Rise once again Tarnished, answer the call of the kindly Miquella and follow his pilgrimage through the lands of shadow. Journey across a new land filled with beautiful and grotesque landmarks to behold. Discover a new cast of characters to introduce yourself to and follow their journeys. Not only that, uncover an arsenal of new weaponry and magic to wield and unleash upon your foes. Remember one important thing, when you get to the Shadow Realm, you are going to die. A lot. Shadow of the Erdtree is the newly released DLC of FromSoftware’s critically acclaimed 2022 title Elden Ring. It is a huge expansion on top of the base game taking place solely within the impressively massive Shadow Realm, where you once again step into the shoes of the Tarnished as they answer the call of Miquella.

The content can be accessed once you defeat Mohg in the base game (I highly recommend using a guide for this if you’ve forgotten how to access his arena as a returning player). From there you are teleported into a dark cave in total silence and as you make your way outside you are greeted by an absolutely stunning skybox. A gigantic golden tree looms in the distance, draped in cloth-like shadow, the world washed with different shades of gold and black and a score rises alongside as the reveal happens, the opening minute sets the tone and easily reminds you why you fell in love with this game two years ago.

The world of Elden Ring has never been so scary in scope

The map is massive, with more verticality in the placement of locations, layering them above and below the player. It is so easy to get lost in this world and I don’t mean in the sense of wandering with no direction. You can fall deep into the beauty and horror of the lands you travel. The world is littered with landmarks in the distance and just travelling over to them will start a Rube Goldberg machine of events taking you off the beaten path and on an adventure. The sense of discovery in this game feels so natural. You will find secret areas, items, bosses and accomplishments that feel like you have earned them with no guidance, just your own intuition. You made this discovery possible by just having a nosey around the sides of a cliff or behind a waterfall.

I’ve found myself re-assigning my levels constantly during my playthrough. This is mostly due to the new arrangement of weapons available (shoutout to the ‘DryLeaf Arts’ martial arts weapon). Each one provides its own unique style of play and has been tremendously fun to play around with so far. I highly recommend you use a save file with most of the base game explored. At the very least grab the bell bearings to easily have access to buy all purchasable smithing stones back at the Roundtable from the Bell Maidens so you can hastily upgrade the new weapons as you acquire them and jump back into the DLC to try them out. Weapons are great but what you use them on is what’s important. Shadow of the Erdtree has a plethora of new enemies and bosses for the Tarnished to run at.

Some of these new foes are returning from the base game but the new additions will leave you either in awe as you see them approach or shout out in fear when you see them charging you down. FromSoftware’s approach to balancing this DLC was the introduction of ‘Scadutree Fragments and Revered Ashes’.

Beware the shadow of the Erdtree

Fragments will increase your attack and defence while ashes strengthen your summons. These only apply inside the DLC, and they do not affect stats when you return to the base game. I cannot stress this enough you need to collect these things! I entered at level 215 and I was being killed in either two or three hits by regular enemies. The difference these upgrades make is night and day. A number of them can be found by exploring the opening area of the DLC.

Shadow of the Erdtree is a beautiful expansion on an already beautiful game. I’ve not finished the DLC as of writing this and most of that is because I just can’t stop running off in the opposite direction of the main path looking for stuff to discover. It’s big, bold, brutal and beautiful. My only gripe is the game has great difficulty keeping a playable framerate in some areas. I had to stop using one of my weapon arts during an encounter due to the game chugging so much.

These are things that get ironed out down the line in a patch hopefully. I really enjoyed my time and once I regained my muscle memory of the controls and familiarised myself with my build again, I left like I was catching up with an old friend I hadn’t seen in years. Just picking back up where we left off like no time had passed at all. FromSoftware has created a magical world again. They could easily be looking at even more awards for Elden Ring due to their hard work and craft.

These words were written in blood by the Tarnished Lewis Magee.

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The Löckelle Motor Park pack is now available for free to all players on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. Some countries do have to wait until the 26th of December before the DLC arrives. These include Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

The content pack, previously released as an early-access pre-order bonus for Xbox players, includes a challenging obstacle course and two formidable monster trucks to take to the track. It is available as a free download on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 and in the game’s Mod Manager on PC. Teardown’s driving enthusiasts will have even more to look forward to in spring 2024 when the next premium DLC, “Folkrace,” adds a series of destructive racing game modes, three racetracks, and a fleet of new vehicles.

Winner of multiple awards, including Excellence in Design at the Independent Games Festival, Teardown’s realistic, real-time physics and fully destructible, voxel-simulated, ray-traced world give players immense freedom to discover unique emergent gameplay solutions to nearly any challenge. The game features a fully destructible 40-mission heist campaign, a Sandbox Mode offering endless possibilities, community-made mods on both PC and consoles and more.

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2023-09-21

The Planet Zoo: Oceania Pack has landed – that’s right, folks. It’s that time again. The 15th downloadable content pack for Planet Zoo, the Oceania Pack is live!

At this point, Frontier Development has established a pretty regular cadence with their DLCs. Some – like the Oceania Pack – focus equally on new animals & new building pieces. Others, like the Arid Animal Pack, are much more creature-centric. That said, while the new Polynesian-themed building pieces in this DLC are great, I would absolutely say that the new animal additions are far and away the stars of this experience.

Continuing another pattern, Frontier has also released a brand spanking new (and free!) content update, 1.15, alongside the new pack. As always, continue (or skip) to the end of the review to get our take on this.

Tiki-tastic Polynesian Pacific Props

The Oceania Pack adds yet another strong, classic “theme-park” style theme to Planet Zoo. Yet another kind of thatched roof (the first two being the South American and African styles). Fake glowing lava – very cool (not literally). Finally, it adds some neat “Tiki” themed props & decorations for that classic Polynesian feel.

Overall, a really nice addition to the building options. However, if you already have the South America pack, I will say that these additions feel quite same-y.

Cute, Cuddly, Classic! Animals of the Planet Zoo: Oceania Pack

As previously mentioned, despite not being an “Animal Pack” in the traditional Planet Zoo sense, the new animals really are the stars of this show. Every new entry is really gorgeous and, frankly, adorable. The new animals are:

• Kiwi
• Tasmanian devil
• Little Penguin
• Quokka
• Spectacled flying fox (this one is a walkthrough habitat animal!)

Frankly, unlike some of the previous packs, there’s not a dud among these. I particularly adore the Quokka and its utterly adorable grin. The animals are all brilliant, they fit in with the new plants & building pieces beautifully, and they fill out the catalogue of creatures admirably. Slam dunk from an animal perspective!

New Career Challenge: Goodwin Family Wildlife Park

Any avid GamEir readers who may have read my previous Planet Zoo pack reviews knows that I am sick and tired of scenarios involving Tiffany Summers, the clueless socialite. No shade on Tiffany – it’s just that a bit of variety would be nice!

Well, we’re in luck with this pack – Emma Goodwin makes her return in the “Goodwin Family Wildlife Park”. The challenge itself is nothing to write home about – not too easy not too hard. What it does bring, however, is yet another gorgeous canvas on which the player can build their dream zoo. A tropical Pacific island, covered in traditional buildings made of natural materials. In classic Frontier fashion, this map shows off the newly built pieces and plants introduced in the pack, hopefully inspiring the player to make use of them themselves.

Overall – fine career challenge, an excellent map!

The Planet Zoo: Oceania Pack – Delightful or dud?

At this point in Planet Zoo‘s development, the DLCs are falling into an unfortunately predictable pattern. Released regularly, each new DLC adds some excellent new content that stands alone. Frontier can’t assume that any given player owns any of the previous DLCs. As such, every one of them pretty much brings exactly the same new experience to the zookeeper fanbase.

There’s nothing wrong with that at all, of course. However, what this means is that my recommendation for this pack is the same as many of the previous ones. That is: if you’re dying to use either the animals or the new Oceania-themed build items in your zoo, go ahead and pick this up. If nothing jumps out at you, you’re not missing anything special.

Click to view slideshow.

Finally – the 1.15 Update!

Normally, Frontier add 3-4 very minor changes with each update. This time, however, they’re bringing something very special: viewing domes!

I can’t imagine any zoo I build from now on won’t include this. The ability to get your guests up close and personal with the animals without the hassle (and danger!) of a walkthrough habitat can’t be understated. I can’t wait to see what all the creative Planet Zoo players do with this brilliant new feature.

There are a few extra bits added along with these new domes, but nothing too exciting – check out the excellent summary here on the Planet Zoo Wiki.

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2023-07-13

The Planet Zoo: Arid Animal Pack is the latest in a long line of DLC for Planet Zoo. It is the 14th content pack DLC for the game, bringing the grand total amount you’d need to spend to have every DLC to just shy of €200. Now that’s an investment!

That said, we here at GamEir love Planet Zoo and have had the privilege of reviewing the gamut of DLCs as they came out. So, does the Planet Zoo: Arid Animal Pack hold up against the rest?

Short answer: yes, to an extent. Long answer: it’s a good addition, but is perhaps a little uninspiring. Longer answer: see the rest of the review!

By hoof, by claw and by spine! The Animals of the Planet Zoo: Arid Animal Pack

Let’s get down to business (to defeat the Huns). This is an animal pack, for a game in which you build habitats to hold animals. And people pay to come see those animals. So, how are they? How are the animals?!

They’re… Pretty good. The new furry & scale friends in this DLC are as follows:

• Dromedary camel
• African crested porcupine
• Addax
• Somali wild ass
• Black rhino
• Sand cat
• Dama gazelle
• Desert horned viper

As usual, each and every one of these animals is lovingly rendered and animated. If there’s one thing you can count on Frontier Developments to do, it is design and realise utterly breathtaking animals for Planet Zoo. As usual, there’s only one word for the animal stars of this DLC: flawless!

There are a few stand-out critters in this line-up. Obviously, the Dromedary Camel is a strong entry. A classic zoo animal, popular, spectacular, and a star from back in the Zoo Tycoon days. The African Crested Porcupine is a delight, especially in motion. Watching their spines wobble to and fro as they paces their habitat is so fun. Normally, habitat animals (ie, the animals that can only live in a Dublin apartment-sized box) are fairly uninspiring – however, the Desert Horned Viper is adorable! It hides in the sandy rocks of its habitat with its little spiky nose sticking out. Definitely will be a staple for my zoos moving forward.

Finally, the Sand Cat. I love cats. I shamelessly adore cats in all their forms. The Sand Cat? Out of this world cute. Can’t get over it. 11/10. Give me more sand cats.

In summary: yes, this is another home run where the execution of the animals is concerned!

Click to view slideshow.

But is it worth the tenner?

All that said, taken in the context of the rest of the game and its packs, the Planet Zoo: Arid Animal Pack is a little lacklustre. This DLC focuses heavily on hoofed animals and on animals from Africa. Both of these animal groups are extremely heavily represented in Planet Zoo already. So, even though each animal is wonderfully done, none of them really made me go “wow!”.

Furthermore, this pack adds yet another Career scenario starring the socialite Tiffany Summers. Why, Frontier?! We’ve had so many Tiffany missions already. You clearly gave up on voicing the scenarios several DLCs ago – why not give us another character, even a new one?

Speaking of the new scenario – it’s set in a gorgeous Saudi Arabian ruin, but the mission goals are very bog standard. Nothing really standout here – build a zoo, do it well, you’ll pass the scenario. Yawn.

Overall – the Planet Zoo: Arid Animal Pack is excellent where the animals themselves are concerns. But the pack taken as a whole, and in the context of what we’ve seen so far… Not incredible. A must-buy if you dearly love any of the animals, but you won’t miss it otherwise.

Finally: the 1.14 update!

As always, Frontier has released an excellent free content update alongside the DLC. This update focuses on letting players explore their creativity and expression, by adding:

• Staff Flexi colour – players can customise their staff’s uniforms for greater than ever fashion statements
• Spitting – numerous animals can now spit and your guests (amazing, no notes)
• Scenic camera mode & cinematic route editor – new tools to help players get the perfect shot of their zoo to post on the internet for sweet internet points

All brilliant additions! Especially the spitting. Hilarious. You’ve done it again, Frontier.

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2023-05-18

Planet Zoo‘s 13th expansion, Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack has landed! Along with the standard accompanying free update (1.13), the Tropical Pack adds 5 new animals, 200+ new scenery pieces and a new campaign scenario. At this point, pretty par for the course for a Planet Zoo DLC!

Whether you’re an Attenborough-worthy conservationist or an avid architect, this DLC has something for you. Let’s jump right in.

Foosa & Friends! The animals of the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack

Alright, the meat-and-two-veg of any Planet Zoo DLC; the animals! What are we working with here? Frontier has brought us lucky zookeepers 5 brand spanking new creatures to care for. They are:

• Fossa
• Lar Gibbon
• Red River Hog
• Asian Water Monitor
• Brown-throated Sloth

4 habitat animals and 1 exhibit animal – the sloth. The sloth is a bit special in this line-up, as it’s a new entry in the rare “walkthrough exhibit” category, joining bats and butterflies.

The Brown-throated Sloth’s walkthrough exhibit is gorgeous. It’s got a glut of climbing frames crisscrossing the habitat, allowing your sloths to slowly sling themselves around your hapless guests. They’re by far the largest walkthrough habitat animal to date – larger than many of the smaller regular habitat animals. As a result, I do somewhat question Frontier’s decision to include them as an exhibit animal at all. That said, I won’t say no to another ever-rare walkthrough exhibit entry.

The other animals are all standard habitat animals, and each one is as meticulously detailed and gorgeous as we’ve come to expect from Planet Zoo. The Lar Gibbon is a standout and is sure to brighten up any zoo.

Final note – did anyone else think they made up the Fossa for Madagascar? I sure did, before playing the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack.

Temples, Tongkonan & Tiffany (again…)

Other than the animals, the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack adds scenery pieces and a new campaign mission.

The scenery pieces are absolutely gorgeous. They capture the ancient beauty of Southeast Asian temples and traditional architecture beautifully. The influences here are largely Indonesian. One big standout is the “Tongkonan-style” structures. These crescent-topped buildings are so unique and bring enormous character to any tropical-themed zoo.

Besides the main temple and Tongkonan building pieces, there’s also a wide variety of props, architectural greebles and statuary. They’ve also introduced a few new plants. Of those, the Rafflesia is the standout – how iconic!

Click to view slideshow.

The new campaign scenario of the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack brings us to Bali, where we once again meet Tiffany Summers. She premiered in the Grasslands Animal Pack and is here to bring us her wildly incompetent ways yet again. The scenario itself is nothing to write home about – basic goals, no voice acting, and thematically pretty dull. That said, the map is designed beautifully and the topography presents some unique challenges.

Tropican or Tropican’t? Is the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack worth it?

Like many of Planet Zoo‘s DLCs, the answer to this is: it depends!

If you’re a hardcore fan of Planet Zoo, then the Tropical Pack is not to be missed. Whether you’re building a lush and secluded Balian temple, or want to reenact the Fossa attack from Madagascar with some lemurs (not recommended), the quality in this DLC is flawless. That said, the architecture is very specific and there are no “wow” star animals.

If you play Planet Zoo for the campaign and its challenges, the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack could be worth a miss. The map is fine, but there’s nothing too challenging about it other than the intense topography.

Overall, this DLC is a great entry in a long line of expansions. Get it if there’s anything you’re dying not to miss or if you’re an avid DLC collector. Overwise, avoid or wait for a sale.

The 1.13 Update: Socialites & QOL Changes

As always, Frontier has released a jam-packed feature update alongside the Tropical Pack. Free Update 1.13 includes the following:

• Animal Sociality
• Null Paths
• Multi-Axis Advanced Movement
• Climbable Asset Toggle

The most exciting feature here is Animal Sociality. Following this update, animals will form bonds with one another, especially with their direct family. They’ve also added more roles and depth to animal dynamics, meaning you’ll see more sensible interactions between established family groups and the new “Outsiders”.

Beyond that, Null Paths will allow truly custom walkable areas, Multi-Axis movement should make item placement a bit easier, and the Climable Asset Toggle will make stopping your animals from escaping that much easier.

Overall – not bad at all for free!

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2023-01-04

Since its release in 2019, Planet Zoo has been no stranger to DLCs. The Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack is the 13th piece of paid content to be released in the years since. The quality of these DLCs has generally been very high, with each entry adding some combination of story content, new animals, and new building pieces.

Veteran players may find the Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack to be somewhat lackluster in comparison to previous packs. While it does add a whopping 8 new animals, it however lacks any new building pieces whatsoever. The new career scenario “Permits and Pampas” is charming, but let down by the dearth of voice acting.

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

8 Brand New Animals in the Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack

Of course, it’s a game about zoos – the animals are the stars. What additions have we gotten?

• Maned wolf
• Emu
• Caracal
• Red-necked wallaby
• Nine-banded armadillo
• Striped hyena
• Blue wildebeest
• Five colourful species of butterfly

Now, this is the first time we’ve seen this many animals in 1 DLC. Technically, you could even say this is 12 new species of animals. Each of the new butterflies is unique and beautiful. Additionally, a few of the new animals – namely the emu, caracal, wallaby and armadillo – have been hugely anticipated by the community.

As usual, each of the animals is beautifully rendered and textured. They each have their own fascinating animations. I found the armadillo and the caracal to be particularly gorgeous.

The Blue Wildebeest is the closest thing to a weak link – Planet Zoo already has the Black Wildebeest, and plenty of other ungulates to choose from. That said, the Blue Wildebeest is gorgeous, even more so than the existing Black Wildebeest.

All in all, a bountiful addition to the animal roster with some stand-out beauties. That said, one addition brings more than just a new kind of animal – the butterflies!

Why are the butterflies so special?

Besides being 5 brand new species in 1, the butterflies have 3 features that make them stand out from every other creature in Planet Zoo to date.

1. They are the first ever flying insect in the game
2. It is possible to display them all in 1 exhibit – the first-ever multi-species exhibit!
3. They take advantage of the brand new walkthrough exhibit introduced in the 1.11 update

So, besides being beautiful, colourful and enchanting, these butterflies are also utterly unique in the game in their mechanics.

Click to view slideshow.

Permits and Pampas: The brand new career scenario in the Planet Zoo: Grassland Animals Pack

As is par for the course by now, the Planet Zoo: Grassland Animals Pack adds a brand new scenario to the game. This one – called “Permits and Pampas” – takes place in the Argentinian “Purmamarca Educational Reserve”. This one reintroduces us to Tiffany Summers (first met in the Twilight pack).

As I mentioned in the intro, I found the lack of voices in this scenario quite off-putting. The scenario opens up with a letter rather than the customary voice-over in other scenarios. This trend is not unique to the Grassland Animals Pack – we saw the same thing in the Twilight Pack, for example – but it really does break the immersion and sheer personality established by the other missions.

Apart from this, “Permits and Pampas” is the usual heartwarming mix of zoo management and conservation. The focus this time is on the harm that otherwise well-meaning folks can do to their animals. The exotic pet trade and unqualified zookeepers are an enormous problem in animal welfare, and it’s fantastic to see Frontier shining the spotlight this way.

In conclusion! Planet Zoo: Grassland Animals Pack – buy or avoid?

For me, this one is pretty cut-and-dry.

Buy if:

• You’re a hardcore Planet Zoo fan looking for more content
• Your passion is the animals in the game, and more animals = better
• You want a new scenario to challenge yourself with

Avoid if:

• You don’t need or want the injection of additional animals
• You mostly play sandbox or franchise mode
• The building and park management games are what you love

All in all, the Planet Zoo: Grassland Animals Pack is pretty good. There’s not much here to place it above any of the other packs, but what it does, it does well. I would say, for most Planet Zoo players, get it on sale.

Finally, the 1.12 update!

Frontier has established a history of scheduling a brand new update for free in tandem with their DLCs. We think that’s mighty fine of them, and I’ve taken to including a quick summary of the changes for our readers. In short, 1.12 adds the following:

• Guided tours
• Diorama mode
• Bulldozer tool

Honestly, all three of these are fantastic additions. The guided tours add a whole new dimension to the educators and to zoo planning. Diorama mode allows players to make beautiful tiny builds to share – brilliant for those who make things like this incredible palace.

The stand-out feature (for me, at least) is the bulldozer tool. In retrospect, it’s crazy this wasn’t in the game from the beginning. Finally, players can delete large amounts of objects at once, and filter for plants, rocks, construction etc. etc. Absolute game-changer.

That’s it for the Grassland Pack and the 1.12 update. Thanks for reading – and happy zookeeping!

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PvP Colosseums – The Colosseum doors open for the first time to reveal a new challenge, unlocking three new arenas. The three arenas are located in Limgrave, Caelid and Leyndell respectively. Also each arena comes with its own sets of rules and will be theatres of fierce Player versus Player confrontations.

The Limgrave Colosseum features two modes: United Combat and Combat Ordeal.

• In United Combat, combatants will be divided into two teams to fight in timed battles with the ability to respawn. Each death and respawn grants points to the adversaries, offering victory to the team with the higher score.
• In Combat Ordeal, it’s every Tarnished for themselves. Combatants in this mode can also respawn until the timer hits zero, and the one with the most points will prevail as victor.

The Royal Colosseum, located in Leyndell, features Duel Mode. Two Tarnished face off in a duel to the death, without the ability to respawn.

The Caelid Colosseum features all aforementioned modes with the addition of being able to summon Spirit Ashes to fight by players’ sides.

Join the fight on your own or use group passwords to match up with or against friends and prove your worth in the Colosseums.

Cosmetics – Five new hairstyles also await players returning to their adventure in ELDEN RING. Maybe you want to look spiffy taking on the new challenges in the Colosseums.

With the opportunity now to battle within the Colosseum, ELDEN RING will likely bring back its player base. After all, I think we were all chomping at the bit to find out what was behind those doors as we traversed The Lands Between.

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What is a Technophage Outbreak!?

The Technophage Outbreak is at the heart of Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters – Duty Eternal. With the arrival of this new strain of the Bloom, the Grey Knights are tasked with aiding the Adeptus Mechanicus in halting its spread across space.

The new Technophage Outbreak mission variant is the most challenging in the game to date, remixing standard maps and objectives with higher reinforcement numbers, new Warp Surge conditions and tougher consequences for failure. The potential rewards, however, are also much greater.

Let’s bring more class to Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters – Duty Eternal also brings a vastly different base class to the game: the Techmarine. This new addition to the Baleful Edict’s barracks is able to deploy and control a cadre of Combat Servitors, which join the Grey Knights on the battlefield as more expendable allies, each equipped with a specific ability that serves a distinct purpose in battle. The Techmarine can repair or augment Combat Servitors and the Venerable Dreadnought during a mission, offering a support role to the rest of the squad.

This major DLC for the acclaimed turn-based tactical RPG launches on PC on December 6th. It adds thrilling new missions. As well as a brand new class and the fearsome Venerable Dreadnought combat walker to the campaign. There are also other substantial changes for those more tech-savvy gamers. The expansion will have a suggested retail price of $14.99/£12.99/€14.99 on both Steam and the Epic Games Store.

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2022-11-09

The Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack is the latest content pack for the genre-defining zoo management game, Planet Zoo. We here at GamEir love Planet Zoo and have been covering and reviewing it and its DLC since release. Earlier content packs have included massively popular animals like the kangaroo and sun bear, as well as beautiful themed scenery pieces from across the world. Generally speaking, previous packs have either been geographically themed (such as the Europe Pack, North Africa Pack etc.) or biome-themed (such as the Wetlands and Arctic Pack).

Meanwhile, the Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack decides to take things in a decidedly… Spookier direction. Today I’ll be talking you through some of the sinister additions of the pack, as well as the free 1.1 update which dropped the same day!

NOTE: Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack is a DLC, meaning it’s no good to you without the main game! If you don’t already play Planet Zoo, stop here and go buy it before reading on! Or don’t. I’m not your dad.

What’s in the Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack?!

Alright, let’s get to the thing everyone wants to know – if you drop the cash for the Twilight Pack, what are you getting?!

First and foremost, let’s talk about the animals. The theme here is spooky. With the exception of the Egyptian Fruit Bat, every one of these animals is crepuscular – meaning they are most active around dawn and dusk. The fruit bat is unique in one other way as well, but we’ll get to that. The animals in the pack are:

• Raccoons
• Red Foxes
• Common Wombats
• Striped Skunk
• Egyptian Fruit Bats

As we’ve come to expect from all of the Planet Zoo animals, they are all beautifully modelled and animated. For me, the raccoons stand out as being particularly joyful to watch. The standard set by the base game and earlier packs is high, but the Twilight Pack more than meets the bar.

My only real qualm with these new creatures is that they’re quite… Mundane? There’s something not quite believable about buying a zoo ticket to see a fox or a raccoon. Maybe my perspective is very western-centric, but if I saw a fox knocking about the zoo I’d assume it got lost looking for the bins.

The first four are all habitat animals, meaning they wander around in their own dedicated habitats. The fruit bats, on the other hand, are exhibit animals (meaning they get a cozy smaller cage, which is less customisable).

That said, the Egyptian Fruit Bat isn’t your standard exhibit animal. The Twilight Pack also adds a brand new feature: Walkthrough Exhibits.

Walkthrough Exhibits and what they mean for Planet Zoo!

Essentially, the new Walkthrough Exhibit allows guests to get up close and personal with exhibit animals. It features a walkable path down the middle, customisable walls, and a much larger volume than the regular exhibits. At the moment, this feature is exclusive to the Egyptian Fruit Bat. No other exhibit animals can be housed there… Yet!

That said, this is a step in an extremely exciting direction. Planet Zoo players have been clamouring for birds and aviaries for a long while. While the game does feature animals such as the flamingo and peafowl, there has never been a practical way to house smaller birds like Macaws, Birds of Paradise, Ibises etc. The introduction of a new larger exhibit feels like a big step in the direction of real aviaries and birdhouses!

On top of that, while the Egyptian Fruit Bat will only be available to players who buy the Twilight Pack, the walkthrough exhibit object is available to all players through the free 1.1 update. Promising indeed!

Click to view slideshow.

Spooky scenery and eerie foliage in the Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack

As well as the animals and the walkthrough habitat, the Twilight Pack adds approximately 200 new scenery items and props. Many of these are skewed very spooky (like carved Jack-o-Lanterns and witches cauldrons). The rest, however, are more usable year-round. The theme seems to largely be Romanian and generally gothic. For players who want to build a Medieval-style zoo, the items in this pack are definitely going to be a huge boon.

As well as this, the pack adds numerous plants in the same theme. The big star item is the Bristlecone Pine (super spooky, very cool), but the various other plants are equally excellent additions. I particularly love the addition of piles of fallen autumn leaves. The pop of bright autumnal colours adds real magic to forest scenes.

TL;DR: Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack is sure to please Hallowe’en lovers, but the scenery and plants are diverse enough that it doesn’t feel “one-note” and will be useful for plenty of themes across numerous zoos.

New Career Mode Scenario! Castle Myers

Lastly, the Twilight Pack adds a brand new Career Mode scenario! Set after the main story of the base game, “Castle Myers” is yet another mismanaged zoo for the player to bring up to par. In some ways, it feels a little bit like a showcase of the assets added by the pack – but that’s not a bad thing! It’s a beautiful, super atmospheric zoo.

Castle Myers doesn’t do anything too out of the box, but if you love playing Planet Zoo to meet objectives and adore the cast of characters, it’s one not to miss.

The conclusion! Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack – buy or avoid?

All in all, the Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack adds quite a lot. The animals are all beautifully rendered – if an odd addition to a zoo. The scenery and foliage objects are an excellent addition, though the focus on the Hallowe’en theme limits some of the pack to seasonal builds.

The main new game mechanic – walkthrough exhibits – will be available to all players through the 1.11 Update, though it won’t be usable until a later update or pack adds more animals for it.

Buy if:

• You love the cute-and-cosy spooky animals added
• You adore Hallowe’en or general gothic / Romanian architecture
• Career mode scenarios are your preferred way to play
• Going without buying every DLC will give you hives

Avoid if:

• The crepuscular creature additions do nothing for you
• You’re more of a Christmas person
• You don’t care about more career-mode scenarios
• The choice is between the Twilight Pack and a more “universal” DLC like the Conservation Pack or another animal pack

If you’re like me and can’t get enough of the Planet Zoo experience, this is a must-buy. If you pick and choose your DLC, this one definitely won’t be for everyone.

The free 1.11 Update!

If you’ve read this far, you’re probably interested in the free additions players got with the 1.11 update. You can read the full update notes here, but here are the cliff notes of the most exciting additions:

• Educator exhibit demos: Educators can now take exhibit animals out of their exhibit to show off to the guest. This makes exhibits feel way more alive and interactive, rather than just a static prop or money-maker. Awesome addition.
• Customisable exhibit backdrops: the brand new ability to import your own images for the backdrops of your exhibits. Not for everyone as it requires a bit of extra out-of-game prep, but a game-changer for detail-oriented zookeepers.
• Piebald animal coats: a new mutation to add some variety to your animals! For now, this is limited to the Nyala, Pronghorn Antelope and Springbok, but we may see this rolled out to other species in the future.
• New escape behaviours: previously, animals largely just ran about the place after escaping their cages. Now, larger animals will be able to knock over bins and eat the contents (gross!). Frontier claims this is just one of a “range of new behaviours”, but this seems to be the only obvious one for now.

Stay tuned to GamEir. Come talk with us on Twitter (@gam_eir), Facebook (@GamEir), and Instagram (@GamEir).

I promise we’re nice! Keep up with our streams over on Twitch (GamEir) and our videos on YouTube (GamEir) and we’ll give you all the latest content.

The post Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack in Review (and the 1.11 update!) appeared first on GamEir.

2022-10-11

Happy Spooky Season friends! Once again, I have been blessed with Dead by Daylight DLC! And no, I am no better at playing killer now than I was the last time I covered DLC. Truth be told, I’ll probably never be good at killer. I totally suck at the tracking down survivors part. Anyways, that’s not why we’re here! The much anticipated Project W has graced our games, and I’ve been back on the grind!

Project W

Project W is the 25th chapter for Dead by Daylight, and brings in some more icons from the Resident Evil franchise. This time, we’re graced with Albert Wesker, Ada Wong and Rebecca Chambers. I still can’t decide if I prefer Ada or Rebecca, both run super smoothly and work well with my standard builds. Anyways, let’s talk about the new perks that the latest characters have brought to the game!

Ada Wong Perks:

• Wiretap – After repairing a Generator for 3 seconds, press the Active Ability button to install a Wiretap. This stays active for 60/70/80seconds. When the Killer comes within 14 metres of a trapped Generator, their Aura is revealed to all Survivors. Damaging the Generator destroys the Wiretap.
• Reactive Healing – When another Survivor loses a Health State within 32 metres of you while you’re injured, you benefit from the following effect: grants 40/45/50% of your missing Healing Progression.
• Low Profile – Whenever you are the only Survivor in the Trial currently not in the Dying State, hooked, or already dead, Low Profile activates. It suppresses your Pools of Blood, Scratch Marks, , and Grunts of Pain for 70/80/90 seconds.

Rebecca Chambers Perks:

• Better than New – Upon completing a Healing action on another Survivor, their Action speeds increase in Healing, Unlocking, Cleansing, and Blessing by 12/14/16%
• Reassurance – When within 6 metres of a hooked Survivor, press the Active Ability button to halt their Sacrifice Process for the next 20/25/30 seconds.If the hooked Survivor has already entered the Struggle Phase, its Skill Checks are paused. However, Reassurance can only be used once per hook instance.
• Hyperfocus – After hitting a Great Skill Check while repairing or healing, Hyperfocus gains 1 Token. This goes up to a maximum of 6 Tokens. Stack-able effects are applied for each token.
  • Increases the Skill Check Trigger odds by +4% per Token.
  • Increases the Skill Check Rotation speed by +4% per Token.
  • Increases the Skill Check Bonus progression by 10/20/30% of its base value per Token.

  Hyperfocus loses all Tokens when succeeding a Good Skill Check, failing a Skill Check, or if the action is interrupted.

The Mastermind, Albert Wesker, Specials

As well as having three new perks, Wesker comes with a pretty nifty power. It’s called Virulent Bound.

Special Attack: Bound Attack
Press and hold the Power button to charge a Bound Attack.
While charging, The Mastermind moves slightly slower, as he prepares his strike. When charged, press the Attack button to Bound.

• Hitting a Survivor with a Bound Attack afflicts them with Infection.
• Hitting a Survivor already afflicted with Infection with a Bound Attack will increase their Infection.
• Crashing into something during a Bound Attack will slam a nearby Survivor, causing damage. If not, the Survivor is thrown and loses a Health State if they hit any solid object.

There’s also a Bound Vault, which is a special ability. If Wesker hits a pallet or window while using Virulent Bound, he vaults over the obstacle. The Mastermind also has one more trick up his sleeve, before we even hit his perks.

Special Affliction: Uroboros Infection

The Uroboros Infection builds over time. Upon reaching Critical Infection, the Survivor suffers from the Hindered Status Effect. This reduces their movement speed by -8%. If The Mastermind grabs and slams a Critically Infected Survivor while using Virulent Bound, he will automatically begin to carry them.

The Mastermind Perks

• Superior Anatomy -When a Survivor performs a rushed vault within 8 metres of you, Superior Anatomy activates. This increases your Vaulting speed by 30/35/40% the next time you vault a window. The perk deactivates after vaulting and has a 30-second cooldown.
• Awakened Awareness – While carrying a survivor, of all other survivors are revealed to you when they are within 16/18/20 metres of your location.
• Terminus – Terminus activates once the Exit Gates are powered. All survivors who are injured, hooked or dying will get the Broken status effect. This remains until the gates are opened. However, this effect lingers for 20/25/30 seconds after the Exit Gates are open.

Project Horror Queen

Project W has been a really fun experience for me. I’ll never fully have the confidence to main as a killer, but Wesker would definitely be one of my top choices. He was super easy to control and play as, and the Bound is SO FUN! Even after playing though, I can’t totally decide how I feel about his perks. I think for a more experienced killer, they’d be great assets. For more casual killers like me, the game has other perks that would be more suited to casual players.

Ada and Rebecca are both great survivors, with great perks. They run great using only their own individual perks and also fit well with my normal builds. For reference, my normal builds all include Spine Chill and Urban Evasion. Honestly, these are some of my favourite character perks in a long time. As well as being great for a variety of builds, they also fit with the characters themselves.

Project W is a really solid addition to Dead by Daylight, and the RPD map has finally been fixed! Playing as any of the franchise’s iconic characters on that map is a whole new kind of epic feeling. This DLC is even worth buying for non-Resident Evil fans, purely because of the character perks. Yet another chapter knocked right out of the park!

The next chapter is set to release in November, and I for one am really hoping the rumours of it being a Scooby Doo collaboration are true.

Stay tuned to GamEir. Come talk with us on Twitter (@gam_eir), Facebook (@GamEir), and Instagram (@GamEir).

I promise we’re nice! Keep up with our streams over on Twitch (GamEir) and our videos on YouTube (GamEir) and we’ll give you all the latest content.

The post Let’s Talk About Dead by Daylight’s Project W DLC appeared first on GamEir.