You don’t necessarily need to be riding the Red Dead Redemption 2 best horse to pass these feats, though having a fast mount will help you with the challenges against the clock. There are some decent rewards on offer as you work through this checklist, so follow our Red Dead Redemption 2 Horseman Challenges for advice on the best ways to complete them.

Horseman 1 – Kill 5 rabbits from horseback

Rabbits are abundant across almost the entire map of Red Dead Redemption 2, and you can kill them from horseback by either shooting using the target lock system or even running them over with the horse itself. Kill five in this way, and the challenge will be complete.

Horseman 2 – Jump over 3 obstacles in 15 seconds

This one’s fairly easy, as your horse can jump over boulders, fences, small cliff faces, and other environmental objects simply by riding them in its direction. Find three in a nearby vicinity, and quickly ascend in succession to complete the challenge.

Horseman 3 – Ride from Valentine to Rhodes in less than five minutes

Rhodes is a town located a few miles southeast of Valentine, but getting there in under five minutes flat on horseback won’t be easy. Ideally, your steed will need to be in the race horse category, and you’ll need to bond with it to upgrade its stamina first. When attempting the time trial, be sure to bring some stamina shots to inject your horse with during the journey, should they begin to tire out too quickly.

Horseman 4 – While mounted, drag a victim for 3300 feet using your lasso

You can lasso someone from your horse by equipping it from the weapon wheel and aiming at any target within range. Arthur will then maintain his grip until you say so, allowing to drag the victim along the ground just by riding your horse for 3300 feet, preferably along flat ground to avoid the lasso coming loose. Spoilers: the victim will definitely die. 

Horseman 5 – Trample 5 animals while on horseback 

This is exactly what it sounds like. Find an animal, aim your horse in its unfortunate direction, and charge. Target small game like rabbits for this challenge, as your steed is less likely to get hurt or stressed upon the impact, and they’re easy to tail from horseback, especially when the critters are so abundant across the open world. 

Horseman 6 – Ride from Strawberry to Saint Denis in less than 9 minutes without touching any water

If you’ve seen the Red Dead Redemption 2 map, then you know this challenge won’t be an easy one. Arthur will have to cross two rivers to get to Strawberry from Rhodes, but to avoid water he’ll have to take the bridges rather than wading through any low streams. Meanwhile, to get there in under nine minutes, your horse’s energy will need to be constantly charged with stamina shots and food, so stock up on plenty of those before even thinking about making the journey. 

Horseman 7 – Kill 7 enemies from horseback without dismounting

Killing enemies from horseback is a painless process with the autolock system and Dead Eye, but the tricky part here is downing seven without them knocking you off your horse first. Stay mobile, try to keep your horse calm (to prevent it rearing in terror), and target bandit camps so you won’t be left riding around the West looking for more enemies to kill before you can dismount. 

Horseman 8 – Kill 9 predators from horseback

The easiest predator to kill from horseback is probably the alligator, found in the swamps of Lemoyne to the South East. Unlike the bear or the cougar, they’re not too speedy, so are less likely to stress your horse out by catching up with you. A decent rifle will have them dead in two shots or less, as well, so finding and killing nine of them won’t take forever, especially when they’re located all in the same vicinity. 

Horseman 9 –  Ride from Van Horn to Blackwater in less than 17 minutes without touching any water 

Riding from Rhodes to Strawberry in under nine minutes is one thing. Riding from one side of the map to the other in less than 17, again without touching any water, is something else entirely. Your horse will undoubtedly need to be at level 4 bonding with Arthur, and hopefully a fast-paced breed like a race horse that can withstand a journey as long as this one at running pace. As for the water criteria, you’ll need to plan your route beforehand to, as was the case with the Horseman 6 Challenge, use bridges to cross any rivers without getting wet. 

Horseman 10 – Break every wild horse breed

To “break” a horse breed means to find and tame one from the wild. This requires slowly walking up to the animal and trying to calm it down, before mounting it and staying on using the analog stick to prevent being bucked off until your new steed accepts its fate. There are dozens of horse breeds found around the world, making this pursuit a rather lengthy one but, when finished, you can pat yourself on the back for completing the entire set of Horseman Challenges.

• Red Dead Redemption 2 Bandit Challenges guide
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Gambler Challenges guide
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Herbalist Challenges guide
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Horseman Challenges guide
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Master Hunter Challenges guide
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Sharpshooter Challenges guide
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Survivalist Challenges guide
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenges guide

The post Red Dead Redemption 2 Horseman Challenges guide appeared first on Game News.

• Red Dead Redemption 2 Bandit Challenges guide (opens in new tab)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Herbalist Challenges guide (opens in new tab)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Horseman Challenges guide (opens in new tab)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Master Hunter Challenges guide (opens in new tab)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Sharpshooter Challenges guide (opens in new tab)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Survivalist Challenges guide (opens in new tab)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenges guide (opens in new tab)

Gambler 1 – Win 5 hands of poker

You’ll not only need to know how to play Poker to complete this challenge, but know how to win, not to mention find a table to compete on with other characters in Red Dead Redemption 2. You can start your first match in an early story mission, Who is Not Without Sin, while other tables can be found in towns and saloons throughout the world, but you’ll need to chip in a few dollars for entry beforehand. 

Gambler 2 – In Blackjack, double down and win the hand 5 times

In Blackjack, doubling down means to increase your initial bet twofold, usually when the player is confident that their hand can win. Sit down at the Blackjack table at Saint Denis or Blackwater in Red Dead Redemption 2 to try it out for yourself. You’ll need quite a bit of money, especially if you don’t win the hand after doubling down, but once you understand the rules a bit more, you’ll have a good shot at completing this challenge over time. 

Gambler 3 – Win 3 games of Five Finger Fillet

You can play five finger fillet with several gang members at camp for a small entry fee of $1. To win, you need to beat your opponents record time at alternating the knife between your fingers by pressing the telegraphed buttons as quickly as possible. It may take a few tries, but you should have this challenge beat within minutes.

Gambler 4 – Bust one poker location out in each location (Flatneck Station, Saint Denis, Valentine)

To “bust” in Poker means to force another competitor out of money so they have to leave the table and the game altogether, and you only need to bust one player out at each table in the three named locations to complete this challenge. The best way to do this is to cajole someone into going ‘all in’ by raising the stakes to a considerate level. If you win, they’ll have to call it. If you lose, no worries, just rejoin the game and try again until you finish the challenge.

Gambler 5 – Win 3 rounds of dominoes without drawing any tiles against 2 or fewer opponents

To win dominoes, you need to get rid of all your tiles as quickly as possible, but will be forced to draw one whenever you can’t play your turn. You can compete in rounds of dominoes with gangmates back at home camp, which is the best place to finish this challenge as the entry fee is only a single dollar. 

Gambler 6 – Beat the Blackjack dealer in two locations (Rhodes and Van Horn)

Find the Blackjack table in both the towns of Rhodes and Van Horn to begin this challenge. To beat the dealer, you’ll need to place a bet and win the hand against them during each round, so make sure you have enough money to begin the gamble in the first place. 

Gambler 7 – Beat the five finger fillet player in every location (Strawberry, Valentine, Van Horn)

Five finger fillet requires you to press a series of buttons quickly in succession as Arthur navigates the knife between his fingers. To complete this challenge, you’ll need to beat your opponent at every named location by besting their record times. 

Gambler 8 – Win three hands of Blackjack with three hits or more

A “hit” in Blackjack means asking for another card to add to your hand, which can be risky, as if you go over 21 then the dealer wins by default. Still, you’ll need three rounds with three hits for this challenge, so it may take some time (and money) before this one is complete. Only ask for another card when your total number is low enough to take the hit, and cross your fingers that the hit won’t bring you over the 21 limit.

Gambler 9 – Win three games of dominoes in a row

Simple and straightforward enough. Just keep playing dominoes back at camp as best you can until you score a hat trick. If you’re struggling for wins, use the in-game rulebook for advice on domino tips and strategies for securing a victory. 

Gambler 10 – Win three hands of Poker in a row

Just like Gambler 9, this challenge requires three consecutive victories of a single game type but, unlike dominoes, Poker is a lot harder to win when luck is such a big factor. Once you have enough money to play at least ten rounds or more in succession, join a lowball poker table like the one at Valentine and keep participating until a hat-trick comes your way. With that, the Gambler Challenge set will be done and dusted, and hopeful you won’t have lost too much money along the way.

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Looking for more help? Then check out our essential Red Dead Redemption 2 tips (opens in new tab) in the video below:

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The Walking Dead season 9 (opens in new tab) has had some cracking openers so far, and The Obliged is no different. Beginning with a shot of Michonne’s stomach (adding more fuel to the Richonne baby rumour mill), we learn that the samurai has been spending her nights chopping Walkers to bits without Rick’s knowledge. The scene tick tocks between her day to day chores in Alexandria and her secret outings with the slick elegance of a Better Call Saul montage, starkly juxtapositioning Michonne’s leadership duties with her addiction for carnage. 

It’s another layer on this season’s theme of post-war psychology; can these characters, having been through so much, ever adjust to world free of a violence and conflict? With Maggie running an assassination attempt on Negan, aided by Daryl, and The Saviours breaking out against Carol and The Kingdom in a full blown gunfight, probably not. 

Rick and Daryl’s relationship is also a focal point for The Obliged, and while there’s a creeping sense of deja vu as they fisticuffed off the main road and into the brush again (which is exactly what happened in The Walking Dead season 8 (opens in new tab)), it’s good to see them finally hashing out their differences, knowing that this could be their last moments spent together. Yes, it’s awfully convenient that both fell into a giant pit conveniently placed in their path for no explainable reason, forcing them to lay out their grievance without distraction, but Lincoln and Norman Reedus are both on fine form down in that hole, convincing us to empathise with both characters’ deeply polarised positions.

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Rick and Daryl’s escape from the pit is surprisingly intense, too, as zombie upon zombie begins to inevitably fall in alongside them. At one point, I even thought AMC was about to kill Daryl before our very eyes, but the Dixon brother managed to escape right at the last minute thanks to Rick’s impeccably strong forearm. Frankly, I was rooting for a less happy ending. Killing off a fan favourite character out of nowhere right before the much telegraphed denouement of Rick would have been a great bait and switch surprise for viewers, on par with the shock value of a Game of Thrones Red Wedding, but I think the showrunners are a little too cautious to axe all of their star characters in one season, especially as ratings for the show continue to fall.

In any case, another, more surprising tête-à-tête was that between Michonne and Negan, who’s on hunger strike purely for the sake of wanting some attention. Out of nowhere, it seems, season 9 has decided to draw equivalences between the pair as though they’re two sides of the same coin, with Negan even spewing that hackneyed line that every TV villain is apparently doomed with repeating; “we’re the same, you and me.” Ugh. Despite her taste for zombie blood, Michonne is nothing like Negan, and not even close to becoming him, so this undeserved parallel just felt out of place and a little bit silly. 

At least Jeffrey Dean Morgan is still captivating from the comfort of his new cell. Is Negan’s sobriety all an act to win over his captors, or is he genuinely a reformed person? Most of us will be leaning towards the former, I’m sure, as we’ve been here before with The Governor, but Dean Morgan’s more earnest performance is still a treat nonetheless. That said, the creepy way in which Negan pathetically asked to see Lucille again, as though it were his actual wife, was seriously disturbing stuff, especially once the character learns that his baseball bat has been left out alone in the wild, and begins angrily banging his head against the wall (remind you of anyone, Shane fans?). 

And then there’s that cliffhanger. I can’t remember the last time The Walking Dead has ended as powerfully as this. Look, we all know that Rick isn’t going to die impaled by a pipe and eaten alive by hundreds of Walkers, but this was still a heart pounding place to end the episode, especially as that final, bird’s eye view shot of our favourite sheriff surrounded by zombies echoed the very same conclusion to The Walking Dead’s premiere from all the way back in 2010. 

Having to watch this man put himself at risk yet again for the sake of trying to build a better future against all odds, only to be abandoned by everyone, including his own horse, makes those anguished screams all the more painful to watch. It’s almost inevitable that Daryl will come riding in at the last minute to pick him up, but I’m happy to go along with AMC’s thoughtfully tailored tragedy for now. 

Verdict: Emotive and suspenseful, The Obliged leaves us in an incredibly dramatic place for Rick’s valediction, silly characterisation moments aside. 

The post The Walking Dead S9.04 review: “An entertaining chapter regardless of its relevance to Rick’s exit” appeared first on Game News.

Though Beenox’s output of Spidey titles was steady between 2010 and 2014, the quality of each was less so, especially in the shadow of Treyarch’s Spider-Man 2, which remains a benchmark for Spider-Man games still to this day. With Peter Parker making his big comeback this month, however, I figured it would be an apt time to chat with Beenox’s co-head Thomas Wilson to look back on the past, present, and future of Spider-Man’s ever changing relationship with interactive entertainment, and the studio’s own history with the character in particular. 

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (2010)

Shattered Dimensions was Beenox’s first real Spider-Man title, following its successful ports of old games like Ultimate Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. Praised for its ambitious, fan servicing plot and confident vision, Shattered Dimensions was a very strong start for Beenox, so it’s no surprise that it also happens to be Wilson’s personal favourite too.

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“At the time, the ask was to rejuvenate the franchise with something that would be new and innovative, so Activision had given us carte blanche to start brainstorming ideas inspired by the comic books, not the movies. So we started to look for anything that hadn’t been seen in a game before. There had already been a few Spider-Man games out there, but our Senior Producer was a huge comic book fan and he started talking about Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Man Noir, and so on, who I’d never heard of before, and so we came up with this idea of playing multiple Spider-Men within the multiverse. From there, we could create four different universes with their own art styles and a Megaman structure where players fought a boss per level, which we thought was a nice twist on the Spider-Man open world tradition.”

“Shattered Dimensions was the game we had the most fun creating. It was the most chaotic development, but this idea of coming up with four distinctive art directions injected a lot of personality into the level design and boss battles. I wish we could have done a Shattered Dimensions 2, as there’s so much content to draw inspiration from in the comics. Now, of course, the industry has evolved, but after the first game I wish we could have jumped right into the sequel, because I loved the formula and approach we had.” 

Spider-Man: Edge of Time (2011)

After the success of Shattered Dimensions, Beenox was in the unfortunate position of attempting to follow up on struck gold with limited resources. Edge of Time took place in two different Spider-Man universes, down from Shattered Dimension’s four, as the Amazing Spider-Man worked with Spider-Man 2099 to stop a powerful foe that threatened them both. Many found Edge of Time to be strangely limited and repetitive compared to the previous game, but Wilson explains that Beenox had been under a lot of pressure. 

“The big difference with Edge of Time is that we had very little development time, and I guess that’s the reason why some of the fans were potentially disappointed that it was half of what Shattered Dimensions had been. It was a situation where a game needed to be released quickly, so the decision was made to focus exclusively on Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099, as we knew that it was a storyline that we’d seen in the comic books.” 

“There was this cause and effect gameplay idea where what you were doing in the Amazing Spider-Man time period would affect what was going on the future, so there was a few situations where we had a picture-in-picture experience where a villain was killing Spider-Man 2099 and you had to defeat him in the other timeline first. It was definitely a smaller game, though, and I think that’s where it really fell short.”

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

With two original Spidey titles to its name, Beenox was eventually put to work by Activision on a movie tie-in game to The Amazing Spider-Man reboot starring Andrew Garfield. It would mark the first time in a long time that players could get back to liberally swinging around Manhattan as the webhead in a video game, and Wilson welcomed the challenge to return the character to an open-world after his brief stint with linearity. 

“We worked closely with Marvel and Sony to understand what their vision for this reboot was, and what we could do to come up with something that was tied to the movie. So we returned to Manhattan and, using our technology, we basically created a city editor that let our artists build the city from scratch. We went on location and took a lot of pictures to get references; we’re not New Yorkers, so we wanted to make sure that we created a city that was close enough to the real thing.”

“This was right around the time developers were no longer just recreating the movie’s story in a tie-in game. The tendency was to make a game inspired by the movie but not bound to the same narrative, so from that point on we had quite a lot of freedom to look for things that we thought would make sense within the world of the Amazing Spider-Man. It’s a process that required us to talk to Marvel’s experts and to Sony to explain our intentions, but they felt pretty good about our approach and so from there it’s just a matter of working with writers to validate that with Marvel.”

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

As Garfield’s nascent franchise received a hastily made sequel, so too did Beenox’s movie tie-in series. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was probably the studio’s least well received Spider-Man game of the four, especially as this was Spidey’s first appearance on current-gen consoles, but looked about as technically proficient as an Xbox 360 launch title. Wilson readily admits that it was not the game he’d hope to have finished Beenox’s journey with Spider-Man on. 

“There was another movie coming, and we tried to make improvements on the game on a whole bunch of fronts. The graphical fidelity of the city, the combat, adding stealth missions, and so on… but I made one of the worst design decisions of my entire career in that game!” 

“We created what we called the ‘Hero or Menace’ system, which was a good idea on paper, where Spider-Man had a reputation meter that went up or down depending on whether the player was taking care of crime or not, but we ran out of varied mission design, so it just felt repetitive and penalising. That hurt us in the reviews when the game came out, and I apologise for that! Sometimes you think something is good, but by the time you realise it isn’t, it’s way too late in development to remove it, so we just tried refining it as much as we could before release.” 

Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018)

So, now that the property is off his and Beenox’s hands, what does Wilson make of Insomniac’s Spider-Man game, and of the evolved superhero genre at large? You won’t be too surprised to hear he’s just as full of praise for the studio as everyone else is right now. 

“I think Insomniac taking over the reins of Spider-Man is great. I’m a huge fan of their games and I’ve been playing them for a long time, so I was watching closely when I found out they were developing it. I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, but I’m look forward to trying it out. What I’ve seen so far looks great!” 

“I will say it brings back nostalgia, especially as in their case they’ve had like five years of development to make the game. I only wish we had five years on any one of the Spider-Man games we made! Superheroes are great characters to be making games for, and working on them is a lot of fun. To me, it doesn’t matter how the characters evolve in the theaters, because you can pretty much dive into the content that each movie offers to make a game of your choice.” 

From superheroes to super soldiers

At the moment, Wilson and the rest of Beenox are hard at work helping Treyarch bring Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (opens in new tab) to PC, which he calls a “AAA PC title with all the bells and whistles that involves”, but the studio’s co-head promises big things from the studio in the long term. 

“I can’t really talk about it, but all I can say is that what’s coming is super exciting. We have a great future in front of us, and Activision is a big family so there’s a lot of opportunity to work on some very cool titles. You just look back to our first title, a tie-in game to Bee Movie, and you can see it’s been quite a journey for the past 13 years. I feel very privileged to be a part of it all.” 

For more vigilante antics, check out our run down of the best superhero movies (opens in new tab) of all time, and count how many Spideys make the cut. 

The post “I wish we couldve made Shattered Dimensions 2”: Looking back at Beenox’s history of Spider-Man games with studio co-head Thomas Wilson appeared first on Game News.

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So how do you make zombies not just exciting, but scary again, in a bloated market where the living dead can often feel like nothing more than harmless cannon fodder? That was the question Overkill Software faced itself with when beginning work on The Walking Dead, its upcoming first-person shooter based on the Robert Kirkman-created comics of the same name. The studio’s answer has the potential to be the next great zombie game you never knew you wanted.

When most people think of The Walking Dead (opens in new tab), one of three things will come to mind; the tired and long-standing AMC TV show, the bleak, monochromatic series of graphic novels it’s based upon, or Telltale’s seminal adventure game from 2012. That means Overkill’s title is sharing a sprawling fictional universe with several other mediums, but The Walking Dead intends to stand out amongst its brethren with a commitment to something you don’t see too often in interactive entertainment; pure, tightly focused co-op play. 

Raising the dead

 Up to four players can enlist in Overkill’s virtual apocalypse, teaming together to make use of each original character’s distinct abilities, progression opportunities, and play styles in the game’s blistering FPS campaign. If you’re familiar with Overkill’s previous work on the Payday (opens in new tab) series, another four player co-operative jaunt, then you’ll know that the studio has the credentials to pull something like this off, but the real question is whether The Walking Dead can offer fresh ideas in a traditionally prosaic milieu. 

The game’s official title, Overkill’s The Walking Dead, is named that way partly out of a need to avoid confusing it with other Walking Dead products, but it’s also a clear statement that this is very much the studio’s own interpretation of the source material. Not Kirkman’s (though he is involved in an advisory capacity), not Skybound’s, but Overkill’s, and my recent conversation with Global Brand Director Almir Listo and Global Development Director Saul Gascon confirmed the studio’s passion for making something that’ll stand out.

“We’re working with a very well known IP”, explains Gascon, “so people have ceratin expectations, but we want them to know that this is our take on The Walking Dead, so you’re not going to be a useless survivor. You’re going to own the apocalypse.”

Listo concurs. “We’re treating the tone and story with a seriousness that I think few games demonstrate these days. The focus right now in the industry is making games where 100 characters drop onto an island or whatever, with graphics that don’t matter as long as they’re appealing to 12 year olds. We’re building a game for adults. It’s a mature experience and it’s set in a mature universe by someone who has a lot of love for his creations. Robert’s comics have layers and touch on different things emotionally that aren’t investigated much by the TV show, but we want to explore that in our game.” 

So far, Overkill has released a handful of cinematic trailers for The Walking Dead, all of which are designed to introduce playable characters and set the tone in preparation for the game’s release this Fall. Listo and Gascon promise that gameplay will be shown at E3 this year, but the decision to focus on story promos so far has been an intentional byproduct of the studio’s commitment to world building. 

In another break from The Walking Dead canon, the game takes place in Washington DC, which is referenced to but never seen in the Atlanta-focused setting that fans of the comics and TV show are familiar with, and Gascon explains what led Overkill to make that call.

 “When we talked with Kirkman, we told him we wanted to have a spot that has not been explored in the comics or TV show too much, to give us flexibility to build our own universe. As creators, we don’t want to be tied to anything that might hinder the quality of the story, and Kirkman has been fantastic because he’s not explored the setting either and we’ve been able to build it together. There are even some things we discussed in conversations with him that went into the upcoming comic books, which is really cool.”

But why Washington D.C. as opposed to, say, any other American city or state? Or even Europe? Or Asia? Gascon half jokingly admits that, since Payday 2 was set in the US capital, this is Overkill’s “egocentric” way of paying homage to itself, but Listo clarifies the narrative reasoning behind the choice. 

“Anyone interested in The Walking Dead universe will always ask the same questions early on: What did the government do? What happened to the military? Where is everybody!? That’s what makes it such an interesting spot to have the game be set in.”

Survival instinct

If Washington DC isn’t already scary enough these days, Overkill wants to creep you out even more with its armies of shambling corpses, though Gascon admits that it’s been a challenge to draw fresh horror from The Walking Dead’s ensemble of traditional walkers. 

“The zombies we have are of the classic Romero variety, so we make them dangerous by throwing hundreds of them in your face”, he explains. “The main threat is actually humans, since they’re still the first and foremost danger in The Walking Dead universe. But the walkers are a constant threat; the more you fight with humans, the more noise you make, and the more walkers you attract.”

Of course, with its co-operative slant, you’ll never be alone in Overkill’s The Walking Dead, and Gascon describes how the team has applied its knowledge from Payday to get players working together in the zombie apocalypse. 

“We’ve heard people say this is just going to be Payday with zombies, but we’re delivering something that is much better suited for the universe we’re working with. We couldn’t just slap The Walking Dead label onto a Payday game. It’s a completely different kind of co-op experience with exploration, environmental storytelling, and problem solving. If you’ve played the raids in Destiny (opens in new tab) or Destiny 2 (opens in new tab), then think on those lines. We’re making a game where coordination between every player is absolutely the key.” 

Overkill’s The Walking Dead was first announced all the way back in 2014 and slated for a 2016 release, but that window has since been pushed back a number times before Overkill finally landed on the feasible launch window of this year. Delays can be a cause for concern amongst eager onlookers, but Listo assures me that the setbacks have absolutely been for the right reasons.  

“We’re an independent studio and so is Skybound, so the creative relationship is one where we can make decisions ourselves without anybody intervening or pushing for a deadline, so we can just focus on developing the game itself. It’s all about finding the juice, that special game loop that keeps players coming back, and we think we’ve found it. It’s been such a difficult project to make, but that’s because we’re trying to make something awesome.”

That’s not to say that coming up with a brand new Walking Dead story in collaboration with the creator of The Walking Dead has been smooth sailing, but Listo says he’s embraced any healthy disagreements between Kirkman and the team that inevitably arise from a passionate working relationship. 

“I definitely think the relationship has been challenging in a lot of ways”, he admits, “but not for negative reasons at all. This is Robert’s universe and he cares, and with that care comes opinion and conflict, but this is a natural part of the creative process and something we’ve been happy to have with Skybound.”

As Overkill gears up for the final few months before The Walking Dead’s launch, Listo and Gascon hint that more character trailers and dev diaries are on the way, alongside more cool surprises that the studio is holding to its chest for now. With season 8, AMC’s televisual adaptation has left many fans burned out on The Walking Dead, but the infectious excitement which emanates from Overkill’s team suggests that its latest passion project may be the palate cleanser that’s needed to remind us why we loved this brilliantly bleak universe in first place.  

The post “You’re going to own the apocalypse”: How Overkills The Walking Dead will make you excited about zombie games again appeared first on Game News.

With that in mind, most of the following questions I had following The Lost and the Plunderers are genuinely intriguing mysteries that conjure anticipation for next week. Normally, my questions are just various manifestations of me shouting “WHY?!” at the TV for 45 minutes. Major spoilers for The Walking Dead season 8 beyond this point, as I go through the six biggest questions I had from episode 10. 

1. What does Carl’s letter to Negan say? 

So far, Rick’s doing a terrible job of respecting Carl’s wishes for a better tomorrow, as he’s still provoking Negan and refusing to help people like Jadis, despite her clear vulnerability. Worst of all, though, he reads Carl’s letter to Negan without blinking an eyelid… is the man not aware of the concept of personal privacy? We catch a glimpse of a few sentences in the letter, which show Carl telling Negan he’s dead and postulating the outcome of the war, but it’s far from a detailed look.

Rick tells Negan that the letter suggests both of them stand down, but, to be honest, I’d much rather hear what Carl himself wrote down, ideally via an emotional posthumous narration from Chandler Riggs. Perhaps his prose is so touching and heartfelt that it’s enough to change Negan’s mind and redirect him on the path towards reconciliation. You can already tell that Carl’s death has impacted the guy in a big way; could a few, final written words personally addressed to him be all that’s needed to make Negan put down the barbed wire bat? 

2. What’s Aaron’s plan for Oceanside? 

I’ll admit it, when we caught back up with Aaron and Enid at Oceanside, I burst out laughing, having just remembered that hilarious bit from last year’s mid-season finale in which the pair head to the all-female community asking for help, and instead end up accidentally killing their leader. I mean, you can’t make this stuff up (oh wait, AMC just did). Naturally, newly appointed head honcho Cyndie kicks them back out with little hesitation, but Aaron tells Enid to head back to Hilltop while he figures out a way to bring Oceanside on board in the war.

What’s the plan here, Aaron? You say that you’re not setting foot back into their camp, but the last we see of you, you’re crouching by a tree, staring into space. My best guess is a stakeout, as he waits for Cyndie to venture beyond Oceanside on her own before initiating a dialogue without the pressures of her subjects influencing the conversation with their stubborn glares of displeasure. Just please, Aaron, for the love of Carl, don’t kill anyone else. 

3. Has Negan got a revolt on his hands? 

The short answer here is yes and no. Simon appears to be organising his own secret, one-man revolution, having directly disobeyed Negan’s orders and killed every last Heapster in sight, before outright lying to his boss’s face to cover his tracks. He’s safe and sound for now, blood-lust satisfied, but I’d imagine as soon as Negan finds out about the Heapsters, it’s all over for poor, stupid Simon.

Alternatively, maybe Trevor Ogg’s charismatic firestarter will be the one to put a bullet in Negan’s head, making for a dramatic twist of bitter irony after all of Rick’s braggadocious promises to kill the Saviour’s supreme ruler. With Dwight officially defected, Gavin dead, and Simon on the verge of mutiny, Negan finds himself in a very tight spot indeed, and the best part is he doesn’t even know it… yet. 

4. What’s next for Jadis? 

Bye bye Heapsters. We hardly knew ye. Also, good riddance. The whole “primitive cult” thing had already got grating by the end of season 7 (opens in new tab), so I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t slightly glad that Jadis’ chameleonic groupies got what was coming to them. Jadis, on the other hand… there’s still a path for her redemption yet. 

The scene in which she made mincemeat of her former friends was all kinds of powerful, and suggests that this is a critical turnaround for her character. For a moment there, I was worried that she was about to jump into the blender with them, but it looks like AMC isn’t done with her yet. Given how much time was spent focusing on her character arc this episode, you just know she’s going to have an important role in the story from here on out. Which leads me to my next question…

5. Are the Heapsters hiding a big secret? 

A small one, this, but potentially important considering last year’s big season 8 Easter egg. Remember that helicopter that flies above Rick’s head in episode 2? Or the one spotted flying behind Rick’s head in season 7, the first time he visits the Heapsters? Simon explicitly asks Jadis about “the helipad and solar panels out back” about halfway through The Lost and the Plunderers, which implies that it’s the Heapsters who have been in possession of this chopper the entire time. 

Here’s my theory. Jadis is now pissed and ready to get her revenge on The Saviours, but completely outgunned… unless you assume that this heli is still hidden away somewhere. Picture this for the season 8 finale; Rick’s in trouble, everything’s exploded into heated warfare, and just as it looks like this is the end for our gang, a Deux Ex Machina arrives in the form of a combat chopper with Jadis at the helm. Prove me wrong, Walking Dead, I dare you. 

6. What was up with that new format? 

Right, enough is enough. For some reason, the showrunners have decided that season 8 of The Walking Dead is the place to begin stylistically experimenting with new creative formats (like that was the show’s biggest problem), but it’s not working. First, there were the slow-mo shots of everyone’s faces bookending episode 2, now The Lost and the Plunderers decides to add headers to segment different character perspectives apart from each other, as though we’re playing a Telltale game with slightly less interaction.

The problem is that this is what The Walking Dead has been doing for years anyway, regularly hopping between perspectives and characters to show various sides of the same story. Adding these headers just comes across as indulgent, off-putting, and completely unnecessary. Please stop pretending to be making something you’re not, AMC. The Walking Dead is a straightforward serial drama with zombies. It’s cheap chocolate pudding, not overpriced crème brûlée. 

Hungry for more? Refresh your memory of season 8 with our Walking Dead recap (opens in new tab) of every episode so far, including last week’s mid-season premiere, or check out our full review for episode 10 (opens in new tab) right here. 

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For the most part, the loose ends remain loose, and we’re left swimming in a sea of potential red herrings. It’s hard to know whether the following questions are being left intentionally open by The Walking Dead’s showrunners, or if they’re just a symptom of shoddy structure and lousy editing. Either way, I’m going to try and answer them, before I lose count of how many times I’ve shouted at the screen in bemusement.

What are we supposed to make of Old Man Rick?

After being starved of Old Man Rick scenes since the season 8 premiere, Honor gave us three separate insights into the dream-like future that looks a far cry from present events. Plus, we finally got confirmation of where all this ethereal imagery has come from. It turns out that this wasn’t a flash forward, or even a figment of Rick’s imagination, but Carl’s own fantasised hopes for the future of Alexandria. So does that mean that none of it’s going to come true? Well, I doubt Alexandria could ever look as peaceful and heavenly as what was playing out in Carl’s head, but there’s reason to believe the show is promising something close to it.

Take, for example, the fact that Rick has now promised to fight for the future that Carl was longing for, and I believe he’s now capable of pulling it off. Whether that includes growing a beard and using a cane to hobble around like a makeshift Moses is anyone’s guess, but my general takeaway is that peace, in some form or another, is on the horizon for Rick and his friends. So yes, Old Man Rick as we currently know it was nothing more than an abstract fabrication, but I think we can also interpret it as a vague omen for The Walking Dead’s future. And before you say anything, I know what you’re about to ask next, so let me ask it for you.

Is Negan really going to become a good guy?

The very last shot from the Old Man Rick scene featured an equally older, bearded Negan, who proceeds to embrace Judith with open arms as though he were a familiar uncle, with no sign of Lucille in sight. We’ve established that these scenes are all going on in the minds of Carl and Rick, but is The Walking Dead suggesting something more? There is a comic book precedent for Negan crossing the fence and joining sides with Rick, after all, so the idea isn’t completely out of the question. 

On the other hand, it’s very difficult to imagine this TV version of Negan living beyond season 8, let alone finding redemption after, oh I don’t know, brutally murdering several members of Rick’s gang before his very eyes. If Negan somehow turned a new leaf and was accepted as a law abiding Alexandrian, after all that he’s done, it would be a very hard pill for the audience to swallow, and I can’t even conceive of a natural character arc where AMC makes that turnaround look plausible. Nah, let Rick hit Negan where it hurts, and deliver that satisfaction for everyone around him, audience included.

And what about that other (much more depressing) flash forward?

There it is again. Just when you thought The Walking Dead had forgotten about the teary-eyed Rick scene from the season 8 premiere, he’s back, sitting under a tree near that stained glass sign (a church, maybe?), muttering something about mercy and wrath to himself over and over again. We’re still as clueless to the details of the situation as we always have been, but the fact that it’s showed up again clearly confirms its significance for the next collection of episodes. 

Unlike the Old Man Rick visions, this very much looks like a confirmed time jump rather than a made up daydream, and doesn’t spell good news for how things are about to play out. Has someone died? Has everyone died? Or is this just a few hours later on from Carl’s death scene, and Rick’s still processing from the grief? I need answers, AMC!

How will Carl’s death affect the war?

It’s worth remembering that not every character knows about Carl’s bittersweet demise at this point, and there’s a good chance that the next episode will show us the fallout that follows once news spreads. Could this tragedy make different parties begin to reconsider their intentions in the same way it’s affected Rick, who’s now decided to pursue a path to peace instead of winning at all costs? 

Maybe the trauma will reignite tensions between Jesus and Maggie at Hilltop, for instance, but I’m not just talking about Carl’s old friends. Think about it: Negan had a genuine soft spot for little Rick Junior, and his death – even though it technically had nothing to do with him – might leave The Saviour’s head honcho reeling, wondering whether this war is really worth the human cost. If both Rick and Negan are no longer in it to win it, then that could drastically change the dynamics of the war, and the prospect of peaceful negotiations could be brought to the table. Carl’s death was tragic, but his departure might just be the catalyst that brings resolution to zombified Atlanta’s ongoing conflict. 

Is Henry turning into Lizzie 2.0?

Well would you look at that? After repeatedly showing clear signs of emotional instability and alarming behavioural traits, it turns out that Henry is perfectly capable of poking out a grown man’s throat with a pointy stick. Shock, horror, yawn. The big question is whether we’ve got another Lizzie on our hands, but I’m certainly not hoping for one. 

That’s because The Walking Dead has a severely unreliable track record when it comes to examining the children of the zombie apocalypse. For every Lizzie and Mika, the pair responsible for the show’s best episode to date (The Grove), there’s been a Sam, an Enid, and a season 2 Carl. I doubt many viewers are all too excited about the prospects of another tiny terminator in Henry, then, but there’s still a chance that AMC has something more unconventional in store for Carol’s new best friend. 

The post 5 questions I have after watching The Walking Dead season 8, episode 9 – Honor appeared first on Game News.

Spoilers for The Walking Dead season 8 follow…

According to ComicBook.com (opens in new tab), the runtime will be a staggering 82 minutes. 82 minutes of dread, the dead and Carl’s hatless head. It’s going to be a rough ride filled with emotions, crying faces and Rick Grimes’ strained whimpers of CORALLL as his son bites the dust.

Of course, how long is too long? The Walking Dead has been shambling along for 18 months – with the odd bright spark here and there – and artificially elongating the episode to create a sort of ‘TV event’ isn’t going to do it any favours. Especially as the gun-toting battles and tense staredowns died a death well into season 8.

There’s still hope, though. And time. Lots and lots of time. The characters are stretched out all over the place. Game of Thrones season 7 (opens in new tab) sped through a lot of the journeys just to get to the good stuff – and even then we were itching for more.

The longer runtime might lend itself to some genuinely interesting developments, a sustained look at everyone without flitting quickly between people and places, and a final goodbye to Carl, one of the last remaining OG survivors from Atlanta. I still think that The Walking Dead can be a show with brains rather than just brainssss again – maybe this is a step in the right direction?

Image: AMC

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Last year, Star Trek: Bridge Crew (opens in new tab)’s playability banks on four friends each owning a PS4 or high end PC, a VR headset, and their own separate copy of the game, and that’s before having to find a good time to play together when every person is available for at least an hour or more. 1-2 Switch (opens in new tab) brandished a AAA price tag for an experience that can only really be enjoyed at social gatherings or parties tame enough to bring your new Ninty console (opens in new tab) out without fear of it getting trampled or splattered with alcohol.

In 2018, too, games are getting more ambitious and socially oriented with their multiplayer components, and while that’s great in theory, it’s easy to wonder whether there’s a sufficient audience for experiences that require certain criteria to be fulfilled before they can be enjoyed as intended.

In March, Sea of Thieves (opens in new tab) and A Way Out (opens in new tab) release within just a few days of each other. The first is a game that emphasises playing as pirate crews of (ideally) five or more people, together manning a single ship and progressing in the online world through communication, coordination, and extended co-operation. 

Players can jump into Sea of Thieves solo, but Rare itself has admitted that the game is best enjoyed with friends, since much of it has been designed specifically with this kind of collective play in mind, while lone pirating actually limits how far you can progress in your swashbuckling career.

I played a demo at E3 (opens in new tab) a few years ago and, when everything came together, as my team battled two other ships each controlled by another crew of real players, Sea of Thieves was momentarily magical, but it’s hard to picture that kind of experience sustaining itself once the game releases. Not only will you need to gather together a group of committed friends online to build your own crew, but the staying power of Sea of Thieves’ social world is dependent on it being populated by hundreds of similarly player-controlled crews. 

The question is whether Rare has overestimated the size of its target audience; that audience being groups of friends who are all willing to commit to each buying the same game and playing together on a regular basis with shared in-game agendas. I hope my doubts about Sea of Thieves are proved wrong come March.

It takes two

Then there’s A Way Out; a game which can only be played as a split-screen co-op experience, either online or through local play. That immediately sounds like both a creative and professional risk, but a recent announcement from Hazelight demonstrates how developers are attempting to circumvent the practical limitations of their co-op focused titles. 

Creative Director Josef Fares (opens in new tab) infamously took to the stage at last year’s Video Game Awards (opens in new tab) to announce a “friends pass free trial” for A Way Out, allowing those who buy the game to invite another friend to play with them online for free. Essentially, you’re getting two copies for the price of one, and a skeptic might look at that as EA potentially halving the sales of its latest game. 

On the contrary, I think this is EA playing the long game. By dropping the ‘one copy per player’ barrier for entry, Hazelight has only opened up the appeal of A Way Out to a wider audience, as those who were put off by the need to persuade another friend to buy the game are now far more likely to pick it up, confident that they’ll be able to enjoy the experience with another companion now that they have a free copy to give away. 

Sure, this is still a co-op game which requires two dedicated players to see the journey through from beginning to end, but a major concern people had for A Way Out has now been remedied by this smart business initiative, and the game will be all the better for it.

Later on in the year, you have games like Anthem (opens in new tab), State of Decay 2 (opens in new tab), and Overkill’s The Walking Dead, all of which are also primarily pitched as co-op centric games, though all of these can be played solo. But where are all these cooperative, socially oriented games coming from? Like many trends in the industry at present, the answer lies at the doorstep of Destiny (opens in new tab). 

Shared world, persistent multiplayer, public gameplay… these are buzzwords increasingly being ripped straight from Bungie’s playbook, acting as conceptual springboards for developers to iterate upon popular trends.

Read more

The best upcoming games of 2018 (opens in new tab)

The crucial difference is that Destiny 2’s infrastructure has made the game a viable (if uneven) experience for solo players as much as fireteams, with Guided Games, Clans, and revamped storytelling all part of Bungie’s efforts to cater to the lone wolf as much as the pack. It remains to be seen whether the same can be said of 2018’s upcoming roster of co-op titles. 

If Sea of Thieves is attempting to simulate the experience of belonging to a pirate crew, what kind of game will that be for a solitary skipper? When Overkill’s website (opens in new tab) specifically states that “teamwork is paramount” for its “four player co-op action FPS” The Walking Dead, can solo play really be that fulfilling when fighting alongside three other strangers or non-human bots? And does BioWare really believe that the idealistic cooperation dramatised in Anthem’s reveal trailer (opens in new tab), with that simulated in-game chat performed very clearly by trained actors, is truly indicative of how people are going to play its game? 

As a co-op fan, I couldn’t be happier that these kind of experiences are finding new life through a variety of different genres and formats. But as someone more than familiar with the discrepancies between the promise of co-op game’s ambition and the realities of its impact (*COUGH* Evolve *COUGH*), I couldn’t be more nervous about their chances of success.

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Better yet, on Xbox One (opens in new tab), Microsoft often allows you to permanently keep hold of any Achievements you earn in a game’s trial run. That’s free Gamerscore points for playing a free demo, which are often worth playing for the entertainment value in and of themselves! Instead of having to trawl through the Xbox Marketplace looking for the right freebies for you, I’ve selected some of the very best Xbox One demos available and listed them below for your browsing pleasure.

Metro Redux

Curious about that eerie first-person shooter reveal at Microsoft’s 2017 E3 conference this year? The one with the giant rat? It’s the third game in 4A Games’ grounded, melancholic survival series, Metro, and continues the story left off by Metro 2033 (opens in new tab) and Metro: Last Light. Both of those titles were remastered and resold as one package (Metro Redux (opens in new tab)) a few years ago, and you can try the demos right now on Xbox One. 

That’s right, demos, plural. You can download and play trials for either or both of the titles, playing around a third of the campaign for each, which gives you a good deal of flexibility and freedom for your consideration. Luckily, they’re both excellent games, and your progress will carry on if you decide to jump in full time for the Russia-set rambling. 

Titanfall 2

The good news gods must have been smiling upon earth when it was announced that Respawn would be making a third Titanfall game with EA (opens in new tab), but you might not have yet had the chance to play the recently released sequel.

The least you can do to show your support is give the demo a whirl, which contains approximately an hour of gameplay, using a mid-game chapter from Titanfall 2 (opens in new tab)’s stellar campaign. Be warned, though, you’ll be aching to play more by the end of it, especially once you make friends with BT. 

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

Bethesda has a pretty good track record when it comes to demos of late. You can download trials for Dishonored 2 (opens in new tab), Prey (opens in new tab), Doom (opens in new tab), The Evil Within 2 (opens in new tab), and now Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus (opens in new tab), which only released in October. 

Machine Games’ FPS sequel is a loud and proud Nazi slaying simulation, but its unforgiving run-and-gun gameplay isn’t for everyone, so this demo is a good excuse to see if your penchant for its bold flavour of gunplay can last to see the story through to its conclusion. The best part, though, is that the demo is the entirety of the game’s first level: the one where you’re killing Nazis from a wheelchair. Excellent. 

Rise of the Tomb Raider 

You’ll have to buy the complete product if you want to witness Lara Croft’s promised ascension in full, but the first two chapters contained within the Rise of the Tomb Raider (opens in new tab)’s demo give you a good sense of how it’s all going to play out. 

There’s shooting, crafting, raiding, upgrading, and exploring to be done, and it can take you anywhere between two to three hours before the demo is up, depending on how you prefer to play. Oh, and it features at least one scene where Lara dies in some horrible, excruciating way. Sorry about that.  

Watch Dogs 2 

If Watch Dogs 2 (opens in new tab) protagonist Marcus Holloway had known that Ubisoft is offering a three hour trial of open-world adventuring in his game for no charge, he’d probably have never hacked the studio’s offices in the first place. 

The demo includes full access to the single player and multiplayer features of the San Francisco-set sandbox, but be warned – you’re on a timer for the entire thing, so spend your minutes wisely before the demo automatically comes to a close. If three hours isn’t enough (and let’s face it; it isn’t), you can continue on seamlessly from your trial’s progress once you decide to cash in on the full game. 

Gears of War 4

As far as value for no money goes, The Coalition has outdone itself with the Gears of War 4 (opens in new tab) free trial. You can enjoy up to ten hours of the game at no cost, which includes the opening Act of the campaign, and as much PvP and Horde multiplayer that you can wring out of the experience. 

You’ll know by the end whether you want to pay up to keep going or not, and even if you don’t, that’s ten hours of high quality gaming for the price of nothing. Go on, pat yourself on the back for being such a frugal gamer.

Forza Motorsport 7 

You might enjoy the odd driving sim every now and again, but never enough to warrant a full blown purchase on the next big racing game. The Forza Motorsport 7 (opens in new tab) demo has you covered, then, offering a small but not insubstantial set of racing experiences that have enough replay value for you to return to whenever you feel the need for speed.

There are three unique tracks, each boasting a different car to test them out in, and the demo even includes a race at at the Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit, which is a nice showcase for Motorsport 7’s breathtaking dynamic weather technology. Better yet, you’ll never have to worry about those pesky and overbearing microtransactions plaguing the full game. 

Halo Wars 2 

The original Halo Wars came out so long ago, that it’s difficult to know if the recently released sequel to the cult hit RTS is something that could hold your interest. It’s exactly the kind of game that can benefit from a demo, and Microsoft isn’t oblivious to this, offering a free trial that introduces players to all the important nuts and bolts of its strategically-minded gameplay.

It uses the campaign’s opening mission, so you won’t have free reign of every gizmo and gadget available in the full game, but it does give you a basic understanding of the kind of Halo experience that Halo Wars 2 (opens in new tab) is. At the very least, it’ll save you from making the horrible mistake of buying the full title thinking that it’s another classic Halo FPS outing. Welp. 

Dead Rising 3 

Sometimes you’re not in the mood for enrapturing narratives, elaborate role-playing, or tough-as-nails PvP. Sometimes, you just want to whack a few zombies round the head with a baseball bat. Dead Rising 3 (opens in new tab) offers exactly that kind of therapy for the low, low price of nil, with a demo that chucks you head-first into its open world, with 20 minutes to do as you please with whatever you can find. 

Tear zombies in half with a cement saw if you want, or head towards a nearby side quest for something more purposeful. Whatever you’re doing, it’s mindless gratification from the get go, and tells you all you need to know about the kind of game that Dead Rising 3 is. 

FIFA 18

There’s a reason that every annual FIFA demo consistently breaks its own records as the most popular demo released on consoles, year after year, without fail. Not only is it the FIFA community’s first chance to test out the new software for themselves, but it always boasts a striking amount (pun intended) of replay value, thanks to the fact that players can enjoy match after match to no end, even if the conditions and choices contextualizing each game are necessarily limited.

If you’re not a massive fan of video game footy, but don’t mind having a quick kickabout whenever a friend is round, this demo is the perfect option, allowing you to easily boot up a game of FIFA 18 (opens in new tab) without ever having to spend dime. 

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