Warp Zoned Presents
All Articles: The Long Dark
New Retail Releases: Spider-Man, Dragon Quest XI, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, More
Summer is (unofficially) over and we’ve reached the fine month of September. But this calendar flip is also wrapped up in the very official start to the “Holiday Shopping Season” and game publishers have begun stocking store shelves with a bumper crop of new games this week. Ready? Because here we go…
Sony and Insomniac Games are starting things off in a big way with the long-anticipated release of Spider-Man. The PS4-exclusive aims to take the wallcrawler’s video game adventures in a new direction, and Sony is giving non-PS4 owners an easy in with the Limited Edition Spider-Man PS4 Pro 1TB bundle.
Another staltwart video game franchise will get a new lease on life this week, as Square Enix is gearing up to launch Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age for the PS4 (and digitally for the PC). The massive turn-based RPG will include (as always) dozens of hours of gameplay and artwork by Akira Toriyama.
Over on the Xbox One, Microsoft has teamed up with PUBG Corp to launch the “Full Product Release Edition” of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Unlike the earlier retail package for the battle royale game, this version includes a fully-updated copy of the game on a disc.
This Fall’s NBA season won’t tip off until the end of October, but 2K Games and EA Sports don’t want to wait. Both publishers will release their new basketball simulations, NBA 2K19: 20th Anniversary Edition for the PC (download-only), PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and NBA Live 19 for the PS4 and Xbox One, later this week.
A decidedly different kind of competition will take place in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, but the one-on-one fighting game will launch for the Switch this week (and on the PS4 as a PS Store-exclusive). And Bungie will crank up the action in Destiny 2 with the game’s first major expansion for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, Destiny 2: Forsaken.
Finally this week, a slew of other titles will also be added to store shelves, including Hinterland’s The Long Dark (PS4, Xbox One), 704 Games’s NASCAR Heat 3 (PS4, Xbox One), Konami’s Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner – Mars (PS4), Monomi Park’s Slime Rancher (PS4, Xbox One), and Nicalis’s Blade Strangers (PS4, Switch). NASCAR Heat 3 and Blade Strangers will both also be available to download for the PC.
A full rundown of this week’s new retail release can be found after the break.
Xbox Store Today: Tacoma, Slime Rancher, The Long Dark, more
The Xbox Games Store became a more indie-friendly place today with the launch of Fullbright’s Tacoma, Monomi Park’s Slime Rancher, and Hinterland Studio’s The Long Dark.
Tacoma is a first-person exploration game for the Xbox One that takes place aboard a high-tech space station in the year 2088. Players will come through surveillance logs to explore the “pivotal moments” in the crew’s life on the station as they recreate the game’s “multi-layered” narrative.
A second adventure that takes place far away from Earth is also newly available for the Xbox One today. Slime Rancher asks players to guide Beatrix LeBeau as she tries her hand at making a living wrangling slimes. If you’re an Xbox Live Gold subscriber, Slime Rancher is a free download this month thanks to the Games With Gold program.
Finally today, The Long Dark is very concerned with the Earth, and it asks players to survive for as long as they can in a harsh and frozen wilderness.
You can learn more about all of these games after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Tacoma, The Long Dark
PS Store This Week: Patapon Remastered, Dreadnought Open Beta, The Long Dark, more
The rhythm is gonna get you in this week’s PlayStation Store update…
That’s because Sony will bring Patapon Remastered to the PS4 this week. The visually-unique rhythm game was originally released for the PSP in 2008, and its relaunch includes support for 1080p and 4K resolutions and a full set of Trophies.
Also available to download for the PS4 this week is The Long Dark, an open world survival sim from Hinterland Studio. Players will explore “an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster” as they attempt to survive for as long as possible.
Finally this week, PS4 owners will be able to try out the Open Beta for Dreadnought. Developed by Six Foot and Yager, players will pilot “massive capital ships” and engage in “tactical, team-based warfare throughout the Solar System.”
You can learn more about this week’s new additions to the PlayStation Store after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Patapon, The Long Dark
The Long Dark’s “Deep Forest” update changes everything
The Long Dark, Hinterland’s open world survival game (you know, the one without zombies), has received a lot of updates since it’s successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013. Along the way, it’s become a great example of Early Access done right. The developer is at it again with the newest update, “Deep Forest,” which provides a lot of changes to the game on the PC and Xbox One. Though these changes are designed to make the game easier, which could make hardcore survivalists unhappy.
The changes are designed to make the game easier to understand, and make it easier to survive it’s harsh world by making it more realistic. For example, there’s now a wind shield icon to indicate when you’re shielded from the wind, and there are new modes that allow you to instantly counteract freezing via campfires. You can now break down furniture and even curtains to use as fuel for a fire. The developer also made a few little tweaks to the game such as an updated sprinting animation and enhanced graphical settings.
You can check out the full changelist at Hinterland’s official website. It’s mostly small changes that fans have been complaining about, small changes that usually add up over time that make a game much better.
Now if only Hinterland would give us an update on the highly touted story mode that hasn’t been mentioned since 2013…
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged The Long Dark
Xbox Store Today: Payday 2 Crimewave Edition, Elite Dangerous, The Long Dark
This week’s Xbox Games Store update is a big one for Microsoft as the consolemaker has begun offering “Xbox Game Preview” titles for download on the Xbox One. This Steam-like service gives Xbox One owners the chance to support developers by purchasing in-development games. In return, gamers get to play these games before anyone else. Two Xbox Game Preview titles were added to the Xbox storefront earlier this week… Elite: Dangerous and The Long Dark.
Elite: Dangerous, the fourth game in the very influential Elite franchise, is in the works at Frontier Developments. After acquiring a small starship, players will make their way across a “futuristic cutthroat galaxy” in a deep spacefaring simulation. Meanwhile, The Long Dark is bit more earthbound as players will attempt to survive in the frozen wilderness.
Outside of the Xbox Game Preview program, Overkill released Payday 2: Crimewave Edition for the Xbox One this week. Overkill’s cooperative heist simulation was originally released for the Xbox 360 in 2013, but the Crimewave Edition comes bundled with all previously-released downloadable content and an enhanced graphics engine.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Elite: Dangerous, Payday 2, The Long Dark
Xbox Game Preview brings “Early Access” for in-development games to Xbox One
Beginning today, Xbox One owners will be able to purchase in-development as part of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Preview program. Similar in style to Steam’s Early Access program, Xbox Game Preview will allow developers to put unfinished games on the Xbox Games Store and players will be able to purchase. However, to avoid abuse of the system, Microsoft is asking all developers to create a demo version of their game so players can try before they buy.
For now, the program is launching with just two games. Elite: Dangerous, a spaceship simulator from Frontier Development, and The Long Dark, a survial game from Hinterland, will both be available beginning today within a special Xbox Game Preview section of the Xbox Games Store.
More games will be added to the Xbox Game Preview program in the future, including Might and Delight’s Shelter and Bohemia’s DayZ.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged DayZ, E3 2015, Elite: Dangerous, The Long Dark