Not much on paper, just consistent presence/marketing and sustained relevant content output. RPGs, shooters, simulation, strategy and overall PC-oriented games are big in Europe and Xbox/GP will serve them in spades. Plus we already see they are taking initiatives to have a more serious presence there, in small steps at least. I still believe right now is not the time yet for Xbox to go all in or to judge them on it yet, it would be next year when they have the 1st party and Game Pass lineup as well as improved console availability (according to Phil), thatās when a marketing and presence push is warranted because theyād have so much stuff to market on all pillars of their strategy relative to now with two pillars restricted in some ways (1st party and console availability).
13 Likes
The Last Case of Benedict Fox - Gameplay Trailer
7 Likes
20 million Geforce Now is a good milestone, but there are no details on the composition of this number, not least because there is a free plan. We donāt know how many active users the service has. Unlike Game Pass numbers there are actually 25 million subscribers using and paying for the service.
1 Like
For anyone who is interested in Steel Rising, thereās a closed Beta available with the digital pre-order which as far as im aware can be cancelled prior to the game releasing on September 8th as itās not considered a refund request due to the game not being released yet.
Anyway, I pre-ordered the $50 standard version at GameStop last week but then pre-ordered the $60 Bastille Edition digitally for Xbox Series X and gotta say, went through the entire Beta in around 5 hours and wanted to keep playing.
Itās really good. Visuals wonāt blow anyone away but are still in that 8-8.5 range. Environments look good along with the atmosphere. Iām also in the locale. Audio is solid. I would say that the voice acting and lip syncing is better than GreedFall and granted, itās not an AAA blockbuster but no major issues with it. Story and characters seem interesting through the first two areas but obviously, too early to know for sure.
Combat and gameplay wise though, yeah, you can tell that itās an AA budgeted game, however, the combat and control of Aegis feels more fluid and responsive especially when compared to GreedFall. You can customize the controller configuration so for anyone like me who prefers to use the X/Y buttons for light/heavy attacks instead of RB/RT, you can do so.
The real difference for Steel Rising is that while combat is definitely a souls game, you can adjust āassistā options. Thereās four options -
-
Adjust damage given by enemies. This is based on percentage. 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. 0% is normal and the default level. For example, my health was 200HP. If a single enemy attack was to take away 100HP and you have this set at 50%, their attack would only take away 50HP. For anyone who wants to be invincible, you can set this to 100% and no attack even by bosses will take off any health from you.
-
Retain Anima Essence Upon Death. This is basically your āsoulsā that when you die, you lose it and then have to get it back. However, this is an on/off option which allows you to retain your Anima Essence when dying. This is literally the number one reason why I decided not to pass on Steel Rising since im not a souls guy. I donāt mind respawning enemies or the tougher combat but losing what I spent potentially hours to gain when dying, fuck that shit. So obviously, I have this set to on. This option alone by itself made me enjoy Steel Rising Beta and look forward to the full game in two weeks.
-
Stamina Regeneration Speed. This is percentage based. 100% which is default. 200% and 300%. Basically this speeds up how fast your stamina bar refills after using it. I had this set to 200%. Pretty quick. Iām not waiting around 20+ seconds for my stamina to regenerate. I didnāt try the default level. I probably should have. Maybe tomorrow.
-
Rapid Cooling. This is an option that when your stamina is fully depleted, Aegis will begin to overheat due to being an Automaton. When this happens, your stamina bar will regenerate and if you press RT when the bar is filling up, youāll gain back that amount of stamina instantly instead of having to wait for the entire bar to fill. Think of it like when reloading in Gears of War and you get a perfect reload which refills your clip completely. Turning this on will automatically refill your stamina regardless of when you press RT as the bar is filling up. This I messed around with but kept it off as me having the regeneration set to 200% is very generous.
Based on earlier and more messing around tomorrow, I will probably have the damage given set to 50%, Anima Essence retained when killed, Stamina regen will test at 100% default tomorrow. If I donāt like it, I will keep it at 200%. Rapid Cooling I will keep disabled as I donāt really need it.
Below is a good preview of the game from June that has much more info on the game.
https://fextralife.com/steelrising-preview-gameplay-and-hands-on-impressions/
Anyway, Steel Rising will be the first souls game that im looking forward to playing due to the fact that they include āassistā options which allows me to play the game my way.
I know a few people here were interested in Steel Rising but turned off due to it being a souls like game so with that said, is anyone interested in the game or is it just me?
6 Likes
Iāll have a review at launch, playing the review copy now
1 Like
Oh wow. Nice. Plenty of time to get through the game. Hope youāre enjoying it. Looking forward to watching your review. 
2 Likes
He got like 124k likes on this tweet
Bonkers
GeForce now doesnāt sell you gamesā¦ in free tier you can play any kind of game which you own on steam or is free to play
yeah, 80 years ago some of them didnāt understand apparently and did some questionable shit
Iām whelmed
Such true words
Xbox team is visionary
7 Likes
Thanks for the impressions. Greedfall surprised me in a positive way so this sounds really good, will keep an eye on it.
2 Likes
13 Likes
This is definitely a game that you lower music and environmental sound way down and the dialogue volume way up. Also, subtitles are a must (which are always on for me personally for TV/movies/games). I couldnāt catch all of the audio from the 25 minutes of gameplay due to the shooting being too loud.
Greedfall was a great AA / RPG, if it had AAA type budget would have been even better.
1 Like
People always say this but iām not so sure. Higher budget raises expectations and copies you have to sell. So you have to widen your player base. This may change the product. Greedfall had some issues like enemy variety, fixing these doesnāt need AAA budget imo.
I just think AA ājankā is absolutely fine. Trying to mocap everything to a 100 million+ budget is not the way.
2 Likes
I know some donāt like this sort of talking all the time but this is fucking hilarious to me, I canāt wait.
Reminds me of the talking gun in Cyberpunk 2077 but ruder 
Iām sold on the game now.
āthere goed our E ratingā
You gotta love such stuff man. Those voices are from Rick and Morty too, cool!
This was the biggest surprise at E3 this year. It didnāt leak and it came out of nowhere. Those are the best.
2 Likes