Category: Gaming

Ben’s Favorite Games of 2019

Hello everyone! It has been a while. Since everyone is doing it, I would say what my favorite games of 2019 are!

Devil May Cry 5

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I wasn’t a huge DmC fan but I enjoyed the style of game it was from afar. I played Devil May Cry 4 and I enjoyed it but didn’t love it. After getting a picture with the creative director and getting a signed poster for the game, I figured I would play this one. After playing the mediocre Kingdom Hearts 3, Devil May Cry 5 felt like a breath of fresh air. Combat was smooth and challenging. Dante, Nero, and V are all very different in gameplay style and most importantly, the game was fun as hell. Every level to every boss was amazing and it’s one of the games I kept going back to despite finishing the game in 2019.

The Outer World

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A new Fallout style game by the team who did Fallout New Vegas? Sign me up please. The Outer World feels like a simplified more streamlined Fallout type game. The world isn’t as massive and the story isn’t as long but I enjoyed what I played. As a adult with a full time job, I am appreciating games that are a bit more straightforward and exploring doesn’t feel like a hassle. The story is fun and bleak. A very black humor story regarding capitalism and the working class. Guns are fun and straight forward and my party members are fun.

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order

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Star Wars mixed with Uncharted, Metroid, and Dark Souls style of gameplay works surprisingly well. I got this game late this year but I am enjoying it greatly. Combat feels good and challenging like Dark Souls. Traveling around the planets and being blocked by stuff until you get more Force Powers makes retracing your steps or re-exploring fun. After playing the older Metroid games, it feels awesome coming back and getting the treasures that I missed. The only complain I have is the character models can look really bad at times and the long loading screens (playing on PlayStation 4). Despite this, it feels good to be a Jedi!

Honorable Mentions: Astral Chain, League of Legends, Borderlands 3, Pokemon Sword and Shield

Riot Games Creates a New Studio for New Games

Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends, have created a new studio called Riot Forge. Riot Forge will be a publishing label within Riot Games who will work on developing games within the League of Legends Lore Universe. The games created under Riot Forge will be third-party studios, not directly Riot Games themselves. No games have been announced yet for the publishing label but the first game under them is expected to be announced during The Game Awards on December 12th.

Whether Legend of Runeterra, their upcoming fighting game, shooter, or adventure game are under Riot Forge remains to be seen.

Source

Polygon

Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV have No Planned Release Dates

This weekend is Blizzcon, Activision-Blizzard’s annual event, where they showcase new Blizzard content, games, and events. This years big showcase is Overwatch 2, World of Warcraft Shadowland expansion and Diablo 4. While Diablo 4 was an anticipated title, fans were surprised about the leak becoming true that Blizzard would release Overwatch 2. Overwatch 2 isn’t an actual sequel to the team based shooter but rather an expansion which includes more story elements and PvE rather than PvP.

Despite fan excitement, neither titles have a launch date. This is pretty disappointing to fans but the games look like they have are based the Alpha stages. Some people online are speculating that Blizzard announced the two titles without release dates to earn good press after the recent controversies facing the company.

What?

During a professional Hearthstone player interview, a player wore clothes similar to protesters at Hong Kong. Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung said at the end of his interview  “Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age!” The stream then quickly cuts to a commercial break. This resulted in the player receiving a year long ban from playing competitively, revoking his winnings from the tournament, and firing the two interviewers.

Blizzard stated cited a competition rule which states that players aren’t allowed to do anything that “brings [them] into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages [Blizzard’s] image. At Blizzcon, the President  J. Allen Brack stated that “We moved too quickly in our decision-making and then, to make matters worse, we were too slow to talk with all of you,” said Brack. “We didn’t live up to the high standards we set for ourselves.

Blizzard has reduced his penalty to six months but fans were still outraged over the company’s decision. They felt that China’s influence made the company ban Blitzchung. There are several protesters at Blizzcon who support Blizchung’s opinion. With Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 coming out eventually, many Blizzard fans seem to have forgotten the issue and focusing on the company’s future titles. Whether intentional or not, Blizzard has dramatically reduced the spotlight on the Hong Kong issue and has moved it towards their new games. Whether people will still speak out against Blizzard remains to be seen.

 

Fallout 76 Playerbase Turns Against Each Other

Fallout 76 is a train wreck of a game. It’s awful to look at but you can’t stop watching. From the lackluster features to a $100 premium subscription, Fallout 76 can’t seem to stop catching on fire. Recently, Bethesda announced a Premium Subscirption that allowed players to create private servers for themselves and friends. It also included unlimited inventory storage space. Both features were what players were asking Bethesda for but is currently trapped behind a paid subscription. Premium players receive a medal that differentiates them from other players which has caused a Civil War.

Some players on Twitter and Reddit are reporting that Non-Premium players are intentionally attacking premium players.  ImageIt’s an unintentionally addition but it sure is funny. How long the battle will go on remains to be seen but considering the premium players can just go into their private server, the war is kind of lame.

 

Meanwhile, The Outer World is doing extremely well for Obsidian. Obsidian previously worked on Fallout New Vegas and was acquired from Microsoft. 78% physical copies of the game were for the PlayStation 4 in the UK. With the addition of it being on Xbox Game Pass, the game has a massive reach. On MetaCritic, the game has an 80% for reviews and users.

 

Sources

Fallout 76 Subreddit

PushSquare