NLG - Next Level Gaming

The greatest trick I repeatedly pull is convincing myself I’ll play the latest Pokémon title, but then never actually doing it. Like many kids of the ‘90s, I fell in love with Game Freak's lovable Pocket Monsters when they initially took the U.S. by storm. I lost countless hours playing Red, Blue, and Yellow multiple times, invested just as much time in the anime, and collected way too many cards. I was a certified Poké-maniac.  When Generation 2 rolled around, I was eager catch some new monsters, but a series of unfortunate events pushed me away from the series for good. First, my Game Boy Advance was stolen with my copy of Pokémon Gold inside (which I’ve never completed to this day). Then the anime let me down for the final time when Ash lost the Johto League finals even after defeating Gary, cementing Ash as a choke artist I could no longer get behind. My enthusiasm for the franchise simply vanished after that. Outside of a brief, random return with Pokémon Platinum and partak

E arlier this week, we reported that CD Projekt Red banned a Cyberpunk 2077 mod that allowed players to retexturize in-game assets to virtually have sex with Keanu Reeves' character, Johnny Silverhand. The reason behind the ban was because the studio felt it was inappropriate to recreate explicit sexual encounters with a real person who did not give their permission (despite the character himself having numerous scenes throughout the game that were graphically sexual in nature). The conversation surrounding that previous coverage, and similar instances when a recognizable name is used in a game, prompted a desire to explore this topic further. For as long as I've been covering mods in my career, the ethical debate of fiction vs. reality has always been a subject that has two clear and opposing stances. But to understand the Great Debate Of Modding, we have to dive a bit deeper into the conversation surrounding this community.  What is rule 34?  First, let's talk about t

E arlier this week, we reported that CD Projekt Red banned a Cyberpunk 2077 mod that allowed players to retexturize in-game assets to virtually have sex with Keanu Reeves' character, Johnny Silverhand. The reason behind the ban was because the studio felt it was inappropriate to recreate explicit sexual encounters with a real person who did not give their permission (despite the character himself having numerous scenes throughout the game that were graphically sexual in nature). The conversation surrounding that previous coverage, and similar instances when a recognizable name is used in a game, prompted a desire to explore this topic further. For as long as I've been covering mods in my career, the ethical debate of fiction vs. reality has always been a subject that has two clear and opposing stances. But to understand the Great Debate Of Modding, we have to dive a bit deeper into the conversation surrounding this community.  What is rule 34?  First, let's talk about t

January is almost over, and as usual, the big releases slowed down after the busy holiday season. Hitman 3 was excellent, but other anticipated games like The Medium and Cyber Shadow didn't totally deliver. But sometimes a game can come out of nowhere and impress you, and that's why I'm excited about Olija by Skeleton Crew Studios. It just launched this week, and I’ve had a great time with it so far; it blends fast-paced combat, an atmospheric and alluring world, and engaging settlement-building to create one of the year's first big surprises. Here's why you should check it out. Story And Presentation I haven’t finished Olija, so I can’t speak to the whole story’s overall quality. However, I am deeply intrigued. The game opens with protagonist Lord Faraday getting shipwrecked among the islands of Terraphage while on a mission to bring treasure and resources back to his struggling village. His crew gets scattered to various isles, so it becomes something of a res

A few days ago, I sat down on my phone ready to explore a brave new world of Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest Tact  is a mobile tactical strategy game set in the universe of Square Enix's iconic RPG franchise. I was ready to dive into a magical, mystical world full of adorable little slimes, massive dragons, and cool sound effects drawn from decades of the legendary and genre-defining Dragon Quest series – a property I’ve been into since I was first annihilated by a green dragon back on the NES. Remember when you had to buy like, door keys for stuff? And finding Erdrick’s armor in that one zone full of deadly monsters and poison? Ahead of its time, I tell you. Anyway, instead of diving into a new gaming experience with any value whatsoever, I once again found more of the same trend that we’ve been enduring and tolerating over the last decade. Dragon Quest Tact is the fall guy for this piece, but it’s absolutely not the only offender; over the last few years I've noticed this with e

Toshihiro Nagoshi, one of the leading creative forces behind the Yakuza series, will soon take on a new role within Sega, the company announced today (via Gamasutra ). As of April 1, 2021, Nagoshi will serve as the company's creative director. Since 2012, Nagoshi had been working as Sega's chief creative officer, a title he will no longer carry.  How this will affect Nagoshi's day-to-day work remains to be seen. Currently, alongside working as Sega's CCO, Nagoshi is a member of both Sega and its subsidiary Atlus' board of directors. He has also served as executive director on the last several Yakuza games – a series he helped create – and is the founder of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, which handles development on that series. Nagoshi's tenure within Sega goes back more than 30 years, when he was brought on board to work at Sega AM2, a development studio within the company known for its arcade and fighting games, headed by legendary developer Yu Suzuki. Alongside

The next Call of Duty zombie experience, Firebase Z , arrives on February 4. That's next week! So if you've been exploring the myriad secrets, weapons, and barrels of Juggernog that Die Maschine has been serving up, maybe you're ready for a new zombie map. The update is free and won't require any additional purchases on top of the core Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Get ready to head into the undead-filled jungles of Vietnam! Click here to watch embedded media While I engage in zombie play sometimes, the recent offerings didn't feel altogether fresh for me despite some differences. "Finally, there’s Zombies. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War adds some new quirks to the core zombie experience by letting players bring their own loadout into the massive undead slaughterhouses. It feels good to take your honed weapons into the arena instead of relying on what you can find there, but wall-buying guns, powerups, and Juggernog buffs are all still critical parts o

Turrican Flashback hits PlayStation 4 (also playable on PS5) and Switch today, and it’s a project well worth a look. The new collection includes four full games: Turrican, Turrican II, Mega Turrican, and Super Turrican. It includes updated visuals with numerous options to tweak things to a more nostalgic look, as well as save states and a rewind feature. It’s an ideal way to play these games, whether you’re excited about a return to an old favorite, or if you never got the chance to play these awesome games back in the day. Developer Factor 5 would later be strongly identified with its work on Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, but the studio’s early work on Turrican (and its many sequels) is a big part of how it came to prominence. As a side-scrolling action game, the Turrican series is lesser known than many of its contemporaries, but even a few minutes playing one of these games offers ample proof that quality was not the problem. These are stellar games that were (and are) a ton of fun.

Niantic wasn't messing around when it raised Pokémon Go's level cap from 40 to 50 late last year. When the game launched in 2016, trainers were able to ascend through the first 40 levels with determined playing, leaving many to wonder if Niantic would create additional endgame content for them, other than the steady drip of new Pokémon to catch. I was one of the trainers that made "short" work of the old level cap. I believe I reached 40 in my third year of playing, which required 20 million total experience points to advance from 1 to 40. That took some playing and grinding. I didn't mind; I thoroughly enjoyed getting outside to raid and meet up with friends to hit up Pokémon Go hotspots on Community Days. When news hit that Niantic was raising the level cap to 50, I was giddy. As someone who still plays the game daily, I liked the sound of having another thing to do. Niantic has done a tremendous job of supporting Pokémon Go in the last couple of years, and

When Biomutant was announced in 2017 , we were impressed by the wonderfully weird world Experiment 101, which was founded by ex-Avalanche Studios employees, was pitching. That game was originally set to release in 2018, but that year came and went with not much info from the Swedish development studio. Now that we're in 2021, Experiment 101 and publisher THQ Nordic have finally announced a release date for Biomutant: May 25 . But what took so long, and why did the developer stay so quiet for much of that span? In a recent interview with IGN , studio head Stefan Ljungqvist said that much of it had to do with the scope of the project contrasting with the size of the team. The game features a dense map full of NPCs, outposts, and bizarre creatures to encounter, as well as a mutating protagonist, so even if the world itself isn't massive when compared to the size of other open-world maps, it's an ambitious project. "It's a big game, a big bite for 20 people to chew o

The long-awaited “Snyder Cut” of 2017’s Justice League is arriving March 18 to HBO Max. Director Zack Snyder shared the news on Twitter  today, giving fans of the fabled re-release a light at the end of the tunnel.   For those not in the know, Snyder was originally at the helm of Justice League before his daughter’s tragic suicide forced him to step down during post-production. Director Joss Whedon took over production of the troubled film, creating the final version that was panned by fans and critics alike when it released in November 2017.  Since then, fans petitioned for the release of the “Snyder Cut”, Zack Snyder’s version of the film that had been cut/altered after Whedon took over. After spending years gaining traction online, Warner Bros. announced in May of last year that the Snyder Cut would indeed happen and release exclusively to HBO Max. Since this version features a fair amount of cut or reshot content, the film tops at a whopping four hours, which you can watch a

Hitman 3 just released a little over a week ago, and it is an excellent game by most reports ( including ours ). Not only does it provide all-new scenarios for Agent 47, but it also allows access to legacy content from the previous installments of Io Interactive's World of Assassination trilogy. With that wealth of options at your fingertips, you might be satisfied – but even if you are, Io Interactive is going to give you more anyway in the form of DLC. In a recent interview with The Gamer , Io Interactive clarified some of its plans for post-launch support of Hitman 3. And though it didn't reveal any specifics about what the DLC might be, the studio confirmed that it is in the works and discussed the overall approach. "We are definitely going to be doing some DLC, but we haven’t defined what that is," executive producer Forest Swartout Large tells The Gamer . "I think for now we are not looking at new maps like the bank and the island. We’re more looking a

The gods in Gods Will Fall are not benevolent ones. They're evil, malevolent entities that are bent on torturing the humans they rule over. Worship is demanded, with suffering rippling throughout the land. But that's all about to change, isn't it? You've had just about enough of their reign of misery, so it's time to go full barbarian and get in the mix in Clever Beans' new roguelike adventure, which is out today. What platforms is it on? You can beat down the wicked gods on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC. Click here to watch embedded media As a roguelike, you have options when it comes to your deity assault. Skills, weapons, items, and more are all on deck as you battle through three deadly realms. The Celtic-inspired journey leans in heavy on brutality as you seek to enact vengeance on your less-than-benevolent dictators. Warriors of your tribe may even have specific fears against specific gods (there are 10 to take on), and if they can face down t

Here’s some good news on a Friday. Alba: A Wildlife Adventure , ustwo’s wonderful game about conservation, has helped do some real-life good. Thanks to a campaign by the studio to plant one tree for every download of the game, the result has been over 450,000 new trees planted. The campaign is a partnership between ustwo and Ecologi, a website focused on tackling climate change by planting trees, which of course goes a long way in reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Paid members sign up to have Ecologi plant a number of trees based on their subscription tier, thus having their own forest. ustwo created Alba’s Forest , which currently has 465,060 trees planted in forests across Madagascar, Mozambique, and Nicaragua. Besides offering a nice barometer for how the game is performing sales wise, it’s always cool to see a purchase have a positive side-effect.  If you haven’t played or heard of Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, the charming game stars a young girl named Alba who tries t

The key to a good offense is a good defense, and the best way to defend yourself while playing the Hitman games is to identify and utilize a level's many disguises. However, there are a lot of disguises in any one level, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Starting out, it can be hard to know which outfit will grant you the access you need to get closer to your target(s). Luckily for you, we've put an absurd amount of time into Hitman 3, poking at its levels, experimenting with different disguises, and learning which make assassinating targets the easiest. Though this list is far from comprehensive, we collected a few different outfits that will help you navigate some of Hitman's trickier levels. Click here to watch embedded media Dubai Hitman 3's first level can be one of its most daunting – if only due to the sheer verticality of the setting. When you begin your mission in the Scepter skyscraper, your targets, Marcus Stuyvesant and Carl Ingram, will be

Earlier this year, the United States swore in a new president to take the helm over the next four years with Joesph Biden Jr. but the real star of the 46th inauguration was Bernie Sanders huddled in the stands with an admittedly adorable pair of mittens on to battle the cold. The image of Sanders in his full winter gear went viral, becoming a meme that was seen everywhere, and now that same inauguration meme is invading the world of SoulCalibur VI with this Bernie mod.  This hilarious and wildly random mod was spotted by the folks over at Game Rant and as a huge fan of modding (as seen with our ongoing Mod Corner series), I couldn't pass up the chance to share this weirdly perfect mashup.  Why go through the motions of creating your own Bernie Sanders in the fighting game's character creator when you can just mod him in instead? Modder 'User619' did just that by recreating the mittenfied politician-turned-meme and placing him front and center in the world of SoulC

Crystal Dynamics announced that the next War Table video for Marvel’s Avengers goes live February 16. The event will be all about Hawkeye, more specifically Clint Barton. The studio also teased some sort of update about the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game, which had previously been delayed .  Hawkeye was originally slated to be the first post-launch character to come to the game. Things changed, however, and it wound up being fellow archer  Kate Bishop (who also uses the Hawkeye name) getting first dibs. While some will  undoubtedly question releasing two characters with similar skillsets back-to-back, Crystal Dynamics previously assured that Clint and Kate will sport unique combat styles and abilities. Like all of the post-launch DLC, Operation: Hawkeye will arrive free of charge to players. The studio also released art signaling the introduction of Maestro, a long-time nemesis of the Hulk.  Get a glimpse of the future with our WAR TABLE Deep Dive: Hawkeye

America’s most popular sporting spectacle airs early next month. And while football fans everywhere will be preparing for the monumental clash between Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV, Rocket League players are getting their own chance to run (or, in this case, drive) to daylight.  The upcoming Super Bowl LV Celebration is an in-game event where Rocket League players can live out their football fantasies in small teams while still playing within the confines of the popular video game’s quirky ruleset and mechanics. The new game mode coming alongside the Celebration is called Gridiron. A recent post on the Official PlayStation Blog goes into detail on how Gridiron is played but you can also read the list of rules below: The standard Rocket League ball has been replaced with an American football in this 4v4 mode. Touching the ball attaches it to the roof of your car. If any player touches the ball, that player becomes the b