Kickstarter successes coming this year (indie PC titles)

YOOKA LAYLEE

Yep, it’s already the year of the spiritual successor to Banjo- Kazooie.After a £2 million success on Kickstarter, this ultimate buddy platformer looks packed to the nostalgic gills with fun.And it seems  when the devs say it hasan“arsenal of abilities” it also includes a move involving a giant fart. Mature.

HOME FREE
It’s a dog-eat-dogworld. Not literally – that would beavery different kind of game and we like the visuals for this canine simulator without any need for cannibalism. A procedurally generated city will offer multiple challenges as we learn to take on the world as a lone pup,and it unpawses in November.

THIMBLEWEED PARK
Been craving the point-and-click adventures of old? This is bound to make your pixelated dreams come true.From Maniac Mansion and,more importantly, Monkey Island devs Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, it’s described as “an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game.” Count us in. June isn’t too far away, is it?

FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE GAME
Jason is back in his first game in 27years, with asymmetrical multiplayer that sends shivers down our spines.You can play as Mr Vorheesands talk the staff of Camp Crystal Lake, or as a counsellor and try to escape becoming ingredients in some meatys’ mores.Yum.

Aftershock PC Screenshots

We really liked the parkour in Mirror’s Edge so the announcement that this open world MMOFPS would also have parkour got our attention. Focus Studios have just switched from Unity to using the Unreal 4 engine which they say is “better optimised to making a survival game.” They’ve also  included dynamic looting, basebuilding and are planning to include land, sea and air vehicles and  moving AI missions.

DEVELOPER INDIE
PUBLISHER FOCUS STUDIOS
DUE AUGUST 2016

Hitman - Intro Pack System Requirements & Screenshots

Screenshots & Specs

Reviews

Need to Know

Videos

Rating: 75/100

GameInfo: With the Intro Pack, you'll get an introduction to the world of HITMAN, with the Prologue and Paris episode. You'll get full access to Contracts Mode, Escalation Mode, elusive targets and all other live content.

Minimum:
• OS: OS 64-bit Windows 7
• Processor: Intel CPU Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz / AMD CPU Phenom II X4 940
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 / Radeon HD 7870
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 50 GB available space

Recommended:
• OS: OS 64-bit Windows 7 / 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1) or Windows 10
• Processor: Intel CPU Core i7 3770 3,4 GHz / AMD CPU AMD FX-8350 4 GHz
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 770 / AMD GPU Radeon R9 290
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 50 GB available space

Screenshots:

Need for Speed - 2016 System Requirements and Screenshots

Screenshots & Specs

Reviews

Need to Know

Videos

Rating: 72/100

GameInfo: One of the first things you’ll notice when tackling the front of your car is the ability to modify your stance. Whether you are changing the ride height by slamming it to the ground, raising it up, or anything in between, you choose your perfect ride height. Throw in options for rake and both front and rear track width, and you’re on your way to creating something truly unique. Suspension tuning is finished up with your camber. With the angle on both the front and rear wheels being set independently you’ve got the ability to create some truly out of this world looking cars. The PC version has new features, including unlocked framerate with 4K resolution, manual transmission, and steering wheel support for a selection of steering wheels.

The minimum requirements for 720p and 30fps at low settings:

OS: 64-bit Windows 7 or later
Processor: Intel Core i3-4130 or equivalent with four hardware threads
Memory: 6GB RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB, AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB, or equivalent DX11 compatible GPU with 2GB memory
Hard Drive: 30 GB free space

And the recommended requirements for 1080p and 60fps at high settings:

Windows 7 or later
Intel Core i5-4690 or equivalent with four hardware threads
8GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB, AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB, or equivalent DX11 compatible GPU with 4GB memory
30 GB free space

Screenshots:

Denuvo DRM and the future of PC games

Cracking PC video games over the past year or two has proven to be very time consuming and even futile in some instances. Games such as Battlefield Hardline, Batman Arkham Knight, Dragon Age Inquisition, Just Cause 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid V the Phantom Pain, Mad Max and even the more recently released Far Cry Primal have all utilized the Denuvo DRM. Its hard to imagine that years ago all you had to do was download a PC game, install some patches if needed, apply the crack files and you were good to go. On the other hand, games such as, Call of Duty Black Ops 3, The Witcher 3, The Evil Within, Alien Isolation, Far Cry 4, Dying Light (as well as its expansion Dying Light the Following), Fallout 4 and Street Fighter V haven't utilized the Denuvo DRM protection scheme. Unfortunately, major titles that don't implement said protection scheme are few and far between.

Having said that, what is the future of PC gaming? You either take the chance and wait and wait when and if a PC version of a game gets cracked or you buy the legit copy. Even if you do buy the legit PC version you have two major issues to deal with. The first issue is that even if you uninstall a game there will still be residual leftover from the Denuvo DRM (which can be a bit cumbersome to remove). Also, the Denuvo DRM greatly impacts the performance of a PC video game (Batman Arkham Knight being a great example). The 2nd issue is that once you buy a PC game you usually aren't allowed to return it. If you spend your hard earned money on a glitchy and buggy game then you are stuck with a non-working product. You also lose your money in the process.

I'm not one to condone or encourage piracy in any way shape or form. However, the one major upside to downloading a PC game is that it gives gamers a chance to give the game a test drive so to speak. If I download a PC game and it works really well on my PC then I will happily remove it and buy a legit copy. On the other hand, if I download a video game and it has lots of issues, glitches and bugs then I won't have to worry about losing my money as a result of buying a non-working product.
Do you think that more and more AAA PC games are going to utilize the DRM protection scheme? Perhaps cracking PC games has come to an inevitable end (minus indie games, smaller budget titles and some AAA releases). I'm all for supporting a video game developer that respects its consumer base, releases a fully working product and that doesn't have a shady business model. The last thing that I want to do is to buy a PC version of a game knowing that the Denuvo protection method is going to impact its performance and even after uninstalling the game Denuvo will still leave behind residual junk that will also impact my PC in one way or another. Also, like I said before, nobody wants to buy a glitchy and buggy game. Has console gaming become the go to for PC gamers or is there still hope for PC games out there? What do you think? Please share your opinions and thoughts. Thanks!

Fragments of Him - Screenshots

Currently in development since 2012 and the result of a Gamejam session, Fragments of Him is an interesting title to boot. Attempting to explore death and how the loss of a person affects those around them, the game’s narrative unfurls after the passing of a young man called Will. In it you’re able to interact with Will’s lover, his friend, mother and, in particular, Will’s own memories to further explore each of their lives.

Rogue Stormers - Run ‘n’ gun rogue mayhem

I remember writing up about an upcoming title from Black Forest Games; a steam-punk, Rogue-like title called Dieselstormers. set for a Q2/Q3 2014 release. There was quite a bit of a buzz around it as  this title had been initiated as a Kickstarter project back in 2013, was scrapped, re-hashed and successfully funded in 2014 and on July 17 2014, was released on Steam Early Access.
Pending a lawsuit with Diesel S.p.A, Black Forest Games was forced to drop the name Dieselstormers and thus Rouge Stormers was born. As a side-scrolling Rogue-like RPG shooter, Rogue Stormers takes the elements from each of those genres, fuses them with steam-punk thematic setting and characters for a high paced action packed adventure. The main pull of Rogue Stormers is its procedurally generated  levels that players will have pleasure of exploring; this will mean that players can enjoy the various games without the fear of feeling that each level is repetitive. The rogue-like elements are to surely  add an interesting competitive edge to the game, even though dying will allow you to keep perks, allowing for growing stronger with each raid. Players will take up one of the stormers and traverse  the expansive city of Ravensdale, fending off the hordes of goblins and orcs. Five additional classes will be unlockable while players progress, allowing for varied gameplay due to each class having its own unique set of skills and base weapons. Each successful mission campaign will grant players  crafting materials and gun parts for upgrades. Rogue Stormers will allow up to four players to co-operatively navigate levels in both offline and on-line multiplayer, making it an ideal party game.