There are plenty of places on our fine planet that are worth the trip if you’re a gaming enthusiast, from second-hand software Mecca’s to inspirational historic sites. Let’s run through a few and inspire some game-related vacations.

Akihabara

Of course, atop every gamer’s travel list should be Japan, widely regarded as the home base of video game culture. Whilst the language barrier is certainly not the easiest to cross, you can get by just fine if you know what you’re doing way in advance. Akihabara (known as Electric Town to many) is a bustling, eye-popping liminal homage to all things gaming, from gorgeous second-hand shops like Super Potato to merchandise peddlers and gigantic SEGA arcades.

Even though it’s a relatively small area, you could easily spend a whole week here if you’re not careful, with plenty of holes burning in your pocket. If you’re a compulsive buyer, you might want to bring an extra suitcase for all the tat! There’s something strangely alluring about buying all of your favourite old school games in Japanese, even if you weren’t a collector beforehand!

Seoul

Just a hop, skip and a plane ride from Tokyo, Seoul is another fantastic hub for the traveling gamer. Especially if you’re into eSports and want to check out the many PC bang gaming cafes that line the streets or perhaps spend some time in Yeongdeungpo’s VR Park if you want to try the latest and greatest immersive experiences.

Seoul has some of the finest internet speeds in the world, so it’s a competitive player’s dream. As a consequence, this means that there are often major esports competitions taking place within the city as well as numerous conventions like it’s very own Comic-Con, meaning if you time it just right you could get more than you bargained for.

California

A gigantic State on the west coast of America, California is home to tons of game development studios but also a gargantuan amount of gaming events that you should certainly plan a trip around. If you’re a big Blizzard fan, there’s no better place than BlizzCon in Anaheim, and you could even try for a studio tour at the nearby Irvine office.

Special subjects aside, Los Angeles is home to the industry’s biggest event, E3, which is pretty much the best way to experience the latest game’s before they hit the store shelves, with insightful events like E3 Coliseum running in tandem to flesh out developer intentions and the latest trends. California is also home to countless gaming bars and barcades where you can watch eSports competitions and is also the inspiration for the setting of a number of top-flight titles like GTA V, so you may recognise some landmarks and figure out a route around if you’ve got a keen eye.

Rome

A wildcard to wrap things up, you may want to head to Rome if you’re a gamer with a historical interest. Beyond the rich culture and unbeatable landmarks to keep you busy, there’s also a fantastic store known as Avalon Roma for all your purchasing needs, as well as VIGAMUS, a well-regarded video game museum in the heart of Lazio which offers up a retro-tinged collection and plenty of arcade games for families young and old to enjoy.

We can’t possibly recommend scaling the landmarks, but if you’ve played legendary historically-grounded games like Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Civilization or Imperator: Rome, you’ll definitely get a kick out of Italy’s capital city, and you might even be able to impress your traveling companions’ with the knowledge you gained when you were cooped up in the dark leading the legions.

Did we miss your favorite destination? Tell us where you go to escape from the daily grind in the comments below and join us over on the Green Man Gaming community pages to see what all our gamers have to say.

Code Vein – Revenants and monsters and powers oh my!

Code Vein is coming out on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on September 27th. It’s one of those games that feels like it’s been in development for ages, so the fact that it’s about to be released upon the world is almost like a dream. At least it does to those of us who’ve been waiting for it since the original announcement.

What is Code Vein?

If you aren’t familiar with the game, then buckle up. It’s a Soulslike game, which means that it features hard-as-nails combat, a weird multiplayer system, and lots of huge bosses that can probably kill you in one hit. If that sounds like your kind of thing, then that’s great, if not, then stick around for a bit longer, as this one is a little different. 

The Story of Code Vein

The story of Code Vein has you playing as a Revenant. A Revenant is a human being that has died and been brought back to life by a special parasite that turns you into a vampire-like being. The world has been ravaged by an apocalyptic event known as The Great Collapse. As a result, there are countless monsters roaming around, known as the Lost, who are revenants that have lost their sense of self. 

If a revenant doesn’t drink blood regularly, they become a Lost, given that most of humanity has been wiped out, this means that there is an ever-growing number of Lost in the world, and they serve as your main opponents, well, at least from what we’ve seen so far.

One of the main ways that Revenants can now get blood is from special plants that produce blood beads, as such, many lower-level Revenants are effectively used as slaves to find these plants for the more powerful Revenants. It’s a lot like how you’re boss makes you get their coffee for them every morning. 

Who are you in Code Vein?

The good news is that you’re not just any Revenant, oh no, you’ve got a special kind of power that allows you to take on more and more powers as you go. These are effectively four classes in Code Vein, and you can switch between them freely, allowing you to adapt your style to match whatever you’re fighting against. This is a very rare thing in the game and is, in fact, one of the things that the characters around you will be interested in. 

You’ve also got to contend with The Miasma, which has engulfed the world after everything else that’s happened. This is incredibly dangerous for Revenants to breathe in, which is why everyone is wearing some kind of gas mask as they adventure outside of specific safe zones. Basically, it’s all a bit of a mess, so it’s a good job you’re so special because you’re going to need every ounce of power you can muster to be able to stay alive in this horribly unfriendly world.

To find out more about Code Vein you can visit the official website. Leave your comments below and head over to the Green man Gaming Community Pages to see what all our gamers have to say.

The Surge 2 Is it the game for you?

Back in 2017, The Surge jumped into the souls-like genre bringing with it, new challenging, visceral combat and a new sci-fi world to get stuck in to. Its futuristic exo-suit combat model was well received and brought about a successful new IP. Now The Surge 2 is almost upon us and you’re probably wondering whether it’s the game for you? 

Firstly and most obviously, if you played the original and enjoyed it, chances are you’re going to enjoy the sequel. It looks to build on what made the first game good and offer a hell of a lot more of that. 

But what if you didn’t? What if this is your first foray into the souls-like genre? Hopefully, we can clear some things up for you and help you make a decision.

Do you like a challenge? 

The Surge 2 promised to offer tough and punishing gameplay where you will be tasked with taking on huge nanobot style enemies with the ability to kill you almost instantly should you not have your wits about you. You will die, and you will have to learn from your mistakes. 

Do you like Customisation? 

With over 80 weapons across 9 different types to choose from you’re never short of a new style of combat to try out. Everything from military batons to jury-rigged spears will be at your disposal. But it doesn’t just stop with weapons, you can also customize your exo-suit, with full armour sets that offer bonuses, or partial set bonuses allowing for greater freedom when deciding on your build. Plus a whole host of other abilities and implants at your fingertips.

Do you like Varied Combat? 

With so many weapons to choose from you’re going to need something to use them on, face off against a wide variety of enemies from humans with their own exosuits to huge nanobot creations. Study their patterns of attacks, learn their weaknesses and strike when the timing is right. Target specific parts of the enemy to dismember them, weaken and destroy them. Launch devastating combos and master directional parrying to allow for swift and deadly counters. Whether you enjoy a more aggressive playstyle or slower methodical approach there will be a style and build to suit you.

Do you like Exploration? 

The Surge 2 takes to an entirely new setting – the devastated Jericho City, featuring larger more expansive levels designs, new secrets to uncover, new allies to meet and new terrifying bosses to challenge. 

You arrive in Jericho City after your plane is shot down by the mysterious storm covering the city and you crash lands on the outskirts. The city is under Martial Law, robots are on the rampage and the dark nano storm is an ever foreboding presence over the city. There is plenty to see and more importantly plenty to fight in this bigger more ambitious sequel. 

If The Surge was a solid foundation for a new take on the souls-like genre, then The Surge 2 is looking to build on those successes and deliver a more robust, complex and deep gameplay experience for new and veteran players alike. Suit up on the 24th September 2019 to take on the brand new challenges the game has to offer.

To find out more visit the official website. What are your thoughts? leave a comment below then head over to the Green Man Gaming Community pages to join the conversation.

There’s a Final Fantasy for everyone and here’s why

The Final Fantasy series dates back all the way to 1987, a time before the internet, a time before graphics cards, and a time when ‘Final Fantasy’ did genuinely seem like it would be the last game in the series.

There’s been a whole slew of Final Fantasy games since then, with fifteen in the main series and innumerable offshoots, sequels, and even films. With so much to choose from, there’s a Final Fantasy for everyone. Here’s 10 reasons why there’ll be one for you.

You love dogs

Everyone loves dogs, right? Well if you love dogs, you’ll love Final Fantasy VIII which features Angelo, a boy so good he can be fired like a cannonball. Final Fantasy XV and VII also feature dogs, or dog like creatures, heavily.

You’re hungry

Final Fantasy XV features some of the best and most mouth-watering food ever created in a video game. From simple toast to delicious feasts, team member Ignis has a snack for you.

You are concerned for the environment

With our real world increasingly under threat you might want a game that’ll reflect that. In Final Fantasy VII you join eco-warriors Avalanche as you race to save the very lifeblood of the planet from being exploited to death.

You need a huge roster of characters

Many Final Fantasy games feature a core group of team members, but Final Fantasy VI has not only multiple protagonists you can take on your journey, it also occasionally splits up the team into simultaneous stories with separate parties. If a 2D game is not your jam, Final Fantasy XII has a wonderful cast, including fan-favourite and leading man, Balthier.

You want a non-linear narrative

Want to jump back and forward in time, and spend your time wondering what’s going on before everything is revealed to you? Final Fantasy VIII is the one for you, and luckily it’s getting a remaster.

You just want to have as many feelings as possible

Final Fantasy games often feature big stories with huge consequences, but some focus on small stories as well. Final Fantasy IX and XV both have characters you absolutely will fall in love with, and your heart will go through the wringer for these absolute stars.

You want to make some friends

Who would’ve thought that Final Fantasy XIV would turn out to be as good as it is? After a disastrous first launch, the MMO was retooled into one of the greatest multiplayer experiences out there. For those wanting something a bit more retro, Final Fantasy XI is still going strong, at least on PC.

You want to suplex a giant ghost train

Alright this is a bit specific but in Final Fantasy VI you can suplex a giant ghost train. I mean, you want this, right?

You love sport

Blitzball is one of the best imaginary sports ever made, so why not get stuck right into it in Final Fantasy X? Legend has it that there’s an RPG included in the tenth Final Fantasy game, but we’re here for blitzball.

You miss your school days

Final Fantasy VIII starts off quietly, with main character Squall finishing off their schooling. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, or simply want to step back in time to your school days, Final Fantasy VIII might be your next favourite game.

Hopefully you should now have some idea of which Final Fantasy game is perfect for you. What’s your reason for playing Final Fantasy games? Let us know in the comments below, or over on our community forum.

Gears 5 Everything you need to know

It’s been three years since we’ve had a mainline Gears of War game, and it feels like forever since the once-iconic series has been relevant. It’s a shame, but trends in multiplayer and campaign design have changed dramatically over the past decade, which has left the grisly third-person shooter with a lot of loyal fans but not a very strong handhold in the market. That’s why Microsoft is banking on success with the follow-up, Gears 5, as it tries to revitalise a series that has run its course with its mascot Marcus Fenix, via a new protagonist and a graphical update. Here’s everything you need to know about Gears 5.

What is Gears 5?

Announced during E3 2018, Gears 5 is the latest game in the long-standing Gears of War series, helmed by The Coalition who took over development duties from Epic Games when the series was acquired by Microsoft, starting with Gears of War: Ultimate Edition in 2015.

What is the story behind Gears 5?

In Gears 5 you play as Kait Diaz, a former raider turned Gear whose grandmother turns out to be the Locust Queen Myrrah. Her mother was Reyna Diaz, who she euthanized at the end of Gears 4 to stop her from being mutated by the Swarm Hive. Family eh? In Gears 5 Kait, JD Fenix, Delmont Walker, and even Marcus Fenix join up to dive into Kait’s backstory and the origins of the evil Locust.

Gears 5 horde mode Gamescom preview – what does it play like?

I recently got the chance to take a look at Gears 5 behind closed doors. My session consisted of a quick introduction to the game’s horde mode, which has received a number of meaningful changes over its predecessors, including a hero system not dissimilar to Overwatch where you pick a specific character with a class attached and level them up, earning upgrade cards and developing their abilities. From Sarah Connor, Emile from Halo Reach and even the floating support robot Jack, there is a lot of palpable depth to this mode, and I get the impression we only scratched the surface during my demo. I was told that the game would be updated regularly with new characters and maps to keep Horde mode fresh, though the set that the game will launch with is already a fairly meaty chunk of content.

When does Gears 5 launch?

Gears 5 will launch on September 10th for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. If you’re keen you can play the game four days early if you subscribe to Xbox Games Pass Ultimate.

Gears 5 PC Specifications

Minimum:
OS: Windows 10 May 2019 Update
Processor: AMD FX-6000 Series or Intel i3 Skylake
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760/GTX 1050 or AMD Radeon R9 280/RX 560
Storage: 15 GB available 

Recommended:
OS: Windows 10 May 2019 Update
Processor: AMD Ryzen 3 or Intel i5 Skylake
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970/1660 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 570/RX 5700
Storage: 15 GB available space

Gears 5 trailers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djt3EV9oOa0&list=PLRbY0esaBJi5-ta-nW_IRgHoZ2d3G20Dd&index=3&t=0s

Yakuza 7 announced

The latest game in the Yakuza series has been announced, titled Yakuza 7: Whereabouts of Light and Darkness in Japan and being given the title Yakuza: Like a Dragon for its Western release, it marks a huge departure for the series in some key ways. 

5 commute-friendly games to beat the pre-work blues

Those of us who are unfortunate enough to have a commute to our place of work will know all too well the mind-numbing bore that is sitting on a train, bus or other variation of public transport, without something reliable to do. Lucky for the commuters reading this, you’re most likely gamers too, and the two disciplines go hand in hand. In which case, we thought it might be best to run through some commute friendly games that you can pick up and play, and most importantly have a meaningful experience with pre and post-work. 

Breath of the Wild

Without a doubt, one of the best games ever made The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is hard to beat for portability and punch. You can pick up and play this Switch masterpiece in short bursts on your commute, perhaps focusing one shrine per session to pass the time. If puzzling isn’t your bag you can always mess around with the physics and test the boundaries of such an ambitious, immersive open world. 

Dragon Quest Builders 2

Maybe you’re more of an artist or a crafter? In which case, you cannot go wrong with Square’s most recent Dragon Quest spinoff, Builders 2. The game manages to mix the depth and systems of a Japanese RPG with the instant gratification of a building game like Minecraft. By adding light story elements and including plenty of upgrades and items the team have mastered the Builders formula and delivered a devilishly addictive game that you can drop in and out of in the run-up to work.

Animal Crossing Pocket Camp

Perhaps you’re a bit more of a peaceful soul or someone who needs to disconnect from any pre-work anxieties. In which case, you can’t really go wrong with Pocket Camp on iOS or Android which squishes the console Animal Crossing experience, putting your gift swapping meet cutes at your very fingertips. Tom Nook is still there peddling goods in the form of microtransactions, but you can have a lot of fun here without burning a guilty hole in your pocket. Designing a home and inviting your adorable friends over sounds like the perfect plan if you wish to escape the undying chaos of a busy commuter train.

Holedown

If you’ve never heard of Holedown, you’re missing out. A killer app that demands little of the player but results in a gigantic endorphin rush, you simply shoot balls into a near-endless cavern and undermine platforms with strategic targeting. It is very simple, but it looks and feels fantastic on iOS and Android and is deeply addicting. With upgrades always just a few play sessions from reach. Definitely quicker to get into than the rest of the entries on this list, all you need to do is boot up the app and start swiping to turn any commute into an adrenaline rush.

Bully: Anniversary Edition

Wildcard! If you travel with your phone or tablet on the way to work, you might get a few funny glances from your fellow commuters, but Rockstar has a whole host of its single-player back catalog on the App Store that runs beautifully on iOS and Android. Best of all of them is Bully, which is a lot more focused and linear and good for quick play sessions on the bus or train. Whether it’s slingshotting jocks or giving a preppy kid a swirly, there’s nothing quite like the unbridled mischief available within the confines of Bullworth Academy. The story and overall world is great fun too if you never caught it all those years ago.

Those are some of our top picks for games to commute with, got any favourites of your own? Leave a comment below and head over to the Green Man Gaming Community site to see what all our gamers have to say.

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.