Fantasy medieval game Blacktail, Krakow-based studio The Parasight’s debut, lets you play as folktale witch Baba Yaga in her bow-and-arrow-carrying youth. You command her fate, if she’s a good witch or a bad witch, depending on how you navigate the magical, dangerous forest she roams.
“When living memories of her past return as foul, walking spirits,” Blacktail’s website says. “Yaga is faced with no other option than to hunt them down in hopes of unraveling her own mystery.”
I’m excited by Blacktail’s premise—I’m a former little kid with vivid imagined memories of Baba Yaga’s gnarled hands and battered cabin in the woods. Though, I am a little annoyed that Yaga’s voice actress sounds British despite the character growing up isolated from everyone except, like, early Belarusians. I’m hoping the game’s story is so mythic and compelling that I’m distracted by the Anglo-Saxon intrusion.
Release date: December 15
Compatible with: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
What 2022 game release are you most looking forward to? Or are you keeping your sights set squarely on next year?
Hi, this is Kotaku’s Luke Plunkett, one of the 17 people on the planet regularly enjoying the game, reporting live from Battlefield 2042.
If you haven’t played the game during its first 12 months—and really, it has had problems, who can blame you!—EA has decided that now is the time to try to convince you by offering Battlefield 2042 for free (during the first few days of December, across all platforms), or at least as part of the subscription fee you’re already paying for Game Pass.
They’re doing this for two reasons, of course. The first one is that nowhere near enough people bought this game in the first place, so the playerbase has been at times tragically low. Here in Australia, for example, only a single multiplayer mode is ever populated enough to get regular games. The second, and this is related, is that Battlefield 2042 has cosmetic microtransactions, so the more people EA can get playing the game, the more they’re hoping to make off weapon, vehicle and player skins.
Now, 12 months later, after a ton of work and (remaining) fan feedback, developers DICE have the game…at the point it should have been at launch. Which is a low bar to clear, I know, but this game was developed right through a pandemic, it’s going to free (or basically free on Game Pass), and clearing low bars is exactly what those kind of services and weekends are for.
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It’s also gotten pretty good! The original maps are being reworked, the new maps are great, and a lot of the stuff older fans were missing at launch—from scoreboards to the class system—have either been reintroduced or are about to be.
Battlefield 2042 | Development Update – Maps & Specialists Reworks, Vault Weapons, and More
In announcing the free/Game Pass availability, DICE also dropped a video and blog today, outlining new weapons, map changes and specialist tweaks coming as part of Season 3. There was also a very brief hint at something else coming beyond that, which they’re pitching as something more substantial. That something else is discussed over a cinematic of soldiers looking at ominous weather, so given the game is set in a near-future climate apocalypse (and already features in-game storms that can wreck your shit), it’ll be interesting to see if this something else makes dramatic changes to the way weather shapes and affects the maps.
Battlefield 2042 will be hitting Game Pass when Season 3 launches soon, while the free weekend/week will run from December 1-4 on Xbox, Dec 1-5 on Steam, and Dec 16-23 on PlayStation.
If you’ve an appetite for destruction, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is happy to provide a near-infinite supply of guns which you can customize to an absurdly delightful degree. Seriously, this is almost as fun as sorting my nail polish colors.
But it’s not about making all the other soldier guys, gals, and non-binary pals envious of your brutal styles; there are a ton of stats you’ll want to wrap your head around too. For every attachment you slap on a gun, there are clear pros and cons. And once you hit max level with any given firearm, you unlock weapon tuning, allowing you to tweak how guns feel and perform even further.
Modern Warfare II gives you a lot of room for freedom, style, and min/maxing, so while time will tell what the god-tier meta ends up being, don’t be afraid to jump in and experiment with a setup that helps you climb the scoreboard while looking cool and fitting your style of play.
This guide solely focuses on firearms you point and shoot, meaning your primary and secondary weapons. Let’s dig in.
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Screenshot: Activision / Kotaku
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Guns 101
As soon as you load into the game you’ll see a set of tabs at the top: Play, Weapons, Operators, Battle Pass, and Store.
Selecting Weapons will take you to where you can sort your Loadouts, Killstreaks, and Vehicle Customization. In Loadouts, you’ll notice you can have up to 10 custom configurations, so don’t worry about needing to commit to a narrow selection. A loadout is made up of six items: You’ve a choice of a Primary and Secondary weapon, as well as your Tactical and Lethal Equipment, your Perks, and a Field Upgrade.
Your loadout is laid out in a horizontal bar on the “Edit Loadouts” screen. Selecting a specific loadout will let you configure each of the six types. Some of your available weapons are dictated by what Perks you have active for that loadout. Primary weapons have the following types:
Primary Weapon Types
Assault Rifles
Battle Rifles
SMGs
Shotguns
LMGs
Marksman Rifles
Sniper Rifles
Melee
There are only three types of Secondary weapons.
Secondary Weapon Types
Weapons further break down into Platforms, which lay out much like a skill tree in an RPG, indicating attachments you can unlock for any given weapon. When looking at a weapon in either the loadout or weapon menu screen, you can view the Platform progression by pressing V on keyboard (touchpad on PlayStation, view button on Xbox).
The M4 Platform, for example, is a family of weapons that consists of the M4 assault rifle, 556 Icarus LMG, FTAC Recon battle rifle, M16 assault rifle, and the FSS Hurricane SMG.
You level up each gun by getting out there and scoring kills. Some guns from a specific Platform are locked behind a weapon level. For example, to get the Bryson 890 shotgun, you need to build your Bryson 800 to level 16. You can also level up each individual weapon for even more attachment customization.
Screenshot: Activision / Kotaku
Customizing weapons and attachments with the Gunsmith
When viewing a specific loadout in the menus some guns will have a “Gunsmith” option. Here you can change up how your gun is built.
In Gunsmith’s “Build Weapon” tab you can install numerous different “Modifications” to the weapon’s optics, muzzles, magazines, stocks, and ammunition types. You can select up to five modifications at any time and can also swap out the gun’s receiver—essentially its core that everything else attaches to—for others in the weapon’s Platform family. (Note that not all weapon modifications within the same platform are intercompatible.)
After making Gunsmith changes, you can jump directly into the Firing Range to test out the look and feel of the new modifications. It loads in pretty quick too, so while you can’t directly A/B compare certain mods, you can still get a nice feel for each selection without spending forever trapped behind a loading screen.
Each modification affects stats in unique ways, and there are specific pros and cons to each. The 419MM EXF Barrel, for example, will boost your Damage Range, Hip Fire Accuracy, and Bullet Velocity (Pros), but at the cost of Aim Down Sight Speed and Hip Recoil Control (Cons).
The second tab in the Gunsmith interface is “Customize.” This is where you can apply different weapon charms, skins, stickers, and more such things. Each camo skin will have different requirements, but it’s very similar to unlocking attachments: Just earn weapon XP by scoring kills and completing specific challenges noted under each camo skin. There are also Weapon Mastery challenges for you to complete once you’ve unlocked Gold, Platinum, Polyatomic, and Orion skins.
The higher you level up a specific weapon, the more attachments you’ll gain access to. Once you hit max level with a specific weapon, you can start tuning those attachments to take even greater control over its performance.
Screenshot: Activision / Kotaku
Weapon tuning in Modern Warfare II
Weapon tuning lets you further tweak the pros and cons of each attachment. Remember, you need to hit level 20 with a specific weapon in order to tune the modifications.
You can’t tune every attachment, but ones you can will offer two sets of sliders that let you go all in on a weapon’s strengths, or walk back the cons a bit. Keep in mind that these are all fine-tuning adjustments. If you want to max out your Aim Down Sights Speed, for example, you’re better off going with modifications that prioritize that as opposed to trying to make up for slower ADS speeds via Weapon Tuning. That said, the high TTK rate of Modern Warfare II means that even the finest adjustments can make a difference in the heat of the moment.
The image on the right side uses weapon tuning to compensate for a slower aim-down-sights speed.Gif: Activision / Kotaku
Weapon tuning is really best taken advantage of once you’ve gotten a good sense of the guns and modifications you like. This stage of weapon customization is more an art than a science, so expect to take your time figuring out what works best for you.
Weapon leveling in Modern Warfare II
Maxing out your weapons is one of the game’s major goals, and you’ll make the most progress on guns you actively use. Keeping a gun holstered or slung over your shoulder won’t cut it; to level up a gun you need to be out there using it to put lead into your enemies.
With so many weapon choices, it’s not a bad idea to stick to a couple of guns, two or three at most, when starting out. Playing with the Overkill Perk equipped (available with the Assault preset package) is a good way to see how it feels to wield two primary guns at once.
Screenshot: Activision / Kotaku
Don’t forget to take advantage of Weapon XP boosts as well. You can select these in the multiplayer matchmaking screen. Be careful though, as your XP boosts count down in real-time outside of matches. That in mind, it’s best to save XP boosts for use in playlists which aren’t as heavy in wait times.
Quick Play and Ground War typically have quicker queues. However, keep in mind that the 32v32 modes such as Ground War might have you engaging in gunfights less frequently as you’ll often spend time moving between objectives. On the other hand, that can be a good opportunity to level up a sniper or marksman rifle as you’ll have more distance to work with. If you’re looking to level up close-range weapons like shotguns, smaller 6v6 games might be your best bet, but your mileage may vary.
One thing I like to do is set aside a loadout specifically for weapon leveling. Label it “Leveling” and just use that to swap in whatever guns you want to progress, leaving your main loadouts untouched and free to select when you wish to change up your playing style in a match.
If you swap out a gun in a loadout you plan to use regularly, all modifications will reset, which isn’t ideal. A dedicated “Leveling” loadout will let you prioritize your remaining nine loadout selections with the guns, modifications, and tunings you prefer. You may also wish to prioritize certain Perks that can make leveling a bit easier. Overkill, for example, will let you have two Primary weapons on the field, so you can make progress with two at once (though again, you need to be actively using a given gun to earn Weapon XP on it.) I also like to have Fast Hands equipped for a leveling loadout, as it allows for quicker swaps between guns, helpful when you’re trying to give both a workout. Scavenger is another good Perk to have for leveling guns, since you’ll be able to source more ammo during a game.
Modern Warfare II did not disappoint when it comes to delivering a ton of fun weaponry to shoot and blow shit up. Spend a bit of time kitting out your guns, and you’ll likely play better and look cooler while out there on the field. And once you have a feel for the weapons and modifications you prefer, don’t forget to give weapon tuning a shot to further tweak how the game feels for you.
These days it’s rare to see an online game without built-in live-service monetization, let alone one that’s getting rid of that stuff. But that’s exactly what the Subnautica devs behind Moonbreaker are doing. Recently launched in Early Access on Steam, the tabletop RPG is throwing out both its premium paid currency and its loot boxes, and refunding players who have already bought in. Whether the game will remain monetization-free after its full release is a different question.
“Early Access is a time for us to experiment and improve the game, and the monetization in its current form was affecting that goal,” Unknown Worlds Entertainment, the studio behind Moonbreaker, posted on its blog yesterday (via RPS). “So we’re removing it to focus on making the best game that we can, before we leave Early Access.”
Revealed during Gamescom 2022, director Charlie Cleveland described Moonbreaker as a “digital miniatures game” inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy and Firefly. Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson (best known for the Mistborn series) was brought on to write, and the D&D-inspired strategy combat looked like an intriguing mashup of Hearthstone and XCOM. Lofty comparisons aside, players have largely been receptive to the game’s mechanics and lore while slamming the microtransactions.
Moonbreaker is priced at $30, with a “founder’s pack” that raises it to $50. While this includes enough booster boxes for players to unlock most of the game’s units, PvE matches were previously locked behind premium currency, meaning players have to pay or grind to play solo. And as a miniatures game, much of the fantasy revolves around cosmetically customizing units, which also costs money. Most of the negative reviews on the Steam page all cited the free-to-play monetization of a paid game as their biggest issue.
Pulsars, the game’s paid currency, will now disappear, as well as the paid booster boxes. Players’ purchases will be refunded, and all units will automatically unlock at the start of each new season. “In celebration of this business model change, I’m gonna be purchasing the base game for some friends tomorrow,” one player wrote on Discord following the announcement. “Thanks so much for listening to community feedback and being willing to make big (potentially scary) changes so early on in development.”
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That’s exactly what Early Access is for, and it’s good to see Moonbreaker not only backing off the free-to-play monetization, but also refunding players. That might change in the future, with some players suspecting Unknown Worlds might make the game free-to-play by launch and bring back some form of live-service microtransactions. In the meantime at least, players can enjoy the evolving TTRPG without all the other bullshit. It might even help Moonbreaker win back some of the players who bailed shortly after Early Access began.
I’m sorry, player, I’m afraid I can’t let you play this game.Image: Blizzard / Kotaku
Right now there’s a Halloween event running for Overwatch 2, but a fair amount of players are facing a different kind of terror: A previously known server error with the code “LC-208” appears to be disproportiantely hitting players after the most recent update.
While server and connection errors often happen for online games, “Overwatch 2 Console Error LC-208” is currently plaguing a large number of players on console, preventing them from connecting to servers and playing the game. Blizzard has its own steps for working around this issue, as it’s been around since the launch of the game, though not in such numbers. Until Blizzard issues a broader statement or additional fix, players have been discovering quirky, unexplainable ways to fix it, involving signing in on PC first or loading into the game’s firing range and quitting before hitting matchmaking, though these aren’t necessarily bullet-proof prescriptions.
Kotaku has reached out to Blizzard for comment but didn’t hear back prior to publication.
Since yesterday’s Halloween update, search results on Twitter, Reddit, and even Overwatch 2’s own forums have started turning up countless reports of players not being able to enter the game. The problem, given the error code’s info, seems to hit console players only. Anecdotally it seems to be hitting PS4 and PS5 players the most, though many Xbox players are reportedly facing the error as well.
A main thread for the LC-208 issue in Blizzard’s official forums, with nearly 300 replies and over 2,500 views, starts with “LC-208’d after the Halloween event update. Never had an issue with this before. Can’t get into the game.” “I tried everything to fix the Login Error LC-208” Twitter user Phish (no, not the band) says. “I have signed out of my battle net account, restarted my [router], restarted my game, used a different wireless connection, tried using ethernet, and redownloaded the game and I am still getting LC-208.”
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They’re not alone, as countless tweets and Reddit threads read similarly. Some have found non-optimal workarounds. Twitter user hatsune niiku reports bypassing the LC-208 error on console by entering the game’s firing range on PC, closing the game, and then logging in on console. “Worked for me just now,” they say.
Sadly, not everyone has a gaming PC at the ready to try this out, nor is it an actual fix for the problem. Blizzard recommends the following steps for solving LC-208 error. Hopefully it will work out for you:
If your console account is linked with your Battle.net account, you need to have a BattleTag. If you have a BattleTag but your accounts are not linked, follow the connection steps linked below to resolve the error.
Note: If your Battle.net account is connected to your console account, disconnecting it and reconnecting can resolve the error.
1. Check your network configuration to find any issues with your firewall, router, or port settings.
2. Reset your network devices to make sure your router hasn’t become flooded with data.
3. If you’re using a wireless connection, optimize your internet connection to rule out a connection issue.
4. Run your console’s built-in connection test (Playstation 4) (Xbox One) (Nintendo Switch).
5. Use your console’s internet browser to run a Looking Glass test. This will help determine if the problem is between your console and our servers.
In August, we shared the news that Unity, our longtime partner and a global leader in real-time 3D technology, had selected Azure as its cloud partner for building and operating real-time 3D (RT3D) experiences from the Unity engine. This strengthening of our partnership builds on our shared commitment to expanding the creation and distribution of 3D content, to bringing relevant tools and technologies to a wider range of developers, and to making it easier than ever to bring games to players.
Recently, Microsoft Game Dev Editorial Director N’Gai Croal had the opportunity to virtually sit down with Marc Whitten, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Unity Create Solutions, to talk about how we’re working together to make it easier than ever for game creators around the world to publish to Xbox consoles and PC so they can better reach their existing communities and build new ones. You can watch the full video of the chat below or
view it here on YouTube.
The discussion was wide-ranging, touching on everything from the ways that the game industry and Hollywood are alike (and how they differ) to Unity’s addition of Weta Digital and Ziva Dynamics to the Unity Create Solutions toolset. Naturally, the lion’s share of the chat revolved around how the movement to the cloud has changed game development and how Unity’s partnership with Azure will allow them to provide developers with even more impactful tools and greater flexibility.
Here are some relevant quotes from the discussion, lightly edited for clarity.
Marc Whitten on whether games or movies put a bigger demand on technology:
I believe that game creators and game players have typically been on the leading edge of pushing what is possible with any technology forward, and then that typically filters back in through a lot of other use cases. I think as humans we like to be entertained and we like to play games. And so, if you give any piece of technology to a creator, they’re going to make a game out of it. And if you give that to a player, they’re going to ask that creator to make it a little bit better.
Marc Whitten on the importance of making cloud-native game development tools:
Undeniably, in a hybrid world, creators themselves, when they’re in teams, are going to be more and more in different locations. So making it easy for them to collaborate together, to work on assets that are in the cloud, to be able to access hardware regardless of where that hardware is, is pretty critical to the creation experience.
Marc Whitten on why Unity chose Azure as its cloud partner:
In talking to Azure’s leadership and some senior engineering talent, we saw a shared vision. They were very helpful in helping us understand some potential blind spots and were as excited as we were about the potential of the partnership. They’re a great partner for us as we look at how to accelerate how we can add value through the cloud and increase the impact of products and technologies like this.
Marvel Snap is a very good card game that recently left early access and is now playable on Android, iOS, and Steam. However, unlike basically every other digital card game, Snap doesn’t include a mulligan option at the start of the match, letting you ditch some or all of your cards for new cards. But as Ben Brode of developer Second Dinner explained on Twitter, while the lack of a mulligan was a problem with early playtesters, the developers fixed it by making just one tiny change to a single card.
Released last week after a few months in early access, Marvel Snap is a free-to-play card game created by former Hearthstone director Ben Brode and his new game studio, Second Dinner. It’s quickly become one of the most popular mobile games going, and a favorite among some of Kotaku’s staff. I’ve been playing it on and off since the beta and think it might be my favorite digital card game in years thanks to its focus on quick matches, random elements, and small decks. However, as part of this stripped-down approach to a card game, Brode and his team decided early on to not include mulligans. And making that work required one tiny tweak to Quicksilver.
On Twitter, Brode explained that what makes card games fun is variance. However, Second Dinner also wanted Marvel Snap decks to be small, as deckbuilding is often one of the biggest obstacles for new players. And the smaller the decks, the less variance they’ll have. So in order to keep players from just throwing away cards to get precisely what they needed—and to let folks bluff using the snap mechanic—Second Dinner ditched mulligans.
As you might expect, cutting out such a popular and traditional part of card games caused some issues. According to Brode, whenever people played early builds of Snap, they mostly complained about the lack of mulligans.
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“We knew that once players understood how the Cube worked and how you could bail out at any time for only a small loss of Cubes, the impact of bad luck would be lessened,” wrote Brode. “And also, missing a one or two drop in Snap is really different than in other card games. There’s no ‘tempo’ in Snap. You don’t ‘lose board control’ by not playing a card early. It might not be the best, but you’re certainly not doomed.”
Even though Brode and the team were confident players wouldn’t miss the mulligan once they understood the game, the amount of early feedback concerning not being able to play anything on turn one and not having a chance to swap cards was hard to ignore. But instead of completely reworking the game, the team made a single change. It placed Quicksilver into the deck players start the game with. The card only uses one energy, and also has an ability that always places it in your hand at the start of a match.
“Immediately [after this tweak] the mulligan feedback dried up,” explained Brode. “Who needs to mulligan when you always draw your 1-drop? Eventually, many players decide to swap Quicksilver for a different card, but at that point you’re making the choice to risk a bad opening hand.”
Brode finished up the thread explaining that developers often have to decide if problems are system-wide or just an issue with some content. In other words, does a problem necessitate you reworking the entire game system, or can it be solved with a smaller tweak, like forcing a useful one-energy card into players’ first deck?
In this case, a tiny change to Quicksilver solved the problem without fundamentally changing up Marvel Snap. That’s a good thing, because I’m happy with how the game plays today, and don’t miss mulligans at all!
It’s time for more Overwatch 2 Twitch drops! This time it’s in celebration of the spooky season. Twitch viewers will have a chance at earning two cosmetics starting October 25, plus a couple others later in November. As with all Twitch drops, you’ll need to link your Battle.net account to your Twitch account, plus a few other important details. So let’s go over it.
When are the Overwatch 2 Halloween Twitch Drops?
According to Blizzard’s blog covering the details, the Halloween-themed Overwatch 2 Twitch drops start on October 25 at 2 p.m. ET through to November 6 at 2 p.m.
After the candy corn season is behind us, another Twitch drop with cosmetics for Reinhardt and Brigitte will start on November 15 at 2 p.m. ET through to November 30 at 2 p.m.
How to get Werewolf Winston Legendary Skin
As is customary with Twitch drops, you’ll need to log some hours watching Overwatch 2. But it doesn’t need to be all at once or the same channel. You’re free to check out different channels at different times to earn progress toward your drops.
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To start, you’ll need to watch two hours of Overwatch 2 on Twitch for the Werewolf spray. Then, watch an additional four hours (six total) for the Werewolf Winston Legendary skin. You can watch any channel in the Overwatch 2 category on Twitch.
Past experience has told us it pays to be sure a streamer is offering drops. Any channel in the game’s category should qualify, but double-check the title of the stream as many streamers include “Twitch drops” or “drops enabled” (or similar language) to indicate their channel is participating. There may also be a bot in the streamer’s chat indicating that drops are enabled. Or, you could always ask in the chat.
You must link your Battle.net and Twitch accounts. Even if you’ve done it before and have participated in previous Twitch drops, you don’t want to log half-a-dozen hours of Overwatch viewing for nothing. Visit the connections page on your Battle.net account and follow the link to connect your Twitch account. Follow all the instructions on Twitch’s side and you’ll be set.
If you’ve done it right, it should look something like this (with your Twitch avatar and username):
Screenshot: Blizzard / Kotaku
Watching Twitch on game consoles and smart TV apps DO NOT count. You must watch Twitch on a computer’s web browser or the Android/iOS Twitch app to get your drops!
I watched everything. Where’s my stuff?
In-game rewards from Twitch drops don’t appear in your game automatically. Once you’ve cleared the necessary watch-time, head on over to the Drops Inventory menu on Twitch to claim your reward(s). Claimed drops will expire after 14 days if your Battle.net account isn’t linked. Claimed items can also take up to 24 hours to appear in your game, so practice a little bit of patience.
How do I enable drops on my stream?
If you stream and want to make sure viewers can participate, a couple of clicks will enable drops on your channel. To make sure your stream will deal out Overwatch 2 Twitch drops, head on over to your “Creator Dashboard.” Under “Viewer Rewards” you’ll see “Drops.” On that page, you’ll click the slider next to “Enable Drops” so it has a purple check mark and you’re good to go!
Screenshot: Twitch / Kotaku
How to claim Reinhardt and Brigitte Twitch Drops
After November 6, you’ll have another opportunity to earn some Twitch Drop-exclusive cosmetics. This time, you can grab the Reinhardt Mug Souvenir after watching two-hours worth of Overwatch 2 on Twitch. Following that, you can earn the Brigitte Kitten Weapon Charm after three additional (five total) hours.
Image: Blizzard
As mentioned above, these drops will be available from November 15 at 12 p.m. ET through to November 30 at 2 p.m.
How do I get my teammates to play support?
I hear you loud and clear. Sadly, I’ve no screenshots or time slots to share for that problem. But if you’re new to Overwatch 2 and are looking for some basic tips to get started, check out our beginner’s guide. And if you’re looking to knock out your timed season challenges, we’ve broken those down so you can get to grinding.
The role was subsequently given to Jennifer Hale—who has issued her own statements—while a Bloomberg report said PlatinumGames had originally offered to pay Taylor somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000 per four-hour session for at least five recording sessions, for a total of at least $15,000. It’s then said that when Taylor instead asked for a “six-figure sum” to voice the character, negotiations broke down.
It has come to my attention that some people are calling me a liar and golddigger. I feel the need to defend myself and my reputation in the industry.
As I posted on part three of my video thread. I explained that their first offer was too low. That offer was 10,000 dollars total. Remember, this is 450 million dollar franchise, (not counting merchandise.) I then wrote in Japanese to Hideki Kamiya, asking for what I was worth. I thought that as a creative, he would understand. He replied saying how much he valued my contribution to the game and how much the fans wanted me to voice the game. I was then offered an extra 5,0000! [Note: it appears this is a typo, and that Taylor means 5,000]
So, I declined to voice the game. I then heard nothing from them for 11 months. They then offered me a flat fee to voice some lines for 4,000 dollars. Any other lies, such as 4,000 for 5 sessions are total fabrications.
There were not “extensive negotiations.” I’ve also been informed of ridiculous fictions, such as I asked for 250,000 dollars. I am a team player. I was just asking for a fair, living wage in line with the value that I bring to this game.
I was paid a shockingly low total of £3000 total for the first game. A little more for the second. I wanted to voice her. I have drummed up interest in this game ever since I started on Twitter in 2011.
The story behind the casting of the lead voice acting role for the third game in the Bayonetta series has been a complete mess, involving allegations of terrible pay, conflicting accounts and Non-Disclosure Agreements. In an attempt to put the whole thing to bed the developers of the title, PlatinumGames, have tonight issued a statement.
We at Platinum Games offer our sincerest appreciation to everyone who has contributed to creating the Bayonetta series over the years, as well as the community that has served as its foundation.
We give our full support to Jennifer Hale as the new Bayonetta, and align with everything in her statement.
We ask people to please refrain from any further comments that would disrespect Jennifer or any of the other contributors to the series.
The statement they’re referring to, from current voice actor Jennifer Hale, reads:
With regard to Bayonetta 3,
As a longtime member of the voice acting community, I support every actor’s right to be paid well and have advocated consistently for this for years.
Anyone who knows me, or has followed my career, will know that I have great respect for my peers, and that I am an advocate for all members of the community.
I am under an NDA and am not at liberty to speak regarding this situation. My reputation speaks for itself.
I sincerely ask that everyone keep in mind that this game has been created by an entire team of hard-working, dedicated people and I hope everyone will keep an open mind about what they’ve created.
Finally, I hope that everyone involved may resolve their differences in an amicable and respectful way.
“Fat cats cream off the top and leave us the crumbs,” she said, before noting that her inability to get a living wage from the industry has led her to suffer depression and anxiety. As she tells it, after being lowballed, she wrote to Hideki Kamiya, executive director on the game, to plead her case. She claims that he acknowledged her importance to the role and how much it would mean to fans. But the offer still apparently ended up being $4,000.
“I worried that I was going to be on the streets,” she said of the larger inability to be paid a living wage. “That terrified me so much that once I was suicidal. I am not afraid of the non-disclosure agreement. I can’t even afford to run a car. What are they going to do, take my clothes? Good luck to them.”
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Mixed reality The Meta Quest Pro centers on working, creating, and collaborating in a virtual space.
Hale, who has replaced Taylor, issued her own statement (the one above), while a story on Bloombergthen cast doubt on some of Taylor’s initial pay claims. Both women have subsequently been the target of online abuse, prompting Platinum’s plea in tonight’s statement.
For some, the journey into the games industry takes years of persistence and career building in another field before networking and passion lands them that job in gaming. This month, we’re featuring the stories of Xbox employees that started their careers in Retail and explore how they transitioned into their current roles in Xbox. Last time, we met Albert Dankwa III, a Content Program Manager for Xbox Support. Today, we’re happy to share the journey of Chris Douglas, a Business Program Manager for Xbox Game Studios (XGS) Game Camp.
Backstory
Chris grew up playing video games with his family, and from a young age was intrigued by how they worked. He remembers playing his first video game and thinking, “I don’t understand what’s happening. When I move these arrows or press this button, the character on screen moves and jumps, but how? What is going on between the controller and the system and the screen to make all these things happen? That started my journey and got me excited about technology and gaming.”
When he began talking to advisors and teachers about his plans after high school, Chris remembers being told “there’s no money in technology and video games, you won’t be able to do that.” As he got closer to graduation, Chris told his parents that he wanted to be part of the gaming industry, whether that was in development or marketing or some other capacity. He remembers them telling him “I don’t believe that is something for you. We don’t see a lot of people of color, especially black men, with these jobs.” Chris knows his parents weren’t trying to kill his dreams but rather wanted to protect him from failure. Growing up in a black household, Chris says “you don’t have the ability to fail. You don’t have the same privileges as other people and you only get one shot.” Now that he has learned more about the importance of having a growth mindset, Chris understands the benefits and opportunities that come from learning from your failures. Still, he acknowledges that the experiences of other black people often match his parents’ expectations.
After graduating high school, Chris began attending Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, the only historically Black, Catholic university in the United States. Still, many of the computer science professors were white men. Chris continued to meet adversity, but with the recent launch of Xbox from his dream employer Microsoft, he was determined to continue his pursuit of a career in gaming. Shortly after, Chris’ personal life took a turn when his mom found out she had breast cancer. Chris realized he could not work two jobs, support his family, and attend school.
After a series of warehouse and retail jobs, Chris became a store manager at GameStop, where he was promoted several times. While he enjoyed learning about new gaming features, in particular the Xbox 360, Chris realized that brick and mortar stores were not the future of retail. He left GameStop for AT&T, and after 5 years there had almost given up on his dream of gaming and working for Microsoft. Then Microsoft began opening retail stores.
As soon as they announced the store in New Orleans, Chris applied and became a learning specialist working with schools. As he worked with K-12 schools, he realized that many of the students had never seen a computer, so he started working with community development specialists and other groups in Microsoft to bring Surfaces, Minecraft Education, and coding workshops to local schools.
Chris says “the best moment of my entire life was when I walked into a school, and I was wearing my colorful Microsoft shirt, jeans, and Jordans, and this kid said that he had never seen anyone from Microsoft before – he didn’t think Jordans and working at Microsoft could even go together. That’s when I realized these kids were seeing themselves in me and it was incredibly humbling. I have a big responsibility to the kids in my community to help them get to where they want to be.”
Chris began bringing gaming into the outreach programs, inviting streamers and others to talk about games, marketing, and esports. Word got around the city that if you wanted to do something gaming related, talk to Chris at Microsoft.
Near the beginning of the pandemic, Chris was approached for help with a new project called XGS Game Camp, which focused on finding new ways to reach underserved communities interested in creating games. His managers were very supportive and let him split his time between retail and volunteering with XGS Game Camp, and when Microsoft decided to permanently close the retail stores Chris was offered the job of production assistant at inXile Studios, one of the local XGS Game Camp partners.
Chris spent a year learning about production, which touches everything from audio to animation to engineering, and had a great experience in his first real gaming role. But he felt like something was missing without the chance to regularly give back to his community. When Xbox Game Studios decided to further invest in XGS Game Camp and wanted Chris to join the team full time from his home base in New Orleans, he knew it was a perfect fit.
Big Dreams: Basketball or Gaming?
Around age 12, Chris started playing basketball, football, and track. As he focused more on athletics, he discovered a real talent for basketball and his family and friends began encouraging him to pursue a career in the NBA. Chris says, “There are 15,000 Men’s Division 1 NCAA athletes in the United States but only 60 people get drafted into the NBA. That’s a .004% chance, but my family believed I had a better chance of making it to the NBA than of working in the gaming industry!” Not convinced a basketball career was realistic, Chris continued to keep his other goals of being a chef or a game designer in mind as he went into high school. He cut grass and washed cars to pay for games and gaming magazine subscriptions and read everything he could about emerging industry and technology trends. Still, his family and friends urged him to continue playing basketball through high school and college, convinced a career in the NBA was more attainable than a job in gaming.
Chris reflects, “I love basketball more than anything, I really do. It’s one of the most exhilarating things to watch or play. When I used to play basketball, everything else stopped. There is this poetry about it when it’s happening. But there is something even more magical about being able to connect to a character in a game and go through that world and feel connected to the narrative, music, and environment. It’s a surreal experience. If you allow yourself to be open, games will transport you to a different place. You can experience a different reality and for a little bit you can forget about everything that’s happened and be focused on this other moment. For me it’s therapeutic.”
Despite the pressure from his community to give up on gaming, Chris says that “growing up I had to realize that sometimes even the people who love you the most don’t support you because they are trying to protect you, not because they don’t love you. You can’t allow anything to stop your dream.”
What a Business Program Manager does
Chris says that “Xbox Game Studios Game Camp is a program that’s built to prove that extraordinary talent resides everywhere. We try to meet people and talent where they are and help any budding game creators from traditional and non-traditional backgrounds. We want to add diverse voices to gaming – people of color, women, people from underrepresented communities and tough socioeconomic backgrounds. Our goal is to reach everyone interested in making games and demystify the gaming industry and help them with tools and resources. We want to help them realize their dream by building a network of subject matter experts inside Xbox they can learn from.”
As the Business Program Manager for XGS Game Camp, Chris’ job is to strategize the delivery of tools and resources for campers while building a rapport and getting to know them on a personal level. He maintains relationships with marketing, media, brand management, legal, mentors, engineering, non-profits, and more to stay on the bleeding edge of creation tools, engine advancements, and knowledge sharing to empower campers to deliver their vision.
Chris shares, “I really have an ability to change people’s lives. I get to be the person that I wanted to have in my life, to believe in them and their dreams when others don’t. I am thankful I can be that encouragement to keep people from giving up on their dream.”
Gaming History
Chris grew up playing games and he remembers the first Nintendo his parents bought clearly. “I was 7 or 8 and we had just come back from a family vacation at Disney World, which was a really big deal. When we got home, I wanted to play with my friends who I hadn’t seen in a week, but my dad told me I needed to come inside and spend more time with the family. I went to my room and lay on my bed, upset, and he came in and put a Nintendo on my bed – and suddenly it was the greatest day again. We hooked it up immediately and started playing together.”
Chris is currently playing Destiny 2, Deathloop, Overwatch 2, Moonscars, Prodeus, and Halo Infinite.
Xbox Game Studios Game Camp is a two-to-four-month program that is hosted in different cities around the world. Learn more at Xbox Game Studios Game Camp.
If you went to get your ass yeeted by Lady Dimitrescu this past weekend only to have Resident Evil Village crash instead, you’re not alone. A recent update to the PC version triggered a bug that’s crashing the game for many PC players on Steam.
Earlier today, Capcom made a post on the official Resident Evil Twitter account apologizing for the inconvenience of the crashes and stating that it is currently working on a fix. Players on Steam report that, upon starting Village, they are greeted with a message saying their data is “incompatible” followed by a recommendation to restart the game, essentially locking them out.
In a Steam forum post, player FluffyQuack speculated that the reason ViIlage is now crashing on PCs is thanks to newly added code that checks the game for modifications / anomalies and ceases to run when any are found. The flawed update comes just ahead of the launch of its next major DLC, dubbed the Winters’ Expansion. Among other additions, the Winters’ Expansion, which launches next week, will add a new single-player episode and augment the score attack-style battle mode called “The Mercenaries” with four new playable characters, including the now slightly-more-diminutive Lady D, Heisenberg, and boulder-punching aficionado Chris Redfield.
While players await a fix from Capcom, FluffyQuack already workshopped a makeshift workaround that seems to allow the base game to run again, with the caveat of not being able to use any of its DLC.
The Winters’ Expansion updates will launch on October 28 and be available both separately, and as a bundle with the original game known as Resident Evil Village Gold Edition.
Early in October, Japanese developer PlatinumGames, known for its action titles, told Game Informer that upcoming Switch exclusive Bayonetta 3 would not see voice actress Hellena Taylor reprise her iconic sultry role as the protagonist. Instead, Bayonetta’s english VA would now be Jennifer Hale, one of the industry’s most ubiquitous voice actresses who is known for roles like Commander Shepard. At the time, Platinum claimed that the replacement was due to “various overlapping circumstances” that made it “difficult” for Hellena to play Bayonetta once again. Over a week later, Taylor has gone on to social media to dispute Platinum’s account, suggesting that the studio wasn’t entirely being transparent about what actually happened.
Rather than losing out on the role because Hale was the better performer, or due to something like scheduling conflicts, Taylor claims that it was over pay. In a series of videos, Taylor goes on to say that Platinum apparently only offered her $4,000 for the entirety of the performance, which based on the trailers appeared to show the leading VA voicing multiple versions of the same character. For Taylor, who spent years studying her craft and has undeniably created one of the most memorable performances in the entire medium, the offer was considered insulting.
“We held auditions to cast the new voice of Bayonetta and offered the role to Jennifer Hale, whom we felt was a good match for the character,” game director Yusuke Miyata told Game Informer at the time. “I understand the concerns some fans have about the voice change at this point in the series, but Jennifer’s performance was way beyond what we could have imagined. I’m confident that her portrayal of Bayonetta will exceed our fans’ expectations.” According to Game Informer’s story, the publication found Hale’s performance virtually indistinguishable from that of Taylor.
But Taylor called the entire situation, while legal, “immoral.”
“Sometimes think I’m not very much like Bayonetta at all,” Taylor said in a video, in reference to her decision to speak up about what’s going on. “But I guess I am a little bit more like Bayonetta than I thought.
“I understand that boycotting this game is a personal choice, and there are those who won’t, she continued. “And that’s fine. But if you’re someone who cares about people, who cares about the world around you, who cares about who gets hurt with these financial decisions? Then I urge you to boycott this game.”
Taylor was originally cast in for the bullet time witch role in the acclaimed action game 2009, and reprised her role for the series in 2014’s follow-up. The series is widely considered one of Nintendo’s best modern franchises.
“Fat cats cream off the top and leave us the crumbs,” she said, before noting that her inability to get a living wage from the industry has led her to suffer depression and anxiety. As she tells it, after being lowballed, she wrote to Hideki Kamiya, executive director on the game, to plead her case. She claims that he acknowledged her importance to the role and how much it would mean to fans. But the offer still apparently ended up being $4,000.
“I worried that I was going to be on the streets,” she said of the larger inability to be paid a living wage. “That terrified me so much that once I was suicidal. I am not afraid of the non-disclosure agreement. I can’t even afford to run a car. What are they going to do, take my clothes? Good luck to them.”
Nintendo, Bayonetta 3‘s publisher, and Taylor did not immediately respond to a request for comment. And while PlatinumGames hasn’t made an official statement on the matter, Kamiya himself did appear to respond on Twitter.
“Sad and deplorable about the attitude of untruth,” he wrote. “That’s what all I can tell now.”
But more glaringly, he ended the note by typing, “By the way, BEWARE OF MY RULES.” As far as anyone can tell, this seems to be in reference to Twitter usage, where infamously, Kamiya is said to block people left and right. To wit, his header image is just a series of posts where he warns “insects,” especially those of foreign languages such as English, that he has or will block them. And his pinned Twitter post is a series of “rules,” which, if broken, he warns people will lead to a block. “MY BLOCK BUTTON IS BIGGER THAN EVER,” it reads.
“Bayonetta always stands up for those who have less power, and stands up for what is right,” Taylor said in her videos. “And in doing this, you stand with her,” she said of player’s potential decision to boycott the game. In the videos, Taylor also wished Hale, the new Bayonetta, all the best. But she still had harsh words to say about what taking on Bayonetta’s role would mean to her.
“But she has no right to say she is the voice of Bayonetta, I created that voice,” Taylor said. “She has no right to sign merchandise as Bayonetta, any more than I have the right to sign as Eva Green even though I was her parent on video game The Golden Compass. That betrayal is hers, and hers alone. They’ll probably try and do a spin-off with Jeanne. Don’t buy that either.”
The final video Taylor shared was directed entirely at Nintendo, PlatinumGames, and “fat cats” in general. It was a retelling of Lazarus the beggar, from the bible, and a larger critique on the morals that come with emphasizing money over people.
Bayonetta 3 will release for the Nintendo Switch on October 28th.
Scorn is a rough game so far. It’s slow, send you down winding labyrinths with little guidance, offers zero narrative comforts (at least early on), and is set in a dramatically uncomfortable and grotesque world clearly inspired by the works of Swiss artist HR Giger. I’ve found it to be an unfun, painful experience. But if I’m being honest, I think the discomfort is the point. And in that, Scorn might be a successful game.
Developed by Ebb Software and out yesterday on PC and Xbox—I’m on PC—Scorn has been in development since 2014. After a failed Kickstarter campaign and a since-ditched plan to release the game in two installments, it reappeared on Kickstarter in 2017 to successfully secure its funding and is now available to play. It bills itself as “an atmospheric first-person horror adventure game set in a nightmarish universe of odd forms and somber tapestry” and also takes inspiration from Heideggeran philosophy.
I’ll let you, the reader, deal with the philosophical angle, as that’s not my specialty and I have no desire to comment on Martin Heidegger’s work or how it applies to this game. I approach Scorn from the perspective of someone who is deeply moved by the works of HR Giger; I often appreciate art that is unfun, difficult, and, either intentionally or not, abrasive. I am not an expert on Giger’s biography or his intentions behind his work, but I know how I’ve responded to his art. And it’s with that which I approach this game.
Scorn
Scorn, in the five hours I’ve spent with it, appeals to me because it imparts so much friction on the player. I am not necessarily having a good time, but am nonetheless being pulled down the corridors of this macabre plodfest, more adventure game than first-person shooter, because of how deeply the extremely Giger-esque art hits me.
As a trans woman who’s spent most of her life closeted, I’ve found HR Giger’s work viscerally communicates an ambience of doomed sex, sexuality, and physical forms, a general sense of unease and confusion that resonates with how I’ve seen the world for most of my life. His images provide meditative spaces that are much more cerebral and in tune with my feelings of the world than the more simplistic, gore-for-gore’s-sake utility Hollywood has often reduced it to. It’s why I’m drawn to this game. And while Scorn ain’t for everyone (not for most, probably), so far it is managing to mirror what I get out of Giger’s art by refusing to bend to “AAA” gaming expectations of being easy to play and understand.
There’s no hand-holding. No map. No objective marker. The HUD elements are confusing (to a fault, actually), and the puzzles take a bit of time to wrap your head around. You can’t jump. You can’t crouch. Invisible walls are everywhere, making Scorn feel more like a museum. The first “weapon” you get is nearly useless against the early enemies, and once you finally acquire a firearm, it is woefully inaccurate. This game has one of the worst cases of “where-the-fuck-am-I-supposed-to-go-now-itis” I’ve experienced in years. And yet, I want to continue playing it ‘til the end.
Scorn succeeds at communicating, at utilizing, what I love about HR Giger’s work in two key ways. But it fails in a third, perhaps fatal one.
Its first success comes in nailing the confusion and surrealism. I don’t know what anything will do. As the gamer, I feel frustrated by that. But as myself, Claire, I am delighted by being so lost and forced into a place of unknowing.
The way it tends to play out is you come across strange rooms and devices whose purposes are unclear. You try to activate these in some way, using either the weird objects you pick up or by mashing the A button, only to be frustrated when the animation plays out to no effect. You then stomp around the corridors and touch gross things over and over until you finally figure out where you’re supposed to go or what piece of filth interacts with what pulsing organelle.
Gif: Ebb Software / Kotaku
This is undoubtedly annoying, but I’d argue that, in the spirit of Giger, this is how it should be. If this game assigned random lore words and catchphrases to objects and spaces around you, or otherwise made itself more friendly, it would corrupt the natural flow of bizarre bullshit that you have to manage. The protagonist (thus far) is silent, leaving my own thoughts to narrate what I’m experiencing. Scorn becomes very personal in this vacuum of character and voice.
A game that so directly pulls from Giger should be inherently surrealist and confusing. That said, many of these puzzles are of the kind that we’ve seen before in other games. What makes them work, for me at least, brings me to Scorn’s second key success so far: It brings the “mechanical” of the “biomechanical” source material to life. Seeing this kind of art style bend and slither through my manipulations conveys a sense of movement that Giger’s still works typically do not.
Combined, these two strengths grant me a game experience similar to what I experience when lost in a Giger piece. Had it played more smoothly, more gently, it would have been far more Prometheus than “Brain Salad Surgery.” Scorn, on its own, is no “Brain Salad Surgery,” “Necronom IV,” or “Birth Machine,” but I find it, as a video game, to be resonant with what I go to those works for.
Scorn’s ultimate failing, in my opinion, has little to do with its clunkiness as a game. Sure, the protagonist walks way too slowly (get used to holding down “sprint”) and you really ought to turn off motion blur and crank up the FoV by at least a notch or two. Also, the game is suffering from a kind of stutter I’m starting to notice more and more of in Unreal Engine games. These are all valid reasons for players to bounce off this game.
But for me, its key failing is the art design’s almost shocking (given the source material’s) lack of engagement with human sexuality. I think Scorn could’ve stood to learn more from the eroticism of Giger’s work. There’s gory body horror here for sure, but the watering down of its erotic motifs deprives Scorn’s art of the sense of humanity, as twisted and warped as it may appear, present in Giger.
I understand why this is likely the case. Any game that followed HR Giger’s depictions of distorted genitalia, of monstrous penises and vaginas, would likely land in Adults Only territory. There is enough “inserting,” phallic imagery, and yawning openings to hint in the right directions, but Scorn suffers for not going all the way.
Scenes like this one should be more explicitly erotic.Screenshot: Ebb Software / Kotaku
Frankly, more penises and vulvas and body parts would make this game much better. The fingerprints of Giger-esque biomechanical sexuality are there in the design of its various tunnels and rising phallic objects, but lack the clear details of actual human anatomy. In this one key way Scorn is almost like a radio-friendly version of an otherwise explicit song. To be fair, I don’t know if I trust a modern video game to work with such themes tastefully in the first place, but the mashup of horror, confusion, and eroticism is a major appeal of this art style for me and it’s a shame to see it so, well, neutered in Scorn. Raw, hauntingly surrealist eroticism is what so often draws me to Giger, and its omission here saps the game of potential vitality.
Scorn is not a fun game. It’s confusing and painful to play. It’s like listening to Dillinger Escape Plan in reverse. But for those reasons, I will continue plodding through these corridors so long as the sloppy combat doesn’t sour the experience too much.
Last week’s comprehensive update to No Man’s Sky brought with it a host of changes. Some made the game far more malleable and approachable, while others, like tweaks to inventory mechanics, have been the subject of controversy within the community. Seemingly in response to the backlash, Hello Games appears to be making some adjustments to how the inventory works in the game’s experimental PC build.
No Man’s Sky’s “Waypoint” update brought with it a sudden change to the game’s inventory system. Naturally, the term “inventorygate” has developed in response. The result has been the usual rush of memes, review bombs, since-locked Reddit threads with gamers arguing over whether the game is “ruined” or not. Those upset over the changes have a point, however: The updated inventory layout limits players to three tech upgrade slots, capping potential power levels below what they were pre-update. However, the game’s October 10 experimental build added additional upgrade slots, suggesting the devs are looking to address the playerbase’s fairly widespread outrage.
An experimental update, however, might not be enough to quell the frustration many have aired. Steam reviews alone have taken a recent trend toward a “Mixed” status, with many specifically calling out the inventory changes. “The most recent update essentially deleted dozens of hours of grinding,” reads one Steam review. “With the new 4.0 update my inventories are unrecognizable and after all the grind time I have spent it all seems useless,” reads another.
The backlash hasn’t been universal, though. While many are “complaining that they worked 100+ hours for upgrades that are now functionally useless,” as one Reddit thread puts it, others have found that the tweaks and restrictions bring more balance and challenge to the game. The negative responses do appear to be the loudest, however, and it’s uncertain if those have influenced Hello Games’ decision to expand the slots in the experimental build.
The experimental build patch notes on Steam note that Hello Games has added “additional free technology slots,” both for players newly updating their game to the Waypoint version and folks who already have existing saves. You can access No Man’s Sky’s experimental build by right-clicking on the game in your Steam library, selecting “Properties,” navigating to “Betas,” entering the password “3xperimental”, and choosing the “Experimental” build.
Pictured: Above is the more limited inventory of the current build. Below reveals the expanded slots in the experimental version.Image: Hello Games / Kotaku
The changes are clearly visible on a brand-new save I created to test with. As expected, the regular, stable, build of the game only provides three possible technology slots at the top. Updating to the experimental build, however, doubles the slots on the top row. Further updates to the beta branch since October 10 also fix other issues many had with unlocking inventory slots and navigating the menu overall.
Though these changes have yet to be merged into No Man’s Sky’s stable build, there is no indication yet as to when or if these will be made permanent. Kotaku has reached out to Hello Games for comment.
Dwarf Fortress, a game that has been around forever and will be around forever, has never been the most welcoming experience for the average, curious player. Something its developers have finally decided to work on for the game’s upcoming Steam release.
Dwarf Fortress has the well-earned title of being one of the most torturous games to learn. There is a lot going on, even after we changed all the ridiculous keyboard commands and replaced the Matrix-like interface with some understandable, and awesome, pixel art. It still needs something. Something to ease the need to head straight to a wiki just to understand what’s going on. The answer is the tutorial of course.
Zach shared some screenshots of the new tutorial in action, showing stuff like initial greetings and guides to basics like woodcutting and stockpiling your resources:
Image: Dwarf Fortress
Image: Dwarf Fortress
Image: Dwarf Fortress
“To make the tutorial all it can be, we found the ultimate play tester: my wife Annie”, Zach says. “There are a lot of base-building games out there now, enough to make Dwarf Fortress easier to get into. She doesn’t play any of them. The closest she gets to DF is Overcooked 2. After one failed attempt with the original, the latest version of the tutorial allowed her to get good enough at the game to tunnel under a bog and drown her fortress.”
The Adams brothers first started working on Dwarf Fortress in 2002, so why only get around to this now? The upcoming re-release of the game on Steam seems as good an excuse as any, of course, since dropping the game on Valve’s shopfront—which will also bring stuff like much-improved visuals—will be exposing the game to a potentially huge audience of new and curious players.
“Our aim is to make this level of play achievable by anyone”, Zach writes. “We want the world to be able to lose this game and have fun doing it.”
The Steam version of Dwarf Fortress doesn’t yet have an official release date, though fans digging through SteamDB think it’ll be coming sometime in early 2023.
