標籤彙整: 901
Steam Investigating Indie Game Wandersong To See If It’s A Real Game
You might remember Wandersong, the cute little indie platformer from developer Greg Lobanov, when it came out last year. We did a review on it. It’s neat. Valve is, for some reason, currently investigating whether it is a real game.
When Valve threw the doors open on the Steam store last June, they said they plan to remove games that are “illegal, or straight up trolling.” The latter descriptor is intentionally broad and, in the ensuing six months, has come to include games that may exist simply so Steam cards can be mined and sold from it. When a game like that is being investigated by Valve, a little message appears on their store page saying that certain features, like earning cards or getting achievements, will be limited or turned off. The game will appear in your library, but won’t add to the total number of your games, either.
Basically, if something is weird with your game, Valve’s algorithm wants to know why.
These restrictions have been on Wandersong since the game’s release and still seemingly ongoing, for reasons that haven’t been explained to Lobanov. He tweeted about it being a strange aberration in October, but it still remains an issue today.
Wandersong’s steam reviews are so good that Valve doesn’t necessarily believe it’s a real game, and still haven’t enabled many basic features for us in case it’s a bot trick. BUT IT’S REAL. https://t.co/wRZVo1LKtL pic.twitter.com/XqEzQKKP5x
— WANDERSONG (out now!!!) (@Wandersong_game) January 8, 2019
“We’re just so statistically anomalously popular with users, Valve’s algorithm thinks we might be a scam game that hacked hundreds of accounts to make it look like we’re this popular,” he told Polygon. “It’s a good-ish problem to have.”
Lobanov says that it’s Steam’s algorithm that decides this and there’s no chance of getting someone to look at it until the algorithm declares it fine. It’s not clear if a person ever looks at each game Steam flags or if some number has to pass a certain threshold to fix it. Until then, Wandersong can still be sold and still remain so popular that Valve’s software can’t really figure out if it’s a bot.
[Source: Polygon]
Every Time Kyle Crashed His Horse In Red Dead Redemption II
Click here to watch embedded videoIf you know anything about the old west, then you know that crashing you… 閱讀全文
Framing Santa For Murder In Hitman 2
Click here to watch embedded video
Sometimes at Game Informer, we like to completely stop informing and just play games. In this nearly informationless video, Cork joins me as I attempt to become Santa Claus (from Christmas) and kill the Home Alone guys in this limited time bonus mission for Hitman 2, returning from Hitman 2016.
The mission is free for owners of Hitman 2 and can be played until January 8th. You can and should unlock the Santa outfit for permanent use.
Enjoy the video above, and thank you to the entire community for a great year. Happy holidays and I’ll see you in 2019!
GI Show – Below, Ashen, Best Tabletop Games
Game Informer’s Ben Hanson, Dan Tack, Andrew Reiner, and Ben Reeves talk about some of the best indie games released at the end of the year. Then Matt Miller talks about several of his favorite tabletop games to play over the holiday break. We have a special treat with our emails section this week, as we’re joined by a generous donor from Extra Life Mike Hennessee! For the back half of the show, we say goodbye to out wonderful interns Jill Grodt and John-Paul Gemborys by asking them dozens of burning questions from the community.
You can watch the video below, subscribe and listen to the audio on iTunes or Google Play, listen to episode 429 on SoundCloud, or download the MP3 by clicking here. Also, be sure to send your questions to podcast@gameinformer.com for a chance to have them answered on the show.
Click here to watch embedded video 閱讀全文
Dusk Review – Getting Old Schooled
Switch
Big-budget, triple-A experiences have never been better, but modern games have no shortage of long cutscenes and hand-holding tutorial sequences. In contrast, Dusk is a nostalgia trip that strips away modern expectations and delivers distilled FPS thrills. Dusk doesn’t mess around with leveling mechanics or a sprawling narrative; it hands you a shotgun and lets you loose on a demon army. This simplicity is Dusk’s greatest strength, because this no-frills shooter is an excellent crash course in basic game design.
Dusk doesn’t hide its homage to ’90s corridor shooters like Doom and Quake. These straightforward, boxy levels are relatively short and filled with colored keycards and hidden monster closets. But, given its graphical constraints, Dusk’s environments are incredibly well-realized. Animated scarecrows stumble out of cornfields while rundown barns teem with hooded cultists and demonic goats. Each level features its own twist on folk horror, seemingly inspired by films like The Wicker Man and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. With sparing detail, Dusk establishes an ominous tone that completely sucked me in from level one.
Click here to watch embedded video
One of the biggest reasons to explore every nook and cranny of Dusk’s short levels is to gain access to powerful weapons. Early on, I fell in love with dual-wielding shotguns, but another favorite go-to became the rivet gun, which fires off super-heated construction rivets that explode like miniature missiles. Unlike many classic FPS games, I constantly rotated through Dusk’s arsenal thanks to each weapon’s specialization. For example, the hunting rifle is a long-range tool that packs an incredible punch, while the crossbow fires magical green arrows that rip through multiple enemies and even fire through walls. Each weapon is incredibly satisfying, and thanks to an ample supply of ammo scattered on the ground, my magazines rarely ran dry.
Mastering Dusk’s arsenal is important, because the action is frantic. Every firefight feels like a dance as you rotate through insanely powerful weapons and strafe dozens of incoming foes. Most enemies do little more than stand and shoot or run straight at you, but given the sheer number of foes and the fact that different projectiles move at varying speeds, I was constantly on my toes. Dusk is a shooter with no reloading, no cover, and no nonsense, so every skirmish is an absolute thrill ride.
Dusk’s intensity also pairs well with its oppressive atmosphere. You rarely have time to think about the horrors you’ve witnessed because the game is continually tossing enemies at you and letting you burn off that nervous energy in combat. Dusk is at once nerve-racking and cathartic.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
After you finish the extensive single-player campaign, you can jump online for 16-player multiplayer mayhem. While the online action remains fast-paced, deathmatch is the only multiplayer mode, and it only has a handful of interesting maps. I had no trouble jumping into online matches, but I did have trouble getting a full 16-player match going. An in-game link to a community Discord channel helps coordinate play sessions, but this feels like papering over a problem rather than providing reliable and robust matchmaking. Given online multiplayer’s lack of options and intentional lack of progression, this mode feels more like a novelty. Fortunately, the single-player campaign is more than worth the price of admission.
The first-person shooter has evolved a great deal since Doom popularized the genre in 1993, but, in spite 25 years of innovations, Dusk proves that many of the old tricks still work incredibly well. Dusk might look and feel like a Quake mod, but it’s so polished it feels modern. Anyone with even a hint of nostalgia in their bones for classic shooters should dive headfirst into Dusk.
Score: 8.75
Summary: Dusk doesn’t mess around with leveling mechanics or a sprawling narrative; it hands you a shotgun and lets you loose on a demon army.
Concept: A faithful homage to the frantic first-person shooters of the ‘90s
Graphics: These boxy environments and pixelated textures feel lifted from another era, but they look great thanks to high resolution and modern lighting effects
Sound: The guns are loud and in-your-face, and the metal soundtrack amplifies Dusk’s horror theme
Playability: Dusk’s action will sweep you away, and it’s small, memorizable levels can be played in short bursts
Entertainment: Fast-paced and violent action hits the ground running, but the intense horror atmosphere might turn off some
Replay: Moderately High
Ashen
Ashen is a 3rd person, action RPG about forging relationships. You are a lone wanderer in a sunless land. The only light to be had sputters from an age-old lantern at your side. There is a rumble in the distance, and then … 閱讀全文
