Crown Wars: The Black Prince offers up an incredibly interesting take on the turn-based tactical game genre by borrowing heavily from quite a few different titles. Its influences can be traced from a number of sources, be it the XCOM-styled stealth and character progression, to base building that looks like it’s right out of Darkest Dungeon, and even roster management that’s incredibly close to what we see in Mordheim: City of the Damned. While ideas are freely borrowed from other titles, the way Crown Wars: The Black Prince puts them together makes the gameplay feel like it’s greater than the sum of its parts.

Throughout the campaign, you’re tasked with sending your squads out on missions all over the realm, and in the process, you’ll get rewarded with new gear, as well as resources that can be used to upgrade the various buildings in your keep, the gear on your different characters, and even features that allow you to, for example, let some of your soldiers rest to get back some of their lost health and stamina. The domain management offers up most of the meta-narrative and larger-scaled objectives, with several buildings and upgrades being locked behind missions and resource requirements.

When you take on a mission, you have to pick from soldiers in your barracks, and kit them out with weapons, armor, healing items, and depending on the type of soldier you have, maybe even some explosives. Missions themselves can be rather long at times, especially since they often take place on larger maps that are broken up into smaller skirmishes you might get into. Before you get into a fight, however, you also have the option to sneak up on enemies to set up ambushes.

"Throughout the campaign, you’re tasked with sending your squads out on missions all over the realm"

Once one of your soldiers is spotted, the real fight begins, and a lot of Crown Wars: The Black Prince just straight up feels like medieval European XCOM, albeit with more streamlined game mechanics. Your soldiers, especially when you start out, have three actions they can do—1 movement and 2 attacks. If you can’t attack enemies, you can also use up those attack actions to move further. There’s also a cover system and depending on the type of map you end up fighting in, archers can either be absolutely useless, or the most annoying things ever.

Much like any other tactical strategy game, every attack has a hit chance, and Crown Wars: The Black Prince promotes keeping your soldiers close together by rewarding you with higher hit chances when allies are standing side-by-side. Generally speaking, however, tactics will win fights more than anything else in the game, and even if you find yourself being horribly outnumbered, the right positioning and the right set of abilities will do more to win the game for you than a poorly thought-out all-out attack would.

While missions in Crown Wars: The Black Prince can often be long, they never really feel boring. Just about every mission you set out on will have some sort of interesting twist, be it some fun terrain to play around with, or even a special type of powerful enemy that will make you rethink all of your tactics. When it comes to pure gameplay, Crown Wars: The Black Prince is a lot of fun, and the general loop of kitting out soldiers by completing missions and unlocking new buildings is pretty fun.

Unfortunately, the story itself is a bit of a letdown. Crown Wars: The Black Prince suffers in trying to retell a historic event with a twist, largely because the more interesting stuff takes quite a while to actually kick in. You’re going to be spending a long time dealing with just regular soldiers and enemies—all speaking with a grandiosity in their voice that would feel like parody if the game weren’t trying to be sincere.

While the setting itself is rife with interesting things happening all over Europe—the Black Plague is still fresh, for instance—the story largely sticks to rooting out evil corruption in the upper echelons of French society and nobility. I personally found the main story to be incredibly boring, which is a shame because the primary setting of the game is quite fun, and there was a lot of potential for a more interesting story there.

Generally speaking, Crown Wars: The Black Prince is arguably let down quite a bit by just about everything that isn’t core gameplay. The story, while trying to be grandiose and majestic, ends up feeling like little more than an excuse to send you to your next mission, and the voice acting can be comedic at the best of times, and downright terrible at the worst.

"The story, while trying to be grandiose and majestic, ends up feeling like little more than an excuse to send you to your next mission"

In terms of visuals, Crown Wars: The Black Prince just isn’t a particularly good-looking game. The title has some rather lo-fi art, and while this looks great in some spots, like the domain management screen which gradually grows to be grander and gaudier as you progress through the story, the battles themselves have a tendency to look like plastic toys smashing into each other. Characters can be quite detailed, which is especially great considering the fact that you’re encouraged to customize all of your soldiers. The environments, however, look quite bad, with flat texture work and a surprising lack of detail in just about everything.

When it comes to audio, the game doesn’t really have much that would set it apart from heavyweights of the genre like Expeditions: Rome or King Arthur: Knight’s Tale. It goes for a grand symphonic soundtrack that ends up feeling really generic, and the game doesn’t really have much in the way of a memorable moment punctuated by the flourish of an awesome song. The music in the background is just that—in the background.

Crown Wars: The Black Prince is an interesting case where, while most of its aspects are disappointing, the core gameplay is strong enough to carry the whole experience on its back. The simple gameplay loop of domain and roster management, and tactical battles kept me coming back for more every time, even though most of the cutscenes and storytelling in the game ranges from uninteresting-but-inoffensive, to downright boring at points. If you’re a fan of tactical strategy games in the vein of XCOM or Expeditions: Rome, Crown War: The Black Prince offers a decent twist on the time-tested formula by mashing up a bunch of ideas together. If you’re the kind of player that absolutely needs strong visuals as well as a great story to keep pushing you forward, however, I’d recommend playing something else.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Set in 1356 in France during the Hundred Years’ War, the world is on the brink of collapse amidst raging conflict and the spread of the Black Plague. You play as the head of a noble family and fend off enemy factions while attempting to root out an evil that has corrupted the highest echelons of society, taking the form of a mysterious cult.

With your own castle serving as your hub, you will recruit, equip and train soldiers to fight your enemies and protect the population, while also honing your skills in management and diplomacy. The game’s reveal trailer shows off a few brief glimpses of pre-alpha gameplay footage along with some cinematics that set up the story. Check it out below.

Crown Wars: The Black Prince will launch sometime in 2023 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

After the franchise took a long break, Moto Racer 4 is going to be coming to the current generation of consoles. The developer has promised the game is going to have 60fps support and no less than 15 single-player and multiplayer modes. The title is going to have some traditional modes that have popped up in previous versions of the franchise.

There are also going to be some brand new modes such as ‘Ghost Bike’, ‘Wolf Pack’ and ‘Golden Helmet’. Perhaps the thing to get most excited about is the promise of a split screen multiplayer mode. That’s a real rarity in the racing genre.

You can check out  a run down of all the features that have been promised in the new game below. The very first Moto Racer debuted on the PS1 in 1997. The final game in the series, until Moto Racer 4, Moto Racer 3 was released way back in 2001. Moto Racer 4 is due on the PS4, Xbox One and PC on October 13.

• KING OF THE HILL: Each rider starts with the same time on the clock. While time runs down for the leader, the other racers get extra turbo. The first player to get their counter down to zero wins the race.
• LAST MAN STANDING: The last player to pass each checkpoint is eliminated.
• SURVIVAL: The race starts with very little time on the clock. Players gain time by passing the checkpoints. In single-player mode, the aim is to survive for a specific length of time. In multi-player mode, the winner is the last player with time left on their clock.
• CATCH-UP: The player’s opponents begin the race with a headstart and the player must be in first place at a specific time.
• WOLF PACK: The player begins the race with a headstart and must maintain it for a certain length of time without being overtaken.
• GHOST BIKE: The player starts the race in last place and is not allowed to deviate from the road or collide with others. S/he must finish in a specified minimum place.
• GOLDEN HELMET: Competitors must earn the one golden helmet up for grabs during the race. To do this, they must be first past the initial checkpoint. If the player wearing the golden helmet is knocked by another player, s/he surrenders it to that player. If a player falls off their bike, s/he loses the helmet and it is automatically sent to the next checkpoint.

GamingBolt had a chance to speak project manager Alexandre Migeon from Artefacts Studio and ask about the development process for Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders, among other things.

"The game reminds some of titles like The Room or other puzzles-dedicated games. The gameplay has been developed to be easy to understand and fun to play with a friend or the whole family."

What inspired you to create a game based off of Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders?

Alexandre Migeon: We wanted to develop an investigation and adventure game with a rich plot and charismatic characters. Beginning with one of the trickiest, and most beloved, stories from the Queen of Crime felt like a good way to start.

How difficult was it to adapt a literary novel into an interactive medium like this? How did the point and click adventure genre best fit the overall story?

Alexandre Migeon: With a main character such as Hercule Poirot, an adventure game made the most sense.  An action game would have been more original but not as relevant J. Hercule is tired of lifting his cup of tea and prefers to think rather than to search for clues in the field.

It’s a very rich and complex story-driven game. Players don’t need to be video game or adventure specialists … being an adventure game keeps it easy for most people to play and enjoy. One of the main difficulties was to make the game interesting enough for the people who have already read the book.

The art-style for the game takes a very refined approach. What were the influences behind it and how does it best embody the spirit of the novels?

Alexandre Migeon: We wanted to give it a very specific visual – a real artistic approach – that will last over time.

Beyond the artistic approach, each place has been modeled based on the book or other Agatha Christie works. For example, the Hercule Poirot Apartment is very-well respected and each object is carefully placed just as the way Hercule Poirot would place it.

What are the inspirations behind some of the puzzles, which seem to mostly challenge players to open different locks, modify gears, etc.?

Alexandre Migeon: We wanted to focus on a wide audience that enjoys investigation games but also puzzle mechanics.  Our goal was to make people discover The ABC Murders story in an interactive way. The game reminds some of titles like The Room or other puzzles-dedicated games. The gameplay has been developed to be easy to understand and fun to play with a friend or the whole family. The integrated help system is representative of that.

"Alternate endings are triggered by a decision players can make toward the end of the game. Repercussions are more in short time."

What kind of variety does The ABC Murders offer players? Are there chances for certain deductions to go wrong or multiple outcomes?

Alexandre Migeon: It was important to those who handle Agatha Christie’s legacy that there is indeed an alternative ending.  Deductions from the player, like in the reconstitutions sequences, can be wrong or incomplete, and players will then have to investigate deeper to gather all the information necessary to complete the murders reconstitutions.

Are there any long time repercussions to your decisions that can lead to different endings?

Alexandre Migeon: Alternate endings are triggered by a decision players can make toward the end of the game. Repercussions are more in short time. The way they conduct the questioning sequences will have influence on the clues they gather from witnesses and their reactions.

What influences did Frogwares’ Sherlock Holmes games have on The ABC Murders, especially since that series is also centered on a famous literary detective?

Alexandre Migeon: For sure Sherlock and Hercule Poirot, with very different styles, are two of the most famous detectives in literature and beyond. Similarities can be found in the games but Sherlock was more hardcore adventure fan oriented. ABC is designed more to make the player discover the story in a playful way making them believe they are as bright as the inimitable Belgian investigator J.

Some critics have praised the overall game but found a lot of the puzzles and inspections to be quite easy. What are your thoughts on the same?

Alexandre Migeon: It’s impossible to please every type of player. We think we managed to adapt the difficulty to the group of players we were aiming for. Some players find it difficult while those who play these types of games frequently found the challenge too easy for them. However, our next adventure game from Pendulo Studios (who brought the Runaway saga), will answer their thirst of difficulty.

"Being gamers ourselves, we would love to see real full backward compatibility for every brand. Microsoft is trying hard to improve the brand image since the start of the Xbox One."

Will we see future titles in The ABC Murders series?

Alexandre Migeon: ABC cases will be solved at the end of the game but it doesn’t close the case on potential other Agatha Christie’s game adaptations.

What are your thoughts on the adventure game genre in this era especially with so many compelling games and remasters having arrived in the past year or so? How will this influence the longevity of The ABC Murders franchise?

Alexandre Migeon: Let’s hope we are asked to do a remake of ABC in 15 years as many players request remakes of classic adventure hits J. I don’t know if it will be the case as I lost the key of my time- traveling machine, but we hope to already give a good experience and fun for 2016 to the budding detectives.

From a developer perspective, What is your personal take on the differences between backwards compatibility feature offered by the PS4 and Xbox One? Sony is obviously charging for this feature whereas Xbox One is providing it for free.

Alexandre Migeon: Being gamers ourselves, we would love to see real full backward compatibility for every brand. Microsoft is trying hard to improve the brand image since the start of the Xbox One. Let’s hope backward compatibility will be soon available for most of the fantastic 360 games launched this last decade and that the hard work will be appreciated by gamers.

"We really hope that players will enjoy the game through the story, the characters, the dialogs and all the elements we hid in the game to add re-playability value."

What are your thoughts on the Xbox One’s eSRAM? Many developers think it’s a massive bottleneck. Do you think in an alternate vision, Microsoft could have opted for a better solution than eSRAM?

Alexandre Migeon: This hardware choice can be a challenge especially for engine developers. It’s one of the reasons we used the Unity engine, so it could give us the opportunity to focus on mainly on the game.

What resolution and FPS does the PS4 and X1 version of the game run at?

Alexandre Migeon: Both versions are at 1080p and 30 fps with an enabled vertical synchronization. This feature gives the game a fluid feeling.

Is there anything else you want to tell us before we let you go?

Alexandre Migeon: We really hope that players will enjoy the game through the story, the characters, the dialogs and all the elements we hid in the game to add re-playability value.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

An official announcement took place on January 7, 2016. Two weeks later, Microids announced a new official trailer to Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders. Officially titled the Pre-order trailer the video was meant to show people just how they would be solving the murders contained in the game. In addition to these videos, Microids released a number of behind the scenes videos that were geared towards showing people how the company developed the game. The videos also shed light on the mechanics and the modes that make up the title.

It was originally slated for release in early February of 2016 but it was eventually pushed back until February 23, 2016.

Story

Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders features the same story that was in the popular book. In the game, the private detective Hercule Poirot will find himself up against a mysterious opponent who goes by the name of “ABC”. This particular killer is good at what he or she does and quite smart. That will challenge the detective in ways he hasn’t been before.

Gameplay

In Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders the player takes on the role of the famous Hercule Poirot in a 3rd person perspective adventure game. As the developers have pointed out, Poirot is not someone who is going to be running or jumping in order to catch the killer. This is a man who tends to try and outthink his adversary and may be able to catch them simply by having them in the same room at the right time. One of the key aspects of the gameplay then, is called the Brain Mode. This mode centers heavily on the character using his “little grey cells” which is a direct homage to the character in the books who often referred to this turn of phrase. When using this mode, players will identify different clues that were surrounding a particular body and attempt to answer a number of questions that include but are not limited to the time of death.

Another mode that is used when investigating a murder is called the Summary Mode. This particular mode is supposed to embody the detective’s penchant for psychological observation. This means that the character will actually be able to deduce a number of things just by the way one character or another reacts to comments or questions. The developers have shown off one video where a woman is being interviewed about an apparent male murder victim. The detective notices the woman is sad, after being given a couple of different choices to answer relatively the same question. This leads right into the investigation mechanism. This isn’t much different from other games of this kind and is even used in other adventure games where investigating isn’t the key goal such as The Walking Dead from Telltale Games. This particular game play mechanism offers the player a number of different ways to approach a conversation. If a witness or suspect has just announced they were in a fight, Poirot can either decided to be somewhat antagonistic, or just curious as to what happened. In other situations, the player can choose to have the detective attempt to empathize with the character. The game has several turning points that will help you deduce who the ABC killer is when all is said and done.

Not all of the investigating is done by interviewing people or simply hovering a cursor over something that is found at the crime scene. There is also a puzzle solving aspect of the game that is needed in order for the detective to go down the right path. The developers have said there are more than 15 puzzles total in the game. Puzzle solving isn’t the central aspect of Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders but it does appear to play an important part in finding the right kind of clue and discovering who is doing the murders. Some of the puzzles will focus on having the player manipulate a kind of mechanism while other puzzles will be based on the player’s observations from earlier in the game. By doing this, the developer has said it is attempting to bring the true feel of being a detective to the game.

Characters

The main character in the game is the Belgian private detective Hercule Poirot. This is a man who relies on his wits and his experience. He does not believe that detective work requires someone to get down on their hands and knees in the dirt. Another of the characters that might turn out to be a top suspect in the murders is a man by the name of Franklin Clarke. Clarke is a supremely confident man who has recently turned his amorous attention towards his deceased brother’s personal assistant. He’s described as a big fellow with a tanned face. A.B. Cust is a tall man who is somewhat socially awkward. His odd mannerisms have led to the attention of many other characters in the story.

Sir C. Clarke was the third victim of the ABC killer. The rich former doctor used to enjoy long walks around the grounds of his estate. This apparently made him a target for the murderer. Donald Fraser has landed on Poirot’s radar as one of the prime suspects. The young Scotsman’s beloved wife has gone missing and there are many who believe Fraser is the one who made her disappear. Elizabeth Barnard is presumed to be another victim of the ABC killer. The 23 year old was outgoing and friendly and was engaged to Donald Fraser when she went missing.

James Harold Japp is a police detective that attempts to work alongside Poirot despite the two men having investigative approaches that sometimes clash. Poirot feels as though Japp misses too much and talks too loudly. There are other characters in the game that the company has said will only be discovered by finishing the game.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game

Complete Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders with the help of this HD video walkthrough and game guide.

Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders has been adapted from the Agatha Christie novel. The players takes on the role of the famous detective, Hercule Poirot who needs to resolve deadly puzzles and explore the city to find potential clues, as the players find themselves against an unknown person who only goes by the name of ‘ABC’.

Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders is now available for PS4, Xbox One and PC. The game is published by Microïds and developed by Artefacts Studio.

Check out the video walkthrough of Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders below and let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below. For video game guides, tips and wikis, check out our gaming portal here.