I hadn't heard of Dexed until today, just ahead of its PlayStation VR launch on Tuesday, but knowing that it was made by Ninja Theory (Enslaved, Hellblade) and inspired by Panzer Dragoon has me curious.
It's a straightforward premise, with players holding an ice blaster in one hand, a fire blaster in the other, and painting targets that are susceptible to one elemental attack but not the other. This trailer gets that point across, so I'll just add that there's a standard relaxing "Zen Mode" option as well.
After back-to-back late nights spent with Resident Evil 7, I could use a palate cleanser. The user reviews for the already-released Oculus Rift and HTC Vive versions of Dexed sound decent enough: short, sweet, and well-polished. About what I would expect from a built-for-VR arcade title.
Best of all, this is reasonably priced at $10. There's simply not enough of that in the VR space.
Mads Mikkelsen had no idea who Hideo Kojima was or what he’d created until he asked his son. Spoiler alert: excitement ensued.
Mikkelsen appeared on a recent episode of HideoTube, brought to you by Kojima himself to discuss Death Stranding. The actor discussed his first meeting with Kojima and his experiences developing the game. The most endearing part of Mikkelsen’s interview was when he spoke about discussing the project with his son.
"[My] son knew him, knew his games. And when I told him I was gonna meet you he was like, 'Oh! I have to come with you!' But obviously he's a brilliant man and very, very nice, and it's just an honor to be part of this. It's something that I've never done before, and to do it straight in the super league is fantastic,” Mikkelsen said (via Games Radar ).
When your kid is excited about a project, there’s no way you’re turning it down. Mikkelsen went on to discuss his experiences on the motion capture set for Death Stranding. The actor was impressed by Kojima’s push for improvisation on set. Mikkelsen liked being able to contribute to developing his character.
"As I said before, it's a very interesting universe,” Mikkelsen said, referring to Death Stranding . “It's not story driven in the sense that we go from A to Z, like we do in a film. We can make up the background, but we don't necessarily have to, because it is out of time, out of space. It is in the moment. So I think the opportunity of doing things we've never done before, as you say, that is not necessarily linked to a psychological base, but it's based to the moment. It could be very interesting, which we normally don't do when we do characters.”
For what we can tell from the Death Stranding trailers, Mikkelsen is likely playing a villain in the video game. We don’t know much about his character, but we have faith in Kojima’s ability to create interesting storylines. Death Stranding is currently in development through an exclusive partnership with Sony.
Team Ninja's excellent action-RPG Nioh launches this Tuesday on the PlayStation 4. It's been widely compared to games like Ninja Gaiden, Bloodborne, and Dark Souls.
These are apt comparisons and Nioh is nothing if not derivative. But it's a good kind of derivative, proving that Team Ninja has taken inspiration from these games and spun it into gold.
Here are some of the things that make Nioh different from Dark Souls, for better or worse.
Combat
Combat in Nioh feels a lot like a Souls game. It's rarely, if ever, as slow as the original Dark Souls and would be better served by a comparison to either Bloodborne or Dark Souls III.
The basics are very similar. You have magic, melee and ranged options. Clicking the right thumb-stick locks you onto an enemy, and flicking that same stick allows you to change targets.
You can then proceed with light or heavy attacks, stringingg these into various combos that differ depending on how you've leveled up, which stance you're in and what weapon you're using. You can also block or dodge incoming attacks.
Stances/Weapons
Where combat differs the most is in Nioh's clever 'stance' mechanic. You can choose between the very fast 'low' stance, the slow-but-strong 'high' stance or the balanced 'mid' stance. You can change stances on the fly, and each one results in completely different moves for each type of weapon. Depending on your play-style and the enemy you're up against, experimenting with different weapons in different stances could mean the difference between life and death. Or you may find you simply prefer one over the other. This all leads to quite a bit of variety when it comes to combat, even though weapon choices are limited.
I really like playing with a Kusarigama in high stance. The Kusarigama is a long chain with a blade on the end that has both very short-ranged and mid-ranged attacks. In high stance it packs a series of fast, hard hits but can also be used to snag enemies at a distance. I've used this weapon/stance combination more than any other, but on some enemies and especially on some bosses, the high stance's warm-up is too long with a Kusarigama, leaving me vulnerable for too long. So it's important to experiment with other types of weapons/stances so that you have options.
This differs from Dark Souls quite a bit. The Souls games have no 'stances' to speak of. However, they have a lot more weapon variety. Nioh has just a handful of weapon types. Within those types you may find dozens of different weapons, but they all operate more or less the same even as the stats shift from one to the next. The real move-set variety comes from stances rather than from each weapon.
Armor
Armor is varied in similar ways. Rather than dozens of unique sets, there's different types of armor that then varies in quality. The loot is almost a mix between Souls and something more along the lines of Diablo. You regularly find items with better stats that aren't all that different from what you've been using, and are constantly changing up your gear.
HUD/Items
There are some other small differences. You change stance by holding the R1 button and then pressing one of the shape buttons (triangle is high, square low, etc.) By holding R1 you can also switch between two melee weapons or two ranged weapons using the D-Pad. Holding R1 and pressing R2 swaps out your consumables, meaning you can have eight different items/spells mapped to the D-Pad. Having four weapons and eight items/spells mapped at once is extremely useful, though it can be a little overwhelming in a heated battle. I've accidentally consumed the wrong item a number of times because I forgot to swap back to the first four items.
Ki/Stamina/Life
There's also a similar stamina mechanic to the Souls games, though it's referred to as 'Ki.' You use this up by running, blocking and attacking and it recovers more slowly if you're defending---all very similar to the Souls approach. The twist is the Ki Pulse, which allows you to press R1 quickly after an attack to more rapidly recover Ki, extending your ability to keep fighting without losing your momentum. This is similar to the Rally mechanic in Bloodborne though less risky. Rallying restores health in that game by quickly returning a blow after receiving damage, which in turn exposes you to further damage. Successfully landing a Ki Pulse can also banish demonic magic that slows Ki recovery.
Along with Ki there's basic health bar. Various consumables will fill this back up, but Elixirs are your basic healing item and replenish (up to a certain amount) when you pray at a shrine.
Spirit Guardian
Accompanying you in combat is your Spirit Guardian. Each Guardian has different powers, and when you fill a special meter through combat, you can unleash your Living Weapon on an enemy. This is a powerful attack based on your Spirit Guardian that is an effective way to take out more difficult enemies.
All told, combat in Nioh feels a lot like Bloodborne but it has enough of its own mechanics to feel fresh and unique at the same time. It's clearly using many of the ideas in the Souls games and making them its own.
Credit: Nioh
Magic
Magic in Nioh is more limited than in Dark Souls, but more expansive than Bloodborne. It basically boils down to two types of magic---Onmyo magic and Ninjitsu, or Ninja skills.
Onmyo magic is largely supplemental. You can use Talismans to imbue your weapons with elemental damage, for instance, or to serve as powerful resistance wards.
Ninjitsu is really not magic at all. It allows you to create poisons, shurikens and various other items that help you in combat and renew each time you pray at a shrine (unlike regular consumables which are used up and have to be replenished.)
While magic and Ninjitsu skills are important parts of your character's build, they never figure in as largely as magic in Dark Souls. There is no mage build option in Nioh. It's much more like Bloodborne in this regard.
RPG Elements
In the Souls games you gather souls up and use these to improve stats, weapons and so forth. When you die, your souls are dropped and you have one more chance to go retrieve them. If you die on your way, the souls are lost.
In Nioh souls have been replaced by 'Amrita.' That's the Sanskrit word for 'immortality' and functions almost identically to souls in the Souls series. You use Amrita to level up and each level becomes more expensive. When you level up you level up individual stats which then impact various other qualities of your character.
When you die, your Amrita drops and you have to return to your grave to find it. Like in Souls, you have one chance. If you die, the Amrita is gone.
One of the big differences here is that your Spirit Guardian also drops with your Amrita. You retrieve it at the same time and can start building your Living Weapon meter again. If you die the meter resets to zero as well.
Spending Amrita levels up stats, but spending Samurai, Onmyo and Ninja points improve your range of special moves, items, magic and so forth. This adds a whole layer to leveling up not present in the Souls franchise.
In terms of actual roleplaying rather than leveling, there's not much to speak of. Nioh is an action game, and your choices are all about character build and not narrative outcome.
Credit: Team Ninja
Level Design
Levels are built in a similar fashion to the Souls games. You progress from a starting point to the boss. On the way you'll find shortcuts and secret passages, and you'll fight a bevy of foes. Each level has at least a couple of shrines that serve as the rough equivalent of a bonfire in the Souls games.
At a shrine you can summon help, level up, switch out your spirit guardian, ready your magic, and so forth. Praying resets the level, returning all the enemies that respawn to life.
The biggest difference between Souls and Nioh is in the world design rather than level design. Whereas Dark Souls and Bloodborne weave levels together into a larger, interconnected world, Nioh's levels are detached from one another. There's an over-map that unlocks missions as you progress. Main missions are replaced by sub-missions with a different objective after completion. Twilight missions are difficult optional missions that unlock along the way. None of these are connected physically to the others.
This is perhaps where Nioh is at its weakest and where Dark Souls and Bloodborne shine the brightest. While individual missions are well-designed in Nioh there's never that sense of wonder you experience exploring From Software's games.
Boss Fights
Boss fights are very similar to Dark Souls and Bloodborne in Nioh. Bosses are hard. They do a lot of damage, have special attacks that can paralyze or one-shot you (etc.) and take a long time to bring down.
Like in Dark Souls, finding the boss's weakness is crucial to success. There's almost always a vulnerability, and exploiting that vulnerability is key to winning. When you're killed over and over again by a tough boss and then finally, finally kill it, you have that great sense of satisfaction that you feel in Dark Souls.
Bosses vary in both difficulty and creativity, but I found them on par with many of the boss fights in the Souls games.
Difficulty
This is a hard one to really gauge. I've been playing these games for a long time now, so I'm a lot better at this kind of gameplay now than I was when I first played Dark Souls.
I will say this: The Nioh alpha was a lot harder than the Nioh we have now. That first demo was a huge struggle, with much more punishing penalties for depleting Ki. Having played the game a lot since then doesn't hurt, but there's little doubt in my mind that the difficulty was dialed down a bit since then.
Nevertheless, it's still a hard game. Enemies can be brutal, and facing a mob can be incredibly challenging.
Boss fights are easily the most challenging aspect of the game, while missions themselves seem somewhat easier than those in Dark Souls or Bloodborne.
Credit: Team Ninja
Story and Setting
While missions are generally short on dialogue and focus more on the action than anything else, the game's story plays out in both Amrita memories (basically some dialogue you hear when you search some bodies) and in cut-scenes between missions. There's not a huge or detailed story here, but it's still less sparse than the Souls games, and much, much less cryptic.
You also aren't a blank slate in Nioh. You're William, an Englishman who's fled his homeland. I won't go into any spoiler territory here. Suffice to say, the main character talks and there's actual scenes that play out during the game that flesh out the world and the story. It's a very different story-telling method than what we find in Dark Souls.
The setting is also quite different. Whereas Dark Souls and Bloodborne are both Japanese visions of Western fantasies, Nioh is a Samurai game set in a demon-infested Japan. You actually start out in England, replete with broadswords and knights in plate mail, but the vast majority of the game takes place in a dark, demonic Samurai world.
It's a wonderful change of scenery, as strikingly different from Bloodborne as that game was from Dark Souls.
Graphics
Nioh has excellent graphics and a great, distinct art-style. It also has options for graphics on the PS4 and PS4 Pro, prioritizing either graphic fidelity or frame-rate (you should pick the latter given how important frame rate is in an action game like this.) Here are all the options on PS4 and PS4 Pro.
PS4
PS4, Option 1: “Movie Mode” This mode focuses on resolution over frame rate, offering beautiful high resolution graphics with stable 30fps
PS4, Option 2: “Action Mode” Here the emphasis is on frame rate, providing a stable 60fps
PS4, Option 3: “Movie Mode (Variable frame rate)” Finally, this option provides high resolution graphics with a variable frame rate that may go over 30fps.
PS4 Pro
PS4 Pro, HD display. Option 1: “Movie Mode” Stable 1920×1080 resolution with high quality anti-aliasing at 30fps
PS4 Pro, HD display. Option 2: “Action Mode” Stable 1920×1080 resolution at 60fps
In terms of which looks better...that's harder to say. Nioh is probably the best looking game on its face, even more striking than Dark Souls III or Bloodborne, but I'm not sure anything quite compares to the art-style we get in Bloodborne or the world-building in Dark Souls.
Multiplayer is also very similar to Dark Souls. You can summon other players to help you take on bosses and tough levels. You can do this either via summoning at the shrine, or by selecting Torii Gate from the mission select map. The latter option allows you to pick someone to play with for an entire mission, and counts as a mission completion for both players. This is a good way to tackle a very tough game.
At this point, there's no PvP. The closest thing to PvP is the grave system. You can fight the AI versions of other players who have died, allowing you to gain a little extra experience and loot. These can be tough fights---similar to NPC 'phantom' fights in Dark Souls---but are no substitution for player vs player.
Hopefully that gets added in soon for the PvP crowd, as this is a game perfectly suited to competitive play. All the stance and weapon options should really make PvP a great experience when it arrives.
That's all folks!
Well, not really. There are likely a number of other differences that I haven't touched on here and if I've forgotten something please let me know and I'll add it to the post. This is, however, a pretty good breakdown of many of the biggest difference between Nioh and Dark Souls and Bloodborne. The feel of the game is at once similar and strikingly different.
Open-world games get a lot of flack. The genre is popular for offering massive and beautiful worlds, but that scale can come at the expense of story. And at first glance, it's easy to mistake Horizon Zero Dawn for another of those seemingly empty games.
But after four hours spent demoing the opening segments of the game, I can say that it’s a surprisingly story-driven game that feels more like a more fleshed-out Rise of the Tomb Raider than a reskinned Assassins Creed. Furthermore, while the Tomb Raider reboots offered what can be described at best as half-hearted attempts at an open world with a few disconnected areas and side quests, Horizon Zero Dawn goes much farther in giving a living world to explore, harvest resources, and survive in, but yet still one where where the story feels like an important and natural part of the experience.
You play as Aloy, a young woman living in the wreckage of some mysterious disaster that's catapulted mankind back to the days of animal skin outfits and bows. But technology isn't totally absent from Horizon Zero Dawn. The remnants of mankind have left behind a variety of breeds of mechanical beasts, which Aloy hunts and harvests for valuable parts and scrap to fashion technologically infused weapons and armor. And the mixture of Neolithic aesthetics with Aloy's futuristic scavenged technology helps give Horizon Zero Dawn a distinct style.
Aloy and her adopted father Rost live as outcasts from the Nora tribe, who are forbidden to speak with or interact with the two exiles. What Aloy and Rost each did to become outcasts is one of the questions the game will presumably explore, along with the larger mystery of the calamity that befell humanity, and why the robotic animals remain. Additionally, based on the trailers, it seems like the meat of the story will deal with the spread of a villainous cult that is corrupting the machine creatures to its own ends.
Even with its open-world nature, Horizon offers surprisingly deep combat, with battles that offer a pleasant challenge. The mechanical creatures are vastly more powerful than you, at least at the outset, and tend to group up as herds and work together. Running in guns (er, arrows) blazing is usually a fast way to get stomped to death by a cybernetic horse or to cause the group of robotic deer you were hoping to hunt to stampede away in a panic. A stealthy, strategic approach to fighting is typically the way to go. Fortunately, Horizon Zero Dawn has equipped Aloy with a plethora of traps, weapons, and abilities to help level the playing field.
For example, in one encounter, I was faced with a large, fire-spitting beast accompanied by several velociraptor-like Watchers. With nowhere to hide, I spent several futile runs trying to overwhelm it with sheer force before trying a different, more tactical approach. Instead of running in blindly, I peppered the area with shock traps before starting the encounter that tripped up the larger machine and gave me time to eliminate the smaller Watchers. Then I pinned the fire-spewing robot to the ground with a rope launcher and dispatched it with a series of well-placed strikes from my makeshift spear. Like any good RPG, there are a variety of different weapons with different abilities and uses, which can be further upgraded with additional modifications that increase damage or add elemental effects.
Another important ability that Aloy gains early on is the Override device, which allows her to hack the wild machines you encounter. While some will simply fight alongside you in combat as powerful allies, others — like the Strider, a horse-like robot — become rideable steeds that can be summoned as needed to quickly traverse terrain (although the controls for riding aren’t great). Aloy can also unlock new abilities through a fairly standard RPG skill table that should be familiar to anyone who's played games like Shadow of Mordor or the recent Tomb Raider reboots.
Visually, the game looks spectacular. I demoed the first few hours of Horizon on a PlayStation 4 Pro, and developer Guerrilla Games is clearly taking advantage of the power of Sony's latest console, with stunning snow-capped landscapes and seas of waving grass rendered in stunning 4K and HDR. (I also had the chance to see footage from the 1080p version of the game, which looks nice, too, if not quite as good as it does on the Pro.) The vibrant colors are also a welcome change from the dreary, gray world of Guerrilla’s Killzone series.
Despite the amount of time I’ve spent with Horizon Zero Dawn, it still feels like I've only scratched the surface. Horizon certainly makes a great first impression, but it’s also possible that may not hold up throughout the game — while four hours may seem like a lot, given the size and scope of Horizon, it remains to be seen whether or not the story elements stay strong or whether the stealth-based combat grows stale over time. That said, for now I'm eager to dive back in, uncover secrets, and most importantly, ride over the next hill to see what strange mechanical beasts I'll encounter next.
Horizon Zero Dawn launches on PS4 on February 28th.
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