Stable Orbit is Now Available on Steam and is 33% off!*
Space is dangerous. Survival is a challenge.
Design, build and control your own space station. Mission command and control is in your hands and only careful planning and vigilant supervision will keep your crew and space station safe
*Offer ends October 4 at 10AM Pacific Time
SteamWorld Dig 2 arrived recently; it’s certainly one of the most high-profile download arrivals on Switch to date, and we think it’s rather brilliant. It’s bigger and more ambitious than its predecessor, and in some ways reflects the growing confidence of Image & Form that started to show with a vengeance in SteamWorld Heist.
In any case it’s had a successful launch, with the game now also on PC and PS4 / Vita as well as the Switch. It’s been doing well in the eShop charts, too, sitting top or near the top in various countries.
The developer has now confirmed in a press release that Dig 2 has delivered the IP’s best launch to date.
Players are having a blast as well, with the 98% approval rating on Steam being the obvious proof. Everyone’s praise results in impressive sales; I’m happy to announce that SWD2 is the biggest launch in SteamWorld history, selling faster than any game we’ve ever made before it. On Switch it’s topping the charts in as good as every country. In less than a week we’ve already earned back most of the game’s total development budget. Twenty or so people for almost a year and a half… You do the math!
It’s doing pretty darn well, then. Have you dug into this one yet?
Upfall Studios’ Quest of Dungeons has returned for what marks its third outing on a Nintendo platform. Approximately a year after the original Wii U version’s release, the title has now arrived on the Switch eShop with new content and some minor technical tweaks. The big question is, do these changes make this the definitive version of the game?
The latest iteration is a port with a few slight adjustments and content enhancements. For the uninformed, Quest of Dungeons is a roguelike game that doesn’t necessarily bring anything out-of-the-ordinary to the genre. The changes in this latest Switch version are minimal, all told, and may be barely noticeable to returning players. Technical adjustments are tied to the user interface and how it has been adapted to the system, and an additional level with new sprites and themes has been added to the game. The solid and well designed dungeon crawling is still intact and will entertain a player for minutes or hours on end, depending on their own level of eagerness.
As soon as you launch the Nintendo Switch version of Quest of Dungeons it feels like a much more sophisticated take on previous releases. This can be credited directly to the Switch and the sleek and accessible design of the system. It simply just makes a game like Quest of Dungeons better. Everything about the title on the Switch – including the look, feel and functionality – gives it the edge.
Despite this new lease of life the premise is naturally the same; you are dropped into a world of chaos where an evil dark lord has banished light. After selecting between one of four classes (warrior, wizard, assassin or shaman) it is your duty to head into a dungeon and save the day. There is nothing easy about the task at hand – one mistake and it is game over. If your hero dies you must restart the game and level a character all over again. In each dungeon, your character will spend their time fighting off hoards of bats, skeletons and evil sorcerers in order to gain experience. There’s loot to find, quests to take on, and keys and coins to collect. Each session of Quest of Dungeons is different due to the map being procedurally generated; it means no run is ever the same, with items and enemies also in different locations every time.
The character classes in this latest release are unchanged. The wizard is reliant on mana for magic spells, the assassin has the ability to use ranged weapons, the shaman can mix spells with close combat and the mighty warrior is great for his classic sword fighting skills. Just like the other versions of the game, each hero can find better weapons and gear and expand upon their skill set. The actions of heroes and enemies are also synced. This means every time your character moves, attacks or even heals with an item, the enemy can move towards you or attack. The battles as a result of this play out like a turn-based strategy game, encouraging a more thoughtful plan of attack.
The turn-based approach does not detract from the flow of Quest of Dungeons; if anything, it makes it more accessible. You learn from your mistakes each time your character dies, and eventually you develop a bit of rhythm with how you go about each play session. There are also many points of interest to watch for during every run; this includes side quests to tackle – such as eliminating a specific enemy – and also bosses to defeat. A shop keeper in the dungeon, who spawns in random locations, also sells many helpful wares. The player can also visit the shop to sell valuable rocks they collect or any other items they find. If it’s all too much, Quest for Dungeons has four different difficulty settings, meaning you can always lower the difficulty if dungeon life is getting the better of you. Every time you lose a hero you can also view personal stats and online leaderboards to see how you rank against other players worldwide.
The new features in the Switch version of the game, as already mentioned, are relatively minor in their impact. A feats system has been added, which can be located from the main menu; this tracks the achievements you have unlocked. These range from completing a quest to finishing the game on a certain difficulty with a particular character. A new level “mansion” which adds new themes and sprites – including more enemies and tilesets – has also been included. The previously featured custom mode – allowing players to select dungeon size and the amount of floors – benefits from this with more variety on show.
The 16-bit pixel look is no different to previous entries. Each floor of the dungeon has a single theme, and the character and enemy sprite work is charismatic enough, despite the generic look. The sound effects in Quest of Dungeons are adequate, but the soundtrack still doesn’t fit the atmosphere of a 16-bit game; it’s quality music but perhaps doesn’t nail the retro theme. In handheld mode the game still looks and sounds the same as it does on the television, a plus point for portable play.
If you had to pick one platform for Quest of Dungeons, the Switch would probably be it. It highlights the qualities of the Switch concept even if the upgrades in the game are relatively subtle. The system – with the choice of TV or portable play – is therefore a perfect match with the solid turn-based combat and procedurally generated dungeons. As a returning player, besides playing the title on a fancy new device the minor improvements and new content are hard to appreciate, at least when considering the need to double-dip. This version is certainly worth a go if you haven’t played it before, however, as this is still an enjoyable game to play.
Killer Instinct is Now Available on Steam!
The legendary fighting franchise is back with over-the-top action, a wild cast of combatants, rocking reactive music, and C-C-C-COMBO BREAKERS!!! Choose your ultimate combatants each with fluid animations, unique combat tactics, and enthralling special attacks. Use the open-ended combo system to rack up huge combos as your opponent looks for openings to break you and turn the tides of battle. Go online and compete against players from all over the world, or master your combat skills with in-depth tutorials and intelligent AI combatants.
Editor’s Note: We’ve adjusted the artwork associated with this post to correctly list the 3200 gamerscore points you can earn with October’s Games with Gold. Apologies for any confusion this may have caused.
Add to your ever-growing collection of great games on Xbox thanks to October’s Games with Gold! Starting October 1 on Xbox One, play the emotionally gripping first-person narrative adventure game Gone Home: Console Edition. Then on October 16, take to the stars in the challenging sci-fi puzzle game The Turing Test.
Also in October for Xbox 360, and Xbox One through Backward Compatibility, the classic Xbox Live Arcade platformer Rayman 3 HD will be available to play, as well as the epic World War II first-person shooter Medal of Honor: Airborne.
All games will be available for a limited time as part of Games with Gold, so get Xbox Live Gold today to get in on the action.
Gone Home: Console Edition
Interactive storytelling is at the heart of this award-winning, genre-defining game. Imagine coming home after a year abroad to find none of your family home. As you move through the house, interact with keepsakes and photographs and other clues to uncover what happened. From the creators of the recently-released Tacoma on Xbox One.
The Turing Test
Engage your logic skills for this first-person puzzler set on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. In The Turning Test, use your Energy Manipulation Tool (EMT) to transfer power in and out of many machines and giant structures that can help you as the narrative-focused story evolves.
Rayman 3 HD
The charming 3D platformer returns in high-def! Jump, fly, and fight your way through the fantastic world of Rayman 3 HD and take on an army of Hoodlums led by the Black Lum, Andre. With remastered visuals and updated audio, this is the definitive version of Rayman 3.
Medal of Honor: Airborne
How you decide to approach Medal of Honor: Airborne starts the moment you jump out of the plane. Control your drop as you navigate to a desired insertion point to put yourself in the thick of the fight. Then navigate through the war-torn villages and towns to gain an advantage over your enemies on rooftops, balconies and other ruins. With customizable weapons and free-roaming objectives, and local and online co-op, this is a fantastic shooter to add to your library.
Read more about our Games with Gold program here and stay tuned to Xbox Wire for all the latest news on Xbox.
An interesting experiment in the realm of storytelling in games, Oxenfree was a notable indie release of last year; chronicling the story of a young group of adventurers that find themselves unravelling the ghostly secrets of a deserted island. It was rather well received when it debuted on other platforms, and it seems that Switch owners in North America won’t have much longer to wait until they can try it out on the hybrid.
The listing for the game on the eShop pegs it for a 6th October release date, so it’s only a little over a week and a half away in the region. The game made its name on a smartly designed conversation system that closely mimics the nuance of real life conversations, while also having an impact on the narrative, so it’ll be interesting to see how it all holds up on the Switch. Check out a trailer below:
What do you think? Will you be picking this up? How important do you find narrative to a video game? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Stardew Valley is one of the most anticipated upcoming indie releases on the horizon for the Nintendo Switch, and it’s been known for a while that the game is essentially good to go on the platform, with just some final approvals barring the way to release. The Rune Factory-esque sim game has made quite a cultural impact on other platforms and will no doubt prove to be right at home on the Switch, and now it seems that the game has been given the green light.
Chucklefish recently posted a tweet saying that Nintendo has approved the game for the Switch, so now all that’s left is for the company to work out a release date and then it’ll be live on the eShop. Certainly good news to hear, as there’s no other game like this in the Switch’s relatively young library yet, and given the success that other indies have found on the platform, this one’s sure to shine bright. Here’s the launch trailer from its debut last year:
What do you think? Will you be picking this up? If you played it on other platforms, what did you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Suffice to say, we weren’t all too impressed with LEGO Worlds when it came out a few weeks ago, as the subpar performance and janky gameplay made it an experience that simply wasn’t all that much fun to play. Even so, we held off on giving it a score until the full experience could be delivered—an online mode was promised to be coming in an update shortly after launch. Now, the update has finally gone out, and it does make a series of notable changes to the game.
There’s no patch notes out, so the playerbase is still trying to figure out exactly what all was changed. The biggest and most obvious change is that you can now play in a two-player online mode, though with the provision that the other player has to be on your friends list; no random matchups here. Additionally, there have been some performance changes; the game now seems to run at a solid 30 FPS, though the draw distance and resolution also seem to have taken a hit. Perhaps the exchange was necessary, but it honestly looks a lot better in motion now than it did before the update. And, of course, the final and most important change is that the Switch menu icon for the game has been updated to reflect the box art. Much better.
What do you think? Do you like the changes that were made with this update? What do you think of LEGO Worlds on the Switch? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Destiny 2 has been out for a few weeks now. It’s now time to bring back the old ritual of placing a bounty on someone’s head and watching the community hunt them down to claim sweet rewards. This will be the first instance of the Bungie Bounty showing up in Destiny 2, and we are placing it on a member of our community who goes by the name of Gigz. Where can you find him?
Bungie Bounty: GigzWhen: September 27, 2017
8:00–10:00 p.m. (Pacific)
Playlist: Competitive
Console: PS4
We are changing up the format a bit. Instead of Gigz going in solo, this will be a true Bungie Bounty. He will have the following fireteam of Bungie folk backing him up:
We won’t be revealing anything on stream – our mission will be to play some games with the community and to give out emblems to anyone who can best us at our own game. All you need to do to claim your emblem is match against us and win.
What is this about an emblem?
We have a brand new one to give out for Bungie Bounties in Destiny 2. Feast your eyes on the Sign of Mutual Combat:
We will have more Bounties for you in the future, so if this time or console doesn’t work for you, stay tuned for the next Bungie Bounty on Xbox One.
“[Super Mario Kart] is not like in the recent Mario Karts where you can be trolled by blue shells and be successively hit by 11 opponents. The fact that we still discover new strategies and beat the World Records on a weekly basis makes it really attractive.”
– Super Mario Kart world champ Julien “ScouB” Holmière, speaking to Polygon.
What makes a game like Super Mario Kart timeless?
According to devoted player Sami Cetin, at least part of it has to do with the fact that the 1992 SNES racer doesn’t have a blue shell, which first debuted in Mario Kart 64 and has since inspired much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Cetin has been played Super Mario Kart competitively for decades, going so far as to establish a website dedicated to tracking Super Mario Kart time trial world records (in 1998!) that has since inspired an annual Super Mario Kart World Championship to see who’s the fastest of them all.
Cetin himself won in 2012, and in a new Polygon feature he and current world champ Julien Holmière explain why players continue to find new depths to this 25-year-old game.
“Being a top player in [Super Mario Kart] requires a huge effort, because there are so many techniques to familiarize yourself with,” Holmière told Polygon. “The handling is much harder than on the recent Mario Karts. When you first play Super Mario Kart you will barely go full speed and barely stay on the track.”
The World Championship isn’t just about racing, either; it requires would-be champions to compete in a variety of game modes, including head-to-head Battle Mode.
“It all ties in together,” Cetin explained. “A good racer can be a better racer if they have mastered Time Trials; otherwise if their opponent gets out of sight then they [will] have to rely on powerful weapons which may have a very low probability. Similarly, a tactical racer can cause problems for a Time Trial player, providing they are not too much slower. It is a game of chess in a way when playing competitively.”
To read more about how the Super Mario Kart competitive scene works, and what it means to those who participate, you can (and should) read the full article over on Polygon.
