Dead By Daylight | A Killer Review

Everyone has heard of Dead By Daylight by now, it’s definitely earnt its mainstream fame, rightfully so. The concept of Dead By Daylight sounds like one of those games that will never get made, but now has its own title with its thrilling gameplay!

Dead By Daylight Killer

Dead By Daylight has two sides, the survivor side and the killer side. In this article, we will primarily focus on the killer side, but if you wish to read the survivor side instead, go ahead.

Trivia

The horror game, Dead By Daylight, was published by Behaviour Interactive as a multiplayer game on Steam in June of 2016. With its instant success and climbing followers, it was later ported to Xbox and Playstation in 2017.

This game was perfect for streamers and content creators as it was something you could stream and record with ease, but was something completely new that the gaming industry has never seen before, thus helping its follower count climb.

Your Job As a Killer

In Dead By Daylight as a killer, your main goal is to prevent the survivors from repairing generators and, well, kill them. Your job is to force the survivor into the ‘dying state’, pick them up, and place them on meat hooks. Sounds gruesome, but you have a tremendous amount to worry about as the killer.

As a killer, you have a ‘Terror Radius’, which to the survivors will be a heartbeat, and that heartbeat beats faster the closer the killer is. This way the survivors will know you are on your way…

Something that does make the killer easier is the fact that survivors will leave a trail (it looks like a load of red scratches) when they run. The tracks can get messy, especially when there’s a lot so in some instances can be your enemy by leading you to confusion.

Perks & Add-Ons

Now, you’re not technically on your own as you can have perks and small add-ons to help you catch those pesky survivors. These perks can range from seeing the outline of the survivors, or causing the skill checks to be harder for the survivor to land.

Some perks you can combine with others, for example, one of my favourite perks to using together is ‘Distressing’ and ‘Unnerving Presence’. ‘Distressing’ makes your terror radius huge whilst ‘Unnerving Presence’ causes skill checks to be incredibly small and appear more often.

As the killer, you are in a first person perspective whilst the survivors have a 3rd person perspective, knowing this will hopefully allow you to use it to your advantage.

Each killer has their own perk types relating to their ability kit. Ah yes, there is more than one killer, there’s around ~21 killers in the game currently.

The Killer List

One of the elements that makes Dead By Daylight so good, especially in today’s age, is because of how many characters in the game there are. Remember that each killer has their own 3 unique perks, that’s 63 perks alone not counting the default ones.

In this section, I will cutdown and name a few that I particularly love playing whilst jumping to some nerdy parts of the character.

Michael Myers | The Shape

The classic killer was the first licensed killer to be ported in Dead By Daylight. I may be a bit biased since I love the Michael Myers horror movie series (excited for Halloween Kills) but his playstyle I find stands out from many killers. Your power is stalking, quite literally how he acts in the movies. You build this power up and go through 3 tiers.

Tier 1 – Your lunge is small, but you have no terror radius, meaning you can sneak up on your prey. Tier 2 – you become more standard, however, you are unable to go back to tier 1. Tier 3 allows you to have a huge lunge and instantly down any survivor from healthy, but sadly this has a timer and you will drop back down to tier 2.

Evan Macmillan | The Trapper

Evan Macmillan was the first killer added to Dead By Daylight and was their very own original character. His power is unique and is one of the few killers in Dead By Daylight to be able to place things around the killing game.

He is able to place bear traps around the place with the hopes that some unsuspecting survivor will step right into it. This disables the survivor from doing anything until they are able to escape themself, or have help from another survivor.

Caleb Quinn | The Deathslinger

For ages in this game I’ve always wanted a character that could shoot some sort of weapons, the deathslinger finally gave us this. The Deathslinger, as you can imagine, is a killer that was born in the backlands of the american midwest and was attracted to the idea of a harpoon like gun to reel in his prey.

This killer is a little more mechanically skill based compared to other killers as not only do you have to predict the harpoon delay as it’s launched, you’ve got to focus on the survivors movements and the potential objects that could interfere with your shot, but I must say he is a blast to play.

Pyramid Head | The Executioner

For those who remember the classic horror games, Silent Hill will definitely strike a bell. There was huge demand for Pyramid Head, so the developers added him earlier this year to celebrate the 4 year anniversary. His unique gameplay and power makes him arguably one of the strongest killers in the game.

He is able to strike judgement on any survivors that get in the way of his path. Leaving torment trails around the place allows him to send survivors to a judgement tank somewhere random in the trial. On top of this, he has a secondary ability known as ‘The Punishment Of The Damned’ allowing him to launch a direct and straight strike in front of him, hitting any survivors in it.

Talbot Grimes | The Blight

The Blight is the latest and 21st killer to be added to Dead By Daylight. This original character brings fast paced unique gameplay, arguably making him one of the top strongest killers at the moment.

His power allows you to charge forward, but you can only attack after you bump into an object. Imagine playing ping pong in a killing game, how insane does that sound? Nevertheless, the developers created this monstrosity bringing another form of ‘mind games’ in chases, easily one of the most fun killers to play. Whilst he takes a bit to get used to, good survivors who know how to counter his movements can make The Blight look silly.

Freddy Krueger | The Nightmare

Freddy Krueger, this killer has his own home within the classic killer neighbourhood. Pulling survivors into a dream allows Freddy to play his game whilst they are asleep.

His main power is ‘dream snares’ that causes hands to come out the ground and grab to slow down any survivor that runs into this puddle.

If you wanted, you could switch this for fake pallets, playing on survivors’ feeling of safety. On top of this, he is able to teleport to any generator that is not completed, causing the gen to spew blood and himself coming out of the ground next to it. The most fun out of this killer is seeing every survivor scarper, only to be messed about in some way.

How Are Simplistic Games Running The Industry In 2020?

Gaming has advanced significantly over the past few decades. Playing games has become a common and cultural thing, however, the video game industry this year has been dominated by the simple type of online games.

How have the games ‘Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout’ and ‘Among Us’ managed to influence and gain control over the gaming market?

2020: The Simplistic Gaming Experience

We all play video games as a way to relax, but recently the emergence of the simple games have taken over, and with a fair few reasons. In this article, we will explain how these popular games exploded in popularity, and I’m sure this is obvious, but both games require an internet connection!

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

Released in February of this year, the game developers ‘Mediatonic’ published Fall Guys through Devolver Digital. Instantly, the game was a success, reminding players of how the basics of games at times can be a lot of fun. Fall guys is available on Windows and Playstation and are extremely popular for console gaming.

Building up to the release of Fall Guys, they caught a lot of their attention through social media. Their social media manager, @OliverAge24, has brought a lot of attention to their games by cracking jokes on the Fall Guys accounts making their followers laugh whilst interacting with them constantly.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is sort of like a Mario party crossover, but instead vs in 60 players. There is a maximum of 5 rounds and only a certain number of people each round can qualify until one guy is the last one standing and wins. From winning, you earn a crown, and you can spend these crowns on cosmetics in the game, making winning worth it.

Among Us

An older game that has recently blown up was released all the way back in June of 2018. The Among Us game concept is all about you and your crewmates in space having to do day to day tasks, but, there is an impost among you. It’s your job to suss out and eliminate the imposter, or eliminate everyone if you are the imposter! It’s significantly more fun with friends, especially how it’s become ‘the norm’ to mute your mic at certain parts of the gameplay to be more immersed.

Arguably, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout could have been an influence for the rise of Among Us since people began having an interest in the basic style games. To say the characters look fairly similar, this could also be another reason for finding out about the game.

If you didn’t know, you play Among Us through mobile gaming on IOS and Android.

Looking At The Statistics

To show you how big these games have gotten, let’s look at the statistics to get a better perspective.

If we look at steampowered statistics, Fall Guys had it’s an all-time peak in August of 172,000 concurrent players at once on Steam alone. It is estimated that Fall Guys have an active player count of 15.6 million players in their first-month launch.

Among us had an extremely low player count with an average of ~25 players until the boom this year. Its concurrent player peak hit 306,000 with an estimation of over 2.7 million players.

Typically it’s gaming companies that own the bigger and higher quality games, but as a fun fact, Among Us is run by a small team of 3 and they’ve been taken by surprise with this popularity boom! They’re working many hours to keep the servers stable and generally keeping the game a happy place, bless them.

Battle Royales

Almost everyone is aware of the battle royale craze that lasted from 2017 to 2020. Whilst battle royales are still fairly popular today, I would argue that the complexity of such a genre has exhausted games that require a lot of skill, like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call Of Duty and Fortnite.

I’m not in any way downplaying the value of these skilful games as they take years to master, but in terms of the casual market, they seem to be looking for simpler games to pass the time. These types of games that have blown up prove to have been explicitly made to have a laugh with your friends, something that has over time slowly been forgotten about.

Live Streaming Services & Video Content Creation

One of the biggest reasons for the popularity boom is high-quality live streamers broadcasting this hilarious game to the world. This is no surprise, the majority of smaller games that gain popularity is through video creation content and gaming live streams.

Fan content is one of the leading carriers to the rise of both games. Both have managed to respond to their communities in a great manner, keeping their players entertained through their social media. This is showing other games how you should handle your social media, even though it appears as ‘less business-like’.

Both of these games have done tremendously well and deserve the top spots they have, I’m excited to see what Among Us 2 brings us next year!

Written By: Max Lang-Orsini

How Is CS:GO Still Popular In 2020? – A Retrospective

CS:GO – A Retrospective

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO for short) was released back on the 21st August 2012 by Valve during an extremely competitive time for First Person Shooters. Since this game was released over 8 years ago, and with the previous installments being over 20 years old, what keeps people playing CS:GO?

Going Back In Time

Before we look at how CS:GO began it’s resurgence, let’s understand how it got to its original point.

With CS:S (Counter-Strike: Source) failing to transfer its total player count from the original Counter-Strike game, it meant that part of CS:GO’s purpose was bringing the players to one place. However, the launch of GO did not turn out as Valve expected.

Players that were popular esport competitors or just well known in the community criticised the game for being ‘too easy’ and lacked the skill component when compared to the previous installments. This is a good time to bring up that other shooters (like Call Of Duty) lacked the ‘skill’ element. The Counter-Strike franchise brought skill, smart thinking and intensive quick reactive moments, this is why CS stood out.

As updates rolled out and CS:GO began to age, it’s ‘lack of skill’ developed into a signature title as one of the most skillful games in the scene.

It’s Rising Active Player Count

As more and more updates rolled out and more and more game modes and fun challenges were being released, CS:GO’s popularity really began to climb.

An important factor to note is that during the winter months, CS:GO’s popularity always fell by a proportion. This could be argued that the school holidays had this effect, but another reason was the ‘CS:GO Majors’.

These ‘Majors’ were hosted 3 times a year (now 2), and in simple terms, is the ‘World Cup’ of CS:GO. These majors showcase the eSports scene in a highly advertised amount to the build up of the tournament. These majors consistently grew in popularity gaining way over 20 million hours of total watchtime which led the CS:GO player count to increase.

These eSports tournaments are different when compared with other games. There is something about CS:GO that has great energy to watch, similar to League Of Legends’ big eSports tournaments.

The First Peak

The first peak came around 2016, the same time MLG Columbus 2016 was hosted and is believed to be the reason. MLG brought many fans across from other FPS games, showing what a great attraction to what these games can be. Other popular games started taking notes on how they can incorporate skill into their games like CS:GO did, this is how GO earnt it’s staple.

The energy of CS:GO Majors was like no other, the CS:GO crowd stood out to other games. Maybe the drooling 3 map finals to find that Major eSports title for a team really pulled people in (those who watched Eleague Boston 2018 will know the true greatness of CS:GO Majors).

At this point, the game followed a consistent pattern in its active CS:GO player count. It spiked during the beginning of the year to slowly decline during the winter months. This was the case until the severe decline during 2018, when it was the era of Battle Royale games.

The Era Of Battle Royale Games

2018 saw a huge amount of players playing games within the Battle Royale genre. Games like ‘Player Unknown’s Battle Grounds (PUBG)’ and ‘Fortnite’ began experiencing ridiculous numbers of player counts and because of this, the CSGO players began searching for something new.

During this period, CS:GO entered a state of recession. It’s active player count started dipping below 400,000 players which was the lowest it have ever gone since 2014. Other games started to pop up around, like Apex Legends, also taking these average players of Counter-Strike away.

Everyone knew, however, that these Battle Royale Games would not last, and over time this would prove to be correct. It was a very long decreasing process of the genre, taking over a year to blow over the popularity boom.

During this peak however, Valve had their own trick up their sleeve. Valve announced in late 2018 a new game mode called ‘Danger Zone’, which was CS but battle royale. It was a running joke for many to have a Battle Royale in CS, but this joke became a reality. When players heard the news, they began to try out this new mode which proved itself clearly.

Valve did a tremendous job in the Danger Zone project by somehow taking the skill and intensive gameplay to a completely different genre. With this praise, players began to return to the game after they got that taste of CS:GO with this new and refreshing gamemode.

The Resurgence

The Resurgence of Counter-Strike was like no other. You can argue it also came about at a really good time. For the first time, CS:GO’s active player count did not decrease in late 2019, rather, it grew a lot.

Like I said previously, it did strike a bit of luck on the timing of everything. COVID-19 began happening and when many countries began Locking down, players began turning to Counter-Strike. CS saw it’s biggest peak with over a million concurrent players at one time and further growing to 1.3 million active players at one time.

This brings us to today, where the game sits at a stead 1 million concurrent players and the top game of Steam as of typing. CS has brought many achievements and has been industry changing.

This is how Counter-Strike’s journey led to it being a staple in the gaming community and has brought many games we know today. Players will never let this game dismiss into the darkness for one reason; it’s Counter-Strike.

Written By: Max Lang-Orsini

Top VR Games You NEED To Play

Virtual Reality Gaming

Virtual Reality has entered the gaming industry with a bang, and you can clearly see why. For those that never saw the appeal in VR, do not worry, I was once with you. You have to actually experience it yourself to understand how amazing the VR experience really is.

VR Headsets

Before we dive into the top VR games you have to play for yourself, what would be the best VR headset to have? Well, there isn’t a major difference in each branded headset, but they do change in shape and size. The popular headsets are; the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and the recently released Valve Index VR headset.

As much fun as VR is to play, it does have a negativen that being a hefty price you have to be willing to dish out.

Top VR Games

Now, let’s dive into the list of the best VR games on the market!

Beat Saber

Released on the 1st of May 2018, this Rhythm game was published by Beat Games that would become an extremely popular VR game. Beat Saber consists of two different lightsaber-like tools (one red, one blue) and has to hit the corresponding notes on time with the beat of a chosen song in the right direction.

With an ingame leaderboard, this game sparks competition in players to beat their record, along with beating other players’ records too. This game is available on Oculus Quest, PlayStation 4 and is available as a PC Game on Steam, Windows.

Superhot VR

Superhot went live in February 2016 and was continued in the works until a Virtual Reality experience was made. Once the game was published, the game and it’s franchise exploded in popularity. Superhot VR is a game where you fight enemies with different levels and difficulty, progressively getting more and more difficult. However, the twist is that when you stand still, everything moves in slow motion, this way you can dodge bullets in a cool movie fashion.

It has won many awards in 2017 and 2018 and it is no surprise when you play the game how it won a total of 9 different awards. Superhot VR is available on PlayStation 4 & Steam, Windows.

Half-Life: Alyx

Half-Life: Alyx is a MUST play game in the VR spectrum. This is the game that broke the internet upon launch in March this year with it’s highly realistic and intensive graphics, it was clear why Valve went quiet for so long.

People demanded Half-Life 3 for years, and well, they sort of got it. This VR exclusive game that’s only available on Windows, Steam, was another installment into the Half-Life series and took place between the first and second game. This action adventure first person shooter game is a must play VR game, and really opens your eyes on what you can do for VR.

Tetris Effect

If you’ve ever thought about tetris in VR and how crazy it would be, well, it’s actually a thing. Upon reading, I never believed it existed, and from playing I can definitely add to this list of must play VR games.

Released back in November of 2018, the Japanese Studios, ‘Monstars’ and ‘Resonair’ published Tetris Effect to ‘Enhance Games’. This game has become a huge success and is a widely positive game that you can buy on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X & on Windows.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

An intense great game to be played for fun with as many people as you want. This game was released originally in October of 2015 and a year later in the same month (October 2016) got a VR port.

This game has a player who is sitting in a room with a bomb that they must defuse, however, the other players will have the manual. Each player is not allowed to look at each other’s screen or the manual themself. The players must communicate with each other to solve the puzzles and defuse the bomb before it explodes!

Rock Band VR

Rock Band VR is the closest thing you could get to being able to play Guitar Hero in VR. For the Guitar Hero fans, you will love this tremendously.

Rock Band VR is a musical rhythm game, similar to beat saber, in which you play as part of a band with a guitar in your hands playing notes to the music. Like Guitar Hero VR, Rock Band VR shares a similar competitive aspect in attempting to get the highest score. Rock Band VR is available on a few platforms, Xbox and Windows.

Star Wars | Vader Immortal: Episode 1

Take yourself in a galaxy far far away and get immersed into the incredible battlefield that is Star Wars! There was a huge demand for Star Wars in VR and Oculus delivered with the first installment of ‘Vader Immortal’.

In this game, you get to play as the dark sith lord himself, Darth Vader, in an incredible experience. Star Wars | Vader Immortal: Episode 1 was released in 2019 with a huge success across all platforms. You can play this game on Windows, or through the Oculus Quest platform.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard VR

The horror and jumpscares excel significantly when playing Resident Evil in VR. A game that took the gaming world by storm with it’s original series got an exclusive PlayStation VR port. Resident Evil is now playable in a way that you can actually be there yourself, so obviously, this one is a must need to play!

The VR port was released in 2017, originally just as a PlayStation VR exclusive but a year later was ported to Xbox One and Windows.

I hope you enjoy this list of the must play games in the VR experience. I hope this influences your decisions and takes you the right way, from my experience, you have to play these games.

Written By: Max Lang-Orsini

Hyper Scape – The New Free Battle Royale

Hyper Scape – Ubisoft’s Newest Creation

A New Challenger has appeared! Entering the Battle Royale game genre competing to be the best is Ubisoft’s newest addition ‘Hyper Scape’. Hyper Scape is a futuristic free to play battle royale shooter with the goal to be the last one standing out of 100 players. This game is perfect for First Person Shooter players.

Hyper Scape has relations to many games such as; Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone & Fortnite, except with its own spin of abilities and combat system. It even relates to “Tom Clancy’s: Rainbow Six Siege” in terms of its movement mechanics. Speaking of R6S, Ubisoft did create that too, so perhaps R6S players may be able to transfer a good chunk of their skill to Hyper Scape.

The game will go through many ‘Seasons’, similar to how Overwatch’s competitive system works. It takes place throughout a 100% Urban arena, something that has never been created before allowing for an intensive and exciting gameplay experience.

This game will be playable on PC on Uplay.

You can play Hyper Scape on Playstation 4 & Xbox One when the game launches, sometime later this summer.

The ‘Technical Test’

Ubisoft right now (as of 06/07/2020) are running a ‘Technical Test’. Think of this test like a beta, and if you remember what Valorant did with their Twitch drop concept, this is very similar. This part is exclusive to players who receive the drop, for those who have a PC and can sign up, sorry PlayStations and Xbox players!

For a chance to play in the technical test, you will need to receive a Twitch drop on Twitch. To be able to receive the beta drop, you will need to follow 3 very simple steps:

Link your Ubisoft account to your Twitch.
Watch Hyper Scape live streams on Twitch.
When you receive the notification that you have it, download through Uplay and you’re good to go!

Keep in mind that there is not long of the ‘Technical Test’ left as it ends July 8th at 8 am! The game will launch sometime this Summer in 2020, keep your eyes peeled on my blog and on Hyper Scape’s social media for updates on the launch!

Your progress from the Technical Test will carry over to the game’s launch, so you can play without a worry of a reset!

The Battle Pass

Like the majority of other battle royales and other games, Hyper Scape has decided to also hop on this train. You can unlock cosmetics by levelling up through the battle pass or purchase the pass to unlock the next row of cosmetics as you level up.

Once unlocked, you can equip these virtual cosmetics in the gaming virtual world.

Remember, since this is a free to play game, like Fortnite, it will have microtransactions.

Battle Royale With a Twist

Enjoy a Battle Royale with a huge gameplay twist, giving players new challenges to face as they fight to be the last one standing out of 100 people.

Win In A Different Way

One of the biggest twists is a new feature to win; capturing the crown. Towards the end of a match when few players are standing, a crown will spawn. Some call this the ‘Crown Rush’ when all the players are persuaded to fight for the crown.

Holding the crown for 45 seconds will mean that you will become victorious, holding it is the risk. This prevents players from hiding towards the end of the game and provides a more action-packed gameplay experience alongside a new motive and alternate direction you can take to be at the top.

Abilities

Bend the rules with abilities, or as in-game terms, ‘hacks’. Ironically, this is not cheating, rather this is an entirely new mechanic with exciting abilities to keep you and everyone else on their toes.

There are many abilities ranging from; ‘Teleportation’ (teleport so far in front of you) to ‘Reveal’ (ping enemies within a certain range around you).

Weapon Modifications

To help work alongside your abilities and defend the crown, you can find ‘Weapon Mods’ to buff your weapon in some way.

Like every other battle royale, Hyper Scape has not taken the spark to run around and scavenge weapons and resources to help prepare you to fight. As you do so, you can find extra parts and modifications to buff your weapon. You can improve the fire rate, recoil control, range etc.

I hope from this article you have learnt a lot about Hyper Scape! I wish you luck on receiving your Twitch drop for the Technical Test and I will see you around when the game launches this Summer in 2020!

Written by: Max Lang-Orsini

Sea of Thieves – Why Should You Play?

Released on the 20th of March 2018, a new-born adventure game set sail on an endless journey, 2 years later it has arguably become one of the most iconic Xbox Games right now, even arguable video games as a whole.

Sea of Thieves is included on the Xbox Game Pass, so if you wanted to try this out first before paying the full price, you can.

I, Max-Lang Orsini, will test the depths of the waters and bring you a full article breaking down why you should play Sea of Thieves.

What Makes Sea of Thieves Great

I’ll be here typing forever if I had to label every single thing, but I’ll name a few and leave the rest for you to set sail on the high seas, and make many memorable moments on the vast ocean that is the Sea of Thieves.

Treasure Variants

Treasure variants, you heard it here first. That’s right, you can not only be a classic pirate, and find yourselves many treasure chests by following treasure maps, but you can also fight the infamous skeletons that also sail the seas.

Treasure Chests, Mystical Skulls & Merchant Cargo

Defeated the captains to obtain a skull and sell this to the Order of the Souls reputation, or dig up treasure and sell to the Gold Hoarders, or even deliver cargo as part of the Merchant Alliance reputation!

Commendations

With many treasure variants, many reputation variants will also exist, providing more challenges. If you are wanting more of a challenge, look at your ‘Commendations’ which are like achievements.

Player Vs Player

Arguably one of the most influential parts of this open-world pirate game. The intensive ship combat allows for suspense as you plunder your opponent’s ship with your crew members, stealing their treasure right before selling to the correct companies.

Cannonball Types

For a better PvP experience, there are different types of cannonballs for different effects! You can get the ‘Cursed Cannonballs’, which will have a different effect on which one you’re using. Make your opponent anchor in the middle of the ocean, prevent them from shooting you, or even make them wobble around on their deck drunk! It’s a lot of fun.

Not just that, you can get ‘Chainballs’. Hitting a precise shot on the ship’s mast will destroy it, making it fall down and disabling them from moving! You can even use ‘Fire Bombs’ to put the enemy’s ship in a blaze!

Weapon Combat

Maybe you like to be up close and personal, and that’s fine too! Board the enemy’s ship and attack them with a tense sword battle before switching to a pistol for a final blow! These moments are by far the tensest. Remember by killing one player, there are fewer players to control their own ship!

Drink & Play Music Together

Perhaps you want to be friendly, and that is also fine, as long as the other crew agrees! These memorable moments are the best when you all get drunk in the tavern together and play musical instruments as the sun falls down! Don’t get too drunk, or your instrument may be out of tune…

Becoming a ‘Pirate Legend’

The most infamous name you can make for yourself on the seas is the title ‘Pirate Legend’. These are the most experienced players that have fought for their title with many wins under their belt. If you ever come across these ‘Pirate Legends’ for yourself, fear is the first thing you should feel.

Player Vs Environment

A category that is FULL of content. For a game that has been out for 2 years, it leads to endless possibilities and laughs on your journeys.

Skeleton Fleets & Ships

If you don’t fancy fighting a player ship, or perhaps you haven’t come across one, you can fight the skeletons on the seas too! These skeleton ships will appear randomly sailing the seas on their own adventure or sailing amongst a fleet, it is up to you if you want to disturb them.

Megalodon

Or perhaps you don’t want to fight any enemy ships at all, and that is fine too. You may come across the Megalodon. A big shark that can tear through your ship comes in many variants, the white Megalodon “The Shrouded Ghost” being the rarest. Some say it does not exist, but if you kill this thing, you will be among the few that has lived to tell the tale.

Kraken, Ghost Fleets, Ships & Skeleton Forts

Is this not enough? Well no matter if it isn’t, there is still so much more. Fight the newly added Ghost ships from an undead fleet under the Flameheart name, fight the Kraken for its meat and sell it to Hunter’s Call reputation for some sweet gold, and even participate in islands dedicated to the skeletons known as the ‘Skeleton Fort’. Completing this will reward you inexpensive goods across many reputation companies!

Single Player Playability

No matter if you’re a single player because there are special stories that you can complete. Learn the stories of other ships and fleets and how their demise was met, help recover other crew members in an exciting story known as the ‘Tall Tales’. Perhaps you don’t want to do this solo and with friends in an adventurous multiplayer game, that is possible too.

You can even set sail on your own adventure, peacefully digging up treasure, but be aware of those pesky pirates that will come and steal your loot!

The Beauty of Sea of Thieves

Moving on from all of this pirate ship stuff, throughout my entire time playing this game, I’ve got to admit it’s beauty. The graphics are quite intense, so if you’re on PC you will need a good system, but it is definitely worth it. The views and scenery all blend to create this masterpiece of graphics and is by far one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played.

This is not everything. With the recent anniversary updates and the following monthly updates that have been released, it’s very easy to say this game is a lot of fun. This isn’t everything, there’s still more to mention, such as; The Devils Roar, Different Sized Ships, Different Voyage Variants, Pets, Cosmetics (ship, weapons and pirate), Emissaries, and the special Fort of The Damned. As you can see, you will never have anything to do in this game!

I’ll let you experience the seas for yourself and I hope to see you there. You can buy Sea of Thieves on Steam, or you can buy Sea of Thieves on the Xbox Game Store. Check the Sea of Thieves website for updates and events about the game!

Written by: Max Lang-Orsini

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

With the ever encroaching release of the series newest instalment of Tekken 7 into the home market, now seems like a golden opportunity to talk about one of the series most recent instalments, Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Once the poster child of the Playstation brand, the series has since branched out to reach all corners of the home console market, Tekken 7 represents the series first foray into PC gaming.

Story

Tekken screenshot 1.jpg

Much like the game it’s a direct sequel to, Tekken Tag Tournament 2’s story, represented in the game’s Arcade mode, allowing you to play through 9 stages of battles with its rich character roster, followed by a small cut scene. Though a number of these cut scenes are fun, it’s exceedingly difficult not to see this mode as lacking, especially for fans of a series as renowned for its complex (and arguably ridiculous) plots as Tekken. However, being only a “non-canon” spin off of the main series, I can understand the purpose of these cut scenes are only as a small reward, with the Game play being the absolute focus of the game.

Gameplay and Mechanics

It is therefore, understandably, through the game play that TTT2 really shines, boasting an enormous 59 unique playable characters. TTT2 never fails to be an exciting, intense and varied experience from start to finish. Making use of both “pick up and playability” and a rich, intricate combo system the developers were clearly aiming to capture both the casual and the serious, competitive players alike. At this, they succeed tremendously; while playing Tekken Tag Tournament 2 you will never for a moment feel like you have nowhere to improve or like you are absolutely finished with the game.

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The tag team mechanic, for which it is made, also adds new depths to the game play above that of the main series; allowing for a player to gain the upper hand on their opponent. This adds an overall aura of unpredictability, keeping the player on their toes knowing they can never be sure they’ve won a round even at the very last second.

Art Style

The games bright, vivid art style also goes along well with the huge variety in stages to create an absolutely stunning visual experience.

Overall, with a huge variety of modes, playable characters and move combinations, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is truly an experience to be had, though fans of the series may find the lack of much story disappointing, the game more than makes up for it with its tremendous game play and breathtaking visuals. I recommend anyone, new or old to the series, play this game if they want a real understanding of the heights that fighting games can reach before the release of Tekken 7.

Written by: Max Lang-Orsini

Games of Thrones: Episode 2

The Lost Lords opens with Asher Forrester, the second-eldest son of the house and currently exiled to Yunkai. This is a perfect place to start. In the first episode they focused entirely on the Forrester family. The Lost Lords takes it further.

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The Lost Lords introduces others that are connected to the Forrester family. Two young women from other northern houses come to comfort the grieving family. Of the two women Beskha is the most vivid addition to the story. She is boisterous and engages in dirty talking. She jokes about the loose women and bounties with Asher. She is a strong addition to the story.

Some of the best moments of episode two take place at the beginning. They profoundly affect the overall plot, but cannot be told because it will give away too much of the story. Many of the same literary tricks of the books and films can be found here and are more pronounced in episode two then in episode one.

There are other scenes that will remind you of the books and films as well. Unlike the other Game of Throne stories that basically set the scene telling you important facts, such as the Fire and Ice episode that shared who is dead, who is alive and who is unaccounted for. The Lost Lords ties all of the previous episodes together in a nice bow, although the bow is not neatly tied. Would you have expected anything different? It was well worth the wait according.

As with all previous episodes the action scenes do not disappoint. You artfully must dodge swords, stab opponents and duck to avoid being hit with flying furniture. Be aware that the battle scenes are much bloodier and more violent than in previous episodes. With that in mind, it should be noted that in the episodes you could die much quicker than in the past. But do not let that deter you, the game automatically saves every few moves and put you right back in the action with little progress lost. The Lost Lords is more forgiving of mistakes and minimizes your hardships. This makes the chance of success and advancement much more attainable and fun.

There are also sequences where you have what they call have Gared training for a spot on the Night’s Watch. During this training you carry barrels across a yard, perform basic sword moves against other trainees and shoot straw dummies with arrows. This is a string of moments that brings you to an area of black cloaks and other characters. It may not be as exciting as the action scenes, but consider it a kind of breaking in the action that once again will not disappoint as the game progresses.

In The Lost Lords you are presented with the possibility of choosing your own path during your journey. Each path you choose impacts future events during your journey and the journey of the family members involved. Throughout your journey there are many paths you can choose. The politics of The Games of Thrones can be very stressful, which can evoke feelings of urgency throughout the game. Surprisingly, The Lost Lords is very entertaining, which leaves the frustration to be just an afterthought. The game is full of intrigue and surprises.

Before you take on the adventure of The Lost Lords remind yourself of the skills needed to conquer all from the previous episodes. Also remember that throughout your journey in the Lost Lords every decision you make affects members of the family involved, much like real life. Throughout the game you must stay alert and on your toes, always wondering who you can trust and realizing that every move you make affects the next one.

Written by Max Lang-Orsini

Is the Gaming Industry Paying Attention

You may be surprised to learn that 52% of women are gamers. With all the action packed, blood spewing video games out today the main audience has to be male, right? Wrong.

I was shocked when reading these facts:

Based on interviews with 4,000 UK residents, the researchers found that women now account for 52 percent of the gaming audience, which is up from 49 percent three years ago. The study, which was commissioned by the Internet Advertising Bureau, also revealed there are now more people over 44 years old playing games than children or teenagers. The gamer audience reportedly stands at 33.5 million Britons, which is 69 percent of the population.

This surge of women becoming gamers and staying gamers can be explained by the popularity of the smartphone. The smartphone has made gains more readily available to everyone. This could be due to the smartphones ease-of-use.

One scenario that comes to mind is when women are waiting for their children to be done at appointments. While sitting in the waiting room playing a game on their smartphone to pass the time is very desirable. That is one example, but women will play whenever possible, very intently as well.

During the interview women shared that puzzle games were their go to games. The study also showed that women are also interested in disc type games by a large margin. So that discredits the stereotype that women only enjoy smartphone games. It’s a wonder if the future of game design will change in the future now that studies are showing that a quarter of all gamers are now over 45-years-old.

Another interesting thing to consider is, if women make up the majority of the gaming audience why is the number of women working in the game industry so low? Wouldn’t the people who play the game the most have the most to offer when it comes to game development and other aspects of the industry? Only 12 percent of game designers in Britain are women and 3 percent of all programmers are women. Also, the number of women speaking at gaming conferences and events is minute. These shocking numbers are not because women are not interested in working in the industry it’s just how the present industry is constructed. It’s interesting to ponder how the game industry would change if more jobs were available to women.

It will be interesting to see future studies to see if this popular trend continues. If it does, I wonder if there will be industry changes in the future.

Fairyland on Facebook

Fairyland is a free to play virtual farming simulation and collection game. You only need a Facebook account to sign up, and from there it’s easy to get started.

Spend some time reading the ‘how to’ guides before you get stuck in (there’s really helpful newbies forums and general ‘how to’ game guides available) and, if you like collection games that reward you by building on levels and new releases as you go, then this is an addictive game that’s easy to pick up and will soon have you hooked.

Once you enter Fairyland, you begin planning your own garden to attract various wildlife; which you can also spot by watering plants in other gardens. The thrill is in the chase, so they say, and you will soon become hooked on ‘colouring in’ your spotter’s guide to wildlife as you attract and then spot in other gardens.

Different combinations of plants and food attract different animals, so this is a ‘learning’ game that rewards you for taking time and paying attention to the guides.

Don’t try this game if you’re all about the action – as a farming simulation and collection game it’s far more suited to the type of person who will happily spend many hours ‘building’ or ‘collecting’ to gain levels and rewards from their online games.

It’s a cute little game – from the neat wildlife graphics through to the actual garden and plant graphics, everything is cute, visually pleasing, and easy on the eye.

And it has real world rewards too: Play and Connect Ltd (game developers) make contributions towards the Amazon Rainforest preservation in real world terms for all their players. So even if you don’t buy gold (which of course there’s the option to), every plant you harvest in your own garden attracts a contribution from Play and Connect Ltd towards the protection of the rainforest. Some experienced Fairyland players have gardens which have bought (via Play & Connect Ltd’s contributions) hundreds of hectares of rainforest – meaning you can enjoy getting sucked into the game without feeling too guilty as it offers real world rewards too!

So if you like building, learning, cute wildlife critters and collecting items to build on levels then go along to Fairyland on Facebook to sign up and get playing!