News by 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)!
Planescape Torment is back! Can’t keep a good thing down
– Matt S.
Beamdog, the whizzes at taking old RPGs and shining them up for the new generations, has already brought Baldur’s Gate and its sequel to iOS and modern PCs, and for that we will be forever grateful to the team. Now, it is taking on the biggest challenge of them all; porting the greatest classic RPG of all time to PCs, as well as iOS and Android devices.
Planescape: Torment isn’t what you’d normally think of in a Dungeons & Dragons videogame. It’s very light on the combat, and very heavy on the storytelling and player decision making. As I noted in my review of Torment: Tides of Numenera, which is a spiritual sequel to Planescape, these are games that involve doing a lot of reading, and you’ll find yourself very immersed in their worlds as a consequence.
Set in Sigil, the City of Doors, there’s also a fascinating world to explore. Those who haven’t played the game before are in for such a treat; I wish I could play Planescape: Torment for the first time again too. The remastered edition of the game is available now on PC via Steam and GOG, and will be coming soon to tablets (the best way to play a game like this) and the Mac App Store.
Could… Could Kings Field IV on PlayStation 4 be around the corner?
– Matt S.
Let’s get something straight here; If you think you’re hardcore because you can complete Dark Souls blindfolded and naked, outside, in the middle of winter, you got nothing. Before Dark Souls was around, back on the PlayStation 2, From Software was making even more hardcore games, and getting terrible critical response to them.
One of those games was a PS2 launch game, called Eternal Ring. Eternal Ring was a first person dungeon crawler that was so incredibly filled with danger than actually completing the game would make you feel like you’ve climbed the Everest of games. It contained so much of what people would come to love about From Software games with the Souls series; labyrinths that told stories of their own, secret after secret to uncover, and brutal, memorable bossed, and yet it was largely panned and ended up with a Metacritic score of 62. Go figure.
The game gathered a cult following, and that cult should be very happy to know that a trophy list has emerged for the game’s HD port to PlayStation 4. Yep. You’ll be playing this one soon enough. What is really exciting, however, is that the game uses the same engine as the later King’s Field IV, and King’s Field IV is one of my favourite games ever made. Could… could magic happen? You never know! In the meantime, enjoy this lovely video (not made by us) of ten minutes of Eternal Ring action.
UmaMusume – Save a Horse, Raise a Horsemaiden?
– Ginny W.
Chances are, you’ve heard of Uma no Prince-sama. For the uninitiated, it’s a mobile otome where you date a horse with the chiseled face of a bishonen star. While it was massively popular and immensely entertaining, there was no dating alternative for those who weren’t into anime stallions. However, Cygames is encouraging us to dream a little bigger than that with their latest offering: UmaMusume!
UmaMusume is, for lack of a better phrase, the opposite of Uma no Prince-sama. For one, it involves a bunch of youtuhful (human) maidens with horse-like ears and tails, much like a more equine version of the popular kemonomimi. Instead of dating them, you get to train up their skills, send them to high school, and watch them race against each other.
The teaser trailer released this week gave us a taste of all the above, and of some incredibly cute idol concert cutscenes. Even if lavishing your love and attention on some adorable horsemaidens doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, we guarantee that with a premise like this, the game will surely be nothing short of entertaining.
Play the magic nose flute and save Asposia: The Inner World
By Britta S.
Maybe there are dark forces out there trying to keep the world of Asposia a secret? It is only by chance I stumbled across it, when chasing information on an upcoming PC game that turns out to be a sequel. Where there’s a sequel, there has to be an original game. To my astonishment, I found the original game The Inner World not only on Steam but also released on PlayStation 4 on 29 March. There’s no mention of this release anywhere, so it is my joy and privilege to bring you details on two games today!
The original The Inner World – released by Headup Games in 2013 – introduced Robert, who has the “best intentions and no clue whatsoever”; this clearly makes him eminently qualified to star in a 2D point-and-click adventure with lots of puzzles, but just in case there’s a nifty hint system. He meets thief Laura and together they decide to find out why the wind disappeared from Asposia. There is a lovely Story Trailer for The Inner World, showing the charming hand-drawn art and suave animation. Did I mention that this game is now available for the PS4? And the Xbox One release is not far behind: March 31.
Hot on the heels of this ‘stealth release’ comes the announcement of the sequel, called The Inner World – The Last Wind Monk which is scheduled for release sometime mid-year for PC, Xbox One, PS4, iOS and Android. This time around, Robert and Laura are joined by Peck, the nutty pigeon, to save the family of the flute noses. Guess who turns out to be the heir to the flute nose throne … yep, you guessed right. They obviously need to find the legendary last wind monk – and Save Asposia!
