Given the pedigree of Platinum Games, there’s reason to believe the Nintendo Switch exclusive Astral Chain could be the next breakout game in the stylish hard-action genre. It’s directed by Takahisa Taura, who was a lead designer on Nier: Automata, and supervised by Hideki Kamiya, who brought us Bayonetta and the original Devil May Cry. But what those games had, in addition to gratifying and refined combat systems, was a star character with a unique voice who brought their stories to life.

You may think that a game that lives or dies by the greatness of its combat system could easily get away with a silent protagonist. However, a lot of the bombast and attitude that exudes from stylish action games are borne out of a character who sets the tone throughout. I think about Bayonetta’s confidence and ferocity and how it’s part of what makes those games pop, and how the on-screen action is very much an extension of that charisma. Even Vanquish lead Sam Gideon’s corny, hard-boiled temperament was part and parcel to the game’s attitude.

In the opening minutes of Astral Chain, you choose between playing as a male or female character, both of which are siblings in the story. You give them a name, hairstyle, hair and eye color and jump straight into some varied third-person action scenarios. You’re a slick anime cop who’s quickly propelled to special status by taking on a Legion, a separate entity you control simultaneously to fight the Chimera threat that plagues your city. In the heat of these moments, your character will yell, grunt, and call out to their Legion upon summoning, but they’ll never speak, even when spoken to.

Instead, the silence of Astral Chain’s lead makes for those awkward moments that warrant a vocal response in dialogue. And to be clear, there hasn’t been any narrative reasoning to why they don’t talk. Maybe it’s that Astral Chain puts less of a focus on story or character development. But I begin to wonder if those bits of emptiness could have been flipped to help the game establish a distinct attitude and help elevate the critical action-packed scenes or lend more weight into the smaller investigative decisions you make.

What makes this design choice even more curious is that whichever sibling you didn’t choose becomes a key supporting character who features fully voiced dialogue. Voice actors Aleks Le and Brianna Knickerbocker play the roles of the male and female characters, respectively. And by virtue of having to choose one, you have to pass on the other’s performance. It also feels like we could’ve had a more fleshed-out lead with a distinct personality, like in Platinum’s past games.

Last month, Platinum Games put out a blog post in which Taura-san explained the decision to go with a silent protagonist and said, “I want players to be able to project themselves onto the player character, so they naturally feel like part of the game. So [we] don’t give the player character any extreme expressions that might give them too much of a predefined personality.” But now having played Astral Chain, silence doesn’t seem to be benefitting it in that particular way.

I don’t see silent protagonists as an inherent flaw; my favorite games of all time, like the Persona series and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, put them in starring roles. And those characters develop alongside you as you make specific decisions that have narrative implications over the course of the game’s story. That’s not exactly what Astral Chain is doing, as the few dialogue options I’ve seen during investigative scenarios seem inconsequential, so it’s hard to get in the mindset of having the lead be an extension of yourself.

Of course, it’s just one aspect to the multitude of things Astral Chain is trying to do. There’s a uniqueness to the function of the Legion and how it diversifies combat in a way that Platinum hadn’t done before, and the visual flair complements the satisfaction of tearing through Chimera. It’s probably not going to be a deal-breaker that your character doesn’t speak since the game is much more than that, but I can’t help but think of it as a missed opportunity.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/astral-chains-silent-protagonist-feels-really-stra/1100-6469166/

Former Halo Infinite creative director Tim Longo has left 343 Industries. Longo previously worked as the creative director for Halo 5: Guardians.

As first reported by Kotaku, Longo was a part of a 343 Studios leadership shakeup, having previously been moved out of the creative director role to another position a few weeks ago. Following this change in position, Longo left 343 Studios voluntarily.

In a statement, Microsoft wrote that “creative vision and production of the game remains led by [Halo Infinite studio head] Chris Lee” and that no ill will is felt over Longo’s departure. The studio also touched on the one other major change to Halo Infinite’s leadership, writing that executive producer Mary Olsen has been transitioned to lead producer in charge of the game’s campaign.

Though this can be viewed as a troublesome omen for Halo Infinite, it’s important to remember that leadership changes like this do occasionally happen in the gaming industry. Just because Longo has left, it doesn’t mean Halo Infinite is automatically a bust. For context, Cyberpunk 2077 creative director Sebastian Stępień (who previously worked on all three The Witcher games) left CD Projekt Red for a role at Blizzard back in January 2019–as reported by Variety–and that game still looked very impressive at E3 2019.

Halo Infinite is the sixth mainline game in the Halo franchise, scheduled to release for Xbox One and PC in Fall 2020. The game will also be a launch title for the next-generation Xbox, codenamed Scarlett. 343 Studios boss Bonnie Ross describes Halo Infinite as a “spiritual reboot” for Halo though further details have remained sparse. As of right now, we’ve only gotten cinematic trailers and previews of Halo Infinite, no actual gameplay.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-infinite-creative-director-leaves-343-studios/1100-6469169/

Though it has been more than half a year since Travis Touchdown returned in the Nintendo Switch exclusive Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, Travis strikes once again on PC and PlayStation 4 this fall. Publishers Marvelous Inc. and Xseed Games have announced that the hack-n-slash spinoff will receive a digital Complete Edition on October 17.

Pre-ordering Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition on the PlayStation Store or Steam, which retails for $40 USD / $59 AUD / £33 GBP, nets you the game’s two DLC packs. One pack is Black Dandelion, which includes Shinobu Jacobs as a playable character, two Shinobu skins, and six Badman adventure mode chapters. The other, Bubblegum Fatale, comes with Bad Girl as a playable character, two Bad Girl skins, a new Killer Marathon stage, and one Travis adventure mode chapter. You also get a bevy of additional in-game shirts with your purchase. Both packs are only accessible after you have completed the main story at least once. PS Plus members get 10 percent off for pre-ordering ahead of release. Steam pre-orders do not require a membership to receive 10 percent off.

Travis Strikes Again takes place seven years after No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, and sees Travis Touchdown team up with Badman in an arcade-style, top-down hack-n-slash romp. The game is a departure for the series but retains many of the core elements the franchise is known for, particularly the bold self-awareness and over-the-top action.

In our Travis Strikes Again review, we said, “Once you’ve sifted through the references and callbacks, you have a competent action game with some great ideas that are only halfway there. However, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes doesn’t quite deliver on its potential, relying too heavily on repetitive encounters.”

During E3 2019, Nintendo and game director Suda51 unveiled No More Heroes III. Not much is known about the game, but we do know the anticipated sequel is currently slated for a 2020 release on Nintendo Switch.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/travis-strikes-again-no-more-heroes-coming-to-pc-a/1100-6469164/

The Halo app for Windows is no longer operational. Microsoft announced on its website that the app–which served as a hub for Halo news, game stats, and more–was officially decommissioned on August 16.

Microsoft decided to shut down the Halo app for Windows because it was “no longer a key component of our future plans and aspirations.”

“As the 343 Team looks ahead and works on the future of Halo, we periodically take stock of everything we currently operate and support across the entire franchise ecosystem. As time goes by, various applications and services fall out of scope and are de-prioritized as they are no longer a key component of our future plans and aspirations,” Microsoft said. “Ceasing support and operation of these legacy offerings frees up resources that can be re-deployed on better services for the future.”

All of the content hosted on the Halo app for Windows can now be found on the Halo website–Halowaypoint.com and also Halo.gg. In addition to Halo news, the Halo app hosts game stats for Halo Wars 2, and these will continue to populate until February 16, 2020. However, all of these stats can also be seen in Halo Wars 2 itself and on Halo Waypoint.

The Halo app for Windows also served as the launcher for Halo Wars 2 and Halo 5: Forge. However, players will now need to launch the games from the client. “Please note that this will have zero impact to your ability to play and enjoy these games and has no impact on performance,” Microsoft said.

In discussing the Halo app’s usage, Microsoft only said that “a number of people” used it over the years, which makes it sound like it was not very popular.

“We hope the content it delivered helped to enrich your enjoyment of all things Halo,” Microsoft said. “We appreciate your support and look forward to bigger and better things in the future.”

In other Halo news, Microsoft also announced this week that it would no longer release new updates for Halo Wars 2 as the team moves on to other projects.

Microsoft’s Halo development team, 343 Industries, continues to work on Halo: The Master Chief Collection (including bringing it to PC), in addition to the next mainline instalment Halo Infinite.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-halo-windows-app-is-shutting-down-and-heres-wh/1100-6469162/