I’ve noticed that I’ve been talking a lot about trends lately. Early access is still spewing out unfinished games and expecting us to pay for them, there’s another brand new set of pay to win clones out there (probably,) and we’re seeing certain genres getting a lot more new releases than others. One of these genres is the strategy genre. Everything seems to be “turn based this,” or “real time that,” at the moment. This is absolutely fine as long as what we’re playing is actually playable … and doesn’t smell faintly of another one we played five minutes ago … man, I really hate clones. One game that seems to be attempting to do something a bit different and stand out in its own right is INSIDIA, an upcoming release by Italian development crew Bad Seed. The fact that it isn’t mimicking everything else on the market is the main reason why I’d like to bring you a bit of news about this title today.

In the not too distant future, energy will be scarce and in order to power your laser security systems, moving platforms and collapsible floors your will need to find it, manage it so that you have it when you need it, and recycle it when you can. This is how the new world works in Vesta, however, and with the help of her trusty droid sidekick named Droid, there is no obstacle that can stop the two of them.

Vesta is very resourceful and can collect the energy from the pods (middle right of screen) to open the doors in the level. She can only hold three tankfuls but can upgrade that ability as the game progresses.

Some of the levels are pretty dark which adds to the ambiance.

Droid is not just a pretty face but can blast his way past obstacles and enemies. Vesta is the brains and Droid is the muscle.

Some areas will require Vesta to ride on Droid in order to proceed. He can even throw her across areas that can’t be accessed any other way.

Acid pits, trap doors and other dangers await you in the 30+ levels that you will have to explore in order to find your answers.

Surprising to many, the Nintendo Switch has been a boon for the “House that Mario Built” and it is nice to see the company that put videogaming on the map is seeing a renaissance of sorts again with its latest console hit.

To prove to long-time fans that they hadn’t forgotten about those of us who were there in the beginning and have been supporting them for some time now, Nintendo has released fan favorite titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey to prove that they understand what its core audience expects from them.

Now that we have entered a new year, 2018 looks like it’s going to be very promising for those of us who have been lucky enough to score a Switch, and there are some great-looking games coming to the system that you won’t be able to play on any other console on the market.

The list of exclusive titles that will be gracing the Nintendo Switch console in 2018 is composed of a whopping sixteen titles. That is an impressive feat even for Nintendo so I am hoping that all of these land and help to keep Nintendo’s streak this console generation going.

Are you planning on buying any of the games on the list below? At least five of these will be added to my collection once they hit store shelves. Let me know in the comments if you are planning on grabbing a few of these titles yourself.

2018 Nintendo Switch Exclusives

Remember when Nintendo announced that they were going to start charging people to play their games online? Well, they are finally going to be holding up that promise later this year.

Nintendo’s social media pages announced that Nintendo Switch Online will be launching in September, 2018.

Anyone who has a Switch might know that you are able to play games online now, but when compared to Xbox Live and Playstation Network, the online experience is pretty lacking.

Voice chat is only possible through an app on your smart phone, and although I have never tried using it myself, I can tell you from word of mouth that it is probably not worth your storage/data. The stability of games online hold up pretty well in my opinion when playing games like Mario Kart, Splatoon 2, and Rocket League, but is there really enough there to warrant charging the customer?

Supposedly, the online service will cost $3.99 a month or $19.99 for a year subscription. When compared to the other two console online services this is drastically cheaper and I think this is key to Nintendo receiving any subscribers at all. There is simply not enough to keep people coming back to play online day after day, which of course could change with time as more games are brought out, but even if we were to receive a game like a new Super Smash Bros., would you pay to play it online? Because at this moment I am not convinced that I would.

With PSN and Xbox Live, subscribers are given the chance to download games for free, and supposedly Nintendo will be bringing that feature to the Switch. The downside though, is that while you get to keep those games, Nintendo will only be allowing you to keep it for that one month. I get that Nintendo’s past library really could make that cool to play the games for free, but do you want to be put on a time limit for their games? What if down the road I want to play it again? Do I at least get a discount?

We also have yet to hear about Virtual Console. Is that ditched now for this service? We just have a lot more questions than answers at this moment.

I know this post may sound very pessimistic, but Nintendo’s past with anything online has left a lot to be desired. I am a huge Nintendo fan and I hope I am impressed as more details come out about the new service, but at the moment I am staying on the weary side with Nintendo Switch Online.

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The RPG genre and I go back a long way. In fact, a little known RPG called Times of Lore was one of the first games I ever played and loved. This being the case, I’m always interested when a new addition to the RPG genre comes along even though the genre is a mixed bag. You could say that every genre is, but plot heavy, story driven RPGs especially are at a disadvantage; if it doesn’t hook you and quickly, all the other aspects of the game no matter how cleverly and gorgeously executed become redundant. I would even go as far to say that a game could look and sound like it’s been developed by a kindergarten class, but I’d still play it if the story was good. This is the first thing I noticed about SpellForce III. In my opinion it didn’t start particularly well.

I’m not sure I like tutorials that don’t let you play as the character you’ve just created. I want to sink into their shoes, not be told that the hour I’ve just put in is kinda important to the story but it’s all set years before the start of the game proper. Just tell me what happened in the prologue and let me go from there. With this being said, and because I can’t write a fair review after an hour of gameplay, I trudged grimly through the tutorial. Thankfully what I was met with beyond it was far more to my liking. If I’d just decided to have a quick look though, I might not have chosen to go any further.

You set out playing the son or daughter of a corrupt mage. You only have your head on your shoulders because you betrayed your father and were saved from sacrifice. You join the royal guard, known as The Wolf Guard, and manage to rise in its ranks. You certainly aren’t classed as a hero; you’re an outcast, but this is probably the best kind of character. At the beginning of the first real chapter of the game, you are sent out to investigate a magical plague that has beset one of the local villages. This is where I’m going to stop, story-wise; we don’t want any spoilers now do we?

SpellForce III combines two very different, well known styles. There’s the very traditional, top down RPG in the style of the Baldurs Gate games or more recently Pillars of Eternity. This is a tried and tested format that works really well. This style is combined with building mechanics similar to those in games such as Command & Conquer. Blending two genres that are really distinct is a great idea. You aren’t doing both at the same time of course (that would require brain splitting tantamount to multiple personalities), but rather switch between the two as the story demands.

The RPG elements shine in SpellForce III‘s great skill tree which makes the different heroes feel unique. This is important as there are areas where you can pick your party. Choosing your skills wisely is doubly important as you’ll be using them in the RTS sections of the game as well. You can’t just think like an RPG player. In an RPG, you build your character for a party of up to five heroes. In this game, you’re dealing with your troops as well. This makes your choices really important as your favorite dungeon running build might not work for a more strategic encounter.

Graphically, SpellForce III has a very late-90s look. This isn’t a criticism by any means. The game doesn’t feel outdated, rather it seems that this was very much a deliberate move by the devs. They could have ended up going for style over substance and it’s very clear that they haven’t. The SpellForce franchise has been around for a good while now, so it makes sense to stick to the game’s roots and what it’s always done well rather than giving it a total revamp just for the sake of it. This being said, alongside the retro feel (have we gotten to the stage of calling the late nineties/early noughts retro yet?) there are some really lovely FMV sequences thrown into the mix.

So, let’s have a little of my likes and dislkikes, shall we? Well, I’ve already mentioned the prologue. This isn’t a huge dislike; it’s entirely a matter of taste and I’m not down-marking for it. I totally get there’s different ways to tell a story, but personally I’d have done it differently. Another point that I can’t 100% make my mind up on is that you’re kind of drip-fed the gameplay mechanics. It’s not a case of learning everything in the first five minutes and just going for it.

For example, I didn’t find Godstones, which are pretty important teleportation/re-spawn devices, until I was about five or so hours into the game. Incidentally, for those of you that found them much quicker, well done; I’m slow. These are really useful and very necessary but aren’t even mentioned at the very beginning of the game. I like this because you’re discovering new things all the time but for no-nonsense gamers, I’m not sure whether this is a fitting approach.

Speaking of being drip fed – and I mean in a good way – let’s go back to narrative for a moment. I really enjoy story-driven games where I don’t know quite what’s coming. I’m at a stage where I’m not really sure who the good guys are and I really rather like this. A note to developers: we don’t always want to know who or what we’re up against, sometimes a little bit of back-stabbing crookedness is a good thing.

A con for me is that the game feels a bit awkward in places. When there’s a lot going on, and there can be some pretty big battles especially in the RTS sections, the game can feel a bit clunky. You’re trying to control your own characters and watch what your troops are doing, and build new ones and … yeah, a lot of ands. This is fine, but I lost count of the amount of times I had to restart bits of battles because I’d had to dart off and build more units only to see one of my heroes die. Is this bad gaming on my part? I seriously hope not, but it didn’t always feel 100% fluid.

Another con for me is some of the voice acting. Every conversation is spoken. Though some of it is very good, I’d say that there are definitely a few actors who shouldn’t give up his or her day job any time soon. There are certain exchanges that feel slightly stilted and even a tiny bit cringe-worthy. You could turn the sound off, but this isn’t really in the spirit of the game.

All in all, SpellForce III is a solid RPG with a good story and some interesting gameplay mechanics. The RTS bits make the game appealing and the two styles balance well with each other. Actually, I’d say this almost adds a few points to the game. If SpellForce III were just a stand-alone RPG or RTS, I think I’d probably be saying that it’s good but there’s better out there. The blending of the two styles mixed with the really intriguing story (once you get into it) actually makes the game greater than the sum of its individual parts.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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I had wondered why They Are Billions was becoming so popular on Steam. It seemed to me like any other RTS game you may experience. To an extent this is true. The game is rife with resource-management, fortification, and survival. However, They Are Billions expands upon the genre by introducing new mechanics and an overall higher level of difficulty comparative to other games like it.

Let me preface this by stating that I am an RTS noob. I have never had a full game experience with this specific type of gameplay. Not even through a mobile device. The genre has just never really piqued my interest. However, in my attempt to broaden my gaming horizons, I accepted this review as a challenge. Knowing the success of the game gave me some more confidence as well. They Are Billions has lived on the front page of Steam’s top sellers to this date since its release. Although I went into it with some skepticism, I was able to maintain objectivity and experience everything the game has to offer.

Gameplay

In my effort to be transparent, I will admit that I had to walk away from this game a few times. I attribute most of the reasoning to the fact that I am in no way adept at the mechanics in this type of game. After getting around the learning curve, I began to understand how to be more responsible with resources and when to build specific structures. The gameplay has straightforward mechanics if you are familiar with real-time strategy. As you expand your colony, you must segment your population throughout to do different tasks. Colonists, workers, soldiers, etc. will either protect, fortify, or gather resources for the colony. All the while, you fight against the clock as a hoard of infected zombies threaten to wipe out your entire colony.

A mechanic I found helpful was being able to group up different soldiers to be stationed at different areas of the map. You can also build towers to station various soldier-types to give them increased range against any infected in the vicinity. I learned very quickly just how essential it was to protect your soldiers. Numerous attempts of leaving them to fight the infected on the ground led to SEVERAL failures. In the meantime, you must allocate resources and workers to build and farm the land around you. Each building adds and takes away more things necessary to your colony’s survival.

It is easy to see how stressful this game can become, particularly to those unfamiliar with the mechanics. In my opinion, this was a risky move by indie dev Numantian Games, easily pushing away gamers unfamiliar with this genre. However, I think in the long run, the platform in which it is played on works to the games benefit. Casual gamers are prone towards console, while more serious gamers’ platform of choice is on PC. Knowing this, Numantian believed that more gamers (RTS experienced or not) would “stick to it” and take time to understand how to succeed in the game.

I say this because I experienced it firsthand. Although I had several bouts of desire to give up, I took it upon myself to learn through trial and error what works and what doesn’t. I had a little help from the internet as well. Overall, I found myself wanting to get better at the game. The idea of losing all progress and starting from the beginning every time you failed gave me enough drive to try to get further along on my next attempt.

Design

I found the most interesting design feature was how in every new game scenario, you start off in a completely new territory. Resources and biomes are placed in different areas throughout the map. Each game you start, you must adapt to your surroundings and survive based on what is available. You can use more natural barriers like lakes, wooded areas, and rock formations to your benefit or detriment. The environment paired with a Steampunk-Victorian architecture introduces the player to a world that feels surrealistic. The game also has several other unlockable environments achieved from a successful surviving of the base environment, The Dark Moorland.

Another factor that adds depth to this game is the ability to engineer new buildings over time as well as attain new classes of soldiers like mercenaries. You can use these soldiers to defeat tougher enemies that come later in the game. With higher levels of soldiers comes a need to have more resources like food. Which in turn creates a need for more workers. It quickly becomes a domino-effect to decide what is most important for your colony to survive. The player is forced to multi-task and think of the different outcomes and consequences of their actions.

The main gripe to be argued about this game is the lack of tutorial. This game does not hold your hand. It expects you to learn how to beat it through systematic trial by error and reasoning. There are no hints, tips, or tricks to guide you. This is a subjective criticism because some gamers love it when a game lets them figure out things for their own. While others wouldn’t mind having a few guidelines to help them become better.

At first, I wanted to say this was a legitimate criticism on my part. However, after taking a step back I can see how that might be unfair. This is a game where even the “easy” difficulties are strenuous. Although I wouldn’t discourage those who are more casual gamers. I would recommend this game to those who are determined and patient enough to overcome the obstacles this game will throw at them.

Plot

This game knows what it is. And it is not a story-driven game. The game drops you into a world with little to no context into how it got that way. However, in the grand scheme, it truly doesn’t matter and doesn’t take away anything from the experience. Of course, if you were going into it hoping for detailed plot, you would be disappointed. Although I think it would be awesome to have a real story backing up this game, I don’t think it’s fair to criticize for something it never promised to deliver. Besides, the game offers so much more to fill the players time, I think that it goes easily unnoticed. This being the case, I will not let the lack of story-telling affect my overall rating of the game.

Conclusion

In the end, They Are Billions is a unique take on a familiar genre. The added depth from a constantly changing environment filled with new obstacles makes for a survival game that anyone looking for a challenge will easily enjoy. You can purchase and download the game from Steam here and follow Numantian Games on Facebook for updates.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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If you like flying puzzle games, than InnerSpace is the game for you. In PolyKnight Game’s exploration flying game, you control a tiny airplane piloted by an AI called the Cartographer. InnerSpace opens with a quick prologue of the world before the game started. it tells you about the Ancients, and how they used a energy called Wind to create the Inverse. Then demigods came and took all the Wind causing the Ancients to slowly die out and disappear. The main objective of InnerSpace is the explore the Inverse; the in-game worlds; looking for relics and collecting Wind. The relics vary from being frame parts to skeletons of creatures long extinct, while Wind is used to open doors and upgrade your frame. That is about all I could derive from this game.

Now for the fun stuff. I wasn’t a huge fan of InnerSpace. It seemed a little unguided which may be fine for some people but I usually prefer a little more direction. The controls and the design were great but the actual movement and navigation seemed off kilter. Navigating that tiny airplane into the tight corridors and hitting switches seemed tedious. Luckily for those of us that aren’t flying aces there aren’t deaths or fiery explosions to worry about so that offsets the navigating difficulty.

When it came to the plot of InnerSpace, I had some trouble connecting with it. It was almost a good plot but the gameplay didn’t complete the hook for me. This game is definitely a casual game for the casual gamer. For me, the plot didn’t have any element of fear or intrigue. Which I prefer a little bit of consequence, or anxiety driving me to finish the plot. But for a game you throw on maybe before bed, or on a lazy Sunday, this game is the perfect casual game. The plot has all the bones of a great story but it trips just shy of “Whoa.”

The graphics for InnerSpace were gorgeous. I found myself staring at the world more than once before bouncing off a wall. The game levels were very confusing for me, but for those of you that are going to try Innerspace for yourself, I recommend taking Dramamine and paying vigilant attention to which direction you need to go. Some of the features in the levels were definitely a blast to navigate, for example, I found a secret tunnel that was only a smidge bigger than your airframe, reminding me of that tight squeeze scene you see in any action movie with an airplane, jetfighter, or spaceship.

Now InnerSpace is by no means a bad game. It just wasn’t my type of game. I’m a simple man, I see a monster, I mash a button. InnerSpace required a little more finesse than I was capable of. I personally tried to get into it but it reminded me too much of crashing over and over again in Battlefield airplanes *shudder with embarrassment* but has none of the fear of exploding in a fireball and being laughed at by a vastly superior 9-year-old. Be sure to check out InnerSpace for yourself on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC and tell me how wrong I am.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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There seem to be a lot of twin-stick shooters on the market at the moment. It always fascinates me to see trends in gaming. The issue you have with an upswing in any genre is that there will always be people out there who are just looking to jump on the band wagon for the money. I have a personal, severe dislike of clones. It’s all well and good taking a format and expanding on it but copying something and altering a few names is not game development, it’s (in my personal opinion) cheating. This being said I’m pretty pleased to announce a title that seems to be doing something a little different with a great genre, specifically a game called Aperion Cyberstorm.

It was announced that Xbox Game Pass will now include all new releases from Microsoft Studios. This will begin to take effect with the release of Sea of Thieves in March, to be followed by both State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3.

The team at Xbox also stated that this will also be the case for upcoming releases that have yet to be announced by Microsoft Studios, including any future installments to the Forza Motorsport franchise.

This is no doubt an incredible deal for gamers everywhere. For those looking to buy a new console, the Xbox Game Pass has been a major factor, but now that it will include new and upcoming Microsoft Studios games, this will surely draw in the attention of current Xbox gamers everywhere.

For more information on all things Xbox, and to see future impressions of some of these new games coming to Xbox Game Pass, stick right here to That VideoGame Blog.

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