Mass Effect Andromeda

Mass Effect Andromeda tried to do a lot. It tried to tell a new story with a brand new cast, with the team behind Mass Effect 3’s stellar multiplayer in charge. It also opted for much larger play spaces and more build diversity. However, from the very outset, there were issues, whether it was the plan to have randomly generated planets, Frostbite being a mess, high-level departures, etc. Despite being decent in several ways, Andromeda flopped hard enough that publisher EA reportedly cancelled DLC and put the franchise on ice for a few years.

Capybara Games’ Below is coming to PS4 on April 7th with a new Explore mode (which will also be available for Xbox One and PC players). This serves as a less punishing alternative to Survive mode. PC players can actually try out Explore mode early – it’s currently available in beta form on Steam for PC.

Simply select “Properties” after right-clicking on Below in Steam and navigate to the “Betas” tab. Once you enter the code, select “Public – Explore Public Branch”. The purpose of the beta is to squash any lingering bugs with the player base’s help.

Explore Mode removes Hunger and Thirst mechanics along with one-hit deaths. Any damage incurred is bleed-based allowing for time to stop it and get treated. Players also don’t have to worry about checkpoints and campfires being cleared after use but only one can be active at a time. All in all, these changes should help players enjoy the atmosphere of Below without worrying about constant death.

Capybara Games’ brutal roguelite Below is out on April 7th for PS4 and will retail for $24.99. Perhaps more interesting is that Explore Mode, which offers a less harsh experience, will also be available as a free update. Xbox One and PC players can try it out on the same day as PS4 players.

What does Explore Mode change? First off, Hunger and Thirst are disabled and no longer need to be managed. To that end, you can’t drink from puddles or bottles, though you’ll still need to fill bottles with water to cook soup (which restores your health). Thirst also doesn’t go out until you die.

Players no longer have to deal with one-hit deaths or the iron maid, and all damage is now bleed-based, so you have time to actually halt the bleeding. Checkpoints and campfires also don’t clear after being used, though you still can only have one active at a time. The best part is that if you’re already playing on Survive Mode, then Explore Mode will have its own save slot.

These are all positive changes – we’ll see if it can make Below a more enjoyable experience. For an idea on how the base game played, check out our review here.

Previously a console exclusive for Xbox One, Capybara Games’ Below is coming to PS4 in Spring. It will also receive a new mode across all platforms called “Explore” which allows for more relaxed gameplay. That means no Hunger or Thirst, damage depleting health slowly, no instant kills and checkpoints at bonfires.

Below initially launched in December 2018 after years of delays. It’s a roguelike where the player travels to The Isle and explores its labyrinthine depths. The default mode is “Survive” which challenges players to avoid death, discover treasures and secrets, and venture as far as they can.

The game was praised for its atmosphere and aesthetics. However, it also received its fair share of criticism for design choices (like how suddenly death could find the player). Here’s hoping that Explore mode allows the game to flourish and bring more players in than before. Stay tuned in the coming months for a release date on PS4.

Crackdown 3

Okay, so Crackdown 3 isn’t the greatest open world game out there. But it offers a decently sized city with plenty to blow up and lots of different things to do. The Skills for Kills system encourages taking down foes with a variety of weapons and abilities, and hunting down different crime bosses while laying waste to their businesses can be mindless fun. It’s Crackdown-rific, and that may work for certain people.

BELOW

 Below was in development for five years, which is a long time to wait for any game. Late in 2018, we finally got to play the game, and what a ride it was. While there’s an argument to be made that it’s difficulty can actually be a bit unfair at times, especially combined with the undeniable repetitiveness, most of the times, the game manages to find the right balance. Struggling through gruelling encounters and navigating around the many deathtraps it throws at you is as satisfying as you would expect.

]]> https://gamingbolt.com/15-most-difficult-games-of-2018/feed 0 379561 https://gamingbolt.com/below-review-a-serene-deathtrap https://gamingbolt.com/below-review-a-serene-deathtrap#respond Wed, 19 Dec 2018 16:48:07 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=379038 There’s nothing wrong with challenge. In recent years, there’s been an upsurgence of titles that cater to an audience sick of a lack of challenge in their games. These types of games are great ways for a player to really test their boundaries and try and strive towards a sense of accomplishment. It’s always a delicate balance between difficulty and fairness though. For every mistake that a player makes, there should be a consequence. But when is this consequence too harsh?

Below is the most recent bit of output by developer Capybara Games, the studio responsible for Superborther: Sword & Sorcery EP and Super Time Force. Below is different from those two games in the fact that it is a procedurally generated top-down dungeon crawler. In this title, you travel deeper and deeper into the depths just for the sake of exploration. You will encounter plenty of enemies and fauna to cut down with your weapons along the way and will find plenty of objects to pick up and craft together. You’ll also die. A lot. Below is a tough game.

This game is a gorgeous exercise in minimalism. The visuals manage to convey incredible depth with very little, with particle effects sparsely coating the foreground and dense fog covering up much of the beautiful pixel-work until you get close enough. Music is sparse in this title but it manages to kick in at the most affecting parts. While you’ll mostly be treated to ambiance, you will find a good tune seep through the atmosphere every so often. The UI is also unobtrusive and helps to keep you immersed in the isolation of the depths.

"Below is an unforgiving game. The mechanics in place are easy to understand and you’re given plenty of time to toy around with them and get a handle on them, but once you mess up, you’re punished for it harshly."

In Below, you aren’t given any text prompts or any guidance. You have to figure everything out and learn the ins and outs of the mechanics all on your own. The game opens up with a boat ride that eventually leads you to a secluded island. Once you’re on the island, you’ll run around a bit, perhaps play around with the crafting system, and then run into a large stone slab that you can’t get by. After fiddling about, you’ll realize by experimentation that the lantern that you picked up is your means of entry. From there, your journey really starts.

This is a simple title. You’re trying to find the many shards of light that are hidden away deep within the depths. You have a sword and a shield as your main means of attack. You also have a bow along with arrows that you keep in your inventory. You’ll find more weaponry and armor as you delve deeper. You can find objects scattered about and craft them into supplies like arrows, bandages, or higher quality crafting items. You also have a food, water, and warmth gauge to keep an eye on. These gauges aren’t too obtrusive and they’re easy enough to keep full as long as you’re prepared. Sources of water are spread out everywhere in the early game and you won’t even have to worry about the warmth unless you go into an area like the ice depths. The need to really keep an eye on these gauges is ushered in slowly so as to not overwhelm the player. And that’s good because as well-paced as this game is, it’s brutal.

Below is an unforgiving game. The mechanics in place are easy to understand and you’re given plenty of time to toy around with them and get a handle on them, but once you mess up, you’re punished for it harshly. Although you’ll probably die plenty from enemies, combat is not especially a focus of the game. More often than not, you’ll find yourself dying to a well-placed spike trap or from getting lost and starving to death. Your most valuable tool is your lantern. It helps you progress and move obstacles in your path. It helps illuminate your surroundings and spot traps easily. But once you die and lose it, you’d better hope that you’re prepared for the trek back to retrieve it.

"Choosing whether or not to go back to a previous campfire to bank your valuables or to continue pushing forward into the depths creates an interesting tension and helps add purpose to your journey."

In this title, your belongings are all dropped where you die and stay there until you come back to retrieve it. But if you should end up dying again before collecting it, your belongings are lost to the elements and now your most recent death is the only one with supplies on it. Except for your lantern. That’s always going to remain where you initially dropped it until you manage to get back to it and pick it up. There is a means of teleportation between campfires but it’s only a one-time use and you have to preemptively set it up using pieces of light before you die. So in a worst case scenario, you could be looking at a trek that has you going through most of the depths in order to grab your supplies before heading off in a whole new direction to grab your lantern, a process that could take upwards of fifteen minutes. And that’s only if you actually manage to make it through the areas and reach your gear safely. Otherwise, you could end up in a loop of failed loot runs that can stretch for a good chunk of playtime.

You are given a system where you can store items away though. When you rest at campfires, you’re taken away to a dream state where you can store crafting items, bits of light, armor, among other things. This dream state can be accessed at every campfire and it is the game’s only way of making sure your possessions are safe. This is a great addition and does a lot to cut down the monotony of gathering materials every time you have to go back out.

Choosing whether or not to go back to a previous campfire to bank your valuables or to continue pushing forward into the depths creates an interesting tension and helps add purpose to your journey.
The environments in Below all have a sense of identity that’s unique to each level. The rooms in Below are all procedurally generated, but the general layout of the levels stays the same. This is definitely a good thing since it’s possible to find your old body without searching the entire level. The levels bring about their own issues to worry about, whether it be freezing cold, a greater emphasis on traps, or more dense fog. You have to tread carefully; these are levels that you never really feel comfortable running through. The levels are also populated with enemies, many of which drop bits of light that you can use to power your lantern. This actually ends up helping you and when the game later starts to take these enemies away, it actually makes survival harder. The variety and pace of the levels helps keep the game from feeling stale.

"While Below is a beautiful title and it offers players a unique and isolated experience, this is still a very divisive title."

There’s also a few things in this package that will reward diligent players. If you invest into finding or unlocking them. There’s plenty of environmental puzzles, like using your bow to hit a switch far off, that offer rewards like additional supplies. There are also hidden shops that you can spend bits of light at in order to get armor and keys. Shortcuts are spaced out through the depths as well and provide a more reliable way to make it back to previous areas than the campfires allow. All this comes together to really emphasis what this game is all about: the exploration. After everything is said and done, this game is moreso about the simple act of seeing new environments more than anything else. To see how far you can go, how deep you can make it, what new sights you can see; this is the true goal of Below.

While Below is a beautiful title and it offers players a unique and isolated experience, this is still a very divisive title. Aside from the aforementioned difficulty, there is also the issue of repetition baked into the game’s mechanics. Going back to retrieve your gear over and over and wandering through the same sights over and over is not going to be for every player out there. This is a dungeon crawler at its core and it shows. For every person who can buy into the atmosphere and get sucked into the oppressive tone, there will be another person who will just be bored and wanting to get to the next new piece of the game. Below requires patience from its players just as much as it requires a methodical approach to its world. But if that all sounds like a game that you can get behind, then this will give you an experience that few other games get close to.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

Capybara Games have announced that after a protracted development cycle, their atmospheric action-RPG Below, which was first announced way back in 2013, will finally be launching for PC and Xbox One on December 14, in just a day over a week from now. The wait is finally over (almost) for those who’ve been looking forward to the title- of which there have been quite a few.

The developer has put out a launch trailer for the game as well, which shows plenty of footage from the game itself, with the new release date coming at the very end of the video. Take a look below.

As mentioned, Below was initially announced in 2013, but over the years, it got hit with delays time and time again, with the developers openly admitting to having announced the game too early, which caused them to face issues during development- although cancellation never crossed their minds.

Earlier this year, Capybara Games confirmed that Below would indeed be launching in 2018, so it’s good to see them finally deliver the game. From the looks of it, it’s looking excellent- we’ll find out for ourselves either way, with just eight days to go until the game launches at last.

Below has been a long time coming. The game was originally announced during Xbox One’s E3 2013 show, and we haven’t gotten to its launch to this day, more than five years later. It was a case of it being announced too early, but the developers, Capybara Games, have continued to chip away at it all this time. And this year, they plan on finally launching it.

Capybara co-founder Nathan Vella said as much in an interview with Engadget, noting that not only does the studio intend to ship Below this year, but also plans on making two new game announcements. “I’m just starting to come to the realization of what’s left in 2018,” Vella says. “We’re only halfway through and I’m like, ‘Aww, I’ve gotta fit everything into the last half?'”

As for what those two new games are, they will be announced some time during August- and they may not necessarily be Xbox One exclusive like Below is, either.

“We’re super interested in getting on all kinds of platforms, like we’ve always been really big into doing stuff on everywhere. So, some of the new stuff is not necessarily the same platforms that we’ve been working on in the recent past, which is really fun for the team,” Vella said.

Whatever they are, I hope they look as great as Below has so far- speaking of which, I also hope Below does end up launching this year, and that when it does, it is worth the years-long wait (much like Cuphead, another indie game with a protracted development cycle that launched last year at last, and turned out to be great in the end).

Dead Horses

"Similarly, if Fortnite is indeed revealed for the Switch, it wouldn’t be too strange for Microsoft to tout crossplay with the hybrid console, PC and mobiles."

Microsoft is usually one to harp on about something long past the point of it being relevant. Though cross play is still an important issue, it’s nowhere near the controversial subject that Sony wanted to avoid last year. Regardless, look for Microsoft to announce more cross play efforts. Paladins will be heading to the Nintendo Switch via Founder’s Pack on June 12th and supports cross play with the Xbox One. Similarly, if Fortnite is indeed revealed for the Switch, it wouldn’t be too strange for Microsoft to tout crossplay with the hybrid console, PC and mobiles.

Speaking of subjects that are still sort of relevant but not all that important in the grand scheme of things, backwards compatibility has been an amazing feature from Microsoft. It’s effectively opened up its supple Xbox 360 library for a new generation of Xbox One players. Now, OG Xbox backwards compatibility? Not so much, though we could see Microsoft touting even more titles from both coming to Xbox One.

Game Pass will likely have its own shoutout as well as Microsoft notes the number of subscribers and the overall success of the program. Don’t be surprised if reveals and announcement, particularly for Xbox One/Windows 10 exclusives, are celebrated as being available at launch for Game Pass. With all that out of the way, let’s look at some of the potential reveals.

Indie Darlings

"It wouldn’t be surprising if The Will of the Wisps was slated to release sometime in August or September."

Frankly, if Microsoft doesn’t provide a release date in the vicinity of “very soon” for Ori and The Will of the Wisps, I’d be stunned. After announcing the game last year, promising a release date of “never” and then staying silent on the same, it seemed like even Microsoft forgot it existed. Given how successful Ori and The Blind Forest had been – and Microsoft’s distinct lack of exclusives – it wouldn’t be surprising if The Will of the Wisps was slated to release sometime in August or September.

On that note, Capybara Games’ Below, started as an interesting little thing for Xbox One…back in 2013. Since then, we’ve heard more about its delays than anything else. 2018 may finally be the year though as it’s likely announced for September (or even December to avoid the rush). Though Capybara Games will also be releasing the game for Steam, it’s very much a Cuphead-style situation – this is one of the few high profile indie games that Microsoft actually has for its console. Hopefully it at least gets a release date announcement trailer instead of being brushed aside for another year.

Halo Infinity

"If Halo Infinity is indeed Halo 6, 343 Industries will likely show off a teaser and maybe tease a release year."

Rumours have been circulating recently about Halo Infinity. What is Halo Infinity? Search me (and I really think you shouldn’t). The name seems to imply some kind of connection with the UNSC Infinity. Perhaps this is the next mainline Halo? As it stands, we know that 343 Industries has been busy working on something. No more rumours about Halo 3 Anniversary and not a ton regarding upcoming Halo 5: Guardians content. If Halo Infinity is anything, it has to be the next big deal for the studio.

This is an age where even the maestros of smoke and mirrors, Bungie, would outright reveal gameplay for its big expansion rather than tease their fans incessantly but I don’t believe Microsoft will learn the same lessons. If Halo Infinity is indeed Halo 6, 343 Industries will likely show off a teaser and maybe tease a release year. It may even promise more information next year. The correct approach would be to bite the bullet and show gameplay footage. If the developer is that far along into development or not remains the real mystery.

Gears of War 5

"If Microsoft has enough time to make such a strong impression with the next Gears of War, it better be time well spent."

Let’s be real – Gears of War 4 was a good game and a good Gears of War game. It didn’t really advance the franchise forward though. In fact, if anything, it showcased a developer playing things a little close to the chest while purportedly expanding the universe. Gears of War 5 is likely in development – Xbox boss Phil Spencer has noted the efforts of The Coalition in recent updates – but the question is where things go from here. I wouldn’t think that a cinematic trailer reveal happens. However, it wouldn’t be all that strange to see a gameplay reveal akin to Gears of War 4 with some kind of tease.

Unlike the rumoured Halo Infinity, Microsoft could have a stronger plan for Gears of War 5. Announcements for a closed beta multiplayer test, followed by open beta down the line, wouldn’t be weird. Over time, the game can stay in the mind of the hardcore while building up enough steam for an eventual launch (which would likely be in 2019, if not early 2020). However, will that be enough? Will we see Horde being changed for the better and ditching the pay-to-win-esque crates? Will multiplayer actually be involving instead of stuck in the same closed quarters shotgun fests that the series has become infamous for?

If Microsoft has enough time to make such a strong impression with the next Gears of War, it better be time well spent. Regardless, it will show something so keep those fingers crossed.

All The Rest

"The relatively good news is that Crackdown 3 will be at the conference. I’m hoping Microsoft uses this opportunity to stick to its new release date while also dating the open multiplayer beta that never happened."

Forza Horizon 4’s announcement seems like a foregone conclusion. Sure, the real surprising thing would be to upstage The Crew 2 and announce an enormous game with several countries to explore, and a large Horizon Festival meta-game. I don’t think that will happen but it’s cool to think about.

What will likely happen is a teaser for Fable 4. Rumours have been rumbling about the fantasy RPG series making a comeback and Playground Games has been making some uncharacteristically big moves in terms of expansion. Again, time will tell but if Microsoft really wanted to fill the void left by Scalebound (which still hurts, by the way), wouldn’t it make sense to fall back on an RPG series it can fully control?

The relatively good news is that Crackdown 3 will be at the conference. I’m hoping Microsoft uses this opportunity to stick to its new release date while also dating the open multiplayer beta that never happened. One could certainly hope, right?

Third Party Developers

"EA Play can be stuffed with all kinds of neat gameplay information on Bioware’s Anthem but it may not likely be enough. So why not feature some footage at Microsoft’s conference as well?"

Third party announcements are a decidedly tougher nut to crack. My money is on the gameplay trailer for Metro Exodus – or whatever 4A Games is planning/rumoured to be showing – debuting during Microsoft’s presser. Heck, slap an “Xbox One X Enhanced” tag on it if necessary. Given how Life is Strange: Before the Storm was announced at last year’s Microsoft presser, it wouldn’t be all that weird to see Life is Strange 2 announced this year. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will probably have some stat padding but if PUBG Corp skips Microsoft’s presser, that’s all the confirmation we need that it’s going to PS4 in the near future.

Electronic Arts is also in a good position. EA Play can be stuffed with all kinds of neat gameplay information on Bioware’s Anthem but it may not likely be enough. So why not feature some footage at Microsoft’s conference as well? After all, that was the pattern last year – and in fact, Microsoft got the better end of the deal since it actually showcased gameplay. We’ll see how this year pans out for them.

Also, if CD Projekt RED’s participation in Microsoft’s E3 2013 presser is any indication – which is a shoddy reason at best but let’s roll with it – then the first official trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 will likely be at this year’s presser. If Sony’s conference is stuffed to the brim and Microsoft needs games to fill its show time, why not get one of the most anticipated third party RPGs on the format? Finally, it seems that Bohemia Interactive is working on an Xbox One exclusive developed with Unreal Engine. Suffice to say we should be seeing it this Sunday.

Microsoft’s E3 2018 presser takes place on June 10th at 1 PM PST. What do you hope to see? Let us know in the comments below.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to GamingBolt as an organization.