biteho.com

Leave it to the creative minds at DrinkBox Studios to not only meld the world of Luchador with Metroidvania-style gameplay, but do so in style. The result, Guacamelee, was a hit when it first released back in 2013, eventually spawning a direct sequel that launched earlier this year to similar critical acclaim. The series just made its debut on Switch, however, with the first game out now and the second on the way, and the video above gives you a taste of what you can expect when you jump into the new version of the first game.

Spoiler: It’s just as good as its always been. DrinkBox’s familiar visual hallmarks are as strong as ever, with expressive characters and vibrant colors bringing the unusual world to life. It’s fair to say that there’s a bit too much emphasis on referencing memes and other games as a source of humor, but the occasional eye roll doesn’t hurt when the overall atmosphere is so infectiously jovial.

When it comes to gameplay, Guacamelee’s three pillars–combat, platforming, and exploration–easily stand the test of time. Combat ramps up steadily, and before you know it your simple punch combos will blossom into strings of attacks and dodges that allow you to confidently face off against a dozen enemies at a time. It sounds potentially overwhelming, but the controls are designed in such a way to make your most important maneuvers easy to execute at a moment’s notice.

Platforming skills can also play a role in combat, as you will sometimes face enemies that exist in parallel dimensions, requiring you to hop through nearby portals all the while dodging attacks and fighting back. There are no shortage of difficult platforming setups as well, but graciously, the game simply warps you right back to your jumping off point without any real penalty should you fall into a pit or onto spikes. This doesn’t make the platforming any easier, as the challenges are often multi-step arrangements that require lots of forethought to overcome; the game’s forgiving rules simply afford you the freedom to experiment with various approaches without being punished.

Because it’s a Metroidvania at heart, exploration is part-and-parcel of the overall Guacamelee experience. In keeping with its offbeat tone, the abilities you use to unlock new paths are often the same ones you use in combat. A headbutt can demolish a progress-halting boulder, and an uppercut can help you reach platforms that, earlier, were too high to reach. There are lots of hidden items and opportunities to discover, and Guacamelee’s kinetic action makes the process of uncovering everything the game has to offer a consistent joy.

Guacamelee has made it to almost every platform under the sun since its debut, but having it on Switch is a great way to enjoy it at home or on the go–kind of like it was via PlayStation 4/Vita crossplay, but on a single device. It’s a good sign, because if you wind up enjoying Guacamelee as much as we do, there’s only a couple of months to go before Guacamelee 2 for Switch lands on the eShop.

Blizzard has addressed the rumors that Diablo 3 is getting cross-play support. Although the developer knows of players’ excitement, it confirmed Diablo 3 cross-play isn’t in the works at all right now.

“While we love the idea of bringing our players together across platforms, we do not have any plans to implement cross-platform gameplay for Diablo at this time,” a Blizzard rep told Comic Book. Diablo 3 exists on several different platforms, including consoles from two different generations. With Sony’s decision to try console cross-platform play with Microsoft and Nintendo in Fortnite, some players have looked to other games that could benefit from cross-play. With Diablo 3 on so many platforms, it’s been a popular candidate.

Prior to Comic Book’s confirmation, in an interview with Business Insider, a Blizzard rep said that Diablo 3 cross-platform play was “a question of when, not if.” This led to several rumors that the dungeon crawler role-playing game would be supporting cross-play soon. Some theorized the feature might be announced at this year’s BlizzCon, but–much like Diablo: Reign of Terror being a new game–it doesn’t look like that’s the case.

Blizzard previously released a statement that there were several Diablo projects in the works. The first one, Diablo 3 coming to Nintendo Switch, has already been announced. However, Blizzard has not revealed what the other projects might be. “Some of them are going to take longer than others, but we may have some things to show you later this year,” said community manager Brandy Camel.

BlizzCon 2018 starts November 2.

Cody Fern’s character Michael Langdon has emerged as the main driving force on American Horror Story Apocalypse, which is pretty dang impressive, considering just how many talented actors and rich characters there are on this show. But it’s not surprising when you consider the character’s backstory–as an unholy spawn destined to be the Antichrist, Langdon has naturally taken center stage on American Horror Story. He’s even been anointed as TV’s sexiest Antichrist–even if he did (maybe, possibly) bring about the end of the world. But is Michael Langdon really the Antichrist? Is he really the show’s villain? Is he even evil to begin with? Fern has some surprising things to say about that.

Fern’s answer was definitive when we asked whether Langdon is a villain: “No! God, no,” although he understands why people see his character as villainous.

“I find that really interesting, because everybody talks about, you know, ‘Michael Langdon, the son of Satan, so evil, etc.’ and I would challenge people to look closer and ask themselves, ‘When have you seen Michael Langdon be villainous?'” He continued. “Like what has he actually done? Because in episodes 1, 2, and 3, obviously he’s done some horrible things, but by Langdon’s standards, he’s a catalyst. He doesn’t get his hands dirty–he tempts men and women to dirty deeds, and he brings out the darkest, most frightening, hidden desires in a human being.”

Unsurprisingly for a story about the Antichrist and the apocalypse, AHS Season 8 has been overtly Biblical so far. Fern sees Langdon as “the serpent in the garden,” alluding to the Old Testament story traditionally interpreted as Satan posing as a snake in the Garden of Eden and tempting Adam and Eve to betray God. Fern doesn’t see it that way, though.

“Before Christianity claimed the snake as this evil symbol, the snake has always been an image of regeneration and life,” he said. “The snake is the snake of infinity, it sheds its skin and becomes anew. And the snake in the Garden of Eden didn’t do anything wrong. It provided truth to Eve so that she could make a choice about what she wanted to do.”

Now that we’re talking about good and evil on a Biblical scale, we figured we might as well ask: Is Langdon evil at all?

“I don’t think that Langdon is evil. I think that Langdon is righteous,” Fern said. “He understands that people are lying about who they are, and that everybody is keeping up this facade of being good and wholesome, but deep down, they want to do dark things. And he just brings that out in them. So he’s the light that illuminates the dark. That’s how I see Langdon…He doesn’t see that he’s destroying the world. He sees his role as one of creation–of creating a new world.”

That’s all well and good, but from a practical standpoint, Michael Langdon hasn’t created much yet this season. In the “present,” he spent a few episodes toying with all the characters on the show before coercing Venable (Sarah Paulson) into murdering them all, and in the past couple of episodes’ flashbacks, he seems well on his way to destroying both the warlocks and most of the witches. And it’s unclear still whether most of what happened in the first few episodes–all the characters who are now dead, the strange little mysteries and teases and hints that now seem abandoned–will wind up important in the end, or if they were just one big misdirect to get us to Langdon’s story. Will any of it matter?

“I think what’s really important to note–this is a teaser, and something that I would encourage people to investigate–is, what makes a prophecy come to fruition?” Fern teased. “If the prophecy is that Michael will bring about the end times, and somebody goes about trying to stop that from happening, what they do may very well be the event that causes a chain reaction that actually leads to the thing that they were trying to stop. So is it his destiny to achieve what he’s achieving, and who along the way is shaping that destiny by trying to shape it in a different direction?

“And you’ll remember at the end of Episode 3, where he’s cutting himself and he’s asking Satan for answers, and he says, ‘I’ve found one witch–one survives. Help me, I don’t know what I’ve done wrong.’ That’s a big clue.”

We had one final question for Fern: Was the Sanctuary one big lie? Was he simply messing with all the characters he “interviewed” and “tested” for salvation?

“I’ll tell you that the answer is no,” Fern admitted. “I think what’s really important is that Langdon can be deceitful in terms of how he goes about presenting information, but he doesn’t lie….When Venable comes into his room and says, you know, ‘We’re making the decisions now, Mr. Langdon, and you didn’t make the cut,’ and he says to her, ‘I didn’t think you had it in you, but I’m impressed, Miss Venable, you passed the test, you’re perfect for the sanctuary,’ he’s not lying. Venable has passed ‘the test.’ That’s a huge hint.”

But Venable screws it up again when she goes too far by trying to have Ms. Meade (Kathy Bates) kill him.

“He says, ‘I wouldn’t do that.’ You know? He’s giving her the opportunity to come to the sanctuary, and she fails,” Fern said. “So she’s passed the test, because she comes into Langdon’s room, she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get there, and he’s like, ‘You’re perfect for it. You are perfect for the Sanctuary.’ And then she f***s it up.”

Just how much did that mistake cost her? The only way we’re going to find out is by checking out American Horror Story Apocalypse when it airs Wednesdays on FX. If you want more from Cody Fern, check out how the actor feels about being anointed as a sex symbol.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far From Home is next summer’s much-anticipated sequel to the Marvel blockbuster Spider-Man: Homecoming, and it’s currently in production. Following the on-set images of Jake Gyllenhall as the villainous Mysterio earlier this month, some new behind-the-scenes material from the New York set has emerged.

The footage shows Spidey doing what he does best–swinging around the city. Of most note, however, is his new-look suit. While there have been rumors that he might wear his iconic stealth suit from the comic books, this one seems to be a variation on his classic suit, but with black sections instead of the familiar blue, plus a cool white spider on the back. Check it out below:

Spider-Man: Far From Home hits theaters on July 5, 2019. Tom Holland is back as Peter Parker, and the cast also includes Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, Cobie Smulders, and Samuel L. Jackson. Homecoming‘s Jon Watts is returning as director.

While specific plot details are still under-wraps, we do know that the movie will start immediately after the events of Avengers 4, which arrives in May. Last year, Marvel boss Kevin Feige spoke about how the film will kickstart the next phase of the MCU. “So much happens in [the third and fourth Avengers movies], as you can imagine, and so much is affected by it, that we felt what better person to hold your hand and lead you into the next incarnation of the MCU, in a grounded, realistic manner, than Peter Parker?” Feige said. “So, coming out two months after Avengers 4, [that’s what] much of what the next Spider-Man film will be about.”

In related news, production has now wrapped on Avengers 4. Last week, Captain America star Chris Evans posted an emotional tweet, which suggests that this could be the last Marvel movie we see him in.

Fans seem to agree: American Horror Story’s Michael Langdon, played expertly by Cody Fern, is TV’s sexiest Antichrist. That may be a relatively small category, but there’s no denying Langdon’s allure. When we got the chance to speak with Fern about the role, we couldn’t help but ask him: How does it feel to be anointed as a sex symbol?

“Oh, I don’t know what to think about that,” he said, chuckling. “I don’t have a Twitter, but I do find–people have read things out to me, and I do find them alarming and funny and generous. I can’t think about that stuff, you know, because I’m just doing what I’m doing, and how people are receiving it is how they’re receiving it.”

However, Fern admitted that he “built a lot of sexuality into Langdon.” He said he and Sarah Paulson, who plays three different characters and also directed an episode this season, discovered that side of his character together.

“We found Langdon’s temptation in that scene when she goes to kiss Langdon,” he said. That was also the first scene he shot as the character. “This woman who has clearly no intimacy in her life, whose body is broken and fractured and whose soul is wavering between the real world and the dark places, and she reaches out to kiss Langdon, and he tells her she’s not getting into the Sanctuary–I mean, that was a very powerful moment for me on set, to understand that, wow, Langdon can twist anybody. I wanted to build that into every scene in the outpost.”

From that point forward, he made sure that side of Langdon was evident in every scene, even the darkest points in the story. “The way that he enters a room is creating desire in people,” Fern said. “When Venable is waiting for Langdon to come, everybody’s sitting in a library, and Langdon enters–he enters, he doesn’t look at anybody but Venable. He circles around the entire room, he takes the position, and everything is sexual. The way that he has her move out of the way. The way he begins his conversation. The way that he sees a massacre–it’s a sexy thing, that you can take this pill and you’ll die.”

Langdon’s look, with his red eyeshadow and flowing, golden hair, adds to his mystique. Fern said the hair was the first thing AHS creator Ryan Murphy told him about the character, who was first introduced as a demonic baby way back in American Horror Story Season 1.

“I didn’t know that I was playing Michael Langdon until two days before we started filming, and I didn’t have the first script until two days before,” Fern said. “The only thing that Ryan had told me about the character was that he was going to have long, flowing, Dorian Gray hair. But as soon as I put that wig on, I knew who Langdon was.”

Beyond the hair, Fern said he can take only partial credit for the rest of Langdon’s distinctive look. “I worked closely with Lou Eyrich, who’s just the most phenomenal costume designer, and with Eryn Mekash, the head of makeup, and Michelle [Ceglia], who’s the head of hair,” he said. “We all had long conversations about how Langdon should look.” The red eyeshadow was Fern’s insistence, and it’s another aspect of the character’s appearance he was excited about.

“In terms of his sexual nature, he needs to be very liquid in everything that he does,” Fern described. “He needs to straddle the fence between what is considered feminine and what is considered masculine, between how he dresses and how he presents himself. I don’t see the Antichrist as being–he doesn’t have a sexual orientation. He is the embodiment of something sexual, so whatever that is in a person, whatever their deepest desire is, he’ll draw out.”

It certainly doesn’t hurt his appeal that Michael Langdon is so deliciously evil–or is he? Langdon seems to be the villain of Apocalypse, maybe even the cause of the end of the world–but Fern disputes the idea that he’s evil.

“I don’t think that Langdon is evil. I think that Langdon is righteous,” Fern said. “He understands that people are lying about who they are, and that everybody is keeping up this facade of being good and wholesome, but deep down, they want to do dark things. And he just brings that out in them. So he’s the light that illuminates the dark. That’s how I see Langdon…He doesn’t see that he’s destroying the world. He sees his role as one of creation–of creating a new world.”

No doubt many AHS fans would be happy to live in that world, as long as it meant being close to our favorite new demonic sex symbol.

American Horror Story Apocalypse airs Wednesdays on FX.

You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

1. Auto
2. HD
3. High
4. Low

Report a problem

Sorry, but you can’t access this content!