Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 94

My Game Awards Predictions Were Completely Wrong

(To be fair, I only made a couple of predictions.)

I went into The Game Awards expecting a Crash Bandicoot announcement and hoping that this would be the year we’d finally get an update on Bayonetta 3.

Neither of those things happened.

On the other hand, we did get a new Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer, a new trailer for No More Heroes III, and the announcement of Bravely Default II, confusing all of us who thought Bravely Second was considered 2.

Microsoft also announced that the Xbox One’s successor will be called Xbox Series X, which certainly won’t lead to any confusion with the Xbox One X, so I still think these companies are competing for the most confusing name.

An action game called Naraka was also announced, and I was interested in it until I learned it’s apparently a multiplayer game. But by far the most exciting announcement for me was the revelation that The Wolf Among Us 2 has been revived, as we’d hoped.

I loved The Wolf Among Us, so I really hope its sequel is good.

Those were the highlights of The Game Awards for me, although The Wolf Among Us 2 wasn’t quite enough to make up for my disappointment over the lack of Bayonetta 3.

What did you think of The Game Awards 2019? Is a Crash announcement still coming? Will Bayonetta 3 appear in the next Nintendo Direct? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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Babylon’s Fall Trailer, Sports Story Announcement, and More

Not only did PlayStation have a State of Play presentation yesterday, but Nintendo also had an Indie World Showcase in the afternoon, leaving us with several exciting announcements.

The State of Play wasn’t thrilling, but it had three standout parts for me.

First, the new trailer for Kingdom Hearts III’s Re:Mind DLC was officially revealed, after accidentally being discovered last week. (Warning: the trailer contains spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III.)

Square Enix also announced the price: $29.99. It seems like they’re treating it more like an expansion, as it includes a new post-game story scenario, a Limit Cut episode with 13 bosses, and a secret episode with its own boss battle, along with some smaller additions like special challenge options and more photo features.

(You can also spend $39.99 to get a concert video with 19 tracks along with the DLC content.)

Later in the presentation, Square Enix also finally showed a trailer for a game I’ve been waiting for news about ever since its tiny teaser at E3 2018, Babylon’s Fall.

Okay, so we still know almost nothing about Babylon’s Fall, but now we’ve actually seen gameplay and can safely say it’s an action game. It’s PlatinumGames, so I’m interested. New information is coming next summer, so here’s hoping we see Babylon’s Fall at E3 2020.

Then Capcom showed a new trailer for Resident Evil Resistance… or rather, they officially unveiled the Resident Evil 3 remake, which will include Resident Evil Resistance as a multiplayer mode. RE3make will be out on April 3.

A special developer message mentioned that Resident Evil 3 “leans more toward action” than Resident Evil 2, which always makes me wary, but after how good the Resident Evil 2 remake was, I’m willing to trust Capcom to do a good job with this remake as well.

The State of Play ended with the world’s tiniest teaser for Ghost of Tsushima and a message saying the full trailer will be at the Game Awards. Well, that’s one trailer we can expect to see tomorrow…

In the afternoon, Nintendo kicked off the Indie World Showcase with an exciting announcement that had my attention as soon as I realized what we were seeing: a sequel to Golf Story called Sports Story.

I loved Golf Story, so if Sports Story has that same sense of humor (and from the trailer, it looks like it does), I’ll be there day one. Sports Story is planned for mid-2020.

The showcase also included Murder By Numbers, which . It will be a timed exclusive for the Switch, although it still doesn’t have a release date more specific than “early 2020.”

There was also a comic book style action game called Liberated that looks interesting, and the dungeon crawler Boyfriend Dungeon revealed a Switch version.

They finished by revealing Axiom Verge 2, which could be interesting, although I still haven’t played the first Axiom Verge.

These were the announcements and trailers from Playstation’s State of Play and Nintendo’s Indie World Showcase that stood out to me the most. No sign of Crash Bandicoot, so I bet we’ll see that announcement at the Game Awards tomorrow night. And with Babylon’s Fall finally resurfacing, maybe there’s a chance we’ll see more from Bayonetta 3 at last, too…

What did you think of yesterday’s presentations?

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Is Another Crash Bandicoot Game Being Teased?

Around this time last year, we were discussing rumors of a Crash Team Racing remaster, which came to fruition with the announcement of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.

Now, one year later, we once again have Crash Bandicoot rumors to discuss.

The latest wave of rumors began last month, when PlayStation’s “It’s Time to Play” advertisement included an unknown mask character in the background of the Crash Team Racing segment.

Fans also spotted a bus advertisement featuring a new render of Crash.

That brings us to today, with both a State of Play and the 2019 Game Awards on the horizon, both good opportunities for a new Crash Bandicoot game to be announced.

Youtuber/streamer Canadian Guy Eh tweeted about how several social media influencers posted pictures of themselves with little Crash figurines they received. This resembles what happened last year, when Crash-themed dice and cookies were sent to people ahead of the Nitro-Fueled reveal.

There hasn’t been a new Crash Bandicoot game in a long time, with 2008’s Crash: Mind Over Mutant being the last non-mobile entry, and even the last mobile game being a racing spin-off from 2010.

It’s possible that the positive reception to both the N. Sane Trilogy and Nitro-Fueled means the series is finally getting a brand new entry again.

So, will a new Crash Bandicoot game be announced either tomorrow at Sony’s State of Play presentation or Thursday at the Game Awards? If so, what will it be like? Share your predictions in the comments!

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Let’s Talk About the RE3make Cover and Leaks

Not too long ago, we were discussing a wave of Resident Evil 3 remake rumors, and now it’s all but official.

Earlier this week, three Resident Evil 3 covers appeared on Gamstat, a site that tracks things added to the PlayStation Store.

The three covers were for Resident Evil 3, Biohazard RE: 3 (the Japanese version), and Biohazard RE: 3 Z Version (the uncensored Japanese version).

Covers also appeared for Resident Evil: Resistance and Biohazard: Resistance, most likely the official name of Project Resistance, the upcoming multiplayer game.

It looks like the images themselves have since been removed, although Gamstat still lists them.

Covers being uploaded for RE3make would suggest that a reveal might be coming soon. Many fans thought it might be revealed at The Game Awards, which will be held on December 12, but Geoff Keighley denied this in an AMA. Meanwhile, Sony announced a new State of Play for December 10, so that sounds like the most likely place for RE3make to be revealed.

(The previous State of Play presentations haven’t been great, but an exciting announcement like Resident Evil 3 could help a lot.)

Finally, Capcom is believed to have two unknown games playable at Jump Festa 2020, which takes place on December 21-22, so there’s a chance RE3make is one of those.

GamexGuide also posted what they claim is an in-game screenshot of Nemesis, while a possible screenshot of Jill has also surfaced online. These should be considered rumors for now.

The covers, on the other hand, are most likely real. I’m a little conflicted about them. Jill looks fine to me (especially since they keep changing her design anyway), but Carlos looks so different from the original RE3 Carlos that I wouldn’t have even guessed it was him if he wasn’t standing next to Jill on a Resident Evil 3 cover.

I’ve seen a lot of fans speculating that Carlos could have his own full campaign in RE3make. I think that would be a mistake since RE2make’s handling of its two scenarios was a weak point in an otherwise stellar game. Sticking to Resident Evil 3’s existing story sounds like the best plan to me.

One way or another, it sounds like an official RE3make announcement is coming soon. What do you think of the covers? When do you think the game will be announced? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Exploring the Wacky Dystopia of The Outer Worlds

When The Outer Worlds was first announced, I was interested in it, but not completely sold yet.

Then I started to hear Mass Effect comparisons, a group I belong to picked it as November’s game to play, and GamePass for PC (which has The Outer Worlds as one of its available games) had an excellent deal at the time.

So I sat down and started playing The Outer Worlds.

The tone of The Outer Worlds is a little hard to describe. In some ways, it’s comedy, but definitely black comedy. It’s an alternate history sci-fi setting where megacorporations have colonized other planets, creating a bizarre dystopia where these corporations and their desire for profits are in control of everything.

You play a character thrust into this strange universe suddenly after being awakened from hibernation on a ship most people in the system believe is just a myth.

And so your journey begins to revive your fellow colonists and save the Halcyon System… except that’s not really our focus here. While I enjoyed the game a lot, one of my criticisms is that the main story is sort of bland and short. It feels almost more like an excuse to send the player on a journey from planet to planet to see this universe and its writing.

That’s okay, though, because the writing and side content is where the game shines.

Each place you visit presents you with a lot of side quests, various factions to deal with, and entertaining characters to meet. There’s a ton of variability in how you approach situations, with most quests having multiple ways you can complete or approach them. You often learn dark, bleak secrets about the world, but it’s often so over-the-top it’s funny.

Some combat is inevitable, but there are plenty of times when having strong dialogue skills can get you through a situation peacefully. Combat itself has a few different styles you can focus on, although I preferred talking to fighting.

Speaking of the game’s variability, I was happy to see you get a pretty wide range of dialogue responses to choose. Sometimes games fall back on giving you a friendly response, an aggressive response, and maybe something in between, but The Outer Worlds usually gives you a lot of different (and sometimes funny) ways you can react.

Sometimes your party members will join conversations with NPCs, which can lead to the NPCs responding to them as well.

In general, I liked the party members and their banter, as well as the little exchanges between them you can witness while on your ship. However, I wish there was more dialogue with each party member. In games like this, I like to talk to everyone in between plot events, but here they only occasionally have new conversations when you talk to them.

Still, there’s a lot to love about The Outer Worlds, and I enjoyed my time with it. It feels like it’s setting up a universe for a sequel, and I’d certainly like to play more Outer Worlds games in the future.

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Is Ichiban Kasuga Losing Touch With Reality?

Today I’d like to talk about Yakuza: Like a Dragon again, not to discuss new story or gameplay detail, but to take a closer look at what we already know and what it means for the game’s protagonist.

Ichiban Kasuga is the main character of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. He’s also a huge fan of Dragon Quest, to the point where they got permission to name-drop Dragon Quest in the reveal trailer.

When the game’s switch to turn-based combat was announced, some fans speculated that it was because Ichiban imagines fights as though they’re battles in Dragon Quest. And… that’s canon. It is now a confirmed fact Yakuza: Like a Dragon is turn-based because Ichiban sees combat that way.

At first, I thought that was just a cute in-game justification for the change. I’m not a fan of series switching up their core gameplay (even to a genre I love), but having it be due to the protagonist’s mindset is a nice idea.

But what if there’s more to it than that?

When we discussed the surprise character reveal at the end of the last trailer, I mentioned that some fans theorized it could be a hallucination. You see, there is reason to believe Ichiban is losing touch with reality.

In the Japanese demo for Yakuza: Like a Dragon (or Yakuza 7: Whereabouts of Light and Darkness, as it’s known in Japan), Ichiban gets his first weapon in a very sword-in-the-stone fashion, and then we get to see the first battle where Ichiban and his party members face off against three guys giving them trouble.

When the battle begins, the enemies change appearance. We’d already seen this throughout gameplay demonstrations, as it seems enemies and combat will all have a more fantasy flair to them. With the context of the first battle, however, we also get to see how Ichiban reacts.

He’s startled by the fact that they suddenly changed appearance. Not only that, but one of his party members asks what he’s talking about and tells him to focus on reality.

Ichiban then realizes that he’s the only one who saw the change.

Ichiban: Just me…?

So not only is the turn-based combat the result of Ichiban’s perspective, but so are the way enemies appear during battles. From there, we can assume the other fantastic/illogical aspects to the combat system can be seen by Ichiban as well, rather than being there just for the player’s amusement.

And the game acknowledges this.

It might all just be a nod to the game changing style, but making it clear that only Ichiban sees these things make me wonder if something else is at work. When that certain surprise character appears at the end of the trailer, he describes himself as the guardian of the treasure. What “treasure” is Ichiban looking for? Why does he need to fight the treasure’s “guardian”? I don’t know, but it’s one more sign that Ichiban’s view of the world affects more than just combat.

Ichiban spends 18 years in prison after taking the fall for a crime he didn’t commit, then comes back to be betrayed and shot by someone he trusted. He then regains consciousness in another city with no idea of how he got there. Could all of that trauma have taken such a toll on Ichiban that he’s starting to lose touch with reality and imagine these things?

I think these references are more than just justification for the gameplay change. I think Ichiban’s delusions will be important to the story of Yakuza: Like a Dragon – whether he’s suffering from actual hallucinations or just hiding behind fantasies to protect himself from the truth. One way or another, I believe reconciling the fantasy-style presentation with reality will be important to Ichiban’s character development.

(Now, what would be especially interesting is if we get to play as Ichiban before he’s arrested and the gameplay/presentation is still “normal.”)

What do you think? Is Ichiban losing touch with reality? Will his apparent delusions of enemies changing form be part of Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s story? Or is it all just a humorous nod toward the gameplay shift? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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My Mixed Feelings on Silent Hill: Downpour

Like last year, one of the prizes for this October’s Celebrating All Things Spooky contest was to pick a game for me to review, and this time a winner picked Silent Hill: Downpour.

Downpour was the sole Silent Hill game I had no familiarity with up until this point, so I went into it completely blind. After playing it, I came out of the experience feeling pretty conflicted.

Silent Hill: Downpour puts you in the role of Murphy Pendleton, a prison inmate who is being transported to another prison when the bus overturns and he finds himself stranded near Silent Hill. All Murphy wants to do is escape, and so he begins searching for a way to leave the town.

Although I didn’t get Downpour at launch, I was following news leading up to it. The main thing I remember is everyone making a big deal out of what it might mean that the next Silent Hill protagonist was a criminal.

There is an odd perception of Silent Hill as being about people confronting their own repressed memories and perceived guilt, despite Silent Hill 2 being the only one of the original four games to have that premise. Since that viewpoint was solidly in place by the time Downpour was coming out, of course people were fixated on what having a convict protagonist might mean. Between that and the game’s opening sequence having you murder another prisoner, I had some concerns that Downpour would go out of its way to be dark and edgy.

Fortunately, that is not the case. Murphy is just as much of an average, everyman protagonist as the other Silent Hill protagonists. In fact, I’d go so far as to say he’s one of my favorite protagonists in the series.

(My other favorite is Henry, so take that as you will.)

I like Murphy. He’s a good guy – at least in some endings, but we’ll get back to that in a little bit. I was invested in getting him to safety. I like Murphy. And yes, I’m emphasizing this because I’m about to start talking about things I didn’t like.

You know what I dislike in games? Breakable weapons. Downpour one-ups that by not only having breakable weapons, but making it so you can only carry one at a time. You can also carry a single gun in your inventory, although equipping it means you drop your melee weapon.

Then it goes even a step further by requiring you to have specific types of weapons to unlock certain areas, although this is usually either optional (as I discovered after backtracking across half the map to find the item I needed to access what turned out to be just an easter egg room with some ammo in it) or has the weapon you need nearby. It’s still a frustrating design decision.

Because your weapons break, there are weapons located all over the place… and since there’s no quick visual distinction between weapons and plot items, walking up to any new item became a game of guessing whether it would go into my inventory or if (the much more likely scenario) Murphy would toss down his current weapon to pick it up.

At one point, I got a new gun and wanted to keep it. After several failed attempts to replace my old gun, I finally realized I needed to drop the new gun, equip the old gun, drop the old gun, and then pick up the new gun again.

Then there’s the combat itself. Downpour’s combat is clunky and awkward. “But Sam,” you’re saying, “Silent Hill games always have clunky combat! It’s part of that ‘everyman’ thing you were talking about!” They do, but I played Silent Hill 2 for the first time just last month, and it felt so much better to play.

I avoided combat in Downpour whenever I could, but there were some points (especially in the final section) when that wasn’t viable.

One would assume this makes the game scarier due to your vulnerability. It does to some degree, but since there’s an auto-save system, you’re rarely in danger of losing too much progress. I found only a couple of monsters scary, while the rest just ended up frustrating.

Downpour also features Otherworld sequences where you’re unable to fight back and must run through a maze to escape “the Void,” a glowing red vortex that chases you for… uh… some reason…

These sections felt clearly inspired by the chases in Shattered Memories, although it never stopped feeling weird to knock down obstacles behind me to slow down an incorporeal vortex thing.

Click for implied Silent Hill Downpour spoilersSeriously, though, what is the Void? Is it death? Is it Sewell?? Is it Murphy’s string of bad decisions catching up to him???

Now, when you’re in the town of Silent Hill, you’ll come across side quests you can do. These are essentially little optional puzzles, often with a tragic story of some sorts to accompany them. They’re fine on their own and gave me a reason to explore. My main issue with the side quests is that Murphy has no real reason to do them. I felt like I was wandering aimlessly around town, putting tormented spirits to rest and solving mysteries because… because I guess Murphy is just a great guy.

I can’t help but imagine how much more interesting it would be if more puzzles and little stories like that were incorporated into the main journey, having you uncover these stories as you unlock more parts of the town.

(Speaking of which, that survival horror style of gradually unlocking areas isn’t really present in Downpour. You’ll need to solve some puzzles to unlock parts of the major areas you venture into, but it felt much more straightforward, usually with either the solution being nearby or being a larger goal that you explore the rest of the area to find the answer to.)

But at least this sense of aimlessness isn’t to the same extent as in Origins, however, where Travis seemed to wander wherever the plot wanted him to be. Murphy’s main objectives all fit with his desire to find a way out of town.

Now let’s talk about the plot. Murphy has no desire to stay in Silent Hill, but huge chasms have made the roads impassable and it quickly becomes clear he won’t get out easily. He crosses paths a few times with characters who seem to know something about what’s going on, and for a while, I started to believe Downpour actually was going to involve the cult in some way after all… but it doesn’t. Instead, Downpour hits upon the idea that the town has rules you need to follow.

Earlier, I mentioned how the view of Silent Hill as a way to confront or atone for your sins became the popular view. Downpour seems to see the town as a force that actively traps people and won’t let them go until they understand whatever truth the town wants them to understand.

I want to say that’s just this game’s standalone interpretation of Silent Hill, but whenever it came up, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the writers were trying to say, “See? We know how Silent Hill worked in the previous games!” despite that not being how Silent Hill worked in the previous games.

I found the plot to be somewhat predictable, but I did appreciate seeing my predictions come true and getting the answers to my lingering questions, although I can’t help but feel some of the conflict only existed for the sake of plot convenience, as everything could have been wrapped up much quicker if the characters simply communicated with each other. Then again, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and say Murphy is carrying on the tradition of Silent Hill protagonists being somewhat dense.

Click for major Silent Hill Downpour spoilersAs soon as Anne saw the police badge and went berserk, I concluded Murphy had either killed, or she thought he had killed, a cop she was close to.

Geez, Murphy, do you think maybe, just maybe this cop’s irrational hatred for you has something to do with the cop whose murder you were framed for?

But Murphy spends the entire game shrugging in baffled bewilderment over what she could possibly think he did.

I mean, is he supposed to have repressed the memories of the incident with Coleridge and I just never picked up on it? It certainly didn’t come across that way to me, although it would make more sense.

There are multiple endings, based on two dimensions: a karma system and a choice you make at the end. Unfortunately, these not only change the actual outcome, but also what happened in the past. With a few exceptions, I don’t like it when games have multiple endings that retroactively change the plot.

Click for major Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill Downpour spoilersYou could argue that Silent Hill 2 does the same thing by implying different motivations for why James killed Mary, but it never changes the physical facts. James killed Mary, that’s unavoidable. Was it out of mercy? Does he believe she forgives him? Will he go on with his life?

Those answers are what change. It’s all about James’s perception, who he sees himself as, and how he views his actions.

Downpour, in contrast, does change what Murphy did in different endings. The best ending implies Murphy never killed anyone. (Really? It had to go that far?) The worst ending decides he’s even the one who actually killed his son. But then why did he… no, trying to reconcile the worst ending with the rest of the backstory isn’t worth it.

Not only does this mean your actions in the present change the past, but it also forces the story to be vague at times in order to leave room for the possible endings, which also results in there being inconsistencies depending on which ending you get. I suspect that’s also partly responsible for why Murphy acts oblivious to things he should already know.

And thanks to Downpour’s fixation on the town forcing people to realize certain truths, your ending might also leave you wondering if the entire thing was pointless and there was no truth for Murphy to accept after all… so why wouldn’t Silent Hill let him go?

The one saving grace is that Silent Hill: Downpour actually recognized what several of the original games did in regards to Silent Hill’s symbolism and the Otherworld, which is that it isn’t necessarily the main character’s psychology causing these things to manifest. Forget everything Downpour tries to say about rules and the town doing things. Murphy, like Harry, Henry, and to some extent Heather, is trapped in a nightmare imposed upon him by someone else’s consciousness.

Click for major Silent Hill Downpour spoilersThat other person is, of course, Anne.

There are too many inconsistencies with the idea that the town itself is trying to force Murphy to confront… uh… that revenge is bad? Beyond that, everything feels like it’s trying to tell Murphy to face his guilt, even though it’s possible to get endings where he’s not guilty of anything.

Half the monster designs don’t hold clear symbolism for Murphy, and it’s implied he might not even know Coleridge ended up in a wheelchair, so why would he see him haunting him throughout the town? Why would the children identify Murphy as the Bogeyman when he (in most endings) hasn’t done anything wrong?

Everything makes much more sense when I see the Otherworld and the monsters being the manifestations of Anne’s mind and how she views Murphy, with him being trapped in it until she accepts the truth.

Well, this has been a long review, and it’s probably clear I have very mixed feelings about the game. It’s the sort of game where if I’d played it at launch, I would have been cautiously hopeful that the next game could make improvements. As it is, this might be the last Silent Hill game we ever get.

So with that in mind, I’d still recommend Silent Hill: Downpour if you enjoy the series… just be prepared for a lot of frustration along the way.

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Final Fantasy VII Remake: New Screenshots, New Details, Next Part in Development

The Final Fantasy VII Remake is just a few months away, and today Square Enix revealed a number of new screenshots, along with new details and comments from the development team.

While the focus of the first article is mostly on screenshots, it also includes new art featuring Barrett (and Marlene) and Aerith.

The screenshots themselves begin by showing the members of Avalanche and the Turks (well, Reno and Rude).

After that, there are combat screenshots showing Cloud switching between Operator Mode and Punisher Mode, and using his Triple Slash attack and Blade Burst attack. Another screenshot shows the menu where you’ll be able to switch difficulties or select Classic Mode.

Another set of screenshots show some of the locations in Midgar: the church, Aerith’s house, and the inside of her house.

Getting back to combat, they show screenshots of Aerith casting Fire and Barrett using Assess to see the enemy’s weaknesses, resistances, items that can drop, etc.

Weapons can also be upgraded, and another screenshot shows us the upgrade screen for the first time. Weapons also have unique abilities that gain proficiency as you use them, as shown in another screenshot. When you have 100% proficiency in an ability, you’ll be able to use it with any weapon.

I like the sounds of this system, and I wonder if something similar will be in place for the regular Materia.

The screenshots also reveal the Chocobo and Moogle summons, pictured above, which is pretty cute.

Finally, we get to see the darts mini-game that was shown briefly in one of the trailers and a screenshot of a motorcycle battle.

Now let’s take a look at the interviews.

It’s really a collection of thoughts and comments on the Final Fantasy VII Remake, but there are a few details worth noting. Nomura, who is directing the game, apparently wanted to do a remake as the final entry in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and didn’t get a chance. He reiterated that this is a full-length release with lots of content despite only being the first part and confirmed that there will be several new characters (though not main characters) and bosses.

The second game is also officially in development.

Nojima, who worked on the story and scenario, mentioned that since scenes are more detailed and rely less on the player’s imagination than in the original, “the feel of the story” might be considerably different. However, he also thinks players will feel a deeper connection to Cloud.

I’m a little concerned about why he thinks the story will feel so different, but since everything looks great so far, I’m still excited.

Hamaguchi, the game design and programming co-director, mentioned that “respect for the original” is a phrase they’ve kept in mind while making it, and scenario design co-director Toriyama spoke about how they’ve brought Midgar’s inhabitants to life and revived the Honey Bee Inn as a “pantheon of entertainment.”

I don’t quite know what that means, but apparently the original had quite a bit of content that didn’t make it into the final release, including a scene with Palmer, more NPCs to talk to, an encounter with a ghostly version of Cloud, and an employees’ room, so maybe some of these things have been restored for the remake. Then again, maybe it’s entirely new content.

There are many more comments from the rest of the team members, but those are the parts that stood out to me the most.

What do you think about the latest Final Fantasy VII Remake details? When do you think we’ll start hearing about the second game (and what will they call it)? What do you think they’ll do with the remade Honey Bee Inn? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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RE3make Rumors Are Running Rampant

On Monday, when I reviewed the remake of Resident Evil 2, I mentioned being excited for a potential Resident Evil 3 remake in the same style.

Well, RE3make might be on the way after all!

The possibility of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis being remade has been in the air ever since Resident Evil 2’s remake came out and the producer said they would likely remake Resident Evil 3 if there was enough demand.

(For that matter, fans were discussing the possibility of an RE3make before RE2make was even out.)

The two games take place around the same time, during the outbreak in Raccoon City, so Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 are seen as companion games to some extent. You even briefly enter the police station in Resident Evil 3.

Yesterday, the Youtube channel Spawn Wave reported a rumor that RE3make is currently in development with a planned 2020 release. After the video came out, VGC said sources have told them the same thing.

Eurogamer then reported on the rumor, saying they have also heard RE3make is in development and their sources believe “it has been in development for some time.”

Being in development for a while now would fit with Spawn Wave’s report that Capcom hopes to get the game out in time for 2020.

I didn’t enjoy Resident Evil 3 as much as REmake or Resident Evil 2, but playing RE2make really left me excited for how Nemesis might be handled in a remake. I hope these rumors are true, I hope we hear something soon (possibly at the Video Game Awards), and I hope RE3make is as excellent as its predecessor.

What do you think? Is a Resident Evil 3 remake in development already?

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Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold Comes Out February 14

We were pretty sure The Snack World was going to be localized for the Switch after the ESRB rated it (along with other signs; I think this was the one where Level-5 casually mentioned it in a financial report), and now it’s official!

Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold is coming to the west on February 14.

According to the official announcement, it is a dungeon-crawling action RPG in which you set out on an adventure to save the land of Tutti-Frutti from Sultan Vinegar, who is trying to resurrect the Smörg Åsbord.

…Okay, I think there’s a certain tone they’re going for here…

The eShop page also mentions character customization, the “snacks” you can summon in combat and trade with friends, side quests to help characters like Sloe White, and other gameplay details.

There’s also a new trailer.

I like Level-5’s games, and Snack World looks like it has the potential to be pretty funny, as long as you enjoy food puns.

(And possibly some biting humor, judging by the eShop description suggesting that you might not have real-life friends to trade snacks with.)

Snack World for the Switch is coming out on February 14, 2020. It wouldn’t be my choice for a Valentine’s Day game, but it looks entertaining enough that I might give it a try. Why do you think of Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold?

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