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Willy-Nilly Knight is the great story, based on the legend of King Arthur. Immerse yourself in a single-player, isometric, story-driven RPG with real-time gameplay and turn-based combat, set in the colorful fantasy universe. Will you find the power to save the world in the war of gods? Find your answer.
Developed by Russian Indie label Double Dice games, Willy Nilly Knight is their first full game release: a single player, isometric, turn-based tactical RPG set in an Arthurian themed fantasy world.
The combat in the game is very standard for the S-RPG or T-RPG genre, with each character, ally and enemy alike taking turns to move, attack, use an ability or use an item. All of these actions will use AP – or Action Points – which are displayed at the bottom of the screen, so as long as you have AP remaining you can select any combination of options during your turns.
Winning the battles gives you a few items, coins and some experience which goes toward levelling up. This provides you with an ability skill point to learn or strengthen an ability, and a stat point which you can spend on one of the base stats to improve your character by adding more health, attack, defence, and so on.
In between battles you can explore the world, collecting items from hidden (or not so hidden) caches and talk to people for more back story, sometimes picking up a new quest or objective to achieve. The game also has autosave enabled and it creates multiple files so you can reload from an earlier point if you make a mistake, or want to try something else.
The setting and plot of the game is nothing entirely new as a basic fantasy story taking place within the Arthurian legends. You control Arthur, a boy who wakes up and assumes he is dreaming because the world is fantastical, then pulls a sword from a stone and then proceeds to save a damsel in distress. You later learn this is your second character Guinevere. Arthur gradually starts his journey, where he finds that the Gods of this world are waging a war and wish to use his power as one of their weapons.
The game is somewhat lighthearted in tone with bright colourful characters and locations. Even the darker dungeon setting is still quite family friendly, with no real violence or offensive content. It feels like a game that could be enjoyed by a younger player, assuming they have the patience to plan out their battles, as going in guns blazing and just hammering the enemies is not likely to work for long against enemies that match or exceed your own power.
Overall, Willy Nilly Knight doesn’t really bring anything new to a long standing genre, with familiar settings, story, enemies and battle system – but it does pull them off quite solidly, coming off as a warm, family friendly little adventure.
Verdant Skies is a life simulation game born from a love for games like Harvest Moon and a desire to create something unique with modern gameplay and deep storytelling. Ensure the success of the colony as you make friends and pursue romance with a diverse cast of characters.
Verdant Skies is the latest game brought to us by Howling Moon Software, a small indie developer mostly known for their work in building gaming engines.
However, their true passion (as stated in their bio), is for creating their own game titles such as Verdant Skies.
The idea for the game was formed through Beth and Andy Korth (Narrative and Programming respectively)’s mutual love of games such as Harvest Moon, Rune Factory and Animal Crossing; and existed in concept far before going into development May 2014, undergoing a huge change in design and game engine in March 2015, and finally seeing release late 2017.
The game centers on the character’s avatar – which is fully customizable in gender, skin tone, clothing and accessories – crash landing on a planet (which as luck would have it was their destination already), and starting a new life with a sizeable debt on said planet.
The main game mechanic of Verdant Skies, is building, both in terms of harvesting resources to construct new items, and performing tasks for the locals in order to build relationships with them, the end game of which would be to pursue a romantic relationship with the character of your choice.
This leads me into one of the most pleasant aspects of the game, the inclusiveness. As mentioned above you can customize your character’s gender, you can select the usual male or female, but the game will allow you to use a non-binary selection if you see fit, the same goes for the relationships, with any character being a potential match, assuming you put in enough work in building the relationship with them.
Verdant Skies also incorporates a few menu options into the game that further their inclusive leanings, with both options to slow down aspects of the game for people with motor disabilities, and an option to influence the colors in case of color blindness; and it is this level of heart and inclusivity where the game really shines, taking what could be essentially a remake or knock off of a beloved franchise and injecting it with a real sense that the game was crafted by very caring people.
The music and art of the game (handled by Troy Strand and Lizzie Siemers respectively), are both lovely and fit the overall feel of the game perfectly, with Troy’s music being relaxing, plaintive and occasionally bouncy, but never overbearing; and Lizzie’s hand painted artwork evoking the feeling of exploring a piece of artwork.
Overall the game is a very pleasant experience, one that you probably already know if you’d be interested in going on if you are familiar with their chief inspirations already.
Verdant Skies gets a Barn storming 7/10 from us! ~TGB-Sirhc
You can also check out some gameplay in our review video here:
You can also check out and buy Verdant Skies on STEAM, and follow them on social media at Twitter & Facebook
My face lit up when I heard the news come directly from the Star Trek Online Facebook page. A brand new episode (mission) was coming to Star Trek Online to kick off the 8th anniversary festivities! For me, the big gap between episodes now is just downright depressing, but Perfect World will be Perfect World!
The mission begins in the Alpha Quadrant, as soon as you transition to this new map after accepting the mission, Admiral Quinn suddenly appears on-screen and tells you a Tzenkethi fleet isn’t too far from your location, and you’re to intercept at maximum warp. There is even a cool animation of your ship jumping to warp IN SECTOR SPACE! *Insert a fanboy face because who doesn’t love new animations?!* Sounds pretty simple right?
So I arrive in the system named NGC-9835 System (Creative right?) and when my camera pans round, I see the massive fleet of enemy ships in front of me, and my immediate reaction? Was a simple “Oh f…” but by some wonderful mercy, the bulk of the ships jump to warp, leaving you with only 3 or 4 ships to take care of. But wait, the lead ship is firing those darn Protomatter Torpedos at the planet!! Great! So the task is to take down these ships, as well as the protomatter torpedoes heading straight for the planet. This happens three times, on system two and system three, the LSS Reskava, captained by Kuumaarke, a very lovely Lukari female who is still in awe of space travel, assists in taking out the torpedoes launched while I deal with the ships. Heck no, I want ALL that glory, I’m taking down ALL of the ships & ALL of the torpedoes launched. There’s even an accolade for doing this. Pretty cool right?!
Suddenly I get a hail stating that the Tzenkethi are heading for Bajor (DS9 fans this mission is for you!) and that all ships must report there. Upon arrival, I even see Deep Space Nine itself has been moved into Bajor orbit, impressive work! She’s a big station after all! And now I have fighting along my side, Martok, Geordi LaForge, and General Rodek. Come at us now! Well, to my surprise here they came, the Tzenkethi on a full blown attempt to launch their weapons of genocide at Bajor, not on my watch Dinoboy!! The battle against the Tzenkethi fleet is pretty straight forward until DS9 contact me. They need repair teams! Oh my! So I send them over and I pan my camera around as I hear more ships arrive. Oh no, not only ships. Godzilla over there brought a freaking SPACE STATION OF HIS OWN!!! Ship after ship falls but not only that, you need to disable that freaking station too! Then guess which mug has to beam over and take down the station from the inside….you guessed it…me. Sometimes I wonder why I even joined up for this.
Once I board, it becomes obvious that they ain’t gonna let go without a hell of a fight. That’s when we come across the weapons control room. Perfect, disarm them now! Only, one big old P’O’ed Tzenkethi turns up ready for a sparring match with Martok. He falls, and the weapons consoles have been disabl…oh what’s that? It’s been rerouted to the bridge? Didn’t see that coming! That’s when it’s to the command deck itself. Before we arrive there, we find that a Captain Tzenkethi has defected to our side, and that just annoys Godzilla further. After a monologue, of what’s right and wrong, it’s time to subdue Admiral Tzen-Terrak (Godzilla) and his men and shut this station down for good. But before we can celebrate after he yields, he tells us that there is a greater evil at large….surely he’s bluffing? Suddenly, that’s when things begin to hit the fan. Some weird looking ships begin breaking free from the planets the Tzenkethi were attacking. Suddenly the fear in Martok’s voice tells the entire story. An old enemy of the Klingons has resurfaced. The only ones to almost conquer the Klingon Empire almost 1000 years ago. It’s the Hur’Q! BATTLESTATIONS!!!
Upon returning to the ship, the swarm arrives, and all hell breaks loose. Hur’Q attack anyone and everyone, and you must defend the Tzenkethi battlestation for 1:30 while evacuations take place. Suddenly DS9 takes a massive hit and an arm is completely blown apart (Oh sh..) and DS9 is now vulnerable. It doesn’t end there, as more and more of the Hur’Q swarm ships arrive. But they aren’t the only ones to arrive, as the newly refitted USS Enterprise F joins the battle defending DS9. Sadly however, for the Tzenkethi their battlestation is destroyed. But wait. Again someone else is coming….ships drop from warp….THE DOMINION ARE BACK, but they fire upon the Hur’Q and not my ship? What is this madness? Finally, after a grueling fight, the Hur’Q retreat and a hail comes in. Loriss 4 appears, and if you recall back to the old DS9 Story Arc, there was a Loriss that caused the Federation a bit of trouble by occupying DS9, but that’s another story! Anyway, she claims someone has come to deliver a message, and when asked who, an all familiar voice comes over the speaker. “We have to talk.”
FREAKING ODO ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! My jaw hit the floor on that one!! The mission concludes on a cliffhanger, and is clearly an opener for the upcoming summer expansion this year. ODO!!! HOLY MOTHER OF MY SOCKS!! The rewards are pretty decent though, a Bajoran Shield, Impulse Engines, and Deflector Dish, followed by the Mek’Leth of Martok himself! Overall from me, this mission gets a solid 5/5 for combat and shock factors. I look forward to seeing where the new content will take us.
Remember, Star Trek Online is Free To Play and is playable via ARC or Steam game clients, XBox 1 and PS4.
Register for an account now at http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online and join in the fun Boldly Going Where Some Men Have Gone Before!!
First released on STEAM in June 2016, but recently released on Nintendo Switch, takes a look at a great game, out on a new platform ~Lone
Command a steam-driven pirate crew in a series of epic tactical shootouts. Inspired by classics like XCOM and Worms, SteamWorld Heist is turn-based strategy with a twist: You manually aim the guns of your robots, allowing for insane skill shots and bullet-bouncing action!
Steamworld Heist is the third game in the Steamworld franchise created by Swedish indie developers Image & Form, set in what appears to be the same universe still populated with a cast of colorful steam powered robots but this time with a new set of characters and a new style of game play, Heist being a blend of turn based strategy and skill based 2D shooting.
The story of Steamworld Heist follows Captain Piper Faraday, a smuggler and occasional pirate who is rebuilding her crew in order to collect as much swag (gallons of water) as possible and maybe make the universe a safer place, as long as it doesn’t interfere with her livelihood of course. Faraday begins her journey on an enemy ship where something went terribly wrong and she ended up alone, but you soon meet up with another crew member, the surly Seabrass, during the tutorial.
Upon completion of the tutorial you are introduced to the main ship which acts as a sort of hub between levels where you can relax, chat with the crew you have found/enlisted so far, and check your items/crew/skills at your leisure, then it’s off to the map to select a level or store to visit.
Levels in Steamworld Heist are largely procedurally generated so the ship layout will change each time, but the objective remains the same, whether that is collect x amount of swag, defeat x amount of scavengers etc., normally procedural generation in a game is a bit of a gripe of mine because although the programming can create a seemingly endless amount of level designs there are certain limitations in that some parts will always need to connect or things come out looking unnatural or boring, but during my time with Steamworld Heist I did not experience this and I played through levels a few times trying to get the maximum reputation stars (generally 3 a level) and level up some new crew members and I believe the reason why the procedural generation didn’t get to me is because the core gameplay is so well thought out and the implementation is near perfect.
Gameplay consists of a simple squad turn based movement and attack/skill or item round followed by enemies (if there are any) turn and then repeat until one side is destroyed and if you are skillful enough to make sure the other team is the one destroyed you can then explore the ship and collect the swag however you will be restricted to the same movement limitation regardless of enemy robots left, meaning that if your character has 6 movement points (as most of the starting ones do) you can move 6 spaces and attack or you can move a few extra spaces (referred in game as “sprinting”) and give up your chance to attack to cover more ground which can be handy if you want to move your character into cover or if you’re making a mad dash for the exit (killing enemies doesn’t give you anything extra so unless it is the objective it’s generally optional), now the attacking is where things get really interesting.
Attacks in the game are largely ranged and the exact type will be determined on the character class (unchangeable) and the weapon they have equipped (a little more versatile but linked to the classes as well), the characters at least during my playtime all used guns as their primary weapon (swapping to a melee attack when enemies are one space away) and these guns range from a scoped pistol to a shotgun all the way to a grenade launcher, each one handles differently and is useful in certain situations but by far my prefered weapons were the scoped ones, the scopes in the game come paired with laser sights so you can see the trajectory your bullet will take before you fire allowing you to set up some very satisfying ricochet trickshots, the ricochets work with the other weapons as well but without the laser sight they require a keen eye and some patience to pull off the same kind of shots.
The game is refreshing in that it really is set up to reward skill over luck, every situation I was able to overcome with a well placed shot or a tactical retreat, sometimes losing an ally along the way but their scrap is returned to your ship so they can be rebuilt to fight another day, the only penalty being that the destroyed robot doesn’t take their share of experience but you can always take them back to the level or even to an easier one to harvest some experience, get a few level ups and come back with a more powerful and tactical team and as you are the one that aims the gun and the set up is turn based you really do have the time to plan your attack and pull off some spectacular shots, maybe aiming for the head for a (by default) 50% chance of a critical hit or taking out their legs to stop them from being able to move, or even if you are so inclined firing a shot at their hat to knock it off their head and (assuming you don’t already have it) picking it up and taking it for your own.
In summation I had a wonderful time with Steamworld Heist, the characters are cartoony, cliched and simplistic which fits right alongside the strong undercurrent of humour throughout the game, the graphics are polished and wonderful to look at, the music (by steampunk band Steam Powered Giraffe) is fitting and great to listen to and there is something so satisfying of bouncing a bullet off two walls and getting a headshot destroying a robot who was hiding behind cover, the levels are short but action packed and I feel like I will be spending quite a while enjoying my time there, if you like well paced turn based tactical games and/or impressive snooker trick shots then you could do much worse than checking out Steamworld Heist for yourself.
Steamworld heist gets a steampunk 9/10 from us!
SteamWorld Heist: Ultimate Edition, including all previously released DLC, is out now on Nintendo Switch for $19.99 / €19.99 or the equivalent.
Wolfenstein® II: The New Colossus™ is the highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed, Wolfenstein®: The New Order™ developed by the award-winning studio MachineGames.
An exhilarating adventure brought to life by the industry-leading id Tech® 6, Wolfenstein® II sends players to Nazi-controlled America on a mission to recruit the boldest resistance leaders left. Fight the Nazis in iconic American locations, equip an arsenal of badass guns, and unleash new abilities to blast your way through legions of Nazi soldiers in this definitive first-person shooter.
STORY:
America, 1961. Your assassination of Nazi General Deathshead was a short-lived victory. Despite the setback, the Nazis maintain their stranglehold on the world. You are BJ Blazkowicz, aka “Terror-Billy,” member of the Resistance, scourge of the Nazi empire, and humanity’s last hope for liberty. Only you have the guts, guns, and gumption to return stateside, kill every Nazi in sight, and spark the second American Revolution.
It’s always an interesting conflict of events when a virtual product manages to resonate with current events. This was especially true in the advertising leading up to the release of Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, in which plays of presidential tag-lines were used to full effect: the desire to “Make America Nazi Free Again” by being a part of the revolution. Of course, this territory is nothing new for the Wolfenstein series, which made its mark by letting you shoot Nazis and take down Mecha-Hitler from as early as 1981 – so one could argue it’s nothing new, but holding a mirror to real life whether on purpose or just by the nature of the theme of their game series certainly helped create Wolfenstein 2 hype.
The reboot of Wolfenstein that came around in 2014 is still one of my favourite titles to revisit. It is, at its core, a hard-going tale of a soldier’s desire for revenge in a world that is falling apart. The gameplay is smooth in its combat – if not a little dull – but it had some genuinely amazing sequences and an ending that, coupled with great soundtrack choices, made me pretty emotional. We were also treated to The Old Blood as a DLC excerpt that was good, if not a little clunky with the way it transitioned from chapter to chapter.
This made Wolfenstein 2 a release day purchase for me. The Special Edition, no less – and regardless of any opinion I have formed on Wolfenstein 2, I can happily say I own a BJ Blazkowicz action man now. But gimmicks aside, I was most excited for the game itself. You are immediately treated to a recap of the events of the first game (sans The Old Blood, as it was a prelude) before diving into the current one. Where The New Order treated us to a jumble of flashforwards and time-skips, the second title manages to give us not only time-skips forward, but flashbacks as well. You hit the shock factor almost straight away with an introduction to BJ’s abusive Texan father and his caring Polish mother.
While not wholly unexpected of a game that centres around kicking the daylights out of Nazis, Wolfenstein 2 is not afraid of the shock factor. We are immediately set up to hate BJ’s father for the racist epithet throwing, domestic abuser that he is. We learn that BJ has obviously taken on more of his mother’s sentiments about life, but that the harsh treatment by his father is what pushed him to be resilient. It is also what sent him off to the army, ironically starting off the chain of events through the games series. It seems like a strange inclusion at the start of the game, though there are few loaded guns in this game that don’t go off eventually; your father does, eventually, get what’s coming to him, and the setup makes it worth it.
This is something I find Wolfenstein 2 succeeds at greater than its predecessor with only few exceptions. It is fantastic at build up, and at surprising you. There are some strong twists in the story, and unlike The New Order, the plot moves at a greater pace, allowing it to feel like more of a rollercoaster and less of a log flume. It certainly lacks in some of the huge set piece boss fights of The New Order or, to compare it to its sister title, DOOM. But the spectacle is made up for in some equally impressive visual sequences. To not say too much of spoilers: this is a game that you get to control robots; fly into space; and fall from the sky. You also get to shoot Nazis while wheelchair bound, and – as someone with limited mobility – I found that bit particularly gratifying.
It does miss the mark in some parts. We get to know the characters that BJ works with more, and they seem to have become caricatures of themselves since The New Order. This isn’t necessarily bad, either, as it fits with the changing tone of the game. You find yourself in the midst of an underground rebellion that is finding its purpose and is driven on by loss early on in the story. It has gone from being a story about one man’s revenge to BJ becoming a figurehead of revolution. You want a cast of NPCs that you remember the personalities of. There are some great new additions to the cast, too.
From this is one of my greatest criticisms of the game: you need to play the first one. You might say that’s not a real criticism, but you may have noticed that I am greatly comparing the two titles to one another. It’s fairly necessary, in my eyes, because to understand why Frau Engel (the main villain of Wolfenstein 2) hates BJ quite so much, you need to see what happened in The New Order. To fathom why Anya, his partner, is so important, you need to see what happened to the pair of them in the first title to fathom the bond between them both. While the recap at the start of the game is efficient enough in laying out baseline events it doesn’t help grasp the emotional side of the storyline.
One of my other gripes is connected to this, and is in the form of the “Wyatt or Fergus” dilemma. In The New Order, you have to make a very crushing decision about one of your team-mates early on in the campaign. It shapes who you have around you for the rest of the game; devices you can learn; weapons you can use and even one of the boss fights. It is a decision that shapes the narrative. In Wolfenstein 2, you have to choose again through a flashback of Deathshead – a villain is criminally missing in references in the newer game otherwise – so there can be a chronological order to things. You are given back the gun relevant to whichever team-mate you choose, and that’s more or less it. There are some minor story points relating to either Fergus or Wyatt, but it feels like a missed opportunity.
All in all, I would definitely recommend picking up a copy of Wolfenstein: The New Colossus. It has faults, but they are compensated for by the flow of combat, an effective storyline and the additional content. There is more to do after the plot ends, as you begin to build your revolution on the back of your pains and your triumphs. And, being true to Wolfenstein as a series, there is a ton of stuff to collect, giving it appeal to any of you out there with a desire for completion. However, if you haven’t picked up the first title, or its DLC yet, I would put Wolfenstein 2 to one side until you get to do so.
This is a game that is best experienced when you know BJ as he has come to be now, along with his comrades at arms against the Nazi menace. It is best experienced knowing why you are fighting and what you’re fighting for. While the hype train was strong with its brilliant and topical viral advertising, Wolfenstein 2 has its story at its core. The New Order taught us about revenge; The New Colossus sings of revolution. It would be easy to get swept up on Nazi killing alone – and that is important within the game, obviously – but this is a title that needs to be known to really hit home.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus gets a facist bashing 4 out of 5
~Vamp
