Monthly Archives: March 2021

Loop Hero Review

For all its automated systems, Loop Hero can be incredibly stressful. Battles play out without any input from you, navigation loops over a predetermined path, and resources are collected for you, but that doesn't mean you can take your eyes off the battlefield for even a second. This captivating mix of familiar genres demands constant attention, testing your ability to think well into the future when making your moves. It's a riveting balance of risk and reward wrapped in a deviously challenging roguelite that will tempt you into pushing forward for just one more round.

Loop Hero is a distinct mish-mash of multiple genre ideas, none of which influence gameplay enough to easily classify the overall gameplay experience. Loop Hero is primarily a run-based role-playing game in which you indirectly control a hero through procedurally generated loops. Instead of controlling the hero's movements, you mainly control what they encounter by placing objects on the loop that create the world--things like cemeteries that can spawn skeletons, villages that can heal you, or swamps that generate nasty mosquitos. These are provided by cards that you draw from a limited deck which you can edit between runs, letting you curate each one to a degree. And while your hero automatically navigates in circles and resolves fights with enemies without any inputs, you also manage their inventory carefully to deal with the increasing challenges that each new round trip brings.

Instead of controlling the hero's movements in Loop Hero, you control what they encounter on the loop.
Instead of controlling the hero's movements in Loop Hero, you control what they encounter on the loop.

Ultimately, Loop Hero challenges you to balance risk and reward by keenly considering all the options your current cards give you to make your next loop challenging, but not deadly. Each run is an opportunity to gather resources you use to expand your camp in the hub world, unlocking new cards, classes, and abilities to use on subsequent runs. Enemies drop specific resources that you'll need to further progress outside of each expedition, giving you incentives to place multiple groves for wild, mutated dogs or dimly lit houses that can spawn bloodthirsty vampires on tiles around them. With each new addition to the loop, you're also extending the time it takes to make a trip around it, which directly affects spawn rates of enemies that are tied to a persistent day-night cycle. While a tile might seem harmless when it's only adding one enemy to the loop every day, it can become dangerous when the route is stuffed to the point where an entire group might be waiting the next time you make it around again.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Titan Souls Developers Reveal Their Next Game, Death’s Door

More giant bosses and an explorable open world are coming in Titan Souls developer Acid Nerve's new game, Death's Door. Acid Nerve debuted a gameplay trailer that showcased two very different worlds players will encounter in this fantasy action-adventure game during the ID@Xbox Twitch Gaming Showcase. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/26/deaths-door-gameplay-trailer"] In Death's Door, players take on the role of a crow whose nine-to-five is collecting souls of beings at the end of their life as a reaper. But that role becomes a challenge for the crows when nothing is being reborn due to nothing dying naturally -- that is until the playerbird enters a realm that no longer has death and is overflowing with powerful beings in need of the final rest. Mark Foster (Death's Door's programmer, writer, and animator) and David Fenn (Death's Door's producer, designer, composer, and sound designer) told IGN that with the success of Titan Souls they were able to go on to make their dream game in Death's Door. Death's Door Screenshot - Forest Settlement copy "We're still quite a small-time but this is definitely the biggest and most ambitious game we've done," Fenn said. "We've gone all out with quite an expansive and varied world which we think has its own distinctive vibe and atmosphere throughout. It's full of little hidden touches [and] big secrets." The collected souls of defeated enemies act as currency, and with enough, players can upgrade their crow's speed, weapons, and other stats in the grayscale hub world called the Hall of Doors, the realm the crows occupy. From there, players can enter doors as they're unlocked to jump to specific areas in the colorful open world where they'll fight bosses for souls, encounter kind forest spirits, or run around and try to find the game's collectibles, Shiny Things. "If you go and explore after you've got a new power, you can find these little trinkets in the game… You get this nice little model to look at that'll have lore attached to it," Foster said. "Some of them maybe give you clues that can be used elsewhere for other puzzles and things." Death's Door Screenshot - Hall of Doors Updated Foster and Fenn said game franchises like The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls were inspirations in Death's Door's design, along with aesthetic inspiration from Studio Ghibli movies. But, as with Titan Souls, Foster and Fenn said they aimed to design Death's Door with tight, minimalist, and fast-paced combat. Death's Door is making its way to Xbox consoles and PC this summer. For more from the ID@Xbox Twitch Gaming Showcase, be sure to read IGN's preview of Nobody Saves the World. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Miranda Sanchez is the executive editor of guides at IGN. You can chat with her about video games and fountain pens on Twitter.

Titan Souls Developers Reveal Their Next Game, Death’s Door

More giant bosses and an explorable open world are coming in Titan Souls developer Acid Nerve's new game, Death's Door. Acid Nerve debuted a gameplay trailer that showcased two very different worlds players will encounter in this fantasy action-adventure game during the ID@Xbox Twitch Gaming Showcase. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/26/deaths-door-gameplay-trailer"] In Death's Door, players take on the role of a crow whose nine-to-five is collecting souls of beings at the end of their life as a reaper. But that role becomes a challenge for the crows when nothing is being reborn due to nothing dying naturally -- that is until the playerbird enters a realm that no longer has death and is overflowing with powerful beings in need of the final rest. Mark Foster (Death's Door's programmer, writer, and animator) and David Fenn (Death's Door's producer, designer, composer, and sound designer) told IGN that with the success of Titan Souls they were able to go on to make their dream game in Death's Door. Death's Door Screenshot - Forest Settlement copy "We're still quite a small-time but this is definitely the biggest and most ambitious game we've done," Fenn said. "We've gone all out with quite an expansive and varied world which we think has its own distinctive vibe and atmosphere throughout. It's full of little hidden touches [and] big secrets." The collected souls of defeated enemies act as currency, and with enough, players can upgrade their crow's speed, weapons, and other stats in the grayscale hub world called the Hall of Doors, the realm the crows occupy. From there, players can enter doors as they're unlocked to jump to specific areas in the colorful open world where they'll fight bosses for souls, encounter kind forest spirits, or run around and try to find the game's collectibles, Shiny Things. "If you go and explore after you've got a new power, you can find these little trinkets in the game… You get this nice little model to look at that'll have lore attached to it," Foster said. "Some of them maybe give you clues that can be used elsewhere for other puzzles and things." Death's Door Screenshot - Hall of Doors Updated Foster and Fenn said game franchises like The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls were inspirations in Death's Door's design, along with aesthetic inspiration from Studio Ghibli movies. But, as with Titan Souls, Foster and Fenn said they aimed to design Death's Door with tight, minimalist, and fast-paced combat. Death's Door is making its way to Xbox consoles and PC this summer. For more from the ID@Xbox Twitch Gaming Showcase, be sure to read IGN's preview of Nobody Saves the World. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Miranda Sanchez is the executive editor of guides at IGN. You can chat with her about video games and fountain pens on Twitter.

SpongeBob SquarePants Episodes Pulled Over Storyline Concerns

The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Mid-Life Crustacean" is "out of rotation" and is not available to stream on Paramount+ or purchase digitally on services like Amazon. Another SpongeBob episode, "Kwarantined Krab," also appears to have been shelved due to plotline similarities to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season 3 episode, "Mid-Life Crustacean," first aired on Nickelodeon in 2003 and features Mr. Krabs in a mid-life crisis. SpongeBob and Patrick help out by showing Mr. Krabs a good time. A representative from Nickelodeon said, "'Mid-Life Crustacean' has been out of rotation since 2018, following a standards review in which we determined some story elements were not kid-appropriate." When asked which scenes caused the controversy, and if Nickelodeon ever considered a content warning in front of the episode instead of removing it completely, a rep for Nickelodeon said, "No comment." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/17/spongebob-stars-dub-iconic-movie-scenes-from-return-of-the-king-to-revenge-of-the-sith"] The scene that may have led to the episode's removal could be the scene where Patrick suggests a "panty raid," which leads to SpongeBob, Patrick, and Mr. Krabs breaking into a woman's house to steal her underwear. It turns out the house they broke into was Mr. Krabs' mom's house. The mom catches the three in the act and sends Mr. Krabs to his childhood room for the rest of the night. Two SpongeBob episodes are usually paired up with one another to fill out a traditional 30-minute television slot. This episode's companion episode, "The Great Snail Race," remains available to stream on Paramount+. Both "Snail Race" and "Mid-Life" are unavailable to purchase digitally on Amazon. However, Amazon Prime in the USA currently has both episodes unchanged and available to stream for all subscribers, and "Mid-Life Crustacean" is available as a "Season Only" purchase on iTunes in the SpongeBob collection "From the Beginning, Part 2," which is being sold for $45.99 in the US. IGN has also acquired a DVD box set for SpongeBob: The First 100 Episodes. "Mid-Life Crustacean" is available in full on the DVD set, which has a 2020 copyright on it. Nickelodeon again said, "No comment," when asked if the episode will be removed from digital outlets or future DVDs. Also, a clip from Mid-Life Crustacean remains on Nickelodeon's website, though it is not the "panty raid" scene. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-adult-cartoon-tv-series&captions=true"] Another episode of SpongeBob from the ongoing season 12, "Kwarantined Krab," will not air due to its "virus storyline." "The 'Kwarantined Crab' [sic] centers on a virus storyline, so we have decided to not air it due to sensitivities surrounding the global, real-world pandemic," a representative from Nickelodeon said in a statement to IGN. However, the episode is currently circulating online in English, which means the episode has seemingly been released at some point. Clips from the episode are also available on YouTube in Spanish. Nickelodeon did not comment when asked when and where the episode has aired. "Kwarantined Krab" features the return of the Health Inspector to the Krusty Krab. The inspector finds a case of "Clam Flu" in the restaurant and quarantines all patrons inside. The characters immediately begin distrusting each other, and anybody assumed to have the virus is shunned and thrown in the freezer. It's not clear if the episode will be released in the future. Reddit users are reporting that "Kwarantined Krab" was not included on the recently-released "Complete Season 12" DVD. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/24/halo-tv-series-will-debut-on-streaming-service"] The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run has just been released in America. It's available to stream on Paramount+ or as a $19.99 rental on digital services. In IGN's Sponge on the Run review, we said the movie is, "a winsomely wacky good time, alive with laughs and light-hearted lunacy." IGN took a look at the recently-released Paramount+ and, in our Paramount+ review, praised the service's pricing but criticized "its clunky UI and lack of ability to create 'favorites' or 'watch later' lists." For those that don't know, Paramount+ will soon be the home of the Halo TV series. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who will have that DVD box set forever, and Nickelodeon can't take that away.

SpongeBob SquarePants Episodes Pulled Over Storyline Concerns

The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Mid-Life Crustacean" is "out of rotation" and is not available to stream on Paramount+ or purchase digitally on services like Amazon. Another SpongeBob episode, "Kwarantined Krab," also appears to have been shelved due to plotline similarities to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season 3 episode, "Mid-Life Crustacean," first aired on Nickelodeon in 2003 and features Mr. Krabs in a mid-life crisis. SpongeBob and Patrick help out by showing Mr. Krabs a good time. A representative from Nickelodeon said, "'Mid-Life Crustacean' has been out of rotation since 2018, following a standards review in which we determined some story elements were not kid-appropriate." When asked which scenes caused the controversy, and if Nickelodeon ever considered a content warning in front of the episode instead of removing it completely, a rep for Nickelodeon said, "No comment." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/17/spongebob-stars-dub-iconic-movie-scenes-from-return-of-the-king-to-revenge-of-the-sith"] The scene that may have led to the episode's removal could be the scene where Patrick suggests a "panty raid," which leads to SpongeBob, Patrick, and Mr. Krabs breaking into a woman's house to steal her underwear. It turns out the house they broke into was Mr. Krabs' mom's house. The mom catches the three in the act and sends Mr. Krabs to his childhood room for the rest of the night. Two SpongeBob episodes are usually paired up with one another to fill out a traditional 30-minute television slot. This episode's companion episode, "The Great Snail Race," remains available to stream on Paramount+. Both "Snail Race" and "Mid-Life" are unavailable to purchase digitally on Amazon. However, Amazon Prime in the USA currently has both episodes unchanged and available to stream for all subscribers, and "Mid-Life Crustacean" is available as a "Season Only" purchase on iTunes in the SpongeBob collection "From the Beginning, Part 2," which is being sold for $45.99 in the US. IGN has also acquired a DVD box set for SpongeBob: The First 100 Episodes. "Mid-Life Crustacean" is available in full on the DVD set, which has a 2020 copyright on it. Nickelodeon again said, "No comment," when asked if the episode will be removed from digital outlets or future DVDs. Also, a clip from Mid-Life Crustacean remains on Nickelodeon's website, though it is not the "panty raid" scene. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-adult-cartoon-tv-series&captions=true"] Another episode of SpongeBob from the ongoing season 12, "Kwarantined Krab," will not air due to its "virus storyline." "The 'Kwarantined Crab' [sic] centers on a virus storyline, so we have decided to not air it due to sensitivities surrounding the global, real-world pandemic," a representative from Nickelodeon said in a statement to IGN. However, the episode is currently circulating online in English, which means the episode has seemingly been released at some point. Clips from the episode are also available on YouTube in Spanish. Nickelodeon did not comment when asked when and where the episode has aired. "Kwarantined Krab" features the return of the Health Inspector to the Krusty Krab. The inspector finds a case of "Clam Flu" in the restaurant and quarantines all patrons inside. The characters immediately begin distrusting each other, and anybody assumed to have the virus is shunned and thrown in the freezer. It's not clear if the episode will be released in future. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/24/halo-tv-series-will-debut-on-streaming-service"] The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run has just been released in America. It's available to stream on Paramount+ or as a $19.99 rental on digital services. In IGN's Sponge on the Run review, we said the movie is, "a winsomely wacky good time, alive with laughs and light-hearted lunacy." IGN took a look at the recently-released Paramount+ and, in our Paramount+ review, praised the service's pricing but criticized "its clunky UI and lack of ability to create 'favorites' or 'watch later' lists." For those that don't know, Paramount+ will soon be the home of the Halo TV series. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who will have that DVD box set forever, and Nickelodeon can't take that away.

The Suicide Squad: Sylvester Stallone Voices King Shark

James Gunn has revealed that Sylvester Stallone is the voice of King Shark in The Suicide Squad. King Shark had long been announced as a part of the Suicide Squad in the upcoming film, but who voiced the character remained a mystery until now. Stallone and Gunn took to Twitter to reveal the news following the release of the first trailer for the movie today. Stallone made his tweet first and Gunn quickly followed up with a new poster of King Shark and confirmation that Stallone was, in fact, the voice behind the character in today's trailer. Of course, we hear little more than a few words and some meaty crunches from King Shark, but both Stallone and Gunn are clearly excited about what's to come. Stallone joins a massive Suicide Squad cast that features the likes of Margot Robbie, John Cena, Viola Davis, Idris Elba, and many more. The Suicide Squad will hit cinemas and HBO Max simultaneously on August 6, 2021. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/26/the-suicide-squad-official-trailer"] You can check out King Shark in action in the first trailer for The Suicide Squad. Not surprisingly, Stallone's King Shark seems to be best at eating people and ripping them apart, rather than using his words. Check out the other 11 character posters revealed today alongside King Shark's and then read Gunn's recent praise of Warner Bros. for being "creatively amazing." Read up on The Suicide Squad's Corto Maltese setting after that and then check out how eager Gunn is for fans to see Margot Robbie's new take on Harley Quinn in the movie. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-suicide-squad-new-character-posters&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who is very excited to watch The Suicide Squad. You can follow him Twitter @LeBlancWes

The Suicide Squad: Sylvester Stallone Voices King Shark

James Gunn has revealed that Sylvester Stallone is the voice of King Shark in The Suicide Squad. King Shark had long been announced as a part of the Suicide Squad in the upcoming film, but who voiced the character remained a mystery until now. Stallone and Gunn took to Twitter to reveal the news following the release of the first trailer for the movie today. Stallone made his tweet first and Gunn quickly followed up with a new poster of King Shark and confirmation that Stallone was, in fact, the voice behind the character in today's trailer. Of course, we hear little more than a few words and some meaty crunches from King Shark, but both Stallone and Gunn are clearly excited about what's to come. Stallone joins a massive Suicide Squad cast that features the likes of Margot Robbie, John Cena, Viola Davis, Idris Elba, and many more. The Suicide Squad will hit cinemas and HBO Max simultaneously on August 6, 2021. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/26/the-suicide-squad-official-trailer"] You can check out King Shark in action in the first trailer for The Suicide Squad. Not surprisingly, Stallone's King Shark seems to be best at eating people and ripping them apart, rather than using his words. Check out the other 11 character posters revealed today alongside King Shark's and then read Gunn's recent praise of Warner Bros. for being "creatively amazing." Read up on The Suicide Squad's Corto Maltese setting after that and then check out how eager Gunn is for fans to see Margot Robbie's new take on Harley Quinn in the movie. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-suicide-squad-new-character-posters&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who is very excited to watch The Suicide Squad. You can follow him Twitter @LeBlancWes

The Suicide Squad Red Band Trailer Includes Lots of Violence… and a Kaiju

Warner Bros. has released the first red band trailer for The Suicide Squad, James Gunn's forthcoming DCEU film. The first trailer for the movie offers fans a closer look at the R-rated blockbuster, which is coming from "the horribly beautiful mind" of Gunn. The action-packed footage shows DC's ragtag group of degenerate delinquents teaming up for a crazy search-and-destroy mission on the island of Corto Maltese after joining forces with the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Check out the red band trailer for The Suicide Squad below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/26/the-suicide-squad-official-trailer"] The super-villain squad is comprised of Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin, and everyone's favorite psycho, Harley Quinn — though it's unclear how many of these characters will survive the big screen comics caper as Gunn was given "carte blanche" to kill off any Suicide Squad members he wanted to, even the major players. We even see them fighting a giant "kaiju" starfish in the trailer. Gunn announced the arrival date of the trailer in a tweet on Thursday, alongside a fresh poster for his upcoming standalone sequel. A new batch of individual character posters dropped on Friday, showing Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Idris Elba as Bloodsport, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, John Cena as Peacemaker, and many more in the star-studded ensemble. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-suicide-squad-new-character-posters&captions=true"] In a tweet last month, Gunn confirmed that the film was "fully finished" and ready for release. "The Suicide Squad is fully finished and cut and I made every single choice and [Warner Bros.] never once even slightly interfered," he wrote. "They gave very few notes - they were usually good and minor and I took them if I wanted to and didn't if I didn't want to. Warners was creatively amazing." The film's official synopsis reads: "Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today's do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin, and everyone's favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. "Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave... and Amanda Waller's government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they're dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone's laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-suicide-squad-8-red-band-trailer-screenshots&captions=true"] The Suicide Squad will hit cinemas and HBO Max simultaneously on August 6, 2021. Gunn is also writing and directing a Suicide Squad TV series spinoff starring John Cena's character Peacemaker, together with Nhut Le as Judomaster, Steve Agee as John Economos, Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo, Robert Patrick as Auggie Smith, Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt, and Chris Conrad as Vigilante/Adrian Chase. The Peacemaker series is set to be released on HBO Max in January 2022. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.