For the most part, Life is Strange: True Colors becomes a completely different game in Chapter 3: “Monster Or Mortal.” Though the first part and last part of the chapter are more of what you’ve already done, the majority of the chapter is spent on the LARP that Steph set up for Ethan, temporarily transforming True Colors into a turn-based RPG where you have to worry about health bars and status effects and whatnot.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t inconsequential choices, though. There aren’t as many as previous chapters, nor as many as in what is to come, but they are important all the same. Some will even lock you out of achieving the “good” ending. We’ve noted the relevant decisions you need to make below. As a final note: Chapter 3 is also where True Colors really starts hammering home on how Alex feels about music, herself, and Ryan and Steph. Be on the lookout for opportunities to dig into those areas.
More Life Is Strange: True Colors Guides
Chapter 3: “Monster Or Mortal” Walkthrough
Distracting Diane [Mandatory]
After Alex and Ryan clue Steph into Alex’s Empathy abilities and the trio decide to work together to stop Typhon, the group agrees that they’ll somehow need to gather evidence from Diane. To that end, Ryan and Steph come up with a wonderfully stupid, yet hilarious plan: One of the two of them will flirt with Diane to distract her and then Alex can take the opportunity to steal evidence of Typhon’s wrongdoings from Diane’s bag. You have to decide who should distract Diane.
Either choice in this scenario works out for you. The major influence of this choice ties more into whichever romance you want to pursue (if you want to pursue one at all). You’re not really picking who you think would be better to distract Diane, you’re picking who you think is more attractive and thus more distracting for Diane. So if you want to romance Steph, pick her; if you want to romance Ryan, say that he should be the distraction.
Influencing Diane’s Emotions [Mandatory]
When confronting Diane, you’ll have to invoke the grief she feels over Gabe’s death, either by appealing to her sadness or stoking her anger. Neither choice has an impactful effect on the ending of True Colors, though appealing to her sadness will seemingly rattle her a little bit more and she’ll seem genuinely guilty about what she’s done for most of the rest of the game.
Telling Riley About Eleanor [Missable]
During the LARP, you can stop into the flower shop to talk to Riley and check in on what’s going on with her attempts to hack the USB drive you got from Diane. Though Eleanor doesn’t want you to tell Riley about her condition, you can choose to tell her anyway.
Do not tell Riley about Eleanor if you want the “good” ending of True Colors. Doing so will prove to Eleanor that you’re not a trustworthy person, and you need her trust to get the “good” ending. That said, going this route will ensure that Eleanor remains alone as Riley will go off to college, so prep some tissues.
Charlotte’s Anger [Mandatory]
Alright, now we’re getting to the heavy hitting stuff. For the most part, everything you’ve done leading up to Chapter 3 has been fairly inconsequential, but Chapter 3 kicks off a series of choices that will have large impacts on what type of ending you get for Alex (like telling Riley about Eleanor). One of the biggest divergences occurs at the very end of Chapter 3, where you have to decide whether to take Charlotte’s anger away or let her keep it.
On the surface, this seems like a no-brainer. Charlotte’s anger stems from the grief over Gabe’s death, her disappointment in Ethan for having a part in Gabe’s death, and her self-hatred at herself for blaming her son for the death of her boyfriend. She’s contemplating suicide, so why not take that anger away?
The answer, as Alex puts it, is that doing so will fill Alex up with that rage instead. But there’s a greater question at play here: As destructive as this rage is, isn’t the act of feeling it just as important and valid as coping with it? Anger can be destructive, but it’s an important part of healing too.
In this particular instance, taking away Charlotte’s anger is the wrong way to go. It will make Alex so angry that she’ll push away her allies, Ryan and Steph. More importantly, it will prevent Charlotte from fully grieving and achieving a healthy emotional equilibrium–removing her anger will transform her into a husk of a person. She will no longer aid you in your attempts to take down Typhon, locking you out of the “good” ending.
The final mind you enter in Psychonauts 2 will take you to Fatherland Foibles, a theme park ride that gives you a different look at the events you’ve been hearing about in Grulovia throughout the game. While this is your last brain location, there are still collectibles you can grab to squeeze out those last few Intern ranks to upgrade your powers for the game’s finale. Here’s where you can find everything secreted away in your theme park ride through Grulovian history.
Emotional Baggage: Duffel Bag, Suitcase, Hat Box, Steamer Trunk, Purse
Half-a-Mind: 2
Figments: 98
You’ll make your way through several different segments of Fatherland Follies, and it advances like a theme park ride, so make sure you grab everything you can from each section before opening the door in each one that lets you move on. You won’t be able to backtrack through the level unless you re-enter it through the Brain Tumbler.
Duffle Bag Tag: Right after the ride stops for the first time, hop out of the cart and look behind the scenery with the Grulovians waving and singing. You’ll see a round tower turret with a door in the back. Open it and you’ll pass through a portal, emerging in another room where the Duffle Bag Tag is located. You can also break the gramophone you find here to stop that infernal song. (There are two more gramophones to find, and destroying all three will net you an Achievement.)
Duffle Bag Emotional Baggage: The Duffle Bag is also in this first section of the ride. Head up to the balcony scene where the Gzar’s family is fleeing wearing their ridiculous crowns. Head toward the back of the room and check to one side, near the curtains, to find the Duffle Bag hidden beside a drop in the floor.
Hat Box Tag: Look for the scene of Gzar’s family waiving in the first area of the ride. Get behind the props and you’ll find that you can climb up using some trampolines. That’ll take you up to an alcove that hides the Hatbox Tag.
Memory Vault: You should also find a big statue of Ford and Maligula in this section. Near Maligula’s feet, look for a train track and follow it through a door behind her statue to reach the Memory Vault.
Hat Box Emotional Baggage: In this same room near the Maligula statue, look for a spot where you can wall-jump upward to reach a higher platform with the Hat Box.
Half-a-Mind: Look for a water wheel at one end of this scene, near where you first entered. Jump over to the platform beside it to find the Half-a-Mind.
Nugget of Wisdom: Move on to the second part of the ride. When you come to the next locked door, you’ll find a treasure room on your right filled with Faberge eggs. On the right side of the room, among the eggs, is the Nugget of Wisdom.
Purse Tag: The main puzzle of this area is hidden in the scene where the family flees in exile through various locations. Avoid solving the puzzle until you’re done finding the collectibles. First, set the background to the wintery scene and move the props and family around so that you can climb up into it to locate the Purse Tag behind the igloo wall.
Half-a-Mind: At this same scene, set up the desert background with a cactus and the family in the center to make yourself another path to climb into the background. When you get there, you’ll find the Half-a-Mind waiting.
Purse Emotional Baggage: Check to the left of the bed in the scene where the Gzar is dying to find the Purse.
Suitcase Tag: This section of the ride also have a small graveyard. Check behind the tombstones to snag the Suitcase Tag.
Nugget of Wisdom: Back at the exile scene, you can advance through the puzzle if you set it to the ocean background and climb through the hole there. That’ll take you into a representation of the Lady Lucktopus room you visited way back near the start of the game. As in the real-world version of the room, look for a poster on the wall you can burn down with Pyrokinesis to reveal a hidden area; follow it to the end to find the Nugget.
Memory Vault: The third section of the ride takes you back to the Whispering Rock camp. You can punch your way through some of the blocks to get into the cabins you find here. Inside one of them, you’ll find the Memory Vault.
Nugget of Wisdom: Enter the other cabin to find your Nugget of Wisdom.
Steamer Trunk Tag: After you leave Whispering Rock, you’ll get into a disjointed area that’s behind the scenes of the ride. Continue on until you hit an area with a lot of Mental Connections, and you’ll run into a memory scene with Dr. Lobato. Look for some Dark Thoughts that will connect you to a platform with the Steamer Trunk Tag.
Steamer Trunk: The same path that led you to the Steamer Trunk Tag and Dr. Loboto can also take you to the trunk itself. Use the Mental Connections and dodge the fans, looking for an offshoot path to one side with more Connections. Follow it to the end to find the Steamer Trunk.
Suitcase: You can’t grab the Suitcase on your first pass through this level, so get ready to use the Brain Tumbler to come back. It’s located on one of the shelves in the gift shop at the end; you’ll likely see it during the cutscene, so make a mental note.
The Batman is scheduled for a March 2022 release date, but Warner Bros. is already excited enough about the film that it’s begun looking at spin-off series. A series centered on the Penguin, as portrayed in The Batman by Colin Ferrell, is in development at HBO Max, Variety reports.
This project is in very early development according to Variety’s sources; Farrell himself has been approached to star, but hasn’t signed anything just yet. Laura LeFranc (Agends of S.H.I.E.L.D., Impulse, Chuck) is attached to write the script for the show. The Batman director Matt Reeves and producer Dylan Clark have been tapped as executive producers.
The show would reportedly go into Penguin’s rise to power in Gotham. Introduced in 1941, Penguin AKA Oswald Cobblepot was first cast an an extremely on-the-nose villain who got his name for his short stature and strange facial features. However, over the years he grew into a villain that was a central part Gotham’s underground and a major player in organized crime. Penguin has owned casinos and lounges, and even become Gotham’s mayor for given amounts of time. Iconic portrayals include those in Batman Returns (Danny Devito) and Batman: The Animated Series (voiced by music legend Paul Williams).
There aren’t yet any other details on the show, including how long it would run or when it would hit HBO Max. The Batman is set to hit theaters on March 4, 2022 after multiple COVID-related delays. This is the second spinoff for the movie–a show focused on the Gotham Police Department as depicted in The Batman is already in development, announced in July 2020. Warner Bros. has been enthusiastic about pursing spinoffs for its movies–the recently-released Suicide Squad movie is getting a Peacemaker spinoff starring John Cena early next year.
Ted Lasso is doing well for Apple TV+, and the streaming service is rewarding the team responsible with a round of pay bumps, including a cool million dollars per episode for star Jason Sudeikis, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
According to sources, Sudeikis has closed a deal that will net him $1 million per episode for Ted Lasso Season 3, up from a reported $250,000 to $300,000 per episode for the first two seasons. Other cast members scored raises as well, including Brendan Hunt, Brett Goldstein, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, who have been boosted from $50,000 to $75,000 per episode up to $125,000 to $150,000.
Writers, too, are seeing pay bumps, thanks in part to the show’s impressive 20 Emmy nominations. Aforementioned actors Hunt and Goldstein are in this group as well, having written and produced episodes of the show. The writers were meant to begin work on Season 3 in August, but the negotiations pushed the start date out to September 13, according to THR’s sources. Production is set to begin in January 2022.
Call of Duty Vanguard sees Call of Duty returning to its roots… once again. It does that a lot. The first multiplayer beta opened up this weekend for anyone who preordered on PlayStation, and I spent a fair number of hours getting my feet wet ahead of its November 5 release date. If you, like me, have been playing the last several iterations of CoD, you will probably feel a sense of familiarity with Vanguard’s multiplayer. Actually, let me rephrase that: you might feel like this is last year’s Call of Duty MP with a WW2 skin. The only thing keeping me playing Vanguard instead of going back to Black Ops Cold War are a few interesting new modes.
Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, and Domination are back, as you’d expect. However, Hardpoint, a mode I never really liked, has been changed to a new Patrol mode, which I definitely like. Rather than capture and hold static points, Patrol has you protecting a small circle of territory that moves along the map (hence the “Patrol” moniker). When a team of internet randos comes together to cover and capture this moving target, it’s really fun. It’s far and away my favorite addition to this year’s multiplayer, as it encourages both active and passive team coverage and discourages camping.
Well, long-term camping at least. Since the contested area is constantly moving, it’s in the best interest of long-range shooters to post up in a sniper nest for just a few minutes. The area moves from wide-open spaces, to inside buildings, and back out again. It’s great, actually. It requires using all your shooting skills: close-quarters, mid-range, and long-range, all within the course of a few minutes.
It’s tough to tell who’s on which side.
In all modes, close-quarters combat is where I’m finding the most frustration with Vanguard’s multiplayer because it’s tough to tell who’s on which side. Last year’s Cold War pitted NATO forces against Warsaw Pact forces, whereas this year (at least in the beta) both teams are made up of the same Allied characters. More than once, particularly in the Hotel Royal map, I didn’t know who was who. If you’re melee-close to someone, the indicator over their head just can’t be seen, and even at a distance the muted red indicator often disappears into the muddy ochre and brown tones of the map. Thankfully, friendly fire is not a concern here (there’s no Hardcore mode in the beta) because there are split-second moments where I’ve made the wrong call. Also, plenty where I’ve hesitated when I shouldn’t have and got smoked.
I understand in 2021 no one wants to play as the Axis powers, but some sort of distinguishing feature between the two teams other than a small dot with their name in red would go a long way. I like being able to tell when I’m being approached by an enemy player by their character model rather than their Activision gamer name, and I don’t want to have to git-gud at increasing my speed glancing up at the words floating above their head.
Champion Hill is a cool twist on the battle royale formula.
One mode where this isn’t a problem is the new Champion Hill mode, a cool twist on the battle royale formula where instead of fighting to be the last team in an all-out war, you’re instead running around in what’s basically a glorified paintball battlefield. The premise is simple: you join a two- or three-person team, get dropped into an arena, and work to eliminate the other teams. There are 10 teams in all, each randomly battling one another 2v2 or 3v3, until only one team remains. During the matches you earn money you can use during breaks in the competition to buy upgrades like weapons, perks, and buffs, or spend during the match to upgrade your weapon. It’s fun, but matchmaking took a long time no matter what I tried. I’m not sure if that’s due to lack of interest or because it’s still in beta, so I can’t really fault it for that unless it persists in the final game.
Speaking of maps, the three that’re available in the beta are… just okay. Of the three, Gavutu, a rain-soaked South Pacific location, is probably my favorite because it has most of the features I like in a mid-sized MP map: a corridor up the middle, a wide-open space on one side, and a more clustered group of obstacles and buildings on the other. It still doesn’t quite feel right because in spite of the wide-open nature of the seaside of the map, it still feels a touch too small for the features it uses and during the course of the beta I never really got a feel for the “flow” of it. Hotel Royal, a small map with lots of CQC, is my least favorite of the bunch (in part due to the aforementioned friend-or-foe issues), while the Stalingrad-based Red Star gives me no strong feelings one way or another. I did appreciate how much Red Star reminded me of Call of Duty 2 from way back in the day, but other than that nothing really stood out to me about it. My opinion on the maps may change as I get more familiar with them, and week 2 will also open up The Eagle’s Nest, a map based on Hitler’s mountain stronghold (where it will be even weirder to not be fighting people dressed as Nazis).
Of the three maps, Gavutu, a rain-soaked South Pacific location, is probably my favorite.
Rank and loadout progressions have returned and appear to be exactly the same as they were last year, which was, in turn, very similar to how they felt in 2019’s Modern Warfare. You create your loadout with primary and secondary weapons, lethal and non-lethal weapons like grenades and Molotov cocktails, three perks, and your killstreak bonuses. Using a weapon during a match unlocks upgrades like optics, magazines, and different barrels, among others. Gaining rank with your Activision account opens up more weapons and modifications and… yeah, it’s pretty much exactly the same thing as last year, so it’s difficult to get excited about. One thing missing from the beta are unlockable skins, which add nothing to the gameplay itself but always push me to grind at least a couple of my favorite weapons to their highest levels. Hopefully those come back for the final game.
I did notice some weird ranking issues in both my profile XP and my weapon XP. Sometimes, for several matches, I’d accrue no XP whatsoever, in spite of all my efforts. Then, without warning, it would “catch up” and all the experience from the last 20 matches would suddenly appear at once. All the unlocks would come in a huge, delayed wave, which meant I wouldn’t be able to apply any upgrades to my weapons, or use new weapons, for extended periods of time. It meant missing out on the satisfaction of progression level to level, which is hopefully something they iron out before release.
The weapons feel modern and not World War 2-era at all.
The weapons also feel pretty much the same as well, which is to say that they feel modern and not World War 2-era at all. I understand the reflective sight actually predates World War 2 by a lot so it’s not technically historically inaccurate, but it still feels very odd to have them on small arms. The kill streaks, like the Recon Plane and Glide Bomb, are just the Spy Plane and Cruise Missile streaks from last year (and those were just versions of the UAV and Cruise Missile streaks from the year before). I appreciate the feeling of familiarity from year to year, but part of me hoped for new, more novel killstreaks to feel more era-appropriate instead of just relabeling them.
Additionally, skill-based matchmaking returns to Call of Duty in Vanguard and you’re probably not going to like it if you’re an old salt. Playing on PS5, which I’m admittedly not great at, I appreciated it. I usually play on PC and have a hard time adjusting from the joy of mouse and keyboard to controller-based play. For less competitive players like me, who just use CoD as an excuse to play online with friends for dozens of hours each fall, SBMM is a great way to ensure you win some and you lose some. But because you always play people of the same relative skill, there’s no way to know where you stand in the great player database in the sky. There’s also no way to shut it off, so it looks like a VPN remains your only option to skirt the algorithm if you’d rather not be matched with the same caliber of player.
In short, I enjoyed myself during my weekend with Vanguard – especially in Patrol mode matches – but not as much as I’d hoped I would. It’s hard to know if it’s the so-so maps, playing with a controller instead of my preferred mouse and keyboard, or because it just feels so much like Black Ops Cold War with a WW2-era skin on it. It’s still fun and I know I’ll put in many hours when the final game comes out, as I do at the start of every Call of Duty cycle, but there’s nothing really new here to get me excited about it. Hopefully my opinion will change as multiplayer evolves before its November launch, but if I had to score it right now I’d probably give Call of Duty Vanguard MP a 6. Remember, this is a beta and that score is in no way final, so be sure to check back around launch.
A spinoff series of The Batman is reportedly in development for HBO Max, and it’s set to revolve around The Penguin.
Variety reports that Colin Farrell, who is set to play the villain in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, has been approached to star in the series, but a deal has not been made yet.
Reeves, along with The Batman Producer Dylan Clark, would reportedly be involved as executive producers. The report says the show would dive into The Penguin’s rise to power in Gotham.
The Penguin is a longtime member of Batman’s rogues gallery and he was portrayed by Danny DeVito in 1992’s Batman Returns. He’s called the Penguin for his appearance, and in the comics the Penguin character has evolved into more of your typical crime boss/gangster. Rather than terrorize civilians, the Penguin in the comics uses his family’s wealth to fund his criminal empire and nightclub business.
We won’t have to wait long to get another glimpse at the movie, as a new trailer for The Batman is set to debut at this year’s DC FanDome, which begins on October 16.
As was hinted at yesterday, Deathloop is indeed amazing and I’ve still got you covered for all the best deals on a launch day purchase. I’d also like to personally recommend the whopping 46% off deal that’s happening for Mass Effect Legendary Edition on consoles. Last but not least, fighting game fans should be aware of quite the fisticuffs sale on Xbox. All those deals and more await you below!
Hideo Kojima is imagining a game that you and you alone would experience, kind of. In an interview with Japanese magazine An-An (via Siliconera), Kojima talked about his latest goal in game development: making games that “change in real-time.”
“I want to create a game that changes in real-time,” Kojima told the magazine. “Even though there are people of different ages and trades playing the same game, they are playing it in the same way.” To Kojima, the mind behind the sole entry in the “Strand-type” genre, Death Stranding, games should be experienced differently by each person playing. Arguably, that already happens since we, as humans, all experience and process media in our own unique way. However, Kojima wants that process to extend to games themselves.
Click To Unmute
Death Stranding Director’s Cut – Official Final Trailer
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Continuing, the developer said he wants “the game to change based one where that person lives, and that person’s unique perspective.” Kojima’s idea here sounds extremely out-of-this-world, but considering its source, this is standard fare. Kojima’s games have often made use of new, inventive mechanics, including Death Stranding’s take on asynchronous co-op. In that game, players could interact with each other by building structures throughout the game’s world or by leaving equipment behind for others to stumble upon.
While Kojima’s constantly-changing, extremely personalized dream game is likely far from becoming reality, Death Stranding is getting a new lease on life thanks to a Director’s Cut version releasing on the PS5. According to a new trailer, Death Stranding Director’s Cut will include new songs and “blood urine” when it launches for PS5 on September 24.
WandaVision won three Creative Arts Emmys during the weekend of September 11: Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics–Agatha All Along, Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes–Filmed Before A Live Studio Audience, and Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-hour).
Composed by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Agatha All Along played in Episode 4, “Breaking The Fourth Wall,” and introduced Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) as the villain responsible for a bunch of bad deeds in the show–including killing Sparky the dog.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Now Playing: Vision’s Comic Book Origins Explained | WandaVision
When Agatha All Along was released, it was warmly received and reached the top of the iTunes charts. Speaking to the New York Times, Anderson-Lopez stated, “[Agatha All Along has] an ‘Addams Family’ twist with an electric harpsichord. It’s super-duper cool and feels like something you’d find in a haunted house.”
Agatha All Along’s competition in the Original Music and Lyrics category included Bo Burnham: Inside’s Comedy, The Boys’ Never Truly Vanish, The Queen’s Gambit’s I Can’t Remember Love, Soundtrack of Our Lives’ The End Titles, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’s Zoey’s Extraordinary Birthday.
The Emmys aren’t quite over. The Primetime Emmy Awards–the one most people tune in for–takes place the weekend of September 25. WandaVision was nominated for 23 Emmys in total, including Outstanding Limited Series. Both leads–Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany–got nods as well, and are up for awards in Outstanding Lead Actress and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series. Kathryn Hahn was also nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series.
