Month: May 2022

Haden Blackman, founder of Mafia 3 developer Hangar 13, is leaving the studio and publisher 2K after serving seven years as the studio’s head.

Announced in a memo addressed to the studio’s staff, which was provided to Polygon by publisher 2K, Blackman is stepping down to quote, “pursue his passion at a new endeavor.” Blackman, who founded the studio in 2014, previously served as the creative director on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and lead producer on Star Wars: Galaxies.

Nick Baynes, who joined Hangar 13 in 2018 and served as the studio head of Hangar 13 Brighton, will take over as studio head. “While change can be challenging, it can also breed new opportunities and success,” the memo states. “We are confident the studio is in great hands heading into the multiple projects currently under way, and the team has 2K’s full support.”

With the current crop of Star Wars titles in production one may wonder if Blackman will return to the helm of a new Star Wars title. Kotaku reports that former Hangar 13 COO Matthew Urban has also left the studio, which is said to be developing a new prequel to the Mafia trilogy.

On Saturday, Games Workshop’s latest hype train, a $299 boxed set called Necromunda: Ash Wastes, rounded its final corner on the way to retail release. It sold out almost immediately, meaning that eager fans’ best bet for securing a copy in the short term will be hitting up their local retailer and hoping for the best. The set itself is excellent, full to bursting with new scenery and excellent miniatures. But while I’m thrilled about the quality of the kit itself, I’m even more excited for the opportunities it opens up for the Necromunda franchise as a whole. This is just the beginning of the Mad Max-ification of Warhammer 40,000, and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.

Necromunda differs from regular Warhammer 40,000 in several important ways. One, it has completely different rulesets. This means that individual models cannot be used across the two systems. They also require separate rulebooks. But Necromunda has an advantage in terms of start-up costs for new players. While you’ll need dozens of models to field an army in 40K, you really only need about 10 or so to get started in Necromunda, thanks to its focus on smaller-scale skirmishes. That makes it one of the lowest-priced points of entry into the Warhammer hobby as a whole.

Image: Games Workshop

This makes the AshWastes boxed set even more impressive for the price. Turns out, you get quite a lot for nearly $300. The set includes two gangs of 10 miniatures each, four mounted soldiers, and two four-wheeled vehicles for a total of 26 fighters in all. There’s also a double-sided map, a bunch of cards, dice, rulers, and the like. But the real treasure here is the terrain.

This set of game terrain is one of the best and most customizable that Games Workshop produced over the past decade. These “hab units”, which are basically bomb-proof slum dwellings, have modular designs that allow you to make different shapes. You can opt for the standard yurt-like hexagonal footprint, or you can get creative and use them to build longer, oval structures. They’re also easily stacked, meaning you can customize the density of your futuristic shanty town to suit your taste.

Most importantly, they feature the same kinds of detailing found in previous Necromunda boxed sets. These new pieces will fit in the existing collections of veteran players, and newbies will have an easier time finding a place for them.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Best of all, nearly all of the terrain is friction-fit. Some of the components, like the walkways, only need gravity to hold them in place. This makes it possible to create unique environments for each game. It should also be fairly simple to add homemade accessories to the terrain later on: Just include a few hook-like clips that are roughly the right size to latch onto the terrain’s built-in grommets, and you’re good to go. It’s an absolute gift for the kitbashers, modders, and artists who have worked to make Necromunda one of the most fascinating subcultures within the modern 40K community.

However, it’s the ruleset that ships with Ash Wastes that will set the tone for Necromunda going forward. The 176-page hardcover book includes a highly refined ruleset that GW has been hammering on since the game was rebooted in 2017. The book contains everything you need about foot fighting and is presented in an updated, more streamlined format. It also includes rules for fighting with vehicles — a first for the franchise that originally launched in the 1990s.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Vehicular battles completely change Necromunda from a traditional tabletop wargame to something straight out of a post-apocalyptic action movie. They’re most impactful in a new game type called a Rolling Roads battle. Played on a six-foot-by-four-foot table, both sides treat that table as a kind of treadmill by moving all of the terrain eight inches closer to the edge each round. Players alternate placing terrain along the edge of their table. The result is a dynamic obstacle course that should have players colliding with each other on a regular basis. But the game takes the kinetic action even further, adding in rules for leaping between vehicles in motion; for side and head-on impacts; for running troops over; for pushing enemy vehicles off the road; and even for massive multi-vehicle pile-ups.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Oddly enough, Necromunda: Ash Wastes only comes with two vehicles, and they’re only made for one of the game’s two factions. This means that the lavish box set’s most exciting new game mode is absolutely off limits to those who have only purchased this set alone. Additional vehicles for the game’s other factions have yet to be released, and only a few have even been announced.

The bottom line: If you are interested in the Necromunda franchise and would like to start, this is a great (albeit expensive) way to do so. But if you’re a die-hard fan who wants to add vehicular mayhem to an already existing campaign, I think you’re better off waiting for more vehicles to get released. If you’re already invested in the franchise, maybe wait and pick up the Ash Wastes rulebook when it becomes available a la carte. By that time, we’ll likely have at least a few more vehicles — like the massive Cargo-8 Ridgehauler — available for purchase. You can also make something from scrap parts you have lying around. Regardless of how invested you choose to be in this particular set, Necromunda: Ash Wastes should continue to be a source of inspiration and good times at the gaming table for years to come.

Necromunda: Ash Wastes was reviewed using a retail copy provided by Games Workshop. Vox Media is an affiliate partner of Games Workshop. Vox Media does not have affiliate partnerships. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via these links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

Open-world MMO The Day Before has been delayed from June 21 to March 1, 2023, as revealed Thursday on IGN.

The survival game, from developer Fntastic and publisher Mytona, is also shifting from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. “The transition to a more advanced and adapted open worlds engine, will make the gameplay of The Day Before even more fantastic,” the companies said in a statement.

That same statement points out the game’s pre-release success on sites such as Steam, citing that “millions” of people have wishlisted the game. It currently sits at the top of Steam’s top wishlists chart.

The Day Before is set in a post-pandemic world with survivors and zombies fighting one another, mixing realistic visuals, gunplay, exploration, vehicles, and a survivor colony safe zone. Despite the serious setting, the game’s marketing hasn’t shied away from being playful with its music choices.

Amid the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, Fortnite is coming back to the iPhone and iPad thanks to Microsoft. The popular battle royale game is now available on Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming platform, which is supported on iPhone and iPad via Safari.

As noted by The Verge’s Tom Warren on Twitter, this marks the first time a free-to-play game has been available on Xbox Cloud Gaming. In fact, documents unearthed as part of the Epic vs. Apple legal battle revealed that it was Epic holding Fortnite back from being available on the Microsoft service (similar to why Fortnite isn’t available from the App Store).

Of course, some important context here is that Xbox Cloud Gaming is not available in the App Store due to disagreements between Microsoft and Apple. Instead, the service is accessible via Safari on iPhone and iPad. The service has generally received positive reviews, and Microsoft has made significant improvements to the experience since it originally launched.

If you’re looking to try Fortnite via a cloud gaming service on iPhone and iPad, there is another option as well. Fortnite is also available via Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service, giving you two options to try Fortnite on iOS, depending on your preference between cloud gaming platforms.

Whether Fortnite ends up back in the App Store remains to be seen, but the legal battle between Apple and Epic games is expected to continue for multiple years. Both companies are appealing the outcome, even though Apple has referred to it as a “resounding victory” for the App Store.

Microsoft says that cloud gaming on Xbox.com is supported on iPhone and iPad devices running iOS 14.4 or higher. Other requirements include a 10Mbps minimum internet connection and a Bluetooth or USB controller.

You can try Fortnite on Xbox Cloud Gaming starting today via Microsoft’s website. The game is free to play, with no installation or subscription required. If you try it out, let us know what you think down in the comments!

About 10 hours into my roguelite adventure in Rogue Legacy 2, the game’s random heir generator served me a Ranger character with a massive spoon instead of the usual bow and arrow. Not one to turn down an interesting twist, I grabbed the spoon lad and embarked on another run through Rogue Legacy 2’s twisting, ever-resetting castle.

Despite his powerful utensil — which bounced around the room, dealing critical damage on ricochets — my hero eventually fell, either to a skeleton, a burst of fire, or some spikes, just as all his ancestors had before him. But his death only fueled my hunger for discovery — with spoons, spinning hammers, mysterious scythes, and pizza occasionally gracing my runs, I knew I’d never tire of Rogue Legacy 2’s endless nonsense.

Roguelites have grown plentiful in the nine years between the first Rogue Legacy and its recently released sequel. Some — Hades, Slay the Spire, Monster Train, Vampire Survivors — have ascended to the pantheon of exceptional run-based games, overlooking an endless sea of dime-a-dozen imitators that couldn’t hold my attention past a few runs. Thankfully, Rogue Legacy 2 has lived up to the high standard set by the original, and cut through the roguelite noise by offering pure chaos.

Image: Cellar Door Games

In Rogue Legacy 2, as in all roguelites, the meta goal is to repeat runs over and over, gaining incremental progress and permanent upgrades after each death. But unlike in other roguelites — even some of my favorites — I never want to put Rogue Legacy 2 down after yet another failed boss attempt. I gladly hoist my sword, axe, bow, staff, spear, or spoon high and immediately run it back.

As in the first game, Rogue Legacy 2 derives its longevity from the “heir” system, which lets me choose a new descendant at the beginning of each run. They’re really just a collection of randomized spells, weapons, and talents pulled from a dozen character classes — but it’s easy to get attached to the ones that carry me particularly far into the game. I can also use gold from previous runs to upgrade my family’s estate (which unlocks further classes and stat upgrades), purchase new armor, or apply special runes to enhance my abilities.

Each of these many features ensure that I’ve always got new tools and effects to play with. Even if I do get an heir with the same combinations as their ancestor, the castle layout, the myriad upgrades I’ve picked up in recent generations, and the omnipresent chance for bizarre items (like the spoon) ensures that my adventure won’t play out the same way.

However, Rogue Legacy 2’s biggest strength is occasionally a weakness. The game obfuscates the specific effects of traits and relics before you acquire them for the first time, which forces experimentation early but can be quite frustrating when it becomes the leading cause of my next failure. I’ve lost numerous promising runs because I’ve picked up a new, mysterious relic only to discover it had a potent negative side effect. In one instance, I gave up and retired my hero when I discovered their secret trait meant I could only deal damage with critical attacks. And even now, with over 30 hours of playtime, there are traits and relics that I will never pick up again because they’re just too obnoxious to deal with.

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of Rogue Legacy 2’s chaos is to accept how rare those “perfect” runs truly are. I’ve died after acquiring an excellent class, relic, and weapon combination, knowing I’ll likely never get that exact build back again. But it’s to the game’s great credit that — despite its relatively high difficulty level — I’ve usually felt as if each of the heroes I select have a fighting chance. So when I lose those once-in-a-lifetime heirs, like spoon lad, I simply shrug it off and make a point to remember them, knowing I’ll never see their ilk again.

Image: Cellar Door Games

The beauty of Rogue Legacy 2 is how it harnesses randomness and unleashes it in brilliantly balanced bursts. Even if every hero isn’t as memorable to me as spoon lad, I can look back on the portraits of my past ancestors and they’ll tell me a story. I remember the farting Valkyrie that got burnt to a crisp by a fireball, or the gigantic Knight who could hit enemies through the ceiling without ever leaving the ground.

It’s so easy to get bored and frustrated in roguelites after banging your head against the same set of rooms or bosses for hours. Games like Hades or Dead Cells get around this by giving players dozens of builds to put together each run. However, those games are comparatively streamlined — despite a lot of randomness, they still give me enough tools to tailor the game to my play style. In those cases, I’m bending the game to my will. Rogue Legacy 2, on the other hand, makes that much more difficult. If I don’t bend and meet the game halfway, I’ll likely break.

Rogue Legacy 2’s extremely random nature would crush a lesser game, but Cellar Door Games uses that pressure to create diamonds. Even if it’s occasionally frustrating, Rogue Legacy 2 refuses to ever let me be bored, and that’s more than enough to set it apart from the heap of roguelites that have followed in the original game’s wake. I’m 30 hours into Rogue Legacy 2, and I’m still discovering new toys to play with. But I still haven’t found another spoon.

Rogue Legacy 2 was released out of early access on April 28 on Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and Windows PC. The game was reviewed through Steam using a code provided by Cellar Door Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. 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.