Source: The official X account of "Blue Sea and Black Sails".
After 2023, which has experienced a lot of blockbuster titles, this year, players are about to usher in another big year for gaming.
On the first day of the new year, the TGA officially released the list of game titles that have confirmed the release date this year. According to TGA statistics, a total of 20 well-known overseas games will be released in the first quarter of 2024, including well-known games such as "Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown", "The Last of Us 2 Remastered" (TLOU Part II Remastered) and "Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth".
Summary of games confirmed for sale in the first quarter (Titanium Media APP mapping)
At the same time, many domestic games that have obtained version numbers have also been officially announced for testing. For example, "Avatar: Return to Pandora" developed by Zulong, Tencent's new counter-war IP game, and NetEase's Tarkov-like mobile game "Firefly Assault" have all announced that the test time will be set for January this year.
Both domestic and foreign markets are blooming. On the occasion of the beginning of the new year, Titanium Media APP will take you to pay attention to what works are worth paying attention to among the game products that will be released in the first quarter of this year.
(The following game evaluation is only for the game beta version, please refer to the official version for the final presentation of the product)
Domestic part
1. NetEase "Condor Shooting"
""Condor Shooting" will inevitably build a Jianghu where the paid concept is green enough, does not force the liver, does not force krypton, and controls the expansion of values. ”
This is a sentence emphasized many times by the NetEase "Condor" project team in the official announcement. As the latest MMORPG game promoted by NetEase, "Condor Shooting" has been authorized by Jin Yong's Condor Trilogy, and the plot spans 150 years. Players will see the sword and sword shadow in the Condor Shooting rivers and lakes, and experience the love of children.
Source: "Condor Shooting" official blog
In terms of the numerical system, under the premise that the official game store does not sell any numerical values and growth materials, the official "Condor Shooting" will also control the numerical expansion caused by the improvement of the character's realm through the introduction of the season system.
As for the game content, the "Condor Shooting" project team has mentioned that this will be a "slow-paced" game. In the game, players have a lot of free space to explore. For example, players have no class restrictions, and can learn their moves from every knight they meet Xi Players' choice of emergencies in the game will also directly affect the future direction of some areas.
In the MMORPG track, the most distinctive thing about "Condor Shooting" is the vision of "one server in the world" proposed by its project team. In the face of the problem of the large gap between the values of new and old players caused by time, similar products in the past will be solved by regularly opening new servers. "Condor Shooting" proposes "one server in the world", which means that the project team must carry out subversive innovation in game development.
Finally, in terms of the progress of project completion, "Condor Shooting" will start the paid deletion test on January 12. The "Condor Shooting" project team said that this will be the last test before "Condor Shooting" is officially launched. In addition, in NetEase's 2023 Q3 earnings call, relevant senior executives also disclosed that "Condor Shooting" will be launched before the second quarter of 2024 at the latest.
2. Zulong "Avatar: Return to Pandora"
What is it like to "eat chicken" on the planet Pandora?
The shooting mobile game "Avatar: Return to Pandora", which is authorized by Disney and developed by Zulong Entertainment, recently announced that it will start a one-month paid deletion test on January 11. According to the information released on the official website of "Avatar: Return to Pandora", the game is developed using the Unreal Engine 4, and players will embark on an adventure full of unknowns on the planet Pandora.
Source: "Avatar: Return to Pandora" official blog
In terms of gameplay, "Avatar: Return to Pandora" adopts a variety of PVE and PVP modes. In PVE mode, players will face the challenges of the primordial creatures of Pandora and alien evil forces in many classic scenes of the Avatar movies. The PVP mode emphasizes strategy and coordination, where players can choose one of four classes with different characteristics and team up with other players, and finally win by gathering materials and PK with other players.
According to the official information released by Avatar: Return to Pandora, the specific content of this game will be very rich. On the basis of the above-mentioned PVP and PVE, Avatar: Return to Pandora has added many MMORPG elements.
For example, Avatar: Return to Pandora allows players to team up to build a base, and the game also has a union system where players can team up to kill bosses and resist outsiders. Invading outsiders may be NPCs or players. The specific gameplay is still to be further disclosed by official information.
3. 腾讯《宝可梦大集结》
In late January, "Pokémon Gathering" opened a new round of testing......
In the past two years, the MOBA mobile game "Pokémon Gathering", which is authorized by Pokémon and developed by Tencent TiMi Studio, has whetted the appetite of players. "Pokémon Gathering" was first launched overseas in July 2021, and at the end of 2022, the work got the domestic version number. Now, following the test in November last year, "Pokémon Gathering" officially announced that it will start testing again in late January.
The wait is painful, but who can say no to the adorable Pikachu?
Different from other similar MOBA products, "Pokémon Gathering" does not have the concept of base crystals and defense towers, but combines Pokémon IP for more exclusive settings. In the game, players choose their own Pokémon, earn points by defeating and subduing wild Pokémon, and finally upload points in the opponent's scoring area, and determine the winner or loser based on the score of both sides.
Of course, in order to embed the Pokémon IP into the MOBA mode, "Pokémon Gathering" has also made some adjustments according to local conditions, and the classic attribute restraint in the original work has not been reflected in the game, and has been replaced by different character characteristics and positioning. For example, Kirbymon is a melee defensive Pokémon, and Pikachu is a long-handed output Pokémon.
From the launch of "Pokémon Gathering" to the present, domestic players have been waiting for this game for nearly two and a half years. At the end of last year, "Pokémon Gathering" held an official e-sports event to warm up. Through the actual demonstration of the competition, the expectations of players were raised to new heights.
Source: "Pokémon Gathering" official blog
Nowadays, in the comment area of the official blog of "Pokémon Gathering", user messages can be summed up in one sentence: "When will the public beta be launched?"
Foreign part
1. 育碧《波斯王子：失落的王冠》（Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown）
Ye Qing returned, "Prince of Persia" is going to release a new work.
If you strip away the remake of the original title, the last time Prince of Persia was released was in 2010. As a classic game IP created in 1989, Prince of Persia originally started as a 2D action-adventure, and was later acquired by Ubisoft after the 3D wave of games hit a low point.
Since 2003, the IP of "Prince of Persia" has reached its peak with the "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" trilogy. But after the end of the trilogy, due to the unsatisfactory sales and reputation of the follow-up two games, the development of the IP of "Prince of Persia" was put on hold for a long time.
As a reboot of the Prince of Persia series, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has undergone drastic adjustments in all aspects. While the picture returns to 2.5D, the art style has also changed from the realistic and magical style of the past to the European and American card ventilation.
Source: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's official X account
In terms of specific game content, "Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown" maintains the previous light and smooth action style, and the types of weapons and skills that players can use are quite rich, which can be said to be a very traditional Metroidvania-like game. In terms of disadvantages, there are fewer spawn designs, players need to run a lot after resurrection, and the bow and arrow as a secondary weapon are some of the flaws exposed in this work.
In terms of release date, "Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown" will be released on January 18 on PC, Switch, Xobx, and PS4/PS5, with a price of 248 yuan (standard version) and 298 yuan (deluxe version).
2. 育碧《碧海黑帆》（Skull and Bones）
No matter how many times the ticket is bounced, "Blue Sea and Black Sails" will still be released after all.
Following the success of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag in 2013, Ubisoft unveiled the pirate sailing game Black Sails at E3 Games Expo 2017. The game was originally conceived as a DLC for Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, and eventually became a standalone project after several turnarounds.
In the game industry, "Blue Sea and Black Sails" can be said to be one of the most well-known "ticket hopping kings". "Blue Sea and Black Sails" was originally scheduled to be released in 2019, but after six postponements, it was finally set for February 16 this year.
From a product point of view, Blue Sea and Black Sails is a game with obvious advantages and disadvantages. In terms of strengths, the next-generation game graphics are the most effective signature of this game. Under the bright sun, the blue sea seems to be covered with a thin golden veil, and seagulls pass by. In the matter of sailing, "Blue Sea and Black Sails" can make players full of immersion.
In terms of flaws, "Blue Sea and Black Sails" is rich in content but slightly lacking in depth. In terms of game mechanics, Blue Sea and Black Sails has various systems such as cooking, shipbuilding, armor and artillery, cooking, etc., but the development of each system is relatively shallow. For example, players can modify and upgrade the ship's armor and guns in the game, but there is no role differentiation and skill upgrade for the crew, and there is no significant difference in power and range between the ship's main and side guns.
The work is currently priced at 318 yuan (standard version) and 448 yuan (advanced version), and players who are interested in realistic wind sailing games can consider starting.
3.Red Barrels《逃生：试炼》（The Outlast Trials）
Even in multiplayer, the atmosphere created by the horror game Escape: Trials will still be adrenaline-pumping.
Source: Escape: Trials Steam Official Store
As a well-known horror game series, "Escape" will release the third installment of the series, "Escape: Trials", on March 5, after the success of the first two games. This is the first game in the Escape series to support multiplayer, and in Escape: Trials, players will no longer be armed with a camera, but will become an experimental subject forced to participate in experiments. When encountering monsters, players can no longer just run with their legs, but can use weapons to fight back.
In the game, players have three values: life, sanity, and physical strength. When a player is attacked by a specific monster, their sanity will be reduced, and the decrease in sanity will have a series of negative effects on the player, such as discoloration and distortion of the screen, and hallucinations. Health is depleted when running, jumping, ramming, etc., and the player will not be able to run when depleted.
Although Escape: Trials is an online multiplayer game, players will be forced to separate from their teammates due to many map traps during gameplay. After the security brought by the team is deprived, the familiar horror atmosphere of the "Escape" series will come to mind. Players who go alone will need to carefully avoid monsters while carefully using all the clues and items at their disposal to find their way to their destination as quickly as possible.
Finally, it's worth emphasizing that players can try using the in-game voice instead of the external voice software when playing Escape: Trials. Because, it's not just your teammates who can make a sound and have a game ID on their heads.
(This article was first published on the Titanium Media APP, author|Wu Yixiao, editor|Li Chengcheng)