Replay – Armored Core
From Software is the Dark Souls/Bloodborne studio, but before it specialized in controller-destroying challenge gauntlets, it made a game called Armored Core. Join Andrew Reiner, Jeff Marchiafava, me, and Ben Hanson (making a special appearance while Leo Vader is off on a secret sortie!) as they check out this PlayStation classic. For part two we look at a game that I insist is probably a cool idea.
Video games take up more data today than they ever have before. If you own Overwatch on PC, you've probably invested a number of gigabytes to the game already, both through the installation process and through updates. You'll have to be willing to download a few more, however, as Blizzard says that the next patch will require players to download the client over again.
"The next major patch will have some pretty fundamental changes to the game client," Blizzard writes in a forum post. "The number of back-end changes we’re putting in is substantial enough that we can’t just patch over the current content efficiently. As a result, when the next patch comes out, the client will fully reinstall itself to handle these changes. We know that this isn’t ideal for people on metered connections, so hopefully this announcement helps you prepare for this coming update."
That should be around 13GB, which is not, like, relatively huge or anything. But it does mean that if you're one of those people that carefully rations out your monthly data cap due to ISP limits, there's a 13GB download in your near future that you might not have bargained for.
Blizzard has not said when to expect the update, or what exactly it will entail, but it seems likely that it will include the announced revamps to the replay system.
This weekend seems destined for some decidedly domestic activities. Luckily, the Game Informer editors also have some fun games on their to-do list. When we’re not washing laundry, serving up a delightful plate of amuse-bouches, and wrangling with furniture, we’ll be playing Tetris Effect and Red Dead Redemption II.
Are you doing something fun this weekend? Let us know in the comments below!
Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard) – Progress has been slow, but enjoyable in Red Dead Redemption II, so I plan on continuing along that path. I have also really been enjoying Tetris Effect and I am near the end of the story (?) campaign. I am excited to see that to the end. Normally I would see The Grinch this weekend, but I saw it last night. You don’t need to see it. It’s not bad – just bland and forgettable. Also, laundry. So much laundry.
Dan Tack (@dantack) – Culatello prosciutto, sopressata, bufala mozzarella, burrata, stone ground course mustard, Carolina Reaper sauce, fresh jalapenos… Couple soft/hard breads to tie it together but SMALL PORTIONS. Essentially a cheese plate and charcuterie all-encompassing package with layers to it, high focus on soft cheeses and a celebration of mozzarella and heat. Wash down with an ice-cold Cheerwine and ditch the standard morning double espresso with a Rainbow Unicorn Bang for a jump start to a productive weekend that’s sure to fire on all cylinders.
Jill Grodt (@Finruin) – Last weekend, I stayed up for 25 straight hours to be a part of Extra Life. It was amazing, but maybe I’ll make up for it this weekend and sleep for 25 hours. I’m pretty sure that’s how sleep debt works. As for games, I aim to make a house raft in The Forest where I can’t get eaten in the night; I should start a story mission in Red Dead, but I’ll probably end up exploring the world more; and I also want to jump into all the VR games that have been piling up.
Ben Hanson (@yozetty) – It’s the weekend already! Let’s see, what to play… I guess I’ll keep trucking away at Red Dead Redemption II. I’m also committed to buying Tetris Effect on PS4… although I wish it was on PC already. Then there’s always The Quiet Man… just sitting there on Steam… begging to be played… Have a good weekend!
Kimberley Wallace (@kstar1785) – I finally finished Spider-Man, which I adored. Now I’m ready to get fully immersed in Red Dead Redemption II. I’m the type of person who loves to just cuddle up with a video game for the weekend, and the first snowfall in Minneapolis is telling me that’s exactly what I need to do.
Imran Khan (@imranzomg) – This weekend, I’m going to be assembling some furniture that I’ve been lazy about assembling for the last few weeks. I’m also going to play more Red Dead Redemption II, which feels a lot like assembling furniture, if only because I’m putting a lot of boring work into putting pieces together and hoping what comes out of it was worth the confusing early hours. I will be at Day of the Devs in San Francisco on Sunday, so say hi if you see me!
As Valve had previously announced, the company will be holding an invitation-only tournament this weekend for Artifact, their upcoming Dota 2-based card game. The developer will also use this event as a launch point to start pre-orders for the game, which releases two weeks later on Steam.
A beta is being held in-between the tournament and the release on November 19, though Valve has not yet clarified who is getting beta access. PAX Attendees who played the game in Seattle were given a code for access, but it would not be surprising if pre-orders were the method to determine who gets into the beta.
Additionally, Valve has released APIs to aid Artifact fans with homemade software for building decks. As there are already community-driven sites that, say, determine what kind of Artifact deck you would use based on a questionnaire about your personality, Valve wants to make that process a little easier. The developer is releasing the APIs to automatically grab images of cards and text, as well as sharing codes for decks. You can access the APIs here and start making new things to your heart's content.
The first Artifact tournament begins tomorrow November 10 at 9:00 a.m. PST.
During Nintendo's most recent financial report, the company's relatively new president Shuntaro Furukawa took questions from investors on the company's performance and future plans. One investor pointed out to Furukawa that there are many big games that are missing from the Switch; while he did not name any titles specifically, it is logical to assume he means games like Red Dead Redemption II, which sold 17 million copies in its first week. Furukawa's answer was blunt: some things just won't come to Switch and that's an unrealistic expectation.
"We believe that giving consumers a wide selection of software is an extremely important part of operating our platforms," Furukawa said in the English translation of the Q&A provided by Nintendo. "That is why we welcome the introduction of a variety of titles from many different software publishers. Even so, I do not think it is realistic to expect that every major title will become available on Nintendo Switch. We are speaking with publishers about them actively putting titles on Nintendo Switch that would be an especially good fit for its unique features as a home console system you can carry around, including handheld mode and the ability to bring systems together for local multiplayer. Given the strong publisher support Nintendo Switch has, I would expect the number of titles on it will increase a lot more. That is what really keeps the Nintendo Switch business on the right track."
While the Switch has indeed gotten better third party support than most Nintendo home consoles, there are still a number notable of games that pass the system by, whether it be due to technological limitations or a market reasons. Bethesda, as an example, has shown a willingness to try and make it work with titles like Doom Eternal and Wolfenstein, but has also said that there are limits to what can be done on the system in the case of games like Fallout 76.
Later, Furukawa points out that the currently Japan-exclusive cloud service to stream third party games is another option. That service has been used for Resident Evil VII and Assassin's Creed Odyssey so far in a similar method to, as examples, Google's Project Stream and PlayStation Now, but physical distance from the servers makes the titles unplayable outside of Japan. It is unknown if Nintendo plans to ever bring that method, and thus the necessary servers, westward.
With 2016’s episodic experiment firmly in the rearview mirror, Agent 47 is back with another full itinerary of places to go and people to execute. While Hitman 2’s globetrotting adventure suffers from the same shortcomings as its predecessor, the new locations and clever assassination opportunities remind me why I’ve remained a fan of the series all these years.
The Hitman games have always adhered to a simple formula, and Hitman 2 is no exception: After arriving in a new (and increasingly large) level, the bald and barcoded assassin must track down and execute his target. However, simply walking up and shooting them won’t net you many accolades. Instead, the magic and replayability of Hitman lies in exploring the environments, donning disguises, and devising stealthy and creative executions that leave no trace. Why garrote an enemy when you can cause their sports car to malfunction during a race, or give your target an extra-close shave while posing as their barber?
My one major criticism of Hitman 2 remains a holdover from the previous installment: Each map is now so massive that it demands a hefty time investment just to learn, and the organic discovery of a level’s set-piece executions has taken a backseat to in-game guides that hold your hand through each step in Agent 47’s elaborate schemes. Hitman’s signature assassinations have always been puzzles, and nowadays you can either have all the answers splayed out in front of you or blindly stumble through them via hours of frustrating trial-and-error. Thankfully, these scripted assassinations are far from the only way to dispatch your targets, and my options and enjoyment opened up once I pushed past the learning curve.
Though some problems come with Hitman 2’s levels being the biggest in the series, they are also among the most memorable, including an opulent billionaire’s high-tech headquarters and racetrack in Miami, and the sprawling slums of Mumbai. Some locations, like the village, coca fields, and cartel mansion of Santa Fortuna, feel like three full-fledged levels fused together, offering a welcome change of scenery and scenarios as you scratch off the targets on your hit list.
The signature executions this time around are worth the extra effort they require, and range from coaxing a carnivorous hippo into eating his owner to helping an incompetent assassin perform your hits for you. These moments, along with 47 giving the worst house tour ever while posing as a real-estate agent, kept me engaged and entertained during multiple playthroughs of each level, as did the wealth of challenges to pursue. I’m still not compelled to replay levels for as long as the game wants me to, but I had significantly more fun returning to locations than I did in the last game. Minor improvements like picture-in-picture alerts of important events and the ability to hide in foliage smooth out the gameplay, making it more enticing to dive back in.
IO tries to tell a more compelling story than the previous game, though the results are mixed. The developer smartly focuses on fleshing out 47’s past and his handler Diana Burnwood, and a mysterious new figure provides some extra intrigue. Unfortunately, the narrative is told through glorified storyboard sequences rather than actual cutscenes. Watching the camera pan across still images of characters as they converse just feels cheap and disappointing, especially given the previous quality of the series’ cinematics – and how good the in-game engine looks.
Players can also partake in a handful of peripheral modes, but they are largely forgettable. The shining exception is Sniper Assassin, which builds on the previous spin-offs and tasks players with sniping targets from a single location. Sniper Assassin provides a fun and exciting break from the slow and methodical pace of the main game – but unfortunately the mode only offers a single level to shoot up. The Ghost multiplayer mode is also a frustrating disappointment, contorting the stealth-oriented action into a competitive race that the gameplay isn’t really suited for.
Like Agent 47 himself, Hitman 2 doesn’t take a lot of chances – instead it continues honing its underlying formula to a deadly precision. A part of me still longs for the smaller and more digestible maps of the older games, but I can’t argue with IO’s execution here – the levels, and memorable assassination opportunities they hold, are worth the investment.
Activision has announced that the classic map, Nuketown, will be arriving in Black Ops 4 in a matter of days on the PlayStation 4, marking the fourth time the map has made an appearance in a mainline Call of Duty game. The map has long been popular for its smaller and more intimate nature, keeping matches at a tight pace, as well as its macabre nuclear war setting.
The announcement was made today via Twitter, showing a Cold War-era green screen flickering with various images of the map. The tweet itself has a caption in Russian, roughly translating to "Welcome back," before announcing in English that the map is coming to PlayStation 4 on November 13.
📡 Добро пожаловать обратно.
Coming to PS4 on November 13. #BlackOps4 pic.twitter.com/TbYhcUM5iq
It isn't known when the map will arrive to the game's other versions on the Xbox One and PC, but traditionally exclusivity on various Call of Duty DLC and maps can go anywhere from one week to one month. Nuketown was originally announced for Black Ops 4 just before E3 as one of several older Black Ops maps being brought to the new game, though Nuketown was the only one scheduled to come after launch.
We're still waiting for more details, but presumably Nuketown will arrive as an update rather than paid DLC.
You can find our review of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, with new battle royale mode Blackout, right here. The game is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
There was a time where having a movie library streaming from the cloud was new and odd. Netflix was still active as a subscription service that mailed DVDs to people and was transitioning to a streaming service on various devices, including the Xbox 360 and, surprisingly popularly, the Wii. There was a time where the Wii was by far the most common Netflix streaming device, but eventually newer and more high-resolution devices supplanted it, as did the prevalence of smart TVs. Now, for apps like Netflix, the sun is finally setting on what once felt like weird internet magic.
Netflix has been sending out emails to subscribers who have been using the Wii version of the app semi-recently. The email made its way to Reddit, where users have been posting their use-cases for still having Netflix on Wii twelve years after the console originally launched. The email states that Nintendo is shuttering all video services, which likely includes channels like BBC, Hulu, and YouTube, as well.
The services are set to end on January 31, which is the same date Nintendo shut down the ability to add points to the Wii Shop earlier this year. If you still want a Nintendo system to watch Netflix on, the 3DS and the Wii U both still have active Netflix apps. The Switch does not have Netflix, but launched Hulu last year and YouTube yesterday on the hybrid console.
With Game Informer's new cover story on Warcraft III: Reforged, we're rolling out a full month of features highlighting the remake of one of Blizzard's classics. When we were visiting the studio to check out the game we sat down with Warcraft III: Reforged's lead environment artist Dave Berggren, lead producer Pete Stilwell, and lead designer Matt Morris to talk about the RTS genre overall and the team's ideal audience for the remake. Watch the interview at the top of the page and let us know what you think in the comments below!
Click on our banner below to enter our constantly-updating hub of exclusive features on Warcraft III: Reforged.
Sometimes the so-called “bad guy” isn’t actually that bad. They can be sympathetic. Other times, they’re simply hard to judge in worlds where no one is truly a hero. Video games have lots of morally ambiguous antagonists, each with their own backstory and motivation. Here are five of the most common archetypes behind video games’ morally gray antagonists, along with the character who most embodies the archetype.
**This list contains spoilers for the following games: StarCraft series, The Last of Us, Mass Effect series, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Dragon Age: Origins **
Exemplar: Sarah Kerrigan/Queen of Blades – StarCraft series
Not all antagonists are born evil. Some are just the unfortunate products of their environment. In gaming, there have been many villains forged by the cruelties of life, but none quite as tragic as StarCraft’s Queen of Blades.
The Queen of Blades wasn’t always a ruthless alien overlord; once she was a little girl rocked by tragedy when she accidentally killed her parents with psychic powers she didn’t know she had. From there, she was kidnapped by a heartless government, tortured and experimented upon, turned into a ruthless killing machine, then finally “rescued” by a rebel faction. Only her “rescue,” was really just more of the same, using her for her abilities before abandoning her in the field to face a parasitic alien horde alone. Instead, the alien hive mind adopted her into its fleshy fold and gave birth to the malevolent Queen of Blades, an entity hellbent on destroying the “humanity" which so callously robbed her of her own.
Honorable Mentions: GlaDOS (Portal series), Alma (F.E.A.R. series), Delilah Copperspoon (Dishonored series), The Joker (Batman: The Enemy Within), Sin (Final Fantasy X)
Exemplar: Illusive Man – Mass Effect series
For many antagonists, the dark roads they’ve taken can be traced back to one erroneous belief. Whether they think they’re saving the world or just fighting against the powers that be, the hubris of these villains is that they often go too far. In the Mass Effect series, the Illusive Man fits this description perfectly.
A “speciesist” who believes humanity must be preserved at all costs and that the ends justify the means, the Illusive Man thinks he’s doing what’s right for the galaxy, but ultimately becomes a pawn for the evil he set out to stop. Still, the terrorist mastermind means well, and will take his own life for the good of the universe if you can convince him. Like with most villains who believe the ends justify the means, the Illusive Man paves the road to his own destruction with noble intentions.
Honorable Mentions: Andrew Ryan (BioShock), Lyon (Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones), Haytham Kenway (Assassin’s Creed III), Selvaria Bles (Valkyria Chronicles), Dutch van der Linde (Red Dead Redemption series)
Exemplar: The Boss (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater)
You’ll notice a common thread with many of these antagonists: They’re all tragic. When it comes to villains who only appear bad on the surface, there is no greater martyr than Metal Gear Solid’s The Boss.
A character who sacrifices everything for her country and her mission, The Boss opts to die a traitor in the eyes of the world rather than drag the world’s superpowers into another great war. Representing a recurring theme in the series, The Boss is a simple soldier trying to navigate the great powers’ secret wars, doing what she can in a conflict where no choice is easy. Passing on all her lessons to protagonist Naked Snake before she dies, The Boss even imparts a final message to her disciple: The soldier’s life is an “endless battle.”
Honorable Mentions: Great Grey Wolf Sif (Dark Souls), Kessler (Infamous)
Exemplar: Marlene (The Last of Us)
Sometimes the antagonists aren’t even evil; the hero is just a piece of crap. Situations like these really give the player pause to reflect on the nature of right and wrong. Few situations accomplish this reflection quite like when you have to choose between the life of a loved one and the lives of many.
In The Last of Us, Marlene becomes the final antagonist when she makes a hard choice, but arguably, the right one, greenlighting a procedure that will kill Ellie but also yield a vaccine to end the infection ravaging mankind. She does make one mistake, however: being merciful. In The Last of Us, we play as Joel, a grizzled survivor who still hasn’t gotten over the death of his daughter, and who chooses to kill everyone rather than lose Ellie on the operating table. Guilt-wracked over her decision, Marlene spares Joel not once, but twice. For her foolish decision-making, she dies begging for her life when Joel doesn’t hesitate to execute her. Agree or disagree, The Last of Us paints its world in shades of gray and darker gray, and when it comes to antihero Joel, let’s just say the word “hero” is used very loosely.
Honorable Mentions: Colossi (Shadow of the Colossus), Sans (Undertale)
Exemplar: Loghain Mac Tir (Dragon Age: Origins)
When you’re in a position of power, it can be difficult to know the proper course of action. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, sometimes good individuals make bad decisions in the heat of the moment and never look back. In Dragon Age: Origins, Loghain Mac Tir made a bad decision (and then more bad decisions) for the sake of his homeland.
Seemingly your average powermonger, Loghain allows his king to be slaughtered at the frontlines, seizes power for himself, and then commits numerous atrocities to stay in power. But, arguably, Loghain does what he does out of love for his country. Stuck between a scheming empire, a demon army, and a young king who was plotting to forge an alliance with that empire, Loghain made the only decision he could. He withdrew his forces to defend his homeland, letting his king die in the process. Proving he’s not all bad, the former general will even repent for his crimes and volunteer to sacrifice himself if he joins your party, proving that people who make terrible decisions are still capable of some good.
Honorable Mention: Daigo Dojima (Yakuza 4)
So that concludes our morally gray list. Was there an antagonist on here who you still think is pure evil? Let us know about it in the comments section below. And for more from us on your favorite heroes and villains, be sure to check out our list of the top 10 deranged video game villains, or our list of the top 10 super hero games of all time.
With its original date, Battlefield V would have already been out by now, but EA and DICE decided to hold the game back a few weeks for polish. That means we're getting the launch trailer for the game now as we wait for DICE's newest foray into World War II. You can check out the launch trailer, in which the action comes fast and frantic, below.
The trailer is mostly made up of CG with bits of interspersed game footage and outlet accolades for the game. It does give you a decent idea for what you'll be doing in the new game, with seemingly a pretty heavy focus on the multiplayer aspects.
Battlefield V's battle royale mode, dubbed Firestorm in the internal vernacular, is not expected to launch until March according to DICE's content roadmap for the game. That is also around the time where virtual currency will be purchasable for the game's cosmetics.
Battlefield V releases on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on November 20.
Bandai Namco's collaboration with Aardman and the minds behind Valiant Hearts is out today. 11-11: Memories Retold is a dramatic narrative-driven adventure that follows the lives of a Canadian photographer (voiced by Elijah Wood) looking for adventure on the European Front during WWI and a German father who learns his son has gone missing in action. As they “discover the reality of war,” their paths will cross on November 11, 1918 as the Great War comes to an end.
The game’s development comes from a collaboration between Aardman Studios (the minds behind Wallace & Gromit) who’ve supplied a unique painterly aesthetic to the game, and DigixArt whose co-founder led the development of award-winning Valiant Hearts: The Great War.
Last month Bandai Namco announced DLC for the title with a portion of proceeds going to the War Child charity, which helps children impacted by war.
If you’re curious about the unique centenary WWI experience, check out our E3 interview where we got to speak with some of the minds behind the game.
Originally founded in 1990, Prima's parent company, DK, has announced plans to close Prima down fully in Spring and not commission any new video game strategy guides. DK said it was an “extremely difficult decision” and that it comes as a result of a “significant decline” in the video game strategy guide sector. Prima has three offices across the United States that will be directly affected by the closure.
[Via: Kotaku, publishersmarketplace.com, bertelsmann.com]
Our Take
I've definitely used a few Prima guides in my gaming lifetime. Generally, I like to play games with as little help as possible, but on those occasions where I finish a game and want to make sure I can see everything it has to offer, I always like having a printed strategy guide next to me for reference. I'm disappointed to hear this news and wish the best of luck to those affected by the closing.
Funimation launched the latest trailer for the upcoming Dragon Ball Super movie releasing in theaters on January 16. The highlight of the trailer is a (sort of) new super saiyan form for Vegeta. It's the god form that Goku originally achieved when he went face-to-face with Beerus, which both Vegeta and Goku surpassed when they took on Frieza for a second time. In this way, Vegeta is almost taking a step backwards, but it's okay because now his hair can finally match his 'bad man' shirt.
For more on the upcoming movie you can watch the first and second trailers by following the links. The movie will show in American theatres in January of next year.
Beat Saber released in early access for PC VR platforms earlier this year, and it really grabbed our attention. Sony announced intentions to bring to PlayStation VR earlier this year, but not we know exactly when it will be releasing, and what will be included with the game.
The PlayStation VR version of Beat Saber will be available on November 20 and alongside all the content and music of the early access version of the game available on PC, new songs will be included as well as new sabers. It's unclear exactly when that content will be coming to the PC versions of the game, but the game's developer promises it will be soon.
Dear Rift & Vive players, new sabers, modifiers and practice mode will be added to PC version much sooner in upcoming updates, while campaign and 5 new tracks will come to other platforms at a later date.
— Beat Saber (@BeatSaber) November 8, 2018For more on Beat Saber, head here to read a story from former intern Jacob Gellar about how he played the entirety of the film Shrek in Beat Saber*.
[Source: PlayStation Blog]
Our Take
I'll go on record saying that Beat Saber is VR best game and its best hope for the future. Super excited to see it make its way to PlayStation VR.
*We did not force him to do this. This is something he decided to do on his own.
Whether on CRT monitors, HDTVs, or the Game Boy’s monochromatic display, Tetris has long been a reliable source of entertainment (and jaw-clenching stress) for puzzle-seeking players. Its elegant simplicity has made it an enduring success, but with Tetris Effect, Monstars Inc. and Resonair shows that it’s possible to wring a few surprises from the classic game while respecting its primordial core. Tapping into their mastery of melding flashy audiovisual presentations with interlinked gameplay, the team has created a breathtaking interpretation of Tetris that makes the game feel fresh.
In Tetris Effect’s showcase mode, Journey, you travel through a variety of vignettes while playing Tetris. The sound builds and morphs as you play, accompanied by dazzling visuals. A wintry theme might incorporate the rhythmic sounds of crunching snow as you set blocks in place, with jingling bells sounding with their rotations. You delve deeper into a space capsule while you clear lines, as snippets of transmissions play in sync with the thumping soundtrack and your positioning of the blocks. The tetronimos change with each level, too, though those are just cosmetic adjustments. Functionally, a block is a block, whether it’s made of shimmering bubbles or rotating cogs.
It’s hypnotic and wonderful, and a fantastic partner to the “in the zone” sensation that accompanies particularly good games of Tetris. I found myself instinctively rotating blocks in sync with the beat, and while it didn’t offer any benefits as far as scores went, it pulled me deeper into the game. The beats build and recedes like a great concert, culminating in a final level that is nothing short of magnificent. The visuals are amazing on traditional displays, but having your entire field of view enveloped by exploding particles and warping backdrops adds to the immersion – something I never thought I’d be concerned with in TetrThe biggest tweak to the overall formula in Journey is the time-stopping Zone mechanic, which gives you precious time to fix a few blunders or to finesse your way to even higher scores. One of my favorite things about Tetris is how you can extricate yourself from seemingly impossible situations; effective use of Zone makes those moments even more frequent. You have to earn it first, however, by clearing lines the old-fashioned way. Still, it’s a good thing to have in your back pocket for when you need it.
A variety of other options offer further twists on Tetris’ core. In Sprint, you try to clear 40 lines as quickly as possible. Marathon mode challenges you to eliminate 150 lines, which is easier said than done. In Purify, you have to clear dark blocks from the field by clearing lines around them. Mystery mode is one of my favorites even though it made me want to punch walls; random effects like bombs, reversed controls, and other nuisances crop up as you play a marathon session. Even though you’re ultimately just clearing lines in all of these modes, they’re a fun and rewarding way to mix things up when you hit a wall. While I’d argue it would largely be missing the point, you can turn down the visual effects and music and just play a great game of Tetris, too, with a variety of customization options such as how many blocks appear in the preview panes and how rotation works once a tetronimo lands.
The fundamentals may be recognizable, but Tetris Effect feels like something new rather than another reskin of the same old game. The presentation is such a natural fit for the gameplay, and it adds an unexpected layer of emotion. Monstars Inc. and Resonair should be commended for taking a calculated risk and delivering its own unique take on a gaming standard.
Not every game makes it as far as release. Even the biggest and most successful studios cancel projects when they aren’t shaping up. Those games may never see the light of day, but curious gamers can find footage of many abandoned titles online – and The Quiet Man reminds me of those videos. With a mishmash of awful storytelling and mechanics, this narrative-infused brawler plays like a failed proof-of-concept prototype. Even though it has technically released, The Quiet Man doesn’t feel finished; the entire experience is a series of cascading embarrassments that make you wonder how it escaped cancellation.
You play as Dane, a deaf man who beats up a bunch of people while chasing after a woman who gets kidnapped by a masked man. She looks like his mom for some reason, and also Dane’s friend and a cop are involved. I apologize for the vagueness in that description, but despite The Quiet Man’s attempt to be a narrative experience, it does basically nothing to convey its story.
For your first playthrough (which takes about three hours), the mixture of live-action and in-game cutscenes have no dialogue or subtitles. You’re left to watch these low-budget exchanges and wonder who the characters are, what they are doing, and how they are related to each other. This leaves you completely disengaged from what is happening. Imagine queuing up a few supplementary webisodes for a TV show you’ve never watched, then turning the volume off; that’s what to expect from The Quiet Man in terms of storytelling quality and production values.
One might argue that the lack of dialogue helps simulate Dane’s own experience with the events. However, people talk to Dane and he clearly understands what is being said to him; he smiles, frowns, and otherwise reacts in most scenes. That means everyone knows what’s happening except you, so the silence only serves to deny players insight. A second playthrough (which was patched in a week after release) adds in the missing dialogue, but here’s the problem: The disjointed, dreamlike tale you weave in your head is probably better than the real story, which is saturated with awful writing and laughably strained attempts at coolness. The Quiet Man is not worth playing even one time, and understanding its terrible narrative better certainly doesn’t make it worth playing two times.
When you aren’t spacing out during wordless exchanges, you’re participating in simple hand-to-hand combat. However, even basic brawling is beyond The Quiet Man’s capabilities. You can kick, punch, grab, and use takedowns, but how you attack is largely inconsequential. Enemies are stupid and lack variety, so you can just pound them with little thought or fear of reprisal. Battles are also short and predictable, so you don’t get a sensation of building up momentum. You usually just beat up a few bad guys – all of which are lazy stereotypes – before triggering the next cutscene or briefly walking through the lifeless environments.
Even worse, fights always have something that isn’t working correctly. Enemies warp to their positions during animations, phase through objects, or stand there waiting to get hit. The controls are sluggish and unresponsive, and the camera seems determined to periodically hide your opponents. While this all frustrated me at first, I gradually became resigned to the repetitive encounters and barely functional combat, and it’s hard to be frustrated when you don’t care.
The Quiet Man’s gameplay package is sloppy and boring, and its story is so bad that it needs to be buried in a second playthrough because it’s more tolerable when you don’t understand it. I want to call The Quiet Man a farce, but farces are funny. This game is just a conceptual catastrophe that does everything wrong and nothing interesting.
After Grand Theft Auto V came and went with no further story missions to enjoy outside of the main campaign, many have assumed Rockstar will take the same approach with Red Dead Redemption II and pour all its resources into the Red Dead Online service that starts later this month. Well, hold your horses just a sec.
When I interviewed Rockstar director of design Imran Sarwar last year, he didn’t rule out story DLC for future games, saying, “We would love to do more single-player add-ons for games in the future. As a company, we love single-player more than anything, and believe in it absolutely – for storytelling and a sense of immersion in a world, multiplayer games don’t rival single-player games.”
Given the zombie craze continues to shamble unimpeded through film, literature, television, and video games, another chapter of Undead Nightmare would likely be well received. But even after spending more than 100 hours in the world of Red Dead Redemption II, I want more narrative content set in this world without the convenient crutch of zombie fiction. Rockstar created one of its most memorable casts with this game, and I’d love to see the stories of a few of these characters play out further. Here are the personalities and subject matter we feel would be the most compelling centerpieces for more story content. Spoilers follow, so don’t read further until you’ve completed the epilogue.
Though he's not a mainstay at the camp like the other gang members, Trelawny is a slippery grifter who often supplies Dutch with valuable leads. His fashionable attire and silver tongue allow him to move in and out of several social circles, rubbing shoulders with the elite to find his next big con job. Playing an intellectual character who revels in deception rather than strongman tactics could be a refreshing change of pace, and I’d also love to see Rockstar explore more of relationships to the gypsies he holes up with during the game, giving the story a Peaky Blinders vibe.
Sadie’s transformation from a happy frontier settler to an uncompromising widowed bounty hunter is one of the most interesting character evolutions in a game full of them. Originally serving the camp in a support role underneath Pearson, when shit hits the fan during the Saint Denis bank robbery and much of the Van der Linde gang goes missing, she’s the one who pulls the remaining camp members together and gets them through the rough patch. When we leave Mrs. Adler during the epilogue, she sets off to continue her aspirations of hunting down wrongdoers. Joining her on these adventures and watching her continue to Dead Eye her way through glass ceilings in the process would be make for a compelling journey.
A recent recruit to the Van der Linde gang at the start of Red Dead Redemption II, Charles Smith is one of our favorite new faces in the game. Half Native American, half African American, Smith is a drifter who doesn’t feel at home in any part of society. His tracking skills are unparalleled, and his bravery is continually put on display in harrowing moments where the gang narrowly beats the odds. He’s also one hell of a fist fighter. When Smith says his goodbyes in the epilogue, he intends to head to Canada to create his own version of a quiet life. We’d love to ride shotgun on that journey as he powers through discrimination and finds his place in the world.
One of the most harrowing stories of Red Dead Redemption II is the decimation of the Downes family. Struggling with tuberculosis, Thomas Downes takes an ill-advised loan from Herr Strauss that ends up costing him his life and farm. This puts Edith in the desperate position of doing whatever it takes to provide for her son, Archie. Regretting his role in their dire circumstances, Arthur Morgan tries to raise them from their station with a cash gift, and leaves them with a parting line of wisdom – “Don’t get yourself killed for pride, I’ve seen it kill too many folk.” Assuming the role of Archie as the Downes family tries to rebuild could be an intriguing plotline to follow.
We’ve seen Rockstar explore the tumult of adolescence with the criminally underrated Bully. It would be interesting to see that keen eye turned to the orphaned lads running the streets of Saint Denis. These pickpockets are the eyes and ears of Angelo Bronte’s racket, informing the mafioso of the city’s happenings. Missions exploring that relationship could serve the crux of the gameplay, but it would also be interesting to explore the hardships of orphan life and the inadequate societal structure of the time that inevitably pushed these kids into a world of crime. Think season four of The Wire set in the Wild West.
We know Dutch is a bad man. His gift for persuasion allows him to continually recruit new soldiers to his side, but during desperate times all the philosophical principles he so readily spouts to followers are abandoned for the baser drive of self-preservation. We know that after the events of RDR II and the dissolution of the Van der Linde gang he eventually forms a new posse. Watching Dutch struggle with the demons of his past firsthand as the law barrels down on his position could add even more depth to one of the best portraits of villainy we’ve seen in video games.
The world of Red Dead Redemption II is filled with supernatural creatures and paranormal activities. Exploring the world, you can stumble upon ghosts, werewolves, witches, vampires and the voodoo cannibals known as the Night Folk. If Rockstar wanted to take a similar approach to story DLC as Undead Nightmare but mix it up, it could make these otherworldly factions rise to power and put players right in the middle of a supernatural showdown.
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