Jack's got a very cyberpunk feel to her (I think so at least, never played Mass Effect), too.
Battle Royale: The Last Generation Of An SNES-CD Saga
- Thread starter RySenkari
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Jack's got a very cyberpunk feel to her (I think so at least, never played Mass Effect), too.
Yeah, pretty sure CDPR created a character that looks exactly like Jack in Cyberpunk 2077 without realizing it.
Judy Alvarez?
There's no CDPR here though, AFAIK. Nor the Witcher games or Cyberpunk 2077 - I'm playing Cyberpunk right now, and I think that if they'd rooted out the bugs and marketed it as an open world game instead of a gaming revolution it would've matched the hype; it's a great game so far, just not a revolutionary one.
If I'm assuming correctly, The Bills made the Super Bowl as underdogs against the Falcons in 2017? If so, that's pretty cool!
Mario and Sonic as Oscar Nominees?
Owen Wilson wins Best Actor?
The 49ers are officially a dynasty?
To quote Mr. Wilson himself... "Wow!"
you could argue only won an extra superbowl from OTL, mostly because ITTL andre rison Incident was even worse and they ended up caught sideline on it(poor steve young that monkey crushed him ITTL) plus a freebie for NOT RUINING ANDREW LUCK
March 2019 - The Last Gift, But Not The Last Arcade
(Author's Note: The following game idea was given to us by the reader HonestAbe1809!)
Seven years after the original became one of 2012's biggest sleeper hits, Ithiel: Redemption continues the story of its predecessor in brilliant fashion. It's much more of a Western-styled RPG than the original, but that fits its new story perfectly, with Ithiel traversing the world to take down a group of so-called “heroes” leaving death and destruction in their wake. It's a much more open world game than the original, and Ithiel herself is a much more fleshed out character, with all her development already having taken place in the original game. Redemption spends much more time exploring just the kind of person Ithiel has become, and as she leads her allies across the world to hunt down the heroic antagonists of the game, we realize exactly what makes her tick. There are so many side quests, and the game's unique approach to them, exploring many of them from a “villain's” point of view as you work to undo the damage done by the heroes, makes this game so much more than your typical Elder Scrolls-esque game.
(...)
We're discussing the main villain, so SPOILERS abound, skip forward if you just want to see the final review score.
The game's ultimate villain turns out to be Tarav, the seemingly benevolent healer, who reveals himself to be a powerful necromancer after Ithiel successfully redeems the rest of his team. From that point on, the world takes on a much darker tone as zombies and horrors awaken to overrun the realm that Ithiel has been protecting, and now, Ithiel's team and the redeemed heroes must team up to save the day. Even in these dark moments, there are sparks of comic relief (such as when the heroes briefly believe themselves to have been turned into zombies, only for Ithiel to knock them back to their senses). Though Ithiel: Redemption never leans fully into parody like the Kingdom Quest series, it still knows when to take friendly swipes at certain gaming tropes, and Ithiel herself is delightfully self-deprecating when she wants to be. Cindy Robinson returned as Ithiel for this sequel, and her performance gives Ithiel a dimension of warmth that wasn't there in the original, clearly showing the character's growth.
(…)
Ithiel: Redemption is the best game of the year thus far, though there's no doubt that The Last Gift will give it a run for its money when it's released next week. It's not only an improvement over Fighting Fate, but perhaps the best game to come out of this studio, and one of the best RPGs in recent memory.
Score: 5/5
-from RPGamer's review of Ithiel: Redemption, posted on March 7, 2019
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The Stadia-exclusive console release of the arcade hit Killer Queen will be launching today. The game, in which two teams of five battle it out in a brutal bee-for-all has proven to be one of the biggest arcade hits in recent memory, and a sign that while arcades in North America have seen much better days, they're certainly not dead. The game is coming to Stadia as Killer Queen Black, and is virtually identical to the original arcade release, with an expansive tutorial and online play. Thanks to games like Killer Queen, arcades have seen a mild resurgence in some parts of the country, particularly urban areas where people can easily gather and play the newest hit games. These hit games include both originals like Killer Queen, but also adaptations of console hits, including EA's Madden Live, a fast-paced remake of its hit console titles, said to be inspired somewhat by the Tecmo Bowl games, which have seen a competitive resurgence of their own. Madden Live combines the somewhat simple gameplay of Tecmo Bowl with the hard hitting arcade action of NFL Blitz to create an experience that hadn't been seen in more than a decade before its release in 2017. The game has popped up in bars and arcades all over the country, and though it's capable of connecting to the Internet to receive scoreboard and roster updates, EA has created a new version of the game every year, hoping to make Madden an annual staple like the Golden Tee series. Madden Live has proven fairly profitable for EA, while Ubisoft is also getting in on the arcade action, mostly utilizing the properties it acquired from Konami. Metal Gear Survive is an arcade spinoff of the Metal Gear series in which Solid Snake battles oncoming hordes of zombies. It's an action/stealth RPG combining elements of the Metal Gear Solid titles with action-RPGs like Gauntlet, and was originally conceived as a console spinoff of the series before an Ubisoft exec smartly realized that such a game wouldn't fly with console gamers but could be a potential arcade hit. It's seen huge sales in Japan, where arcades are still going fairly strong, but has also clicked with American players, popping up in places like Dave and Buster's and earning lots of quarters in the process.
And just where are these new arcade hits being played? The aforementioned Dave and Buster's continues to pop up across the country, and is the most popular chain of "barcades" in existence, though Token Chug, a chain established in 2003, is giving it a run for its money as of late, opening more locations than Dave and Buster's has over the past five years. There are also some popular regional chains, including Goldman's, founded by Survivor winner Ron Goldman, which has 37 locations, all on the West Coast but planning on expanding to New York and Florida later this year. Goldman's serves alcoholic beverages but its founder doesn't consider it a "barcade", instead referring to it as a family restaurant (though Goldman also doesn't like comparing it to the ubiquitous Chuck E. Cheese's either). There are also individual establishments, including Gameopolis in Portland, Maine. Billing itself as the "world's largest barcade", it occupies the location formerly occupied by Microsoft's X-Zone arcade, and in addition to featuring the expected arcade games and bar, it also hosts competitive gaming tournaments and trivia and also features a large shopping area where patrons can purchase arcade machines (both vintage and current), including 1UP's line of retro machines for those looking to build an arcade on a budget. Gameopolis regularly attracts patrons from as far away as Boston (which itself hosts numerous barcade establishments), and has seen its revenues increase steadily from when it opened in 2016. As for whether or not game companies will go back to building their own arcades, don't hold your breath. The X-Zone chain went out of business back in 2010, Sega's Gameverse (which remained the property of Sega even after the Apple sale) no longer has any North American locations, and the most recent attempt to start a chain of arcades, Ubisoft's GameBling (a joint venture with Konami's remaining casino division to establish a chain of arcade/casino attractions across North America and Europe), was set to begin construction in 2020 before the recent #SpeakOut scandal derailed those plans indefinitely. It's clear that there's interest in keeping arcades alive, and more are popping up every day, but, in North America at least, it'll be gamers building them and not game companies... though today's arcade patrons wouldn't want it any other way.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, posted on March 11, 2019
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Lester Holt: Katie, the crisis in Pakistan has intensified considerably, as India and Pakistan once again trade gunfire in Kashmir. Today's exchange left seven Indian soldiers and four Pakistani soldiers dead, and tensions don't seem to be letting up any time soon. Last week's terror attacks, said to be connected to Al-Queda in Pakistan, left dozens of Indian civilians dead in Delhi and Kolkata, and India has vowed revenge, while the Pakistani government has denied responsibility.
Katie Couric: President Kennedy has been in contact with the Indian prime minister, and plans to talk with the president of Pakistan tomorrow. Do people in India believe those talks are making any progress toward a return to peace?
Holt: You know, the mood here in New Delhi is cautiously optimistic, a lot of people here like President Kennedy and believe that he'll be willing to help protect India if it does come to that, and he has made it clear that Pakistan needs to be the one that reins in these terror attacks, because, especially here in India, it's believed that the rhetoric coming from Pakistan's government is what's been inflaming these attacks.
Couric: India's government is on high alert, obviously the threat of more terror attacks has to be looming over everything at this point.
Holt: People here are scared, they're angry, they're upset, they want the government to take a hard line against terror attacks from Pakistan, and with the latest bloodshed in Kashmir, things have really escalated in terms of how upset everyone here is. Hoping for peace, but of course ready for anything, and we'll see how successful the president is in negotiating peace between both sides here.
Couric: Obviously a very precarious situation there, thank you again for your reporting, Lester.
-from the March 15, 2019 episode of the NBC Nightly News
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"America has been pushing toward socialism for far too long under the current president, and I plan to put a stop to it once I'm in the Oval Office. I've seen what Americans can do when they're allowed to prosper under the free market, and this can be the greatest country in the world if we only get out of those Americans' way! I promise you, under my leadership, this country will return to that great promise of a shining city on a hill, the one envisioned by presidents like Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and the previous president Jon Huntsman. I plan to put a stop to the threat of socialized medicine, wasteful government spending, and the kinds of control that led to the fall of a once great nation, the nation of Cuba, into the desolation of communism. I'm entering this race to bring freedom back to America, and I hope you all will join me today!"
-Marco Rubio, announcing his candidacy for the American presidency by entering the Republian primaries, in a speech in front of supporters in Miami, Florida on March 25, 2019
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"And today, Marco Rubio joined the field of Republican candidates that now numbers four in total, including Cindy McCain, the widow of the late 2000 Republican nominee John McCain, George P. Bush, a current Congressman from Texas and son of Jeb Bush, and Virginia's Nick Freitas, who lost a narrow Senate race last year but who built momentum and gained a lot of popularity in that race. There are expected to be many more Republicans declaring their candidacy, and we're likely to have a crowded field despite the president's ongoing popularity. Many believe that the race will be run on fiscal policies, and all four of these candidates have come out swinging against what they say is President Kennedy's 'reckless spending' with programs such as public option healthcare. Rubio is looking to appeal to Hispanic voters, which are growing in number but, according to analysts, are also growing more fiscally conservative, especially down in Florida amongst the Cuban exile community. Polls already have Rubio out ahead of the field by a wide margin, with McCain running second, Freitas third, and Bush fourth, but as this is very early in primary season, there's still a long way to go."
-Wolf Blitzer, reporting on Rubio's entry into the 2020 field after his speech, in a CNN report at 1:13 EDT on March 25, 2019
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HELL FREEZES OVER: DC And Marvel To Meet In Second Crossover Event, Including Comics, Books, And Games
In a startling joint announcement by DC and Marvel Comics today, there will be a second crossover event to commemorate the upcoming 25th anniversary of their 1996 DC vs. Marvel series, complete with the temporary reformation of Amalgam Comics as a joint venture of parent companies Warner Bros. and 21st Century Fox respectively. The prospect of a second crossover event between the shared comic universes was always a pipe dream for fans, but considered to be an impossible one after Marvel was purchased by Fox. Analysts have long taken it for granted that the two titanic media corporations would never be able to come to terms on how best to share the profits of such an endeavor, or that neither company would be willing to "help" the other, but it seems that they've managed to come to an agreement of sorts, even though we don't yet know of the details or how the negotiations might have gone. What we do know is this: there will be a series of comic books and graphics novels beginning next year, leading up to a major 25th anniversary event in 2021. The prospect of a DC vs. Marvel film has been ruled out, though we can't yet rule out the prospect of a television show, even though nothing has yet been announced. There's also going to be a game, and it will be the latest installment of a popular fighting game series: Marvel vs. Capcom vs. DC Universe, which will be released on consoles in 2020 and will feature characters from both comic book universes along with Capcom characters. The fan interactivity of the previous crossover event (in which fans voted on who would win classic fights between the two companies' characters) will not be repeated this time around, with the comics instead penned by a series of writers from both companies, as well as a few outside guest writers, and any winners of fights between the two universes "will be determined by what works best for the story, even if it might leave some fans unhappy", according to a FAQ that accompanied the announcement. However, fans WILL be allowed to suggest DLC characters for the upcoming game, which will feature an equal number of combatants from DC, Marvel, and Capcom.
-from an article on Comics De-Coded, posted on March 25, 2019
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Game Spotlight: The Last Gift
(Authors' Note: The following information was provided to us by the reader jolou! We edited it a bit and also added the critical/sales information at the end.)
Developed by Midi (a studio composed of many former Ubisoft employees alongside other former studio members from Spain and France) and produced by Apple who supported the game following a pitch that showed the unique location of the game, The Last Gift is an action/adventure set in Western Europe 40 years after the world collapsed following an a zombie-like pandemic in 2016. The Last Gift, unlike most Pandemic/Zombie games is set in Europe and you can visit three countries, France, Spain and Italy. The game in itself is a semi-Open World, in which when the story permits it you are granted access to an Open World Area, going from Bilbao in the West to Nice in the East, Barcelona In the South and Toulouse in the North. Otherwise, you play in closeted environments in places like the Alps, The Balearic Islands, Loire Valley, Across Northern Italy and Mont-Saint-Michel.
Since the Apocalypse, people live in or near castles and other fortresses, transforming the post-apocalyptic world into a neo-feudal world where former military have taken over the most important places and rule as Warlords, the most important of those are in the City of Carcassonne. Other, smaller, communities still survive but it’s hard for them to survive. When you’re in the Open World area, you will be able to help the various communities and Warlords across the world to take over abandoned villages and Castles giving them more space to grow, and more resources. Taking those villages means fighting the infected for the lands. Those cities and villages are where you can find people to give you quests, to upgrade your gear and sell what you’ve obtained. Generally, for each warlord and community you will obtain special quests to take over a castle or fortification during special battles. Victor, due to his young age, has difficulty killing enemies (infected or others) but can help you. There’s also special portion of the game created for VR, especially some in abandoned Buildings which definitively gives more of a horror aspect to the game.
Of course, there is the abandoned cities (Barcelona, Marseille…) which has developed into No-Go-Zones for everyone and for the younger generations, they are like Vampires, dreadful place to go. It is here that you will find the most stuff, and also most of the better equipment and weapons. But, you will have to fight for it as there is quite a lot of infected in here but some say some people still lives in there but maybe it’s just a legend ?
Now about the infected, there is five different types.
About the different communities and humans you can encounters in the Open World Area, there is three that are really different and important. The others are “generic” like the hunters in OTL's The Last Of Us. There is the Council of Carcassonne, which is a council of increasingly old Generals leading the city. When the outbreak started, they weren’t even generals, but 30 years old colonels who decided to take over the city early on and build up their defense and abilities to retain a strong military. Outside of being a clear military dictatorship with limited free speech, limited elections and mandatory conscriptions, it is here that someone could live mostly like the pre-outbreak world. The generals are competent and there is Electricity, entertainment and less famine than in other part of the world. But well, it’s still a dictatorship without much liberty possible and their forces are the strongest and well-equipped that you could encounter.
Then there is the Cherubim, a group of religious folks from Islam and Christianity who bend together to protect themselves and allied just after the outbreak. They are viciously against what they feel is “old-world technology” and wish to return to a simpler time after God/Allah punished Humanity with the virus and view those infected with the virus as clearly hated by their god. Their worst enemy is of course the Council but they don’t hate the people inside it mainly the fact they rely too much on technology. They are also quite helpful as they view charity and cooperation as a pillar of their faith but they will fight for the destruction of anything left to the old world which will put them on your path quite often.
And the last of the three major groups are the Socios, a group of Catalan whose trying to take over more territory in spain and France after they managed to kill off their concurrence in Catalonia. They are a very democratic group with nearly decision taken by a vote, which now they are quite big make them quite lethargic, and are the most “nationalist” of all, distrustful of those who aren’t part of their group.
In terms of graphics, the attention was given to the characters and the various important places (Carcassonne for example) which are replicated on a near identical level.
Majors Characters:
Zoé Voiced by Jennifer Hale : The mother of Victor. She lost her father during the outbreak, survived with her brother for a few years before joining a group of idealistic survivor trying to make a better world then left with her husband to have a son. She then lost her husband, who sacrifice himself to save their son. And so she has a difficult relationship with her son, she does care about him but he always reminds of herself (as she had been saved by her father before he died) and of her husband. Now a more cynical person, she’s trying to reconnect with her past-self.
Víctor Voiced by an OC Voice Actor named Mateo Calva: The son of Zoé and Luís, a teenager who’s learning how to survive in this world while trying to have a better relation with his mother, the only relative he has left. He also feel a little guilt over the loss of his father, he blames himself but also wish to move on. His father saved him, he must make it worth. Optimistic, idealist.
The Archivist Voiced by Liam O’Brien :He watched the world return to a darker era of mankind (feudal era) and think that a vaccine could prevent that and is willing to do anything to prevent that. He’s also trying to preserve the most knowledge of mankind that he can in order to prevent the loss of knowledge. He has become quite ruthless in his endeavor.
Enzo Voiced by JB Blanc : The elder brother of Zoé, this is a man who has been transformed and torture by his hate. If he has managed to take care of his sister for years, he still feel quite abandoned by her decision to leave him and absolutely hate any kind of authority following his father death during the Outbreak. Ironically, he is now the leader of one of the most vicious group of survivor around, a group of somewhat anarchist who believe that the authority of the previous world failed them and now they are free to do what they want.
Lara voiced by Elena Dunkelman : An 30 years old Italian who has been elected leader of her community for her humble and helpful act. She is struggling with her newfound responsibility and has to make important choices to save it.
Luís voiced by Giancarlo Esposito : A genius in medical and science field who was already in university despite being younger than usual before the outbreak. He is determined to find a cure to the Infection and has fought his entire life for it. And the years has forced him to become quite ruthless in his search for one. Yet, he is also a loving father and Husband who does everything for his family.
Philip voiced by Gavin Drea : The assistant/apprentice of Luis who has never really known the pre-outbreak world and as such lived by the tales of his mentor. He seek to help the world and help people in need and has a blind trust in his mentor work which can have unseen consequences..
The story begins a few years before the main part of it as Zoé, the main character, hears something knocking on her window as she just wakes up. She goes and opens the door just to see that it was her husband, Luis, that send the stone. He quickly say she’s late to her leadership reunion and that he’s taking care of Victor (their son). The player takes control of her as she goes. When the player leave, they talk a bit and share a kiss. You quickly realize that they are in a castle, makeshift Home inside and outside of it, there is a market, people selling food, weapons (Weapons that are mostly sword, pikes and stuff with occasional firearms), clothes etc etc. The people are wearing a mix between “old clothes”(aka clothes from before the pandemic) and new clothes. She can talk with several people and we learn that she likely has a leadership position amongst the community.
She enter the inner castle, see that there is a lot of militiamen, that have a mix between old military gear and new armor. She goes up to the main dungeon and meet with her fellow leaders , Pierre (Omar Sy as a Guest Star) and Eva ( Ana de Armas as a Guest Star). They talked about the failing crops rates, the communication loss with another community and the next scheduled election which will saw Pierre and Eva run to be reelected. Yet, their meeting comes to an end when they hear the bells, ringing 3 times signaling an attack. From the dungeon we can see that people are fleeing from outside the castle walls to the inside. Zoé, as leader of the Guard, run from the meetings to the first walls.
Yet, she takes a stop by their house, to see Luis and Victor in Luis' lab, she says to them they may need to escape if something bad happens. She finally arrives at the wall to see a massive infected horde, with Humans, Dogs, Wolfes, Cats and other domesticated animals rising from the valley bellow to them. The goals here is to survive until everyone has fallen back to the second ring of wall, the more fortified area. This serves as a tutorial to many weapons and you have your second, Jean (voiced by an OC Voice Actor) to give order too/who can help you do finish. After some time, the player fall back to the second wall where you have oil, canons helping and you fight again for a way shorter time until it is revealed someone has opened a path in and it is now chaos. Zoé now realizes everything is lost and her troops abandon her to flee as she’s trying to save the most civilians possible. She flees and returns to her house with a few civilians and soldier to escape. She see Luis still there alongside Victor and berates them from taking too much time and she open a passage. The passage goes from the top of the hill to a river below where there’s boat waiting for them. Yet, the boats engine has been damaged and they need to row, meaning that if the passage stays open, the infected could catch up to them, and trying to catch up they are. While everyone is getting on the boats, there is one that isn’t as fast as the others and it is Victor. The infected are close behind him and Luis doesn’t close the door to let him pass. Yet, with the infected that close behind, the door won’t close in time. It takes a massive effort of him to hold the door as long as possible for Victor to get in the boats and to leave. As Zoé want to leave a boat and go help him, Pierre knocks her out.
Zoé regains conscientiousness only to see Luis, still trying to hold the door far away and seeing Zoé finally waking up, do her a last kiss with the hand and the door explode letting infected coming in. The last scene we see is the boats escaping in the rain and their former town being on fire.
THE LAST GIFT
A seemingly older Zoé wakes up from her nightmare around a dead campfire inside an abandoned house, alone.
She gets up to see below her a bandit camp. Most are teenagers with makeshift clothing’s and weapons and are guarding a teenage boy who seem better-fed and better-clothed. She just get below to meet them, her gun out and when they arrive, she shot in the leg of one of them and keep the others in check. She forces them to release the boy and tell them that they ain’t cut for the bandit thing and leave with their former prisoner to return to the city of Carcassonne, the most important city to have survived the pandemic in hundreds of kilometers.
She arrives on her horse with the boy to see the beautiful city below, its massive medieval walls, where modern watchtowers and house extensions to the sky can be seen, and it’s two more modern walls build after the pandemic where there is military checkpoints and people can trade and lives in more security than the outside. Because this is where a group of French soldiers disobeyed their orders and took over the city, killing everyone coming close and establishing a military dictatorship, surviving and now “thriving”. As it turn out, the Boy is the grandson of one of the original leader of the city and Zoé is now a mercenary, hired by him and others for odd jobs that people want to get done. After giving back the boy in the medieval city, she returns to her house in the middle city to find it open. She prepares for a fight, only to see a old man.
The Old Man she knows of. By reputation. This is The Archivist, an old man with a group of followers trying to preserve the knowledge of humankind and fight a dark age. If he is a popular figure, most people don’t know the extent of his actions that he’s willing to do for his sacred mission. As such, he is also widely wanted by whatever authorities still govern those lands. So to find him, in Carcassonne is greatly unexpected.
He say that he’s has gotten under his possession files dating from the Liberators before the destruction of their base, files that could give a possibility for a cure, files written by her husband Luis. The Archivist ask her to find the former apprentice of Luis, Philip, and get him whatever he needs.
She refuses. After all, Luis fell into the same hope and he abandoned it.
Yet, The Archivist continues. He offers her the one who opened the gates of the town she was supposed to protect, the one who, indirectly, killed her husband. Then she accepts.
The Archivist leaves, giving her the indication that he was last seen in Catalonia.
As it turns out, Victor, now a teenager, was listening and want to come with her. This is about obtaining his dad’s murderer. He wants to help but she put a stop to it. He must stay at the military school and not bother her with that.
As she is away from the city (ingame being after you do the first quest), she realize she has been followed since. And it was Victor. They have an argument, each accusing the other of provoking the death of Luis but finally agree to work together on that occasion.
This is at this point that the Open World Area is available for the players.
The duo goes to Catalonia where, after some investigation, finds out that her husband’s apprentice has been kidnapped by a community of survivalist in one of the smallest Baleares islands and that only the Socios, a very nationalist and recluse group of people, can help them get there. After a first contact saved by Victor speaking a little Catalan (from the time spend with his dad), their leader agree to lend them a boat, and a pilot, if they investigate the unusual absence of infected in the outskirt of Barcelona to determine where they went and see if the city safe.
And yes, there is nearly no infected. Even when they reach the center of the city, where most infected would be, there isn’t actually that many. They do get a little fight when they feel too confident but otherwise it seem as if most of the infected in the city aren’t there. As they return to make their report, the leader of the Socios is quite obviously happy to have the city ready for the taking and give them the boat and the pilot.
They arrive on a small island which isn’t an open area, it’s mostly a mission you could expect from OTL TLOU/Mass Effect…
Philip as it stand was captured by locals who heard of his prowess in medicine and needed a doctor for their community. They didn’t asked for his help, they took it and they can be seen as hypocrites since they value their independence very much as survivalist but still needed outside help.
Zoé and Victor manage to enter the central town secretly but the doctor doesn’t want to leave, he still has patient that needs his help, until she mentions that they’re here to make him the leader of a team making a vaccine. Yet this time, they can’t leave as easier and must fight their way through only succeeding because the community ultimately prefers to deal with a small infection threat rather than them. They return to the socios to thank them for the help only to realize where all infected went.
They are led by one invested that is different from the rest due to his visibly “humanity” outside of some growth on the throat and eyes. And simply there’s no resisting. Thousands and thousands of infected attacks the Socios camp, a camp diminished by their spread into Barcelona, and it’s absence of more important fortification, and Zoé makes an hard decision. She abandon them and flee with Victor and Philip. There’s a close call where it seem as if Victor could have gotten infected but nothing happened. When they reach the Pyrenees, the infected horde following them stop.
They join The Archivist in one of his secret base near Carcassonne where Philip inform them of what he needs. A team and medical equipment that can only be found in one place to his knowledge, a still functioning hospital in northern Italy, one that he had a relation with during his time in the Liberators. And so Zoé and Victors go to the Alps where The Archivist has given them a contact that could help them cross the Alps. Turns out said contact give them a Montgolfier that could at least give them the opportunity to pass some valley and a good portion of the mountains. It wasn’t the first choice, the tunnels were destroyed and the paths too dangerous in this time of the year. Yet they suffer an accident and crash during a tempest of snow and are purchased by religious fanatics. They have no sense of direction and Victor has a broken leg, this is where you can see that Zoé does cares for him. They barely manage to cross over to Italy and they realize that when they have difficulties understanding the locals as neither of them actually speak Italian. They also nearly dies from injuries until they are taken by a local to see the hospital they were seeking.
While Victor heals from his injuries, Zoé tells him of her family and the time of the outbreak. This is a section of the game where we control Zoé, who is 13 as her family (her father and her elder brother) goes to a themed park. Everyone playing, and you can too in mini games, until everything goes to shit. People are fleeing and being bitten, you need to find your father and the army shot without any distinction. Zoé goes to a person being infected asking him if he’s well and he jump on her. Her father takes the attack and despite being sick and severely hurt manage to get his children to what he think is safety, the Army. Yet, being infected, he is killed on the spot by a soldier who then look towards killing zoé. She is saved by her brother hitten the soldier with an iron bar. They flee together as more and more are infected. Together they survived for years depending on each other until differences in views separated them. This flashback ends as Zoé admit she had, and in a way, still has difficulties to love him because he reminds her of herself at his age in his actions.
When Victor feels better, they met Lara, leader of the community since barely a year who is struggling with her responsibility and an important choice. Leaving or staying.
Because she barely let them enough time to heal before putting out the facts. She need their helps and The Archivist offers does arrive at a good time. An opponent of the community around the Hospital has become the leading warlord in the area and want to take over them to force them to heal only his troops. As such, Lara needs Zoé and Victor to help the meager forces they have to protect their escape. They have a failsafe on the coast with hidden boat to cross over to the French side.
After doing some mission with Lara, they fight to get enough time for the members of the community and the materials on the boats before leaving.
They met The Archivist and Philip who are now all ready to go. The Archivist quite liked the work they did together and so offer her their destination, the Mont-Saint-Michel, if they want work and give them the place where the culprit of their community destruction is hiding.
Yet, they will never go there. They get words from Carcassonne that the infected they faced in Catalonia is back and is heading, with an horde, towards the city. They need her help as she already faced it. She hesitate but Victor arguments about protecting innocent (and a whole city) convince her to put her revenge behind for now.
In a massive battle, that is quite stunning with how the city uses helicopters, tanks but also low-armed soldiers to fight the attack. But Zoé does manage to get close to the infected leading the horde and kill him. But she can hear him talk and she realize it is the remnant of his personality talking with extreme difficulty and his basically thanking her and asking where a doctor is before dying.
Shaken by that revelation, that some can still exist but also thinking that said doctor is important. Yet, she finds Victor who has been bitten several time but is still up and human. He is seemingly immune. She forces him to keep it a secret and he reveal that during his time with his father, they did things that weren’t just “father-son” bonding moments.
Now, Zoé is certain that Luis did find a cure to the infection and has an idea of what it is but to be certain of it, she goes to the last place he was. Their old community, abandoned for years.
There they find in their old house, hidden in a way only the combined knowledge of Victor and Zoé could find it, the scientific journal of Luis afterwards two flashbacks are shown. Luis is still the head scientist of the Liberators, the group of rebels fightings against the army and dictatorial group and who wanted to create a vaccine. Here, he’s fighting against his superior, David (voiced by Troy Baker), as he want to put an end to their search. Luis has managed to get someone to survive the infection, in a way. We are treated a view to a remnant, the type of infected that destroyed the Socios and nearly Carcassonne. They are a human creation and more specifically, a result of Luis research. Yet, David refuse and order him to continue the search, surely he can manage to make someone wholly survive the infection and give him other test subject. Yet, Luis after taking a look at a pregnant, and sleeping, Zoé, goes to his experiment and kill him before he can be truly dangerous. He flee with Zoé and never returns to the liberators. It is implied that the Liberators continued the experiment and were later destroyed when the Remnant managed to escape.
A second flashback takes place when Victor is a baby. Luis has never stopped looking for a cure. He has noticed how mostly domestics animals were infected and how “wild” animals who are in contact with the infection directly from birth can’t be infected. And so, he try something. Over the years he makes Victor in contact with small dose of the infection slowly building up his immune system to it but he doesn’t know if he succeeded since he dies before being sure as his plan to infect Victor in a direct way never happened due to his death.
Of course, we know he was successful as Victor survived being bitten. Yet both Zoé and Victor are obviously quite angry at Luis for what he did but also now has two reason to get to The Archivist, to stop him from creating a Remnant with Luis notes from his Liberators past and to offer him the way to beat the infection.
Yet as they leave, they are met with a group of soldier led by Enzo, Zoé elder brother and Victor uncle who order their capture. He heard she was working on a cure and doesn’t want that.
Enzo has gone crazy over the year, believing that the authority of the previous world failed them and they must absolutely prevent it’s return by destroying everything. But he does cares about Zoé and even want to chat with the nephew he never met and hope to convince them both of helping him. Yet it won’t happen. Victor manage to escape from his jail during one of his “uncle/nephew bonding time” and we play him as he goes to free Zoé and together they manage to escape and take down Enzo as a team, showing they’ve come a long way since the beginning of the game. They find him surrounded by the loot he has amassed over the years, many military weapons but also gold, clothes and other amenities from common people. And he call out to them, saying that together they could have built a better world after the cleansing and Zoé is forced to put him down weeping as she still remember the brother who took care of her during the outbreak and the years after.
Weeks later, they arrive at the Mont-Saint-Michel and get a meeting with The Archivist where, using Victor bites and Luis journal, they convince him that he don’t need to continue the search for the cure using Philip methods. But it’s a little late. Philip just created a remnant by doing the same “cure” than Luis and the Remnant has taken over the research area, being distraught. Zoé and Luis goes there to deal with it and Zoé tried to reason with the human side she know still exist. But after seconds of hesitation, the infection takes over and he attack them. As he seem to do a killing blow to Victor, Zoé put herself between the two and get a series of scrap on her. Realizing that she doesn’t have a lot of time and knowing that The Archivist forces won’t stop the remnant alone, she jump with the Remnant in the rocks and water below. Not before looking at an unconscious Victor for the last time and saying it for the first (and only) time “I love you”.
In the Epilogue, Victor is with The Archivist as they are lowering his mother’s coffin into the ground. The Archivist swears to him that his mother sacrifice won’t go in vain and that together they will spread the knowledge on how to fight the infection.
The Last Gift is released exclusively to the Apple Virtua on March 15, 2019. It receives exceptionally high praise from critics, comparable to The Last Of Us' OTL reception (slightly lesser in terms of storyline, but slightly higher in terms of graphics and gameplay), and overall it scores a 96 on Metacritic, making it one of the best reviewed games of its generation. Jennifer Hale's performance receives particular praise, though the game's voice acting is considered outstanding across the board, along with the graphics and sound, and it becomes an immediate front-runner for Game of the Year. It would be the fastest selling Virtua title ever, even moreso than Grand Theft Auto III, selling more than ten million units in its first week alone, shattering sales records in Europe to become the fastest selling game ever on the continent, and pushing an enormous amount of Virtua consoles there as well. It breaks new ground for graphical quality and open world gameplay, surpassing even 2018's Doggerland, and instantly makes its studio one of the biggest new companies in the industry, while giving Apple the killer app it's lacked for years and pushing Virtua sales back into first place for weeks, if not months.
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Other Significant Titles For March 2019:
Shantae And The Worlds Beyond: A Reality-exclusive Shantae title that can best be compared to OTL's Shantae And The Seven Sirens, Shantae and the Worlds Beyond features 3-D gameplay for the first time in the series, though it's not technically a 3-D platformer, still mostly featuring the 2-D Metroidvania-style that the series is known for, but featuring a 3-D hub and certain 3-D boss fights and challenges, somewhat like TTL's Sonic The Hedgehog 4. It's a well received platformer and praised for mixing up the series formula, and while it doesn't hold a candle to The Last Gift, it's the series' best performing game thus far in terms of sales.
Scrounger: A post apocalyptic RPG/shooter title developed by Psygnosis for Reality, Virtua, Nexus, and Stadia, Scrounger is, like many shooter/RPGs, of the "looter shooter" variety, with a heavy emphasis on looter, and also a heavy emphasis on PvP. The game is always online, and players can invade your game at any time, kill you, and steal your stuff, and though the PvP can be turned off, the game is a lot more rewarding when it's on. This isn't a massive quest like Borderlands, it's a wild free-for-all in which short gameplay bursts and pitched PvP battles are the rule of the day. It's an innovative concept, and a small but devoted community builds around it, but most players ultimately stay away.
Seven years after the original became one of 2012's biggest sleeper hits, Ithiel: Redemption continues the story of its predecessor in brilliant fashion. It's much more of a Western-styled RPG than the original, but that fits its new story perfectly, with Ithiel traversing the world to take down a group of so-called “heroes” leaving death and destruction in their wake. It's a much more open world game than the original, and Ithiel herself is a much more fleshed out character, with all her development already having taken place in the original game. Redemption spends much more time exploring just the kind of person Ithiel has become, and as she leads her allies across the world to hunt down the heroic antagonists of the game, we realize exactly what makes her tick. There are so many side quests, and the game's unique approach to them, exploring many of them from a “villain's” point of view as you work to undo the damage done by the heroes, makes this game so much more than your typical Elder Scrolls-esque game.
(...)
We're discussing the main villain, so SPOILERS abound, skip forward if you just want to see the final review score.
The game's ultimate villain turns out to be Tarav, the seemingly benevolent healer, who reveals himself to be a powerful necromancer after Ithiel successfully redeems the rest of his team. From that point on, the world takes on a much darker tone as zombies and horrors awaken to overrun the realm that Ithiel has been protecting, and now, Ithiel's team and the redeemed heroes must team up to save the day. Even in these dark moments, there are sparks of comic relief (such as when the heroes briefly believe themselves to have been turned into zombies, only for Ithiel to knock them back to their senses). Though Ithiel: Redemption never leans fully into parody like the Kingdom Quest series, it still knows when to take friendly swipes at certain gaming tropes, and Ithiel herself is delightfully self-deprecating when she wants to be. Cindy Robinson returned as Ithiel for this sequel, and her performance gives Ithiel a dimension of warmth that wasn't there in the original, clearly showing the character's growth.
(…)
Ithiel: Redemption is the best game of the year thus far, though there's no doubt that The Last Gift will give it a run for its money when it's released next week. It's not only an improvement over Fighting Fate, but perhaps the best game to come out of this studio, and one of the best RPGs in recent memory.
Score: 5/5
-from RPGamer's review of Ithiel: Redemption, posted on March 7, 2019
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The Stadia-exclusive console release of the arcade hit Killer Queen will be launching today. The game, in which two teams of five battle it out in a brutal bee-for-all has proven to be one of the biggest arcade hits in recent memory, and a sign that while arcades in North America have seen much better days, they're certainly not dead. The game is coming to Stadia as Killer Queen Black, and is virtually identical to the original arcade release, with an expansive tutorial and online play. Thanks to games like Killer Queen, arcades have seen a mild resurgence in some parts of the country, particularly urban areas where people can easily gather and play the newest hit games. These hit games include both originals like Killer Queen, but also adaptations of console hits, including EA's Madden Live, a fast-paced remake of its hit console titles, said to be inspired somewhat by the Tecmo Bowl games, which have seen a competitive resurgence of their own. Madden Live combines the somewhat simple gameplay of Tecmo Bowl with the hard hitting arcade action of NFL Blitz to create an experience that hadn't been seen in more than a decade before its release in 2017. The game has popped up in bars and arcades all over the country, and though it's capable of connecting to the Internet to receive scoreboard and roster updates, EA has created a new version of the game every year, hoping to make Madden an annual staple like the Golden Tee series. Madden Live has proven fairly profitable for EA, while Ubisoft is also getting in on the arcade action, mostly utilizing the properties it acquired from Konami. Metal Gear Survive is an arcade spinoff of the Metal Gear series in which Solid Snake battles oncoming hordes of zombies. It's an action/stealth RPG combining elements of the Metal Gear Solid titles with action-RPGs like Gauntlet, and was originally conceived as a console spinoff of the series before an Ubisoft exec smartly realized that such a game wouldn't fly with console gamers but could be a potential arcade hit. It's seen huge sales in Japan, where arcades are still going fairly strong, but has also clicked with American players, popping up in places like Dave and Buster's and earning lots of quarters in the process.
And just where are these new arcade hits being played? The aforementioned Dave and Buster's continues to pop up across the country, and is the most popular chain of "barcades" in existence, though Token Chug, a chain established in 2003, is giving it a run for its money as of late, opening more locations than Dave and Buster's has over the past five years. There are also some popular regional chains, including Goldman's, founded by Survivor winner Ron Goldman, which has 37 locations, all on the West Coast but planning on expanding to New York and Florida later this year. Goldman's serves alcoholic beverages but its founder doesn't consider it a "barcade", instead referring to it as a family restaurant (though Goldman also doesn't like comparing it to the ubiquitous Chuck E. Cheese's either). There are also individual establishments, including Gameopolis in Portland, Maine. Billing itself as the "world's largest barcade", it occupies the location formerly occupied by Microsoft's X-Zone arcade, and in addition to featuring the expected arcade games and bar, it also hosts competitive gaming tournaments and trivia and also features a large shopping area where patrons can purchase arcade machines (both vintage and current), including 1UP's line of retro machines for those looking to build an arcade on a budget. Gameopolis regularly attracts patrons from as far away as Boston (which itself hosts numerous barcade establishments), and has seen its revenues increase steadily from when it opened in 2016. As for whether or not game companies will go back to building their own arcades, don't hold your breath. The X-Zone chain went out of business back in 2010, Sega's Gameverse (which remained the property of Sega even after the Apple sale) no longer has any North American locations, and the most recent attempt to start a chain of arcades, Ubisoft's GameBling (a joint venture with Konami's remaining casino division to establish a chain of arcade/casino attractions across North America and Europe), was set to begin construction in 2020 before the recent #SpeakOut scandal derailed those plans indefinitely. It's clear that there's interest in keeping arcades alive, and more are popping up every day, but, in North America at least, it'll be gamers building them and not game companies... though today's arcade patrons wouldn't want it any other way.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, posted on March 11, 2019
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Lester Holt: Katie, the crisis in Pakistan has intensified considerably, as India and Pakistan once again trade gunfire in Kashmir. Today's exchange left seven Indian soldiers and four Pakistani soldiers dead, and tensions don't seem to be letting up any time soon. Last week's terror attacks, said to be connected to Al-Queda in Pakistan, left dozens of Indian civilians dead in Delhi and Kolkata, and India has vowed revenge, while the Pakistani government has denied responsibility.
Katie Couric: President Kennedy has been in contact with the Indian prime minister, and plans to talk with the president of Pakistan tomorrow. Do people in India believe those talks are making any progress toward a return to peace?
Holt: You know, the mood here in New Delhi is cautiously optimistic, a lot of people here like President Kennedy and believe that he'll be willing to help protect India if it does come to that, and he has made it clear that Pakistan needs to be the one that reins in these terror attacks, because, especially here in India, it's believed that the rhetoric coming from Pakistan's government is what's been inflaming these attacks.
Couric: India's government is on high alert, obviously the threat of more terror attacks has to be looming over everything at this point.
Holt: People here are scared, they're angry, they're upset, they want the government to take a hard line against terror attacks from Pakistan, and with the latest bloodshed in Kashmir, things have really escalated in terms of how upset everyone here is. Hoping for peace, but of course ready for anything, and we'll see how successful the president is in negotiating peace between both sides here.
Couric: Obviously a very precarious situation there, thank you again for your reporting, Lester.
-from the March 15, 2019 episode of the NBC Nightly News
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"America has been pushing toward socialism for far too long under the current president, and I plan to put a stop to it once I'm in the Oval Office. I've seen what Americans can do when they're allowed to prosper under the free market, and this can be the greatest country in the world if we only get out of those Americans' way! I promise you, under my leadership, this country will return to that great promise of a shining city on a hill, the one envisioned by presidents like Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and the previous president Jon Huntsman. I plan to put a stop to the threat of socialized medicine, wasteful government spending, and the kinds of control that led to the fall of a once great nation, the nation of Cuba, into the desolation of communism. I'm entering this race to bring freedom back to America, and I hope you all will join me today!"
-Marco Rubio, announcing his candidacy for the American presidency by entering the Republian primaries, in a speech in front of supporters in Miami, Florida on March 25, 2019
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"And today, Marco Rubio joined the field of Republican candidates that now numbers four in total, including Cindy McCain, the widow of the late 2000 Republican nominee John McCain, George P. Bush, a current Congressman from Texas and son of Jeb Bush, and Virginia's Nick Freitas, who lost a narrow Senate race last year but who built momentum and gained a lot of popularity in that race. There are expected to be many more Republicans declaring their candidacy, and we're likely to have a crowded field despite the president's ongoing popularity. Many believe that the race will be run on fiscal policies, and all four of these candidates have come out swinging against what they say is President Kennedy's 'reckless spending' with programs such as public option healthcare. Rubio is looking to appeal to Hispanic voters, which are growing in number but, according to analysts, are also growing more fiscally conservative, especially down in Florida amongst the Cuban exile community. Polls already have Rubio out ahead of the field by a wide margin, with McCain running second, Freitas third, and Bush fourth, but as this is very early in primary season, there's still a long way to go."
-Wolf Blitzer, reporting on Rubio's entry into the 2020 field after his speech, in a CNN report at 1:13 EDT on March 25, 2019
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HELL FREEZES OVER: DC And Marvel To Meet In Second Crossover Event, Including Comics, Books, And Games
In a startling joint announcement by DC and Marvel Comics today, there will be a second crossover event to commemorate the upcoming 25th anniversary of their 1996 DC vs. Marvel series, complete with the temporary reformation of Amalgam Comics as a joint venture of parent companies Warner Bros. and 21st Century Fox respectively. The prospect of a second crossover event between the shared comic universes was always a pipe dream for fans, but considered to be an impossible one after Marvel was purchased by Fox. Analysts have long taken it for granted that the two titanic media corporations would never be able to come to terms on how best to share the profits of such an endeavor, or that neither company would be willing to "help" the other, but it seems that they've managed to come to an agreement of sorts, even though we don't yet know of the details or how the negotiations might have gone. What we do know is this: there will be a series of comic books and graphics novels beginning next year, leading up to a major 25th anniversary event in 2021. The prospect of a DC vs. Marvel film has been ruled out, though we can't yet rule out the prospect of a television show, even though nothing has yet been announced. There's also going to be a game, and it will be the latest installment of a popular fighting game series: Marvel vs. Capcom vs. DC Universe, which will be released on consoles in 2020 and will feature characters from both comic book universes along with Capcom characters. The fan interactivity of the previous crossover event (in which fans voted on who would win classic fights between the two companies' characters) will not be repeated this time around, with the comics instead penned by a series of writers from both companies, as well as a few outside guest writers, and any winners of fights between the two universes "will be determined by what works best for the story, even if it might leave some fans unhappy", according to a FAQ that accompanied the announcement. However, fans WILL be allowed to suggest DLC characters for the upcoming game, which will feature an equal number of combatants from DC, Marvel, and Capcom.
-from an article on Comics De-Coded, posted on March 25, 2019
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Game Spotlight: The Last Gift
(Authors' Note: The following information was provided to us by the reader jolou! We edited it a bit and also added the critical/sales information at the end.)
Developed by Midi (a studio composed of many former Ubisoft employees alongside other former studio members from Spain and France) and produced by Apple who supported the game following a pitch that showed the unique location of the game, The Last Gift is an action/adventure set in Western Europe 40 years after the world collapsed following an a zombie-like pandemic in 2016. The Last Gift, unlike most Pandemic/Zombie games is set in Europe and you can visit three countries, France, Spain and Italy. The game in itself is a semi-Open World, in which when the story permits it you are granted access to an Open World Area, going from Bilbao in the West to Nice in the East, Barcelona In the South and Toulouse in the North. Otherwise, you play in closeted environments in places like the Alps, The Balearic Islands, Loire Valley, Across Northern Italy and Mont-Saint-Michel.
Since the Apocalypse, people live in or near castles and other fortresses, transforming the post-apocalyptic world into a neo-feudal world where former military have taken over the most important places and rule as Warlords, the most important of those are in the City of Carcassonne. Other, smaller, communities still survive but it’s hard for them to survive. When you’re in the Open World area, you will be able to help the various communities and Warlords across the world to take over abandoned villages and Castles giving them more space to grow, and more resources. Taking those villages means fighting the infected for the lands. Those cities and villages are where you can find people to give you quests, to upgrade your gear and sell what you’ve obtained. Generally, for each warlord and community you will obtain special quests to take over a castle or fortification during special battles. Victor, due to his young age, has difficulty killing enemies (infected or others) but can help you. There’s also special portion of the game created for VR, especially some in abandoned Buildings which definitively gives more of a horror aspect to the game.
Of course, there is the abandoned cities (Barcelona, Marseille…) which has developed into No-Go-Zones for everyone and for the younger generations, they are like Vampires, dreadful place to go. It is here that you will find the most stuff, and also most of the better equipment and weapons. But, you will have to fight for it as there is quite a lot of infected in here but some say some people still lives in there but maybe it’s just a legend ?
Now about the infected, there is five different types.
- Runners = The usual “Zombie” enemy, he can run against you, kill you if he bite you. He’s the base and well like any other “zombie” you can imagine and if you imagine an zombie army, he’s like 70% of it.
- Puncher = He’s stronger than most Infected, stronger enough to destroy walls, objects you’re hiding behind or below. He can kill you with one attack (which look like he’s trying to punch you) but he’s also slower than most.
- Stalker = This infected will always try to hide from you in order to then take you by surprise. It’s an instakill if he was hiding and attack you but otherwise it’s you who instakill him if he’s fleeing from you or if you find where he’s hiding and attacking him first. It’s the most “horror” type villain since well it can attack you when you aren’t expecting it.
- Chuckler = This infected has an enhanced hearing and will run for you if he’s hearing you. He is named like that due to the modification the infection did on him, he sound like he’s laughing/chuckling all time meaning you can hear him quite easily. But you won’t certainly be happy to hear him as he’s strong and can spot you if you’re not careful enough
- Remnants = There is only two of those kind of infected and only appear along the main storyline. They are visibly infected but seem to have retained some kind of “humanity” as they are the most intelligent and self-aware of the infected. It will be revealed in the story that they can usher a few words with extreme difficulty. Also, they can control an horde all by themselves.
About the different communities and humans you can encounters in the Open World Area, there is three that are really different and important. The others are “generic” like the hunters in OTL's The Last Of Us. There is the Council of Carcassonne, which is a council of increasingly old Generals leading the city. When the outbreak started, they weren’t even generals, but 30 years old colonels who decided to take over the city early on and build up their defense and abilities to retain a strong military. Outside of being a clear military dictatorship with limited free speech, limited elections and mandatory conscriptions, it is here that someone could live mostly like the pre-outbreak world. The generals are competent and there is Electricity, entertainment and less famine than in other part of the world. But well, it’s still a dictatorship without much liberty possible and their forces are the strongest and well-equipped that you could encounter.
Then there is the Cherubim, a group of religious folks from Islam and Christianity who bend together to protect themselves and allied just after the outbreak. They are viciously against what they feel is “old-world technology” and wish to return to a simpler time after God/Allah punished Humanity with the virus and view those infected with the virus as clearly hated by their god. Their worst enemy is of course the Council but they don’t hate the people inside it mainly the fact they rely too much on technology. They are also quite helpful as they view charity and cooperation as a pillar of their faith but they will fight for the destruction of anything left to the old world which will put them on your path quite often.
And the last of the three major groups are the Socios, a group of Catalan whose trying to take over more territory in spain and France after they managed to kill off their concurrence in Catalonia. They are a very democratic group with nearly decision taken by a vote, which now they are quite big make them quite lethargic, and are the most “nationalist” of all, distrustful of those who aren’t part of their group.
In terms of graphics, the attention was given to the characters and the various important places (Carcassonne for example) which are replicated on a near identical level.
Majors Characters:
Zoé Voiced by Jennifer Hale : The mother of Victor. She lost her father during the outbreak, survived with her brother for a few years before joining a group of idealistic survivor trying to make a better world then left with her husband to have a son. She then lost her husband, who sacrifice himself to save their son. And so she has a difficult relationship with her son, she does care about him but he always reminds of herself (as she had been saved by her father before he died) and of her husband. Now a more cynical person, she’s trying to reconnect with her past-self.
Víctor Voiced by an OC Voice Actor named Mateo Calva: The son of Zoé and Luís, a teenager who’s learning how to survive in this world while trying to have a better relation with his mother, the only relative he has left. He also feel a little guilt over the loss of his father, he blames himself but also wish to move on. His father saved him, he must make it worth. Optimistic, idealist.
The Archivist Voiced by Liam O’Brien :He watched the world return to a darker era of mankind (feudal era) and think that a vaccine could prevent that and is willing to do anything to prevent that. He’s also trying to preserve the most knowledge of mankind that he can in order to prevent the loss of knowledge. He has become quite ruthless in his endeavor.
Enzo Voiced by JB Blanc : The elder brother of Zoé, this is a man who has been transformed and torture by his hate. If he has managed to take care of his sister for years, he still feel quite abandoned by her decision to leave him and absolutely hate any kind of authority following his father death during the Outbreak. Ironically, he is now the leader of one of the most vicious group of survivor around, a group of somewhat anarchist who believe that the authority of the previous world failed them and now they are free to do what they want.
Lara voiced by Elena Dunkelman : An 30 years old Italian who has been elected leader of her community for her humble and helpful act. She is struggling with her newfound responsibility and has to make important choices to save it.
Luís voiced by Giancarlo Esposito : A genius in medical and science field who was already in university despite being younger than usual before the outbreak. He is determined to find a cure to the Infection and has fought his entire life for it. And the years has forced him to become quite ruthless in his search for one. Yet, he is also a loving father and Husband who does everything for his family.
Philip voiced by Gavin Drea : The assistant/apprentice of Luis who has never really known the pre-outbreak world and as such lived by the tales of his mentor. He seek to help the world and help people in need and has a blind trust in his mentor work which can have unseen consequences..
The story begins a few years before the main part of it as Zoé, the main character, hears something knocking on her window as she just wakes up. She goes and opens the door just to see that it was her husband, Luis, that send the stone. He quickly say she’s late to her leadership reunion and that he’s taking care of Victor (their son). The player takes control of her as she goes. When the player leave, they talk a bit and share a kiss. You quickly realize that they are in a castle, makeshift Home inside and outside of it, there is a market, people selling food, weapons (Weapons that are mostly sword, pikes and stuff with occasional firearms), clothes etc etc. The people are wearing a mix between “old clothes”(aka clothes from before the pandemic) and new clothes. She can talk with several people and we learn that she likely has a leadership position amongst the community.
She enter the inner castle, see that there is a lot of militiamen, that have a mix between old military gear and new armor. She goes up to the main dungeon and meet with her fellow leaders , Pierre (Omar Sy as a Guest Star) and Eva ( Ana de Armas as a Guest Star). They talked about the failing crops rates, the communication loss with another community and the next scheduled election which will saw Pierre and Eva run to be reelected. Yet, their meeting comes to an end when they hear the bells, ringing 3 times signaling an attack. From the dungeon we can see that people are fleeing from outside the castle walls to the inside. Zoé, as leader of the Guard, run from the meetings to the first walls.
Yet, she takes a stop by their house, to see Luis and Victor in Luis' lab, she says to them they may need to escape if something bad happens. She finally arrives at the wall to see a massive infected horde, with Humans, Dogs, Wolfes, Cats and other domesticated animals rising from the valley bellow to them. The goals here is to survive until everyone has fallen back to the second ring of wall, the more fortified area. This serves as a tutorial to many weapons and you have your second, Jean (voiced by an OC Voice Actor) to give order too/who can help you do finish. After some time, the player fall back to the second wall where you have oil, canons helping and you fight again for a way shorter time until it is revealed someone has opened a path in and it is now chaos. Zoé now realizes everything is lost and her troops abandon her to flee as she’s trying to save the most civilians possible. She flees and returns to her house with a few civilians and soldier to escape. She see Luis still there alongside Victor and berates them from taking too much time and she open a passage. The passage goes from the top of the hill to a river below where there’s boat waiting for them. Yet, the boats engine has been damaged and they need to row, meaning that if the passage stays open, the infected could catch up to them, and trying to catch up they are. While everyone is getting on the boats, there is one that isn’t as fast as the others and it is Victor. The infected are close behind him and Luis doesn’t close the door to let him pass. Yet, with the infected that close behind, the door won’t close in time. It takes a massive effort of him to hold the door as long as possible for Victor to get in the boats and to leave. As Zoé want to leave a boat and go help him, Pierre knocks her out.
Zoé regains conscientiousness only to see Luis, still trying to hold the door far away and seeing Zoé finally waking up, do her a last kiss with the hand and the door explode letting infected coming in. The last scene we see is the boats escaping in the rain and their former town being on fire.
THE LAST GIFT
A seemingly older Zoé wakes up from her nightmare around a dead campfire inside an abandoned house, alone.
She gets up to see below her a bandit camp. Most are teenagers with makeshift clothing’s and weapons and are guarding a teenage boy who seem better-fed and better-clothed. She just get below to meet them, her gun out and when they arrive, she shot in the leg of one of them and keep the others in check. She forces them to release the boy and tell them that they ain’t cut for the bandit thing and leave with their former prisoner to return to the city of Carcassonne, the most important city to have survived the pandemic in hundreds of kilometers.
She arrives on her horse with the boy to see the beautiful city below, its massive medieval walls, where modern watchtowers and house extensions to the sky can be seen, and it’s two more modern walls build after the pandemic where there is military checkpoints and people can trade and lives in more security than the outside. Because this is where a group of French soldiers disobeyed their orders and took over the city, killing everyone coming close and establishing a military dictatorship, surviving and now “thriving”. As it turn out, the Boy is the grandson of one of the original leader of the city and Zoé is now a mercenary, hired by him and others for odd jobs that people want to get done. After giving back the boy in the medieval city, she returns to her house in the middle city to find it open. She prepares for a fight, only to see a old man.
The Old Man she knows of. By reputation. This is The Archivist, an old man with a group of followers trying to preserve the knowledge of humankind and fight a dark age. If he is a popular figure, most people don’t know the extent of his actions that he’s willing to do for his sacred mission. As such, he is also widely wanted by whatever authorities still govern those lands. So to find him, in Carcassonne is greatly unexpected.
He say that he’s has gotten under his possession files dating from the Liberators before the destruction of their base, files that could give a possibility for a cure, files written by her husband Luis. The Archivist ask her to find the former apprentice of Luis, Philip, and get him whatever he needs.
She refuses. After all, Luis fell into the same hope and he abandoned it.
Yet, The Archivist continues. He offers her the one who opened the gates of the town she was supposed to protect, the one who, indirectly, killed her husband. Then she accepts.
The Archivist leaves, giving her the indication that he was last seen in Catalonia.
As it turns out, Victor, now a teenager, was listening and want to come with her. This is about obtaining his dad’s murderer. He wants to help but she put a stop to it. He must stay at the military school and not bother her with that.
As she is away from the city (ingame being after you do the first quest), she realize she has been followed since. And it was Victor. They have an argument, each accusing the other of provoking the death of Luis but finally agree to work together on that occasion.
This is at this point that the Open World Area is available for the players.
The duo goes to Catalonia where, after some investigation, finds out that her husband’s apprentice has been kidnapped by a community of survivalist in one of the smallest Baleares islands and that only the Socios, a very nationalist and recluse group of people, can help them get there. After a first contact saved by Victor speaking a little Catalan (from the time spend with his dad), their leader agree to lend them a boat, and a pilot, if they investigate the unusual absence of infected in the outskirt of Barcelona to determine where they went and see if the city safe.
And yes, there is nearly no infected. Even when they reach the center of the city, where most infected would be, there isn’t actually that many. They do get a little fight when they feel too confident but otherwise it seem as if most of the infected in the city aren’t there. As they return to make their report, the leader of the Socios is quite obviously happy to have the city ready for the taking and give them the boat and the pilot.
They arrive on a small island which isn’t an open area, it’s mostly a mission you could expect from OTL TLOU/Mass Effect…
Philip as it stand was captured by locals who heard of his prowess in medicine and needed a doctor for their community. They didn’t asked for his help, they took it and they can be seen as hypocrites since they value their independence very much as survivalist but still needed outside help.
Zoé and Victor manage to enter the central town secretly but the doctor doesn’t want to leave, he still has patient that needs his help, until she mentions that they’re here to make him the leader of a team making a vaccine. Yet this time, they can’t leave as easier and must fight their way through only succeeding because the community ultimately prefers to deal with a small infection threat rather than them. They return to the socios to thank them for the help only to realize where all infected went.
They are led by one invested that is different from the rest due to his visibly “humanity” outside of some growth on the throat and eyes. And simply there’s no resisting. Thousands and thousands of infected attacks the Socios camp, a camp diminished by their spread into Barcelona, and it’s absence of more important fortification, and Zoé makes an hard decision. She abandon them and flee with Victor and Philip. There’s a close call where it seem as if Victor could have gotten infected but nothing happened. When they reach the Pyrenees, the infected horde following them stop.
They join The Archivist in one of his secret base near Carcassonne where Philip inform them of what he needs. A team and medical equipment that can only be found in one place to his knowledge, a still functioning hospital in northern Italy, one that he had a relation with during his time in the Liberators. And so Zoé and Victors go to the Alps where The Archivist has given them a contact that could help them cross the Alps. Turns out said contact give them a Montgolfier that could at least give them the opportunity to pass some valley and a good portion of the mountains. It wasn’t the first choice, the tunnels were destroyed and the paths too dangerous in this time of the year. Yet they suffer an accident and crash during a tempest of snow and are purchased by religious fanatics. They have no sense of direction and Victor has a broken leg, this is where you can see that Zoé does cares for him. They barely manage to cross over to Italy and they realize that when they have difficulties understanding the locals as neither of them actually speak Italian. They also nearly dies from injuries until they are taken by a local to see the hospital they were seeking.
While Victor heals from his injuries, Zoé tells him of her family and the time of the outbreak. This is a section of the game where we control Zoé, who is 13 as her family (her father and her elder brother) goes to a themed park. Everyone playing, and you can too in mini games, until everything goes to shit. People are fleeing and being bitten, you need to find your father and the army shot without any distinction. Zoé goes to a person being infected asking him if he’s well and he jump on her. Her father takes the attack and despite being sick and severely hurt manage to get his children to what he think is safety, the Army. Yet, being infected, he is killed on the spot by a soldier who then look towards killing zoé. She is saved by her brother hitten the soldier with an iron bar. They flee together as more and more are infected. Together they survived for years depending on each other until differences in views separated them. This flashback ends as Zoé admit she had, and in a way, still has difficulties to love him because he reminds her of herself at his age in his actions.
When Victor feels better, they met Lara, leader of the community since barely a year who is struggling with her responsibility and an important choice. Leaving or staying.
Because she barely let them enough time to heal before putting out the facts. She need their helps and The Archivist offers does arrive at a good time. An opponent of the community around the Hospital has become the leading warlord in the area and want to take over them to force them to heal only his troops. As such, Lara needs Zoé and Victor to help the meager forces they have to protect their escape. They have a failsafe on the coast with hidden boat to cross over to the French side.
After doing some mission with Lara, they fight to get enough time for the members of the community and the materials on the boats before leaving.
They met The Archivist and Philip who are now all ready to go. The Archivist quite liked the work they did together and so offer her their destination, the Mont-Saint-Michel, if they want work and give them the place where the culprit of their community destruction is hiding.
Yet, they will never go there. They get words from Carcassonne that the infected they faced in Catalonia is back and is heading, with an horde, towards the city. They need her help as she already faced it. She hesitate but Victor arguments about protecting innocent (and a whole city) convince her to put her revenge behind for now.
In a massive battle, that is quite stunning with how the city uses helicopters, tanks but also low-armed soldiers to fight the attack. But Zoé does manage to get close to the infected leading the horde and kill him. But she can hear him talk and she realize it is the remnant of his personality talking with extreme difficulty and his basically thanking her and asking where a doctor is before dying.
Shaken by that revelation, that some can still exist but also thinking that said doctor is important. Yet, she finds Victor who has been bitten several time but is still up and human. He is seemingly immune. She forces him to keep it a secret and he reveal that during his time with his father, they did things that weren’t just “father-son” bonding moments.
Now, Zoé is certain that Luis did find a cure to the infection and has an idea of what it is but to be certain of it, she goes to the last place he was. Their old community, abandoned for years.
There they find in their old house, hidden in a way only the combined knowledge of Victor and Zoé could find it, the scientific journal of Luis afterwards two flashbacks are shown. Luis is still the head scientist of the Liberators, the group of rebels fightings against the army and dictatorial group and who wanted to create a vaccine. Here, he’s fighting against his superior, David (voiced by Troy Baker), as he want to put an end to their search. Luis has managed to get someone to survive the infection, in a way. We are treated a view to a remnant, the type of infected that destroyed the Socios and nearly Carcassonne. They are a human creation and more specifically, a result of Luis research. Yet, David refuse and order him to continue the search, surely he can manage to make someone wholly survive the infection and give him other test subject. Yet, Luis after taking a look at a pregnant, and sleeping, Zoé, goes to his experiment and kill him before he can be truly dangerous. He flee with Zoé and never returns to the liberators. It is implied that the Liberators continued the experiment and were later destroyed when the Remnant managed to escape.
A second flashback takes place when Victor is a baby. Luis has never stopped looking for a cure. He has noticed how mostly domestics animals were infected and how “wild” animals who are in contact with the infection directly from birth can’t be infected. And so, he try something. Over the years he makes Victor in contact with small dose of the infection slowly building up his immune system to it but he doesn’t know if he succeeded since he dies before being sure as his plan to infect Victor in a direct way never happened due to his death.
Of course, we know he was successful as Victor survived being bitten. Yet both Zoé and Victor are obviously quite angry at Luis for what he did but also now has two reason to get to The Archivist, to stop him from creating a Remnant with Luis notes from his Liberators past and to offer him the way to beat the infection.
Yet as they leave, they are met with a group of soldier led by Enzo, Zoé elder brother and Victor uncle who order their capture. He heard she was working on a cure and doesn’t want that.
Enzo has gone crazy over the year, believing that the authority of the previous world failed them and they must absolutely prevent it’s return by destroying everything. But he does cares about Zoé and even want to chat with the nephew he never met and hope to convince them both of helping him. Yet it won’t happen. Victor manage to escape from his jail during one of his “uncle/nephew bonding time” and we play him as he goes to free Zoé and together they manage to escape and take down Enzo as a team, showing they’ve come a long way since the beginning of the game. They find him surrounded by the loot he has amassed over the years, many military weapons but also gold, clothes and other amenities from common people. And he call out to them, saying that together they could have built a better world after the cleansing and Zoé is forced to put him down weeping as she still remember the brother who took care of her during the outbreak and the years after.
Weeks later, they arrive at the Mont-Saint-Michel and get a meeting with The Archivist where, using Victor bites and Luis journal, they convince him that he don’t need to continue the search for the cure using Philip methods. But it’s a little late. Philip just created a remnant by doing the same “cure” than Luis and the Remnant has taken over the research area, being distraught. Zoé and Luis goes there to deal with it and Zoé tried to reason with the human side she know still exist. But after seconds of hesitation, the infection takes over and he attack them. As he seem to do a killing blow to Victor, Zoé put herself between the two and get a series of scrap on her. Realizing that she doesn’t have a lot of time and knowing that The Archivist forces won’t stop the remnant alone, she jump with the Remnant in the rocks and water below. Not before looking at an unconscious Victor for the last time and saying it for the first (and only) time “I love you”.
In the Epilogue, Victor is with The Archivist as they are lowering his mother’s coffin into the ground. The Archivist swears to him that his mother sacrifice won’t go in vain and that together they will spread the knowledge on how to fight the infection.
The Last Gift is released exclusively to the Apple Virtua on March 15, 2019. It receives exceptionally high praise from critics, comparable to The Last Of Us' OTL reception (slightly lesser in terms of storyline, but slightly higher in terms of graphics and gameplay), and overall it scores a 96 on Metacritic, making it one of the best reviewed games of its generation. Jennifer Hale's performance receives particular praise, though the game's voice acting is considered outstanding across the board, along with the graphics and sound, and it becomes an immediate front-runner for Game of the Year. It would be the fastest selling Virtua title ever, even moreso than Grand Theft Auto III, selling more than ten million units in its first week alone, shattering sales records in Europe to become the fastest selling game ever on the continent, and pushing an enormous amount of Virtua consoles there as well. It breaks new ground for graphical quality and open world gameplay, surpassing even 2018's Doggerland, and instantly makes its studio one of the biggest new companies in the industry, while giving Apple the killer app it's lacked for years and pushing Virtua sales back into first place for weeks, if not months.
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Other Significant Titles For March 2019:
Shantae And The Worlds Beyond: A Reality-exclusive Shantae title that can best be compared to OTL's Shantae And The Seven Sirens, Shantae and the Worlds Beyond features 3-D gameplay for the first time in the series, though it's not technically a 3-D platformer, still mostly featuring the 2-D Metroidvania-style that the series is known for, but featuring a 3-D hub and certain 3-D boss fights and challenges, somewhat like TTL's Sonic The Hedgehog 4. It's a well received platformer and praised for mixing up the series formula, and while it doesn't hold a candle to The Last Gift, it's the series' best performing game thus far in terms of sales.
Scrounger: A post apocalyptic RPG/shooter title developed by Psygnosis for Reality, Virtua, Nexus, and Stadia, Scrounger is, like many shooter/RPGs, of the "looter shooter" variety, with a heavy emphasis on looter, and also a heavy emphasis on PvP. The game is always online, and players can invade your game at any time, kill you, and steal your stuff, and though the PvP can be turned off, the game is a lot more rewarding when it's on. This isn't a massive quest like Borderlands, it's a wild free-for-all in which short gameplay bursts and pitched PvP battles are the rule of the day. It's an innovative concept, and a small but devoted community builds around it, but most players ultimately stay away.
And my game is out ! Thanks @RySenkari and @Nivek for letting me run with the idea and helping me get it to the finish line !
It's always great to work with you guys on that TL !
It's always great to work with you guys on that TL !
Thanks to you for giving us the idea, we helped it to reach her potential
Thank you for submitting such a great game idea, I have no doubt it would do quite well.
Thanks to all the contributors, even the ones whose ideas we're not able to fit into the timeline. Goldwind, I'm still trying to figure out if I can slip any of your games into 2020, I'll try to mention them at E3 IF I'm able to slot one in... still can't promise anything but I'm trying to find a spot for one of them.
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Also, here's something I forgot to add at the end of the update, but it can slot in quite well here:
@UltraWario: Nintendo Direct announced for this Friday at 9AM PDT, 12PM EDT. 30 mins., will focus on "upcoming products from Nintendo". The Apple iPhone G also launches on Friday.
-a Tweet posted by UltraWario at 12:42 PM on April 2, 2019
Not even in this universe can I escape the herpes that is Nintendo Direct leaks/rumors.
Samsung indicated interest in joining the video game console market in the future.
Also, given the shakeup caused by the Kadokawa massacre, does it affect the Reiwa generation (such as a different name)?
technically speaking, the nexus was co made by Samsung, and Samsung build some download only Stadia boxes alongside the special Samsung Stadia gaming tv. so in a way, Samsung, a Korean company entered into the videogame market but as a junior/secondary partner, as google, the American, is the main partner.
We got a reverse from OTL here, with two USA-based companies(well with one getting the remnants of a Japanese one but still counting as USA-based) against a partnership of two Japanese ones...
-head explodes from fanboy overload-
I imagine there will be some returning classics (Spider-Boy, Super-Soldier, Dark Claw, etc.) and some new mash-ups of newer characters. Part of me hopes for the glorious return of the criminally-underrated Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099. I certainly hope that WB/Fox hashed out an agreement on reprinting the 1996 and 2021 series as the only way to buy old Amalgam comics OTL is through back issues. My memory is rusty I need someone to refresh it. Did the 2004 JLA/Avengers ever see print ITTL? If not, I can see the plot for DC vs. Marvel having a similar plot.
By that, I mean Krona enters the Marvel universe in his quest to learn the origins of the universe, but the Grandmaster (temporarily) stops him by pitting DC and Marvel's against each other in a wager to see whose universe's champions are superior with the knowledge Krona seeks being the prize. However, Krona grows impatient and learns that Galactus is a survivor from the previous universe. He engages the planet-eater in battle and kills him, and merges the DC and Marvel Universes back into the Amalgam Universe again. Then the Amalgam heroes must fight and defeat Krona to restore the proper balance despite knowing that it would end their universe.
For a nice stinger, it's then revealed that the Amalgam universe lives on with the numerical designation in both the DC and Marvel multiverses. (e.g. Earth-52 ) though future stories will be up to WB/Fox.