Hades, which left early access back in 2020, is one of the best and most influential roguelikes of all time, so there's perhaps no greater sign of the talent at Supergiant Games that their own follow-up, Hades II, blows it out of the water. The formula is refined into its ultimate form; the combat is more complex (but just as intuitive), and the story is grander and more thrilling.
Whenever I go back for another run-which isn't too often these days, though I did spend at least three solid months of my 2020 malaise deep in a foxhole-I'm always impressed by the game's ability to wring near-infinite permutations of itself out of a relatively restrained framework. I say "restrained" with an asterisk here because, as any vets well know, the game is packed full with enough ideas to keep
Here's the official trailer for the new DK Island and Emerald Rush DLC, which will be available after the Direct. The other cool thing this new DLC adds is a whole new way to play Nintendo's massive 3D platformer. If you have completed the main story of Bananza, you can actually work for the villain of the story and join his mining company. Doing so unlocks a new mode in which you smash up emeralds as fast as possible.
This week I finally got to share what I've been working on behind the scenes: Kotaku's review of the remake of Metal Gear Solid 3, as well as a deep dive into what makes this reimagining tick. Long story short: I think the game rocks and it's been the most fun I've had with an MGS title in many years. But it's not out yet, so it won't be mentioned in this week's rundown.
A typical climb in Cairn - and most rock climbing games for that matter - tasks you with managing rope, and the pitons you use to anchor it to a rock face. You add pitons as you climb so that in the event you slip, you only fall to your last piton rather than all the way to the ground. In Free Solo mode, you don't have that safety net, turning each climb into more of a roguelike run.
"Lost in Random being a roguelike sounded like a great idea and [way] to continue with the IP, but taking a new spin on it," Martin Storm, the director of the new roguelike Lost in Random: The Eternal Die, told Polygon during a recent video call. "And that's kind of how it started."