This Halloween, players will face The Presence, a truly horrifying AI that will hunt you down relentlessly in Song of Horror.

Protocol Games has spent five years fine tuning that AI so it can adapt to the player’s behavior. Are you an experienced horror player with quick problem-solving skills? This entity will haunt you in unexpected and terrifying ways! Do you spend time checking everything out? The AI will make sure you think twice before examining your surroundings! Whatever you do, The Presence will find your weakness and exploit your way of playing!

Song of Horror is a psychological horror adventure that offers a truly dynamic terror experience. Choose between a group of 13 unique characters that will help you unravel the mysteries of Song of Horror and try to put an end to its nameless nightmare. But choose wisely because death is permanent but the horror continues: the world of Song of Horror will be shaped by their actions and decisions.

Song of Horror launches this Halloween, October 31st 2019 on an episodic format.

The first and second episode will be out on Halloween and each one of them will offer a unique, scary experience set in a different location and seen through the eyes of 13 different characters with permadeath.

Every episode will offer new, unpredictable spooky situations that will scare players. The first episode will be located at the scary Husher mansion. But for the second one we will travel to at a haunted building with a particularly horrifying antique shop. Do you fondly remember your school days? That’s about to change when the third chapters brings you to a cursed college building. An abandoned abbey, surrounded by a deadly halo after a creepy concert, is the location of the fourth chapter but the one that really gets me is that mental institution where you will face the ultimate challenge.

Song of Horror’s first and second episode will be released on Halloween, October 31st, 2019 but they won’t be alone for long.

You can join the rest of the characters in the investigation in December, when the third one will be released while the fourth and fifth will arrive to Steam in January 2020 and March 2020. Players can expect around 20 hours of gameplay plus 13 playable characters and should be aware that the story will have a prologue and an epilogue, each one of them located in the first and last episode.

Watch out – there is no such thing as a safe haven.

The post Sing out in Terror! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Stoic, an independent game development company, and Versus Evil, one of the leading independent video game publishers, today announced that Banner Saga 3launches a new game mode for PC in the form of Eternal Arena. The newly introduced game mode was a $400K Stretch Goal as part of Banner Saga 3’s original funding drive which it comfortably smashed through in less than a week. Over eight thousand backers helped the game reach its funding and stretch goal targets with Stoic being able to deliver the game earlier than scheduled and complete all its Kickstarter stretch goals on time.

Eternal Arena is a true test of combat prowess in a series of quick play challenges where players can customize their own maps, rules, and enemies to create unique tests of skill. Eternal Arena mode allows players to use sandbox-style options to test out their wildest ideas and become the stuff of legends by participating in weekly tournaments and competing against the world for the high score rankings.

“Eternal Arena has been a lot of fun to devise, tactical gameplay plays a major role but PC players can really mix it up to test out their own combat scenarios and ideas, if you love tactical combat then this is a perfect mode to get stuck into”. Said John Watson,Technical Director at Stoic. “The fans and backers have been an integral part of helping us deliver this game so we’re thrilled to introduce the last stretch goal to the final chapter in the Banner Saga series.” He added.

Banner Saga 3 is the defining end to an emotionally driven series that began in 2014 and has continued to enthrall its legion of fans with a deep and thought provoking story-driven adventure, beautifully-crafted hand painted visuals and challenging, strategic turn-based combat. The game’s soundtrack also concludes Austin Wintory’s work on the award winning franchise with another beautifully orchestrated original score.

The third and final installment in the award winning, BAFTA nominated role-playing strategy game, is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.  This launch brings the trilogy to a climactic, tragic end in epic form where gamers can now experience the complete saga from beginning to end.

The post BANNER SAGA 3 SHARPENS ITS BATTLE AXE appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Destination Primus Vita, the episodic first-person space puzzler adventure crafted by a team of Ubisoft veterans, including a former producer, lead character artist, narrative director, and software engineers, is about to touch down.

In the year 3044, centuries after an alien race known only as “The Shatters” devastated Earth and stole nearly all the planet’s water, humanity’s last hope lies with the intrepid Crew 121. To avert impending extinction, they’ve set out to reclaim Earth’s most precious resource from the alien homeworld of Primus Vita. This six-person crew of humanity’s best and brightest consists of quantum physics scientists, military men and women, botanists, and communication experts all prepared to sacrifice everything to help their home planet.

All six episodes of Destination Primus Vita will unfold from a different character’s perspective, but their stories are inherently intertwined. Interpersonal relationships must be nurtured through player-driven dialogue while delving into the complex web that connects these spacefarers. Buried secrets await, and the crew doesn’t all see eye-to-eye. Light RPG elements show each individual’s affinity for the others, uncovering deeper narrative threads and conversations.

The crew’s arduous flightpath consists of four years hurtling through space. Instead of whiling away the hours and contemplating the gravity of their mission, the squad is suspended in cryo-sleep. To maintain the team’s mental acuity, NIM, their vessel’s AI, invents and provides vigorous cognitive tests. Pulling from each member’s memories and combining them with riddles sparks both their problem-solving intelligence and their emotional intelligence. Solving NIM’s puzzles requires teamwork as answers lie hidden within the multifarious narrative.

“Realistically flawed characters and complicated, nuanced relationships were our key focuses with Destination Primus Vita,” said Anne Gibeault, creative lead and comic series author, Epsilon Games. “We believe these aspects strengthen our story about hope, trust, and exploration into both the vastness of space and the depths of our inner selves.”

Destination Primus Vita arrives on Steam for PC and Mac on 16th of August 2018.

The post Puzzles in Space! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Teen drama is possibly the hardest genre to write.

In so many TV shows, movies and other media, teenagers are too-often stuffed full of cliches, terrible dialogue and poor acting. The original Life is Strange stood proudly apart, an out-of-nowhere series of short narrative games that blew its competitors (namely Telltale games) out of the water. And in its prequel Before the Storm, which was developed by a separate company with a different voice actor, the first two of three episodes kept that same high bar.

In its third episode then, can the developers Deck Nine continue their streak, and gracefully link the end of Before the Storm to the beginning of the original series? Prequels are notorious for being good ideas done badly so can Episode 3 buck the trend?

The story here picks up immediately following the revelation at the end of Episode 2. This time there’s no need to set up characters or explain their motivations, and the story doubles down on the themes it began to explore in the previous two episodes. Fundamentally it’s all about (spoilers) Chloe trying to find Rachel’s biological mother and bring them together, set amidst the confusion of a new relationship and teenage skepticism of authorities.

It’s a story that has been competently handled, though as a narrative it perhaps isn’t as strong as the opening two episodes. Its triumph though is that it still packs an emotional punch, even when, if you’ve played the original series, you know where the story is going to (tragically) end.

It was interesting to note that the choices were far more clear cut in the third episode than the first two. One of the features I love about these games is seeing the choices other players made and their statistics. For episode three, an overwhelming majority of people chose the same path – with the huge exception of the final, impossible choice. At times it felt more like watching a story than playing a game than ever before. It was more linear, with less time to explore. This allows the episode to maintain the momentum already built up.

The excellent soundtrack by Daughter continues to be a highlight of Before the Storm and it remains one of my favourite albums of 2017 even without knowing its gaming context.

There’s still one bonus episode to be released in 2018, featuring Ashley Birch reprising her role as Chloe. This episode will be available to deluxe edition owners and I will be interested to see how it contrasts to the rest of the series; whether the change of voice actors substantially changes the feel of the game as a whole.

While the original Life is Strange featured a time rewind mechanic, Before the Storm used a “backtalk” verbal jousting system that matches protagonist Chloe’s personality to a tee. I only however found one backtalk event in Episode 3 that I failed immediately. Perhaps that’s a consequence of the choices that I’d made in the previous two episodes, but I did think it a shame that it wasn’t used as often as it could have been.

For achievement hunters it’s possibly one of the easiest platinums you will ever get, especially with the inclusion of a collectors mode. I’ve seriously considered finding every graffiti option just to grab the elusive platinum trophy.

I was skeptical of Before the Storm when I first heard it would be coming out. Prequels are so often poor cousins of the original piece of media, but Before the Storm is every bit just as good as the original. It does really interesting things with the story, even though we know in broad strokes what is going to happen. It fleshes out both Chloe and Rachel in a way that doesn’t feel subservient to the original episodes, but perfectly aligned. Deck Nine have done a superb job in capturing the characters, tone, presentation and feel of the Life is Strange universe to create a prequel series that is one of the best prequels ever made. While Episode 3 doesn’t offer anything new, it neatly wraps up a compelling story, and the only disappointment is there aren’t any more episodes to come. If you’ve never played Life is Strange, start here. And if you have, Before the Storm is an unmissable addition to the franchise.

The post Life is Strange: Before the Storm EP 3 (PlayStation 4) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Square Enix and DONTNOD Entertainment’s award-winning, five-episode narrative-driven adventure Life is Strange is coming to iPhone and iPad.

This faithful adaptation of the original console game developed by Black Wing Foundation is now enhanced on iPhone and iPad, with Unreal Engine 4 and features full touch screen integration, as well as exclusive Life is Strange iMessage stickers and in-game photo-mode, ideal for fans and newcomers alike.

Life is Strange has received critical acclaim for broaching mature yet relatable themes rarely addressed in videogames, and is now available to pre-order on the App Store. Episodes 1-3 of Life is Strange on iPhone and iPad will be available on December 14th, 2017, with Episodes 4 and 5 to follow in Q1 2018.

“Everyone here at DONTNOD is really excited to share the adventures of Max and Chloe in Life is Strange with a new audience on mobile,” said Oskar Guilbert, CEO at DONTNOD Entertainment. “We welcome new players to Arcadia Bay’s community and look forward to discovering the story choices that they make during their stay.”

Follow the story of Max Caulfield, a photography senior who discovers she can rewind time while saving her best friend Chloe Price. The pair soon find themselves investigating the mysterious disappearance of fellow student Rachel Amber, uncovering a dark side to life in Arcadia Bay. Meanwhile, Max must quickly learn that changing the past can sometimes lead to a devastating future.

With high quality production values and a unique hand-drawn art style optimized for iPhone and iPad, Life is Strange is a compelling, story-driven experience where choice and consequence play a key role in how the narrative unfolds.

In Life is Strange the player’s decisions have deep and lasting repercussions on the game’s narrative, its characters and the world.

The post Life is Strange coming to i-Devices appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Rockstar Games are known for two things.

Pushing the boundaries of graphic yet epic gameplay and indepth narrative within a game.

L.A. Noire first released by their Australian studio way back in 2011. And while it was met with some controversy from the developers at the time, it was a title that used facial motion capture (MotionScan) to the extreme detail.

L.A. Noire is similar to an old crime mystery film where you take the part of a rookie cop (to begin with), called Cole Phelps who is tasked with exploring a 1947 Los Angeles for clues and to unravel a murder and catch the killer. It runs at a slower pace, as was actual life back then.

Of course as the game progresses Cole’s career does too. He gets promoted to the rank of Detective and it’s not long before you are embroiled in the seedy drug laden side of L.A. with the intention of taking down those responsible.

Gameplay relies on the players decisions, for example at specific intervals you will have the opportunity to interrogate witnesses. With the press of a button you decide whether you believe the witness or suspect or not.

Depending on the decisions that you make will depend on how the game plays out and also the longevity of it aswell. There is high replayability, especially if you are a in-game collector. Golden Film reels are there for the taking and there is the option to replay past crimes.

L.A. Noire, although starkly different to Rockstar’s world famous franchise GTA, it also has similarities. It is an open world game, what you see you can get to. Vehicles can be driven around the city and you can play at your own pace by dropping in and out of the main story.

Now Rockstar have re-released L.A. Noire, not only in 4K on PlayStation 4, but also on Nintendo’s play anywhere console, the Switch.

Re-playing L.A. Noire on the Switch was a walk down memory lane. I loved the game when it first released and played it until finished. Now I get to do the same all over again, but this time on the go.

Rockstar have tweaked the game to make use of the Switch’s touch and controller features. You can apply in-game actions with the usual buttons, however, you are prompted to touch the screen to perform story specific functions. The motion controller (dare I say nunchucks?) are also utilised for home based play or when the Switch is not being held in hand.

L.A. Noire feels right at home on the Switch and while it is a game that requires some time to fully get through you can whip through some of the tasks that are set real quick.

It’s still as excellent as the day it released six years ago and has not aged both in gameplay and visuals.

For Switch gamers, this needs to be on their Christmas wish list.

The post L.A. Noire (Switch) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Hitman is a long-standing series following Agent 47 on his various assassination jobs with a bit of story in between to make it just a tad more interesting. This latest entry, Hitman: The Complete First Season, is set seven years after Hitman: Absolution with a quick snippet of prologue being a prelude to the Hitman: Codename 47.

As Agent 47 you again undertake various contracts to assassinate the high and mighty, seemingly, for the greater good. Taking out the targets is where the player comes in. While killing is the main objective it isn’t just about eliminating the target but rather doing so with style. Killing the target is the bare minimum requirement but every mission is rated and so the task is not so much to simply kill the target but to do so as much flare or subtly as possible.

The Levels really have a sandbox feel to them. There is an area and within it things happening around you whether you choose to interact or not. You could take advantage of an accident to acquire a new disguise or simply be in the right place at the right time to over hear a useful bit of information that might get you a lot closer to your target than you could have hoped for. But all these things aren’t just in your face, you need to both explore and investigate the area to fully optimise the possibilities at your disposal. The game really enables resourceful players a lot of creativity in how to take out their targets (honesty not something I thought I’d ever say about killing someone). However, if clean and precise is not your style you can still be as messy or boring as you like.

Mistakes can be made and while a messier approach is an option you are punished for it at the end of the mission as it impacts your overall rating and possible bonuses.

As you progress you gain overall levels. These levels allow you to start with better advantage and sneak in things in better places depending on your level. So not only does each level provide an already large variety of lethal options but gives those perfectionist opportunities to come back later and perfect their killing score.

You will find the save option to be your biggest friend. You can spend quite some time staking out a bystander to simply obtain a better disguise to get you closer to the main objective and one wrong move, like thinking a door was a walk-in freezer, can waste a lot of time having you start all over from scratch again if you forgot to save. There is an autosave feature but it’s timing doesn’t always provide the best restart points.

While there is story I have to say I didn’t find it a big contributor to my motivation to play the game. I can easily say the hitman missions are what the real draw cards are and if they happen to contribute to a bigger story well, then I guess that is almost a bonus.

Mechanically the game is mostly smooth. There can be some issues with opening and closing doors if you are in the wrong angle or spot but mostly the combat, stealthing and overall gameplay mechanics work well with the environments to provide a fluent experience that allows you to adequately perform the tasks you want.

Hitman does require a certain amount of meticulous attention and patience. I can say you really need to be in the right mood or the sort of person to simply enjoy the planning and seeing a good plan come to fruition to fully enjoy this game. Admittedly I can be an impatient gamer but I find the lengthy build up to the final completion of the job certainly makes its end a lot more satisfactory.

A big annoyance I found in the game was the need to login as online each time you start up the game. Playing offline actually subtracts from the games experience. While you can complete missions in offline mode doing so deprives you of rewards and in game achievements. Logging into servers takes quite some time so you are generally not inclined to do so in the first place. If you complete a mission offline you simply miss out on the in-game rewards and bonuses and if you would like those rewards, you have to re-complete the whole mission in online mode. This is frustrating and frankly turns me off playing further. It really subtracts from an overall enjoyable game.

Hitman: The Complete First Season is a compilation of new episodes for Agent 47 to complete. It provides even more elaborate and varied jobs to take. It does require a certain level of patience and perseverance but certainly provides and fun challenging and unique set of scenarios to play through.Sadly, the online/offline issue ruins a good thing but if you remember each time to login and don’t have internet issues it has a fair bit to offer. I can appreciate it may not be every one’s idea of a fun killing time but is well crafted game that offers its own version of this.

The post Hitman: The Complete First Season (PlayStation 4) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

It’s not uncommon for games to be created that lack something unique, but rather create a little hook that allows them to stand out and be their own wonderful creation.  Bear With Me does exactly this, but instead of a little hook, the game is given its own facelift in a way that is considerably better than I could have imagined.

Bear With Me, for the most part, is a generic point and click adventure game.  You click around rooms to pick up objects and interact with them as well as othercharacters.  It functions well but there isn’t anything new or unique to say to this.  It’s a well put together point and click adventure game.

The noir detective setting isn’t too new either. Detective games have taken advantage of the nature of point and click adventures for a long time and it’s a good fit. The noir setting has been slipping in and out of the genre over the last few years as well, using the classic black and white colour scheme with dashes of red for dramatic effect.

What makes Bear With Me special is its art style and setting.  The story is of Amber, a young girl who wakes from a dream to discover her brother has gone missing.  Informed of this by her giraffe soft toy, Millie, she enlists the help of Ted E. Bear, a grumpy old private detective whose office is based out of Amber’s closet.  Between the two of them they need to discover in Paper City what happened to Flint while a red hooded figure follows them.

The story is basically made up of old noir and detective tropes, but filtered through the lenses of a young girl’s imagination.  This angle makes the game both unique and charming as all heck.  The humour comes by way of some of the characters being firmly presented as older characters, like Ted being an old alcoholic, or Millie being an older, super nice woman.  These offer their own humour and the jokes are far from limited to this.  Other humour comes by way of banter between characters and Amber’s interpretation of the world when her imagination goes wild. Her mind wanders to weird places when you click objects like lights and paintings and some fourth wall breaking that glued a big smile on my face at times.  The game pokes fun at everything including itself and its staff and this charm isn’t missed.

The art style is gorgeous, with a 2D animation which looks fantastic.  The setting and objects look good but the characters, especially Amber, look very unique, which gives the game its own fantastic feeling.  The music is good but the voice acting is very good. Some characters are not as good as others but Amber and Ted are great.

All of these aspects can be undone easily by bad gameplay and as many point and click adventures do it can get obscure with puzzles at times.  For the most part you need to find objects and regularly combine them in the right way.  There were some issues like a rope to cut where I tried to use a sword, which the character said no to, but when I used the knife it worked.

This seemed arbitrary, but most of the time Ted regularly is able to help if you click him.  I also found it hard to tell on occasion which were items or part of the scenery. This is a flaw created by the beautiful design, which does result in a little random clicking at times.

Bear With Me is a beautiful, sweet, dark, funny story that oozes with character.  Amber’s story is well worth enjoying, as it’s only short episode lengths of a couple of hours it never overstays its welcome.