Reporting on the games made in Canada and the creators behind them
As announced earlier, the VR fantasy adventure game Mervils is now out on PlayStation 4 - which you can download right here. It's also available on Steam (Vive), and Oculus.
Mervils is an open-world RPG platformer built specifically for third-person VR. Explore the four picturesque worlds and save the Mervil Kingdom from Balazar the Evil!
You can pick it up on the PlayStation store for $26.99.
David B joins us from the west coast best coast to talk about the upcoming Quiver Games Incubator!
Bizdev extraordinaire Eric Beer joins us to give his Hades II impressions and chat v-bucks subsidized game preservation.
We break down Baldur Gate 3's unprecedented success & the knock-on effects it'll have on the industry and how we make games moving forward. We also speak to Ontario-based indie game devs Twinolli about their upcoming action-puzzler Highlighters which just got a (Dad Deck-verified) Steam demo!
We speak to Québécois game dev Dragon Slumber, creator of Tech Support, Aethernaut and many more!
We reveal the winners of our ‘23 Community Awards poll and discuss Drinkbox’s latest teaser for their next project- and more!
This week thousands more game developers join Stephan in the "terminated by evil, stupid people" camp as layoffs hit tons of studios all over Canada and the world. We discuss Sonic as well. Sonic supports Unionizing your Workplace!
Stephan got terminated but that’s okay he just has more time to cover Canadian games now.
More For Honor! Check out the video below. Remember to subscribe!
Chris and I are back playing For Honor on PS4 - this time, trying out the online mode (and being bad at it). Plus I give my updated impressions on it.
Ubisoft has announced that Prince of Persia is returning…sort of. The series, which hasn’t seen a console game since 2010’s Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is coming as a limited-time event in For Honor. The update includes 30 pieces of Prince of Persia-inspired loot to unlock.
Ubisoft is having a special Halloween event for For Honor - live now until November 1st the “Fans of the Otherworld” in-game event is free for all players. It comes with a new game mode, exclusive Halloween-themed loot, and new executions
Ubisoft announced that Season 3 of their third year for For Honor on August 1st will introduce new Viking Hero ‘Jormungandr’, as well as a new Breach map, and various quality of life and balance changes. Check out the full trailer below.
Here is Chris and I play some more For Honor! Remember to subscribe on YouTube!
For Honor practice mode, plus some more commentary from Chris and I. Make sure to subscribe and visit TorontoGameDevs.com! Website: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/torontogamedevs Patreon: patreon.com/torontogamedevs Store: designbyhumans.com/shop/TorontoGameDevs/
While it is certainly fun for a while, it suffers from the same problem other mobile games on Steam do: Cube Samurai: RUN!’s price tag of $5:49 feels a little steep for the amount of time you might ultimately get from it, so I’d recommend installing the mobile version and giving it a go on the commute to work or on the toilet and see if it’s the sort of experience you’d enjoy on the PC. This aside, it certainly does seems like it would make for an equally fun mobile experience, but it doesn’t do anything exceptionally different than what most people have seen in an infinite runner before.
Overall, Kapsul Infinite’s $4.49 price point on Steam doesn’t quite feel worth it to me. There simply isn’t enough to keep me invested in the gameplay for very long, and without any integration of achievements or leaderboards of any kind it just falls a little flat. It is, however, a game that would be perfect for a mobile device where one play session consists of a few levels on the bus or while waiting out an unpleasant family reunion on the toilet. While the PC is not the platform to play it on, I’d definitely recommend giving it a try on mobile devices.
We live in an age where it’s easy to get bogged down in new features, and developers often seem to push for complex mechanic after complex mechanic. N++, however, sends itself off with a warm reminder that the series has always been created around one sole value: fun.
Despite flaws such as these, I honestly do myself blown away by the potential the game has down the road. It features a robust level editing tool that allows for the creation of scenarios and huge, complex maps. It has Steam Workshop support for user-generated content and (if the patch notes and Longbow Game's Facebook page are any indication) it's still being improved and updated tirelessly by the team at Longbow so many issues described here could very well be patched and improved in future updates.
Alone With You gives you an exceptional story about love, and loneliness, with gameplay that gives you a little more than your traditional visual novel.
There was once a girl named Cally, who was an ordinary girl who lived an ordinary life. One day she found her parents kidnapped by Herbert, a mad scientist seeking revenge for a tragic past. Cally, deciding it was in her best interests to not have her parents in distress and doing what any respectable young woman would do in this situation, grabbed her semi-automatic pistol and medieval bastard sword and made chase, filling anything that got in her way full of lead before tearing it asunder.
Lost Orbit is a 2D top down, action-arcade game with a focus on quick reflexes and the age-old struggle to beat a stage faster than you did two minutes ago. It features a time trial mode devoted to achieving exactly that speedy time as well as a campaign mode geared towards a more laid back experience for casual players.
Far Cry Primal has players controlling Takkar, a Wenja tribesman who is stranded in the fictitious world of Oros. The story comes down to pretty much "I hate that other tribe, so let's go kill them" but over the course of 20 or so hours players will hunt and control animals, craft and improve weapons, and gather your people to rebuild the Wenja tribe.
Hey there! Watch Chris and I play For Honor, and make sure to subscribe!
We're back! And as promised we're playing the first 15ish minutes of For Honor, the tutorial and what not. Sorry for the unedited intro as well. Remember to subscribe and leave a comment! Website: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/torontogamedevs Patreon: patreon.com/torontogamedevs Store: designbyhumans.com/shop/TorontoGameDevs/
Ubisoft's medieval action game For Honor is now out on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. For Honor has players controlling Knights, Samurai, or Vikings in a war of factions - you can check out the trailer below:
For Honor is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Buy the game : http://ubi.li/nks2c For more info: http://ubi.li/4y839 Warriors, the battle has begun ! Enter the chaos of a raging war as a Knight, Viking, or Samurai, three of the greatest warrior legacies.
For Honor is developed by Ubisoft Montreal, with our very own Ubisoft Toronto helping out with various things in the game, similar to Watch Dogs 2, and Far Cry Primal.
You can pick up the game for your platform of choice over at Ubisoft's website. I was also given a code, and will be posting plenty of videos on our YouTube channel (which you should definitely subscribe to). See you on the battlefield!
Our statement on the site’s future Ubisoft coverage and why we won’t be nominating any Ubisoft games for our game of the year voting this year.
Ubisoft announced Ubisoft Collegiate Esports, their first-ever proprietary collegiate esports league, premiering with Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, that will kick off this month as part of the new North American ecosystem.
During ongoing sexual assault and harassment investigations, Ubisoft Montréal (@UbisoftMTL) announced a new FPS battle royale Hyper Scape this week as well as a technical test which began immediately.
Ubisoft has announced that a new North American League (@R6esportsNA) League for Rainbow Six Siege (@R6esports) is rolling out this year featuring a Canadian division for the first time in Rainbow Six Siege eSports history.
Ubisoft has announced a new game aimed at teaching kids how to code their own video games. Ubisoft Montreal released Rabbids Coding, a free educational game that you can get on UPlay.
Ubisoft is having a special Halloween event for For Honor - live now until November 1st the “Fans of the Otherworld” in-game event is free for all players. It comes with a new game mode, exclusive Halloween-themed loot, and new executions
Ubisoft Montreals epic Assassin’s Creed Odyssey got the final piece of DLC earlier last month. Titled Judgement of Atlantic, the final episode The Fate of Atlantic is now out Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC.
Ubisoft announced that Season 3 of their third year for For Honor on August 1st will introduce new Viking Hero ‘Jormungandr’, as well as a new Breach map, and various quality of life and balance changes. Check out the full trailer below.
The sci-fi romantic adventure game Alone With You from Benjamin Rivers is out now on Steam. The originally PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita game is currently enjoying a 15% discount on Steam which you can check out right here.
I enjoy Alone With You when it came out last year, you can check out the video review below:
Alone With You on PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita is a fantastic game, hear my thoughts in this video, or read them here: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/reviews/alone-with-you-torontogamedevs-review
Solo indie dev expert and longtime friend-of-the-site Devon Wiersma joins us to talk their latest release Centauri Dark, working across AAA, mid-sized and solo indie dev and how to fix this goshdarn industry.
David B joins us from the west coast best coast to talk about the upcoming Quiver Games Incubator!
Bizdev extraordinaire Eric Beer joins us to give his Hades II impressions and chat v-bucks subsidized game preservation.
We break down Baldur Gate 3's unprecedented success & the knock-on effects it'll have on the industry and how we make games moving forward. We also speak to Ontario-based indie game devs Twinolli about their upcoming action-puzzler Highlighters which just got a (Dad Deck-verified) Steam demo!
We speak to Québécois game dev Dragon Slumber, creator of Tech Support, Aethernaut and many more!
We reveal the winners of our ‘23 Community Awards poll and discuss Drinkbox’s latest teaser for their next project- and more!
This week thousands more game developers join Stephan in the "terminated by evil, stupid people" camp as layoffs hit tons of studios all over Canada and the world. We discuss Sonic as well. Sonic supports Unionizing your Workplace!
Stephan got terminated but that’s okay he just has more time to cover Canadian games now.
Creative Bytes, a indie developer in St. Catharines, announced Embers of Mirrim last month, an adventure platformer coming to consoles and PC later this year. The developer did also take to the PlayStation Blog to discuss the game:
As you can see in the teaser trailer, Embers of Mirrim is an adventure-platformer featuring a powerful creature, Mirrim, with the ability to split into light and dark entities called Embers. As Mirrim, you can explore the dramatic landscape using opposing Embers to affect creatures and relics in the world in exciting and unexpected ways.
The Light and Dark Embers are independently controlled by the left and right analog sticks and offer new ways to solve puzzles, overcome obstacles, and traverse through the world. While developing the mechanic, we found it satisfying to seamlessly transition back and forth between the traditional platforming and dual stick flight!
To save their world from an alien threat, two proud races must set aside their differences and come together... literally. An ancient power forges together two distinctly different creatures into one versatile hero charged with restoring peace and balance to the world.
The game will be coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC in Spring of 2017. In the meantime, give Creative Bytes a follow on Twitter.
Not a Toronto game, but Chris and I did play some Binding of Issac. Check it out, and subscribe!
It's not developed in Toronto, but Chris has been talking non-stop about Binding of Issac, so we decided to play a bit while he tries to sell me on the game.....it doesn't work, but we have fun anyways. Remember to subscribe and leave a comment!
Hey everyone! Another Friday, another Youtube video. remember to subscribe!
This time, we're still playing We Are Doomed, but this time talking about Day One (or early) DLC, and is it bad. Remember to subscribe and leave a comment! Website: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/torontogamedevs Patreon: patreon.com/torontogamedevs Store: designbyhumans.com/shop/TorontoGameDevs/
London developer VitruviusVR have already released Mervils: A VR Adventure on Vive, and Oculus, and now PlayStation users will get a taste of the Fantasy RPG later this month.
With merely a sword and a few coins your quest begins in the Mervil Countryside. The pages of the Great Mervil Book have been scattered throughout the land and the dark sorcerer Balazar the Evil has risen from the shadows. It’s up to one brave hero, to collect the lost pages, rebind the Great Book, and defeat Balazar once and for all. Will that Mervil be you?
Mervils is an open-world RPG platformer built specifically for third-person VR. Explore the four picturesque worlds and save the Mervil Kingdom from Balazar the Evil!
Solo indie dev expert and longtime friend-of-the-site Devon Wiersma joins us to talk their latest release Centauri Dark, working across AAA, mid-sized and solo indie dev and how to fix this goshdarn industry.
David B joins us from the west coast best coast to talk about the upcoming Quiver Games Incubator!
Bizdev extraordinaire Eric Beer joins us to give his Hades II impressions and chat v-bucks subsidized game preservation.
We break down Baldur Gate 3's unprecedented success & the knock-on effects it'll have on the industry and how we make games moving forward. We also speak to Ontario-based indie game devs Twinolli about their upcoming action-puzzler Highlighters which just got a (Dad Deck-verified) Steam demo!
We speak to Québécois game dev Dragon Slumber, creator of Tech Support, Aethernaut and many more!
We reveal the winners of our ‘23 Community Awards poll and discuss Drinkbox’s latest teaser for their next project- and more!
This week thousands more game developers join Stephan in the "terminated by evil, stupid people" camp as layoffs hit tons of studios all over Canada and the world. We discuss Sonic as well. Sonic supports Unionizing your Workplace!
Stephan got terminated but that’s okay he just has more time to cover Canadian games now.
With the For Honor launch just around the corner, Ubisoft has gone ahead and launched #BattleForCanada, a website where you complete a survey and then battle for Canada with the three factions from For Honor.
#BattleForCanada
On February 11, Canadians are invited to fight alongside members of their chosen faction to conquer Canada and celebrate the honour of battle. Warriors will be able to fight using their phone as a weapon and watch the battle unfold online. Wielding their phone like a virtual sword, warriors will make slashing movements to recreate the combat moves from For Honor. Warriors will score points for their faction depending on the range, speed and force of these strikes.
An interactive map on ForHonorCanada.com, as well as on a giant billboard at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto, will show the state of the three armies battling it out in real time. As an added moment of celebrity, the best warriors will see their name and faction featured live on Yonge-Dundas Square and the most memorable warriors will be featured in an animated trailer after the battle.
So make sure to head over to ForHonorCanada.com, complete the survey and check out For Honor on February 14th on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Ubisoft has announced that Prince of Persia is returning…sort of. The series, which hasn’t seen a console game since 2010’s Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is coming as a limited-time event in For Honor. The update includes 30 pieces of Prince of Persia-inspired loot to unlock.
Ubisoft is having a special Halloween event for For Honor - live now until November 1st the “Fans of the Otherworld” in-game event is free for all players. It comes with a new game mode, exclusive Halloween-themed loot, and new executions
Ubisoft announced that Season 3 of their third year for For Honor on August 1st will introduce new Viking Hero ‘Jormungandr’, as well as a new Breach map, and various quality of life and balance changes. Check out the full trailer below.
With Vertex Pop making Graceful Explosion Machine on Switch, decided to go back and check out We Are Doomed. Make sure to subscribe on Youtube!
This time we're play We Are Doomed. The developer, Vertex Pop announced Graceful Explosion Machine on Nintendo Switch the other week. Remember to subscribe and leave a comment! Website: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/torontogamedevs Patreon: patreon.com/torontogamedevs Store: designbyhumans.com/shop/TorontoGameDevs/
A few months ago, I was reached out by Aakaash Rao, the composer for Valley from Blue Isle Studios, asking about an interview. I really dug the soundtrack in Valley so I of course said yes! You can check out the interview below, and a lot of Aakaash's work can be found right here.
TorontoGameDevs.com: Thanks for doing the interview! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? What your role was in creating Valley?
Aakaash: Thanks for reaching out! I’m a game composer based jointly in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Chicago, and I had the privilege to compose the soundtrack for Blue Isle Studios’ Valley.
TorontoGameDevs.com: How long have you been creating music? What other games or projects have you worked on?
Aakaash: I’ve been composing ever since I learned to play piano as a child, but I only got into games a couple of years ago. Since then, I’ve worked on several PC, console, and mobile titles — I particularly enjoy writing story-driven soundtracks for RPGs. One of my larger project, a voxel-based sandbox called Planet Explorers, came out late last year.
Valley just came out on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. I'll have the full review in a week or so, but figured I would give my impressions on the first person adventure. Check out the latest at http://www.torontogamedevs.com/
TorontoGameDevs.com: What was the design process like for Valley? Did you have free range to create the music you thought would fit the mood, or was there specific notes from different members of the team?
In general, I had a lot of creative freedom. One thing I really appreciated about working with Blue Isle is that I had a working build of the game almost from day one — which happens a lot less often than you might think. The game itself was a fantastic source of inspiration, and I’d often hit upon ideas while exploring the landscape or leaping around in the L.E.A.F. suit.
That said, the other two members of the audio team (Brenden, the audio and technical director and Selcuk, the SFX designer) definitely gave me plenty of input through the process. I’ve worked with a lot of big audio teams in the past, and I think there’s definitely a “too many cooks spoil the stew” effect when too many people get involved in the music, but Selcuk and Brenden did a great job of balancing their own visions for the game’s soundtrack with my ideas. The live musicians with whom I worked also gave me some very helpful input, particularly in regards to using world instruments with which I was not familiar.
TorontoGameDevs.com: There's a lot going on in Valley. There are open world elements within forested areas, buildings, underground mines, etc. You get to move really fast, and jump extremely far as you traverse this world, but there is a lot of historical pieces from the 40s told to the player while they are playing. How did this contribute to the overall soundtrack for the game?
One of the biggest challenges in tackling projects of this scope is balancing variety with cohesiveness. You don’t want to bore the player by repeating the same motifs over and over, but you also don't want a complete musical disconnect between the themes associated with different areas. For example, I made a conscious choice to write sweeping orchestral music for the outdoor areas and more distorted, electronic music for the darker indoor environments, but I approached the indoor areas with a mindset of muting and warping the outdoor style rather than selecting a whole different musical palette. Amrita, the theme for the final level and one of my favorite pieces from the soundtrack, blends pads and electronic sounds with some warped live flute.
There’s a lot of subtle melodic and textural motifs weaved into the soundtrack, so the idea is that they help weave the disparate elements together. This is probably more of a subconscious phenomenon — I doubt that most people are listening intently to recognize the musical motifs as the play the game — but I think it does contribute to the player’s immersion. This is most important at the end of the game, where the final track states outright a lot of the themes that previous pieces have been hinting at. As I’m sure your readers who have finished the game can attest, the ending of the game is definitely a cathartic experience, so I hope that the final piece reflects and amplifies the feeling of cleaning and completion.
Valley - Available now! Enter the vast and beautiful world of Valley using the power of the L.E.A.F. Suit: a fierce exoskeleton that grants exceptional speed and agility along with the phenomenal ability to manipulate the life and death of all living things.
TorontoGameDevs.com: In your mind, what game excels with its soundtrack?
I’ve always been a huge fan of Nobuo Uematsu’s work on the early Final Fantasy. These were some of the first games I played, so there’s an element of nostalgia, but I still think it’s absolutely incredible how much emotion he was able to convey under the console’s technical constraints. Arnie Roth’s Distant Worlds albums include some fantastic orchestrations of Uematsu’s work. More recently, I’ve also really enjoyed Austin Wintory’s Journey and Gareth Coker’s Ori and the Blind Forest.
TorontoGameDevs.com: Is there anything else you'd like to tell our readers? What can we look forward to next?
As I mentioned, Planet Explorers came out last year. I’m also currently working on a strategy RPG called Liege, which is a dark, strategy-driven RPG somewhere between Fire Emblem and A Song of Ice and Fire. Now that I’m done with Valley and Planet Explorers, though, I’m keeping my eye out for interesting new projects — I’d love to do a more intimate soundtrack for an RPG or puzzle game.
Thanks so much to Aakaash for taking the time, and remember that Patreon's got access to this interview early. You can check out Valley on Steam, and all of Akaash's work right here.
Hey! While not a Toronto developed game, I love Resident Evil. Chris and I got together to play the first 15 minutes of the new one. Remember that Patreons get it early!
Okay, so not developed in Toronto, but one of the big releases this year - we decided to give Resident Evil 7 (Biohazard 7) a shot. Chris not being a fan of the series, and myself being a huge one. Remember to subscribe!
Well we now know that Benjamin Rivers is a man of his word. Just like what we thought on the podcast, the sci-fi romance adventure game Alone With You will be getting a Steam release next month, just in time for Valentines Day.
Just in time for #ValentinesDay — Alone With You launches Feb. 9 on @steam_games! #romance #indiegame #pixelart https://t.co/WcnsYHiB19 pic.twitter.com/bakx7bcUQe
— Benjamin Rivers (@BenjaminRivers) January 17, 2017
Available February 9th - just in time for Valentine's Day! From the creator of Home - A Unique Horror Adventure comes ALONE WITH YOU, the critically-acclaimed sci-fi-romance adventure game - now on Steam! + OFFICIAL Website: http://www.alonewithyougame.com + Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/benjaminrivers + Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/alonewithyougame http://www.alonewithyougame.com
If you can't wait until Valentines Day, you can always pick up the game on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.
Toronto-based game designer and teacher Benjamin Rivers (@BenjaminRivers) (and co-founder of indie studio Bancy Co (@bancyco)) is partnering with the newly acquired Limited Run Games to release their games Being Home, Alone with You and Worse Than Death as part of one physical collection on Nintendo Switch.
Toronto-based game developer Benjamin Rivers (@BenjaminRivers) has released Home: Postmortem Edition for Nintendo Switch.
2019 action-adventure horror game Worse Than Death is getting a sequel in the form of a comic book written and drawn by Benjamin Rivers (@benjaminrivers) with chapter one available now.
Worse Than Death, Benjamin Rivers latest, was already released on iOS earlier this year and now we have a release date for the console and PC release. On October 8th, the game will come out on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and the Humble Store.
![Limited Run Games Releases Home On PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita [Updated]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5516beafe4b0c6d76a97bb4d/1518223639420-3H6GLTNE9AU4FPD6B4FR/home.png)
Solo indie dev expert and longtime friend-of-the-site Devon Wiersma joins us to talk their latest release Centauri Dark, working across AAA, mid-sized and solo indie dev and how to fix this goshdarn industry.