The catch-up coffee: Thursday, July 12, 2018

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6 mins read

News by Lindsay M., Matt C., and Matt S.

Welcome to Digitally Downloaded’s regular catch-up news feature. With each issue we will bring you the best news that you may have missed. Grab the biggest mug you’ve got, fill it with your favourite brew, and catch up with us (and our favourite news anchor, Dee Dee)!

The “XCom meets James Bond” game has a release date

By Matt S., Editor-in-Chief

As a big fan of both spy thrillers and XCOM, I’ve been more than a little curious about the upcoming Phantom Doctrine, a game that meshes together Cold War espionage and XCOM’s turn based strategy. We now have a release date for the game: it lands on August 14 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

In the game you’re promised some 40+ hours of narrative, and a challenging combat system that will punish you if you go in all guns blazing. Ideally you want to stealth your way around, too, and play dirty espionage tricks on the other side.

Be sure to check out our interview with the game’s narrative writer (the video above), which goes in-depth about how important storytelling is to this game, and how Poland continues to punch well above its weight as a centre for global game development (the developer of Phantom Doctrine is Polish).

God Wars: Future Past’s Labyrinth of Yomi DLC adds a new mega-dungeon

By Matt C., Contributor

Last year’s brilliant tactical RPG God Wars: Future Past is getting a new expansion next month, which will add a new 50-floor dungeon, mega-bosses to fight, and additional characters to recruit. Titled Labyrinth of Yomi, the new dungeon takes place after the main game, and sees Kaguya and her allies venturing into a resting place for the dead beneath the mountains of Izumo.

The new dungeon will offer new insights into Kaguya’s background, as well as offering a branching story path with multiple endings. Momotaro and his companions Inu, Saru, and Kiji will join you as playable characters, and there’s an increased level cap of 199. The battle system’s been refined, too, increasing the speed and allowing you to bring eight characters into combat (instead of the previous limit of six).

The Labyrinth of Yomi is included as part of God Wars: The Complete Legend on the Nintendo Switch, which also includes a brand new character, Orihime, who is exclusive to that version. For people who’ve already played God Wars: Future Past on PlayStation 4 or Vita, Labyrinth of Yomi will be available as DLC for USD $19.99. Both The Complete Legend and the PS4 / Vita DLC will be available from August 31 in Europe and September 4 in North America.

Aussie-developed serene puzzle game now available

By Lindsay M., News Editor

Released last week, Ashi: Lake of Light is designed and developed by Nick Cellini with music by David Barber. The tranquil title follows a solitary firefly as it meanders between candles. I find the trailer below to be quite calming, and that’s not even the game itself. Take a look:

The lone firefly flits from candle to candle across a lake. The idea is that the player will enter a zen-like state by concentrating on the little bug, both lighting and putting out candles. The game has been developed over the course of nearly two years, and upon release includes 80 puzzles and 10 challenge levels.

Ashi: Lake of Light is currently available on PC, MacOS, iOS, and Android systems. So now comes the big question: which one do we choose?!

That exciting-looking Code Vein has been delayed

By Matt S., Editor-in-Chief

Code Vein is one of the more intriguing games on Bandai Namco’s upcoming releases list. Promising a dark, apocalyptic story with plenty of action and impact, it’s been turning heads thanks to its distinctive art style and ambition.

Sadly, it seems that the weight of community expectation has also meant that the game won’t be able to meet its original 2018 deadlines. Bandai Namco has made the decision to delay the game into 2019, citing “feedback” as the principle cause. That’s code for “this is a game we can’t afford to have middling scores, so based on preview sessions we need to improve some critical elements of it.”

The good news is that Bandai Namco does indeed seem to be committed to making this the best game imaginable, so bring on 2019, if you ask us.

This is the bio under which all legacy DigitallyDownloaded.net articles are published (as in the 12,000-odd, before we moved to the new Website and platform). This is not a member of the DDNet Team. Please see the article's text for byline attribution.

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