Today Natsume Inc announced that Harvest Moon 64 will launch for the Nintendo Wii U. The first in a series of surprises, celebrating the series’ 20th anniversary, this classic originally for the Nintendo 64 will be available digitally on the Wii U and will be available February 23rd in North America. This fan-favorite re-release isn’t all Natsume has in store for the 20th anniversary — tons of surprise launches, announcements, and more are still yet to come throughout 2017!
You can check out a quick overview below.
Harvest Moon 64
Head to the country for a new challenge in Harvest Moon 64! Hard work is rewarded as you struggle to bring prosperity back to a neglected farm. Work the land, pick up odd-jobs, and get to know the neighbors!
Tons of new seasonal vegetables and fruits
Raise cows, chickens, and sheep
New items and gifts, including tools that increase in power as you master them
One of the town’s five eligible women may prove to be the love of your life
Today Yacth Games has announced Shovel Knight Treasure Trove and Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment will be coming to the Nintendo Switch, as well as a new update for the previous console release, (3DS and Playstation will not be getting the update).
Body Swap Mode for Shovel Knight will launch simultaneously with Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment!
Body Swap Mode is complete and will be included for Shovel Knight’s campaign!! Get ready for sprites and illustrations of all-new designs for body-swapped versions of the main characters as the release draws closer. To get you primed, here’s your first look at body-swapped Shovel Knight and Shield Knight!!
Shovel Knight two player co-op will be available for all consoles!!
Finally!! After many requests! Grab a friend and rejoice! Local two player co-op in Shovel Knight’s campaign is coming as a free update to all console and PC platforms (3DS/Vita not included). amiibo not required!
Introducing Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
Back to the main story! Soon, the game you now know as Shovel Knight will become Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. When that happens, you’ll also have new options to purchase each campaign as separate, standalone games on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC/Mac/Linux, and Nintendo Switch:
Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope – Shovel of Hope is our new name for the original Shovel Knight game, since it needed a title like the others. What do you think!? Rewatch the adventure here.
Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows – Plague Knight’s Campaign emerges from the Shadows to hopefully get some recognition this time! Watch it all here.
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment – Specter of Torment is our most expansive campaign yet. We’re so excited for you to become the reaper! See Specter Knight in action here.
Later in 2017 the following will release (names TBD):
Shovel Knight: King Knight’s Campaign – A crazy campaign with the gilded goob himself!
Shovel Knight: Battle Mode – Duel with up to 4 players as your favorite heroic or villainous knight! (3DS/Vita not included)
Why is this happening? Well, we hope providing less expensive standalone versions will provide better entry points for different types of players! Also, players can more easily grab an adventure (or Battle Mode) on another platform!
All owners of Shovel Knight on all platforms will automatically own Shovel Knight:Treasure Trove instead and will continue to get each of the planned free campaigns and features via updates. It will work exactly like how Shovel Knight was updated to include its first campaign addition, Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows. Don’t worry!
In the spring, we will be raising the price of Shovel Knight. If you haven’t picked up Shovel Knight yet and want all the content included within Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, buy it now before the price increases this Spring! Or pick a selection of the standalone versions for a cheaper price!
Don’t forget King Knight’s very own campaign and the 4-player Battle Mode are still on the horizon for 2017. As described above, they will become available as standalone games on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC/Mac/Linux, and Nintendo Switch and will also be delivered as FREE updates on ALL platforms to Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. Look forward to more news on these in the future!
First released in 2010, Vigil Games’ hack and slash action game Darksiders set out to tell a unique story of War, his fall from glory as a horseman of the apocalypse, and his journey to clear his name. Acclaimed as a Legend of Zelda-style action adventure game, it was well received and even got the sequel treatment featuring brother Death. In 2014 Nordic games acquired some of now bankrupt publisher THQ’s properties and even took on their name, rebranding themselves to THQ Nordic. Along with several other titles, Darksiders was acquired, and a short two years later War rode again in the HD-updated title Darksiders: Warmastered Edition.
For starters, this game is gorgeous! Keeping in mind that this is only a polished version of the original game and not a complete remake, I was still very impressed with the level of detail on enemies, NPC’s, architecture, and especially cutscenes. Turning the camera is buttery smooth, and you’ll want to when you get to new areas. There is a real sense of scale that was missing from the original that is captured here. Buildings seem taller, falls seem higher, enemies die deader. Locations are diverse, and none ever feel recycled. When I find myself going into a new area, I immediately stop to just enjoy my surroundings. My only complaint is that everything is bright! Even one level which is supposed to be a graveyard at night looks less like a spooky cemetery, and resembles more of a city park with a blue filter.
Darksiders was the first game developed by Vigil games, and the story is proof of that. Its original enough that it peaks your interest, but stays safe in tropes found in many revenge style dramas. The game starts with a war breaking out on earth between Heaven and Hell. War shows up to kick ass and take names, trying to restore the balance between Heaven, Hell, and Mankind. He is defeated by a demon and nearly killed. Saved right before his death, War is quickly charged by The Charred Council for starting the apocalypse early, and being sentenced to death anyway. He tries to tell them in brute fashion that the war was already started, he was actually late. Instead of pleading much more, he convinces them to let him go find out what happened, and if he should die then the council gets what they wanted. The story isnt very deep, but that’s ok. It kept me interested and playing. I did however find myself forgetting a lot of why I was doing things in game. Its not a bad narrative at all, in fact the story of War redeeming his name is quite good, but I felt it was better suited to a comic book than anything else.
Everything about Darksiders is on a grand scale; the visuals, the stakes, and especially the audio. Weapons clang, the merchant cackles, and demons are especially loud. The music helps to sell not just what earth has become of in the middle of this war, but of large scale boss fights as well. Drums roll, trumpets blare, and violins hiss. No doubt Nordic Games put a lot of effort into truly bringing out and emphasizing the literal end-of-the-world feel from the original score.
Gameplay is the heart and soul of Darksiders. Swinging your sword around almost aimlessly, then running a small distance to do it again is the bulk of the game. Rarely do enemy types differ too far from each other. As with games like Dynasty Warriors and Dead Rising, it’s a great way to just blow off some steam at the end of the day. But unlike those games, Darksiders features puzzles that, even though they can be easily figured out, are fantastic at breaking up the monotony of hit this, go here, repeat. Boss battles are epic and rewarding. Sprinkle in some RPG elements and you got yourself quite the experience. A couple things did make this game feel incredibly dated though; quick time events, and on-rail shooter events. Knock an enemy back so many times, and watch a “B/Circle” button pop up over its head, telling you to give a devastating blow. Fun the first few times, but it quickly lost its charm. Shooting enemies while you glide through areas atop a griffin just felt really out of place as well. Even so, the gameplay is by far the best part about Darksiders.
Vigil games did a great job of putting out such an upfront, and genuine experience for their first game, and Nordic Games deserves a pat on the back as well for highlighting that. Darksiders had an original idea, incredible casting, and some amazing talent to back it up. There are some definite pitfalls in this game, but overall I didn’t regret spending time with it. I never put down the remote from a play session and thought that I would never come back to it. I wouldn’t put it in my must-haves list however. If you like Zelda-esque games, or brainless hack-and-slash, Darksiders needs to be in your collection. If those games dont interest you, you might want to wait until it goes down in price. Either way, it’s worth trying playing though at least once.
Pokken Tournament’s Official Twitter announced in November that Empolean will be joining the Arcade version December 15, and at least we get to see the gameplay footage of Empolean in this Debut trailer.
No news has been announced if any of the new comers will be coming to the Wii U version.
Yacht Club Games showed off the new adventure and playable character for Shovel Knight, on Wii U, Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC.
The new update will be called Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, in which players will take on the story of the dark Specter Knight. Specter Knight’s adventure is a HUGE game with even more new content than Plague of Shadows, so be sure to stay tuned for updates!
You can catch the trailer below.
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