By Jonathan G. Lee
Yo! Jon here again with your weekly Circle Round Up. So, I’m a curious person by nature, and my recent love of coffee has gotten me experimenting. A few days ago I thought, hey, I love coffee and I also love lemonade. People add sweeteners to coffee. Why not squeeze a bit of lemon juice into my dark roast and see how it goes?
Here’s my Circle review for you guys: Don’t. Don’t add lemon juice to your coffee.
And with that, we start the Round Up.
No Man’s Sky is out and the tentative reviews are in, but the drama train has created a lot of misconceptions between the developers and players. Is it multiplayer? Did Sean Murray say anything to imply it was? Dan Ackerman has done a quick rundown of release dates, developer statements, and what to expect. Read it here.
Speaking of No Man’s Sky, Jeremy Voss has gone ahead and written one of those tentative reviews! The game is really, really big, and the sheer vastness makes the game as majestic as it is frustrating. Your objectives are given to you while you are naked and afraid, with no specific instructions on how to complete them, which may lead you to a dead end if breaking into a building requires explosives but you’ve spent all your upgrades on mining. Still, it’s a real pretty game with lots of emergent moments, which is the way it should be played. Read more here.
Sony might announce a new entry into the console war at its PlayStation Meeting on September 7th. Project Neo is an iteration of the PlayStation 4 and Sony’s answer to the Xbox One S which was released on August 2. Samit Sarkar has written about the rumors, the details, and what we know about Neo here.
Nick Capozzoli has reviewed Dark Souls 3, the latest title in the series that became famous for tearing your face off, eating it, and had you yelling, “Thank you, sir, may I have another!?” The Souls games are praised for their notorious difficulty, and the developers have slyly embedded this imagery into their game by adding NPCs in the game who have tried to fight the world’s monsters and failed. Conventional wisdom says that games like this shouldn’t sell, that they’re not appealing to a broad enough audience. There are even streamers who have beaten Dark Souls with guitar controllers. And yet, the series thrives. As Nick pointed out, “somebody has to be buying the t-shirts.” Read more here, and consider subscribing to him for a full review!
Anthony Agnello, Matt Gerardi, Derrick Sanskrit and the rest of the Gameological scribes have joined forces to bring you their favorite videogame tunes from 1996. I’m quite partial to “Aqua and Trees” from Tobal No. 1, Square’s very first fighting game. I think I just have a soft spot for any game with characters designed by Akira Toriyama. Jam out to the whole playlist here.
Nintendo is having a back-to-school sale! Everything from software to hardware will be slashed back, including the New 3DS, Animal Crossing, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. Nintendo VP of Corporate Affairs Cindy Gordon said that the move was inspired by parents telling the company that games were a useful way to get their kids to unwind. Awww. Chelsea Stark has all the details here.
And now for news outside of the Circle. . .
Titanfall 2’s single-player campaign will feature dogs. Well, sort of. In the first game, titans were basically tanks, just an advanced form of mobile infantry. In Titanfall 2, they’re anthropomorphized. Titans will be able to talk this time around and, presumably, will also have feelings about stuff. One titan in particular will be your constant companion throughout the whole game. Basically, Respawn Entertainment found a way to put Dogmeat in the Titanfall universe. Read more here.
Tyranny, a new title being developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Paradox Interactive, is set in a world where evil has triumphed in the world because good is dumb. You play as the Fatebinder, a lieutenant serving in the empire of the feared Overlord Kyros, but you won’t be subjugating (or liberating, if your Fatebinder manages to find a conscience) by your lonesome. You’ll be doing it with buddies! Read more about the cast of companions here.
One thing I’ve always admired about the Warhammer 40K license is its fluidity across genres. There are WH40K real-time strategy games, action games (Space Marine was my jam), and MMORPGs. Now there’s going to be a WH40K adventure game. Eisenhorn: XENOS will cast you in the role of Gregor Eisenhorn, the star of Dan Abnett’s fan favorite Eisenhorn Trilogy. Eisenhorn is an Inquisitor, an agent of the Imperial Inquisition who investigate any signs of heresy, Chaos corruption, genetic mutation, xenos filthy, and the many other things that are reviled and hated on the millions of planets that make up the Empire of Man. I love 40K. I grew up on those books. I’m pretty excited about this one, you guys. Oh, and Eisenhorn will be voiced by Mark freaking Strong. Read more here.
