Crows Crows Crows, the folks working on The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, have revived their ridiculous browser MMO replacement for the Game Developers Conference and it's just as surreal as before. Oh, is it your first time at CDC? Don't worry, it's just like every other conference. You walk around trying to make small talk with people you probably don't know and everything that comes out of your mouth sounds like a bad Mad Libs sheet.
OlliOlli developers Roll7 are back with a lot more Ollis than before. They've just announced their next skating game OlliOlli World which takes a huge visual leap over their prior skate 'em ups. Begone Flash game aesthetic and hello to this colorful, cel-shaded adventure. Better yet, it adds tons of new tricks too. You can drop in when Olli Olli World hits the park this winter. For now, Roll7 have chatted up some of the new bits, and their excitement for World, in its announcement trailer.
Walkin' and talkin' mystery game Oxenfree has just announced an upcoming sequel with a new cast of talkative spook hunters. Oxenfree II: Lost Signals will follow new characters, but include that natural dialogue system of Night School Studio's original Oxenfree and their more recent Afterparty. You can catch the first spooky trailer right here for the newly-announced sequel that's coming later in 2021.
Consistency. That's the word that comes to mind.
It's one to use carefully when talking about a sequel. I'm prone to criticising games, particularly long-running series, for iterating gradually rather than taking bigger chances. I've bemoaned Tropico's rehashes. I've whinged about everyone copy-pasting XCOM to a fault. I've sent guys to show GTA a picture of Saints Row before throwing it through a window.
But here's Creeper World 4, quietly releasing at the end of 2020 in an already busy month. I can't say anything about it is revolutionary, or even drastically different to the rest of the series. And yet I become utterly engrossed every time I play it. Again.
The cooperative ratmasher Warhammer: Vermintide 2 already has some degree of change and surprise across runs, with different enemies in different places, but it's about to go squig-wild. Developers Fatshark have announced the free Chaos Wastes update will launch next week, introducing a new mode with roguelikelike runs. Squads will set out on expeditions, fighting through a random selection of levels, picking up gear and buffs along the way, and risking a return to base if they wipe.
The next major update to Minecraft is a biggun, so big that it's now getting split in two. Mojang have announced that due to technical complexity and number of changes they have planned for the Caves & Cliffs update, it will now roll out in summer and holiday releases. The 1.7 update was previously expected this summer, which will now be focused on adding new blocks, items, and creatures. The winter release will include the big world generation changes that add new cave types, mountain types, and increasing the world build height.
Since the release of the infamous Justice League 'Snyder Cut' last month, it's been fun having a think about what games should get a big indulgent revamp, and what those hypothetical revamps would look like. Former Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider has been pondering exactly that on Twitter, revealing a load of things he would've liked to change in the most polarising game in the series, Dragon Age 2. Unfortunately, none of his ideas involve fewer spiders.
When game developers started packing up last spring to work from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I suspect we all knew it was going to be a bumpy ride. Sure enough, there have been game delays galore over the past year as many studios found the adjustment to be a challenge. On the bright side, some seem to have really taken to it. Hi-Rez Studios, the folks behind Smite and Paladins, say "the pandemic has taught us new ways to work that we believe are superior to our previous way of operation." They'll be encouraging 80% of their 435 employees to work remotely if they choose to.
I played brutal action-RPG Nioh 2 religiously for weeks. If I had a controller in my hand, more often than not, I'd be fighting a horrid demon for the umpteenth time. Then I just stopped for no real reason - other than maybe because other games came out and I wanted a break? I don't know.
But what I do know is that I'm genuinely scared to boot Nioh 2 up again. My mouse has glanced over it numerous times, but I've bailed at the last second. I get this overwhelming feeling of, "I am totally disconnected from this world", and I think I've finally identified what it's called.
A question that crosses my mind from time to time is why there aren’t more horror RPGs. Certainly, RPGs are more than capable of generating psychological terrors, and horror games are as popular as they’ve ever been. But outside of a handful of classics like Sweet Home, System Shock 2, and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, it remains a fairly under-developed area within the genre.
I posed this question to veteran developer Brian Mitsoda, who has a long history of working on unique RPGs like Alpha Protocol, having most recently been the narrative designer for the seemingly ill-fated Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. Mitsoda replied. “When it comes to RPGs, [executives] are going to look at what is the most popular genre for RPGs. And what is the most popular genre for RPGs? It’s fantasy. [...] If your RPG is just focused on horror, it’s probably going to turn off a lot of RPG fans. They’re going to go back to something that’s more comfortable.”