The Yooka-Laylee series

A short introduction

Today we are gonna learn a little bit about Yooka-Laylee and Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. Developed by Playtonic Games and published by Team17 Digital Ltd in 2017 and 2019 respectfully, these games follow the adventures of Yooka and Laylee, a chameleon and a bat, as they try to defeat Capital B and stop his evil plans.

Yooka-Laylee

Inspiration

Have you ever played Spyro games as a child? Are you having trouble finding games similar to that good old collect-a-thon style? Well, look no further! Yooka-Laylee is the modern equivalent of the old classics. 

The Story

As Yooka and Laylee were enjoying themselves Capital B puts his plan to steal all the books of the world into motion. Out heroes try to stop their special book from being stolen, but they only succeeded in scattering the golden pagies. And so their quest begins. Their goal is to find all the pagies and find out who is behind all this.

The World

You begin your adventure in the Hivory Towers, the main hub world of the game. Here you will find the Grand Tomes, which will teleport you into their own worlds. Unlocking the grand tome requires a certain number of pagies. Another ability you have is to expand the grand tomes. This also requires pagies but will, as its name says, expand the world within the grand tome, revealing more puzzles, collectibles, characters, and (usually) the boss.

Characters

In their adventures, Yooka and Laylee will encounter a variety of creatures, some helpful, others not so much. Trowzer will sell you moves and abilities, Vendi will allow you to equip different tonics, Dr. Puzz transforms you, Rextro unlocks the arcade games, while Kartos presents the Kartos Challenge (More on this under mini-games).

Vendi's tonics will give you small benefits like extra hp or energy. Or alternate the quality of the graphics, or maybe produce sounds when you are near a secret. Nothing game-breaking but helpful if needed.

Other, less relevant characters will either change the world (Nimbo), or have repeated (Clara Lost, Planker) or one-off quests (Duke).

Abilities

Unlocking a new area in the Hivory towers or spending quills at Trowser's will give you abilities. Abilities usually spend energy to use. Most of these are needed to complete quests, find the collectibles and secrets. Some of the most notable ones include flying, aoe blast, underwater walking and going invisible.

Collectibles

So, what is it that you will be collecting? Good question. Apart from the golden pagies, which are the main focus of the game, you will also be collecting Quills, Ghost Writers, Mollycooles, Play Coins, Health and Energy extenders, as well as the very hidden Pirate treasures.  Each Grand Tome has 25 golden pagies, 200 quills for you to find, 5 different ghost writers, 1 each of mollycool, play coin, hp extender, energy extender, and a pirate treasure. Quills are used to purchase new abilities. Collecting all of them rewards you with a golden pagie.

Ghost Writers

Every ghost writer is different and has a unique twist. Normy, the yellow one is usually hidden somewhere in the open. Ann-Gree, the red one is battle-hungry and will attack you if you approach him. Defeat him in order to collect him. Evie, the green one is very elusive and will require some quick reactions to be caught. Heidi, the blue one, was the most difficult for me. It requires you to actually listen to its laughter (it is invisible most of the time, flashes on the screen sometimes), then use Laylee's Sonar to reveal it. Last, but not least, Fee-Dee, the purple one will require you to feed it berries before being collected. Once again, collecting all of them will reward you with a golden pagie.

Mini-games

Looking for a change of pace? Find a mollycool in a grand tome and talk to Dr. Puzz. She will activate her machine and transform you into something, let's just say, world appropriate. These transformations come with their own quests and abilities, so feel free to explore as much as possible.

Find a play token and speak to Rextro to unlock arcade mini-games. These include top-down kart racer, flappy bird, and many more... Beating them once rewards a pagie, but setting a high score will reward a second one. Other than flappy bird, they are not difficult and you should succeed first try.

Finally, finding Kartos and talking to him will start the Kartos challenge. Ride the rails and collect a certain amount of gems in order to complete the challenge. Interestingly enough, if you cannot find the Capital Cashino boss, don't worry. Once you complete the Kartos challenge, you will immediately trigger the boss fight of that world.

Bosses

All bosses in this game are somewhat part of the world. The great Rampo is a damn in the Tribalstack Tropics, I.N.E.P.T is the security guard in the Capital Cashino, Planette is a literal planet in the Galleon Galaxy... Each fight has a unique twist, which I will let you find out on your own.

Special thank you to Dr. Quack for those annoying quizzes. Not exactly a boss, but more of an encounter, he will ask you several multiple choices questions about the grand tomes, characters, or even your own stats. 3 lives, 10 points. Good luck.

Minimum requirements:

OS: Windows 7 (64bit)

CPU: Intel i5-2500 3.3GHz

RAM: 8Gb

GPU: Nvidia GTS450 / AMD Radeon 6850HD

DirectX: Version 11

Storage: 9Gb available space

Notes: A controller is strongly recommended

Yooka-Laylee and the impossible lair

A Sequel or a new take?

Unlike Yooka-Laylee, Yooka-Laylee and the impossible lair is a 2D platformer. And while many characters and items return, the differences are significant. Trowser doesn't sell abilities but unlocks paywalls to gain access to new levels. Quills are back as the main currency, ghost writers are back, but this time as special colored quills. Pagies have special minigames and will allow you to alter the overworld. 

The story continues, as Capital B is back and trying to take over the kingdom. It's up to our trusty heroes to prevent the new disaster. Their goal this time is to assemble the queen's bee-talion and stop Capital B as soon as possible.

Overworld and Levels

In this game, you start in the tutorial but are thrown into the impossible lair immediately after. It is possible to succeed in beating it right there, but it requires incredible skill. Some speedrunners have done it in less than 15 minutes. 

After expected death, you will be saved by the Queen bee and instructed to assemble the bee-talion as every bee you gather means taking 1 extra hit in the impossible lair. This is where it becomes interesting, the impossible lair remains open for you to try it at any given moment! It's up to you to decide how many bees are enough.

You unlock bees by completing levels scattered throughout the overworld. There is a total of 20 levels, but here is the twist: Each level has an alternative variant. So there are actually 40 levels to play! In order to unlock all levels, you will need to lower Trowser's paywalls, find and complete pagies challenges and solve various quests. Some variants are easily accessible, others will require you to think hard and find their triggers.

In addition, there are some bees hidden in the overworld, good luck finding and unlocking them. When you collect them all, you will have a total of 48 bees. Will this be enough to thwart Capital B? Find out for yourself as you try this game.

Minimum requirements:

OS: Windows 7 SP1 64bit

CPU: Intel Core i3-2125 or AMD A8-6600K

RAM: 6Gb

GPU: GeForce GTX 650 or Radeon HD 5770

Storage: 6Gb available space

There are many more things left unsaid about both games, but it's impossible to mention everything. Found something missing or incorrect? Let us know.

Lords of the Fallen

About

Welcome to the world of Lords of the Fallen, an action RPG similar to Dark Souls, but ultimately very different. Decide the outcome of the war between the Rhogar and Humans. Explore the monastery in the Human Realm and the Rhogar temple as you teleport through dimensions. Help the NPCs you encounter on your travels. Solve various puzzles, complete quests, find the best gear possible, and battle the bosses in your own way!

The game was developed by CI Games and Deck13, and published by CI games on October 28th, 2014. With over 10000 reviews on steam, its current rating is mixed, but don't let that fool you! Lords of the Fallen is a solid RPG well worth your time. Read on and find out some details that might persuade you into buying it today!

Character

Play as Harkyn, an ex-convict turned hero who just happens to be the only chance the humans have against the Rhogar invasion led by the mighty god Adyr. 

At the start of the game, you will have the choice of choosing one of three classes: the Warrior, the Rogue, or the Cleric, each with its own stats and magic abilities. 

The Warrior

This magic focuses on dealing lots of damage as well as increasing health regeneration. Very good for beginners as it directly helps in dealing with enemies.

The Rogue

Rogue's abilities increase energy restoration and have very nice combos, as well as invisibility with bonus damage. A good choice for anyone to likes to go in and out of combat.

The Cleric

Finally, the most defensive school of magic is the cleric. It increases magic recovery and focuses on creating shields, blocking damage, or counter-striking and stunning enemies.

After completing the game, you will be able to continue playing in NG+ and NG++ keeping your stats, abilities, and spells but choosing a new, different class to master.

Equipment

The combat might seem slow to some, but was it ever fast to wield enormous hammers or greatswords? No, no it wasn't. The bigger your weapon is, the slower the combat is. The same thing applies to armor, even the lightest armor feels slow and heavy (but it's still steel armor). In Lords of the Fallen you generally have 3 options when choosing weapons: weapon and shield, dual handing a weapon, or weapon and gauntlet. Armor is divided into light, medium and heavy categories.

Weapons

Let's start with the gauntlet as it is the only range option in the game. The gauntlet uses your magic to fire its abilities. It does this in one of three ways. Blast is a short-range blast that knocks back enemies. Explosive lobs an area of effect damage bomb. Projectile shoots a fast missile at the enemy.

All of these abilities can be altered with runestones, which you can mix and match to your style of gaming. For example. using the projectile with poison rune will not only deal damage over time but also slow your enemies allowing you to strike with more ease. 

Weapons range from small and fast weapons like shortswords and daggers to devastating greathammers and greataxes as well as anything in between. Of course, some weapons are better suited for certain classes. The fist weapons, shortswords, and the like match well with the rogue's style of hit and run. Cleric's high faith stat goes well with some greathammers that require high faith stat. Warrior can wield pretty much any weapon but works best with basic swords, hammers, or axes.

Theoretically, you could use the heaviest weapons with shields, but along staves, they are meant to be used dual-handed. 

Speaking of shields, they are separated into 3 categories: bucklers, kite, and tower shields. Bucklers require agility to use, while kite and tower shields need strength. You can also equip runes to shields, increasing some of their stats to further improve your chances of beating your enemies.

Bosses

A big appeal in these type of games are the bosses and LotF does not disappoint. You will fight all kinds of creatures, from wild beasts to giant army commanders and mutated humans. All bosses drop equipment when killed, but if you find their weakness and exploit it, you will receive an improved version of the same equipment. These mini-quests can be to either not take any damage, or don't block or simply beat the bosses in a certain order.

Closing words

Lords of the Fallen might not be the best game out there, but it's fun and I like it. It has 56 steam achievements and took me around 35 hours to complete. Released in 2014 means that most systems can run it. 

Minimum requirements are:

OS: Windows Vista, 7 or 8 (only 64 bit)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 @ 2.66Ghz or AMD Phenom II X4 940 @ 3.0Ghz

RAM: 6Gb

GPU: GeForce GTX 460 or better

DirectX: Version 11

Memory: 25 Gb available space

Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Sounds card with latest drivers

Humble Dead of Winter Bundle

 

Humble has just (well, yesterday) released the Dead of Winter Bundle. We felt this one was worth a closer look.

First tier - 1€

Friday the 13th - the game

- Nothing to see here. Dead game, toxic community. Don't waste your dollar if this is the only game in the bundle that seems interesting to you.

Second tier ~6.44€

The previous item, and:

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School

- Jump scares, scary school and a janitor with buggy Ai. The ratings are ok, but expect to be annoyed by bugs.

White Day VR: The Courage Test

- A first person hidden-object horror game. It's cheap enough on it's own so don't expect too much from this one.

The Painscreek Killings

- Detective/investigation game. Good ratings, but you do need to enjoy walking sims.

Daymare: 1998

- A zombie shooter heavily inspired by Resident Evil. Not super highly rated but graphically it does stand out. Reviews on steam point out the writing is fairly mediocre and the game is fairly buggy.

Third tier - 9.76€

The previous items and:

Golden Light

- Now we're talking - this game is a first person (dark style) shooter. Though the game is still in  early access, it's already raking in high review scores. The game itself looks like an odd gore-fest doom engine with pretty odd graphics, but people seem to enjoy it on overall.

Dead Estate

- The star of this bundle. Pretty much the reason why you should get this bundle. As the game is around 11€ on steam right now, you're getting a discount and a bunch of other games for the same price. So, that seems a decent deal.

Dead estate is a pixel-art style action roguelike much like Blazing Beaks and similar room exploration games. It's an isometric shooter where you need to survive the rooms of the mansion. There's a ton of different weapons to find and use as you try to stay alive and progress through the game.

Review scores are "overwhelmingly positive" and the game was released just a few short months ago.

And if you're on the fence, there's always the free playable demo you can try first, and a discord that's active and has the devs taking community feedback.

Interested? Check out the bundle.