2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake set an incredible precedent as the first part of this fan-favorite trilogy, winning countless awards in its wake. With years of anticipation behind it, the upcoming release of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth promises to carry the torch, leading players outside the stifling confines of Midgar into a vast open world filled with near endless possibilities.

Gamers Heroes got an in-depth session with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth at a recent press event, reuniting with a cast we have to know and love. For somebody who has played the original multiple times (and has an Editor-in-Chief with a Cloud profile picture), our time so far with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth feels incredibly fresh and full of possibilities, all while sharing the familiarity and camaraderie of a close friend.

Join us as we share some of the highlights with our Final Fantasy VII Rebirth preview:

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Preview

Story

We were able to play through the first two chapters of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, continuing the story of party members Cloud Strife, Barret Wallace, Tifa Lockhart, Aerith Gainsborough, and Red XIII.

This cinematic action RPG wastes no time, picking right back up from the party’s escape from Midgar in Final Fantasy VII Remake. There is a “Story So Far” section that can get players up to speed, but those who have previously joined AVALANCHE and its cause will be better prepared for the events that follow.

However, rather than focus on the here and now, the first chapter of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth looks back to the events that happened in Nibelheim five years ago.

It was truly a different time – SOLDIER Cloud Strife, joined by former brother-in-arms Sephiroth, are sent to this town the former member calls home. Rounding out the trio is the plucky Tifa Lockhart (complete with cowboy hat!), serving as their guide to the first Shinra reactor that’s located at Nibelheim’s summit. A treacherous climb, these three will have to contend with monsters, downed bridges, and other threats.

One might know these story beats from the title’s 1997 debut, but the events that transpire are presented in a brand-new light. For one, the power of the PlayStation 5 is on full display – monsters and mako reactors have never looked so good, with a presentation that manages to transform the polygonal and pre-rendered 32-bit landscapes to the modern era. However, it’s the way the story unfolds that will make even the most experienced SOLDIER on the edge of their seat. We won’t spoil the surprise(s), but take note this is far from a simple remake.

The Open World

After leaving the idyllic (and aptly named) city of Kalm, players will soon be treated to a truly massive world in the form of the Grasslands.

This open-world area lives up to its size by giving players a wealth of activities to explore. No need to be lost (at least, no need if you don’t want to be) – there are plenty of quest markers that are conveniently located at the top of the map. Color-coded for easy access, players can easily see where the next major item lies as the crow flies.

However, while that is most certainly an option, that would be an absolute disservice to the sheer amount of content Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has on tap. There are plenty of things to discover as players fulfill their wanderlust, from crafting ingredients to treasure troves. As party member Barret Wallace says early on, pick any direction and walk forward!

Chocobo

Walking on foot is so four years ago, going the way of the dodo. Rather, the new bird in town is the iconic-feathered friend: the Chocobo!

After visiting Bill’s Chocobo Ranch in the Grasslands and tracking down Piko the Chocobo in an amusing minigame, these big ol’ yellow birds are at your beck and call with a single whistle – conveniently mapped to the R1 button.

Not only do they help players traverse murky swamps and add some pep to your step, they can also sniff out a bunch of goodies ripe for the taking – just the thing to boost your inventory! During our time with the preview, we loved traveling around in style, seeking out said goodies and getting used to the dynamics of our feathered friend.

Feel like a Chocobo is not quite fast enough? Final Fantasy VII Rebirth features a fast-travel system that is tied to a number of points of interest. Towns, repaired chocobo stops, and activated Remnawave Towers (more on that later) can all help players move from point A to point B with relative ease. It took us a fair amount of time to get from the outskirts of Kalm to Bill’s Chocobo Ranch, so for those looking to get a move on, this will prove to be just the thing one needs to jet set.

Community Noticeboards and Side Jobs

Providing that odd jobs aren’t just for Craigslist anymore, Cloud and co. can work hard for the money throughout Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

For those wondering what lies in store, players will be able to check out Community Noticeboards to find new employers. Those that take on these side quests can get themselves a number of perks, including rare rewards, an increased party level, and even deeper bonds with one’s allies.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Final Fantasy game without Quests! There’s also the occasional jobs that pop up throughout Final Fantasy VII Remake. Completing these hand-for-hire tasks will net players sweet, sweet Gil currency.

Chadley’s Intel

Returning to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is cyborg and materia researcher Chadley, eager to have Cloud and his friends help him with his research around World Intel after their initial encounter in the Sector 7 slums of Midgar.

Remnawave Towers

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s world is massive, but there’s a way to get a clearer picture as to what the map has in store: Remnawave Towers.

Located throughout Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s Grasslands, these towers help to show a number of points of interest once activated. Think of it as similar to the Sheikah Towers from Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, providing a clearer picture of different regions of the map. This proves to be just the thing for players to uncover ruins, rare phenomena, and other points of interest that one will absolutely need to truly complete Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. As mentioned before, they also serve as a waypoint.

During our time with the game, we quickly came to realize that the Grasslands hide countless secrets. With each Remnawave towers activated by players, players will truly be able to see everything Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has to offer.

Lifesprings

As players travel far and wide, there are plenty of Lifesprings hidden away in the world of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. While Shinra couldn’t care less about them, Chadley is all too eager to actively seek these areas out.

We ended up finding one of these Area of Interest in our journey – albeit with a little help from a springseeker owl. After sending the data over, we were able to get some Region Intel from the area that, in turn, provided additional worldbuilding. Chadley did mention that these lifesprings are in every region, so we look forward to truly immersing ourselves throughout our journey in the full release.

Combat Simulator 3.1.0

For those that like to test their might in Final Fantasy VII Remake, Chadley’s got just the thing: The Combat Simulator. With this virtual world, a number of Deities like the mighty Titan are ready to be summoned and subsequently taken down.

However, the devil is truly in the details. While players can net themselves some valuable prizes like summoning materia of these fearsome foes, they also default to their full power the first time one challenges them. We ultimately learned this the hard way during our session, resulting in a situation we’d rather not relive.

It’s not all doom and gloom, however; there is a way to get an edge. By analyzing summon crystals around the world, players can lower the power of the enemies of the Combat Simulator by a magnitude of three. In a nutshell: The more summon crystals you find, the easier they become. In other words, it pays to explore!

Queen’s Blood

It just wouldn’t be a Final Fantasy title without a minigame that promises to absolutely consume one’s life and rack up those play hours. In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, players will be able to find their heart in the cards with the release of Queen’s Blood. Getting a deck early on, players will be able to challenge people (and little girls with stuffed animals) the world over, building the perfect set of cards as things progress.

However, this is far from a simple repeat from Final Fantasy VIII’s Triple Triad.

Queen’s Blood tasks players with taking turns as they place cards down in one of three different lanes. Each card has its own point value, with the power of each card placed added to one’s lane total. However, players must keep the emerald pawns in mind, as they correspond with which cards go where. Whoever has the most points in each lane wins that corresponding pot, with the highest total points winning the game.

However, Queen’s Blood has a number of wrinkles that add some serious depth. For one, positions can rise in rank, which is a key part in commanding the board and getting the upper hand against one’s opponent. In addition, certain cards have certain abilities, meaning that carefully planning one’s loadout at the beginning of each match is an absolute must.

While we spent approximately five hours with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, truly living out our (final) fantasies in the process. Despite this, we still have so much more we want to uncover, and are eager to play more and see what lies next for Cloud Strife and his party.

Fans can experience all of these elements – and then some – when Final Fantasy VII Rebirth releases for the PlayStation 5 on February 29, 2024.

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However, Enshrouded’s demo at Steam Next Fest completely ruined that approach – it was a technically impressive demo that worked flawlessly from start to finish. A game boasting several intriguing and creative design choices around an often stagnating survival genre, I could not wait to jump in to Early Access.

Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

Enshrouded Early Access is Peak Survival Gaming

In the days – and weeks – building up to Enshrouded’s Early Access release, I spent over 100 hours in LEGO Fortnite and Palworld. This is primarily the reason for waiting so long to share my thoughts on Enshrouded; I needed to wash my sins away. While I made every effort to do just that, it’s impossible not to rejoice in the areas of Enshrouded that I felt more recent releases completely lacked.

It took seconds – and I mean seconds – for Enshrouded to impress. The game looks beautiful, and some of the sights on offer demand you stop absolutely everything to take them in, even if for a brief moment. With sprawling hills, dangerous mists that cover the lands below, and forgotten towns of an old world gracing the horizon, Enshrouded’s world feels huge. Every inch screams to be explored; we’ve played approximately 20 hours between our team and don’t feel we’ve even experienced 10%.

After a brief tutorial, one wasting no time demonstrating Enshrouded’s visual feats, I set off to do what I always do in these games – and something I’ve grown to hate – :building my first base. I say first base because that’s all it ever is. Hours, days, even weeks later, eventually, you know you’re going to be spending hours tracking back and forth, miles from the valuable resources you need. This usually means I’m building four walls, a door, and maybe slapping a roof on if I’m feeling creative, but Enshrouded sucked me right in.

I set up a small porch played around with a balcony, threw on a chimney, and utilized some scaffolding to fix the roof. Everything feels so intuitive, with everything slotting together effortlessly. It’s reminiscent of the modern survival greats like Conan Exiles and ARK Survival Evolved. One is able to build a beautiful small farm house in a flowery field, a small haven in a deep woodland, or even a massive and foreboding castle on the cliffside. It’s impossible for me to ignore the uninspiring construction mechanics of Palworld and LEGO Fortnite’s frustration design choices, but even still, Enshrouded’s building mechanics share the throne with some of the best the genre has to offer.

I could tell before long that my allies were getting irritated with my constant sharing of “oh my god this works” and “thank god they did this” when building the base, so we set out to rescue some allies. While not as cruel or Pokemon-like as Palworld, Enshrouded’s early tasks involves sending players out to rescue survivors of the old world. A blacksmith, a carpenter, a farmer, professions with abilities that will greatly aid in the rebuilding of civilization, each unlocking exciting new blueprints and building opportunities once discovered. This is where my love for Enshrouded stood at a crossroads.

If there’s one area of Enshrouded I still can’t quite settle on, it’s the objective-based nature of exploration and progression. The traditional survival approach of a tutorial walking you through the basics before unleashing you on a sprawling open-world has been replaced with, quite frankly, an often overwhelming number of objectives and map markers to chase down.

You are still completely free to explore, and Enshrouded rewards exploration like few others do, but following the main story objectives is often the best route to progress and unlock more meaningful blueprints. It’s a system implemented well; I never felt confused, lost, or unsure of what to tackle next. Nevertheless, I also missed the satisfaction of searching for particular resources or locations. Braving through the elements to find that one last material to make a new sword or set of armor. One of the many notes I discovered in the game world led to a quest to locate buried treasure, usually a favorite activity in games like this, but it was simply a matter of heading to the location marked on the map and picking up the chest.

While it’s an area of the game I’m not sure if I enjoy, I’m sure many players will be more than happy experiencing something where the core experience is different from other survival titles. It’s one of the many areas Enshrouded focuses on to distinguish itself in a sea of popular survival games, but it is one of the few that I wasn’t immediately in love with.

This is a stark contrast to other areas of the game, making me mumble to myself: “Why don’t more survival games do this?” The survival mechanics, primarily the requirement of eating and drinking, isn’t simply another case of unimaginative micromanaging small bars on the user interface. You are not punished for forgoing a meal or passing up a freshly filled bottle of water, making it one of the many elements of Enshrouded just screaming to be explored.

Different food types belong to different groups, and each individual food provides various buffs and bonuses once consumed. These bonuses can be stacked across the different food groups to compliment a character’s specific build. As the frontline fighter and tank of our group, I was combining meat buffs from some finely grilled Wolf Meat with some roasted Corn, buffing both my strength and constitution. It’s a very simple approach to the core survival aspect of the game. This, in turn, makes an otherwise dull and repetitive experience far more satisfying and exciting.

That same approach is felt across the game. Small changes, tiny sometimes, but refreshing and innovative enough that even seasoned survival fans will take a brief pause. I lost count of the times we shared an “Oh, that makes a lot of sense” whenever we came across one of these small changes. One that stands out the most, at least for someone that enjoys making a house a home in these sorts of games, was the Rested system.

Being Rested provides a character with a huge buff to stamina and regeneration, both crucial when exploring the more dangerous areas of the game. Sure, like most survival games, you can throw down a bed in a run-down shack and call it a day, but adding that extra touch is rewarded. Players can increase the potency of the buffs applied by extending the duration through the increasing of the comfort level in the area surrounding the bed. Tables, chairs, rugs, items that are typically mundane and useless, instead offer to both heighten the realism and immersion of the experience, while directly rewarding players for doing so. Again, something quite simple, but so effective and, really, a lot of fun.

I feel my recent foray into Fortnite LEGO, a well executed but bare-bones title, made me truly appreciate Enshrouded. While a single and vital biome could be a 40-minute walk from your base in LEGO Fortnite, I instantly fell in love with traveling in Enshrouded. It does somewhat lessen the peril of exploration, knowing you are usually only a minute or two from quickly returning home and restocking supplies. Despite that, this is vastly overshadowed by the pure pleasure of just being able to explore and have a good time, all without the fear of only being seconds away from losing everything and spending the next hour recovering. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you can simply open the map, home in just a few seconds.

Most of these features are not unique to Enshrouded, but all of these elements together highlight the exact reasons fans truly love the genre. Put simply, it gives players the chance to focus on the fun aspects of the survival genre. Exploring, taking on challenging boss battles, finding exciting new resources that unlock new blueprints, using the fantastically designed building system to make works of art. Enshrouded is everything I love about the survival genre without all the filler.

Enshrouded’s fledgling adventure into Early Access is technically and mechanically impressive, and as feature rich as games 10 times its lifespan.

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Jected – Rivals Early Access Preview

After making a mad dash, players will grab their ticket to the Jected – Rivals show, a reality show that takes the battle royale action we’ve all come to know and love and brings it to the wide world of racing. No need to worry about tuning, suspension, or even what color each car is – plenty of random rides line the track, just waiting for you to jump right in.

As one would expected with a predicament like this, the cars in Jected – Rivals were meant to get down and dirty. Loop-de-loops, spike traps, perilous jumps, and nitro boosts all ensure that there’s never a dull moment. With 18 players in each elimination race and only one winner, the best way to get qualified is to ram opponents and find a way to get ahead by any means necessary.

The racing mechanics get the job done; there’s an emphasis on speed and drifting with handbrake drifts and other dynamic maneuvers. However, whether by design or mere happenstance, it’s far too easy to end up flipping a car and pulling out your grappling hook to find a new set of wheels. The Burnout and Need for Speed series faced similar predicaments, but kept the frustration at a far lower level. There’s a respawn button, sure, but it can feel like these cars are light as a feather.

You know what else is light as a feather? The player!

If one gets tired of terra firma, Jected – Rivals lets players eject themselves into the sky. A jetpack with limited fuel works in a clutch, but there is also a wingsuit (with its very own boost!) that helps players feel free as a bird. This system is also a little awkward, with the pitch a bit tricky to get down. However, going from car to sky to grappling hook to car again is unlike anything else we’ve played.

This battle royale takes advantage of both of these elements by varying up each challenge. For every standard race, there’s also skydiving challenges, launching challenges, and other wild predicaments. As of May 7 there’s not too much to choose from, but the title is also still fairly new.

Outside of the main mode and two characters, players can add additional characters and cars through its Starter and Supporter Packs. While Andee the crash test dummy is certainly a lively character, we ended up going the free route during our time with the title.

Jected – Rivals flying and driving mechanics get the job done, but those looking to rise to the top should learn to overcome its different quirks and repeated events. Nevertheless, this battle royale shows promise, and we’re eager to jump back into this show for future seasons.

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The Invincible Preview

Kicking off shortly after the beginning of the title, our journey with the astrobiologist Yasna kicked things off with a dire situation. She’s stuck on an alien planet, lost her memory, and has no contact with the crew – what’s a girl to do?

Eventually coming across a camp, things get even stranger – their andronot is jammed, Dr. Krauta is in a stupor, and there are other things that don’t quite add up.

What follows is a journey to make things right. As players traverse its world, they’ll set out to find crewmates, extraction sites, and other clues that can help Yasna get to the bottom of things.

The Invincible does this by absolutely immersing players into this alien planet. This protagonist is tenacious and skilled; there are tracker signals, telemeters, journals, and other things that can be used by Yasna. Much like the Bioshock series of games, this interaction with the environment lets people discover the world on their own terms. No need for waypoints when there’s a mission log that people can reference.

There’s even graphical flourishes like the space suit fogging up when sprinting. This tried and true principle of showing as opposed to telling really makes things go far.

Although Yasna’s in a dire situation, we’re eager to fully immerse ourselves in the full release of The Invincible and lead her on her journey home.

The Invincible will come out for the PC via Steam in 2023. As part of LudoNarraCon (happening from May 4 to 8), a demo of the game will be available. Learn more on the official Steam page here.

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Infernax Preview

Things start to go a little wild once a book with great power is brought back. From there, the land is filled with countless skeletons, zombies, monsters, and other things that go bump in the night. With the odds stacked against you, it’s up to players as the heroic Alcedor to take a stand and fight like his life depends on it.

However, this hero starts things out with some humble roots. A lowly level one hero with a basic iron mace and rusted mail, it’s up to players to make use of what they’ve got in this MetroidVania. As players take down foes, they’ll be able to collect gold and gain experience. A number of shrines dot the landscape, allowing players to save, heal, and use their XP as currency to upgrade power, life, and magic. Enemies drop a healthy amount of XP and money, and those looking to grind can party like it’s 1989 and go back to certain enemies that respawn foes.

In true MetroidVania fashion, the world of Infernax is a sprawling one that features different ways to go. It’s not just the keys that will unlock certain areas; there were multiple unreachable areas with unbreakable blocks and platforms just outside our jumping height. We look forward to seeing how Alcedor will grow in the full release.

Combat is fairly straightforward, with a healthy emphasis on timing and pattern recognition. No need to worry about multi-button combos – rather, one’s main attack button and the odd use of magic will get the job done. The boss, miniboss, and even foes we encountered required a fair amount of finesse to overcome – getting into a DPS war will lead to an absolutely disastrous end. Those that grew up on titles like the original Castlevania or Ninja Gaiden trilogies on the Nintendo Entertainment System will take like a duck to water with Infernax’s system.

While it should be worth noting that the title is still in development, we encountered some bugs with our playthrough. We ended up dying to one of the later foes, which forced our game to crash and start things anew – quite the endeavor. This might be ironed out in the final release, but when considering how there’s a Hardcore Mode that kicks players to the last save point with all progress lost, it can sting worse than a spear to the face.

A nice blend of RPGs, platformers, and MetroidVanias, the current build of Infernax is hitting all the right notes for fans of these genres.

The game will come out in Q1 2022 – all those interested can add the game to their Steam wishlist here.

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King’s Bounty II Hands-On Preview

Having minimal experience with the original King’s Bounty games, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect with King’s Bounty II. I often find myself wasting nights away, searching through Steam’s endless library for something to keep me occupied. Browsing through King’s Bounty II, the hex-style combat system immediately caught my attention, and its interesting combination of third-person style RPG exploration and tactical combat definitely piqued my interest.

We were fortunate enough to be given access to a pre-release look at King’s Bounty II before its full release on August 24. It wasn’t the full game, and we weren’t allowed to take any screenshots or capture any footage (the screenshots in this post were provided for us to use), but we did get chance to explore about 8-10 hours of content near the start of the game.

The story begin as you, the hero, are released from prison by order of the Prince. The local guards, a ruff and rugged bunch, quickly inform you that you have be summoned. They offer an escort to help you reach the city, and that’s it. It’s a quick introduction to the game but a welcomed one, waiting only a few minutes before letting you dive into the game and experience its wonders for yourself.

The third-person style is done well; it’s familiar, easy to navigate, and allows you to explore the large game world quickly and easily. You’re given a horse right at the beginning of the game and then your objective, what path you choose is down to you. Making my way to the main city, I quickly found myself exploring off the beaten path. Treasure chests, secret quests, miniature puzzles – I ran into a lot of exciting and rewarding content just exploring the first main area.

While much of this is very standard for a game in the RPG space, King’s Bounty II sets itself apart with its high fantasy setting and almost RTS style of combat and unit management. The main character doesn’t directly fight in combat. Instead, they command a number of different troops and sometimes cast powerful spells. Even with the limited time available during the preview, I discovered an impressive array of different units that I could add to my army.

Human Spearmen, Archers, and Healers served as the holy trinity of tank, support, and DPS. However, before long I was resting my bows and laying down my spears in favor of ghouls, skeletons, and other ghastly creatures. While the fantastical was definitely more exciting than the average fighting farmer, I quickly learned that not all folk play well together. Mixing my human styled units with those of the dark depths quickly created discourse among the ranks, causing some of my units to randomly skip turns due to their distrust of the walking dead. I mean, it makes sense, right?

I didn’t understand the mechanics behind managing my army until I had lost half of it, but it delivered a level of depth I wasn’t expecting. There is a huge talent tree, skills that the main character or general of your army can unlock that lessen some of these penalties, but I’m unsure how far the full release will go. There’s a lot of potential and the thought of combining the different unit types as you measure the strengths and weaknesses of each factions strongest units is an exciting one. Despite this, it’s not something I got to experience too much during the preview.

The turn-based strategy layer of combat is arguably King’s Bounty II’s most exciting attribute, but there’s a glorious world to explore outside of combat. I only played a single play through using Aivor the Warrior, but I immediately discovered various types of content I was not able to explore. Different characters have different alignments, with the decisions you make influencing your overall reputation and changing the options available ahead of you. This creates a constantly branching path of choice and consequence with actual impact and meaning, stretching far beyond a simple reply in the next line of dialogue.

The initial hours of King’s Bounty II have left me excited. If enough unit variety and spells are available in the full game alongside careful managing of difficulty and challenge, the strategic combat alone will be worth the experience – and that’s without an already impressive and expansive environment.

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We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Nacon’s Clement Nicolin and Hama Doucoure to discuss the upcoming release of Blood Bowl 3, before having some hands-on time with a limited content preview build. There was a lot to digest both on and off the pitch, but what does Blood Bowl 3 have in store for the next generation of coaches?

Blood Bowl 3 Hands-On Preview

Before we dive any further into the conversation, I feel I should stress at the quality level of the build we played. Blood Bowl 3’s release date has been pushed back to February 2022, so this game is nearly a year away from being in a state where Cyanide Studios and Nacon feel content putting it into the hands of paying players. The user interface clearly needs a lot more work. The actions and animations on the pitch are rough and some identical to Blood Bowl 2, sound effects are missing, it is lacking commentary, certain skills don’t work, and the AI is comical. It’s actually worse than Blood Bowl 2, which I wasn’t sure was possible. A lot of the bells and whistles of the final version are missing, but with nearly nine months still left until release, it’s unfair to be too critical of such issues.

The press preview build is very much the same as the upcoming beta build. It’s very limited in content, with only three teams available for play: Elven Union, Black Orcs, and Imperial Nobility. In fact, the latter two are the two teams sold with the most recent version of the tabletop game. There are currently no leagues, tournaments, or other modes of play; there’s simply local 1v1, 1v1 against the AI, and random matchmaking against anyone online.

Before diving into the brutality on the pitch, I spent some time exploring the new functions when creating and managing teams. There’s been some huge improvements, even with the limited content on offer. The user interface feels more sporty, more exciting, and more grand; even the font screams sport. Creating teams has everything on a single page, so you no longer have to work out how many players to buy before deciding how much can be spent on staff and re-rolls. It’s clear, precise, and makes the team creation process very smooth. You can also change the names of players at any point – ANY POINT. Hoorah.

There wasn’t much choice in terms of customization, as we were told this content would come at a later date. However, you can still explore the different options that will be available later down the line. Each team can select their own emblem, choose from different racial cheerleaders, select coaches from its most popular Star Players (which feels odd but it works), pick a different stadium, and create a motto. Marking your own stamp on your creations is a key component to the success of the tabletop games, so bringing as much of that as possible into Blood Bowl 3 can only mean good things.

Player customization is also looking to be hugely improved compared to Blood Bowl 2, a simple enough task as Blood Bowl 3’s predecessor did not feature any individual player customization options at all. Each player can have different bits of equipment changed and swapped. This includes heads or helmets, both shoulder pads, both arms, and body armor. It’s an area the video games have always struggled to compete with.

The potential customization options and ability to be creative on the tabletop version is one of the franchise’s most exciting assets. While a video game will never be able to match that level of creativity, Blood Bowl 3 is definitely stepping in the right direction. I can finally make my awesome 2+ Human Thrower unique to all other Human Throwers I encounter, even if he continues to roll Cloud Burster for his first random skill – for the fifth time.

While veteran Blood Bowl players will take a few seconds to create teams, a lot of effort has been made to make it less intimidating for newer coaches. When recruiting or customizing players, everything is clearly displayed and explained. Their current stats, the skills in their arsenal, and the different abilities available depending on whether or not they invest SPP into Primary, Secondary, or Characteristic choices. Commonly known information for the more experienced players, but a much more streamlined experience for those diving in for the first time.

Nearly every single aspect of Blood Bowl 3, outside of what happens on the pitch, is leaps and bounds ahead of Blood Bowl 2. It’s not perfect, as there are definitely areas that need some tweaking. However, it’s in a fantastic place in this current build. Anyway, enough of the fluff, what about what’s happening on the pitch?

Firstly, before a match even begins, there is a match settings option that currently includes only a single option (but that’s enough) that allows players to customize the timer. There are several options available, none of which are explained, but there’s huge improvements here that the community have been screaming about for a long time. Unlimited turn timers are an option, and there is now an option to support a bonus time clock. Default settings on “competitive” feature two minute turn timers but each player also has seven minutes of bonus time. Each time a players turn counter reaches 0:00, it begins to eat into the reserve time instead. This is a simple but incredibly important change that the competitive scene has been requesting for years.

The structure of games has also changed slightly. After matching has complete both coaches witness an introduction that showcases the home teams stadium and crowd, before panning to the managerial staff and both teams, facing off in the center of the pitch. It is a gorgeous introduction to the game, offering a much bigger spectacle. With more fans, more stands, and a more grandiose presentation, it really hypes up the initial moments of each match.

As your opponents examine the remains of your last opponents in the teeth of your big guys, both coaches dive into Inducements. Blood Bowl 2’s inducements system was sluggish and cumbersome, side scrolling through player after player, searching for a particular staff member or star player. Blood Bowl 3’s system is categorized into Inducements, Star Players, and Mercenaries.

Once you get into the meat and bones of the on-pitch play, the build we had really began to struggle. Certain actions, such as Passing or Throwing Team-Mate, didn’t work reliably and caused connection issues, resulting in a failed game even when playing offline. While the core aspects remain much in the same as Blood Bowl 2, the ordering and design differ enough for it to be off-putting.

Some dice aren’t visibly rolled at all, some are rolled after the fact, and the AI turns become a blur very quickly. I’d hardly noticed what player the AI had selected before an animation plays knocking my player to the ground. Other times one begins to move, then another knock down as I tried to figure out what the blitz target was. The UI is very busy with several radial menus, button menus, and options menus. It’s a little much, but it’s difficult to discern how much of that is Blood Bowl 3 and how much of it is my familiarity with Blood Bowl 2. These are all surface level problems that one would expect in a game so far from release. If the original release date was still planned, I would be concerned.

Blood Bowl 3 has the foundation to be the best entry in the franchise yet; it just needs a little more time on the training grounds. I should also point out that I threw a 1 in 9 on my first opening block in three of my six games, so Nuffle still sucks (don’t tell him I said so).

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Dive in; you won’t be disappointed.

Roguebook Preview – 2021’s Most Exciting Roguelike

While the concept of a roguelike is one of simplicity – challenging players to overcome increasingly difficult challenges with the ultimate punishment of starting anew – the genre has grown over the years to offer deeper, more complex designs and ideas. While Roguebook is definitely a game you can pick up and play for a few hours, the level of depth and customization on display (even with the limited content in the version we played) is incredibly impressive.

There are two main fundamental aspects of the game: the overworld and the combat. While both areas are unique in execution, the overworld is probably one of its most refreshing aspects. Your character begins each run in a procedurally-generated landscape. Key components like boss fights and item locations remain similar, but much of the map changes on each additional playthrough. What truly makes this aspect of the game unique is that there’s a roguelike element to simply exploring.

The map is not fully revealed; an almost fog-of-war like system is in place, restricting areas you can explore and see until you discover ink and paintbrushes. With these special items, you’re able to paint and reveal the routes ahead, creating paths to powerful items and alternative routes to bypass elite battle encounters. It’s a high risk, high reward system that encourages exploration and rewards careful planning with the allocation of valuable resources. On one attempt, you may uncover piles of gold, obtain plenty of powerful new cards, and even slay a fairy for some real riches. The next, you can find yourself struggling to make it past the first few battles.

Roguebook’s true standout elements of design come in the form of customizing your characters and cards. During each playthrough, you’re able to use two different characters. At this point, it is limited to the main character Sharra and the support character Sorocco; other characters will be available at release. Sharra primarily focuses on dealing damages to enemies, and also boasts a few agility cards. On the other hand, Sorocco serves as more of the meat of the operation, soaking up damage with high value block cards.

The combat system in Roguebook is clearly inspired by Slay the Spire, one of the best card-based roguelikes around. Its user interface, the summary windows providing information on buffs and debuffs, the way cards are played – if you’re familiar with Slay the Spire, you will immediately feel right at home. However, although the inspiration is proudly displayed for all to see, it’s not without interesting ideas of its own.

Both your party and the enemies you encounter have formations, much like Darkest Dungeon and similar games. Certain attacks will only hit the front line, while others reward you with bonuses depending on your positioning. Carefully choosing your cards, when to attack, when to defend, who to position to face the brunt of the bosses next strike – it’s tactically fantastic and really rewarding to play.

With each playthrough, your characters earn experience points by finding fragments of parchments scattered throughout its world. These experience points are carried between attempts, creating a constantly evolving progression system that is the very embodiment of the roguelike genre. However, the real beauty of the customization comes in a form that can be lost, amassing huge power with customized cards that can just as quickly disappear if you head into a battle unprepared.

Cards are the backbone of the combat. They represent every move you can play and every ability you can activate, but they come in many varieties. These vary from simple attacking and blocking cards to summoning additional allies and raining down area of effect damage. All of the cards are valuable and substantial in their own right, but it’s the customization that promises near endless variety and replay value.

Gems can be found, purchased, and discovered in its world. They can increase damage, add additional effects, and even make a card appear at certain times – there’s a ton of choice on show. Each card has at least a single Socket – a buff slot that houses gems to increase a card’s effects – but as you progress, additional sockets can become available. I purchased a card that gave my team an additional mana at no cost if used by the character at the rear of my formation. I later buffed that card with gems to ensure it was always in my hand at the start of each fight, and even summoned another ally at my side. It’s very early days for Roguebook, but from what we’ve seen so far, it’s very exciting.

Roguebook takes clear inspiration from the roguelike genre’s greatest achievements in recent years, and why not? With an intriguing premise, an engaging overworld, and a combat system that had me addicted from the minute I began, I can’t wait to see what’s in store.

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Century: Age of Ashes Preview

Century: Age of Ashes is a lobby-based, competitive multiplayer game that pits two teams of mounted dragons against each other in a battle to the death. While additional modes, maps, and classes are promised in the coming months, the current preview build features three playable classes, two maps, and two different modes of play.

Before diving into a match, players can work through the tutorial. This consists of a series of silent and brief videos introducing the various aspects of attacking, defending, managing stamina, and collecting pickups scattered around the map. While simple and lackluster, it’s enough to bring you into Rookie Mode.

Rookie Mode is played on an open map, with some mountains and rocky terrain to split the teams apart. Each round, only certain abilities are available, allowing players to learn with restrictions in place and giving them time to adapt to each new ability as it’s introduced. The other mode, Simple Match, is on a bigger, more extravagant map that features a huge castle on the shores of a large ocean. Both maps feature intricate tunnels and tough to navigate areas, alongside more open spaces for flat-out fighting.

The gameplay itself is familiar, but it does have a steep learning curve. Dragons aren’t able to stop completely, but the fact that you can speed up, boost, and are slow to turn makes the challenge of flying and controlling each dragon a real art. Whether you’re navigating through caves and tunnels or soaring above the ocean, being able to outwit and outmaneuver your opponents is the key to success.

There are currently three playable classes: Marauder, Windguard, and Phantom. Each class can use fireballs and fire breath – the two main avenues of attack – and has access to a number of class-specific abilities. The Windguard can rush toward a target ally and provide a quick shield boost, while the Phantom can turn itself invisible and lay down devastating mines in close-quarter spaces.

Defeating enemies, collecting power-ups, and winning matches all earn experience points and currency that can be spent on new equipment for both your dragon and class. All unlockables (both free and premium) are purely cosmetic; there is currently no progression system in place. There is a premium shop where you can buy dragon eggs, equipment, icons, and a variety of goodies, but it’s not cheap. A legendary dragon egg will set you back about $20, although currently the premium store doesn’t allow for purchasing items or currency. Each class can unlock and equip new dragons, dragon equipment, and character equipment – again, all purely cosmetic – but it nevertheless allows for a total of 11 different avenues of customization for each class.

So far, Century: Age of Ashes is a good start for an innovative concept. Impressive visuals and highly competitive gameplay stand at the forefront, but the lack of any meaningful progression and rewards will definitely not appeal to everyone. Without some level of skill or level-based matchmaking, new players may find the initial hours difficult and frustrating.

For those looking to check it out themselves, Century: Age of Ashes is scheduled to release under Steam Early Access in February 2021.

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King Arthur: Knight’s Tale Early Access Preview

King Arthur: Knight’s Tale begins with a fantastic opening cinematic, setting the tone for the adventure ahead. After an epic battle, Sir Modred has slain King Arthur. However, with his final breath, the King cut down his foe in response. Both are killed, but neither are truly dead as the Lady of the Lake brings Sir Mordred back to life and sets him on a path to confront his nemesis King Arthur once again. The game only features two main story mission at the moment, but there’s plenty of side content to make it worth exploring.

Aside from the two main story locations, the current version of Early Access includes seven optional missions, several characters from multiple classes, the ability for heroes to reach level five, and the basics of Camelot upgrades. While somewhat slim in content, there is plenty to get excited about. From the gorgeous environments and challenging tactical combat to the careful management of a kingdom, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale shows a hell of a lot of promise.

At its core, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is an isometric-styled turn-based RPG with a heavy focus on character development and progression. It features many of the staple elements of the genre, from the thrilling battles to the constant desire to loot, loot, loot.

The current looting system is a bit hit and miss. You don’t loot enemies after combat, leaving the tail end of battles feeling lackluster and unrewarding. There are also a couple of challenging combat sequences that promise great treasures, but it’s difficult to understand what the actual reward is.

I’m unsure if I was rewarded a lot of my efforts, because the game doesn’t allow you to view or equip any new items until post-mission. So while I’m sure you get loot for many of these seemingly loot-less tasks, it’s unclear on whether or not they are worth doing. Some may prefer this approach, removing the need to constantly loot fallen foes, but without some notification or information on rewards, it does feel a little lackluster. Other areas of reward do feature at least some level of on-screen notification, so hopefully this spreads to all manner of loot gathering.

While the action of actually obtaining loot still needs some work, the actual physical loot you receive is exciting and rewarding, right from the start. You don’t loot weapons or armor, but runes instead. For all intents and purposes they all act identical, with weapon runes increasing your damaging stats, armor runes your defensive stats, and so forth. However, they do not change or alter the appearance of characters at all – at least not yet. While missing new visuals for new equipment is a bit of a downer, the potential for character builds benefits hugely, offering many different paths of each of the knights by your side. The perks of not having to provide new models for each and every item is variety. There’s already a ton of selection in-game, and while it may disappoint visually, I’m really excited to see what kind of knights I can build come release.

Arguably the most important aspect of the game, even at this early stage of development, is the combat. If this foundation isn’t solid, no amount of updates and patches will fix it. However, that is not a problem that King Arthur: Knight’s Tale has to face. The combat is fantastic; it’s turn-based, grid-style combat where you select your characters, spend Action Points to move and attack, and keep a careful eye on positioning to avoid flanking attacks – or landing that brutal killing blow from behind.

Both positioning and turn order are vital. Shielded characters can block heavy damage from the front, but if they are attacked from the rear, the heavy defense provided by a shielded front line becomes useless. Overwatch, an ability that lets your knights prepare for an attack should an enemy come in range, is incredibly satisfyingly and rewarding when executed properly. One can watch a squad of enemy infantry marching on your front line, each unsuspecting the ambush that lays ahead. With a couple of shots from your archer to weaken them down and heavy hits from your two-handed specialists as they approach, they are decimated. Even in its earliest stage, the combat in King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is tactical, strategic, and a hell of a lot of fun.

The mission-based content, recruiting of new characters, and character development would settle as enough of the game to make it worth the purchase, but there’s a lot additional depth outside of the core fundamentals. Camelot can be upgraded and improved, adding vital facilities for you and your knights. You can heal permanent wounds, train items, and recover your injured knights. The current Early Access build only features three buildings, but it’s already a very interesting feature, one that plays a vital role in your success.

Adding further depth is a Morality system, albeit one that doesn’t feature too heavily at the moment. From the very beginning, Sir Mordred is faced with certain choices. Does he take the throne of Camelot for himself, or defend it in the name of the Lady of the Lake? Does he recruit the surviving bandits after a raid, or send them into exile? Each choice contributes towards the Morality system. Will you bring Camelot back from the ashes as a righteous ruler, or command it under fist as a tyrannical leader?

There are a number of areas with King Arthur: Knight’s Tale that hit me in ways I never expected. During my first playthrough, I ran into several unexpected design decisions that really threw me off. I had conquered the first story mission, escaped the dungeon of Camelot, and claimed the throne. I’d liberated a nearby village from a horde of bandits and put the citizens to work on upgrading Camelot. Unfazed by the challenges I’d faced thus far, the knights and I took to our next conquest: a brigand-filled forest.

Long story short, things went a little south for the knights and I. By the end of the mission, I was left with just Sir Mordred and Lady Dindraine, a dangerously impressive archer. That was it. I had yet to build my Hospice in Camelot, so I was unable to heal my fallen comrades. You are unable to repeat missions or revisit past locations. And the next areas available to me were an impossible task with just two knights. So, on my next mission, failure was inevitable. I died. Game over. I was unable to reload, as there’s no manual saving. There was just the haunted presence of the save file in my load screen, unable to load.

Although I was not expecting this level of brutality, I thoroughly welcomed the almost roguelite-esque aspects of design. Whether these features exist by intention I’m unsure, but I am very interested to see what route the game takes as it continues to develop. I’m especially a fan of removing the save-scumming crutch that so many of us love to use – myself included.

For a game in its earliest infancy of Early Access, I was hugely impressed with King Arthur: Knight’s Tale. Technically, the game is near flawless. I was unable to loot items on one playthrough, a few of the skills didn’t functional correctly, and dialogue sometimes failed to play correctly. Despite this, reloading fixed most of these problems immediately and I suffered no other issues.

We’re not spoiled for choice when it comes to exploring stories of Arthurian legend, but King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is already preparing to be one of the most exciting games of the year.

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