Little was known about it until its early beta came out and some YouTubers got their hands on it. Even at that point, the mainstream media was not really following the small heap of dust and smoke rising because of this game. Little did anyone know that even in beta, its impact was about to take the world by storm (read Renti’s Ultimate).

Genshin Impact launched as a Free-To-Play (F2P) on almost all major platforms. It is available on PC, Major Current Consoles (Most likely will also be released on next-generations as well), and even on Android and iOS devices. Our experience is based on the PC version, however, this article is focused on what Genshin Impact offers, why it might be one of the most important games to come out this year, and what makes it comparable to existing Live Service games, especially Destiny.

The Accessible MMORPG

It’s free, so there is no harm in trying it at least once. All you have to do is download its client from the official website (Yes, it is neither available through Steam nor Epic) and Launch. But once you do, you will realize the extremely easy start of the game. Genshin Impact’s core model is based on three main factors; Unique Characters, Loot, and Finding the best gears for your favorite characters.

The game offers a wide economy, which compels a lot of grind, but with benefits that are nearly equivalent to all the entertainment, it is literally delivering for free. The introductory Prologue mission might seem tedious yet provides exceptional means to introduce players to various aspects and features of this game, something drastically missing even in Destiny, where new players have to rely quite heavily on community support. And it’s quite hard to believe that even in beta, Genshin Impact is an exceptionally polished game.

Genshin Impact core gameplay is hack and slash. Basic Attack. A heavier attack executes when you hold the basic attack. Similarly, a special attack with a simple press of a button, and when the same button is held for a few more seconds, it unleashes a stronger form of special attack. And last but not the least, the Ultimate (or as Destiny Players would put it, Super). Every character introduced has a uniquely special and ultimate. So far the powers introduced are based on the following elements:

Although we control one player at a time, just like switching weapons in a first-person shooter, you are able to swap characters based on the roster of the characters you have unlocked. Your Party can have Four Characters at one time, and your combos highly depend on the characters you choose and how you switch to them during battles, as enemies come with quite a good variety in this game. But there is a catch!

Premium Trap

Note: Being a live service game and also a Beta, everything being mentioned here is subject to change at any stage.

Microtransaction is almost a norm in every game, especially for live service games, and Genshin Impact is not an exception. Although it offers a path to earn everything and achieve unlockables without spending any real money, but in our experience it requires a lot of time and effort, eventually leading to the decision whether you want to spend real money or you want to keep grinding. Following elements of this game are provided under microtransaction:

• New Characters: Up to Adventure Level 19, you will be able to unlock 5 characters for free without using any additional resources to access them, but if you want to unlock more characters you will need to spend “Fates” at “Wish” and then pray that you get lucky really soon.

• Battle Pass: It is available for all players, but just like Destiny’s Season Pass, it also offers a second premium layer only available after paying at least 10 US dollars which offers higher quality of rewards after achievement of every level of Battle Pass. The Battle Pass lasts for 30 days only though, so in order to unlock all 50 levels of Battle Pass, you will really need to give the game daily attention. The pass unlocks after you have achieved Adventure Level 20. In addition, you can also buy Battle Pass progress to unlock the items rather quickly, through use of Primogems.

• Genesis Crystals: Genesis Crystals can be acquired through real-world money (like Silvers in Destiny). This currency can be used to buy either start-up bundles (offering quick leveling for characters) and also can be converted to the game’s main currency Primogems. The game offers various packaged deals to purchase Genesis Crystals, the higher the value, the higher is the number of Genesis Crystals.

• Primogems: This is the main in-game currency, which can be acquired through almost all game activities, making the grind worth something apart from loot. Primogems are primarily used for procurement of Acquaint Fates or Intertwined Fates, but can also be used to acquire Resins. In case you are getting short of Primogems, which you will, you can always spend Genesis Crystals to acquire them. One Genesis Crystal equals one Primogem, which so far does not feel like a fair deal to us.
• Resins: Every day, when the server registers another day, you will receive 120 Resins. You will need this currency to acquire loot from “Domains (Genshin Impact’s Dungeons)” and Bosses. This is one of the most annoying bottlenecks of this game, as once you have reached higher levels, you will expend this currency in mere two boss activities and then you will have to wait for these to regenerate. Resins regenerate at the rate of 8 per hour, and that’s real time. You can acquire additional resins through in-game bonuses, or Primogems.
• Acquaint Fate and Intertwined Fate: There is only one way to unlock new characters, and it’s through “Wish”. It is a gamble. You can actually unlock all characters but will require you to spend lots of Fates. And these Fates are rarely awarded through in-game activities (a few bonuses here and there), but mostly you will have to acquire them through Shop, using Primogems. 160 Primogems equal One type of Fate. Each Fate is used for different types of Wish Banner. And each Wish Banner provides chances to unlock various characters or weapons. You would want to invest in all of them and pray that your luck comes through.

• Starglitter and Stardust: These are in-game currencies that can be used for a wider variety of items. These not only support in acquiring Fates but also in the acquisition of different resources (which are also available through the in-game grind and crafting.
• Mora: These are the gold coins and used to purchase the services of vendors found at various points of the map. Mora is acquired through activities and quests performed, and an additional amount can be acquired if you buy the Battle Pass.

Pro Tip: Save Starglitter and Stardust, do not waste them on resources that you can easily earn or craft in-game as well.

Now before these numerous options for microtransaction scare you away, hear us out! The game still offers lots of entertaining means to ensure that you still get to earn enough to unlock and achieve everything which Battle Pass and Characters have to offer.

In our experience, we have not been quite lucky, but we were still able to unlock Venti, a 5-Star character before we had hit 50^th Wish. But fear not, as an in-game note does indicate that we will surely get a 5 Star weapon or character by the 80^th Wish, if we do not get one before we hit this number. You can actually check history under each Wish Banner, to check how many wishes you have used and what you were able to unlock.

This actually becomes a cycle of hunger, and if you are not able to control your temptation (by just being satisfied with whatever you got), you might get stuck in the vicious cash grab trap. So caution is necessary.

Resource Management

The game’s core progression mechanic heavily relies on finding resources, using vendors to create better items (even weapons and special items), and these resources are not really hard to earn but are still scarce in terms of their utilization at a higher level.

Following are some of the means to acquire resources:

• Exploration: Explore the map and collect fruits, plants and mine items found in almost all areas. The explorer inside you will always be able to identify such opportunities and a few clicks can do a lot to support your progress.
• Completing Daily, Weekly and Monthly Activities: During your intro quest (Prologue), you will discover Adventure Book. This book provides necessary activities that you can complete and earn various rewards, including useful resources.
• Expeditions: This is quite a useful activity, although you don’t really do anything here. You see, once you have a roster of eight or more characters, you won’t be playing with all of them. So the game gives you an option to dispatch a few of them to collect different resources. These can be minerals to food items, depending on what you need.
• Dismantling Items: You can also earn resources by “deleting” artifacts and weapons, which will in-turn give you resources.

Apart from all these activities, your characters can also cook, and many of them come with added bonuses if you select a certain character for cooking certain recipes (the same concept is also applied on crafting). It is an extremely useful tool and will help you a lot when you face death (which you probably will).

Genshin Impact is a sort of game that will suck your spare time, and if you get addicted to its grind, you may not even want to get into any other game. In such cases, you might find managing resources not a daunting task, at your end.

But for a gamer willing to spend, not more than one or two hours a day on this game, might find resource collection challenging at higher levels. We highly recommend that you take your time, and take things slow. There is a lot to do in this game, lots of side quests and loot to discover, even with slower progression, you will still find the game enjoyable.

Genshin Impact is Simple to Learn, Harder to Master

Genshin Impact’s gameplay starts quite simple, as you start with one character only. As the story progresses and you are able to unlock your first new character, you begin to realize the complexity in its simplicity. Like most hack and slash, you may think that focusing more on weapons carried by your characters will support your progression better, but it is not the case here.

Genshin Impact’s characters come with their own skill sets and powers. And every element has a bonus impact when mixed with another. These can create damage impact, environmental impact or even both. Many enemies require various combo of elements before you can actually take them down, and this technique becomes compulsory to take down bosses. Some combos are as follows:

		Light up one of the enemies on fire using a Pyro character, then immediately switch to Ameno Character and use wind to spread the fire to enemies nearby, damaging all of them.
		Light up your enemies on fire and then use electro power to overload them, which will weaken them to your attacks.
		Use water to wet the enemies, and then switch to Cryo character to freeze them for a limited time, increasing your chances to damage them.

The game is filled with combos and combinations which are still being discovered by us. For Example, at one time we had to cater to a mini boss with his minions. So I lit one of them with fire using my Pyro character, switched to Ameno Character and spread the fire to all characters using wind, then used an Electro Character to overload the enemies under fire, creating an opportunity to use my Geo character (with a heavy weapon) to pummel them out of health in a matter of seconds. Trust me, it was glorious, and as the levels get higher, such opportunities become critical for your success.

Another important aspect of Genshin Impact is to create “Your Party”. You may be able to unlock up to twenty characters, but you can only have Four Characters in a party. And every combination of characters brings added bonuses for the party, based on the combination of elemental powers:

Now we do have a slight gripe in this matter, although it is understandable that some quests, areas, or enemies will always require certain combinations to successfully beat them, but due to scarce resources, you cannot invest in all of your characters. We usually prefer the characters we feel comfortable to play with.

But in order to be successful in higher-level quests and domains, you will eventually have to keep at least one elemental character readily available and upgraded, for each type of element. We would always recommend you to keep all four characters with different combos, especially keeping one pyro and one electro in your team.

But that’s not all.

There are many more gameplay elements which make characters and their equipment management, an overwhelming but interesting task. Some of the key items which you must upgrade and invest on for each of your favorite characters are:

• Character Attributes: Each character’s baseline HP, DEF, ATK, etc. This upgrades through the use of Experience Books, which you will be able to find through game activities.
• Weapons: There are many weapon types, like Swords, Broad Swords, Maces, Bows, and Magic Books; which can be further enhanced or refined to make them better against higher level enemies. Each weapon can be upgraded, but based on limited resources, you will have to choose carefully which ones you want to upgrade first.
• Artifacts: These items are used to enhance various characteristics of each character such as Critical Chance, Critical Damage, Energy Recharge Rate, HP, DEF, ATK, etc. Each character can equip up to five of these, and the correct combination can apply additional bonus attributes on that specific character.
• Constellations: These are additional layers to enhance your character’s elemental powers. So far the only means to unlock these is to acquire the same character from Wish (means instead of a new character, you will be getting one of the unlocked ones, by chance). Your main story character (the traveler) gets upgrades for constellations through questline as well.
• Talents: All characters are at base level 1 of Talents in the beginning. You get the option to upgrade Talents to Level 2 once you have ascended the character to Ascension Phase 2, and similarly, Talents Level 3 after Ascension Phase 3. The Talents however do not simply unlock, they require lots of material and may easily be considered the actual endgame grind for every character, and requires extraordinary commitment.

These depths in characters make Genshin Impact a masterpiece, waiting to be explored and played. No single experience can ever be the same, every player will earn his own style of play.

Solo or Co-op

The overall progress of the world is based on Adventure Ranks, which is your true objective in terms of progression. While the start of the game is Solo (also some primary game quests cannot be played with friends), but once you have achieved Adventure Rank 15, you will be able to play with your friends as well or any random strangers through matchmaking.

Genshin Impact’s co-op mode is fun to play with friends, especially when you are hunting bosses and conquering domains. But there are some weird aspects which make the experience limited to only boss fights and domains.

When the other players join your world, they can mine items with you, gather fruits and flowers, but they cannot collect treasure from various treasure chests scattered throughout the map, even if they have helped you unlock them. In our opinion, this makes the open exploration in co-op quite dull. Therefore we highly recommend unlocking travel points before going for co-op.

Also, once a player reaches World Level 1 or higher (Achieved at Adventure 20), that player can join players with lower levels but other players can only join his world if their World Levels are same or higher. This measure makes sense, as the enemies do not scale according to you, but rather scale according to the world you are playing in.

Overall, anything is fun when you are playing with friends.

Genshin Impact A Destiny Killer?

Even with all of the above-mentioned grind and microtransaction traps, Genshin Impact is addictive in its gameplay. It offers enough content to keep you busy that the grind becomes fun. And not to mention, the co-op element. You can do all these activities, either in open world or in fixed domains (dungeons) with your friends or random strangers and multiply the fun factor. But its quest design and story does not come close to anything Destiny or even other Live Service games have offered. You will most likely skip through all the dialogues to get back in the game ASAP.

With so much offered as free, a huge map to explore, and developers miHoYo promising free new areas, characters and events for all players irrespective you pay for the game in any form or not, Genshin Impact is a formidable foe for Destiny’s player base.

Destiny was supposed to release its next expansion, Beyond Light in September, but due to pandemic and perhaps also to cater with Next-Gen Consoles, it is now pushed to November, making its current season (Season of Arrival) at least 2 months longer with little to no new activities for old players. Therefore, it is quite likely that people will try this new F2P game in the market.

There are some quite drastic differences between Destiny and Genshin Impact:

• Destiny is a first-person shooter, whereas Genshin Impact is Hack n’ Slash
• Destiny offers both PVE and PVP modes, whereas Genshin Impact currently offers only PVE modes
• Destiny offers a wide variety of areas to explore and it is quite massive in size, Genshin Impact is only just beginning and cannot match that size and scale
• Destiny offers pinnacle activities such as Raids and Dungeons, whereas Genshin Impact only offers Domains (very short dungeons)

In all honesty, comparing Genshin Impact with Destiny is considerably unfair, but as it offers a F2P model with a huge pile of live service-based activities and content, we believe it will definitely shake up the priorities of gamers investing in live service games. Bungie better keeps an eye over their shoulders.

Also, unlike most live service games offering seasonal events, Genshin Impact has a rather quicker and more interesting take on events, by offering them on a bi-weekly basis. We believe such a quick introduction to new events and quests will keep the player base stronger.

The post Genshin Impact Review: The Chinese Video Game Invasion appeared first on RespawnFirst.

CDPR might be the only studio in recent years, which has always had wide acceptability by the customer base (core gaming communities). Their transparency with customers and their investors has become a benchmark for good business practices among game developers and publishers, often creating tight spots for such giants like EA, Ubisoft, and even Valve (Steam).

Cyberpunk 2077: The Wild Hype

While CDPR had mainly gained popularity due to the Witcher franchise, the studio garnered even more hype for their upcoming new IP, Cyberpunk 2077. Cyberpunk 2077 was announced way back in 2012, and then for years, there was no news about it. CDPR had stuck to its popular slogan “it will be released when it is Ready”, and kept reassuring its loyal gaming community that it will be their most ambitious game and the wait will be worth it.

Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, though released in 2015, is still considered a benchmark of quality among even the most recent releases, the hype for Cyberpunk 2077 had gone higher into unrealistic proportions without even a glimpse of gameplay. Although a cinematic teaser trailer was shown in 2013, an actual gameplay trailer was finally released in 2018 during Microsoft’s E3 conference. And even at that time, no release date was committed by CDPR.

Finally, at E3 2019, CDPR gave a release date of April 16, 2020. The game was later delayed to September 17, 2020 and then again to November 19, 2020. Quite recently though, Bloomberg reported, that although CDPR had promised that there would neither be any further delays nor a crunch period for their teams in order to meet the latest release date, they officially announced 6-days week till the release of Cyberpunk 2077 in order to meet the committed level of quality.

This news came with a strong backlash from journalists and critique alike, but is the backlash actually justified? In this article we discuss this Crunch of CDPR, and whether it will affect the already delayed release date or not.

Cyberpunk 2077 “Coming When it is Ready” – CDPR

Firstly, let’s just talk about the elephant in the room. The relationship between CDPR’s release dates and delays. We are not surprised with Cyberpunk 2077’s delays. We do not expect CDPR to announce a major title and then release it half-baked (We are looking at you Anthem and Ghost Recon Breakpoint).

CDPR is expected to release a product that is bug-free and complete by all means, and they have always delivered this promise albeit with some delays every now and then.

Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt was announced back in 2013, with an expected release window in the third quarter of 2014. It was then officially announced for February 2015. But it did not meet its February 24, 2015 release date and was pushed further without any date until April 2015, when CDPR announced that the game will be released on May 19, 2015.

It must be noted here that Witcher 3’s development was planned in 2008, but was officially initiated in 2011. Compare that to the actual release date and you will realize the level of commitment towards quality expressed by CDPR, uncompromised evidence.

Now if you compare Witcher 3 scenario with Cyberpunk 2077, you will realize that not much has changed, although this time around the factors pushing towards delay is quite a lot. We break them down one by one.

Delays, Next-Gen Gaming And The Curse Of Covid-19

Cyberpunk 2077 was scheduled to be released on April 16, 2020. It was the first date of release announced by CDPR, and honestly, we expected a delay of a few months even when this release date was announced in 2019.

Apart from CDPR’s usual behavior, another huge global change was the impact of the pandemic on literally every industry in the world, suffice to say, CDPR was not an exception and therefore “work-from-home” policy was also applied there as well, for the safety of employees and it definitely affected the overall business functions as no one was ready for this.

Therefore when the new release date of September 17, 2020 was announced, we were not really surprised. With pandemic on the loose, we expected such major releases to slow down, considering market trends worldwide. All big cinema films of this year were delayed (some have been pushed into 2021 now), and even Bungie had to push the release of their next Destiny Expansion to about two months.

Hence, there was literally no surprise when another delay was announced and the new release date for Cyberpunk 2077 was confirmed to November 19, 2020; a significantly important date for the gaming community.

You see, November is also the month when next-generation consoles of both Microsoft (Xbox Series X) and Sony (PlayStation 5) are expected to hit the market, and these next-generation consoles are useless without strong launch titles. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most hyped games of this year, so it made complete sense that it would be released as one of the flagship games of both next-generation consoles.

Apart from that, even Nvidia recently announced their new RTX 3000 series graphic cards, and as expected, Cyberpunk 2077 is being marketed as one of the major titles to use the full potential of the new and absolutely impressive RTX 3070, 3080 and 3090 graphic cards.

It is not hard to connect the dots from here. The release of next-generation consoles and new graphic cards, both promise a good number of sales for CDPR’s most gorgeous game to date, Cyberpunk 2077.

People would want to enjoy this game on their preferred platform, with the best visual and frames their money can buy (depending on your platform). Therefore the delay to November again made perfect sense for us game industry analysts.

The Crunch On Cyberpunk 2077

CDPR has a track record of releasing a complete game. Although no game can be perfect right from the launch and there are always patches to improve it further, CDPR games have still maintained quite a high level of quality, and people have always supported their decisions due to their transparent behavior with the general public.

But we cannot assume that CDPR would always make decisions driven towards their customers. Being a business entity with investors and stakeholders involved (this includes Nvidia, Microsoft, and Sony as well), CDPR has a huge chunk of various communities to satisfy, and not meeting the new deadline might affect not only Cyberpunk 2077’s sales (as people would invest on games which are immediately available for their new consoles) but also sales of next-generation consoles, as there is not much else happening during the last quarter of 2020, perhaps mostly due to pandemic.

Therefore when CDPR announced a crunch period of 6 days a week (Based on the Polish business model, it is mostly 5 days per week), we were rather surprised at the backlash by the community. It must be noted here that CDPR is not only going to pay overtime to the employees going through crunch but also has offered additional benefits based on sale numbers of Cyberpunk 2077.

CDPR CEO confirmed that 10% of the annual revenue of the company will be divided between the teams that are working on the game which is a massive bonus keeping in mind that Cyberpunk 2077 has been on the top-selling charts for months now, even though the game has not even released yet.

They are doing this for a limited period of time, to ensure they can meet the release date, otherwise, the financial impact of not meeting this latest release date will be much higher than what they have to pay to meet the crunch period.

One of the core reasons for dismay in this matter, however, is CDPR categorically committed that they will be able to avoid the Crunch Period this time, but they failed to keep up with that promise. Based on this fact, there are assumptions that the game might get delayed even further.

Even we can’t confirm whether the release date will be met or not, but considering the history of CDPR, crunch time is definitely not new. It was applied before the release of Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt as well, and it is definitely not a good practice, but the end result speaks volumes.

Based on the same logic, Witcher 3’s crunch time was applied during its final pre-release days, and CDPR was able to meet the final date eventually while assuring the quality of the product. Therefore, the current crunch time for Cyberpunk 2077 definitely bodes well for the committed release date, we believe it clearly expresses that CDPR will be able to meet this date without any further delays.

Inhumane Practice Vs Quality For The Customer

Over time, cutting holidays, and overloading employees is not something new to any industry. Organizations have gone above and beyond normal business practices in order to meet industry standards of quality, and unfortunately, many times failed at all ends. We, as customers, are worried about the well-being of employees of the video game industry, but we also deserve an uncompromised quality of video game when it is finally released.

The development hell of Anthem is a critical case study in this scenario. The game was released in February 2019, and even today it is promised to become what it was actually meant to be, but there is only a handful of customer base actually waiting for those changes, as most user base has moved on. CDPR of course does consider all these factors and wants to deliver as per customer expectations, although it is rather impossible to meet the hype.

CDPR is currently paying the price of the hype created by our expectations from them. So we would not blame them in their entirety for this crunch time, but we would expect their product to meet the minimum expectations and commitments, on the day of release without any further delay, if they are willing to pay such a high price through the hardship of their employees.

And let’s not forget, CDPR is one of the good names when it comes to industry best practices, pioneers of promoting greater value for customers and employees alike, and defining benchmarks for triple AAA gaming experience while pushing towards a DRM-Free gaming world. As the community is divided some would say that CDPR is getting a pass because the community loves the company. They have always been pro-gamer in their practices and have been transparent throughout the development of CP2077.

While we wrapped up this article, Cyberpunk 2077 has gone gold, which has exponentially decreased the chances of any further delays.

Cyberpunk 2077 will be released on November 19, 2020 on PC, Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PS5 (based on launch dates of each console). It is not announced for Nintendo, yet.

Let us know what you think about the crunch on Cyberpunk 2077 at CDPR and whether or not you think CDPR has a crunch culture issue.

The post CDPR Crunch On Cyberpunk 2077 Is Not Crunch Culture? appeared first on RespawnFirst.

We care about our gamers, our brothers in arms, and our companion explorers. And we believe that even though it seems the pandemic is slowing down, it is still not the time to quit gaming and go outside, but rather stay inside and find new worlds to explore that most have missed.

With global economic factors playing a merciless role, most of the major releases this year have been pushed ahead, and have inclined us to look back to some of the video games missed because of the reasons stated hereafter.

We have compiled here a list of games, which mostly did not get much love from the user base, and offer deeply immersive worlds and enough perils to keep your interest at a peak. These games either got in conflict with some other major title upon release or were panned during the launch because of lackluster gameplay or buggy performance issues.

However, most of these games did improve over time and we believe, they deserve a chance from gamers around the world. The sequence of the list given below does not express any relevance, neither in descending nor in ascending order. All of these games are gems in one way or the other, with a bit of salty element which can be overlooked for the sake of genuine entertainment.

Best Games To Play During COVID-19 And Lockdown

The following are the games that we recommend you play during COVID-19 and the lockdown:

Dishonored 2 (2016)

Dishonored 2 is the first of the games that we recommend you playing during COVID-19 and lockdown. A first-person action game, set in a dystopian fictional world, with elements of steampunk tech mixed with dark magical fantastical themes, Dishonored 2 builds upon the critically acclaimed first game and extends deeper in the lore of the world.

This time around, however, you have a choice to either play as Corvo the master assassin from the first game, or Emily, the princess you rescued from the first game. Without going deeper into the story, the game opens up with a critical plot twist and throws you deep into the alleys of the very city you were destined to rule.

What I love most about this game, is the radical and dynamic element of choices. From the use of supernatural powers (of your own choice), to mastering the various types of silent or noisy, but overall deadly weapons at your disposal; or from the use of your bare hands on the neck of your enemies to navigating without shedding a single drop of blood and remaining invisible to your enemies, as if you were a ghost.

This game is truly a marvel of game craftsmanship. And although the game in terms of story and chapters might seem small, but the complex level design, the verticality in exploration, and the need to unravel every secret hidden within every new area, makes it a much larger experience than it suggests on the surface.

Another major element is choosing the character you want to play as, and might I add that you must play as both. The story element might not deliver any drastic changes, but the powers of both characters are definitely different, at least in the first playthrough. Once you are done with the game, you can choose the New Game+ Mode, crank up the difficulty and explore the unlockables which you were not able to utilize in your first time.

There are two levels in this game which are a monumental achievement by design and execution. One lets you explore a mansion of technical prowess, while the other lets you switch between past and present, and makes changes necessary to ensure progress in your quest.

A negative element is most definitely the short range of enemy types, although they are challenging especially as you progress deeper into the story. And not to mention, the more brutal you are, the more unforgiving the world around you becomes. Dishonored 2 will immerse you deep into its shadows and dark corners, and once you have started this journey, you won’t turn back until you have exposed every secret it hides.

Dishonored has a Metacritic score of 88% (Xbox One and PS4) and 86% on PC.

Deus Ex Mankind Divided (2016)

Next on our list of games that you should play during COVID-19 and lockdown is Deus Ex Mankind Divided. Deus Ex has been a landmark for cyberpunk-themed RPGs, for a good long time. And no title in the series has ever disappointed (well at least in my opinion).

Although Deus Ex Human Revolution, the first Deus Ex with Adam Jensen as the lead, was a critical hit and also loved by fans, the same love was not found for Deus Ex Mankind Divided, perhaps because of the many performance issues at launch. I played through it twice though, enjoying every bit of it.

Adam Jensen returns as the enhanced detective we have come to know and kind of admire, this time with an even better and wider variety of skills to unlock. Just like the first game, some elements remained intact. Such as, each game level offers a complex area with multiple elements to explore apart from the main questline, but nothing as close to open world scenarios.

The game does offer multiple means to approach a situation, thus offering several paths to uncover, many of which cannot be explored in a single playthrough and require using the quite entertaining new game+ option (once you have completed the main game once).

Adam is once again in pursuit of terrorists looking for means to overthrow mankind and deliver their own version of justice, and once again it is up to us to stop them. Unlike the first game, this time the game does offer multiple ways to subdue the enemies and even the bosses.

You have a choice to remain stealthy or go in guns blazing, or you can simply utilize the many upgrades you unlock to overcome the challenges almost without using any lethal weapons.

A negative element in this game might be its seemingly deeper connection with the previous outing, Human Revolution. Not in terms of the story, which is actually a positive angle. But rather looking like a major expansion rather than a true advancement. I did not consider this element during my gameplay sessions, but I believe those who have played the previous game, might consider it a slight degrade from the first game.

Nevertheless, the game is still quite unenjoyable and you can definitely give it a shot.

Deus Ex Mankind Divided is at 84% (PS4), and 83% (Xbox One and PC) based on Metacritic score.

Prey (2017)

Next on our list of games that you should play during COVID-19 and lockdown is Prey. I love Arcane Studios for making games with choices that define our gameplay style and not just enjoy the many game elements they bring to the table.

Prey was first rumored to be a sequel to a criticality acclaimed title of the same name by 3D Realms, and Bethesda (the publisher behind new Prey) even released a cinematic showcase which felt quite far from the first game and did not seem like a true sequel at all.

The showcase was received with mixed reviews and perhaps lead to a decision for good. A change was warranted and Arcane had to build it from the ground up.

Prey was finally released in 2017, with critical acclaim and was recommended by most of the critics. But it did not sell well and was not really considered a hit. And as the years passed, people actually forgot about it and moved on to other titles. We believe now is the absolute right time to engage back into this unique exploration action adventure unlike any.

For me, Prey is a landmark achievement as was Half-Life 2 when it was released back in 2004. Prey does not hold your hand, it simply gives you tools and lets you decide on your own.

The game is originally stealth-based, with enemies having abilities equally as dodgy as your own (well, technically you do get many abilities from them); but as you elevate above the rest and your roster of powers improves with everything you unlock, you can either turn into an almost invisible assassin or a violent master of weapons, with abilities to slow down time and knocking your enemies off the floor with a single gesture.

Prey boasts the most varied types of powers to unlock, and these powers decide how you play the game. You might invest more on weapons, making your firepower stronger, while ignoring powers to mimic almost any moveable object you see. You may decide to invest more on stealth and powers to send shock waves to your enemies while ignoring the need to invest in scientific or engineering elements.

These choices not only change the way you play the game and encounter enemies, but some of them even make some paths either available to you or disable them altogether. So it was a sigh of relief for us when an update introduced New Game+ mode in Prey, giving us the choice to unlock everything on a single character, which is impossible on a single first playthrough of the game.

We do not want to address the story here, but we can surely add that it might crawl like a snail’s pace (and not really the game’s strongest element), but does offer a unique twist especially in the end. It truly deserves a sequel someday.

Prey is scored at 78% PS4, 84% Xbox One, and 82% PC on Metacritic.

Mass Effect Andromeda (2017)

Next on our list of games that you should play during COVID-19 and lockdown is Mass Effect Andromeda. Mass Effect trilogy was a massive hit, the fan following alone was enough to ensure that EA and Bioware won’t sit ideally and there will be a new Mass Effect game sooner rather than later. And therefore, Mass Effect Andromeda was released, and the moment it got out, it had to face a hailstorm of critiques and fans alike, attacking with lit torches and crowbars at its uninspiring monotonous gameplay elements, post-launch bugs with performance issues, and of course, the unforgettable facial animation dilemmas.

Mass Effect trilogy was a revolutionary breakthrough for its amazing facial animations, with detailed facial expressions, unlike anything the gaming community had witnessed before. So it was a massive disappointment, that apart from much better and polished textures, the game looked blander than even the first Mass Effect.

But through all this mess, some of the positive elements were entirely missed by most. The game had improved its combat by leaps and bounds (quite literally), and there were multiple options to create your own mix of powers, instead of following a fixed structure of various classes.

In our own playthrough, we used the option to reset skills and try different combinations multiple times, and thus, never actually got bored of the adrenaline-filled action. From close range shotgun kills to warping enemies into biotic attacks, the action never slowed down.

The game also brings back the iconic squad of quite useful NPCs, who are pretty useful even when you are not commanding them yourself. I also like the fact that their powers and abilities bring quite useful changes in gameplay elements, from faster recharge of shields to weapon damage boosts, all depending on the selection of upgrades you decide to make.

And that’s not all! Mass Effect Andromeda also features a robust crafting system where you can explore, research and build your armor and weapons, and customize your character as per your playstyle. What we enjoyed, even more, was the fact that every new mix of skill sets required a different set of armor to boost your abilities, and I have not even mentioned the inclusion and radical use of Mods yet.

Although such a huge pile of mixes may lead to slight similarities in between different sets of abilities, one of the few downsides of this epic journey, you can still find your true calling among them.

Mass Effect Andromeda’s main story is not as strong as Mass Effect Trilogy, but it is good nevertheless. The quests to gain the trust of squadmates are much more polished and organic this time around. Some of them bring significant changes in the way you play the game, and even effecting core story elements.

Your choices create changes within the story, but not really create drastic changes in the end. But you might not even care by the time you reach the conclusion of this long journey.

Mass Effect Andromeda is 71% on PS4, 76% on Xbox One, and 72% on PC, at Metacritic.

Mad Max (2018)

Next on our list of games that you should play during COVID-19 and lockdown is Mad Max. Avalanche Studios gained popularity from Just Cause series, but Mad Max game is not really something you can compare with the aforementioned series.

Mad Max uses the base created by the Mad Max films and actually came out alongside Mad Max Fury Road. The film received a massive positive reception and it is still considered a masterpiece of modern cinema, the game, however, not so much.

Mad Max is an open-world 3^rd Person Action game, with the combat style quite close to Batman Arkham Series (punch, counter, block, dodge), a free-form fighting system with multiple aspects to upgrade Max as we progress the game.

But what keeps it apart from Batman Arkham series, is the intense vehicular combat and chases, with a cool roster of cars to unlock and multiple upgrades to enhance your playstyle. The game’s fluid transition from combating using a car and then jumping straight into hand-to-hand combat might be monotonous for some, but it is still fun nevertheless.

There are additional elements to explore as well. For example, not only you have to worry about your health bar, but also the health bar of your car, and manage fuel consumption as well. These dynamics bring a positive mix of challenges throughout the game as you keep exploring further into more challenging territories and face new forms of enemies.

Most enemy types are quite similar to Batman Arkham series (without any guns), with occasional mini-bosses or bosses, bringing in a bigger health bar and somewhat different maneuvers, but everything becomes strategically easier once you get a hold of the basic control scheme. The game is highly recommended to be played with a controller if you are playing on a PC.

Exploration is one of the key factors of this game, as you will need Scraps and experience points, to raise the bar of your character and vehicle. The game’s core mechanic is to unlock access to story elements after achieving necessary upgrades, but we did not find this negative, as there is a lot to explore in all regions, and gave us a lot of options to upgrade before we ventured further.

Mad Max has scored 69% on PS4, 72% on Xbox One, and 73% on PC, at Metacritic.

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (2019)

Next on our list of games that you should play during COVID-19 and lockdown is The Division 2. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is a lot like its predecessor (the first game), except that this time we are situated mainly in Washington DC rather than New York.

The game overall feels more polished in terms of weapons and special abilities, but in the end, it is more of the same. Being a live service game, the game requires a constant internet connection and obviously delivers more entertainment when you are playing with friends.

The game can be played as a solo, in most cases, you will find other players to support you in your exploration. But just like the first game, the Dark Zone can be quite unforgiving without any friends to play with. This element alone decides whether you won’t play this game or not.

If you are the only one player among your friends in this game, you might not find the grind fun at all and might succumb to negativity and leave the game halfway through. But if you are playing with friends, you will surely have some fun moments, especially considering the 8-player Raid mode.

The Division 2’s major lacking element is the enemy types, it does not bring much of a challenge in terms of strategic elements, rather just buffs enemy health, and gives most of the heavy weapons, which can be easily avoided through the use of game’s fluid cover system. You can change your playstyle by adopting different sets of weapons, either close range or long distance, but the core elements still remain the same.

But if you like third-person shooters, and like to grind for better gears and loots, while you pierce through hordes of enemies with your friends, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 might be a game you will enjoy. And with Ubisoft’s constant support through free updates as well as DLCs, you will find this ever-expanding game to be better than what word of mouth might make you believe.

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is scored 82% on both PS4 and Xbox One, and 84% on PC, at Metacritic.

Rage 2 (2019)

Next on our list of games that you should play during COVID-19 and lockdown is Rage 2. Another title by Avalanche Studios, closer to what they do best, considering their Just Cause games. The original Rage was an entertaining experiment by ID (the creators of Doom), but received a mixed reception due to its many bugs and repetitive gameplay elements.

Rage 2 is quite an upgrade in terms of the first game, and brings multiple array of abilities and weapons, to make the combat fluid and extremely fast (reminisce to Bulletstorm). Rage 2 is purely a single-player experience, which enhances the core elements of first game, and makes the overall experience simply more fun and tireless.

Rage 2 is filled with multiple options to upgrade and customize your weapons, abilities and vehicle, to choose your own playstyle and plunder your enemies the way you see fit. The enemy variety is not much, but they do bring lots of challenges to overcome, making upgrading a necessity.

From a pistol which fire bullets that can be lit an enemy on fire with a snap of a finger (literally), to creating a gravitational whirlpool to pull your enemies from the ground, the game relies on your skill to create combos without holding your hands.

Rage 2 encourages explorations and completing regional challenges, to collect upgrade points find new abilities, to not only overcome challenges but also to make gameplay more fun and entertaining. Therefore, once the prologue ends, we would highly encourage you to explore the region and not follow where the marker is pointing.

There is a downside to this strategy however. Once we had explored most of the regions and we decided to explore the main enemy’s region, the game became a bit too easy. But playing at higher difficulty can easily resolve this matter.

The controls and vehicular combat is fluid, in fact, the transition from vehicle to ground and back is exceptionally fluid, with no time wasted in any animation, making the combat as fast as Doom games. And yes, the weapons also bring a much-needed punch in the gut, again very close to Doom’s weapons, with enemies exploding left and right, and reacting to every bullet you dig into them.

Rage 2 is currently at 67% on PS4, 72% on Xbox One, and 73% on PC, at Metacritic.

Honorable Mention: Anthem (2018)

Next on our list of games that you should play during COVID-19 and lockdown is Anthem. Yes. Yes. Yes. We know this game has been such a huge mess that even making into this list might not be accepted by most. But hear us out. Please.

Anthem at launch faced numerous issues, from monotonous and repetitive gameplay to an extremely grinding path towards upgrades and better loot. Not only it failed to meet the hype of its first major event, Cataclysm, but also failed to meet its committed roadmap.

Apart from such massive failures, it also had severe connectivity issues, a necessary component for a live service game, which requires an always-online status. The community outcry led to game being abandoned by players, with almost no players to be found during matchmaking, and Bioware losing its exceptional repute built upon great games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age Series.

But, here is the thing, which made us keep checking back at Anthem. Bioware never gave up. They manned up and decided to listen to the community and began to patch the game, slowly but with stability. Let’s just keep one thing quite clear though, Anthem has one of the most fun gameplay elements in recent games, especially the flying mechanic gives the game something that is simply untouched even today, 2 years later.

Your Javelin can swoop into the air, and come crashing down on enemies, while shooting rockets or hailstorm of snow, and create combos unlike any game ever, quite literally. The gunplay, the mods, the customization options, everything is polished according to the javelin you select, and all four classes play differently, making it almost a negligence at our part if we don’t try them all out.

We recently started playing Anthem again and realized that Bioware has made drastic changes in the core gameplay, making extremely positive changes in the mix, and not only making the game and its connectivity more stable but also making earning of in-game currencies a lot easier.

Some of the major changes are better loot, regular seasonal events with lots of secret elements within, easier access to in-game currency leading to access to almost all type of store items (yes, we have not to spend a single real-world payment and we are still collecting most of the weekly items offered).

Apart from that, Bioware is hell-bent on developing a massive overhaul of the game, named Anthem 2.0, which not only brings drastic changes to game’s UI and loot system (you can check details on their official blog posts), but also bringing new game modes and perhaps even story-based missions.

We believe, supporting this game at this stage will only encourage Bioware to bring these changes in a more robust form. Meanwhile, even without this massive update, there is a good player base still playing Anthem, and even if we join a game mode without friends, we are always able to find other players.

Anthem is scored 59% on PC, 54% on PS4, and 65% on Xbox One, at Metacritic.

These are some of the best games that we recommend that you check out during COVID-19 and lockdown.

The post 8 Best Games To Play During COVID-19 And Lockdown appeared first on RespawnFirst.

Disclaimer: This article is a fan theory, in no way it represents Ubisoft’s final vision, but it is based on years of experience of playing Assassin’s Creed games, following its lore, and dissecting some of its critical moments which have led us here today. The article contains major spoilers about the franchise and theorizes some of the key elements of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Whether they will stand true or not, only time will tell. But until then; nothing is true, everything is permitted!

Beginning of the Creed

The first Assassin’s Creed came out in 2007, quite a long while back, and ever since then, it has taken the world by storm. From garnering a huge video game fan-base to having multiple novels, toys, comics, animations and even a Hollywood film starring Michael Fassbender under its belt, Ubisoft has made Assassin’s Creed games a flagship franchise unlike any.

The game boasted an open world, a parkour system unlike anything the world had witnessed before, climb any wall or tower (something we could not believe was possible), and one of the coolest set of action combos of that time. There was nothing like AC, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.

The game featured an extraordinary concept based on two parallel timelines, giving us both past and present in the most unique way possible. Assassin’s Creed 1 was not a perfect game, but these elements made it one of the most beloved games of the last generation and even of Assassin’s Creed Franchise.

Assassin’s Creed 1 featured the story of Desmond Miles under the custody of Abstergo, whose ancestral memories could be accessed through use of Animus, where we could access and play as Altair, an Assassin fighting his war against the Templars in the backdrop of third crusade 12th Century AD.

The game featured historical elements and even characters representatives of real personalities who had actually existed in that time. Although the game does not necessarily feature authentic historical accounts, the use of history in such a manner to tell an interesting story, was nevertheless a crowning achievement for Ubisoft.

The core gameplay of Assassin’s Creed 1 had the following elements, which made it an Assassin’s Creed game, in the eyes of the fans:

• Open World
• Parkour
• Hidden Blade, and it’s one-hit kills
• Action-based on different moves and counters
• Social Stealth
• Leap of Faith

Assassin’s Creed 1 was held back a key element of the game, the history behind Apple of Eden, which was unravelled through unlocking many memories and became one of the greatest gaming twists (in my humble opinion).

Enter the Italian

Assassin’s Creed 1 was a critical hit, though it required lots of room for improvement, so Ubisoft wasn’t slow in the development of its next chapter, Assassin’s Creed 2, which was released in 2009.

Assassin’s Creed 2 boasted the era of Italian Renaissance, where you shared the journey with the one named Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who is still the most loved Assassins of all. While we still played as Desmond Miles in the future part of the game (this time with a lot of options there as well, as well as character development), but the core highlight was most definitely Ezio.

Ezio’s story was a lot more personal in nature. It had revenge, it had the passing of time and age, and it even had great historical figures helping him in his war against the Templars. Ezio also boasted a lot more personality traits than Altair had, who was rather mysterious and brooding. Ezio’s family theme by Jesper Kyd is still the tent pole of Assassin’s Creed Franchise soundtrack.

In terms of core gameplay elements, it had everything that Assassin’s Creed 1 had, nothing was taken out, but this time there were some wonderful updates:

• Ezio could swim
• Ezio had gadgets to distract enemies
• Ezio had moves to make his parkour even more fluid
• Improved Fast Travel

Apart from this, the game introduced its own economy, and currency became of value even in terms of game and progression. This was a welcoming change, and Ubisoft expanded the story of Ezio and the game, in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (2010) and Assassin’s Creed Revelations (2011) as well.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood introduced the use of fellow Assassins as well and expanded the world of Assassin’s Creed characters drastically. We learnt a lot about Assassins, Templars and the artifacts (and the creators) through many cut scenes and gameplay moments. The game was no longer keeping things under wraps and I felt that it was a fresh change of pacing.

Unfortunately, by this time though, Desmond Mile’s story had gone really slow as Ubisoft’s core focus was Ezio’s story; and also, the game started to feel monotonous. Fans loved the games but they needed a clean slate to start anew.

Ubisoft also introduced Assassin’s Creed Multiplayer experience with Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, but as it does not add any story element for our theory, it is not considered in this article.

The American’s Creed

After four extraordinary main games, Ubisoft decided to revamp the game from scratch, updating their game engine, the parkour and action moves, and take the game out of Europe. By this time, players had learnt a lot about Assassin’s but not so much about Templars.

The opening of Assassin’s Creed 3 (2012) was enough to push us back into our seat and the redesigned moves and level structure (we could parkour even on trees!), gave the game a new set of challenges. The game was no longer as easy as it was mostly in terms of action counters, and it had now introduced some major changes which were previously not present:

• Naval combats
• Hunting!
• Improved Moves and Combos
• Guns!
• Stealth in a more traditional way

Social Stealth was almost dropped out and there weren’t many complaints. You could still mix in the crowd but with the introduction of traditional stealth elements and stealth kills, there was hardly any need of it.

However, not everything was appropriately polished. Especially in terms of story. We play as Connor Kenway in the story, who happens to be an Assassin while his father was a Templar. It was a good twist but which, in my opinion, wasn’t really led to appropriate fruition.

The game also gave an unexpected conclusion to Desmond Mile’s story, which is still something many fans could not fully agree with. But it was quite clear that Ubisoft was moving towards some big changes.

Ho Ho Ho A Pirate’s Life for Me

By far one of the most entertaining Assassin’s Creed Games to date, Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag, pitched us in a pirate’s boots and made the pirate-aspect of the game so good, that it almost made you forget about your ongoing crusade against the Templars. The game delivered a drastic change in in-game structure and design:

• Full-fledged Naval combat and economy
• Ship upgrades
• Wide Spread Exploration (still one of the largest maps in any Assassin’s Creed game)

These changes were considered quite welcoming by the community, considering they gave a somewhat fresh approach to Assassin’s Creed Games, a much-needed one I must say. However, the modern timeline had a unique first-person based story element, which was drastically different from what we previously followed. I found it quite disconnected from the main game, and unfortunately, it was only going to get worse with the next Assassin’s Creed game.

In terms of core gameplay and game design, this became one of the most influential games of Assassin’s Creed series, and many games moving forward, based their core elements on this. Assassin’s Creed series was slowly becoming something else and losing its identity, although for the good I must say. However, it would take a few more years before the core changes would actually take effect.

The Assassination of a Franchise

The next few Assassin’s Creed Games, although still selling good numbers, were not really good critical hits. Although these game did bring their own unique twists, such as:

• Assassin’s Creed Rogue: explored Templars a lot more than any Assassin’s Creed game
• Assassin’s Creed Unity: the introduction of Assassin’s Creed Games in what is now current generation, offering co-op for the first time and perhaps the only time
• Assassin’s Creed Syndicate: Two playable characters, and unique industrial European setting

By this time, the core elements of the game were almost the same, games were polished but offered nothing new. The modern timeline was not going anywhere, it had little to no development. Assassin’s Creed Games were being regularly released on an annual basis, and that too wasn’t really sitting well with the community. Gamers wanted a fresh start, and Ubisoft was finally listening.

Assassin’s Creed: Witching Hours

Back in 2015, Witcher 3 came out and took the world by storm because of its core gameplay, a great storyline, deep character development and refined controls. It is our theory that Ubisoft realized the potential of an Assassin’s Creed game designed in light of Witcher 3 but with core thematic elements of Assassin’s Creed Games remaining intact.

So, in 2017, after a break of almost two years, Assassin’s Creed Origins was released which was quite literally a reboot of the franchise with drastic changes:

• Drastic changes in playstyle, offering totally redesigned combat system
• Loot mechanics offering various gear and weapons to enhance gameplay
• Combat moves and effects in correlation with weapons and gears equipped
• Levelling system (RPG inspired)
• Enemy levelling system, encouraging grinding for higher levels and gears
• Consumable Management

The game was drastically different from any Assassin’s Creed game ever created and could have been sold as a separate IP altogether. And although it strayed quite far from what Assassin’s Creed games are supposed to be, it still garnered a lot of positive praise both from players and critiques.

This was not all. Assassin’s Creed Origins expressed story of Bayek, it was set in Egypt and brought mythological/supernatural elements in the game. Our main character, however, did not express any supernatural abilities, and although he had a hidden blade, it was not a one-hit-kill-mechanic anymore (as the damage would vary based on the level of the enemy).

The modern timeline followed the expeditions of Layla, a young woman fighting Abstergo and looking for Artifacts before the enemies did. Her gameplay and story element were not the strong point, but she is by far the only real development ever since Desmond’s arch was concluded.

Assassin’s Creed Origins, as the name suggests, was mainly a story about how the Assassins came to be, referred to as the Hidden Ones. Also, the game does not express the enemies as Templars, but the main ideology remained quite the same.

The timeline of Assassin’s Creed Origins existed in 49-47 BC, and therefore gave lots of fresh options for Ubisoft. The game also featured Dialogue choices, but the core story still remained linear. While Origin only truly expresses the creation of Assassins at the end, it still provided a deeper insight into some of the longest-running questions since the beginning of this franchise.

Demigod Assassins

With the advent of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Ubisoft had opened lots of new opportunities for the franchise, especially in the storytelling aspect. As Assassin’s Creed Origins was mostly focused on the creation of Assassins, it was assumed that Ubisoft might push forward in the same story arch, but instead, Ubisoft went further back in time (431-422 BC) and introduced demigods.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was drastically different from the core Assassin’s Creed game theme, but for a good reason. It had the following defining elements, apart from using most of the aspects introduced in Assassin’s Creed Origin:

• You can either play as Alexios or Kassandra
• Offering the same gear and weapon system, but with godlike powers which you can unlock through level progression
• Story closer to Greek mythologies
• Challenges against mythological creatures
• Slightly modifiable linear experience, where some choices do make a difference in the overall conclusion
• A robust naval combat system with great customization for ships
• A large map with a huge pile of side quests

The story was focused on the origin of the artifacts and the people or demigods who came before us, bringing us closer to answers to many questions raised throughout the series. The story also creates a connection with myths and legends and giving a whole new horizon for the storytelling aspect of Assassin’s Creed series.

As for the modern timeline, Layla drastically develops and becomes more confident and rather ruthless. Now many fans found this change to be uncalled for and not required, whereas we believe it was a necessary change. All artifacts mostly corrupted men to the core or at least blinded them with their powers.

Therefore, it was quite natural that Layla also loses herself when she finally gets to wield one of the fabled artifacts. She does make some questionable choices, however, in order to complete our theory about the future of Assassin’s Creed series, this wasn’t unexpected.

Going through this rundown, we tend to create a connection between the games addressed above and the upcoming highly anticipated Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and theorize where the series might be headed.

Assassin’s Full Circle

We have come a long way since Assassin’s Creed 1, and for the last many years, people have been asking for a remaster or remake of the first Assassin’s Creed game. But as Assassin’s Creed Origin totally changed the direction and gameplay style of the game, it was quite hard to imagine Ubisoft going back to its roots, especially considering the extremely positive reception of both Assassin’s Creed Origin and Odyssey.

But with the rumours and hints, we are receiving about Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, it might be exactly what Ubisoft is headed towards. Let’s breakdown some of the major changes Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is bringing back although still boasting an open world and combat style quite closer to Assassin’s Creed Origin:

• The open-world remains, but they’re no more levels defining the higher difficulty of enemies; RPG elements like levelling up, have been removed
• Hidden Blade is once again going to one-hit kill anyone you can get close enough to, it has been one of the most requested features since Assassin’s Creed Origin came out
• The combat is skill-based and players will be able to unlock better moves through skill tree (just like Assassin’s Creed Origin), a multitude of enemy types ensure that every fight scenario is a challenge and rather skill based
• The game is returning with social stealth as well, which had gone missing entirely, and it is one of the biggest signs for an Assassin’s Creed game returning to its roots while keeping the better things about Assassin’s Creed Origin and Odyssey intact

Now delving deeper into the theory for the main lore of Assassin’s Creed games, which is the fight between Assassins and Templars, and the role of Abstergo. This part of the article is entirely a fan theory at this stage and may not even stand true once the game is out. Nevertheless, we are sure most of this will make sense considering the information we have received so far.

Firstly, as you might have noted in the trailers of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the game is based in 9th century Europe, a timeline and region which falls quite close to 12th century Europe of Assassin’s Creed 1 game featuring Altair.

The game once again boasts British Empire as the villain, just like they were in Assassin’s Creed 1 (although the line becomes quite blur by the end, and I am assuming it will be the same case here). Most of all, we now know about the origin of Assassins and also where the artifacts come from, I think it is about time we find out about the creation of Templars which were an integral part of British Empire’s history. And this time period of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla seems like a likely candidate for such an introduction.

If we connect all these dots, we can assume that Assassin’s Creed franchise is bringing us full circle with the first game, and would give a great opportunity for a complete reboot of Assassin’s Creed franchise, releasing Assassin’s Creed 1 again but instead of a remaster, it might be a complete remake, with a higher emphasis on modern timeline.

This brings us to the second part of this theory, the modern timeline of Assassins vs Abstergo. Layla’s character has already reached a pinnacle development arc, which will most likely begin her downfall leading to either a corrupted Layla or someone who parishes because she got too close to the fire.

We are not even sure whether she will be the main playable character or not, maybe we will play someone new or someone from previous Assassin’s Creed games who was not previously playable, perhaps someone from Desmond Miles’ period? If you can recall, in the first Assassin’s Creed game, Desmond Miles is already a captive of Abstergo and we never get to see his life before those events. He never admits being an Assassin but we all know he eventually does start to show many signs that led us to believe he was in fact an Assassin.

Our theory is pretty simple in this regard. With the return of many gameplay elements closer to Assassin’s Creed original trilogy, and rumors of Assassin’s Creed 1 getting a remake/remaster, it is quite likely that by the end of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, we get to witness how Desmond Miles get connected to this story and how Abstergo gets their hands on him.

We might also see the end of Layla’s story, as I can’t see foresee further development from her side after what she does at the end of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s Atlantis DLC. And this theory stands tall because we have always known the time periods of all Assassin’s Creed games, but we have never known the time period of modern timelines.

For what we can assume, Layla might be from a time period before Desmond was introduced? My assumptions can be wrong as well, but in many ways, introducing a new character like Layla might break the flow the story has been successfully creating and continuing with.

Now, of course, many of you might also add here that Desmond or the likes have been referred in Layla’s story as well, by the demigods, but hear us out. Those demigods do not experience time as we all do, they have already talked to Desmond through Ezio on many occasions. It is quite likely that they can foresee the key characters who will wield their artifacts, and can refer to them however they can. This only adds to the core elements of Assassin’s Creed lore.

Conclusion

Whatever theory comes true or reality, in the end, it is still quite likely that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be a great game, and yet another great addition to a growing franchise. I loved both Assassin’s Creed Origin and Odyssey, and I hope they keep the mythological element of these games alive.

What do you guys think? Don’t you think it is about time Ubisoft gives us an Assassin’s Creed game that follows multiple timelines instead of one time period, with a greater emphasis on the modern timeline, giving us more options and perhaps some really cool stealthy missions? Sign off your thoughts below and let’s keep the ball rolling until we get our hands on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

The post Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Could Lead To A Reboot Of The Franchise appeared first on RespawnFirst.

As in most cases, it is quite hard to surpass an original which is still considered one of the best action platformers ever made, a modern classic. Still, just like the theme behind Ori’s story, I was quite hopeful. Ori and the Will of the Wisps finally released in March 2020, with lots of hope covered in a murky layer of darkness.

Ori And The Will Of The Wisps Review

Without going into spoiler territory, let’s just say the almost heart-warming opening once again leaves us with nothing but a button to jump and sticks to move, but it does not take long for the game to introduce us with our first (of many) offensive abilities. Now if you are one of the many who played the original Ori, you might remember the slow but melodious cycle of upgrades throughout the game.

However, this time around things have gone quite differently. To fight darkness, this time light equips Ori with upgrades in a much faster and polished pace. Honestly, the amount of new content this game comes with in comparison to the Blind Forest, is humongous, with a good length even if you don’t go for all the hidden gems. So I find it much better to address these areas through separate explorations.

Level Design and Tight Corners

Ori has almost double the map size to explore this time around. Apart from some returning concepts, like water that requires purification, and creatures trying to pound our little fella; there are many different challenging areas to explore, and just like most Metroidvania style games, all explorations come with a price and their rewards.

Every area is riddled with numerous upgrades and challenges, which can help Ori in clearing areas that may not be accessible the first time. This actually defines the core gameplay element of this game: You get to a new area, you find a new Ability or weapon, but you can’t access every nook and cranny yet, so you move ahead into the new area, find another ability or new moves, and return to the previously inaccessible area and grab whatever is hidden there.

As new areas open for exploration, you face not just newer enemies but also the map starts to express its own agenda against you, tightening the difficulty repeatedly.

Visuals and Sounds

From afar, you may not discover the visual upgrades offered this time. While the game still looks a lot like original back from 2015, there are however many lighting, particles and animation upgrades which give the game quite a positive boost it definitely needed. And this time around there is a lot more versatility in level design, enemy types and weapon animations than the previous outing, which only had one main weapon type to play around with.

Gareth Coker returns with his fantastic music composition skills, and once again delivers an emotional and adrenaline filled punch, and the soundtrack just keeps getting better as your exploration becomes deeper and wider. Have to mention, just like the original Ori, there are some phenomenal chase sequences only made better with Gareth’s ability to dramatize the moments with his piano strokes. The soundtrack is one of the best to come out since the last Ori.

Gameplay, Customization and Role-Player Ori

In Ori and the Blind Forest, we had three simple upgrade paths, which if we happen to explore and find all the secrets, we could easily get them and enjoy a fully powered up Ori by the end of the game. This led to a lot fewer choices and almost no customization, but it was still a great experience.

However, Ori and the Will of the Wisps takes quite a dynamic approach this time and gives us multiple weapons, abilities, and great upgrade choices, to customize our experience just the way we want it. This leads to one of the most drastic and positive changes in comparison to the original game, and also gives us lots of options to replay the game multiple times (apart from various difficulty levels).

Instead of a shooting star, Ori is equipped with Spirit Edge, a blade made of light and mostly our primary weapon (especially at the beginning of the game). What makes this weapon unique in comparison to previous gameplay style is, it does not auto-aim, in fact, while playing with a controller I significantly noticed that my moves with Spirit Edge were quite controllable with the use of the main button (X in my case) with the movement of the stick, leading to some great epic moments. But that’s not all.

The game also offers a multitude of weapons that even play part in some environmental puzzle-solving as well, such as Spirit Arc, which is a fantastic bow and excellent for long-range combat. And even Spirit Arc comes with its own upgrade options, including increased fire rate and multiple shots capability, a fantastic change of gameplay style in comparison to the original game.

Similarly, we have other options as well such as a light Sentry, and my favorite to do some heavy pounding, Spirit Smash (yup, quite closer to what Hulk Smash would be if it happened to be in Ori’s world). And that’s not even half of your arsenal this time around, leading to gameplay choices and a lot more reason to replay this game.

But with that said, apart from such fantastic additions, at the core, Ori’s gameplay is still the same. It is still all about exploration, dodging and the absolutely necessary timing to keep yourself on toes and moving from one area to another at an almost non-stop pace. The only few occasions you have to catch a break is when you get to interact with many NPCs introduced this time around which were almost extinct in The Blind Forest. Which brings me to another great aspect this time around.

Many of these NPCs not only provide the above-stated upgrades and abilities, but also give optional quests that make the exploration aspect more meaningful than previously, and the game’s economy and use of orbs also reach a whole new meaning because of this.

In many ways, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a radically different experience even though in its presentation it still falls closer to The Blind Forest, and it is all for the good. It is a definitive expansion of the experience with lots of gameplay choices which delivers ten times more the replay value than the Blind Forest. Even if you did not play the first game, you will still enjoy this.

Jump, Dodge and Dash

Ori returns with its signature style action and puzzle set pieces, where you jump and dodge in perfect timing and conquer every challenge that comes your way. This playstyle does leave us with only one choice (my personal opinion only), that you will need to play with a controller.

You can play with a mouse and keyboard but it would put you in a crucial spot in many tight turns this game throws at us, especially during the sand levels. Unlike The Blind Forest, the game has removed manual saving options and it relies on auto checkpoints, which becomes a slightly higher challenge, but throughout my playthrough, I did not face any challenge marred by the placement of these checkpoints.

Nevertheless, you will still feel frustrated and some of the backtrackings might even feel lethargic, but that’s the price we pay to enjoy Metroidvania style videogame.

Conclusion

While the game has expanded in many ways, I did not mention one of the major upgrades, and that is the lore behind the light and darkness, and the universe Ori belongs to. There is a lot deeper story this time around, and the implications of your actions are expressed through a fantastic closure to the second chapter of Ori’s journey.

While I will leave this for you to decide on your own whether the story is now complete or requires more chapters, I can assure you that the experience Ori brings in this sequel is complete and satisfactory by all means.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps comes with a price tag of an indie game but delivers a Triple-A experience. It is struggling with the giants like Doom Eternal and Final Fantasy VII remake, but still does not falter and creates its own unique spot.

I am quite sure just like Ori and The Blind Forest, The Will of the Wisps will also garner a strong following, and might even let Moon Studios push out another chapter, hopefully soon. Do try if you are new to Ori, and you won’t be disappointed.

If you are interested in learning more about the game then you can check out our Ori And The Will Of The Wisp hub.

The post Ori And The Will Of The Wisps Review: Indie Price, AAA Experience appeared first on RespawnFirst.

Bungie Shapes Its Own Destiny 2

As Bungie became independent (from Activision), Destiny 2 also made some drastic changes, creating a new direction on the surface whereas keeping similar game design under the hood. This wave of change leads to an engram of multiple decisions, unlocking not only a whole new agenda for the game but also making its large base game, a free-to-play.

Destiny 2 was renamed to Destiny New Light on Steam, which included the main base game with all content of the first two years (including two more campaigns “The Curse of Osiris” and “Warmind”, along with “Red War”). And although the free version does not include the fantastic “Forsaken” and half-baked “Shadowkeep” campaigns, it still had a massive load of content for new players.

But, Bungie also made another huge change in the way the game was played. The prime focus became the end game, and the campaign was thrown in the background. Now although you can enjoy Destiny 2 without ever playing the campaign, it does push some quite important aspects of the game in the back; its lore and a fun way to learn the game’s controls, characters, classes and especially the Supers.

GG To The Destiny 2 Community

This lapse has led to overwhelming content with little to nothing for newcomers to grab before they can actually get used to the grind offered in Destiny 2. The game literally starts with end game elements, which only begin to make sense once you have spent at least 15-25 hours in the game, and that too, if you are lucky and have friends to guide you. The community of Destiny 2 (especially on discord) is one of the prime reasons that Destiny 2 is far from dead, as once you are part of a clan and you are playing with friends, everything starts to fall into place.

Apart from the absolutely (frustratingly) entertaining Raids, major activities in Destiny 2 do not last more than 30 minutes. Most of the activities come with matchmaking, so even if you are playing solo, you are never really alone (unless you are playing the campaign, which does not come with matchmaking, but you can always play with friends). 

Overhauls And Changes To Destiny 2 Over The Years

Jumping in, shooting through hordes of enemies, is quite easy; the basic controls are just like any other game, the weapons are easy to manage, once you know your favorite kind, the armors look good, and you get the hang of the various ways of jumping and floating based on the class you have chosen.

But as you plow deeper into the game you begin to realize that it is becoming far more complex than it seems in the beginning, especially since Shadowkeep came out. Every weapon stat matters, especially starting from legendary to rare exotics.

Similarly, Armors come with a plethora of statistics that are quite relevant for your play style if you happen to understand them better. And the fact that you can only hold one exotic weapon in a slot, and wear only one exotic gear, at a time; makes the whole process in some ways, ridiculously tedious. You will either love it or hate depending on how deep you want to go in. 

I have been playing Destiny 2 since February 2019, and it took me a year to grasp the fact that eventually, I have to choose a different set of armor, weapons and even sub-classes (yes, every class has multiple sub-classes which can be switched by a single click), for each mode I am playing.

For example, I may have to focus more on defensive capabilities when I am playing Crucible, which is Destiny’s PVP mode; I may have to focus more on firepower and emphasis on mobility if I am playing Strikes, and similarly, I may have to choose more strategically if I want to play Gambit which offers a mix of both PVP and PVE, a unique gameplay mode. 

And I have not even started to discuss the Dungeons and Raids! These activities do not come with matchmaking, as they require not just good skills, but also exceptional teamwork. Now you would think by teamwork it would mean saving your friend’s butt while he protects yours, but this is not the case here, well not entirely.

You will need to discover an appropriate balance of class (you may need at least three Warlocks, and at least two Titans in your team, depending on the raid you have chosen), and you will have to equip mods and armor sets which not only boost you but also support your team as well.

Similarly, you might even have to choose weapons according to enemy types you face; some raids feature sections with close-quarter combat, while some rely heavily on long-range weapons; some of you might be required to carry special exotic weapons, while some might be asked to choose whatever makes them play better.

An average Destiny 2 player, like me, can take up to 4 to 6 hours to complete a raid (and even multiple nights), and if you are playing with a good team, trust me you will be having a time of your life. But if you lack some patience and determination (or that much time), you may never play any raid and still enjoy this game.

Current State Of The Game Is Unlike Call Of Duty

By far we have only talked about various modes, let’s talk about the things which will either make you a Destiny 2 player or you may never even play it. If you are the type of player who wants to just run and gun, like a Call of Duty game, Destiny 2 (Destiny New Light) won’t be able to satisfy your need. Destiny 2’s current state encourages deep RPG experience and has become a mix of MMO and online-only shooter experience.

It is filled with challenges for the determined and fairly easy game modes for the ones who are just looking for a good time with friends. It offers rewards for both average players who play video games on the weekends, and also for the players who invest multiple hours every day of the week. The current seasonal model provides another layer of awards (i.e. if you have purchased the season pass), through the achievement of season ranks, and also numerous seasonal activities leading to bonus progression. 

You want to jump into Destiny New Light, do not shy away from the massive community. I only found real joy in this game, once I found friends who also played this game, and it has been an integral part of my gaming routine for a year now. You want to understand the classes or various game modes, there are multiple guides available on YouTube which can offer you both basic and in-depth debates starting from choosing the right weapon to dawning the best gear for every activity. It is not cheating if you are watching a raid’s or dungeon’s walkthrough, sometimes it is necessary as it’s far better to enjoy than to frustratingly bash your skull in figuring out certain puzzles. 

Like all free to play games, Destiny 2 has an in-game store as well. It is all (mostly) cosmetic, and you can totally enjoy the game without spending a single Silver (in-game currency) on anything. I personally find it quite expensive, and I would always recommend spending only on the season pass. Annoyingly enough, near the end of each season, Destiny 2 also offers paid progression of the season pass, which is a bummer, but again it is definitely not worth paying for as you can easily play through it. Max achievable Seasonal Rank is 100, which is quite easy to achieve in a period of 3 months (one season = 3 months). In fact, I am already at 90 rank, I still got 30 days till next season, and I have only played this game during weekends.

Summing Up

In conclusion, Destiny New Light is more about unlocking all of its exquisite weapons and armor pieces, and these can be fun or frustrating or both, especially when you are looking for perfect stats (also known as God Roll) for your favorite legendary weapon.  But unlike most free to play games, it also offers various quests and story modes, making it a perfect almost free package. You will find it fun if you are playing with friends, but you will find it laborious and painstaking if you stick to the solo routine. I highly recommend grabbing the season pass, as it does help in quick progression, along with unlocking items and consumables which will eventually make your experience even better.

Season passes also include exclusive seasonal game modes, offering additional rewards for the ones interested, another plus if you ask me. And as you can try the huge base game for free, I would highly recommend you to install it, try it, and see if you can develop a taste for it. But don’t install it to try it for 5 or 6 hours, and leave it. You can never really enjoy this game without understanding its hoops and crannies. Give it a couple of weeks, at least a month maybe, make friends, join a clan, and perhaps you may also become a regular guardian. If not, well, it is free so no harm done in the end.

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