Haven & The Game Bakers
This week we have released two articles created ahead of our interview with indie dev, The Game Bakers. Haven released in December to a great reception. But, what if I told you Haven may have ended up being a point and click title?
We also spoke to Emeric Thoa, creative director of Furi and Haven regarding the console wars and whether they are still relevant today.
Monster Hunter Rise trailer
A new trailer for Monster Hunter Rise for Nintendo Switch has been released, showcasing a variety of returning monsters, including the fan favourite Rathalos. The trailer reveals a new combat technique which seemingly allows you to ride wyverns to use against other monsters that you’re hunting. Check out the trailer below.
This feels like a natural evolution in regards to combat, especially being a title on a Nintendo console, as in previous games of the series players have been able to climb onto monsters to attack different spots specifically. The graphics have been vastly improved compared to other Monster Hunter titles seen on Nintendo consoles; it looks gorgeous and a heap of fun. A demo of the game is available to download from the E-Shop and play it right now on Nintendo Switch!
Next Level Games acquired by Nintendo
Next level Games have been purchased by Nintendo after exclusively working with them for the last 6/7 years. NLG are responsible for titles such as Super Mario Strikers on the Gamecube, Punch Out!!! on the Wii, and more recently the incredibly successful Luigi’s Mansion 3 on Nintendo Switch.
The acquisition is thought to be taking place around March 2021, and with more funding behind a very talented studio like themselves, I can only feel excited about what else they can bring to the table with Nintendo’s already great first party developers.
Activision under fire
Call of Duty fans are currently riding a train of uncertainty when it comes to Warzone and the latest release in the series, Cold War. Since the release of Cold War, Warzone has gone through a plethora of gun updates, seeing over 30 weapons added to it’s already huge roster of guns. Fans have been left feeling isolated when it comes to any communication from the development teams. There has been radio silence from Activision regarding the ever increasing occurrence of in game hackers, broken or ‘OP’ weapons and general stability of the game. The same goes for Cold War, which right now is plagued with crashes, glitches & awful matchmaking which is turning players away from the game.
Two months after a games release all day one issues should be fixed, it is not acceptable for a full priced game to be consistently having some of the worst crashes I have seen in the industry; completely hard resetting anyones console should be a priority fix. A recent patch for Warzone has been released (7th Jan 2021) but fans are still unsatisfied with the level of ‘nerfing’ of certain weapons.
Cyberpunk 2077 player count falling
After a disastrous release, Cyberpunk’s player base has fallen by around 75% on Steam. This comes as no surprise, but the numbers are a lot higher than I thought. The game struggled during launch due to clearly releasing far too early as it was pushed out before it was ready. This is likely due to heavy pressure from shareholders and upper management at CDPR.
The developers at CDPR have promised to fix the issues that make the game unplayable, but unfortunately sometimes it’s too late to salvage a wreck. Expectations for this game were far too high to begin with, there was no way they could deliver. Hopefully the developers at CDPR do manage to save the game they have been working on for the last 7 years or so, but only time will tell if the fans are willing to stick around.
For more news, reviews and features, check out Ready Player Gone.