Be warned, there isn’t any option to avoid spoilers for Bioshock Infinite when discussing this DLC. In the event you haven’t finished the campaign (and don’t wish to be spoiled), back out now.

It’s been a very long time coming, however the DLC that fans of Bioshock Infinite’s mind-bending conclusion were watching for has finally been revealed. Later today, you’ll be capable of get the world-style Clash inside the Clouds add-on. Those folks desperate for more of Levine’s storycraft can be waiting a short time longer, though. Thankfully, from what I’ve seen thus far, our patience can pay off.

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea could be delivered in two parts, and may comprise the rest content for the game’s season pass. The trailer we were shown occurs in Rapture, before the autumn. The year is 1958, and Booker DeWitt is a personal investigator in Andrew Ryan’s city under the ocean.

He meets Elizabeth, but not as we’ve known her. She is older, wiser, and more confident than the lady we meet in Columbia’s tallest tower.

“We kicked around a variety of ideas for what to do, and we ended up determining essentially the mostsome of the most complicated and dear one,” Levine said of the way Burial at Sea came to be. “I have this image in my head of Elizabeth dressed like a femme fatale entering Booker’s office in Rapture. Well, how will we get there? plenty of people have asked us to inform a narrative about pre-fall Rapture. To me, it wasn’t really interesting, because it’s the midichlorian problem. We already told the tale within the logs, so it’s going to just be demonstrating that, and that’s not surprising or interesting.”

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The first component of Burial at Sea occurs in two halves. In a departure from the ancient Bioshock gameplay, the 1st segment is with out combat. Investigation and exploration are crucial, as players learn more about how Ryan’s faithful followers lived and worked in Rapture. Familiar characters will make appearances, and Rapture’s most terrible menaces, the large Daddies, haven’t yet been converted from maintenance drones right into a protection detail for the little sisters.

I asked Levine why he decided to come back to Rapture after putting the city’s story to bed. Rapture isn’t the “main character” it was in Bioshock, instead taking a backseat to character development. “I think it was just a little confusing in that Infinite wasn’t as much about Columbia because it was about Booker and Elizabeth,” Levine told me. “I think it remains that. In Bioshock, we learned a good deal about Rapture, but here’s more in regards to the characters and about their evolution.”

During the journey, Booker and Elizabeth discover they have to visit Rapture’s makeshift prison. In an act of aggression against Fontaine, Ryan has sunk his nemesis’ department store, trapping most of the “business man’s” associates. Once there, the heroes find the familiar splicers that plagued players in Bioshock and Bioshock 2.

In an effort to offer protection to me from spoilers, Levine demurred on more detail, but he did tell the gang of journalists present at an earlier presentation that the second one a part of Burial at Sea shouldn’t put players in Booker’s shoes. Instead, we’ll be controlling Elizabeth, and we’ve been assured that she plays very differently. This is still a great deal her story, and neither she nor Booker have changed much despite Andrew Ryan’s philosophical influences.

“Neither of them are particularly ideological,” Levine explained “Their whole quest relates to children. Children are a theme in the entire games, and the effect of society on children like little sisters. Little sisters are very central to the tale.”

Creating Burial at Sea, that’s about to enter beta testing, was no small feat for Irrational. Only a few assets from the unique Bioshock were used, with most of what players will experience being produced from the floor up. And no, in the event you were wondering, the hacking minigame should not make an appearance.

Between a want to put the DLC within the hands of the team that made Bioshock Infinite (instead of farming the duty out), and the necessity to build an intricate recreation of Bioshock’s Rapture, the recent story content has taken more time than fans would have liked. In accordance with what we all know of Burial at Sea though, the wait was worth it.

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Part One could be out later this year for $14.99.

When Irrational Games asked us to return to Boston for a preview of the long-awaited Bioshock Infinite DLC, I went in with some expectations. i used to be anticipating that the primary pack would introduce a brand new character (and perhaps a brand new companion), embroiled in a richly woven narrative. I also expected that we wouldn’t see the content go live for no less than a number of weeks. i used to be wrong your complete way down the road.

The first Bioshock Infinite DLC, Clash inside the Clouds may be out in precisely a number of hours (12 pm Pacific on Steam and rolling out on Xbox 360 and PS3 during the day). And while it isn’t entirely with out narrative, the emphasis isn’t on character, and the theory of Columbia’s “setting” gives strategy to “level design.” It is an arena mode that specializes in guns and vigors, and as someone who found this the least appealing element of the Bioshock Infinite experience, i used to be a chunk underwhelmed.

Clash within the Clouds offers four maps that evoke different areas of the campaign. The Finktown Docks, Emporia, the Boardwalk, and the luxurious town center all make an appearance. Each map features skylines and tears changing around the total 60 different encounters, which keeps the challenge high.

“If a wave was going to be trivialized by having the skyline in there, then we pulled it out,” lead game designer Forrest Dowling told me for example. “In terms of the time spent in development before you stop and do bug fix, it was probably about 50-50. The primary half was spent hashing out the spaces, like knowing where the skylines were going to move and where we were going to put cover.

“The second one half was spent making each wave exceptional, and realizing which tears we would have liked, what we would have liked to do with skylines, etc. We did retune enemy and player damage a section faraway from the bottom game, but i think that any one however the most hardcore or systems designers would notice.”

The combat is definitely competent, using traditional arena and horde mode mid-round restock mechanics. After each brief bout, players are sent back to the staging area, inclusive of free guns and ammo, vending machines to upgrade arms and vigors, and an infusion (boost of utmost health, shields, or vigor-powering salts) or piece of substances. A pop-up discloses the following encounter’s “blue ribbon challenge” and enemy types, so players may be able to prepare accordingly.

The blue ribbon challenges aren’t essential to progress, but accomplishing this kind of bonus tasks awards more cash. These are varied and keep things interesting from bout to bout. Using specific weapons, varying kill types, executing only headshots, avoiding headshot and heartshots, and using the skylines (or avoiding them) are all examples of varieties of challenges I faced. 

The only enemies that aren’t featured in Clash within the Clouds are Songbird and the men of Silence. In my time, I encountered soldiers, firemen, motorized patriots, sentry balloons, and handymen.  Smart use of skylines and the available tears are crucial to success.

Clash within the Clouds offers varieties of experiences to fit more than a few players. Players can continue on should they fail a round, however the blue ribbon challenge for that round and the leaderboard ranking for all the run are forfeit. For those simply inquisitive about working during the content, it’s a superbly suitable option. The competitive among us will find numerous meat at the bone, with a deep challenge to push through a whole map without failure.

Cash isn’t just used for upgrades, and Dowling desired to make sure players had something to do with their surpluses. Outside of the world, the hot Columbia Archaeological Society allows players to profit for concept art, behind the curtain videos, the period versions of modern music, character models, and a neat surprise. There’s a little bit of narrative hidden within the gallery for players to search out.

Thankfully, for people that are only interested by the theory art, videos, and music, one time through Clash within the Clouds ought to be enough. “If they spend all their money on every weapon and vigor upgrade, maybe they won’t have enough for everything inside the archaeological society,” Dowling said. “If you simply really desired to consider unlocking things, you must probably do it by the halfway point.”

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If you’ve got a season pass, Clash within the Clouds will tide you over for a short time. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but my love for Bioshock Infinite was within the narrative, not the action.

Additionally, watch out for bugs. i used to be playing at the PS3 and encountered a freezing glitch that wiped my progress at the first map’s encounter 14 of 15. A colleague playing at the Xbox 360 bumped into a controversy with the vending machine improperly recognizing a purchase order, taking his money but not delivering the products. These will likely get fixed, but as we were playing content just a day before release, it’s reasonable to expect that individuals purchasing today might run into them.

Thankfully, the genuine meat of the additional content is coming within the final two packs. For more on that, read our preview of Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea.

Bioshock Infinite’s Clash within the Clouds DLC is out later today for $5 and as portion of the season pass.

Cut the Rope, the frequently updated iOS and Android puzzle game, is getting 25 new levels with The Cheese Box.

The Cheese Box adds a helpful mouse who helps Om Nom get his beloved candy.

[Via: Polygon]

Our Take
Cut the Rope is one in all my favorite mobile games. I’m always happy to work out it get it more content.

Update: Polytron has released an announcement on its website about Fez II’s cancellation and Phil Fish has stated that he cancelled the sport inside the interest of leaving the games industry.

Here’s the total statement from Polytron:

FEZ II is cancelled. i’m done. i take the cash and that i run. here’s up to i’m able to stomach. this is often isn’t the results of any person thing, however the end of a protracted, bloody campaign. you win.

Additionally, Phil Fish tweeted, “to be clear, im not cancelling FEZ II because some boorish f*** said something stupid, im doing it to get out of games,” and followed up saying, “and im getting out of games because i select to not post with this abuse anymore.”

Original story:

Polytron and Fez creator Phil Fish sent out tweets today, and confirmed via e-mail, announcing Fez II has ceased development.

Fez II was announced during E3 with a short lived teaser, but otherwise no additional details were revealed in regards to the game. We reached out to Fish to verify the game’s cancellation to which he replied, “yup. it’s over.“

Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura is promising a worthwhile conclusion for Kingdom Hearts III, but is quick to guarantee fans that the series will continue.

Speaking with the L.A. Times, Nomura discussed the finality that Kingdom Hearts III will bring to fans. He makes clear, however, that simply because the core trilogy will see resolution, does not imply here is the top of Kindgom Hearts.

“As a core game, that’s finally the third, and 10 years have passed. I couldn’t call this a trilogy. There were such a lot of spinoffs. In ‘Kingdom Hearts 3,’ the battles that the characters has been fighting for the past 10 years will come to a conclusion. That’s the plan. However the series will continue. Only the specific enemy they’ve been fighting the past 10 years will come to an end.”

Nomura also told fans that they if have an interest in how Kingdom Hearts III will play from a mechanical standpoint, to play Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance on 3DS.

Kingdom Hearts III doesn’t have a high-quality release date yet, but we do understand it would be coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

[Source: L.A. Times]

Our Take
I really enjoyed Kingdom Hearts and its sequel, but have increasingly become disinterested in its spin-offs. Because the story branches and extends, the already confusing narrative becomes more complicated, and it makes it harder to catch up while you begin to fall behind. Kingdom Hearts is absolutely the equivalent of learning math. With the promise of conclusion though, it reinvigorates my interest inside the story. If there’s a visible finish line within the distance, it makes the possibility of catching up less initimdating.