Month: April 2018

Developer Platinum Games–the studio behind Bayonetta and Nier Automata–is known for its particular brand of action games that focus on kinetic hack and slash gameplay. With that particular style in mind, the developers are launching a new IP known as World of Demons–a Samurai action-RPG game that seeks to deliver the same style of intense gameplay to mobile phones.

Made in collaboration with DeNA Games–the mobile games publisher behind Final Fantasy Record Keeper and Fire Emblem Heroes–Platinum Games’ World of Demons focuses on bite-sized character-action gameplay, while also telling an involved story. Set in ancient Japan where creatures of myth and folklore are real, World of Demons puts you in the role of the wandering samurai Onimaru, who must vanquish a powerful demon king that has invaded the land. Over time, you’ll partner up with additional allies wielding their own unique weapons and take command of your own party of demons to lead into battle. As you clear through stages and take on massive bosses, you’ll gain new weapons and items, which you can use to upgrade your heroes.

In development for the last three years, World of Demons is largely in the same style of other Platinum Games, but designed around the touch interface of smartphones. The action-RPG takes place across a set of stages where you’ll battle against enemies that vary in difficulty and complexity. In combat, you’ll be able to control your character with full 360 degree movement via the touch screen, while also using a set of combo attacks and skills to summon monsters. You’ll also use skills that focus on particular elemental properties, which have to be managed effectively against enemies attuned to a specific damage types.

At launch, the game will start off with 3 playable characters and over 80 demons to recruit–and over time more content will be added as the game develops its community. The two primary gameplay modes in World of Demons is the Way of the Warrior story mode, where players tackle a number of missions and narrative beats as the Samurai and his party take on the demonic presence in the land, and the Way of the Demon mode which offers daily challenges and timed missions to gain new weapons and minions. There will be a competitive mode where players can compete on leaderboards and take on active challenges against others online.

The visuals in World of Demons feature some gorgeous graphics that emulate the ink-wash paintbrush aesthetic from classic Japanese art and a similar style found from Okami (made by some current Platinum Games staff). While the new platform might not be what many Platinum fans expected, World of Demons still channels much of what their past games have gotten down to a science.

Set for launch in summer 2018, World of Demons is certainly a departure for Platinum Games in the sense that it’s a new platform–but stylistically and mechanically, it feels very familiar with the studio’s pedigree of games. With pre-registration open, you’ll be sign up to receive access to the game once it goes live and dive into Platinum Games’ next action-RPG adventure.

The realm of Muspelheim is home to some pretty tough trials, use these tips for each trial to even the odds in your favor.

Use this guide to learn the techniques you need to use catch every fish in the Variety Pack’s fishing game.

It is the final day of April, and that means now is your very last chance to pick up some of the month’s free Games With Gold titles on Xbox One and Xbox 360.

Today is the final day to grab Braid creator Jonathan Blow’s intriguing and beautiful puzzle game The Witness for the low, low price of $0. On Xbox 360, this is your last chance to pay nothing for Dead Space 2, which plays on Xbox One through backwards compatibility.

Ubisoft’s stealthy stabby game Assassin’s Creed Syndicate will stay free on Xbox One through May 15, but you might as well grab it now so you don’t forget to.

Starting on May 1, a new set of Games With Gold freebies will become available, including Super Mega Baseball 2 for Xbox One and Streets of Rage on Xbox 360. What’s notable about Super Mega Baseball 2 is that May 1 is the game’s release date, so it’s launching for free. Additionally, Streets of Rage appears to already be free, and you can get it right here.

In other Xbox One news, 19 new backwards compatible titles from the OG Xbox were added to the catalog this week.

April 2018 Games With Gold

Xbox One

• The Witness (April 1-30)
• Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (April 16-May 15)

Xbox 360 (playable on Xbox One)

• Cars 2 (April 1-15)
• Dead Space 2 (April 16-30)

Westworld Season 2 spoilers ahead!

Westworld Season 2, Episode 2, “Reunion,” was a better episode than the Season 2 premiere. More importantly, we learned plenty of new tidbits about Westworld and the characters who run and inhabit it this week.

Did any of our Season 2 premiere theories pan out? Did this build on any of the things we learned last week? Keep reading to find out what was new in Westworld in Season 2, Episode 2.

1. Arnold was building a house in China (maybe) for his family.

Before he died, Arnold was apparently building a house in a mainland city so his family could be closer to the park. Or maybe this was actually another park–that’s one theory, at least.

2. Dolores has been to the real world.

Yeah, this is going to come up again.

3. Logan’s last name is Delos.

That’s Mr. Delos to you. We know plenty about Delos already, but this is the first time we’ve learned that it’s a family company. The plot thickens.

4. “The Argos Initiative.”

There’s something called the “Argos Initiative.” The word “Argos” or “Argus” has its roots in ancient mythology. It seems to be a code name for Westworld, though knowing this show, there’s probably more to it than that.

5. Westworld’s android technology was far more advanced than anything else at the time.

That’s according to Logan. It explains why the park is so mysterious and successful.

6. Angela was one of the original hosts.

The host Angela, played by actress Talulah Riley, was apparently one of the earliest hosts. We met her only a couple of times during Westworld Season 1, and so far she has a larger role in Season 2.

7. Hosts that are isolated still on their loops.

Some hosts that are isolated in Westworld, and possibly in other parks, seem to still be on their loops.

8. Teddy has a violent side.

The poor guy did not like seeing what his masters had done to him in previous lives.

9. Confederados are amassing out west.

That’s according to Bill’s friend Larry. What that means for the season is yet unclear.

10. There’s a protocol for this.

As Dolores learned this episode, there’s a protocol for a massive system failure in the parks. Delos’s security teams will be securing one sector at a time, and there’s a rallying point somewhere. Wonder what she’s going to do with that information?

11. Dolores knows “the real purpose of this place.”

Whatever that means.

12. Armistice used to be the sheriff.

This may or may not ever matter, but it’s fun to see the hosts in different roles. The sheriff in the flashback with William and Jim Delos showed Ingrid Bolsø Berdal character Armistice, who played Hector’s sidekick in Season 1, as the sheriff of Sweetwater.

13. Logan Delos has a Papa Delos.

Delos being a family company, naturally there’s a patriarch. Enter Jim Delos, a new (old) character played by Peter Mullan.

14. Logan is a “f***-up” after the events of Season 1.

That’s according to Papa Delos. Also, the scene where Logan is shooting up future heroin. Poor Logan.

15. William sells Papa Delos on Westworld by becoming Mark Zuckerberg.

“This is the only place in the world where you get to see people for who they really are,” William tells his father-in-law. And William sees that as a business opportunity. How very Facebook of him.

16. Logan appears to know something no one else does.

“That, darling, is the sound of fools fiddling while the whole f***ing species starts to burn,” he tells Dolores. “And the funniest f***ing part is they lit the match.” What he’s talking about is anyone’s guess.

17. Giancarlo Esposito is here.

The Breaking Bad actor here briefly portrayed El Lazo, the criminal overlord who used to be played by Bill’s friend Lawrence. Too bad he didn’t last very long.

18. Bill has to play the game alone

Bill is playing Ford’s new game, and Ford has ensured he won’t receive any help. No, Lawrence doesn’t count.

19. Bill is headed toward “his greatest mistake.”

Whatever this is, it probably relates to the cryptic hint “it ends where it began.”

20. William is convinced the hosts are just objects.

In case it wasn’t clear after Westworld Season 1, William/Bill drove home this week that he’s convinced the hosts are nothing more than plot devices. Seems Dolores forgetting him really did a number on the dude.

21. The Valley Beyond is a weapon, and Dolores is going to use it to destroy us.

Can’t wait.

This review contains spoilers for Westworld Season 2, episode 2, “Reunion.” To refresh your memory of where we left off, check out our review of the Season 2 premiere, and our explainer on what the ending of episode 1 could mean.

From the beginning, Westworld has interrogated our oh-so human tendency to play god, but that symbolism becomes literal in episode 2. First, we get to see the origin of the park through the eyes of the arrogant Logan Delos (Ben Barnes), who finds himself enticed by the incredible technological advances of a company known as the Argos Initiative, which is seeking funding to build a “tangible” experience far beyond virtual reality. The practical applications for the technology are spectacularly demonstrated when he’s taken to a private show (all orchestrated by Ford and Arnold, we discover in the opening scene) and comes to realize that he’s surrounded by hosts who are indistinguishable from humans – right down to their capacity for sex, as Angela proves. Knowing Logan as we do, it’s no surprise that a quick roll in the hay is what convinces him to invest.

Continue reading…

Westworld Season 2, Episode 2, “Reunion,” left me with one overwhelming feeling: I wish this had been the Season 2 premiere. Episode 2 had the exact right mix of exposition, flashback, action, and mystery that made Westworld Season 1 impossible to turn away from, and which the Season 2 premiere’s 70 long minutes of weirdly paced setup lacked. At least we’re back in the saddle now.

The episode’s opening, with Dolores in the real world, is a perfect example. This scene showed us new sides of both Dolores and Arnold, revealing that Dolores has actually seen the world outside the park before. And now she remembers; “I’ve been there before,” she tells Teddy later in the ep. That’s clearly going to come up later.

There is one mystery here, depending how you read the scene: Is this really the outside world, or is it just another park? The exterior shots as Arnold leads Dolores across the street look uncanny, too clean, and filled with unnatural, robotic-looking people. The under-construction zone where Arnold is apparently building a house seems oddly placed in the middle of what’s apparently a city, and then there’s what Arnold says: “My wife says I live in the park. I’m moving my family here. I need to have my two worlds at least within reach of one another.”

Was Arnold planning to move his family into the park itself? Or is this simply a mainland city within reach of the island on which Westworld and the other parks lie? Maybe we’ll find out later, or maybe I’m reading too much into this scene.

When the episode returns to the party later, it’s to catch up with William and Logan as we first met them: Logan, a cocky, brash businessman, and William, his emasculated soon-to-be brother-in-law. This is before the transformation both characters undergo throughout Westworld’s first season, which, as we learned this week, will apparently lead to Logan’s eventual descent into addiction. That probably answers the question of where Logan is in the present, at least, though not in the way you might have hoped; Logan is a dick, sure, but it’s still sad.

“Reunion” also introduced us to Logan’s father (and William’s father-in-law), Jim Delos, who at some point before the present day, but after these episodes, is going to salvage Westworld with a huge influx of cash thanks to William’s shrewd influence. It can be deliberately tough to track the timelines on Westworld, but in this episode it’s clear that the initial party–at which the hosts put on quite a display for Logan–takes place before William and Logan’s adventure in Season 1, while William’s later scenes take place afterward. William clearly took the lessons he learned in the park to heart, and he’s acting much more like the Man in Black–his future self, Bill–here than the William we got to know in most of Westworld Season 1 (although William very intently checking out the host Angela as they pass at the party is definitely a hint of things to come for him).

These flashback scenes are great, not just for revealing new sides of these characters–Jimmi Simpson’s young William acting more like Ed Harris’s version of the character, and Logan spiraling after Season 1’s events–but for the other new tidbits they provided in Westworld’s never-ending trail of blood-soaked bread crumbs. We see William’s wife (Logan’s sister) for the first time, for example–we learned last season that she kills herself at some point, but we hadn’t met her before. And we met his daughter, Emily. What happened to her in the present day? And is the briefly mentioned “Argos Initiative” simply a code name for Westworld, or will we find out more about that later? (The word has many roots in ancient mythology.)

The biggest surprise of this episode, however, was definitely the appearance of Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito, who in the present day is playing the character Bill’s friend Lawrence used to play in the past: El Lazo. And the situation in Pariah has not improved; as Bill puts it, “This is what happens when you let a story play all the way out.”

What’s really unclear is why Bill needs Lawrence at all in this new game. Clearly Ford anticipated Bill’s moves, setting up safeguards like the mass suicide in Pariah to ensure Bill wouldn’t have too much help. At least the Man in Black elucidated his goal for us this week: to burn this whole enterprise to the ground.

Dolores and Teddy’s recruitment drive made up the other half of “Reunion.” With one of the park’s engineers in tow, she’s forged herself into a literal Jesus figure for the hosts who still remain un-woke. The dinner she interrupted was a none-too-subtle Last Supper pastiche, and the imagery of her raising her enemies from the dead to add them to the ranks of her followers wasn’t lost on anyone.

Are Dolores and Bill heading for the same destination? William clearly is not a good guy anymore–or maybe he never was. “This is the only place in the world where you get to see people for who they really are,” he tells his father-in-law. As far as he’s concerned, his transformation into a villain was a revelation of his true nature. His heart broken when Dolores forgot him in Season 1, he’s come to see her as nothing more than an object. But whatever William is digging in the park in the past–presumably the location of “his greatest mistake,” as Bill says in the present–must be something he truly came to regret creating.

Where this all will lead is anyone’s guess; the really intriguing tidbit from Dolores this week was her allusion to “the real purpose of this place.” She says Westworld “is not a place; it’s a weapon.” And she’s going to use it to destroy her former masters, and reach the glory of the Valley Beyond. Can’t wait.