Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent is now available as a free download on Android and iOS.
The Square Enix RPG was originally released in Japan in October 2020, but July 27th marks the game’s official worldwide launch.
Set a few years before the events of 2018’s Octopath Traveler, Champions of the Continent follows “the Chosen One,” a hero who must save the land of Orsterra from ruthless tyrants.
Beyond being a prequel to the 2018 game, Champions of the Continent has several other elements in common with its predecessor. For one, it sports the stunning ‘HD-2D’ aesthetic — which mixes 2D sprites with HD polygonal graphics — that was introduced with the first Octopath and used in multiple games since. Acclaimed Octopath Traveler composer Yasunori Nishiki has also returned to produce new music for Champions of the Continent.
Gameplay-wise, Champions of the Continent features similar turn-based combat to the original Octopath Traveler, except it’s centred around a party of eight instead of four. Altogether, you’ll be able to recruit over 64 characters, including Tressa, the playable merchant from Octopath Traveler.
Of course, this being a free-to-play game means that how you unlock characters will be left up to chance, with a suite of in-app purchases supported to more easily acquire better party members.
In related news, Square Enix just launched another HD-2D game, Live A Live, on the Nintendo Switch on July 22nd. For more on that ambitious, once-Japan-exclusive title, read our full review.
Critically-acclaimed indie game Papers, Please will release on Android and iOS on August 5th.
Creator Lucas Pope shared the news on his personal Twitter. The puzzle simulation title debuted on PC in 2013 and was ported to iPad in 2014 and the PlayStation Vita in 2017.
In Papers, Please, you play as an immigration officer who must use a suite of limited verification systems to determine who can enter the country. The game has been praised for its empathy-driven storytelling and immersive mechanics.
Pope didn’t confirm a cost for the mobile version of Papers, Please, but for context, it’s priced at $10.99 CAD on Steam. That said, he did joke in a follow-up tweet that console versions are coming in 2031.
It’s worth noting that Pope’s most recent game, the adventure-puzzler Return of the Obra Dinn, is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, but not mobile.
Over the last few years, the augmented reality (AR) mobile games market has seen quite the rise in popularity. For some studios such as Pokémon Go developer Niantic, this translated to an unwavering amount of success. However, the trajectory of mass user adoption and success may be slowing down.
Niantic has launched a number of popular AR titles over the years. This includes Ingress and Pokémon Go. The latter has seen a ton of success both in revenue and player acquisition. Over the course of seven years, Niantic and Pokémon Go have set the bar for AR mobile titles.
However, Niantic recently faced internal layoffs. Despite acquiring new studios and developing new games like Peridot, the studio let go of eight percent of its staff (85-90 employees). The company is also cancelling the development of Transformers: Heavy Metal.
Now, analysts believe that the AR gaming market may be facing a significant dip. Omidia Analyst Guillermo Escofet states that Pokémon Go’s revenue has dipped an estimated 45 percent in 2022. Outside of Niantic, the market itself faces a decrease of 20 percent in revenue. The last time the AR gaming market saw a significant decline was in 2019.
Based on these drops, Escofet now believes that the AR game market’s projections require a major recalculation. Previously, it was predicted that the market would bring in roughly $6.7 billion USD (about $8.6 billion CAD) in projected revenue. Now, Escofet states that the AR games market is on track to earn only $2.5 billion USD (about $3.2 billion CAD).
While the AR games market faces another decline, Escofet believes that it can sustain itself once again. However, there are two major barriers. The first is that Niantic and Pokémon Go dominate the market space. As of now, it appears as though players adopt one title and stick with it. Breaking that cycle will be crucial.
The other barrier is the Chinese market. As of now, AR titles don’t have the mass popularity of other mobile games. Pokémon Go, for instance, isn’t available in China. Tencent’s Let’s Hunt Monsters, an equivalent title, has failed to generate a lot of revenue.
Pokémon Go’s launch in 2015 set a course for AR games. For many players, this was their first exposure to AR gaming. However, its success has placed the game and Niantic in a bubble. For now, there hasn’t been a competitor that has come close to being that next sensation in the market.
However, AR technology is still quite young and as it advances, so can its popularity. Plus, with new innovations come new ways to generate revenue.
When I was a kid, one of my favourite games was Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. An action-RPG featuring customizable parties of some of my favourite characters? That’s right up my alley.
Now, Vancouver-based Kabam is giving similar treatment to other Disney-owned characters in Disney Mirrorverse. And while it’s certainly not as in-depth or engaging as Ultimate Alliance, given that it’s a free-to-play mobile game, it’s certainly fun enough.
The premise is simple: when a supernatural force known as the Fractured threatens the multiverse, Mickey Mouse must use his magical powers to assemble heroes and villains alike (known here as “Guardians”) from the worlds of Disney and Pixar.
We’ve seen such a story concept many times before, and Mirrorverse unfortunately doesn’t really make the most of it. Occasionally, you’ll get a few basic text-based cutscenes in which characters interact, like Tangled’s Rapunzel getting annoyed with Pirates of the Caribbean‘s Jack’s obsession with treasure. It’s by no means exceptional writing, but it adds at least a little character to the proceedings. Overall, though, you don’t get much of this, and the lack of any voice acting for these characters only further makes them feel a bit lifeless in terms of characterization.
Thankfully, Kabam has quite clearly flexed its creative chops when it came to designing the war-ready aesthetic of each character. Using the multiverse conceit, the developer has dreamed up some truly unique and charming takes on iconic characters. For example, Monster’s, Inc.’s Sulley sports battle armour and a giant shield made out of a scare door. Snow White has a plant-covered “Thornhammer” that looks somewhat like Thor’s Stormbreaker from the Avengers movies. And Toy Story Woody looks downright dapper in a full sheriff’s getup that’s not unlike what Will Smith wore in Wild Wild West.
I wasn’t expecting Woody to ever look *cool,* but here we are.
Discovering the little quirks that Kabam has given each character is a real highlight of Mirrorverse, and it further encourages you to unlock them all. The diversity of properties represented is also quite solid. You’ve got heavy hitters like Toy Story (Buzz, Woody and Zurg), Frozen (Anna and Elsa), The Little Mermaid (Ariel and Ursula) and Aladdin (Aladdin, Genie and Jafar), and more offbeat picks like Wall-E’s Eve, Onward’s Ian Lightfoot and Inside Out’s Anger.
The surprising badassery of each character extends to combat, which consists of real-time movement mixed in with tapping onscreen attack buttons. Each is broken down into one of three categories — Melee, Ranged and Tank. As a Ranged character, it was fun to see Merida — clad in Scottish warrior clothing — alternate between shooting flurries of arrows from afar and throwing magic axes. Likewise, Sulley running up to an enemy and using his shield-door to literally scream at enemies is also always enjoyable.
All told, the novelty of seeing these characters in action and mixing and matching them to create your ultimate party of three is quite entertaining. Unfortunately, it only goes so far before repetition starts to settle in heavily. Specifically, it’s the structure of levels that are the biggest shortcoming. Essentially, you clear one wave of enemies, your heroes automatically run to a second area, and then there’s a tougher enemy in a third and final arena. Rinse, lather and repeat for virtually every battle. While your characters do level up, that just improves their stats; there are no further RPG mechanics like unlocking skill trees or equipping new gear.
Even the game’s optional content, like Supply runs (used to farm XP motes to level up characters), Events (timed quests themed around certain characters, like Buzz and Tron vs. Zurg) or Dungeons (a series of floors to work through to earn artifacts) all amount to the same “two regular battles, one boss battle” getup. At the very least, it feels like the game needed some sort of hub area to walk around in and talk to your characters to shake things up just a little bit.
That said, if the game’s simple and repetitive combat can feel like a steady grind at times, that so far hasn’t been the case when it comes to unlocking characters. While you’re bombarded often with offers for discounted microtransactions or even main page idle screens with Guardians you haven’t unlocked, the game otherwise gives you new characters at a decent pace. Over the course of playing for maybe an hour, I had a roster of six characters, with many more still to unlock using ‘Crystals.’ These resources can be purchased using ‘Orbs,’ which you earn from completing missions but can also purchase using real money. It remains to be seen how balanced the distribution of rewards will be later in the game, but so far, I haven’t felt obligated to spend any cash.
In the end, Disney Mirrorverse doesn’t quite feel like it capitalizes on the potential of a Disney multiverse story, and its fairly simplistic combat frustratingly doesn’t change over time. That said, those who primarily play on mobile will no doubt have fun with this easy-to-pick-up-and-play nature, and everyone can admire the imaginative twists of beloved Disney and Pixar characters.
Disney Mirrorverse is now available on Android and iOS. Kabam is promising regular updates of new story content, characters, limited-time events and more.
Razer has launched its new Razer Kishi V2 mobile controller for Android devices.
The Kishi V2 features tactile microswitch controls, dual multifunction buttons, a newly added share button and the ability to access the Razer Nexus app at the push of a button. Razer says the gamepad is compatible with all Android devices running 9.0 Pie or later.
Just like Razer’s award-winning Wolverine V2 console controllers, the Kishi v2 features high-quality input and tactile microswitch controls.
It’s also worth noting that the gamepad features a new Share button that quickly captures video, making it easier to send in-game footage to your friends via the integrated Razer Nexus App.
For a more comfortable gaming experience, Razer also revamped the mobile controller’s structural design by adding a simplified bridge and ergonomic grips.
The Razer Kishi V2 will release in Fall 2022 for $99.99 USD (roughly $125 CAD).
Admittedly, hearing the term “mobile MMORPG” (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) doesn’t exactly appeal to me right away.
In general, I don’t like mobile gaming, and MMOs — outside of Final Fantasy XIV — are absolutely not my cup of tea.
Having said all of that, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds — a new mobile MMO from Netmarble — is pretty solid. Co-developed by Ni no Kuni maker Level-5, the game puts you in the shoes of a beta tester who’s thrown into a virtual world. I’ve only played a few hours of the original Ni no Kuni way back in 2013, so I can’t speak to what connections — if any — Cross Worlds has to that or its sequel. (I also think Cross World‘s premise is a little odd considering you’d assume this was just a regular colourful fantasy world, but I digress.)
Looking past all of the frivolous story beats, the game has a lot of charm. Immediately, I was impressed by the lush, console-quality visuals. The painterly aesthetic absolutely pops, especially on my iPhone 13 Pro, and the animations are lively and fluid. On top of that, Joe Hisaishi, the composer of the previous Ni no Kuni games and numerous Studio Ghibli films, has scored Cross Worlds. I’ve been going on a Ghibli rewatch ahead of Hisaishi’s Toronto concert, and his splendid music adds even more to Cross Worlds‘ lovely presentation.
But Cross Worlds also has one of the oddest design choices I’ve seen in a while: it can be played almost entirely by itself. To be sure, it’s not uncommon for MMOs and mobile games to have some sort of automation, but I’m not exaggerating when I say that Cross Worlds automatically does nearly everything for you. After creating my character, the magical spear-wielding Witch, and personalizing her using the game’s serviceable customization options, I was thrown into a quick tutorial. This opening stretch was the most hands-on I got. (For what it’s worth, the other four classes seem decent so far: the Rogue (an archer who can cast buffs), Destroyer (a hammer-equipped tank), Engineer (boasts guns, machines and healing spells) and Swordsman (exactly what he sounds like).
A Witch.
Upon completing this intro, I was thrown into the game’s overworld, which was initially nice to soak in thanks to the wonderful visuals and music. But that was short-lived, as the game almost immediately started taking my character, on auto-pilot, to the next story mission, featuring a strange British accented pig-like floating creature named Cluu. As I let this go on, I was taken into a battle where my character… did basically everything for me, outside of dodging enemy attacks. Throughout all of this, the only interaction I had was tapping the screen to skip dialogue options and accept my reward for completing the quest.
Of course, you can turn all of this off, so there’s some level of input on your part. And I can even see how automation might be useful for some looking to avoid the notorious “MMO grind,” especially since the game bafflingly doesn’t have controller support at the time of writing. That said, it was weird for it to be on by default. Moreover, it honestly made me a little less enthusiastic about playing. After all, if the game can do virtually everything for me, then what’s the point?
Following this mission, I decided to play manually, which fared okay. In combat, your character has a standard combo attack and six special skills that operate on a cooldown. For my Witch, these included a mix of fire-based ranged spells and close-quarters spear jabs, which look delightfully flashy. You can also roll out of the way of attacks, but I didn’t find myself needing to do that. (Naturally, the game can’t be very difficult — at least this early on — and require you to dodge if the automated combat can’t actually do that itself). In the end, it’s all pretty standard stuff for an RPG on mobile, but it works reasonably well.
But where I’m relatively lukewarm on the combat, I’m quite impressed with Cross World‘s breadth of content. There’s a slew of quests in here, each offering its own rewards through which you can purchase and upgrade gear. There are also recruitable ‘Familiar’ creatures that can help you in battle, adding a Pokémon-esque monster-catching element. And best of all, the game has a robust social offering. On top of the expected co-op and PvP (player vs. player) options, there’s a neat “kingdom” mechanic, through which you can team up with others to rebuild destroyed territory. In a way, it sort of reminds me of the novel asynchronous multiplayer elements of Death Stranding, wherein you pooled resources together with other players to construct a new world, except in Cross World you actually see other people. As you build the kingdom, you all get access to shops, special battles and other rewards, making it well worth your while. I’m generally someone who likes to run through MMOs as solo as possible, but I certainly appreciate that this content is here.
In the end, I haven’t spent a significant amount of time with Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, but it so far hasn’t quite dug its hooks into me. But I admit that this is more down to my personal tastes of not normally being into this sort of game, rather than anything overtly wrong with it. I also can’t speak to how intrusive the in-app purchases might be, although the knowledge that Netmarble has gross blockchain and NFTs planned for the game is genuinely offputting.
For now, though, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is worth trying out, especially if you’re a mobile gamer. After all, being free-to-play removes the subscription barrier that many MMOs have. If nothing else, it sure looks and sound pretty.
Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds can be downloaded on Android, iOS and PC.
Gaming giant Take-Two Interactive has officially acquired Zynga for $12.7 billion. The Grand Theft Auto publisher revealed the deal back in January, but as announced today, it has finally gone through.
In Zynga, Take-Two gets one of the biggest names in social gaming in the world. The company, most known for its Farmville titles, will not only serve as a massive money-maker for Take-Two but will also bring free-to-play mobile expertise to the publisher.
After the mobile success of other major gaming brands, this acquisition is almost surely an effort for Take-Two to get in on that space. The company has built a renowned catalogue of titles such as Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock, and the 2k Sports games. So, with Zynga under their umbrella, fans can expect a renewed mobile push from some of these franchises.
When the deal was announced in January, it was noted that Zynga would help bolster Take-Two IP on mobile. And with the revenue potential on the platform why wouldn’t they push for this?
This comes as acquisitions are a hot-button topic in the gaming world. Just this year, two major purchases rocked the landscape. In January, Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, in a deal that is still pending. And Sony wrote a $3.6 billion cheque to acquire Destiny developer Bungie.
Now, the company has formally unveiled the title, but it’s perhaps not what fans had in mind.
Enter Warcraft Arclight Rumble, a free-to-play strategy game in which players build armies made up of signature Warcraft enemies. Altogether, Blizzard is promising more than 60 characters from the Warcraft universe, including Warsong chieftain Grommash Hellscream and Archmage Jaina Proudmoore, who all appear in Arclight Rumble as tabletop sculpture-esque miniatures.
Specifically, Arclight Rumble has players assigning Leaders and filling the ranks with Troop minis and Powerful spells. Battles will then play out as sort of “bite-sized puzzles” in which you must successfully command your army against enemy forces from a top-down perspective. The first gameplay footage can be found below:
In terms of game content, Blizzard says Arclight Rumble features a single-player campaign consisting of over 70 missions, as well as co-operative missions and a player-versus-player mode.
The biggest question mark, though, surrounds monetization, given that the game is free-to-play. Blizzard has yet to reveal exactly how in-app purchases will work.
Warcraft Arclight Rumble will launch on Android and iOS later this year. You can pre-register on Android.
It should be noted that Blizzard parent company Activision Blizzard is currently facing lawsuits and other blowback related to allegations of a toxic “frat boy” work culture. The majority of these reports stem from Blizzard, specifically, and cite repeated instances of harassment, abuse and other misconduct.
Netflix has revealed three new games that are coming to its platform on Android and iOS in March.
Notably, one of these titles is PikPok’s Into The Dead 2: Unleashed, a first-person shooter (FPS) sequel that comes 10 years after the original mobile game. In Unleashed, players must save their family during a zombie apocalypse using guns, melee weapons, explosives and more. A specific release date has not yet been confirmed; Netflix simply says “coming soon.”
In the meantime, there are two other games that are available as of March 22nd.
The first, This is a True Story, is a puzzle game that was developed by Frosty Pop in collaboration with Charity: Water, a non-profit that brings clean and safe drinking water to developing nations. With that in mind, the game follows a Sub-Saharan African woman on her daily excursions to get water for her family.
Finally, there’s PikPok’s Shatter Remastered, an updated version of the 2009 brick-breaking PS3 game. Shatter Remastered features a bunch of power-ups, boss battles and special attacks that players can use to achieve high scores.
These three titles are part of the Netflix Games catalogue, which is available at no additional cost to Netflix users on Android and iOS.
Nintendo is officially shutting down Dragalia Lost, its first original mobile game.
In a blog post on the Dragalia Lost website, Nintendo said the final set of new adventurers will be added on March 31st. Further, the action-RPG title’s main campaign will wrap up in July 2022 with Chapter 26, Part Two.
Once the campaign has been released, “service for the game itself will come to a close at a later date,” Nintendo confirms. The company says further details on the game’s complete shutdown “will be provided in a future notification.”
Dragalia Lost was developed by Cygames and was originally released in February 2019. In the game, players assume the role of a Dragonblood Prince who protects his kingdom with a dragon and magic.
What was particularly notable about the game, however, was that it was free-to-play with a ‘gacha’ system. In other words, players spend currency to receive randomized rewards — in Dragalia Lost‘s case, new characters and dragons. While this helped Dragalia Lost top $100 million USD (about $126 million CAD) in revenue by July 2019, the game never maintained popularity. For comparison, Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Heroeshas generated around $1 billion USD (about $1.26 billion CAD) to date.
For the time being, Dragalia Lost can be downloaded on Android and iOS.
