Blizzcon 2015 was definitely full of surprises. While the already established free-to-play games in Blizzard’s portfolio will receive lots of new and exciting content, Overwatch has been announced to launch with a pay-to-play business model. Accordingly, there were many mixed feelings as the weekend wrapped up. Luckily, the Heroes of the Storm community have lots to look forward to in the coming weeks and months for their free-to-play MOBA. Blizzard not only revealed three upcoming heroes, but also a new battleground.
Amongst the three new heroes, players will meet Lunara – the First Daughter of Cenarius, who is a dryad that will use poisons and toxins to cripple her enemies as an agile ranged attacker. Greymane is the Lord of the Worgen whose ability to shapeshift between human and Worgen forms give him quite the advantage as an assassin on the battlefield. Cho’gall is the third new hero, whose two heads are a reflection of his two roles on the battlefield. The two-headed ogre can be a warrior and assassin at once. As if that wasn’t enough, he is the first hero that can be controlled by two players in Heroes of the Storm. We can’t wait to find out more about him.
The new battleground is called Towers of Doom. Its Cores are protected by a barrier that no hero can destroy. Instead, the teams need to activate Altar and claim Bell Towers, and bring them under their team’s control in order to achieve victory.
Last but not least, the guys and girls over at Blizzard revealed The Arena, a new game mode that pits two teams of five against each other in best-of-three competition. Players get to choose between three random heroes. Their quest is to destroy their enemies’ Core to end the round which only lasts a few minutes each.
Source: Official game website
During the BlizzCon 2015 opening ceremony, Blizzard announced a brand new adventure for their trading card game Hearthstone. This week, on November 12th, players will be able to explore the first of four locations that are all part of the League of Explorers expansion. The Temple of Orsis, Uldaman, the Ruined City, and the Hall of Explorers are all new locations of the update. Naturally, these places are full of things to discover, including a mysterious lost relic that has to be recovered. In order to find the precious relic, players will need to discover various artifacts in each of the locations that will lead them closer to their end goal.
Of course it won’t be quite as easy as that, as each one of the settings is guarded by dangerous end-bosses that need to be defeated. If players are successful, they can gradually collect up to 45 new cards. Four adventurers await everyone in the League of Explorers – Elise Starseeker, Reno Jackson, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, and Brann Bronzebeard accompany players through the exotic new locations.
As with most Hearthstone expansions, whoever wants to delve into the new content will need to be patient and willing to spend some money. Each location of the League of Explorers costs either 700 gold each or around five dollars and will be released over the course of four weeks - one location each week.
Source: Press release
Now that was certainly a bummer at this year’s BlizzCon in Anaheim. Every year, Blizzard Entertainment celebrates its portfolio of games by allowing its gaming communities to come together, check out the latest versions of their titles, and be the first to find out anything new about Blizzard and the studio's games. Last year, the publisher behind Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm announced that it was working on a brand new online game. The first-person shooter was going to be called Overwatch, feature a cast of interesting and diverse characters, and launch as a free-to-play title – or so we thought!
While all information (or lack thereof) seemed to suggest that the FPS was going to be available for free, Blizzard has now announced that Overwatch will have to be purchased to be played - $40 for the standard and $60 for the special edition! How did this happen? How did the entire gaming community believe that the shooter was going to be free-to-play when it was never explicitly confirmed?
The decision to not release Overwatch for free seems to stem from the fact that Blizzard wants all players to have access to all of its 21 heroes from the very beginning – and not have premium players have a bigger selection of playable characters than non-paying players. While that makes sense for the launch, it is not quite clear how new heroes will be added to the FPS in the future. Will there be additional microtransactions? It remains to be seen.
At this point in time, we here at browsergamez.com are disappointed that Overwatch will not be following in the footsteps of Hearthstone or Heroes of the Storm. We will keep you updated in case Overwatch’s business model ever changes.
Source: Press release
Picking today’s Game of the Day wasn’t a difficult task. It’s not every day that we get to play a game that reminds us of retro gaming, while having a modern twist on things. Brawlhalla is a load of fun, in a free-to-play package.
For those not in the know, Brawlhalla is a 2D platform fighting game with lightning-fast gameplay, and a solid amount of button mashing. You have to choose one of 17 “legends” to jump into battle with, each with their own set of skills and signature abilities. Blue Mammoth games have promised more characters in the future, so there’s always going to be something new to get to grips with.
Multiplayer Madness
The thing that stands out with Brawlhalla, and also the thing that cemented its place on the revered Game of the Day list, is the multiplayer aspect of the game. Playing locally with a group of friends is fantastic; controllers will be thrown, insults shouted, friendships tested, but most importantly, fun will be had. It reminds us of a time when you’d grab a few friends and huddle around an N64 playing Super Smash Bros, only Brawlhalla has full online functionality. The online multiplayer is good fun, and it even includes a ranked ladder, so those arguments about who’s the best won’t have to go on for hours any longer.
Genuinely Free-to-Play
Blue Mammoth set out to make a free-to-play game that is actually free-to-play; without paywalls, hidden fees, or pay-to-win machanics. For a studio to set out to do this and actually stick to it is impressive, and we are really happy with the way that Blue Mammoth are treating the community, players, and payment model that is present in Brawlhalla. We are more than happy to support a game that does free-to-play well, considering the state of the F2P industry sometimes.
We highly recommend you check out the game, and may even do a full review on Brawlhalla in the coming weeks. Until then, click the button below to head over to their homepage and download the game now.
We are now in what we here at browsergamez.com like to consider the eye of the hurricane. It is deceivingly quiet out there – publishers are holding back with releasing game updates and events. It’s that time between Halloween and Christmas where studios are preparing themselves for the season of all seasons. Let’s not get into that quite yet however, as we will have more than enough to write about X-Mas in a few weeks. For now, let’s concentrate on some new releases and announcements from last week.
New Announcements
This should come as a delightful announcement to all players of Titanfall on Xbox One. Nexon and Respawn Entertainment are teaming up to develop and publish a few Titanfall games for mobile devices. The first one is already scheduled to come out early next year. It seems like the guys behind the sci-fi game are really trying to create a franchise.
Testing Phases
This one came out of nowhere! Brawhalla came completely out of left field for us here at browsergamez.com. The free-to-play online game is a side-scrolling fighting game that feels a little like a retro-meets-Smash-Bros. hybrid. Blue Mammoth Games’ brawler game has started its open beta.
Release
Two major mobile games were released last week. Anno 2205: Asteroid Miner is a match-3 game set in the Anno 2205 universe (no pun intended). Players can transfer resources collected in the mobile game to their PC game. Blossom Blast Saga is the latest match-3 game by King, released for iOS and Android devices.
Game Updates
Forge of Empires got a major expansion that added a new era to the real time strategy game. Players can now explore the future in the browser based RTS.
Riot Games is currently preparing for its next season, as the current one is winding down. Players will be confronted with a lot of major changes next year, including client changes, mastery and marksmen changes, and social changes to name a few.