“Black Border 2 by Bitzooma Game Studio is now available on Android! Dive into deeper narratives, new challenges, and immersive gameplay as a
Valheim, released in 2021, has a functionally broken progression system. The game’s difficulty ramps up dramatically after the swamp, causing players to focus either on early game content or rely on mods to fundamentally change the game. Valheim’s approach to the survival mechanic has made progression take an exhausting amount of time to reach the best parts of the game and its updates. Many players will reflect on their fondest memories resting between the meadows and the swamps, when the game is still simple and the gameplay loop is refreshing. The manual nature of everything works and the game is challenging and exciting, no matter the settings. Starting at the mountains things change. This comes from a Valheim multiplayer prespective, not so much a single player perspective. The Issues with Progression The biome progression within Valheim is meadows, dark forest, swamp, mountains, plains, mistlands, ashlands and then the as of…
Gacha games are a significant and influential gaming model that has enthralled modern mobile gamers. They resonate both with popular culture and gamers which has created a wave of mobile-first titles focused on random chance more than gameplay. The impact spreads beyond the games themselves, fueling gacha like elements in many of today’s modern live service games. Ever wondered where this came from and how it spread so far and wide? We’re going into detail on each of these elements and more with our ultimate guide to gacha games. Everything from what they are to where they came from to where they spread to. Join us as we take this adventure through random chance, waifus and pity rolls. What are Gacha Games? The gumball vending machines that were filled with capsules containing various micro-toys (of various rarity) are the original inspiration for gacha games. Gashepon (capsule-toy) is the basis of…
Marathon is historical and important, but do we really think about how deep its impact was to the gaming industry? We take a deep look at innovating and iteration in FPS gaming.
It seemed like Helldivers 2 was unstoppable but midway through 2024 it has fallen down to where Bloons TD 6 and Fallout 76 rest on the charts. This fall from the top wasn’t really from any single incident, but a collection of decisions that consistently drove player counts down from the unexpected hype of its release. You may think the account linking fiasco is what destroyed the player counts, but the game was actually in free fall long before then: HELLDIVERS™ 2 – Steam Charts. The problems were not only fundamental to the game’s design but the developers and publisher both didn’t rectify the obvious game issues rapidly enough before they lost the vast majority of players due to attrition. Note: This is only notable due to the anomalous nature of Helldivers 2 holding a strong player population for an extended period of time and then losing it, not specifically…
Welcome to the Gaming Tier List ultimate tier list for SMITE 11. If you’re new to the game and looking what to play or trying to climb the ladder, our tier list is ready for you. We’ve consulted with SMITE pros and examined the data to give you the absolute most up to date list of the strongest Gods in the game. Here’s what we’re serving: We’ve got our GTL Tier where we list God by God the best to play for the season. We’re on top of the latest gods by lane for the season. We break down the absolute best God to play for each lane for conquest. Finally we’ve got descriptions and a change log for when Gods move up and down our GTL Tier List. Our guide is updated frequently as the meta evolves and patches release. We’ve got season / year 11 coverage below. Find…
The gaming landscape, now more than ever with the modern proliferation of indie games, has shown that great games can come in all sizes. There are low quality AAA games that cost millions of dollars to make, and there are fantastic games from one-man studios that were crowdfunded, and some not even that. Further, while all of us wish we had the kind of money in real life as we tend to end up with in our favorite video games, that’s not always the case. And even for those who do, there is no income limit where you are required to stop being careful with how you spend your money. So, why pay a lot for a bad experience when you can pay a little for a great one? For someone with a computer, there is a vast, wide sea of Steam games that are both high quality and wallet-friendly.…
Helldivers 2 can sometimes liberate itself from your control and send itself into orbit like a Helldiver diving into a Bile Titan’s walking path. It’s frustrating to have your samples, your team and your extraction but find that you’ve returned to the desktop, empty handed. While a lot of crashing can only be resolved by the developers, there are a lot of things you can try to shore up your defenses to bring liber-tea to one and all. Update Everything AMD and Nividia have released tons of fixes within their drivers to address issues with Helldivers 2, so get your graphics drivers up to date. While you’re at it, update Windows as well. If you’ve got frequent crashes, you might want to run a “Verify Integrity of Game Files (steampowered.com)” on the game as well. Make sure everything you can think of is updated. If you use a mouse or…
Pixel Cafe has a smooth lo-fi vibe with some of the best music I’ve heard this year. Released early October, we finally got a chance to sit down with what can be considered revolutionary in its own genre. You’ve got gorgeous pixel-art style beats, a soundtrack that kicks off from the start and doesn’t stop and a hypnotic gameplay loop that’s as mediative or brow-sweating as you want it to be. Quick note: The developers have been active in updating the game. A mid-December 2023 update introduced difficulty modes, giving the game more depth from the challenging kitchen manager that it was to a zen like rhythm game to the challenging kitchen manager that many loved as is. Let’s dig into what separates this game from others. Running the Pixel Cafe The game starts off with a cup and a coffee machine and simple instructions. The game’s complexities slowly unveil…
Beyond Sunset is a fairly decent retro cyberpunk shooter and a fantastical journey through the story and sound, provided by Karl Vincent of a wild cyberpunk world. The world is bleak but so full of character, embodying the idea of synthwave / cyberpunk aesthetics weaved with a lot of DOOM. This review covers the November 2023 Early Access Build. This is one of the few games where the smooth door animations actually impress me. A world built around a strong cyberpunk theme waits for players to jump and slide their way through its streets and towering mega-skyscrapers. If you’re at all into the music or the gameplay of DOOM, this is a definite purchase. If you need some more details, let’s dig in. What is Beyond Sunset? Built on GZDOOM, Beyond Sunset is a retro DOOM-like FPS with multiple hub maps, a full story driven campaign, inventory, RPG elements, side…