Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSS FeedsVarious Video Game Stories and More from the Week of September 20, 2021
Posted: 08:31AM
Author: Guest_Jim_*
With another week coming to a close we have another batch of video game news items to go through, starting with one from The Arcade Crew as The Last Spell has received a major update. This Early Access game, which I greatly enjoyed when reviewing, is a roguelite tactical RPG that pits players against hordes of enemies trying to swarm the final remnants of humanity. The only hope is to hold them off long enough so the Last Spell can be cast, bringing an end to magic and the monsters. With this update the game gains a new map, Glenwald that is filled with obstacles that contains Mist Censers that hide parts of the map as well as enemy. You can also expect to find the new Guardian enemy that will apply defensive buffs to its cohorts around it. Three new Apocalypse levels have been added as well, for those that want to increase the difficulty.
You can check out the update's trailer below, my review is linked above, and if either or both make the game interesting to you, it is 10% off until September 30.
Source: The Last Spell Steam News
It has been a while since hearing anything on this, but Deep Silver and FISHLABS has not only released a new trailer for Chorus, an upcoming space-shooter, but revealed the launch date of December 3. In the game you play as Nara, an ace pilot who once served the cult known as the Circle and the Great Prophet, but after witnessing a world's destruction, left that life. The Circle has come for her, so now she must once again be the expert pilot of her sentient starfighter, Forsaken, to survive and stop the cult.
The new trailer is Chorus 101 and gives players a better sense of what to expect in a few months, between Nara's powers, Forsaken's weapons, and some of the locations you both will be visiting to unveil the truth. The game will be available on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, and pre-orders are available now. Those who pre-order will receive the Elder Armor skin set, with its gold and purple livery that harkens back to Nara's time in the military.
Source: Press Release (Deep Silver – Chorus)
Inscryption from Devolver Digital and Daniel Mullins has had its release date revealed as October 19. In this roguelike deck building game you have been trapped by Leshy and must build your deck by draft, surgery, and self-mutilation to learn what is beyond the walls of the cabin you are held in. The game offers a blend of escape-room style puzzles and psychological horror with its roguelike design and you can check out the trailer below or its Steam demo to learn more.
Source: Press Release (Devolver Digital – Inscryption)
Another Early Access game to receive an update this week was Phantom Abyss from Devolver Digital and Team WIBY. With its Invasion update, the asynchronous, procedurally generated, multi-player, game has new enemies, relics, phantoms, and more traps to challenge you as you race through temples to find and claim relics. Those are not the only changes though as temples now offer a single path to the Inferno, which holds the key to releasing the phantoms and sealing the temple forever. If you would rather collect a different relic and escape, you still can, unless someone got their first and have left you with a bag of sand as your prize. Check out the trailer below to see some of the new traps, such as homing bombs, dark mines, vertical spinning blades, and more.
If Phantom Abyss seems like your kind of game, it is on sale at 25% off from now until September 27.
Source: Press Release (Devolver Digital – Phantom Abyss)
HandyGames had a public showcase for Indie's Paradise 2021 this week, giving us a look at multiple games over its 36 minutes. You can watch it below to see Airhead, A Rat's Quest, Endling, One Hand Clapping, Perish, De-Exit – Eternal Matters, Scarf, and Townsmen VR, though the last three and their press releases I will cover below. With bookmarks in the YouTube video, you can easily skip to just the game you are interested in by looking at its description.
Source: HandyGames [1] (Indie's Paradise 2021)
First up of the three press releases is that for De-Exit – Eternal Matters, a game set after death where you wake up in a surreal world and are faced with events that threaten your new existence. With the world collapsing around you, you must be the hero to save it by avoiding conflict with steal, and solving puzzles.
Source: HandyGames [2] (De-Exit – Eternal Matters)
Next up we have Scarf, a 3D adventure platforming game where you will be accompanied through the environment with Scarf, a magical, shapeshifting creature you have known since birth. It needs help though, to find a way back home and to its mother, requiring you go on an odyssey to find the keys that were stolen. As you progress Scarf gains new abilities that will help you continue on, through new challenges to explore the stunning world.
Source: HandyGames [3] (SCARF)
Lastly of the separate press releases there is an update for Townsmen VR as it enters its final stage in Early Access. With this update you are no longer restrained to a single island but will be able to build you empire across 13 islands as you progress through the campaign. There are also over twenty resources, twenty buildings, and more than thirty upgrades and add-ons for these buildings. There is even a trading system with a harbor, ships, and marketplace, but also pirates and shady merchants to be weary of. You can check out the showcase below to see what you can get your giant virtual hands on.
Source: HandyGames [4] (Townsmen VR)
Koch Media and Playcorp have released Beyond Contact, a new survival game to Steam Early Access this week that strands you on a hostile and undiscovered world. To survive you will need to explore, gather, innovate, and craft, but with the world's fauna, flora, and extreme weather you cannot expect it to be easy. Fortunately the narrative driven quests will keep you on track and you will be able to work with alien civilizations to learn more about the world and discover new technologies.
Source: Press Release (Koch Media – Beyond Contact)
Square Enix has shared not one but two new trailers for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, both featuring some of the dynamics between the Guardians and how the player will be able to lead them. Personally I think the Exploration focused trailer is the more interesting, so it is embedded below, so here is a link to the combat-focused video: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy – Lead the Guardians: Combat. In the Combat trailer you can see the talents for the different team members, such as Rocket with his explosives and Groot's ability to protect and even revive his friends. For when you need someone to charge in and stagger or stun your enemies though, you can turn to Drax while Gamora is able to deal massive amounts of damage to single targets. Star-Lord, meanwhile, does have his elemental gun that will gain the four elements over the course of the game, and his jet boots, allowing him to fly over the combat to take his shots.
With the Exploration trailer we see some of the locations the Guardians will visit and explore, with that exploration sometimes requiring teamwork to get through puzzles. It also touches on the spending of skill points across the team and some of the choices you will get to make, influencing the team as a result. This trailer also shows some of the costumes you can acquire and equip to give the Guardians your preferred appearance.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is releasing for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and GeForce NOW on October 26 with the Cloud Version coming to the Nintendo Switch in some regions on the same date.
Source: Press Release (Square Enix – Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy)
Rounding off the gaming news are a couple items from Techland for Dying Light 2. First is the release of the Dedrick audio story that tells the tale of a daughter that disappeared as the City fell to ruin and when her father finds her, he has to make a choice that will impact more than one life. You can listen to the story here: Dedrick – Dying Light 2 Stay Human Audio Story.
The second piece of news for the game is the announcement of the next Dying 2 Know video that will release on September 30 at 12 PM PST. This will be the fourth episode in the series and have a focus on the game's world, and provide more information on its citizens and one character in particular. To see how free the player will be to explore, as well as the rewards they can find, alongside the two faces of the City, be sure to tune in next week to Techland's Twitch channel.
Dying Light 2 is scheduled to launch on February 4, 2022 for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5.
Source: Press Releases (Techland – Dying Light 2)
Now for some non-gaming news as researchers at MIT have made yet another discovery that may influence the future of data storage and more. Most of the magnets we are familiar with are ferromagnets, which produce their magnetic field because the atoms align in one direction. There are other kinds of magnets though, such as ferrimagnetic materials, in which some atoms align in one direction, and the rest in the opposite direction. The direction of the larger magnetic field then is dependent on the balance between these two collections of atoms and the researchers found how to control this for gadolinium cobalt. This rare earth transition metal ferrimagnet and when made into a film, the researchers found splitting water on its surface will cause the magnetic field of the material to flip. This is because the hydrogen atom, rather its nucleus, a single proton will penetrate into the film and throw off the ferrimagnetic balance, causing the magnetic field to flip.
There are several potential uses for this discovery, but focusing on the data storage possibility first, this flip is achieved by just applying an electric voltage, and not a current that can cause heating making this very efficient. A test has already shown the material was able to go through 10,000 flips without noticeable degradation. This application is not likely to be the first though, as this discovery also has potential for sensors. The magnetic alignment has a spring-like quality to it with atoms pulling one that starts to drift back into alignment. This makes it possible for a spin wave to be formed in the material and it oscillations can have frequencies in the terahertz range. Not many materials are sensitive in this range of frequencies and this may be an easier feature to develop around than the potential for data storage.
Source: MIT
