Arabian Nights no more

Coriolis: The Great Dark is more than just a sequel to The Third Horizon. It expands the universe and drags the story away from the Middle East-influenced Science Fiction of the last books. The setting I thing is much cooler (pun intended). Coriolis: The Great Dark is set far beyond the last iteration of the game. Colony ships have fled the growing war and have followed a faint signal that many think could be the Nadir, sister ship to the Zenith.

As the signal dies the colonists are stranded in a dead system they call Jumuah. To make things worse the portal that should lead them out is dead. The colonists established a single city on an asteroid called, and I shit you not “‘The Ship City of Coriolis the Eternal and Jumuah the First and Last”. I know right but thankfully it gets shortened to City Ship. In true Coriolis style, they decide to send expeditions into the depts. Where they fight Alien ruins and a disease called the Blight.

A new System for a new system

To push home that Coriolis: The Great Dark is an updated version they have modified the previous rule system that flies more closely to the Year Zero Engine (YZE). This is a welcomed change as if you have played any Free League games you will be very familiar with how easy it is to use. Most changes are small like six attributes rather than the usual four, talents instead of skills.

The two big ones for me are no more Darkness Point mechanics. This is replaced with Hope because there is nothing worse than the loss of all Hope. The other is the new Delve mechanic. The group will make Delves into the ruins to retrieve artifacts. With each Delve the group will have to bring significant supplies, oxygen canisters, food, water, batteries, etc… or else they won’t be coming back. Each one has a difficulty rating (0-3) and markers that show what each character needs supply-wise to make it back. Plans will go out the window as unexpected monsters, blight, and sneaky NPC will ruin your day.

Beauty in the darkness

As usual, the book itself looks amazing. The artwork though different than The Third Horizon is still beautiful. It’s dark and lonely and for some reason has a feel of Event Horizon to me in contrast to the warmth of the last books.

In the pack you get Coriolis: The Great Dark, a quickstart book but you also get four pre-generated character sheets. These are for The Algebraist Apprentice with Bird, The Wreck Diver, The Guild Soldier, and The Vacuum Welder.

If you play Coriolis then you will get The Great Dark and if you don’t and want to start from the start then you better hurry up as Free League is discontinuing the printing of The Third Horizon. I would recommend this game especially if space exploration is your bag.

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2024-04-26

Battlefield Earth

Flooded, devastated cities, violent mutated bug monsters, a general sense of hopelessness… no, not modern Britain but the premise of Stellar Blade! Stellar Blade is an action adventure game that borrows from many sources, with admittedly few of its own tricks. As a new first-party exclusive published by Sony and developed by Korean developer Shift Up, this follows Rise of the Ronin as a refreshing change of pace for Sony. Far from their cinematic third person output, this is very much a video game of moment to moment action rather than narrative emphasis. This is a godsend as the narrative is probably the ropiest aspect! So does Stellar Blade live up to its name or is it about to be cut down to size?

Stellar Blade Running

At first then combat comes across as quite basic, the standard attack, counter attack then punish loop. Quickly though you’ll unlock new moves and different types of counter attack opportunities that make fighting monsters a much more engaging process. Every slash feels visceral, the super moves you charge up landing with an exceptional oomph. These moves can break shields and interrupt combos so timing their use is essential. The counter is also very satisfying, not as unforgiving as recent similar games. Knocking enemies into a staggered phase never gets tired. Despite some really wacky enemy designs their attacks are very readable, truly mitigating the usual frustrations of these systems. Exploring the environments for health and attack energy upgrades leads to some interesting traversal opportunities and challenging combat encounters, so going off the beaten track is definitely recommended. Unlocking Souls-style shortcuts to earlier areas is always pleasant, bringing you closer to base camps where you can purchase items , upgrade abilities and save. 

Click to view slideshow.

A Cut Above?

Graphically this is a real tale of two (flooded) cities. The world and monsters look superb, the post-apocalyptic world being a mix of realism and a kind of maximalism seen in classic depictions of Gotham City. However, the human characters… are just plain creepy. Eve and her fellow space-warriors all share a bizarre plastic quality. This, combined with their cartoonish proportions give the impression of playing as an expensive sex doll. Initially decked out in the tightest wet suit it’s a relief when you finally unlock alternate costumes. As opposed to a Bayonetta or a 2B, Eve is just a wet blanket which only adds to the visual awkwardness . A very odd miss for a game with otherwise excellent visuals. The music is mostly melancholy pop-songs with repetitive lyrics. They oddly fit the tone of the game but could be incredibly off-putting for the less musically-forgiving.

Despite some rough edges, Stellar Blade is a rock solid adventure with an addictive gameplay loop. If you look past Eve’s screen-hogging bum, you’ll find a world of downtrodden splendour with alien freaks to battle and side-quests to discover.

If nothing else it’s inspiring to see a fairly new development team create a title this polished and simultaneously large-scale. Indeed, this may be the Eve of something great.

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2024-04-08

An Old Story for a New Beginning

For people out of the loop (myself included), Outcast – A New Beginning is a sequel to the 1999 classic action-adventure Outcast by Appeal. In its heyday, Outcast caused quite a ruckus to its genre. Said ruckus included being named “Action Game of the Year” by Gamespot in 1999! Nonetheless, not many people may know it, Outcast – A New Beginning has some pretty large boots to fill. It may not be fair to callously compare both titles to each other as a lot has changed in the gaming industry since 1999, but it’s worth noting the history and context of Appeal’s latest release today. So, does this classic callback shape up to the modern age of gaming, has Appeal still got it after all these years?

The Right Tool for the Job

Outcast puts you in the boots of one Cutter Slade, (same protagonist as the last game) a former Navy Seal who assisted in dimensional travel in Outcast 1. Set on the planet Adelpha, Cutter is resurrected by the native deities of this planet. A mysterious past haunts him as he traverses his way across a once-familiar Adelpha. But now a shadowy robotic army is extracting its natural resources and exploiting its inhabitants, called the Talan.

You get a lot of Cutter’s character in each cutscene and interaction. I mean A LOT. At first, his snide, quippy remarks do land and get a small smirk out of me. But this quickly runs dry after the tutorial zone. Again, I know this is a character from the 1990s and he sits alongside other greats of his era such as Duke Nukem, and Spyro. However, he feels very played out and more of an annoyance on screen than a loveable titular character. I tried to like him, I really did try but when most of your lines are rhetorical knee-slappers from the stereotypical military man, it just gets exhausting. Particularly against the backdrop of an alien planet such as Adelpha.

The planet of Adelpha can be engrossing at times, even pretty. I want to say the open world is large and expansive, but I would say it’s closer to a medium-sized Ubisoft map! The planet’s inhabitants, the Talan, offer much exposition (opposite the HILARIOUS and corny Slade remarks) and lore to the player which some people will find engrossing. Outside of the story quests, it’s honestly the same old format we see nowadays, unfortunately. Go here, kill things, fetch this, which doesn’t do many favours for Cutter or the story. I do not even think though, that it is the story that will bring people to Outcast – A New Beginning.

Jet Setter

I do think that people will come and stay for Outcast’s gameplay. This is thanks in large part to Cutters equipment he procures in his adventures. Your main tools are your gun, shield and jetpack (courtesy of the invading robot army). Each tool at your disposal has a fairly linear skill tree full of impactful unlocks. You collect certain resources to unlock certain abilities along your journey. Some side quests also reward you with new skills, so as painful as they are they’re generally worth a look.

As soon as I unlocked the hover ability on my jetpack, I understood what Outcast had to offer. It features some of the finest movement mechanics of an action-adventure game I have encountered in a long time. Butter smooth flight mechanics and some solid gunplay kept me locked into Outlast all throughout my playthrough. Shield-smashing robots, gliding around Adelpha for the lolz. I have not enjoyed an action adventure this much since Elden Ring people. I want to give Outcast full marks off the merit of movement, but with everything else combined, I think it’s fair to say Outcast – A New Beginning has superbly well-rounded gameplay.

Verdict

The developers over at Appeal know the essence of action-adventure. Although many story elements, ambience and likeable characters fell by the wayside in this game’s development, Appeal seems to still have a good grasp on what makes action-adventure so fun.

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