Month: April 2022

Bretons, the “Man-Mer” race of The Elder Scrolls lore, have long been a favorite choice among role players looking for a capable magic-user who isn’t an’t elf. But, of the standard races in Bethesda Softworks’ fantasy universe, the Bretons’ homeland of High Rock has been overdue for a closeup. It gets one with The Elder Scrolls Online‘s next major expansion, High Isle, launching June 6.

“This content is perhaps the most easily accessible that we have made to The Elder Scrolls Online in regards to people who are already familiar with this franchise,” Rich Lambert, Zenimax Online Studios’ creative director and MMO creator. Morrowind is very strange and has weird mushrooms and other things. When you look at Blackwood [last June’s big expansion] like, this is a big, giant demon that’s coming in, and if you don’t know who Mehrunes Dagon is, you don’t necessarily know or care.

“But with this, this is kind of your traditional medieval fantasy storytelling,” Lambert added. It’s all about the noble houses, politics and knights. So it’s super accessible and super easy for anybody to get into.”

High Rock (the name of the province; High Isle is a location there) has been a playable space in The Elder Scrolls Online since the MMO debuted in 2014, but it hasn’t been given the full chapter treatment until now. In TESO, the Daggerfall Covenant faction, comprising Orcs, Bretons, and Redguards, controls High Rock, and so missions there advance the lore of that alliance as a whole, rather than the Bretons specifically.

High Isle, Lambert said, pivots on the Three Banners War, which is the factional conflict underpinning TESO; in the expansion, a peace summit at High Isle brings the noble Society of the Steadfast and the chaotic Ascendant Order to the table, and players must uncover the true motives of both sides as they wind through the expansion’s main story arc.

Lambert acknowledged that the Arthurian legends, and their aesthetic as traditionally presented, informs a lot of the set design and activities in High Isle. Bretons are, in fact, an analog for Britons, even though they’re half-elf. (In Elder Scrolls lore, “Breton” comes from a dead language and means “half.”)

” We wanted [the setting] feel like a resort more than any other,” Lambert stated. “To the team, when I was going through [the backstory] I said, ‘This is where nobility goes, this is where money goes, this is Las Vegas meets the Roman times.’ How can we make this as pristine and as beautiful as possible? And the team just jumped in on that and started digging into it.”

Asked for his favorite, can’t-miss location that Elder Scrolls fans should be sure to visit in High Isle, Lambert mentioned one of the expansion’s two new NPC followers, Ember, a Khajit street-survivor with a talent for magic. Lambert stated that Ember, a Khajit street-survivor with a talent for magic, is’such a cool character and story. “I think players are going to enjoy the heck out of her and that objective.”

Grid View

The other unlockable companion is Isobel Velois, a Breton knight. She’s not a straight lift of Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones, but if that’s how players relate to her role within High Isle, Lambert sounded fine with it. Lambert stated that she could play one of these roles. She and her family are knights. Her objective is to see right and wrong, and do the right thing for everyone. She’s not, kind of, your stuffy, pompous, ‘I’m a knight, therefore, you know, worship the ground I walk on.’ She’s got her own traits and flaws and whatnot.”

In terms of gameplay, a notable new feature is Tales of Tribute, a tavern game that evolves as a deck-building diversion to play against NPCs and human players. Tales of Tribute will allow players to unlock decks and cards as well as chart advancement with the help of leaderboards.

Image: Zenimax Online Studios/Bethesda Softworks

Considering that High Rock and High Isle are so much undiscovered country for an Elder Scrolls video game — other than Online, its last appearance as an explorable video game world was 1996’s The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall — Lambert agreed that this expansion effectively put him in charge of a huge chunk of canon for the series, which turned 28 on March 25.

“But one of the things that we have established over the years is this sense of trust; [Bethesda Game Studios] trusts us with the IP — we’ve been working on this game since, you know, for me it’s been 2007, but it’s been live since 2014,” Lambert said. “And we treat the IP with respect. They are very close to us, whenever we do anything. And they’ve given us carte blanche to do whatever we want with High Isle. It’s great.”

Overwatch 2‘s first new hero, Sojourn, will bring a railgun, Canadian representation, and the game’s first playable Black woman hero to the game. On Thursday, Blizzard Entertainment gave Overwatch fans their first real taste of what else Sojourn will bring to the game, highlighting how she’ll add to the still-growing roster of Overwatch 2.

Sojourn arrives at the fight with more than a quick-firing railgun. She also has a rocket-powered sliding maneuver that will allow her to be agile and difficult to hit during fights. The Disruptor Shot is also her weapon of choice — Sojourn can be seen using that shot along with her boost-powered slide jump to terrorize a bunch of enemies in the gameplay teaser video above. Finally, we see her Ult in action: Sojourn’s Overclock ability keeps her railgun charged, and charged shots will pierce through multiple enemies.

Here’s the official breakdown of Sojourn’s ability kit in Overwatch 2:

Rail Gun
Primary Fire: Rapid-firing projectiles that generate energy on impact
Secondary Fire: High-impact shot that consumes stored energy

Power Slide
Ground slide that can cancel into a high jump

Disruptor Shot
Launch an energy shot that slow and deals damage to enemies within it

Ultimate: Overclock
Railgun energy auto-charges for a short duration and charged shots pierce enemies

Blizzard published a deep dive video into Sojourn’s history on Wednesday. It reveals how Vivian Chase (a Canadian member of special forces) came to join, leave, and re-join. the heroes of Overwatch. But for a more in-depth look at the character and her creation, read The Verge’s exclusive interview with Blizzard on Sojourn.

Overwatch 2 will go into closed beta testing on April 26 on Windows PC. Blizzard Entertainment revealed in March that the company was “decoupling” Overwatch 2‘s PvE and PvP elements in an effort to get the sequel to 2016’s Overwatch out sooner. Overwatch 2 will bring with it new heroes, multiple hero reworks, new maps, a new gameplay mode called Push, and a new ping system.

In November, Blizzard Entertainment announced it was “planning for a later launch for Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV than originally envisaged,” hinting that the two titles, both announced in 2019, could slip to 2023. But with Overwatch 2 soon entering beta, it’s possible Overwatch fans could get their sequel — at least the multiplayer PvP component of it — this year instead. Blizzard has not communicated any kind of release date for Overwatch 2.

Publisher Activision Blizzard said in November it was giving the Overwatch team “extra time to complete production and continue growing their creative resources to support the titles after launch,” acknowledging turmoil and turnover at Blizzard as contributing to the game’s longer-than-expected development.

I stopped attending church two years ago after Katrina.

For one reason, my mom had problems with the Catholic Church’s stance on divorce — my parents had divorced when I was six, civilly, respectfully, and to the benefit of all parties involved — and that slowly caused our habitual attendance at mass to wane. In the middle of all that is involved in rebuilding a home after a disaster, including fighting insurance companies and finding contractors to make rentable temporary homes for two kids, Catechism classes became less important. The storm itself was not the only reason, but the reality of the aftermath contributed. So I stopped going.

For a while, religion was not something I missed. Actually, it was something I found myself grateful for. Its pitfalls, its misdeeds and its followers were all obvious to me. How could anyone trust anything so blindly, despite the failures surrounding it? That faith was beyond my comprehension.

Image: Geography of Robots/Raw Fury

Norco, the point-and-click adventure game based on the New Orleans suburb of the same name, is a mystifying experience. The writing of the book is beautiful and inspiring, sparking a creative fire within you. You begin as Kay, returning home after the death of your mother Catherine. With all your usual doubts and resentments, you left home for the mundane reasons. Your inner monologue will overlay the landscapes and memories of your childhood as you write your backstory. You remember the years you were gone, including the war you stumbled into. While recounting a story about hiding in a freightliner, you are given three dialogue options: “I prayed.”; “I slept.”; “I forget.”

I was presented with the following options two times: one when I played the demo, and another when I started the full game. Although I wasn’t religious, each time I selected “I prayed”. It was a reflex, with no doubt, and no desire to try another path.

Stepping into Kay’s childhood home, you quickly begin sifting through the lives that have been left frozen in time. In your old bedroom you find books, posters, and mementos, including a stuffed monkey that you can choose whether or not to take with you going forward. You will also find laundry from your mother, her medications and tapes with her warbled thoughts. Million is the escapee android that your mother took years ago. Million can be found in the back yard, leaning on the pickup truck. Million tells you your brother Blake has disappeared — this is the beginning of your quest to unravel the past, present and future for your family as well as the entire town.

Norco‘s pixel art is vibrant and kaleidoscopic, like the stained glass in a cathedral. The first act focuses on the landscape of Norco, from its refineries, to its swampy terrain, to its battered, suburban architecture. As you explore the Greater New Orleans region, the second act takes place beyond Norco. It switches between Kay and Catherine’s viewpoints. To find the Promenade Mall, a group of zealots is camping out in your area with relevant information, you will need to look for clues at City Hall and concerts. The third act, however, is even more amazing. You set out to search for your brother and you end up in the marshes. Along the way you meet a huge bird covered in mud whose eyes were stolen. Norco also provides some really solid comic relief, from launching a cat through the ceiling to a lengthy story about a guy shitting himself.

Image: Geography of Robots/Raw Fury

The pixel style also captures the comfort and majesty of a Louisiana sunset, its blockiness mirroring the density of humid, summer air. My obsession with sunrises and sunsets is well-known. I have hundreds of pictures, each depicting a unique staining of the sky. The special ones are the ones I cherish, as well as the people who were there with me. I also remember those times when it was oppressive and held me close. Today, my friends will text me, You seein’ this shit? and I’ll reply, Yeah man, can you believe it? With each new pixel scene that passes my computer screen in Norco, I want to text my friends, You seein’ this shit? searching for someone able to reply, Yeah man, can you believe it?

Norco blends a myriad of genres to tell its story, from cyberpunk, to mystery, to Southern Gothic. This appreciation of the environment permeates all aspects of the game. Technology is destroying the area. These technologies include those that are part of our everyday lives, such as smartphones and oil refineries, but also ones that don’t exist in our daily life, such as corrupted cloud services where characters can upload memories. Norco‘s framing as a mystery allows you to piece together how these technologies came to destroy your hometown.

While the game is mostly a straightforward point-and-click narrative, several of its side stories deviate on a mechanical level. One such side story takes place at a puppet show beneath the highway overpass. It is about an alligator who lost his child to a shrimper. You are asked by the shrimper to kill him and find the shrimper. You navigate a swamp from an overhead perspective, on a map born of flickering light. Once you find the shrimper, he asks you to kill the alligator instead. You make a choice.

Image: Geography of Robots/Raw Fury

I love point-and click games for both the agency that they offer and the agency that they withhold. But, I love the lessons I get about myself through them. What do you do in the worst or best version of your life? What should I do? What do I say? Is my love for my brother greater than my anger at his actions? Tomorrow, will that be different?

In Norco, I can be a different version of myself — more virtuous, or at least, someone inching toward it. I can apologize for my absence. My family and I can reduce the distance. An eco-terrorist can join me and allow me to break into an oil refinery that is ravaging my community.

I chose to kill the shrimper. The screen was covered in blood as I shot the shrimper. I returned to the alligator and told it that I had completed my mission. But the alligator laughed at me, and decided to eat me anyway. No matter what my intentions, I was forced to make a choice.

As you fall further into the underworld of Norco, what you’re asked to believe in becomes more extreme. When confronted with the possibility of an angel, you are given two reaction choices: “There’s no such thing” or “What if you’re wrong?” I chose “There’s no such thing.” The other character counters, “When the freightliner sped down the highway, did you not pray? The clarifying light that eliminates doubt is not something you are unfamiliar with.

I froze, embarrassed how quickly I’d forgotten. I had prayed — twice.

Image: Geography of Robots/Raw Fury

I have a growing desire to be religious as I get older. It’s nice to think of something greater than myself, something that can quell my endless questioning. I have friends who take their religion seriously, and I’m envious of that ritual and solace. But as I journeyed through Norco, I realized that while I lack religion, I have ample faith. I have chosen to stay in Louisiana, despite all the evidence stacked against it. Despite rising living costs and the tourist economy’s job boom, I chose to stay. Norco is part of a stretch of land with air so polluted it’s referred to as “Cancer Alley“; still, lawmakers push to make Louisiana a “sanctuary state” for fossil fuels. I stay. Each hurricane season grows longer and more intense, so I remain. I remember sitting on my porch after Hurricane Ida and marveling at the beauty of every sunset. The Louisiana sky was never in doubt.

Norco ends on a visceral note that will speak to Louisiana’s staunch hangers-on, but also to anyone seeking a beautiful, oppressive, and ultimately hopeful story. My reaction to the past and future was overwhelming. As I heaved and sobbed over my computer screen, I thought once again about faith — the kind it takes to stay here. If you don’t understand that faith, Norco may very well convince you.

Norco was released on March 24 on Windows PC and Mac. The game was reviewed on PC using a pre-release download code provided by Raw Fury. Vox Media is an affiliate partner. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

Elden Ring has been the most funny game in years. This is due to FromSoftware’s excellent understanding of player behavior and absurd comedy. You can see the gothic atmosphere of Souls: ruined camps, piles of dead bodies and warriors grieving over their lost companions. These people also wear huge hats.

Absurd comedy happens when a logical world is disrupted. This is the abrupt transition from coherence into incoherence. You think you understand the world, but then some thing comes in and starts fussing over everything. It doesn’t matter what type of world, it just matters that it’s clear and consistent. Then it gets confused by anything that is contrary to it. It will be more funnier the stronger its coherence and the more disorienting the incoherence.

Every grafted creature, pre-eviscerated great, and skeletal bird makes the bizarre stunts and You-Died humor of Elden Ring even more obvious. But that’s only the most obvious edge of FromSoftware’s creative chops. They’ve mastered a kind of comedy that’s available to any game developer, but which is rarely used: environmental jokes.

Watch the video above to learn more about how FromSoftware crafts their jokes in Elden Ring and beyond.

Gloomhaven, the 2021 video game adaptation of Isaac Childres’ tabletop role-playing game, will receive its first expansion next month. The game’s official Twitter account announced today that the DLC, titled Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, will launch May 17 on Steam and GoG. As part of a special promotion for the upcoming expansion, players will be able to pre-purchase Jaws of the Lion with a 15-percent discount for $15.29.

The Jaws of the Lion expansion will include 25 new scenarios, include 10 new enemies and bosses, and offer players four new mercenaries to choose from, including the Demolitionist, the Hatchet, the Red Guard, and the Voidwarden. In addition, new items will be available through both the Guildmaster and Gloomhaven game modes. As in the base game, Jaws of the Lion can be played either in single-player or through four-player online co-op.

Image: Flaming Fowl Studios

Players will be able to access the Jaws of the Lion campaign directly through the game’s existing map following the expansion’s release and the completion of the core game’s second scenario.

In our review for Gloomhaven, which launched on PC after several years in early access, Charles Theel wrote that, “the depth and quality of that card-based combat system is extricated wonderfully in the digital version,” further stating that, “the digital adaptation does away with all of the work while still retaining the essential assets.”

Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura offered fresh insight into the world of his next game, Kingdom Hearts 4, in an interview with Japan’s Famitsu, explaining how the Tokyo-like game world of Quadratum is connected to other worlds in the series and why protagonist Sora looks much more realistic than fans are used to. Nomura also confirmed that, yes, Sora’s fancy new apartment, his base of operations in Kingdom Hearts 4, is located in Tokyo’s swish Aoyama neighborhood.

In the interview, which was translated by Kingdom Hearts superfan and streamer Audrey (aka aitaikimochi), Nomura says that Kingdom Hearts 4 will explore the “contrast” of the real world known as Quadratum and the fictional worlds of Kingdom Hearts.

“From Sora’s perspective, Quadratum is a world that exists in the background, a fictional world that is different from his reality,” Nomura told Famitsu. However, Quadratum is not a real world. It exists only in the background. [In Kingdom Hearts 4], we will explore the theme of the contrast between the two perspectives.”

Nomura said that Donald and Goofy are looking for clues to Sora’s whereabouts in “the normal world” in Kingdom Hearts 4‘s debut trailer. Nomura stated that Sora looks better because he is in this world. “However, if he were to return to his own world, his appearance would look similar to [how he would look with] the shaders used for Donald and Goofy.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Nomura teased that a series character will be voiced — he’s heard in the trailers for both Kingdom Hearts 4 and Missing Link — for the first time in Kingdom Hearts 4.

Square Enix has not revealed a release window or platforms for Kingdom Hearts 4, but based on previous entries in the franchise, fans shouldn’t expect it to arrive any time soon.

Epic Games announced the collaboration with Coachella on its Fortnite blog Thursday, showing off the new additions. There isn’t a ton to the integration beyond some music and a bunch of outfits, all of which you can see in the gallery below.

No, Coachella absolutely won’t be live in Fortnite, as Epic Games has done with other musical acts and events. Instead, Fortnite players can dress like they’re going to Coachella while playing the battle royale video game. Coachella’s organizers insist on referring to the concert series as a “Coachellaverse,” and with this collaboration with Epic Games and Fortnite, they’re … sort of … making good of it?

Aside from the new outfits there’s also a range of accessory skins like a neon shark or flaming guitar. All are responsive to music. Epic Games says these are the “first wave” of Coachella items, dropping Thursday at 8 p.m. EDT. The others include an astronaut helmet and a smiley face wearing headphone, and those — as well as other full outfits and skins — launch on April 21 at 8 p.m. EDT.

The other part of all this is that players can listen to Coachella artists in car radios throughout Fortnite. “Icon Radio will air songs from over 30 artists featured in Coachella 2022,” Epic Games wrote. Icon Radio will bring good vibes to you while driving in battle.

The full event runs from Thursday to May 16.