Grim Dawn: Definitive Edition from Crate Entertainment is one mother of an RPG.

The once PC only hack’n’slash title is now out Xbox owners.

An evil spirit plague has befallen the citizens of Devil’s Crossing.

A small township struggling to survive against the hordes of monsters and undead that threaten its borders.

With the population dwindling due to folk becoming possessed by Aethereal Spirits or going missing your adventure starts out with your execution.

A stranger to this town and having been possessed yourself it’s only when the hangman’s noose pulls tight that the evil spirit flees your body.

Quested by the Captain of Devil’s Crossing, he enlists you to help to get to the source of the evil that has befallen mankind.

To start off with there’s eight classes to choose from; Arcanist, Demolitionist, Nightblade, Occultist, Shaman, Soldier, Necromancer and Inquisitor. Being the Definitive Edition means that the Xbox version includes all current DLC, the last two classes in this list originally being a part of an add-on.

With your class chosen you begin your quests. Aiding townsfolk with small to medium errands, trapsing the extremely expansive map as your missions take you further and further in to the depths of the fantastical world.

Each class has their own set of skills while you do upgrade via a skill tree once you have obtained another character Level, these skills are specific to your chosen class.

Not all skills are readily available. You will need to use your much sought after skill points to open up some of the additional skills in order to acquire them.

Then almost every skill has differing levels to them.

As well as these you also need to up your strength, might and magic (dependent on your character class).

There’s alot of goodies to be plundered (and I really do mean alot!) but if your agility levels aren’t high enough, you’re not going to be able to use the good stuff.

Grim Dawn for PC uses a point and click to play, this includes adventuring as well as within the Inventory and all game menu’s. In the Xbox port this has mostly been swapped out for button commands. there is still a pointer, and you’ll still need to use it – via control pad.

The game is initially very generous with it’s Level system, to begin with.

You’ll find yourself Levelling up real quick… until you get to around Level 5, then it’s the normal grind to get yourself mightier.

This is almost like a bum rush to get you deeper in to play, then the trainer wheels come off.

Played from an isometric view, Grim Dawn: Definitive Edition wins over the more known RPG’s of similar ilk by being played out in a massively expansive world filled with extreme detail.

It also gives you comparative stats on items you find before you pick them up.

To traverse quicker about the place you’ll need to find Rift Gates. These are few and far between but each area has at least one.

If you die you may lose items and experience points. Upon death you’ll resurrect at Devil’s Crossing. This is a sore point. Being that Rift Gates are so far apart you’ll lose alot of time getting back to the point that you perished at. I would’ve liked to see the option to resurrect at the point of death, even if it takes coin or there is a penalty to do so.

But, if you find the spot where you met your untimely demise and anything that you dropped, sometimes including experience points, are there waiting to be picked up again.

Not only is the Xbox port of Grim Dawn the Definitive Edition, I think it’s fair to say that Grim Dawn in itself is one hugely definitive RPG.

This summer down under if you’re not keen to bask in the endless sun rays, close the curtains, stay in and hack the hours away in one of the most rewarding RPG’s I’ve played.

The post Grim Dawn: Definitive Edition (Xbox Series X) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Larian Studios is excited to announce that the team behind the Metacritic Must-Play RPG Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition is working with Apple and Elverils on an Apple iPad port of the game.

The project was revealed as a key title driving demos in this year’s WWDC event.

In a video for developers about Xcode12 and Metal Apps released during WWDC 2020, Apple showcased the new iPad version of the BAFTA award-winning adventure from Larian Studios. The team is working on adding all-new touch screen controls and UIs as well as adding controller support. Though the port is a long way from release, Larian is excited to iterate together with some of the top minds in Apple and iPad development. Elverils helmed the already released MacOS version of Divinity: Original Sin 2.

Originally released to critical acclaim on PC, Divinity: Original Sin 2 was released for the Nintendo Switch last year, featuring cross save progression with Steam.

What’s shown in the WWDC video in terms of features on the menu are not 100% final, and the full list of features will be announced at a later date.

Join the battle for Divinity in a world that reacts to who you are, and what you do. Adventure as a flesh-eating Elf, or an imperial Lizard. Play as a mighty Dwarf, or lead your party as an Undead, risen from the grave!

Earlier in June, during this year’s Guerrilla Collective Showcase, the studio released the latest Gift Bag for the critically acclaimed RPG. The free DLC “The Four Relics of Rivellon” is the largest Gift Bag for the game so far, adding brand-new quest lines, stories and enemies.

Players will be able to set out on a new adventure, hunting for four armour sets that are scattered all over Rivellon, on quests that feature new voice recording and narration, as well as dastardly new fights, and the Undead Dragon boss. The reward for completing the new quests is four new armour sets imbued with magical properties.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition is also available on PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Information about the release date for Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition for iPad will be announced at a later date.

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Checking out remasters of older JRPGs can be hit and miss at times.  If you played them before then anything tidied up helps you relive your previous joy, whereas if you missed it some systems can wind up being too darn old.

The new Switch release of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition falls somewhere in between amazing and frustrating like you may expect from a 10 year old game.

The biggest reason to pick up this game, and the reason I played for so many dozens of hours, is the story.  The short synopsis of the early story is that the world was a giant sea, until two gods appeared and fought each other with massive swords.  One day they finally hit each other with the swords and the fighting stopped.  Then on their posed bodies, life grew, with the Homs and biological life growing on one body and the other, robotic Mechons.

So gods fighting in the sea, stop each other, life grows on top of them. Following me so far?

The game then jumps to a battle where the Homs (humans) are fighting the Mechons (robots) in one of their many battles.  We see the sword called the Monado (on the games cover) in use to cut through Mechons, then some drama unfolds where the Humans and all kinds of people die.  We then jump forward again to our protagonist, Shulk, who is a young scientist trying to understand the mysterious sword.  He has some small adventures with his allies Reyn and Fiora as they complete some tasks in their town.

Suddenly the village is attacked by Mechons and in their desperation Shulk tries using the Mondo and he starts seeing the future and hacking through mechons like they are butter.  So that is a rough guideline of the first couple of hours of the plot.  It is such a unique story which is rare, and so much happens to let you truly understand the weird world they are in.  The characters are surprisingly varied and well rounded, but I found the voice acting to be rough.  It was cool to hear British accents in a game for a change, but I wasn’t buying the voice acting itself.

The gameplay is an interesting beast, and has some unfortunate timing thanks to its close release to FFVII Remake.  You run around the open areas while attacking enemies which kicks off the battle system.  Everyone auto-attacks and you control the party leader only.  For the most part this is fine, but there are bonuses to using certain attack types followed by others to essentially stagger an enemy.  This is hugely frustrating early on as you need the AI to hit the second attack to beat the initial robot enemies and the AI wasn’t playing ball for me.

There are chain moves you can use that when it builds up you get to choose each move a character uses, but you won’t have that at the start of every fight so it is annoying early on in the game.  Once you get the mondo you get abilities to attack Mechons easier, so that makes that early frustration more bearable, even if that means you have to grit your teeth through it.  I mentioned FFVII Remake because it came out recently and uses a similar style battle system, but you can choose what any of your party does on the fly making it essentially a better version of the same system.

I like the look of the game.  They have done a fantastic job of upscaling it from the original game, and while it looks a little bit dated, it’s gorgeous in comparison to a lot of the mid-tier JRPGs I play.  The world itself has been crafted beautifully to give a weird balance of being primitive and technological, while areas are being crafted around the different parts of the god bodies is brilliant.

The Definitive Edition also includes some new content set well after the end of the game, so if the 80 hours you played last time weren’t enough, there is more this time.  This is added to the considerable side quests in the game if you choose to do them which fleshes the game out to be at the massive end of the JRPG scale.  I was getting a bit over the gameplay by the end of the game, but that story kept pulling me along for the long journey.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is a wonderful JRPG that is as dated as it is current.  It doesn’t play like a game that came out this year, but looks pretty darn good on Switch and has a story and characters well worth experiencing if you haven’t already.

The post Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Switch) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

After huge fan demand, Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe is pleased to announce that TALES OF VESPERIA: Definitive Edition will be available for the first time in Europe on January the 11th, 2019.

TALES OF VESPERIA: Definitive Edition includes upscaled screen resolution, characters, events, and costumes never released outside of Japan, as well as introducing two new playable party members. Flynn Scifo, the main character’s rival, and best friend, and Patty Fleur, a young pirate searching for her lost memories.

TALES OF VESPERIA: Definitive Edition uses a specialised version of the TALES OF series’ Linear Motion Battle System for combat. Players control a single party member in real-time combat while the other three party members are controlled by a customized set of A.I. commands. Players can swap between the four characters at any time during battles and can perform physical attacks, magic artes or even powerful Mystic Artes.

TALES OF VESPERIA: Definitive Edition will be available for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 system, Nintendo Switch and PC Digital.

The post TALES OF VESPERIA: DEFINITIVE EDITION Announced appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe today announced the details for Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC digital. 

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition includes upscaled screen resolution,  characters, events, and costumes never released outside of Japan. This updated version of an RPG classic will be released this year (2018).

Follow Yuri Lowell, a resident in the Lower Quarter of Zaphias and former Imperial Knight, as he accepts a mission to retrieve a stolen Blastia Core used to regulate his neighborhood’s water supply. This simple mission spins into a series of events that finds Yuri befriending a colorful cast of characters, traveling to exotic locations, and being pushed into the middle of a nefarious plot that threatens the destruction of the entire planet.

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition features two new fully playable party members for the West; Patty Fleur, a young pirate searching for her lost memories, as well as Yuri’s rival and best friend, Flynn Scifo. Along with these two new playable characters, Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition will include additional scenarios and locations that will be all-new for players in the West.

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition uses a specialized version of the TALES OF series’ Linear Motion Battle System for combat. Players control a single party member in real-time combat while the other three party members are controlled by a customized set of A.I. commands. Players can swap between the four characters at any time during battles and can perform both physical and Mystic Artes attacks.

Tales of Vesperia will be available this winter (U.S. Season).

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With the release of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition around the corner, I was fortunate enough to get an early glimpse into how this remaster is shaping up thanks to a recent multiplayer BETA. As one of my favourite games as a child, I was curious to find out how the game has held up after 20 years.

First of all, one thing to clarify is that the game tries to stay true to the original game. It doesn’t try to reinvent itself for a modern audience. To me, it still felt exactly like I remember. While those seeking a nostalgic hit may enjoy this aspect, many people picking it up for the first time may feel otherwise.

For me a few gameplay aspects struck out as feeling noticeably outdated. Not being able to queue different units or technology is a notable one for me. As someone who has spent a lot of time in Age of Empires II, I found the inability to build gates on walls restricting as it forces you to leave them partially open which makes them partially redundant. While some may disagree, I feel fixing these sorts of things could have been done while still being faithful to the original game.

If you can look past these things, the core gameplay concept is still enjoyable. For the uninitiated, Age of Empires has you playing as a historic civilisation in a RTS battle against other civilisations. The gameplay loop revolves around gathering resources, building a base, rising through technological ages, building an army and taking out the enemy.

I still find this concept fun to play, it’s the execution itself that is holding back the game. While undoubtedly great for the time, the concept was implemented much better in the also massively popular sequel, Age of Empires II. Going backwards in a series is always a difficult thing to do.

Visually, the game stays true to the original look but adds some much needed additional detail and refinement. The buildings, the units, the terrain, all look like how it originally did just with a lot more detail added. Because of this though, the buildings look a bit too basic and the terrain a bit dull.

I didn’t get a chance to play the Campaign as the BETA was restricted to multiplayer. For me, Age of Empires has always been about playing through the historic campaigns. I’ve never thought of it as a competitive type of game. After playing multiplayer, that view is unchanged.

One of the biggest issues in my mind is the poor structuring of the multiplayer. Instead of predefined match types to join, people are free to set up and play their own matches with their own rules. There is an impressive array of options to tweak the game ranging from starting resources to number of players. You can even enable cheats, which I found out as may base was being swamped by a flock of babies riding bicycles. While in theory this may sound nice, it leaves things too open and I feel will fracture the community too much.

Even in the BETA I played in, the online community seemed scarce which made it extremely difficult to find a game with a set of rules that I wanted to play. When trying to set up a game, I found the wait time to find people to join unbearable. While things may be more populated at launch, I just don’t believe the online community will last very long.

Full disclosure, I lost almost every game I played. Obviously this took away from enjoyment and maybe others were having a better time than I was. I more enjoy the base building, exploration, resource gathering and story parts of the Age of Empires rather than combat. My strategy was totally off for the competitive environment. In any case, between trying to find a game and getting destroyed, I didn’t have a huge amount of fun.

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition looks to provide a faithful remastering of one of the most notable early RTS games. Those looking for a nostalgic hit may be in for a treat. The game does show its age and may not be the best place for newcomers to the series to start. I look forward to finding out how Age of Empires: Definitive Edition really holds up when the game launches on February 20th, 2018.

The post Age of Empires: Definitive Edition Closed Beta (PC) Preview appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Kalypso Media (Vikings: Wolves of Midgard) has announced to us here at StG that it is bringing Daedelic Entertainment’s strategy title Valhalla Hills – Definitive Edition to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 28th of April 2017 across the UK and Export territories. Brought to you by the brains behind classic strategy titles such as The Settlers II and Cultures, Valhalla Hills – Definitive Edition tasks gamers with guiding a group of Viking warriors to their rightful resting place in Valhalla by helping them survive, build and fight their way to glory. This new console version release also includes the official DLC – ‘Sand of the Damned’ and ‘Fire Mountains’ – as well as a new exclusive map type – ‘The Dwarf Cave’.

In Valhalla Hills – Definitive Edition, you are Leko – youngest son of Odin, exiled to Midgard by your father for failing to meet his expectations. More interested in building villages than pillaging them, you now find yourself far from home with a disgruntled band of recently-deceased muscleheads. Odin has turned his back on his people, and it’s your fault. There’s only one thing for it – you’ll have to guide your new-found companions to heavenly glory the only way you know how.

Now, you must lead your band of outcast Viking warriors through the varied landscapes of Valhalla Hills – Definitive Edition, where a magical portal awaits to take you to your rightful place in the realm of the gods. But the journey is a hazardous one, and the Vikings will need to do one thing first…survive!

To do that, you’ll have to take good care of your Vikings by putting your building and management skills to the ultimate test. Your band of heroes may be tough but you’ll still need to protect, equip and feed them as well as help them to fend off ghostly residents and wild beasts. Control of the Vikings is indirect – these bearded citizens have minds of their own, so you will influence their actions with general commands rather than controlling any one specific unit at a time. Guide your mighty followers into gathering food, wood and other resources, all while defending their fledgling camp.

Featuring crisp, bold and beautiful 3D graphics (powered by Unreal Engine 4) with full day and night cycles, Valhalla Hills – Definitive Edition sees you playing across randomly-generated maps in varying mountain terrains, as you master a balanced economy system to ensure endless gameplay challenges and variety.

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Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition is the natural progression of what is already a superbly tight platformer. Definitive Edition is not a remaster or a remake, but the final polishing of game to realise the true vision of its designers. It stands as what the developers want you to know the game as, and it has something for both those who fell in love with Ori the first time and for newcomers alike.

I played the original game on the Xbox One last year, so what do I think of this new version? Is it truly definitive, or was the original a sufficient declaration of a vision?

In 2015 Moon Studios demonstrated that Nintendo now has some serious competition in platformers from indie developers. While major publishers have largely left the platformer genre to Nintendo, indie developers have created a number of unique, challenging and quirky platformers. Ori and the Blind Forest is one of the latest in this series of platformers, taking significant history from the Metroid and Castlevania games.

In essence, Ori is a metroidvania that combines twitch platforming with exploration, combat and action sequences. On top of that it has a stunning art direction which has been extremely well executed. If that’s the sort of game that sounds attractive to you, and you haven’t played Ori at all, then there’s almost no need to read the rest of this review. Go out and download this game now, safe in the knowledge that what awaits you will be a challenging adventure. If you’re still not convinced, then I hope what follows will take you over the line.

Ori begins with a very Up-like beginning that will leave you emotional as anything. Though the actual content amounts tired trope, it is performed so excellently with such great character animations that it can’t help but be affecting. Over the course of the game the omnipresent narrator fleshes out what has happened to the forest and Ori’s unique role in bringing it back from the brink of destruction. While the story begins strongly I never felt compelled by it after that. It reeks of melodrama and generally takes itself rather too seriously. That said, it never really gets in the way too much and does nicely link into the environment at times.

All this the new Definitive Edition retains from the original. There are a couple of extra areas that flesh out some more of the background details of the narrative. Some other welcome additions are cross-save between the Xbox One and Windows 10 devices and support for 4K and ultra-wide displays. There has also been some quality of life improvements such as the addition of teleporting between regions at wells. Teleportation in particular greatly incentives more exploration than the original, where it was tedious (and difficult!) to backtrack to old areas.

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition retains the game’s trademark gorgeous environments that slowly unlock as you gain new abilities to smash walls and unlock new areas.

But don’t let those looks fool you. Ori is an incredibly complex game, mechanically speaking. Almost from the earliest stages you will be tasked with fairly advanced platforming mechanics that are most definitely not welcoming to new players. At times this felt a bit unfair, with points of failure impossible to see beforehand or even to predict. Too many times I dropped or climbed up to a new area only to be quickly dispatched by an unknown environmental obstacle or enemy.

Fortunately, the game resets quickly, allowing you to try again (and again) without lengthy loading screens. The feeling of accomplishment after completing a particularly gnarly section is immense, though particular areas point much more to frustration than adulation. These environmental challenges are somewhat softened by the ability to save almost anywhere in the game.

The self-selecting save point ability remains as one of the more innovative and welcome design decisions. That said, if you play on anything but easy expect to be frustrated at many points in your journey. Speaking of, the Definitive Edition allows you to cut down the difficulty even further through the addition of an Easy mode. But be careful, changing it down to easy resets your leaderboards. This won’t be an issue for most who will play Ori as a single-player game, but for those looking to compete it’s worth noting.

I recommend playing Ori on the largest screen with the lowest refresh rate. If you’re on a TV make sure that it’s on the “Game” mode – where most TV post-processing is turned off. Input lag can be extremely detrimental so eliminating it as much as possible is essential.

You’re also mad if you play Ori with a mouse and keyboard – I recommend either a PS4 (through enabling software such as DS4Windows) or an Xbox One controller. The disappointing D-Pad on the Xbox 360 controller makes it less suitable, though still workable.

Finally, Ori in its definitive edition is now available on the Windows Store, but using that version led to a number of headaches for me – all avoidable if playing the game sourced from other storefronts. It had a hard time downloading in the first place, going full screen and hiding the Windows taskbar, and in detecting my controller.

Ori’s Definitive Edition is a strangely-priced $6.65 (AUD) upgrade for existing game owners and $26.95 (AUD) for new owners. So is it worth the upgrade?

If you’re a completionist and want to spend as much time in the Ori’s forest home, then the new edition will be a boon to you. Alternatively, if the immense difficulty of the game has put you off ever trying it, the new easy mode should help you along. Despite important issues and frustrations with the core platforming, the whole package of Ori continues to be a stunning display of what a modern platformer can be. It’s a fine contribution and heir of masterful game design, and something that’s well worth experiencing on your own.