In a rather convincing opening cutscene, the main character of Winter Ember, Arthur Artorias, narrowly escapes being killed in his father’s mansion but loses both his father and his fortune. Years later, Arthur returns to the city to find out what happened and seek revenge on the people who carried out this act. While it’s not a revolutionary premise, there’s a solid foundation for the story, and some major plot points are told with beautiful hand-drawn animated stills. I do wish these major moments happened more frequently, because the storytelling in between is almost entirely “tell, don’t show.” There’s a lot of overly melodramatic dialogue that frequently shifts tone and leaves little room for interpretation, and it can get exhausting to listen to repeatedly, especially through some overly long story sections that take you out of the core gameplay. It hurts, too, that the story doesn’t ultimately capitalize on its potential. While the first half or so of the story remains somewhat grounded, it begins to lose itself in the second half. Without wishing to spoil, it makes its story increasingly intricate and cerebral but doesn’t benefit from doing so, and it feels like the story would have benefited from staying contained.

"There’s a good game lying somewhere within Winter Ember, but there are too many questionable design choices and incomplete ideas that make the overall experience unsatisfying and lacking anything to set it apart from other, better stealth games."

It’s unfortunate that the story doesn’t entirely succeed because the game is frequently structured around it. While it is technically open world, there are multiple extended sequences that ostensibly lock you out of the open world and force you through linear missions with no chance to return to replenish your items or do side missions. This resulted on one occasion, for example, in my having to play for over an hour with minimal health, as I had used all my health potions and had no way to buy any more.

When it does become a truly open world, while the different environments aren’t huge, I appreciate what it’s going for. You’re encouraged to explore the map and see different types of side quests and find different types of loot, which gives you the chance to see the surprisingly intricate level design, which includes an impressive amount of verticality and intricately connected levels. In many cases, this level design is the most impressive aspect of Winter Ember. The biggest drawback with this type of level design is the camera, as Winter Ember opts for an isometric view where you can control the camera’s direction. This is great in allowing for 360 degrees of exploration, but it also means that it’s easy to get lost, especially with how samey some environments can get and how dark most of the levels are.

When it comes to the moment-to-moment gameplay of Winter Ember, though, it’s frustratingly inconsistent. In theory, the core gameplay mechanic is stealth. You’re taught to be careful with your movements so as to take enemies out methodically and without having to get into any one-on-one battles. However, while being able to successfully take out all enemies stealthily is mostly satisfying, much of the foundation of the stealth gameplay is inconsistent, clunky, and frustratingly designed, leaving it to be easier in many cases to fight enemies directly rather than try to sneak through them.

"When it comes to the moment-to-moment gameplay of Winter Ember, it’s frustratingly inconsistent."

For example, there is an interesting system around light and visibility. When in cover, you have to be peeking around a corner to see what’s around it, making it more of a risk-reward decision on how frequently to peek. However, in all cases, the amount that you can see of the surrounding areas is impacted by whether or not you are currently visible. If you are standing near a light, you can see people around you, but if you’re in the shadows, they are much more difficult to see, if not entirely invisible. It’s an interesting system, but this frequently makes enemies who are right in front of you invisible specifically because you are hidden, taking away the small benefit of an isometric camera and making it nearly impossible to see the level from a more holistic perspective.

In other ways, too, while Winter Ember does purport itself to be a stealth-focused game, it frequently feels like it would rather be an action game. Enemies can see you from far distances and with seemingly no lighting, and the game introduces tall grass to hide in that enemies see through almost every single time. What’s worse is that controls and inputs are frustratingly inexact for actions that need to be precise. Movement can feel far too weighty, and almost every action input needs to happen multiple times for the game to register. I had numerous occasions of trying to stealth kill a guard only for the game to not register my input and the guard to turn around and begin fighting. Then, when you do get into fighting, it’s often easier than stealth. There’s a basic sword fighting system of light and heavy attacks, blocking, and parrying, and while the timing takes some getting used to, parrying is almost universally the easiest way to play. I found myself more often than not trying to be stealthy because the game told me to, being spotted out of nowhere, and ultimately killing everyone anyway because I could parry my way out of it.

One of the other major systems is the intricate arrow crafting, which allows you to craft many different types of arrows based on different needs and elements. You can use electricity, for example, to shock an enemy or power a generator, while you can use rope to climb to different areas of the environments. There is a good amount of variety with these, and I found myself incorporating the arrows more frequently as I progressed, but the major hindrance again is the controls and interface. The crafting menu is obtuse and hard to comprehend, and the act of having to enter the menu and equip different materials and arrows every time feels incredibly cumbersome. It’s the type of issue that builds up over time and made me groan every time I had to open the menu.

"While stealth games are nothing new, there are a couple mechanics, like the visibility and the exploration, that Winter Ember seemingly could focus on, but for every interesting idea, there are multiple flawed design choices or gameplay inconsistencies that bring the experience down, especially in the cumbersome menus and heavy inputs."

There’s an interesting idea lying somewhere within Winter Ember, but the final product doesn’t bring out the best parts of it. While stealth games are nothing new, there are a couple mechanics, like the visibility and the exploration, that Winter Ember seemingly could focus on, but for every interesting idea, there are multiple flawed design choices or gameplay inconsistencies that bring the experience down, especially in the cumbersome menus and heavy inputs. I wanted to like Winter Ember far more than I did, because when it comes down to it, this is a stealth game that fails to abide by its own rules.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox Series X.

The opening moments of Blackwind put you in a spaceship with Jimmy Hawkins, an innocent and curious teenager, and his father, an inventor and technology guru who shows Jimmy that he has created a mech-like Battle Frame with an embedded AI. Suddenly, the spaceship is shot down over a planet called Medusa-42, and Jimmy is stuck in the mech and tasked with figuring out why the spaceship got shot down, finding his father, and navigating the hostile terrains of Medusa-42 that is teeming with an alien species known as the Raknos. The basis of the story is simple and engaging enough, and Jimmy is enough of a blank slate that he can be relatable to most people and has a lot of room for growth. For the first half of the 5-6 hour story, the plot progresses in a meaningful and understandable way that, though entirely predictable and thoroughly unoriginal, provides a logical background for the gameplay and a loose enough semi-linear structure as we watch Jimmy fight through hordes of Raknos and uncover more secrets about their origins and their past interactions with the humans already on the planet.

"Blackwind is just a frustrating experience from front to back. It has a hint of a clear vision, but on so many levels it fails to provide balance, a unique selling point, and most importantly, fun."

The story takes a turn for the worse in the later stages in both pacing and content. Without wishing to spoil, there are themes that Blackwind attempts to explore in the later stages of the game that neither it nor its teenaged protagonist have a solid grasp on tackling. It fails to have any discussion of the moral complexity of some of the things it tells you to do and seems to assume your full agreement. In doing so, it also draws out its runtime with an extra hour or so of what feels like padding at the end that culminates in an undeserved and unsatisfying conclusion. It tries to do far too much with far too little in its story and ends up dropping the ball entirely. It doesn’t help that the writing implies the game doesn’t take itself seriously in the slightest, with Jimmy and his mech speaking in quips and eye-rolling one-liners like “I feel like I’m playing a video game right now.” There are certainly some laugh-inducing lines, especially ones coming from the AI, but it isn’t enjoyable enough, nor does it have enough unique in-game one-liners, to keep it from getting old fast.

On the gameplay front, Blackwind has a few notable ideas. Taking from top-down shooters of the past, Blackwind is a fixed-camera action game. You control Jimmy in the Battle Frame as he fights primarily through hordes of Raknos, from the grunts to the most powerful elites. The Battle Frame has a typical suite of melee attacks, longer-range shooting, and special abilities, and there is a surprisingly diverse list of skills and abilities to unlock in the Battle Frame’s skill tree. At a point, you also unlock a “Dark Mode” of the Battle Frame that gives you a limited-time damage and speed upgrade. At a baseline level, the combat is functional enough. I have some issues with the precision of the gun’s aiming, which feels often like it offers less help than needed in auto-aim, but the progression of your powers with the strength of the enemies feels somewhat natural, and often I felt like the upgrades I was getting were making me noticeably and satisfyingly stronger.

But the combat itself suffers from a long list of smaller balancing and pacing issues that make Blackwind increasingly frustrating. Some enemy attacks, for example, have a pushback effect that occurs every time you’re shot. Frequently these shots come in dozens at a time, so unless you can time an almost frame-perfect dash out of the line of fire, you’re stuck being juggled for a few seconds. When you get enemies down to a certain health, too, you can perform a kill on them, which are enjoyable to watch to a point, but they take far too long to complete and grind the pace of combat to a halt. There are also a handful of separate opportunities to be hit by explosives, like exploding enemies or targeted missiles, and more often than not, the amount of time taken when you’re knocked down by one explosive is enough to allow you to be hit by most or all of the explosives coming your way, meaning that getting hit by even one explosive can snowball into a quick death or critical health loss.

"The combat itself suffers from a long list of smaller balancing and pacing issues that make Blackwind increasingly frustrating."

There are a lot of these types of little things that contribute to making Blackwind a somewhat difficult game at times. In a vacuum, that’s not an inherently negative characteristic, but in this case, much of the difficulty comes at the expense of the game rather than as part of a learning process. Most instances where I had to retry a battle multiple times over ended not because I learned the enemy patterns or how to best tackle a fight, but rather because I found a way to break the encounter. Especially in the late game, I often found myself looking for ways to work against Blackwind rather than with it. It’s also hurt by some severely inadequate checkpoints, which often send you back to a spot far earlier than necessary and make you replay sections you’ve already beaten or solved for no particular purpose.

Outside of combat, Blackwind also contains a handful of puzzles that either involve you trying to unlock a specific series of doors or open a path to a new area. Like the combat, these puzzles are passable on a foundational level, especially the ones that see you running through corridors looking for a key or passcode, as they’re usually somewhat interesting to solve. But the issue with many of the puzzles, as well as in the rest of the game, is a severe lack of signposting. I found myself more than once running around multiple of the somewhat colorfully diverse, if not incredibly pleasing to the eye, large areas looking for a path forward for close to half an hour because the game has no objective markers, nor can you look at any minimaps in more detail than in the corner of the screen. It also suffers that the environments, especially indoors, are highly uniform, so aside from a few landmarks, it’s very hard to tell where you are in relation to anything else.

It’s also worth a mention that while the fixed camera is an interesting idea, it frequently works against the game’s best interests. While this should allow a clear visual opportunity to showcase the next steps or points of interest, more frequently it just makes it more difficult to see off-screen enemies or other paths forward. Plus, more than a few times I had camera malfunctions, showing me areas I was likely not meant to see, not to mention a handful of times I fell through the world. I like the idea of the fixed camera in concept, but on the tenth time of running into a mine that Jimmy could’ve likely seen but I couldn’t given the camera’s positioning, it began to test my patience.

"Blackwind doesn’t feel like it’s as fleshed out as it should be. Some of its ideas could be interesting in better, more focused and balanced games, but in the way they come together here, my main feeling was frustration, and for a game as lighthearted and colorful as this, that’s a dizzying disappointment."

Blackwind doesn’t feel like it’s as fleshed out as it should be. Some of its ideas could be interesting in better, more focused and balanced games, but in the way they come together here, my main feeling was frustration, and for a game as lighthearted and colorful as this, that’s a dizzying disappointment. What it does right is vastly outweighed by the laundry list of issues small and large that contribute to its overarching feeling of a lack of balance and a dearth of silver linings. There may have been a strong vision for what Blackwind could have been at one point, but it didn’t show up in the final product.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox Series X.

Subdivision Infinity DX emphasizes on its short bursts of gameplay, and that’s due to the length of its stages. Each one is quick and snappy with two phases most of the time. This lends a pick-up-and-play nature for those looking for a quick fix which can be the game’s best quality. The adventure doesn’t overstay its welcome; bear in mind the simple story is told entirely through floating dialogue icons and static portraits. The setup is something you’ve seen many times before and is not unique in the least. You play a generic man who answers a distress signal which eventually leads to a surface level adventure with a robot companion to liberate five zones.

"Subdivision Infinity DX emphasizes on its short bursts of gameplay, and that’s due to the length of its stages. Each one is quick and snappy with two phases most of the time. This lends a pick-up-and-play nature for those looking for a quick fix, which can be the game’s best quality."

Each ship has enough that is relatively unique to them to set them apart from one another but it is nothing too drastic. Differentiating factors are the typical health and shield along with shield recharge time, speed and other metrics. The variety of weapons is modest. Thankfully, getting them isn’t nearly as much of a hassle as the spacecraft, only costing coins to unlock and some semi-common materials to upgrade. While ship and weapon customization are fine, the process of getting materials leans very heavily on randomness which results in a lot of grinding. Mission rewards are randomized with each stage being relatively short and repeatable. There are no checkpoints to speak of, but this is somewhat alleviated by the time it takes to clear a stage. Another problem is, if you have trouble getting past certain levels and think that you need a better ship, you’re out of luck as material grinding rears its ugly head.

Talking about progression, there are ore deposits that have a couple restrictions surrounding them. For one, you can only mine these in exploration missions or free play so-to-speak. To their credit, this is some of the best parts of the gameplay, allowing for some chill exploration without the urgency of completing objective in stages. However, this means that to get the necessary minerals, you need to halt your mission progress. Secondly, mining equipment is required and takes up a slot in a ship’s customization. It’s frustrating then that the starter ship can’t equip these tools, and in a balanced playthrough, you cannot even get a ship that can equip them until the middle of the second area. This is primarily a hurdle in the opening portion but the choice to have a ships’ availability unlock early and not being to craft it is a classic case of unbalanced progression out the gate.

The controls are very mixed and easily the weakest aspect of the title, since it impacts every part of combat and exploration. To start, Subdivision Infinity DX does not use an analog stick for thrusting, instead opting to have thrust and reverse thrust mapped to L2 and L1 inputs respectively. In addition, there is no dodge maneuver and the face buttons do nothing. Tilting the left stick allows for strafing and the right stick handles pitching up and down. In fact, there is no control customizability whatsoever. Granted, full button remapping might be too much of an ask, but only having one control scheme is very inconsiderate for accessibility. Simple things like swapping the sticks and the triggers aren’t available, so what you see is what you get. Fans of space flight sims each play the games differently, so a bit of customizability would have been a nice addition. Even if this scheme can be committed to muscle memory, it still felt a bit off compared to other titles in the genre.

"The controls are very mixed and easily the weakest aspect of the title, since it impacts every part of combat and exploration."

Something I found very disappointing is that Subdivision Infinity DX has zero DualSense support other than traditional rumble. With all the weapons on offer, tuning the adaptive triggers to their fire rate would have been a really cool addition to say, “this is something that can only be done on PS5, let’s take advantage of this opportunity.” The approach taken is nothing ventured, nothing gained; meaning that this version is a straight port with little to no improvements over previous release. Adding Adaptive Trigger support in this game may not have been easy, but this is still a missed opportunity and could have helped bring a better level of immersion. All told, the control scheme makes navigating each area just okay to handle, but dogfights end up feeling sluggish. The auto aim is very generous but dodging projectiles is difficult since the enemy AI will always lead ahead of where you’re going. Trying to not get blasted can be disorienting. It just feels like enemies circle around you on a constant basis which really isn’t engaging. There is an easy difficulty option which I recommend as it makes fights end quicker, and the damage taken is somewhat reasonable unless you get swarmed too much. However, enemy aggression is unchanged

Aside from fighting smaller ships and destroying bases, there are also boss battles, the first of which is a form of jousting. This boss has one primary goal in mind, and that’s to ram into your ship for an instant kill. The immediate instinct is to get away as fast as possible and turn around, but these ships have so much shield and health to the point where it’s best to rotate to lock onto the boss as much as possible and only move when absolutely necessary. This way, you can do enough consistent damage to remove the shields. Since the strafing is very slow, this boss fight is bound to be frustrating and makes these particular missions a pain to play. I am all for difficult boss fights but an unbalance one is nothing but a deal breaker.

The artwork is pretty standard for the average spaceship simulator. The skyboxes are the standout and are the main visual aspect that sets each of the five areas apart. This combined with the populated space of asteroids and stations are almost wallpaper worthy. When it comes to playing though, the terrain and enemy models are overused to a ludicrous degree which takes away from what little variety there could have been. The same can be said about the sound design and music which can get very repetitive. They are very inconsistent and the music will often drown them out. Camera motion blur is in full swing in addition to object motion blur, causing some pretty intense disorientation. In addition, explosions not only drop the framerate but also cause the screen to shake, rendering the camera shake toggle in the options menu useless.

"Subdivision Infinity DX on PS5 is a straight up port of a spaceship simulator that could have used some major adjustments and additions."

Subdivision Infinity DX on PS5 is a straight up port of a spaceship simulator that could have used some major adjustments and additions. Not having DualSense features on a dedicated PlayStation 5 version seems like a missed opportunity and could have gone a long way to make this version of the game unique. Instead, this spaceship affair has only a couple noteworthy qualities. Even though the ship customization gets the job done and the skyboxes are nice to look at, there are a host of issues with accessibility and difficulty that could make this dogfighting experience unwelcoming for newcomers to the genre.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

"Blackwind’s core story is basically “war seen from a teenage perspective”."

Blackwind’s got an interesting premise that sees the protagonist, a teenager, being stuck inside of a mech suit and having to fight aliens. How does the game’s story and dialogue use that premise to its advantage?

James Hawkins is a teenager and this helps a lot during the game because of his natural approach to jokes and having fun.

Being a teenager, James thinks of the Battle Frame as an “expensive toy” at the very beginning. But when he faces the real threat of war, he’ll be forced to grow up quickly to make the right decisions. Blackwind’s core story is basically “war seen from a teenage perspective”. The most frequent dialogue happens between James and the Battle Frame AI. It’s a computer with no emotions but programmed to learn and evolve from its “symbiote” and it’s going to learn from a scared kid that only wants to find his father.

How much variety in mechanics does Blackwind’s combat offer with the abilities and weapons of the Battle Frame?

Blackwind features melee combat, ranged combat, auto aiming missiles, unlockable special attacks and the ability to deploy the Drone that is capable of ranged attacks and using mines and traps. The player can switch from the Battle Frame to the Drone at any moment so any fight can be faced with different approaches according to the player’s play style. Also there’s an additional power, called “Black Mode”, that allows time-warping action to deliver the most devastating attacks.

How extensive are the progression mechanics in Blackwind? How much variation can players expect in how to power up their Battle Frame as the game progresses?

Basically any of the above features I’ve mentioned can be upgraded. Many powers and features will be unlocked as the game story progresses and then they can be further upgraded. There are many progression branches the player can choose from so they will fit any play style. Just as an example: you can increase your defence skill with a shield, you can enhance the fighting capabilities of the Drone or you can turn your Battle Frame into a speed demon with enhanced dash attacks. It’s up to you.

Outside of combat, what should players expect from the game in terms of things such as exploration and optional content?

Exploration is a key point of the game. There are some “secret” areas that hide extra power ups, and a good number of alternative “skins” for the Battle Frame, hidden in the game’s levels.

"Exploration is a key point of the game. There are some “secret” areas that hide extra power ups, and a good number of alternative “skins” for the Battle Frame, hidden in the game’s levels."

What sort of platforming elements are there in Blackwind? Are they crucial to the experience, or more of an ancillary mechanic?

Platforming is an important aspect of Blackwind. For example: extended jump, gliding and ledge grabbing will allow the Battle Frame to reach for previously inaccessible areas.

How important is the story to the game? The central premise and the fact that James has some own personal stuff going on as well are interesting elements, but do they have a large role to play in the overall experience?

Actually, Blackwind’s story goes beyond what the premise says. We don’t want to spoil any of the plot twists in the game, let’s just say it’s going to be more complex than it looks at the very beginning. We also modelled the gameplay based on the game’s story to have the best mix of action, dialogue and narrative.

Can you talk to us about the game’s local co-op mode? One player plays as the Battle Frame, one plays as the drone- what can the Drone do in gameplay and combat in comparison with the Battle Frame?

At any time the Drone can be separated from the Battle Frame. The Drone can shoot, deploy mines and special traps, it’s much smaller than the Battle Frame so it can access areas where the Battle Frame can’t go.
When the two are separated, so are the powers. The Battle Frame can’t shoot when the Drone is detached, it can only perform melee attacks, it can’t double-jump (because double jumping is performed with a thruster that is part of the Drone). So when the Battle Frame and the Drone are separated they surely represent a fearsome attack force but they need each other to perform some actions. So in co-op mode the players must collaborate to progress through the game, even deciding when it’s time to rejoin as one and when to separate again.

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of Blackwind be?

The whole campaign takes about 12-15 hours. That’s our usual time but I can think that someone that approaches the game for the first time can even have a longer lasting experience.

Since the reveal of the PS5 and Xbox Series X’s specs, a lot of comparisons have been made between the GPU speeds of the two consoles, with the PS5 at 10.28 TFLOPS and the Xbox Series X at 12 TFLOPS- but how much of an impact on development do you think that difference will have?

Our goal is to have the best experience regardless of the underlying hardware. Developers that are working on exclusive games for those consoles will surely have the opportunity to exploit the hardware to the last drop of performance.

"Platforming is an important aspect of Blackwind."

The PS5 features an incredibly fast SSD with 5.5GB/s raw bandwidth. This is faster than anything that is available out there. How can developers take advantage of this, and how does this compare to Series X’s 2.4GB/s raw bandwidth?

Surely any game will benefit from such loading speed, considering consoles haven’t used SSD since last gen. Especially those games that need to stream large amounts of data will surely receive a good boost.

There is a difference in Zen 2 CPUs of both consoles. The Xbox Series X features 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.8GHz whereas the PS5 features 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5GHz. Your thoughts on this difference?

We don’t know if such a small difference will be of relevance considering that the GPU, more so than the CPU plays a greater role in a game’s performance.

The Xbox Series S features lesser hardware compared to Xbox Series and Microsoft is pushing it as a 1440p/60fps console. Do you think it will be able to hold up for the graphically intensive next-gen games?

1440p is not 4k. GPU will have a much smaller job to perform so Xbox Series S could be a valid cheaper version if not targeting 4k.

Super Resolution is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. How do you think this will help game developers?

Our opinion on this is that shading is more important than resolution. If Super Resolution is going to handle that side, developers can focus on making better looking games.

What frame rate and resolution  is the game targeting on PS5 and Xbox Series X and S?

We aim for 60 fps at native resolution (4k for PS5 and XBS/X).

NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s launch.

"The game is designed to be fun to play, for both 2-player co-op and those looking for a solo experience."

Given Infinite: Beyond the Mind’s dual character approach, is it a game that you’d say is better enjoyed in co-op, or is playing through it solo just as viable an experience?

The game is designed to be fun to play, for both 2-player co-op and those looking for a solo experience.

How does the game balance the split between combat and platforming?

Players will need to excel in both combat and platforming to make progress.

How much do Tanya and Olga differ from each other in terms of gameplay?

Tanya and Olga share the same power from their bond, so their abilities are equally matched.

Can you talk about how much variety players can expect from the game in terms of bosses and enemy design?

Players can expect a large variety of bosses and enemies that range from mercenaries, fantasy creatures, aliens, monsters, robots and spiritual beings.

"This idea actually came to my mind when I first started playing Advance Wars and Metal Slug. Inspired by the rich, beautiful aesthetic of these games, the chibi characters and pixel art style I’ve used in Infinite: Beyond the Mind was something that just came naturally to me."

What’s the approach that Infinite: Beyond the Mind takes to how challenging it will be?

As the player progresses through the game, the more enemies you will encounter and need to defeat. With faster boss attack patterns and platforming that gets increasingly trickier to cross, players will get to enjoy the challenge of dodging intense enemy fire and developing quick reflexes to triumph in later boss fights.

How did the idea to blend chibi characters with pixel art come about? Was there anything in particular that served as inspiration?

This idea actually came to my mind when I first started playing Advance Wars and Metal Slug. Inspired by the rich, beautiful aesthetic of these games, the chibi characters and pixel art style I’ve used in Infinite: Beyond the Mind was something that just came naturally to me.

About how long will an average play through of Infinite: Beyond the Mind be?

For players more experienced with 2D platformers, you can expect about 1½ hours of play.

Something that the PS5 and the Xbox Series X are both going to have is a Zen 2 CPU – how big of a leap is it over current-gen hardware in your view, and how is it going to help development?

It seems to be quite a big leap. We would probably see an increased level of details in games.

Backward compatibility is something else both new consoles are banking on quite heavily. How much of an impact do you think it will have from the perspective of both developers and consumers?

This is a good thing, it means that new players will still be able to re-discover old games!

"PS5’s haptic-enabled controller will give the player a new form of feedback, but we have to see how games will take advance of this new controller."

What’s your take on the PS5’s haptic-enabled controller? Do you think it’s something that can significantly add to an experience, or is it just going to be a novelty?

This seems to be interesting. It will give the player a new form of feedback, but we have to see how games will take advance of this new controller.

People looking for more robot action on their consoles are in luck, as the action title, War Tech Fighters, is coming to consoles later in the year, as publisher Blowfish Studios and developer Drakkar Dev announced today.

As you can see from the trailer below, the game features a ton of fast-paced, stylized action around mechs, with a style hoping to mix Japanese anime mecha with Hollywood blockbuster action. The game also has a ton of customization options for your machine, with a console exclusive “Archangel War Tech” set, which includes the “Glory Sword,” “Redemption Halberd,” and “Faith Shield.” All of that will be available at the beginning, and you can play in either first or third person view in both long and short range combat as you research and level up across 33 single player missions and survival mode.

War Tech Fighters is available on PC now, having released last July, and will release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch on June 27^th.

"We tried to make each of these locations to be distinctive and atmospheric perfectly mixing visual, narrative and gameplay."

Subdivision Infinity draws inspiration from several classic NES space combat games- can you talk to us a bit about what parts of the game were most developed with such influences in mind? Were there any other games or any other media that may have inspired other aspects of the game?

Mistfly Games: It’s hard to pick one, it’s an overall experience we got from these games we used to play. In Mass Effect you have unforgettable spirit of deep space and mysteries. In Independence War 2 it’s pirates, outlaws and corporations. Freelancer’s exploration and traveling through the space, Galaxy on Fire’s mining operations. And of course bosses at the end of the level – that’s merit of good old NES games.

What sort of customization options can players expect to see in the game? 

Mistfly Games: There will be special pirate outfit for each player ship. Player can find and collect pieces of these outfits through exploration missions. And there is also special skins for the first player ship featuring a target platform. 

Can players expect to see online multiplayer or co-op features in the game?

Mistfly Games: There is no multiplayer in this game.

Can you talk to us a bit about the locations players will be visiting in the game? How much variation can we expect from these?

Mistfly Games: There will be 5 distinct locations player can travel while completing story missions.

Here is a brief description of each

• Alpha Tyche – a star system where player begins the journey. We call it “flamy” because it looks very red and hot. This system is like a big mining facility and its owned by the “LightWave Tech” corporation. Player will see lots of igneous asteroids with lava and mining stations.
• Revada IV – an abandoned star system designed to be cold and of dark tones. An exhausted planet and huge pumping stations above it, depleting what’s left.
• Cat’s Eye – here player will face aftermaths of a devastating space battle. Broken ship hulls mixed up with asteroids, lonely space stations and thick fog.
• Kongelar – A very cold system with ice all over the place. Rather no law and order is respected here
• Atria’s Gate – giant production and research complex. A city in clouds over a lifeless planet.

We tried to make each of these locations to be distinctive and atmospheric perfectly mixing visual, narrative and gameplay.

"We definitely got huge visual boost utilizing UE4 technology. We also remastered many art assets and up-res them so they would look good on consoles and PC."

Will there be any addition content in Subdivision Infinity DX that wasn’t included in the original release?

Mistfly Games: We already have content and storyline for an additional location, so it’s possible.

How have you taken the feedback the original release of Subdivision Infinity got into account for the upcoming release, both the good and the bad?

Mistfly Games: Yes, we decided to completely remaster the game so it would conform console quality. We reworked and redesigned all the missions adding much variety to the gameplay. We fully redesigned levels, enemies, weapons, ships and added lots of new content. This is not a port, it’s a complete new game.

As for users feedback, the main concern we got from our players was lack of open world and freedom. That is something we’ll add in exploration missions.

Subdivision Infinity was already a very good looking game, especially when one considers that it was made for mobile devices. Does the game receive any sort of a technical or visual boost on any of the new systems its launching for?

Mistfly Games: Yes, we definitely got huge visual boost utilizing UE4 technology. We also remastered many art assets and up-res them so they would look good on consoles and PC.  

Will there be any microtransactions or loot boxes in Subdivision Infinity DX?

It’s a single player premium game, there will not be!

Do you feel that the expectations from a game being made on dedicated consoles are very different from a game being made for mobile devices, in terms of design philosophies or the kind of experience players expect? Is that something that’s been on your mind while working on Subdivision Infinity DX?

Mistfly Games: Yes, as we mentioned, we fully redesigned the game and added lots of new content. The feel of how you play the game and what you experience is completely different from mobile version. 

After bringing over Subdivision Infinity to consoles and PC, is the console market something you see yourselves being more focused on going forward? 

Mistfly Games: Yes, console and PC development is something we would love to do and we think this will be our main focus. On the other hand we have big experience in mobile development, and we see clear trend of console and hardcore gaming going mobile and this is very good news. Devices are getting faster and now you can play PUBG, Fortnite or ARK on your phone, so we will not be completely dropping mobile development. We want to be as cross platform as possible, but our main focus would be PC and consoles.

"We’ve had more bugs on the PS4 Pro that don’t appear on the PS4 Slim."

Will the game will feature Xbox One X specific enhancements. What can players expect if they are playing the game on Xbox One X? Is 4K/60fps on the cards?

Blowfish Studios: Yes we are expecting 4K @ 60fps.

And how will the PS4 Pro version turn out in terms of resolution and frame rate?

Blowfish Studios: The PS4 Pro might support the dynamic resolution feature and aiming at 60 fps as well

From a development perspective, how do you find the Xbox One X to be and how do you compare it with the PS4 Pro?

Blowfish Studios: The Xbox One X is more powerful, plus we’ve had more bugs on the PS4 Pro that don’t appear on the PS4 Slim.

How is the game running on the original Xbox One and PS4, frame rate and resolution wise?

Blowfish Studios: 1080p no issue, the frame rate we’ll have to run more tests with.

Next gen is coming sooner or later. From a development perspective, what is your biggest expectation from PS5 and Xbox Scarlett?

Blowfish Studios: More pixel power so every game can run at 4K and 60fps. Possibly real-time ray tracing HW acceleration?

Do you think cross platform will be one of the defining features of next-gen consoles?

Blowfish Studios: I’d say yes, considering that Sony is opening up the PS4 right now.

"Microtransactions in free games are okay, if it’s not pay to win."

What is your take on the ongoing drama of loot boxes and microtransactions?

Mistfly Games: Microtransactions in free games are okay, if it’s not pay to win.

If you’re looking for a brand new space combat game set in, well, space, then you’ll be interested to know that publisher Blowfish Studios has just announced a brand new title in that vein called Subdivision Infinity DX, which will release for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch at some point early in 2019. An announcement trailer for the game and some screenshots have also been released.

In this game, you will play as Sgt. Jed Riddle, who discovers some strange activity taking place in a mining facility, and it’s up to you to find out what exactly is going on. There will be over 40 story missions and also several side missions for players to tackle, and during this time, there will be many fights and boss battles to engage in. Apart from the missions, the game also brings various side activities to players, such as the ability to take on new bounties, crafting upgrades, unlocking new ships, and more.

You can check out the screenshots and announcement trailer below.