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.

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.