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Many years ago, during the progress of Civilization II, I began my career as a writer for the video game magazine Edge. As an enthusiast of the original Civilization game, I was eager to review its sequel and impressed the editor enough with my comprehensive analysis of the complex turn-based strategy game that I nearly lost my job due to my addiction to playing it non-stop for two weeks instead of writing my assigned articles. This led to a stern warning about my performance and ultimately ended my tenure as a game writer. Consequently, I did not review the next four installments of the series. Now, Civilization VII is making a comeback, and I find myself facing this captivating nemesis once again.
This game has always been a favorite among me and many other fans, offering a compelling simulation of building an empire from ancient tribes to modern superpowers. As a player, you have the opportunity to establish cities, gather resources, research new technologies, send out settlers, merchants, and armies, and expand your influence through peaceful relations or conquest. Victory can be achieved through military prowess, cultural dominance, or economic power, depending on your chosen playstyle. Each campaign offers a unique experience, making it a game that has withstood the test of time.
Extra nuances … civilization VII. Photo: 2K game
In this latest installment, Firaxis has made some significant changes, deviating from guiding a single civilization through the entire campaign. Instead, players now choose different leaders with unique attributes and guide them through three distinct historical ages, each time selecting a new country to control. Each country brings its own units and buildings, adding depth to the gameplay. The game structure encourages continuity and strategic decision-making, enhancing the overall experience.
Today marks the first day of Gamescom, the Cologne trade show that is currently the biggest event on the video game calendar. This year, I wasn't among the 300,000 or so spectators that flocked to Germany, but I did watch the two-hour livestreamed Opening Night broadcast yesterday. But don't worry if you didn't: here we bring you all the most interesting news, organized by theme, because we're tired of writing simple lists of games and trailers.
Frustrating news Xbox The biggest fanboy A new trailer for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a new first-person adventure from Bethesda and MachineGames, has been released. In it, long-time video game actor Troy Baker looks charmingly excited about playing Indiana Jones. The game will be released on Xbox and PC on December 9th, but it was also announced that it will be released on PlayStation 5 in spring 2025. Earlier this year, Xbox head Phil Spencer said that Indiana Jones will be do not have It's planned to be a multi-platform game, so I'm interested to see how it unfolds.
An unexpected comeback Borderlands 4 is due to be released in 2025, and the trailer revealed very little – perhaps developer Gearbox was trying to capitalize on the anticipation of this month's film, but unfortunately, it wasn't very good.
Master of Albion. Photo: IGN
Peter Molyneux has released a new game, ” Master of Albionhas been kept very quiet (probably unsurprising as some of its recent games have been high-profile flops and the latest, Legacy, is Web3/blockchain and has gone very quiet after making £40m in NFTs in 2021). It's a mash-up of Molyneux's biggest god-game hits: Fable, Black & White, and Dungeon Keeper. By day, you build a town, design food, weapons, and armor to feed and equip your townsfolk, and generally play the role of a god. By night, you possess your warrior subjects and wield clubs to defend your town from fantasy creatures.
Ten years on from the first game, Monument Valley 3 is coming from Ustwo and Netflix, featuring the usual Escher-esque puzzles and mesmerizing colors. It'll be released on December 10th, and the previous two games will also be re-released on Netflix.
And the long-running Mafia series will see a new installment from Brighton-based Hangar 13, Mafia: The Old Country.
A debut game from a nervous developer Glowmade's multiplayer Rick and Morty-style cartoonish gameshow coliseum game, King of Meat, lets players create fearsome gauntlets that other players can challenge, much like a cartoonish Takeshi's Castle, and there was also Lynked: Banner of the Spark, a new cooperative action-adventure game that reminds me a bit of Hi-Fi Rush, from the new studio FuzzyBot, in which you kill evil robots and rescue cute ones to fuse with your arm for fighting powers.
Zombies and men with guns
Dying Light: The Beast. Photo: Techland
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has been shown off again ahead of its October launch, revealing one entire level of its single-player campaign, an overwhelmingly silly Cold War action-adventure. (Your character's analog camera is treated with the dignity of a gun, right down to the elaborate reload animations.) Techland is adding a new zombie game to its Dying Light series, The Beast, promising another 20 hours of open-world undead parkour action. There'll be even more zombies to shoot in the upcoming eight-player co-op survival game No More Room in Hell 2. And co-op survival shooter Arc Raiders, previously announced as a free game, will be released in 2025, and do not have You can play freely.
Most delayed TV shows Netflix's 100-player Squid Game was the show's most obvious video game tie-in, and I'm surprised it took this long. It's a selection of Fall Guys-esque cartoonish, sadistic challenges that look like a lot of fun.
Meanwhile, Deadpool director Tim Miller breathlessly teased his company Blur's new Amazon Prime TV series, The Secret Level, an anthology similar to Love, Death + Robots (also a Blur production) and described as a love letter to video games, due for release in December.
game I don't understand it, but it'll probably sell millions of copies.
Dune Awakening has received a tremendous response. Photo: Funcom
Billed as “the coziest open-world game ever,” Infinity Nikki seems like a completely baffling game, featuring pink-haired anime girls and a bunch of weird, cute singing creatures that look like adorable Noah's Ark. I'm not sure what to make of it.
And the upcoming Dune MMO, Dune: Awakening, in which hundreds of players explore the desert planet Arrakis and compete for abandoned technology and spice resources, drew a big response at the event.
For tasteful horror fans The trailer for Tarsier's upcoming Little Nightmares game looks very promising: a complex, intimate side-scrolling horror game. It's called ReanimalMeanwhile, Little Nightmares itself has been handed over to new developer Supermassive, a company with a long history in horror, and a trailer for it has now been released, maintaining the Tim Burton-esque toy-like atmosphere of the first two games.
game It looked especially cool
Majestic…Monster Hunter Wild. Photo: Capcom
With its menacingly majestic creatures, harsh weather, and expensive-looking production, Monster Hunter Wilds is a fantastic piece of work. I'm a long-time fan of the series and can't wait for this new game. Keep an eye out for an interview with the developer on the site soon.
There was an extended preview of Civilization VII, the latest attempt to capture the entire chaos of human history on a computer monitor.
meanwhile, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage The film depicts four kids in the summer of 1995, playing music in their garage and discussing their hopes for the future. But things don't always go as they hoped.
Finally, I note Shepherding the FlockDue for release in 2025, the game has a gentle Last Guardian vibe to it, as a young boy herds giant horned beasts through mountainous terrain.
A turn-based military tactics game…Tactical Breach Wizards. Photo: Suspicious developments
I was looking forward to Tactical Breakthrough Wizard For years, this game has been the third in the Defenestration Trilogy, a series of indie games about fun ways to throw enemies out of windows. It's made by the unfairly fun and talented developer Tom Francis. (Disclosure: I've known Tom since he was a games journalist.) In this turn-based, destructive military tactics game, you play a group of misfit wizards who make up for their uselessness as humans with some very useful abilities, like seeing a second into the future and raising the dead.
Our reviewer, Rick Lane, was totally enthralled by the game, writing, “Its blend of inventive, flexible puzzles and wickedly entertaining writing should be enough to warrant active play on anyone's console. But what qualifies it for the Bureau of Special Arcane Arts is how boldly it critiques the murky morality of military-themed games.”
IEvery good RPG has a point where the protagonist has to leave the safety of their homeland. After learning the gravity of the threat they face, gathering a party and stocking up on food, they are ready to embark on an epic adventure.
Now, ironically, popular RPG creator Square Enix is being forced to do the same. His second installment in an ambitious trilogy that began with the 2020 remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth retains the beloved dystopian cityscape of Midgar and builds on his 1997 PlayStation classic. reimagined his second disc as its own full-fledged adventure. After the eco-terrorist Avalanche collides with the shady giant corporation Shinra, Reverse follows the hero Cloud (he of the oversized sword) and his friends on a journey around the world in pursuit of the loud-screaming villain Sephiroth.
Square Enix wasted no time in showing off its cinematic chops, sending players headfirst into the flashback section of Game Thief, forcing them to relive Cloud's storied military past, and Sepiroth. It perfectly depicts the character's descent into an unstoppable villain. This is a masterclass in interactive storytelling that hammers home the stakes before you go. Cloud He Few spiky-haired protagonists are as revered as Strife. It's easy to see why his creators opted for a strictly written retelling of a gaming classic in the first place. But where Remake forced you to wear the tattered boots of a legendary mercenary and chase cats during recess, Rebirth allows players to occasionally sit in the director's chair.
Show off your cinematic chops – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Photo: Square Enix
Weave your way through glorious, story-driven scenes, dungeon-like enclaves, and luxurious environments full of distractions. The vast plains of Junon, a tropical paradise, and the sparkling desert you can drive your buggy across. When you emerge from a series of battles and explore new areas, it feels like filling your lungs with fresh air. Traveling feels really exciting and brings some welcome visual variety to this cross-map road trip. Rebirth's freer approach offers a welcome antithesis to Remake's narrow hallways and frees players from chains.
The remake's core combat is back, but it incorporates the cinematic flourishes of last year's FFXVI with a welcome party-centric approach. In the remake's battle, I simply controlled Cloud and repeated the same attack several times, nauseatingly. But here we have to make the most of our cast of lovable weirdos. There are satisfying cinematic synergistic moves with partners and a variety of spellcasting “materia” that can be combined, and mastering the various nuances of your party's members is essential to defeating the boss. . Creating a new combat system that everyone is happy with seems like an almost impossible task, but somehow Square has managed to pull it off with aplomb. By swapping party members during battle, the game perfectly combines the depth of a turn-based RPG with modern action.
From conversation choices that strengthen your bonds with party members and side quests that determine who you can romance, to a series of odd jobs, Rebirth's take on this mythical world is as vivid as it gets It feels like. From the bustling townspeople of Calm walking around talking about their day, to suspicious fishermen muttering comments about you under their breath, to deer frolicking around Junon's fields, this is a sequel to Ship It is firmly embedded in a “bigger, better” approach. Dancing in a parade, racing chocobos, taking pictures of landscapes, zooming on a Segway…it seems like there are endless ways to cleanse your mouth. The frighteningly addictive new card game King's Blood is a highlight and a distraction deep enough to become a full-fledged obsession in its own right.
Bigger and better… Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Photo: Square Enix
The problem is that as the journey progresses, these once frivolous digressions become mandatory. Mini-games and side quests gradually become obstacles to progressing the plot, Cloud vs. Sephiroth's narrative thread gets lost in a vast world, and high-stakes adventures become uneven and twisty-toned whiplash movements. It will change to . His second disc in FF7 was originally only 10 hours long, but Rebirth expands his once modest story into his terrifying 50-hour epic. That shows it.
With side quests galore, engaging combat, and polished cinematic flourishes, Rebirth is a fun celebration of video game maximalism at its best. But this breadth comes at the expense of narrative focus, with cleverly scripted cinematic moments punctuated by a momentum-killing parade of mini-games, puzzles, and fan-fueled filler.
Longtime fans will devour every bite of the sweet fanservice here and savor every extra moment spent with this beloved cast. For Avalanche enthusiasts, this is a nostalgic dream come true. However, newcomers looking to experience his one of the medium's most beloved tales in a new, modern form should be prepared for yawn-inducing low notes, along with the high notes of the buster sword swinging. there is.
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