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Elden Ring | Explaining facts and data

Elden Ring is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware. It was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding provided by fantasy writer George R. R. Martin. It was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on February 25 by FromSoftware in Japan and Bandai Namco Entertainment internationally. Players control a customizable player character who is on a quest to repair the Elden Ring and become the new Elden Lord.
Elden Ring is presented through a third-person perspective; players freely roam its interactive open world. The six main areas are traversed using the player character’s steed Torrent as the primary mode of travel. Linear, hidden dungeons can be explored to find useful items. Players can use several types of weapons and magic spells, including non-direct engagement enabled by stealth mechanics. Throughout the game’s world, checkpoints enable fast travel and allow players to improve their attributes using an in-game currency called Runes. Elden Ring has an online multiplayer mode in which players can join each other for cooperative play and player-versus-player combat.
During planning, FromSoftware wanted to create an open world game with gameplay similar to Dark Souls; the company wanted Elden Ring to act as an evolution of the series debut. Miyazaki admired the work of Martin, whose contributions he hoped would produce a more accessible narrative than those of the company’s earlier games. Martin was given unrestricted freedom to design the backstory while Miyazaki was lead writer for the in-game narrative. The developers concentrated on environmental scale, role-playing, and the story; the scale required the construction of several structures inside the open world.
Elden Ring received critical acclaim for its open world, gameplay systems, and setting, with some criticism for its technical performance. It won multiple Game of the Year awards and sold over 20 million copies in a year. An expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, was announced in February 2023.
Elden Ring is an action role-playing game, set in third-person perspective, with a focus on combat and exploration. It includes elements that are similar to those in other FromSoftware-developed games such as the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The game is set in an open world; players can freely explore the Lands Between and its six main areas, which include Limgrave—an area of grassy plains and ancient ruins—and Caelid, a wasteland that is home to undead monsters. Open world areas are explored using the character’s mount Torrent as the main mode of travel; players can use fast travel outside combat. Throughout the game, players encounter non-player characters (NPCs) and enemies, including demigods who rule each main area and serve as the game’s main bosses. Elden Ring includes hidden dungeons, catacombs, tunnels, and caves where players can fight bosses and gather helpful items.
At the game’s start, the player chooses a character class, which determines their starting spells, equipment, and attributes. Combat with enemies can be within melee range, or from a distance using ranged weapons or spells. Enemy attacks can be dodged or blocked using shields. Spells allow players to enhance their weapons, fight enemies from afar, and restore lost hit points. The player can memorize a limited amount of these spells, which can be cast using a staff or sacred seal item. Weapons can be improved using ashes of war, which are obtainable “enchantments” that grant weapons new capabilities. Ashes of war can be applied to or removed from weapons, and each Ash adds a weapon art, a special ability that can be used during combat. Aside from direct combat, stealth mechanics can be used to avoid enemies or allow the targeting of foes with critical hits while hidden.
Checkpoints called sites of grace are located throughout the game; in these places, characters can increase the power of their attributes, change memorized spells, swap ashes of war, or walk to using fast travel. Upon death, players respawn at the last site of grace they interacted with. Alternatively, they may choose to respawn at certain locations highlighted by “stakes of Marika” provided they died nearby. To increase their attributes at sites of grace, the player must spend runes, an in-game currency that is acquired by defeating enemies. Runes can be used to buy items, and improve weapons and armor. Dying in Elden Ring causes the player to lose all collected runes at the location of death; if the player dies again before retrieving the runes, they will be lost forever.
Elden Ring contains crafting mechanics; the creation of items requires materials. Recipes, which are required for the crafting of items, can be found inside collectibles called cookbooks, which are scattered throughout the world. Materials can be collected by defeating enemies, exploring the game’s world, or by trading with merchant NPCs. Crafted items include poison darts, exploding pots, and consumables that temporarily increase the player’s combat strength. Similar to the Dark Souls games, the player can summon friendly NPCs called spirits to fight enemies. Summoning each type of spirit requires its equivalent Spirit Ash; different types of Spirit Ashes can be discovered as the player explores the game world. Spirits can only be summoned near structures called Rebirth Monuments, which are primarily found in large areas and inside boss fight arenas.
Elden Ring has a multiplayer system that allows players to be summoned for both cooperative and player-versus-player (PvP) play over the Internet. Cooperative play involves the placing of a summon sign on the ground, which causes the sign to become visible to online players who have used a corresponding item. If another player interacts with the sign, the player who placed the sign is summoned into their world. Cooperative players remain in the same world until the boss of the area is defeated or until a summoned player dies and is returned to their home world. In PvP combat, a summon sign is used to challenge another player to a duel, or the player can use additional items to invade the worlds of others. World hosts may use a “taunter’s tongue” to increase the likelihood their world will be invaded by others and to decrease the time between invasions.

ELDEN RING | Official Website (EN)

Armored Core VI Fires Of Rubicon | Explaining facts and data

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is a 2023 mecha-based vehicular combat game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game serves as a reboot for the franchise, is the first entry in the Armored Core series since Armored Core: Verdict Day (2013) and was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Armored Core VI received generally favorable reviews and became the highest-selling entry in the series, selling 1.3 million copies on Windows alone.
The gameplay in Armored Core VI emphasizes mecha-based vehicular combat. Players in this game take on the role of expert pilots in control of strong mechs known as Armored Cores. The huge flexibility for modification of these mechs with the use of various parts allows players to enhance and sharpen their capabilities.

The option for players to arm their mechs with a range of weaponry is a standout aspect of the game. One on each arm and two on the mech’s back are available slots for these weapons. The players’ broad arsenals grant users strategic freedom as they participate in combat.

The arena concept from the game’s predecessors remains in place and appears through a “combat aptitude evaluation program.” Players can put their talents to the test and compete with other players in this mode, and earn “OS Tuning” chips which allow for certain abilities and upgrades to be unlocked. The in-game currency, credits, is awarded to players that complete missions successfully. The amount of credits earned is influenced by the objectives achieved during these missions, with potential deductions for incomplete goals.

Armored Core VI did away the debt system from earlier games in the series, which caused players to lose money as tasks fail. This time, players have the ability to attempt missions as many times as they want with no concern for lost currency.

ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON – Official Website

Brotato | Explaining facts and data

Brotato
Brotato is a top-down arena shooter roguelite
Control Potato using up to six weapons at once to fight off hordes of aliens. Choose from a variety of traits and items to personalize your build and survive until help arrives.

Potato World’s spaceship crashes into an alien planet. The only survivor is Brotato, a potato who can wield six weapons at once. You must survive in an environment where there are only enemies around and wait for your friends to rescue you.
Default auto-fire weapon with manual aiming option
High speed sprint (less than 30 minutes)
Dozens of characters to customize your dash (one-handed weapons, crazy, lucky, mage, etc.)
Hundreds of items and weapons to choose from (flamethrowers, SMGs, rocket launchers, sticks and stones, etc.)
Survive waves of enemies lasting 20-90 seconds each, defeating as many aliens as possible in that time
Collect materials between waves of enemies to gain experience and get items from the shop
Accessibility options: Tweak enemy health, damage, and speed to your liking

Brotato for Nintendo Switch – Nintendo Official Site

Core Keeper | Explaining facts and data

Core Keeper is a survival sandbox game developed by Pugstorm. Currently in early access, the game features mechanics similar to other games in the sandbox genre such as Minecraft, Terraria and Stardew Valley, including mining, crafting, farming and exploration in a procedurally generated underground world. It was released to Steam in early access on 8 March 2022 and received praise for its game mechanics, art style, and tone and atmosphere and you can play with friends.
Core Keeper is a top-down sandbox game based around survival and crafting mechanics similar to games such as Minecraft and Terraria. It can be played single-player or cooperatively with up to 8 players. Players also have the ability to host a server which anyone can join at any time up to a maximum of 8 players. The game begins with a cutscene explaining the backstory of the player character before placing the character in a procedurally generated network of caverns. The starting location, called the Core chamber, is the same biome for all players, containing the same starting enemies and resources. It also contains three devices representing bosses that can be found and defeated within the game. It is a dark area at the beginning of the game but can be illuminated with the use of torches or a lantern. Torches can be made using gathered wood which is the first resource encountered in the area.
The world is built up of square tiles of dirt and other materials which can be dug or mined to further explore the map and to gather resources. Blocks of ore glitter, helping players to know in which direction to dig to find them. Gathered resources can be used to craft tools and workbenches which unlock new items to craft. A furnace can also be crafted which allows the player to smelt ores to create weapons and armour. Players must also gather food to prevent their character from starving which occurs when their “hunger bar” becomes empty. This can be done by finding food in the world or by planting and watering seeds using a hoe and watering can. Later in the game, watering crops can be automated with the use of sprinklers. Additionally, fish can be caught in a fishing rhythm minigame using a fishing rod. Food can also be combined into meals using a cooking pot which can be crafted in the game. Meals cooked in this way provide an additional health boost and perks compared to naturally occurring food.
Exploration in the game is facilitated with an in-game map which can be opened as an overlay. It is also facilitated with the use of portals which allow the player to traverse great distances across the map. As players explore other areas of the game world, different biomes containing new resources and enemies are revealed. As enemies move around the game, they spread the environment in which they spawn, meaning that clearing an area of enemies requires cleaning the floor as well as defeating them. If a player dies during combat, they respawn at the Core in the starting area. They can retrieve their lost belongings by returning to the area where they died and reclaiming them from the tombstone dropped there. New regions also contain large boss enemies. Once defeated, bosses drop items that can be used to summon NPC merchants to live at the player’s base. The first three bosses included in the game are Glurch the Abominous Mass, a giant, jumping, orange slime, Ghorm the Devourer, a massive insect creature that tunnels throughout the map, and The Hive Mother, a fleshy creature that spits acid and summons other enemies. Upon being defeated, these bosses drop items which can be used to activate the Core in the Core chamber, unlocking new items such as a drill for automatically mining ores and new bosses. Furthermore, whilst the areas accessible to the player are initially limited by a wall that surrounds the first few starting areas, upon activating the core this wall is removed, revealing new biomes and an infinitely generated map.
The game allows for a wide array of ways to play ranging from focusing on fighting bosses to avoiding bosses in favour of crafting and base-building. This is reflected in the game’s skill system which rewards activities taken by the player with points to improve skills related to them. For example, running a lot improves the character’s speed, mining resources improves the character’s efficiency in mining, and fighting improves the character’s strength. Players also choose a starting class during character creation before they begin the game which gives bonuses to specific skills and relevant starting resources. The look of the player character can also be customised by using vanity slots in the inventory.

Core Keeper – Fireshine Games

Days Gone | Explaining facts and data

Days Gone is a 2019 action-adventure video game developed by Bend Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. A Windows port was released in May 2021.

The game is set in post-apocalyptic Oregon two years after the start of a pandemic that turned a portion of humanity into vicious zombie-like creatures. Former outlaw-turned-drifter Deacon St. John discovers his wife Sarah, having been assumed dead, may still be alive and goes on a quest to find her. Days Gone is played from a third-person perspective in which the player can explore an open world environment. Players can use firearms, melee weapons, and improvised weapons, and can use stealth to defend themselves against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures known as Freakers. A major game mechanic is Deacon’s motorcycle, which is used as the player character’s main mode of transportation.

Days Gone was Bend Studio’s first open-world project, its first original property since Syphon Filter (1999), and its first development project for home consoles after spending decades working on spinoff games for handheld consoles. The game’s development took approximately six years; Bend Studio expanded nearly three-fold to support it. Major sources of inspiration for Days Gone were World War Z, The Walking Dead and Sons of Anarchy. The game was unveiled at E3 2016; its release was originally planned for 2018 but was delayed several times.

Upon release, it received mixed reviews from critics, who criticized the story, mission design, and technical issues but praised the graphics, artificial intelligence, and Sam Witwer’s performance as Deacon. Days Gone was a commercial success; it sold more copies than all of Bend Studio’s previous games combined and became the 19th-best-selling game of 2019 in the US. In 2021, it was reported that the development team had unsuccessfully pitched a sequel to Sony.

Pokémon Go | Explaining facts and data

Pokémon Go (stylized as Pokémon GO) is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game, part of the Pokémon franchise, developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android devices. It uses mobile devices with GPS to locate, capture, train, and battle virtual Pokémon, which appear as if they are in the player’s real-world location. The game is free-to-play; it uses a freemium business model combined with local advertising and supports in-app purchases for additional in-game items. The game launched with around 150 species of Pokémon, which had increased to around 700 by 2021.

Pokémon Go was released to mixed reviews; critics praised the concept but criticized technical problems. It was one of the most used and profitable mobile apps in 2016, having been downloaded more than 500 million times worldwide by the end of the year. It is credited with popularizing location-based and AR technology, promoting physical activity, and helping local businesses grow due to escalated foot traffic. However, it attracted controversy for contributing to accidents and creating public nuisances. Various governments expressed concerns about security, and some countries regulate its use. The game had over 147 million monthly active users by May 2018, over a billion global downloads by early 2019, and grossed more than $6 billion in revenue by 2020.

Pokémon Go Official Website

pokemongolive.com

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet | Explaining facts and data

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet are 2022 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch. They are the first instalments in the ninth generation of the Pokémon video game series. First announced in February 2022, they were released on 18 November 2022. The games were accompanied by a downloadable content (DLC) expansion pass storyline, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, the first part, The Teal Mask, released in September 2023, and the second part, The Indigo Disk, planned for release in December 2023.

Scarlet and Violet take place in an open world unlike previous Pokémon instalments. The games take place in the Paldea region, based on the Iberian Peninsula. There are three separate stories the player can complete. Scarlet and Violet introduce 110 new Pokémon, along with two new regional forms. Also introduced are time-displaced creatures known as Paradox Pokémon, and the Terastal phenomenon which allows a Pokémon to transform into its exclusive “Tera Type”. The games maintain features from previous modern Pokémon games, including large open areas and Pokémon appearing in the overworld.

Scarlet and Violet received mixed reviews from critics, becoming the lowest-rated mainline games in the series. The games were praised for their open world formula and story, while their graphics, technical problems at launch, and confusing progression systems received criticism. The games sold over 10 million copies in their first three days, making them Nintendo’s biggest launch of all time, and 23.23 million copies by September 2023.

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet | Official Website

Starfield | Explaining facts and data

Starfield is an action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was announced during Bethesda’s E3 presentation in 2018. The game takes place in a space-themed setting, and is the first new intellectual property developed by Bethesda in 25 years. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X/S on September 6, 2023.

The game received generally positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for its open world, setting, and soundtrack, though its story and exploration divided critics.

Starfield is an action role-playing video game. The player can switch between a first-person and third-person perspective at any time. The game features an open world in the form of an area within the Milky Way galaxy, containing both fictional and non-fictional planetary systems. The player is able to land on more than 1,000 planets and an unspecified number of moons and space stations. The majority of the landscapes within the game were procedurally generated, depending on the star of its system and its atmosphere, as well as locations of interest as the player approaches a planet, with modified and handcrafted content developed around them. The largest city in the game, New Atlantis, is the largest fictional city Bethesda has developed. As the player explores the game world, they encounter various non-playable characters (NPCs), some of whom have the option to join the player’s crew. Such NPCs may aid the player in combat, carry items, speak to other NPCs on the player’s behalf during confrontations, and comment on choices the player makes. The player may station crew members at any of their constructed outposts. Each companion character has their own unique skills and abilities. Some recruitable NPCs can be romanced by the player.