No matter what alignment you choose, Dungeons & Dragons is almost always going to be a chaotic game. When you sit too many like-minded individuals at a table for a few hours at a time, there’s bound to be some sort of mayhem that wasn’t in the session notes. Baldur’s Gate 3 is nearing its official release on PC and PS5, but as the date nears, I find myself wondering if the digital rendition of D&D is going to hold up to my personal level of chaos, or if I’m gonna have to begrudgingly adapt to Larian’s house rules.

As excited as I am, there’s a couple of reasons that I’m somewhat skeptical of the way the game’s gonna play. When it comes to D&D, there’s a certain amount of flexibility that comes to be expected among players, regarding not only their actions during their turn, but their interactions with the world around them. After all, players are solely using their imagination to create this world. On top of that, interacting with NPCs can go any direction imaginable depending on the DM for your real campaign, so how will that be reflected with pre-recorded voice lines in Baldur’s Gate?

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. In a time where you struggle to hear the word “free” commercially, Microsoft’s Games with Gold being a part of their Xbox Live Gold service served as a light in the dark for players interested in trying their hand at something different without a financial commitment. Alas, the time for that light to shift colors and go dim has finally come.

On July 17, Microsoft announced that they will be introducing Xbox Game Pass Core as a replacement for Xbox Live Gold. Along with the 18 year old service, Microsoft said that they will be discontinuing the Games With Gold feature starting September 1, which means that the constant influx of free games that Xbox Live Gold members had access to will be coming to a halt.

As the generations of gaming systems continue to evolve and improve, the eyes of players continue to scrutinize and analyze the games that accompany them. While the graphical bar in the gaming industry continues to increase, there still remain to be a few aspects of gaming graphics that are the first to be picked out. Graphics are constantly improving to the point where some of the items on this list are certainly nitpicks, but there is always more to be desired when thinking in retrospect. Here are 10 things that video game graphics need to improve to reach the next level.

Smooth Out the Characters’ Hair

When it comes down to the things that video game graphics consistently miss the mark on, it’s a character’s hair. That’s not to say that hair always looks bad, but it can be that one aspect of a scene that pulls the player’s focus away from the story. During cutscenes, the hair is often a part of a full computer generated model, and it’s being placed into a scene under natural and controlled circumstances, but during gameplay is where you can more easily see the visuals break down.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… in 1977, the first Star Wars film released in theaters. George Lucas introduced moviegoers to a new universe that was clearly expansive and well-thought-out, but few people could have expected it to become what fans see today when they play something like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. With Star Wars Outlaws peering over the horizon, it’s going to have its work cut out for it in order to fit itself into a galaxy filled with stories new and old.

For Star Wars, the term “world-building” seems like an understatement. Truly, there is an entirely fictional galaxy, consisting of hundreds of planets with thousands of races of people and animals, both intelligent and non-intelligent. On top of that, there are multiple time periods with their own technology, politics and key players that can be traced through various source material. Somehow, throughout all of this, the Star Wars games have to do something that deserves more credit than it receives: staying both grounded and original in a franchise that is filled to the brim with content.

The Lord of the Rings is a widely beloved franchise, and that makes it dangerous territory to tread upon unless you’re certain you’re going to do it right. Unfortunately, it became apparent months before release that Daedalic Entertainment’s entry into Tolkien’s universe was going to be somewhat of a letdown, the severity of which wasn’t made fully clear until it came out.

Prior to release, I was a huge optimist regarding LotR: Gollum. The images they released of the environments looked incredible, and given the alleged nature of the gameplay, I hoped travelling through Middle Earth would have been as exciting as Peter Jackson made it look. The books are widely known for how much we see the main characters traversing through Middle Earth, so LotR: Gollum seemed like it was finally going to give players a viewpoint into the journey that the titular character underwent over the years. Disappointingly, the game only shows a rather small glimpse of what that journey looked like, and it wasn’t the glimpse fans really cared to see.

In the past, the coming of the summer months has brought with it new announcements in the gaming world with the E3 games showcases, but those days are no more. E3 is no longer with us, however the show (or shows) must go on, and developers still held their own showcases to highlight their upcoming games releases. While some of these showcases were filled with reveals and surprises, some were filled with a little disappointment. Here are 2023’s summer games showcases, ranked worst to best.

10. Devolver Direct

The Devolver Direct was certainly one of the most unique of all the showcases this year, what with the introduction giving us a full documentary background for a game mascot that has never existed, only to introduce us to his robotic second version. While much of the presentation was focused around the skit, there were a few announcements of note on the gaming side of things.

The Starfield Direct showcased plenty of features for Bethesda’s new massive RPG, Starfield, one of which was the scale of different planets that you can travel to. The worlds and characters are all tied together in some way, and the factions will often depend on the physical locations they are from.

The showcase first dove into the particular system of Alpha Centauri, and showcased the process that goes into arriving at different cities and planets. New Atlantis in particular shows off much of the effort that went into the worldbuilding, by giving smaller stories and information to create a story out of what is around you.

During the Xbox Games Showcase but still prior to the Starfield Direct, Bethesda showcased some new gameplay for their upcoming open-space RPG, Starfield. The preview showcased some of the new environments, combat and story to give players a clearer concept of the game’s stellar scale.

The showcase gave some insight into what some of the worlds in the game are going to look and feel like, as well as showing off the mix of the first-person and third-person combat. The preview gave a slight glimpse of what the story will entail, providing more context for this new adventure.

The Xbox Games Showcase brought with it plenty of new premiers and announcements, one of which is a new, top-down roguelite by Thunder Lotus, 33 Immortals. From the company who made Spiritfarer, 33 Immortals brings a new spin to the concept of fighting your way through waves and wave of enemies.

From the gameplay preview during the showcase, 33 Immortals will be a 2D roguelite with a stylized, ancient vibe to the art and a whole lot of enemies. Reminiscent to Hades in both gameplay and graphics, 33 Immortals looks to set itself apart from the pack in a major way: Allowing 33 players to fight together at the same time.

Meta’s current generation of VR headsets, the Quest 2 and Quest Pro are receiving a significant boost in performance out of only a software update, allowing developers to do more with the VR devices.

With the announcement of the Meta Quest 3 came the additional footnote that the Quest 2 models will not only be receiving drops in their prices, but that they will getting maintained through software updates alongside the Quest Pro. The Quest 2 will cost $299.99 for the 128 GB model and $349.99 for the 256 GB model, starting June 4.

The Quest 3 VR headset has just been officially announced by Meta, and with that comes a new look at its release date, price and specifications.

Consumers will now get to see some of the improvements over the previous Quest 2, Meta’s latest entry into the virtual reality space. The new headset will be coming in fall 2023 and will be releasing with a price tag of $499.99.

It’s not news that Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a huge game. The map is expansive, there’s a world in the sky over the main one and the bosses dwarf you in a way that makes you feel microscopic. While TotK has all these things working towards it feeling like an unapproachable beast, it still manages to break itself down in a way that’s accessible to many different types of players.

Traveling between locations in a game as large as TotK is one of the most important things to refine because it can get grating pretty quickly. Sure, the scenery changes as you go from region to region, but traveling can still become a chore if the game isn’t designed in a way that keeps the world fresh. TotK manages to keep that period of traveling – of which there is plenty – enjoyable and stimulating.

The Legend of Zelda series is one that I’ve always associated with its puzzles and challenges which always give me just the right amount of challenge. Tears of the Kingdom is no different, with Shrines and Temples reactivating that problem-solving area of my brain. While those puzzles are a huge part of the game, Tears of the Kingdom manages to challenge me in ways completely different than what I expected.

Tears of the Kingdom is a large game. It’s not only large, but complex on top of that, and there’s a lot to try to remember. While learning games isn’t something I’ve necessarily struggled with in the past, this is an entirely different beast for me to tame, especially because I really never played much of Breath of the Wild. I’ve lost count of the number of simple things that I’ve completely overlooked while even just navigating Hyrule, but I’ve done my best to document some of the most common and funny ones.

The release of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has brought with it seemingly endless lore and details for players to dig through. While a lot of things like having the Aurebesh translations for text aren’t necessarily hidden, some of that detail is tailored towards those more sensitive to the Force. Here are five incredible, tiny details in Jedi: Survivor that you might not have noticed.

Color Dependant Lightsaber Sounds

One of my favorite details in the game is one that you might miss if you don’t play with headphones. When you use a workbench to customize your lightsaber, cycling through the different blade colors will also change the tone of the blade’s sound ever so slightly.

On April 27, Redfall’s Twitter account posted an image with the PC requirements to run the new vampire-slaying first-person shooter from Arcane Austin. PC players can now be sure whether or not their system can run the game and what settings to anticipate.

PC Specifications for #Redfall pic.twitter.com/FpBvTehbak

]]> https://twinfinite.net/news/redfalls-minimum-recommended-ultra-pc-hardware-specification-requirements-revealed-theyre-not-that-bad/feed/ 0 https://twinfinite.net/features/dead-island-2-was-worth-brutally-long-wait/ https://twinfinite.net/features/dead-island-2-was-worth-brutally-long-wait/#respond Tue, 25 Apr 2023 20:00:00 +0000 https://twinfinite.net/?p=938806

I've got a zombie army, and you can't harm me.]]>

With the release of Dead Island 2, there are a lot of things to be felt. The game has been in development for nearly a decade, and naturally, expectations were high. While the original holds a special place in many players’ hearts there have been a lot of time and zombie games come and gone. The question on my mind going into Deep Silver’s new title was, is Dead Island 2 is worth the wait, or if the sequel simmered too long in the pressure cooker.

You know, the sequel. Although it’s not the second game in the franchise, technically. There was Escape Dead Island, a third-person action-adventure game; Dead Island: Epidemic, a MOBA which couldn’t get its feet off the ground, Dead Island: Survivors, a mobile game which feels like an early, rougher Minecraft Legends and Dead Island: Retro Revenge, a 16-bit beat-em-up that got lumped into the Definitive Collection.

]]> https://twinfinite.net/features/dead-island-2-was-worth-brutally-long-wait/feed/ 0 https://twinfinite.net/features/5-things-that-are-great-about-dead-island-2-5-things-it-could-have-done-better/ https://twinfinite.net/features/5-things-that-are-great-about-dead-island-2-5-things-it-could-have-done-better/#respond Tue, 25 Apr 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://twinfinite.net/?p=939032 Think of it like a double-edged sword, dripping in blood.]]>

What’s better than mindlessly bashing zombies on a beautiful, sunny day? How about very mindfully crafting weapons of all shapes and sizes to coat Los Angeles in zombie paste? That’s where Dead Island 2 comes in, and while it has a few flaws, the game is sure to leave you satisfied in more ways than one. Here are 5 great things about Dead Island 2, and 5 things that could have used more work.

The Bloody Great Things

With the wait since the first Dead Island having been almost 12 year prior to the release of Dead Island 2, the game has been a long time coming. Expectations were high, and it can be tough to find a game that really sucks you in without overloading you with features, skills, armor and more. Here’s where Dead Island 2 hit the zombie right on the head.

]]> https://twinfinite.net/features/5-things-that-are-great-about-dead-island-2-5-things-it-could-have-done-better/feed/ 0 https://twinfinite.net/features/6-sega-titles-that-should-return-with-rovio/ https://twinfinite.net/features/6-sega-titles-that-should-return-with-rovio/#respond Thu, 20 Apr 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://twinfinite.net/?p=937166 Just think of how many new Angry Birds games we're gonna get...]]>

On April 17, Sega acquired Rovio for $772m dollars, claiming its intention is to “strengthen its position” in the worldwide mobile gaming market. While Rovio can certainly be using that money to be pad its pockets, hopefully it intends to pad ours with some fresh new mobile games, or even some classics.

Sega has an incredible backlog of franchises that it has published over the years, with some having already been ported onto the mobile platform with Sega Forever. The purchase of Rovio and its mobile gaming platform Beacon will certainly pave the way for some more of Sega’s titles to make their way back into the spotlight, just on a much smaller screen. Here are 6 Sega titles that will hopefully make a comeback with Rovio.

]]> https://twinfinite.net/features/6-sega-titles-that-should-return-with-rovio/feed/ 0 https://twinfinite.net/news/oxenfree-ii-lost-signals-release-date-announced-with-new-gameplay-trailer/ https://twinfinite.net/news/oxenfree-ii-lost-signals-release-date-announced-with-new-gameplay-trailer/#respond Wed, 19 Apr 2023 19:16:54 +0000 https://twinfinite.net/?p=937938 Golly olly, Oxenfree!]]>

The sequel to Night School Studios’ 2016 hit Oxenfree has finally gotten its long-awaited release date while showing off some new gameplay. The game is set to release on July 12, 2023 for PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch.

The new trailer shows off some of the eerie set pieces and mechanics that will be featured in the upcoming side-view platformer, and gives audiences a glimpse of what they have been waiting for since 2016.

]]> https://twinfinite.net/news/oxenfree-ii-lost-signals-release-date-announced-with-new-gameplay-trailer/feed/ 0 https://twinfinite.net/features/ghostwire-tokyo-spiders-thread-update-plays-to-strengths/ https://twinfinite.net/features/ghostwire-tokyo-spiders-thread-update-plays-to-strengths/#respond Fri, 14 Apr 2023 20:01:01 +0000 https://twinfinite.net/?p=936203 Sorry I'm not home right now, I'm walking into spiderwebs.]]>

For Xbox owners, the wait is finally over to play Tango Gameworks’ 2022 release, Ghostwire: Tokyo. This release comes alongside the game’s newest update, the Spider’s Thread, which I was super excited to try out.

As something of a Game Pass subscriber myself, Ghostwire: Tokyo’s release on Xbox serves as the perfect opportunity give it a go. It’s hard to shell out that $60 or $70 dollars on a game before trying it out, so it being included in a subscription I’ve already got is a huge plus. Plus, quick resume on my Series S makes jumping in and out of the game a breeze, which might come in handy for a game as open and diverse as Ghostwire.

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