My Thoughts on E3 2021 - Xbox & Bethesda Game Showcase

 So, it's been only a second presentation of this E3, but I can already tell that Microsoft stole the show. And no wonder, given their massive acquisition of both Zenimax/Bethesda and Obsidian - and the fact that over half of the games they announced will be available on day one on GamePass, which - by the way - just grew to insane value with pretty much all the newer Bethesda titles AND EA Play games as a part of it.  Also, the presentation kept talking to necessary minimum, and just showed game after game - which I liked. And the games were hype.

Starfield

First off, we finally seen a glimpse of what this long anticipated game is about - well, aside of stars and fields. As a long time fan of Bethesda and scf-fi settings, I really can't wait to learn more about this upcoming game. In short: I liked what I saw. There can be one little, small problem - the fact Bethesda belongs to Microsoft means, that the game (along with all Bethesda's future creative output) is an Xbox and Windows 10 PC exclusive. I doesn't bother me that much, since I'm a PC (and retro) player anyway, but Playstation owners might be slightly unhappy about this turn of events. The game comes out in November 2022, so by that time, the hardware shortages problem should be dealt with.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl

I played STALKER games quite a bit in the past, and liked it - mostly due to their Slavic feeling. These days, I haven't even searched much for the information about the series, so it was a pleasant surprise for me to learn about the full-fledged sequel that is coming out April 28th next year. Unfortunately for some people, again, the game is going to be a Xbox console exclusive. Remember me saying Microsoft stole the show? Exactly. Even more, the game is going to be available in Game Pass from day one. Along with this announcement, we saw a five minute long story and gameplay trailer, full of creepy creatures and franchise's trademark anomalies. It's not out of question that I'm going to play the previous games for this blog. 

Back 4 Blood

Left 4 Dead franchise was the one I used to play with my mates quite often. Co-op shooter was kind of kind of refreshing from all the deathmatches there were in the past. These games actually required working together with your teammates, otherwise you'd end up as zombies' dinner. Developed by the same people, just under a different publisher, Back 4 Blood looks to be a Left 4 Dead 3 we always craved for, but never received - and even more, since the game seems to add plenty more, than just more of the same. For example, our playable characters will have their unique skills, unlike the original games where they mostly differed visually. At Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase we got extended trailer, which really reminded me of the original series. The game release had to be pushed back to October 12, in order to polish the game - and here's hoping the team will take their time and release a decent product. Here's hoping.

Contraband

This is the first time I hear about this game, to be honest, but not the first time I heard about it's developer, Avalanche Studios. Known for their Just Cause franchise that I have some plans of covering on the blog in the future, studio decided to work on a game exclusively for Microsoft (it will go into Game Pass day one, even). Placed in the 1970s in the fictional country named Bayan, it's supposed to have vast open world, given studio's years of experience in creating those for Just Cause franchise. What gameplay style the game will take is at the moment unknown, but Avalanche is known for their wide range when it comes to different genres. After all, they also produced Mad Max and Rage 2, which they obviously weren't the same. We don't know when the game will launch, as it seems to be in early stage. Still, gotta keep an eye on it.

Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life

Haven't played the game, and I don't think I will, but still this reveal was a bit surprising. As it turns out, Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean will crossover with Sea of Thieves for an epic piratey adventure. The famous pirate seems to be in his goofy self, as the revealed trailer strongly suggests. This isn't the first time Sparrow was a guest star in a videogame - Kingdom Hearts franchise immediately comes to mind, as well as Disney Infinity and LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. 

Yakuza series

As another pleasant surprise announced at the show, was that pretty much all the Yakuza title are landing on the Xbox Game Pass. If anyone was on the fence, now it's time to fall either side. As for my, I'm not big on GTA style games, but might give it a look one day. When I update my Windows to 10 of course.

Battlefield 2042

After two titles set in the two different World Wars, Battlefield comes back to slightly futuristic setting, with 2042, full in it's raytraced glory. This time around the game allows the whopping number of 128 players on one map - and apparently, there is no single player campaign. Whether that's good or not it's for you to decide, but I wouldn't mind some single player action before throwing myself into fight with other players. As EA decided to move away itself from the EA commotion to host it's own EA Play presentation in July, this is obviously when we're gonna learn more about the game. From what I seen from the trailer though, the game looks quite spectacular, and that tornado is awesome. Here's hoping DICE won't release a buggy game, like they often do.

10 Bethesda Games Coming to Game Pass

It's kind of a lesser news bit, but still. As was kind of obvious given circumstances, we learned that along with pretty much all Bethesda's future games are Xbox console exclusives, 10 of their most acclaimed previous games are joining the Xbox Game Pass. Now this service, with all the games available in it now, really seems like a steal. I just have to upgrade to Windows 10... yeah.

Fallout 76 Expeditions DLC: The Pitt 

Fallout 76's 2018 launch wasn't the most fortunate thing that happened to Bethesda, so even if I love Fallout series, I remained reserved and didn't pay much attention to the news. Recently though, one of my friends told me that the game got much better since it's launch, so I'm getting more interested, especially given the trailer that takes us back to one of the places we already visited in the franchise's history - Fallout 3's Pittsburg. And I loved Fallout 3. Like, a lot. So I might actually play it, and if I do, you can be sure I'm gonna blog about it. :)

Party Animals

Oh god, yes, this was... oh god. Ok, let me regain my composure. This game looks like all the cute animal internet memes combined into fluffy bunch of... cute. Other than that, well, apparently this type of physics-based games became really popular in recent years, probably starting with 2014's Goat Simulator (since that game became really successful, I don't think there's much in gaming that will truly surprise me) and making it way to popularity through streamers and "influencers" (don't ask me what the difference is, I'm but a humble oldschool blogger). The game's objective is knock other ragdoll animal models out of the arena using everything that you have at your disposal (the game isn't bloody though, so don't expect anything more violent than a taser. I think that's for the best). The game is expected to launch sometime in 2022, and - as expected by now - it'll be available on Game Pass from day one. Yay.

Hades Xbox Series X/S version announcement

Now I really feel I've been missing our, when I saw this game at E3. This game looks just so sweet, I can't believe I haven't learned about it earlier. It came out in 2018 and is a dungeon crawler with dynamically generated levels, and lore based on Greek mythology - which is among my favorites. The main protagonists, Zagreus, tries to find anwsers about his past, and gets different blessings from Olympic gods to help his escape from the underworld. Given the studio's history of releasing awesome games, I'm sold.

Halo Infinite single & multi player

Halo is a much beloved franchise with a lot of fans. Apparently the games are real good. Wouldn't know, I don't usually play FPS games - well, with some exceptions, Borderlands games namely. The latest entry in the series was announced so long ago, it would seem the game is in the state of... infinite development (I'm really sorry, I had to). To be serious though, apparently both Multiplayer and Singleplayer modes are finally slated for release this holiday season. We received trailers for both and,  well.. it's interesting, I guess. I would have to actually play Halo games and get familiar with the lore to say more, but... well, that's a thought.

Diablo II: Resurrected

Well, here you have it, a Diablo II remaster. From what I learned, it launches on September 23, 2021 and offers - along with many QoL tweaks - an option of switching between "legacy" and modern visuals. The game overall is supposed to retain the as much of the same gameplay as possible, while not adding any microtransactions. Players are gonna get Diablo II, Lord of Destruction expansion as one bundle. Additionally, Diablo III players who preorder the game will get bonus content for Diablo III, as well as the access to Diablo II multiplayer beta, planned for this August. 

Far Cry 6 

We caught another glimpse of Far Cry 6 at Xbox & Bethesda Game Showcase this time focusing on... well, animal companions we're gonna get in the game, what else. Turns out "amigos", as they call them, play important part of the game and we get plenty of different ones, including a battle rooster called Fangs for Hire. Thing would be terrifying if I was myself from my childhood, especially with studded choker he's wearing. This isn't the first game in the franchise that let us utilize our animal friends - in Far Cry 5 we could get help from a brown bear called Cheeseburger, among the others. Always loving the concept of animal buddies, ever since Dogmeat from Fallout 3, I'm all for it. And it adds a bit of humor to otherwise pretty grim game.

Slime Rancher 2

The first game in the series came out in 2017, and like the name suggests we play the role of slime rancher, Beatrix LeBeau, whose job is to explore the the land inhabited by titular slimes. Now with larger, tropical setting we'll be able to catch new species of slimes in an insanely colorful environment of Far Far Range. The game will come out sometime in 2022 for PC and both of Xbox Series consoles.

Shredders

If you're someone who loved Steep, and longed for more of the snowboarding action, I guess this is a game for you. Pretty visuals and crazy tricks you can (as developers promise) perform sound appealing, even for me. Along with Ubisoft's Riders Republic, these game should scratch that extreme sports itch of yours. If you have it, that is. Not everyone does. I have it, kinda. Next game.

Atomic Heart

The game was initially announced in 2018, but the news about just missed my attention. Apparently, there was trouble during production, What Atomic Heart seems to be is an RPG with combat elements borrowed from Bioshock franchise - including abilities similiar to vigors and plasmids - and story taking place in an alternative universe in 1955 in USSR, which we don't see in video games very often. What really caught my interest in this game though, is the promise of exploration - the thing I absolutely love in video games and one of the reasons I play them. There will be six main locations to explore. Other than that, we'll be able to craft weapons with total 30 of them. The game will launch on many platforms, but it will be available on Game Pass from day one, which gives players another reason to buy the subscription.

Replaced

Replaced is an action platformer getting it's inspiration heavily from cyberpunk works such as Bladerunner 2049 and Upgrade. Aesthetically, the game combines beautiful 2D sprite animation with voxel based 3D environments, making it visually pleasing. The game will come out in 2022, and - obviously - will be available in Game Pass from day one.

Grounded: The Shroom & Doom update

Grounded was a game released by Obsidian Entertainment as early access in July 2020, which starred human characters shrinken to a bug size, much in style of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Our heroes had to use whatever resources they get to defend and survive against all the different dangers that wait for them in the grass. The main feature added in the update are harvestable mushrooms, that players can use to process into the bricks and build fortifications to protect themselve from bugs and other nasty stuff. There will even be a boss in form of Brood Mother. You know what, this game might be fun. Gotta keep an eye on it.

Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes

Started as amazingly successful Kickstarter campaign, raising over 4.5 million dollars game is a spirtual successor to the Suikoden RPG series. Developed by a lot of people who worked on the Suikoden saga, it makes promise to retain the same spirit. One of the main features of the original franchise was an insane number of playable characters - amounting to the whopping 108 of heroes. As the subtitle suggests, this time around we'll get to play as 100 heroes, which still is quite impressive. As an RPG fan, it isn't out of the question that I'll be blogging about Suikoden and Eiyuden Chronicles someday. The problem is, too many games, too little time. Thankfully, the game comes out in 2023, which gives me plenty of time to catch up.

Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising

A spin-off Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes, which aside from featuring some characters from Hundred Heroes, allows players to build their cities. The game comes out a year earlier than the main game, and is planned as the introduction to it. Unlike it's sequel, this game focuses on the fates of couple different characters that will be essential to the story of next game, but not all 100 of them. Aside from that, the game looks gorgeous, and kinda reminds Octopath Traveler in it's aesthetic, and Golden Sun in it's battle screens. As I wrote above, I might catch up with the franchise, and if I do, prepare for some blogging ;)

The Ascent

Aren't we having a bit of a cyberpunk overdose lately? Anyway, this is an isometric view hack'n'slash-style shooter with cybernetic augmentations. And some light RPG elements, such as experience points you can spend on leveling your character and his/her stats. The game will require the players to use a bit of a tactical approach, such as hiding behind covers. The game can also be played with up to 3 friends who can jump in or jump out to your game at any time, either through the Internet, or on a split screen.

Age of Empires IV

The long awaited sequel to universally loved franchise. No, seriously, the last entry was released in 2005, over 15 years ago. The road was long and painful, but fans can finally relax and wait those last couple months, as the games is slated for release this October. Strategy/tactics is a game genre I have a love-hate relationship with. I love them, but they just always kick my butt. Nonetheless I'm happy the wait is almost over. Oh, and by the way, this game is also in Game Pass on day one.

The Outer Worlds 2

As Microsoft now owns Obsidian, it's natural this announcement was made at their showcase. The outer space action roleplaying game released in 2019 was very well received. We don't have much information about this sequel, aside maybe from the fact that we're getting a new solar system, but the same breed of humor that we seen in the trailer, I guess we're getting more of the same goodness. If I get to it, I might blog this franchise sometime in the future.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

If not for my vertigo, I would absolutely adore this game. It's simulation is so advanced, that the future pilots prepare to take on an exam playing almost exclusively this game. Simply beautiful visuals. On top of that, in the DLC announced at the show, you'll get to play as the main character from Top Gun, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, flying his F/A-18 Super Hornet. The studio behind the game, Asobo, isn't new in creating dazzling open worlds - they're the people behind 2009's post-apocalyptic racing game FUEL, which was full of - back then - eye candy vistas. Now they released their full potential. 

Forza Horizon 5

After heavy speculations, it's official - the next part of crazy automotive saga will take place in Mexico. Playground claims that this is the most versatile environment they ever put in their videogames, and well... looks pretty damn impressive. And to top it off, this time we'll get map editor called Event Lab, which will let us create any track we desire. At the same moment, there were absolutely no news about Forza Motorsport 8 at the show, but even this game shouldn't be that far away. 

Redfall

The presentation was finished off with the new Arkane Studios game, Redfall. The creators of Dishonored franchise decided to go in the slightly different direction, going full co-op multiplayer. The game is a fantasy shooter. From the trailer that was shown at the presentation, we're going to control several different characters with unique powers and abilities, as they go all out against the city full of vampires. The light-hearted tone of the trailer is one of the other things that separates Arkane from their previous works - it almost bears some similarities with Blizzard's Overwatch. Still, we haven't seen the gameplay yet, so it's too soon to make such comparisons. PS. Game Pass on day one. Obviously.

And that about wraps it up for Xbox/Bethesda presentation. As I said at the beggining of this entry, Microsoft have brought heavy cannons, and now with over 300 high quality games playable with the Game Pass subscription it's really insanely good deal. Next up, Square-Enix with their Square-Enix Presents digital event. 

My Thoughts on E3 2021 - Ubisoft Forward

 Ubisoft used to be one of my favourite game publishers and developers, in the pre-Assassin's Creed era.  Not that I'm hating on them now, but their tendency to milking dry any good idea they come up kinda, well... bores me. I mean, look at Far Cry. People liked the villain in Far Cry 3, and boom - next 3 games are all about that super interesting villain of the franchise entry. To be clear though - I'm keeping an open mind and it's not like Ubisoft can't surprise in positive way. Heck, one day I might even give those damn Assassin's Creeds and Far Crys I shot here on the blog. For now though I'd concentrate on what they have prepared for this year's E3, as they (not counting SGF) basically kicked off E3 with their Ubisoft Forward presentations. So, let's go over the announced games, shall we?

Brawlhalla x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Brawlhalla is a game I have played for several hours and then dropped. Seeing one of the franchises I rather like - and that is TMNT - becomes a part of it, I get encouraged to give another chance to this free-to-play take on Super Smash Brothers gameplay formula. Previous guest star appearances were, amongst others, Rayman, Lara Croft and Shovel Knight, but the game has a vibrant cast of original characters, too. 

Watch Dogs Legion Bloodline DLC

I never played Watch Dogs, so I'm not going to pretend that I know what I'm talking about, but: During the Forward presentations, Ubisoft revealed the full trailer for Watch Dogs Legion's new DLC titled "Bloodline". Apparently it's gonna feature Aidan Pierce - the protagonist of the first Watch Dogs game (yay, I know that much), along with Wrench who appeared as the side character, although popular one, from Watch Dogs 2. The DLC is scheduled for release on July 6, 2021.

Rainbow Six: Extraction gameplay and story trailer.

The last entry in Rainbow Six series I have played was Vegas, so obviously, I'm kina out of loop. But what occurs to me, is that "with zombies" became a new "in space" of this age. It began with Call of Duty, and then it just kept spreading. Apparently the game's original subtitle was Quarantine, which is a hell of unfortunate coincidence, so they changed into something that closer describes what the game is about. From what we learned at the presentation, this zombie outbreak's flavour is going to be alien with a parasite sauce. "Extraction" references saving our teammates who have been captured by the parasite and require our help. Apparently, despite being a PvE mission based shooter, it's still going to be a "Rainbow Six". The game is supposed to release this year, so we'll definitely see more about it.

Riders Republic

Since long ago, I have always questioned why there isn't a mountain biking game (aside from GTA San Andreas). It seems somebody somewhere asked themselves the same question. The game looks (sorry, I had to) absolutely radical. Although bikes are what interests me the most, there is also a plethora of different vehicles you can use to ride in the game, even a rocket-powered wingsuits. Also, the word on the street is that there's gonna be up to 64 player multi-vehicle races. Color me hyped.

Rainbow Six Siege

This game is kinda impressive, being six year from release and still receiving a healthy stream of new content, I guess proving game-as-a-service model. At Ubisoft Forward we got an animated glimpse at the newest "operator" (playable characters) - called Thunderbird. Apparently, there are currently whopping number of 60 of them in the game. Aside from that, we can expect cross-play between PC, Stadia, and Amazon Luna to launch on June 30. A bit of a surprise to me was though, that console versions (Playstation and Xbox) will get crossplay too. Although, for that we're have to wait unitl 2022. 

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Discovery Tour DLC

This time we're getting something rather... interesting? The newest DLC for Assassin's Creed Valhalla called Discovery Tour is going to put as in the role of NPCs living normal lives of Viking society citizens. We'll work and we'll reach deeper into the lore of the game. The expansion comes out this fall. 

Far Cry 6 trailers

I already mentioned in the Summer Game Fest post how Ubisoft absolutely loves their Far Cry 6 villains. So much so that in the addition of  Far Cry 6's main Big Bad Anton Castillo we get a DLC adding main antagonists of the three previous games. And, you'll be able to play as them as well. We shouldn't be counting too much on getting more wide open worlds with this DLC. I think Far Cry 6's map is big enough on it's own. If you missed out on the game, like I did, it takes place on a fictional Carribean island-nation of Yara citizens have to deal with violence and oppression on daily basis and Dani Rojas, our protagonist and main playable character, has to fight to free Yara of Castillo's rule. The game launches on October 7 this year for pretty much every active platform, aside from Nintendo Switch.

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope

If I ever get myself a Nintendo Switch, Mario + Rabbids franchise is one of the first games I'm gonna buy. I think this game is a blend of gameplay mechanics and universe crossover that probably nobody thought could think it would work. And apparently, it soo so did. Rumors about the new game have been circulating the Internet for a good part of the year. Now we know they were real, and that this sequel is going to bring us more XCOM style fun... IN SPACE. Rabbid Rosalina is great, and I think extending the concept of the game with elements from Super Mario Galaxy was a great idea. And not only do we get a new Big Bad, but also Man Behind the Man (or rather, a hand behind the man, uhm...). Unfortunately we'll have to wait until 2022 to play the game. Although, by then I might already have Nintendo Switch, so I guess it's not all that bad. :)

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Ubisoft wrapped up this year's show with a rather surprising announcement.- the Avatar game by Ubisoft Massive that was thought to be dead, is in full blown development after all. The game, aside from the setting, isn't based on first, or any upcoming Avatar movies, although wheter James Cameron actually works on this game is unclear. The game will use Ubisoft's own Snowdrop engine, and from the trailer, it manages to more or less match the beautiful visuals of Pandora that we remember ftom the movie. The sequel to 2009's film is going to cinemas in December 2022, but I don't know when Ubisoft is going to launch the game.

Overall, the presentation wasn't the worst thing in the world. I'm looking forward to some of the games, like Riders Republic or the new Avatar game. I might even tackle some other Ubisoft franchises in the future, that I ignored in the past. We'll see. For now, thanks for reading. Next up: Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase! See you there!

My Thoughts on E3 2021 - Summer Game Fest

    Remember what I said yesterday about not playing racing games anymore? Well scratch that, today I installed Gear Club on Android just to see if it's any good, and I got hooked once again. I also did some races in Need for Speed Shift. Anyway, I will talk about that in following days, now - as promised - here's my thoughts about this year's E3 - which this time around was a fully digital event, thanks to pandemic. 

There i s a lot of stuff to cover, so I decided to split this into four entries, one or each day of the show. 

 Firstly though, I'm going to talk about Summer Game Fest, which happened in the day prior to the main show which was once again hosted by Geoff Keighley. Although it wasn't the most exiciting thing in the world, it still had several interesting announcements,  Most notably, though...

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands

 Now this got me hyped for realzies. I used to be a real big fan of Bordlerlands franchise and Tiny Tina's one of the best characters in that verse - and with added strong high fantasy flavour it's definitely the best announcement of the show, at least for me. It was leaked a couple days ago, though, but thanks to my p olicy of going practically offline each year before E3, I had no ida it existed until Summer Game Fest. 

 

From what we know, the story of the game will be basically a D'n'D session , with Tiny Tina as a Dungeon Master (or rather, "Bunker Master") and our playable characters as the players. The goal? Defeat "Dragon Lord". In my opinion, this idea fits perfectly into Tiny Tina's character, as somebody who would actually play paper roleplaying games in the wicked world of Borderlands. The game's scheduled for early 2022 release, and I can't wait. Right after that, it was time for...

Metal Slug Tactics

Metal Slug is SNK's beloved 2D shooter series, From what we've seen this time though, Metal Slug Tactics isn't what we would call the next entry in the mainline series, but rather a spin-off, which takes the franchise in a rather interesting direction. This time it mixes up well known combat of Metal Slug with light XCOM elements, alongside some rougelike style random content generation. I must say I'm not a big Metal Slug fan, never really played any game for extended periods of time (not counting an arcade on a fantasy convention a couple years back) so don't really have much experience, but nonetheless, the trailer that was presented at Summer Game Fest looked interesting. In past few years, XCOM formula proved itself to be universal, getting adapted to inreasing amount of different franchises - like Gears of War, or Mario + Rabbids, and there's even a Marvel game in development taking the same idea into the superhero setting. Anyway, I'll keep my eyes on this game. Meanwhile....

Death Stranding's Director's Cut

I never was a big fan of Hideo Kojima, mostly because I didn't have Playstation when Metal Gear Solid was in the hayday. So, I can't say much about Death Stranding, aside from repeating what I heard at the show. Essentially, Kojima teased his new title, which as the rumor has it, may or may not come to the Xbox platform. In the meantime though, Kojima announced a Director's Cut remaster of Death Stranding, exclusively for Playstation 5 with a trailer that obviously parodied MGS. Wheter or not will I give this franchise a chance, I don't know, we'll see. Not my kind of gameplay though.

Jurassic World: Evolution 2

As a kid, I quite enjoyed tycoon games such as Railroad Tycoon, or Rollercoaster Tycoon franchise. In the years gone by though, RPGs and racing games tooked their place as my go-to gaming genres. I have to be honest, I completely missed out on the first Evolution, busy with playing and doing other stuff. Whenever the first Evolution goes on sale, I think I will fix that - and when that happens, expect an extended entry on my thoughts about the game. For now though, I'm looking forward to the upcoming Jurassic World movie, and I will await more info on Evolution 2 since aside of the trailer (with voice over by Jeff Goldblum), and a 2021 release window, we didn't get much. I'll share with you my thoughts, once we learned more about the title.

Lost Ark

I always like to challenge new free-to-play games if only just to see how far can I get without spending a dime on them. I am somewhat Scrooge McDuck about it. Anyway, Lost Ark which is a F2P action MMORPG until now exclusive to South Korea, gets released in the West, courtesy of Amazon Games, and apparently the game is crazily popular in Asia. From what I learned about it, it offers seven large continents to explore and MMO your way through, and customizing your hero with whopping 15 character classes. The game utilizes something called Tripod Skill system for raising your character's abilities with each power having it's own three tiers of customization. The game comes to Steam this autumn, and I'll try to fit more info about it in one of future entries. 

Call of Duty: Warzone & Black Ops Cold War

There are three things you can be certain about in life. Death, taxes, and new Call of Duty news. Yeah, I'm not a big Call of Duty fan. The last entry in the series I really liked was the original Modern Warfare - to be honest, I'm not really much into FPS games, and truthfully, maybe I just didn't give newer titles a chance. And maybe I will. At the time of writing this entry though, Season Four for both Warzone and Black Ops Cold War is in full effect, and it brings several important changes... like freaking nuking the entire map of Call of Duty Warzone, it seems. I'm not going to elaborate here on the story of the game I haven't ever played, though, as there is a lot to unpack here. If I get to play this game, you can expect me writing about it a lot.

Among Us

A lot of people love this game as it exploded in popularity in the last year, so obviously I'm gonna talk about what's new. And there is a lot, as we learned at Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest presentation. Among the things that are coming to the game are the achievement system, new skins and colors for the characters, and even a whole new game mode Hide'n'Seek which involves... well, hiding and seeking. Didn't see that one coming :) Oh, and there's also a new map. The development team at the InnerSloth, creators of the game, is fairly small so new content updates aren't gonna be as frequent as some would like, but even what we get looks cool in my opinion. 

Next few games are games published by Primal Matter, Koch Media's new publishing company, which holds the rights to Payday, Painkiller and Mount and Blade franchises. So let's go over them, shall we?

Payday 3

The production of this game was painful as heck, and still doesn't seem very soon to completion, given announced release date of 2023. First announced in 2016 the game went through a bumpy road, including engine change from Valhalla to Unreal Engine 4 and complete restart of development in 2020. Now scheduled for the release under Prime Matter publishing company, it's finally likely to come out. Eventually. In meantime, game's developer continues to support Payday 2 with new content. Yay?

Crossfire: Legion

It seems just this E3 I learned of the existence of one of the most popular games in the world. Funny how that works, when you live (at least nearly) in the West. Oh, and the fact it's a mobile FPS. Thankfully, due to the efforts the publisher Prime Matter, we're going to see what this game is all about... well, sort of. What we're getting is an Xbox-exclusive title CrossfireX (creativity well must have gone dry at Microsoft with this one) with the story campaing  developed by Alan Wake's Remedy, AND an RTS spinoff of the game, developed by Blacbird Interactive, who some people may know as the studio that brought back Homeworld franchise. Apparently, that isn't even all that we're gonna see from Crossfire franchise in the upcoming years. For me personally, mobile and FPS don't mix very good, but that RTS might be a completely different story. No pun intended.

New Painkiller game

It's been long overdue, really. This franchise, originally developed by Polish People Can Fly studio (who you might know from such titles like Bulletstorm, or Gears of War: Judgement) was one of the best oldschool First Person Shooters out there. It was one hell of fun game (again, no pun intended :) ), and since then the franchise shifted publishers and developers so frequently, it would take an another full blog entry to sum up  As for my opinion, I'm gonna wait and see, exactly beacause the game isn't developed by the original creators anymore, and we don't even actually know WHO is going to develop it, much less when it's gonna come out, or even it's title.

Rocket League x Fast 9

Not gonna elaborate much over this - another Rocket Leauge DLC, this time adding some content related to Fast & Furious franchise. Haven't really played Rocket League, despite the fact it's technically a car game. I guess I'm really not a football kinda guy. Next.

Vampire The Masquerade's Bloodhunt

Yes, another Vampire The Masquerade, I'm pumped! But no... wait... Comes out it's a free-to-play battle royale. Because we really are in the dire need of more of those, right? Well, no. Anyway, if you don't know what Vampire The Masquerade is, it's essentially a role playing (both digital and tabletop) game franchise where you played the role of vampires in modern-day setting. The Masquerade is a rule, according to which no vampire is allowed to reveal their nature to mortal humans. In the universe, there are vampire sects battling over control of the cities. I guess I don't have to elaborate over how battle royale gameplay works, so I'll just say that players will posses various vampiric abiliites that can aid them in well... battle. I think you can figure out what some of these abilities are. :) Closed alpha begins on July 2, and - if you still crave for more battle royale games - the game is scheduled for a full release later this year.

Overwatch 2 skin reveals

Not really a big reveal or anything. We know Overwatch 2 is coming, and during the SGF show we got to see polished up models of Sombra and Baptiste who will come back as the playable characters in the game. I didn't really play Overwatch when it was hype, but I really liked characters' designs. I might give this new game a shot (again, no pun intended :) ). That is, if I'll be able to afford it. 

Far Cry 6 Giancalro Esposito interview

I think I'll elaborate about Far Cry 6 more when I'll start talking about Ubisoft Forward presentation, so for now: this guy really gets into his role. Almost disturbingly so. Esposito is known for his parts in Mandalorian and Breaking Bad, so we're having an actor who made quite a name for himself. The game is coming out October 7 for pretty much all active platforms, save for the Switch and Stadia, so we'll see how he stacks up against the rest of Far Cry villains.

Evil Dead: The Game

Evil Dead franchise is one of the staples of horror stories, so it's all the more exciting for it's fans to hear Bruce Campbell voicing the trailer of new game that was revealed at Summer Game Fest. From what we heard, we'll be able to play not only as Ash, and the rest of "good guys", but also as Kandarian Demon who tries to plunge the world into darkness. The game is supposed to launch later this year. So strap up, make sure your chainsaw has enough fuel and go hunt these monsters. 

Elden Ring

Arguably, a game of the show for many players (the third for me though, after Tiny Tina's Wonderlands and a new Painkiller game), a new title developed by From Software - a new soulslike, if you will - will take the proven formula and spice it up a bit - for instance, with horseback riding. Oh, and did I mention the lore of the game is being crafted by Game of Throne's George R. R. Maritin? No? Oopsie. Anyways, the game comes out on January 22, 2022. 

So that about wraps up this post. Thanks if you really sat and read all of this - from one side I wanted to bring you some details about all the upcoming games, but from the other I didn't want to pretend I play and know all, which I don't. Anyway, as we dealt with SGF, now I think we are ready to jump in the show proper. Next up: Ubisoft Forward Presentation. See you in the next entry, then. ;)

A Sudden Blog Revival

 First of all, I'd like to really apologize for leaving this blog dead for so long. Some stuff comes up in life, and when you try to go back to what you were doing even not so long ago, you find that that passion just isn't there anymore. That's not to say I lost my love of videogames - no, I'm still a dedicated games - it's just I couldn't force myself to keep this blog alive with new posts everyday - or even every other day. It's seems to be a curse of my life, that I can't keep working on what I started for an extended period of  time. But to hell with it, today I decided to revive this blog, since I feel like sharing my experiences of playing video games with other people. This, and trying to keep my writer's block as far away from me as possible. 

Alrighty then, I guess first of all I should make a little update on the things I've been doing lately. One of major changes in my gaming preferences in recent months is that I almost completely stopped playing racing games. As you might remember from my earlier posts, racing games and RPGs are my two favourite genres. So now I almost completely dedicated my time to RPGs. So what have I been playing, you ask? To be honest, mostly Pokemon romhacks. Last week I started streaming pokemon romhacks on YT. It's kinda amazing what the fans with some programming knowledge can do to videogames, especially Pokemon of the GameBoy era. Currently I'm playing (and streaming) Pokemon Brown, which - if you can deal with a somewhat subpar writing - is an interesting romhack. If you'd like to see me streaming stuff, please subscribe to my Youtube channel - the link's to the right. 

Now, I'm not really a battle royale fan. Haven't been playing Fortnite, PUBG, or any other games of this "genre", BUT, a couple of months ago I discovered a game called Spellbreak. While the main game modes is  Battle Royale, the game mechanics themselves are so intresting I decided to look past that one detail. Basically, the game drops you on a big map, and gives you a ton of element-based powers you have to use to "exile" other players. While in classic BR your goal is to be the last one standing, and after one death you were greeted with a menu screeen, lately they also added Dominion in which your objective is to take control over three specific points on the map. I realize this mode's been done to death in other multiplayer competetive games, but then as I said before - game mechanics which involve picking the elemental skils, weapons and powers from a wide roster and utilizing them differently in combat makes it all worth it. To me at least ;) 

Aside from my activities in English, I'm also currently working on some stuff for my native Polish-speaking buddies, like a full Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past stream. So yeah, I'm keeping myself busy. 

In the next few posts, I'll go over my thoughts about this year's E3. Was it good, was it bad, or was it "meh"? Stay tuned :P In the meantime, I'm going back to Spellbreak. Thanks for reading!