This is a chronicle of our absurd, canon-destroying playthrough of Star Wars Conquest, a mod for sandbox RPG Mount & Blade. Our campaign to ruin Star Wars appears each Tuesday.

Twenty hours into my Star Wars Conquest campaign, I realize that I have no idea what the game s win state is. Is there one? Am I meant to crawl the galaxy until the end of time, endlessly gutting Stormtroopers, endlessly pillaging space farms, endlessly watching planets trade hands like used Toyotas between the immortal commanders of the Star Wars universe? By now, I m positive that it s impossible to actually kill off any of the game s main figures defeating a commander in combat results in either them escaping or being captured and eventually escaping. Hmmph.

But then again, of the main figures in the Empire, I ve only crossed laser swords with Emperor Palpatine and Grand Moff Tarkin, and I defeated neither. Maybe hunting them down will result in some sort of meaningful change in the state of the war.

I continue to roll with the main Rebel fleet, led by Mon Mothma and Han Solo s ships, with the hope that our hilarious swarm of 500-some troops will be able to bulldoze through anything that gets in our way.



Our first fight is on Endor, where I notice a familiar hairstyle fighting bravely alongside me.





Jesus, Leia is vicious. She wades in with a knife, gutting any Stormtrooper in reach. Go Leia! Stab! We re right behind you! Your reckless, unprofessional violence inspires us all.



Well, damn. Leia takes one too many blaster shots (about seven, for the record) to the gown and crumples into the ferns of Endor. She's fine just wounded and rejoins the war effort after our victory. This battle sparks a full-on rampage of defeating and capturing mid-level Imperial commanders. I get my hands dirty.




(Owned.)







I stop to chat up Mon Mothma in between all the victory and killing and glory, hoping she has a high-level assignment for me.



Likewise, Commandress. Oh, what a battle that was! I remember it well. I liked the part where I cut 78 Scout Troopers in half and your army mostly stood around and got shot. So, do you have any dangerous, tide-turning special operations for me to go on? Kidnappings? Assassinations? Any suicide missions for which I'll be celebrated for bravely completing?



Let me make sure I ve got this: you want me, the badass Jedi robot who captured the Death Star last week to shake down your own citizens for money. Does the Rebel Alliance not have TurboTax? Have you heard of direct deposit? It s very convenient.

I run the mundane credit-collection mission for Mon Mothma, then return to the crowd of ships to resume our work of sieging battlestations and minor planets. Everything is going smoothly until a certain, shadowy Sith Lord interrupts our conquest.



Oh my god! You probably get this a lot, but biggest. fan. ever. I mean, my mom named me after you, even despite us being loyal servants of the Rebellion. I m so flattered, Vader.



Well alright then. Let me get my Rancors, we ll be right with you.

I charge Vader s army with my weird menagerie of Baby Rancors and mercenaries. Ever the tactical mastermind, he sits on a ledge in the corner of the map the high ground.



I cut my way through his mob of bodyguards, expecting a tough fight at the edge of the map.



But I slash at his legs twice, and Vader falls easily and clumsily to the ground. Mon Mothma sends her regards, Darth.

Everyone is pleased, particularly the Rancors.



Good work, everyone. Vader escapes captivity, of course, but I chug along anyway, looking for more high-level Imperials to shine my weaponized flashlight at. More of that next week. In the meantime, remember my name (and my fearsome Ewok skin hat).

Ludum Dare 29, the merely days-long game development competition, took place this past weekend. In addition to the usual screenshots, panic, and lack of sleep on display in developer Twitter feeds, this weekend s Ludum Dare hit a record: 2,497 games were submitted to the competition, an all-time high. The theme for this weekend was Beneath the Surface, so most of the games involve mining, digging, or swimming in one way or another. Phil took a look at Beneath The City, but that's just one of the free games to come out of the weekend.

There are two modes in the Ludum Dare Competition and Jam each with slightly different rules regarding submission deadlines, using art from your other projects, and whether you can work in teams. The end result, though, is the same: make a game, make it fast, and give it to the world. From games where you escape an underground troll lair (Beneath the Trolls) to games where you navigate the inner spheres of molecules (Atomical), there s a lot of amazing, free games to check out. Special shout-out to Kill or Kill, a game where you have to manage your inner rage and resist the urge to kill.



Check out the Ludum Dare 29 homepage to scroll through all 2,497 of these free games by amateurs and pros alike. It s a golden age of ideas and video games, everyone: we just get to enjoy the ride. Congratulations to all of the Ludum Dare developers for their record-breaking productivity.

Tamriel's ashy homeland of the Dark Elves is the source for many a Elder Scrolls hero's first memories exploring ancient Dwemer ruins, sticking a spear into Dagoth Ur, or cursing the very words "cliff racer" so it's small wonder a number of large-scale mods focus on overhauling the 2002 RPG. The massive Skywind effort is certainly exciting to look forward to, but some older projects are still steaming along quite nicely. Morrowind Rebirth has been around for a few years, and its latest update adds new areas to the game's already massive world.

Like other revamp mods, Rebirth builds upon the core game with a pile of small tweaks and upgrades noticeable pretty much everywhere. Bandits and the odd cultist roam roadways and trails, a familiar furnish to random encounters transported from newer Elder Scrolls games. Cities have far more citizens and travelers roaming around, and the buildings themselves have sharper textures replacing the older, smudgier visuals. More enemy types appear for vanquishing and looting, most of them hailing from Daedric or undead planes (it isn't an Elder Scrolls game without Draugr!). New and customized weapons and armor also await your possession, and many of them are nicely detailed motifs of Tamriel's various races such as Imperial, Nord, and Argonian.

I'm glad the changes don't go overboard with completely stripping away and replacing everything, but what it does change is a worthy alternative to the stock experience, and it's different enough to merit another adventure through Vvardenfell once more. Grab it off Mod DB, but take note: you'll probably have to start fresh if you're planning on jumping into an old save game with this mod switched on to avoid odd bugs.

Dota 2 hasn't been out officially for even a year, but the most popular game on Steam is getting a host of updates and changes. Titled Spring Cleaning, the update includes dozens of changes to the game s inventory, interface, and heroes.

The changes are too numerous and minuscule to detail individually, but taken altogether they represent a large overhaul to the speed and stability of the world s most popular MOBA. Some heroes will see more utility out of their attacks: Zeus, for example, can shoot lightning at the ground, so you can target the feet of invisible enemies. Others have new abilities: If she dies, Vengeful Spirit now lowers the damage output of her killer out of pure spite. Fun!

The game's interface will also get a refresh in some subtle ways, as well. There's a new screen effect for dead players, which can be turned off in the game's options. Friend requests can be sent from the in-game scoreboard, too. Changes like these show that Valve is still interested in streamlining its popular game.

There are new treasures and a whole slew of bug fixes as well. You can check out the full patch notes to see the full list, and determine how Spring Cleaning will affect your hero of choice when it arrives next week.

The last Metroid is in captivity. The galaxy is at peace. Wait this isn't Metroid! It's the first gameplay video for Ghost Song, a Kickstarted 2D action game that isn't at all shy about its dark, moody influences. The Super Metroid vibe is heavy in this first 10 minutes of footage, from the main character's arm-mounted weapon to the spooky atmosphere and music. There's a bit of Dark Souls mixed in, too the first NPC encounter bears more than a passing resemblance to the very first NPC encounter in Dark Souls' Undead Asylum.

"I'm one of those people who has been bandying about the 'Dark Souls inspired' tag since the beginning," Ghost Song creator Matt White wrote in his latest Kickstarter update. "Super Metroid and Dark Souls. I think the Metroid influences have always been self evident, but with this video I hope to show you that I really meant it on both counts. This is a love letter to my favorite games of all time."

White posted the game to Steam Greenlight along with the new video, so the Metroidvania-starved can vote for it while waiting for the complete game.

Check out 10 minutes and 10 seconds of straight, unedited Ghost Song footage below.

As reported earlier this year, SOE are today launching their revised All Access Pass. It's a unified service that, for $15 per month, gives subscribers "top-tier" membership across all SOE games. As part of the transfer, individual subscriptions are being dropped; meaning Planetside 1 is now free-to-play. Or will be, at least, once they finish their maintenance period.

Currently, the All Access membership covers EverQuest, EverQuest II, DC Universe Online, PlanetSide 2, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and will include EverQuest Next, Landmark and H1Z1 when they launch. There are caveats to that list, though, as revealed in SOE's lengthy FAQ.

"Your DC Universe Online and PlanetSide 2 accounts will remain with ProSiebenSat.1 Games and will not be transferred over," explains the FAQ. "You will not be able to start new characters in DCUO or PS2 on your SOE All Access account for these games." For players in the EU (including the UK), that's a big deal. PlanetSide 2 and DCUO are arguably SOE's biggest draws at least until the release of Everquest Next and Landmark. That they're not included for subscribers in ProSiebenSat.1's territory makes for a far less attractive package.

For more on the All Access Pass, head to SOE's subscription micro-site. At least, do when it's back online.

Aperture Tag is a Portal 2 mod inspired by Tag: The Power of Paint, the 2009 DigiPen student project which influenced Portal 2's gel mechanics and puzzles. Instead of shooting portals, you shoot the game s orange and blue liquids, which make you run faster and jump higher, respectively. And now you'll be able to add your own mods to the mix.
Taking the portals out of Portal admittedly doesn t sound like the best pitch, but if you ve been keeping up with Mod of the Week, you know that it looks really fun. With the announcement that it s going to include a level editor and Steam Workshop integration, you ll also be able to make your own fun.
Currently, the level editor and it's parts are very rough and mostly a proof of concept, the mod s creator Motanum said. However, this does show that it's a feasible thing to do. Where the goods greatly displace the flaws, so even if it is not as simple to use as Portal 2's editor, it still would bring a lot of value to the game.
Aperture Tag was approved by Steam Greenlight in February, and Motanum hopes to release it later this summer. You can keep up with its development on its Steam page.

I applaud Sony Online Entertainment's transparency lately. The MMO developer and publisher has been extremely forthcoming with new details on H1Z1, its in-development zombie apocalypse MMO. CEO John Smedley has addressed lots of community questions on the game's subreddit, and we're bound to learn a lot of info from the 12 hours of livestream that the development team is doing today.

The stream, which started at 9 a.m. Pacific today at the H1Z1 Twitch channel, is both a community event and an inside look at the ongoing design process for H1Z1. The team plans to answer viewer questions, take cameras inside design meetings, show off new gameplay footage, and even let fans who live near the studio's San Diego offices meet the team and play an early build of the game.

If you're interested, you can watch the livestream in progress right now. We're pretty excited about what SOE's revealed so far. Here's hoping for lots of new game info, and that more developers will take notice of how pulling back the veil on an in-development game can get its potential players even more excited.

Aurora doesn t so much swing her sword at enemies as heave it into the air and drop it on them. It s bigger than her. But despite her size and this unwieldy weapon, the fate of Lemuria, a hand-painted fairytale world, rests on her tiny shoulders. It s an RPG in the Japanese mould, with elemental turn-based combat and party management. Even the battle music is pure Nobuo Uematsu.

The painterly art style is what catches your eye first. This is a vivid watercolour world that feels lavishly hand-crafted. It s like an animated storybook, with shimmering water and soft lighting bringing the 2D backgrounds to life. Aurora s red hair billows in the wind as she runs, and enemies lurch towards her with a fearsome gait. Artistically, it s hard to fault Child of Light. It looks like the pages of some ancient, dust-covered tome of fairytales discovered in a long forgotten library.

Exploration takes the form of a side-scroller. Early on, Aurora is granted a pair of wings which allow her to flutter freely around the large, detailed environments. Flying feels light and responsive, with thorny branches, gusts of wind, and traps to avoid as you navigate the world. There are no random battles; enemies are visible, and can avoided entirely or ambushed if you get behind them. But you ll want to fight as many as you can, because again, harking back to Japanese RPGs at one point I found myself at too low a level to defeat a boss, and had to spend some time grinding.



Thankfully, leveling is fairly rapid. This is a 12-hour game, not a grand, sweeping Final Fantasy epic. Each level grants you a point that you can invest in a skill tree, but the rewards could be more compelling. You won t be unlocking reams of new spells and abilities; just small bonuses to your magic points, critical hit chance, dodge chance, and so on. There s no sense that you re creating your own unique version of Aurora, which weakens the role-playing aspect of the game.

Aurora is accompanied by Igniculus, a firefly who floats around her activating switches, opening chests, and collecting wishes: glowing orbs that restore health and magic points. You can control him yourself, or another player can take over. Moving and interacting is simple enough that someone who doesn t normally play videogames, or even a young child, could comfortably join in. But I think most kids would get bored, as there really isn t that much to do. Aurora has all the fun.

Battles are simplistic, but do have a little depth. The strategy lies in knowing when to attack, when to defend, and when to hang back and heal. A bar shows you when an enemy is about to attack in relation to your next action, which lets you plan your moves. Igniculus can be used to blind an enemy and slow them down, giving you a few precious extra seconds to buff and heal your party or preemptively block. There s an enjoyable rhythm to the combat and it s surprisingly challenging in places at least until a certain character joins your party, who makes the game notably easier.



The story is relayed through text, which is written entirely in rhyming couplets. It was cute to begin with, but quickly became grating. I was never really invested in the twee, saccharine story, and found Lemuria itself more captivating than anything happening there. The problem with this kind of lightweight fairytale fantasy is that it s painted in such broad strokes, it doesn t offer much scope for interesting characters which any good RPG needs. Aurora meets plenty of oddballs on her journey, but they re little more than cardboard caricatures in a pop-up book.

I m glad Ubisoft are making games like this, but the basic RPG and flimsy story at the heart of Child of Light don t live up to the promise of that enchanting artwork. It s elegant and polished, but not rich or customisable enough to be a really satisfying role-playing experience. There s fun to be had here, and it has a lot of heart, but I didn t love it as much as I thought I would.

Details
Expect to pay: $15 / 12
Release: Out now
Developer: Ubisoft Montr al
Publisher: Ubisoft
Multiplayer: Two player co-op

It's been another record-breaking Ludum Dare, with 2,497 games made and submitted for the 29th run of the game-making competition. With so many new games now available to try, it'll take a while longer for the best to be found. Even so, some highlights are starting to surface, of which the turn-based, Thief-inspired Beneath The City is undoubtedly one.

Your task is to free your sister from the Hammer Watch prison located... Beneath The City. The location is taken from the gamejam's theme of 'beneath the surface', and is a great excuse for narrow sewers and store-rooms filled with guards to sneak past, and torches to douse.

Guards move one step at a time, simultaneously to you, across a grid-based level. More than most turn-based games, the 'skip turn' option becomes especially important. Finding a shadowy spot to sit and watch guard patterns is often essential if you're trying to slip past unseen.

In addition to your stealth prowess, each level offers a selection of inventory items. Water arrows fire at the nearest torch, and a dash move lets you squeeze out a critical extra move before a guard's next step.

It's a well designed concept, and one that looks particularly pretty given it's rapid design. You can play Beneath The City from the developer's website.