Page 67 – Green Man Gaming Blog

The Long Journey Home: Sci-Fi Game Checklist

What has been described as No Man’s Sky meets FTL with a dash of Star Control 2 , The Long Journey Home is a Sci-Fi game that ticks a lot of boxes. If you don’t know what The Long Journey Home is, then you have come to the right place.

Overview

The Long Journey Home is a game about being lost in space and trying to establish you and the human race as a big player in the universe, as opposed to the tiny fish you start out as. Players will start off with a crew of four characters and your main mission is to explore the procedurally generated universe, making sure all the elder races that make up the region you’re in know just who you are, and what you’re about.

Story

Even though the story in The Long Journey Home is very much what the player makes of it. ‘Sunless Sea’ writer Richard Cobbett takes the helm with the game’s major plot points and narrative snippets, describing the surrounding environment as soon as your crew lands on a planet to giving the player insight into ancient alien history. Some of the story might require some working out, as many of the aliens you meet who can give you info are translated from their respective languages, and as Star Trek taught us, translators aren’t perfect.

Your Ship’s Crew

Players will get the opportunity to build their very own crew right from the very start. You will be able to choose four crew members from a list of ten pre-built characters who come with their own skillset, job and starting item.

Procedural Generation

The fabric of pace is a mystery to everyone, so making the universe procedurally generated in a video game is the perfect way to truly explore the unknown. In The Long Way Home’s procedural generation covers planets, climates, aliens and events. In theory this means that the missions you take, planets you explore and aliens you meet will be unique to you and your crew. The alien races will have pre-determined personalities however, which brings us onto…

Aliens

As mentioned above the alien races will have a set of preprogrammed personalities as well as codes of conduct. Throughout your mission into deep space you will come across aliens who shoot first and ask questions later or demand you turn your shields down as a mark of respect before they even talk to you. So it is best to go into each encounter with a plan A and plan B, maybe a plan C, D and E just for good measure. If you’ve ever played older games like Star Control 2, and met aliens such as the Zot-Fot-Pik or the Orz, you’ll know just how important it is to understand actual ‘alien’ aliens, and The Long Journey Home brings that alienness to the fore with its roster of elder species.

Exploration

Exploration in The Long Journey Home is mainly planetary with the planets restricted to a 2D view. Once you are on a planet this is when the procedural generation really kicks in and throws up some breathtaking sights. The main aim when you land on an unknown planet is to scavenge for resources and looks for alien artifacts, which will then cast a trail of secrets for you to follow as to where you are and the history of the cosmos. The potential to lose hours of gameplay here is unreal.

That is just some of the things you can expect from The Long Journey Home. Are you excited for this game? Let us know in the comments below.

Shadow of Mordor: 5 Reasons To Play

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is in our sale, which you can find here. We think it’s an absolute must-play for any fans of action-rpgs or The Lord of the Rings world. I’ve listed five reasons why you should pick it up and play it, if you haven’t already.

Friendly orcs

Orcs get a bad reputation. Anyone who’s read my posts on Warhammer knows that I’m a huge fan of the greenskins. In The Lord of the Rings, orcs are reduced to the personification of evil. Cruel, hateful, disgusting, and industrious without regard. In Shadow of Mordor, you will work with the orcs way more than any human, elf or dwarf. They’ll be under your power, and do as you say, but even then it’s hard not to root for your boy as he ascends the orc hierarchy, and strike down his rivals for him. Forming attachments to orcs is not something you’re inclined to do in games, movies or books. But I’m glad everyone had a chance to feel the same as me, and to care about these little guys.

Lore not shown in movies

Shadow of Mordor takes place between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It’s set in Mordor, and starts with the retaking of the Black Gate by Sauron’s forces. What follows is a revealing insight into the rise of Sauron, and the complete ineptitude of the friendly races of Middle-Earth. They may as well of invited Sauron to second breakfast in Minas Tirith and given him the keys to the white city right then and there! Either way, there’s lore about the origins of the Rings of Power and their maker, and other characters of The Lord of the Rings.

Mobile combat

Enough talk about lore and story, time to discuss the combat mechanics! Shadow of Mordor’s combat mechanics have been described as ‘Arkham Asylum’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed’-esque. This is definitely what you want to hear about a third-person action RPG that includes a lot of stealth. Whats more is the abilities of Talion the ranger are enhanced beyond mere mortality through his partnership/possession with Celebrimbor the elf spirit. The game’s abilities allow you to flit around taking off heads and stabbing green backs before disappearing into the long grass, in a much cooler way than Batman or Ezio Auditore de whatever.

Gollum

Back in 2004 when The Lord of the Rings films were released, the character of Gollum was considered a masterpiece of CGI, as well as acting. Even today he is considered as one of the best characters ever created. He is in this game! You can do side quests with the pale creature, and find him skulking around Mordor trying to get back his Precious. And as Middle-Earth scholars will tell you, his presence and eventual capture set off the chain of events that start in The Fellowship of the Ring.

Rangers are the coolest

Lets face it, the rangers in The Lord of the Rings are the coolest characters. They wear hoods, they’re experts at shooting bows, fighting with swords, tracking, hunting, they’re descendents of one of the most powerful race of Men, they are the silent protectors of Middle-Earth. And one of them becomes King and is basically the best person of the Third Age. So why would you not want to be one? In terms of badassery, Elves lose out from their detached haughtiness, and dwarves are just too grumpy and avarice-filled to be mainstream cool. Men were always destined to inherit Middle-Earth, and you can really tell when you meet rangers.

That’s our list. What did you like about Shadow of Mordor, and are you looking forward to the sequel?

10 Signs You Could Be Batman

The Batman Arkham franchise is our franchise of the month. You may be thinking that you are already Batman, however, here are 10 signs you may be the Dark Knight.

1) You get ready for work in the most dramatic of ways

2) You like to spend your free time hanging out on the highest point in the city

3) You like to make sure you and your friends adhere to a specific dress code

4) Locked doors mean nothing to you

5) You love to make an entrance

6) Your peripheral vision is second to none

7) You treat the people you hate like a punching bag

8) You walk so slowly it’s like you’re walking in slow motion

9) Remote control cars are your thing

10) To most people you maybe moody and dark, but you do have a true goofy side

Attack on Titan: 10 Signs You’re a Titan

Attack on Titan is the best Spider-man game that’s not a Spider-man game, and also the best anime about chopping the heads off giants. Want to chop the heads off giants or watch people chop the heads off giants? Attack on Titan is for you.

But you must examine yourself, what if you are a Titan? What if you’re destined to crunch the bones of tiny humans in your giant mouth?

Well here are 10 Signs That You’re a Titan, check them and check yourself.

1. You run like a baby

2. No seriously, you run like a baby. All your friends do too.

3. You have no patience with children

4. You’re a bit clumsy

5. You can be a bit…fighty

6. But you like a rest every now and again

7. You can be a bit dramatic

8. And you can be a bit of a wrecking ball

9. But you’re the coolest of the cool

10. But we gotta talk about this. You run like a baby.

Are you a Titan? Do you feel like any of these apply to you? Let us know in the comments below, or on social media!

But also if you are a Titan, please don’t eat us.

The Inspiration Behind The Beautiful Noir Thriller, The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter

Horizon: Zero Dawn Sequel – 5 Things We Want To See

Horizon: Zero Dawn is one of the best open world games of this console generation so far, as it proved by going head-to-head with Zelda: Breath of the Wind back in April. It came out fighting toe-to-toe (knuckle-to-knuckle, you get the idea). After playing it and loving it, we are in no doubt a sequel is in the works. Here’s what we’d like to see.

An even cooler name

Horizon: Zero Dawn. Its a trio of great words that look fantastic on a billboard in a cool font. Its enough to completely confuse any old folks. It also means nothing until way into the game. The opportunities for an ever better sequel title are numerous: What about Horizon: Zero Dusk? Horizon: Last Dawn? Robo-dinosaur Future Bow Laser Mega World? We don’t want Guerrilla to bend to norms and just put a 2 at the end. Or bend to the other norm and just call it Horizon.

More lone hunter/huntress gameplay

The most unique feeling about Horizon is the way Aloy interacts with the barren, desolate, but most often beautiful environments. She runs, jumps, rolls, slides, sneaks through the land as someone who was trained as a hunter would. And even when she’s with a group or NPC, she’s still working alone, spearheading any operations. If her exiled outcast status for most of her life didn’t make her a loner, then her hi-tech Focus separates her from society as special, but different. Even Aloy’s role as Seeker is probably the loneliest job title in the game. So we’d actually also really enjoy…

Co-op mode and story

Aloy is a great character, and she puts all the others in the game to shame in terms of personality. Although what is cool is when games have two or three really great main characters, that can interact with each other and be useful in different ways (Borderlands, Assassin’s Creed co-op, Diablo). Imagine playing Horizon but with one or two friends, and you’re a team of Seekers. Maybe someone is an expert in stealth, another is better at tracking, the third is the one who deals the most damage. You could take several different weapon types and combine the damage effects, you could bait enemies into traps. And probably the best thing, you can all split up and take care of the quest handing in waaay faster than you can solo.

MOAR robo-dinoSAURs

The robo-dinosaurs are what really brings Horizon to life. Or, as close as their programming can get to life. They fuel the central mystery of the game: Why are they here, who made them and who is still making them? They’re also a part of every game mechanic. Fighting, farming, travelling, even the watch towers are great big robo-dinos! So we’d like to see loads more. Granted, they may have used up a lot of the cooler prehistoric beasties (T-rex, crocodile, huge birds, raptors, sabertooth tiger) but there are plenty of more they could create. Or go full Jurassic World and combine them together! Giant robot Indominus Rex for the win.

Guerrilla Games to make the game they want to make

The success and ingenuity of Horizon is a good argument for developers making the game that they clearly wanted to make, and not sticking to what sells. Horizon has several mechanics that you’ll recognise from other open world games, but does it in a way that is more fresh, and combined with its intriguing world and story, elevates it up above the rest. If Guerrilla Games want to make a sequel that’s similar to the original, then they should. They shouldn’t feel forced to add on a multiplayer, or even bigger world, or a brand new protagonist with more sex appeal and loads more abilities…but more simpler to play. Essentially, we’re vetoing Horizon: Ezio Dawn.

That’s 5 things we really want to see in the Horizon: Zero Dawn sequel. What are you most looking forward to in the next game, and how do you think it can be an improvement on the original?

Why ‘Origins’ Is The Best Suffix

The word ‘origins’ has appeared in many game titles over the past few years. Now with the current leak and rumours going around about Assassins Creed Origins, we thought it would be a great idea to list the best games which use the origins suffix. Also, please play these games as they are amazing.

Dragon Age: Origins

Featuring the best origin stories in fantasy history (hence the name), DA:O started off BioWare’s epic dark fantasy series with a bang. Filled with allegories of every sort and the kind of political dramas not seen outside of Netflix, DA:O combines a wonderful world with rich storytelling, and a combat system so brutal that frankly those Dark Souls lot don’t know what they’re talking about. Romance, fight, and politicise your way through Thedas and save everyone from the Darkspawn. Or almost everyone, it depends on you!

Batman Arkham Origins

Even though many fans of the Arkham series think Arkham Origins is the weaker game, Arkham Origins by itself is a very decent game. It’s a great intro to the the villains of Gotham and the Arkham-verse as a whole. It also has a great battle system, a nice mini open world and you get to be Batman (who doesn’t want to be Batman?). This game is highly immersive and generally very good. It’s just a shame it’s put next to Rocksteady’s trilogy.

Rayman Origins

It may come as a surprise to most people that Rayman Origins is not the origin story of Rayman. It is in fact a colourful 2D game that brings Rayman back to it’s origins as a 2D platformer. It is a great homage to the original Rayman games. It has simplistic controls but a fun and vibrant world that is both engrossing and full of action. Rayman Origins is still one of the best 2D platformers of the Xbox 360 generation.

Condemned: Criminal Origins

The best hobo punching simulator on the market, Condemned: Criminal Origins is a brutal look at ‘what if loads of people went a bit mad and you had to beat them all up with pipes you tear off the wall’ combined with a really, really, really spooky horror game. Anyone who’s played it will remember with fear the mannequins, the school, and *gulp* the house. It’s Silent Hill meets Fight Club, it’s Rocky meets The Shining. It’s brilliant, but you have been warned.

It’s safe to say that the next Assassins Creed franchise is going down the right route by (possibly) using the origins suffix. Let’s just hope it doesn’t rely on the title alone.

Also we would love a Black Flag 2, please.

Top 5 Games We Want

I asked a whole bunch of staff over here to give me their personal Top 5 games on their wish lists. These are games they want that have either released or are announced; definitely games that do exist. I’ve collated them to find out what are our most wanted. I’ve also found out we all have widely varying tastes in games!

5. Persona 5

A game that is dominating the recent charts and gamer’s lists alike, Persona 5 is one of those rare JRPGs that simply everyone needs to play. It’s a great perfection of the genre, and everyone who has played it (see: our community) has raved about how good it is. As a PS4 exclusive, it’s quite impressive it’s made it on to so many lists.

4. Darksiders 3

Recently leaked and then announced, is Darksiders 3. The sequel to the much loved Darksiders 1 and 2, the third game is set to continue the trend of apocalyptic horsemen and women fighting and riding their horses and completing complex puzzles. If you’ve never played a Darksiders game, just think of it as The Legend of Zelda but more grown up and emo-y.

3. Divinity: Original Sin 2

Do you want to play Dungeons and Dragons with your friends but without that pesky person who insists on being the DM? Well looks like a lot of us do too! Divinity: Original Sin 2 is in early access, but the popularity and success of the first instalment has excited a bunch of us here. A pure RPG experience if there ever was one, enhanced by having drop in/out cooperative play.

2. Micro Machines World Series

A lot of people have fond memories of Micro Machines, especially the multiplayer. Those people’s opponents will have horrible memories, but at least they will always remember! With consoles like the Nintendo Switch and PC games bringing back split-screen and local multiplayer, a lot of us are excited to jump back into driving tiny cars around a kitchen work surface, shooting our friends so they fall off a giant fork into the sink. Good times.

1. Middle Earth: Shadow of War

The most wished for game among us is certainly a big one! Only announced a few months ago, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is the sequel the surprise hit Shadow of Mordor. No doubt one of the games that has gone furthest from the source material, Shadow of War has some truly fantastic looking improvements to it’s already unique features like the Nemesis system. I’m not sure what we’re looking forward to most: riding a dragon, conquering famous fortresses, or building up a Friends-esque group of trolls and orcs who we’ll never forget when we accidently get them killed. RIP Az-Laar the Demolisher.

10 Signs You’ve Played Too Much Final Fantasy XIV

With Final Fantasy Stormblood fast approaching, here are 10 signs that you maybe playing too much Final Fantasy XIV.

1) You greet people with ‘Praise the Sun!

2) You talk in Gil

3) You look at the clock to see if its time to farm resources

4) Whenever you slip on ice you get flashbacks to that Shiva boss fight

5) When you go out shopping to spend your millions of Gil

6) When you have a real hankering for Potash

7) You wish you could move furniture IRL around as easily

8) When you get a new computer at work and thought you were glad for clicking ‘need’

9) You get stopped in the street for your Jenova’s Witness t-shirt

10) When you’re driving you hear the Chocobo music in your head

STRAFE: The Best Old School First Person Shooters

STRAFE is out today! The new game from Pixel Titans and Devolver Digital promises face melting speed, bucket loads of blood and gore and endless changing levels. Just looking at STRAFE you can tell that this game got its inspiration from some classic old school shooters. So we thought we would list our top old school FPS games, here we go!

Wolfenstein 3D

What can only be described as the forefather and creator of the FPS genre. Wolfenstein 3D was the first ever 3D first person shooting game and players jumped into the army boots of B.J. Blazkowicz as he tries to escape from the the notorious castle Wolfenstein during the second world war. This game was packed full of enemies and fast paced FPS gameplay which was hugely popular all the way back in 1992, there were also Nazi Zombies and a Mecha-Hitler.

DOOM

After creating the popular Wolfenstein, Id Software then went on to create DOOM. Possibly heralded as one of the best old school FPS games still to this day. DOOM took players on a journey to Mars then to Hell. Battling the demons of Hell never felt so epic. Especially when wielding the infamous BFG 9000, one of the deadliest weapons ever created in games.

Quake 2

The first Quake game was heralded as the spiritual successor of DOOM. For us though, Quake 2 was the game that made the franchise! With the introduction of the cyborg race known as The Strogg and the Rail Gun. This game rose the bar for both the Quake franchise and for first person shooters as a whole.

Duke Nukem 3D

Duke Nukem 3D brought Jet Packs, Freeze Rays and Shrink Guns to the FPS genre. True, Duke Nukem himself was a egotistical misogynist who would spew out high levels of smut, but the gameplay was unlike anything anyone had seen in an FPS game. Also the Pig Cops had LARD on their backs instead of LAPD which I still think is hilarious to this day.

Unreal Tournament

Unreal Tournament gave many gamers their first ever taste of arena based FPS combat. This was one of the only multiplayer focussed FPS shooters out on the market (except maybe Quake 3 which came out the same month) and took competitive first person shooters to the next level. With varying game modes and an epic arsenal of weaponry, Unreal Tournament paved the way for multiplayer arcade style shooters.

Devil Daggers

The aim of Devil Daggers is simple, survive as long as you can! This FPS game only came out last year, and is a great hark back to old school FPS games. Players are only armed with one weapon and are thrown into what can be only described as a pit of chaos. The weapon you are given has 2 fire functions and can also be used to jump as well as kill things. The ultimate survival game for any FPS fan.

So that’s it for our best old school FPS games. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below!

STRAFE is available now on the Green Man Gaming store.

Shadow of War: The Creatures of Middle-earth

Deep in the craters of Middle-earth, where the coarse, burnt black roads meet the undesirable mountain troughs. Where the ashes settle onto hidden passages and withered trees bow over forgotten paths. All hot, searing with the burning gaze from the fiery eye and the unburdened heat of Mount Doom.

That’s where they lurk, in the rubble of dust, the creatures of Mordor.

Drake

A Drake is a smaller dragon, but by no means underestimate their powerful force in battle. Talion will be able to control and ride the Drake in his upcoming battle against Sauron’s army, utilising its deadly fiery breath in combat and shielding enemy attacks with rough, armoured scales.

Weakness: Must be on a low health to be controlled by Talion

Strength: Breathes two types of fire, a stream of fire or a large fireball that explodes enemies on impact

Caragor

The ravenous teeth of the Caragor rips straight through its enemies and devours its prey. Traveling in large packs and prowling the grey fields of Mordor, keep your distance. Only tameable through Talion’s wraith abilities, where you will be able to ride into battle and fight alongside you. If you come across a hostile Caragor, it’s ferocious attacks must be dodged. Caragors prove advantageous in battle once controlled, fighting alongside Talion and picking off his enemies one by one.

Strength: Combat-leap in to battle

Weakness: Unpredictable nature

Ghûls

The slime of the region, their overwhelming numbers add to their unpredictable and conniving nature. Swarms of the creatures will not hesitate to scratch and bite their enemies, spitting poison to injure its victims. Talion can use his wraith abilities, Wraith Burn, to control large hordes of Ghûl and use them to slowly chip away at enemies health.

Strength: Travels in large packs to dominate fights

Weakness: Individually weak, with a low damage melee attack

Graug

A gigantic creature that resides as far a the Blue Mountains and dominates the region of Mordor, unleashing fear to enemies through it’s large size and overwhelming strength. Graugs have troll like features and abilities, with large stomping feet, thick limbs and teeth that shred its enemies clean of the bone.

Strength: Massive claws that perform rain down attacks on prey

Weakness: Unarmoured ankles that can be sliced to take down their enormous body

Caragath

Caragaths are stealthy beasts, that roam the vast grassy expanses, travelling similarly to the Caragors, but they are smaller, cunning and more agile in their attacks. They can be lured by bait, captured in cages and will be non-hostile to Uruks, well, before the fight begins anyway.

Strength: Talion is able to subdue this beast and perform stealthy attacks on enemies

Weakness: Non-hostile Caragaths turn deadly one the battle commences

Morgai Flies

Protective small little insect creatures, that hum around the hives strewn across Mordor. They won’t attack if they’re unprovoked, but if you disturb their nests, the creatures will swarm towards you and create a stinging blaze until you drop to your knees.

Strength: Creates a large swarming frenzy, that takes down even the biggest enemy

Weakness: Will remain at bay if their nest is unscathed

Fell Beast

Run.

Shadow of War is coming to PC and consoles 10th October 2017. What are you looking forward to in the new game?

Morrowind: What’s in the Box?

The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind is nearing release! There’s a few different versions coming out, and you might want to know what’s in each of them.

So we’re answering the question: What’s in the box?

Below you’ll find each version of the game, and a list of what they include, so get checking it out and get picking the version you want up!

The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind Standard Edition

This version mainly includes the original Elder Scrolls Online, with the expansion included:

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited – Base game
The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind – Expansion upgrade

You also get pre-order bonuses!

Pre-Order Bonus: Exclusive Warden Costume – Costume for all classes from the expansion trailer
Pre-Order Bonus: Dwarven War Dog Pet – Armoured non-combat pet
Pre-Order Bonus: Treasure Maps – Details Vvardenfell’s hidden treasures
Pre-Order Bonus: Dwarven Crown Crate – Special Crown Crate with a chance to contain Dwarven items
Pre-Order Bonus: Experience Scrolls – Get 50% more experience for two hours

The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind Digital Collector’s Edition

Similar to the previous entry, but now with some extra stuff!

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited – Base game
The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind – Expansion upgrade

The Collector’s Edition also comes with the following:

Collector’s Edition Grey Bear – Exclusive bear for use when you’re playing as a Warden
Armoured War Horse – Exclusive mount
Dwarven Spider Pet – Personal Dwarven Spider Pet
Character Emotes – New character emotes
Morag Tong Converter – Allows you to customise your gear with Morag Tong styles

You also can get the pre-order bonuses listed below!

Pre-Order Bonus: Exclusive Warden Costume – Costume for all classes from the expansion trailer
Pre-Order Bonus: Dwarven War Dog Pet – Armoured non-combat pet
Pre-Order Bonus: Treasure Maps – Details Vvardenfell’s hidden treasures
Pre-Order Bonus: Dwarven Crown Crate – Special Crown Crate with a chance to contain Dwarven items
Pre-Order Bonus: Experience Scrolls – Get 50% more experience for two hours

The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind Upgrade

Upgrades your Elder Scrolls Online account into one that has access to Morrowind content, does not include the base game for The Elder Scrolls Online.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind – Expansion upgrade

You can also get pre-order bonuses if you pre-order!

Pre-Order Bonus: Exclusive Warden Costume – Costume for all classes from the expansion trailer
Pre-Order Bonus: Dwarven War Dog Pet – Armoured non-combat pet
Pre-Order Bonus: Treasure Maps – Details Vvardenfell’s hidden treasures
Pre-Order Bonus: Dwarven Crown Crate – Special Crown Crate with a chance to contain Dwarven items
Pre-Order Bonus: Experience Scrolls – Get 50% more experience for two hours

The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind Digital Collector’s Edition Upgrade

Upgrades your account so you have access to Morrowind content, does not include the original Elder Scrolls Online.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind – Expansion upgrade

You also get the following Digital Collector’s Edition bonuses:

Collector’s Edition Grey Bear – Exclusive bear for use when you’re playing as a Warden
Armoured War Horse – Exclusive mount
Dwarven Spider Pet – Personal Dwarven Spider Pet
Character Emotes – New character emotes
Morag Tong Converter – Allows you to customise your gear with Morag Tong styles

And pre-order bonuses!

Pre-Order Bonus: Exclusive Warden Costume – Costume for all classes from the expansion trailer
Pre-Order Bonus: Dwarven War Dog Pet – Armoured non-combat pet
Pre-Order Bonus: Treasure Maps – Details Vvardenfell’s hidden treasures
Pre-Order Bonus: Dwarven Crown Crate – Special Crown Crate with a chance to contain Dwarven items
Pre-Order Bonus: Experience Scrolls – Get 50% more experience for two hours

So there you go! You should now know which version of Morrowind to get so you can explore Vvardenfell in The Elder Scrolls Online, go check ’em out and pick up a version today!

7 Days To Die: What’s In The Alpha 16 Update?

7 Days To Die is getting a hotly anticipated update! Alpha 16 promises to bring a shed load of updates to the game, including new traps and weapons, more character options, improved controls, new zombies and much much more. Here is a list of what’s coming to 7 Days to Die in the Alpha 16 update!

Game Controls Improvements

100% Gamepad controller support
In Menu Hotkeys for scrap, wear, drop, craft, etc.

Items, Traps, Weapons

Flame Thrower trap (Might be post launch A16)
Spinning Blade trap
Arrow trap
Molotov Cocktail
Compound Bow
Auto Turrets

New zombies

Fat Hawaiian Shirt zombie is back
Feral versions of every zombie that have more hp, hit harder, and run during the day
Radioactive zombies that heal over time
Various UMA zombies coverted to handmade

Spawn and AI improvements

Create new volume based Sleeper system and sleeper helper points
Bloodmoon, Dynamic and Sleeper spawns all use partying and dynamic difficulty game stages
Player stealth improvements

Electricity

Craft generators, solar panels, or use battery banks to power electric devices
New powered traps that chop zombies, burn them, and more
Run wire from power sources to switches, relays, pressure plates, and appliances
New wire tool will attach and cut wire

Blocks and Building

Jail Cell door
Iron Bar block with outside, centre, and inside edge rotations
Outside corner stairs
Unified block system which allows for 24 rotations and texture alignment between blocks
Painting tool that will allow for multiple textures and colours for greater building variety
Bulletproof Glass
Rain Gutters
3d Ladders

World Generation

Distant Terrain 2.0 featuring distant POI’s
Socket System for POI’s and cities that mesh more naturally with the terrain
City districts for more organic city layouts with industrial, commercial, and residential zoning
Enhanced world previewer using the new LOD models of POI’s

More Character options

New beards
More hair styles
New clothing

New and redone animals

Replace bears
Replace Pig
Replace hornet with zombie vulture
Add snakes to desert and plains
Add wolves to appropriate areas

Improved crops

Potatoes and other 2d card crops need real 3d versions

Redo main menu

Replace old legacy menu with an updated smoother flowing one.
Clean up old options
Add new dead is dead mode
Add Zombies run during the day and walk at night options

You can check out all of the developers video on the Alpha 16 update here.

The list above is the current confirmed list of features that will feature in the Alpha 16 update, there are other features that will be released after the Alpha 16 update. A full list of features can be found on the 7 Days To Die forums here.

What are you most excited about the new Alpha 16 update? Let us know in the comments section below

Daggerfall: 10 Reasons It’s The Best

Daggerfall! City of light, city of magic!

…no wait, that’s Mournhold.

Daggerfall! City of square buildings and low-res human faces!

That’s more like it.

As we’re excited about the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online expansion, Morrowind, I thought I’d take a look back at the game that started it all for me. Daggerfall is the best Elder Scrolls game, and that’s hard FACT. I’m your host, Alex, and I’m here to answer the burning question: Why is Daggerfall so damned good?

1. The Box Art!

The best thing about Daggerfall is the box art. I mean just LOOK at that. The flesh peeling away from the skull, the crown, the threatening claw. You just know something horrible is going down in Daggerfall town. It’s meant to be King Lysandus and his appearance in-game isn’t quite as terrifying, but it’s scary enough to entice a young person into buying the game, all the while being asked by their parents ‘are you sure you’re old enough to play this’.

A question a parent should never ask, they’ve already lost at that point.

2. Skills!

Before the Elder Scrolls series took a turn into clarity, it dabbled in complexity. You have a whole load of skills and traits you can play with when creating your character, and to this day I still don’t really know what all of them do. Dragonling for example, a language skill for talking to dragons. Can you actually talk to dragons? Not in my experience, the little chaps still run at you all fireballs blazing! But for flavour that can’t be beaten, because it lets you do…

3. Roleplaying!

Want to be a Khajit thief who dresses only in ninja outfits and who takes to the towns at night to prowl from rooftop to rooftop? You can!

Want to be a valiant Orc knight, clad in the heaviest armour and who only speaks Orcish? You can!

The skill and trait system in the game meant there was a lot of wasted space and stuff that didn’t have much use outside of flavour text, but it really helped sell the idea that you were building your character, much more so than in later Elder Scrolls games. You could be a scholar who spoke Dragonling, and whilst that might not make much or any impact on the game, it made you feel more like you’d made your own character.

4. Dungeons!

Daggerfall dungeons are tough, not only because of rabid denizens hunting for your blood, but because you would get lost SO much in them. This was because they were made up of sections that are combined into a thousand thousand different combinations. It meant that your experiences were different almost every time, and they were HUGE dungeons, with massive puzzles involving rotating sections and all sorts.

Later Elder Scrolls may feature more curated experiences, but Daggerfall really had a feeling of delving deep into forgotten places.

5. Climbing!

Although ropes were dropped from the game (after the manual was printed), climbing walls still made it in. It meant you were a creature of VERTICALITY, not just plodding on the floor. Well, if your skill was high enough anyway. Locked out of a town because you’d got home late? Up the wall you go, but make sure you’re not seen because…

6. HALT! HALT! HALT! HALT!

Guards were MEME-TASTIC. ’nuff said.

OK maybe a bit more to be said. They chase you in their hordes if you do anything wrong. Or rather, if you get caught doing anything wrong. A vast tide of guards can be seen in many cities in your wake, all bellowing HALT like a series of fantasy Terminators.

Legend has it, that killing a few guards and then doing some time is a good way to enter the Dark Brotherhood. They’re always watching…

7. The Scope!

Daggerfall is smaller in scope than Arena which let you roam across the entire of Tamriel, but it’s so much larger than anything that follows it. The Iliac bay is huge, and ranges from seas to tundra to mountains to desert, and you can walk over every inch of it!

OK it might be a little samey, procedural generation being in its infancy, but you *can* do it. I remember being incredibly excited over walking from one town to the next, it blew my tiny little brain! Even if it did take me hours.

8. Daedra!

Much like the other games you could meet up with the Daedra, do quests for them, and then get powerful rewards. But there was something wonderful about seeking them out in Daggerfall, as unlike later games they wouldn’t have a giant statue, you’d genuinely have to go out and ask around, follow the trail until you finally reach them and begin your journey to becoming blessed by a demon.

9. Just So Much Stuff To Do

Want to buy a boat? You can! Buy a house? You can! Join a knightly order? You can! Swim to an island? You can! Activate a robot god and give it to your favourite faction? You can! Run across the Iliac Bay? You can! Join the Dark Brotherhood? You can! Join a temple? You can! YOU CAN DO SO MUCH STUFF AND IT NEVER ENDS THERE’S ALWAYS MORE TO DO!

10. Wereboars

You can also become a Wereboar. Best game material, right there.

What do you think of Daggerfall? Let us know in the comments or on our social media channels! Daggerfall is also FREE on Bethesda’s website, so check that out!

Also remember, if you’re EXCITED to go back in time, The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind is coming soon!

Our Favourite MOBAs

A lot of us play MOBAs here at Green Man Gaming, and vastly different ones as it turns out. I went and asked “Why is that MOBA your favourite?”. If your wanting to try out a different one, have never played one or want to get back into competitive multiplayer battle arenas, then read on and find out why they’re the best.

League of Legends

Looking at pure size of community, company, streamers and esports scene, its hard to say that League of Legends isn’t the best MOBA out there right now. But its not just savvy business practices and being at the right place and the right time that led to their success. League of Legends takes just the right amount of complexity that allows players to practice all day and still be left wanting, but also lets relatively new players still enjoy a few games every now and again.

It takes the traditional DOTA map of 3 lanes, with five characters per team. You can play one of five roles, each vastly different and allows players to feel a bond with others who sympathise with their bespoke troubles and challenges. For example, I play Jungle. This means I spend a lot of time running around in the jungle, earning my XP off of monster camps, and helping lanes to win fights and get kills. I have spent a lot of time dedicated to getting as good as I can be at this one role, and there is enough nuance that I will never know everything. What’s more, Riot are consistently improving the game and changing the rules to make the game more satisfying, and to keep its very large roster of champions relevant.

If you’re going to pick a MOBA to try out then it behooves you to try out the most popular one, as it is definitely so for a reason. Based on your experiences, you can then jump off to find the MOBA that suits you better, if you want more or less complexity. But trust me, you’ll still come back to LoL. We all do.

DOTA 2

You would think after 2333 hours of playing this game, I would know what it is I like about Dota 2. The truth is, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what I enjoy about the game. No other game I play elicits the same level of satisfaction and at the same time makes me feel utterly useless.

Initially I started playing because I watched the 2014 International Tournament and wanted to better understand what was happening on the screen. This lead me on a long road of trying to get to grips with the intricacies of this game, e.g. denies and pulling. This is one of Dota 2’s greatest strengths. A lot of new mobas are trying to simplify and streamline the experience, whereas Dota 2 doesn’t pander to newer players. You could argue this point as a weakness but I personally find going from completely clueless to some level of understanding very addictive. There is so much depth to Dota 2 and this gives rise to an esport that I still find myself watching even after all my failings in game.

The good news for new players is that the game is easier to get into than ever before. Valve and Icefrog (Lead Developer) continue to make updates and changes that keep complexity but remove needless difficulty, e.g. warding will now show the vision it will provide before it’s placed. There are also an in-game guides that you can select which give players some idea of which items to purchase and skill builds to follow. Unfortunately this system doesn’t replace the hours of practice needed to get a good understanding of certain heroes but there are plenty that new players can be effective with.

The 113 hero-pool is extremely varied and every hero has something unique about them. On top of this you can purchase items that can add new abilities to your hero or enhance existing ones. This is all done on a game by game basis and there is no progression for heroes outside of the game. The only differences you get are cosmetic only, which means everyone is on an equal footing, no matter how long they have been playing. I think this, coupled with the fact that the game is completely Free-to-Play is one of the main reasons to give the game a go. However, be prepared to deal with negative players that should of stopped playing long ago. The game features a mute system to ignore such players so don’t get discouraged, even professional players will make mistakes when playing this game.

Smite

I’ve played a lot of MOBAS over the years; Smite is easily the most unique one I have encountered. It’s a 3rd person game, taking a lot of its inspiration from World of Warcraft PvP gameplay. As a long time WoW player, this heavily appealed to me, on top of that, you’re playing as mythological Gods! It features 8 different pantheons, Egyptian, Norse, Hindu, Greek, Roman, Chinese, Mayan, Japanese and the recently added, Celtic. With a large pool of 87 Gods to play from, no doubt you will recognise some of the popular ones, like Zeus, Thor and Loki.

Objectively, it is similar to other MOBAs. There are 3 lanes and a jungle, and a map that veteran LoL players would be able to easily adjust to. Each lane has 2 towers, and a phoenix you need to destroy in order to reach the end goal, the enemy Titan. Kill the Titan, win the game. In the jungle, you will find buffs, bosses, portals and experience camps, all of which add another layer of complexity and strategy to the game. Like most other MOBAs, items play a large role too, meaning every game gives you the option to build a God slightly differently, changing the playstyle of the God and perhaps catching your opponent off guard.

Your average game only takes 20-30 minutes but with 7 different game modes (1 of which being a rotating “Match of the Day” with fun and silly rules) to choose from, there is always something a little different to do incase you are in the mood for a slightly more laid back “anything goes” style of game.

Heroes of the Storm

Heroes of the Storm have just updated to their 2.0 version, and now is a excellent time to jump into the game. During its lifespan its cornered a small but hardcore group of players, and might be one of the most easily accessible MOBAs out right now. Blizzard had taken a look at the big players, DOTA and League of Legends, and thought, “Why are these games the same as original DOTA, including all limitations of the day?” They set out to make a MOBA that was streamlined, inviting and focused on what players enjoyed most: the teamfights!

With multiple maps in the game, heroes from multiple games with deep and rich backstories already, HotS offers a lot of variation in games. Different map objectives leads to players focusing on the action, on their team and the enemy. Lanes, minions, merc camps and leveling up come second. Players level up as one team, and the comeback bonuses mean the game can swing at any moment. The objectives are designed to allow teams to make progress and capitalise on their successes, whether its a teamfight win or capturing a Boss camp, that’ll spawn a huge unit to push a lane. Some maps don’t even allow you to push lanes to win, you simply must fight for the objectives.

I prefer Heroes of the Storm because I know what parts of MOBAs that I like best, and I don’t care if it makes the game easier. Its also a boon that when I introduce people to the game, it doesn’t take years for them to learn the mechanics and have a good time.

Atlas Reactor

Atlas Reactor is a bit of a misfit for this list as it’s not a game that follows the established MOBA metagame of lanes and objectives. What it certainly is is a hero-based Multiplayer Online Battle Arena which makes it fit enough. It’s a game with a completely unique formula and the best way to explain it in one sentence would be this: League of Legends blended artfully with X-COM to deliver a turn-based brawler with a twist: everybody plans their turn at the same time and the results are played out for them. It’s a great concept and it really delivers as a fun and competitive game that results in some extremely nuanced play, but without the furious clicking of your normal MOBA.

Heroes are split into Firepower (DPS), Frontliners (tanks) and Supports (uhh…supports). Every character has a set of unique abilities and an ultimate ability. I love this game for a few reasons. Firstly, the characters are really excellent – every one of them is packed with personality and a little comedy. The gameplay is challenging and is all about second-guessing and outwitting your opponents, using your prep moves, dashes and attacks. It’s a little more relaxed than League or DOTA and a match takes only 15-20 minutes. It doesn’t have as steep a learning curve as classic MOBAs but it does have space to excite you with sick plays. It’s F2P like the others (with a paid version also available to unlock all the heroes), so give it a go!

Dragon’s Dogma – Why It’s The Best

Dragon’s Dogma is the best, and that’s hard fact. You can’t dispute it. Just try.

See? You couldn’t, ipso facto, I win.

But Alex, I hear you beg, why is it the best? Well if you’d just shut your pie holes for five seconds, I’ll tell you.

Why Dragon’s Dogma Is The Best

Firstly, it’s not the best. It’s got a lot of flaws but frankly none of them matter, because it’s just so good. If you want an involved storyline and a game where you don’t have to trot over mile after mile of frankly quite similar scenery, then this isn’t for you. THAT SAID none of that matters because the storyline is deep and fascinating, just it’s not doled out to you. The world is absolutely filled with things to SMACK with a combat system that’s frankly amazing.

The World

Gransys is a country under attack by a DRAGON called Grigori. The world’s populated by harpies, cyclopes, wolves, ogres, and goblins. Oh, so many goblins.

If that was all the world was, it’d be a boring world. There’s just so much more going on than it seems at the beginning. Why are creatures suddenly appearing everywhere? Why did the dragon turn up? Why doesn’t the Duke slay the dragon like he did the last one? What’s happened to all the Duke’s previous wives? What’s Salvation? Why won’t other nations help Gransys? Why does the blacksmith only ever tell you that ‘They’re masterworks all, you can’t go wrong’?

What are all the pawns all about?

Pawns

Rejoice, arisen! You’re not alone in your adventure. Pawns exist to do the bidding and serve the arisen in your quest, and they’re summonable at handy spots around Gransys!

But what are pawns? Why do they look human but aren’t…really…human? Why do they come out of portals in the sky? Why do you get one pawn that you mold into whatever you want, but then you have to summon other pawns from alternate dimensions?

These questions will be answered, in time.

Well they won’t, but some of them might be hinted at, and THAT my friends, is Dragon’s Dogma.

The Pawns Talk

OK so it’s a divisive thing to say, but pawns have a lot of dialogue and without that the game wouldn’t be half as good.

You see as you trot about the world, questing away, they comment on what’s happening, the monsters you fight, and just generally on their status. The frequency of their comments makes them appear like excitable dogs, yapping away at the world. Here’s some of their wonderful babblings:

“Soaked to the bone!”

Getting wet is a status in Dragon’s Dogma, so if your pawn gets wet they’ll let you know which is great! Except they’ll do it after climbing into a fountain, or jumping into a river, or running through a waterfall.

“’tis a large tree”

When your pawn sees a large tree.

“’tis even larger up close!”

When the tree is even larger up close

“A Waycastle mayhaps?”

When you reach the Waycastle, moments after your screen says ‘Waycastle’ and you enter the Waycastle region.

“’tis a troubling foe!”

When it is not a troubling foe, but they might’ve stubbed a toe or something.

See? How wonderful is that? They shout these all the time when you’re out and about, and it makes you really feel like your pawns have personality.

Some people turn off the pawn banter. Those people are monsters.

The Combat

The meat of the game is in the combat, you get to choose between nine classes which go from warrior through rogue to sorceror, and each one is satisfying, fun to play, and has endless potential.

I played my first playthrough as a warrior, meaning I ran around in heavy armour hitting things with a very big hammer. I couldn’t do much in terms of support so I had to take pawns that’d complement my fighting style, as well as making sure my main pawn was suitably set up to help me out. Thwacking things is just so much fun in Dragon’s Dogma so I had a cracking time.

Next playthrough I switched to a Ranger, meaning I had double daggers and a bow, and this was a complete turnaround for me. Instead of having to support, I was now a main damage dealer but I could do so from far away or close up, and I had abilities for getting in/out of combat and whittling foes health away.

I haven’t even touched classes like the Magic Archer, Mage, or Mystic Knight yet.

Expansion!

Dark Arisen is the expansion for the game and you can’t get it on PC without that expansion, and that’s absolutely brilliant because even without adding into the Dark Arisen content on Bitterblack Isle, you get so many ease of life improvements. You can now fast travel whenever you like, whereas before in the original game you had to rely on a finite resource. Of course you can still only teleport to places where Portcrystals are, you wouldn’t want the game to be too easy right?

The island of Bitterblack Isle is where the true challenge of the game lies. It’s definitely meant for high level players, and it throws out the rulebook you’ve spent many hours learning. Combat is now much more brutal, much more cramped, and there’s loads more enemies to fight, be scared of, and eventually learn how to crack.

And that’s all before Death itself turns up and gives you a Bad Time.

The Endings

Remember when I said the story was deep and fascinating? Well for the most part it’s very light, you only get it through your interactions through the world and frankly you can forget about it for large amounts of time.

But those endings, THOSE ENDINGS. I can’t describe them because it’d be a real spoiler, but the game goes in a direction you just cannot foresee, and when it does it provides such a satisfying end. I’m still thinking about it and I’ve seen it all twice.

So! Those are the reasons why Dragon’s Dogma is THE BEST.

Disagree? Let us know in the comments below or on social media! Agree? GOOD. Let us know too, so we can all be smug together.

Now I’ve got to go and start my third playthrough.

Horizon Zero Dawn – Beginners Tips

Over the past few weeks I have been exploring the machine dominated lands of Horizon Zero Dawn. To say that these lands are savage and unrelating is a bit of an understatement. From the first time you take on the role of Aloy you are fully aware that you are not welcome here and that machines rule the earth, not humans!

This world can be quite overwhelming at first, true, the game does give you a tutorial and some basic understanding of what to do, but once you start exploring the world, things can get out of hand rather quickly. So let me give you a few pointers as I list some top beginner tips to surviving Horizon Zero Dawn.

Gathering medical plants

Whilst on your travels, keep your eyes peeled for red plants. These flowers will be scattered around in all sorts of places in the world and are used to fill your medicine pouch. This pouch is used to replenish your health bar, and from experience is more effective than standard health potions. Theses plants are not hard to miss as they will be flagged up on your HUD. Make sure you upgrade your medicine pouch in your skill tree as soon as you can, in order to carry more of that sweet sweet healing nectar.

Use your Focus

Possibly the handiest tool you will ever use in Horizon Zero Dawn, the focus lets you scan the surrounding area, and will flag up any enemies and machine wildlife in the vicinity. What’s more, it will also give you information on each machine you scan including elemental weaknesses, weak points, its patrol route and its level. So if you think you have the capabilities of taking down a Snap maw early in the game, give it a quick scan just to see how out matched you will be. The focus can also be used to tag enemies, just to give you that little bit of extra help when it comes to locating where your soon to be opponents are.

Sneaking and stealth are key

During my first few hours of the game I would run happily around the hills and dales. I learnt quickly that this frolicking attracted a lot of attention and I soon ended up dead. Machines usually roam the world in packs so it is best to keep a low profile whilst in those areas. Should you come across a herd, then make sure you land some sneak attacks as they can do some massive damage and will give you the upper hand. Herds are usually guarded by Watchers so make sure you pick them off with your bow and arrow as they have a nasty habit of alerting all the machines to your location.

Fun Fact: At night, fireflies will swarm around tall grass! This is a great signifier should you need a place to hide.

The Ropecaster and traps are your friends

All guns blazing is never a good idea in this game, I’ve tried it many time and have failed. Make sure you obtain the Tripcaster and Ropecaster as soon as possible (usually bought from a friendly shop keep). The Tripcaster will lay down a handy electrified trip wire at low levels (higher level Tripcasters will come with a variety of different trip wires). This combined with tagging a machines patrol route with your focus can help you take down a machine or 2 in no time.

If however you find yourself one on one with a machine then the Ropecaster will help you subdue the mechanical beast for a time. The Ropecaster fires a rope and automatically pins the machine to the ground. A few shots are needed to bring down the bigger beasts and once pinned, you are able then to go in with a flurry of melee attacks with your spear. Make sure you hit the critical strike when prompted.

Overriding machines can help you a lot

The phrase ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’ could not be truer when it comes to Horizon Zero Dawn. On your map you will see ‘Cauldrons’ dotted here and there. These are mini dungeons that once completed will unlock the ability to override certain machines. All you have to do now is find a machine, sneak up and override it by holding down triangle. Overridden machines will then turn on their machines and start slaughtering them. Be warned however, if an over ridden machine kills another machine you will not get the XP for the kill.

Loot everything

You will soon discover that crafting is one of the most important things in Horizon Zero Dawn. You need to craft ammo, traps, potions, inventory space, EVERYTHING! So make sure you loot corpses and be on the look out for supply crates. You will thank me for it.

So there are just some of the top tips to get you started in Horizon Zero Dawn. Next on my personal list is finding the cauldron where I can override a ThunderJaw! I’ve always wanted a robot T-Rex as a pet.

Offworld Trading Company – Space Capitalism

Offworld Trading Company, much like life, is about glorious capitalism. But this time, unlike life, it’s in space. On Mars to be specific, a red planet. Planet of Barsoom and Tripods, and now planet of MAKING SO MUCH MONEY!

In Offworld Trading Company, you run a corporation and your goal is to buy a majority stake in every other corporation. How do you do that? Supply and demand my friend! Produce, trader, undercut, stave the market, saturate it to fox an enemy. It’s all in the numbers baby!

It’s a capitalist game in a capitalist universe and as Conan the Accountant says: the best things in life are to call your debts in, see your enemies bankrupted, and hear the lamentation of their bank managers.

Some might say that eking out a living in space with the same kind of society we currently have is a grim look at the future, but others might say that capitalism works well for us and provides an enormous amount of personal freedom, so why not take it into space?

Well there’s lots of examples for BOTH points of view, so let’s start an argument about SPACE CAPITALISM!

ANTI: The Federation – Star Trek

Let’s start with the big one, in Star Trek’s Federation they’ve got rid of money and everyone works to their own ability and for the betterment of themselves and the Federation as a whole. Does this mean that their society is perfect? Well, maybe, but as DS9 shows the problem when you have an almost utopian society is when it interacts with less ‘perfect’ societies. Enter the Ferengi! A rabidly capitalist society who are often used on the programme to show the foolishness of capitalism.

But then they raise the very valid point, alright they are seen as ‘backward’ by the Federation, but they’ve never had a war, never practiced genocide. Who is anyone to judge the Ferengi and their capitalist ways?

PRO: EVE Online

Space is big, really really big. And you’re tiny, so very small. It simulates the vastness of an uncaring universe, and as such there’s little to no guidelines about what you morally should do, everything is in player hands! The economy takes ‘free market’ to a whole new level, letting you trade your way to the top, or if you want you can cheat your way there. But caveat emptor! If you’re caught, other players won’t take so kindly to you, and you might see your spaceship go down in flames.

It means that, for the most part and outside of pirate actions there’s a kind of pax ro-EVE-a throughout the galaxy. Financial freedom can breed peace, who knew!

ANTI: Dune – Spice Racket

On the dark side of capitalism is that of the Spacing Guild in Dune. They have a stranglehold on the known universe, as the only means of travelling in between the stars is through them and they need the mystical drug known as Spice in order to operate. So they set up an ultra-corrupt system to ensure their stranglehold on the universe remains total. Unrestrained capitalism has meant that the corrupt have risen to the top of society, and they’ll use any method to ensure that they stay there, including genocide.

PRO: Offworld Trading Company

What’s better than being an interplanetary businessperson? Being a SUCCESSFUL interplanetary businessperson! Play your cards right in Offworld Trading Company and you might just end up in control of Mars, and what’s more successful than being a businessperson in charge of a WHOLE PLANET?

TWO planets! But maybe that’ll be a sequel.

ANTI: Stargate – Naquadah Mining

Maybe the logical end to capitalism, you need a resource so you want to pay nothing to get said resource. Enter the Goa’uld with their penchant for slavery, enslaving basically a whole race and galaxy to mine things and fetch and carry might be said, by some, to be the logical end to a system which values the product over the producer. But no worries, here comes the brave, socialist Tau’ri to overthrow the oppressors and seize the means of production!

PRO:Elite: Dangerous

Similar to EVE but a whole heck nicer, Elite: Dangerous again takes place in a vast uncaring universe, but it’s just a bit nicer about it. Instead of being in ultra-huge corporations you tend to be cast in the role of the self employed, maybe a small businessperson. It lets you carve out your niche in the galaxy your way, you can build your income stream however you want. This freedom of expression is at the heart of space capitalism, letting you decide your own fate however you choose.

ANTI: The Culture

If you thought the Federation was utopian then you’ve seen nothing, The Culture is utopia-extreme. Combining post scarcity society with freedom of choice and expression, you can basically do anything you like (with some restrictions, don’t go murdering, please) and society will bend and flex around you to allow you to do it. It’s no surprise, as the late great Iain M. Banks was one of the great socialist thinkers, and his politics runs deep through every word that he put down.

PRO: Fragile Allegiance

Think of it as a proto-micro-Offworld Trading Company, you take control of an asteroid and mine the absolute heck out of it. You’ve also gotta protect your investment and build it up, and work against and alongside competitors who want to do the same. Again it emphasises free will, you can be honourable, you can raid your opponents, you can build alliances. It lets you do all of them while building your company your way. Without space capitalism, would you have this freedom?

So there we have it! The arguments for, and against, space capitalism. What do we think?

Well it could be either to be honest, it’s too complicated a question for the likes of me!

Do you have any strong thoughts? Let us know in the comments below, or on social media!

Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood – Expansion Checklist

Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood will be released on June 20. This is the second major expansion for Final Fantasy XIV and promises a load of brand new features. So what do you get in the Stormblood expansion? Here’s all you need to know!

New Jobs

The Stormblood expansion brings two new jobs (or classes if you prefer standard RPG terminology) to the word of Final Fantasy XIV. Here is a rundown of each Job and what it does.

Red Mage – What has been described as a hybrid DPS character which will use both ranged and melee attacks. Red Mages will use red magic, which covers the grey area between white magic (healing) and black magic (offensive). They will also wield a rapier which does melee damage, red magic can be combined with melee attacks in order to deal massive damage. Red Mages are expected to start around level 50 so players won’t need to grind levels from scratch.

Samurai – Information about the Samurai job is a little on the slim side, but it has been confirmed that Samurai will also be a DPS job. Much like the Red Mage, this job will start at Level 50 players will also wield a two handed katana for heavy melee damage.

New Raids

8 Person Raid – The new eight person raid will centre around Omega. According to Final Fantasy XIV lore, Omega was first hired by the Allagan Empire to capture the legendary Bahamut hundreds of years ago. Omega has now woken from its stasis to contend with a new primal threat. Take what you will from this story line but is sounds as though we will be getting a raid of epic proportions.

24 Person raid – A new raid being developed by the mind behind Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII has written a story line for a brand new 24-person raid. Called the ‘Return to Ivalice’ players will be embarking on a mission set in the legendary land of Ivalice. This will appeal to a lot of long time Final Fantasy players as Ivalice first appeared in Final Fantasy Tactics and hasn’t made an appearance in a Final Fantasy game for years.

New Residential District

Shirogane is an island situated in the far eastern nation of Hingashi. This new area will be opened to players in Stormblood and will be situated around the port of Kugane. Inspired by eastern architecture this is a great area where any Red Mage or Samurai will be happy to call home.

Swimming

Swimming and diving will be added to Final Fantasy XIV, so if like us you’ve been wanting to explore the watery deeps now is your chance! This new system however is primarily for exploration only, as you will not be able to fight underwater. Interactions with NPCs and harvesting nodes will be possible whilst swimming.

More Gameplay Improvements

Gone are the days of skills being tied to your specific Job! Players will now have access to a more generalised pool of skills in order to tailor their play style. Jobs will also now get a new interface elements to help make the overall experience more intuitive.

Players inventories will be getting expanded. This may seem like a small fix but this will appeal to many gamers as inventory space has been talked about quite a bit within the FFXIV community, especially when cosmetic gear was added back in 2014.

Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood will release on the 20th of June for PlayStation 4 and PC. You can pre purchase now from Green Man Gaming.

Prey: Full List Of Achievements

Prey is out today! So you are probably playing Prey right now and exploring the desolate and ominous corridors of the Talos 1 space station. (Well, not right this second as you wouldn’t be reading this blog otherwise.) So we thought it would be a great idea to give you a full rundown of the games achievements just to give you an idea of what is in store for Morgan Yu, and what you may have to grind to get 100%.

SPOILER WARNING! As this is a full list of achievements there will be spoilers throughout. These achievements have been split up just in case you don’t want the story spoiled. You have been warned.

General Achievements

Achievements that are mainly to do with abilities, powers etc. After looking at these achievements it is safe to say that all of these will not be obtainable on your first playthrough.

Do No Harm. Complete the game without killing any humans.
I and It. Kill every human on and around Talos 1.
Mimic Massacre. Kill five mimics in five seconds.
Dead Calm. Kill an enemy while using combat focus.
Memesis. Mimic a mimic.
Shapeshifter. Mimic 20 or more unique objects.
Know Thine Enemy. Acquire a Typhon power.
Know Thy Self. Aquire a human ability.
Split Affinity. Complete the game once acquiring only Typhon powers and again acquiring only human abilities.
No Needles. Complete the game without ever acquiring any Typhon power or human ability.
Engineer. Repair at least 20 objects on and around Talos 1.
Operator. Hack at least 20 hackable objects on and around Talos 1.
A Different Side of Yu. Scan your phantom shift duplicate with your psychoscope.
Deprogramming. Use Mindjack to free a mind-controlled human.
Tee One Up. Kill an enemy while they are lifted.
Escape Velocity. Blast yourself as an object for at least 20 meters while in normal gravity.
It’s Alive. Create a phantom using Phantom Genesis.
Thoughts Can Kill. You killed a human using Psychoshock.
Ball Lightning. Use Electrostatic Burst to drop two or more operators at once.
TranStar Gourmand. Consume one of every type of food and drink on Talos 1.
Cold Dead Hands. Fully upgrade a weapon.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Use a single recycler charge to recycle at least 20 objects.
Missing Persons. Locate all employees on Talos 1.
Press Sneak. Read all the emails on Talos 1.

STORY AND ENDING ACHIEVEMENTS

Story spoilers by the barrel full here. This is your last warning to turn back and run.

I and Thou. You completed the game in the most empathetic way possible.
No Show. You died to helicopter blades on your first day on the job.
Awkward Ride Home. You escaped Talos I aboard Dahl’s shuttle with only Dahl.
Push the Fat Guy. You killed Alex.
Abandon Ship. You fled Talos I aboard Alex’s escape pod before completing your mission.
Self-Incriminating. You found out what happens to Mikaila’s father and let her know.
Brain Trust. You helped Igwe, January and Mikhaila meet in your office.
Dear Future Self. You found and listened to all the messages you left for yourself.
Best Served Cold. You killed Luka and avenged Abby.
Suicide by Proxy. You killed January.
Open says She. You used Danielle’s voice samples to access deep storage.
This Never Happened. You performed an Apto-Regressive Neurotomy on Dahl.
Facsimile. You met January for the first time.
A Friend in Need. You recovered Mikhaila’s booster shots and healed her.
Prism Master. You read the entire Starbender series and don’t regret it.
The Gates of Hell. You helped all security officers survive the cargo bay battle.
Adrift. You rescued Dr. Igwe from a cargo container.
Black Market. You found all the smuggler’s dead drops.
You Rang. You used the psychotronics satellite to dismiss or summon the Typhon Nightmare.
Makeup Exam. You returned to the sim lab and completed the room A, B.
Coffee Break. You found Dr. Calvino’s secret stash.
A Gift to the World. You found Gustaf Leitner’s connectome for Dr. Igwe.
Intrinsic Value. Recycle yourself.
Psychometry. Find and listen to all TranScribe recordings.

So that’s the full list! What have you achieved already? Let us know in the comments below!