After plenty of rumours, Microsoft announced at X018 that it would be acquiring Obsidian Entertainment – developer of Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, and Tyranny. Not only that, but it’s also picking up inXile Entertainment, developer of Wasteland 2 and The Bard’s Tale 4. That makes it 13 studios under Microsoft’s current first-party line-up.

Though the developers will be a part of Microsoft Studios, they’ll be kept independent. Of course, given the pedigree of both, especially Obsidian Entertainment, it remains to be seen how Microsoft will use their talent for upcoming titles. With Obsidian promising that its next project is bigger than the recent Pillars of Eternity 2, could there be hope for something spectacular? Either way, it might be a while before we find out.

Microsoft’s first-party line-up is looking pretty strong at the moment. At E3 2018, it announced the acquisition of Compulsion Games (We Happy Few), Ninja Theory (Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice), Undead Labds (Stat of Decay), and Playground Games (Forza Horizon 4). It also formed The Initiative, which employs developers from high-profile studios like Rockstar.

If you’re ready, then let’s get started!

GENERAL TIPS AND TRICKS

Running Away Is Sometimes The Best Option

If you get caught out  being a non-conformist, fighting  a whole mob  of enemies may not be a very good idea. In such situations, your best bet would be to run away as fast as you can and you’ll be none the worse for wear.

Organize Your Inventory

One feature you’ll immediately notice about  this game’s inventory is that opening it doesn’t pause the game. Due to this fact, you would do well to organize your inventory in such that you can immediately access any items that you might need quickly.

Pay Attention To Food And Water

If you don’t eat food or drink water, you will soon start feeling the fatigue as your stamina takes a hit in the game. Beware of rotten food as this will just end up making you sick, and it’s not a good idea to drink water in citizens’ areas as this is spiked with Joy. If you do get sick from eating rotten food, you can cure yourself by drinkin some Sick Up tea.

Pay Attention To Weapons’ Durability

Your weapon can break at any time, so pay attention to their durability before heading out into combat. If a weapon breaks in the middle of combat, it can easily mean the end for you, as you can die in the process of opening your inventory to equip a new weapon.

Try To Avoid The Night

The can nighttime can be super scary because of all the plague-victims, bandits and other hostile creatures you may encounter. Unless absolutely necessary, you will be much safer off just sleeping through the night.

Learn To Block And Shove

Blocking and shoving are the bread and butter of your  combat. Blocking will help reduce the damage you take, while shoving will help push enemies back which can help you control a crowd of enemies. Simply mashing the attack button isn’t a viable option as this would make you run out of stamina very quickly.

Stealth Is Most Important

Stealth is key in the game and in those situations where you can’t  just sneak by an enemy, you can still blend in with the crowd by not acting abnormally or performing any weird actions like crouching, sprinting, or shoving.  Combat can often lead to a quick death, so stealth is more often that not your best to survive.

HOW TO GET RID OF PERMADEATH

When you’re new to the game, you might want to explore the game at your own pace without dealing  with the pressure of a permanent death in the game. You can disable permadeath just before you’re about to start a game. Just after you select to play a new game, you will be faced with a menu in which you will be given a few options regarding how you want to experience the game. It is at this point that you can choose to opt out of permadeath. If you didn’t disable this at the beginning, there’s no going back and the only option if you die is to start a new game.

HOW TO GET THE SECRET ENDING

Right at the beginning of the game as you start Arthur’s story, Arthur remembers his brother Percy and the tragedy he faced, and you can see how deeply affected he becomes when he remembers these details. As the player, you are given a choice to either let Arthur take the Joy pill or to forget about the pills and think for himself. If you do the latter, the game continues and you are able to play through a long adventure. If you choose to take the joy pill though, the game ends right there as Arthur goes back to a conformist existence,  and you will see the credits roll.

HOW TO CURE FOOD POISONING

At some point in the game, you may have no other alternative than to eat some contaminated food. This can have adverse effects on your character even though it will eventually stop affecting you at some point. There is a higher chance of having to eat contaminated food in the poorer areas. When you do get food poisoning, you can cure your ailment by just drinking some Sick Up Tea. If you have enough Sick Up tea with you, you can eat some contaminated food to restore health and then immediately drink Sick Up Tea after to cure  any negative status effects.

HOW TO GET SKILL POINTS

As you move along in the game, you will want to upgrade your character’s skills. To do so, you will have to use skill points. How do you earn skill points, you ask? Well, it’s quite easy. All you have to do is complete main quests and side quests  and you will receive skill points, with main quests granting more of them. Of course, even though side quests don’t give as much skill points, the extra skill points will still help you in upgrading your skills.

HOW TO REPAIR WEAPONS AND ITEMS

In this game, a lot of items and weapons aren’t very  durable and you can’t use them for very long before they get worn out. This can be disastrous if you don’t have additional items and equipment. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to repair items or weapons in the game. The best way to deal with the lack of this ability  is to always have extra weapons and items on hand whenever possible. Furthermore,  you should try and keep  some essential crafting components with you always so that you can craft an item if the one you were  previously using breaks. In general, it’s always a good idea to have some rocks, scrap metal, and at least a couple of Jimmy bars.

USING SECOND WIND

Right at the beginning of the game, when you choose whether to enable or  disable permadeath, you also have the option to enable or disable an ability known as Second Wind. Basically what this ability does is that it gives you a second chance at survival at the point where you would have otherwise just died. It’s a great and useful option  to enable if you’re having a really hard time staying alive in the game. Keep in mind that if you didn’t enable the option at the start of the game, you will not be able to do so in the middle of a playthrough, and the only way to get the ability then would be to start a new game.

HOW TO GET LOCKPICKS

If there are things locked off that you can’t access, you can choose to pick the lock. It’s a crime so if you’re spotted, you’ll invite a lot of trouble for yourself. Lockpicks can be found just by serachign through the many containers in the game and you can also loot these from NPCs whom you’ve killed or downed. You can also craft a lockpick using just a single Metal Bit. You will learn the crafting recipe to make lockpicks right at the start, so you will be able to begin your thieving adventures quite early in the game.

HOW TO SOLVE THE SWITCHES PUZZLE

At one point in the game, you will come across a puzzle that you have to solve at a train station. The first thing you should do is rotate the wheel in the are as to restore some power.  You will notice that there is one switch missing. You can find the switch in a nearby room with a piano. Once you get the switch, place it in the missing space. Wondering what the clue to  solving this puzzle is? Well, the answer is right there on a poster on the nearby wall. On the poster you can read the words  “Always Do Be Careful.” The fact that the first letter of each word is capitalized may have suggested to you to try and press the switches in that order. With that in mind, press the switches in the following order: A, D, B, C. Once you do, the puzzle will be solved and the story will continue.

HOW TO GET THE GOLDEN KNOCKER

As we mentioned before, weapons and items are fragile in the game and you have no way of repairing them. An unbreakable weapons would solve a lot of the problems because you face of this, and that’s exactly what the Golden Knocker is. You will first be able to enter the Reform  Club through a quest. Once inside the Reform Club, you can find the Golden Knocker  on the third floor. One the third floor, you will see an old lady who will give you a quest to find her keys, and there is a container behind her which holds the Golden Knocker but you can’t get it right away.

First, find the keys in the same room on a couch. Once you get the keys, bring it back to her to complete the quest. Now, attack her while sneaking with a non-lethal weapon to down her and then take the key off of her body. Before opening the container on the third floor, press the button the desk and you will see that there is a security terminal. Disable it using a Shortspike and then proceed to unlock the container and take the Golden Knocker! That’s it! You now have an unbreakable weapon with you.

COMBAT TIPS AND TRICKS

In the early hours of the game, it might be best to just depend on your fists in combat as they do more damage than random sticks and they’re also better because they don’t break. A significant part of combat is actually just avoiding  it. This means using stealth whenever possible. You can blend in with people by dressing appropriately and what this means is that you should dress according to your surroundings. Wear suits in the affluent areas and wear rags in the poorer areas so that you don’t stand out. If you ever come across traps, you can either choose to go around them or you can disarm them by using disarming tools which you can craft, and it’s up to you to decide how to deal with this.

HOW TO CURE THE PLAGUE

The plague is one of the worst afflictions to come in contact with in the game, and simply sleeping  or resting won’t get rid of it. You will have to craft a particular item to rid yourself of the plague. You will have to find the recipe for the Phenocycline Syringe in the Safe House of Lud’s home. You can find the recipe on top of the chemistry station where you can craft the item. To craft the item, you will need the following items: 1 Empty Syringe, 2 Filtered Water, and 1 Antiseptic.

If you don’t know the recipe to craft the Antiseptic, you can learn it by just picking up a Rotten Potato. Once you’ve crafted the Phenocycline Syringe,  you will be able to cure yourself of the plague, so try and craft the item as soon as you can and try and always have one on you.

CHEATS AND CHEAT CODES

Note: Please use the following cheats at your own discretion. Using cheats online or offline may lead to an immediate ban. GamingBolt or its staff members are not responsible for any problems arising due to their use.

If you want to completely bypass any challenge or difficulty in the game, or if you just want some particular bonuses like a boost in stats or some extra skill points, then you may be interested in checking out some cheat codes.

You will first have to get the cheats from this site (http://fearlessrevolution.com/viewtopic.php?t=7645). Once you do so, you can have cheats for some of the following effects among others:

• x99 Skill points
• Freeze Time
• Super jump
• Increase Stats
• Will not get overburdened
• Money

ACHIEVEMENTS/TROPHIES GUIDE

You can find below the full list  of achievements you can earn in the game.

Now I Can Die Happy: Die while overdosing on Joy

Archipelagist: Set foot on every island

Shocking Biology: Kill a guy named Ryan Andrews

Don’t You Have Somewhere Else To Be?: Survive 50 days

Employee of the Month: Read all newspaper articles as Arthur, and redact only the uncomfortable ones

I Love the Smell of Chloroform in the Morning: Knock out 50 NPCs with the Atomizer

Bon Voyage: Complete Ollie’s intro

A Heavy Burden: Spread the message

The Toxic Ex: Complete speaking with Verloc at the Joy Factory

Enjoy the View: Correctly sabotage Clive Birtwhistle’s redactor work

Miss Byng is Indisposed: Complete “No Place Like Home” encounter

The Ollie Starkey: Finished Ollie’s playthrough

Downer: Complete Arthur’s Intro

Snug as a Bug on a Drug: Take the Joy at the very beginning of the game

The Importance of Not Being Seen: Finish Mystery House without being spotted once

The Great Lubricator: Deliver the cod liver oil

We’ve Come To The End Of Our Time: Unlock all other We Happy Few trophies

Not In Kansas Any More: Cross into the Village for the first time

Gimme Shelter: Unlock all of Arthur’s shelters

Cat Burglar: In Thomasina House – Collect all fake cats

Baby You’re a Rich Man: Gain £1000 from looting/bartering across playthroughs

Gotta Catch Them All!: Catch 40 butterflies with Sally’s butterfly net

Get the Float Out of Here: Complete “The Jack-o-Bean Club” encounter

Sugar Daddy: Inject yourself with glucose 10 times

The Sally Boyle: Finish Sally’s playthrough

Breaking Blackberry: Complete Sally’s intro

Resistance Is Futile: Talk to Johnny Bolton from the Secret Radio Room

The Arthur Hastings: Finish Arthur’s playthrough

You Do Know Jack: Collect all Uncle Jack Shows

Hot On Her Heels: Find all notes related to Prudence

The Saint: Complete the entire game without directly murdering anyone

Don’t You Have Somewhere Else To Be?: Survive 50 days

Remember,  Remember: Find all collectibles

I Got Better: Contract and cure the plague

The Slaughterer’s Apprentice: Finish all of the butcher’s apprentice quests

Our Prudent Friend: Listen to all the phone calls in the phoneboxes

Mother Of All Victories: Complete “Band of Brothers” encounter

That Kind Of Game: Retrieve the credentials from the club

A Bit Of The Old Ultraviolence: Kill 100 NPCs in a single playthrough

Arthur Haste-ings: Take Phlash as Arthur

The Wyrd Sisters: Complete the Crones encounter

Lighten Up: Use 25 lightning rods, playing as Ollie

Following its acquisition of several studios like State of Decay developer Undead Labs, Microsoft Studios head Matt Booty told Eggplante that the company “absolutely” wants to make State of Decay 3. In fact, he went as far as to state that “this is a State of Decay 3 team”.

Speaking to the site, Booty noted the success of State of Decay 2, which launched on May 22nd and had two million players in the first two weeks. The original goal for State of Decay was something grander though.

“When we first started working on State of Decay, we had a much bigger game, a much more persistent online game, and I know that Undead Labs will get there eventually, but by bringing them into the Microsoft family. I think we’re able to accelerate that and get us there sooner which is great.”

Indeed, we had heard about such a project before State of Decay 2 was officially announced. Booty then followed up by stating that, “In the case of Undead Labs, we absolutely want to go make State of Decay 3. That is a clear goal. That studio will have some other incubation, they’ll work on some things, but this is a State of Decay 3 team.”

Microsoft could be looking for that MMO aspect in the sequel and that too as quickly as possible. The real question is whether quality control at Microsoft will help polish up many of the game’s core issues. State of Decay 2 has been fairly successful (though how many players are from Xbox Game Pass hasn’t been confirmed), it was criticized for its lack of polish, bugs and glitches.

While State of Decay 3 won’t happen immediately, Undead Labs working under Microsoft Studios could bear fruit for the latter sooner than we anticipated. What are your thoughts on another sequel? Let us know in the comments.

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

Development

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition was first revealed in June 2017 at E3 2017, by Microsoft Studios Creative Director, Adam Isgreen. The game was originally planned for October 19, 2017, which was 20 years exactly after the original release. However, the game would receive a delay to February 20, 2018, citing polish time to “treat the Age of Empires franchise with the respect it deserves” according to Microsoft.

The definitive edition would add new quality of life improvements expected from a modern RTS game, that the original version lacked. Each campaign is now fully voiced. There is an all new UI, the ability to set control groups and attack-move, an idle villagers button and improved destruction physics, among other things. The campaign and scenario editor allows would be creators to make their own custom campaigns that can be shared with other players via the Age of Empires website.

Microsoft would cite before release that the game was exclusive to the Windows Store platform because they wanted to route multiplayer for the game through Xbox Live, which was a feature other platforms like Steam would be unable to support at present.

Upon release, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition saw mixed or average reviews from critics, hitting a 70 on Metacritic, with the score as a reflection of what many critics saw as a solid update of a game, praising its visuals and soundtrack, but with a lot of anachronistic issues that have been superannuated by modern titles.

Story

Age of Empires doesn’t have much of a story per say. There is a single player campaign element, which is divided into different segments and often features the rise of a specific empire in history, while asking the player to consider a variety of objectives while they do it.

The first campaign, Ascent of Egypt Learning Campaign functions as a tutorial for how to play the game, showing fundamentals such as resource gathering, army building and rising through the tech tree, as well as more advanced strategies such as trading and wonder-building.

The first real campaign, Voices of Babylon, tells the rise of the Babylonian Empire. Players take the civilization through its rise and fall through eight chapters. Next, players take on the roles of famous Greeks.

Finally, in Yamato of the Rising Sun, players take the Yamato Kingdom from just another of many clans across Japan, to bringing the entire nation into unison under one rule. Again, there are eight unique missions within this campaign.

Gameplay

Regardless of specific game mode, such as campaign that would include specific objectives for each map, the player is generally going to be working on a civilization up from hunter gatherers into an empire to be reckoned with. Players use different types of units to handle different tasks, from resource gathering to war waging.

There are 12 civilizations to play in the game, split between four styles of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greek and East Asian. These correspond with the empires featured within the campaign, though the different subsets within each of the larger groups has different tech trees to climb, which helps to balance the game by ensuring that not one single army can every have all tech.

Using villagers to gather resources during the game is of the utmost importance, as resources do not grow back and allowing your enemies to hoard all the wood or stone will put the player at a significant disadvantage. Villagers and other such civilian units can serve combat roles in a pinch, but it’s to their significant disadvantage. They’re far better suited to resource gathering, repairing buildings or warships from damage or foraging for food.

The player’s resources also determine their ability to create new buildings and they directly tie into the tech tree. Technology is researched in a linear manner, with more becoming available to the player based on previously researched upgrades and the age that your civilization is in, which is itself a feature of the tech tree.

Military units are the central combatants, and while largely land based given the historical basis of the game, there are other classes that can give a player the upper hand. Base infantry type get in close and Archers attack from a distance either mounted or on foot. Other kinds of mounted units such as war elephants and cavalry can inflict more damage than basic infantry. The player can also build siege machines such as Ballista and Catapults, which each having their own benefits such as the catapult doing bonus damage on buildings, and splash damage to nearby units.

Sea based units can be created, including villager-like Fishing boats, transport ships which can move the other units over the water and can be useful for flanking, and Warships which can attack other sea based units, enemy units and buildings close to the shoreline. The tech tree and the potential inability to train a unit or two is the only real differences between civilizations, meaning that a Yamato Swordsman is the same as a Korean Swordsman. It’s the tech tree that provides potential upgrades to these unit types that other civilizations would lack, and differentiates the 12 civilizations.

The player is also responsible for maintaining a base, which is where villagers work from, armies are trained from and games are won. If the player’s buildings all fall, they will not survive the game. Players begin with a town centre and four villagers, and must quickly begin to gather the resources needed to build housing to grow their population cap. From there, other buildings can be developed that facilitate training of military units, researching the tech tree, defensive fortifications for when your armies are away, and expanding storage capacity for resources.

Finally, Wonders are huge, architectural achievements that represent your pinnacle of society and accomplishment. They provide no direct gameplay benefit in the way most other buildings do, and take a large amount of resources and time to construct. They do however, act as a win condition for many game types. In a score based game, just building the wonder is worth a lot of points and can usually decide the game. Because of its importance to win conditions, players need to keep their wonders well protected from their enemies.

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

Phantom Dust Remastered may not be the brand new game that was hyped at E3 (and which was subsequently put on hold by Microsoft) but at least it’s something new for the Xbox One. That being said, it won’t run at 60 FPS and actually re-uses the original assets from 2004. Why is this the case? Adam Isgreen, Creative Director at Microsoft Studios and who’s speaking in the above interview, took to NeoGAF to clarify several things.

Isgreen first noted that the original assets were used because the company didn’t access to the raw texture files. “We didn’t have source is the major reason, and also because for a 2004 game, it holds up well in comparison to other games from that time. That’s subjective of course, but we’re trying to capture and preserve what PD was, not re-create it. It was funky, certainly, and that’s part of its DNA.”

He also explained why it won’t run at 60fps. “The entire engine was built around the game running at 30 FPS. Everything in the code and data is either frames @ 30, assumes 30, or hard-coded to expect 30 FPS. The frame rate averages 30 FPS now on a wide range of systems. The worst dips we’ve seen are to 26/27 in certain moments. This is massively improved from the original (for those that played it) which would drop into the teens constantly on destruction events.”

Another concern was that the skills featured in the DLC, 74 of them which were tough to earn, would be out after launch. “The DLC skills will be released all at once a bit after we’re launched, and it won’t be nearly as painful to get them all,” Isgreen said.

Finally, regarding the micro-transactions and whether they would affect the progress systems, Isgreen noted, “You can still unlock everything normally, and the MP shop now always acts as if you’ve finished the campaign, so there’s a chance for any skill to be available (including ultra-rares) every time you visit the MP shop.

“Also, you can now skip campaign missions after 3 retry attempts, and we still give you all the skill / credit rewards. And you can still trade skills and credits online.”

What are your thoughts on Phantom Dust Remastered for the Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below.

The Coalition’s Gears of War 4 has received its launch trailer and even though the game is still a ways off from release, it still showcases the kind of emotional and physical drama you’ll be involved with.

The trailer sees Marcus Fenix, his son JD and other characters like Kait Diaz and Del Walker fighting the Swarm. The game takes place several years after the ending to Gears of War 3 and sees the world’s governments in a more despotic state. JD Fenix eventually goes on a journey running through 24 hours of drama and insanity to save the ones he cares about. Suffice to say, if you’re a fan, then the trailer is very good for building excitement.

Gears of War 4 is out on October 11th for Xbox One and Windows 10 with Xbox Play Anywhere supporting cross-save functionality. What’s more, owning the digital version on one platform immediately bestows a copy on the other. Will you be picking it up? Let us know below.

Of the many Xbox One/Windows 10 titles that Microsoft is releasing this year, one particular name sticks out – ReCore from Comcept and Armature Studio, produced by Keiji Inafune and written by Joseph Staten. The pricing for the game is actually $40 but it’s still considered a triple A release. So what gives?

Speaking to the TXR Podcast, Xbox marketing head Aaron Greenberg said there were a multitude of reasons for this. “We wanted there to be no barriers. We wanted to be able to give you a great triple-A title that gives you $60 of value but if you aren’t sure, not let that be the barrier of a trade-off. That’s why we priced it at $40. We hope that will increase its chances of having success as a new IP.

“With new IP like that, launch timing matters a lot. So that’s why you’re seeing us launch it as our first title of the season, getting it out early. The second thing is it doesn’t have an existing base of fans. So we have to build that fan base, earn their trust [and] earn their dollar.”

Given that Inafune’s name isn’t exactly held the highest of regards after Mighty No. 9, it’s not too far-fetched for Microsoft to appeal to gamers in any way possible. Regardless, we’ll see if ReCore‘s quality can speak for itself when it releases on September 13th for Xbox One and Windows 10.

Rare outed a new video of its shared-world, non-Assassin’s Creed pirate-sim, Sea of Thieves today. This isn’t exactly a gameplay video if that’s what you were expecting. It’s actually…well, a jack-in-the-box pirate-skeleton thing with a…is that a mandolin? Yeah, that’s a mandolin. And it’s spinning around in the jack-in-the-box and Anna Hon offers a rendition of  that most piratey of sea-shanties, We Shall Sail Together. So crusty.

The whole jack-in-the-box thing is strangely compelling. We were staring at it for a frighteningly long time, and you probably will too. Check it out below. Sea of Thieves is interesting mostly because a.) it’s a new IP from Rare. Rare! And b.) it’s one of the few worthy pirate games out there because Risen 3 totally doesn’t count.

While we’re not quite sure what to make of the playfully light tone, the shared-world aspect means a delightful return to the substance, if not form, of Black Flag’s multiplayer experience, as well as the multiplayer naval combat we sorely missed in that game. What’s your take on Sea of Thieves? Let us know!

Microsoft announced that the Xbox One’s Xbox Fitness health app will be closing soon,. Previous content that was purchased will, unfortunately, no longer be accessible after July 1st, 2017. Microsoft hasn’t yet discussed whether or not users of Xbox Fitness will be refunded for content they bought previously. This is particularly worrying, as it means that Microsoft Fitness users will not be able to access content that they paid for.

This sets a disturbing precedent that’s already been seen in the mobile space, where companies pull older content without refunding customers.  As for Xbox Health,  Microsoft had this to say: “While our team is saddened by this news, we couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished in the past two and a half years,” Bell continued.

“We know that many of you have used Xbox Fitness to begin your fitness journey, to supplement it, or as a way to redefine your own fitness story. We’re glad we could be a part of the journey.”

Just yesterday, Base listed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Definitive Edition as launching on PS4 and Xbox One on November 23rd, seemingly confirming the rumoured remaster and giving it a release date to boot. This may lend credence to the possibility that Scalebound will indeed drop on March 31st.

Scalebound is an Unreal 4-based action RPG from PlatinumGames, developers of Madworld and Bayonetta among other titles. While the Xbox One comes up short on specs compared to the PS4, a strong lineup of exclusives is what allowed Microsoft’s console to remain a credible purchase, despite “Resolution-gate” and much backtracking on Kinect integration. As a new, exclusive Xbox IP, which PlatinumGames head Hideki Kamiya said is unlike anything Platinum has made before.

Are you amped for Scalebound? Let us know!