NORSE: Oath of Blood – Demo Impressions

NORSE: Oath of Blood I have followed for a while, so this demo didn’t take me by surprise like Of Ash and Steel. However, the demo by itself is a surprise in how entertaining it felt, especially going by the atmosphere, writing, and the satisfying turn-based combat. A prerequisite is that you must like Vikings, as the setting is supposed to be as authentic as possible to them, according to the developers. No monsters, dragons, or zombies this time around, yet murderous slavers, and lunatic forest hermits can be unsettling enough!

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Of Ash and Steel – Demo Impressions

It’s rare, but sometimes it happens. That rare stumble upon a game that both has a fantastic demo, and a release date not set in the far future of 2035. Of Ash and Steel is this game, and after giving it three hours, I couldn’t help but give it two thumbs up! It’s an old-school RPG in the form of Risen—and trust me, I did the test. I swung my sword at the back of my host as thanks for nursing me back from death, and he promptly kicked my ass. But see, he didn’t kill me, he just knocked me out, called me something foul and took my bow as compensation. If that isn’t old-school “living-world” mechanics, I don’t know what is!

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Resident Evil: The Lost City of America [Video]

Fetch your popcorn! A fantastic Resident Evil lore video by VF86 TV has arrived that tells the tale of Raccoon City in the style of a late night true-crime documentary. Serious effort has gone into the production, which makes it feel like the real thing. It’s eerily immersive, with slick editing, music and voice-acting—in other words: top-notch stuff if you want something spooky to watch for the month of October. You can check out the film after the jump!

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The Evolution of Piranha Bytes’ Game Engine

I read a fascinating article the other day about the history and evolution of the engine created and used by the legendary developers Piranha Bytes, and well, I thought I would share. It’s called: Ore to Elex – A short history of the engine in Piranha Bytes’ games, and is written for the fan site World of Elex by Ravenhearth.

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Is gaming as we know it coming to an end?

Before I start my speculative rant, I just want to say that I’m no expert in any of this—this is just what I gather from reading news, and taking the temperature on the current console market (with PC hardware included) for the last couple of months. I try not to be all doom and gloom, but man, it’s hard not to! I think gaming, on both PC and consoles, the classical way, is coming to a brutal end, with a lot of suffering included.

It might not happen, with everything turning out just fine, like in the fairy tales of old. But if there is one thing life has taught me: happy endings are rare!

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