Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor brought a demonstration of it’s flagship Nemesis system to EGX today, and it was thoroughly impressive. Shadow of Mordor has been developed by Monolith studios and is set somewhere between the events of the Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring where you play as a ranger of Gondor resurrected by one of the most powerful elves to ever live after your death to exact your revenge and his own against Sauron and the forces of despair.

Possibly one of the most amazing things is that in a completely single player game it looks distinctly like no two play throughs of Shadow of Mordor will feel the same or yield the same tales, this is a game to talk about but it seems like gamers will rarely if ever be talking about the same things! When I tell you that it looks like every single orc will be different to one another and even the lowly grunts if left alone long enough can rise to become warlords then you will understand exactly why this game is so exciting and full of promise.

With all the enemies being randomly generated from a list of traits and evolving as they perform actions within the world this system will bring an interesting challenge to an already expansive and lovingly crafted game. It will be interesting what this system can do and we will find out over time no doubt hearing some amazing tales.

Looking forwards to ? Tell us if you are below and why!

We’ll be bringing you more on this promising title in the very near future.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt took the stage today at EGX in London, showing off the open world of the game. They began by reintroducing us to the concept of a Witcher, the game’s titular adventurer’s and monster slayers. Another key theme in the beginning of the presentation was the idea of landmarks, as well as the fact that everything you see in the distance can be travelled to. This point was quickly followed with the fact that while the game will let you go where you want, it might slaughter you mercilessly if you do. The flip side of this is that the game will also reward you for skill, meaning that if you can survive an encounter that is nominally above your level, the game will reward you for that skilled play.

Moving on, the developers talked a bit about the organic nature of the world. If you defeat a group of bandits that have taken over a village, the villagers will come back. But, the rotting bodies of the bandits may also attract monsters. This could lead to a situation where the villagers are killed by the monsters as a direct result of your actions. This type of cause and effect is indicated to be a significant factor in the world of Witcher 3. This even carries to the interactions between enemies later down the line. Actions that might effect characters early on will also have repercussions further into the game. This could determine when and where enemies spawn, boss encounters, etc. If you’ve helped a leader of this group, they might be neutral or friendly to you. Branching is a main theme of the game, and it seems to have more wide reaching implications than many previous games that have experimented with the idea.

Moving a bit further, it was revealed that what we had seen was only a tiny portion of a much larger map, which was then revealed to be only half of the full map in the game. The effects you have on one area of the game will affect other areas around the wider world. The game also has more armors than the previous games, including ones which can be crafted. When asked about the idea of good and bad in the game, the developer also responded with the idea that actions are more shades of gray in Witcher 3.

Also, the presenter was HILARIOUS. Watch this space, once the presentation is up, I’ll add it to this article

At EGX today, Steve Papoutsis took the stage to present Battlefield Hardline. Steve is the General Manager of Visceral Games as well as Executive Producer of Battlefield Hardline. He took a somewhat different approach to his presentation, choosing to focus on his childhood and his life as a video game developer. It was an interesting talk, leading up to a trailer for Battlefield Hardline’s Hotwire Mode. This is a car centric mode which Steve described as “mobile domination”. The trailer and presentation are below.

At EGX today,

Tom Clancy games come with a certain set of expectations- fluid tactical combat, third person perspective- and often gamers associate this franchise with innovations in stealth and third person combat. It seems like the newest entry in the legacy of Tom Clancy will deliver. The Division, an online only third person shooter /RPG ,is a stunning game set in beautiful urban vistas with a dark undertone which comes with the theme. The game is set in pandemic New York where you play as an agent trained to deal with said pandemic.

The talk at EGX this year was about their attempts to make The Division an immersive game and so far all the signs are positive. They have gone to what appear to be huge lengths to make the game responsive, engaging and visceral. The new Snowdrop engine which has been developed for the new generation and specifically The Division is based on creating ‘living worlds’ that feel real and almost like they’re breathing around you.

The Division’s main focus seems to of been seamlessly blending responsive and futuristic tactical views with a lavishly reimagined New York where the environment changes and breaks around you. A small detail that was mentioned as an example is when it is snowing in the game snow gathers on the players shoulders and slowly melts when the players go indoors- this is just an example of the attention to detail the development team is boasting about and to me it sounds like they’ve given this everything to make it immersive and to make it feel strong, real.

The talk also focused on how they wanted to avoid the use of cutscenes, instead using a futuristic UI to feed you interactive information and even removing the conventional map and instead having what they call the mega map which is like a hologram that displays around the player model and allows you to interact with what appears to be a 3D model of New York to set markers, plan routes and prepare yourself for the challenges of a pandemic torn New York.

Another point that was made in the talk today is that the Division apparently has a phenomenal destruction engine within the game which sounds promising and like the team behind the Division really want you to be able to break up the world around you to suit your needs.

Do you think developer Massive is onto a winner? Let us know in the comments below!

At the EGX conference, Creative Assembly revealed their take on the critically acclaimed franchise with their latest game; Alien: Isolation. At the conference itself, we learned that Creative have spared no expense in creating an almost living, breathing replica of the 1979 Horror film. By digging deep into the 20^th Century Fox archives, CA have managed not only to find enough pictures of the original cast to rebuild the characters in a very well rendered style, but they have also managed to find the original analogue recordings of the soundtrack and sound effects. These finds have allowed CA to create a very impressive world that does a very good job of mimicking the tense, atmospheric feel that Alien delivered when it first hit the screens. CA stressed that they had spent a very long time replicating and expanding every detail of the film into the game, and this is shown in how even the everyday items like calendars are in the same place and position that they were to be found in the game.

One of the main points that came across during the stream was their emphasis on sound. CA talked about how sound made up a third of a good gaming experience, and they wanted to create  a game with sound that evoke a subconscious emotional reaction from the player as well as music that would fit the horror theme and keep the player on edge without exhausting them. Alien: Isolation features a newly built context driven sound engine. That is to say, a sound engine that will change and adapt the music within the game based on events that play out as you traverse the newly designed ship “the Sevastopol”. The sound (adapted from the original soundtrack with some tracks from the film added in for good measure) will change in volume, pitch and even climax as the Alien hunts you down and attempts to dispatch you.

This brings me onto the third aspect of the game discussed at the conference; the stealth. Gameplay footage played during the stream showed the player (revealed as Ellen Ripley) creeping through an abandoned ship. As as the Xenomorph is constantly hunting you, you must avoid him by remaining quiet, hiding under desks or in lockers; even crafting improvised weapons to distract him quickly become necessary to complete the puzzles you are presented with and to ultimately stay alive throughout the game .The music is low and ambient, portraying a feeling of being hunted, like the Xenomorph is coming personally for you, despite the fact that there are multiple androids and other human’s on board. These other characters will often hinder you, either acting aggressively or causing a commotion, which inevitably attracts the Xenomorph to your location. Whilst on the subject of mechanics and gameplay, CA has informed us that they are working with Oculus to bring Alien: Isolation to the Rift, allowing the player to fully immerse themselves in the Alien world. Pre-order content has also been made available, however CA says that it will be purely additional content separate from the main body of the game.

Are you ready to take on Xenomorphs in their latest digital outing? Let us know in the comments below!