TGA, aka The Game Awards, has been successfully completed a few days ago. With heart beating brand new game trailers, Great battle between Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök, and of course Bill Clinton win the Game of the Year, it is hard to express that TGA 2022 is not good enough.

Currently lot of people put their sight further, predicting 2023 game industry form, and dig into overhaul technology to game immersions. But from my perspective, with a new TV series released, maybe it is the perfect timing to rewind a little bit to a massive controversial games two years age, I bet you guys already feel what I want to discuss, the Game of the Year 2020, The last of Us II.

Gameplay and Vision Performance

There is much to admire in Naughty Dog's ultra-dark revenge video game The Last Of Us Part II. And there is much to critique. The devs who poured their blood, sweat and tears into the game deserve praise for its technical achievements. The writers who mangled the story deserve the lumps that follow.

Despite its gore and violence, The Last Of Us Part II is a beautiful game, with renditions of post-apocalyptic Seattle and Santa Barbara that are simply staggering in detail and scope. The sights and sounds of this game are lush and lovely, gruesome and harrowing. In terms of presentation, The Last Of Us Part II is easily one of the best of the current generation.

The first game didn't have much going for it in the gameplay department, neither game is particularly strong as an action/shooter, and each forces players to spend far too much time tediously picking up odds and ends in order to craft bombs and med, kits, and ammo for your routinely empty firearms. (There's a setting that makes this somewhat less tedious in the sequel). But I do love the process of gun transformation in The Last Of Us Part II, absolutely vivid and attractive, hint how much developers paid on in-game details. So when it comes to gameplay, both games are fine.

Comparing the previous version, The Last Of Us Part II did an amazing update, open world, more characters, more weapons and fight systems. But we both know the result - most controversial game among the play community, two groups of players totally stand the opposite sides, no one can convince each others, even after two year those controversies still exist. What led to this situation?

Disastrous Narrative

There is only one correct answer to the question "How many lives would you sacrifice to save humanity?"

For the Last Of Us Part I, lackluster gameplay was more than made up for by a compelling story filled with complex characters in a gritty, intriguing post-apocalyptic world. It didn't hurt that it also had one of the best endings in video games, period.

It was an ending that deserved to be just that, the end of Joel and Ellie's story, unresolved and bittersweet. Brittle and precarious and powerful all at once. A happy ending in many ways, but an unsettling one, too.

Joel's was a lie told out of love, but it was still a lie. He kept that secret for the same reason he rescued Ellie from the Fireflies. Because he couldn't stand to lose his daughter. Not again.

That same lie kicks off the events in The Last Of Us Part II, but it quickly runs roughshod over everything we loved about the first game, trampling even our high opinions of the protagonists in the process. What follows is a too-pretentious-by-half story of nonsensical revenge and relentless violence. It masquerades at depth and meaning but fails to deliver either.

For Naughty Dog, the Sony-owned studio behind the series, the safe thing to do from a financial standpoint would have been to continue the first game's story in a predictable way that kept fans happy, as the makers of Marvel and Star Wars movies have done so profitably. But The Last of Us Part II does nothing of the sort. Instead, the punishingly bleak sequel kills off the original's main character and turns the secondary hero into a villain. It takes violence to a level that is uncomfortable even by the standards of video games, and seemingly does everything in its power to make gamers feel bad about the act of playing it.

Arrogant Screenwriter

Enough Budget, amazing technology, outstanding characters, charming views, tons of fans, why The Last of Us Part II step into the black hole? Just one single fool, selfish writer is enough, Neil Druckmann.

Revenge can be fun. John Wick does "fun revenge" very well. I remember watching Braveheart for the first time and William Wallace's revenge was thrilling. But the moral of the story in serious works of fiction is that revenge is bitter (not bittersweet) and never quite plays out the way you'd hoped. It creates a cycle of violence that hurts everyone caught up in its wake. Hamlet is consumed by his desire for revenge - prompted by the ghost of his father - but in the end it just means that everyone dies, including innocents like Polonius and Ophelia and, though she's perhaps a little less innocent, Hamlet's mother as well. Revenge, like that green-eyed monster, jealousy, is dangerous. Something to be avoided if at all possible. Even justifiable revenge, kill can lead to all sorts of problems.

What this game needed in the end was grace. The kind of strange, unsettling thing that comes over someone when they suddenly realize something profound and choose to take a different path. When Ellie sees her emaciated enemy hanging from a poll and, instead of feeling gleeful satisfaction, feels only horror and pity, she acted with grace and mercy and, in that moment, became the person we hoped she would become. It was never about killing Abby. It was about Ellie finding her own redemption.

And then they throw it all away.

Two angry, beat up, half-dead murderesses slicing each other over and over again in the shallows, blood and saltwater spraying everywhere, until suddenly Ellie gives up and let's Abby go. Again. I'm not one to usually criticize games for their violence, but this felt exploitative to me. And redundant. All that potential for mercy and grace lost.

The ending could have worked with mercy or revenge as the outcome, but apparently the writers had trouble making up their minds about which direction they wanted to go, and decided to try and have their cake and eat it, too. The result feels sloppy, repetitive and frustrating.

Overall Review

The Last of Us Part II is one of the toughest gaming experiences I've ever endured, and writing about that experience is equally difficult. I loved the original Last of Us despite the story far outshining the gameplay, but thought it didn't need a sequel. The ambiguity of Ellie's final word, "Okay," before the credits rolled earned The Last of Us a top spot for best video game endings of all time.

Furthermore, the sort of hate that is being leveled at the game itself is primarily homophobic, misogynistic, and transphobic in nature - attitudes beneath contempt. Unfortunately, that disturbing and abusive behavior has been conflated by Naughty Dog - and Neil Druckmann in particular - with respectful criticism of the game itself, notably the writing and pacing issues that I personally found grating. Moments in this game are exceptional, thus the devil deserves to be given its due before exorcising it.

Undoubtedly, The Last of Us Part II will be fondly remembered as the Playstation 4's swan song in the way that the original Last of Us game was for the Playstation 3. Purely in terms of technical achievement, Part II is a must-play for owners of the current generation consoles, and our own Andy Webb reviewed this game as "groundbreaking."

But in terms of narrative, I almost wish that Part II was never made, that the original game would forever live on as lightning in a bottle, the one zombie game that rose to the cream of the crop in an overly saturated genre. And though the sequel has moments of greatness that occasionally top the original, Part II leaving me cold at the idea of any future Last of Us games.

As a very good pixel game, Stardew Valley has a lot of new players because of its excellent plot and various ways of playing, and the old players have been unable to let it go. I am a big fan of this game.

If you are new to this game, you must not know that you can marry NPCs in it, right? Today, I will introduce to you in detail how to marry your favorite NPC in Stardew Valley.

When the favorability between the player and the villagers reaches the level of best friends (10 hearts), they can get married. Regardless of whether it is a man or a woman, the marriageable object has a "single" status in the social key. To fall in love, the player must purchase a special bouquet from Pierre's General Store, which will only be sold after the player's friendship with any marriageable NPC reaches eight hearts.

After the favorability reaches eight hearts, the player must send a bouquet to unlock the 10-heart limit, so that the favorability can continue to rise. And then you can send gifts normally to increase the favorability. In the old version, multiple bouquets can be sent to the same NPC in one day. And the bouquets are not counted in the number of gifts, and each gift can increase 25 points of favorability (1/10 heart).

After a recent update, the same NPC can only be gifted a bouquet once during a relationship. You can send bouquets to multiple NPCs at one time, and the favorability of each NPC will not be affected unless the player is married. After sending a bouquet to an NPC, an icon of the bouquet will appear next to the avatar of the corresponding NPC in the Favorability List, and indicate "Boyfriend" or "Girlfriend". After sending the NPC bouquet, if you don't send the NPC gift for a period of time, the favorability will drop.

If you want to get engaged, you must send a Mermaid Pendant. It is a token of love, you can get married immediately after giving it to a specific person. Players can buy the Mermaid Pendant at the Old Mariner on the beach for 5,000 gold.

To find him, you must meet the following requirements. First, you need to repair the wooden bridge with 300 lumber. The second is that you have to upgrade the farmhouse at least once. Under normal circumstances, the Old Mariner only appears in rainy days (spring, summer and autumn). If you want to get married in winter, you can use the totem to pray for rain and make the Old Mariner appear.

The wedding was held early in the morning three days after the proposal. After the ceremony, the player and spouse will return to the hallway of the farmhouse at 6:00 am. If an event like festival or farm house completion occurs, the wedding will be skipped.

With the continuous update of Stardew Valley, the game has added many new elements in the link of marriage.The developer confirmed that in version 1.1, Shane and Emily will be added to the marriageable objects. In version 1.3, online players can be married, and can buy the formula for wedding rings in the travel cart. And the wedding ceremony can be held in the morning after giving the ring and three days after the engagement.

New World is an MMORPG launching on September 28, 2021. The background of the game is set on the fictional supernatural world of Aeternum Island in the 17th century. Players will explore and fight, build their own characters, and create another self among three factions that are constantly vying for towns and territories.

The environment and picture creation of New World are expressed in an open 3D form. The vision is exquisite and can even be used as a wallpaper. And the character modeling is also very good. The game tells why players want to go to Aeternum Island at the beginning. A person whose body has changed found the captain and told the story about Aeternum Island, so the captain went to that mysterious place. But when he arrived, the captain's fleet encountered the situation that the person told. Afterwards, the player encounters the corrupted captain.

Following the quest process, players can gradually understand and experience the world. And the main line and branch lines basically follow the consistent process of massively multiplayer online games. Specifically, it is collecting items, killing monsters, and talking with NPCs. In addition, there are various tasks related to city construction and faction reputation, etc. Through these, players can find suitable weapons and complete the tasks they want and trade with other players.

Players can join three different factions, the Syndicate, Covenant, and Marauders. These three factions are constantly fighting for control of towns and territories. And as players, we also belong to different camps after choosing our own faction, and jointly complete the construction of towns and produce goods. Players can also buy houses and settle in their own faction.

Weapons

The novice tutorial of the game is more detailed. Players can use different weapons to attack, and each weapon has its own proficiency. After using the weapon frequently, you can gain skills and upgrade them. It can be said that the game does not have a specific profession, and it can also be said that the weapon used is the profession. Of course, weapons and tools have a certain endurance, and they will be damaged after the endurance is consumed.

Depending on the weapon you use, you can also change your professions. The profession is divided into two types: long-range and melee. Such as long-range Fire Magic, Life Magic, Ice Magic, Bow, Musket, and melee Sword and Shield, Greatsword, Hatchet, Spear, Great Axe, and War Hammer.

Each weapon can be equipped with three skills, such as Fire Magic's Fire's Reach, Sword and Shield's Reverse Stab, etc. The three skills are released during the battle and the specific three skills are selected by the player. Have different cooldowns. At the same time, after the character is upgraded, the attribute points also affect the player's use of weapons. Each weapon has two branches of combat skills, the main skill and the passive skill. The rich skill tree system makes the weapon skills of this game a feature, and it is also a point that impresses me deeply.

Survive

In fact, many construction games have a survival mode, and this game integrates it. In the game, players can carry out mining, hunting, skinning, logging, harvesting and fishing that survival games have. And these form different life skills. Players can choose what they like to improve their proficiency. As the level increases, more collectible items and resources that can be detected will be unlocked. At the same time, we can collect resources in the wild to make bonfires to make medicines and rest to restore health. In addition to using potions, your HP can also be recovered by hunting, making food and drinking water, which is quite like Red Dead Redemption 2.

There are different crafting stations in the city. After collecting enough materials, we can use these to craft and upgrade the level. Raising the level will unlock higher resources. In layman's terms, it is life skills. Some players like to make armor weapons, some like to cook, some like to make furniture and handmade jewelry, etc. These all take time to improve proficiency and level. Players can choose one or two to upgrade, or slowly accumulate with the game time and slow to master all. Pretty good.

Fast teleportation is also designed in the game, but fast teleportation needs to consume a currency called Azoth. If this currency is not enough, then you cannot quickly move between big cities. After death, you can choose to be reborn at the nearest found teleportation point and bonfire in the set initial city. But there are different cooling rates and limits.

Sense Of Experience

Both the sense of strike and the sound effect make the feeling of blocking and attacking very good, and the flat slash also uses the form of three combos. Different weapon combinations can form different teams. For example, Fire Magic can summon fireballs in a certain range. Of course, blocking and dodging with Great Axe will consume stamina. In terms of movements, climbing cannot climb rocks, you can stand on fences, climb over fences, etc. The overall feeling is very smooth.

There will be random monster attacks on the map, and all bosses are basically above level 25. When your main line reaches level 20, you can form a team to play dungeons and fight bosses to obtain high-level equipment. The follow-up battles between players between factions, and even siege games are even more exciting.

Here I want to talk about farming maps of this game. Except for fast teleportation, it can only rely on legs, and there is no automatic running. You only have automatic pathfinding based on the route, and there is no mount system, so it will consume a certain amount of time on the road.

In addition to various materials collected in the wild, there are also fantasy plants that we have never seen. At the same time, there are treasure chests and documents where some monsters are located, which can be collected and read. There will also be some fragmented information about the world in the city. We can learn a lot by collecting these.

New World integrates survival production into open world MMORPG, creating a unique legendary story under the background of the 17th century. Different weapons and rich weapon skill trees allow players to choose more freely in team combination and weapon specialization .The diverse elements such as survival, collection, production and exploration are the characteristics of this game. The choice of different factions, the battle between PVE and PVP all make this game more challenging and sustainable. Therefore, New World is a game well worth the time to play.

The Game Awards happened a few days ago, but we're not here to talk about every details. What we're here to discuss, is Supergiant Games surprising every rouguelike players by breaking its “no-sequel” tradition in announcing Hades II releasing.

You may ask what is Hades? Back to 2020, action-roguelike Hades saw Zagreus battling his way up from Hades (the place) to meet his estranged bio-mom, Persephone. Hades was my game of the year 2020. I don't mean to say that Hades is objectively the best, because that's an impossible metric (and also Baldur's Gate 3 isn't out yet). Rather, developer Supergiant's Greek mythology-flavored action roguelike was, improbably, the game that best characterizes the year 2020.

Hades, which entered early access in 2018 and launched offical version in PC and Switch platforms, after almost two years of additional development. More than that, it is a game whose structure and story are both rooted in repeated, inescapable failure. As Zagreus, the son of Hades, you try to slash, shield bash, spear, bow, punch, and gun your way out of hell, but no matter how many demonic shades fall after (ode to a Grecian) earning your ire, you end up back where you started.

Outstanding Narrative and Character:

This review discusses Hades' story in depth and includes both minor and major spoilers. If you haven't finished the game, and I mean really finished it, and wish to avoid spoilers, probably skip those sections.

Supergiant describes Hades as a roguelike, but only because there's not really a good genre descriptor that sums up what it really is. In between action-based runs through the ever-shifting halls of Tartarus, Asphodel, Elysium, and the Temple of Styx, you spend ample time talking to various gods, goddesses, shades (ghosts, basically), and Dusa, who defies categorization. Also Cerberus, who is both bigger than all other dogs and has three heads, thus making him quantifiably the best boy. You can give these characters gifts to strengthen your bonds, but just conversing with them over the course of countless runs is enough to peel back many of their layers.

You get to know these characters as 10 hours give way to 20, 30, 60, and onward. When I first encountered Achilles while playing Hades, I thought he was a dreary shadow perpetually posed against the same dull wall. Now, months later, he's like a father, brother, and maybe more to me, a font of generosity in spite of his own past failures. These slow-build interactions, which sometimes move at a speed akin to that of real-life relationships, are just as central to Hades as making a mess of Hell on your way to the surface.

Characters, in turn, react to your progress and deeds, some of which come to directly involve them. Given the number of possible permutations of your progress both through the game and with various characters, it is a mind-bogglingly complex narrative system that somehow manages to feel coherent at almost all times.

In fact everyone, including main antagonist Hades and the universally reviled Theseus, has this caring softness to them that enhances their blinding attractiveness to cosmic levels. Zagreus, full of concern for his friend Dusa, asks her if she's okay with him killing other gorgons. Asterius, slain by Theseus in life, becomes bound to him by camaraderie and respect in death. Even Megaera, after being slain by Zagreus countless times, develops a fondness for him, and warns him to be careful whenever he ventures out to escape. Everyone loves everyone else and that is just so awesome to see, especially in 2022 when even human compassion is in rare supply.

In a mythos wherein the gods are usually portrayed as hateful, backstabbing, narcissists, Supergiant made these gods beautiful—inside and out.

Amazing Game Play:

It didn't take very long for me to fall in love with Hades, Supergiant's take on the roguelike genre. It's not just that the core gameplay loop was enticing, but seemingly every aspect of the game seemed to ooze quality and egged me on to play some more. There is something fascinating about how this game feels so complete and incredible.

I used the genre of roguelike to refer to this game, but truth be told, depending on who you ask, this classification has vastly different meanings. For the purpose of this article, here's what I used the term to identify key elements of the gameplay loop: floor-based progression, random power-ups throughout the progression and start-over on death. This classification puts Hades there along with games like FTL, Slay the Spire, The Binding of Isaac, Spelunky, and many more; games that have vastly different mechanics but whose core appeals remain similar.

This basic loop is very popular nowadays and for good reason: it's incredibly compelling. The floor-based structure makes progression towards success very easy to quantify and encourages the player to push forward. Random power-ups ensure each attempt is different and presents an opportunity for synergies, making the player looking forward to those "god-runs". And the start-over on death wraps it all together. Hades supplements this with a very satisfying combat system which ensures the compelling aspects of the loop are backed up by a fun overall experience. And this is the core loop that every other element of Hades feeds into.

One of the main ways that this loop is reinforced is through the use of multiple global progression axes. More classical roguelikes only have the player expertise getting better through multiple runs. Hades gives the player ways to make each attempt easier through multiple ways. The mirror makes the player stronger, by giving them more health, starting gold, or luck for example. The weapons offer different play styles and can be further customized and upgraded. Even the rooms can be upgraded with chest and pots that grant rewards or be fit with healing fountains.

Each axis of progression requires resources that can be acquired during the runs. This method of multiple axes of progression has very strong effects on the main loop.

First, it creates two different paradigms for each run: getting as far as possible or amassing resources. This in turns reduces the amount of "bad runs" since weaker runs can be used to gather resources instead, the player still feels like they're accomplishing something. That completely discourages the player from abandoning a run, a mechanic too often seen in other games of the genre (looking at you, Spelunky).

The second effect is that with multiple axes of global progression, each player can more easily reach a state of flow. Since how far you go is based both on skill and the character's power, the player doesn't get exposed to more information than their current skill level can handle.

All in all, It's no surprise that this game is a masterpiece since it's built on every other game Supergiant has made before. It is built upon their strengths and vision and their amazing capacity for creativity and humanity. Even though the game depicts an endless fight against established power, it somehow provides much needed fun in these troubled times.

Impressive Soundtrack

For a game that imaginatively reinvented Greek mythology to craft a difficult but immensely rewarding experience, Hades required an engrossing soundtrack. Redditor Rectacrab thinks it delivers more than just that, calling the score "so so good" and highlighting pieces like "Rage of the Myrmidons" that made the Elysium sequence unforgettable.

Darren Korb may be best known as the voice of Zagreus in the game, but he has also composed the music for every Supergiant Games title, including Hades. What makes the soundtrack great is that every single floor has its own distinctive feel, often incorporating unusual instruments and different cultural influences, yet it manages to feel like a cohesive soundtrack.

Lucian has always been a popular champion in League of Legends, both in normal as well as in competitive play. His "hit-and-run" kit makes it rewarding to play when well-executed, and his mobility is a unique characteristic that other marksmen do not have.

Throughout the years, though, Lucian has lost a lot of value, especially in terms of total damage output, compared to the newly released champions. This brought Riot Games to make a substantial change to his kit in patch when a new portion of his passive called "Vigilance" was added to his kit. Vigilance grants additional bonus damage on Lucian's next two auto attacks when he is buffed or healed by an allied champion. The buff immediately brought Lucian back into the meta, with enchanter supports as his preferred duo partners.

Since then, the gunslinger has been a stable presence across all elos, having particular success at the top of the ladder, with a 51.78 percent win rate in Master and above, according to U.GG.

That being said, mastering Lucian is not an easy feat. He requires great mechanics and a strong understanding of his strengths and weaknesses. If you're looking to play him to climb the solo queue ladder, we have got you covered.

Runes

There are two main rune combinations for Lucian, each having their own pros and cons:

First Strike Lucian

Inspiration

First Strike: this keystone rune is easy to proc with Lucian and it's crucial to get ahead in gold of your enemies to be stronger during the mid game. Compared to most other ADCs, Lucian doesn't scale as well in the late stages of the game so First Strike's extra gold makes up for it. If used correctly, you will be having a great economy from the 10-minute mark since you can utilize your burst damage to gain more gold. You might lack some damage in the early game, but it will guarantee better items as the game prolongs.

Magical Footwear: this is the standard rune that most ADCs run. The 300 gold saved can be used to rush the Mythic item sooner and the extra ten movement speed is a valuable stat for a mobile champion like Lucian.

Biscuit Delivery: the gunslinger tends to burn a lot of mana in the early game to make trades and push the wave. The biscuits help him quickly regenerate mana and they can also be used in clutch situations to gain some extra health that might save him from dying.

Cosmic Insight: there aren't other runes that are nearly as effective as Cosmic Insight in this row of the Precision tree. Having the summoner spells' cooldowns lowered is always great for marksmen, especially for Lucian who can also use it offensively to quickly chase down a target.

Precision

Presence of Mind: just like for Biscuit Delivery, this rune grants additional mana to Lucian since he doesn't get any from his current build. The mana restored upon takedowns allows him to keep using his abilities and maintain his damage output constant in a skirmish or teamfight.

Legend: Bloodline: Lucian's build doesn't have lifesteal included, so Legend: Bloodline grants him some extra sustain that might become handy in the later stages of the game.

Press the Attack Lucian

Precision

Press the Attack: compared to First Strike, Press the Attack gives Lucian more skirmishing potential in the early game. The rune synergizes well with the ADC's passive Lightslinger and it works best in extended trades.

Presence of Mind: see above.

Legend: Bloodline: see above.

Coup de Grace: the extra eight percent damage to targets below 40 percent health is helpful for Lucian to quickly burst down a target. Go for this against rune if there are a lot of squishy targets on the enemy team.

Inspiration

Magical Footwear: see above.

Cosmic Insight: see above.

Bonuses: +10 percent attack speed, +9 adaptive force, +6 armor

Items
The starting items for Lucian are fairly straightforward: Doran's Blade is the most common start and it grants attack damage, health, and a little bit of sustain. In other words, you get everything you would need in one item.

If you're looking to go for an aggressive start, you can also consider buying a Long Sword and Refillable Potion. This is a higher-risk, higher-reward strategy since it allows you to get your first core item earlier, but it gives you less trading ability in the first few minutes of the lane. Losing the extra health and the sustain makes you also more vulnerable so it's crucial to not mess up during the laning phase.

On your first recall, look to get the Noonquiver since it greatly increases your trading ability, as well as the ability to push waves thanks to the item's passive. Try to always recall once you have the gold, otherwise, your recalls will not be as efficient and it might delay your Mythic Item purchase.

There's only one possible Mythic Item for Lucian and that's Galeforce. The item's passive can be used both offensively and defensively, further enhancing Lucian's innate mobility.

The item can also be used in combo with his own dash on his E to quickly reposition twice within a matter of tenths of seconds. After buying Galeforce, close your tier two boots with Berserkers' Greaves, and proceed to rush your second core item, The Collector.

While it's not used a lot by other ADCs, it's the best second item for Lucian as it matches with his own spike in the mid game we mentioned earlier. The lethality allows him to quickly pierce through the squishy targets and the execute passive is just the icing on the cake.

For your fourth and fifth items, you have two possible choices and the order of purchase will depend on the game state. If you're well ahead and are snowballing hard, get the Infinity Edge to maximize your damage output since you will already have the 60 percent critical strike chance. If you're struggling to walk into auto-attack range since enemies can take you down, buy Rapidfire Cannon since it costs 900 gold less and it allows you to poke from a safer position.

To round off the build, there are four possible items that can be bought, two damage-oriented choices and two defensive items. Lord Dominik's Regard and Serylda's Grudge amplify your total damage thanks to the armor penetration that both come with. LDR is better against tanks while Serylda is overall better if you need the passive's slow to kite your opponents.

If you're getting burst down and need some defensive stats, Guardian Angel is the go-to item thanks to its revive passive. Against a lot of magic damage, however, Maw of Malmortius will be more effective.

Last things I have to mention that no matter you want to choose Lucian as top laner or AD carry, the mechanism actually did not change too much through the years. So watch professional players' rank show is also important, here are two different videos I would like to recommend to you, hope you can enjoy them and get better. See you guys next time.

The Christmas decorations are back in Forza Horizon 5‘s Guanajuato, as we’re set out to celebrate the Horizon Holidays series.

Included within the series is also a Horizon Secret Santa event, where you’ll be rewarded with a Holiday Tree Outfit and a Lamborghini Sián Roadster if you send gifts to other players.

The cars you can unlock this week is the AMC Javelin-AMX 1971 for 20 points and the BMW M3 GTS 2010 for 40 points.

As for the series itself, you can unlock the Extreme E Odyssey 21 e-SUV 2022 for 80 points, and the Ferrari California T 2014 for 160 points.

TREASURE HUNT: DRIVING SEASON

As for the Treasure Hunt named “Driving Season”, this comes with the hint “Drive home for the Holidays in a famously green manufacturer”.

You’re required to jump into any Aston Martin car and drive for at least 5 miles.
Once unlocked, an orange circle will appear around the Playa Azul area, located at the east coast. The Chest is located within the centre of the village, within a sort of stage area with Christmas related objects nearby.

Fast travel to the Goliath race event, and immediately head to the unmarked road on your left. Drive down this path and turn right onto the marked off-road track, and the Treasure will appear on the left side of the road.

Simply smash into the Treasure Chest, and the 100FP and 3 points are yours!

PHOTO CHALLENGE #HIDEANDSEEK

This week’s photo challenge requires you to photograph the Snowman at the Casa Bella player house in Mulegé.

This house can be found on the north side of the town and directly to the south of the Mulegé sign on the map. The snowman can be found within the north-western corner of the house.

While near the snowman, simply open the camera app by using up on the D-pad and tap A to snap the picture to gain the rewards.

Upon completion, the Sleigh Bells Car Horn reward is yours. This can be equipped by heading to the car horn area in the pause menu.

SERIES 15 WET SEASON #FORZATHON SHOP HIGHLIGHTS

This week’s rewards available within Series 15’s Wet season are two cars, a hat, a car horn and an accessory, alongside the always available Wheelspins.

Both cars are available to buy from the autoshow for a cheap combined cost of 2,350,000CR. The available items from the Forzathon Shop this week are:

• Lotus Elise GT1 1997 – 600 FP

• Reindeer Antlers Hat – 75 FP

• Jingle Bells Car Horn – 75 FP

• Red Nose Accessory – 75 FP

• Porsche 911 GT2 1995 – 400 FP

• 1x Super Wheelspin – 150 FP

• 1x Horizon Wheelspin – 60 FP

#FORZATHON WEEKLY CHALLENGE BUBBLE TROUBLE

It’s confusing as to why Playground Games wants you to travel within the tiny BMW Isetta 300 Export 1957, but hey, anything to complete the playlist.

After squeezing into this micro vehicle, you’re required to reach 55mph/89kmh at any Speed Trap, earn 4 Stars at any PR Stunt, and finally wrap things up by earning 2 Stars at Danger Signs.

There are bits and pieces from the many Need for Speed games within Need for Speed Unbound, and it does a fair job of balancing these elements.

In order for franchises to last decades, they typically have to reinvent themselves a few times. Need for Speed is no exception, even though in Need for Speed Unbound, the series takes inspiration from past titles. This is certainly not a bad thing, as there is a lot to be learned from the franchise's past.

Need for Speed Unbound returns to the street racing that characterized the series during the 2000s. It also features a focus on characters which is something that became more prevalent during the 2010s. The two elements are blended well, resulting in an addictive racing game.

Need for Speed During the 2000s

For most of its lifetime, the Need for Speed series has been about exhilarating races and evading the police. However, it has changed its setting quite a bit over time, giving each of the games a different feeling. Earlier Need for Speed titles feature tracks with some urban influence, but they also wind through the outskirts of cities, allowing gamers to enjoy the stunning scenery. This is seen, for instance, with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, which was released in 2002.

The 2000s is also the decade where Need for Speed, like many arcade racers of the time, delved into street racing. It was the perfect time to do so thanks to the level of popularity that Japanese imported cars and car customization had achieved in pop culture. This era of the franchise is best represented by Need for Speed Underground and its sequel which feature hip-hop soundtracks and the ability to customize cars to make them look as flashy as the player likes.

For most of the 2000s, the franchise stuck to this identity, arguably reaching its pinnacle with Need for Speed: Most Wanted. However, the formula eventually got stale. Furthermore, street racing lost the popularity it once enjoyed. Consequently, when Need for Speed: Carbon rolled around in 2006, many gamers saw this as the beginning of a decline in the series.

In many ways, Need for Speed Unbound is a return to form for the series. It embraces urban street racing once again, features intense police chases, and gives players the option to wildly customize vehicles. In many ways, it feels like Unbound was created for gamers who enjoyed this era.

Need for Speed in the 2010s

The 2010s were a weird time for the Need for Speed series. After the fall of the popularity of street racing, the franchise seemed to be searching for a new identity. Technically, this began in the late 2000s with titles like ProStreet that tackled legal street racing, but things have only gotten weirder from that point onward.

During the 2010s, the franchise looked toward the online world and attempted to make the most of it.

Hence, gamers got titles such as 2010's Need for Speed: World and 2015's Need for Speed which attempted to reboot the series. Neither of these titles was particularly well-received. The 2010s also saw the series look past just the cars, and pay attention to the racers as well. For example, in The Run, there are sections where players get out of their vehicles and engage in quick-time events, while 2019's Need for Speed Heat, gamers can select their own playable character from a catalog of presets.

Need for Speed Unbound also focuses on characters; it allows gamers to pick their own playable character and customize them with designer clothing. However, its single-player offering is still the main attraction, and it doesn't attempt to bill itself as an online multiplayer game as other titles in the decade did. With Unbound, it appears that Need for Speed has found an identity that suits it in the modern landscape. It takes the street racing of the 2000s and blends it with the focus on characters from the 2010s. The result is a concoction of fun arcade racing that reminds players that the franchise has not yet met its demise.