Destiny 2 players, we've got another unintended farm for the record books, and this one's a doozy. Following today's Guardian Games update, featured Lost Sectors would auto-complete the second you'd load in, spitting out enhancement materials and even Exotics immediately after starting the activity. Sadly, Bungie was quick on the draw here: it's been patched.
Just when I think it can't get any cooler, the most underrated JRPG of 2022 gets a whole roguelike with a "completely unreasonable difficulty mode"
14.02.2024 - 23:39 / gamesradar.com / Austin Wood
Every time I think it may finally be dislodged from my brain, Astlibra Revision gives me a new reason to talk about it. The weirdest, most underrated JRPG of 2022 has returned once again, this time with a chunky side story that turns the side-scrolling action game into a roguelike with procedural loot and levels for another "20+ hours" of ass-kicking with a new protagonist.
Astlibra Gaiden: The Cave of Phantom Mist – these titles just get better and better – was released on PC yesterday, February 13, for $9.99 (and is coming to Switch "soon," it seems.) I've been enjoying it so far, and I'm apparently not the only one; it's sitting at 338 Steam reviews with a 93% positive score at the time of writing.
Gaiden is a completely separate story about a girl who works at a bakery in the town that the heroes of the main game call home. Those heroes have disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and so a talking dog recruits this girl, whose combat experience begins and ends with hitting slimes with a broom, to brave a mystical dungeon formed from the memories of warriors who've vanquished at least four dimensions of demons. The girl's sick sister is counting on the medicine held by those heroes so she goes along with it, and I gotta say, she's doing a bang-up job so far.
Combat has been retouched a bit but is mostly the same 2D hacking and slashing, now punctuated with a new magic system. You dive into the dungeon, explore floor after floor while assembling new items and gear from scratch, and collect XP to spend on permanent character upgrades. There's a nice variety of encounters ranging from basic fights to minigames to kill-'em-all monster zoos, and the cadence of upgrades feels good so far. I do think a few basic abilities should be unlocked a little sooner - maybe the main character could've just started with them - but it really only takes one decent excursion to get your foot in the door.
I've gone for the second-hardest difficulty, in part because the pinnacle challenge, Impossible mode, is described in-game as "a completely unreasonable difficulty mode." I know from experience that Astlibra solo developer Keizo is not messing around when he says this stuff, so I'll stick with good-old Hell difficulty, which is already pretty hard.
This is all really just an excuse to play more Astlibra, and I'm certainly not complaining. The progression and gear systems are a natural fit for the roguelike loop, and it's fun seeing another side of the world through this new heroine.
It is still an incredibly uneven game with esoteric upgrade systems (swords are made out of cake, and the skill tree is a dungeon), somewhat clashing visuals, and absurd story beats that struggle to fit 10 pounds of lore into a
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Top Authors
Popular Topics
gamesradar.com
04.03.2024 / 23:13
Putting out an MMO fire, Temtem devs confirm the last big update for the "MMO-lite," cut "all of the microtransactions in the game," and tease another new game
Formally addressing community unrest stirred in part by recent comments from its CEO, Temtem developer Crema released a lengthy statement explaining the future of the game, why it's sort of but also not really an MMO, as well as the other games it's working on.
gamesradar.com
04.03.2024 / 16:47
Helldivers 2 got so big that its virtual D&D master Joel needed "emergency" assistance: "He's only one guy, and he was just not sleeping ... sending me messages at 4am"
Helldivers 2's dynamic warfront is being conducted almost exclusively by a single D&D-style game master named Joel, but the co-op shooter's explosive launch has gotten so big that Joel needed "emergency" reinforcements of his own within developer Arrowhead Game Studios.
gamesradar.com
01.03.2024 / 21:32
Money-hating creator of one of the highest-rated roguelikes in Steam history says "oops I made a second game" in the most casual reveal of 2024
HoloCure - Save the Fans is still one of the best and best-rated roguelikes on Steam, and its lead developer, animator Kay Yu, is now at work on a second game that looks like a River City Girls-inspired 2D co-op brawler.
gamesradar.com
01.03.2024 / 21:32
The $6 Metroidvania that lit Steam on fire last year hits 100K sales, self-taught dev who made the game in a few months "still having trouble processing"
Pseudoregalia, a 3D Metroidvania released last summer for just $6, ended up being one of the best and biggest surprise hits of the year. As lead developer Rittz told me in an interview in September 2023, he made most of the game himself in about four months after getting into game dev as a self-taught newcomer. As of today, which has yielded a chunky map update for the game, Pseudoregalia has passed 100,000 copies sold, and Rittz is "still having trouble processing."
gamesradar.com
01.03.2024 / 21:31
Helldivers 2 CEO acknowledges the meta in the best way: "Give the new player the shield backpack and the railgun. You can do without it if you are a true Helldiver"
Addressing the Helldivers 2 meta while leaning into the game's winking fascist veneer, CEO Johan Pilestedt of developer Arrowhead Game Studios advised veterans to treat new players kindly by showering them in heavy armaments, not fascism.
gamesradar.com
29.02.2024 / 18:07
As catastrophic layoffs rattle the games industry, FPS legend John Romero says "I've never seen anything like we're seeing now"
On the heels of 670 layoffs at EA, merely the latest publisher to add to a dizzying list of thousands of game developers put out of work in the past year – hell, in the past two months alone – FPS legend and veritable Doom man John Romero reckons this is an unprecedented dip for the games industry.
gamesradar.com
28.02.2024 / 22:45
Helldivers 2 escort missions are out of control, but we're in this together so the community's desperately trying to help their fellow recruits stay alive
Helldivers, we have yet another problem. Despite their best efforts, some Helldivers 2 recruits – and I'm not just talking about new cadets, who get the benefit of the doubt – are really struggling with the escort missions currently dominating the Automaton warfront. I get it, they're hard. Arguably too hard on occasion, the occasion being, almost every single one on any remotely high difficulty. But the bugs and bots ain't going anywhere and neither are escort missions, so we're gonna have to get through this together. Luckily, the community's been hard at work sharing helpful tips for escorting civilians while keeping their insides inside at least 25% of the time.
gamesradar.com
28.02.2024 / 17:58
As Helldivers 2 draws Metal Gear Solid 5 comparisons, Obsidian RPG master Josh Sawyer says "more games should just directly copy stuff that feels good"
In amongst the expected Star Troopers chatter, a less obvious comparison for Helldivers 2 has quietly been making the rounds: 2015's Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Unexpected overlap in stealth, movement, and gunplay has brought Kojima's open-world action espionage masterwork back into the spotlight, and director Josh Sawyer of RPG powerhouse Obsidian reckons it's all just more evidence that more games shouldn't feel bad about copying stuff that works well and feels good.
gamesradar.com
27.02.2024 / 14:45
PlayStation cancels several unannounced projects amid heavy layoffs and a studio closure: "Sometimes, great ideas don't become great games"
As it lays off around 900 people across Sony's stable of studios, including cuts at Naughty Dog, Insomniac, and the entirety of now-defunct PlayStation London, PlayStation Studios is also canning multiple unannounced projects.
gamesradar.com
26.02.2024 / 23:03
Oh no, here I go again: Genshin Impact dev's new-again action RPG Honkai Impact 3rd gets Part 2 release this week
Honkai Impact 3rd, which was Hoyoverse's big action RPG before Genshin Impact ate all the money in the universe, is gearing up for a relaunch of sorts with its Part 2 update, a massive patch bringing a whole new storyline. It's coming to PC and mobile this Thursday, February 29, and I can already tell I'll end up trying this Hoyo game too, especially now that it's on Steam (with 72% positive reviews, if you're curious).
gamesradar.com
26.02.2024 / 20:10
Helldivers 2 avoided PvP to reduce toxicity, so of course some players are being toxic anyway by fighting over shared resources and team-killing to steal weapons
Helldivers, we have a problem. Undemocratic bug fodder has infested the ranks of Helldivers 2, and the toxic behavior of these players is putting a damper on what should be a glorious campaign for Super Earth.