Remothered: Tormented Fathers Makes the Switch (A More Frightening Place)

Posted on July 2, 2019 by geelw

No weapons here, just lots of staying alive by your wits… or else. Oh, and the story’s killer, too.

The story unwinds around Rosemary Reed, a determined 35 year-old woman who arrives at the dilapidated Felton house to investigate on the disappearance of a little girl some years before. When the hosts realize the woman’s true intentions, a terrifying ordeal begins.

Thanks to a ridiculously large backlog, I finally got around to buying and playing a chunk of Darril Arts and Stormind Games’ quite intense Remothered: Tormented Fathers on the PS4 and yes indeed, it’s quite the scary slice of horror game genre fans need to play. Fortunately, Nintendo Switch owners will be finally getting the chance to dive into this modern classic thanks to collaboration with the Japanese publisher DICO Co. Ltd. Comparisons to the now defunct Human Entertainment’s brilliantly executed (heh) albeit dated-looking Clock Tower are interesting and inevitable, although, I’d say creator Chris Darril’s influences also include Italian horror flicks of the 70’s, a weapon-less Alone in the Dark and a few other things.

As with other Unreal Engine Switch ports, it’ll be really interesting to see how it turns out in terms of performance and visual fidelity when stacked up to the other console and PC versions. It’ll definitely be scary as hell as a game experience, so it’s got that going for it right out of the gate.

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That’s the release date, folks. Have your time carved out and play this in the dark with some decent headphones for maximum results.

Additionally, fans of the first game will want to keep an eye on the prequel/sequel, Remothered: Going Porcelain, which is currently set for a 2020 release on PC and consoles. So much fear… so little time, right?

-GW

Professor Lupo and his Horrible Pets Trailer: Ticks, and Flees

Posted on July 2, 2019 by geelw

Well, this sure looks like a ton of fuzzy/scaly/puzzle-y fun. Indie developer BeautiFun Games’ upcoming Professor Lupo and his Terrible Pets is set to land on Nintendo Switch and Steam July 11. There’s a free demo on both the eShop and Steam to try out and even better for Switch owners. pre-orders for that version are currently 15% off until the game’s release date. Here’s a trailer to ogle and maybe pet (be gentle!):

As the Professor’s personal Intern, players are set to deal with the ferocity of his collection of so-called horrible pets: deceiving alien creatures with a double nature, looking adorable while unbothered, but turning into hungry monsters when they sense their prey. When a series of catastrophes cause them to run amok across the Aurora Space Station, it’s every Intern for themselves.

Professor Lupo and his Horrible Pets is an adventure game with 100 levels that delivers clever puzzle gameplay mechanics, a heavy dose of humor in a suspenseful plot, and original art with traditional 2D animations. Embracing the Nintendo Switch philosophy, the game supports every configuration the console provides, including portable, tabletop and TV modes. Players can use the Joy-Cons, gamepads, and touch screen to play through the story however and wherever they want. On Steam, players can choose between point and click mode, keyboard controls or the Steam controller, which the game is fully compatible with.

Sounds like a plan for puzzle fans, I’d say. Since I happen to be one, I’ll take that review code I got for a spin and report back if my character survives the experience. That space rabies is no joke, I hear.

Back in a bit.

Blow Up Your Monday With A Rolling Gunner Switch Code (US eShop)

Posted on July 1, 2019 by geelw

How’s your Monday going? It might get better by Tuesday, if you’re lucky.

Thanks to the fine folks at mebius. and Mastiff Games, I have *ONE* (1) code here for their spectacular arcade shooter Rolling Gunner for the US Switch. It’s a great game, by the way.

Now, while a few of you out there are very likely to want to do something kooky to get it, you actually don’t have to. Put down that fish bowl, duct tape, and roll of heavy duty aluminum foil you were going to use to craft that makeshift space pilot uniform and just reply to this post in the comments below. One entry per person, of course. No need for lengthy or creative responses and nope, don’t go posting your email address (I’ll know how to find you, fear not.)

I’m picking the winner RANDOMLY from the entries received by 1pm on Tuesday, so don’t dally. Yeah, it’s an old school giveaway just to let non-twitter users have a shot, but this post will auto-load to my twitter account anyway, so yep, readers there can try for a win if they read this post.

Anyway, good luck!

Oh, here’s some fine print below if you need to read how this works:

Open to residents of North America with an active Nintendo eShop account. Void where prohibited. Contest ends 7/2/2019 at 12:59 pm EST. There is no entry fee, subscription requirement or purchase necessary to enter. Winner will be chosen at random. Winner will receive ONE code via email. Requests for multiple codes via multiple accounts are grounds for disqualification. By submitting a comment below, you are granting Destroy All Fanboys! permission to contact you via email. The winner will be notified by email within 3 days (or less, most likely). If the winner cannot be contacted/does not claim the prize within seven (7) days of notification, we reserve the right to withdraw the prize and choose a replacement winner.

-GW

Review: Rolling Gunner (Switch)

Posted on June 24, 2019 by geelw

Holy hell, mebius.’ Rolling Gunner ($19.99, buy it!) is completely NUTS, but in the best possible manner. Its very high level of accessibility and four difficulty modes mean you don’t even need to love or be somewhat decent at arcade shooters in order to get the most enjoyment from it.

In fact, the game is programmed to teach you how to play and as a friend who popped by to borrow some movies who also ended watching me play noted, “It’s really hypnotic to watch all that craziness!”, which had me cracking up as I completed the game (on Novice mode with a somewhat low 17,419,459 points) and restarted it as I handed him a controller and let him have a crack at the Training mode. Let’s just say he rather liked the chaos even that short stages offered, but he doesn’t yet own a Switch. Which is okay for now (his kid wants one for his birthday coming up in July, though, so I’m compiling a list of games for his dad).

Anyway, there’s a story here about a big corporation discovering a new element at the bottom of the sea, that element used to create a few initially helpful items and as usual, those items being used for some not so helpful things. Yadda, yadda, yadda, it’s now March 18, 2061 and you’re tasked with rolling out in one of three trusty STORK class warships to destroy the enemy fortress and a few thousand enemy ships, tanks and other robotic doom-throwers along the way. The game of course, notes the following in its helpful digital manual: “This story is fictional. The people, groups, and names that appear are fictional, and have no basis in reality.”

Continue reading →

Review: Riverbond (PS4)

Posted on June 20, 2019 by geelw

In this era of big deal brutal difficulty in games where progress is sometimes measured in thrown controllers, assorted creative swearing and online rage posts (among other negative things) Canadian developer Cocucumber’s simpler, pure fun to play Riverbond ($24.99) is a rare bird indeed. In solo mode, it’s barely mildly tough at times, but the average player should have little trouble getting through its eight nicely-sized maps without blowing a fuse. In co-op, up to four players can have at it in front of the TV and have a total blast beating up enemies and bosses while packed together on the couch or sitting more comfortably on some other furniture. There’s no online mode here, so the game’s old school feel demands you play old school as well.

Which, by the way is a great thing especially if you’re into family friendly entertainment and love super-colorful voxel graphics with a bit of environmental destruction tossed into the mix. Oh, and lots of character skins including eight from a few very cool mostly indie-made games. For all the bloodless hacking, slashing and shooting going on, the game just exudes a completely… nice vibe that’s too charming to pass up. I think there’s also a polite Canadian thing going on (well, all of the Canadians I know are pretty polite), but whatever it is, I do like it quite a lot.

Here’s the tutorial, by the way:

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Riverbond: A Little Big E3 Surprise For You

Posted on June 9, 2019 by geelw

Brand new games dropping as surprise releases during E3 isn’t anything new, but Cococucumber’s immediately charming Riverbond ($24.99, PS4/PC/Xbox One – OUT NOW!) made me smile a lot and post that trailer on Twitter with the words CUTE. and WANT because it just jumped right out and bit me on the knee with what looks like a really fun dungeon crawler with nifty voxel-based visuals, destuctible environments, and what sounds like a killer soundtrack. Oh, and it has Raz from Psychonauts and Psychonauts 2 in it as a character skin (along with a few other indie fan fave guest stars), so there’s that to consider. Guess who’s not at E3 this year (but still has a busy week ahead) and would just love to get his paws on this game? No, not that person over there (Hwy, put your hand down, pal!). ME.

Well a request has been put in and we shall see what happens. This sure looks like a ton of fun, right? Back in a bit – Yeah, yeah, there’s a LOT of news coming out of LA about cool games, but I’m rolling stuff out as I see fit because my stress level is already bubbling up about other (non-game) things.

-GW

Funded, Plus: R-Type Final 2 Hits Its Target

Posted on June 6, 2019 by geelw

There’s certainly a boom in things going BOOM, as the arcade shooter market has made quite a comeback over the years. In reality, it really never went away as plenty of smaller indie developed and fan-made games can be found as digital and physical retail titles with a little bit of online legwork. That said, R-Type holds its legendary status to this day simply because it’s pure brilliance from start to finish. Granzella’s strategy for a super-short Kickstarter for R-Type 2 Final has paid off big time with as of this writing, some 543K has been pledged to bring this final Final to life and with under four days ti go, you could say the sky’s the limit if that funding hits some of the stretch goals noted on the Kickstarter page.

Personally, I’m hoping the game gets up to that goal where Granzella can recreate levels from previous R-Type games just so this stage from R-Type Final gets redone in glorious HD. Hell, drop a bag of money on my head (ow) and I’ll throw it at Granzella just for this stage alone.

-GW

Review: Golem Gates (PS4)

Posted on June 5, 2019 by geelw

Riffing with Glyph-ing: choose your cards wisely, or else suffer the fate of the unprepared.

Laser Guided games mostly excellent Golem Gates ($24.99) made me wish attract screens were still a thing in modern games. While it’s a solid and enjoyable take on the Real-Time Strategy (RTS), card collection and MOBA genres and translates well enough from its keyboard and mouse-centric PC origins to a game controller, it’s also the sort of game where a rolling demonstration mode would just be a cool thing to have happen when the game is booted up if only to get a few more people on the fence about it wanting to give it a shot. If you’re super-old school and need a sort of reference point, imagine Herzog Zwei, StarCraft and DoTA having a baby and getting it onto PC and now, consoles and you’ve got an idea od what to expect.

Granted, if you’re buying this game for yourself, you know exactly what you’re getting into and likely don’t need any persuasion. Conversely, if a friend drops over and is itching to know what the big deal is, you’ll just have to have them plop down on the couch or wherever and play as they watch, or pick up a controller and join the fun if they’re more than a little curious. Thankfully, other than the rather dry main screen that greets you along with Dalvan King’s stellar music, the gameplay hooks you right in if you’re a fan of this sort of play. Kicking off with a tutorial that explains the basics, your Harbinger uses cards (called Glyphs here) to summon up a small variety of troops and useful goodies to assist in dealing with assorted enemies as you attempt to take out the enemy Harbinger. In Campaign mode, that list of Glyphs gets larger as do the enemy types that need crushing, and yes, decks can be created and customized to your liking as new Glyphs appear.

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Gallery: Kings of Lorn – The Fall of Ebris

Posted on June 5, 2019 by geelw

Keep an eye on this one…

E3 isn’t for a few more days and while I won’t be attending this year, I’ve already found a game I’m dying to play. Wyoming-based TeamKill Media‘s “first-person dark-fantasy survival-horror” game Kings of Lorn – The Fall of Ebris is headed to PC. PS4, and Xbox One in September, and as soon as I saw those screenshots and more importantly, some gameplay footage and the E3 trailer, this jumped way up into Games to Watch status. If you’re ancient enough to recall FromSoftware’s classic King’s Field games, prepare to be floored as this new Kings will set your spines to shivering – take a look at a ton of screens and see for yourselves:

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Here’s the game’s E3 trailer in all its bleak Unreal-powered glory:

As far as gameplay goes, while this footage is from almost a year ago, if the final build sticks to some what’s here in terms of gameplay, there’s going to be a a nice level of accessibility that opens the game up to more players. That said, I’d also gather that difficulty will either be player chosen via options or something that allows for those with lower skill levels to at least hop in and learn the ropes early on and not fall prey to low level enemies turning them into kibble less than three minutes in.

As usual, we shall see how TeamKill tackles that important part of their game, but no matter which rouet they choose, this game looks depressingly grand and ambitions enough that I’ll be seeing it through to the very end. I’m absolutely not expecting a sunny finale at all, but a few shocks and surprises along the demons, dragons and other foes as the game progresses? Yeah, that’s going to make this a game that will get a prime spot in the play stack and a few replays while it’s there.

-GW

R-Type Final 2 Kickstarter: Welcome to the Buy-Do Empire!

Posted on June 3, 2019 by geelw

Well, It looks as if Granzella’s gambit is paying off so far. Only a day in and the R-Type Final 2 Kickstarter is over halfway to its initial target funding goal. That’s quite good news, folks. I’ll admit to being a tad skeptical about that seven-day time frame to put in a pledge, but I see that Granzella thought this through a bit and is relying on the most die-hard fans of the genre to pony up their pledges and get fellow shmup fanatics to hop on in and play in the same intergalactic pool.

Excellent. Yes, I’m going to pledge a few bucks myself before the campaign concludes. I just need to figure out what I can afford and what sort of extra I get for my pledge.

-GW