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  News - Here’s The Full Lineup For Castlevania Anniversary Collection On Switch
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2019, 02:16 AM - Forum: Nintendo Discussion - No Replies

Here’s The Full Lineup For Castlevania Anniversary Collection On Switch

I get it that it’s nice to have a collection about the eariler games in the series, this being an anniversary collection, it makes sense to go where the series actually started. And there are some nice games in there.

But really, no SOTN? No GBA/DS games?

I was hoping more for a “here are the best games the franchise offered” instead of “here are the first games from the franchise”. I think they shoul’ve labelled it the “Castlevania Origins Collection”. It would’ve been a more accurate name for this compilation.

But let’s just say I’m kind of disapointed. I was really thinking I’d be able to play SOTN on the go (like I did on PSP some time ago through the Dracula X chronicles), along with some GBA ones I missed (only played Cicrle of the Moon back in the days). Bummer.

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  News - Review: Cuphead – The Xbox Masterpiece Becomes An Essential Purchase On Switch
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2019, 02:16 AM - Forum: Nintendo Discussion - No Replies

Review: Cuphead – The Xbox Masterpiece Becomes An Essential Purchase On Switch


It’s a well-known fact that teamwork makes a dream work. Console wars are all well and good, but when great games are made available on multiple systems, the ultimate winner is the player. The recent love-in we’ve been seeing between Nintendo and Microsoft started a while back when Minecraft was released on Nintendo systems, and grew stronger when the two paired up to passive-aggressively taunt Sony’s refusal to embrace cross-platform multiplayer.

Now, though, we’re being treated to the most impressive sign of their partnership yet: a Switch port of Cuphead, one of the most critically acclaimed games on the Xbox One and a title that was an Xbox console exclusive (until now, obviously). Not only that, but in a future update the game is going to receive Xbox Live integration, including the ability to unlock Xbox achievements. Yes, it’s fair to say that Nintendo and Microsoft are best buds just now, and Switch owners are starting to get the benefits of that.


Cuphead is already much loved by the Xbox community, so for those already familiar with it here’s all you need to know: the Switch version is a near-perfect port. For everyone else new to the game, read on.

When Cuphead and his brother Mugman enter the Devil’s Casino, the Devil himself offers them a bet: double their money or forfeit their souls. Naturally, the big man wins, but he gives the pair a chance to redeem themselves: if they can chase down other debtors who are on the run from the Devil and collect their souls instead, he’ll let the drinks-based duo go free. Cue a series of extremely difficult action stages in which you have to take out a bunch of boss characters on your way to freedom.

Cuphead mainly consists of two types of level: run-and-gun stages and boss battles. The former are much fewer in number (there are only six in total) and are straightforward enough affairs – get to the end of the stage with at least some health intact – but it’s the 19 boss encounters which are the real meat of this game, and the ones that will test your abilities to their limits.


In case you’ve missed out on its notoriety on other systems, Cuphead is known for being an exceptionally difficult game. The reality is that, yes, it can be tricky at times, but it’s not like it hits you with an endless onslaught of abuse: it’s more about pattern recognition. The boss fights may be a little longer than those in other action platformers, but the same general principle applies: learn each boss’s attack patterns, figure out how to avoid each type of attack, discover its weak spots and let it have it until it eventually keels over.

Most players’ frustration will likely lie with the bosses’ random nature; although they tend to have three unique phases, each with their own sets of attacks, these attacks are generally chosen at random throughout each phase. This means you can’t stand there thinking,“Right, he’s going to do this attack, then he follows up with that attack, then I can get him”, as if you were learning a sequence of fight choreography: instead, you have to wait to see which of their attacks they’ll use next and react quickly (and often you won’t have a lot of time to do this).

At the risk of sounding like an insufferable “git gud” macho man, practice really does make perfect with this one: this is a game where you’re expected to take on these boss fights over and over again and slowly learn every attack permutation as you edge ever closer to completely defeating them. While there is a ‘Simple’ mode, which greatly reduces each boss’s health and generally makes things more manageable for beginners, it’s not an ideal solution: it removes a lot of boss attack types – even entire phases at times – and doesn’t give you a soul contract when you beat them, meaning you can’t reach the final stages and beat the game. By all means, consider it a way to ease into Cuphead’s parry and weapon-changing mechanics, but you’re going to want to switch to Regular difficulty as soon as possible to make sure you don’t miss out on a lot of the game’s charm.


It’s this charm where Cuphead’s real strength lies. Designed in the style of 1930s Fleischer and Disney animations (think Betty Boop and Steamboat Willie) and nailing that style with laser precision, it’s easily one of the most visually jaw-dropping 2D platformers you’ll ever play. Everything is of an immaculate standard, from its hand-drawn animated characters to its deliberately blurry and scratched film look, to its fantastic original jazz and big band soundtrack: it’s not an exaggeration to say this game is a piece of art.

Thankfully, this Switch port handles everything masterfully, too. Image quality is more or less on a par with the Xbox One and PC versions – bear in mind this is a game that’s designed to look blurry and low-res anyway – loading times are nice and quick, and everything runs at a smooth 60 frames per second the vast majority of the time. There are occasional hiccups, most notably during the more intense run-and-gun moments, but these are the exception rather than the norm.

The Switch version also adds a few new features, which are also being added to the other versions in a free update. Mugman – who usually plays the Luigi role and appears during co-op play – can now be selected from the start in single-player mode, just in case you like your heroes wearing blue instead of red. There are also a bunch of new character animations included; while these are generally minor things like new pre-battle taunts, they’re still a welcome addition.


In all, Cuphead’s short bursts of action make it a perfect game for the Switch. Playing it in handheld mode is an absolute delight (though you may need to change the default controls for comfort’s sake) and it runs almost as well as it does on more powerful systems. If this is the sort of thing we can expect more of as a result of Nintendo and Microsoft being best pals, this could very well be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Conclusion


Cuphead was an absolute masterpiece when it launched on Xbox 18 months ago and nothing has been sacrificed in its move to the Switch. It’s the same visually jaw-dropping, aurally delightful, knuckle-whiteningly difficult game it was on Microsoft’s console and the Switch’s library is all the better for its presence. Its focus on intense boss battles won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into we can’t recommend it enough.

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  Microsoft - News recap from ‘Inside Xbox’ April episode
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2019, 02:16 AM - Forum: Windows - No Replies

News recap from ‘Inside Xbox’ April episode

Today, on our April episode of Inside Xbox, we made a big announcement about a brand-new Xbox One console, revealed some major news regarding Xbox Game Pass, unveiled some new features coming to Game Bar, shared info on new titles coming to Xbox One Backward Compatibility, and much more. For a full recap, read on below or watch the replay of Inside Xbox episode above when the VOD is available.

Introducing the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition

The big news coming out of today’s show was our reveal of The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, which was created for those who prefer to find and play their games digitally and are looking for the most affordable way to play Xbox games. The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition comes bundled with three of our most compelling and popular games – Minecraft, Forza Horizon 3 and Sea of Thieves. It also comes with a special offer to get started with Xbox Game Pass. Available for pre-order today at $249.99 USD, the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition is $50 USD less than Xbox One S, and we expect to maintain at least that price difference between the two consoles going forward. Read more here.

Get the Best of Both Worlds with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

In June 2017, we launched Xbox Game Pass – with the goal of empowering gamers all over the world to discover their next favorite game. A top request fans have shared from day one is to provide an option to get Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold in a single membership. We heard you. Today, we’re excited to announce Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will include all of the benefits of Xbox Live Gold with Xbox Game Pass. That means the full Xbox Game Pass library of over 100 high quality games, and Xbox Live Gold online multiplayer, in one convenient membership for $14.99 a month. With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, gamers will be able to play together on the most-advanced multiplayer network and discover their next favorite game. Read more here.

Brand-new Features are Coming to Game bar

A few weeks ago, we shared that Game bar on Windows 10 was getting a major overhaul. From Spotify integration to improved social experiences that enable you to see what your friends are playing, quickly text or voice chat, and create memes to share via Twitter, there are a number of ways that the team is making this the best version of Game bar yet based on community feedback. Game bar is an overlay built into Windows so it works over any PC game. In order to make the overlay your own, we added the ability to customize Game bar. Choose which widgets to show/hide, where you want them located, and even pin specific widgets. Find your own favorite Game bar layout to enhance your gaming experience. In addition to all of those improvements, today we shared that our Looking for Group (LFG) feature will also be added to Game bar, allowing you to quickly and easily find people to bring into battle with you (or, if you prefer, battle against). To try out these features, launch the Xbox Insider Hub on your Windows 10 PC. Read more here.

New Competitive Game Mode and Story-Rich Quests are Coming to Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves Executive Producer Joe Neate made an appearance on this week’s show to share more on the updates the Rare team announced this morning. First there’s The Arena, a brand-new competitive game mode that offers all the best bits of Sea of Thieves concentrated into fast-paced and fun 24-minute matches. For players looking for rich and immersive new quests, there are Tall Tales. These are epic story-driven quests that play out in the shared world, with the first collection – Shores of Gold – taking players across the seas to experience a story of love, honor and betrayal in search of the mythical Shores of Gold. Finally, there’s a brand-new Trading Company, The Hunter’s Call. This will offer players new ways to play and progress and includes a raft of new features including fishing (with 50 different types of fish to catch), cooking and hunting. Watch the new trailer here.

Go Behind the Scenes of Gears Esports with the ELEAGUE Gears Summer Series

In partnership with ELEAGUE, Xbox announced the ELEAGUE Gears Summer Series: The Bonds and Betrayals of Brotherhood – a six-part event series and live tournament focused on the stories and players behind the world of Gears Esports with the first episode debuting on TBS, Friday, June 14, at 11 pm ET/PT. ELEAGUE will also feature the worldwide debut of Gears 5 Versus multiplayer, culminating in The Invitational at the end of the season, within ELEAGUE Arena at Turner Studios in Atlanta from Saturday-Sunday, July 13-14. Read more here.

Six Beloved Titles Join Xbox One Backward Compatibility with Xbox One X Enhancements

Announcing new titles coming to Xbox One Backward Compatibility is always exciting, but it’s even better when we can reveal that said titles are being enhanced for Xbox One X. Today, we were happy to share that Ninja Gaiden 2, Fable 2, Fable 3, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction, and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent are all enhanced for Xbox One X. Best of all, they’re all available starting today! Remember, Xbox 360 games enhanced for Xbox One X run at a higher resolution and 9X the original pixel count. The power of Xbox One X enables the Xbox 360 emulator to showcase the very best version possible with the existing assets—all without touching the game code. Today’s additions join our existing catalog for a total of 62 Xbox One X Enhanced Backward Compatible games.

Exploring Some Exciting New Games on the Horizon

During the show, we took a closer look at some games that’ll be hitting Xbox One in the coming months. First up was Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the new Star Wars game from Respawn Entertainment that was revealed this weekend at Star Wars Celebration. Next, got up close and personal with Rage 2, the upcoming shooter from Bethesda that offers up one of the wildest post-apocalyptic settings we’ve ever seen. Finally, we shared that Warhammer Chaosbane is set to launch on June 4th. If you love the warhammer universe or some good old-fashioned dungeon crawling, then this game is for you. Best of all, the next closed beta is about to start in just two days. That’s right: On April 18th, you’ll be able to jump into the action as Bragi Axebiter, the Dwarf-killer and Elessa the Wood Elf, who will be joining the soldier and high elf classes from the first beta. This means that all four classes will be playable at once, and in a whole new region!

Announcing Details for Xbox FanFest: E3 2019

On today’s episode, FanFest Lead Chris Munson shared that this marks the 5th year of FanFest, which explains why he was so excited to reveal brand-new details on Xbox FanFest at E3 2019 during his segment. With E3 2019 marking our biggest E3 presence ever, we’re thrilled to share that 700 tickets will be available for E3 FanFest, which will include experiencing the Xbox Briefing, a FanFest Showcase, and much more. Chris broke down some of the details on things like the ticketing process and how you can bring a guest along with you, as well as what you’ll get with your ticket. There’s a lot of goodness this year, so be sure to check out our full FanFest post for the complete details! Read more here.

Phil Spencer Talks E3 2019, Xbox Studios, and More

To close out today’s show, we had a special guest appearance by the Head of Xbox himself, Phil Spencer. During his segment, he talked Project xCloud and how we at Xbox put the gamer at the center of how we build our strategy and services, driven by the idea that as a gamer you should be able to play the games you want to play, on the devices you want to play them on with your friends, anywhere you go.  Spencer also talked about his excitement to be representing the broader gaming community at E3 2019. We recently announced plans for our biggest presence ever, including Xbox E3 FanFest, and the diversity of the content across Xbox and PC that we’ll be highlighting in the briefing from both Xbox Game Studios and third-party partners from around the world.

We hope you enjoyed the show, and we’ll see you next month!

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  Mobile - Review: Dungeon Warfare 2
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2019, 02:16 AM - Forum: New Game Releases - No Replies

Review: Dungeon Warfare 2

When a genre is defined by immobile structures shooting at lanes of slow-moving massed minions it’s easy to gain a reputation for being predictable. You could be forgiven for dismissing tower defense games as dull casual money grabs, especially as they become loaded up with IAP.

Not so much in Dungeon Warfare II. This game takes the classic Dungeon Keeper theme and builds on it with open, tile-based construction and extremely physical traps. Why should you just pelt your enemies with arrows when you can hurl them into bottomless pits, smash them against walls, or drag them apart with harpoons? Dungeon Warfare II has a surprisingly robust physics system for a game made of such tiny pixels, and one of the greatest joys in the game is sending a whole row of armor clad knights to the bottom of a river with a row of push traps.

Dungeon Warfare 1

Unluckily, it’s often not so easy. The environments in Dungeon Warfare II are often quite mercurial. The changing maps are partly on you: the most useful trap you can lay is the basic barrier, which mobs avoid like the plague even if it means running your gauntlet of spinning blades and axes instead. On the other hand, those pesky heroes also have some tricks up their sleeves, since some tiles can be destroyed, whether by errant missiles or the deliberate efforts of minion miners who tear apart your carefully constructed mazes. What’s more, other mobs will zipline over pits or build bridges across them. You can’t sleep on Dungeon Warfare II or you’ll quickly find your best-laid plans blown up with a mass of dwarven bombers.

The map itself is also frequently not your friend. Walls move, crushing some mobs to death but also opening up new paths for your enemies. Doors offer choke points but sometimes also shortcuts. Mine carts can do a lot of the work of running down heroes for you, but will also occasionally detonate a load of dynamite in the worst possible place.

Dungeon Warfare 2

Each map then becomes something of a puzzle. It’s not simply a matter of spotting and defending choke points, but finding places where your traps can work in concert to multiply their efficacy, predicting the movements of the minions, preparing for new paths to open, and managing your budget. On top of this, you’ll have to compensate when your plans inevitably go awry.

All this tile-based complexity means that what Dungeon Warfare does really well is give the player a strong sense of place. It’s not just lanes and minions and towers, it’s demon-haunted tombs and lost jungle temples and abandoned ghostly mineshafts. Although the different environments are largely just palette swaps without gameplay effect, those switched pixels do a lot of work in building the game’s atmosphere.

Dungeon Warfare 3

Dungeon Warfare II is also massive. Let’s start with just the 60 difficult and distinct levels you’ll want to work your way through. You can control the difficulty of each of these levels by putting buffs or restrictions down with ‘runes’ you pick up through the game. These runes grant you bonus experience points in exchange for increasing the speed, number, or ferocity of the minions you’ll face. Each map also has several bonus objectives, like avoiding any damage or completing the map in a time limit, which are occasionally mutually exclusive, requiring multiple, wildly different approaches to clear each map completely and unlock everything. There are also unlocks located directly on the maps that require some creative trap placement to blast open. When you’re all done with those, the game will also generate more levels for you procedurally–and given the inherent unpredictability of the game’s basic design, these can be almost as much fun as the crafted maps.

To tackle all these levels, you’re looking at over thirty distinct traps, each of which has several levels of upgrades. These traps are rarely dull and usually have some kind of special effect that can totally transform your approach to a level or symbiotic effect with other traps. Chakrams bounce around, making them a great choice for tight quarters compared to your basic darts. Slime traps slow minions, making a slime/spike checkerboard on your dungeon floor a deadly combination.

Dungeon Warfare 4

If that’s not enough, you can also unlock skills that have universal effects and can grant you special powers. These are on three tracks of complementary abilities, letting you take on the game through aggression, finesse, or massive piles of cash. Then there’s the special items you can pick up from fallen heroes that offer their own buffs. Oh yeah: none of this costs any extra money; this is a purely premium game with no IAP.

It’s easy to bemoan the dearth of complex, satisfying gameplay on mobile, and especially in the tower defense genre, but you can’t do that here. Dungeon Warfare is certainly not the first dungeon-themed tower defense game, but it’s rare to see it done with so much verve.

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  GB Studio Released
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2019, 02:16 AM - Forum: Game Development - No Replies

GB Studio Released

GB Studio was just released.  It’s an open source MIT licensed game engine for creating top down JRPG style games for the Gameboy.  Capable of generating ROMs that can be run in an emulator, as well as playable web versions that can be uploaded to Itch.io.  Summary details of GB Studio from their website:

  • Visual game builder with no programming knowledge required.
  • Design your graphics in any editor that can output PNG files e.g. Photoshop, Tiled, Aseprite.
  • Example project included to get started right away.
  • Make top down 2D JRPG style adventure games.
  • Build real GB Rom files which can be played in an emulator or on device using USB Carts.
  • Build a HTML5 playable game that also works on mobile and can deployed to any webserver or uploaded to Itch.io.
  • Built for macOS, Windows and Linux.
  • Supports both macOS light and dark mode.
  • Includes the full tools that were used to build Untitled GB Game, free to play on Itch.io.

The source code is available on GitHub.  Windows, Linux and MacOS downloads are available here.  Check GB Studio out in action in the video below.

GameDev News


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  News - Smash Bros. Ultimate's Pichu, Pokemon Trainer, And Isabelle Amiibo Dated
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-18-2019, 08:04 PM - Forum: Lounge - No Replies

Smash Bros. Ultimate's Pichu, Pokemon Trainer, And Isabelle Amiibo Dated

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's big 3.0 update wasn't the only Smash news Nintendo had to share this week. The company has also announced that a trio of new Amiibo figures are on the way, and they're slated to hit stores this summer.

Starting July 26, players will be able to pick up the Pichu, Pokemon Trainer, and Isabelle Super Smash Bros. Amiibo at retailers. Nintendo hasn't specified how much these new figures will cost, but previous Smash Ultimate Amiibo have run for $16 USD each. You can take a look at images of the new figures below.

No Caption Provided
Gallery image 1Gallery image 2

Nintendo has released nine other Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Amiibo thus far, with even more on the way this year. The most recent batch, which consisted of Young Link, Daisy, and Ken, arrived earlier this month. Figures of Squirtle, Ivysaur, Snake, and Simon Belmont are also slated to release sometime in 2019.

In the meantime, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's 3.0 update arrives today, April 17. The biggest addition is undoubtedly Persona 5's Joker, who is joining the roster as a playable character. Joker arrives alongside a new stage, Mementos, as well as an assortment of music tracks taken from the Persona series. The whole Joker pack is available for $6 / £4.49, or as part of the $25 Fighters Pass.

In addition to Joker, the 3.0 update introduces a Stage Builder to the game, allowing players to create and share their own levels. Additionally, the Nintendo Switch Online phone app is receiving an update that adds the previously announced Smash World hub, which lets players view user-created videos and stages. Finally, the update adds a new assortment of Persona and Sonic Mii Fighter costumes to purchase.

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  News - Video: Here’s The Mortal Kombat 11 Gameplay Reveal For Nintendo Switch
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-18-2019, 08:04 PM - Forum: Nintendo Discussion - No Replies

Video: Here’s The Mortal Kombat 11 Gameplay Reveal For Nintendo Switch

Mortal Kombat 11 Official Nintendo Switch Gameplay Reveal 0 20 Screenshot

For months now, Switch owners have been begging NetherRealm Studios to share some proper footage of Mortal Kombat 11 running on Nintendo’s hybrid device. Last week, we got a measly three-second look at the game up and running on this platform and now a slightly more substantial clip has been uploaded to YouTube the week before the Switch version’s North American release.

This time around it’s an actual gameplay reveal. While it’s still not quite as direct as we would have liked, and seems to be made up predominantly of cutscenes, there are enough fight scenes sprinkled in between. Even if there are no health bars on display in the below footage – we’ll let it slide, for now. On a more positive note, the handheld footage that is on display definitely looks silky smooth and the graphics appear to be surprisingly crisp.


At least now we have some evidence Mortal Kombat 11 is in a playable state on the Switch. It’s a relief to finally see this after the series’ co-creator Ed Boon recently mentioned just how great it was on this particular platform.

So, what do you think of this footage? Are you convinced yet? Will you be picking up the eleventh entry in the Mortal Kombat series on release? Tell us down below.

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  News - Reminder: You Can Now Play As Joker In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-18-2019, 08:04 PM - Forum: Nintendo Discussion - No Replies

Reminder: You Can Now Play As Joker In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Joker

Update: Nintendo’s servers appear to be experiencing some technical difficulties right now.



After months of rumours, speculation and teasers, Version 3.0 of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has finally arrived. What does this mean? Most of all it means you can play as Joker from Persona 5 if you’ve purchased the first Challenger Pack or the Fighters Pass.

Apart from the popular Atlus character joining the roster as a paid DLC fighter, the Version 3.0 update adds a lot of additional content and modes to the game, entirely for free. This includes the Stage Builder – as previously rumoured, a video editor, a new shared content mode and Smash World. To find out more about all of this, take a look at the below video or check out our previous post.

If that wasn’t enough, Nintendo has also release the first round of Mii Fighter costumes. These new costumes are based on Persona 5, Persona 4, Persona 3 and Sonic The Hedgehog. If you’re interested in any of them, you’ll need to fork out a bit more, as they are not included in the Fighters Pass.

If you’re still on the fence, you can always opt with the standalone Challenger Pack. This will set you back $5.99 / £5.39 and includes Joker, the Mementos stage, and 11 Persona music tracks. If you purchase this first pack, you’ll also receive access to a Joker route in Classic Mode and open up a special version of the Spirit Board. Alternatively, you can go with the Fighters Pass for $24.99 / £22.49, which gives you access to Joker and four other Challenger Packs – it’s also cheaper in the long run.


Have you tried out Joker yet? How are you finding the new modes in Version 3.0? Tell us down below!

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  PC - Katana ZERO
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-18-2019, 02:22 PM - Forum: New Game Releases - No Replies

Katana ZERO



Slice through time to take back what's rightfully yours in a neo-noir, instant-death action platformer.

Publisher: Adult Swim

Release Date: Apr 18, 2019

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  News - Review: The Padre – A Clunky But Scary Survival Horror Offering
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-18-2019, 01:58 PM - Forum: Nintendo Discussion - No Replies

Review: The Padre – A Clunky But Scary Survival Horror Offering


If there’s one genre that truly feels at home in the interactive world of videogames, its horror. Reading a spooky tale from Edgar Allen Poe or sitting down to watch something from the ingenious mind of Jordan Peele might get your senses on edge, but feeling intrinsically part of that terror is something else entirely. It’s a unique ingredient that’s made the likes of Resident Evil and Amnesia as important to the genre as any TV show or film, but just like those other mediums, it can sometimes take itself a little too seriously.

The Padre is very much a survival horror game, complete with a creepy atmosphere, an even creepier mansion and yes, you guessed it, the odd zombie creeping about. But while the likes of Layers of Fear: Legacy will aim to make you question your own personal sanity, indie studio Shotgun with Glitters wants to unsettle you and make you crack a smile. You’ll solve environmental puzzles, fight a roster of mean-spirited monsters and make time to crack a gruff one-liner or two. It’s all in a day’s work for this virtual vicar.


The titular character is a man of the cloth who splits his time between clerical duties and demon hunting – you know, as you do. However, when an important cardinal goes missing, our sardonic holy man finds himself heading home to face off against a powerful evil without the comfort of his usual weapons. Will he solve the mystery and save the cardinal? Or is our hero destined for an eternity of torment at the hands of some dodgy demons?

At first glance, the voxel-based graphics – which look like something built entirely out of Minecraft blocks – seem instantly at odds with the succinctly adult nature of the game’s setting and gameplay, but the contrast really works in The Padre’s favour. With some smooth animations and a suitably gloomy lighting model, the contrast makes the eeriness of its atmosphere juxtapose even further. However, that design choice can sometimes make locating certain items or switches a little trickier than we’d like – especially when searching darker areas – so some puzzles can occasionally become frustrating.


While you control The Padre with the left analog stick, much of your interactions with the world are contextual. As a result, the game plays more like a point-and-click adventure where you’ll need to inspect and combine items to create weapons and tools to solve puzzles. Each new location sits on-screen like a grisly diorama, with the camera panning in and out depending on where you roam. Considering so much of The Padre’s rooms and chambers are often bathed in darkness (even with your trusty oil lamp to hand), it’s far too easy to lose your bearings. It’s an issue that really rears its ugly head when you’re trying to evade a zombie or particularly persistent demon.

The wading-through-treacle speed you move at and aforementioned clunky fixed camera are clearly there by design. This is a game that wears its love for Resident Evil and other less timeless horror classics such as Alone in the Dark upon its bloody sleeves, but even as a tribute, you’re soon reminded that the world has moved on from tank controls for a reason. However, despite these issues, The Padre still has a fantastic sense of personality.

The voice acting strays a little too close to the drawl of Mark Hamill’s Joker at times, but the result is a more tongue-in-cheek Max Payne where our blocky hero always has a quick quip to unleash. You’ll walk through libraries and have to dodge flying books like something out of Ghostbusters, or sneak around a zombie nanny sat reading a bedtime story. Cute little touches such as suits of armour that turn to watch you go by, only to snap back into place every time you look back at them, show just how far this little indie has come since its burgeoning years in Early Access on Steam.


Combat can be a little clunky, especially when you’re fighting more powerful enemies and you’re often striking at hitboxes that tend to appear and disappear at their own leisure. You’re also often scrabbling for enough firepower to take on enemies, and when paired with your slow movement, enemy encounters soon become a chore. Which is a shame, because there are some really interesting enemy designs to battle/evade in voxel form.

Conclusion


While The Padre is a far from perfect indie offering, its mixture of satisfyingly challenging puzzles, a dark sense of humour and a perennial love for classic survival horror makes for an intriguing addition to the genre. The issues with combat and the sometimes infuriating nature of its puzzles can grate, but with a little extra polish The Padre has the potential to be a real hidden gem on Nintendo Switch.

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