Victor Vran - the darker cousin of Torchlight

I love RPGs and when I don't get enough action out of them I gladly switch to their cousins the ARPGs. Games like Path of Exile or Torchlight II for example. And although those have a great amount of content when something fresh pops up I'm immediately interested. New game from a favorite genre is like a new book from a loved author to me. This is exactly the case with Victor Vran from the creators of Tropico Haemimont. The game came out on 24th of July 2015 and in it you take the role of the monster hunter Victor Vran.

  The story of Victor

You're the monster hunter Victor Vran who while following the tracks of his friend has reached the city of Zagoravia last beacon among a sea of monsters and horrors. There you meet the queen of Zagoravia which somehow still holds the palace. After revealing few secrets about the hellish place you have found you decide to offer your help to the queen in cleansing the evil. 

Why slaying monsters with Victor?

At first glance the game will definitely look to you like standard hack n sla...I mean ARPG, but Victor Vran offers few mechanics that sets him apart from the others. The first thing that you will probably notice is that you can jump and it actually has purpose. First you can jump over low walls or escape from enemies when surrounded by just jumping over them or by stomping and pushing them back. And while those are useful the cool thing about jumping is that you can wall jump which will often help you reach areas and find secrets. The problem with jumping is the the fact that the game is 2.5D and often will hide walls making it possible for you see what is happening and by doing this will hinder your ability to estimate is it possible to use your cool jump. Ok I might be little too excited about this but in how many ARPGs you can jump whеnever you want? HA! Exactly!

You will also be able to dodge enemy attacks instead of relying on passive evasion stats. Those two features make the game feels a lot more action packed and keeps you caught into it.

What really puts Victor Vran aside from other games in the genre are two key features - there are no classes and there are no skill trees in the game. No stats to level up either. No,no, listen its not dumb at all. Victor Vran is a game that advertise itself as one with ton of items to collect and its true there are a lot of weapons and each of them have its own specific three skills. You will be able to equip two weapons without matter two or one handed and switch between them. The weapons include quick ones like the sword, rapier and the shockgun or slower and more AoE oriented ones like the mortar, scythe and the hammer. Other than the weapons you will be able to equip two demon skills and three destiny cards which give a bit more depth to character building. In this aspect the game is really simplified, but that is easily explainable if you look it from other side. You're Victor Vran the monster hunter who trough the years have learned to use all these weapons which give him immense flexibility while out there. If not else you will not have to worry about builds and what to use and learn. When you dislike something you just change the weapons and the skills. Of course when so much depends on the items you will be able to upgrade them and you will find them in different rarities and with additional passive bonuses.

The two other things that I mentioned are the demon skills and fate cards. The first ones are the closest thing to magic in the world of Vran. For them you need overdrive which is generated when you deal damage and when such is dealt to you. Or bu other means provided by you from Cards and outfits. These skills are independent from the equipped weapons. The cards will give you passive bonuses like life, critical chance, damage, life steal and so on. You will be able to also craft them and will be limited to equipping no more than three of them.

Other than that the game has all specifics of ARPG like hordes of enemies, dungeons to crawl into, hidden treasures and nasty nasty bosses. The world of Vran is not interconnected instead you can teleport from the Castle(your hub area) to any found dungeon. In the dungeons you will have optional objectives which will give you experience, items and gold. Also from certain level on Hexes will appear. Hexes can be activated while you are into a dungeon and they will make it harder for you while also giving better rewards.

Victor, the Voice and other famous hunters...

Victor Vran while looking not really shiny and up to date, it definitely looks spectacular. Enemies will fly around, explode, stuff will get broken AoEs will burn the ground around you and so on. Enemies may get a bit repetitive, I mean there are a lot of spiders and skeletons and not much else in the beginning. Here is the place to mention that in skills and animations the game somehow reminded me of Torchlight II. Especially the skill that have chance to trigger and the fact that massive weapons hit more than one enemy with normal attacks. Its almost like Victor is a distant, darker cousin to Runic's masterpiece.

Regarding the sound of the game there are two things that will catch your attention immediately - Victor is voiced by the same man who has voiced Geralt of Rivia. Two monster hunters voiced by the same man felt kinda strange to me, somehow out of place. Victor is doing the same that Geralt does, but in totally different context.

The second thing is the voice that Victor hears in his head. The Voice will not help you at all. He will only give you snarky remarks and laugh at you. For example in the garden of the Castle there is a labyrinth and he taunts you to enter it, but when you start jumping over the wall he blames in cheating. Other example for his mockery is when he will keep saying that you're going in the wrong direction. The Voice is something that will usually break you out from the monotony that slaying horde after horde of monsters can be. He is the thin string of humor which is always welcome.

Conclusion

Victor Vran is 2.5D ARPG in which you take on the role of the monster hunter Victor Vran who is looking for his friend which leads him to the monster infested town of Zagoravia. Before you say "Oh, another ARPG..." let me tell you what makes Viki different from other games in this genre.

The first thing is that there are no classes in this game and the skills you are using are dependent on your equipped weapons, each weapons providing three unique skills. Also you will have at your disposal two demon abilities which are magic-like spells. In addition to that you will also have Destiny cards that will provide you with passive bonuses. 

Now those specifics of the game while being its strength are also its weakness, because with game structured this way there is not much replayability to the title. Surely you can try beat it with different weapons and skills but its not even close to playing different classes. 

I personally enjoyed it and if you're looking for not so heavy ARPG experience, something lighter and at the same time different than the classics in the genre I recommend to you Victor Vran, its good.

Links:

Official site

Steam

GoG

Guild of Dungeoneering - Римува се с потенциал

Както може би сте забелязали, освен компютърни игри, аз играя и доста настолни и игри с карти. За това и когато видях и чух за Guild of Dungeoneering веднага се заинтересувах от нея.

Играта излезе на 14ти Юли 2015 и е дело на малкото студио Gambrinous. GoD е походова игра с тъмници, комбинирана с roguelite и игра с карти. Разликата от обичайните игри с тъмници е, че тук вие не контролирате героят, а само строите подземието покрай него.

Основаване на Гилдията

Играта се развива в свят, където съществуват гилдии, които печелят от...тършуване на тъмници. Вие сте бивш член на една такава гилдия - The Ivory Guild, но сте изхвърлен от нея поради...некомпетентност. Разбира се вие не сте съгласни с това определение и за това решавате да им отмъстите, като сами си основете Гилдия - Guild of Dungeoneering. Време е да им покажете кой е некомпетентен!

Пълзене и Строене

Guild of Dungeoneering може да се раздели на две тясно свързани части - строене и бродене из тъмниците. Когато завършите една тъмница, играта ще ви отключва нови. Всички действия в играта се извършват чрез карти.

Всяко подземие се състои от няколко части, като в първите ще трябва да отворите определен брой сандъци, да победите определен брой противници или нещо подобно, докато в последната ще трябва да преборите местния Шеф. В началото на всяко подземие вие започвате на едно поле, което не е свързано с останалите. Също така ще виждате и няколко други, на които ще има чудовища и други примамливи неща. Вашата първа задача ще е като играете карти с части от подземието, да свържете вашето парче земя с останалите. Когато направите това, то ще трябва някак си да убедите героят ви да отиде там където искате. Най-лесно това става с карти със съкровища и като играете чудовища или фонтани. Понякога обаче той не смята това което му предлагате за достатъчно примамливо и просто ще се хвърли с главата напред, право в Шефа, който е четири нива над него.

В повечето случаи, когато се биете с някой Шеф, то ще има някакво допълнително условие за боят. Например, когато се биете с огромната Мимика, която смята, че вие сте заграбили дядо й и баба й, тя ще ви гони из подземието, а вие ще трябва да бягате и по пътя да успеете да станете достатъчно силни, за да я победите. Или Огненият лорд, който ще ви нападне след 12 хода, защото...сега си взима душ.

За това е важно да играете чудовища на пътя на героят си. Единственият начин да се сдобиете с нови карти е като вземете нови предмети, а тях ги получавате всеки път, когато вдигнете ниво, което пък става, когато се биете. Избирайте внимателно обаче, защото героят ви няма инвентар и има само пет места за предмети. А ако пък всички предмети, които ви предлага играта не ви харесват, винаги можете да ги продадете за една карта съкровище.

По време на бой вие ще теглите бойни карти и ще играете по една на ход. Вашият противник ще прави същото. Основната идея е да го надиграете. Сред възможните карти влизат такива като атаки, които ви връщат живот, които не могат да бъдат блокирани, които правят 2,3 или повече поражение, ако се играят в правилната комбинация и други. Разбира се освен да атакувате, вие и ще се защитавате и тъй като има два вида поражение - магическо и физическо има и два вида защита.

Противникът ви ще играе подобни карти, а вие ще трябва да реагирате по най-адекватният начин, на това което играе той. Доста проста и изчистена система за водене на битки. Две неща внасят малко повече дълбочина в нея обаче - предимствата на някои герои, както и на някои чудовища и изцяло неинтутивната, но доста оригинална според мен система с умения. Когато се сдобивате с нови предмети, те носят със себе карти с определени умения - като например скорост, възстановяване, огън и други. Когато трупате повече карти с едни и същи умения, то вие получавате достъп до все по-силни карти.

След краят на всяка разходка из тъмница(бил той добър или лош), вие получавате пари, с които можете да си разширите Гилдията. Имате три вида ъпгрейди за нея - нови герои, нови предмети и благословии. Като и трите имат по три нива, всяко следващо даващо по-добро и по-скъпо от предишното.

Едно от нещата, които ми направиха впечатление е, че играта не може да блокира прогреса ви, въпреки че може доста да го забави. Не може, защото вие винаги ще изкарвате пари, дори и да не успявате да минете подземията от първия или от десетият опит. Все някога лошият ви късмет ще свърши...нали?

Е или не е ?

Това е въпросът, който си зададох, когато видях играта за първи път. Добре ли изглежда или не? Въпросът беше породен от факта, че всичко в Guild of Dungeoneering изглежда като рисувано на ръка, но по-скоро набързо направени скици или драскулки, отколкото изпипани рисунки(това може би не важи единствено за Гилдията). В същото време в тях е вложено и доста старание, което си личи най-ясно от това, че героят ви например си променя външният вид когато го екипирате с различни предмети. Въпреки, че не съм сигурен дали ми харесва избраният визуален стил на играта, то съм напълно съгласен, че пасва на историята и на чувството й за хумор на сто процента.

Но нещо, което ми хареса със сигурност е озвучаването на играта. GoD е вероятно играта с най-добра музика в Главното меню, която съм играл! Музиката е изпълнена от бардове, като това не е единственото място, където ще се докоснете до изкуството им. След всеки път когато завършите тъмница вие ще чувате кратко стихче от техен колега. За разлика от първите обаче, той не е много добър в римуването.

Заключение

Guild of Dungeoneering e смесица от игра с карти и dungeon crawl, в която вие влизате в ролята на Управляващ Гилдия, който е изритан от предишната си и за отмъщение е решил да създаде своя. В играта вие ще тършувате подземия и тъмници, а с изкараните средства ще разширявате Гилдията си, отключвайки нови предмети, класове и благословии.

Това, което различава GoD от другите подобни игри е факта, че вие не контролирате героят, който изпращате в подземието, а вместо това изграждате самото подземие около него и трябва да се опитвате да му привличате вниманието, като играете карти с чудовища и съкровища. Не трябва разбира се да очаквате винаги да успявате, понякога героят ви ще бъде доста упорит в това, къде иска да отиде. 

Тук може би си задавате въпроса, след като играта е dungen crawl дали нивата се генерират на случаен принцип. Ами не, но всеки път когато играете дадено ниво ви се дават карти с части от него, които често се различават от предишния път, когато сте го играли, така че може да се каже, че нивата са различни всеки път.

Като във всяка игра от този жанр и тук ще видите доста битки с чудовища. Те ще стават като двамата с вашият противник ще играете карти с които ще се атакувате и защитавате, докато един от двама ви не остане на нула живот. Или и двамата...

Guild of Dungeneering има много специфичен арт стил, който докато не съм сигурен дали ми харесва, то със сигурност много добре пасва на играта, атмосферата й и чувството за хумор. Самият арт представлява нещо като бързо направени на ръка скици, но с доста добро количество детайли.

Нещо друго, което много добре пасва в играта е озвучаването, което е изпълнено предимно от няколко барда, един от които не е много добър в римуването.

Колкото и да не ми се иска да го кажа обаче, играта има и няколко недостатъка. Най-големият за мен беше това, че доста бързо започна да се повтаря. Влизате в тъмница, печелите пари, разширявате Гилдията си, повтаряте. За някои хора друга негативна страна ще е доста RNG характера на играта, но това все пак е игра с карти, няма как да е друго ядче.

 Все пак ако сте като мен и харесвате механики от настолни игри, които са добре имплементирани в дигитални такива, то Guild of Dungeoneering е доста добър пример за такава и може да й дадете шанс. Аз? Аз ще изчакам да видя по какъв начин Gambrinous ще доразвият потенциала на творението си, преди да му дам втори шанс.

Линкове:

Официален сайт

Steam

GoG

Humble Store

Guild of Dungeoneering - Rhymes with potential

As you have probably noticed I play a good amount of board and card games too. That's why when I saw Guild of Dungeoneering I was instantly interested in it.

The game came out on 14th if July 2015, its done by a small indie studio called Gambrinous. GoD is a turn-based dungeon crawl mixed with a roguelite and a card game. But there is a twist, instead of controlling a character you build the dungeon around him.

Founding of the Guild

The game takes place in a world where it seems there are guilds that make money out of...dungeoneering.

 You're ex member of one such guild, The Ivory Guild, but you're thrown out because they find you...incompetent. You of course don't think so and to get your revenge create a Guild of your own. The Guild of Dungeoneering. Now you're ready to show those smarty pants who is incompetent!

Crawlin' n Buildin'

The game consists of two parts - expanding your Guild and going into Dungeons. When you pass Dungeons, new ones will be unlocked for you. Every action from building to fighting is done with cards.

Every Dungeon consists of several runs - first few with random objectives and one to kill the local Boss. You start at a dungeon tile and few more with monsters on them are also revealed. Your tile is not connected to the others though and you will have to connect them by playing dungeon cards from your hand. Easy right? But it will not be enough, because you don't control the dungeoneer and he takes whatever road he wants. You will have to fight for his attention by playing monsters and treasures in adjacent rooms...and even then he will be too stubborn and run right into the Boss that is like 4 levels above him...

Usually when you fight a Boss there will be some conditions to the fight. For example the giant Mimic that blames you for looting her grandparents will chase you around the Dungeon and you will be forced to fight her if she catches you. I'm sure you know what follows if this happens too early. Other example is on of the Demon Bosses who will give you 12 turns before attacking you...because he is taking a bath.

That's why is essential to play monsters in the way of your dungeoneer who always starts at level one and with his basic battle cards. Fighting the monsters allow you tо level up. Every time you ding you will get a choice of three items, each of which giving you new(better) cards.

During a fight you will draw three Battle cards and then will play one of them per turn. Your opponent will also play one. The general idea of the fight is to outplay him. The cards you play include options like lifeleech, quick attacks, attacks that force the enemy to discard, unblockabale attacks, attacks that deal 2.3 or even more damage if you get the right combo and more. Of corse you can also defend and because there are two types of damage, there are two kinds of block - against magic and against physical.

Your enemy will play similar cards and you will have to react in the best way to his card. As you see the battle system is very simple. Two things bring more depth to it. The perks of your characters and the monsters. For example if the Bruiser fully blocks an attack the enemy takes damage or some enemies have fury and will deal more damage or will deal one damage to you and themselves etc. The other thing is the very unintiative but original in my opinion skill system that is not explained in any way. When you equip items they have skills like swift, growth, fire etc. When you equip more cards with the same skills you get better cards from this "skill class". During a dungeon run you might acquire new perks for one battle, they can be both positive or negative. This happens when you drink from the fountains found in some rooms.

After the end of each run(good or bad) you will get some gold, when you collect enough you will be able to expand your Guild. You have three general choices when expanding - unlocking new class, blessings or new more rare items. With every tier the upgrades become more expensive. The game have around ten unlockable classes, a lot of items and few rather helpful blessings.

One of the things that made good impression to me is the fact that the game can not  really lock you from progressing as you will always get gold from your runs and will be able to get new items and classes. Slowly, but still. Truly the game can be unfair, its a card drafting game, but you won't be out of luck forever, right?

Is it or is it not?

This is the question I asked myself when I saw the graphic style of Guild of Dungeoneering. Is the game pretty or is it not? Everything in the game looks like hand drawn but in a way that looks like doodles. All characters are easily distictive, their outlook change when you equip items on them, the rooms of the Guild are detailed. But does it look good? I personally can't decide. Although I know one thing - its thematic, it fits the silly story and humour of the game at 100%.

But let me tell you about the one thing that for sure I know I liked - the sound of the game.  Guild of Dungeoneering is probably the game with the best Menu music I have ever played. The opening song is fun and well sang in a tavern style by few bards. And this is not the only place where you wll enjoy the art of the bards. After every run depending on how successful it is you will hear another bard reciting short poems about your performance...unlike his collegues he will not always succeed with the rhymes.

Conclusion

Guild of Dungeoneering is a card dungeon crawl game with some rouguelite elements. In it you take the role of a guildmaster who after being kicked from his previous guild have decided to make his own and prove his worth. In the game you will run Dungeons from which you will make money and expand your Guild, unlocking new items, classes and blessings.

The interesting thing about the game is that you're not controlling directly the dungeoneer, but instead you're luring him in the way you want him to go by playing treasures and monsters. He will of course not always go where you want him to...

Now you might be thinking "roguelite, dungeon crawl...are the levels randomly generated?" They are not, but...BUT you are the one who is building them and every time different cards are given to you, so they are not always the same definitely. 

As in every dungeon crawl you will fight a lot. When you engage in battle you and your opponent will draw and play attack and deffense cards until one of you dies...or both of you which will happen often because cards resolve simultaneously.  Monsters and different characters also have a lot of perks which add some depth to the fights.

Guild of Dungeoneering have very...peculiar art style which in my opinion you will either accept or it will put you off the game. The whole game looks like drawn in doodles, truly detailed doodles, but... Me? I'm still not sure what to think about the art of the game. Its fitting no doubt, I mean GoD is not a game that takes itself seriously so what more appropriate than doodles.

What also fit the game and I love is the music! It is amazing, especially the main menu song which is sang by a group of bards. Also not to forget their colleague who will recite short poems after every dungeon run you make. He is bad at rhyming, but...come now are you better?

Guild of Dungeoneering sadly have few flaws. Biggest of which is probably the fact that the game rather quickly becomes repetitive. You make a run, collect money, expand, make a new run and then repeat. For some people another flaw of the game for sure will be the sketchy art style and the RNG nature of the card drafting mechanics of the game.

But if you are like me and enjoy to see card/board games mechanics well implemented in computer games, then give it a try. I personally will wait and see what Gambrinous will do to expand the potential of the game before returning to it.

Links:

Official site

Steam

GoG

Humblе Store

Assassin's Creed Chronicles China - Тайно се опитва да е нещо ново

Наскоро, когато ви разказах за новото творение на Klei - Invisible Inc, аз споменах Mark of the Ninja. Днес не просто ще спомена отново тази чудесна стелт игра, а и активно ще сравнявам с нея играта за която съм решил да ви разкажа. След тези думи предполагам, че и без заглавието щяхте да се досетите, че става дума за новото допълнение към Assassin's Creed франчайза - Chronicles China.

Играта излезе на пазара на 22 април 2015 година. Разработена е (разбира се) от Ubisoft, 2.5D е и използва новият Unreal 3 енджин. В играта вие влизате в ролята на младата убийца Шао Джун, която чрез потайност и хитрост ще трябва да отмъсти за своето Братство.

Тук, преди да преминем към история, механики и други интересни неща, искам да кажа, че аз никога не съм играл Assassin's Creed игрите и за това няма да разглеждам Хроники, като допълнение към сериите, а само като стелт игра.

Историята

Годината е 1520, Азия. Китайското Братство е унищожено от група Тамплиери наричащи се Осемте Тигъра. Вие сте последният асасин от това братство и след като преминавата тренировка под ръководството на легендарния Ецио Аудиторе, се завръщате за да отмъстите за смъртта на братята и сестрите си. И ако е възможно да възстановите Китайският клон до предишната му слава. Първата стъпка от плана ви е да се оставите да ви заловят...

Геймплей и Механики

Ако сте играли Mark of the Ninja тук ще се почувствате в свой води. Chronicles използва много механики наподобяващи тези от творението на Klei. Във всяка мисия вие ще имате две задачи, една главна и една втопостепенна, която може и да не изпълнявате, но ако я изпълните, то тя ще ви даде бонус точки, с които да ъпгрейдвате Шао. На всяко ниво ще има по няколко чекпойнта и след всеки от тях ще получавате кратко резюме на представянето ви до сега. Като начин на игра ще имате избор между два стила на игра - агресивен и стелт.

Сигурен съм, че повечето от вас се досещат какво представляват двата стила, но нека все пак ви кажа малко повече за тях. Ако изберете първия, то ще се насладите на една доста прилична бойна система, която ще ви позволи да блокирате удари, да избягвате стрели и да изпълнявате други акробатични номера, с които да победите противниците си, ако сте достатъчно бързи.... Тези ви умения ще ви позволяват лесно да се справите с двама или дори трима пазачи. Не трябва да забравяте обаче, че вие все пак сте убиец, не войн и да не прекалявате с открития бой, защото в началото на играта два удара ще бъдат достатъчни за да ви убият, а противниците ви няма да ви оставят много място за грешки. Като най-опасното им оръжие ще бъде може би възможността им да викат подкрепления, с чиято помощ лесно ще обръщат боевете в своя полза. А малко по-късно в играта пазачите ще започнат да носят щитове и арбалети, които ще ви затрудняват още повече.

Ако изберете вторият вариант, ще имате удоволствието да влезете в ролята на смъртоносна сянка, която с всяко свое появяване ще взима по някого със себе си. Този вариант е вероятно малко по-труден от предишния, но ще ви дава и повече точки. Освен това малко неща могат да се сравняват с чувството да преминете цяло ниво без да ви видят или дори без да убиете някого. Доста е ясно кой начин на игра ми допадна повече, но определено и двата си имат прииумещества. Избирайки стелт варианта не ви спира от убиване на врагове стига това да става тайно и без никой да разбере. Основните механики, които тук ще използвате в този случай са...взаимствани както споменах от Mark of the Ninja. Вие ще се криете в тъмни врати, храсти, зад завеси и бали със сено. От укритията си ще можете лесно да се справяте с противниците си, без те да имат шанс да реагират. Не забравяйте да криете телата, защото иначе бързо ще се изправите срещу усърдно оглеждащи се пазачи, вместо мързеливо разкарващи се такива. Подобно на пазачите, които ще почнат да носят щитове и арбалети, така и докато се промъквате ще се сблъскате с лаещи кучета и шумни птици, както и издайнически скърцащ под.

Или можете просто да действате според ситуацията и да комбинирате двата стила, които предложих в горните два абзаца. Какъвто и начин на игра обаче да изберете, то ще има боеве, които ще ви вкарат в открит бой без значение дали го искате или не.

"She's got the looks..."

Не! Не Шао Джун! Тя постоянно е с качулка, как да разбере човек? Играта имам предвид. Ubisoft са избрали за играта много интересен стил на анимация, който изглежда като нарисуван с четка. Това, което наистина ме впечатли, че не само кът сцените са направени в този стил, а цялата игра. Също така стила идеално пасва на мястото, където се развива играта. Буквално чувате как азиатската обстановка прави "клик" със стила на анимация. А в кът сцените можете да видите същият този стил разгърнат в пълния му блясък, придаващ на героите мистицизъм и тайнственост. Можем само да се надяваме, че постъпят по същия начин и с другите две игри от мини сериите Chronicles. 

Освен добре изглеждаща Assassin's Creed Chronicles China и звучи добре, с приличен саундтрак и ефекти, също така и всички герои са дублирани, дори и пазачите. Озвучаването на играта няма да ви завладее, но определено не е лошо.

Заключение

Assassin's Creed Chronicles China е 2,5D стелт игра, разработена и публикувана от Ubisoft. В нея вие поемате ролята на Шао Джун, която след като е обучена от Ецио Аудиторе, се завръща за да отмъсти за унищожението на Китайското Братство и ако им шанса, да го възстанови.

Като механики играта взаимства много от Mark of the Ninja, но също предлага и уникален визуален стил, напомнящ на рисунка с четка и бои, които много добре пасва на обстановката и историята.

Chronicles стимулира играчите да са потайни и да елиминират противниците си бързо и без следи. Това не значи обаче, че ако ви забележат, то вие сте обречени. Напротив, като някой който е преминал обучение за асасин и то от Ецио Аудиторе, вие  с лекота можете да се справите с двама и дори трима противници, залагайки на рефлексите си, които ще ви позволят с лекота да блокирате атаките на враговете си и дори да избягвате стрелите им. Не се увличайте обаче, защото пазачите често ще викат подкрепления и четирима, петима пазачи бързо ще се справят с вас, особено в началото, когато два удара са достатъчни да ви убият. Всичко това комбинирано създава една игра, която ще ви кара често да зареждате последния си запис за да опитате да постигнете максималния резултат за всяко ниво.

Малко по-субективно погледнато обаче...

Chronicles China не е лоша игра и ще ви предложи сносен стелт екшън, комбиниран с прилична бойна система, която ще ви позволи да запазите живота си, когато пазачите ви спипат. Историята на играта вероятно ще ви е интересна, ако сте фенове на поредицата...

На мен лично играта ми напомни на Prince of Persia игра, с различна тематика. Не казвам, че това е лошо, аз съм фен на поредицата, но може да е лошо за тези от вас, които искат да имат чувството, че играят AC игра.

Но...винаги има "но" някъде тук...

Първото, което ми направи лошо впечатление са изключително високопарните реплики на Шао Джун, които я карат да звучи наперено вместо студено и спокойно, както би трябвало да звучи някой, който чувства че контролира положението.

Второто нещо, което нямам обяснение защо са направили е факта, че когато двама пазачи си говорят, то те не виждат какво става около тях. Можете буквално да скочите над главите им, да се приземите точно зад един от тях и спокойно да се отдалечите. Те няма да реагират въобще. Това е механика на играта, нарочно направена по този начин! 

И може би най-големият проблем, който имах с играта бяха скучните нива. Имаше такива, които си приличат, само са със сменени скинове и цветове Повечето просто бяха еднообразни - няколко етажа по които се качвате или слизате, подскачайки или катерейки се, убивате пазачите, изпълнявате целта си и продължавате към следващото. Което е чиста загуба на чудесния визуален стил, който Ubisoft са избрали за играта. Да не говорим, че не могат да се мерят с други игри от жанра, които предлагат доста по-разнообразни нива.

Заключение! Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China e прилична стелт игра, чиято история може да ви заинтересува, ако сте фенове на франчайза, но ако сте някой като мен, който никога не е играл Assassin's Creed играта може и да не оправдае очакванията ви.

Линкове:

Официален сайта

Steam

Assassin's Creed Chronicles China - Sneaky it tries something new

Recently I told you about Klei's new creation Invisible Inc and there I mentioned Mark of the Ninja. Today I will not just mention this amazing stealth game but will actively compare today's chosen with it. After saying this I'm sure even without the title you would have guessed that I'm here to tell you more about the newest part of the Assassins's Creed franchise - Chronicles China.

The game came out in 22th of April 2015. It's made by(of course) Ubisoft, its 2.5D and it uses the Unreal 3 engine. In it you will take the role of Shao Jun a female assassin who by using stealth and skill will have to avenge her Brotherhood.

Now before getting to the story, mechanics and other interesting things I must say that I never played any Assassin's Creed games and because of this I will not talk about Chronicles China as a Assassin's Creed game instead I will look at it more as a stealth game.

The Story

 The year is 1520, Asia. The Chinese Brotherhood is destroyed by the Templar group The Eight Tigers.  You're the last assassin from the Chinese Brotherhood which after being trained by the legendary Ezio Auditore returns back to his homeland to avenge the death of her brothers and recover if possible the former glory of the Chinese branch. The first step of your bold plan is to let yourself get caught...

Gameplay and Mechanics

If you have played Mark of the Ninja you will feel at home here. Chronicles China uses many mechanics similar to the ones in Klei's game. In every mission you will have main and optional secondary objective. Completing the secondary is not mandatory but it gives you bonus points and you need them to unlock new things for Shao. On every level there will be several checkpoints where you will receive sum up of your performance so far. Generally you will have choice of two ways of play style - aggressive and stealth. 

If you choose the first one you will have the chance to see a pretty good battle system. Our female avenger will dodge arrows, parry attacks and roll over your enemies if you are quick enough... That said you after all are an assassin and a bit fragile, in the beginning of the game two hits will be enough to kill you and Guards will give you no quarter. They will even call backups to cut your road of escape. Choosing this style of play will give you a bit less points, but with good reflexes you will find yourself cutting through two or three Guards with satisfying finesse and skill, giving you the feel that you really are fighter supreme. Just don't let it get to you; five or six Guards will make short work of you. And a bit later in the game they will even carry crossbows and shields making your job even harder.

If you choose the second option you will enjoy being just a deadly shadow, appearing and disappearing every time taking someone with herself. This option is may be a bit harder, but there is nothing like the feeling of passing a whole level without killing anyone and never been seen. Not to mention that this is the more rewarding play style. Yes, I found being stealthy a lot more enjoyable and satisfying, but this of course is highly subjective. Choosing stealth does not mean you will be sanctioned for kills, no in fact kills done without being seen doesn't decrease your score. The main mechanics here is hiding in background dark doorways, bushes, curtains and bales of hay and the ability to quickly dash between hiding places. This will painfully remind you of Mark of the Ninja if you have played it. Also don't forget to hide the bodies or you will quickly find the Guards thoroughly looking for you instead of lazily patrolling around. Similar to the Guards with shields and the ones with crossbows noisy birds and dogs will hinder your silent walk...also don't forget that wood creaks sometimes.

Or you can just act according to the situation and mix the two styles. But regardless of your choice there will be boss fights which will force you to fight your enemies face to face without a chance to take them out by surprise. 

"She's got the looks..."

No, not Shao Jun you....guys! She is hooded all the time, how can I know? I'm talking about the game. Ubisoft have chosen very interesting brush inspired art style. And it’s not limited only to the cut-scenes, the whole game is made in it. The style is very fitting to the Chinese/Asian setting of the game and it truly shines in the cut-scenes where it gives everything very mystic look and feel. We can only hope that they will do the same with the two other games from this spin off series and will pick distinctive styles for them too.

Other than nice looks, Chronicles China has decent soundtrack, effects and all characters are voiced, even the Guards. The sound and music will not make you lose your mind but it is not unpleasant either.

Conclusion

Assassin's Creed Chronicles China is a 2.5D stealth game made and published by Ubisoft. In it you take the role of the ambitious young assassin Shao Jun which after being trained by Ezio Auditore is back to her homeland and strives to avenge the destroyed Chinese Brotherhood and if possible to restore it.

As mechanics the game takes a lot of inspiration from Klei's hit Mark of the Ninja, but also it offers unique paint brush inspired art style and setting. Chronicles greatly rewards stealth  but you will be far from defenseless if got seen. Being highly trained assassin you will easily block attacks and dodge arrows, demonstrating your superiority over your clumsy enemies. Just don't forget that you're not as tough as they are and that there is a lot of them. All this builds up for interesting and challenging game where you will reload saves repeatedly while trying to maximize your score and unlock new upgrades for your assassin.

That said let me give you some personal thoughts on it. 

Chronicles China is not a bad stealth game and it will not only offer you good stealth action but it also has a diverse battle system which will allow you to hold your ground against the guards if found. The story of the game though may get your interest only if you're fan of the series.

To me it felt a lot more like a Prince of Persia game. Personally for me that is not a bad thing as I'm fan of the series, but it might be for those of you who are looking for AC experience.

But the really bad things about it were...

First negative for me were the cheesy lines of Shao Jun which instead of cold, calm and content make her sounds cocky and overconfident. 

Something else is the fact that when Guards talk with each other they will not see you even if you jump over their heads and land right next to them. From there you can calmly walk away without even trying to sneak. What makes it worse is that it is deliberately made this way. It doesn't make any sense.

And may be the biggest problem I had with Chronicles China is the fact that the levels are too similar, changing only skins and backgrounds in most cases. But most of them were just boring set of platforms where you climb or decent, complete your objective and go to the next level. They lack the variability of...other titles.

Final conclusion! Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China is a decent at best stealth game that may interest fans of the franchise, but if you're someone like me who has never played Assassin's Creed games this game may not live up to your expectations.

Links:

Official site

Steam

Massive Chalice - To X-COM with love

You open your eyes; you are on a throne, in front of you all your loyal subjects. In middle of them, above a small pool of glittering water your wisest adviser the Massive Chalice!  Yes, exactly, you're a King and you listen to a magical, talking chalice. Also you're immortal, but that doesn't really matters because you cannot leave your throne room.

Massive Chalice is a single player turn based tactical strategy game in which you will have to build keeps, create Bloodlines and lead team of elite heroes versus the Cadence, your mortal enemy. The game is done by Double Fine Productions and it came out on 1st of June 2015. For those of you who don't know Double Fine are the guys behind games like Grim Fandango, Brutal Legend, Broken Age and The Cave.

The Story or Why you're knee deep in Cadence

You awoke and find out that you're a king now and the whole kingdom relies on your wisdom. But why? Because The Cadence is at your front door and the people will not (for some reason) trust a giant magic chalice to lead them against the invaders. But you they will because you are a mix of the strongest Bloodlines in the Kingdom. From here on with the power of your inner vision you will lead the teams of elite heroes who have only one task, to hold long enough. How long? Well, just mere three hundred years, until the Chalice manage to gather enough energy and destroy the Cadence with one final strike.

The game does not offer much story in the sense of directly telling it to you instead it leaves you to sink in the role of the King and make your own story. Under your leadership mighty bastions will be built, Bloodlines will prosper and fall; powerful relics will be passed between generations. Something else that also provides bits of story is the random events. Strangers will come to you asking for your relics, explorers will want to take one of your heroes to see what is beyond the Cadence; couples will come to seek your advice and many many more. For every random event you will have a choice of three options, based on your choice something will happen. It may be good, it may be bad. This is a mechanic that you will be very familiar with if you have played Warlock: Master of Arcane/Exiles. But mentioning those things I'm entering the part about the...

Mechanics of the game or What exactly is expected from you as a King

Massive Chalice can be separated in two parts - Battle and Development. Let me start with Development, because it is what leads to Battle. 

Development takes place mainly in your Castle and in the Keeps of the many Houses of your Kingdom. In your Castle you will choose upgrades for your heroes and Kingdom. The ones concerning the Kingdom are mainly ones that increase the speed of researches, building and recruitment. The ones concerning your heroes are standard armour and weapon upgrades, each with three levels, but...BUT for different numbers of certain enemies killed you will get special items, armours and weapons. Some of those will give you things like lifesteal, piercing shots, AoE attacks or even will neglect some of the nasty abilities that The Cadence has. What's the cost you ask? There is only one precious thing in the situation you are in - time. You should hold for 300 years and to achieve that you will need to have well equipped heroes, therefore you will try to upgrade everything you can. The catch is that you can do one thing at a time and every 10 years the Cadence attacks. So you will have to plan in advance and have clear priorities what you need most - new heroes, better equipment or new fortresses. But this can found in pretty much every turn based 4X game. The more interesting things to me were the Bloodlines. 

When you build a Keep you will choose one of your heroes to become its ruler and if possible you will choose a wife of husband for them. By doing this they will be able to provide fresh warriors for your team of heroes. The parents will effects two main things in their children - their traits and their class. In Massive Chalice there are three main classes - Alchemist, Hunter and Caberjack. If the parents are the same class then their child will be their class, but if they are two different then it will be the result of combining those two classes. This gives really good depth to the game and replayability. You will have to be careful what classes get together if you're comfortable with a certain one and have built strategy around its synergy with the other members of your team.

Now unlike the class the traits that the child gets from its parents are randomly chosen, but they will always be ones present with the parents. The child may get only the good ones, or only the bad ones...or even a mix of both. For good or for bad the negative traits cannot be cured like in Darkest Dungeon.

Your team can have maximum of five members and they can be any combination of the nine classes in the game. But don't get too fond of them, because you may be immortal, but they're not and if they don't get killed they will die of age. It's a sad thing especially when core members of your squad die. Despite my advice I tend to get attached to my heroes and it’s...it’s hard when they're no more...But if they have done well on the battlefield, they have become legends and when they die, they will leave their legendary weapon behind which then will be passed in the Bloodline until it exists. Those weapons are usually a lot better than most weapons you can get with upgrades and they will become even better as they gain experience and levels.

For the last few paragraphs I've been circling around it, but this ends now, let’s talk about the Battle!

Approximately every ten years the Cadence will attack random outer territories of your Kingdom. From the attacked ones you will have to choose one and send your team there. Few factors will affect your choice. First of all will be the level of corruption that the attacked region have. If the corruption reaches level three you will lose this territory forever. The second thing is eventual reward you get if you defeat the attack. This reward may vary from more experience for the team members and get to things like reduced research times for currently running upgrades. And the thing that at least affected my choice (to you it may be otherwise) is the type of enemies you will fight in the attacked regions.

After you decide what is most precious to you will find yourself at the rim of the Chalice with all available heroes ready to jump in. Here you can change them with other characters, change their equipment or level them up. When you feel that they're prepared enough it’s time to jump in!

The actual battles are really similar to the battles in X-COM. In turns you and your enemy will take actions with your heoroes, until there is only one team standing. The main difference between X-COM and Massive Chalice is may be the simpler cover system here. You will be able to cover behind threes, rocks and hide in tall grass but you will have to move out of your cover if you want to attack with straight attacks like charges and crossbow shots. The Alchemists are the only ones who are able to attack from behind a cover, because most of their attacks have a trajectory. Of course if they hide behind a tree it won't work...

Interesting mechanic in battles is that the range troops always have the chance to fully miss, but if they hit their attacks cannot be glancing. While melees cannot miss, but there is always the chance their hit to be a glancing attack which deal only minimum damage.

The battles are interesting, scaling pretty well with the development of the game. The AI is a good opponent that will apply decent tactics and use his special abilities pretty well. The Twitchers will swap with your weak heroes effectively putting them in the midst of enemies. The Wrinklers will attack your oldest heroes and so on. There is also the real risk of friendly fire so be careful with those AoE attacks and piercing shots. Also exchanging blows with your enemies have a good punch to it. You can feel the hits, which makes the satisfaction from the battles even bigger.

Talking about your enemies I just want to say that I found very amusing the idea that most types of enemies look like some kind of mutated plants.

Lush forests, verdent fields and birds singing....well not exactly.

When I saw the Kingdom map for the first time I thought "Ha! This looks like Game of Thrones opening map! “The visual style of the game is a combination between GoT and Endless Legend, but unlike the two here the whole game is in this rectangular style even the heroes and the enemies. Now I've never been someone who pays much attention to visuals but it looks like I'm part of a minority here.

Regarding the sound of the game - your heroes don't talk; even the usual repetitive reactions when you give them orders are not here. Instead their reactions are text that appears when they kill someone. In contrast to your silent warriors the two parts of the Chalice almost never stop talking. They will babble about all kind of things. Old battles, past arguments, random remarks and of course they will mock each other nonstop. They will also give you information when you encounter new types of enemies. 

The music at first didn't have my attention much but at some point I caught myself humming it while in battle so I guess we can call it...atmospheric enough. 

Conclusion

Massive Chalice is a turn based tactical game in which you take the role of the immortal King who should hold the invasion of The Cadence while your magical Chalice collect enough energy. During the game you will build Keeps, marry heroes, create Bloodlines and pass relics of dead legends to their heirs and lead a team of elite heroes in X-COM styled battles. But by killing enemies you will not only give more time to your talking advisor to collect its energy but will also be able by researching the dead enemies to apply some of their characteristics to the equipment of your heroes and create unique items that give them additional abilities.

The biggest problem that you may have with the game is that it doesn't look...impressive. The chosen art style is something like a combination between Game of Thrones and Endless Legend. So those of you who insist their games to look amazingly good will be disappointed from Massive Chalice. But...BUT in my opinion the game have more than enough to offer and make up for its looks. 

Not to mention that one playtrough will take no more than a day or two and during this time the game will hold you under almost constant pressure, with all the decisions you will have to make.

My advice is to give it a chance if you like Kingdom management and turn-based battles, Massive Chalice have much to offer.

Links:

Official site

Steam

Humble Bundle