Titan Quest: Ragnarök, all new content for Titan Quest Anniversary Edition is Now Available on Steam!
At long last, Titan Quest continues its epic journey through the world of antiquity. A mysterious threat calls the heroes of Hades to the uncharted lands of northern Europe, where new enemies await and new powers and treasures are waiting to be found!
SpellForce 3 Beta is available to play on Steam through this weekend*!
SpellForce 3 – The perfect blend between RTS and RPG!SpellForce 3 goes back to the roots of the SpellForce saga and combines the RTS and RPG genre in a unique way – all in real time! Explore the world of Eo and become a true legend.
*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
Nowhere Prophet First Access Recap – Five week on itch.io
On the 10th of October I started the Nowhere Prophet First Access on itch.io. That was just over five weeks ago so I guess it’s time for a look at how that went and how I feel about it.
The Game
Nowhere Prophet is a roguelike deck-building game. Take command of a convoy of outcasts and lead them through a colorful post-apocalyptic world.
I’ve been working on it since 2015 primarily by myself. The project has taken longer than planned (my original release date was mid 2016) but it’s finally getting ready.
My plan at the start of 2017 was to launch an Early Access campaign in December but the overwhelmingly positive feedback at conventions like Indigo made me pull that forward and aim for October instead.
The Plan
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how best to launch the game – and why. Turns out I’m not looking to make a lot of money before the final launch, it’s more about getting the game out there and building a community.
So how to do that in a way that makes sense for me?
Kickstarter?
No, that’s too much work. It’s about a month for prep and a month of full-time work during the Kickstarter. I’m all by myself so that’s two months during which the game would not progress.
Add to that the fact that video games have had a harder time on Kickstarter lately. and combine it with the tough to describe (and harder to gifize) gameplay of Nowhere Prophet.
Early Access on Steam?
No, because that’s dangerous. Releasing in Early Access on Steam already feels like a proper launch to many people and simply moving from Early Access to the final version isn’t really a newsworthy event anymore – unless your game is already famous.
I’d rather go slow and focus on one big release. Also launching on Steam later runs less of a risk of accumulating some bad reviews while the game’s still being worked on.
A bit of both?
Yes please! I decided to take a closer look at itch.io, after seeing their robust support in action for Overland. Then I noticed that the platform offers a rewards system and a new idea was born:
An Early Access combined with higher backer-tiers that offer the unique chance of shaping the game. I wanted my fans to be able to invest into a game they love to see themselves in it: You can spend to become one of the cards, design a piece of equipment or even become a boss enemy.
The First Access
So I had an idea, spent some time with the reward tiers and their pricing and then I planned a long marketing campaign, full of ideas for image posts, contests, raffles etc. And then scrapped it.
Instead I decided to soft-launch the game to take some of the pressure off of myself. I opted for a softer start and instead decided to put more of the emphasis on the final releasedown the line. That gives me more freedom to still experiment with the game now without fear.
I’ve also kept my expectations purposefully low. Itch.io is not a marketplace that’s known for $19.99 mid-core games. So I went in expecting about 20 purchases in the first week, 10 of which from friends and family, and the usual decline to a slow drip afterwards.
The Stats
Turns out my friends and family have sorely disappointed me, bringing shame on their houses: Only a meager 5 purchased a copy of Nowhere Prophet. However every one else stepped up. The first week saw about 60 purchases, three times what I expected. And there were a total of 136 sales in the five weeks since the start of the First Access.
All of these are at the base price of $19,99 or higher. About 7% of all purchasers left a little tip and about 10% opted for a higher tier. 3x THE FACE for $80.00, 10x THE NAME for $30.00.
Deducting the 10% retained by itch.io and the payment provider’s fee leaves about 85% of the sale price. Looking at all the purchases so far that leaves me with a total of $2628,94.
As video game launches go that’s not a terribly good one. Considering that a big chunk of the money a game makes comes in the first weeks this looks bleak. But then again, this isn’t really the game’s final release.
The Feels
Still, all that said: I’m very happy. The game sold much better than I’ve expected. But not only that, I’ve also consistently received good feedback and a few very active players have started to form a core community.
Also there were a few surprise streams and videos. Having done little to no marketing I was really happy to see that some people stumbling over the game found it intriguing enough to try out. Most notable are the videos from Dad’s Gaming Addiction and Splattercat. Splattercat even recorded two videos which are filled with positive comments. The impact of these videos can be seen in the stats above: The clearly visible spike on the 21st of October coincides with the first Splattercat video.
I’m also really happy with my last-minute idea of opening a Nowhere Prophet Discord channel. I wavered before the First Access a bit as to where and how to set up the community hub: My own forum, the steam community, the itch forum? In the end I decided to go with the path of least resistance and use the built-in itch forum, and then added a Discord channel, which has quickly become invaluable.
It’s allows me to get direct feedback from my players and to incorporate the most active members of the community into the beta builds of upcoming patches.
The Next Steps
I’m very happy with my decision to go to itch.io first. The positive feedback has made me confident that the final launch has a solid chance to be successful. It’s even got me thinking that I might roll the game out to Early Access on Steam before the final release, which, by the way, is planned for Q2 2018.
But before that I’ll be busy updating and polishing the game. The first major update was released today and that felt like too long a stretch. For the next updates I’ll be aiming for a turnaround time of 2-3 weeks as to keep them focused and provide a more steady stream of new stuff for my players.
And that’s it. I’m excited to see where the game is going and I’m optimistic about the release next year.
Cheers,
Martin
Bayonetta. Twinrova. Gruntilda Winkybunion. There have been some truly terrific witches on Nintendo consoles over the years. Whether friend or foe, ally or adversary, these spell casting sorceresses have entertained, antagonised and tormented audiences for decades.
In addition, the notion of video game phenomena has been thrown around more and more since the rise in popularity of social media, digital distribution and smart devices. For every FarmVille there’s a Minecraft. For every Angry Birds there’s a World of Warcraft and so on.
Imagine the giddy excitement when a game was announced to be coming to the Nintendo Switch that combined the elements of an intriguing, mystical protagonist with the gameplay of an addictive pop culture sensation. An enchanting tale of righteousness over evil in a beautiful world, filled with fun and magic.
Misleading and slightly facetious hyperbole aside, Maria The Witch is a port of a 2016 mobile game (also released on Xbox One this year) that comes from Italian developer Nap Games. The player (tries to) control Maria, a young and enthusiastic trainee working for the post service. She is also a witch that is having a bit of trouble controlling her preferred method of transport – a devilishly temperamental broomstick. Unfortunately, Chaos is strewn across the (as far as we are aware, unnamed) kingdom thanks to a dastardly duo named Zaki & Mia – two wicked and savage thieves who have stolen and scattered precious mail across the worlds. Only by tracking down the anime legend lookalike Zaki and his hovering rodent friend will Maria restore peace and happiness to the kingdom and its recipients alike.
The overall presentation of the game is at least pleasant. The instantly forgettable looping soundtrack and varied yelps of the failing heroine notwithstanding, Maria the Witch is a deceptively passable game in terms of its visuals, at least initially. A brief yet bold pair of storyboard panels set the tone, with a range of soft pastel colours and whimsical characters to make up a Studio Ghibli vibe. Then, it’s straight down to that mail retrieving business. A simple and consise controls tutorial screen is presented – press Y for left, A for right; then the nature of the game hits home. It’s a clone of the aforementioned ‘phenomenon’ – 2013’s Flappy Bird, and brings little else along for the ride.
Instead of tapping the touch screen to maintain altitude in a linear fashion (in fact, there are no touch inputs at all, but we’ll get to that), pressing Y or A will make a meter in the top right hand corner of the screen empty and fill. This will give Maria and her trusty broomstick boost and travel in more of an arc shape. Holding the button down will do a loop de loop. Despite the game’s narrative attempting to justify the haphazard movement of said broom, playing the game is frustration exemplified; the sporadic sensitivity and inconsistencies in the physics are sure to annoy.
If the monotony of trying to keep a steady line doesn’t get you, the bland level design – with a just a few moving obstacles and enemies – will do just that. Misinterpreting challenge and ending up being just plain irritating, bumping into anything will result in a retry. Clouds electrocute, floating black beasties vaporise and traveling through portals straight into autorunning lava sections will halt your progress again and again.
When you crash – and you will, a lot – you will be reminded every single time of the controls, in a level of condescension that will jeopardise the wellbeing of your cherished hybrid system. As an incentive, or maybe as a reward for your perseverance, there are coins to collect in each level which, when you land on a safe strip of ground, can be exchanged for a checkpoint.
The main objective is retrieving and delivering mail, and there are up to three stars in each level across the four worlds; these are needed in order to unlock later areas, as well as play random slot games where you can gain the ability to keep items after crashing, affect enemies or get more coins.
When navigating the menus and world map, you will be required to move the (very slow) hand curser to the action you desire using the right analogue stick; despite the fact that the interface still has ‘tap to do X action’ prompts, the Switch version has no touch interface at all. Equally curiously, the R and ZR triggers – instead of face buttons – are used to retry or restart a level.
There are more examples, but this is generally an awkward experience from to finish. An admittedly reasonable looking if not memorable mobile title nosedives its way onto console, with no optimisation, consideration or attention to detail. As mentioned, the backgrounds (especially when the switch is docked) are rather nice, until you see the thin dark lines that expose the cut and paste nature of the scenery.
Cute visuals can’t prevent Maria the Witch from being anything other than an incredibly lazy port of an already mediocre and generic mobile clone. A derivative, boring and regularly frustrating experience that has had no care applied in bringing it to Nintendo Switch. The laborious gameplay and obtuse controls, combined with bland, uninspired level design and by-the-numbers progression, reduce it to being one of the most disposable titles on the system. Don’t let the admittedly pleasant art style fool you – Maria the Witch really isn’t worth taking for a spin.
Vostok Inc is on our radar of upcoming Switch eShop titles because, well, it’s a bit crazy. It’s a twin-stick space shooter with cool customisations, and also a quirky experience all about capitalism and exploiting planets to become disgustingly rich.
Nosebleed Interactive and Wired Productions have now confirmed that its strange game will have exclusive content on the Switch in the form of Pluto, now re-classified as a planet. We’ll let the trailer and press release explain things…
Pluto is – and always has been – a planet, and a huge part of our solar system since its discovery in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh. Its heart shaped expression, first seen from across the solar system on July 13th 2015, made us fall in love with Pluto all over again. Long distance relationships do work! Whether it’s 4.4bn km or 7.4bn km away, Pluto has a place in our hearts, and now a place in our game: Vostok Inc.
In Vostok Inc, you play as a corrupt, narcissistic yuppie hoping to make as much money as possible in a greed-driven, twin-stick shooter without a conscience. As the newly-appointed CEO of Vostok Inc., you have one goal: to become filthy, stinking rich. Piloting your very own ship, explore and exploit more than 40 planets across six different solar systems in your quest to earn ludicrous amounts of MOOLAH!
Start by landing on any planet to begin colonization, build factories and rake in the big bucks. Once the MOOLAH starts flowing, you’ll be able to upgrade your ship’s weapons and augmentations. Increase profits even further by finding and recruiting managers, consultants, and executives scattered throughout the galaxy.
So there you have it, a fun little extra for the Switch version. We’ll keep an eye out for a release date on Vostok Inc.
Most genres and game styles are now covered on the Switch eShop, and VooFoo Studios is looking to tick the overhead racing box with Mantis Burn Racing; the good news is that the wait is almost over.
It’s been confirmed that it’ll arrive on 23rd November, priced at £14.99 / $19.99 USD / €15.99. It promises to be a strong version of the game, with assurances on high framerates and plenty of content – it’ll have all of the previous DLC included, along with local multiplayer options and cross-play support for online races.
If you want to know more about this one you can check out our interview with VooFoo Studios; in the meantime let us know whether you’ll be tempted to pick this up.
Tower 57 is Now Available on Steam and is 17% off!*
Tower 57 is a fast-paced neo-retro shooter where cooperation is as important as your ammo capacity. As a member of an extraordinary task force fight your way through a dieselpunk megatower and uncover its hidden secrets.
*Offer ends November 23 at 10AM Pacific Time
Since the arrival of Arcade Archives Mario Bros. back in September, the series of six additional confirmed games has gone completely quiet. The Nintendo classics are being produced by HAMSTER, which has brought us plenty of Neo Geo titles in the ACA series on the Switch eShop.
Based upon a printed Holiday booklet in Japan, it looks like the next release – VS. Super Mario Bros. – will be a festive arrival on 22nd December; that’s the Japanese date, but it’d make sense for the Western stores to follow suit. For those that don’t know, this is an arcade two player competitive version of the iconic NES platformer, but with tougher difficulty and some different stage designs.
As you can see the listing also highlights upcoming ACA releases and seemingly suggests that the arcade original of Double Dragon will arrive at the end of the year; none of this is officially announced, so it shouldn’t be taken as 100% confirmation as yet.
For fans of pitch-perfect retro arcade ports the Switch is proving to be a fantastic device. Would you pick up VS. Super Mario Bros. for some friendly festive competition?
Thanks to everyone that sent this in.
Did you miss your chance to pick up a SNES Classic Edition the first time around? You had to be quick on the pre-orders as they sold out almost immediately and mostly ended up on a certain well known auction site, but such is life.
Thankfully, Nintendo of America has promised that more stock of the Super NES Classic (and indeed the Nintendo Switch) will be made available in time for the holiday season. Speaking to the Washington Post, NoA President Reggie Fils-Aimé did say there will be a regular supply of both consoles on store shelves for the rest of the year. So that all sounds very promising.
Let us know if you missed bagging a Super NES Mini the first time around, will you be trying to get one for MSRP this time around?
It’s that time, once again, when shoppers around the world prepare to brave the crowds in search of bargains. The Black Friday festivities are mostly based in crowded stores, though plenty of deals can also be hunted down online. For gamers, it’s often a time of year for stocking up on goodies ahead of the festive season; the official day is Friday, 24th November, but discounts arrive over the broader Black Friday ‘weekend’.
From a Nintendo perspective this festive season has a few big hitters aside from the obvious with the incredibly popular Nintendo Switch. One of which is the Super Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Edition, which has unfortunately been difficult to track down after initial stock sold through; more is promised before Christmas. Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon is also big news, and as a result 2DS and 3DS bundles and deals are sure to be prominent. On top of that, game discounts and neat merchandise will be ever-presents for Nintendo.
We’ve compiled some of the best deals and most useful links for Black Friday so far; we’ll be updating frequently so be sure to bookmark this page if you’re keen to find a bargain.
We’ll be updating this guide every few hours as the discounts pick up speed.
Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale which helps support the site. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.
Found a deal we don’t have? Tell us about it so we can add it!
Here are some quick links to US retailers with the biggest deals:
The Nintendo Switch has been hot all through the year. Launched back in March, the portable console hybrid has really begun to pick up pace in recent months. While we doubt there will be any crazy deals on Switch hardware this year, you may well be able to get a good deal on a bundle that includes some games.
If you want a Super NES Mini all hope is not lost, but it’s going to be difficult. More stock roll-outs are expected through December, so it’ll be a case of keeping vigilant and being ready to pounce. The Nintendo of America Twitter account will hopefully be quick with any stock announcements, and when retailers give advance warning we’ll share news.
Don’t give up yet!
For the most part the ‘original’ 3DS and 3DS XL aren’t seen too often nowadays, though some XL models may be available at bargain prices.
The choice of whether to go for a New Nintendo 3DS model is about convenience, primarily. If you have amiibo and enjoy those features, New systems are ideal with their in-built scanner, whereas the older 3DS XL and 2DS require an accessory to use the figures and cards. Aside from that the main benefits of the New 3DS (that are actually used) are improved 3D stability, making it far more effective than older models, and slightly quicker performance with eShop downloads.
New this year is the New 2DS XL, with a price that sits snugly between the standard 2DS and the New 3DS XL. It has all the same functionality as the New 3DS XL with the exception of 3D visuals on the top screen, and Nintendo will likely push hard with this model.
If you can live without those New extras or are buying for a young gamer in particular, the 2DS is still a good bargain option. With a low price and deals / bundles taking it lower, it strips away the 3D effect and clamshell design but delivers a sturdy and solid bit of kit.
The big day is set for Friday, 24th November – a day after Thanksgiving in the US. That said, there are pre-Black Friday deals, especially online; we’ll report some of the better deals in news articles. Cyber Monday is also a time for discounts, which will take place on Monday, 27th November.
Looking for PS4 bargains? Our buddies at Push Square can help you with their US Black Friday PlayStation Deals guide.
As always, point us to any great deals that are missing, and we’ll update this guide right up to and during the big day as more discount deals go live.
