News - Constance Is A Colorful Combo Of Hollow Knight And Splatoon, And I Dig It

Save for that blissful half-hour of Silksong that I played back in E3 2019, Constance is, so far, the best Hollow Knight-like game I've ever played. It's not exactly the same--Constance takes a page out of Splatoon's book and features a main character that can wield dangerous purple paint and submerge into puddles in order to slink past enemies or obstacles or ascend up walls--but I couldn't help but be reminded of my time spend in Hallownest. My time with the game was unfortunately quite short--I played a 20-minute Gamescom demo--but I adored what I saw of its quirky world and enjoyed how much the various designs of the robotic enemies and assortment of paint-based abilities shook up each combat encounter. Just as Hollow Knight's gameplay emulates the acrobatic dance and frenzied movements of insects, combat in Constance feels like the frenetic flourishes and flicks of a paintbrush as an artist enters the flow state.

Constance's story seems quite interesting but I'm reserving judgment until I see more of it--20 minutes just isn't enough time to get a grasp of the action-adventure game's narrative. In the game, you play as the titular heroine and explore a non-linear interconnected world that's been overtaken with danger. The Constance you're playing as is the figurative representation of the Constance in the real world, an artist. This game represents Constance's mental health journey with each of the six biomes emulating the different aspects of her psyche and personal history.

Celeste remains one of my favorite games of all time, and Constance's story feels like it gives off big Celeste energy. This is most clearly seen in Constance's mechanics, with both platforming segments and combat gauntlets standing in for figurative struggles. Using brush techniques--like sinking into the ground and becoming paint to slide under enemies, or shooting out paint to attack a far-away foe or bounce off a spike, for example--corrupts Constance. If you cool off, the corruption stops but if you use too many of the techniques in a row, Constance becomes corrupted and takes on a negative side effect until she has a chance to meditate at a checkpoint. Obviously, the pressures of burnout and the process of addressing it are more complex than that, but the mechanics capture the gist of the sensation.

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News - Gamescom ONL - Mecha Break Gets Action-Packed New Trailer, Closed Beta On Xbo

Mecha Break developer Amazing Seasun Games has revealed that the game will have its first-ever Xbox Series X|S closed beta test from August 25-27. As seen during Gamescom Opening Night Live, a new trailer for the fast-paced mecha multiplayer game also debuted, showing off more of its Zone of the Enders- and Armored Core-inspired gameplay. Exact details on how to gain access to the closed beta haven't been revealed yet, but the developer says that you can stay tuned to its social media platforms for updates.

A closed beta test for Mecha Break was recently held on PC. Amazing Seasun Games says that it received valuable feedback from these sessions, which saw a peak of 51,000 concurrent players on Steam and over 120,000 on the game’s launcher in China.

The game is set in the distant future after a huge cataclysmic event called "The Catastrophe" has all but destroyed Earth and has seen survivors battle each other over control of a dangerous material called Eruptive Inorganic Carbide that emerged following the planet-wide devastation.

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News - Sniper Elite: Resistance Revealed At Gamescom With A New Main Character

Rebellion Developments has announced Sniper Elite: Resistance during Gamescom Opening Night Live's pre-show. According to the debut trailer, it will focus (at least partly) around the warfront in France. It also stars Harry Hawker, a soldier previously used in co-op sessions as the second player's character to assist long-time series protagonist Karl Fairburne. This time, however, Hawker is the star in a storyline set alongside the events of Sniper Elite 5.

We expect plenty of x-ray views of skulls exploding, and there is a very high chance of getting to shoot Hitler in his one testicle, if this game is faithful to both history and its series. Multiplayer modes, including the asymmetrical PvP mode, Invasion, will also return to the game.

Sniper Elite: Resistance is the latest in a long line of third-person stealth-shooter games that dates back to 2005. Thus far, Fairburne--an OSS operative during World War 2--has conducted missions in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany.

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News - Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket Is A Streamlined TCG Experience For Your Pho

During the Pokemon World Championships closing ceremonies in Honolulu, Hawaii, The Pokemon Company introduced a trailer for Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket, a new game based on the popular collectible card game, which is coming to mobile devices on October 30.

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket is a streamlined TCG experience, which allows players to open packs and collect cards with a simple finger swipe. Collected cards will be stored in in-game albums, and players will be able to build decks and battle against friends in quick matchups, all of which is showcased in the new trailer.

The app will feature both existing cards and cards exclusive to Pokemon TCG Pocket, including some with special artwork that can be rotated for a simulated 3D effect. "Immersive" cards, meanwhile, will let the player "enter the world" of the card's art, which will give them an extended look at the full art piece of the featured Pokemon.

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News - The Plucky Squire Feels Like The Ideal Game For A Parent To Play With Their K

If I was a father, I think I'd love playing a game like The Plucky Squire with my kid--based on a few of the early chapters I played, its plotline seems straightforward and it's mechanically simple while also offering some fun variety in its assortment of minigames. Plus, the game features a story that intriguingly deals with themes about fate and choice, and then frames that against childhood passions and interests. The Plucky Squire feels like one of those stories I so clearly remember experiencing when I was 10 or 11 years old and loving for how it broached symbolism and metaphors in a way that was more complex than what I had experienced at age five.

The Plucky Squire has a fantastic set-up: You're playing as the hero of a children's book written by a kid destined to be an author one day. You've been preordained to beat the evil wizard not only in this story but in every book by this author. Said wizard isn't a fan, and so instead opts to magically eject you from your picture-perfect world, giving him the leeway to change the events of the book. But his actions unintentionally provide you with the opportunity to fight him--no longer confined to an author's machinations, you can return to and exit the book to leapfrog between pages and rearrange words. This lets you circumnavigate roadblocks, find new weapons, and solve puzzles.

It's a pretty cool story, albeit one that I didn't see delve into its narrative themes as much as I'd like in its opening hours. There's a fascinating throughline here about people defined by their fate--the hero is doing all he can to return his book to what it once was and secure the predestined roles that he, his adversary, and his allies must play. And at the same time, the hero is specifically doing this because he's been told that if his story ends differently, the child who wrote the hero's books will become depressed and uninspired and give up writing, a loss for the real world and the stories he will write one day. That's an incredible premise that questions the nature of free will but the game seems to drop it. In the first few hours at least, the game largely ignores the terrifying implications of book characters realizing they are nothing more than a collection of paper and words.

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