Video Game Choo Choo has come together this E3 to quickly summarize and hot take over all things E3 this week! On our final day #6: John, Christine, Maverick, Rose, and Solon talk about the Nintendo conference, both the English and Japanese versions, because there really wasn’t anything else. Like there was seriously a Bandai Namco conference that was just a ten minute showcase of House of Ashes like come on.

Video Game Choo Choo is streaming E3 coverage every night this week at twitch.tv/vgchoochoo and is posting the videos-on-demand at youtube.com/videogamechoochoo. Our coverage is also available as podcasts! You can subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Presents E3 2021 Day 6 – It’s The Nintendo Show appeared first on Gamesline.

The stream started with the reveal of Kazuya Mishima as a Smash Bros fighter. He has all of his Tekken moves and sweet kicks and electrics, so Smash truly feels like a fighting game crossover. Ryu, Terry, and Kazuya all in one game! That’s rad. There will be a gameplay showcase with Sakurai on the 28th.

Life is Strange Remastered and New Colors are coming to Switch. Finally, you can be an empath on the go.

Super Monkey Ball is getting a remaster collection, compiling the first three titles (1, 2, and Deluxe) into one big bundle. Banana Mania is dropping October 5th.

Mario Party Superstars is a collection of N64 Mario Party boards with modern gameplay. There’s even an online mode that lets you join random people online instead of just playing solo if you don’t have local/online friends available. Superstars launches October 29th.

Metroid Dread is real. It’s a cheap pop, sure, but I sure did hoot and holler so they won. This’ll be a new 2D Metroid made by both the original Metroid team and Mercurysteam, and there’s an evil robot that’ll hunt you down throughout the game! It looks sick as hell and I’m very much looking forward to a new 2D Metroid. Dread drops October 8th.

New Warioware! This one is based around joycon movements and has multiplayer minigames as well. The whole classic cast will be back working for Wario and the game releases September 10th.

Shin Megami Tensei V got a new trailer, and folks, the protag is hot. The entire Twitter feed was celebrating how “GNC” they look, and good for y’all! I’ll say the gameplay looks like SMT, which is also very good, and I’m looking forward to convincing demon bastards to die for me on November 12th.

With maybe the funniest game title this year, Danganronpa is coming to Switch in the Decadence collection. A physical version with four games (1, 2, and V3 plus a new spinoff game called Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp) will release later this year, with each game releasing separately on the eShop. There will also be a big special edition with bonus posters and the like.

The Wii U Fatal Frame game, Maiden of Black Water, will be coming to Switch…and PS5, PS4, and the Xbox consoles. The Wii U is now a Xenoblade Chronicles X machine and nothing more. I mean, unless you’re gonna ha-…ahem.

Advance Wars is back with a remaster of the first two games. Yeah it’s not pixel art, but I personally like the art style and I’m excited to see if this’ll lead to a new game! Full price is maybe too much of an ask, too. I dunno, we’ll see when the remake collection hits December 3rd.

The showcase ended with a Zelda roundup, mentioning the Skyward Sword port, the Age of Calamity expansion pass (first wave hitting June 18th, second wave in November), a Zelda Game and Watch that has Zelda 1, 2, and Link’s Awakening (not DX? alright?) releasing November 12th. At the end, there was another “Sequel to Breath of the Wild” trailer that sure looks like BotW but they’re claiming it’ll come out in 2022. I doubt this! But we’ll see.

Overall this Direct whipped! Thanks. There was also a new Super Robot Wars game shown in the Japanese Direct so I’ll put that trailer here so you know I’m a realhead.

Plus here’s the entire Direct to see everything I didn’t mention.

The post E3 2021 Day 6 – Nintendo Direct Roundup appeared first on Gamesline.

Video Game Choo Choo has come together this E3 to quickly summarize and hot take over all things E3 this week! On Day 5, John, Franny, Maverick, Rose, and Scott talk all things beer: craft beers, IPAs, hard ciders, hard seltzers, hops, pilsners, and of course, fermentation. It’s Beer3, baby. Also there were (allegedly) some video games.

Video Game Choo Choo is streaming E3 coverage every night this week at twitch.tv/vgchoochoo and is posting the videos-on-demand at youtube.com/videogamechoochoo. Our coverage is also available as podcasts! You can subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Presents E3 2021 Day 5 – Capcom, Limited Run, and Hell appeared first on Gamesline.

Hey, last chance to avoid viewing true suffering – go look at some nice wholesome games!

Verizon (“Gaming for good”)

5G gaming will revolutionize mobile gaming, or so Verizon says. In what way? That’s not important! But during the presentation Verizon specifically marked developers and esports teams specifically for Verizon-sponsored projects. They brought out Derwin James, Free Safety for the LA Chargers (one of the least successful NFL franchises in the league) to talk about Verizon’s Super Bowl Fortnite map. This doesn’t matter to anyone, anywhere other than the people on stage and some shareholders somewhere, but the E3 presentation isn’t overly loud or offensive so I can’t be too mad. I’m here to be advertised to. Big ups to the Verizon crew for spending a large portion of their presentation talking about building mentorships and scholarships for women in esports and professional gamescasting.

Intellivision

Intellivision is jumping back into the console world with Intellivision Amico which is a WiiU-styled handheld plus console hybrid specifically positioned for families with young children. The games announced on it look like one of those plug n’ play TV consoles, with asteroids styled games and whatnot. But the controller has an interesting design to it in the same way that home-karaoke systems usually have a wacky controller with them. Even if this is some kind of huge miss, hey it’ll be a funky collectible piece later!

Take-Two Interactive

Take-two and 2K hosted a panel featuring organizations like Girls Make Games, Gay Gaming Professionals, as well as groups like USC and Private Division to talk about initiatives they are making to help bridge gaps of inequity within gaming. Gordon Bellamy of GGP at one point shouted “We are the batter, not the frosting!” and I really enjoyed that line. This ain’t games advertising, but this was way better than anything I thought I was asking for from something called the “Take-Two Interactive Panel”. The right people in the right room on a big stage!

Mythical Games

[VIDEO DESTROYED FOR REASONS OF TASTE]

The Blankos vinyl-toy game website says: “WE ARE CREATING UNIVERSAL ECONOMIES DRIVEN BY PLAYER OWNERSHIP. WE BELIEVE THAT TRUE OWNERSHIP OF DIGITAL ASSETS, VERIFIABLE SCARCITY, AND INTEGRATED SECONDARY MARKETS ARE THE FUTURE OF GAMES.” so fuck them. Private ownership is theft, and these people are in the business of scamming children. I will go Iron Sheik on this crew; break their back, and make them humble.

Indie Showcase

Renee Gittens of the IGDA hosted another group-panel speaking with a small selection of indie game developers. Normally, this would be a nice refreshing break from E3’s AAA-heavy content, but I found the discussion dangerously reductive and coming from a privileged headspace. I want to push against the IGDA advocating for hustle culture, financial risk, and ‘passion-driven development’. Especially since that nearly lead to panelist Edmund McMillan’s destitution multiple times. The IGDA has been very successful under new leadership the last few years moving away from the boys-club AAA-wishing mentality it used to have a decade ago and building a more diverse community and diverse selection of events for all types around the world, but there is still more work to be done if the IGDA wants to be seen as an equitable organization advocating for indie developers, and this showcase proved that.

After the panel, they showed a selection of IGDA-curated trailers in rapid succession, but speaking about any one of the games as I’d like to probably wouldn’t end up being very professional. The kindest thing I could say about them is that they’d probably be right at home on the Intellivision Amico. It was a presentation that looked like the rejected options from the other indie showcases. The un-cool kids table, as Elvie very fairly put it.

Freedom Games

GAMES! This tiny, brand new publisher got into the E3 conference! Good for them. And they showcased some games when people were desperately asking for something good! Here’s a list:

• Dreamscaper
• Airborne Kingdom
• Coromon
• Cat Cage Manager
• To The Rescue
• Slaughter League

Maybe one of these names appeals or looks cool to you? For me, after the previous couple of days, they seem very uninspired and un-challenging. Freedom Games is managing a selection of the whitest male-est indie games you could think of. That said, I asked for games, and this little crew gave some games that I can suppose people will play, and that’s at least the bare minimum! Anyways, let’s continue lower the bar:

VENN presents: Origin Stories with Hector Martinez

I want to be critical about a vanity talk show for the dudebro-est pro gamers talking about celebrities they’ve met, but NRG owner and pro CoD player, Hector Martinez, is a charming host. The presentation of the show isn’t overproduced or trying too hard, and the spotlight interview we were shown with 100 Thieves owner, Matthew Haag, is produced to be fast and engaging. Nobody cares though. This is when the E3 channel on Twitch finally dipped below 100k viewers, hemorrhaging about 20% of the entire viewing audience over 20 minutes. Folks are completely done with E3 being completely disconnected from games in any real way and have lost faith in the ESA’s production. Not even gamer-to-the-gamers, Nadeshot making cusses and referencing Justin Beiber can bring them back. I was a bit entertained, but nobody cares one bit.

Limited Run Games

ARE YOU READY? You know what you are getting, you don’t need me editorializing this one (and I’m really tired at this point, thank you for your patience)

Physical Releases coming soon for:

• Zombies Ate My Neighbors/Ghoul Patrol (Switch)
• SuperHot (PS4/Switch)
• Double Dragon/Kunio-kun Collection (PS4/Switch)
• River City Girls (PS5)
• River City Girls Zero (Switch) (Though important to note this is simply just a re-titling of the fourth game of the Kunio-kun series!)
  
• River City Girls 2 (All consoles)
• Strife Veteran Edition (Switch)
• Shantae: all of em, technical name (PS5)
• Bloodrayne Betrayal Remaster (PS4/Switch)
• Haven (Switch/PS4/5)
• SkateBird (Switch)
• Huntdown (Switch)
• Axiom Verge 2 (PS4/5/Switch)
• The Takeover (PS4/Switch)
• Dusk (Switch)
• République (PS4/PSVR/Switch)
• Going Under (PS4/Switch)
• One Step From Eden (PS4/Switch)
• RWBY: Grimm Eclipse (Switch)
• Retromania Wrestling (PS4/Switch)
• Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night + Rondo of Blood (PS4)
• Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (Turbo Duo)
• Contra Anniversary (PS4/Switch)
• Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties (Switch/PS4/5/PC)
  

Capcom

Capcom announced nothing. Let me help you understand this as I say it again: CAPCOM ANNOUNCED NOTHING, AT E3. So after an incredibly hot fire year that definitely has had no bad moments or rough speed bumps you’d think they’d be ready for a great show with announcements of the properties they’ve been developing over the last few years. They did not, and that’s because every company has no faith in E3. It’s not even that they just have no faith that E3 can survive into 2022, but many companies like Capcom are simply playing nice with the ESA so they can hold their spot for future shows. This is why every presentation looks so cheaply put together and doesn’t announce anything. No faith, no reason, and no pressure from the abysmally pathetic ESA. Anyways, let’s talk Capcom’s E3 2021 lineup:

Resident Evil: Village uhh did you know this was out? I sure did, and it was a decent game! But this sure isn’t the place for old games, and so folks were Big Mad seeing this. We also already knew that the multiplayer mode, Resident Evil RE:Verse, is going to be out in a few days. They couldn’t even get it to come out today and get people playing, so great work all around everyone.

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is a new game and would be a good announcement for folks if this weren’t the fifth different trailer we’ve seen and SECOND TIME THIS WEEK. This trailer had a crying lady. I still think it’s a cute looking game and am happy to see it! The demo comes out on June 25th. (You missed by a week again, Capcom!!) As a little sprinkle on top though, they did show the Monster Hunter Rise roadmap for the next year of development. HOWEVER, the announcement they brought was that they were doing collabs with themselves. Wings of Ruin characters will be added to Monster Hunt Rise! Isn’t that great? It’s like they announced adding Luigi to the Mario game– we know, you dorks! Not really a reason to buy into the DLC and not newsworthy in any way, when it would’ve been greatly appreciated right now. PLEASE just ONE PERSON please surprise us. I’m begging here!

The final announcement Capcom had was for The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, which comes out next month on July 24th. We’re looking forward to this so much, and although it isn’t set in America this time, it will still bring so much culture coming from England with the ever-elusive Herlock Sholmes teaming up with Phoenix’s ancestor Ryunosuke Naruhodo. During the new trailer, we got to see the jury throwing some hot fireballs at the scales of justice to delegate their votes which is really engaging and fun. The details that were shown in this new trailer were substantial and almost thawed our frozen and decaying hearts as we are technically now six hours into the proceedings. Well, it almost did until–

Razer

So, funny story about Razer. Actually, it’s not funny, it’s really kinda sad. Every Razer product I’ve bought since 2009 was overpriced, poorly designed, and broke very quickly. I’ve tried keyboards, headphones, mice and even the big gamer mousepads after really liking the $13 razer mouse I got in 2009. Only disappointment. Today’s presentation was exactly as expected. Here’s the details:

• Razer Blade 14 gamer laptop – AMD powered, 14” – $1,799 up to $2,799

For the gamer who settles for less, but pays the most.

• Razer GaN Charger for up to four different usb devices – $179

GaN charging seems like neat technology! Avoid Razer.

• Razer Raptor 27 gamer display – $799

It tilts straight up to look at the sky and scream why

Raptor 27 has RGB lights in the base that you cannot get rid of

Does not include a +$99 adapter to connect it to a multi-display mount for freaks

• Project Hazel

Hey remember that meme Razer mask with the RGB? I guess it was a ‘joke’ before because today’s announcement is that it’s Real and coming out in ~8 months. One of the planet’s worst horrors is on its way out of America due to vaccinations; however, it’s very on brand for Razer to be announcing old technology, late into the cycle, for an audience that is basically rich people who just buy the first thing that shows up on Newegg and Amazon. Anyway here’s the incredibly epic gamer details that made me laugh incredulously to end E3 today. (No Price Given, HAH)

• • Replaceable N95 filters (no price listed)
  • Secure Silicon Mouth seal (oral pleasure)
  • Clear transparent face design (accessibility-first design for mouth lookers)
  • Interior lighting for your mouth (gamer mouth lookers)
  • Anti-fog coating (KEEP LOOKING INTO MY MOUTH)
  • Project Hazel filter on Instagram and tag @Razer (Cross branding promotion synergy!)
  • 1st drop is in Q4 2021 (I can almost assure there won’t be a 2nd)
    

Hi Scott! Looking good, and thanks for wearing a mask!

We did it! We survived Day 5 of E3 2021! They say no news is good news, and yet here I am suffering. Now I need a stiff beer, or maybe I’ll settle down by watching how the rest of the Video Game Choo Choo crew “enjoyed” the day on the Twitch channel!

The post E3 2021 Day 5 – The ENTIRE Variety Day Roundup #Beer3 appeared first on Gamesline.

Video Game Choo Choo has come together this E3 to quickly summarize and hot take over all things E3 this week! On Day 4, John, Christine, Melissa, Elvie, and Solon talk about Energy Sword Sunday with Microsoft, Bethesda, PC Games, and almost no Final Fantasy!

Video Game Choo Choo is streaming E3 coverage every night this week at twitch.tv/vgchoochoo and is posting the videos-on-demand at youtube.com/videogamechoochoo. Our coverage is also available as podcasts! You can subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Presents E3 2021 Day 4 – Microsoft, Bethesda, Square Enix, and PC Gaming Show! appeared first on Gamesline.

Nakara: Bladepoint

As we reach the critical mass for battle royales, it’s at least neat to see 24 Entertainment do something different with the concept and push for an aesthetic beyond military fatigues and Rick Sanchez skins. After getting to get my hands on Chivalry II a week ago, I definitely welcome the chance to get up close and slash at some folks for kills on the board. The PC Gaming trailer also revealed the inclusion of a chainsaw, which honestly seems pretty fun. 

Dodgeball Academia

My bias lies heavily in favor of games with cartoony art styles and Saturday morning cartoon vibes, so suffice to say Dodgeball Academia has me interested. Join young player Otto as he explores the ins and outs of his sporty institution in pursuit of becoming the greatest dodgeball player this academia has ever seen. With an action-RPG structure that focuses on team customization and spamming abilities at the right moment, this is surely a great addition to the fairly recent dodgeball wave that games like Stikbold! and Knockout City are helping to carve out. Dodgeball Academia is set to release later this year.

Rawmen

You ever wanna make a game where everyone looks like Swedish Chef’s buff cousin? You wanna make that game completely focused on team cooperation a la Splatoon and Rocket League? Well then Rawmen by TinyBuild is probably gonna be up your alley. Play with your friends in a variety of fun and quirky game modes that’ll have you chasing down meatballs and slinging some colorful broth so you can maneuver through maps like you were riding rails straight out of Sonic Adventure 2. 

Dying Light 2

At this point I’d be lying if I said I had any interest in a post apocalyptic game with zombies in it. With a confirmed release for December 7th, narrative director Piotr Szymanek sits down with us to chat a little about this wacky and wild zombie world. Did you know these zombies are more half-alive than undead? Did you know this game is set in 2025? I sure didn’t, but if there’s one thing to take away from this whole setup it’s that main character Aiden will never “froget” the atrocities that happened to him and his sister. The fatigue is setting in.

Humankind

This has been quite a week for SEGA and Amplitude’s venture in civilization builders as the trailer for Humankind gives more of what we’ve already been able to check out. The main highlight here is PC Gaming Show’s Frankie Ward showing off her own in-game appearance in what I can earnestly call the closest thing we’re gonna get to one of these hoity toity shows having a Vtuber on their presentation. With a release on August 17th and a closed beta that’s now live where you can play against Frankie, there’s plenty of time to figure out whether or not this will be a game that can give Civilization a run for its money.

They Always Run

Hey get a load of this fucking adrenaline boost! You got a homie in a sarape running, gunning, dodging, exploring, and making his coin in an otherworldly locale that’s sure to highlight how the rich get richer and how people in power abuse said power, as most things in this mesh of outer space cyberpunk often do. Alawar Premium’s new platformer is coming soon so be sure to wishlist this if you’re a fan of motherfuckers doing some parkour on other motherfuckers.

Orcs Must Die 3

I sure am always saying that “orcs must die 3” if I have to be honest. Robot Entertainment’s latest entry in the series delivers on its namesake by giving the player even more tools to mess around with when it comes to building Home Alone styled traps for your enemies. We also got to learn that the story will be set 25 years after the events of the last entry in Orcs Must Die, which means that we’ll get to see some new faces and even new game modes that will take us out into the battlefield as well. You can expect to find an assortment of new fun ways to mow down orc hordes when Orcs Must Die 3 comes out July 23rd.

Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong

With no confirmed release yet for Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2, it’s interesting to see Swansong come up as the 5th game based on the TTRPG that’s also set for a tentative release later this year. Here you play a member of the house Malkavian who will go through her own trials and tribulations to try and reunite with her missing child. It’s dark, it’s gritty, main character Leysha wears a suit, and rocks an undercut. 

Gigabash

If you liked games like War of the Monsters, then this is the game for you. Malaysian developer Passion Republic games gives us a party style brawler filled to the brim with tokusatsu-inspired friends and foes for you to control and wreak havoc with. Bash each other senselessly, level entire cities oceanside or conveniently placed next to volcanoes, and get to some good old fashioned roughhousing with friends later this year.

Lemnis Gate 

I, for one, can’t stop activating the Lemnis Gate. Ratloop Games Canada’s newest project presents an interesting gameplay structure as a first person shooter turn based strategy game. The game itself takes place within one 25 second time loop where repetitions of this loop back and forth between you and your opponent will ultimately lead to your victory or defeat based on whether you can outthink and outpace your opponent’s moves. Frankly, the one-upsmanship that builds a lot of this game’s core premise will hopefully bring FPS fans and tactics fans together if the pseudo space aesthetic doesn’t immediately spark interest. An open beta will be available this July and Lemnis Gate will be officially released on August 3rd. 

Next Space Rebels

Hey, do you like Kerbal Space Program? Well, take that initial rocket building concept, surround it with a focus on social media expansion and getting cash for sick rocket videos, and you more or less have the conceit around Next Space Rebels. We see a blazered man boldly state that space is, in fact, for everyone, but that kinda rings hollow when the whole gameplay loop is being able to afford a workshop to do your fun science experiments and profit off people wanting to support you. Then again I lately find myself not really big on people with large amounts of money talking about how badly they want to go to space so that might be clouding my judgement here.

WarTales

Areas of effect, top down RPG layouts, luscious forestry and peasantcore aesthetics, things of that nature. Shiro Games provides us with a new game that treads some much familiar territory when it comes to living in a post-plague society and having to rough it for your coin and keep. It looked pretty, and definitely seems to have stuff that can prolong gameplay if you’re someone who likes a slow burn. WarTales is currently available to wishlist on Steam and you can expect to make a war tale of your own later this year.

Ixion

I’ve never felt so tired of startup culture before and it’s amazing that I got there just from a trailer. Kasedo Games sure sets up a hell of a preview for its new resource management game by giving us a Musk-like figure to loathe as he talks about the innovation of space and how badly we should go up there rather than, you know, try and fix the issues on Earth. Of course I’d absolutely hate it if I made this entire presentation of man’s next step towards the future and then the moon blows or something in my reveal, but that’s just me. Expect Ixion to make more announcements in the near future as it’s set for release in 2022.

Far: Changing Tides

Okomotive has a hell of a vision when it comes to its post-apocalyptic stories, and Far: Changing Tides is a pretty solid example of being able to take a long running concept and breathing some life into it by shaking the perspective up. A follow up to the original Far: Lone Sails, Lone Sails presents us with a bevy of flooded landscapes to explore and ruminate in. You can expect to chill out a little after the end of the world later this year.

Lakeburg Legacies

I will always welcome games that come hard and fast with aesthetically pleasing art styles and Lakeburg Legacies is no exception. Ishtar Games has a medieval sim coming off hot on the success of Crusader Kings III that plays a little more fast and loose with the concept. Find the best jobs for your villagers, let them hook up and get married, create legacies, and earn that town prestige in the process. Create all the messy villager gossip you want when Lakeburg Legacies releases next year.

Silt

In complete contrast to the outer space theme of this godforsaken show we get to explore the horrors of the deep sea! Spiral Cirus has created a game that lets you plunge into a mysterious abyss full of mystery and wonder. While you’re only one explorer, there’s certainly something off about this journey since you get to soul shift into various creatures as you navigate the murky depths in what I can confidently call a welcome companion to the macabre atmosphere in games like Limbo and Hollow Knight. I certainly can’t wait to see more of Silt prior to its release in early 2022.

Hello Neighbor 2

So I hate that I could already tell what game this was just from looking at a motherfucker’s jaw shape. In what I can only call a lucky guess at the way streamer games got popular in the last few years, Hello Neighbor 2 is a continuation of TinyBuild’s confoundingly popular series that detail a fucked up dude that you can’t help but keep bothering. Here we play a guy that simply has nothing else better to do than try and force a Home Alone situation in Mr. Neighbor’s abandoned little house. You can mess with him, steal his little keys, and learn his little secrets all while attempting to not get grabbed by what may or may not be a ghoulie. Expect to see a lot more of this asshole’s face to show up in GameStop shelves (seriously how does this game have merchandise) when the game releases later this year.

Soulstice

I know game designers who use subtext, and they’re all cowards. Soulstice says this confidently by having its heroine, a mix between Guts and Raiden from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, crash through a stained glass window and immediately start turning enemies into clouds of blood. Personally, I’m already gonna buy this game because it’s telling me how much it loves Berserk. You get to do big combos with your greatsword that turns into a hammer because fuck off. If you played a video game in the last decade you’ll find something of interest in Soulstice even if it’s just wanting to get a figure of the protagonist to complete your collection of people who look like Guts. 

Tinykin

Personally, I love to be a little birthday boy. Splashteam seems to be aware of this and have personally given me the chance to pursue this love through their latest game Tinykin. Control a horde of small alien creatures on a quest to return to your home planet and your original size. Very much inspired by Pikmin, I’m eager to see how this game takes its own spin on some tried and true gameplay and narrative mechanics to create something wholly all its own. 

Sacrifire

If you’re looking for something else to add to the now growing list of RPGs mixing 2D and 3D aesthetics, then Sacrifire might be on your radar. With a soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba, Pixelated Milk are taking note of this budding shakeup of the genre and putting their skin in the RPG game. While nothing immediately stood out to me, it is interesting to note another studio trying out a trend that Octopath Traveler has more or less founded at this point, for all the good and bad that comes with such a development. 

Icarus

Imagine landing on an alien planet that totally isn’t Earth armed with only a bow and immediate knowledge on how to build quaint houses. That’s more or less the crux of Icarus by developer RocketWerkz. Get together with friends and survive the dangers of foreign landscapes and very large bears armed with nothing but the dopest of archery skills you can muster. A lot of these resource management games start to bleed together over time, so hopefully Icarus can make a lasting impression when it releases later this summer on August 11th.

Death Trash

What’s better than this, a pixel art game about being poor in the wastelands surviving on scraps? Death Trash is the first commercial project by the studio Crafting Legends that really settles in on a grimy aesthetic. In this isometric action RPG you get to build your own character and navigate an unfamiliar world ravaged by the elements and filled with a sense of unease based on how you choose to align yourself with the various inhabitants of and outside this society you find yourself. The game hits Steam Early Access on August 5th.

Citizen Sleeper

Finally some good fucking space content! Citizen Sleeper is developer Jump Over The Age’s RPG focused on living, as the game says, in the ruins of interplanetary capitalism. You play a washed up worker who tries to make ends meet and navigate life in whatever remains in the debris floating through the ether. Make connections, live beyond the limitations of your organic form, and seek to liberate your community from the claws of an oppressive force that’s managed to outlive humanity and follow it into the void. Get ready to wake up when Citizen Sleeper releases next year in 2022.

I’ve come through the other side of the PC Gaming Show, a shell of my former self. I no longer seek an answer to the question of whether there exists more beyond our meager bespeckled marble in space. My morale shattered as the concept of space became less a playscape and more a means of planned development growth. I wish I were as lucky as host Sean Plott was to find solace in death at the hands of Devbot, who vowed to take vengeance on humankind in next year’s very much planned continuation to this gimmick. Also the blue Mechwarrior themed PC should’ve won the contest. Democracy has once again failed the gamers. 

The post E3 2021 Day 4 Final Mix – PC Gaming Roundup appeared first on Gamesline.

While huge Final Fantasy XIV fans were perhaps expecting a few more updates on Endwalker and others were more expectant to hear about Square’s more iconic properties—like new information on Final Fantasy XVI—we absolutely got neither of those things! Instead, Square Enix decided to present us with a gauntlet of titles that seemed to have no cohesion to each other and not even the allure to keep our attention on them. That is to say, not everything was terrible—and some reveals have yielded some rather unexpected reception!—but was this really a Square Enix show when it felt more like a Marvel one? Even Balan could have not saved this.

According to (probably) some philosopher I cannot immediately cite right now, to feel pain is to feel human, and at least that pain has brought us all together.

Join Not!Chris Pratt and Friends in Eidos-Montréal’s Guardians of the Galaxy

This is pretty self-explanatory. Rumors of a Guardians of the Galaxy video game have been swirling around for some time now, and Marvel is certainly not stopping any time soon to expand their branches out into every single piece of media ever to secure their legacy in our pop culture. It is coming to all consoles (except the Switch) on October 26. The problem: a huge quarter of Square Enix’s presentation was dedicated to this game alone. With the added issue of having way too much in-game dialogue for the sake of needing to crack a joke every minute, I think I will let the footage they presented speak for itself.

Freed From Their Mobile Prison, Final Fantasy I–VI Will Also Be Playable Through Steam

A lot of Square’s ports of their titles into portable form of their big mainline titles are bad. Like real bad. As part of their new “Pixel Remaster Series” venture, they have announced that the first six mainline Final Fantasy games are now getting new remasters across not only mobile platforms, but also on Steam! It is great to revisit older titles when they are no longer as easily accessible, but hopefully Square’s attempt to do so does not suck this time.

And Many Years Later, Legend of Mana Gets a Shiny New Coat of Paint Too

This is also pretty neat! Legend of Mana is also getting its own remaster treatment on June 24 for the PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

I Don’t Know Who is Still Torturing Themselves Playing Avengers, But Wow, Here’s An Update I Guess

Although not particularly new information even for Square Enix’s own presentation, Marvel’s Avengers is getting more content, one of them being the official Black Panther update. (Again. This is not new. Yet they dedicated maybe a good several minutes on this?)

I Thought Square Enix No Longer Owns Hitman, But Here’s Hitman Sniper: The Shadows

Entering now the live-service title portion of the showcase, Hitman Sniper: The Shadows is a “free-to-play” mobile spinoff that takes place in a totally different world distinct from the franchise without the staple protagonist, Agent 47. Pick your assassin; you now follow a new cast of colorful characters without little much else known about how this game will actually work.

Babylon’s Fall Literally Looks Like Everything Else

A couple of more live-service games later, Babylon’s Fall is PlatinumGames’ new title to their library that is–that’s right!–a co-op live-service title that looks awfully generic compared to many other fantasy titles of its sort out there right now. Although speculation on this game may have been initially eager, the allure of what this could be is completely lost with its utterly boring visuals and barely unique gameplay, despite boasting it will have elements similar to Nier: Automata. 

Life is Strange: True Colors Shows That, Damn, Being An Empath Is Hard Amirite

After announcing that the original Life is Strange is getting a “remaster” by simply adding a filter over it, the third game in the series, True Colors, had some spotlight showing off more gameplay. Singer-songwriter mxmtoon had a brief moment to vouch for the game, providing the singing vocals to our main protagonist. For a game that seems to depend on the concept of color-coding emotions, hopefully that doesn’t shut out a decent number of people in our population from playing this on September 10.

I WAS TELEPORTED INTO A JRPG WORLD AND HAVE TO NOW KILL CHAOS! (Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin)

Rumors of a “Final Fantasy slash Nioh” hybrid of sorts have also been circulating around some time, and that ridiculous prophecy has been finally fulfilled in the presentation of Strange of Paradise: Final Fantasy. Admittedly this was the most interesting title that stood out to me in the whole show. But admittedly, this was also the most interesting thing for all the wrong reasons.

You can check out the memes for yourself: If the beloved boyband cast of Final Fantasy XV could be compared to the models for Abercrombie & Fitch, we have downgraded to the men’s clearance section at the Gap. Although there is promise with the gameplay shown of this rather surreal world, this juxtaposition with our rather generic male archetypes had little to no rationale offered to us as to why they are in this setting. There is a theory that this may be of a certain flavor set to the isekai genre, in which our rather very normal group of men were probably transported into this fantastical world by accident (coincidentally sharing a title with an unrelated manga). With the appearance of a significant antagonist of the first Final Fantasy, is this going to be a canonical prequel to the very first title in this huge franchise? We currently do not have answers to that and many other things, but as far as I know, Jack really wants to kill chaos.

The post E3 2021 Day 4.5/2 Days – Square Enix Presents’ (Sloppy) Showcase appeared first on Gamesline.

Video Game Choo Choo has come together this E3 to quickly summarize and hot take over all things E3 this week! On Day 3, John, Franny, Elvie, and Solon talk about all the indies from the Guerrilla Collective and Wholesome Games showcases, as well as the goods and bads from Ubisoft and Devolver Digital.

Video Game Choo Choo is streaming E3 coverage every night this week at twitch.tv/vgchoochoo and is posting the videos-on-demand at youtube.com/videogamechoochoo. Our coverage is also available as podcasts! You can subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Presents E3 2021 Day 3 – Guerrilla Collective, Wholesome Games, Ubisoft, and Devolver Digital! appeared first on Gamesline.

The Gecko Gods – by Solon
Louis Waloschek

You know how in Zelda games Link always walks into a dungeon and everything’s like perfectly sized for him? Well, same spirit of dungeoneering, but now you’re a gecko! In The Gecko Gods, everything’s much larger than you and definitely still made for people, but you’re doing your best by walking on walls, jumping over gaps, and solving puzzles. Little Linky lizard slinking ‘round some ruins solving mysteries and stuff! The dynamic where everything in these rooms is perfectly still until you interact with it was really captivating!

Bear and Breakfast – by Elvie
Armor Games Studio

Look at that damn cute bear! In this management sim, Bear and Breakfast has you play a bear trying to run a bed and breakfast alongside his fellow forest-bound friends—all while possibly learning that there is more to the wood itself.

Button City – by Solon
(Subli)minal Gaming

A lot of indie games this year are working towards being feature-rich and full of different modes and mechanics to play with, and Button City is one of these that puts in all the systems I love to see. I’m not one for farming and house-sim mechanics, but show me a car INITIAL-D DRIFTING and I’ll freak out. Button City has you taking down capitalists with all your friends with a pastel-y and anthropomorphic style very reminiscent to Ben Esposito’s Donut County and that’s always a headspace I want to be in.

Lake – by Elvie
Gamious via Whitethorn Games

Man, if you haven’t been really keeping up with things this past year, or just somehow never gotten mail ever, you would know our country’s public postal system deserves better! I am actually not sure what Lake is trying to do here, but I’m intrigued. In lieu of many cheesy Christmas movie rom-com premises, you were a #girlboss who was just sick of urban life and decided to lay down low moving back to a smaller community in the suburbs; except instead of falling in love with a prince from a fictional country, she decided to become a mail carrier! Through your job, you get to know the residents of the town more, and perhaps are bound to fall in love at some point anyway,

Paralives – by Solon
Alex Massé

I’m looking up more about Paralives right now, and the trailers that played during Wholesome Games didn’t even give us half the picture. I’m enraptured by how Paralives let’s you cleanly control building a house like it’s The Sims, but with way more architectural customization, by letting you extend walls and adjust elevations, you can express a character’s stylings so much more thoroughly and subtly than simply filling a flat square with knick-knacks. This is the aspect of interior-decorating that gets me excited, and on top of that, looking through the dev documents, it seems there are full characters and narratives that are currently being built out. Plenty to come from Paralives!

Woodo – by Elvie
Yullia Prohorova

You know that baby puzzle-solving toy where you have to put a shape in the right hole? That is what Woodo is! But more complex! Woodo is based on the charm of wooden toys all in video game form. You scan through rooms to fit objects all in the right place where they belong, and these challenges seem to increasingly get harder as the scope of the room expands. It’s a rather simple concept that can still get your brain juices flowing while innately tapping into your inner baby—and I think it’s brilliant!

We Are OFK – by Solon
OFK

So this confuses me and charms me. OFK is like supposed to be an actual band IRL but virtual, kiiinda loosely like the Gorillaz, but as far as I understand they mostly exist for this game, whose trailer is super well done! I’m not sure what direction the game itself is going and so this is something I want to keep a close eye on because there’s so much messaging that seems like It’s desperate to be seen bya millennial audience, but also deeply corporatized for marketing purposes. I think I’m capable of being hype for a trailer and also skeptical of the direction it’s going in? Either way, We Are OFK is going to be fascinating to see this develop.

KreatureKind – by Elvie
Valiant

KreatureKind had an awfully short teaser within the grand scheme of the Wholesome Games’ showcase, but it captured my eyes with its stunning, highly illustrative, character-driven art style. A card battler, KreatureKind takes heavy inspiration from fantasy and subverts our usual expectations of combat by instead having you kill things with kindness. Despite the very little we have seen with the game thus far, its concept certainly puts “wholesome” in Wholesome Games.

Princess Farmer – by Solon
Samobee Games

There were so many Witchy Puzzle Farming games throughout the E3 lineups today, and for me, Princess Farmer as well as Spirit Swap: Lo-fi Beats To Match-3 To both scratched a really nice itch for me aesthetically and mechanically. If I could just smoosh them together into like one of those 2-pack DVDs you used to see at the grocery store it would be perfect. I think the Switch actually has that functionality? Either way, be strong and gay and beautiful and match-3 to farm up some witch’s brew while some hella good tunes play!

Please Be Happy – by Solon
Studio Élan

“I love being a fox!” and immediately the trailer showed a foxgirl making out with a different anthropomorphic girl. That’s the opening for Please Be Happy’s showcase in the Wholesome Games E3 block, and you know what? Yuri visual novels in the Wholesome Games! That owns! Let’s go! No more information needed, thank you Wholesome Games for repping art. It’s Studio Élan, so if you know… you know.

Passapartout 2: The Lost Artist – by Elvie
Flamebait Games

Art is pain and the sequel to Passapartout: The Starving Artist is here to come back with a vengeance to remind you of that! Our Muppet-like Frenchman returns to the canvas for Passapartout 2: The Lost Artist, and they seem to be in better spirits! Not much else is known about this so far besides returning to the usual system found in the first game, but the announcement trailer leads us to believe we are in a different location (Italy? Pray tell.) where we must impress to find success. What sort of new grievances will burden our creative soul this time?

LEGO® Builder’s Journey – by Solon
Light Brick Studio

LEGO® isn’t messing around! You want extremely well-lit peg blocks going on an adventure? I didn’t know how much this was something I needed nor how much effort LEGO® was going to be putting into what looks to be a text-less adventure game where everything is expressed through simple LEGO® puzzles. It’s kinda like the Captain Toad games but with a wider opportunity space and a super special lighting system.

Ooblets: Port Forward – by Elvie
Glumberland

Speaking of an all-new location, the Ooblets: Port Forward update is now here! According to the official developer’s update logs, Port Forward is going to be a “pretty big departure” compared to the gameplay of the other game’s regions thus far. Following a major quality of life update as well, which included finally the ability to stack items on other furniture pieces (Take note, all life sims!), the Pokémon-like title is still technically in Early Access, and every new update is taking a huge step towards what a huge (cute) behemoth of this game will potentially become in its final release.

If you’d like to see even more games, the entire list was full of charm and love! We recommend checking out the Wholesome Games website where you can wishlist and follow and Patreon-ize and all the other indie things we need to do to support these games within their overwhelming storefront infrastructures! We all lift up together out here!

The post E3 2021 Day 3 (But It’s Actually the Real Day 1, Full Release) – Wholesome Games Direct Roundup appeared first on Gamesline.

Video Game Choo Choo has come together this E3 to give all their hot takes and impressions of all things E3 this week. On Day 2, John, Spencer, Elvie, and Solon discuss impressions of the week so far, the Tribeca Games Festival, and predictions for this year’s E3 virtual conference.

Video Game Choo Choo is streaming E3 coverage every night this week at twitch.tv/vgchoochoo and is posting the videos-on-demand at youtube.com/videogamechoochoo. Our coverage is also available as podcasts! You can subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Presents E3 2021 Day 2 – Preparing for E3 2021, Predictions, and The Tribeca Games Festival appeared first on Gamesline.