Curse have relased a great pack of games i purely think the $1 is worth the Strife closed beta key. This is S2 Games' second MOBA game aimed for more casual player base than Heroes of Newerth, most notably incorporating various gameplay elements that focus on heavily reducing player toxicity and introducing persistent mechanics outside of the arena, including Pets and Crafting. The game uses the same graphic engine as Heroes of Newerth (K2 Engine) with some improvements on lighting and physics
Pay what you want for Windforge, Stacking, ReignMaker and early access to Paranautical Activity. As an added bonus you will also be provided with Tower of Elements, the game that inspired ReignMaker, and a closed beta key for Strife.
Pay $6 or more to also get Darkout, early access to Signs of Life and a 30-Day Subscription to Curse Premium. Contribute $10 or more to add on Lifeless Planet and early access to Edge of Space. Those who pay $36 or more will get everything plus the Indie Appreciation Pack delivered to their house containing an “I <3 Indie Games” T-shirt and neat merch from Curse.
Blade and Soul fans this game could be your answer!
Swordsman Online brings you a F2P MMO based on the iconic novel (Swordsman) by Louis Cha. The story takes place in ancient China where many different martial art schools plot and fight against each other to seize dominance. Perfect World Entertainment NA are the publishers of the game and have servers on the west and east coast. The game has just entered open beta so you can jump in and try it today!
I started playing Swordsman Online not knowing what to expect but I have been given some positives and negatives. Firstly when I downloaded the game it got to 70% then randomly deleted the progress and restarted from the beginning. Secondly I cannot start the game in full resolution as the game simply wont start. I had to start in a lower resolution then once I had loaded in change the settings. This was not a good start for someone trying out a game and was very frustrating.
Once you enter the game there are 6 servers to select from each show your ping for that server which is an awesome inclusion! I think every MMO should have this option so you know what your ping is going to be like before you even choose a server. Character creation was OK some customisations don't change much but it provides you with some options. If you are not into Asian styled game then you will definitely not like this game and should steer clear! Races & Classes
Now this MMO is very different from others I've played as it is originally a Chinese game so all the voice acting is Chinese with English subs. There are no races or classes in Swordsman Online instead, it guides the players to join one of the martial art schools. There are 10 different martial art schools and within them are different skill trees you will unlock and customise. As there is not much information on the game I have found it a little confusing when picking classes/levelling abilities but when I typed in global chat everyone seemed to be very very helpful!
Combat & Questing Gameplay
Game flow
The game throws you straight into the story and you are immersed into a rich vibrant china. You will have the choice of choosing how you would like to control your character from three different settings. The games storyline is good it reminds me of Chinese martial arts movies with people leaping into the air and channelling their chi! You will literally be playing the storyline the whole way through levelling actually that's all I've done so far and I'm level 30! (89 levels available) This is the most efficient way of levelling up your character. Swordsman's interface has a lot of options to show you what you should be doing and new features unlock as you level up. You don't even need to travel places you can simply click the quest and your character will go there and even get on their mount automatically! This can be seen as a plus and minus as I'm not really doing anything except clicking on the next quest.
There are so many players online so you wont have trouble finding other players but I have played to 30. So far it has just been go to this area, kill these mobs and then move on. Everything is unlocked via the story line and doesn't really give you an freedom at the lower levels.The game still has its bugs and hopefully they can be ironed out prior to full release.Features
So far I have only done the story quest and have felt that the game hasn't made me feel like I have to interact with other players much. When you reach higher levels 40+ players can be engaged in more player inter activities, such as guild wars, brotherhood & PVP arenas.Additionally, there is a unique game process called 'Path of the swordsman' which consists of a series of levels. These levels are mainly PvE instances, with some focusing on combat, some focusing on action-adventure, some focusing on storytelling, and the rest on puzzle-solving. This feature adds to the ordinary open-world quest line flow. There is also a 2x exp feature that allows you to enable bonus XP for an amount of time.
Guilds in Swordsman are like those in any game. You join a guild so you have something to work for, and thus gain corresponding rewards. A guild has a hierarchic organization, a guild base where multiple structures provide various functions, some special game play such as exclusive story and instances, and other guild-only events such as territory wars. It is still one of the most engaging features for MMORPG's these days. A Brotherhood is a looser organization than a guild and a closer organization than a party. A brotherhood has fewer members than a guild, and there is no hierarchy. People bond together merely for friendly sentiment. There is not much practical significance for brotherhood, but just a way to feel awesome and strongly socialized. Like in many other games, Swordsman also features a Tutor/Apprentice system. A stronger player can take a weaker player as his apprentice. By helping the apprentice to develop via several means, both the tutor and the apprentice will be rewarded.Combat
Swordsman Online raves about action orientated combat so it is not all based on stats but you are able to dodge, block, run on water, create combos & use the famous jumping from Chinese martial art movies. When playing i have felt the combat to be a little clunky and not flow smoothly I am unsure if this is due to me playing from Australia with higher ping or not. When duelling other players I haven't had that much trouble except for blocking.World/Music
The world of Swordsman Online is beautiful it is an open world but split up into regions. As you play you will visit each region and see some of the breathtaking scenery. The music was one of the highlights for me as I love a good soundtrack I think it really does the game justice and make you feel like you are doing something heroic.
Price
The game is based on a free 2 play model. It is heavily influenced on the cash shop and has a lot of extras asking the players to buy them.Latency
I receive about 200-230ms from the NA servers which is the usual for Australians connecting to NA servers. When I first started playing the game ran fine but now I am finding that it is rubber banding a lot and really ruins the experience. PVP is very hard for Australian players.PROS
Class system Combat can be good when not lagging Excellent Music Tracks PVP Storyline is great Chinese martial arts!
CONS
Combat not fluid with high ping
Not much freedom at lower levels
High ping for Aussie players
Game bugs (it is beta though)
Cash shop heavy Closing Thoughts
If you are going to try this game out please ensure you have a good internet connection! The more I played the more noticeable the latency was which annoyed the hell out of me and made the game unplayable. I would love to test this game out in America with low latency I think Swordsman would be much more enjoyable. If you are into Asian martial arts movies or you are looking for a free to play MMO then you should try this game out! However I don't see this game holding players attention for too long when there are so many other MMO's with more to offer. Score:70/100
2K games is offering a bunch of its best-loved titles under the deal's pay-what-you-want scheme. For a minimum price of $1, you get three titles: the original BioShock, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and Darkness II.
If you pay more than the average - $7.08 you can also grab BioShock 2, Mafia II and Spec Ops: The Line.
Finally, this bundle is doing something a little different: for a minimum set price of $20, you also get XCOM: Enemy Unknown and BioShock Infinite a total of seven games from the developers most acclaimed franchises.
The bundle will be live until 22 July 2014, and there will be more games added as time progresses, so if you already have the games you want from the bundle, it might be worth waiting to see what's added. If, however, you've been holding off on any of the titles, it's a pretty fantastic deal to grab straight away.
Tree of Savior is an upcoming MMORPG developed by IMC Games, whose CEO, Kim Hakkyu, had worked on Ragnarok Online from 1998 until 2001 as a lead designer. The game will feature an open world, where progression isn't forced by quests. It will also feature unique class and advancement systems, with as many as 80 character classes planned for open beta, and even more in the future. It has also been revealed that 200 bosses will be available for open beta, ranging from field bosses to dungeon and raid bosses. Additionally, the game will feature some form of PVP.
It's official there will be an English version of the game! They are currently working on the English version and have vaguely announced a closed beta for end of 2014. There has been no news of the games payment model yet but there are speculations to it being F2P with a cash shop.
I have collected some of the most frequently asked questions from reddit and posted them below!
-Will the game feature War of Emperium or guild vs guild
PVP?
So far, we only know that the game will feature arena PVP, which can be joined
solo or as a party. IMC Games mentioned "large scale PVP" which could
be similar to WoE, but keep in mind that the guild system won't be present in
closed beta.
-Will the game feature a card system akin to Ragnarok
Online?
There will be cards, but they will not be used like in Ragnarok Online.
However, there will be jewels and magic amulets that can be socketed into
equipment.
-Will the game be open world or instanced?
The game will be a full-fledged open world MMORPG, but there will also be
instances (dungeons and raids).
-What is the level cap?
Character level cap will be set at 100 for the closed beta. Class level cap is
unknown, and class levels will be separate from character level.
-Will the game have an auction house or personal stalls?
The market will primarily use the auction system, but players will be allowed
to set up personal stalls mainly for buying rather than selling.
-Will there be crafting?
Yes and there will even be subclasses that are dedicated to crafting.
-Are the character classes gender locked?
No, any gender can play any class.
-Is the world seamless?
No, the world is divided into zones (akin to Ragnarok Online). Every Friday the developers usually update their blog on progress of the game. I have supplied the link below.
Arma 3 is a sandbox military simulator game made by Bohemia Interactive. It is available on steam for $60 but i managed to grab it for $30 when it was on sale! Now I had played Arma 2 quite a bit so I was very excited to dig my teeth into this and shoot some bad guys. Now Arma is not your typical shooter game it is very real and has quite a steep learning curve so don't expect to jump in as rambo and be able to kill everyone like in CoD or Battlefield. The key aspect to this game is TEAMWORK so if you join a server with 10 other people you will need to work together to complete objectives not go off and do your own thing!
My review will be based on some of the popular multi player modes that are available on the vanilla version of Arma 3 (no mods). You can play them by simply buying the game and going to the multi player option and searching for servers that host the custom mode. The first mode i will go over is called 'Wasteland' this map is so much fun & would be a good starting area for new players.
WASTELAND
You have the choice of choosing Opfor, Blufor or Independent these are just the three teams that are available. If you choose Opfor or Blufor you will be allied with everyone on the same team whereas if you choose independent you will be on your own team. You may form groups though so you can create a party with your friends. The idea of the game is to kill other players, search for guns, collect money & purchase new weapons/gear.
Every town usually has vehicles, food, water & weapons that you will be able to find and equip. Killing other players or selling items at a gun shop will earn you cash that you can then buy better items at a gun shop (the map will show you where the closest one is) The best part is the random missions that pop up on the map where a downed helicopter may spawn with AI protecting it. Usually this results in a lot of players travelling there and a big fire fight erupting!
King of the Hill
This mode is a lot harder to get into as a newbie than wasteland and takes a lot more aspects of the military sim into it. You start with 3 teams that you can choose to join each have a base that is safe zoned. Each team's objective is to control the allocated area hence the name 'King of the Hill'. As you play you will earn money and experience with this you can upgrade weapons, purchase vehicles, change your appearance & add attachments to your weapons. This mode has a lot of teamwork involved and may not be friendly to new players. My first time going into this mode i was para dropped into the objective town just to be bombed by players with aircraft! But in saying that once you have your head around the basic game play you will be thrown into a huge war with bullets and explosions flying overhead while trying to cooperate with your fellow team mates.
This game can be related back to DayZ fans expect that in this i get a solid 60-80 fps and I don't get any desync! Now on FPS this game is poorly optimised and is highly CPU dependant so you will need to spend some time playing around with the video settings to get decent FPS. Most multiplayer servers reduce FPS drastically whereas on single player you will have at least a 20-30+ FPS increase.
Now this is just a drop in the bucket as there are many many other modes and a lot of Units (clans) that play this game very seriously. I have joined in on a couple of mission VS AI and they deadset have people that perfect their skills as a helicopter pilot (These are very hard to use) and that's all they do for the whole game!! Most of these units will treat this game like the real deal....The ARMY! So you will be put through basic training including Fire Team formations, range safety and weapons training etc. This game is a military simulator so most aspects are very close to actually life! So if you are looking for a even more realistic time search for one of the Units on reddit and goodluck!!
Closing Thoughts
I loved this game despite the optimisation online and steep learning curve this military sim has me coming back over and over again. If you want to play a REAL shooter than this is the one to play. Endless scenarios and countless situations that will keep you entertained for hours and hours.
Price
Arma 3 comes with a $60 price tag which I think is worth it as the game only launched in September & the amount of replayability is huge. There are usually deals on steam so keep your eyes open for that! I swiped it up for $30
Latency
Arma 3 has Australian servers so there shouldn't be any problem with latency/ping
PROS
Sandbox Military Simulator Mods! Great Graphics The most 'Real' FPS experience you will get
CONS
Multiplayer FPS can be terrible Steep learning curve Controls clunky at times
Score:80/100
I found a helicopter in Wastleland... i got a little happy!
So here it is friends my first review! I will be reviewing ArcheAge which is an upcoming F2P Korean MMO (also has patron status available) that is being released here by Trion. Now i just want to mention that I am level 50 which is the max level so I have experienced quite a bit in the last couple of months. As there is so much to this game I will try to go over every aspect as best as i can to give you a good insight into the game that is ArcheAge!
The game is beautiful
So i purchased the $150 Archeum pack which gives you access to the ArcheAge alpha but this game is far from alpha! It is the full game as it has been out for quite a while in Korea and is just being translated into english/voiceovers with a couple of extra changes for a western audience. ArcheAge is a 'sandpark' game which blends the content styles of a sandbox & theme park game into a hybrid of the two.
Overlooking Marianople
The character selection screen is beautiful there are four races to pick from. Nuian & Elf on the west continent and the Hariharan & Firran on the east continent. The west continent races are pretty much humans and elves their side is based on a medieval layout. The east continent consists of an Asian race and a cat like race their side is based on a middle eastern layout. The character creation screen is quite in depth which is good but i must say i think the 4 races are very alike and when in combat or just travelling there isn't THAT much of difference in what each looks like. Each races has some starting bonuses e.g Elves can hold their breathe for 20 seconds longer than other races. The game is built on east vs west so if you are going to play with friends you will need to both create characters on the same side.
Race selection
Classes consist of 10 skill sets with 11 active spells and 5 passives in each. You can then pick any 3 to form your class which gives a huge amount of customisation! You can switch out any class to form a new combination so you can eventually have all classes at level 50! So you could be an archer with healing if you so wish. Not every customisation is great but it gives you a lot of choices though you do see a lot of the same cookie cutter builds. e.g Archery/Shadow/Auramancy becomes the class 'Primeval' There is no "which class is better" as it is entirely up to who you are fighting, who you are with, your skill etc
Class selection screen
The Questing in ArcheAge is very monotonous just kill X amount of mobs or collect Y amount of things. You have the option to overachieve where instead of killing say 8 mobs you kill 10 this will give you a higher XP reward. You get introduced to farming via quests at a low level and you will get your first mount that you breed around level 7. Questing is easily the best way to earn XP as grinding mobs give you very little reward. The best part about ArcheAge is that crafting gives you experience so if you get bored of levelling you can go off and craft for a while. There are so many things to do in this game so you will never get bored!
You can put custom crests on your cape and ships!
Every race has a specific mount but you are able to acquire all of them in game via gold. Each has its own unique spells and most mounts can have up to two people on them. Mounts level up as long as you have them out with you or you are riding them. As they gain experience you will unlock spells e.g the elf elk mount at level 25 unlocks a giant leap ability. Also as they level you will be able to purchase armour for them which increases movement speed/health. Combat pets can be used when fighting each pet has specific abilities and learns more as it levels up. Combat Pets are able to be captured with specific crafted items. Gliders are also a huge part of the game that allow you to glide for a limited amount of time, as you level you will be able to craft better gliders with more abilities that can launch you even further into the air!
Gliding
Elf Elk Mount
Levelling can be quite boring but as you gain higher levels more of the 'sandbox' world will open up for you. The 30+ questing zones are where everything changes as they are all PVP enabled. You may kill your own faction by enabling blood lust mode or kill the enemy faction in these areas. This can be fun but also annoying as there are people that love to camp one area and just kill you as you spawn! This would be a great time to leaving questing for a while and go do some crafting! You accrue crime points by killing your own faction though and if you have enough crime points you will become an outlaw. If someone kills you when you are an outlaw you will go to jail and have the option of going to trial which players will see what crimes you have committed and judge you accordingly or you can take your sentence. I have seen people go to jail for up to 24hours!! This means they cannot do anything and will have to sit in their jail cell for that allocated time! If you gain enough infamy points you will become a pirate this entails you being sentenced to pirate island!
Loading into Archeage
The crafting system is crazy! I really love the way that you can craft all your own gear or specialise in a certain thing then sell it for profit on the auction house. You will receive your first farm by doing a series of quests then later you will unlock your advanced farm which is just a bigger version of your small farm. There are allocated areas allover the map where you may place farms, houses, aqua farms etc. The more properties you own the more tax you will have to pay on your land. All of there are Non-instanced so the allocated areas can become quite messy but i do love the fact that there are literally no loading screens in this game! All craft is based on RNG so you will never know how good the item will be that you craft but as you gain more proficiency in that particular profession you have better chances of crafting rarer items. One of the most popular professions is fishing where you can eventually get a fishing boat and sail out to catch the big fish which sell for $$$. Lastly the best items in the game are crafted!!
Farming
The game is built on trade runs where you make a certain pack in a certain town then travel to another location to trade in for either gold or gilda stars. This usually is high risk as there will be other players wanting to kill you and steal your packs and turn them in for themselves! This is by far one of the most fun parts of ArcheAge getting a group of friend and doing trade runs with a trade ship full off supplies! The further you travel the more reward you get for your trade packs. Mirage island is an instanced area where you can go to buy items with gold/gilda stars be it houses, castles, submarines or even a racing car! They are not cheap though so you will be doing a lot of saving for the items you are after.
Crafting stations
There is a cash shop being implemented into the game but from what i have seen there is nothing game breaking. You can either sub for patron status or play for free patron players can own land (to build farms, houses etc) free plays cannot. There are also other restrictions for free players such as labour points. Labour points are generated over real time and are capped at 5000 labour. At the beginning you start off with far lower and the more points you spend the more your cap is increased. You need labour points for: crafting, farming, building & fishing etc. Patron users will get a much higher regen rate than F2P players and F2P will not regen while offline.
Housing
Dungeons; I have played for a couple of months and have done one dungeon when i first started. They were fun yes but they are not necessary and are not the main focus of the game. There are a lot of world bosses which need a RAID to take them down, the most famous being the kraken which is in the middle of the ocean. These bosses drop great rewards though one being the best glider in the game from the kraken!
Travelling the seas
Endgame for me so far has been going to the northern continent which is for level 50's and grinding mobs with the chance that northern items will drop that you can sell for a lot of gold. Now this can be tedious sometimes but it isn't the only aspect of end game. On the north continent it is player driven so the big guilds can own land in certain areas and build castles. Players can siege these castles which enable huge wars between factions.
Tradeship Runs with the guild
Closing Thoughts
I have fallen in love with this game it pays particular attention to detail being able to light up lamps on your ships to sitting in your house with the fire place going.You really feel like you are immersed into a huge world and are a big part of it! The music is just great in every area and really does the game justice. Sea battles are one of the best aspects of the game especially when you set out on a voyage with friends. I think I have had some of the best times in this game be it attacking a group of players with trade packs on the seas, diving down with scuba gear to retrieve them then travelling to hand them in for profit. This game is heavily team based though so if you are not part of a guild you may suffer greatly.
Price
The $150 price tag is quite large for an alpha game but you do get a lot for your $$. I don't think it would be worth buying the alpha pack anymore as beta should be a couple of weeks away. There are also $100 & $50 packs that give you access to the beta events.
Latency
Latency from Australia is usually around the 230ms mark which can mean a lot when PVPing American players with 50ms. In saying that I haven't had much of an issue when PVP but I do know melee sometimes suffers when attacking other players. Friends with cable internet have 160ms which would be a huge improvement and have said they don't have any issue with PVP. Lastly i would recommend using ping reducer software either WTFAST or Battleping.
PROS
Open world PVP In Depth Crafting System
Huge Persistent World
Territory Control / Keeps
Naval Warfare
Non-instanced Housing
Crafted Housing, Boats & Farming
Gliding, Sailing, Mounts, Combat pets
CONS
Need a guild to do most things Forced to interact with other players
Game is not heavily PVE focused Endgame has a lot of grinding Limited housing land A lot of cookie cutter builds used Zerg Guilds
Score:90/100
Here are some moments i captured while playing ArcheAge
Another Humble Bundle pack is out today!! 
