Trans-Inclusive Gaming
Persona 5 Strikers released in February 2020 in Japan followed by a worldwide release in February 2021. Despite the game getting delayed in the west because of COVID-19, this game still sold extremely well. In the United States, P5S became the third bestselling game of February 2021. This game launched on the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.
Be still my beating heart
If you’ve been paying attention to the various social media platforms, you’ll have likely heard of Supergiant Games‘ newest title, Hades. Their first title back in 2011, Bastion, was so good it had critics raving not just about the amazing gameplay and watercolor art, but the soundtrack as well. In fact, fans of the game, including myself, are still listening to “Build that wall” from Bastion; a song performed by Ashley Lynn Barret and Darren Korb – in Korb’s bedroom closet, no less – who still work together on various songs for Supergiant games to this day. Needless to say, the fact that it won “Best Song in a Game” at the VGA’s in 2011 is impressive, all things considered.
I’ve been busy playing some of my favorite games when it struck me that I had not written about a particular version of Minecraft that I feel deserves some of our attention. With that said, let me introduce you to Conquest Reforged 1.15. A mod pack aimed specifically for the world-builders of Minecraft.
I have been fortunate enough to gain access to an early version of this release before its beta goes public. I have been working with various other streamers to come together and build a city.
If you’re familiar with Frontier Developments as a developer, you’ve likely seen their work in the acclaimed Planet Coaster. I played many hours of the game, myself. I’ve always have been a fan of the theme park management simulators and rollercoaster designers. I never was able to say the same for games like Zoo Tycoon always feeling that they lacked substance and motive for me to be there. That said, I was a fan of the PS2 classic, Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis which explored a theme park setting where you setup your own dinosaur park. It played similar to the newer release Jurassic World Evolution.
Planet Zoo, on that note, fixes the issues that I had with what you might call its inspirations. Let’s dig in to see exactly how it does that, starting with gameplay.
If you saw my article from last week, you know that I’ve been spending my time since then playing Crusader Kings III from Paradox Development Studios. While I am a fan of Paradox games overall, I have yet to play any of their games on release aside from this one. That said, from what I heard from other fans, especially fans of the Crusader Kings franchise, this release – while a bit rocky so far – has been leagues above the launch of the second installment.
See, I’m a fantasy nerd, but at heart, I’m a sci-fi girl. Due to that, I found myself falling in love with Stellaris in all its forms. Even after the massive update that overhauled several mechanics, I found a new respect for Paradox. After all, that’s a hard decision, and one they made for the right reasons and executed well. All of that said, even with the bumps I’ve seen so far in my personal time with the game, I’m absolutely stoked to see how far this installment will go and what forms it will take as expansions and DLCs come out. That’s not even mentioning the mods that are already flooding the internet, aided by Paradox’s own modding tools that help players mod the game.