Felix “We can make Skyrim at home!” Threepaper
Welcome folks, and happy “249th Anniversary of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” week!
On 17 February 1776, Edward Gibbons published the first volume of the The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which ended up being six volumes, published between 1776 and 1789. While many scholars at the time, and since, have disputed his given reasons for the fall of the Roman empire, it was a widely-read work that was hugely influential. It would be part of the reason why so many of the revolutionaries of America and France had Rome on the brain during those years, as you can tell from their architecture. You may all celebrate by playing a game with multi-volume lore books.
Obsidian, the makers of my favourite Fallout game, have put out their big Microsoft ‘sclusy: Avowed. It’s Skyrim on a budget, a big first-person RPG focused on hitting the main spots while saving cash by foregoing AAA feature bloat. So you won’t get romance options or minigames, but the exploration, combat, story and character progression are solid. A huge open world is eschewed in favour of a number of open hub areas. But these environments and scenery look gorgeous and inviting: fantasy landscapes packed with details that reward exploration.
The combat looks like its strongest feature. It’s a fun twist on the usual sword/archer/mage trio of fantasy combat classes. Most people ended up as a stealth archer in Skyrim because its first-person melee combat wasn’t very satisfying. By all accounts, Avowed has nailed its first-person melee combat, so sword-and-board isn’t the boring option any more. The rangers in Avowed have iffy stealth but also gunpowder weapons. And mages are as cool to play as ever, wielding their spell book and wand in each hand, and you see your hand pull a spell out of the book as you prepare it.
The progression system doesn’t lock you into a particular class, affording chances to try out all the combat styles, and even mix and match. Players are running around with a pistol and a wand, or a sword and a grimoire.
It’s set in the Pillars of Eternity world, so expect a similar lore, story and quest design. The companions system is more rudimentary than some bigger RPGs, but the first companion you meet is voiced by the guy who voiced Garrus from Mass Effect.
Overall, there’s a lot to like about Avowed. It might stretch itself a little thin after 40-plus hours, but what doesn’t these days? It’s a condensed form of the Skyrim RPG experience, with some tweaks to remember it by. You may not lose yourself in it for 10 years, but you can enjoy it and move on. Hopefully in time to play Outer Worlds 2, which Obsidian is also putting out this year. GOTW.
The other big release this week is Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii: a spin-off which puts a pirate flavour into the Like a Dragon formula. You will have a ship and must assemble, and train, a crew to rid the seas of criminals and pirates, having lots of melee combat and minigames along the way. The ship combat looks very much like Black Flag, until you get ridiculous upgrades that turn your ship into a missile turret that can swivel on a dime. The melee combat system is beat ‘em up instead of turn-based, which could speed up the grind.
GWJ Word of the Week
Beat ‘em up: (see also: Brawler) a video game where you engage in hand-to-hand combat against many enemies at once. Classics like 1987’s Double Dragon dominated the arcades and set the early template for the genre: 2D side-scrollers with a second joystick so your buddy could fight alongside you. Beat ‘em ups made the jump into 3D but diversified. The increased distances afforded by 3D spaces necessitated putting weapons in the protagonist’s hands, to extend their reach against the mobs of enemies. Think Kratos’ chain blades from the original God of War. And thus the beat ‘em up evolved into the hack’n’slash.
Here's the list, in release-date AND alphabetical order!
PC
-
02-18
- Arcane Raiders
- Avowed
- Bedtime Stories 3
- BURN
- CRYPTOFANTASY -The Scrolls of Kouga
- Freeforce Airplanes
- From The Other Side
- Geminism
- GridFiller
- league of Y
- Lightning Katana
- Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1
- Microtopia
- Necrocat
- No Border
- Operation Blackout
- Puzzle Paradise
- Raia Nova
- Shameless Afterparty
- Snowballs Throwing Simulator
- Snowflake Master
- soul of Y
- Track Masters Pro
- Turbotz Testing 20XX
- Velocity Rush
- Wheelborn
-
02-19
- 18th Floor
- AFFRAID
- Axios Football
- Bachelairs
- Box Matrix
- Brave risks
- Cinnabunny
- Cold Warms Us.
- Collect Baby Oil
- Countryside Legends
- Cyber Revolution
- Defend the vault
- Everyone Fights
- F11 Football Manager
- god of Y
- House of Souls
- HPL: Nyarlathotep Rising
- Kung Fu Beat
- Reverse Problem
- SPELLHACK!!
- Storm Burst: Tornado Alley
- Thinking Inside The Box
- Travel through the adult game and build a harem
- Viking Frontiers: Prologue
- Wasteland Rangers
-
02-20
- Alchemists
- Biohazard: Siberia
- Blood Typers
- Boku no Soushiki ni Youkoso - happy rebirthday -
- Bring Slime to Mommy
- BrokenLore: LOW
- Cabernet
- Death in the Gulag
- Eclipse (Blood_Studies)
- Era
- Escape Horror Online
- I Wanna Ascend
- Karazakushiki
- Kitty's Hungry Adventure
- Latex Tentacles
- Lofi Aquarium
- one-armed crayfish
- Patriotika RPG: Shadow World
- Piczle Cross: Rune Factory
- Playtown Genesis
- SHOTBALL
- Shrimp Keeping Simulator
- Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog
- Strange day
- Sweet VTuber Shooter
- TactiCats
- The Fellowship of Infinity
- The Haunting Of Stabbey Road
- The Hyperreal Rock in a Surreal World
- The Well of Essenwood
- There's a Gun in the Office
- Ultra Mega Planet Battles
- UNCURSED
- Unusual and not safe experiments
- X-Out: Resurfaced
- Yandere Goth Boss: Valentine's Day
-
02-21
- Brain sovereignty
- Car Crash X
- Castle Xenon
- Cats & Critters: A Dungeon Claw-er
- Dungeonfell
- Elemental Continent
- Fallen Goddesses
- FISH FEAR ME
- Glory Wall!
- heart of Y
- Hell of a Birthday
- Iridio: Prologue
- Lamentations
- Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
- Luminous Project
- Please Subscribe! Magical Revantia Channel: The Magical Girl Powered by Viewers
- Rising Sun - Iron Aces
- Sci-Futa
- Slime Clicker
- Succubus Spell
- The Royal Rebel Casino
- Together with Onee-san. ~ Yuina's Sweet Encouragement ~
- Tortuga City
- Vex Clock
- Whisker Squadron: Survivor
- ZHONG XING NEW VILLAGE
-
02-22
- Hanabi and Ghost girl
-
02-23
- Cats Hidden in Japan
- Dodge The Plane
- Dream fallen remake - village
- Jameela and the treasure of the Demon Queen
- Last Stand: Zombie Horde
- Tanks online
- The Most Perfect Revenge in the World
Xbox Series X
-
02-18
- Avowed
- Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1
-
02-20
- Cabernet
-
02-21
- Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
- Please Be Happy
Xbox One
-
02-20
- Cabernet
- X-Out: Resurfaced
-
02-21
- DAMN!
- Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
- Please Be Happy
- Racing the Gods - Beyond Horizons
PlayStation 5
-
02-18
- Berserk Boy
- Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1
-
02-20
- Cabernet
- Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog
- X-Out: Resurfaced
-
02-21
- Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
- Please Be Happy
- RPG Maker WITH
- Whisker Squadron: Survivor
PlayStation 4
-
02-20
- Cabernet
- Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog
-
02-21
- Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
- Please Be Happy
- RPG Maker WITH
Nintendo Switch
-
02-19
- Bee Flowers
- Cosmic Fantasy Memorial Collection
- Sunshower
-
02-20
- 2222 Abyss of the Universe
- Bing in Wonderland
- Build Lands
- Burai: Joukan
- Cabernet
- Godzilla Voxel Wars
- Jupiter Hell
- Learn to Play - Penalty Shootout
- Marron's Day
- Mimi the Cat: Meow Together
- Nazotoki Kara no Dasshutsu
- Ninja Issen: The Scroll of Dimension
- NouTore! Neko Kentei
- Piczle Cross: Rune Factory
- Pro Wrestler Story
- Spot the Odd Pictogram!
- Star of Providence
- Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog
- The Backrooms 1998
- Wet Whispers - Anime Shift Puzzles
- X-Out: Resurfaced
-
02-21
- DAMN!
- Die by Anything
- Lone Fungus
- Lulu's Temple
- Please Be Happy
- Prison Guard: Warden Simulator
- Secret Neighbor and Hello Engineer - The Neighborhood Bundle
-
02-22
- Galagi Shooter Ultimate Blast
- Shadowforge Chronicles
Comments