Category: Games

Coming from co-developers Dreams Uncorporated and SYCK, Cris Tales presents a whimsical story and weaves in an unconventional approach to a high-fantasy adventure by giving players the ability to alter time at will. Earlier this year, we got a chance to check out an extensive look at the game. It wears its respect for the classics on its sleeve, yet it still presents several cool ideas of its own.

In this GameSpot exclusive, the developers of Cris Tales have shared an in-depth look at how Cris Tales’ approach to time travel adds a new dimension to exploration, storytelling, and the game’s turn-based combat. The story of Cris Tales focuses on the journey of Crisbell, a young adventurer who can alter the flow of time, allowing her to travel between three different time periods at will. In addition to exploring towns and interacting with characters across time, she can also use these abilities during battles to amplify her and her allies’ attacks and even weaken monsters by shifting the flow of time.

“We call [Cris Tales] our love letter to the classic JRPGs of the past,” said game producer Derek Neal in the walkthrough video. “And by that, we mean that this game takes a lot of inspiration from classics like Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy IV and VI, Super Mario RPG, and more. But it also has a lot of its own style, personality and charm. Rather than just copying those games, we’ve done our best to build upon those elements that make them great.”

While most other games use time travel as a story mechanic, Cris Tales presents a more hands-on approach. When playing as Crisbell, you can view three different timelines at once–the past, present, and future. As you would expect in every time-travel story, choices made in the past will impact future events. With a constant view of the past and the future, you can see opportunities around your environment, resulting in new events playing out in the proceeding periods. In addition to following the throughline of the main plot, you can also find other side encounters with citizens in town. As you look into the future, you may find a character down on their luck. When you view that same character in the past, it’s possible to change their fate for the better by offering them help when they need it. Doing so will change not only their circumstances in the future, but can also open up opportunities in the present and future.

The mechanics of time travel are also at work in combat. Taking cues from turn-based JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, battles will have you prime up your attack and ready it for use against your foes. Along with Crisbell are other party members who have their own unique skills to complement the protagonist’s abilities. This element comes into play by shifting periods during battle. During a boss fight shown in the video, you can use your time powers to age up enemies to make them slower and weaker and even accelerate the effectiveness of status effects, such as fire damage. With Crisbell setting up the enemies, her allies can swoop in to deal more significant damage. This added layer of altering time adds an even greater level of strategy, which can make for some engaging battles with your allies.

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Originally, Cris Tales was set for release this year, but has since been pushed back to 2021. We’ve had some time with Cris Tales before, and we were impressed with how well the time-travel mechanics were woven into this RPG. Along with that, the game’s visuals do a lot to convey whimsical adventure that shows great optimism but can also show some surprising emotion from its core cast of characters. Cris Tales currently doesn’t have a release date, but it is set to release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Stadia sometime in 2021.

This week’s Indie World Showcase from Nintendo had plenty of games to show off, but Tunche from Peruvian developer LEAP was one of the highlights. Animated with hand-drawn art and inspired by Latin-American mythology, Tunche is a beat-’em-up roguelike set in the Amazon rainforest. In case you missed it, you can see the trailer for the quirky adventure game below.

Tunche’s story can also be played in four-player co-op, and its combat system is described as having a “stylish” grade system, not too dissimilar from Capcom’s Devil May Cry series which pushes players to earn SSS-rank scores during enemy encounters. Taking control of Rumi, Qaru, Nayra, or Pancho and beating down an army of minions will eventually result in players facing off against one of the fantasy beast boss monsters who have become the masters of their jungle territory.

Players can also uncover more backstory for each of Tunche’s main characters, who all have specialized rooms that can be discovered in levels. Once a player enters a Story Room, they read a short comic that has been drawn and painted by one of LEAP’s artists, which tells a chapter in the life of each hero.

Tunche will be released on the Nintendo Switch on March 23, 2021, and also features a crossover appearance from A Hat In Time’s protagonist, Hat Kid.

When Yusuke dies saving another’s life, he’ll embark on a journey across the world of humans, spirits, and demons to return to the land of the living. Yoshihiro Togashi’s legendary manga Yu Yu Hakusho will be a live action series on Netflix! pic.twitter.com/K4t5eNta9d

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) December 16, 2020

A recording has emerged of Tom Cruise berating crew members on the set of Mission: Impossible 7 for allegedly breaking coronavirus (COVID-19) safety protocols.

The Sun published the audio clip of the actor’s furious rant, which was reportedly triggered by two of the crew standing “less than a metre away from each other at a computer screen” on the set of the forthcoming Mission: Impossible movie, which is currently being filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in the U.K. after it was cleared to resume production.

“If I see you do it again, you’re f***ing gone,” Cruise warned the two rulebreakers in the leaked recording.

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“We are the gold standard,” he continued. “They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. Because they believe in us and what we’re doing.I’m on the phone with every f**king studio at night, insurance companies, producers and they’re looking at us and using us to make their movies. We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherf**kers. I don’t ever want to see it again. Ever!”

The cast and crew of M:I 7 had been poised to shoot a major sequence in Italy in February but that was halted due to the pandemic, with production on the Tom Cruise-led film shutting down indefinitely for several months. During this time, Cruise and his team tried to figure out a way to create a safe environment in order to get production back on track by September.

“You can tell it to the people who are losing their f**king homes because our industry is shut down,” Cruise added, reiterating the impact and consequences of breaching the safety guidelines that have been implemented on set. “It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education. That’s what I sleep with every night – the future of this f**king industry!”

“So I’m sorry, I am beyond your apologies. I have told you, and now I want it, and if you don’t do it, you’re out. We are not shutting this f**king movie down! Is it understood? If I see it again, you’re f**king gone,” he concluded in his impassioned speech. “Do you understand the responsibility that I have? Because I will deal with your reason, and if you can’t be reasonable and I can’t deal with your logic, you’re fired.”

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The recording sparked a bit of a debate on social media over whether or not Cruise handled the situation correctly, with many supporting the star for strongly enforcing COVID-19 safety guidelines, and others believing that he could have approached the topic in a more respectful manner.

And rightly so. He’s the producer & if that production gets shut down because a couple of people aren’t following the rules on set that will cost millions of dollars!
They are lucky to be able to work under the circumstances and should be held to account if they flaunt the rules.

— Ben Evans (@cinemancunian) December 16, 2020

Of course Cruise is shouting at them. He’s the Producer, he’s their boss. He’s trying to protect the crew & the production. If it gets shut down again people won’t be earning, everyone’s livelihoods are at stake as well as their health and safety.

Try making movies in this shit.

— Rich (@Joe_Hallenbeck) December 16, 2020

He’s the producer. He has the right. His money is on the line. Lives are on the line. Filmmaking is a stressful job, sets are stressful enough without covid, now you add that and the stress of producers and investors. Yeah, he has the right to react that way.

— Marcus Smith (@LegitBlackSmith) December 16, 2020

Yes, Tom cruise is right but he is also being an unnecessary asshole yelling at crew members who are probably more stressed than he has ever been in his life. All that screaming cuz two crew members were too close to each other. The entire set is cov!d tested.

— Mario (@mmdisney200) December 16, 2020

How I think I’ll react to Tom Cruise yelling at people versus how I actually felt about it. pic.twitter.com/xGNMhQ1uj0

— Kaz Weida (@kazweida) December 16, 2020

Paramount previously shifted the wide release of Mission: Impossible 7 from July 23, 2021, to November 19, 2021, while Mission: Impossible 8, originally scheduled for wide release on August 5, 2022, is now expected to follow on November 4, 2022.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Back in November, BioWare confirmed that not only was a new Mass Effect game in development but that it would include a veteran team of developers led by project director Mike Gamble. With the first teaser trailer for the project surfacing at The Game Awards last week, Gamble introduced several members of that project on his Twitter account today.

Dusty Everman, who Gamble described as being “one of the key people responsible for bringing the original Normandy to life,” is now the principal narrative designer for the next Mass Effect, while Mass Effect trilogy cinematic director Parrish Levy has joined the project as its creative director. Joining Everman and Levy is 20-year BioWare veteran and producer Brenon Holmes, who is also currently working on Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.

“Brenon is a veteran of 3 Mass Effect games,” Gamble said. “His ingenuity and work helps to bring amazing gameplay systems to the Mass Effect Universe. Brenon is one of many who want to bring you the game you deserve. As time goes on, you’ll get to know more of us.”

Mass Effect and Anthem’s art director Derek Watts was the last name mentioned, with Gamble saying that Watts is “ready to rock.”

While the next Mass Effect game will have plenty of experience to guide the development of the next chapter, it’ll be done without the original game’s creative director, Casey Hudson. Hudson returned to BioWare several years ago as a general manager while Anthem was in development, but announced earlier this month that he would once again be leaving the studio.

Next year will also see a return to the Normandy, as Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is scheduled for release on consoles and PC. Including the original trilogy and all of its DLC, the first three Mass Effect games will also feature upgraded visuals, better character models, and more contemporary effects added to the classic saga.

Update: Just a short time after Red Candle Games announced Devotion would be released on GOG, the store’s official Twitter account said it had decided not to sell the game, after all. This was in response to “many messages from gamers,” according to the post.

Original story follows …

Last year, the horror game Devotion was removed from Steam after it was discovered that a piece of art in the game appeared to mock Chinese president Xi Jinping. As the game was developed by the Taiwanese developer Red Candle Games, this drew significant controversy, with the game eventually getting pulled from Steam in all regions–despite the outrage primarily occurring in mainland China. Now, it is finally returning via GOG for anyone who didn’t have the chance to play it before.

In a post on Twitter, Red Candle Games shared that Devotion would release through GOG on December 18 for $17, which is what the game initially went for on Steam. Red Candle didn’t make mention of a Steam version if it ever does plan to have the game to return to that platform.

It’s not for the faint of heart, with some truly disturbing imagery just in the brief teaser trailer involving a doll and flickering lights in a spooky hallway. Nothing bad ever happens in spooky hallways.

Devotion certainly got compared to other first-person horror games like Amnesia and the also-removed P.T. prior to its Steam removal, and at about three hours from start to finish, you don’t have to make a huge time investment to see if those comparisons are accurate.

Prior to getting pulled from Steam last year, Devotion had received very positive reviews from critics. In GameSpot’s Devotion review, Richard Wakeling praised the apartment setting, story, and “understated psychological horror,” awarding the game a 9/10.

Tis the season for Christmas and winter-themed in-game events, and the latest to drop is Overwatch‘s Winter Wonderland. Players can now load up the new 4v4 Freezethaw Elimination game mode or get started on weekly challenges to unlock Christmas-themed epic skins and other rewards.

The biggest mix-up Winter Wonderland brings is the new game mode, Freezethaw Elimination, which joins Mei’s Snowball Offensive, Yeti Hunt, and Snowball Deathmatch. In the new mode, four players must work together to freeze all four players on the other team. Players will become frozen instead of dying, and can be thawed with the help of a teammate.

Weekly challenges will reward players who win at least nine games per week. The weekly rewards are all epic skins: Elf Junkrat in the first week, Gingerbread Ana for week 2, while the week 3 reward is Frosty Roadhog.

As always with a new event, Winter Wonderland is bringing plenty of new cosmetics to be unlocked. The legendary skins for this event include Conductor Reinhardt, Penguin Mei, Ice Empress Moira, Toybot Zenyatta, and Lumberjack Torbjorn.

Blizzard is currently working on a sequel to Overwatch, with new details about the upcoming Overwatch 2 expected to be announced during a virtual Blizzcon event in February.

After Sky: Children of the Light was announced for the Nintendo Switch in March this year, the release had to be delayed into 2021 due to work changes caused by COVID-19. Now, Thatgamecompany has confirmed a new release window of Spring 2021, after the game was featured on Nintendo Japan’s Indie World presentation.

Sky first launched for iOS in July 2019, followed by an Android launch in April this year. The game has since racked up over 50 million downloads across both platforms, and won awards such as Apple’s 2019 Game of the Year and Best Gameplay and People’s Choice in the 2020 Games for Change awards.

While the Switch version of the game was originally intended to launch in Summer 2020, the release has been pushed back–though a tweet from the game’s official account has confirmed it’s not too far away, now being planned for Spring 2021.

We still have few details on the Switch version of the game, especially around questions involving cross-play and cross-save with mobile platforms, and whether mobile players will be able to transfer or link accounts.

GameSpot’s review of the iPhone version of the game scored it 8/10. “Sky is both different to everything thatgamecompany has made before but also a smart evolution of what makes its games special,” said reviewer Alessandro Barbosa. “It’s simple to play while feeling incredible at the same time, making the act of flight exciting every time your feet leave the ground. It also features a fascinating spin on in-game purchases, locking its most alluring rewards behind the action of making friends and making a positive enough impression on them.”