Joker And Harley Quinn Come To PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
The clown prince of crime and his sometimes more-popular significant other are apparently coming to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in the form of DLC skins. The announcement came from the official Twitter account today and was accompanied by a short trailer showing the characters off.
"Ok, honey. It's me and you."
Live on and play as two of your favorite Suicide Squad heroes, the Joker and Harley Quinn. Coming soon. pic.twitter.com/NWZhXaPBMz
Like the tweet says, these are the Suicide Squad incarnations of the characters, referencing the 2016 DC superhero film produced by Warner Bros. So if you're hoping for the red-and-black Harley costume with the jester's hat, you'll have to keep crossing your fingers.
Also, yes, in case you need to know before watching the video: Joker does indeed have "Damaged" tattooed on his forehead.
This is a bit of an odd licensing deal with PUBG, though not new for battle royale games in general. It was not that long ago that Fortnite had a limited-time event featuring Thanos from Marvel comics and, most recently, Avengers: Infinity War, allowing players to turn into the purple mad god. Presumably, Joker and Harley will not be time-limited, but we'll find out full details soon.
In other PUBG news, it appears that the game might soon become available on PlayStation 4, as well.
The Korean Ratings board recently suggested that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, PUBG Corp.'s battle royale game that once sat at the top of the world, will be coming to PlayStation 4. Generally the Korean Ratings Board sings pitch-perfect leaks of upcoming ports and games, but for those who might need a bit more evidence, the game has apparently appeared in the PlayStation Network database.
A user on gaming forum Resetera brought up a post from PSNProfiles.com, where a user found images of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on PSN in two forms: the icon that appears in the user's library and the splash screen that shows when the game is loading.
The battle royale game was snatched up as a console exclusive by Microsoft for the Xbox One last year, with PUBG Corp. citing that Xbox One having early access as being the main reason they agreed to Microsoft's offer. With the game now officially "out" on Xbox One, as in out of early access, it would be able to come to PlayStation 4 no problem. Sony has shown a willingness to ignore blocking early access games, as they did with Fortnite when it released in Save the World form.
If PUBG releases on PlayStation 4 with a publisher other than Bluehole, it will have a different publisher on every platform: Bluehole on PC and Microsoft on Xbox One.
Digital Extremes has been teasing its newest Warframe expansion, Fortuna, for quite a while now. After going open world with Plains of Eidolon last year, Fortuna continues with the new structure and a host of other new features, and the developer is finally narrowing that down. Warframe fans can finally get their hands on the latest expansion this week on PC.
Check out the release trailer for the expansion released today.
Fortuna adds ridiculously speedy hoverboard technology called the K-Drive, a new faction called the Vent Kids, revamped mechanics like fishing, and way more. All of this comes to Warframe completely free, though it is only coming to PC for right now. Fortuna will come to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sometime in the future.
Warframe is also coming to the Nintendo Switch, which is also coming out relatively soon. You'll be taking Warframe on the go on November 20, but you can skirt around the open worlds of Fortuna later this week.
Warning! There's spoilers for AMC's The Walking Dead in this story, particularly concerning the most recent episode. Turn away now if you're trying to remain spoiler-free.
...
With it being known for some time that actor Andrew Lincoln, who has long played protagonist Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead, was planning to exit the series. Now that the episode has aired, Rick has disappeared from the story without definition of what exactly happened to him. Immediately after, dismissing pretty much all mystery, AMC announced that Rick will continue through three made-for-AMC movies over the next few years.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movies will begin production next year in 2019. AMC is planning to make the movies with an apparently theatrical movie budget, but airing them exclusively on the network.
You might ask the question of, why bother to write Rick out from the series if Lincoln was just going to continue creating new stories in The Walking Dead? It is mostly so Lincoln can spend time with his family and deal with the more flexible nature of filming movies rather than being on a TV series in perpetuity.
The Walking Dead is currently in its ninth season.
[Source: The Hollywood Reporter]
Update: A listing has also appeared on the Steam database for the game, with the last update being an hour ago. It seems like there's likely to be an announcement fairly soon, possibly at XO18.
The original story, reported on November 1 at 9:30 a.m. CT, is as follows:
Insomniac Games finally hit the big time with the recent PS4 exclusive Spider-Man and it looks like Microsoft is trying to bring some of the developer's other work to the spotlight as well. Earlier this year, the Korean Ratings Board listed a PC port of the open-world Sunset Overdrive, one of the Xbox One's earliest and beloved exclusives.
The ESRB has also just added a listing for a PC port the game, lending more credence to the possibility of seeing it on PC sometime in the near future, likely under Microsoft's expanded Game Pass. Obviously none of this is an official announcement but this is about as solid a bet you can make that we'll see Sunset Overdrive on PC soon.
For more on Sunset Overdrive, check out our review here.
If you're wondering what games are coming up in 2019, we've put them all in one convenient location. This list will be continually updated to act as a living, breathing schedule as new dates are announced, titles are delayed, and big reveals happen. This should help you plan out your next several months in gaming and beyond.
New additions or changes to the list will be in bold.
As the gaming calendar is constantly changing, we highly recommend you bookmark this page. You'll likely find yourself coming back to this to find out the most recent release schedule for the most anticipated games across PC, consoles, handhelds, and mobile devices. If you notice that we've missed something, feel free to let us know! Please note that games will not get assigned to a month until they have confirmed release dates.
Action RPG fans have been long singing the praises of Grinding Gear Games' Path of Exile, the free-to-play loot-based game with strong Diablo influences. The game was released in 2013 on PC to surprising popularity and multiple expansions before launching on Xbox One in August 2017. Now, over a year since the first console port, the developers are bringing the game over to PlayStation 4 for the first time.
Alongside the 3.5.0 expansion coming to PC and Xbox One in December, the PlayStation 4 version is also set to launch the same month. While the expansion has a set date of December 7, the PS4 version will launch during a vaguer time period sometime during December.
Check out the PS4 release trailer below.
Grinding Gear pride themselves on the payment model, which they describe as "ethical microtransactions," primarily focused on cosmetics while letting players create and use as many accounts as they want. The developer has also ruled out crossplay, as the console versions play on different servers.
Path of Exile will also be getting private leagues soon, setting up custom rulesets for the world for a fee or microtransaction points.
Football Manager 2019 is out on PC and mobile, but if you're a fan of the franchise you obviously don't need me to tell you that. You've probably already made Krasnodar the biggest club in the world – or maybe you're still tinkering with your training schedule in the pre-season. But as a neophyte to the series and all its complexities I'm here to tell everyone that there is room for all kinds of players in Football Manager 2019.
It's easy for your eyes to glaze over when you're not a hardcore fan looking at a yearly sports title's annual feature sheet. You haven't been playing each installment from front to back anyway, so why should this year catch your eye any more than the others? Football Manager 2019 does well to bridge this divide and give something to fans of all stripes through its fundamental design.
I'm not a huge fan of the game's menu colors or layout, but overall the title does a good job executing one of its basic charges: Giving players the information and tools they need to succeed, and then letting them take control of their destiny. It's not just through the new, optional induction tutorial system. Giving unsure or uninterested managers the choice to delegate whole sections of the game to their staff offers the flexibility necessary to offload parts of this large title without sacrificing its scope and complexity.
Through the weeks controlling my club, I'd check in with my training staff, for example, to see how things were going even though I'd opted out of setting up the new daily schedule. In this instance, I'd give specific players rest so they didn't get injured or I'd add a new tactical formation to train or start breaking in a player at a new position. It's also a handy tool to simply see who's doing well in the leadup to a match and who may warrant inclusion or may be dropped. I can always layer on more responsibilities or drop others at any point without having to start a new save or worry that the ship isn't humming along in the background.
Similarly, I liked signing off on transfer decisions and setting the overall scouting direction without beating the bushes myself or micromanaging the scouts themselves. In this way the game actively keeps you in the loop and lets you make the big decisions without bogging you down in minutia if that's not what you want.
The game's flexibility helps me focus on one of the larger tasks at hand – getting results on the pitch – a place where FM 2019 requires that you stand on your own two managerial feet. What tactics should I use when we're in possession of the ball versus when we're out of it (another new feature)? What's the best eleven I can field for this particular match? Who should I put on as a sub and when? Your previous decisions in training, man management, and transfers lead you to these match-related points, of course, but the off-the-pitch business of running a club doesn't overshadow what happens on it. Instead, the two combine nicely. I'm not (yet) a world class manager by any stretch, but I feel it's within my grasp thanks to the tools at my disposal.
All that being said, I do think the series could make a few additions that I think would not only help newer players but vets could also find interesting.
A.I. Sliders – Many sports games use sliders, allowing players to tweak specific components of the game's A.I. Players could use this at their discretion to tweak everything from how aggressive other teams are in the transfer market to the board's tolerance for failure.
Challenges/Scenarios – A lot of players have created their own FM challenges through the years, such as taking a team from the lower leagues all the way to the top or replicating the career of Sir Alex Ferguson. This would take that a step further by incorporating them directly into the game (including leaderboards) as a way to let players experience gameplay in pre-set conditions of varying length, difficulty, and imagination.
I understand Football Manager developer Sports Interactive has considered these through the years and has its own reasons and philosophy toward them, but I think they're worth bringing them up for a title that already is about letting you twiddle a plethora of knobs on your franchise experience.
Sign Up For The Out of the Park Baseball 19's Perfect Team Beta
Bryce Harper is MLB The Show 19's Cover Star
New Adidas HUT Sweaters For The Original Six Teams In NHL 19
GT Sport Update Coming On November 6
Forza Horizon 4 Getting Free Hot Wheels DLC On November 6
Tennis World Tour Finally Adds Online Play
Mutant Football League Dynasty Edition is Out Now (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
Last week, Blizzard's keynote speech at BlizzCon ended with Diablo Immortal, a mobile Diablo game made in collaboration with Chinese mobile developer NetEase. The announcement stung certain fans, many of whom got extremely upset at the new game, partly because it is the only announced Diablo project on the horizon. According to a report from Kotaku, however, Blizzard was debating whether to mention Diablo 4 is in development at the same time and ultimately decided against it.
According to Kotaku's sources, the original intention was to announce Diablo Immortal, then end on a video of Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham confirming Diablo 4's existence and saying that the game is still development and not yet ready to show. Instead, the show ended with the Immortal announcement, concluding the conference on somewhat of a low note for fans in attendance as they sat silently waiting for a "One More Thing" coda.
The timeline matches with a blog post from Blizzard a few weeks ago, where the company tried to clamp down on expectations by more or less saying Diablo 4 is coming, but won't be at the show in any form. It is possible that Blizzard thought that announcement served the same purpose as the video, but it hard to speculate on their reasoning for choosing not to announce Diablo 4.
The internet has produced an intense backlash to Diablo Immortal's announcement, which Blizzard confesses they did not expect, with some of the more vocal detractors openly wishing for the game to get cancelled. It is unknown if Blizzard announcing Diablo 4 at the same time would have mitigated the response, but companies have done similar things before. After the poor reaction to Metroid Prime: Federation Force, and the presumed death of classic Metroid, Nintendo seemingly tried to get ahead of the Metroid: Samus Returns announcement by showing Metroid Prime 4 first. Even though it was just a logo and title, fans were satiated by the Switch game announcement and did not feel burned by the Metroid 2 remake on 3DS.
For more about Diablo Immortal, you can watch our exclusive interview with lead designer Wyatt Cheng. Blizzard also announced Warcraft III: Reforged last week, which is our December cover, and you can learn more about here.
[Source: Kotaku]
Nintendo has had a public distaste for media apps on the Nintendo Switch, stating that they prefer to focus on the Switch as a games machine when asked about generally standard apps like Netflix. This stance is not entirely consistent, however, and seems like it will be made even less consistent with rumors of YouTube arriving on the system as soon as this week.
Over the weekend, French site NintendHOME found a listing on Nintendo of America's website which showed YouTube as a Switch app with a prospective release date of November 8.
❓Rumeur – L’application YouTube devrait arriver prochainement sur Nintendo Switch, plus précisément le 8 novembre si on en croit le site de Nintendo America. pic.twitter.com/NgvBhDJu1G
— NintendHOME (@NintendHOME) November 3, 2018Game Informer was able to also find the listing before it was seemingly removed on Saturday.
Should the date be accurate, that puts YouTube 364 days after Hulu was announced and released for the Switch last year on November 9. Whether that's a coincidence or speaks to a year-long exclusivity agreement is hard to say, but the dates do seem odd. Maybe this means Netflix is on the way or it might be at least another year.
Have you been waiting for media apps like YouTube on the Switch or is it too little, too late?
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is poised to be one of this holiday season's biggest releases. When the Switch entry in the long-running franchise was unveiled at E3 2018, fans were shocked to learn about the scope of the new title; not only was the Smash team adding a few new characters and stages, but also including every character and a huge percentage of the stages that have ever appeared in the series in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
With more than 70 characters and 100 stages announced for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, we decided to gather them all in one place and organize them by franchise. In addition, we've scoured footage from the several times Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been shown to compile a list of Pokémon appearing both in Poké Balls and the Pokémon-themed stages.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate not only includes every playable character from the series' past entries, but also a handful of new characters. If you're curious as to whether your favorite gaming icon is confirmed for the upcoming Super Smash Bros. title for Switch, check out our list, organized by franchise of origin, below.
Animal Crossing Isabelle Villager Bayonetta Bayonetta Castlevania Richter Simon Donkey Kong Diddy Kong Donkey Kong King K. Rool Duck Hunt Duck Hunt EarthBound Lucas Ness F-Zero Captain Falcon Final Fantasy Cloud Fire Emblem Chrom Corrin Ike Lucina Marth Robin Roy
[Source: Super Smash Bros. Official Website]
In addition to every character in Smash Bros. history, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also features a huge collection of stages: 103, to be exact. Each stage can accommodate eight players at a time and features neutral Battlefield and Omega forms in addition to their native versions. Check out our organized list of stages in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate below.
Animal Crossing Smashville Tortimer Island Town and City Balloon Fight Balloon Fight Bayonetta Umbra Clock Tower Castlevania Dracula’s Castle Donkey Kong 75m Jungle Japes Kongo Falls Kongo Jungle Duck Hunt Duck Hunt
[Source: Super Smash Bros. Official Website]
If you have a soft spot for a franchise not represented in the list of playable characters or stages, you might find some solace in the list of Assist Trophies in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. While many characters appearing as Assist Trophies are from series already represented in other ways, a few off-the-wall entries pop up in the list.
Animal Crossing Kapp'n Arms Spring Man Art Academy Vince Bayonetta Rodin
[Source: Super Smash Bros. Official Website]
Unlike characters and stages, figuring out which Pokémon are in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a bit trickier. While Nintendo has released a list of new Pokémon set to appear in Poké Balls, for Pokémon appearing in the stages themselves, we had to do a bit more research. We were able to confirm two stages by watching the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Invitational from E3 2018. The other Pokémon stages haven't been shown publicly, but we noticed a strong correlation between the Pokémon that appear in stages in Ultimate and the Pokémon that appeared in those same stages previously. Because of this, we can surmise that those Pokémon have a strong likelihood to appear in the Ultimate versions of those stages. We've noted which ones are assumptions in the stage names.
From Poké Balls or Master Balls Abomasnow Abra Arceus Bellossom Bewear Chespin Darkrai Dedenne Deoxys Ditto Eevee Electrode Entei Exeggutor (Alolan) Fennekin Fletchling Gardevoir Genesect Giratina Gogoat Goldeen Inkay Keldeo Kyogre Kyurem Latias Latios Lugia Lunala Marshadow Meloetta Meowth Metagross Mew Mimikyu Moltres Munchlax Oshawott Palkia Porygon2 Pyukumuku Raichu (Alolan) Scizor Snivy Snorlax Solgaleo Spewpa Staryu Suicune Swirlix Tapu Koko Togedemaru Togepi Victini Vulpix Vulpix (Alolan) Xerneas Zoroark[Source: Super Smash Bros. Official Website]
[Source: SmashWiki]
Pokémon Stadium 2 (Likely to Appear Based on Past Games) Cubone Drifloon Dugtrio Electivire Hoppip Magnezone Skarmory Snorunt Snover[Source: SmashWiki]
Prism Tower Emolga Helioptile Magnemite Yveltal Zapdos[Source: Nintendo on YouTube]
[Source: Nintendo on YouTube]
Spear Pillar (Likely to Appear Based on Past Games) Azelf Cresselia Dialga Mesprit Palkia Uxie[Source: SmashWiki]
Unova Pokémon League (Likely to Appear Based on Past Games) Reshiram Zekrom[Source: SmashWiki]
In honor of National Love Your Red Hair Day – which I totally knew was a thing before today – I am challenging resident red-haired Game Informer editor Kyle Hilliard for the title of ultimate office ginger. Back in 2012, he listed the top 43 redheads in video games using “science.” Today, I have reworked the algorithm to bring you the updated list of the best red-haired characters we should remember on this fantastic national holiday.
An exile-become-champion, Aloy is the best hunter of robot dinosaurs the Nora tribe has to offer. Not only that, but she is a big early adopter for technology, meaning she’s going to be way ahead of the curve in the job market if the hunting thing doesn’t work out.
This pint-sized archer will fill you full of holes faster that you can say “boy.” One of his greatest talents is staying out of the way when the real god is throwing down, but Atreus proves his priorities are in order after finding out he’s a demi-god. Asking the important questions, Atreus immediately inquires if he can use his powers to change into an animal. Perhaps a red squirrel?
An independent woman who doesn’t need a Spider-Man, Mary Jane tends to jump into the action with only a camera. To ease his concern, Spider-Man gives her one of his gadgets in case she gets into trouble. Does the gadget immobilize foes or deploy a defense drone? No, it just makes a slightly irritating chirping noise to distract the gun-toting bad guys for a second. Also, she should look into the assassin’s order because she makes a leap of faith that even Ezio would envy.
Android 16 is the kind of android who doesn’t have to rely on a twin to pick up his slack. He put aside his pacifist ideals just in time to join the cast of Dragon Ball FighterZ, which was an auspicious coincidence. He might have been a relatively useless character in the show, but in Dragon Ball FighterZ Android 16 can throw down. In fact, he specializes in grappling his opponents and then tossing them. Which means he is really great at throwing…up? That doesn’t sound right.
Representing the indie pixel redheads, Madeline is determined to climb Celeste Mountain. I can only assume, based on the pie she makes in the end, that she really meant to go to the grocery store, ended up on a mountain, and just went with it.
Even villains need to take time away from sacrificing the weak to appreciate their fiery locks. Jacob Seed is perhaps a little over-zealous in training would-be cultists for his brother, by making you run the same horrific drill ad nauseam and killing everyone in sight. For all that, he is a pretty even-keeled psychopath. He never loses his temper and he even goes out of his way to compliment you during his training course. However, you might want to pass on any dinner invitations from Jacob. He believes he passed his test of strength after he killed and ate his best friend in Iraq.
Red Dead Redemption or Redhead Redemption? This Rockstar series can’t seem to go by without a charming Irish character. Even hanging upside-down in an enemy camp, Sean McGuire has more good humor in his pinkie than Arthur Morgan has in his entire body, but not everyone can be a ginger. The Van der Linde Gang also boasts a second redhead: Molly O’Shea. The high-class working girl with the most Irish name ever shares Dutch’s tent. Sadly, life on the run and camping in muck and squalor isn’t her idea of a good time.
I guess honest hard-working redheads are beneath Game Informer’s Kyle Hilliard. He lists the moon as the best redheaded character in Majora’s Mask, but passed over the ranchers Romani and Cremia, the proprietor of the Stock Pot Inn, Anju; the Mayor’s wife, Madame Aroma; the mailman; the banker; the twin dancers; the twin jugglers; the happy mask salesman; and North Clock Town’s Great Fairy. I’m glad to be able to shine a light on these overlooked, everyday red-haired heroes.
Moira is an inventor, entrepreneur, and aspiring author. She is one of the most accomplished characters on this list, if you don’t mind that she lets other people do the dangerous research for her. Hey, work smarter.
The huntress with the bluntness, Aela lets you know that the Companions don’t welcome any old “milk drinker who stumbles in.” Good news, if you manage to catch her eye, she is a prime candidate for marriage. She likes long walks in the moonlight and crunching prey in her jaws.
Foxes have red hair, right? Fox can fly a spaceship alongside his animal gang, so, if you’re able to suspend disbelieve for that, maybe we can skip the fur vs. hair debate and agree he is an amazing redhead.
Triss has a lot going for her. She’s a powerful sorceress and the only of Geralt’s magically gifted love interests with a sense of humor. In an unfortunate twist of fate, she is extremely talented in making potions and casting spells but is horribly allergic to magical effects.
Praise the sun. This heavenly redhead, daughter of Lord Gywn, gives you Lordvessel after defeating her guardian knights Ornstein and Smough. Her shining aura is so bright it literally lights the city of Anor Londo. She takes off if attacked, and there ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone.
I know what you’re thinking, Chloe has blue hair. Well, a little-known fact is that’s not a natural human hair color. She began life as a strawberry blonde, which is what redheads call themselves when they don’t want to fully commit. Though she tries to color over it, I’ll turn a blind eye on Love Your Red Hair Day.
Moving on from a natural redhead hiding her color to a dark-haired hacker looking to join the ranks, Futaba Sakura dyes her waist-length hair a lovely orange. The time and effort it takes to dye that much hair should be rewarded.
All pure-hearted Kairi wants to do is kick back in the Destiny Islands, but can anyone let her do that? She has to be applying sunscreen like crazy. Have you ever seen a redhead go that long in the sun on a tropical island without getting sunburned?
Assassins seem to have a weak spot for red-haired women. Even though Leonardo DaVinci himself warns Ezio that Caterina is "as powerful and dangerous as she is young and beautiful." Ezio goes for it anyway. Leonardo wasn’t joking, Caterina escapes from imprisonment with Ezio’s help, has her husband murdered, then leads her troops in the defense of her home.
Okay, for inklings it’s not so much red hair as orange tentacles, but that’s fine – we take all kinds. Inklings know how to paint the town and are great team players, so they should take the day to let their hair-tentacles down.
The young and innocent-seeming archer rains death from afar in Banner Saga. She may never have liked sewing, but she can thread the needle – shooting all enemies in a row with one arrow – like no one’s business.
Moira’s got your back in a fight. Her biotic abilities can mess up enemies or heal allies, depending on her mood. Moira is a brilliant geneticist and her work is on the cutting edge. Really. Watch out that you don’t get cut.
One of Ubisoft's prospective plans for Assassin's Creed Odyssey was the introduction of Mercenary occurrences, occasional live events that added epic mercenaries into Assassin's Creed Odyssey for the player to meet and kill. The idea was similar in function to Hitman's elusive targets, time-limited assassination targets that encouraged players to re-engage with the game during set times. For Ubisoft's game, however, a problem emerged when the last two mercenary events were cancelled on the eve of going live. Now the developer says that they're putting a freeze on the entire idea while they work out the bugs.
"Two weeks ago, when we attempted to launch the first Epic Mercenary Event with Damais the Indifferent, we discovered that the content didn’t properly appear for a majority of our players," a Ubisoft community manager explained in a forum post. "It wasn’t satisfactory to have an event available to only a portion of our players, so we decided to temporarily remove the Epic Mercenary Events from the game altogether until the issue is resolved. We are working on a fix and are hoping to introduce them later this month. We will provide an updated ETA as soon as possible."
The first event was cancelled October 18, with a promise to renew the hunting in two weeks. On October 30, Ubisoft tweeted an announcement that it would not be happening then, either. This week, they officially put it on ice, though the forum post says they will be renewing it again later this month, hopefully with more fruitful results than before.
Remember Damais the Indifferent? So far we've had no success in tracking him down, so, unfortunately, there won't be a live event this week.
We're working towards a solution to address an issue that prevents the mercenary live events from appearing as soon as we can. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/BHqEp1g3cb
In the meantime, Ubisoft is focusing on ship events, which are similar to the mercenary ones but with ship battles. Fans have suggested that there is a similar problem to the mercenary one there, as well, but it does not seem like Ubisoft is seeing the same degree of error there.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey released last month on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. You can find our review for the game right here.
A new cultural phenomenon is teaming up with an old one; Epic Games has announced that Fortnite is partnering with the NFL. According to Epic's blog post, NFL-themed outfits are hitting the Fortnite item shop later this week on November 9.
Six outfits will be available – three male, and three female. Once purchased, you can swap any of the skins to represent all 32 NFL teams and customize the number.
To get an idea how these uniforms might look in action, check out the reveal video below.
In 1992, Looking Glass Studios (then Blue Sky Productions) pioneered the first immersive sim with Ultima Underworld. With its non-linear, story-driven gameplay and 3D environment, the Stygian Abyss, Ultima Underworld paved the way for future generations of games like Deus Ex, Bioshock, and Thief. In 2000, Looking Glass Studios disbanded, however, its talent scattering like seeds in the wind to leave their mark on other successful franchises. But with the founding of OtherSide Entertainment in 2014, much of Looking Glass’s talent has returned to continue what they started. With a 14-person team of seasoned industry veterans, which includes credited immersive sim creator, Warren Spector, and developers from Irrational Games to Fullbright, OtherSide Entertainment is creating the follow-up to Ultima Underworld with Underworld Ascendant. To bring something new to the formula, the team is diving deeper into concepts that the immersive sim was founded upon, giving players a wider array of tools and options and dropping them in a dynamic and highly interactive world. Last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with writer and game director Joe Fielder to play the game and see just how deep these mechanics go.
Underworld Ascendant begins with a brief character customization process, allowing you to pick your skin tone, build, and voice (which also determines gender). From there, you’re immediately dropped into the depths, as your mystical guide and narrator Cabirus informs you that Typhon, “father of monsters” and “nemesis of Zeus” is close to breaking free, threatening the destruction of your world and the Stygian Abyss. To stop the primordial threat, you must unite the factions and learn the secrets they once used to contain Typhon. But first you must learn how to survive this brutal environment, which involves no small amount of creativity.
In Pluto’s Gate, the first task I’m given is a basic one – I must “escape,” Cabirus says off-screen in his ethereal bravado, voiced by Stephen Russell, who’s known for playing Garrett in Thief, Corvo Attano in Dishonored, and Nick Valentine in Fallout 4. Cabirus says that I must get past a locked door. Simple enough. Now I only need to locate the key or pick the lock to make my exit. But after all my years playing similar open-world games, I forget a simple truth: The door is made of wood. “In time, you could beat it down,” Cabirus says, noting the possibility of hacking through the door with your fists or a weapon, “or simply apply fire.” Indeed, I find I can pick up a wooden chair and ignite it over a brazier, then hold it against the door until the door is reduced to ash. In Underworld Ascendant, creative solutions to problems like this abound, and they generally revolve around the physical properties of objects or the delicate interplay between light and dark, and water and fire. If I want to avoid the icy gaze of a skeleton watcher, I can pick up a water bottle and throw it at one of the torches to douse the flame and darken the hallway. I can cook a leg of “mystery meat” by holding it over the open flame of a brazier. And objects have weight, so while I might be able to throw a cup at a lever, sometimes I’ll come across a heavier object that can only be carried and dropped onto a mechanism-activating pressure plate.
Players need to cleverly approach their environment to get past obstacles, which becomes evident when I begin the Challenge of Ishtass. After entering a large, spacious cavern, I encounter a platform patrolled by skeletons. A caged monstrosity hangs above them, looking like a giant, levitating face-hugger from Alien, only with an oversized brain for a head. A “mind crippler,” Fielder tells me; it’ll attack the skeletons if I release it, but it would “be prudent” to avoid its detection. Already, I have a couple of ways to get to the treasure on the other side: I can rain arrows down on the skeletons or attack them head-on with any number of junk items I’ve amassed. I can also sneak around and hit the lever to release the mind crippler if I’m quiet. However, there is another option that no one points out. I notch an arrow and fire it at the lever, then another, and another. After a few missed attempts, I finally get one of my arrows to ricochet off a boulder, striking the lever and releasing the groping tentacles of the mind crippler upon the hapless skeletons, which enables me to sneak around and snag the loot on the opposite bank.
The entire RPG system in Underworld Ascendant is built to encourage player creativity, interactivity, and immersion. When players start the game, for example, they aren’t allocated skill points, but are encouraged to navigate the world and acclimate to the systems. To encourage this, players are awarded skill points for completing “feats.” Feats, in Underworld Ascendant, are milestones and achievements players earn by overcoming new obstacles and figuring out the game’s systems such as killing a skeleton without being touched. There are three major skill trees: fighter, magic, and stealth. Spells in the game are largely about hacking physical properties, Fielder tells me. The Assemble spell allows mages to amass a number of items from the environment and build a bridge, which can also be used as a weapon if you light it on fire or drop it on foes. The stealth tree stacks damage bonuses for sneak attacks and includes the dash skill, which is essentially a short-range teleport. When it comes to the fighter tree, Fielder also points out how “combat is focused on movement, not just damage bonuses.” And indeed, much of the fighter tree is devoted to mobility, parkour, and getting the most out of your environment with skills like wall-run and double-jump becoming unlockable at higher levels.
In the start of the game, like in the original Stygian Abyss of Ultima Underworld, players will struggle to survive as they’re limited to the tattered rags on their back. Food plays a role in the game as hunger ravages health, and cooking or pickling your foodstuffs becomes essential for removing negative status effects or adding positive ones. For a while, players will mostly be discovering broken equipment and rapidly deteriorating weapons. But as they progress they’ll be able to find rarer items, studier armor, and more powerful tools to add to their arsenal.
In one pre-loaded account, Fielder shows me the axe of Phobos, which breaks enemy morale with a successful parry. There’s also the jewel of befuddlement, which Fielder jokes is essentially a flash bang grenade, for those ungifted in stealth. Wands can be found which are branded with a single spell, and runestones can be added to your runebag, which allow you to create custom spells. During my playthrough, I find the Heal rune word, and am able to dual-wield two runestones, casting healing spells on myself with a flourish of wrists and levitating stones like Dr. Strange whenever I run into trouble. For archers, different types of arrows exist like water arrows, fire arrows (which can be made by dipping standard arrows into a torch), and blast arrows, which release a blast of compressed air upon impact. At one point during my playthrough, I find a left leather boot, which grants a status boost to mobility, but when I equip it, the bonus is cut in half since I lack the corresponding right boot. Also making its return from Ultima Underworld, players can plant the seeds of the hallowed Silver Sapling in patches of soil to set custom respawn points when they die.
The Stygian Abyss was the first world to play home to an immersive sim, and Fielder is quick to point out that it is a character unto itself, inspiring other failed subterranean utopias like Rapture in Bioshock. And the new abyss has a lot of character, too with its colorful tabletop mini-figure art inspiration and myriad factions. During my playthrough, I only see the bipedal Lizardman tribe, the Saurians. But the game is full of races, such as: The Shamblers – a “fungal hivemind” – the deep elves who can gift players enchanted weaponry, and the Dwarven Expedition who can forge master-crafted armor.
The environment itself is also quite attractive. The failed utopia incorporates lava-flooded caverns and mist-covered dungeons and small details like graffiti written in the Lizardman language. Glowing lotus-like flowers propel themselves through the darkness like bioluminescent jellyfish. But the setting isn’t just for show. While the world isn’t as sprawling as some contemporary RPGs, the Stygian Abyss is constantly evolving.
“Within the game, there’s a degrading world state,” Fielder explains. “As you play through the game, creatures from the lower abyss start to crawl up to the higher levels.” There’s also a faction known as the Outcasts who are constantly expanding their construction efforts, meaning new ramparts and platforms might be built up (or torn down) when you return to a former location.
“In an area where you had a quest earlier, you’ll find it’s radically different,” says Fielder. “There are different movement options. There are different creatures. And it’s really a new setting pretty much every single time you return.”
During my brief time with the game I was pleasantly surprised with what I was shown. While Underworld Ascendant might not be as polished as some of its triple-A contemporaries, the small but talented indie team of OtherSide Entertainment is doing something different. Focusing on its core world and players’ ability to interact within that environment as opposed to other modern games’ sprawling but less interactive worlds, the team is shooting for quality over quantity, which is appropriate, considering the small team’s relationship to what Fielder calls the “grandfather of immersive sims.” Underworld Ascendant is coming to PC on November 15 and to consoles in 2019. As a fan of games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Bioshock Infinite, I saw a lot to like from this indie offering, and for only $30, I’m eager to dive back into the abyss to more fully immerse myself in its depths.
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