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Sharpen your scythe, Xbox fans, and show the underworld who’s boss.  We are so excited to see our game, Have A Nice Death, release on Xbox. For the anecdote, everything originated from a little sketch of Death scribbled by the Creative Director, Nicolas Leger, in the corner of a page during an Unruly Heroes meeting (our first game). This sparked a conversation about what it would be like if Death were in charge of the underworld and worked in a traditional office setting. With everything that’s been going on in the world, Death would probably be pretty busy processing paperwork for incoming souls and in desperate need of a vacation.   “I thought it had great visual potential: simple proportions, clean silhouette, an obvious and iconic weapon, and this concept of a shapeshifting cloak immediately gave me ideas for movement and combat,” Leger says. “It was just one or two months later that I made the next step with a staged gameplay video during my free time.”  And this is how it all started. Now, let’s dive deep into what might interest you: The gameplay of Have a Nice Death!   Have a Nice Death is a fast, action-packed hack and slash roguelike in procedural environments where you play as Death, and must go across unique departments (levels) to defeat the Sorrows (the bosses) until you reach your goal: The final elevator that lets you have a much-needed vacation. Acquiring and choosing the tools in your arsenal for this adventure is of the utmost importance! First, choose the kind of scythe you want at the beginning of each run as they all provide a different move set and gameplay. During your adventure, you will also find other weapons including fireballs, maces, and bows. We have short range, long range, easy-to-use, and hard-to-master weapons, totaling over 70 weapons for you to play and mix to fit your playstyle.  Have a Nice Death has many unique twists compared to some other roguelikes. The progression system in our game l gives you the opportunity to gain new abilities and upgrades, however, there’s a chance they might also give a boost to your enemies! We call these upgrades “curses” and to gain them, you will have to fight our menagerie of Sorrows & Thanagers (mini bosses)!  Try to think about the combination of these upgrades together as they are the key to completing the game and you will need to pick them according to the weapons in your arsenal. If you use a multi-hit weapon, we would suggest a green curse that spawns a deadly butterfly per hit you do. Did I say green one? That’s because Have a Nice Death’s curses are split into 3 branches (blue, red, green) on a random skill tree. They are ranked in accordance with the main pillars of Death, Inc.’s business philosophy: Red for Daring, Green for Excellence, and Blue for Innovation. Red curses focus on damage-based buffs, green curses focus on enhancing your ability to use spells, and blue curses focus on utility or defense-based buffs. Curses play an important role on how you want your character build to be like (e.g., have a more weapon-focused or a spell- focused build), so make sure to take curses that fit the build you’d like to have!  Another twist is the Anima system, the healing system in the game. As you explore Death, Inc., you’ll come across Blue Anima, which does heal you but it only heals your injuries!  So you’ll need to be on the lookout for ways to completely heal Death, such as finding and using Koffee or the very rare Golden Anima. Dodging every attack or killing stuff quickly works, too!   One of the goals for Have a Nice Death was to have a good mix of improvisation and foresight. We wanted the player to both be surprised by each run in order to give the feeling of what we call the “golden run,” but still be able to have agency and try to influence the run to feel the satisfaction of being overpowered. This occurs by offering the player many choices while switching up gameplay as to not encourage “save-scumming,” for example.  While Have a Nice Death is roguelike and we know you will die (I mean, “burn out”), you don’t have to be afraid of the difficulty. We have thought about everything. You will always find some gold to spend in your very own lobby with Joe to unlock new weapons or food to consume. He’s even nice enough to offer you a ridiculous discount if you have completed some objectives for him. For those who want an easier or a more challenging playthrough across Death, Inc., there are 15 difficulty levels to choose from, as we know roguelike players enjoy a nice challenge as they hack’n’slash away!  Have a Nice Death is available on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One now. Have a Nice Death Gearbox Publishing San Francisco Inc. ☆☆☆☆☆ 3 ★★★★★ $24.99 $19.99 Get it now Welcome to Death, Inc. Discover and explore the darkly-charming, procedurally-generated departments of Death Inc., where you’ll meet a diverse cast of memorable characters—like your affable pumpkin-headed assistant, Pump Quinn—who are always willing to share the latest office gossip Reap What You Sow Sharpen your skills (and scythe) through fast-paced hack n’ slash combat, utilizing over 70 unique weapons and spells you can find and upgrade to create devastating combinations Death Never Sleeps Since Death can’t die, use what you’ve learned and earned to overcome the numerous minions and bosses in each department of Death Incorporated… over and over. A performance review after every run guarantees that you’ll unlock interesting items and upgrades that will help you progress on your journey When Death Gives You Curses Taking more power for yourself is a controversial move in Death Incorporated’s company culture. For instance, adopting a Curse upgrade for yourself might result in the Labor Inspector granting your subordinates enhanced powers, or worse, raising the cost of koffee and other items that are vital to your work output The post Have a Nice Death Brings Roguelike Fun and Challenge to Xbox appeared first on Xbox Wire. View the full article

Open Roads, the narrative adventure game starring Keri Russell (The Americans, Star Wars Episode IX: Rise of Skywalker) and Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End), finally has a release date, nearly three years after its initial reveal at The Game Awards 2020. It hits consoles and PC on February 22, 2024.  Publisher Annapurna Interactive announced this release date today with a new trailer that features Russell talking about the game. Check out the Open Roads release date trailer for yourself below:  A likely reason Open Roads took three years to reveal a release date after its 2020 debut is because its original creative lead, Steve Gaynor, co-founder of Fullbright and director of Gone Home, was accused of cultivating a hostile work environment in 2021, as reported by Polygon. Shortly after the allegations arose, Gaynor stepped back from his role as creative lead and manager. Since then, Open Roads has detached itself from Fullbright, with the small team of developers behind the title going by Open Roads Team.   Game Informer spoke to the Open Roads Team in 2022 about these changes and how it was moving forward with the game's development – you can read our in-depth feature about it here.  "In Open Roads, Tess [Devers] and Opal [Russell] embark on a road trip adventure to explore a series of long-abandoned properties, unearthing the past," the game's description reads on Steam. "They'll search the ruins of these places that hold buried memories, things Opal has tried for years to forget. And in this search, they'll discover not just the truth they've been seeking, but each other."  Open Roads hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on Febraury 22, 2024.  Are you going to check out Open Roads next year? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article