Gaming News for February 2022
Elden Ring
Elden Ring is set to come out on February 25 of 2022. For those who are unfamiliar, this is FromSoftware’s latest game, meaning that interested individuals should expect something similar to the Souls series, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. However, there are some notable improvements as well. To name an example, there is now an open world with six main areas. Similarly, the player can now ride horses as well as attack right away after blocking. Besides this, interested individuals might have heard of Elden Ring because of the reveal that George R. R. Martin had contributed to the worldbuilding, which is relevant because he is the one who writes the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Those would be the books that served as the source material for Game of Thrones.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
Destiny 2 has seen the release of The Witch Queen, which would be its sixth expansion. It was supposed to have come out towards the end of 2021. However, it was one of the releases delayed by the COVID-19 crisis. Regardless, The Witch Queen seems to be well-received, which bodes well for people who are curious about what it can offer them. Story-wise, it is centered on the titular character Savathûn, who would be the sister to the titular character Oryx from the first Destiny‘s first expansion The Taken King. Like its predecessors, The Witch Queen offers a fair amount of new content. The most prominent of this would be the new location called Savathûn’s Throne World. Other examples include both a new campaign and a new raid.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human
Dying Light 2: Stay Human is the now-released follow-up to 2015’s Dying Light. Last time, the zombie apocalypse hit an entire city. This time around, a new zombie apocalypse has hit the entire world, with the result that humanity has been reduced to small pockets of survivors. Some things have remained the same. For example, Dying Light 2 retains its predecessor’s focus on parkour, which is a much more interesting way for the player to move around an urban environment. Similarly, its zombies are still debilitated by sunlight, meaning that running into them during the daytime is a very different experience from running them during the night-time. On top of this, interested individuals should expect to use melee weapons more than ranged weapons. Of course, there have been changes as well. In particular, more effort has been put into the story, with the result that story decisions can have a huge effect on the world around the player-character. Moreover, the player-character now needs to remain exposed to UV radiation most of the time to keep his own infecion in check, though in exchange, he has some access to zombie superpowers.
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires
Dynasty Warriors is a long-running hack and slash series based on the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Since Dynasty Warriors 4, there have been regular expansions called Empires, which have the same hack and slash content but puts it within a more strategic context. Now, Dynasty Warriors 9 has seen the release of Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires, which came out on February 15 of 2022 on a worldwide basis. Apparently, it is a good expansion but it is held back by its basis. As the story goes, Dynasty Warriors 8 was seen as being too similar to Dynasty Warriors 7. Due to this, Omega Force made a choice to make more changes to the next main Dynasty Warriors game. Unfortunately, that wasn’t very well-received, which might be connected to some of the stranger choices such as the stealth elements in an open world setting. Still, if people can put up with Dynasty Warriors 9, they might be able to enjoy Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires.
Grid Legends
Grid Legends is set to come out on February 25 of 2022. It is the fifth installment in the Grid series. Interested individuals can expect a wide range of vehicles on a wide range of race tracks. To name some examples, Grid Legends even has electric vehicles, stadium trucks, and semi-trailer trucks. However, there are a couple of notable changes. One, the player can now make their own custom race tracks. Two, there will now be a story mode, which will be very narrative-focused.
Horizon: Forbidden West
Horizon: Forbidden West has been out for some time, so much so that it has started receiving patches. Based on the name, interested individuals should have no problem guessing that this is the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, one of the better-received action RPGs in an open world setting to come out in recent years. It sees the protagonist Aloy heading into the titular region, which was once the western United States but is now filled with both human and mechanical threats. She and her companions are seeking to find the source of a mysterious disease that kills everyone that has been infected. Fortunately, the player can expect better melee, better movement options, and other improvements that will make them that much better-prepared to take on the challenges that await them.
The King of Fighters XV
The King of Fighters is one of the longest running fighting game franchises that can be found out there. For proof, look no further than the fact that it is now on The King of Fighters XV. In any case, this seems to be one of those games that have received praise for some things but criticism for others. Both its roster and its team-based play have been praised. Unfortunately, both its story mode and its fighting mechanics have been criticized.
Sifu
Chances are good that people can guess that Sifu is a martial arts game. This is particularly true if they recognize the developer Sloclap, which was responsible for the martial arts-themed action RPG Absolver. Story-wise, Sifu isn’t very complicated. The player-character’s father has been murdered. As a result, they are now out for revenge against the murderers. What makes Sifu interesting is the challenging gameplay. Suffice to say that this isn’t one of those games in which the enemies will line up to be beaten down one by one. Instead, multiple enemies approaching from multiple directions make for an extremely dangerous situation that must be handled with care. Fortunately, the player-character can resurrect, though this comes at the cost of accelerated aging. Something that will impact their performance.
Street Fighter 6
Capcom has confirmed that Street Fighter 6 is in the process of being made. This has been known for some time. Still, it is good to have official confirmation at last thanks to a short teaser trailer. If people are curious, they can check it out to see Ryu facing off against Luke, who would be the newest character added to the Street Fighter roster. Otherwise, the teaser trailer reveals very little because a more informative reveal won’t happen until the summer of 2022. As such, interested individuals might want to keep a watchful eye out once the right season comes along.
Total War: Warhammer III
Total War: Warhammer III has been released. This time, the strategy game starts out with seven factions. Two of the factions are predominantly human factions, with one being the Slavic-inspired Kislev and the other being the Chinese-inspired Cathay. Meanwhile, the other five factions are Chaos. There is one Chaos faction for each of the four Chaos Gods, who are embodiments of rage, deceit, pestilence, and excess. On top of that, there is a fifth Chaos faction that has units from the other four Chaos factions, thus making it the representative of Chaos Undivided. Total War: Warhammer III has had one faction-focused expansion released as well, which was included as a bonus for both pre-orderers and early adopters but will be sold separately after the first post-release week. Said expansion features the Ogre Kingdoms, which stand out because their base units are the towering Ogres rather than either humans or human-sized entities. Something that changes a lot about how they respond to most threats.
Monark
People who spend a lot of time playing JRPGs might think Persona when they see Monark. Said suspicion would be well-founded, seeing as how the team behind Monark includes former Shin Megami Tensei staff members. As for how that is connected to Persona, well, suffice to say that Persona is a sub-series of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise. In any case, the game is situated in a high school that has been cut off from the real world, with the result that it is now filled with monsters as well as other threats. This is good because Monark apparently has a very solid combat system for a tactical RPG. Unfortunately, it is also said to be dragged down by the grinding as well as some of the storytelling. Regardless, it is now out for everyone, meaning that interested individuals can check it out to make up their own minds on the matter.
