The Pre-E3 News Spectacular! - Renegade Arcade #22

It is almost the month of June, which means it’s time for a bunch of gaming announcements! This week, we’re breaking down the news floodgates with Brock, Tyler, Keona, and extra-special guest host Chris Clow from the Comics on Consoles and Discovery Debrief podcasts! We have a ton of news to cover from titles like Dying Light 2, The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes, Sonic the Hedgehog, Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, and, of course, Horizon: Forbidden West! On top of that, we have impressions of RE Village, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, the Scarlet Nexus demo, and Biomutant! Whew, that’s a lot! Let’s get to it!

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INSERT COIN - The News You Can Use

First up, we had a bunch of gameplay reveal showcases which happened right before our show went live last Thursday, May 27th, starting off with Supermassive Games’ next installment in the Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes. I love the concept behind this chapter of the anthology, as a lot of the game’s inspirations are very much in my wheelhouse. From Predator (the first movie, which is still the best) to The Descent, House of Ashes pays homage to many films (as well as games) that have come before it, and the idea of playing a military squad that gets swallowed up in an earthquake and suddenly find themselves fighting for their survival against an unseen mystical enemy in a mysterious underground temple is extremely cool! I have yet to play the Man of Medan and Little Hope chapters in the anthology, though I definitely want to, but I’m really looking forward to this title! Still no release date, but I’d imagine it’ll come out around October or November, barring some sort of delay.

Next, let’s talk about everybody’s favorite blue blur, Sonic the Hedgehog, who hasn’t been seen in a mainline series title for a while. However, Sega and Sonic Team have announced a brand new game coming in 2022 for all current consoles, as well as PC, so we have that to look forward to. Also coming soon is Sonic Colors Ultimate, which sees the former Wii exclusive make the leap to PS4 and Xbox One as well as Switch on Sep. 7, 2021. 2022 will also see yet another collection of Sonic’s retro adventures, entitled Sonic Origins. Included in the compilation will be Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Sonic CD. I’m sure we’ve had those titles released on many consoles in the past, but it’ll be nice to see them released again, as they’re a big piece of gaming history and deserve to be experienced by multiple generations.

Moving on from cute furry animals to dangerous cityscapes full of zombified infected humans, we have the Dying Light 2: Stay Human showcase. The developers at Techland showed off brand new gameplay, featuring some of the meatiest and meanest combat sequences I’ve seen in a good long while. Zombie (I mean, “infected”) dismemberment and decapitation appears to be in full effect in DL2, and I am totally down for that. The game looks slick as hell, and your playable character has a distinct personality and hopefully some actual development this time around. Dying Light 1 is also getting a Platinum Edition re-release with every single piece of DLC included for about $25. So I think they’re making all the right moves with this franchise. Dying Light 2 is due out on Dec. 7, 2021.

We then had a gameplay reveal for Sony and Guerrilla Games’ upcoming blockbuster hit, Horizon: Forbidden West, the sequel to 2017’s hit title, Horizon: Zero Dawn. I gotta agree with Brock, our number one Aloy fan, and say that this is one of the most beautiful games I have ever laid eyes on. The cloth and hair physics are incredible to behold, and particle effects fly across the screen in a dazzling display of pyrotechnic mastery. This game is going to be amazing on PlayStation 5, but for those of us who are still hanging on to our PS4 Pros for dear life, there will be an 8th Gen version of the game. How that’ll turn out is anyone’s guess, but I hope it runs decently. Anyway, the PS5 version is the star here, and it looks great, with gameplay chops to match, and a fantastic lead character in Aloy. Maybe we’ll get this game by the end of 2021, but if it does slip into 2022, I wouldn’t mind the wait. It’ll be worth it.

Finally, we had news about the release of Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, the latest remaster of VF5, with development taking place at the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, home to many of Sega’s AM2 veterans who worked on the original Virtua Fighter arcade titles and the current Yakuza series. Ultimate Showdown showcases greatly improved visuals, particularly in the characters and background details, thanks to the newly implemented Dragon engine. I’ve never seen the character models look better, as Akira and Sarah Bryant demonstrate in the above video, and the stages look much better than they have in the past. I also love the fact that the developers kept in the sound effects from previous iterations of the title. VF5 Ultimate Showdown will be available exclusively on PS4, and is a featured PlayStation Plus game for the month of June. Check it out, especially if you love the good ol’ days of arcade gaming or 3D fighting games.

PRESS START - Impressions of the Latest Games

Moving on to previews/impressions, I had the chance to play through the Scarlet Nexus demo on my Xbox One X last week, and I must admit, I kind of loved it! It’s been a while since I’ve played a crazy anime-influenced third-person action game out of Japan, so I savored every moment of this demo. There are AI squadmates who follow your character as you battle toxic weird plant-flower cyber-things, and you can utilize their team-up attacks to give you a distinct advantage. Along with your telekinetic powers, these tag-team attacks can swiftly give you the upper hand in combat, and they look absolutely cool, to boot. I felt a little confused about this game in the past, but now I’m eagerly awaiting it. Rest assured we’ll keep the discourse surrounding it alive on the show in the coming weeks.

Next up we have THQ Nordic and Experiment 101’s action-RPG, Biomutant, which was the most notable release of last week. While the game is gorgeous to look at, and some of the RPG systems are neat to try out, Biomutant’s pacing is a little slow, and its sound design is pretty close to being awful, especially in combat encounters. I do like the move sets and special skills, particularly with melee-focused character classes and builds, but the combat itself feels very soft and lacking a real sense of impact. Still, it’s certainly not one of the worst games I’ve ever played. I just wish that Experiment 101 had changed up its voice acting, sound design, and maybe dialed it back a bit with regard to the open world. Not a horrible game, but definitely something I’d hold off on purchasing until it goes on sale.

Lastly, we have our updated impressions on both Resident Evil Village and Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Look, I think you all know that we love both of these games, and all the characters therein. Village is not only creepy and intense, but also funny and action-packed, and I’m loving the experience I’m having with it. And ME Legendary Edition is another great 2021 release, with Mass Effect 1 receiving the greatest amount of attention. As it stands, I’d call ME1 the best story of the trilogy, while ME2 has the best balance between plot and gameplay and ME3 has the best combat and action. Each game is awesome in its own right, and Bioware even fixed most of the annoying aspects of the Mako, which is something I’m eternally grateful for. Both games get the RPC stamp of approval and are highly recommended.

KILL SCREEN - Now It’s Time to Say Goodbye…

While there’s even more news that happened this week, like Ubisoft’s Far Cry 6 reveal stream (lookin’ good, if you ask me) and the release of Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World, a cool-looking 2D side-scroller that I definitely want to play. We’ll talk about those on the next episode, among other topics in the lead-up to Summer Games Fest and E3.

Thank you to my co-hosts Brock, Tyler, and the awesome Chris Clow for joining me, and thank you all for listening! We appreciate you all, and please let us know how we’re doing in the comments below! Have a great Memorial Day weekend to those of you in the United States, and take a few moments to remember those who served and fought so that we may have the freedom and liberty we enjoy today. See you next time, Renegades!

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