Prelude Dark Pain may look like isometric Darkest Dungeon, but its influences run deeper
So far, it's got the style and substance required to make a splash.
Last weekend, I spent far less time than I'd have liked checking out cool indie games at Guadalindie 2024, a little but hard-hitting event in Malaga, Spain, which I wholeheartedly recommend if more editions are happening in the future. Coming out of this celebration of indie games and devs, Prelude Dark Pain was by far the coolest, most impressive title I could play.
At first glance, Seville-based Quickfire Games' debut may look like a straightforward take on Darkest Dungeon and its sequel, and they're more than willing to admit that influence, yet the whole packs more ideas and sticks closer to classic tactical RPGs such as Final Fantasy Tactics. Beyond that playable core also lies a more ambitious structure tying it all together.
The preview build I was able to play featured two different missions, one designed to be a tutorial of sorts and another quest which was wave-based and took place on top of two moving carriages drawn by armored tusked beasts. Prelude knows how to make a first impression, that's for sure; the art style is familiar, but also packs a number of graphical peculiarities that mesh well with the isometric view and overall design of the levels I was able to conquer.
The fact it's a dark fantasy game through and through doesn't mean it's depressing to look at either. Much like in Darkest Dungeon, Prelude Dark Pain is full saturated colors and hard lines. A common mistake among indie games going for a grim aesthetic is turning the whole screen into a grey or brown sludge with few sparks of visual joy, but that's not the case here. Personally, I was also curious about how the visuals featured in the demo translated to the larger, non-linear open-world that serves as the overarching structure of Prelude, but I wasn't able to experience that layer of the game.
Playing an online casino Canada could be more profitable if you know all the rules of your game. Check it out and learn.
Australians love their pokies. Playing online casino Australia is fun and can be done at offshore sites listed on casino guides.
Are you living in New Zealand and are you looking for a casino guide? The best online casino nz guide gives you information on what to play, walkthroughs of casino games and of course guides you to the best place to play online.
Even this week brings another edition of my Weekly RPG Recap. I said, "Even this week," because lately, there's no consistency in my daily routine; my schedule is packed, and I've been running around non-stop, trying to keep up with everything. While my day-to-day may be unpredictable, one thing that remains a constant is the steady flow of news, announcements, and weekly releases related to RPGs and strategy games.
I've rounded up plenty of news this week, and I'm eager to dive in, but before we get started, if you haven't already, make sure to follow us on Google News. This way, you'll always be in the loop with all our latest updates. Let's kick off the weekly recap.
Make sure to find out more about playing at the top online casinos, video slots, and betting sites offered at inkedin, and how users can bet safely and securely!
Gaming News - Shadow of the Erdtree Video Contest, No PSN for Ghost of Tsushima, Destiny 2 Free DLC
Timestamp
0:00 - Top RPG News of the Week
0:02 - Ghost of Tsushima PC will not require PSN to play
1:11 - Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Video Contest
2:40 - Hades 2 Top selling Early Access
3:48 - Microsoft Announces more Layoffs
5:09 - Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous A Dance of Mask Final DLC
6:07 - V Rising Ends Early Access
7:15 - Destiny 2 Giving Away 3 DLC
8:30 - Bloodstained Ritual of the Night Free Update
10:00 - The Rogue Prince of Persia
Playtest Rain Tactics during Endless Replayability Fest (starting May 13)
Hello everyone,
Very excited to let you know that Rain Tactics will be taking part to the upcoming Endless Replayability Fest, from May 13 to May 20 ! This will be the first open playtest of the game's beta demo, so looking forward to all of your feedback !
The demo will bring you to the beginning of the game with a small tutorial and access to the first two levels of the Tower City of Shavanath (which can spawn in 5 different locations).
So join Winter in his quest to reach the Gate of Oblivion and make your way through the City with already 4 unique champions to join you !
The demo will be made available for the duration of the Fest. Full demo release will happen later this year (with even more features).
Neocore has returned to Avalon for a standalone expansion of the Knight's Tale format that revolves around an undying Roman legionnaire unit.
Very few games have managed to completely sell me on them with a cinematic video. More often than not, the glitzy non-gameplay presentation doesn't do much for me to develop excitement for a game, but that wasn't the case with King Arthur: Knight's Tale. The dark and gritty clip of England's most famous fictional monarch drew me in, and ever since I've been a big fan of NeocoreGames' strategy title. For all of its challenges and vices, King Arthur: Knight's Tale entertained me more than enough when I properly reviewed it two years ago, and now the time has come to effectively return to that game.
[...]
The best way to describe King Arthur: Legion IX is that it's just more Knight's Tale, because there's not enough truly unique and fresh elements to make this game stand out above or beyond its predecessor. That's not exactly a bad thing, because Knight's Tale is a pretty competent strategy game, but you can't help but wonder is Neocore could have taken a few extra risks in a gameplay or design sense with this follow-up to make it stand out and thrive instead of feeling like an extra appendage attached to the original game.
Celebrating a Year of Dead Island 2: A Message from Dambuster Studios
It's just over one year since launch of Dead Island 2 and all of us at Dambuster Studios are humbled and thrilled by the outstanding response of our passionate slayers!
It's been a truly memorable year for the Dead Island franchise.
We have had well over 7 million players enter Hell-A and a brain melting 24 BILLION zombies slayed! These are simply mind boggling numbers! We were also truly honoured to be nominated for Best Action Game at the Game Awards last year, and more recently for Best British Game at the esteemed BAFTA's.
2024 has already got off to a flying start with the release of our second story expansion SoLA, and in bringing Dead Island 2 to Steam. Your passionate feedback means a huge amount to us, and we are dedicated to providing ongoing support for Dead Island 2 across all platforms.
To all our slayers - we read and value all your comments and wishes for the future! In the following months we'll share some exciting and long awaited new game updates, so stay tuned for more Dead Island 2 content to come!
Wccftech reports that State of Decay 3 is an ongoing project:
State of Decay 3 Is Reportedly Coming Along 'Very, Very Well'
It's been a rough week for Xbox following multiple studio closures decided by Microsoft and the severe blowback from fans and fellow developers alike, not to mention reports of Perfect Dark having a rough time, but a new rumor suggests State of Decay 3, at least, might be coming along well.
The third installment in the open-world zombie survival series was originally announced during 2020's Xbox Games Showcase when developer Undead Labs revealed the new entry was early in the pre-production phase. To this day, that pre-rendered concept trailer is all we have of the game, and a report from 2022 suggested there were problems early on due to a lack of vision.
The Kickstarter campaign ended, with it being funded as well as reaching its 3 stretch goals:
Done and done!
The campaign for Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy is at an end, with results that surprised and humbled us all.
The game we had planned initially will become even bigger and better thanks to your contributions, suggestions and overall support.
We are extremely thankful!
What comes next? To receive news about development please follow our socials and Steam page; To get us started working on interactive rewards such as the player portrait, please contact us via Kickstarter sending us the photo you wish our artist to paint; And of course, expect the Early Access release on PC, Mac and Linux as soon as Q4 2024.
May the eight-year-old nephews of the world rest easy tonight knowing there is an imminent uncle-gift-worthy videogame perfect for their summer gaming needs. Come along as we dip our toes in the sands of a game that gives "fun in the sun," even if parts of it might leave you feeling burned.
Sand Land is a bit like a nostalgic summer road trip. Following a 2000 manga of the same name by Akira Toriyama, Sand Land follows Beelzebub, the Demon Prince, who sets out on a road trip to find the Legendary Spring, a fabled water source that could potentially quench the parched Sand Land residents. Water has become prohibitively expensive since the riverbeds dried up following a disastrous thermonuclear explosion from an "aquanium" (a rare and potent, though volatile, mineral in the world of Sand Land) facility disaster, so Beelz, his royal accomplice Thief, and the brooding Sheriff Rao hit the sandy, sunny road in search of the solution. And like a classic road trip tale, shenanigans, pitstops (side quests), hitchhiking, and idle chitchat fill their journey to hydro-fortune.
[...]
Earlier, I said that Sand Land would make a great gift for a young one, and despite my gripes I still mean that wholeheartedly. As a content note, there are a few "damn" and "hell" drops, but it is a game about a demon after all. There is weapon-based action, but no talking creature or person in the game is ever explicitly "killed" by your weapons. Also, your character and allies never use ballistic weapons on foot. When enemies are downed, they either run away and disappear or faint with stars above their heads. In short, I feel that Sand Land is appropriate for children despite its T rating, and its charm will likely override its flaws for young folks. Simply exploring the desert with fun vehicles and getting to know its cast of characters is sure to be a blast for kids with proficient (second-grade-ish maybe) reading comprehension. I know I would have gone nuts for this game when I was young, with its sand buggies, tanks, motorcycles, and so on, all with Toriyama's rad art as its glue. I wager others will feel the same.
I also wager that ten years from now, Sand Land will be a slam dunk video game in "hidden gems" lists and "underrated games" essays. Once its price crawls below $25 and its bafflingly pointless "Deluxe Edition" content is packed in (or, better yet, deleted altogether), the game will be value caviar for hungry backloggers. Partially in honor of you future value seekers (hello from 2024, if so), I don't want to outright pan the game for being an inconsistent and unnecessarily SaaS-ified jumble as it is now. It has plenty going for it, especially in its visuals and its vehicles. Just don't give Bandai Namco your hard-earned ten extra dollars for shit they probably forced ILCA to shovel (the Deluxe Edition content) right as they were wrapping up development. Better yet, wait until Sand Land is on sale. That is, unless the 8 to 16-year-old in your life asks for it, in which case I guarantee they'd get sixty bucks worth out of the game.
Sorcerer's
Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining
Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!
Has Sorcerer's Place been useful? If you'd like to show your appreciation
for our hard work on the site, and help us pay the bills the site generates
every month, please consider helping support SP.
Thank you!
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-2428.gif&hash=e05062320f72c3dde02ea59ec7ea2a30)
VG247 checked out the tactical RPG Prelude Dark Pain:![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/images/news/rule.gif)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Forg-1330.gif&hash=1304f9e4d5a63fb25752ba5949764181)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-1710.gif&hash=ed52ed6cd2951bbf39417ac070b163e2)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-1733.gif&hash=dbd7e54cc47e4a190b3ef11e6067d609)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Forg-1708.gif&hash=6f563d57a720bc7c62f733999e8e0f24)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-1798.gif&hash=7b0f55d7cf98c19cf49479f7160da695)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-2354.gif&hash=156a311d88778331b0258486813e8e47)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-2386.gif&hash=1b1d120274478b661d65e4692db481f2)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-709.gif&hash=59c712e4cb6201c58ac89915782ab5aa)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-1226.gif&hash=156839ffe84650dba86bf38839f4a023)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-1476.gif&hash=0a534523ff95c62e9de4e91e396fd054)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Forg-1652.gif&hash=f4dba72f7f4a94431ccbf070f815fc05)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-2406.gif&hash=294299cf684c378fbf0914e7a150506d)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-2349.gif&hash=3b652d42c6606f9af53cde6ae07e8160)
![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-1759.gif&hash=3ae076a51394912d8b82c206f11d5735)
