New Expansion Coming to Endless Legend April 7th

Thursday, March 31, 2016


Endless Legend is a beautiful strategy game. Amplitude's latest title in its Endless series has received a number of awards and considerable adulation from critics and players alike. Today, the studio announced details and a release date for its next DLC expansion. Shifters will launch on April 7th and introduces a new major faction and strategic elements to the game.

REDUX: DayZ and the Idiosycracies of In-Game Life

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

One of many older screenshots. With .60 on the way soon, these screenshots are a great reminder of how far DayZ has come.


Spending so much time playing The Division has got me thinking a great deal about DayZ. I've started exploring Chernarus again while I'm not running about a plague-ridden New York. As much as people discuss the similarities between The Division and Destiny, I think there is a great deal more inspiration taken from DayZ. As we've discussed before, The Dark Zone is the best example of those similarities. Ubisoft's new shooter-MMO however, uses a great deal more of the standard player allowances we've come to expect from AAA titles. The older post below discusses these allowance and what happens when many of those are removed. Imagine what The Division would be like with more realistic design principles...


The Dark Zone is Great, but has its Problems

Thursday, March 24, 2016

I like The Division. The missions are fun, the gunplay and tactical play is solid and the story is interesting. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the Dark Zone though. I understand what it is, story-wise, but I'm not sure what it really represents for The Division. Most people call it a PVP area, but most PVP areas assume everyone is an enemy. The amount of PVE content in the Dark Zone seems to preclude it from being strictly a PVP area, despite the actions of some agents (whose names I have in a list and will never forget I'm coming for you). The gray area that the Dark Zone occupies is old hat for folks familiar with DayZ or Rust, but it's a first for a triple A title. Does it work for Ubisoft's new flagship title or is it too incongruous from the rest of the game?

Mysterium is Clue in a Haunted House

Tuesday, March 22, 2016
The eerie box art for Mysterium. Image source: geekandsundry.com
For the past week, I've been splitting my game time between my PC and a particular board game we picked up on a whim from our local game store. Mysterium, developed by IGames and published by Libellud, is a beautifully illustrated, cooperative game for up to 7 players. One player is the ghost of a person murdered long ago on the grounds of the manor and the other players are psychics attempting to unravel the mystery of the spirit's untimely demise. With time limited and multiple suspects, everyone must work together to reveal the true sequence of events before the clock strikes 8.

The Division has Players Divided

Thursday, March 17, 2016




I've been lurking on the edges of the Division community. I've read the complaints and the praise from players. So far, there's a lot of polarization within the player base. Some say there isn't enough content, others praise how much of it there is. Most of the initial reviews were provisional (due largely to there being no early review copies sent to the press), but positive. Now that most of those reviews have been finished, the critical consensus pouts The Division in the middle of the road. So how do we feel about Ubisoft's new MMO shooter?

[Pathfinder] Liber Influxus Communis

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

I need to open this disclaimer with the fact that I was both a Kickstarter backer, and a contributor. I wrote the Battle Lord and his archetypes, so I'll try to avoid any claims as to his quality or strength. The rest of this book though, I saw at the same time as everyone else when they got to open their .pdf or hardcopy for the first time.

This book contains 14 new classes, roughly 10 pages of new feats, archetypes for almost all the new classes (and the one that doesn't get archetypes is with good reason, which I'll explain later), and a chapter full of haunts and environmental hazards to expand the breadth of your game. I'll start by digging into the classes.

How Likely is Cross Platform Play for Sony and Microsoft?

Tuesday, March 15, 2016


Yesterday, Chris Charla, Director of ID@Xbox announced that they are now allowing developers to support cross-platform play in their games. The exact words used in his letter were "players on Xbox One and Windows 10 using Xbox Live will be able to play with players on different online multiplayer networks – including other console and PC networks." That last bit sent the Internet into a frenzy. It seems as though Microsoft is opening the door to cross platform play with Sony, though the long standing rival was not mentioned by name in the announcement. If there is to be cross-platform play between Playstation and Xbox, what would it look like, and how would it change the state of console gaming?

Far Cry Primal: Thoughts on a Week in Mesolithic Europe

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

The view from my village's front gate.

Seven days ago I began my journey with Far Cry Primal. I modified my settings to provide a greater challenge and remove some of the things that got in the way of my immersion (namely the minimap and aiming reticle) and since then I have hunted mammoths, tamed a sabertooth tiger, crafted various weapons and built a village. Because I've spent most of my time wandering around rather than pursuing the story, I haven't completed the campaign. I do feel that I've spent enough time with the game to give a more complete assessment of its highs and lows.

REDUX: Far Cry 2

Thursday, March 3, 2016


As I dive further into Far Cry Primal with my modified difficulty settings, I am reminded again and again of Far Cry 2 and its influence on my taste in shooters. I rank Far Cry 2 with the original X-Com in the games that most influenced the games I choose to play today. I've said on numerous occasions that it is my ideal shooter. Difficult, open, dark and thought provoking, Far Cry 2 has not, in my opinion, been matched. Reading my original review of the game, it's easy to see why.

Far Cry Primal: The Stone Age Doesn't Care About You

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

The Stone Age is one of my favorite periods in our species' relatively short history. Far Cry has been one of my favorite game series since Far Cry 2 in 2008. The newest game in that series is Far Cry Primal which takes place during the Stone Age, drew my attention long before its release. I considered purchasing it for either PS4 or XBox One but settled on my gorgeous new PC. So far, I've been killed by a mastodon, a bear, a jaguar, a cannibal and a pig. Even as a longtime Far Cry fan, life in Oros takes a little getting used to.