Yearly Archives: 2018
Golem Review: Hidden In Plain Sight
Golem often feels at odds with itself. This gorgeous puzzle-filled adventure successfully wraps you in a mystical world, where bright hues and cheerful melodies set the mood. But beneath this inviting exterior lie disjointed challenges that no amount of whimsy can sugarcoat. Even with smart mechanics that are introduced at a sensible pace, Golem's rhythm is regularly disturbed by jarring difficulty spikes and obtuse solutions.
A vague narrative tells of a lost civilization that once upon a time used magical stone creatures to build and maintain its structures. These beings, or golems, are practically extinct, save for one you're tasked to rebuild throughout ten puzzle-filled stages. Starting as a lifeless ball, the golem feels like a nuisance at first, which only serves to make its eventual evolution that much more gratifying.
As your golem is slowly pieced back together, new mechanics are introduced to allow for more complex puzzles. When it gains the ability to walk on its own, for example, you will have to accurately predict its movement while manipulating the environment to clear pathways at the right moments. Later, it evolves into a dog-like creature that you can command to move to specific locations, and will eventually grow strong enough to carry you across treacherous tracts of land that are otherwise impassable.
Golem's ten stages act as large puzzle rooms, each with the objective of going from one end to the other. This traversal is restricted by your golem's growing moveset, which puts the onus on you to chart an appropriate course. This can be as simple as moving a rock pillar to close a gap, or as complex as activating a series of switches to resuscitate an old, aging turbine that in turn spins up other nearby mechanisms. Regardless of the conceit, the goal remains the same but with shifting responsibilities. Your golem will sometimes, for example, need to be precisely placed to apply pressure to a switch, giving you access to a new area via a now moving railcar. In turn you might need to ensure that your ally has a clear path to the next hurdle. If you've gone one step too far without a clear solution in sight, backtracking and starting from scratch may be your only option.
Herein lies one of Golem's most frustrating aspects. Puzzles ought to require intricate solutions that make you second guess your instincts, and the best of them give you that "aha" moment, when you recognize that the blueprint to success was evident from the start--you just hadn't yet learned how to see a certain number of steps ahead. Golem instead obscures your view of many puzzle elements, forcing you to succeed through trial and error as opposed to relying on foresight and analysis. Golem also regularly fails to make some unique interactive objects standout from the background, which forces you to tediously move your mouse around the screen to determine what is or isn't useful. Basic switches and levers, on the other hand, are clearly marked; an inconsistency that makes it hard to trust that the game is always playing fair.
Moving about a stage isn't a fast or free-flowing affair, but instead a point-and-click style dictation. This systematic process and your character's slow movement speed is mercifully compensated for with the inclusion of a fast-forward button, which you’ll use frequently. And just like the indiscernible key items throughout each stage, walkable pathways are often indistinguishable from off-limits areas. The inconsistency of Golem's visual language leads to tiring efforts of just clicking on possible destinations in the hopes of finding one that's actually accessible.
Golem confuses size with ingenious puzzle design, which just dilutes the euphoria it aims to generate on completion. Yet it still conjures infrequent moments of bliss that re-establish a sense of wonder. Golem’s vast, mysterious world is ultimately inviting to poke and prod around in, even if its stringent mechanics don’t allow for looking further beyond the stage at hand. There’s an underlying drive to discover what this world is about, what secrets its lost inhabitants might have held, that prevent temptations to just leave it entirely. Golem’s puzzles might feel shallow, but its saving grace is the captivating setting it desperately latches them onto.
It's the fizzle at the end of the fuse that encompasses a disappointing journey into an otherwise visually captivating world. Golem attempts but fails to find harmony in bringing a vague tale together with any sort of emotional resonance. That might have been easier to forgive if the journey itself was exceptional. Instead Golem's inconsistent puzzles and jarring difficulty spikes will infuriate you more than they infatuate.
Netflix Renews 13 Reasons Why for Season 3
Netflix has renewed 13 Reasons Why for another season.
The streaming company shared a brief video on Twitter announcing 13 Reasons Why: Season 3 will premiere in 2019. However, not much else is currently known, including which cast members, if any, are returning.
#13ReasonsWhy has been renewed for a third season. All 13 episodes will premiere in 2019. pic.twitter.com/UPtOWyIvJq
— See What's Next (@seewhatsnext) June 6, 2018
Just Cause Dev Avalanche Studios Teasing New Game
The developer behind Just Cause 3 and Rage 2 is teasing a new unannounced game.
Avalanche Studios offered a glimpse of the game on Twitter, with a hashtag mentioning it's a new franchise. The off-screen image appears to show off a first-person shooter.
— Avalanche Studios (@AvalancheSweden) June 6, 2018
A lot has been happening with Avalanche recently. Last month, the developer opened a third studio in Sweden and was also acquired by Nordisk Film.
Tetris Effect Announced for PS4 and PSVR
Tetris Effect, a new game by Rez and Lumines creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, has been announced for PS4 and PSVR. It's due for release this Fall.
Named for the real-life effect in which Tetris players will visualise blocks and lines disappearing well after playing the game, the game will feature "fan-favourite" Tetris modes, like Marathon, Sprint, and Ultra. However, brand new modes will be announced before launch.
Here's an announcement trailer, with an explanation of the Tetris Effect:
The first new feature announced is 'The Zone', with which "players can stop time (and Tetriminos falling)
and either get out of a sticky situation that could otherwise lead to “Game Over,” or rack up extra line clears for bonus rewards."
Samuel L. Jackson Wanted Nick Fury in Black Panther
Nick Fury doesn't appear in Black Panther, but Samuel L. Jackson wanted him to show up.
On The Ellen DeGeneres Show (via EW), Jackson discussed how much he wanted his Marvel character to be Black Panther. "Can I just walk down the street in Wakanda so they know that I know it’s there? Because I know it’s there," Jackson said.
"I mean, Nick Fury knows every black thing that’s on the planet, so he’s gotta know about Wakanda."
That said, Jackson isn't upset about the decision. He mentioned that he's "really, really, really pleased with the success of that film." Though that's not keeping him from holding out hope Fury has a presence in Black Panther 2.
Star Wars Battlefront 2: Season 2 Solo Content Detailed
Young Han Solo is coming to Star Wars Battlefront II on June 12 as part of the ongoing Han Solo Season, EA and Lucasfilm announced today.
The likeness of Alden Ehrenreich, who plays Han in Solo: A Star Wars Story, is used for the character's two new skins, which come to Battlefront II alongside a handful of new content inspired by the most recent Star Wars film. This includes a map set on the planet Kessel, the return of the Extraction game mode, Lando’s Millennium Falcon, and new customization items.
The new map takes players into the coaxium mines on Kessel and will be available across five game modes: Arcade, Blast, Hero Showdown, Heroes vs Villains, and Extraction. Extraction, which makes its return after debuting in Star Wars Battlefront’s Outer Rim DLC, will be playable on both the Kessel and Jabba’s Palace maps.
Nier: Automata Hits 3 Million Sales Worldwide
The Japanese Nier: Automata Twitter account announced that the game has hit over 3 million physical game shipments and digital copies sold worldwide.
This comes just three months after the critically-acclaimed action RPG reached 2.5 million sales in March. Coincidentally, director Yoko Taro celebrated his 48th birthday today, which he shares with the boyish protagonist of Nier Replicant.
While Taro directed Nier: Automata, as he did its predecessors Nier Gestalt and Nier Replicant, development was handled by the Osaka-based PlatinumGames.
Fortnite Update File, Logo Spotted Uploaded to Nintendo eShop
Fortnite's logo and an update file for the game have been discovered on the Nintendo Switch eShop.
Twitter user SciresM uncovered the Fortnite details on the eShop — which, side note, was updated recently to enhance game discovery. Fortnite hasn't officially been announced for Switch, though there's been speculation it will be revealed for the hybrid console at E3 next week.
Tired: Revealing new games during an E3 presentation
Rainbow Six Siege: Pro League Skins On the Way
Ubisoft has announced a revenue sharing program for its Rainbow Six Pro League with the introduction of new themed in-game items.
The Pilot Program will launch alongside the League's Season 8, introducing paid charms and weapon skins representing both the Pro League itself and 11 "Pilot Teams". Revenue from these will be split between the teams and the Rainbow Six Invitational 2019 prize pool.
“For us, the Pilot Program is a way to reward the teams that are contributing to the League and help it grow,” said François-Xavier Dénièle, Ubisoft EMEA's Esports Director.
“For fans, we believe it is one of the most direct ways to show their support to specific teams and players. With this program, we are expanding on the Team Charm initiative we ran with different teams during last year’s Pro League seasons.”
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