Trion Worlds has announced that the Defiance 2050 closed beta test is officially planned for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The beta for the open-world sci-fi shooter launching this summer will run through the weekend of April 20-22. In the beta, players will be able to play through the full Defiance 2050 experience, up to level 25, while also exploring the areas of Mount Tam and Madera. Players will also be able to experience a couple of the classes the game has to offer, so if you were lucky enough to get into the beta, make sure to go through it all!
For a look at the trailer for the upcoming game, check out below:
For more on Defiance 2050, including what fans can expect from the beta, check out below:
The Defiance 2050 closed beta test will run the weekend of April 20 – 22. In the beta, players will be able to play through the Defiance 2050 experience up to level 25, as well as explore the areas of Mount Tam and Madera. The closed beta will offer up exciting story-based missions as well as give players a taste of the large-scale epic battles that they can expect when Defiance 2050 launches later this summer.
Defiance 2050 recreates the original game from the ground up, offering an experience that is the definitive Defiance experience in every way. Today’s consoles and PCs enable the dev team to implement features and upgrades that fans of the game have been clamoring for. Advancements in hardware allow for action on an even larger scale than before, with more players able to take to the battlefield in white-knuckled combat.
Defiance 2050 will release sometime in summer for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Earlier today, Ubisoft announced that it would be increasing its creative capacities in both India and Ukraine by opening two new studios there. Ubisoft Mumbai and Ubisoft Odesa will both participate in the development of new AAA games for some of Ubisoft’s biggest franchises, the company announced. The two studios expect to also bring in at least 160 new employees to the Ubisoft workforce in their first two years of operations, meaning both of which will be some pretty large studios.
“This year marks the tenth anniversary of Ubisoft’s presence in India and in Ukraine. Our commitment to both countries is now strengthened by these expansions to Mumbai and Odesa,” said Christine Burgess-Quémard, Executive Director of Ubisoft’s worldwide studios. “I am proud to see how our production presence is growing, and strongly believe that it is by investing and expanding our knowledge and expertise internally that we will be able to keep delivering the high quality entertainment experiences of the future.”
The new studio in Mumbai will reportedly be working closely with Ubisoft Pune, collaborating on development of Ubisoft’s AAA console games. Ubisoft Odesa, on the other hand, will join Ubisoft’s existing studio in Kiev to help work on the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon franchise. “Ubisoft first came to Kiev 10 years ago and since then the team grew and took on challenging projects, but alongside Kiev, we have always been interested in Odesa and thus the perfect occasion for us to show this was by opening an office there,” said Sébastien Delen, Managing Director for Eastern European Hub studios (Romania, Ukraine and Serbia), Ubisoft. “We are really glad to see the industry evolving in Ukraine and to see so many people who are passionate about game development.”
Earlier today, CD Projekt held their fiscal presentation for the 2017 year, and in them revealed that The Witcher series continues to be a hot seller. As revealed by CD Projekt, 2017 actually saw a slight uptick from the 2016 fiscal year, with The Witcher franchise having sold more than 33 million copies by the end of 2017.
While the sales for The Witcher series continue, another interesting note from the presentation is the fact that digital distribution for games has been growing at a rapid rate. In 2015, 71% of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt sales were physical, but by 2017, almost 75% of them were digital. Obviously, this speaks to the trend of digital games and how the realm of games is moving forward, but it’s still an interesting little tidbit.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is truly an incredible masterpiece. The writing and building of the world alone should be lauded as some of the best in video games. Stories weave in and out of one another surprisingly. The consequences of every decision are far reaching and unpredictable while also making complete sense once they happen. The world is organic, dangerous, and fun to explore. There is a true sense of reward and accomplishment. While minor design choices keep it from being absolutely perfect, The Witcher 3 will go down as one of the best games of this generation of consoles.
MLBThe Show 18 is shaping up to be a big year for Sony’s yearly baseball game. The game will feature a revamped Road to the Show mode, a “major gameplay engine tune up,” and a new player tagging system. The game itself looks quite impressive, and there are over 1,000 new gameplay animations that’ll be in the March 27, 2018 release. Now Sony has released a humorous new video that highlights the baseball game’s competitive nature.
Check out the new MLB The Show 18 trailer below:
Here’s what Sony had to announce about the upcoming MLB The Show 18 features (via the PlayStation Blog):
This year we’re bringing back Road to the Show, Diamond Dynasty, Battle Royale, Conquest, and Franchise Mode, and will have a major gameplay engine tune up among other features.
Baseball is a game of details. At its core there’s pitching, hitting, catching, throwing, and tagging. All of those areas of the game have received major development resources this year. Below are a few changes we’ve revealed in our trailer:
Expansion of Road to the Show
Dynamic crowds like Judge’s Chambers
New unique home run celebrations
Revamped hitting engine with improved physics
Rewritten player tagging system
Over 1,000 new gameplay animations
More legends
Sony also recently unveiled several preorder bonuses:
Retailer
Pre-order Items
PS Store
Early Access starting March 23
10 Standard Packs
1 Legend Card
5,000 Stubs
Instant Reward | Aaron Judge Rookie Flashback Card for MLB The Show 17
GameStop / EB Games
Early Access starting March 23
10 Standard Packs
+ additional 5 Standard Packs
1 Legend Card
Target (US), Best Buy (US and Canada), Walmart (US)
Early Access starting March 23
10 Standard Packs
1 Legend Card
MLB The Show 18 releases March 27, 2018 exclusively for PlayStation 4.
One of March’s biggest releases is Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, and it’s out tomorrow! Luckily for fans, Bandai Namco just put out new footage from the upcoming role-playing game. The new video gives us one final look at its magical world before it releases.
Check out the launch Ni no Kuni II trailer below:
If you want even more information on Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, you can read Chandler’s latest preview. Here’s a snippet of what he had to say:
There are a lot of new systems to explore, and the three chapters I was able to play through got my toes wet in a little bit of everything. The beginning of chapter four in particular is where the game seems to really open up the depth and interesting variety for those that want Ni no Kuni II to be a deep and expansive JRPG experience. For those who just want to experience the story, though? Level 5 has made things a little easier on those fans too, creating an excellent balance between wide-ranging optional content and a straightforward narrative without a tough grind. The story will dip into everything a little bit to show players the kinds of things they could be doing outside of the main story arc.
Kingdom Builder is the crux of a lot of the gameplay and a big part that I found myself repeatedly returning to. It seems that many of the gameplay threads–whether sidequests, skirmishes, higgledy nurturing, or even the main story–all run through the Evermore Kingdom Builder. It’s accessible enough and seems simple on the surface. There’s no actual customization of the kingdom in terms of building locations or anything that complex, but this is where I would construct various facilities to get items, equipment, spells, higgledies, and other gameplay necessities. Lack of being able to build your kingdom the way you want might seem like a missed opportunity, but when I got a glimpse of just how far the Kingdom Builder goes in providing for the player and all other aspects of gameplay, I was put at ease. I quickly forgot about wanting to pick which buildings went where.
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is set to release March 23, 2018.
Bandai Namco and Mojo Bones announced today that Impact Winter, a post-apocalyptic survival game that’s been out on the PC for about a year, will launch on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One next month, on April 5. According to Mojo Bones, players on PlayStation 4 will be receiving a free Dynamic Theme when they buy the game as a small thank you.
You can check out a trailer for the game (from the PC version) below:
For more on the upcoming Impact Winter, check out a brief description and some features out below:
A mysterious radio transmission claims that help is inbound. You are Jacob Solomon: leader of a makeshift team trying to survive the aftermath of a devastating asteroid collision. The world you once knew is no more – buried deep beneath the constant snowfall. Your goal: keep your companions alive until rescue.
Players will need to help Jacob and his team of 4 survivors, all holed-up in an abandoned church, try to survive until the rescue timer reaches zero.Team management and survival skills will be essential! Thanks to a robot companion namedAko-Light, it will be easier to drill for supplies, explore new areas, light darkened interiors and empty nights, carry your supplies and track the location. Help is coming, will you survive until then ?
Features
Rescue-minus 30 days:
Rediscover the survival genre: strategize in a bid to lower the Rescue Timer.
Lead your team to survival:
Provide for your team and unite your skills in a freezing struggle for life.
An immersive and unpredictably hostile world:
Outlast a hazardous winter brought to life by a unique artistic direction.
There’s nothing quite like playing a game with a good friend, and yet so few games are actually designed with that in mind. Even some of the best co-op experiences have been tacked on, with the game essentially being a single-player experience that just so happens to be experienced with a friend. That’s not the case with A Way Out, which is the second project from Brothers director Josef Fares, as it has been designed with cooperation in mind in every aspect.
Two players take up the roles of two prison inmates. Each has a common enemy, so naturally they wind up deciding to break out so they can see their families again and enact some revenge. It’s a pretty standard setup, but the story goes to plenty of interesting places and breaking out of jail is only really the first third of the experience. Things get even more interesting once they’ve found their way out and have to deal with life on the run.
A key component of A Way Out is that everything is experienced together by the two players. They see the same screen at all times (it’s nearly always seen in a split-screen perspective), and that creates a true shared experience. You’re never unsure of what your partner is doing, and that means if Vincent is taking a shower with his dong out, both players are going to see it. This winds up being used in some truly brilliant ways, and it shows how few cooperative experiences really take advantage of the opportunity they have by getting two people together for an extended amount of time.
The characters of Leo and Vincent are the true stars of A Way Out. Every piece of dialogue and action has been scripted in a unique way. This means that each of the two leads will interact with every object differently and in a way that fits them. For example, the loudmouth Leo will hilariously try to eat a potted plant he comes across, while the more level-headed Vincent merely smells it. This is made all the more interesting since players get to see the other player’s actions at all times, and I was constantly wowed by how many small touches there are. Hazelight truly makes players feel like they know these characters as a person by the end.
Attention to Detail
The sheer amount of gameplay variety in A Way Out is honestly astonishing. Nearly every section of the eight-hour experience feels unique to itself. It begins with intense Prison Break sequences that are played out via an adventure game and interacting with objects, and by the end it morphs into a full-on action game with plenty of shooting. There are a ton of surprises along the way that I won’t spoil, but Hazelight deserves tremendous credit for managing to make A Way Out feel like a top-notch game in a ton of genres. It’s a versatility in design that I haven’t seen since NieR: Automata, and it’s equally as impressive here.
There’s also an incredible amount of side-content to do in the game despite it being a chapter-based action game. By wandering around the environments, I managed to do everything from play the banjo in a Guitar Hero-style rhythm game to petting pigs. Hazelight has crafted one of the most detailed, and system-heavy experiences, I’ve ever seen in a game, and players are rewarded with some truly special moments by exploring. Only the Yakuza games feature this many “Oh my God, did they really include such a totally unnecessary thing?” moments.
A Way Out is also incredibly polished in its presentation, as it features some really phenomenal cinematography in its transitions. Fares comes from a filmmaking background, and it’s used phenomenally here. That’s not to say there aren’t some rough edges, as occasionally I ran into some small glitches (for example, my game essentially froze during an arm wrestling mini-game and I had to restart from the last checkpoint), but the game’s checkpointing is so good that I never lost more than 20 seconds of progress and never felt bothered by any of these minor inconveniences. These are small issues in a true labor of love.
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Holding Hands
It’s not just A Way Out‘s narrative that winds up being a journey. A lot of the highlights of my playthrough came from getting to spend it with another person for eight hours. Every puzzle solution required us to be on the same page, every stupid joke we came up with for entertainment sake was made funnier since there was someone else to laugh with, and there were plenty of serious conversations along the way as we had to debate between Leo and Vincent’s views. There’s nothing quite like playing A Way Out with a close friend, and it manages to make quite the mark before the credits roll.
From the opening moment to the very end, this is a game designed truly with cooperation in mind. That’s exactly why it’s amazing that Electronic Arts is pulling one of the most progressive consumer-friendly moves ever by a publisher and allowing players to download a “Friends Pass” version of the game. As such, only one person needs to own a copy to play, and that they can play it with any of their friends. It’s an incredible move, and one that is downright revolutionary. To know that so many more players will be able to experience this piece of art due to it is heartwarming, and it’s a reminder that while gaming is a business, it’s also an artistic field where greatness should be shared.
A Way Out is a true achievement in game design. Not only does it manage to take players on a true journey of emotion, it does so in a way that is only possible through the medium of video games. It manages to do something truly special by making two players to cooperate for an extended amount of time, and the discussions that happen on the couch or over voice chat can be just as revealing as the game itself. Josef Fares and Hazelight have undoubtedly raised the bar for co-op gaming.
A Way Out review code provided by publisher. Version 1.00 reviewed on PS4 Pro. For more information on scoring, please read our Review Policy.
