Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Is Even More D&D-Inspired Than Assault On Dragon Keep

As a direct sequel to the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired Tiny Tina’s Assault On Dragon Keep DLC for Borderlands 2, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands leans even further into the structure of tabletop roleplaying games for its gameplay. Wonderlands incorporates a more robust character creator, the option to multiclass, and a whole lot of other mechanics and features that D&D fans will likely recognize.

The character creator in Wonderlands represents one of the biggest departures from the structure of the Borderlands games. Wonderlands doesn’t feature established characters. Instead, you customize your own hero, including their race, physical appearance, voice, and personality.

Now Playing: Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Gameplay Trailer | PlayStation Showcase 2021

“Your voice, your appearance, all of that is independent,” Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands senior producer Kayla Belmore told GameSpot. “You get to choose your own voice and some other fun stuff that we can’t quite dive into yet, but it goes into even your character’s personality, not just aesthetics, and it’s all independent. You could look and sound however you want within those sets of choices. We don’t really tie the player into any one thing. Not even every feature is humanoid–you can have shark fins on your head or look like an orc.”

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands creative director Matt Cox added that the character creator is completely separate from your abilities and skills. That means there are no character-specific items in Wonderlands, either. “We want you to be able to express your visuals and your play style, the way that you want,” Cox said.

This philosophy extends into the skill trees. Wonderlands will have six distinct classes to choose from, each with their own unique skill tree–developer Gearbox Software will share more specific details about each one at a later date.

“There’s two different aspects of our character creation,” Belmore said. “One is the aesthetic piece where you can choose what you look like, and then there’s the character classes. Each character class will have abilities that our fans are accustomed to seeing, and deeper into the game, you’ll be able to have the option to multiclass.”

The ability to multiclass will, supposedly, allow for players to put together some bizarre but powerful combinations. When I asked how that would work–using the hypothetical of a player combining Borderlands 2’s Gunzerker with Borderlands 3’s Siren as a possible example–Belmore confirmed I was on the right track. She did not yet want to confirm that either class (or anything like them) would be in Wonderlands, but in terms of what players will be able to expect, that’s the idea. You have the option of taking two completely different skill sets and putting them together, which is a very tabletop RPG concept.

“You’ll choose your primary class and then later in the main story, you will be able to slot a secondary class and mix and match those two classes and skill trees–that’s your character for the campaign,” Cox added. “But once you beat the plot, you will be able to go back and respec your secondary class. So you’ll still have to stick with your primary class, but you can try a different secondary.”

Wonderlands has a more detailed character creator than Borderlands.
Wonderlands has a more detailed character creator than Borderlands.

Your ability to shape your character doesn’t end there–there’s more to do beyond the skills you’ll unlock via your primary and secondary classes. “You also have hero points to spend as well in very classic [Dungeons & Dragons] attributes,” Cox said. “And those all speak to different things like a melee attribute or a spell attribute or a skill cool-down attribute–it’s like a character sheet.”

According to Cox, you’ll be able to put hero points into your strength, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, constitution, and attunement. These hero points are separate from the skill points that you’ll also earn throughout the game. Skill points apply to the more traditional skill trees, where you can unlock new abilities and perks. Hero points build out your character so they can more easily specialize as a specific class.

“You do have one sort of unique attribute that lives outside that list of ‘hero stats’ and that’s luck,” Belmore added. “And that is something you can affect by completing an endgame challenge. And the luckier you are–the more of this challenge you do–the better your loot chances are at higher rarity.”

This may not be a Borderlands game, but that doesn't mean Wonderlands isn't full of loot to uncover.
This may not be a Borderlands game, but that doesn’t mean Wonderlands isn’t full of loot to uncover.

But before you reach the endgame, you’ll have to overcome the main campaign of Wonderlands, and that means dealing with Tiny Tina. Wonderlands takes place immediately after Dragon Keep, so Tina is back to her rambunctious 13-year-old self as opposed to the older, slightly more adjusted 20-year-old Tina seen in Borderlands 3. As the bunker master, Tina is in control of the campaign, and so much like Dragon Keep, she’ll step in to set the scene, crack jokes, or roleplay, akin to a D&D dungeon master.

“That’s one of the great things about Tina: that chaotic energy,” Belmore said. “It lends itself so well to the idea of a tabletop RPG where you have this unhinged bunker master. And she absolutely will shape the world in the way that she sees fit, which has huge effects on everything. The story itself is not reactive. It’s like [Tiny Tina’s Assault On Dragon Keep] where it’s just Tina playing out the plot line.”

Some of that plotline will now take on a third-person perspective, another departure from the Borderlands’ formula, which always plays out–in both gameplay and cutscenes–in first-person. When travelling from place to place, Wonderlands will pan out to a tabletop view, where you’ll see yourself (and your allies if playing co-op) as miniatures.

While exploring the Overworld, the game will shift to third-person.

“We call it the Overworld,” Belmore said. “So one of the ways you can explore the greater world is through this pulled back, third-person view. We have a fairly linear main plot, with tons of side missions. In addition, with some exploration, you can find these five optional maps that–if you’re a tabletop RPG nerd–act like modules. So they are connected to the main story, but they are also their own standalone plots.”

“You can have dynamic encounters,” Cox added. “So you can have a little enemy pop up and then you’ll get transported seamlessly into first-person combat where you do a small fight, get your loot, and pop back out to further explore the entire Overworld. So Overworld really just acts like–compared to previous games we’ve done–as the big zone that connects all of the experiences.”

“And the customization you choose actually shows up in your bobble head character as well,” Belmore excitedly said.

In spite of these departures from the formula that Gearbox has established with the Borderlands franchise, both Cox and Belmore said that, fundamentally, Wonderlands plays like a Borderlands game. This is still a loot shooter, though Gearbox has taken steps to improve upon Borderlands’ formula.

“We wanted to make sure that we embraced the strength of what we do best, and that looter shooter loop is going to feel very, very familiar to fans of our games,” Cox said. “But instead of being preoccupied with how many guns are in the game, our focus is more on the diversity of types of fantasy weapons that you can have. So it’s really more about the breadth of fantasy gear, rather than ensuring a high tick mark on how many guns we have.”

Sometimes all you need to beat a giant magical skeleton is a really cool gun.

He continued: “We still have our procedurally generated loot, so you’ll definitely see different parts on the melee weapons and different abilities for spell books. But it’s more about the new types of gear that you can combine into a meaningful experience so you can play how you want to play.”

“And even some things about the guns have changed,” Belmore added. “You’ll see different firing mechanics than you have in previous titles and the addition of crossbows and magic based-barrels, which are definitely a little bit different from what we’ve done before.”

Movement during combat has also evolved to better incorporate Wonderlands’ spellcasting and melee attacking into Borderlands’ existing shooter mechanics. The faster movement of Borderlands 3 returns, as does that games’ slide, ground pound, and clamber mechanics. Wonderlands goes a step further, adding a new melee-focused movement mechanic.

“If you’re just out of melee range when you melee attack, you will glide into your enemy,” Cox said. “It’s like an auto glide. So you can sprint and slide like in Borderlands 3, and then if you melee at the end of your slide within the right distance of an enemy, you can continue gliding straight into the enemy and close the distance in a really fun way.”

“It’s as satisfying as it looks,” Belmore added.

During our conversation, I also pressed Belmore and Cox for additional details about Wonderlands’ story and narrative themes, as well as the game’s endgame content. Both promised that players will have more detailed looks at these aspects of Wonderlands ahead of its launch, which is fast approaching.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is scheduled to release for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC on March 25.

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Oxenfree Is Getting Updates Five Years After Launch Tied to Oxenfree II

If longtime fans of Oxenfree have thought about jumping back into the adventure on PC before Oxenfree II’s release next year, they might be surprised to find some radio transmissions they didn’t find the first time around. And if you’re one of those players, don’t worry – you’re not forgetting some key story beats or realizing you missed some important conversations. Five years after its release, Night School Studio has periodically been updating its acclaimed, original choice-driven narrative with a series of new audio teases that directly tie into the villains of Oxenfree II.

It’s an ambitious gambit, but absolutely befitting of Oxenfree’s paranormal, meta-story. The villains of the upcoming sequel are so powerful, or messing with forces that are, that they’re literally changing the fabric of the original’s world and appearing, at least audibly, where they once weren’t. Night School Studio has dipped into fourth-wall-breaking territory before, but to find out more about this exciting undertaking, I spoke with members of the Night School team about why they decided to bridge the games like this, how it prepares players for the sequel, and more.

Some details may be considered spoilers for Oxenfree II, so turn back if you don’t want to know any details about the sequel ahead of its launch. Otherwise, watch the new video below for more on Oxenfree’s updates and how they set up the villains of Oxenfree II.

What Oxenfree’s Updates Hint at in Oxenfree II

A couple of updates to the Steam version of Oxenfree have already gone live, and fans have been piecing together what these radio broadcasts might be leading toward. And as perceptive fans may have already realized, these broadcasts are offering insight into the world of the sequel’s villains, a collective group known as Parentage. These broadcasts offer players who discover them a bit of characterization and background for these characters, while also showing how significant a force they might be if their actions are reverberating through the original game.

It’s a startling approach, but one that the developers felt was absolutely natural to the world they’ve created and are now building upon.

“The rules of the world, and the rules of the universe, allows things that happen in the future to reverberate into the past, and vice-versa,” Studio Lead Writer Adam Hines told IGN.

“We wanted to make sure that we went deeper with it [than other ARGs], and made sure to honor the Night School pillars of really strong characters, really compelling dialogue, and nice and scary as well,” Writer Adam Esquenazi Douglas added.

In that sense, as Douglas explained, the radio updates being added for players to discover are aimed to feel like a complete story themselves, with a beginning, middle, and end that should satisfy those who discover them all, while also offering depth to what’s to come in the sequel. And the team is highly aware of the challenges that come with telling such a story, in such a peculiar way, namely in not wanting to spoil the experience of the sequel, and in producing a story in this series of transmissions that not all Oxenfree II players may experience.

“We’re always very cautious about spoilers and not wanting to ruin the mystery aspect. That’s such a big chunk of why people play these types of games is being able to really dig in as much as they want,” Hines said. “We landed in a really good spot of giving hints of intent, and giving hints that someone is really intentionally trying to push their way into what Alex and her friends unwittingly stumbled into in Oxenfree 1, and got stuck in and had to deal with. Now, with Oxenfree II, we’re dealing with a group that is very specifically and intentionally trying to uncover and discover this stuff. And, poke at it and see what you can do with portals, time, and space.

“Of course it’s all going to go horribly wrong. So, we get to see hints of that through these radio updates,” Hines continued. “This is giving you a sense of who the quote-unquote bad guys are going to be for Oxenfree II. And, then also when you start to play Oxenfree II, and start to push up against these characters and meet them, if you’ve done the radio update journey from Oxenfree 1, hopefully that will feel like you already have a sense of how they got to where they are.”

“Introducing the antagonists in an interesting way…instead of having a trailer just focused on them. Why not let you hear them doing their dirty work in the first game?”

“There was never a clear antagonist [in Oxenfree 1],” Studio Director Sean Krankel elaborated. “We’re dropping you into this weird mystery island, and you’re going to have to unravel it. And, we didn’t think we could do that again this time, frankly. And, so introducing the antagonists in an interesting way just felt like a compelling, cool thing to do instead of having a trailer just focused on them. Why not let you hear them doing their dirty work in the first game?”

That sets the table for players exploring these audio logs to have some fascinating insight into Parentage ahead of Oxenfree II, but Night School was also very cognizant that not every player who jumps into the sequel may have discovered or even heard these radio additions. In that sense the team worked hard to make something rewarding for players, both in the act of discovering it and what it entailed, but also something that, should you miss out on this bit of worldbuilding, won’t hamper a player’s experience of the sequel.

Hearing the Future

As these updates are sound-based radio transmissions, they tie into a common element of Oxenfree – its evocative sound design. So much of Oxenfree’s mood-setting came through audio, whether it be the voice acting, the glitchy sound effects of its supernatural-meets-real-world story, or the memorable score by Composer Andy Rohrmann, aka scntfc. And as Rohrmann explains, these radio updates provide further ways for him to not only play with what he’s done before, but tie it into Oxenfree’s world in fascinating ways.

“Some [ways the score is integrated] are just kind of fun musical tricks. But, there’s also ideas of music that might show up in the radio plays is actual [Oxenfree] score. But we’re using it diegetically in this instance. So…they break a lot of these concepts of ‘What is the game,'” Rohrmann explained.

These radio plays, and the connective tissue that then gives the two games, also gave Rohrmann a unique opportunity to work with the first game’s soundtrack in a way that not only let the new music be in dialogue with that first score, but also speak to the wider themes at play.

“There’s actually time looping, and the way these narrative threads are structured, makes it almost make too much sense to go back and rework something,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s less work, but, it’s a great opportunity to essentially remix my own work in relevant ways.”

Though Rohrmann did not, of course, want to spoil what work he may be doing with this ARG or ahead of the sequel that could lead to Oxenfree II clues, he did point to an ARG moment in the past that gives an indication of what may come.

“I’ll give one more example just because this may be relevant in the future. We seeded ARG elements six months before Oxenfree one came out, which was a song I said, “Oh, here’s a song from this game. You can listen to it if you want.’ It had morse coding. People have since realized that the melody was playing morse code. They would have been onto something six months before the game came out, but, obviously nobody knew who it was. So, it sat dormant until the week of the game coming out. Then, people thought ‘Oh, that’s morse code.’

“The foundation [of Oxenfree] is already begging to be messed with, to be meta and strange.”

“Once I discovered [that people realized this], I could change it because front-facing on band camp, you can’t tell if a file has changed. And, so we got to play with this idea of time in the real world; ‘I went there yesterday, and then I downloaded it today, and it’s different.’

And Rohrmann’s work may be more relevant to Oxenfree than some fans may realize.

“Andy really has been so much of the foundation of the more mind-bendy aspects of the game. In the first one, everything from his actual recording process, which was super analog. He literally broadcast himself, recorded the broadcast, and then put them on a reel and stretched it out and broke it up. All that stuff leads into the design. The tape reels from the first game, dealing with time loops, all that Andy heavily influenced,” Krankel said.

“The foundation [of Oxenfree] is already begging to be messed with, to be meta and strange,” Krankel continued. “Audio and radio broadcasts being the foundation of how you interact with that has meant that Andy has been more than a composer. He is really like a designer on this project and was on the first one as well.”

Is Talking About It Spoiling the ARG?

Night School has a history with ARG’s and Oxenfree, the original of which actually involved real-world locations, but tried their best to play up the mystery of it. And the funny thing about ARGs for fictional stories is where the creators draw the line. To acknowledge an ARG is going on breaks some of the fun that comes from imagining a story bleeding into our world. Then again, actually addressing it helps bring awareness, more curiosity, and, ultimately, more chances for fans to collaborate and work on piecing everything together. And, frankly, it’s cool when a story can be told in such a unique way like this.

“With the first game, it was important to be secretive about it because the world was being introduced to these characters and this lore. And, we also just didn’t think anybody was looking at us. If anything, they were looking at the game,” Krankel said. “Any ARG components a few years ago, we wanted them under this shroud of secrecy. But, as we’ve moved forward, and as we’re building out this next team, the way that we look at it is there can be multiple touchpoints that tell a singular story.”

“As much effort as goes into the game’s story, is going into this story, and it’s all intended to be one singular piece of work. It just so happens that part of it isn’t in Oxenfree II. Before we cared about being top secret about everything, now we want everybody to know it’s out there, and see it and feel it.”

“We’ve been trying to strike a delicate balance between wanting to give enough that you want to know more. But, not too much that it feels like the apple has gone rotten,” Hines added.

“This is great because now it’s not so much waiting for a puzzle so people can rush to solve it [like in other ARGs]. It’s more a story, and it’s more narrative,” Rohrmann said.

And Night School very knowingly made this interwoven story with the idea that fans would dissect every element of it, and hope that process will be as rewarding as it was coming up with how to implement it.

“One of the great things about our fan base is that no matter what we put out they will pick it apart to the atoms, just to figure out what we’re going for,” Douglas said. “And, we wrote a lot of this content specifically with them in mind. So, whenever a sentence stops halfway through and you really want that sentence to finish. That’s why we did it. It’s because of you.”

“There are still things out there that we’ve already dropped, that had yet to be discovered,” Rohrmann said. “We’ve already seeded mysteries and things. So, it’s been really fun to take those ideas and integrate them into a game that came out five years ago. I mean, that’s so cool. How often does that happen?”

Oxenfree II is headed to PC, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch in 2022. Oxenfree’s new updates are currently only available via the Steam version of the original game.

Jonathon Dornbush is IGN’s Senior Features Editor, PlayStation Lead, and host of Podcast Beyond! He’s the proud dog father of a BOY named Loki. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

WWE’s 17 Absolute Worst Characters And Gimmicks In Wrestling History

If you’re reading this, chances are you–like us–love professional wrestling. However, it’s hard to deny that throughout the history of the industry there has been plenty that was (and still is) truly terrible. For every “Stone Cold” Steve Austin or The Rock, there are dozens of gimmicks that were so incredibly bad, it’s hard to imagine how anyone thought they could succeed. For crying out loud, the Gobbledy Gooker is a giant turkey.

Still, we can’t help but love wrestling, in spite of itself. With that in mind, join us as we take a walk through the garbage can of professional wrestling history to take a look at the absolute worst, most idiotic character gimmicks of all time. If you can’t have a laugh while learning about characters like an evil dentist or a maniacal carnival worker, what can you laugh at?

And if you’re looking for more of the best, worst, and sillies of professional wrestling, make sure to check out GameSpot’s Wrestle Buddies podcast. We love to celebrate all of the same ridiculous things you do, so chances are you’ll enjoy this.

Epic v. Apple: Court Says Apple’s 30% Sales Cut Is Unjustified

Even though a US Court today ruled that Apple was not a monopoly and did not violate antitrust laws in the Epic v. Apple suit, it didn’t have kind things to say about Apple’s 30% take rate on in-app purchases.

In its final order, the court goes over the numerous arguments from the case, at one point addressing the fact that Apple takes a 30% cut of all purchases occurring in apps published on its store. Though the 30% rate has been common in the game and app industries for years, in recent times platforms such as Steam, Microsoft, and Epic itself have opted to take less, while Apple has dug in its heels.

This was brought as evidence against Apple, with Epic suggesting that its hold on the market and insistence on 30% ultimately drove prices up for consumers. Apple argued that not only was 30% was an industry standard, but that developers get a commensurate value from the App Store to make up for the cut.

But the judge disagreed, calling the take “unjustified.”

“One…developers could decide to stay on the App Store to benefit from the services that Apple provides,” the ruling reads. “Absent competition, however, it is impossible to say that Apple’s 30% commission reflects the fair market value of its services. Indeed, at least a few developers testified that they considered Apple’s rate to be too high for the services provided. Two, Apple has provided no evidence that the rate it charges bears any quantifiable relation to the services provided. To the contrary, Apple started with a proposition, that proposition revealed itself to be incredibly profitable and there appears to be no market forces to test the proposition or motivate a change.”

Basically, the judge is saying that the 30% rate Apple takes is impossible to determine the value of, because there isn’t enough competition to suggest otherwise. Furthermore, it doesn’t seem like anything Apple does for developers has any relation to the money they take from in-app purchases.

The court went further, pointing out that the justification for a 30% rate could be determined if a third-party store put pressure on the company to innovate and provide features to developers it had previously neglected. But with competition currently held back, there’s just no way to tell.

But, again, the ruling doesn’t call Apple a monopoly — just “anticompetitive.” It has a share of the mobile gaming market between 52% and 57% that it battles with Google for, making for a “mostly duopolistic” ecosystem that Apple has “considerable market power” within.

And that, the court concludes, may soon turn into a monopoly if its market share keeps going up, competition doesn’t step up its game, or Epic or someone else brings a better antitrust case to court next time.

“The evidence does suggest that Apple is near the precipice of substantial market power, or monopoly power, with its considerable market share. Apple is only saved by the fact that its share is not higher, that competitors from related submarkets are making inroads into the mobile gaming submarket [Nintendo Switch], and, perhaps, because plaintiff did not focus on this topic.”

Overall, most of the ruling was in favor of Apple, though Epic won a specific battle with an injunction forcing Apple to allow developers to link to outside payment options within their apps (though this still doesn’t let them add direct payment that bypasses the App Store’s systems). Tim Sweeney has said that as a result of this, he will not be bringing Fortnite back to to the App Store until direct payment is permitted.

Epic first brought this suit to Apple following Apple’s removal of Fortnite from its App Store last year after Epic incorporated the ability to skirt Apple’s payment system, thus avoiding Apple’s 30% platform fee. We’ve since seen plenty of similar challenges to Apple’s walled garden, including proposed legislation that would solidify the ability for developers to use their own payment systems, as well as continued pushback on Apple from other developers frustrated by its policies. We’ve also learned a lot from the suit, including the ways in which Epic weaponized its fans against Apple and the general confusion the court system experienced when faced with, well, video game nonsense.

Sadly, we’re still not sure (legally, anyway) exactly what a video game is.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Mad Max Furiosa Delayed By A Year

Mad Max Furiosa will be delayed by a year–arriving in theaters in 2024 instead of 2023, according to Deadline. No reason was cited for the shift in dates, but a production delay is not unexpected since the world is still in the throes of a pandemic.

Mad Max Furiosa is a prequel to Mad Max Fury Road and will explore the backstory of Furiosa, a fearsome character who betrays Immortan Joe in order to free his five wives. Anya Taylor-Joy–known for her role as Beth Harmon in the surprise Netflix Original hit Queen’s Gambit–will still star as the younger Furiosa.

Now Playing: Mad Max – Video Review

Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II are also part of the cast lineup. Charlize Theron, who played Furiosa in Fury Road, will not make an appearance in the standalone prequel.

Director George Miller teased previously that Furiosa will take place over a much longer time span as compared to the relatively contained Fury Road. “This is a saga; it happens over many years, so there’s a lot of different elements to it. But that’s all I should say,” he commented.

Miller also revealed the casting process behind appointing Taylor-Joy as the main lead. He saw her act for the first time in the upcoming movie Last Night in Soho and thought her performance was interesting. During her audition, he asked Taylor-Joy to perform the “mad as hell” speech from 1976’s Network and was impressed by her ability to incorporate his simple notes and produce a better subsequent performance.

In other Fury Road news, if you’re looking for a sweet new ride, Fury Road Mad Max cars are up for auction. The vehicles have a starting bid of $1, but no doubt the price will reach astronomical heights once the auction starts. Bidding begins on September 26 and will be livestreamed.

Best PlayStation Network Games: Top 25 PSN Games For PS4 And PS5

PlayStation Network games come in all shapes and sizes. From the meditative exploration of Gone Home and What Remains of Edith Finch to the frantic multiplayer fun of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout and Rocket League, downloadable games can basically be anything. Though you won’t find any big AAA open-world or live service games on this list, the breadth of experiences offered on the PlayStation Store has never been wider. There’s something for everyone, and our list of the best PlayStation Network games takes all ages and skill levels into account.

The list below includes shooters, roguelikes, platformers, puzzle games, adventure games, sports games, RPGs, and more. But if you don’t see what you’re looking for here, be sure to check out our lists of the best PS5 games, the best split-screen PS4 games, and the best PS4 games.

Celeste is an interesting lesson in how difficult games can provide the best of both worlds. On the one hand, it’s a tough-as-nails platformer, a la Super Meat Boy, where your death count may well climb to skyscraping heights. On the other hand, developer Extremely OK Games is deeply committed to accessibility, allowing players to tweak the difficulty of their game experience as much or as little as they want, with the option to turn on invincibility, give yourself unlimited jumps, and more. This approach feels fitting for a game, like Celeste, that provides a sustained look at mental health and what failure and success mean for different people. Additionally, Celeste also feels great to play, with some of the best platforming you’ll find in a game not developed by Nintendo, and creative levels that take full advantage of protagonist Madeline’s jump and dash. The mood in each of those levels is set masterfully by Lena Raine, whose soundtrack contains some of the best retro-inspired music you’re likely to hear.

See our Celeste review.

This adorable Zelda-like adventure game swaps out the sword and bow for a puzzle-solving paintbrush. Chicory is set in a world called Picnic where artists called Wielders alter the aesthetic of the world with a magic paintbrush. At the beginning of the game, the latest Wielder has abandoned their calling and you take up the mantle and the magic brush. Brush in hand, you’ll accomplish tasks for the denizens of Picnic, leaving a trail of paint behind you (which conveniently lets you know which areas you’ve already visited). It’s a stellar game, with brain-tingling puzzles and a story that will tug at your heartstrings.

See our Chicory: A Colorful Tale review.

With striking hand-drawn art inspired by the rubber hose animation of Max Fleischer and early Disney cartoons, Cuphead is as inviting as it is deceptively deadly. You will die many, many, many times before you reach the conclusion of this 2017 run-and-gun platformer. The name of the game here is pattern recognition as you, by yourself or with a friend, guide Cuphead and his pal, Mugman, through a series of punishing (but lavishly animated) boss encounters and occasional platforming shooter levels that take cues from Contra. Though anyone can admire the art, Cuphead is, decidedly, not for the faint of heart.

See our Cuphead review.

A punishing roguelike with a striking look and distinct side-on perspective, Darkest Dungeon is, as the title implies, a brutish and dark game with tons of depth to keep players invested for a long time. Released in 2016, this strategic RPG boasts an art style inspired by medieval woodcuts and a risk-reward approach to dungeon-delving, where team composition and team lineup (literally, your characters are presented in a right-to-left line on screen) require deep and consistent thought. Characters are plentiful and each has different strengths and weaknesses to consider as you compose a party. In fact, planning a run is just as important as executing it, though no amount of planning can prepare you for everything that you’ll encounter in Red Hook Studios’ procedurally generated dungeons. But anticipating every eventuality, and knowing when to retreat if you failed to do so, is part of the fun in this tense and surprising role-playing game.

See our Darkest Dungeon review.

A standalone multiplayer expansion to Klei Entertainment’s mega-popular survival game, Don’t Starve Together expands the player count and ups the ante. The objective is simple: don’t starve, but you can accomplish that goal in a variety of ways. Establish farms to grow food, mine resources, fend off wild animals, and take on seasonal bosses. Klei’s hand-drawn art style looks great here, and Don’t Starve Together’s procedurally generated world is endlessly explorable.

See our Don’t Starve review.

A surprisingly massive hit for developer Mediatonic when it launched in 2020, Fall Guys takes a bunch of obstacle courses and minigames that wouldn’t feel out of place in Mario Party, then adds a bunch of bean-looking bipeds, and makes them compete for a crown in Battle Royale fashion. One of a few multiplayer games–like Phasmophobia and Among Us–to get a big pandemic boost from bored quarantined players, Fall Guys is simple, but fun, with wins coming on the back of skill and ample amounts of luck. The physics are wild, too–don’t be surprised if you lose a round when your bean repeatedly gets yeeted off the map. Mediatonic is still updating the game a year later, which means plenty of new obstacles for new and returning players to contend with.

See our Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout review.

This walking simulator created by former BioShock 2 developers kicked off years of debate about what makes a game a game. “Is Gone Home even a game?” players asked. Yes, and a really good one, at that. Developer Fullbright took the principles that guided the environmental design of immersive sims like Deus Ex and Thief: The Dark Project, stripped out the combat and stealth, and moved the action to the fairly mundane setting of an empty family home in the Pacific Northwest. You are Katie, a college kid visiting her family for the first time since they moved into a new house, and suspiciously, none of them are around. Gone Home communicates the powerful story that follows almost entirely through snooping and voyeurism. You will get to know these characters, not through cut scenes or dialogue, but through the crumpled up notes and personal effects they left behind.

See our Gone Home review.

A roguelike for people who don’t like roguelikes, Hades places greater emphasis on characters, story, and general forward momentum than basically any title in the genre that came before. Exiting Early Access in 2020, indie developer Supergiant’s fourth game cast players as Zagreus, the discontented son of Hades, who has decided to escape from the underworld or die (over and over and over again) trying. With rock solid isometric action combat, flashy abilities, a brilliantly told story, and hooky RPG progression, Hades proves that the roguelike has massive crossover appeal, provided the procedural elements are balanced by an author’s expert hand. The team at Supergiant has never worked in the same genre twice-Hades is the studio’s first roguelike and its first Early Access game– but the studio delivered a game so confident, beautiful, and fun to play that you would think they had been making games like this for decades.

See our Hades review.

A story-driven about the romance and intimacy between two lovers who crash land on an alien planet called Source, Haven is a unique and strongly written indie RPG. Yu and Kay, the story’s central lovers, must work together to survive, frequently venturing out from their spaceship, Nest, in order to find supplies, clean up rust and heal hostile creatures by defeating them in combat.

This cooperative sci-fi shooter, heavily inspired by Starship Troopers, has now brought bug-squishing action to three generations of PlayStation owners. The four-player twin stick shooting gameplay is delightfully (and sometimes panic-inducingly) hectic as you attempt, usually unsuccessfully, to avoid shooting and/or crushing your teammates due to the game’s friendly fire. That’s not the only difficulty, though, as much of your time will be spent managing your meager ammo and slot-based Stratagems.

See our Helldivers review.

Drawing heavy inspiration from the Dark Souls series, Hollow Knight is a 2D Metroidvania that, through its punishing mechanics and dark art style, builds a strong sense of setting. This is a world that is worth exploring, with secrets to uncover, hidden connections to make, and abilities to unlock. Combat is tense and platforming is precise. Creative bosses and tough platforming gauntlets await in the hand drawn depths, and a full sequel called Hollow Knight: Silksong will probably even still come out at some point.

See our Hollow Knight review.

An intense top-down shooter that demands tactical thinking and quick reflexes, Hotline Miami is a smart and brutal piece of work. With a striking aesthetic, challenging gameplay, and memorable soundtrack, Hotline Miami is the ultraviolent pixel-art shooter to beat, even nine years later.

See our Hotline Miami review.

The less we tell you about Inside, the better. Playdead’s 2016 follow-up to Limbo is as darkly atmospheric as fans of the Copenhagen-based studio had come to expect, casting you as a nameless child running through a terrifying and violent world where men with guns attempt to shoot you, pigs possessed by strange, controlling leeches charge at you, and vicious dogs try to rip you to bloody shreds. Set in dark woods, a dystopian city, a flooded cavern, and a sterile laboratory, Inside is mysterious and cinematic, evoking a world that you might–against your better judgment–like to visit, but where you certainly wouldn’t want to live. Stellar platforming controls and wonderful level design ensure that, while the world may be foreboding, it’s always a joy to explore. This dark odyssey all builds to a climactic conclusion so gruesome, pointed, and unsettling that we haven’t forgotten it five years out from release and doubt that we ever will.

See our Inside review.

That Game Company’s masterpiece of asynchronous multiplayer design is a study in loneliness and cooperation. Exploring this desert world of sand and rock is emotionally impactful, no matter how many times you experience the sensation of gracefully gliding through its distinct landscapes.

See our Journey review.

The game that put Bloober Team (Observer, The Medium, Blair Witch) on the map, Layers of Fear is a first-person horror game where you can trust no one, not even the world around you. Set in a well-realized abandoned Victorian mansion setting, Layers of Fear casts you as a painter, and its world is, fittingly, one of ever-changing shapes and shades. Like all of Bloober Team’s games, Layers of Fear is divisive. But, for the players it works for, it really, really works.

See our Layers of Fear review.

With the option to play in and out of VR, Rez Infinite is the definitive version of the classic rhythm shooter. Designed by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who would go on to lead development on Tetris Effect, Rez Infinite is, like its block-arranging descendant, an immersive, all-encompassing experience. Though the gameplay isn’t too complicated–it’s a rail shooter at its core–Rez Infinite proves that there’s more to the whole than the sum of the parts.

See our Rez Infinite review.

An important inclusion on this list as Rocket League was catapulted to success by its inclusion as a free PlayStation Plus game. That isn’t to say it wouldn’t have found success otherwise, though; who can resist the appeal of a game where you play soccer as a speedy car? Easy to pick up and play but endlessly deep, Psyonix’ multiplayer sports game manages to capture the feeling and physics of soccer in a way few games have before or since. Six years later, the game is still receiving regular support and attention as a successful eSport (and, after Epic Games’ acquisition of Psyonix, completely free-to-play).

See our Rocket League review.

Shovel Knight is the retro 8-bit platformer as you remember it. This is a game that could not have existed on the NES, or even the SNES, but that nonetheless captures the feeling of jamming the DuckTales or Super Castlevania IV cartridge into your console and watching as the afternoon flies by. Shovel Knight has a whopping four campaigns, all of which are included in the Treasure Trove package.

See our Shovel Knight reviews.

How do you make a sequel to the “perfect game?” Mossmouth answered that question by making a game that was pretty similar to the original Spelunky, the action-platformer roguelike that gave rise to a million other action-platformer roguelikes, but with enough new additions to keep returning fans interested. New, creative biomes, tameable mounts, and turkeys that can be killed and eaten for bonus HP are just a few of the new twists Derek Yu and team put on the old Spelunky formula for this 2020 sequel.

See our Spelunky 2 review.

The Harvest Moon series has gone through creative droughts and weirdness around the licensing–the original developer, Marvelous, is now making the Story of Seasons games, while publisher Natsume toils on soulless Harvest Moon games in their absence–but Stardew Valley is Stardew Valley. This 2016 farming RPG takes everything Harvest Moon did well and repackages it from a fan’s perspective without the baggage. Developer Eric Barone, smartly, gives players an overarching goal–restoring the derelict community center–then populates the world with so many fun things to do (farming, fishing, arcade games, romance, dungeon-crawling, and more), that you always have big and small goals to accomplish.

See our Stardew Valley review.

“Time only moves when you move.” It’s a terrific conceit, and Superhot Team has now built three games around it: Superhot, Superhot VR, and Superhot: Mind Control Delete. The first of those, the developer’s 2016 debut, took the control scheme of the first-person shooter and applied it cleverly to a puzzle game framework. Superhot is much less about fast reflexes and twitchy aim-down-sights ability, and much more about learning how to strategize your way through a fight where the odds are stacked against you. The only advantage you have on your opponents is that you can move in bullet time, like Neo in The Matrix, which is a pretty cool advantage, to be honest.

See our Superhot review.

It’s easy to pigeonhole Terraria as “2D Minecraft,” but Re-Logic’s side-scrolling action-platformer/sandbox survival game is more than the sum of its recognizable parts. Though… they certainly are recognizable parts. Dropped into a procedurally generated world, you (and a group of friends if you want) explore fully destructible environments which can be broken down into component parts you can use to build a vast array of items, weapons, buildings (which, together, can form helpful villages) and more. As in Minecraft, the world is mostly safe by day, and populated by dangerous creatures at night. With imposing enemies to vanquish (the eyeball monsters are especially freaky), massive underground cavern networks to explore, and an impressive suite of creative tools, Terraria invites players to dig deep (metaphorically and literally). Don’t be surprised if you have a hard time stopping yourself from investing hundreds of hours into this compulsively playable creative survival game.

See our Terraria review.

Developer Drool dubbed their creation a “rhythm violence” game and who are we to argue? Thumper is a rhythm game for people who want to be stressed out and white-knuckling a controller while throbbing music assaults their eardrums. Controlling a silver-plated beetle, or something, you move along a track as frightening psychedelic visions play out around them. While most rhythm games ask you to pretend to play an instrument or tap buttons in time to the beat, Thumper has you lurching aggressively from side-to-side. Part rollercoaster, part mosh pit, part Lovecraftian fever dream, Drool’s 2016 release remains a brilliantly unique game in the music game space.

See our Thumper review.

A frantic multiplayer game from the people who made Celeste, TowerFall Ascension is as fun and frenzied as it gets. This four-player local multiplayer game pits a quartet of combatants against each other in kill-or-be-killed archery battles. The maps are small and the graphics are old-school, but TowerFall Ascension wrings massive amounts of fun out of its self-imposed limitations. Nothing beats dashing into an opponent’s oncoming arrow to grab it, then taking them down with their own ammunition. It’s thrilling stuff, and match rules can be modified in a variety of ways, so no matter how long you play, the game retains its easy to pick up, hard to master charm.

See our TowerFall Ascension review.

What Remains of Edith Finch takes the basic premise of Gone Home–a young woman visiting an abandoned family home in the Pacific Northwest–but makes the missing family members present, not through notes and personal effects, but through short, playable vignettes. That might mean playing through a horror story rendered in comic book panels with cel-shaded art. It also might mean witnessing, through a camera lens, a traumatic hunting trip where the plot only advances when you snap a picture. What Remains of Edith Finch is relentlessly inventive on the level of its individual stories, but also manages to build to a powerful conclusion that ties everything together. It can be completed in an afternoon, but you’ll remember it for years after you play it. Oh, and, Lewis’ “cannery sequence” is one of the best levels we’ve ever played in a game and, four years later, there is still absolutely nothing like it.

See our What Remains of Edith Finch review.

Iron Banter – This Week In Destiny 2: Trials Of Osiris, The Anti-Traveler, And The Definitive Destiny

Just about every week brings something new to Destiny 2, whether it’s story beats, new activities, or interesting new combinations of elements that let players devastate each other in the Crucible. Iron Banter is our weekly look at what’s going on in the world of Destiny and a rundown of what’s drawing our attention across the solar system.

When Destiny 2 finally gained cross-save capabilities back in 2019, I was finally able to stop playing the game on PlayStation 4–where I’d been since the first day of Destiny–and hop over to PC, where my serious Destiny friends resided. That was around the time I also started to take the PvP aspect of Destiny 2 semi-seriously, and while I know that I’ll never be a great Crucible contender (I’m too damn old at this point and completely unwilling to put in practice time to improve), I’ve really enjoyed a stepped-up focus on the competitive aspect of the game.

That’s why the best news this week is Destiny 2’s new take on the Trials of Osiris. Sure, Savathun and Mara Sov said some more really cryptic, downright unsettling stuff about the threats we’re dealing with next year in Destiny 2, but it’s the Trials that are dominating my thoughts as we head into the third weekend of the Season of the Lost.

Trip To The Litehouse

I’ve always liked the concept of the Trials of Osiris, just like all the aspirational and endgame content in Destiny 2. Its requirement that you go “flawless” and win seven tough matches in a row, unlocking some of the game’s best rewards, is the kind of extra-special, cool experience that I associate alone with this game. For the people really invested in Destiny 2, this, like raids, is something that pays off your time in the game and your excitement for it with a one-of-a-kind gaming experience.

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But in practice, Trials has always been, at best, a pain in the ass for the vast majority of us Guardians. It’s an event that has traditionally been prohibitive for all but the very best players. Top-tier streamers, pro gamers, and all-around especially good Guardians have dominated the Trials, stomping on us lesser mortals every weekend. And that creates a feedback loop. No matter how sweaty I get, I’m not getting to the Lighthouse; it’s something I had to come to expect. So, for the most part, I quit playing Trials–and other players react like I do. The pool of Trials initiates gets smaller and smaller as it gets more and more frustrating a mode to take on, and that means you’re more and more likely to run into only the people who hang around: the best people. That increases the frustration, driving more players out. And so Trials became a playground for the absolute elite, a section of the game that was a waste of time for the rest of us.

Recent adjustments to Trials, which include dishing out rewards with weekly bounties and at different win tiers, have mitigated the frustration a bit. My team and I can at least reliably make our way to three or five wins before we bottom out, so we get something. But it still always felt like Trials was a mode where the rich get richer and the poor merely present themselves to make a broken, bloody staircase of Guardian corpses for the Flawless players to climb to more fun rewards.

With the new changes to the Trials of Osiris in Season of the Lost, everything is different–at least on paper. As of this writing, I won’t have had time to jump into the new Trials mode and actually try it out. But the list of alterations Bungie has made seem excellent. New matchmaking, new opportunities for solo play, new reward tiers, new Passages that no longer count losses; all of it means that the vast majority of Destiny 2 players have a reason to get into the mode again. The more the player pool expands, the more each of us regular Joe Crucible contenders actually has a shot at the Lighthouse, as we dilute the pool of ludicrously good folks with our mediocrity. That means the mode will be more fun for us to play, and we’ll be facing each other more of the time.

And overall, that’s great. Trials is a cool idea, but not if it drastically locks out most of the player base. And it doesn’t need to sacrifice what makes it special and super-tough–you still have to rack up seven wins with no losses to make it to the Lighthouse–to be something that everyone can enjoy. I’m hoping the changes work as well as it sounds like they should, and I’m hoping that a big influx of more players into the mode will actually mean that, sometimes, a miracle Flawless will happen. But if not, I’m content to at least pick up all the armor and a few nice great guns for my trouble.

Discovering The Darkness Daddy

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This week’s story content sent us to the Shattered Realm take on the moon, the excellently named Ruins of Wrath. The radio dialogue between Petra, Mara Sov, and Ikora this week, along with our visit to Savathun, continually pivots around a central idea: Xivu Arath answers to somebody else.

This is something that’s been swirling in the background since, like, Shadowkeep. Every time we’ve talked with the Darkness–be it in the Moon pyramid, on Io during the Season of Arrivals, on Europa as we gathered Stasis powers, and so on–there’s been the implication that there is a real, specific “entity” somewhere in the distance that we haven’t officially met yet. The Black Fleet of pyramid ships is some kind of manifestation of that creature, but pointedly, we discovered during Arrivals and afterward that those ships are empty. There’s no one inside to fight. The Black Fleet isn’t a one-to-one Darkness equivalent to the Traveler, it’s something else, and the Presage mission is all about how Calus was trying to make contact with this entity directly. As Osiris-as-Savathun says during that mission, the Darkness and the entity are separate things. (Meylin Games on YouTube has a good breakdown of the Presage clues.)

We haven’t seen whatever the entity is yet. But it sounds like that’s where we’re imminently headed.

It makes sense that, since we’re driving towards the eventual end of this Light and Darkness story arc in the next couple of years, that Bungie is starting to lean harder into establishing that villain in a practical sense. It also feels like this further adds to speculation a lot of people in the community have (including me) that Savathun might be antagonistic in The Witch Queen expansion, but not serve as its actual antagonist. We’re starting to lay down what the Darkness actually is so we can gear up to fight it.

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Okay, so what’s interesting about this is what was said about this Darkness entity, which I’ve been calling the Anti-Traveler just to give it a clearer name (Darkness Daddy also works). An ongoing thread this season is the apparent unification of Darkness forces that previously weren’t pals: the Taken and the Hive often work together, but now we’re seeing them also work with the Scorn, which is a new development. The Taken also previously were controlled by Savathun by way of Quria, but we (supposedly) killed Quria in the Season of the Splicer, and it seems the remaining Taken are now working for Xivu Arath. Finally, dialogue this week mentioned that Oryx, the Taken King, did not invent the Taken–he basically borrowed the power to create Taken creatures from the Darkness. Someone else, presumably, is actually in control of the Taken and has been loaning those creatures, and the ability to zap sentient beings into another dimension to turn them into whatever the Taken are, to characters such as Oryx and Quria.

That adds another degree of formidable to the Anti-Traveler and suggests the Taken will be the major antagonist force as we near the end of the saga. It also calls into question how the Hive’s powers work, or will work, especially after Savathun breaks free of her worm. And if you ask me, it provides more evidence for the theory that Savathun gets her Light from the Traveler.

So Bungie is currently teasing a badder antagonist than we’ve seen before, something on the level of the god-like Traveler, and is filling in the details of its abilities. But over and above that, we have what Savathun said last week, about something more than the conflict between the Light and Darkness. The characters and story here are spinning out, seemingly, two things we need to be worried about in the future. First, there’s the Anti-Traveler, the immediate Darkness threat that’s been building since the post-credits scene of Destiny 2. But second, there’s whatever Savathun was referring to–whether that’s the overall concept of Destiny 2 as a game itself, or a level of existence beyond the paracausal entities messing with us right now. But it sounds like more hints at what we could see of Destiny 2 once we’re past the last announced expansion, The Final Shape.

Anyway, the Anti-Traveler is coming. Wonder if it’ll look like those statues we’ve seen around the game so far, and what might be hidden under that black cloth on its head.

Oh, one last thing! Last week in the lore on the new Iron Banner armor, Saladin gives a passing thought to Savathun’s Song, that “viral chant” we’ve heard characters including Shaxx, Crow, Eris, and Lakshmi-2 singing, for a start. Just something that hasn’t come up in a while that seems like it might be super-relevant to the ongoing conversations we’re having with the Hive god of deceit.

Destiny’s Final Shape

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After Bungie’s Witch Queen showcase at the start of the Season of the Lost, I got to sit down and have a conversation with Destiny 2’s game director, Joe Blackburn, and its general manager, Justin Truman. We discussed a bunch of things both present and future in Destiny 2, including what they’re drawing on for inspiration with The Witch Queen, what playing against Hive Guardians will feel like, and how the developer is working to make more of Destiny 2 feel like its iconic content, such as raids and dungeons, and less like other first-person shooters.

There’s more from the conversation I’ll be publishing soon, but to start with, Blackburn and Truman’s explanations of what Bungie wants The Witch Queen to be like are compelling. Specifically, Blackburn said the team wants more of Destiny 2 in general to be more like the game’s best parts–missions such as Presage, as well as activities such as the dungeons and raids. The plan with The Witch Queen in particular is to make “the definitive Destiny campaign,” he said, which sounds pretty intriguing.

You can read the first of these pieces from the interview with Blackburn and Truman here, and I’ll hopefully have more from that conversation–maybe the entire conversation itself–in the coming days as well.

One thing I didn’t get a chance to talk about with Bungie was the 30th Anniversary celebration event the developer is putting out later this year. It has some specific meme intensity that I can’t ignore–a dungeon based on the Loot Cave from Destiny 1 (an element that is both hilarious and traumatic for me from the early days of covering the game) and the return of Gjallarhorn, Destiny’s most iconic gun. Darryn Bonthuys took a look at what makes the Gjallarhorn so special, which is a good primer for those Destiny fans who missed out on the gun back in the day. You might also want to dig into the lore about Gjallarhorn a bit in places like Ishtar Collective, as it’s one of those items that really feels like essential “Guardian history.”

That’s it for the Destiny stuff that’s buzzing in my brain this week. If there’s anything I missed, feel free to share it in the comments below.

Google Stadia Game Director Leaves to Join Google Cloud

Google Stadia director for games Jack Buser has left the company to work for Google Cloud. Buser will head up Cloud’s gaming arm as the new Director of Global Gaming Solutions, according to a new report from ZDNet.

Buser will begin his tenure at Cloud on September 13, where he’ll report directly to Google Cloud Vice President of Industry Solutions Lori Mitchell-Keller.

“Jack’s hire illustrates Google Cloud’s continued investment into our global, customer-first gaming strategy, and his five years at Google will help open doors for broader strategic partnerships with customers across YouTube, Stadia, and more,” Mitchell-Keller said in a statement to ZDNet. “Jack brings 20 years of experience within the industry as well as a unique blend of business and technical knowledge to further expand our ability to serve gaming customers.”

News of Buser’s departure from Stadia comes just a few months after Stadia’s Head of Product John Justice left the company, which happened just two days before it was revealed that six key Stadia staff members had left the company to join Haven Entertainment Studios.

Buser’s departure follows a string of departures likely spurred on by Stadia shutting down its internal game studios back in February, which reportedly happened in part because of the Microsoft-Bethesda acquisition that happened earlier this year.

However, other reports cite additional development details and issues, such as “tens of millions” spent on AAA ports, as major reasons for the closure of Stadia’s internal studios.

A Google spokesperson told IGN in a statement, “Gaming is an incredibly important vertical at Google and we’re seeing huge momentum across all products and services. Jack’s new role will allow us to better bring customers the best of Google across our Cloud services, Stadia, YouTube, and more. Stadia continues to be led by its GM Phil Harrison, and Stadia’s business development and partner management teams will continue to be led by Michael Abbattista, who took over the role in 2020.”

Buser’s departure points further to Stadia’s overall pivot to marketing itself as a platform for third-party companies to use as a cloud gaming platform, rather than an actual house for game development. Buser’s Stadia role was likely more aligned to the Stadia of old — the Stadia interested in developing its own games and becoming a platform not unlike PlayStation, Xbox, and the like — so his departure isn’t all that surprising, as noted by ZDNet.

A Cloud spokesperson told the publication that the company “sees incredible momentum across all industries, and gaming is one of the key verticals we are investing in.” It seems Buser will help lead Cloud’s charge into gaming.

Google says Buser’s hire will help the company develop new relationships with game publishers and developers while also connecting players to Google’s wider suite of services. It also says that Buser’s departure from Stadia will actually help Stadia because it will give Buser the chance to create more partnerships and product opportunities across Stadia and Cloud.

For more about Stadia, read about how the service finally has a search bar and then read about how Xbox Series X|S consoles are getting an updated browser that can play games via Google Stadia. Check out this story about how Google, Id, and Bungie are the subjects of a Stadia lawsuit after that.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

Life Is Strange: True Colors Chapter 2 Guide – Eleanor’s Fear Puzzle, Forgiving Ryan

In Chapter 2, Life is Strange: True Colors begins introducing puzzles that Alex will have to navigate to help the residents of Haven. The heavy-hitting ones are mandatory, though there are a few optional ones as well. Below, we go over all the major choices you’ll get to make in True Colors Chapter 2: Lanterns.

Quick note: Chapter 2 is when True Colors really opens up, allowing you to freely explore Haven and pursue tasks in whatever order you want. Alex will usually comment when she hits points of no return–in the case of Chapter 2, first telling Jed she’s done with work and then confronting Mac–so make sure that you’ve done everything you can before those moments.

More Life Is Strange: True Colors Guides

Chapter 2: Lanterns Walkthrough

Did Gabe Make The Call? [Mandatory]

At Gabe’s wake, Ryan will confront Mac, angrily accusing him of ignoring Gabe’s call to halt the scheduled detonation in the mine. To this, Mac will say he got no such call and Gabe must have made a mistake. Ryan will then turn to you for validation, asking you to support his claim since you heard Gabe make the call.

Of course, you didn’t hear the call. All you have is Gabe’s word that he made the call. Telling the truth isn’t the ideal way to go in this scenario, especially if you’re gunning for friendship or romance with Ryan. Side with Ryan and lie: Tell everyone that you heard Gabe make a call, thus accusing Mac of negligence.

Steph’s Grief Puzzle [Mandatory]

Similar to understanding Ethan’s fear, to understand Steph’s sadness, you need to empathize with her. Approach her and tap into her grief–this will highlight certain items around the apartment with a soft blue glow. Finding everything shouldn’t prove too difficult. You’ll know you’ve found everything relevant when Alex says that she has enough to go on to comfort Steph.

When you approach Steph, the subject you want to bring up is playing foosball. Goad her into playing. You’ll likely beat her the first time and then she’ll collect herself and dominate you in the second round, so prepare to battle it out in round three. It doesn’t matter too much whether you win or lose, but if you win, Alex will act like an entitled champ and Steph will be reminded of the fun she’s had with Gabe as a result. So try to win.

Signing The Typhon Agreement [Missable]

Once you’re free to explore Haven for the first time (during Alex’s search for Mac) quite a few optional choices open up to you. One of the most important involves Charlotte. Go to her shop, the marijuana dispensary, to speak with her. She’ll confide in you that she’s struggling with her own grief, helping Ethan, and dealing with Typhon–the mining company responsible for Gabe’s death.

Charlotte will tell you that Typhon has sent her a document for an enormous settlement, provided she agrees to immediately not press charges about Gabe’s death. It’s a super shady deal, but she could also use the money to support Ethan’s future. She’ll ask Alex what to do. Tell her to take the money–it sucks but it also shows that Alex cares about Charlotte and Ethan and wants their future to be secure.

Comforting Ethan [Missable]

If you head to the park, you can find Ethan. Though he isn’t really ready to open up to you, you can read his emotions to understand how he’s feeling and then let him know that you’re there for him. This will improve Alex and Ethan’s relationship. It will also unlock additional dialogue with Charlotte–you can go back to her now and tell her what’s bugging Ethan, improving your standing with her even more.

Boss For The LARP [Missable]

During this exploratory phase, you can also meet up with Steph at the record store. She’ll tell you that she wants to plan a LARP for Ethan and will ask Alex to pick which villain should be the final boss.

Your choice here will determine which of the two bosses that Alex and Ethan will fight during the LARP in Chapter 3. Both seem to be of equal strength so it really just comes down to which boss sounds cooler to fight.

Alex’s Name For The LARP [Missable]

Before leaving the record store, you can fill out Alex’s character sheet for the LARP. Before you do, be sure to read the second issue of Ethan’s comic–it is on the counter right next to the character sheets. Doing so will reveal that the protagonist in Ethan’s comic has a trusted companion by the name of Alwynn.

When filling out the character sheet, you can choose Alwynn, Alto, or Alexandra as Alex’s name for the LARP. Now that you know that the character that Ethan will portray has an in-universe companion named Alwynn, you should go with that. It will further solidify the bond between Alex and Ethan and more seamlessly insert Alex’s character into the LARP.

Eleanor’s Fear Puzzle [Mandatory]

When you search for Ethan at the flower shop, Eleanor will tell you that he left a while ago. Before you can leave, you’ll notice that Eleanor is deeply afraid. You can’t leave the shop without helping her.

Similar to handling Steph’s sadness, approach Eleanor and read her emotions. You’ll then need to find all the relevant objects–they’ll be glowing purple. In the room with Eleanor, there’s the sign on the door, flowers in storage, and the register. In the backroom, you’ll find the phone and a picture of Riley. Interact with all of them to understand why Eleanor is afraid.

You’ll then have to help retrace Eleanor’s steps. To do this, you’ll have to once again interact with the five objects but in the right order. Based on what you’ve gleaned from Alex interacting with each object, you have to try and use common sense to piece together Eleanor’s day up to that point. If you need help, we’ve outlined the steps below.

  1. Interact with the sign on the door.
  2. Interact with the phone in the backroom.
  3. Interact with the picture of Riley.
  4. Interact with the flowers.
  5. Interact with the register.

After all that, you’ll be confronted with a horrifyingly daunting and tragic choice. It will hurt, but we feel that opting to tell Eleanor the truth is the right way to go. Neither choice will impact the ending of the game, however.

Helping Mac [Mandatory]

When you finally confront Mac, he’ll have a panic attack. You can either help him or just walk away and leave him to suffer. Neither choice impacts what ending you get–just decide whether he deserves to suffer through a panic attack alone.

Forgiving Ryan [Mandatory]

When you find Ryan at the end of Chapter 2, his grief will make him angry at himself. You have to talk him down, and ultimately tell him whether Alex forgives him for Gabe’s death, Gabe would forgive him for his own death, or that Ryan ought to forgive himself. These choices don’t seem to influence the overall direction of the story too much, though suggesting that Gabe would forgive Ryan makes the most narrative sense.

After that, Alex and Ryan will continue to talk and eventually you’ll have the choice of shaking Ryan’s hand or hugging him to seal the duo’s partnership. If friendship–and eventually, romance–is your aim, go for the hug. If you want to keep things strictly professional, then a handshake works.