CD PROJEKT RED announced at the Xbox Games Showcase that Phantom Liberty, the upcoming spy-thriller expansion for their open-world action-adventure RPG Cyberpunk 2077, will be launching this coming September.

The announcement was accompanied by a brand new trailer featuring key story beats, characters, location, as well as new content coming with the expansion.

In Phantom Liberty, players once again take on the role of V, a cyberpunk for hire, as they embark on a mission to save the President of the New United States of America after her orbital shuttle is shot down over the deadliest district of Night City — Dogtown. What follows is a deep dive into an intricate story of espionage and political intrigue which connects the highest echelons of power with the brutal world of black-market mercenaries. The stakes are larger than life, but so is the reward — your very survival.

The full-fledged expansion to Cyberpunk 2077 features a hard-hitting spy-thriller adventure to embark on set in a brand new location. Over the course of the new story players will meet and work with new characters, including FIA sleeper agent Solomon Reed, played by Idris Elba.

Among the returning cast is Keanu Reeves, reprising his role as rebel-rockerboy Johnny Silverhand. The expansion also comes with a slew of new content, including new quests, gigs, and gig types; new vehicles, tech, cyberware, and weapons; a brand new Relic skill tree for even more freedom for crafting one’s own unique playstyle, and more.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is coming to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC (GOG, Steam, Epic Games Store) on September 26th 2023.

The post Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty – September 2023 appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Far from finishing the entire play through, but considering the current state of the game, I thought I’d write some words about my first thirty hours playing Cyberpunk 2077.

I’m playing CD Projekt RED’s futuristic follow-up to their Witcher games on what is, currently, the game’s ideal set-up. A top-of-the-range Intel Core i9 10600K CPU and a PNY Nvidia RTX 3090 GPU both slotted into a very overclockable ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming motherboard is about as good a gaming PC as you can get. It’s also exactly, it seems, what you need to get a decent experience with Cyberpunk 2077.

The game is based on a 1988 pen-and-paper RPG and set in the sprawling, dystopian metropolis of Night City. The future as depicted in Cyberpunk 2077 is bleak, violent, and decadent. Humans have embraced cybernetic implants as the norm – from simple augmentations to full body replacement.  What isn’t controlled by the various gangs and criminal organisations is controlled by self-serving corporations. Is a future that, if we don’t blow ourselves up first, likely awaits us.

To say that Cyberpunk 2077 is an ambitious project is an understatement. CD Projekt RED’s attention to detail with their critically-acclaimed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is well documented. That attention-to-detail paid off in dividends. The success of The Witcher 3 may have attributed to some of the hubris that has befallen the Polish developers this time.

2020 must be the worst year to consider releasing what has been hyped as a ground-breaking gaming endeavour. COVID-19 and cross-gen console support would have made getting everything right that much harder. Already delayed more than once, CD Projekt RED likely had no choice but to release a product that may fall short of expectations, for some.

The game is currently available in two flavours. The last-gen PS4 / Xbox One version and the PC version. It is reported that the game is performing poorly on console even as a backward-compatible title running on PlayStations 5 and Xbox Series X|S. With the free next-gen upgrade still to come, from the pictures I’ve seen, console owners are, at the moment, getting a raw deal.

On PC though, it’s another story.

In my thirty-odd hours playing the game, it’s had a few patches, and Nvidia has released two driver updates. This has not stopped me from coming across a few game-breaking bugs and plenty of minor ones. It’s clear that both Nvidia and CD Projekt RED are all over any problems with the game, but it’s also clear that it is very much a work-in-progress.

Still, it’s pretty bloody impressive. And, I’m confident enough to say that my PC experience is likely what PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X players will be experiencing once their dedicated platforms’ version is released.

As a PC gamer, the odd hiccup is to be expected with a new game. And the raw power of the gaming review Rig papers over any optimisation issues. Of course, console users are not used to this sort of thing. Nor are they used to the scaled performance of different equipment specs. I cross my fingers for PS4 and Xbox One players, especially those with the vanilla original versions of the consoles.

In Cyberpunk 2077 players take on the role of V, a bounty-hunter type that scores the job of their career. Players get to select V’s gender and physical attributes right down to the character’s imitate body parts.

As a result of a heist going pear-shaped, V ends up with a terminal condition with the personality of Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Silverhand sharing their head. Appearing as a vision that only V can see Silverhand aids and bickers with V on a path to sort out both their problems.

The game has an incredible six-hour prologue before the title rolls. That’s six hours before the game really reveals itself and opens up the amazing Night City to players.

The story is interesting, both the main mission path and the side missions. At times disturbing, it’s not only violent and graphic but also rather misogynistic. If you are sensitive to this sort of thing, and whilst it does suit the setting, you may want to stay away. Night City is a place with little in the way of morals. Cyberpunk 2077 is not a game for kids or the faint-hearted.

Night City is the star of the game.

I’d hazard that CD Projekt RED, in a similar way that Ubisoft did with the original Assassin’s Creed, spent a little too long building the world and not enough time refining it. The city is intricately detailed. Unlike many open-world games, it all seems hand-crafted and organic. It looks and feels like a real city.

I have an aversion to using unfamiliar public transport that makes me prefer to walk around new cities. Walking allows you to take in the little details that you miss from the window of a moving vehicle. Wandering around Night City felt the same. It’s a rich game environment, and likely where a lot of the, apparently, eight-years of development effort has been spent. If there’s one thing that is complete in Cyberpunk 2077 it’s Night City.

But it all goes a bit downhill from there.

The denizens of the city are a lot more plentiful on PC than those of the empty street I’ve seen in the console. They still can’t drive for toffee and are regularly caught doing weird actions. But there is a lot going on, it’s just a bit haphazard and, for a role-playing game, really breaks the immersion.

The missions range from exciting to mundane, not helped by predictable enemy A.I. and a bit dumb. Harder enemies tend to be bullet-sponges as opposed to more intelligent.

The game has an overwhelming number of systems and upgrades, but the actual gameplay makes 99% of these redundant. Micro-managing inventory and weapons are a chore left to those times when you seem to be a bit outgunned, the insta-boost from better armour and guns is usually able to get you out of the scrape.

Bugs and glitches aside, the game looks pretty amazing.

Whilst the character models are okay, the lighting, which I enjoyed via Nvidia’s RTX real-time raytracing, is astounding. The ray-traced reflections not only make the game look more realistic, it also helped me out. During one sequence, I saw an out-of-view attacker reflected in a window and was able to take them out before he got a shot in. It’s the future, today.

Gameplay-wise, there’s plenty to do, with missions dotted all across a game world that includes both the huge multi-levelled vertical Night City and the wastelands surround it. Players can walk, drive, or fast travel their way around the city. I’d recommend actually travelling from A-to-B as there are plenty of random encounters on route.

If you’ve ever wondered what the Game of the Year looks like nine-months before release, look no further. Cyberpunk 2077 sparkles with brilliance, mixed with more than a few loose ends that need tidying up. Much of the success of Cyberpunk 2077 relies on what CD Projekt RED is going to do next.

If the game is abandoned, as is, it will be forever held as an example of designer hubris and what happens when you bite off more than you can chew. If it is fixed, Cyberpunk 2077 could end up being the best game ever made.

The post Cyberpunk 2077 (PC) Review-in-Progress appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

CD PROJEKT RED, Studio Trigger , and Netflix announce an all new original anime series CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS set in the same universe as the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077. The series will premiere in 2022.

CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS tells a standalone, 10-episode story about a street kid trying to survive in a technology and body modification-obsessed city of the future. Having everything to lose, he chooses to stay alive by becoming an edgerunner – a mercenary outlaw also known as a cyberpunk.

CD PROJEKT RED, the company behind the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, is producing the series , with a creative team formed of talent from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Cyberpunk 2077. The team at CD PROJEKT RED has been working on this new series since 2018.

Acclaimed Japan-based animation company, Studio Trigger, will serve as the animation studio on the series and bring the world of Cyberpunk to life with their signature, vibrant style. Hiroyuki Imaishi ( Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Promare ) will direct the series along with assistant director Masahiko Otsuka ( Gurren Lagann, Promare ), creative director Hiromi Wakabayashi ( Kill la Kill ), character designers Yoh Yoshinari ( LittleWitch Academia , BNA: Brand New Animal ) and Yuto Kaneko ( Little Witch Academia ), and the adapted screenplay by Yoshiki Usa (S SSS.GRIDMAN, Promare ) and Masahiko Otsuka ( Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Promare ).

The original score will be composed by Akira Yamaoka ( Silent Hill series).

“We are so excited to finally reveal that we are working on an anime in the Cyberpunk world,” said Adam Badowski , Cyberpunk 2077 Game Director and CD PROJEKT RED Head of Studio. “We’ve devoured just about all the cyberpunk fiction there is to watch, read, and play; it’s a genre that leaves so much room for creativity, and has had such a strong influence on us. CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS is our love letter to cyberpunk as a whole, and to stories told in animated form.”

“We at TRIGGER are thrilled to work with CD PROJEKT RED to create a brand-new story set in the world of the highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077. It’s a huge challenge to adapt this universe into an anime, but we are eager to face it head-on,” said Masahiko Otsuka , CEO, Studio TRIGGER. Director Hiroyuki Imaishi adds, “I’ve always loved cyberpunk as a genre, but always found it difficult to create as an original work. This is why I’m very excited to be working with CD PROJEKT RED on this project. It won’t be easy to please both game and anime fans, but I love a challenge, and I’m looking forward to the production. We’ll do our best to meet and exceed expectations.”

You can watch the CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS announcement video above.

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CD PROJEKT RED has released the latest trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 , their upcoming open-world, action-adventure RPG.

The trailer (above) features new footage showcasing the world, characters, story, and action of Cyberpunk 2077.

It gives players a fresh look into the dark future setting that is Night City and the beginnings of the mercenary career of V, the ambitious, cyber-enhanced outlaw players will be stepping into the shoes of later this year.

Cyberpunk 2077 will release November 19th, 2020, for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with the version for Google Stadia set to launch the same year.

The game will also be playable on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles when available. At a later date, a free

upgrade to Cyberpunk 2077 , taking full advantage of next-gen hardware, will become available for owners of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions respectively.

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In collaboration with Microsoft and CD PROJEKT RED, Seagate today announced the latest addition to its popular line of storage for gamers – Game Drive for Xbox Cyberpunk 2077 Special Edition.

With the 2 TB Game Drive, users can extend the storage capacity of their Xbox One console by balancing their gaming workload between console and external HDD. Fashioned with an enclosure inspired by the Cyberpunk aesthetic, the collectible, special edition Game Drive has a sleek, light, and portable design giving gamers the option to play in style and on-the-go.

Set up is a snap, as the game drive is instantly recognised by the Xbox One console and easily installed through Xbox OS. It is compatible with the full family of Xbox One devices, does not need a separate power cord and can store more than 501 downloaded games plus downloadable add-ons and achievements for continued gameplay on Xbox One, Xbox One S, or Xbox One X consoles.

Game Drive for Xbox Cyberpunk 2077 Special Edition from Seagate is officially available from today in Australia exclusively via eBay.  In New Zealand, Game Drive for Xbox Cyberpunk 2077 Special Edition from Seagate with an is officially available at Mighty Ape and PB Tech.

As with all of Seagate’s Special Edition Game Drives, this collectible will be available in limited quantities. The only officially licensed Cyberpunk 2077 hard drive for Xbox One is available for presale today.

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An epic cyber punk film feast that was twenty years in the making.

Alita: Battle Angel takes an action filled romp through a dystopian-like future Earth in the year 2563 where humans had not only managed to partially destroy their existence after an event known as ‘The Fall’ but had also outdone themselves in cyborg and A.I. advancements.

A former human doctor; Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) happens to come upon the remains of a synthetic human while looking for scrap parts which for all purposes looks as though is beyond repair. But, the destroyed unit still has life sparkling in her very human brain.

Dyson takes her home and fits her with a new body, that he had previously designed and built for his daughter, it is here that we meet Alita(played by Rosa Salazar).

A teenage synthetic goes about re-discovering herself with no memory of her past.

The doctor, now more in tune with fixing or adding cyborg enhancements to humans, cares for Alita like a daughter and tries to protect her.

His estranged wife Chiren (Jennifer Connelly) also finds out about Alita and instantly recognises not only the bond that Dyson has formed but the body that Alita is fitted with.

Chiren split from him shortly after the death of their daughter and teams up with Vector (Mahershala Ali) a kingpin, of sorts, who controls the Motorball Combat – a brutal cyborg sport.

But, Vector is not all that he seems. He is a puppet for a higher power known as Nova (Edward Norton).

Nova resides in the floating city called Zalem a city where those on the ground dream of living in – but the only way you can get there is to be born there, or maybe earning favour with the elite…

Alita: Battle Angel’s narrative follows a tried and true path. Based on a manga series by Yukito Kishiro (called Gunnm), we are taken through a story of a teenage girl who becomes rebellious, falls in love with a boy called Hugo (Keean Johnson), faces tragedy and like a hidden instinct that she tunes in to, becomes totally kick-ass.

Her former purpose, a mostly forgotten yet legendary martial arts combat called ‘PanzerKunst’, starts to come back.

The Doc is also a bit more than he appears aswell. In this city where it’s all about hustling and survival there are Hunter-Warriors. They scour the streets looking for their mark. When they find them it usually means death.

What ensues throughout the film is intertwining of many character storylines with an overarching and fair to say, cliché plot of revenge and justification.

Alita: Battle Angel is a standout film for its effects. Although we are more sanitized to the dazzlement of CGI these days, Alita: Battle Angel ramps this up a thousand fold. Alita looks almost human – to the point where you know she isn’t… but almost, almost is. Very well done Weta.

I very much liked the film – it was a totally superb ride, but it is perhaps a watch once and then wait for the sequel.

The post Alita: Battle Angel (20th Century Fox) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

One last job… but wil the Death of the Outsider also be the death of Billie Lurk?

Taking steed from other epic video game franchises, Dishonored has proved that it wasn’t a one off, flash in the pan and has released it’s third iteration focusing on a narrative of a previous NPC.

Retaining the same signature stealth cyber-punk aesthetic and gameplay, players take control of former Assassin Billie Lurk.

She is on the quest to find her mentor and take down ‘The Outsider’.

As with the prior Dishonored’s the game carves itself out in first person and relies heavily on your ability (and patience) to take the stealth route to get through what is a rather expansive title.

Some have purported that Death of the Outsider was a mere add-on, a singularly playable DLC. It’s not – this is a full game and then some.

The story follows on directly from Dishonored 2. As the reinstated Empress begins to salvage the remains of her Empire, the game starts out with Lurk waking up from a reoccurring nightmare aboard her ship, the Dreadful Whale.

She needs to find Daud, her mentor, and this leads her to a Boxing Club on the mainland. But the Boxing Club is overrun by a cult known as the Eyeless.

Finding Daud imprisoned in a device that prohibits him using his Void powers, so your first task is set to him free. Once freed Daud enlists you to assist in a quest to take down the Outsider, hence the games’ name.

From the onset, Death of an Outsider will test your gameplay skills with the difficulty level (at times) ramped up by 200%.

New gadgets are on offer, such as the Hook Mine and Lurk is also equipped with supernatural abilities. These are not given out to you straight away and are unlocked as you proceed and cost Energy to use them. And then there’s ‘Semblance’… use an NPC likeness to get through tricky bits.

During the course of the narrative, you are visited by the Outsider who adds an additional ability with an artefact. If you have played the previous games you may remember that Lurk lost her right eye and it was replaced with a cyber prosthetic. The Outsider enhances this with a relic which enables the ‘Silver of the Eye’. Going forward through the gameplay from this point – this is a crucial ability.

But that’s not the only ‘gift’ that the Outsider bestows. Your arm is replaced by a robotic enhancement and he also gives you a very cryptic message.

Is the Outsider actually an enemy? Or should Daud have remained imprisoned and is he just using Lurk to take someone down?

Asides from the main story there are many Contracts to be taken on via the Black Market. Some are very much like side missions and others play in to the games’ narrative.

An excellent chapter in the Dishonored franchise does not leave fans of the series such as myself disappointed and for new comers, they wont feel too left out as there is a bit of dialogue at the beginning of Death of an Outsider which relays the history of Lurk and what’s occurred in past titles.

Dishonored: Death of an Outsider is a definite for those that played Dishonored and Dishonored 2. If you haven’t taken on the first person stealth saga yet and want to to get into the thick of it, this is the one for you.

The post Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (PlayStation 4) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

When Blade Runner was released in 1982, the Cyber Punk genre first flickered into mainstream consciousness. Contrasting high technology with low quality of life, techno-dystopia has provided fertile ground for storytelling ever since.

Now from Polish developers Bloober Team, we have Observer, a worthy and ambitious successor to the Blade Runner legacy. Set in 2084 (100 years after another conspicuous influence), you play as the titular Observer, Daniel Lazarski, a new form of police-officer in what remains of society.

A plague has wiped out much of humanity, while the war which followed has eliminated the global super powers, leaving a vast corporation ‘Chiron’ to fill the void of government. The inspirations of Observer are obvious, but it quickly moves the narrative into new territory and does so while setting a new standard for writing in sci-fi.

Functionally the game is mostly puzzle solving through environmental interaction, using different vision modes to scan for biological and electronic clues. The core gameplay hook, and where Observer truly shines, is Lazarski’s ‘Dream Eater’ augmentation. This device allows you to enter the minds of your suspects and experience a hellish vision of their subconscious.

In gameplay terms, the dream eater allows for almost unlimited creativity in level design, with large portions of the game taking part inside the minds of other characters, as you experience twisted representations of their memories and thoughts.

The dream sequences are, while at times terrifying, always engaging. I would recommend playing the game with headphones in, as the soundwork is excellent. From the hum of fluorescent lighting and the creak of floorboards, to the scream of spectral nightmares, every sound is well crafted and atmospheric.

While not a triple AAA title, the game stands up graphically, with each environment rich in detail, making each scene uniquely immersive as you comb for clues. The control scheme is also enjoyably tactile, giving the player control over how much force they apply to game objects through use of the analogue stick, meaning a door can be flung wide or inched open during a tense encounter.

Voiced by Blade Runner’s Rutger Hauer, Lazarski is the central focus of the game and his scripting in impeccable. Hauer brings a weary, cold competence to the character, evoking enough of his most famous role to add gravitas without being derivative.

The quality of the script isn’t restricted to the central cast, even the most minor side characters are fleshed out with natural dialogue which constantly deepens the game world. Even if it’s a passing conversation held through a door with an unseen citizen, the writing feels genuine. Unlike many games, there is no stark divide between the quality of writing for the NPC on the street and the central characters, making the story much stronger.

Each element, from lighting, to score, to script layer together in creating a cohesive tone which is quickly established and consistent through the whole playthrough. While the relentless darkness as Lazarski toils through the muck of society may be oppressive to some players, the surreal wonder of dream eating coupled with an unfolding mystery kept me pushing through the broken streets and neon nightmares.

There aren’t many games that have tackled the thematic ground found in Observer, and I would argue none have done it with the same level of creativity. This is a game that wears its inspirations on its sleeve, but never just follows in their footsteps, instead telling a unique story which is equal parts spectacular and frightening.

The post Observer (PlayStation 4) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

While at PAX Australia 2015 in Melbourne we were fortunate to get some question time with Mary DeMarle, the lead writer on Eidos Montreal’s upcoming game, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. We discussed some of the story and new things we can look forward to early next year.

Grant: First up can you introduce yourself and explain to us what your involvement is with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided?

Mary DeMarle: I’m the Executive Narrative Director on the Deus Ex franchise. Basically that means I was the lead writer and the head of the narrative development for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. On Mankind Divided I’m doing the same thing.

Jude: Can you tell us a bit about the story in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided?

Mary DeMarle: The story takes place two years after Human Revolution ended and the world has changed in that time. (Spoiler Alert) The mechanically augmented people at the end of Human Revolution were forced into psychotic fits which led to alot of death and destruction. The world is reeling from the aftermath and have turned against the augmented. The divide has become huge and mechanically augmented people are very much feared. They are being shoved into augmented ghettos and separated from society as their rights are being stripped away.

This environment has bred a lot of chaos and with it many acts of terrorism. Adam Jensen comes back into the story having left Sarif Industries and has now joined with newly formed division of Interpol known as Task Force 29. Their job is to fight this rising tide of terrorism that is happening in the world.

Jensen is in there to stop the chaos and investigate the terrorism but he has a secret double agenda. At the end of Human Revolution he became aware that there were people operating in the shadows, manipulating society and they are the real source of a lot of the problems. Adam has decided they need to be stopped.

He has teamed up with a group of hacker activists known as the Juggernaut Collectives in order to get to the truth, find the illuminati and take the fight to them. He is working in the task force to both stop terrorism and discover the source of it all.

Grant: Can you tell us about some of the themes you are trying to explore in the game?

Mary DeMarle: The Deus Ex franchise is always looking at the idea of transhumanism, what happens when mankind has technology and biology combining and where it is going to take us. That leads to a deeper question of ‘what does it mean to be human?’ We are always looking at that kind of idea. With each story we are pegging it from a different direction. In Human Revolution it was ‘why do we do the things that we do?’ In Mankind Divided we are looking at how human beings react to these chaotic events. Are you ruled by reason or emotion?

Within the chaotic environment comes the rise of opportunists; ‘How do we take advantage of things?’ ‘Should we take advantage of things?’ It all basically comes down to, as human beings, what are we really ruled by reason, emotion or something else?

Jude: Can you tell us a bit about the choices in the game and what impact they have?

Mary DeMarle: The game has always been about choice and consequence. When we did it in Human Revolution a lot of the choices played out on a gameplay level but they didn’t really affect the story that much. This time round we really wanted to change that, we wanted to push the envelope as much as we could. Right from the get go, we asked ourselves; ‘If by presenting story choices can we change the narrative?’ ‘Can we have a different experience?’

How you deal with characters early on may shut down a path. You might be over and done with that character but depending on the choices you have made, the character might come back and have an actual effect on your critical path story later on.

Midway through the game we present you with choices that you can only do one or the other, you cannot do both. As a result, your story will change and when you get to the end of the game, there is no four button ending. How you get to that ending, what you have at your disposal and the choices you made all along are changing your experience

Side missions can also affect the story, they can be quite short if you want them to be but if you explore them you can discover a lot more. This means side missions can become a lot bigger and can come back and impact the main story.

Grant: What are some of the real world inspirations that have gone into creating the game?

Mary DeMarle: That is a hard question to answer as there is a lot, but we definitely try to hold up a mirror to the world with it and see where we go. With this one you could say that since we are dealing a lot with terrorism we are looking at things like the military-industrial complex, militarization of police and how people that are there to protect and serve, but they are so separate from us, they are not [serving and protecting].

We can look at things that are happening in the US, with Ferguson and all that, with a lot of the rioting against police. You can even look at things like the war in Syria and the refugees. There is a lot of different little things as we are building the story that we can touch upon. I wouldn’t say there is any one big thing for inspiration.

Grant: What are some of the big improvements gamers can expect to see in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided?

Mary DeMarle: We have put a lot of effort into making the combat a lot more visceral and fun to play. We have also introduced quite a few new augmentations that enable you to really feel powerful weather you are playing stealth or combat.

For instance we have new things such as the Titan Shield which is an augmentation that creates this dark black triangular body armour around Jensen that absorbs a lot of heavy damage so he can be a bit of a human tank. There is also a gun arm augmentation where one of his arms is serves a lot more as gun. One example would be the Nano blade he has always had which now can be shot like a crossbow. You can also charge it before you shoot to cause an explosion.

We are also trying to have a better balance with non-lethal augmentation, for instance the Typhoon is still there, it turns Jensen into a human grenade but there is another Typhoon version that is now non-lethal, so players can access a really cool but non-lethal augmentation and not kill people. The P.E.P.S. gun arm is another non-lethal one where you can hit people with a concussive blast.

We have also fine-tuned the gameplay a bit, for instance the take-downs are back, both lethal and non-lethal. These can now be performed from cover and won’t break your cover whereas in Human Revolution these would take you out of cover which made playing stealth very difficult.

So there are lot of improvements as mentioned a lot more that I’m not going to mention.

Jude: Finally, can you summarize Deus Ex: Mankind Divided in couple of sentences?

Mary DeMarle: It’s a near future story that is set in dystopic cyberpunk world and an action RPG that is based on five pillars of gameplay: combat, stealth, hacking, social and exploration. It really is our attempt to build a universe you can really lose yourself in. Everything in the universe is cohesive if we have done the job right.

Eidos’ Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is due for release on the 23rd of August 2016 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The post Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Developer Interview appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Well here we are again with another ‘Definitive Edition’.

I would say I have about had it, but that would be a lie as I am ecstatic that Bethesda took it upon themselves to re-release this little gem as Dishonored: Definitive Edition. I first played Dishonored and painfully finished it with somehow accidently killing two individuals, some of you may understand the pain to that but here I am and here it is.

I am more than happy to replay this stealth action-adventure game. It incorporates your typical stealth but also introduces supernatural elements to make a stealth game of different variety. If you are not familiar with it I’d recommend that you should be.

You are Corvo, an esteemed body guard to the royal family who has been framed for the murder of the empress and left on death row. There are a group of underground rebels who believe Corvo’s skills and abilities can be used to help the failing city of Dunwall and so orchestrate a timely escape. You are set on the path to both revenge and redemption. So it all starts off pretty dire.

The city of Dunwall is a bleak and broken thing with the plague running rampant across the region. Death and disease is around every corner.

In these extreme times extreme measures are being taken to keep the sick at bay and prevent further spreading of the Black Death. Corvo is tasked with navigating this crumbling empire to take on various missions and execute strategic assassinations to help restore order and bring the corrupt authorities down.

The universe has a steam punk vibe and maintains plenty of dark undertones. I found I thoroughly enjoyed the dank and murky atmosphere of the game. The visuals generally uphold this well. The graphics aren’t as great as they could be but the art style makes it forgivable.

Overall however with various mechanized and supernatural elements made it a visually interesting display.

While the overall tone of the game is sinister in nature there is some aspect left to the player as to how treacherous the city may become. You can tip the balance and bring further death and mayhem to Dunwall or you can be merciful and offer hope in dreadful times.

You are free to both kill and not kill as you see fit. Although not killing is more of a task it can also be a good challenge. In my first play through I most certainly enjoyed the challenge of not killing everyone but this play through I found myself enjoying lethally taking care of those in my way. The dark side is always more fun, and much easier I would say.

There are some mechanics that make the less lethal option a bit harder as even after taking the ‘good’ option dumping the unconscious body makes life a bit harder as dropping the body from a height or accidently dumping them in too bigger puddle can still kill them after the fact. So it’s a tricky business.

Though playing through as a bloodthirsty ghost is easier and even promoted by the game, it does have its price. The game takes into account those you have killed and as you progress it all just gets a bit grimmer. There are more infected citizens and increased swarms of dangerous rats and ultimately it will also affect the ending.

Corvo is somehow chosen by some mystical dude to be given supernatural powers. These powers turned what might have been a regular stealth game into something a lot more enjoyable.

The powers on offer also cater well for someone on a darker path. One power lets you send a swarm of rats on your enemy and literally eats them to death. Gruesomely awesome.

The best power and most useful power is, of course, your Blink ability which allows to navigate the world on offer with a high amount of maneuverability. You select where you would like to be and in the blink of an eye you almost teleport over to the chosen spot. This can take you any direction, and helps drastically when taking a more vertical approach.

The Levels are open and allow a good deal of exploration. They can be explored and navigated as you like.

This allows for several options as how to move on and accomplish the next objective. One instance, I could have destroyed a force field and strode through the gate but instead I simply got high enough to go over the gate and ignore any guards in the way, though that didn’t stop me killing them afterwards in style.

The Levels include a decent amount of hidden areas and secrets that are always worth the reward. Items and ammo can be scarce and so rationing does need to be taken into account when implementing a specific strategy, be it death to all or the lighter handed approach.

Some areas are recycled but the environments vary well-enough, from elaborate mansions to dark dingy sewers all of which manage to keep it engaging.

Music and sound all played along nicely with grim tones of the game and always made tense moments more so with a well-chosen piece of music.

There are a few optional missions available along the way which provide more reason to explore your surroundings and usually add to the dark tone of the world portrayed. I did enjoy the side missions and always found myself seeking them out to accomplish

The new Definitive Edition also contains all the DLC available for the game. There are three DLC packs.

The first, Dunwall City Trials, is a series of challenges which include new stealth missions and other mini challenges proving your skills in different ways with weapons and abilities. These offered some new and enjoyable challenges in the game. Though they did not contribute to any kind of story I found them to be fun.

The other two DLC packs have you play as a shady assassin, Daud, the very one that murdered the empress and unlock his own dark story. It plays parallel to the events of the main story and adds an interesting twist to events. Daud also has his own array of abilities and weapons, albeit slightly modified from Corvo’s, it does offer a slightly different experience.

Dishonored: Definitive Edition is an excellent opportunity to play this great but gloomy game. It accommodates a few different play styles and allows players to more options as to how they want to do things.

It is pretty in that it portrays the murkiness and grim time well. Not every visual is tip top but overall it’s a dark and intriguing experience.

If you’re merciful or bloodthirsty Dishonored: Definitive Edition provides adequate abilities to accomplish either. So if you like a bit steam punk, bit stealth and bit of killing give this one a go.

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