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Prime Gaming: Dishonored 2

Read More GOG As you know, I’m a huge GOG (Good Old Games) fan and was very excited about the news of GOG Galaxy 2.0 in June 2019. I have been using the GOG Galaxy …

I always forget that Amazon has their weird Prime Gaming (over at gaming.amazon.com).

Every so often, Amazon actually just gives away games - providing that you are a Prime Member (which I have through my brother’s membership under the family extension). I guess it’s just one of the perks, such as free video stream of some of Amazon’s library (including their own funded shows such as Reacher and Jack Ryan).

Recently, for the Christmas holiday, Amazon is giving away Dishonored 2 for free via Prime Gaming. But the best part is that you do not need some sort of Amazon launcher, the free game will be redeemed through GOG, which is the gaming platform that I had championed for years.

I do actually own the Dishonored series on Steam, so I have played a bit of it. I’m not a massive fan of sneak games… and so I didn’t really give Dishonored a chance. It’s just a nice way of saying that I didn’t really like the game.

Speaking of GOG, currently they are running their own Winter Sale, which rivals Steam’s Winter Sale. Unfortunately, due to GOG’s stance of DRM, some Triple A games, such as God of War, can’t be sold on GOG.

While you’re over at GOG, they’re giving away Worms Revolution Gold Edition for free.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

Read more Weekend Gamer.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer: Epic's Christmas Game Giveaway

Death Stranding Read More Epic Games I guess all that waiting was worth it, as currently, the game is free on the Epic Game store. I know a lot of people hate on Epic, saying they’re a bully, saying that they’re …

It’s that time of the year. Epic Games is doing their annual 12 Days of Christmas giveaway… well, it’s more like 15 days of Christmas.

Already, I’m very happy to now own Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role-Playing Game (includes Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout: Tactics) on Epic. I’ve previously own these classic Fallout games on GOG and Steam… so it’s nice to see it on my game list on Epic as well.

Last year, Epic ended their Christmas giveaway with all three Square Enix’s Tomb Raider games on December 30th… which was amazing.

Encased

Currently, the free game is Encase. I don’t know too much about the game, but it looks like it was inspired by that Fallout gameplay… so I’ll check it out.

Update: Wow, can you believe it? For Christmas Day, Epic gave away Death Stranding for free. This is a $60 triple A title. The game is by legendary game creator Hideo Kojima and stars Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, and Lindsay Wagner.

I’ve always been curious about the game, but never bought it because all the reviews said it was kind of boring and the game was a “walking simulator”.

Hey, for free, I will check out the game someday.

So far, these are the free Epic games giveaway:

12/15 – Bloons TD6

12/16 – Horizon Chase Turbo

12/17 – Costume Quest 2

12/18 – Sable

12/19 – Them’s Fightin’ Herds

12/20 – Wolftenstein The New Order

12/21 – Lego Builder’s Journey

12/22 – Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role-Playing Game

12/23 – Encased

12/24 – Metro: Last Light Redux

12/25 - Death Stranding

12/26 - FIST Forged in Shadow Torch

12/27 - Severed Steel

12/28 - Mortal Shell

12/29 - Dishonored - Definitive Edition and Eximius: Seize the Frontline

Update: The Epic giveaway officially ended on 12/29 with a double free game. The next free games (Kerbal Space Program and Shadow Tactics - Aiko's Choice) will be given away on January 5th, 2023.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

PS, Greak: Memories of Azur is the free game over at GOG.

Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role-Playing Game

Read more Weekend Gamer.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer Update (September 2022)

Read More Steam I’ve put down my $5 to preorder my Steam Deck. I decided to get the $400 entry model. I think that is a fantastic price, considering that I looked at similar handheld PCs, such as the Aya Neo and OneXPlayer, and they are usually $1,000 or more … Cyberpunk For some odd reason, Best Buy, allowed me to pick up my pre-order for Cyberpunk 2077 video game for the PC. The game is not officially out until December 10, 2020, on a variety of platforms: Windows …

I received my Steam Deck today. I haven’t played any games on it, as each games takes a million years to download on my cellular hotspot. But so far, so good, everything is working as expected.

First impression: the Steam Deck is massive! I had no idea, I mean I knew it was bigger than the Nintendo Switch, but it’s way bigger than I thought. It’s definitely not a pocketable device. Still, it’s more portable than, say a heavy gaming laptop. I’ll have more to say about the Steam Deck once I actually start playing games on it.

Prior to receiving my Steam Deck, I’ve been buying various accessories for it. I got a decal, a screen protector, and a very expensive 1TB SD card… and I think eventually I will upgrade the 2230 NVMe SSD chip (even though Valve does not recommend it because the SSD might draw too much power and brick the device).

The sticker decal sucked, it arrived folded, and the printing looks blurry. Plus it ripped when I was putting it on. I don’t think I will be buying anymore decals for the Steam Deck unless it’s official or at least licensed.

The other prepping thing I’ve done is buy some more Steam games (even though I own many of them on GOG or Xbox). So yeah, I bought Cyberpunk again. Yeah, I re-bought Elden Ring again on Steam.

Logitech G Cloud

Speaking of Steam Deck, Logitech announced their Logitech G Cloud, a $350 handheld device that can stream your Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam Link, and NVIDIA GeForce Now games. The pricing doesn’t make any sense to me. You can buy a non-portable Xbox Series S or the original Nintendo Switch for less.

And speaking of Cyberpunk, you may recall that I bought the game in Dec 2020 and I noted that there will likely be bugs in the game. What I didn’t anticipate was the massive backlash against the game as it did not run properly on “last gen” consoles. I bought it for the PC, so it ran as expected. I personally didn’t have any complaints about Cyberpunk, but I understand why fans were so angry.

Fast-forward to today, with the recent update / upgrade to Cyberpunk for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, the fans did a 180 turn and all negatives were forgiven. With over 1 million players playing the game every night since the update it’s good to see the game doing so well, two years after it originally released.

As I previously mentioned, I did re-buy the game on Steam so I can test it out on my Steam Deck… so I’ll be joining one of the many players returning to the game.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Steam Deck Update

Technical Specs Processor AMD APU CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz Storage 64 GB eMMC (PCIe Gen 2 x1) 256 GB NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4 or x2) 512 GB NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4 or x2) Display 7" - 1280 x 800px (16:10 aspect ratio) Optically bonded IPS LCD Expansion UHS-I supports SD, SDXC and SDHC USB-C with DisplayPort 1.4 Alt-mode support; up to 8K or 4K Read More Steam I’ve put down my $5 to preorder my Steam Deck. I decided to get the $400 entry model. I think that is a fantastic price, considering that I looked at similar handheld PCs, such as the Aya Neo and OneXPlayer, and they are usually $1,000 or more …

When I placed my $5 deposit to buy the Steam Deck in Aug 2022, I was convinced that I wouldn’t get it until 2023. I was so wrong.

I recently got the alert that I have three days to purchase the Steam Deck. So it took a little over a month to finally fulfill my order. It could be that someone else turned down their Steam Deck, due to disinterests, or the email went to a spam filter, or lack of funds, and I may have gotten their Steam Deck… or it could be that Steam really was ramping production to meet demand. Either way, I’m so excited to finally get my hands on this thing.

I bought the cheapest one, because all three version are basically the same device (same chip, same speed), with the only exception of storage. The cheap version comes with 64GB, but I can always expand it with an SD card.

Again, I have been shopping around at various hand-held devices, such as the OneXPlayer and Aya Neo, and they are all very expensive (about $1,000). The only advantage is that those devices runs the full Windows operating system by default, so you can play GOG or Epic games.

With the Steam Deck, you have to go through a lot of trouble to install Windows on the device. Since the hardware is so new, and Windows doesn’t really support it, getting Windows to run on the Steam Deck is difficult.

Now that I’m waiting for the Steam Deck to ship to me, I am shopping for some new Steam Games. I’m excited to see that Sony is making some of their PlayStation games available on Steam, including God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, and Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition. All of which are Steam Deck verified (meaning they will run on the Steam Deck without issues). Since I probably will never buy a PS5, these PS games are the only way that I’ll get to experience them.

Also, it’s laughable, but none of the PS games will install on my Steam Deck because they’re all over 64GB in size. I probably need to invest in a 1TB SD card ($140) or 512GB card ($70).

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Gamer TV: Witcher and Arcane

Read more Television and Weekend Gamer.

Read More The Witcher Critics absolutely hates Netflix’s The Witcher. The reason is that they don’t generally love the source material (a series of fantasy books) and they don’t play the video games. Since they don’t know the books or games, there’s a disconnect …

THE WITCHER
netflix.com

The second The Witcher season is upon us! Man, it’s been so long (the first season aired in 2019!), I have forgotten much of the first season. I do recall that I loved it… however the critics hated it because they just couldn’t follow the three different time lines. Those same “critics” didn’t really watch the entire season, and they’ve even admitted it so.

There’s even a jab/joke at the critics in Season 2, where a guard said that he didn’t like Dandelion’s song, citing it was too complicated, that he didn’t realized there was three different timeline until the third verse. I laughed so hard at that joke. Sure, it was out of place, but I thought it was funny.

For Season 2, there are no multi-timeline, it’s all one (or actually two) storyline and played out pretty straight forward. I would have to complain that the first episode felt like “Monster of the week” and didn’t seem to fit with the rest of Season 2.

In typical Netflix fashion, we get all the episodes to binge at once, and I really appreciate that. I just don’t have to patience to wait for the full story – I want to see how it ends.

Since I played the excellent video games from CD Projekt Red, I had an idea of where the show was heading… but it was still really fun to see how it unfolds. For example, when they introduced all the other Witchers (including Geralt’s father figure), at the Witcher Keep, you knew many of them weren’t going to make it to the end of the season. This was fairly obvious, at least to me.

The second and third episodes, we find that Geralt had decided to train Ciri to defend herself when he’s gone.

We also finally meet Triss Merigold, to help find out about these monsters that Ciri had unleashed. I have to say that I’m so used to seeing Triss in the video game, that her appearance is … a little different in the TV show. I suppose I have to get used to it. Her hair is curly, but at least they dyed it red. I think the internet would be entirely upset if her hair was not red.

In the game, you romanced with her (or at least you have the option), so it’s implied that she’s a former ex, but in the show, they played it like they’ve never gone in that way, even though Triss wants a relationship.

Personally speaking, between Yennifer and Triss, I’ve always been partial to Triss, as she’s often friendlier and relatable.

There’s also this other plot about the war between the Elves and Humans, which was somewhat confusing… but if you pay attention, there is an evil force that is pulling the string. Since Yennifer lost her magic powers, I felt the show didn’t know what to do with her. Her motivation is to sacrifice Ciri so she can get her powers back, which is spelled out to the viewers – but I’m not sure how everyone else figured out the plot.

There is an amazing human vs Witcher fight sequence that is beyond unbelievable. It was great and gritting, and honestly was so much better than that CGI-dragons/lizard fight that the Witchers had in the end.

Anyway, I love the ending, even though it’s setting up The Wild Hunt for next season, and I’m all on board! Unlike Season 1, the critics loved it at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes (that’s because there’s only one timeline).

Read More League of Legends League of Legends is also offering a free full album download at on their official website for a limited time. Unlike my complaint about the Tavern Songs, this Music of League Vol 1 comes with album artwork.…

ARCANE
netflix.com

I don’t play the League of Legends video game, that Arcane is based on, so I actually had no interest in watching this new animated series… however, after seeing so many glowing reviews of the Netflix show, I had to give it a chance.

So, yeah, it’s pretty good… but, to me, it’s not that amazing. I think the animation is really cool, it has that Blizzard style… and if you can get past the animation, you might like the show.

Sometime, I just wish they kill off Jinx (Powder), as she’s clearly crazy… but the show gave her bulletproof plot armor. Same goes for her crazy father-figure Silco... there are so many moments where I just wish they get rid of these characters.

The problem is that everyone loves the show, and after watching it, I just think it’s alright. I’ve seen this type of story before, and I wasn’t all-in in all the characters. I didn’t really like anyone, except for perhaps, Caitlyn, a sniper that was introduced late in the series. I like her because she motive is pure, and in service of justice. I can see where the show is going, perhaps a romance between Vi and Caitlyn, but we may not see that blossom until season two.

Speaking of which, the response to Season One was so good that the second season is already in production – but it won’t arrive until after 2022.

Again, I think the show is fine, I’m not sure why there’s all this hype for it. I guess since I don’t play the video game by Riot Games, I am just not invested in it. Even the cliffhanger ending, I’m like “meh” and I can take it or leave it for Season 2.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Black Friday 2021

Read More Radiohead Radiohead was called On A Friday in 1995 because that's when they met to rehearse. Oasis originally named themselves after a Beatles song called "The Rain" …

RADIOHEAD
radiohead.com

You know, Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), is tomorrow (Nov 26)… but the sales have been taking place all week (and even all month from some retailers). This used to be one of my favorite times of the year, but since the COVID restrictions… I haven’t been too enthusiastic about the shopping “holiday”. Since supplies are limited (products stuck in shipping containers), prices haven’t exactly been amazing.

As usual, the best deals are with large televisions, physical media, and games. Usually games released last year can be had for 50% or more. The typical digital game store fronts have their annual sale, such as Steam and GOG. The discounts are basically the same across the board, and this year, I might not get anything. There aren’t any games that I’m interested in playing.

I take that back, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is on sale, and it’s a game (three games actually) that I’m interested in checking out the new “remaster”. It’s currently on sale for $35 on Amazon, but unfortunately, there’s no rush for me, as I played the original games when they first came out and I’m not exactly sure if I want to play the same story again.

If you don’t want to spend money at all, over at Epic, you can get Kid A Mnesia Exhibition for absolutely free. I love Radiohead, but Kid A and Amnesiac was a change in direction for their music. Although I appreciate those albums, I still prefer OK Computer-era Radiohead. Still, for $0, it’s worth checking out Kid A Mnesia Exhibition.

Read More Troye Sivan Teen idol Troye Sivan brought his Bloom tour to the State Theatre in Minneapolis on October 17th. First on the lineup was Carlie Hanson (who was a surprise as she’s not listed on the venue’s website). ..…

JORDY
jordymusic.com

Speaking of free, if you are in the area, stop by the world famous Mall of America, in Bloomington, to see Los Angeles’ Jordy and New Jersey’s WanMor on Black Friday, November 26th, for free. They’ll be performing an exclusive live performance at noon, on the Huntington Bank Rotunda. If you arrived early enough (before 10am), you can also receive special wristbands to meet and greet the musicians.

We’ve been to a few of these events, the artists usually play three or four songs. Check out more Mall of America coverages here.

Here’s additional details about the Jordy/WanMor event:

Join us for a special performance with Jordy + WanMor. Plus get the opportunity to meet the bands!

JORDY is an up +coming singer-songwriter now based in Los Angeles. Drawing influences from Lauv and Troye Sivan with catchy melodies and unforgettable hooks, JORDY has been releasing a steady supply of pop hits + features. He has been taking over media, first as one of Radio Disney’s featured artists with the release of his song “Tomorrow feat. OSTON,” + most recently on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon where he participated in and won the Songwriter’s Challenge. With a heart-on-sleeve approach to modern pop music, JORDY’s music explores themes of rejection and loneliness through the lens of hope and empowerment, such as in Is It Love?’ which asks...

WanMor, a pop + R&B group from South Jersey, features 4 brothers, Big Boy, Chulo, Tyvas + Rocco. With their powerful sound + influence of music from Boyz II Men, they are taking the stage to perform at Mall of America.

Wristbanding for the meet + greet will begin at 10 a.m. Masks will be required to participate in the meet + greet. Please check Official Event Guidelines for details.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer: Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous

About the Game The realm of Sarkoris was destroyed when Areelu Vorlesh, a scholar and practitioner of forbidden magics, opened a rift to the abyssal planes of existence, and hordes of demons invaded the world of Golarion. Led by the evil Demon Lords Deskari and Baphomet, the abyssal forces crushed all who stood against them, turning Sarkoris into a demon‑infested land now known as the Worldwound. Join the Crusade against the demonic invasion and rise as a new hero wielding unimaginable powers in this classic CRPG. The fate of this world lies in your hands. Read More Pathfinder As I’ve previously mentioned, I pre-ordered and looked forward to playing Pathfinder: Kingmaker. The game came out on Tuesday (September 25), and by Friday (September 28) ..… Cyberpunk 2077 For some odd reason, Best Buy, allowed me to pick up my pre-order for Cyberpunk 2077 video game for the PC. The game is not officially out until ..… GOG As you know, I’m a huge GOG (Good Old Games) fan and was very excited about the news of GOG Galaxy 2.0 in June 2019. I have been using the GOG Galaxy …

I’m probably going to regret this (again), based on my previous experiences with Owlcat Games’ Pathfinder: Kingmaker in Oct 2018. I pre-ordered Kingmaker and was hit with game-stopping bugs, as part of their 100+ bugs on launch day. It was clear that the game was not ready for launch. Eventually, Owlcat was able to fix the numerous problems and was able to save their reputation (at least in my eyes).

The most famous disappointing game launch in recent memory was for Cyberpunk 2077… which left a permanent scar on developer CD Projekt. While the game was not such a problem on PC (which is where I purchased the game), it was problematic for Xbox and PS4 (which was almost unplayable on the aging platform).

Anyway, the upcoming sequel to Pathfinder: Kingmaker, called Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, will launch on PC on September 2, 2021, with the console versions (Xbox, PS4) to be available later next year. Yes, I pre-ordered the game so I can start playing as soon as possible.

I did enjoyed Pathfinder: Kingmaker, but it does take getting used to the way the game may seem really harsh. The game is based on an off-shoot of Dungeons & Dragons rulesets, so at times it can seem unfair … but it’s because the game is observing a random d20 dice roll. While games such as the upcoming Baldur’s Gate 3 have implemented “second chances” or other modifications to make the game enjoyable… I do not believe Pathfinder will do this. They will strictly follow the rules.

Am I concern that Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous will be full of bugs when it launch this week? A little big, but I feel that it probably won’t be such a big deal. This is because the sequel is using the same Kingmaker game engine… and the developers have already ironed out all the kinks in the engine over the two years of development.

At least I hope that’s the case… if not, I’m sure you’ll hear from me, complaining about all the bugs.

Anyway, as a special bonus to those who pre-ordered the game on GOG, Owlcat will offer these items in your game:

Silver Tongue Amulet

Free Dancer’s Boots

Owlcat Pet

Skins for three animal companions

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer: A Plague Tale, Ultima, and Syndicate

Weekend Gamer here. Here are a few more free games to add to your digital library.

Read More Epic Games I guess all that waiting was worth it, as currently, the game is free on the Epic Game store. I know a lot of people hate on Epic, saying they’re a bully, saying that they’re …

A PLAGUE TALE: INNOCENCE
epicgames.com

I’m very excited to see that A Plague Tale: Innocence, a game developed by Asobo Studio and published by Focus Home Interactive, is currently free on the Epic Game store.

I’ve always wanted to check out this horror/survival game since it came out in May 2019, but have always resisted on buying it, because I’m just not a fan of steath games. I entertain buying the game on the Nintendo Switch in July 2021, but due to the Switch’s lack of power and hardware limitations, the game requires an always-on internet connection to get it to run properly.

Although I happily added the free game to my Epic Game library, I probably won’t have the time to play the game. I’ll probably initialize the download today and probably check it out later.

Anyway, all these free games from Epic is good for gaming fans … but there are concerns.

First of all, according to PC World, Chinese company Tencent owns 40% of Epic Games. The fear is, based on China’s anti-free speech, human rights issues, and cybersecurity, that somehow the Chinese Communist government can use this data against Americans. I am worried, but until it’s proven that Epic is doing wrong… then I’m fine with accepting their free games.

The other concern is a report that mentioned that Epic have spent $500 Million Dollars on free games… and won’t turn a profit until 2027, according to PC Gamer. I personally doubt they can turn a profit. Epic can write off these loses because they’re making so much money on their flagship Fortnite. However, what happens when that game is out of fashion?

Anyway, for now, enjoy the free A Plague Tale game. The promotion ends on August 12 at 10am. The next free Epic game will be for Rebel Galaxy, which is free August 12 through August 19th. The sequel, A Plague Tale: Requiem, is set to be released in 2022.

Read More EA Ultima VII The Complete Edition Even if you're not into PC gaming, you can't ignore what a good deal this is. The Humble Bundle Origin #2 Bundle ends in five days. …

ULTIMA UNDERWORLD/SYNDICATE
gog.com

Last month, major game publisher Electronic Arts, asked GOG to remove their games Ultima Underworld and Syndicate from their store.

The move was seen as a move to make these games exclusive to EA’s Origin game store. For those that already purchased the game on GOG, it probably wasn’t good news.

I’ll be 100% honest and say that I would never buy these old games from EA directly. That’s because Origin has DRM-restrictions over its games. And to be completely honest, I probably wouldn’t have bought these games on any platform.

I won’t deny their importance to the gaming genre, I mean the Ultima series inspired many games that came after… but they’re just very old games. The graphics and game mechanics are very dated and the only reasons why you would want these games is out of nostagia. I totally understand, I’ve have bought old Might and Magic games, because I remember playing them when I was younger … but could never commit to playing them in the modern age.

Anyway, I am assuming GOG cut a deal, behind closed doors, with EA to make these games available to GOG customers. To celebrate, for a limited time (until September 3rd), all four games are free: Ultima Underworld 1+2, Syndicate Plus, and Syndicate Wars.

It’s awesome that they are free, but as I previously mentioned, I’m not so sure I’ll be playing them any time soon. There are later versions of Ultima that I would rather play first…

P.S. All this talk about old dungeon crawler games, made me want to revisit my Forgotten Realms Achive Collections (I purchased them during a sale a few years ago). I’m going to play Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor for the first time.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Free Games: Control, Hellpoint, and Batman TellTale

Read More E3 It’s E3 week (June 12th-June 15th). The Electronic Entertainment Expo took a break last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s back… although it’s mostly live-streams with some small in-person coverage …

As previously mentioned, it’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) week… so a lot of gaming websites are taking advantage of the event and giving away lots of free games.



>>>
CONTROL (2019)
epicgames.com

I’ve heard a lot about Control, from Remedy Entertainment/505 Games. The game got a lot of positive reviews from critics, and to be honest, I’ve always wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the time, and thought maybe I would just wait for a sale.

When the game was re-released in 2021 for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, it was met with some criticisms, because it was sold as full price – and fans who already own the original base game didn’t want to pay for it again.

Based on the negative reactions from the Control fans, it did sour my interest in the game and I did put a pause on buying it.

I guess all that waiting was worth it, as currently, the game is free on the Epic Game store. I know a lot of people hate on Epic, saying they’re a bully, saying that they’re own and controlled by China, saying their software sucks (it does!)… but still, despite the jank, at least this company is giving away free games. The rich/powerful Steam won’t (and has never) done anything like this.

Like all the free games, I just log in to claim the game… and when I have time, I’ll install and play it. So if you’re not sure you want the game… why not just claim it now and think about it later.



HELLPOINT
gog.com

I wasn’t expecting it, but my favorite game retailer, GOG (Good Old Games), was giving out Hellpoint for free. To be perfectly honest, I have never heard of this action role-playing game before. It was developed by Cradle Games and published by tinyBuild.

It looks interesting enough, I’m practically fond of RPG, so when I get the time this weekend, I’ll definitely be looking forward to checking out this game.

Perhaps if I like it enough, I might try and get it for the Nintendo Switch.



BATMAN: THE TELLTALE SERIES
twitch.tv

Like many video game fans, I have dabbled in the TellTale games. They basically make visual novels… set to these “choices”. I’ve often felt that none of the choices you make actually affect the game. I could be wrong, but that’s the impression I get.

The two games I’ve tried out is The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, both based on popular television shows. After playing the games, I’ve decided that these type of games were just not for me. I find that the graphics are bad and the game engine (called Telltale Tool) is really dated/doesn’t really run that well.

After years of licenses… TellTale filed for bankruptcy in 2018, and its assets were sold to LCG Entertainment… who is still selling these aging games.

The Batman: The TellTale Series is currently free on Twitch, but only if you have Amazon Prime. Since I have Prime, it was an easy free claim for me.

The bad news is that you’ll have to download the Twitch Desktop App to be able to download the Batman game.

vu([email protected]) ♥weheartmusic.com♥facebook.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic

Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Synopsis Wizards of the Coast granted Tactical Adventures a license to use the Dungeons and Dragons SRD 5.1 Ruleset, furthering our vision of making the most faithful video game adaptation with the Tabletop Ruleset! Solasta: Crown of the Magister will bring the thrill, tactics, and deep storytelling of tabletop games. As you play, you'll feel yourself reaching for your dice and miniatures. It's time to dive into the world of Solasta. Roll for initiative! Created and written by lifelong fans of Pen & Paper RPGs, comes Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Read More Baldur’s Gate I have been hyped about Baldur’s Gate 3 since Larian Studios announced their teaser in August 2019. I’ve already mentioned that I was a massive fan of Black Isle Studios, the original maker of the PC Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale games …

It’s E3 week (June 12th-June 15th). The Electronic Entertainment Expo took a break last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s back… although it’s mostly live-streams with some small in-person coverage. Hopefully it’ll be back to normal next year.

E3 is still a big deal in the gaming industry, and already in its first day, we’ve gotten to see Far Cry 6 new trailer, Ubisoft’s Avatar game trailer, Mario + Rabbids sequel for 2022, Sparks of Hope is coming in 2022, and we’re getting a director’s cut of Death Stranding on the PS5.

Sadly, since I (and many gamers) have still not been able to own a PS5 or Xbox Series X… any games announced on the latest gen consoles, I just have no interests.

As I’ve previously mentioned, I’ve somewhat become a Nintendo Switch and PC gamer, because, say what you will, but anyone can walk into a store and buy a Switch or gaming PC.

The last game I purchased and enjoyed was Solasta: Crown of the Magister. This is a turn-based RPG by Tactical Adventures, available to purchase on GOG or Steam. The game uses the Dungeons and Dragons SRD 5.1 Ruleset, which is something that I’ve enjoyed since the version 3.0 rules. I believe this is one of, if not, the first game to use the new rules, so I was very excited to see the new changes and how it’s presented in a video game. I think it translates well, especially represented by the 20-sided die that is displayed whenever the game calculates if you hit or miss an enemy.

Unlike Baldur's Gate 3 (which also uses Dungeons & Dragons rules), Solasta is more tactical/strategy than role-playing… so if you’re more interested in building your characters and exploration… Solasta isn’t for you.

So far, I’m very early in the game, only visiting the first outpost… but I’m having a good time. Like many strategy games, you never really want to pause/save in the middle of battle, until you finally win. Some battles can take very long to play out, due to the turn-based style, so the game can be very time consuming, even though you’ve only entered in one or two fights. This also means that this isn’t a random casual game you can pick up and leave in three minutes… you really need to dedicate the time to really play a game session.

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