Written by: Mary Joaquin
Welcome back to the Weekly Gaming Roundup!
Every week, we cover the latest in the gaming world. From NieR: Automata getting a new look to award-winning titles from the BIG: Brazil's Independent Games Festival 2021, this week paved the way for releases. Gamers are sure to be well-stocked for the summer ahead.
Curious about the new titles? Let's get right into it!
After four years of development, on Saturday, May 8, GPUnity released the final update of their NieR: Automata HD texture pack.
“NieR: Automata is one of my favorite games,” said the modder. “Unfortunately, it suffers from some blurry textures that hurt the presentation. My goal is to provide a natural restoration to the low-res textures, maintaining the intended look.”
The mod, available through NexusMods, features over 300 updated textures with improvements to A2 and 2B. It also allows for lower-end systems to join in on the improved visuals through a Lite mode. Players will need the Fix Automata Resolution mod or Special K for the Steam and Windows Store versions.
In celebration of its 2nd anniversary, on Sunday, May 9, The Third Age gave back to its players with gifts.
Though the free gift giveaway event is exclusive to day-one players, the game is widely accessible across languages and playing cross-platform. It features multi-language and real-time translations on top of its English, German, French, mobile-exclusive simplified and traditional Chinese, and a pending Polish version.
R2Games’ empire-building strategy game features PvP, PvE, and GvG gameplay and is available in PC, a dedicated website for its mobile version, and Android.
On Monday, May 10, YoYo Games launched Little Town, an interactive tutorial for GameMaker Studio 2.
The software development company partnered with Benjamin Rivers to design the game/tutorial specifically for higher education students. It both allows for synchronous and asynchronous learning to suit in-class or remote needs with over eight hours of tutorial content.
“Little Town has been structured to encourage self-driven learning and experimentation, which we hope will inspire a new generation of game developers,” said Rivers.
On Tuesday, May 11, Brytenwalda Studios announced Beyond Mankind: The Awakening’s release on August 31 for PC, Linux, and Mac.
The game had originally been set to release in May but had been delayed to accommodate completing voiceover work and localizations for English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Chinese.
The upcoming action RPG puts players in post-nuclear war 2021 with a tough decision to make: help mankind save Earth or succumb to a dominating species. Social interactions with NPCs and romanceable characters are also at the forefront of the game’s narrative.
Beyond Mankind succinctly defines itself as Fallout-meets-Spec Ops: The Line.
On Wednesday, May 12, Orbit Studios launched Retro Machina, the Best Brazilian Game award winner at BIG Festival.
The action-puzzle adventure game takes its inspiration from Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, inviting the players into a retro-futuristic world. Charming as it may be, the robot world is a cruel one with a strict rule: no imperfections will be tolerated. Players go about Endeavor City as an imperfect drone, cast out for its malfunctions, on a journey to find answers behind its city’s history.
In celebration of its release, the developers also made available Retro Machina’s full original soundtrack. The game is available on Steam, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.
Announced on Thursday, May 13, A Rogue Escape will find its way to Oculus and SteamVR on June 10.
A reimagining of developer Spare Parts Oasis’ turn-based exploration game, Nauticrawl, A Rogue Escape lets players enter a Nauticrawl mech at a price. They must learn how to operate the machine and get to freedom.
“Combining an escape room with dungeon crawling and cockpit simulation was a daring concept back when I [worked on] Nauticrawl,” said Andrea Interguglielmi, the mind behind Spare Parts Oasis. “But somehow it feels right at home with a headset on and a fully immersive and tactile environment to experience."
The escape simulation game also won at the BIG Festival 2021 for Best XR/VR Game.
On Friday, May 14, ON3D Studios launched its cyberpunk stealth game, Quantum Replica on consoles.
Originally released on PC three years ago, players go about a Totalitarian world ruled by the Syndicate as Alpha. Without any memories, Alpha embarks on a journey of survival and infiltration. Players control time, armed with various gadgets, fighting through five districts against enemies and bosses.
Quantum Replica features top-down gameplay and is available on Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox One, with backwards compatibility access through PS5 and Xbox Series X.
EGD’s Weekly Gaming Round-Up gives a quick look into the newest news in the games industry. From blockbuster triple-A games to indie startups and mods, the Weekly Gaming Round-Up covers it all.
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