If you grew up in the early 2000s, you played MapleStory or Runescape because they were both free and you didn’t have your own money to spend on video games. Released back in 2005, MapleStory has cute animation but was a huge grind game back then. I remember it took me 6 hours just to get to 50% in my level percentage. It was a pleasant nightmare and they have drastically changed the game since then. More worlds, classes, and easier to level up to make MapleStory a much better game. It has been over 10 years and now MapleStory 2 is finally coming on October 10th.
Starting August 22nd, you can reserve character names and test the Mushking Royale Mode (Battle Royale). The game and the battle royale mode has been in Beta for several months before the announcement. If you’re excited to jump back into MapleStory, just know that the game looks dramatically different and is actually 3D rather than a 2D sidescrollers.
Sekiro: Shadows Die is FromSoftware‘s new IP (Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Armor Core) and will be published by Activision. It will release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 22nd, 2019.
The game is based in Sengoku Era Japan. You play as the “One-Armed Wolf” whose goal is to save his master and destroy his life-long enemy. You can equip several prosthetic arms which give you unique weapons or equipment to battle enemies such as an ax, a grappling hook, and an umbrella shield(?)
Collector’s Edition
While many people know FromSoftware for their work on the Dark Souls series, Sekirowill be much different. There isn’t character customization or armor but the map is an open-world! You will play as a shinobi and will have active swordplay combat. Rather than a stamina system, you will a “posture” system. A more detailed review of the gameplay changes is below by VaatiVidya.
Discord, the popular chat, video, and communications app, will begin offering video games with their Nitro services. Nitro is a subscription platform for $4.99/month that offers users more abilities for chat such as gif uploads and custom tags. The price will still be $4.99 per month or $49.99 a year but will soon involve video games! Discord Nitro will have its own library of games available to stream or purchase. The beta will launch to 50,000 Canadians soon but expects to go to more regions at a later date.
How do they compete?
This is direct competition against Steam and Twitch. Twitch is becoming a PC game streaming service and has monthly free games. Discord is trying to differentiate itself by connecting it with their chat platform and community. Discord has always been greatly enjoyed by users because easy to set up and its developers are gamers too. They interact with fans and have a better social media presence than Steam or Twitch. Games are catered to you based on your interest but Discord employees can leave small recommendations about the game.
Hope they didn’t steal this review
While they can’t compete with Steam’s library, Discord will have partnerships with THQ and Deep Silver. Having Nitro will also give you access to games without paying such as Saints Row: The Third, Darksiders: Warmastered Edition, Super Meat Boy and Metro: Last Light Redux. You can buy games at their online stores.
They will start their own exclusives called “First on Discord.” They will be indie games that “pushes the boundary of creative game design and is important to innovation and the long-term health of the industry.” They will also have games from Blizzard (World of Warcraft, Overwatch) and Epic (Fortnite). The split between Discord and game is 30 – 70 which is similar to all platforms.
They won’t have every game out but if you’re looking to have a smaller library, perhaps this is an option for you! Steam is very cluttered in comparison but is widely used by all PC gamers. Whether Nitro can compete with them or Twitch will be interesting as game streaming becomes more popular.
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