Nov 7, 2014

The bright and bloody future of Diablo 3

PC Gamer

I feel bad for my level 70 barbarian. His people have had a rough time ever since their homeland was totally flattened during the Diablo 2 expansion, Lord of Destruction. He's already fought through the monster-infested remains of Arreat mountain during Diablo 3's main story, and soon he'll have to tearfully slay hundreds of horrible creatures in the upcoming Ruins of Sescheron. It was once a proud bastion of barbarian might, now... well, you can guess.

Blizzard want the new zone to feel a bit sad. It's a wintry environment, full of teetering pillars, crumbling statues of long-dead barbarian heroes, and the occasional burnt-out funeral pyre. The only other remnants of barbarian civilization are a collection of traps ostentatious enough to force Indiana Jones to consider a career change. Swinging blades the size of buses chop into charging mobs; Spike traps come with a trigger switch that you can step on to eviscerate monsters stupid enough to follow you. The barbarians may have gone a little mad with paranoia before the end.

It's hardly surprising. The monsters planned in future patches rank among Blizzard's most disgusting creations. The rat king is a huge rat who sheds slimy albino rats from orifices burrowed into his fleshy spine-sac. The regular rat king drops rats whenever you hit him, and explodes into a rat horde when killed. If you run into a rift guardian rat king, you can look forward to dodging rat tornadoes made up of whirlwinds of writhing toxic vermin. The logistics of this attack are unclear.

The section of the Ruins of Sescheron I played is currently being used as a testbed for Blizzard's new swarm enemies. There are three charming varieties. Frost maggots can freeze you for a few seconds if they're too close when you pop them - devastating if you're grappling with a tough elite mob. Naja beetles are easily squished but are quick and can spit fireballs. Glowing death - my favourite - is a burning cocoon that explodes into a horde of fiery flies that charge and sting at close range. It's a satisfying way to suddenly introduce a big mob to the screen, and carving through them with an AOE attack feels great.

Sadly there was no chance to see the family of yetis Blizzard are planning for distant updates - still, yetis confirmed! I did run into (and crush) one of the three new treasure goblins. Senior designer Matt Berger tells me that there are now so many ways to get gear drops the traditional treasure goblin is becoming obsolete. The solution is a series of new breeds that drop highly specialised loot when killed. The Gem Hoarder is a crystalline goblin who drops gems when you hit him, and explodes into a shower of gems when killed. The green Odious Collector drops plans and valuable crafting materials. The red Blood Thief drops blood shards - LOTS of blood shards, if the one I killed was typical.

The genius of Diablo's new endgame, centred around randomised greater rifts, is that it gets more varied and fun every time Blizzard add new monsters and terrain pieces. The new zone will be incorporated into Diablo 3's growing randomisation engine, but Blizz are also looking at old zones that don't play well with the new tech. The Dalgur Oasis, the Spider Caves and Leoric's Manor will eventually be broken down and rearranged to offer more varied levels. The algorithms that generate rifts are also being tweaked to stop them from spawning lengthy dead-end corridors.

Further rift tweaks will buff the effects of all pylons (except the almighty conduit pylon). The speed pylon the dev team are testing lets you dash through waller walls and bop enemies you collide with into the air. The shield bestowed upon you by shield pylons will deal damage back to attackers and explode on expiration. Other planned back-end improvements will generate more consistently dense mobs in rifts. New legendary items and legendary gems are in the works, designed to encourage a greater range of viable builds.

There's a lot to get stuck into in the new (and entirely free) updates, but Blizzard aren't talking about future expansions yet - expected given that Reaper of Souls only came out in March. The current endgame is evolving in encouraging ways, however, and a new tier of 'ancient' legendaries will give long-term players a new tier of rewards to fight for. It's been a bright year for Diablo 3, and there's enough on the slate to ensure it won't go the way of the barbarians any time soon.

Nov 7, 2014

Overwatch first look: Blizzard takes on Team Fortress 2

PC Gamer

Blizzard gave a detailed outline of their upcoming team shooter Overwatch at Blizzcon today, delving into specifics about classes, maps, modes, and the philosophy they're bringing to their first FPS.

It's a six vs. six team shooter set 60 years in the future in a world of cartoon heroes and villains with wildly different abilities. You can play as a genius ape called Winston, or a teleporting rogue called Tracer, a sniper with a grappling hook, a samurai with a deadly bow. Overwatch derives its complexity from the interaction between these varied skillsets. Abilities are designed to be satisfying and useful when used individually, but can be game-winning when used in combination by a coordinated team.

Every map is objective-focused, so you'll be fighting to seize capture points and escort payloads (hello, Team Fortress 2). The maps are designed to be easily parsed to allow players to focus clearly on the heroes they're facing rather than shifting level geometry. Environments are based in vivid futuristic visions of real-world locations, and Blizzard want them to be relatable and lighthearted futuristic facsimiles of real world locations. A payload map set in London has attackers escorting a bomb to the base of Big Ben, and along the way you pass a big red bus with hover jets for wheels. There's an Egyptian map with a theme park arrangement of sphinxes and statues. There's a gorgeous map set around a Japanese temple, covered in bring pink blossom.

It's cute, and ideal for a game designed to be approachable to players that don't see themselves as shooter fans. As Blizzard projected in all caps onto the Blizzcon main stage screen, there is "NO DEATHMATCH". Philosophically, Metzen and Kaplan frame Overwatch as is a reaction against twitch-based modern military shooters. Metzen: "We have a long legacy of developing multiplayer games, and it came down to 'is it even possible to build a shooter that doesn't feel cynical, that doesn't feel cruel, that doesn't feel nasty. Can you build one that really promotes teamwork and relationship and having fun with your friends, and not getting killed with a thrown knife from halfway across the map as soon as you jump in."

A cast of characters that look like they've just blasted their way out of a Saturday morning cartoon certainly helps. Aside from a cockney accent that causes this British reporter physical pain, they're brilliantly realised. The art style was devised by one of Blizzard's star designers, Geoff Goodman, who created the Lich King and many other famous Blizzard characters. The aforementioned cockney, Tracer, is a spiky-haired waif who can teleport, throw sticky grenades and—brilliantly—deploy a time-reverse move that teleports her to her exact state three second in the past. A resource called Energy ticks up rapidly after you've used an ability, and series of ticks near the reticule let you know when you can use your abilities again.

Abilities can chain together in impressive ways. In one video, Blizzard showed Tracer teleporting from a ledge down to a payload, sticking a grenade to its defender, and then reversing time to put her back on the ledge as the grenade exploded. There's even greater potential for cross-character skill combos among the twelve existing heroes (with many more to come, Blizzard suggest). In a video of a full match shown at the end of today's presentation, the buildy dwarf character, Torbjorn, deployed his ultimate ability to resist incoming damage and increase his build speed, leapt on top of the payload and successfully built a turret on top of the moving objective. Another character threw a bubble shield onto the payload and the turret moved through the level, blasting defenders as they charged. Internally, Blizzard refer to this tactic as the "killdozer".

Comparisons to Team Fortress 2 are justified, but it's about time someone took on Valve's brilliant team shooter, and the sheer quantity and variety of Overwatch's characters is exciting. Kaplan and Metzen wouldn't talk about pricing, but it would seem mad to distribute Overwatch as a self-contained priced product with such a direct free competitor around, and there's obvious capacity for Overwatch to offer players an endless stream of new heroes and hero skins.

There are hints that Blizzard will emulate TF2's approach to narrative by telling Overwatch's story outside of the game. In-game, you can field characters that are technically mortal enemies on the same team, and field multiple instances of the same hero on a single team. In fact, you can technically field a team of six angry apes if you like, though Blizz don't want this to be tactically effective. Metzen suggests that the story could be advanced by more cinematics, not unlike the one Blizzard used to introduce the game today at Blizzcon. Players can absorb as much of the story as they like outside of the game, and then toy with those personalities in-game, as a kid might with action figures of their favourite cartoon series.

I've yet to play - check out Evan's upcoming hands-on for detailed impressions - but Overwatch is an instantly appealing prospect. Its light, earnest demeanour really plays to Blizzard's strengths, and it's a brave leap for Blizz, not into their first new universe for 17 years, but into a whole new genre. It goes into beta sometime next year.

Nov 7, 2014

Blizzard reveals big changes coming in StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void

PC Gamer

Blizzard has unleashed a new StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void website containing information about the game's cast of characters, new multiplayer features, three new trailers detailing multiplayer changes to the Terran, Zerg, and Protoss races, and a link to sign up for the beta.

If the StarCraft story is your thing, there's a pile of single-player info on tap, including a groovy Oblivion trailer that promises an appropriately over-the-top conclusion to the StarCraft 2 series. It also serves up a nice breakdown of the game's central characters, including Hierarch Artanis, Rohana, Zeratul, Kerrigan, and Jim Raynor, and a look at the massive Protoss Arkship, Spear of Adun.

But multiplayer is really where it's at, and there are a number of changes coming, including automated daily tournaments, the objective-based, open-ended co-op mode Allied Commanders, and Archon Mode, which puts control of a single base in the hands of two players as they go to war against two enemy forces. Each of the three races will also undergo some big changes for multiplayer with the addition of new units like the Terran Cyclone, the Protoss Disruptor, and the Zerg Ravager, as well as changes to existing ones. And the Lurker is back!

Blizzard confirmed that Legacy of the Void will be a standalone game, so experience in—or, more precisely, ownership of—the previous games won't be necessary. There's no hint of a release date at this point, but there is a link to sign up for the beta, which is "coming soon." See it all at LegacyOfTheVoid.com, or just watch the multiplayer trailers below.

Nov 7, 2014

The week's highs and lows in PC gaming

Red Faction Guerrilla Steam Edition

Each Friday PC Gamer s writers descend into the molten idea core and return with cooling fragments of what they have dubbed opiniononium . They re just like that.

THE HIGHS

Tom Marks: Grand Theft Auto V s PC port won t be a smash and grab What Rockstar is doing with the PC and next-gen versions of Grand Theft Auto V is downright admirable. Sure they are taking their sweet time doing it, but I much prefer a long wait to a slap-dash, press escape to instantly quit, port with more problems than new features. First they told us they are giving previous players a reason to come back, and now they confirm a first person mode and 4k resolution support. First person has been a rumored feature for a while, but the modeled vehicle interiors and suite of new animations are icing on the cake I wasn t expecting. A year after its initial release, Rockstar is still working hard to keep the latest version of GTA V feeling cutting edge, and at this rate the PC will be home to the definitive version.

Samuel Roberts: When systems come together I m late as hell to the Alien: Isolation party, but this week I ve been muddling through the game s colossal 20+ hour storyline in little chunks. I haven t found it especially scary, to be honest—tense, but not scary. In well-lit environments, I have adjusted to the sight and animation of the alien and no longer consider it an unseen threat. Last night, though, the systems of the game came together in a way that I found genuinely unsettling, as I manoeuvred through a strobe-lit environment and saw the alien drop out of nowhere, behind some fellow human survivors. I went straight for a locker and hid, hearing screams as the alien devoured them and then, a silence, until the locker tore open and the alien killed me, too. By itself, the alien s aura becomes undone the more you play, but the systems are smart enough to keep finding ways to make that creature scary. Brilliant game.

Chris Thursten: Endless Legend (and other space wizards) I liked the look of Endless Space more than I really found time to play it, but this week I decided to take a stab at Amplitude s fantasy follow-up: Endless Legend. Having been rather disappointed by Civilization: Beyond Earth, I m taken by just how many things Legend gets right. The combat system is an elegant improvement on Civ; empire development is involved and interesting; the UI is crisp and pleasant to use. The factions are varied, play very differently, and are beautifully presented.

It s the art and music that have really sold the game to me, though. Endless Legend s take on fantasy has a light sci-fi touch and the gentle pastel art reminds me of a Gene Wolfe book cover. This has been something of a trend recently—Destiny shows off many of the same influences. I ve been running a pen and paper campaign in Monte Cook s Numenera, lately, so there really couldn t be a better time to be surrounded by lovely hand-painted space wizards.

Andy Chalk: EFF seeks to legalize online DRM circumvention in abandoned games The EFF recently petitioned to legalize DRM circumvention in "abandoned" games, a move that, if successful, will make life a whole lot easier for retro gamers and preservationists. Older games reliant on matchmaking servers or online DRM checks are pretty much done in when remote servers go offline, and while cracks are always an option, they're often not a realistic choice. The process of legalizing this particular type of DRM circumvention is "burdensome and confusing," but if we're serious about preserving video games, both for posterity and playability, then this is a necessary step and hopefully one that will ultimately prove successful.

Phil Savage: Games for Windows Live is slightly more dead I love seeing bad things happen to bad people. Or in this case, to bad programs. Games for Windows: Live is undoubtedly a bad program, and I smile every time it comes closer to annihilation. This week, Nordic Games patched it out of Red Faction: Guerilla. This is surprising—despite their previous promise that it would happen. It's surprising because Guerilla was made by Volition for THQ—the former now with Deep Silver, the latter sadly deceased. Nordic acquired the rights to much of THQ's catalogue, but they didn't have anything to do with the game's creation; just its current distribution. To then go back in to remove the unwanted GfWL-wrapper is a step worth celebrating. Especially because Guerilla is such a great game.

THE LOWS

Andy Chalk: Dawngate is dead EA pulled the plug on Dawngate at the start of the week, a particularly surprising move given that it's been in one form of beta testing or another for the past year and a half. I suppose this could actually be seen as a "high," since a willingness to shut it down at this stage in development is surely preferable to just shoving it out the door and hoping for the best, but it's unfortunate that something couldn't be done to salvage the game, especially since some players clearly seemed to be enjoying it. It's also obviously not good news for the people at developer Waystone Games, which is reportedly being disbanded.

Samuel Roberts: High prices It s hard to figure out what s happening with Ubisoft s holiday titles vanishing from Steam this week (and not appearing on the UK Steam store at all). While opening two clients to play one game is never ideal with both Steam and uPlay, having the option to buy the game on Steam is ideal for a lot of players, and not selling through Steam is a break of form for Ubisoft. Hopefully they ll return to Valve s service soon.

Phil Savage: Fallout 4 An obvious choice, and not even a particularly notable one. Of course the Fallout 4 trademark was a hoax. This happens constantly, to the point where I've long since stopped paying attention to trademark discoveries. It s always a hoax. And yet, yes, there's still a part of me that wanted it to be true. I'm ready to see what Bethesda will do next. An open-world post-apocalyptic RPG made with current-gen hardware in mind? Yeah, I'd like to see that happen.

Oh well, there's always next year.

Chris Thursten: Oh god where did the year go Endless Legend might be my favourite thing this week, but the circumstances in which I discovered it are quite the opposite. We ll be beginning the process of judging our Game of the Year soon, and that means going back and considering a lot of games that I might have missed when they came out. I ve heard a lot of people say that 2014 was a little weak, release-wise, but the staggering task ahead of me speaks to the opposite. I ve still not started Wasteland 2 and I d like to return to Divinity: Original Sin; I m half-way through my first Shadowrun Returns campaign and don t feel ready to move on to the Director s Cut of Dragonfall yet. That s just RPGs. I still need to finish Alien: Isolation and Shadow of Mordor and, oh wait! There s Legend of Grimrock 2. And Jazzpunk. And The Banner Saga. Maybe I should give Metal Gear Rising a look? What about Luftrausers?

And so on. And so on. And so on.

Tom Marks: The Glove is coming off The Black Glove s kickstarter is finally over, falling woefully short of its $550k target. Even the belated support of big names like Ken Levine couldn t save what looked like a unique and clever concept, striking many of the same chords with me as the first time I saw Psychonauts. Raising the $220k it managed to is an impressive feat in itself, certainly proving there is a not insignificant amount of interest in the game, but setting such a high bar on an all-or-nothing platform is a dangerous game to play with a brand new IP from a team with no stand out names. Their video proved to me that they had the chops to get the job done, and The Black Glove looks like a game I d love to try, so the thought that it may never see the light of day is a discouraging one.