Latest news with #roguelike
Digital Trends
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Abyssus feels like Deep Rock Galactic and Dead Cells had an ocean-dwelling baby
Humanity has always been drawn to places it isn't welcome, and Abyssus capitalizes on that masochistic impulse by throwing players into a world filled with strange golems, inventive traps, and an array of weapons to pick from. Described as a 'brine-punk roguelike FPS,' Abyssus takes notes from Deep Rock Galactic, Dead Cells, and Risk of Rain to become an entity unique in its own way, but one that often feels like its identity is lost in common gameplay elements. Abyssus is a roguelike that can be played solo or with up to four players, but it's best experienced with friends. Why? Friendship is power, or in this case, just having another weapon or two on the field might give you breathing room. My first run was just over six minutes as I learned the ins and outs of the game, but then my second run lasted maybe 15 seconds more. And my third was about the same. Recommended Videos All of this is just a long-winded way of saying: Abyssus does not hold your hand. Starting out, the depths are relatively forgiving but quickly become overwhelming as more and more enemies flood the space. I managed to last until the first random event. Tasked with charging two beacons while fighting off a never-ending flood of spawns, I realized too late that I had to stand in the circles around the beacons to charge them. Outside of teaching players how to destroy pylons (red crystals that appear as part of events), how certain mechanics work isn't explained well. A basic tutorial introduces how to use weapons, abilities, and perform routine tasks, but Abyssus embraces its exploratory theme by leaving players to figure things out themselves. I caught on with only 10 HP left, and most of the attacks were knocking off around 30 per hit. It only took one poorly-timed dodge to add my character to the list of those claimed by the unknown. Given its roguelike nature, though, death isn't unexpected. I only unlocked a single perk upon death, and no Soul Fragments (the items needed to unlock permanent upgrades). You can customize your weapons with different skills after you unlock them, and there's a handy logbook listing how to unlock most items in the game and what you need to accomplish to do so. Though my first run was short, it felt like more time. Make of that what you will. I felt like I'd been playing a good bit longer, so it was fun in that respect, but the homogenous nature of the levels led to a not-insignificant amount of confusion as I tried to figure out whether I'd accidentally backtracked. That's the biggest weakness I noticed in my time with the game. The levels, while interesting in their design, aren't interesting enough to be as repetitive as they are. Depth #1 looked roughly the same as Depth #2, and I swear I went through the same sloping staircase section (with totally empty, pointless rooms on either side) at least four times. The only level of the Depths that looked different than the others was the fourth floor. That contained the boss, and it's a doozy. After multiple runs, I'm convinced this game is meant to be played as a group. Trying to solo some of these areas is an exercise in masochism, and despite my best efforts, dodging and spamming the Space Bar to jump rope over shockwaves, he brought me down before I could reach his third phase. The good, the bad, the briny I started out with only the Engine Rifle, the lovechild of a steampunk machine gun and a diving bell. With a steady firing mode, I had a few seconds of sustained output before I used up its 40-ammo clip, but that was enough to take down the weakest enemies. The secondary fire mode unleashed a rapid-fire stream of lead, but it overheated quickly. Paired with a regenerating supply of grenades and a wrench that, ironically, did more damage than nearly anything else, it's not a bad loadout for a first-time player. After you die the first time, you'll reach the camp. Think of it like the staging area from Deep Rock Galactic. There's plenty to do, including finding eight glowing green orbs called Surge Fissures. Destroying these will unlock a new piece for your outfit, letting you change your look. Again, the game doesn't explain what these are, but my gamer instincts took over. I saw a glowing green orb I couldn't reach, so my natural instinct was to shoot it. That worked. I had previously seen one on a level that I tried to reach, only to fling myself into the water and drown. I assumed it was just a light, which I suppose also means I Gatsby'd myself. A workbench allows you to customize your weapon and loadout. At first, there's nothing you can really change, but don't miss the pistol tucked away to the side of the bench. You can't carry both it and your rifle, so you have to choose which weapon to start the run with. While the pistol has a slight zoom function and does more damage per shot, its clip is significantly smaller. It would be excellent if you had a friend to play with, but I found the Engine Rifle to be much better for solo play. During each run, you can visit the Blessing Altars scattered throughout the map to give yourself unique advantages. Think of these as temporary, run-specific buffs. For instance, one granted extra damage to my secondary fire and caused it to charge up a shield that would give me 50 additional health for a short time. Another powered up my primary fire mode and caused whirlwinds to erupt from enemies for extra damage. It's also interesting that the Blessing Altars look almost exactly like Sheikah Monks from Breath of the Wild, but that's neither here nor there. More permanent upgrades come in the form of the Soul Wheel. After you collect Soul Fragments, you can use the Soul Wheel to grant long-term power-ups to your character, such as an extra Syringe (a must-have for keeping yourself alive during runs) and extra damage. Soul Fragments are rare, earned by defeating strong enemies and by completing specific challenges in the game. Once I earned a few Soul Fragments and could carry a second syringe, it addressed the biggest issue I had: healing. There's no way, at least that I could find, to heal yourself without the syringe item. And there doesn't seem to be a way to get your hands on more once the level starts, short of finding a key and purchasing one from the merchant (who is a creepy-looking skeleton that I absolutely pumped full of bullets before I realized it wasn't trying to kill me.) All in all, Abyssus was a fun game — but its defining feature is its setting. The 'brinepunk' description caught my eye, but without that moniker, the game doesn't feel particularly remarkable in any other way. It's a fun, solid FPS roguelike, but it lacked any gameplay elements that set it apart from similar games. Despite that, it executes a tried-and-true formula in a way that's both fun and familiar, and I can definitely see myself spending more time with Abyssus, even if it isn't game of the year.
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Icelandic Developer Aska Studios Is Ready to Talk About Their Debut Title, Gang of Frogs
'Frogs, Hippos, tadpoles, crabs,' this is just the start of what you can expect from Aska Studios' first game, Gang of Frogs. Aska Studios is a studio out of Iceland that has been working on their debut title, Gang of Frogs, for the last two years. If you know me at all, you know that I have a deep love for Iceland, especially their gaming culture, so when the opportunity to talk to the team about the game came up, I just couldn't pass on it. Gang of Frogs is a roguelike, shooter, deck-builder, and its art style is absolutely stunning. Pairing that with a studio with tons of experience across the board, a community-first approach, and a lot of light-hearted fun, it looks like the game has a strong future ahead. I was able to sit down with Aska Studios Co-founder and Gang of Frogs Game Director, Halldór Heidberg, to learn more about their Icelandic studio and what we can expect from the game in the future. Read to the end for more information on how to play Gang of Frogs a lot sooner than you think! Tell us a little bit about Aska Studios and how it came to be. Halldór Heidberg: Aska Studios was founded at the end of 2022 by me and my childhood friends. Ever since we were 10 years old, we dreamed of building video games together, even going so far as to sketch out ideas and concepts on paper way back then (Which are still kept safe and sound in my co-founder's basement). In 2022, we found ourselves growing up and involved in different industries, myself in games and film, Friðrik in programming and Jóhannes in sound engineering and the music world. Suddenly, it just made sense to combine our complementary skill sets and realize our dream of making a game together. Since then, we have been extremely fortunate to get top talent from across the industry to join our team, people who have worked on everything from Call of Duty to Marvel movies. Most recently, we had Ólafur join our founding team with his previous experience from CCP Games, Riot Games and 1939 Games, and we are really excited about the next chapter for Aska Studios. At Aska, we pride ourselves on the highly effective remote work culture we have built in the last few years, and this allows us to work with the most talented people from across the globe, which bypasses one of the biggest problems we have, being on a small island in the North Atlantic — access to gaming industry talent. We have 15 people now working on the team, along with a network of contractors, all laser-focused on making Gang of Frogs into the best game we possibly can. What is your role at the studio? Halldór Heidberg: Founding a company requires you to wear probably all the hats over time, and that has definitely been my experience as well. My passion has always been on the creative side of things, and I have led our creative efforts since day one, but through this process, I found myself loving the process of building a great team and given the calibre of people we have on board at the moment, I think that has been going pretty well. As for my role, it has evolved gradually over time. As the studio grows, I'm able to step more into a full-time game director role, but it's been everything from company management and business development to character design throughout the process. is well-known for game development. How has being a studio based in Iceland benefited your team? Halldór Heidberg: I think there are benefits and drawbacks to being based in a small country like Iceland. The biggest drawback is obviously access to talent and connection to the wider games industry, although this has improved in the past decade, especially with how successful CCP Games has been; they have really seeded the market with amazing people. In terms of benefits, I think the biggest benefits for us have been being a part of a tight knit industry in Iceland where we can seek advice or input from industry veterans and powerhouses fairly easily, something that might be more difficult if we were a small studio in LA looking for some face time with CEOs of bigger gaming companies. I also think the company culture and vibe is very Icelandic, something about being from a small island and having to fight for your existence creates oversized ambitions, perseverance, and a fighting spirit, all of which I think define the day-to-day culture of the team. No one is afraid of challenges, and we are excited to pursue ambitious goals. You have people on your team all across the globe, despite being headquartered in Iceland. What does Aska Studios gain by branching out in that way? We get a lot from the global nature of the team, not only do we get to work with talent that would be difficult to find if we were only looking within Iceland, but we also get different perspectives from people that come from very different backgrounds to us, and that, ultimately, creates a much better end result when it comes to the game. This also helps us better understand regional nuances, whether that is understanding how to build a good game for the North American market or the Asian market and this aligns well with our ambitions with the game, ultimately we just want to make something worthy of people's time and want to see as many people as possible find their inner frog and enjoy conquering hordes of space crabs. What kind of experience does the Aska Studios and team have, and how have you been able to harness that talent for this game? Halldór Heidberg: The team around the game has a lot of experience. We often say that we are first-time founders backed by industry veterans, and I think the resumes of our team back that statement up fully. We have members of the team who have previously worked at Activision/Blizzard, Riot Games, CCP Games, Raven Software, Mountaintop, Warhorse, and more. This means that everything that makes it into the game, from gunplay to the UI/UX design, is backed by years of real experience with what works and what doesn't. If you combine this level of talent with a high-trust company structure and a culture that emphasizes regular feedback and open communication, it is amazing to see what can be accomplished without a specific need to 'harness' any talent; good stuff just flows from talented people in this case. is the first game to come out of Aska Studios. How did the concept come to be? Halldór Heidberg: About four years ago, I created the character Hank, a reptilian hammerhead shark, which ended up being quite well-received and became the captain of the frog crew in Gang of Frogs. I've been a massive frog fan my entire life. There are no frogs in Iceland, so moving abroad as a kid, they really stood out. They are these very memeable, loveable creatures, and I just felt they hadn't been represented like I wanted them to be in games. So after Hank, it just made sense to keep building this universe, Frogs, Hippos, tadpoles, crabs and in the future greatly expanding this roster. 'About four years ago, I created the character Hank, a reptilian hammerhead shark, which ended up being quite well-received and became the captain of the frog crew in Gang of Frogs.' What can you tell us about ? Halldór Heidberg: Gang of Frogs is really the game a lot of us wish we had access to today, nothing super complicated, just fun, action-packed and pretty! We absolutely want to invoke the same type of feelings and experience we remember fondly from our childhood playing some of the early consoles, where you could absolutely get lost in a virtual world and have a great time while doing it. Obviously, a gang of frogs is unique. Why frogs? Halldór Heidberg: Frogs are just fantastic. Our mantra is that Frogs > No frogs. Originally, we had plans to include many types of animals, but as the game progressed, the frogs just stood out as our favourite of the bunch. They are fascinating animals, and a lot of people around the world love them. Being able to interpret different characters as frogs in terms of how they are built, what colours they are and how they accessorize is a fun project as well. But even though the game is called Gang of Frogs, who knows if more types of animals will join the fray? What makes it different from other co-op shooters, aside from the frogs? Halldór Heidberg: Gang of Frogs is a rougelite shooter, that already sets it apart from most core gameplay loops within the shooter genre. The game can be equally rewarding to hardcore players who want to grind to the end game and to players who just want a quick trip to space for some action to unwind at the end of their day. But the truly unique aspect of the game is its deckbuilding core. In each run, the player must manage their economy to purchase cards that represent upgrades, modifiers, weapons and abilities and based on the deck a player builds throughout a run, their experience can be vastly different. From being a DPS machine with a damage boosted minigun to being an explosive specialist with grenades and airstrikes at their disposal the game will offer over 100 billion build combinations at launch in addition to permanent upgrades and more all serving to make each playthrough feel different and give the player a lot of agency in choosing their preferred path every time they play. What do you think players will be most excited or surprised by when they go hands-on with ? Halldór Heidberg: We are definitely trying to maximize the fun factor. It is our core belief that if players decide to invest their time and money into Gang of Frogs they should be rewarded with a fun experience that is worth their time. The art style in is beautiful and colourful. What was the inspiration behind it? Halldór Heidberg: We are '90s babies, so we are greatly inspired by Y2K aesthetics. I generally believe the colourful, contrasting worlds, odd characters and adventurous themes will resonate with a lot of players today. Movies/games such as Treasure Planet, Atlantis, Ratchet & Clank, all sorts of 90s anime and other themes really hold a lot of thematic inspirations. We call the games art direction 'Historical Cyberpunk' or putting neon lights into flying wooden ships and building skyscrapers out of crooked stone and wood buildings, which would be quite related to Steampunk, however, minus all the brass and gears. You mentioned a community on Discord. How has having a place for the community to grow and interact affected the development and the team? Halldór Heidberg: We have been extremely lucky to have found a dedicated core group that is interested in the game early on. Now, as we start getting closer to releasing the game in early access, we are working closely with the community on every step we take. This means regular playtests and being very open about what we are doing and what we are thinking about when we make changes or add new things to the game. It can be hard for people that spend all day, every day thinking about the game to notice things that might not work or realize that the wrong assumption was made a few months back, so having the community there to help us identify what we can do better and what we are doing well is invaluable and really allows us to build the best version of Gang of Frogs we can. It's also just a great place for us to get to know people and for people to get to know each other. What has the reaction to been like so far? Halldór Heidberg: So far, the reaction has been fantastic! The trailer we released has received close to three million views across different channels and through content creators sharing the trailer and their thoughts on it, which is something we are delighted to see. Reading through the comments, we can also see that there is an appetite for the type of game we are creating, something you can play with your friends and just enjoy the fun of playing together without having to worry about fairness in matchmaking, hackers or any of that stuff. Add to that a humour-laden narrative and interactions, and you have all the ingredients for a great night of gaming action, fun, humour, what's not to love? People also seem to like the art and visual style of the game, and we believe there is a lot that we can do within this new world we are building that can deliver countless hours of fun to our players. Our initial playtests were also extremely promising, with most people who play the game saying that it is fun and they would like to play more, which is always a good sign. But we will, of course, continue to listen to the feedback and our community to improve the game all the way up to launch. Can you tell our audience anything about upcoming playtests or events, or how to stay up to date on ? Halldór Heidberg: Absolutely! We would love to see everyone join our Discord community and sign up for future playtests through there. We aim to run tests bi-weekly for the time being and then do more frequent and longer play tests as we progress further in development. We are rapidly increasing the number of players involved in each playtest, so players who sign up now shouldn't have to wait for a long time before they get their chance to play the game and give us feedback. Through Discord, we will also be doing dev hangouts, Q&A sessions and preview streams in the near future. The Discord server can be found here or through our website. We would also love to see people wishlist the game on Steam so they are notified when the game is released. Our Steam page can be found here. Finally, we have social media accounts we post on occasionally, but we will be more active there in the coming weeks and months, so for anyone interested in following us there, they should connect with us on the following socials: Tiktok: Instagram: X: Facebook: CGMagazine is happy to announce that Gang of Frogs will be hosting its next playtest on July 31st, 2025, so make sure to join their Discord for your chance to go hands-on with the game.
Yahoo
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Elden Ring: Nightreign's Duo Mode Is Coming to Save You From Matchmaking Hell
Elden Ring: Nightreign, from developer FromSoftware, at first seemed like a gimmicky spinoff of its 2022 hit Elden Ring. Since then, it's proven to be a popular game that was the best-selling title in June, and in a few days, it's going to get one of its most requested features. In Nightreign, you can play solo or in a team of three. On July 30, the option for Duo Expeditions will be available, letting players take on runs with a friend. Players have been requesting a two-player mode since Nightreign came out. Modders even went so far as to release a mod to add the feature to the PC version of the game just days after it launched. Adding the Duo option means no longer needing to find a third player via matchmaking. As is the case with any online matchmaking, you never know if you'll get a competent player. There's also no voice chat in the game, so communication is limited to pinging locations on the map. Nightreign is set in the Elden Ring universe and has a shrinking storm circle mechanic, similar to Fortnite. This takes 15 minutes, so players have to act quickly in order to gain levels and obtain the weapons and items they need to defeat the first night's boss. If the boss is defeated, the storm circle resets and players have another 15 minutes to get even more powerful. If they survive the second night, they'll be transported to an area to take on the Nightlord, a powerful boss needed to complete the run successfully. Nightreign is a roguelike, so every run is different, with locations and night bosses changing. Because of that, it's easy to continue to play matches over and over again. Last month, FromSoftware released an option for harder Nightlords called Everdark Sovereigns. These are powered-up Nightlords that have more health and an additional phase in their fight, where the difficulty ramps up tremendously and makes for a battle meant for the most expert of players. Duo Expeditions for Nightreign will arrive via an update on July 30. Elden Ring: Nightreign is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles for $40.
Forbes
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Word Play' Review: Scrabble Meets Balatro In This Bargain Game
Word Play combines Scrabble-like spelling with roguelike elements It's not all that often that word games are bobbing near the top of the Steam charts. Word Play has been hovering near the top of the Popular New Releases since it was launched earlier this month and after a few hours playing the game you can see why it's earned a 92% rating on Steam. Word Play is Scrabble meets Balatro, a game where you score more points for plonking down long words, but with a roguelike element to it. Like Balatro, you have to earn a target score before you can advance to the next round, and there are all kinds of perks and modifiers that can increase the score of the words you play. Also like Balatro, it's disgustingly addictive. Word Play Gameplay At first glance, World Play looks more like another popular word game: Boggle. Your letters are arranged in a four-by-four grid and you're looking for the longest words. Four letters is the minimum, but there are bonus points on offer for five-letter words or longer. The scoring is identical to Scrabble – ten points for the Q and Z, a point each for the vowels and common consonants, and so on. However, the real scoring comes from the perks (similar to Balatro's jokers) that you obtain as you move through the rounds. These add scoring bonuses to the words that you play or apply other power-ups that help you play. For example, you might get a 3x bonus score for the second letter in every word, or a +4 bonus if a word contains an E. Those bonuses can carry over, so the +4 becomes +8 if the next word you play also contains an E, for example. To get through the harder rounds, you're probably going to need to find perks that synergize with one another. For example, there's a perk that refreshes your letters if they don't contain an E, which works very nicely with the perk mentioned previously that cranks up your score for words containing that letter. In addition to the perks, there are upgrades (think Baltatro's tarot cards) that can permanently increase the score of letters in your bag or allow you to switch one letter for another. There are modifiers that vary the rules of the game, such as turning a Q into a Qu to make it easier to play. There are gifts and special tiles that make it easier to score points. Like Balatro, it all sounds quite complicated and finicky when you write it down, but after a few rounds of play you'll quickly get the hang of it. Winning Word Play Some rounds make you play the highlighted letters The aim of the game is to progress through the rounds, accumulating enough points to move on to the next, until you've won the final round. Some rounds have special rules, such as forcing you to play a certain letter or only allowing words that are six letters or longer to make it more challenging. You only get a limited number of 'plays' in each round, and there are only so many tiles in your bag, so you've got to make sure you're scoring heavily each time you play a word in the later rounds, or else you'll bust. It's a clever, cleanly designed game that will run on practically anything – PC, Mac or Steam Deck. The only thing I don't like about it is the irritating music, but that's easily switched off. For less than $10, Word Play is a B-A-R-G-A-I-N (yes, only ten points scored, but you should see my perks).
CNET
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
Elden Ring: Nightreign's Duo Mode Is Coming to Save You From Matchmaking Hell
Elden Ring: Nightreign, from developer FromSoftware, at first seemed like a gimmicky spinoff of its 2022 hit Elden Ring. Since then, it's proven to be a popular game that was the best-selling title in June, and in a few days, it's going to get one of its most requested features. In Nightreign, you can play solo or in a team of three. On July 30, the option for Duo Expeditions will be available, letting players take on runs with a friend. A two-player mode has been a requested feature since Nightreign came out. Modders even went so far as to release a mod to add the feature to the PC version of the game just days after it launched. Adding the Duo option means no longer needing to find a third player via matchmaking. As is the case with any online matchmaking, you never know if you'll get a competent player. There's also no voice chat in the game, so communication is limited to pinging locations on the map. Nightreign is set in the Elden Ring universe and features a shrinking storm circle mechanic, similar to Fortnite. This takes 15 minutes, meaning players have to act quickly in order to gain levels and obtain the weapons and items they need to defeat the first night's boss. If the boss is defeated, the storm circle resets and players have another 15 minutes to get even more powerful. If they survive the second night, then they'll be transported to an area to take on the Nightlord, which is a powerful boss needed to complete the run successfully. Nightreign is a roguelike, so every run is different, with locations and night bosses changing. Because of that, it's easy to continue to play matches over and over again. Last month, FromSoftware released an option for harder Nightlords called Everdark Sovereigns. These are powered-up Nightlords that have more health and an additional phase in their fight, where the difficulty ramps up tremendously and makes for a battle meant for the most expert of players. Duo Expeditions for Nightreign will arrive via an update on July 30. Elden Ring: Nightreign is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles for $40.
