Month: September 2019

Microsoft has recently been striving for more accessibility in games, releasing the Xbox Adaptive Controller last year to give people with disabilities a viable way to play both PC and Xbox games. Gears 5 is the company’s biggest game of the year, and marks the first in-house production to really focus on being as approachable and accessible as possible.

The Coalition’s hard work has certainly paid off. Can I Play That, a site dedicated to reviewing video game accessibility options, has awarded Gears 5 a perfect score for including comprehensive options for deaf players and those that are hard of hearing. “Readers, you are about to see something I don’t think we’ve ever been able to do before in all of our years of Deaf/hoh accessibility reviews,” Courtney Craven’s review says. “What follows isn’t so much a review as it’s a series of ‘Look at all the things they got so very right.’ Because what they got right is everything. There’s not a single thing I can say needs improving in terms of Gears 5’s Deaf/hoh accessibility.”

The praise starts with how Gears 5 presents all of these options, with the first screen in the game letting you toggle subtitles and select text size before any gameplay or cutscenes begin. The subtitles themselves are lauded for being incredibly information-inclusive and unique compared to what you typically see in games. Subtitles not only relay spoken dialogue, but also tell you if a character is speaking off-camera (like over a radio), spell out various sound effects, and indicate what the speaker sounds like, including the non-speaking noises they make.

The most eye-opening aspect of Gears 5’s subtitles, however, is the fact that they let you know when the combat music stops. This is something most of us take for granted, with the soothing silence indicating that all of the enemies in a combat encounter are dead. Can I Play That says this is the first time a video game has indicated this to Deaf/hoh players.

There are additional accessibility options that extend to visuals and gameplay, too. There’s a damage indicator that makes it clear where you’re taking damage from, and readable bullet tracers let you know who’s shooting at you. All of the buttons can be remapped, which is particularly useful for those using non-standard controllers, and the chat function in online multiplayer has both text to speech and speech to text options. “Gears 5 is essentially a masterclass in Deaf/hoh accessibility,” Can I Play That’s review concludes. “Everything we’ve been harping about games lacking and therefore made more difficult for Deaf/hoh players to play has been implemented and in the six years I’ve been doing these reviews, damn it feels good to feel like, hey, people have been listening.”

Gears 5 has also received praise from the LGBTQ+ community for its inclusiveness. There are 19 pride banners you can choose to equip in multiplayer. When you’ve earned a commendation, your banner will be displayed behind your character at the end of the match, meaning you can share your love of robotics and Sea of Thieves, or proudly state your identity with pride flags including bisexual, polysexual, non-binary, and many more. Twitter user @ashiinu first pointed out the colourful new additions.

Gears 5 launches on September 10 for Xbox One and PC, though those with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can download it today. In the meantime, you can check out GameSpot’s review in progress, find out what all of the critics are saying, see what Cliff Bleszinski thinks of the cover, peruse some Gears-inspired jewellery, and discover how you can play it for just $1.

The Legend of Bum-Bo, the long-awaited prequel to indie success The Binding of Isaac, is finally launching on November 12. Edmund McMillen and the team behind Super Meat Boy and The End is Nigh are going in a very different direction with the much-anticipated prequel.

While The Binding of Isaac was a top-down roguelike with twin-stick shooting and pixel art, The Legend of Bum-Bo adopts turn-based combat with a match-four-style puzzle system that’s set in a grubby papercraft world. You play as the titular Bum-Bo–who was previously a passive item in The Binding of Isaac–and must traverse through procedurally generated dungeons, lining up glyphs from a bag of trash to attack, defend, and cast various spells. You can check out the trailer for yourself below.

McMillan first announced the “turn-based puzzle RPG type thingy” back in 2016. It was originally scheduled to arrive in 2017 but has suffered through multiple delays since. Now it looks set to arrive on November 12 for PC and Mac, with iOS and Nintendo Switch versions due some time later.

The 100th season of the NFL kicked off last night (condolences Bears fans), and EA is celebrating with a free trial for Madden NFL 20 that runs throughout this weekend. You can download the free trial right now and play until September 8 to get a taste of the new features and game modes on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

The free trial also coincides with the release of a brand new game mode in Madden 20 called Superstar KO. This wacky new mode streamlines the Madden experience with five-minute games that feature truncated playbooks, cooperative 3-on-3 action, and celebrity coaches like DJ Khaled.

“Madden NFL 20 is an improved version of the annualized professional football series that excels in some areas and leaves something to be desired in others,” Eddie Makuch said in GameSpot’s Madden 20 review. “The new QB1 career mode–which includes a barebones NCAA football experience–overall feels like a half-baked idea that doesn’t deliver anything meaningful or interesting. When it comes to the on-the-field action, however, the new X-Factor and Superstar abilities shake up the familiar gameplay formula to give seasoned players and newcomers alike a fresh way to scheme plays and orchestrate strategy on both sides of the ball.”

Celeste‘s much anticipated free DLC update, Chapter 9: Farewell, finally has a release date. The add-on for the tough as nails platformer launches on September 9 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC (though the Xbox One release might slip to a slightly later date).

Creator Matt Thorson initially unveiled the free DLC update back in December, saying the team planned to release a set of “very hard” farewell levels for Celeste in early 2019. Clearly, the update is arriving much later than anticipated, but we’ll finally have our hands on it next week.

Chapter 9: Farewell is a new story chapter that takes place after the events of the original game. It contains over 100 new levels, bringing Celeste’s total up to over 800, and incorporates several new mechanics and items to discover and play with as you reconnect with beloved characters for a final goodbye. There are no B- or C-Sides this time around, but it does feature over 40 minutes of new music from Lena Raine. Now that Chapter 9 is finished, the long-awaited physical release of Celeste will shortly enter production, too.

In a blog post announcing Chapter 9’s imminent release, Thorson also explained that Matt Makes Games Inc. is no more. “I started Matt Makes Games when I was working solo in my parents’ basement, and I never thought I’d be working with such an amazing team on games of this scale,” Thorson said. “On TowerFall, my collaborators took a larger role than I anticipated, and on Celeste, it was obvious that calling ourselves Matt Makes Games had become silly.” Now, the Celeste team has been renamed Extremely OK Games, complete with an office in Vancouver where all of the team will work together. The newly titled developer is already working on its next game, code-named EXOK1.

GameSpot awarded Celeste a 9/10 in our review. “It’s a testament to convincing writing and ingenious design that after playing Celeste I felt like I’d been on the same journey as Madeline,” Oscar Dayus said. “Her struggle is one made easy to empathize with, her low points painful to watch, and her high notes exhilarating to experience. Her tale is delicately told and beautifully illustrated, confidently coalescing with the satisfying, empowering game it lies within. Not bad for a game about climbing a mountain.”

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Every new monster we’ve discovered in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne so far, as of Master Rank 81. Spoilers!