So it’s been another week and I’ve made some progress in the game, although I’ve not had a great amount of time to play this week. Still, both Bodeclaw and Teddired have had their adventures.

The Long Run Back

You might recall that we left Bodeclaw extremely far away from the last mission I had to complete in Ashenvale, thanks to me wanting to start some of the Stonetalon Mountain quests – which led to my hopping on a survey vehicle that carried me away from Honor’s Stand and all the way to Northwatch and the Barrens. And I was adamant that I would run back to Honor’s Stand because of it.

Now part way across the Barrens I found the spontaneous jungle known as the Overgrowth and with it more quests to take and complete. So I did, because I thought I might as well complete some along the way and so had one of my first encounters with the Nightmare.

I’ve read up on some of the World of Warcraft lore since getting into the game, I know about the Emerald Dream and the Nightmare corruption that moves through it and tries to break through to the waking world of Azeroth. I also know that the Dream has a lot of druidic ties, so I was bound to encounter it at some point. Fortunately it wasn’t a strong breech but I know that it gets worse later on. I’ve watched others play the later missions…

Anyway, with those tasks completed I returned to the camp and found myself directed to another fortification which I headed to, just to get the flight location for my map to make going back easier… and picked up even more missions in the area. It was at this point that I decided that I had been sidetracked long enough, got down into Running Wild mode and headed back for the Overgrowth and the path to Honor’s Stand.

Dangerous terrain though in some places…

Once I got to Honor’s Stand I briefly debated running my way back through the Stonetalon Mountain area to get back to Ashenvale and this furbolg uprising quest I was heading back for. I decided to basically say fuck it and take a flight back. Now I’m back at Stardust Spire, and poised to start this uprising…

… next week.

Admiring Strangethorn While Killing Everything In It

I should have known when I chose Hunter that I’d be doing a lot of just that… hunting. Now I was in Strangethorn, there was an awful lot of game and many quest givers who wanted to see me murder it.

Of course, it wasn’t all just wild beasts I was being tasked with killing, oh no. Some Venture Co goblins had tumbled stones that someone wanted, so I ran my way into that camp and began shooting any Geologists I saw, just to pick up enough for satisfy the quest. He did fix the pot I’d been given to take to him though, so I guess it’s alright.

Oh, and also some people at the rebel camp wanted me to grab Bloodscalp items. Of course, trolls are Horde and Teddired is Alliance. They wouldn’t just give me what they wanted… so I had to do even more killing.

Of course, this week wasn’t all killing and murder. No – I had time to explore the jungle while running between quest areas hunting for animals or goblins or trolls. And honestly, some of the scenery was amazing… even if getting too close would have been dangerous and potentially deadly.

I also found myself with full bags a little bit too often, so I grabbed myself a gryphon flight back to Stormwind and then ran around trying to find a seller for more bags to fit into my bank slots so I could store some items I couldn’t use now but might be able to later on.

Then I found someone I’d been keeping an eye out for since I got into the game wandering around Stormwind and… well…

… I’m at the Faire! Woo!

Currently Amplitude Studios are releasing videos to show off the four X pillars of the game Endless Space 2 – Explore, Expand, Exploit and Exterminate. They released Explore last week and now they’re showing off the second, Expand.

Of course, for a game of this genre expansion is a very big part of the game. It’s a slow and often risky process, especially when you’re moving the unit to set up your new outpost/base/colony/etc. through territory that they could easily fall prey to someone else’s attacking unit, or even AI controlled mishap. It’s essential though to make progress – areas must be controlled, resources brought under your sway and so on. This is true for many games that hold 4X as their gameplay mechanics. Of course, this doesn’t mean that all factions in a game will do this in the same way – Endless Space 2 will have one race (the Vodyani) that never builds outposts of colonies at all as they ‘settle’ in ark ships that orbit the planet instead.

Of course, it’s not just getting there and setting up your colony or outpost. There’s always stuff to be done to maintain and grow your new holdings, whether that be growing technological progress, making good use of newly controlled resources or even just building the necessary things for one of your outposts to function at peak efficiency. This is what makes a good part of the 4X strategy game’s time. After all, how can you win over or destroy your opponents if you don’t have the resources or staging areas with which to do so?

Endless Space 2 is due to be released on May 19th, but can currently be purchased as an Early Access title on Steam for about $30 or just over £26. Go forth, expand.

A double from PDXCon and Payday 2 Ultimate Edition – your news update!

From the moment you start up Little Nightmares, you will be uneasy. The haunting visuals of it’s world will pull you in, the background noises The Maw will put you on edge and the sense of scale will keep you feeling off balance. There is a lot to be said for gameplay over story telling, and Little Nightmares embraces this idea wholeheartedly, even if it does stumble occasionally.

You play as Six, a little girl that must escape The Maw, a strange underwater resort filled with twisted inhabitants and nightmarish locations. You are never told that you must escape, or even why but the game communicates the message clearly without traditional story telling devices. There is no explicitly delivered narrative in Little Nightmares, instead you are left to intuit vague narrative snippits from locations, events and individuals that you encounter. Who is Six? What is happening in the Maw? These questions will follow you through the somewhat brief campaign, and you will probably be left with even more questions after the game’s thought provoking ending.

In terms of gameplay, Little Nightmares is a puzzle platformer at heart. Indeed, many of it’s ideas are nothing new. Instead, it’s the visual style and the ever shifting sense of scale in the game that make it special. Early on you will encounter the Janitor, a twisted creature with tiny legs but incredibly long arms who hunts you via sound and smell. Encounters with him take on a stealth element as you carefully creep around, then toss a cymbal banging toy bear to distract him as you make a mad dash for safety. Later on, you will have to run for your life in escape platforming sequences as you try to get away from The Twins – hideous chefs who wear the skin of other people’s faces as masks.

The macabre, unsettling setting of Little Nightmares is on of it’s strongest points, and I was constantly impressed at how well it ran. I rarely ever experienced any slowdown or graphical issues. The sound design is truly wonderful, with bangs and clanks from the background activities of The Maw keeping you always uneasy. The grunts and squeals that pass for voice acting are nowhere near as overbearing as the much maligned Yooka Laylee gibberish speak, and do an admirable job of conveying emotion into the few scenes where they are present. The anguishes cry of one of the Twins as you dash through a small hole and out of it’s reach is satisfying and simultaneously terrifying.

I enjoyed my time with Little Nightmares immensely. While it doesn’t set any new standards for innovation in gameplay, and it does occasionally punish you in a trial and error sort of way; the game is incredibly striking visually and will have you saying “What in the f**** is going on?!” from the start to finish of it’s story. Just be warned, the game is quite short, easily being beaten in one or two sittings. Still, it’s worth the experience if you have a PC or PS4.

Little Nightmares: 8.5/10