Review by Mikel Reparaz

The title of minimalist sneak-'em-up Light describes several things. First, there's Project: Light, the shadowy initiative that's left you stripped of your memories and in the custody of a sinister corporation, from which you must immediately escape. Then there's the central gameplay hook, in which the constant interplay of light and shadow establishes lines of sight and offers clues about where it's safe to hide from roving guards. More disappointingly, "light" also applies to its content: an anemic 12-level campaign that can easily be blown through in an hour or less.

That wouldn't be a deal-breaker if it were a fantastic hour, but Light doesn't really have much going for it beyond its slick aesthetics. It introduces unique concepts and goes nowhere with them, instead settling for bare-bones stealth that feels as generic as its cookie-cutter cyberpunk setup.
Darkness is safety
As an amnesiac blue square, you need to solve the mystery of Project: Light by collecting messages and memos left laying around wireframe office buildings, all while evading detection and capture at the hands of patrolling red squares. This is where Light's dynamic lighting effects come into play; duck behind an office chair or table, and the area in front of it goes dark, while the area behind it stays lit. Nobody can see you from the dark area, but you're (potentially) clearly visible to anyone standing in the light. It's impressive, but in practice it's more stylish than useful: avoiding detection really hinges on predicting the guards' repetitive movements and dodging their Metal Gear-esque cones of vision, which are clearly visible (unless you're separated by walls, in which case you can hold the right mouse button to "peek" into the near distance and reveal them).

Besides looking cool, Light's shadows reveal where you're exposed.

If guards spot you, they'll chase and try to shoot you, at which point you can try to either run and hide, or dart in close for a kill. Murder is instantaneous, and lets you swap outfits with your target, which dramatically shortens the other guards' normally far-reaching fields of view (presumably to facial-recognition distance) although you risk putting them on alert unless you drag and hide the body in a nearby closet. Further confounding your efforts are white civilian squares (who'll immediately call the cops if they see a body), as well as security cameras and locked doors. Some of the latter can be picked, while others have to be unlocked remotely by hacking specific terminals highlighted in gold.

Light's hacking mechanic is a great idea, but it's as austere as the visuals; holding down "E" hacks whatever computer you're standing next to, after which pressing "Q" displays every locked door or camera associated with it. Clicking their menu icons turns them off, and that's really the extent of it; you can re-activate locks and cameras, but there's never a clear reason to do so, and no other way to bend the security systems to your advantage.

Did you make a corpse? Be sure to hide it.

As simple as it is, Light's stealth gameplay is still enjoyable, and even packs a few unexpectedly unique touches. It was a surprise the first time a guard shot through a wall to kill me, for example, until I realized the blue stripe he'd spotted and blasted me through was a window. There's also enough space to use different methods for sneaking past the same guards, whether by skirting precariously around their vision cones or by giving them a wide swath and cutting quickly through adjacent rooms.
Falling flat
Despite the fun of those individual moments, the entertaining-but-predictable action movie plot winds down just as the action starts to get interesting, and suddenly fun turns into flimsy. Light's 12 short maps almost all of which I finished in five minutes or less, deaths included end up feeling like a proof-of-concept demo, or a framework for cool ideas that might have been an easier sell if it came packaged with a way to build and share levels. (To be fair, developer Danny Goodayle recently promised to add more content in a free update, although there's no word as of this writing on what it'll include or when it will happen.)

Hacking turns off cameras and unlocks doors, but that's it.

Even adding more levels wouldn't fix Light's shallowness, though; as big as the maps get toward the end, sneaking through them never really evolves or changes as Light progresses. Sure, the terminals and the things they unlock might be on opposite sides of a building, or a public space might mix crowds of civilians with a few guards. But the terminals, guards, and security cameras always follow the same simple patterns, and once you know (or can guess) what those are, they're easy to overcome.

There's potential here. Light has a likeable aesthetic and exciting ideas, and if future updates can expand on them to create more complex levels and challenges, it could become something fascinating. As it stands, it's hard to recommend something that ends so quickly after making so little impact.

Details
Price: $13/ 10
Release date: Out now
Publisher: Team 17
Developer: Just a Pixel
Multiplayer: None
Link: lightthegame.com
 

The v20 update for Brutal Doom has been in development for a while but there's still no solid release date. While you wait for the gory mod to be finetuned, why not watch 15 minutes of it in action? The update includes a number of improvements, such as general performance tweaks, more realistic/brutal blood fountains and most importantly: ragdoll physics. Overall, expect more brutality, and expect to love the shotgun more than you ever thought possible.

A few interesting tidbits: every single gib has been remade with better resolution, while the imp's midrange attack animation has been completely reworked. According to the Brutal Doom Facebook page there should be a solid release date for v20 very soon. In the meantime, this should sate any urges that Bethesda's recent Doom tease may have triggered. According to our interview with Bethesda marketing VP Pete Hines, we may not see any more of that until 2015.

Download Brutal Doom now.

I'm still not entirely clear on what an "economic RTS" is, but I like the concept of a game that encourages and rewards predatory economic policy on a large scale, especially one being made by the lead designer and AI programmer of Civilization IV. That fellow, Soren Johnson, announced that a prototype his new game, Offworld Trading Company, is now available to play, although there are a couple of catches.

The Offworld Trading Company prototype wasn't actually expected to be ready until the fall, but as Johnson revealed today, "Fall has arrived early this year." It will be available to anyone who preorders the game via the Founder's Elite Edition, which goes for a not-insubstantial $80; in the FAQ, OTC studio Mohawk Games says the high price is to ensure the prototype goes to "people who want to get their feedback into the design process as early as possible, either out of love for the concept of Offworld Trading Company or respect for Soren Johnson and the rest of the Mohawk team's previous work."

There may also be a desire to limit the field to gamers willing to respect the non-disclosure agreement required to access the prototype. It's an unusual restriction, but Adam Biessener, the brand manager at publisher Stardock, said it's necessitated by the incomplete state of the game, which the FAQ describes as "fully-functional" but "not at all polished."

"The NDA is to avoid having people talk about a game that isn't done (or share screens/video of unfinished/placeholder assets)," he explained. "The whole idea is to get Mohawk a feedback loop so they can iterate on the game for as long as possible to make Offworld Trading Company the best game it can be, without shooting ourselves in the foot from a marketing perspective by having prospective customers' first impression be of rough-looking prototype art."

The Founder's Elite Edition also offers the soundtrack and "game almanac," an extra game key and access to more keys at half the regular price of $40. The regular Founder's Edition offers a $5 discount on the list price and a copy of the Steam Early Access release when it's available.

When you think about it, the concept of Offworld Trading Company is far more objectionable than your average military shooter. Set on Mars, it's a game about corporations competing to claim and develop swaths of off-world landscape. But instead of going in and shooting up the place, the dirty work is done economically, through both legitimate means and off-the-books work. You're not the tool but the wielder, using "auctions, espionage, sabotage, patents, stocks, even pirates" to create, and then take advantage of, uncertainty and instability in the world around you. It may take place on Mars in some neo-dystopian sci-fi future, but it still sounds pretty close to home, doesn't it?

No release date has been announced.

Warning: spoilers below.

Chinese team Newbee has claimed the Dota 2 Championship crown at The International 4, along with a grand prize check worth more than $5 million.

The International ended in an unexpected fashion today as Newbee, which went 7-8 in the group stage, prevailed against ViCi Gaming in the finals. ViCi Gaming, another Chinese team, put on a much more dominant performance in single-match action, with a 12-3 record that included, prophetically as it turned out, a loss to Newbee. ViCi actually defeated Newbee in the first match, but came back with a dominant performance to win.
Congratulations to @NewbeeCN ...2014 @DOTA2 #ti4 Champions! pic.twitter.com/SIuqysan32

ESPN3 (@ESPN3) July 21, 2014
This is the first year that two Chinese teams have gone head to head in an International final. Newbee's victory earns it a first-place prize of just over $5 million, a huge increase over the $1.4 million earned by the winner of last year's event. As the runner-up, ViCi Gaming will take home just shy of $1.5 million.



Photo credit: Toby Dawson

PC Gamer's coverage of The International 2014 is brought to you by SteelSeries. From now through July 21st, all Dota 2 and team gear is 25% off. While supplies last.

Written by Tom Marks

We really like Hearthstone here at PC Gamer. Like, a lot. So the impending release of Curse of Naxxramas, its upcoming expansion, makes tomorrow feel a bit like Christmas. Blizzard has let us open one of our presents on Christmas Eve by posting images of the last 15 cards to be released in their upcoming expansion. This brings us to the final total of 30, and brings our excitement to a peak.

Until this point, Blizzard has shown us one card at a time, giving us a week or so to pick it apart with minute detail, but with all 15 being announced at once there is a lot to go through. There are a ton of unique mechanics, like the Stoneskin Gargoyle and Echoing Ooze, which could plow the way for whole new deck types on their own. There are also a few cards that will help bolster some current decks that need a little more love, specifically the Mad Scientist could help secrets see more play. Then there are cards that absolutely scream arena at the top of their undead lungs, like the Sludge Belcher and the Spectral Knight.

Blizzard also posted an image of the card back you will receive for completing Naxxramas in Heroic Mode, along with the ranked reward card back for August.

We won t get our hands on all of these right away, though. Blizzard plans to release one wing of Naxxramas, probably around 6 cards, each week until all five wings are out. Our minds are already racing with deck ideas and interesting ways to combine these new minions (I m thinking Auchenai Soulspriest plus Zombie Chow). You can check out all of the cards to be released in Curse of Naxxramas over on the Hearthstone Facebook page and let us know what you plays you come up with.

Maxis has been around for the better part of 30 years, during which time it's developed an awful lot of Sim-stuff, from SimCity to The Sims. Now it's working in something new, which based on a recently-posted job listing may be a free-to-play MMO.

A newly-posted job listing for a Senior Designer at Maxis offers some hints that the studio is looking to take another run at the MMO market. The successful applicant will "define and flesh out the game's core systems," it says, which includes among other features "extensive multiplayer gameplay mechanics, in-game economies technology trees." The requirements for the job are perhaps even more telling. Among them:

The unique nature of this product requires prior experience in deeply social multiplayer games such as MMOs.
Deep understanding of principles of game progression design, crafting trees, technology trees, character RPG-style leveling design and mathematical loot progression modeling (i.e. spreadsheet design skills needed)
Deep understanding of simulation game design, including simulation loops, wants and needs driven behaviors, and systemic pushback.
Ability to weave Free-to-Play game mechanics with monetization in simple, natural, respectful ways (i.e. design monetization that players respect and feel adds a great deal of value for their money).
Understanding of Maxis creativity and simulation games, including SimCity, The Sims, and Spore.
Understanding playing and understanding other games in the creativity space, including Little Big Planet, Minecraft and its popular mods, Roblox, Disney Infinity, Project Spark, and other upcoming efforts.

Based on that, it's not too much of a stretch to infer that Maxis is planning a free-to-play MMO. It's also a natural fit for the company: Previous Sims games have been heavily laden with DLC and the studio launched The Sims Online as a subscription-based MMO in 2002, which was eventually renamed to EA Land and ultimately closed down in 2008.

The past half-decade hasn't been Maxis' best: Spore underperformed, Darkspore was a flop, SimCity was a train wreck and this morning it came to light, to the dismay of many fans, that The Sims 4 may require "premium memberships" for access to various bits of DLC releases. Something new may be exactly what Maxis needs to turn its fortunes around and the "emerging IP" description implies that this might be just that, but given its history I'd be surprised to see it stray too far from home.

Written by Tom Marks

If we ve learned anything from our time in Dark Souls 2, it s that the game doesn t hold your hand for anything. Its first DLC, Crown of the Sunken King, is no exception. Unlike Borderlands 2 or Fallout: New Vegas, where installing new addons immediately give you a new quest and a map marker, Crown of the Sunken King simply puts a mysterious item in your inventory and leaves you with a cryptic clue. If you're stumped on what the new item means, or how to get into your newest challenge, we can help.

As soon as you start up your game, you ll notice a new item has been added to the Keys section of your inventory. The Dragon Talon, in the form of its vague description, tells you about a locked door in Black Gulch, and that s exactly where you should head.



Travel to the Hidden Chamber bonfire in Black Gulch (assuming you unlocked it, otherwise you'll have to navigate through Black Gulch's poisonous towers). When you arrive, break the pots in front of you and leave the chamber, then take a right. If you just want to run through, make sure to bring some Poison Moss or poison-resist gear along.

Head down the path towards the burning area, which you should recognize as the Boss arena of The Rotten. If you haven t defeated The Rotten yet, now's a good time. You can't access the gate to the DLC content without defeating the boss.

Go towards the patch of fire on the back wall that is directly across from where you entered. There is a small, dark opening behind it, accessible to the right of the flames. Light a torch and go on through.

You will soon be at the post-Rotten Primal Bonfire, but behind it is now an elaborate altar surrounded by pillars and four, large tablets. You can read the tablets, but when you examine the center altar, you will be transported to the start of the DLC area.



Summoning signs can be dropped by anyone in this room, allowing people who don t own the DLC to join those who do. But If you aren t interested in help, head for the large door on the far side of the room and, thanks to the Dragon Talon, unlock it. Now all you need to do is go through the statue-lined cave and you will find yourself in Shulva, the Sanctum City.

Crown of the Sunken King is the first of three DLC packs for Dark Souls 2, and costs $10 alone, or $25 for the Season Pass. Sunken King features three completely new areas with two new boss fights.

Spec Ops: The Line was a remarkable game, to the point that more than two years after it came out, I don't want to talk about it in any great detail out of fear of spoiling the experience for those who have yet to play it. But it wasn't a sales success and so a sequel isn't going to happen, yet somewhat surprisingly that's just fine with the team at Yager.

It's not that gamers don't want a sequel: In an interview with German website Gamestar, translated by Google and Reddit, the studio "proudly" says that it still receives emails from players who are impressed with the game and want more. But it was a monumental, five-year undertaking that, despite the positive critical response, failed to catch fire with gamers. In fact, Take-Two Interactive cited lower-than-expected sales of Spec Ops: The Line as a major factor behind its first-quarter results for FY2013 coming in below expectations.

That means no sequel, according to Managing Director Timo Ullman, and probably no more military shooters from Yager at all. "If you can't compete with the big ones, the risk is too big," he said. "The market for 'smart' or 'intellectual' games is too niche. Elitist almost."

But while you might expect that to be seen as a disappointing development, the team at Yager isn't overly heartbroken by the prospect of not having to revisit the franchise. "You can imagine what kind of reference material you have to review ," Art Director Mathias Wiese said. "That's not fun. You're happy when you can do something else after that."

Yager's current project, the recently-announced Dreadnought, certainly qualifies as "something else." An "aerial armada action game," it puts players in command of massive airborne warships battling for control of a galaxy in chaos. The studio hopes to have the new game ready for beta testing in early 2015.

The failure of the Yogventures Kickstarter has taken what may well be the first step toward ugliness with an assertion by the developer, Winterkewl Games, that $150,000 of the money raised went to Yogscast, which was to use it to create physical rewards and hire a lead programmer for the project. But roughly two-thirds of that amount remains unaccounted for, according to figures released in a new, final Kickstarter update, and while Lewis Brindley of Yogscast insisted in a response that the update "omits much," he didn't explicitly deny the allegation either, saying only that "there's no value in going into detail."

The condensed version of the Yogventures cancellation is that Yogscast, a game-related YouTube collective, and Winterkewl Games teamed up to make an "open-world sandbox adventure" featuring characters created by Yogscast prinicples Lewis Brindley and Simon Lane. But after raising $567,665 in a 2012 Kickstarter campaign more than double its initial goal of $250,000 it all fell apart. Winterkewl missed multiple milestones and "continued to come up short of the quality expectations," leading Yogscast to refuse to advertise preorders, effectively cutting off a much-needed source of funding. Yogscast distanced itself from the project even further following its collapse but said it would do its best to satisfy backers despite being "under no obligation" to do so; it also said that people seeking refunds would have to do so through Winterkewl.

But a Yogventures Kickstarter update posted over the weekend suggests that Yogscast was more than merely a supportive bystander. Developer Kris Vale admitted that inexperience led to mismanagement, citing a double-facepalm-worthy incident in which an artist walked away with a $35,000 lump sum payment after two weeks of work because his contract did not specify the conditions of his obligation, but said that when Brindley found out about it, he "lost faith right away in my ability to run the company from a business standpoint and basically required that all the rest of the Kickstarter money that hadn't been spent be transferred to them right away."

"In the end we negotiated that to $150,000 would be transferred to the Yogscast with the understanding that they would use that money exclusively to create and ship all the physical rewards, AND they would help hire the main programmer that we still didn't have on the project," Vale wrote. But that apparently didn't happen, and at that point Winterkewl no longer had the funds to hire one on its own, leaving Vale to take on the bulk of the job himself.

The funding shortfall also means that backers looking for refunds from the studio are going to be disappointed. "Since the money was all spent either directly on development of the game or paid to the Yogscast to handle physical rewards and 'licensing fees' I'm afraid Winterkewl Games has a negative balance at this point," Vale wrote. "We don't have any of the money left and as such can't really offer refunds."

Brindley didn't refer to any specific numbers in a response posted on Reddit, in which he wrote, "Any monies the Yogscast have received in connection with this project has been spent on this project." He also opted not to discuss the nature of the relationship between Yogscast and Winterkewl, saying only that the developer failed to live up to its promises and that Yogscast is doing its best to clean up the mess.

"We're not ready to make a detailed statement about what happened with Yogventures. Winterkewl's statement omits much and I would disagree with a number of points, but there's no value in going into detail. Our only goal right now is to ensure that we provide the best possible experience for the backers that we can. I can honestly say this has been our goal throughout," he wrote. "I would just like to say that this project was started when The Yogscast was just me and Simon making videos out of our bedrooms. We met Kris and trusted his qualifications and assertions that we could trust him with our brand and even more importantly, our audience. Needless to say, I m upset and embarrassed, but strongly believe the backers will end up getting far more value and a far better result than they originally anticipated when they backed this project."

Vale acknowledged that "too many design changes and my in-experience as a project lead and programmer were what's to blame for our company never really making what it was we set out to make," but the failure of Yogscast to address the specifics of his claims leaves a lot of questions unanswered. If Vale's allegations are true, it would strongly suggest that Yogscast's denial of official involvement in the project is inaccurate; it would also leave the bulk of the money transferred to Yogscast unaccounted for, since only $50,000 was earmarked for the creation and shipping of physical rewards. We've reached out to Yogscast for more information and will update if and when we receive a reply.

No, no, no, no, this isn't right. Shooters today are brown and serious, and about real-life things like war, swearing and using helicopters to airlift a single jerk sniper to a nearby rooftop. They're not fast and twitchy, and they're definitely not colourful. And yet, Lovely Planet is defiantly breaking all the rules, by being about a planet of colourful things... that you shoot.



"With boots of speed on your feet, an infinite supply of bullets for your semi-automatic and the ability to jump over twice your own height, you're well equipped to go up against any enemy on your quest. You'll find yourself trying to balance between jumping around dodging bullets and taking aim for a better shot at your enemies."

How odd.

Lovely Planet is out 31 July.