Tag: Software

I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of survival, using all your knowledge and resources to survive dire situations. Not only does it keep your mind focused and occupied, but it also presents unique challenges. That’s exactly what Endzone 2 provides, albeit in a videogame format. The game’s focus is to help you create a colony and help it survive in a post-apocalyptic world. If it sounds tricky, that’s because it is. Most of world has been destroyed and you can rarely find some small bits of resources. Naturally, those are crucial for the survival of our species, and you’re not the only one fighting for them. What’s really cool in Endzone 2 is that every scenario you play is different, the maps are generated automatically, although there are some predefined challenge maps they offer as well. There’s quite a lot of content to be had, and the coolest part is that you get to choose everything from the starting details to difficulty and even stuff you can/can’t ac...

Gloomy is strong, but only when the things he needs to move have a handle. Get him to interact with a door, and it's no problem. The same happens when a big, heavy locker is involved; the zombie boy can push it around all day long. But a cage, clearly lighter, is impossible to approach because this undead child has apparently mastered a very narrow skill set and isn't capable of new ideas. His weaknesses aren’t a problem when working with Nena, a nimble and brainy live girl. She’s not scared of his exposed skull, and he appears uninterested in tasting her flesh. Together, they have the abilities needed to get past cultists that are a little too close to KKK members for comfort and a variety of environmental hazards. They need to chase the fireflies in their quest to understand why the sun is no longer shining, and if there’s a way to bring it back. There are times when I screw up their teamwork. I rush to get a required item or fail to notice a threat, and one of t...

The Lift is not your typical house-flipping game. Although the core mechanic of the game involves repairing from vending machines and generators to satellite dishes and reactors, The Lift transports players into an eerie world inspired by Soviet sci-fi and SCP Foundation. Inspired by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s sci-fi books, the mind-bending story of The Lift makes it stand out from other titles with house-flipping gameplay. In The Lift, players take the role of a “spare” handyman, one who’s put into hibernation in case something happens with the primary handyman. You’ll be spending the first few hours trying to make your way to The Lift, after the massive research facility that you serve has been abandoned following a mysterious incident. The puzzle and exploration elements are part of the game’s core, so if you’re looking to fix a generator, you’ll have to explore a bit to find the components you need. The first few levels that I played didn’t really require y.

After the somewhat underwhelming Sequoia, which lacked much of its advertised functionality on release, Apple seems to have stepped up its game with macOS Tahoe. This release brings both a visual redesign and a long list of new features that enhance built-in utilities and allow for more personalization. It's a great update for power-users, who get a bunch of new toys to play with, and a continuation of Apple's efforts to bring all its platforms closer together. Liquid Glass aesthetic and UI customization The most striking change is certainly the translucent, glass-like visual overhaul, allowing visual elements to reflect and refract content. This applies to the Dock, menu bar, widgets, icons, and some other elements, and there is some degree of customization available. There are a few icon and widget styles to choose from, such as dark, clear, or tinted; the latter is an interesting option if you want to go for a particular color scheme that wil...

Survival games always tend to be very fast-paced, and they focus a lot on jump scares. Bendy: Lone Wolf is certainly a survival experience at its heart, but unlike most titles in the genre, it’s very methodical, and for a very good reason. Sure, there are times when you need to run, but a lot of the time, you need to be sneaky, to figure out the best spots to hide, and then run to the elevator. The premise of the game is very simple, you are Boris, a wolf trapped in the Joey Drew Studios. You need to find supplies and weapons, but rest assured, that there are lots of dark puddle creatures trying to stop you. Not only that, but the Ink Daemon itself is trying to capture you. As you enter every level, you must find the various items from your list, and they are spread throughout the entire level. Once you find those, the daemon will start hunting you down. So, ideally, you want to get close to the exit before getting the final item, as the chase sequences are very fa...

The first time a metro train killed my characters was because I was careless. After eliminating a few corridors' worth of enemies, I was eager to get to the end of the level. I did not count the time between trains and hurried to get to the platform. I was quickly flattened and had to start over, once again dealing with dogs, masked men armed with bats, one acrobatic assassin, and plenty of gunmen. My Doctor slows down time for like half a second every time she kills someone, which gives me a chance to spot incoming threats and adjust my aim accordingly. Because I’ve already been through this metro level, I also have a pretty clear idea of where enemies are coming from. This makes it easier to plan movement and shoot preemptively, eliminating some opponents even before they appear on screen. It takes me another two tries to get to the next level because a dog gets a lucky bite. The Doctor starts with a silenced gun, so dealing with the first six enemies is very eas...

Daniel is probably thinking he would have been better off staying at home and playing some video games. Since getting to the boardwalk for fun and sun, his sister has been kidnapped by unknown evil doers, and he lost his mom’s credit card as soon as he tried to use it. A clever solution involving some light sabotage and solid beach towel use dealt with that issue. But Becca is still missing, it’s night, and now Dakota, another good friend, has been found buried on the beach. To make things even worse, our hero is trapped in a bathroom with a groggy old man and no idea about how he can get out. I’ve quickly interacted with all the nicely highlighted points of interest in this small space and haven’t got a clue about which combination of objects and actions can help me break down the door that leads to the boardwalk. Part of the answer probably lies in the locked stall. So far, neither clever use of a fishhook nor physical force has managed to open the door. Thankful...

Slicing away at the jumping enemies is taking some joy out of this otherwise very good song. It’s hard to enjoy the music and the narrative moments from legendary actor Peter Stormare while also worrying about incoming arrows and undead Norsemen falling from cliffs. I mostly avoid incoming obstacles and nail my jumps, but solid sword action doesn’t come naturally. As a result, my heroine is losing health faster than she should. We’ve mastered two songs to get here, taking only minimal damage while dealing with a medium and a hard level. Hard-won whispers were spent on getting another half heart and a longer invulnerability period after taking a hit. Both help, but the stream of arrows and complex layouts is taking a toll. Some glowing sword healing might make it easier to reach the level’s end, but I need to get my strikes right first. I lose my last sliver of health when I fail to bat an arrow away. I need to once again push through two other songs before I get a ...

These days, we see a lot of roguelite games that artificially try to increase game time through repetition. VOID/BREAKER manages to do something different, because it brings you fast-paced action, a great progression system, but also tons of loot, along with a solid story. At the time of this writing, the story aspect is very limited, since the game is in early access. But even now, I am quite impressed with the ideas they are adding in. Simply put, you enter a world that you can’t exit, and where many just like you died without going back. You even encounter an evil AI whose main focus is to exit this place, where you always go deeper and deeper to new levels. While the story is still developing, I found it interesting enough, especially since most games in this genre ditch the story completely. But the most important thing is the gameplay anyway. For me, VOID/BREAKER does a great job at bringing in fast paced gameplay and looter shooter aspects, since for every l...

The SHINOBI series has been a long-standing platforming and hack and slash series that has become legendary over the past 3 decades. It started in the late 80s, and with help from SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance, it continues deep into the 2020s. And, in my opinion, it manages to reach its peak with its latest iteration. In SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance, you play the role of Joe Musashi, and you find your village burnt by unknown enemies. From there, your focus is to figure out who did that, but also narrow down the best way to bring them to justice. That’s not an easy thing to achieve, as there are all kinds of enemies and levels to go through, each with varied degrees of challenges. One of the cool things about SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance is that the game has plenty of ninja gear you can find in the game, along with secrets, but also a shop filled with upgrades. And on top of that, there are new powers and all kinds of things for you to check out. So, even if you’re deep in...