The Final Episode Of The Walking Dead’s Final Season Is Out Today On Switch
Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season has finally reached its end today, with its final episode ‘Take Us Back’ now available on Nintendo Switch and other platforms.
As you may well be aware, Skybound Games picked up development of the Walking Dead series after its original developer, Telltale, closed its doors last year. Some members of the original Telltale team joined forces with Skybound to complete the game and the final result of this collaboration can now be fully experienced by players.
Skybound Games CEO Ian Howe has shared the following in a press release today:
“It’s been an amazing experience working with the Still Not Bitten team to finish the final two episodes of TELLTALE’S THE WALKING DEAD for fans. I’d like to thank the team for their dedication to completing Clementine’s story, and the fans for embracing Skybound Games as we worked to help bring closure to a story near-and-dear to so many.”
If you’re yet to play any of the final season, here’s a quick overview:
After years on the road facing threats both living and dead, a secluded school might finally be Clementine’s chance for a home in THE WALKING DEAD: THE FINAL SEASON. Clementine has become a leader while watching over AJ, an orphaned boy and the closest thing to family she has left. In the aftermath of an explosive plan to save her friends, Clementine must now lead her flock of lost children back home. A herd of walkers, the vengeful raiders, and AJ’s troubled mind all stand in her way. Can she be the savior they need her to be?
As with past seasons, the final season is available from the Nintendo eShop in the form of a season pass which gives you access to all episodes as they are released. Those who have already purchased a pass can get their hands on the new episode today, and buying the pass from today onwards will automatically grant you access to all four episodes, including today’s release.
Have you been playing through Clementine’s story? Will you be checking out the series’ conclusion today? Let us know in the comments.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-27-2019, 04:40 AM - Forum: Windows
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Choose Your Own Apocalypse Update comes to ‘State of Decay 2’
Starting today, the ever-growing State of Decay 2 community can take the ultimate zombie survival game to its deadliest level with the launch of the Choose Your Own Apocalypse Update. This update introduces the Dread Zones and Nightmare Zones as two new difficulty modes that challenge players with deadlier zombies, more aggressive and resilient humans, a faster-acting blood plague and fewer resources to scavenge. Along with these two new modes are 16 new Achievements for 275 additional Gamerscore.
Available at no cost for all owners of State of Decay 2 and Xbox Game Pass members, the Choose Your Own Apocalypse Update presents more options for players to define what it means to survive. New players can start their community in Standard Zones (the game’s base difficulty level), and Dread Zones are great place for players who want a challenge with additions like armored zombies, more hordes and a faster acting blood plague infection (from about 3 hours to just about 30 minutes). Nightmare Zones are intended for hardcore players who are ready to test themselves against freak packs like screamer choirs and bloater pods along with NPCs who can headshot you right back.
Earlier this month we gave a sneak peek at what to expect with the Choose Your Own Apocalypse Update, and we’re excited to additionally share that based on community feedback, you can now choose your map when establishing a new community. The team has also continued to make other improvements to the core game based on feedback, which includes an all-new Character Manager, larger loot drops at plague hearts and more. The full list of patch notes is available at stateofdecay.com.
To celebrate the launch of the Choose Your Own Apocalypse Update, we’re also running a MixPot giveaway at mixer.com/undeadlabs from March 26 at 9:00 a.m. PDT until April 2 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. Viewers who are logged into Mixer and watching the official Undead Labs Mixer channel will be automatically entered to win all five of the pre-order content packs.
With today’s update, now is the perfect time for new and existing fans to jump into the apocalypse. For those new to State of Decay 2, get started with Xbox Game Pass (whether as a current member or by joining today and get your first month for $1), or by purchasing either the Standard Edition or the Ultimate Edition. We’re excited for players to enjoy today’s release and look forward to continuing supporting the State of Decay 2 community with content like the upcoming return to Trumbull Valley later this year.
Until then, you can Choose Your Own Apocalypse and answer the question: how will you survive?
Playdek are bring GMT’s Fort Sumter to iOS & Android
Pocket Tactics favourites Playdek seem to be recovering from whatever it was that was affecting them a year or so ago, when all was quiet and we were genuinely concerned for their future. Case in point: they’ve just announced another project as part of their long-standing strategic partnership with physical war game publisher GMT Games.
We already knew they were working on a port of Labyrinth: War on Terror 2001 – ?, but today they’ve announced they’re also working on a digital port of Fort Sumter for PC & mobile devices. Fort Sumter is a fast-paced card driven game based around the historical events that led to the start of the American Civil War. It’s not a war game – there are no troops to command and the game doesn’t even technically cover the ACW itself.
Instead, it attempts to model the political struggle in the days and weeks leading up to the initial siege of the fort by the Confederate force (which kicked off the Civil War). It’s a card driven strategy game with very limited actions, and a lot of tough choices to make. You can read what our very own Matt Thrower thought of the physical game in his article over at Wargamer.com:
Your goal is to have more cubes than your opponent in all three spaces of the same aspect, earning you a point. But there are catches to keep the game interesting. Most notably, it penalises players for adding too many cubes too fast. Historically this models the way that taking up extreme positions both attracts and repels aspects of public opinion. But it’s also a clever route to game balance, like Twilight Struggle’s “Defcon” track.
Shuffling cubes among board spaces doesn’t sound like a historical game. And the first time you play, it’s unlikely to feel like one. You’ll read the cards, match some symbols on the board, and ride out the half-hour play time like a fanciful abstract. But you’ll have a good time, because like any good abstract, Fort Sumter is full of fun decisions.
We don’t really know anything more at this point – Playdek have confirmed it’s coming to PC, iOS & Android, but no word on timings yet. We’ll keep you updated as we find out more.
In addition to KO_OP and ustwo games, Hironobu Sakaguchi’s (creator of the Final Fantasy series) studio Mistwalker is working on an Apple Arcade exclusive game called Fantasian.
A handful of developers are already working with Apple to bring their games to the service, including Konami, PlatinumGames, Sega, Annapurna Interactive, Gameloft, Devolver Digital and several others.
While Apple has yet to announce anything on pricing yet, the service is due out this fall in more than 150 countries and regions and the full list of games slated to be released on the platform can be viewed here.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-27-2019, 02:54 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Video: Visual effects and the rise of realtime rendering
In this 2017 GDC talk, visual effects (VFX) veterans Keith Guerrette and Drew Skillman share their perspectives on why it’s important to foster a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration within the VFX community.
With that philosophy in mind, Guerrette and Skillman offer their knowledge of VFX, and the session concludes with a look into the future and the role VFX will play in a world driven by realtime rendering.
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.
Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.
Help Us Rename “Feature Friday” via the Xbox Idea Hub
Here in the Xbox Insider section of the Wire, we make a point of calling out Xbox Insider participation as an important part of successfully launching features, updates, and games on Xbox and PC. Xbox Ideas is a part of this success, enabling our community to make contributions that improve all aspects of the Xbox experience by sharing their ideas. In the spirit of building a better Xbox experience together, we’re inviting you to help test an additional space for Xbox Idea Drives.
We’ve recently created a space within the r/XboxInsiders subreddit called the Xbox Idea Hub. The Xbox Idea Hub is a standalone page housed within the Xbox Insider Subreddit where we can offer Idea Drives similar to what you may have seen previously on Xbox Ideas. Many users of the existing Xbox Ideas platform have shared feedback that they’d like to see some aspects of our Idea Drives changed, and we believe the Xbox Insider Subreddit can offer those desired changes, including:
No-wait moderation: When you post your idea, it shows up immediately
In-thread discussion: Within a comment thread, you can help develop any idea to its fullest potential
Better voting and sorting options: More control over how topics show up for you
As a member of the Xbox Insider Program, we’d like you to lead the way by testing this site before we expand it to the broader Xbox community. To get started, check out the new Xbox Idea Hub. Then, contribute to our first Idea Drive in this space – it’s focused on renaming “Feature Friday,” like we said in the title. (Note: If you’re a regular reader of the subreddit, you probably already know about “Feature Friday.” If not, you can read about it in the Idea Drive post and then give us your ideas.)
Once you’ve provided your ideas and upvoted the ones you like, please be sure to read the latest subreddit update post and leave your comments and feedback about the Xbox Idea Hub in the thread.
Thanks in advance, Xbox Insiders! Your feedback here will help us as we prepare to share the Xbox Idea Hub with the world. Keep watching the blog here, or @XboxInsider on Twitter, for future announcements when we fully open the doors.
Welcome to 1980’s Sweden. The local population has disappeared, and hostile machines roam the streets. Explore the open world to unravel the mystery, perfect your fighting strategies, and prepare to strike back. Play alone or together with up to three friends, as you discover ways to defeat the invaders. In Generation Zero, living is winning.
The Hirata Estate level early in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a great place to learn how to deal with multiple kinds of enemies. It gives you several new Shinobi Prosthetic tools, lets you fight and stealth a bunch of different kinds of fighters, and puts you up against a couple of mid-bosses and a boss to teach you techniques you'll use for the rest of the game. Until you learn those techniques, though, Hirata can be pretty tough--especially when you face Juzou The Drunkard, a mid-boss who has a lot of backup.
You'll find the huge Juzou right before you get to the last portion of Hirata Estate, where he guards the way forward. He's got a bunch of regular fighters protecting him, and requires two deathblows to beat, making him a tough enemy to best. The good news is, there are a lot of ways to get the upper hand over Juzou if you're quick, careful, and patient. You can even get help battling him.
As you approach Juzou by crossing the water near him, you'll see him surrounded by enemies, and you should see a building off to his left with a wood walkway leading up to the main Estate. Head to the left and sneak into the building to find two enemies you can take down. From there, if you take the wood walkway, you'll wind up behind Juzou and most of the enemies around him. Sneak along the wall and you can deathblow at least one of them; when everyone starts to come for you, run back to the wood walkway and through the hut to find a place to hide. Everyone will eventually stop looking for you, allowing you to use the same move over and over again to clear out the minions. The fight with Juzou is much easier when he's not flanked by a bunch of helpers getting in your way.
Backstab Juzou
The same logic that goes into the last step applies to Juzou himself. As a big, tough mid-boss, he usually requires two deathblows to defeat--but fighting him straight-up is a great way to get yourself killed in the process. Once you've killed everyone around that can alert Juzou, you can use the same wood walkway approach on the left side of the arena to get behind him and lay down a deathblow. This will immediately knock out one of the deathblow requirements for Juzou, making the fight fully half as difficult. You can't get two stealth deathblows on him, though, so don't even try--once you've attacked Juzou, you have to finish the fight, or he'll get all his health back.
Enlist Some Help
You don't actually have to fight Juzou all alone. Just out in the water ahead of him is a samurai loyal to Hirata who means to take on Juzou as well, and he'll join you in the battle if you talk to him first. You can get the samurai's assistance just about any time, but he's most effective if you've cleared out Juzou's helpers and backstabbed him once. With all the other obstructions cleared away, run out and talk to the samurai after Juzou starts chasing you and he'll join the fight. He's great for distracting Juzou, allowing you to slash away at the Drunkard's back. If you're quick and smart about it, you can even kill Juzou before he manages to finish the samurai off. Just be sure to be careful that Juzou doesn't turn his attention, and his attacks, to you. When that happens, you'll want to have your guard up.
Watch Out For Poison
Juzou's tough with his sword, but he's not doing anything you haven't seen before in fighting other warrior enemies. The new trick he brings to the fight is drinking from his flask and then blowing the contents out at you. If you see him go for a drink put some distance between you and him. He'll likely unload his stinky sake all over the battlefield, which carries a poison effect if too much hits you. He'll also use the drink on his sword to make it poisonous, which means you could take poison damage even when blocking.
Wear Down Juzou's Vitality
If you decide to fight Juzou straight--which is pretty good practice--you'll find that even when blocking him repeatedly, you won't do much damage to his Posture. That's because Juzou is a boss character with a lot of Vitality, or health points. Enemies with a lot of Vitality recover Posture very quickly (and you'll notice that your Posture recovers faster when your health is high, too). The trick to getting Juzou into deathblow position is dealing damage to him. The best way to do that is to watch his moves and look for counter-attack opportunities. Those are when you successfully parry a blow and then can follow up immediately with a slash of your own, which will get through the enemy's defenses. Fighting Juzou toe-to-toe with your sword can be tough, but it's definitely doable. Don't be afraid to try Shinobi Prosthetics like the Firecrackers to mess with him a bit, as well.
Surreal Puzzler Back To Bed Sleepwalks Onto Switch Next Month
2Awesome Studio has revealed that it will be bringing Bedtime Digital Games’ Back to Bed to Nintendo Switch next month.
The game sees players guiding a sleepwalker named Bob from his sleep-inducing office to the safety of his bed, all by controlling his subconscious guardian, Subob. The pair travel through a surreal world where the boundaries between Bob’s dream and reality have disappeared; real-world dangers are still as present as ever, so Subob must take extra care to keep Bob safe.
If that all sounds a bit weird to you, that’s probably because it is. If you haven’t checked out the trailer yet (up above) then we’d urge you to do so – things are seriously strange. The game actually launched on Wii U back in 2016; we gave it 7/10 in our review.
Back to Bed will launch on Switch on 11th April with pricing set at $4.99 / 4.99€. Pre-orders will go live on 28th March, though, letting you secure the game at 10% off.
What do you think? Is this one going on your Switch wishlist? Sleepwalk on over to the comments below and let us know.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-26-2019, 09:56 PM - Forum: Windows
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Check out the first-ever episode of ID@Xbox Game Pass
Today, during the first-ever episode of ID@Xbox Game Pass, we gave fans a closer look at upcoming ID@Xbox program titles set to arrive with Xbox Game Pass the same day as their global launch, as well as shared new details of ID@Xbox and Xbox Game Pass activities at PAX East this weekend. If you missed the show, don’t worry! We’ve put together a recap outlining the top news from today’s episode. Check out what was announced below:
We’re excited to announce three new ID@Xbox titles coming to Xbox Game Pass the same day they release on Xbox One: Killer Queen Black,Outer Wilds and Blazing Chrome. Xbox Game Pass is not only a great way for gamers to find new and unique games, but the service is also an incredible vehicle for independent developers to reach new audiences. We are stoked to see these titles enter Xbox Game Pass at launch! See below to learn more about each title:
Killer Queen Black: From Liquid Bit, Killer Queen Black is an intense multiplayer action/strategy platformer designed for up to eight players. Hop on the snail, hoard berries or wipe out the enemy’s queen to claim victory! Killer Queen Black will be available on Xbox One and with Xbox Game Pass in 2019.
Outer Wilds: Outer Wilds, from Mobius and Annapurna Interactive, is an exploration game about curiosity, roasting marshmallows and unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos. It’s coming in 2019 and we’re thrilled to announce that it will be in Xbox Game Pass the same day as its global launch.
Blazing Chrome: From JoyMasher and The Arcade Crew, Blazing Chrome lets you kick some serious metal ass! The world is dominated by machines, that threaten the few humans remaining with total extermination. You get to kick some metal butts and free humankind in this classic run’n’gun, made by and for fans of serious arcade action.
In addition to announcing three upcoming titles to the ID@Xbox program, we also got an early look at both Afterparty and Outer Wilds as well as interviews and insights with the development teams behind those games (Night School Studio and Mobius, respectively).
Finally, we shared new details pertaining to ID@Xbox at PAX East! This year, we will be bringing Void Bastards, Operencia: The Stolen Sun, Supermarket Shriek, The Good Life andAfterparty to PAX East. All five titles will launch with Xbox Game Pass timed to their global release and are playable this weekend, so be sure to stop by the Xbox booth for your chance to experience these games first-hand! At the booth, you’ll also have the opportunity to collect custom pins for each of our ID@Xbox titles and even enter to win a custom-designed Xbox console specifically made for ID@Xbox. You won’t want to miss this!
Thank you for watching today – we hope you enjoyed the show! To stay up to date with the latest news and announcements, be sure to stay tuned to Xbox Wire and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. With our Xbox Game Pass mobile app, you can also get notifications as new games are added and remote install games to your home console as they are available!
