biteho.com

The Game Awards is just a day away, airing live on December 12 at 5:30 PM PT / 8:30 PM ET. Show host Geoff Keighley has announced a brand-new digital consumer festival that lets you play a handful of demos on Steam for free.

The Game Festival is billed as the “first-of-its-kind,” a digital consumer event as part of a pilot program with Steam. For a limited 48-hour window, you can get your hands on 13 demos before they’re removed from Steam. These include gruesome platformer Carrion, cute skateboarding title SkateBIRD, wholesome adventure game Spiritfarer, and more.

The Game Festival runs from Thursday, December 12 at 10 AM PT to Saturday, December 14 at 10 AM PT. Some of the available demos to play can be viewed below.

The Game Festival Free Steam Demos

“Let’s face it: Not everyone can attend a physical trade show or consumer event,” Keighley said in a press release. “The Game Festival is designed from the ground-up as an event without barriers, extending the benefits of a physical event to the global gaming community that watches The Game Awards.”

Keighley shared The Game Awards’ nominees earlier this month. Alongside revealing the plethora of titles up for nomination, Keighley confirmed that The Game Awards will feature 10 new game/project reveals. While what will be shown remains to be seen, we do know that Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima will get another trailer during the livestream.

Over the next few days, we will offer further insight into why we picked the 10 games we did for the best of 2019, with each article going live on- site in order of the games’ release dates. Then, on December 17, we will reveal which of the nominees gets to take home the coveted title of GameSpot’s Best Game of 2019. So be sure to come back then for the big announcement, and in the meantime, follow along with all of our other end-of-the-year coverage collected in our Best of 2019 hub.

Love is a hard thing to get right in video games–especially when that love isn’t presented as an RPG romance option or a dating sim, but rather a consistent undercurrent that elevates every aspect of the game in which you find it. There’s little love between Amicia and her brother Hugo at the beginning of A Plague Tale: Innocence. Hugo has been hidden away from his sister due to his illness for the entirety of his five short years of life, but all of that changes when their home is attacked and it falls on Amicia to save the two of them as best she can.

It’s a common sentiment in video games that escort missions are the worst, but leading Hugo through the threatening, plague-ridden countryside of France in pursuit of a cure is a thrilling, beautiful, and heartwarming experience. The performances from the main characters are extraordinarily affecting, whether it’s when Hugo innocently asks during a frantic escape if he and his sister are going to die, when he finds flowers and puts them in Amicia’s hair and tells her they’re pretty, or when Amicia has to grapple with the devastation of needing to kill to protect herself and her brother. The genuine affection that develops between the two, particularly when things take a turn for the worst, is infectious and believable. When Hugo is in trouble you feel Amicia’s panic and desperation, and your developing love for him makes seeing the story through feel essential and meaningful.

The strength of A Plague Tale’s characters feed into the interesting ways you can engage in its combat encounters which evolve alongside your character development and progress. To great effect, each encounter is more of a puzzle than a toe-to-toe fight. Amicia is a glass cannon who is only able to sneak by her vastly stronger foes early on, but as the game wears on, her abilities become more diverse and unlock extremely satisfying options for combat. The swarms of rats, in particular, work both to establish the horrific sense of place and also become the most interesting tool to use in combat. Combat arenas gradually become more complicated, and mastering your abilities and knowledge of how to manipulate light–a rat’s worst enemy–to your advantage is necessary to paving the way forward.

The effectiveness of A Plague Tale: Innocence’s narrative is due to the sympathetic, unwilling heroes at its heart.

The effectiveness of A Plague Tale: Innocence’s narrative is due to the sympathetic, unwilling heroes at its heart. Amicia and Hugo aren’t adventurers. They aren’t trying to solve a crime, take on a fabled adversary, or become warriors–they’re victims of circumstance. Underdogs. Vulnerable to the violent, grisly world around them. As are the people who choose to join them. That isn’t to say they aren’t clever or bold or brave, but it means their fear is more palpable and their victories and escapes more triumphant. The allies you encounter are empathetic and learning about their backstories informs the harsh world around you. Having younger companions rely on you, particularly in the case of Hugo, enhances the tension in combat encounters, the fear of your environment where staying in the dark for too long puts you at risk of being devoured by rats, and the mental stakes if you fail in an attempt to be stealthy.

A Plague Tale: Innocence weaves a beautiful story about resilience and victory in the face of unbelievable odds, not out of arrogance or the desire to best an enemy, but because it is the only choice Amicia and Hugo can make. The quiet moments of discussion with Lucas and your ragtag group of collected wards and allies are an important contrast to the frantic and terrifying world that lies beyond. Between violent guards, merciless rats, and an almost unrelenting darkness, it’s a game that should feel oppressive to play–but Hugo’s optimistic naivety and the love he shares with Amicia are so touching that there is always a light to be found in the darkness.

Over the next few days, we will offer further insight into why we picked the 10 games we did for the best of 2019, with each article going live on-site in order of the games’ release dates. Then, on December 17, we will reveal which of the nominees gets to take home the coveted title of GameSpot’s Best Game of 2019. So be sure to come back then for the big announcement, and in the meantime, follow along with all of our other end-of-the-year coverage collected in our Best of 2019 hub.

With Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, From Software proved it still excels at making incredibly difficult action games that push you to be better. Though Sekiro is built with similar storytelling beats and mechanics as those found in From Software’s Soulsborne titles, the game is an altogether different beast to tackle–curating mentally taxing (but highly rewarding) combat encounters that are defined by both stealth and hyper-aggression. Combat is the best aspect of Sekiro, but the game has a lot more going for it, all of which helps make it one of the best gaming experiences of 2019.

Sekiro’s setting, Ashina, is loosely based on the Sengoku period of Japan. It’s a well-crafted world, one that’s supported by its detailed level design and storytelling. Save for a few areas, all of Ashina’s many locations are directly connected, allowing you to seamlessly traverse most of the map without the need for fast travel. This further makes Sekiro’s in-game world feel like an actual place–one its roster of characters, some of whom are friendly and many of which are not, call home. Lore isn’t given to you as an info-dump either; instead, the game encourages you to seek out the answers to its many questions by tying expositional history to useful in-game items or weapons. Your growing strength is directly tied to your growing knowledge of the world, and vice versa.

Sekiro’s biggest strength–even more so than its stellar combat–is that everything about the game so seamlessly fits together. The mentally taxing but deeply satisfying combat encounters work because they fit with the overall theme of the game: that, for better and worse, the people of Ashina are all connected with one another. Every challenging duel is a deeply personal affair as you learn how your opponent attacks and defends, and your victories slowly affect the growing conflict between Ashina and the invading Interior Ministry. Your deaths are marked by the spread of dragonrot in the allies you meet and befriend, so your failure to help your friends has a literal impact on their physical health and well-being. The game’s story doesn’t outright tell you that your actions have consequences; you experience the cost of your failure first-hand through the gameplay.

All of Sekiro’s systems interweave together in this way. Even the soundtrack matches with the movements of certain enemies to better inform you of when your foe has entered a more aggressive phase of combat.

Alone, Sekiro’s story and its individual mechanics make it seem like another Dark Souls or Bloodborne, and given the shared developer, it’s a fair comparison. But Sekiro breaks away from what From Software has created with its Soulsborne games (if only a little) by forcing the player to fight with only one weapon, follow a more unambiguous story, and endure an emotional component to failure that hits almost as hard as losing in-game progression. It creates a more cohesive whole, where all parts of the game are working in tandem to tell one extraordinary tale of a single shinobi risking the survival of an entire nation to save the boy entrusted to his care–all of which is why Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is one of GameSpot’s best games of 2019.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Best PlayStation 4 Games Of 2019

Black Friday has come and gone, but the deals aren’t slowing down as the Christmas shopping season ramps up. During Black Friday, Nintendo Switch accessory deals were few and far between, and Switch Pro Controllers weren’t featured in Nintendo’s official deals. However, if you were hoping to pick up a Pro Controller during Black Friday, you’re in luck, as the Switch’s official (and very pricey) gamepad just got a nice discount.

Both Amazon and Walmart are currently selling the Switch Pro Controller for $55. Considering this Nintendo controller normally goes for a whopping $70 and rarely goes on sale, this is a hell of a deal and great opportunity for anyone looking to upgrade. Both come with free shipping, and if you have Amazon Prime, you should get free one-day shipping.

Nintendo Switch Pro Controller | $55 (was $70)

The Switch Pro Controller is an excellent investment if you’re a new Switch owner looking to upgrade from the standard grip and Joy-Cons the Switch comes with. It has a more traditional shape that makes it easier to grip and comfortable to play with for long periods, and it has a nice weight to it. It made our list of the best Switch controllers you can buy, although there are other third-party options out there that are cheaper. For $55, though, you won’t regret picking up the Pro Controller.

It’s unclear how long this deal will last, and it’s likely one of these stores is price-matching the other. So if the Pro Controller has been on your wishlist for some time now, we recommend snagging this deal before it sells out. You certainly won’t have a better chance before Christmas.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Back in 1993, Wizards of the Coast released a card game that would change tabletop gaming forever–Magic The Gathering. 26 years later, the series is stronger than ever and a new set is just weeks away.

This January, Magic: The Gathering put gods in your control with its new set Theros: Beyond Death. Wizards of the Coast has given GameSpot a heads-up on a few of the new cards arriving in this set, which you can check out below along with alternate art.

Ashiok is a legendary Planeswalker that can bounce permanents to the owner’s hands, create nightmare creature tokens–that can exile opponents deck cards–and can cast exiled opponent cards. Ashiok can use your opponent’s deck against them. The other revealed Planeswalker is Elspeth, and she has the abilities to create soldier tokens, heal the player, and buff two target creatures a turn. Both of these cards are in the main set.

The third card revealed is the buy-a-box promotional card for Theros: Beyond Death–Athreos. Costing 6 mana to cast (1 white, 1 black, and 4 colorless), Athreos is indestructible. The creature–who isn’t a creature depending on your devotion–has the ability to bring back creatures from exile and put them directly onto the battlefield.

As for Theros: Beyond Death, the new set has more than 350 new cards with new and returning mechanics. The pre-release begins on Magic: The Gathering Arena on January 16, and in the real world on January 17. In order to ensure you get a copy if Athreos, you can pre-order a box at any Wizards Play Network store, and in addition to Athreos, you’ll get a foil Nyx basic land while supplies last. Check out Magic’s website for all the details.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.