Daily Gaming News: August 12, 2020

Summary

  • Guerrilla is working on a Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition patch
  • Job listings reveal the smallest of hints into the next Bioshock
  • Path of Exile‘s Harvest won’t be a core gameplay mechanic in the future but may be “reintroduced”
  • Risk of Rain 2 is now out with version 1.0
  • Ars Technica dives into the world of MUGEN

I’m tired, it’s hot and it’s taking me forever to finish my Disco Elysium review. Will we see a new site redesign first? Tune in next time on the Big Meanie show!

Guerrilla is working on a Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition patch

There have been a good number of reports about poor performance in the PC port of Horizon Zero Dawn, even on high-end hardware. Guerrilla tweeted out earlier today that it’s aware of the issues, and they’ll “update you as soon as [they] can share more information”.

Reviews on Steam are now mixed despite the game opening strongly.


Job listings reveal the smallest of hints into the next Bioshock

There’s been no real info on the next Bioshock, except that it’s in development by newly-opened 2k studio Cloud Chamber based in Novato (California) and Montreal. However, a job listing on the 2k site gives the slightest hint of the setting for the next game: 

As picked up by Gamebyte, a listing for Lead Environment Modeler seeks someone to ‘help us breathe life into a new and fantastical world.’ The wording suggests the new Bioshock won’t be returning to either Rapture or Columbia for the new installment, and like Bioshock: Infinite will create its own world.


Path of Exile’s Harvest won’t be a core gameplay mechanic in the future but may be “reintroduced”

The latest Path of Exile league (Harvest) had players tending to their own virtual farms, giving them the ability to grow plants that provided all kinds of wacky and powerful modifiers for items – and apparently more powerful than developer Grinding Gear Games intended.

Once this Harvest league ends, it won’t be coming back as a “core gameplay mechanic”. This is in contrast to most leagues which have a small chance of appearing on endgame maps.

Risk of Rain 2 is now out with version 1.0

Third-person chaotic roguelike Risk of Rain 2 is out with version 1.0, technically bringing it out of Early Access. The update brings a final ending sequence, a server browser, intro cutscene and a bunch of new stuff and balance changes.

I can’t say I’ve played Risk of Rain 1 or 2, and so I’m a bit ambivalent about the whole thing, but early reviews are looking pretty damn good.

You can grab the game for 20% off on Steam.


Ars Technica dives into the world of MUGEN

For those of you who aren’t familiar with MUGEN, the custom fighting game engine that’s resulted in some of the goofiest and most unrealistic matchups ever – think Mega Man vs. Ronald McDonald – Ars Technica has put out a solid writeup on the project, from its humble MS-DOS beginnings to the disappearance of its developers Elecbyte in 2014.

I myself fell into the world of MUGEN after buying a “pirated” version of Street Fighter Alpha for PC from a shopping mall in Manila. Of course, Street Fight Alpha didn’t actually exist for PC at the time, and instead the CD was filled with a build of MUGEN and a bunch of random characters and stages. I spent the next couple of months tinkering with the engine and creating a Super Mega Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom Championship Edition game – trust me, it was worse than it sounds.