Half-Life: Alyx is a first-person shooter game for virtual reality devices developed and published by the American company Valve. It is the first awaited game in the Half-Life series after a break of more than 12 years since Half-Life 2: Episode Two was released in 2007.
The game tells the story of Alyx Vance, who appears as the protagonist for the first time in the series, her father Eli Vance, and their fight against the occupation of Earth by the alien civilization, the Alliance. Half-Life: Alyx had 43,000 gamers playing simultaneously on release day. According to Niko Partners analysts, it was a successful launch by virtual reality standards.
The game has a fantastic atmosphere, beautiful graphics, and VR-grounded gameplay. Source 2 (a video game engine developed by Valve) physics allows the player to manipulate in-game objects in virtual reality. The game is suitable for a variety of game environments, modes of movement, and input devices. Some actions are difficult to perform, for instance, aiming, but it makes the game feel much more realistic and emotional.
The world's environment is built in such a way that it is interesting to explore, and the VR controls make encounters with enemies much more epic. All this is enhanced with great music in the style of the Half-Life series.
It is certainly creepy to play Half-Life: Alyx in VR glasses, but it is worth it. Of course, the emotions are fundamentally different in VR than playing on the PC, which is very cool.
Today we have on our table Frostpunk, a city-building and survival simulation game. The gamers are finding out that the Earth is covered with snow. The player will be challenged with severe cold and discontent of your people.
In the summer of 1886, Britain was frozen. Snowstorms destroyed the fields, leaving the whole country without food. Hunger and cold quickly drove the country into turmoil, but the real trouble was ahead - there was an ice storm coming from the south that mankind had never seen before. To save people from death, the government sent construction expeditions to the north. They decided to build steam generators in order to heat entire cities on resource-rich lands. In the eternal cold, scarcity of resources, and lack of any help from the outside, the generators proved to be the last hope for humanity's survival.
The very first campaign, New Home, is training players with many resources, preparation time, and workers. The map is a crater in the middle of the ice. The game is constantly reminding the players of the problems throughout the event. For example, when there are not enough houses, your people will demand to build them. Then you are given a choice: build all the houses in a few days (only a few) or not build at all, taking into account that the dissatisfaction of people will grow. The mechanics of the game are so simple, but their cumulative nature makes the game more complex. There are 2 indicators: dissatisfaction and hope. Dissatisfaction cannot be raised too high, and hope cannot be lowered too low. Moreover, there is also the temperature to be supported, the need of your people for food and houses, the risk of disease, the need to keep the reactor running by consuming coal, the importance of scouting the surrounding area for new people, resources, and even automatons, and the law book in which you set up rules.
This game is a story. The story of a bunch of survivors near a generator in the cold desert. People here want to live and to do so they work in mines, manufacturing, kitchens, and hospitals. The atmosphere of the game is bleak and hopeless. Even the music subtly hints that you will not survive in this cold desert. Here, as a
leader, you will have to make choices, find compromises, and develop your city.
The game features several DLCs that unlock new scenarios. And the sequel, Frostpunk 2, has already been announced and we are looking forward to the announcement of the dates.
Adello is continuing the game overview. Today we have Project Winter on our agenda. Project Winter is a multiplayer game for 8 players, based on two teams - traitors and survival.
Project Winter did a good job of taking the fundamentals of "Among us" and expanding it with more refined gameplay,
diverse roles, and giving survivors the tools to survive.
The aim of od survival is the following: a team of several people has to find a way to survive by gathering resources, repairing buildings, and calling for rescue vehicles. Just beware that there are traitors within the group working to sabotage any chances of survivors getting out alive.
The gameplay of Project Winter is quite interesting. Survivors have three main items: tools for extraction, tools for repair, and weapons. The additional tools include: a campfire kit, radio or walkie-talkie, trap disarming kit, energy drink, vodka, can-shaped stimulant, flare, stretch, quick trap removal kit, poison, and backpack.
There can be a total of 4 or 5 items in the inventory, along with a backpack. There are also bunkers in the game that are used as storage buildings scattered all over the map.
The player can communicate with other game characters, however, they will only hear each other at a small distance. The further you are from each other, the quieter your voice is. Also, in the game there are 3 types of radios, each gives the opportunity to communicate with the carriers of the same radio for an unlimited distance.
Graphics and design are very pleasing to the eye. The music that accompanies you throughout the game is very pleasant and does not get monotoned, which allows the player to focus on the game. The sound effects of snowstorms or footsteps in the snow will help the player to immerse in a special atmosphere.
Gamers can customize their character. The skins are obtained from the cases, which are purchased for in-game currency.
Today we are reviewing the NFT game – Splinterlands. Splinterlands is a digital trading card game where every card is a collectible NFT. Originally built on Steem blockchain, it was moved to Hive blockchain in 2020. Each game battle takes only a few minutes. The game features daily quests, seasonal rewards every two weeks, guilds, a tournament system, and an in-game marketplace that includes secure card rentals.
NFT technology allows players to earn cards and tokens by playing. The cards are divided into two types: summoners and monsters.
Monsters feature seven different types: fire, water, earth, life, death, dragon, and neutral. Each type belongs to a different element.
Summoners determine the class of monsters, where a card of the monster can give a lot of information.
At the beginning of the game, the player chooses a summoner and then collects a card deck of monsters. The battles are automatic, hence, you don't choose the sequence, the game builds it according to its algorithm. Always remember that the first monster in the list will be on the first line.
Each monster has 3 types of attack: melee, ranged, and magic attack, as well as 3 types of stats: speed, armor, and health. Close combat means that the monster can only attack the target in first line, exceptions are abilities. Ranged means that the monster can only attack at range. There are some rules for melee and ranged combat. Damage can only be done if there is no armor or its destruction, and the opponent can dodge. The magical attack is ultimate, it can hit any line, it completely ignores armor, and it can't miss. Speed determines the order of the card's attack and increases the chance of dodging. Armor, on the other hand, dampens damage and doesn't allow you to deal damage. Health is the easiest if it reaches zero monster dies.
The game has a system of 6 leagues. Those include bronze, silver, gold, diamond, and champion. As you move to a higher league, the seasonal reward increases. Ranking and card strength are required for the transition. The rating is given when you win and taken away when you lose. Card strength, in its turn, depends on rarity, version, and card level.
There are three tokens in the game: - Credits - In-game currency not withdrawable, used to buy packs of cards. You can buy for cryptocurrency.
- Dark Energy Crystal (DEC)
- In-game token for winning tournaments or quests, as well as being withdrawable.
- Splintershards (SPS) is a control token given to holders of any assets in Splinterlands.
There are different ways of earning. Those are, for instance:
- Renting cards. This option may appeal to players who rarely play or do not want to sell their cards.
- Tournaments. If you are an active player, you can participate in tournaments, the prize fund may start from 1 dollar up to several thousand, and each tournament has its own rules.
- Ranked games. If you don't want to take part in tournaments, you can just play in ranked games, so you'll gradually earn money.
In general, the game can seem a bit boring at the beginning because of limited card selections. However, if you play regularly, earning additional cards and increasing your ranks, the game becomes really engaging.
Blockchain gaming is nothing new to the world of virtual currencies. It started with the breeding of cartoon cats and has grown into an entire industry offering various ways to make money through gameplay. Thetan Arena is one of the new players in the field of virtual entertainment using blockchain mechanics.
Thetan Arena is the first MOBA - multiplayer online battle arena game on the blockchain with the Play-to-Earn model. For example, such popular projects as Dota 2, League of Legends, and Brawl Stars belong to this genre. In this article, we will tell you more about the gameplay, as well as the tokenomics and mechanics of NFT.
Thetan Arena has completed beta testing and officially launched on November 27, 2021.
In Thetan Arena, players fight with each other, using the unique skills and abilities of the heroes.
What's remarkable is that you can play both on your mobile and PC. They work through one user account and synchronize with each other.
There are four game modes available in Thetan Arena:
Yellow and pink coins are given for level improvement and victory in battle. Green coins can only be bought. If you play a paid hero, you'll get extra yellow coins. Their number depends on the outcome of the game. Note, they are not paid for the free hero.
For each battle, the user has the opportunity to choose a hero. They have different skills and abilities that players can use to win. To earn cryptocurrency, it is necessary to play as special heroes, which can only be bought.
The main way to earn is to receive TNC tokens (yellow coins). The minimum threshold for withdrawal is 750 coins. They can be earned by:
After each match, paying heroes receive rewards in the form of THC tokens. You get six tokens for winning a team game, 2 for a draw, and 1 for losing.
Each hero has three skills in battle. One is tied to the hero himself and cannot be changed, while the others can be chosen before the battle begins. Below we tell you more about the heroes.
Each of the heroes has a unique ability: Rage. This is a special skill that cannot be changed. Each hero also has unique characteristics depending on its class or its role on the battlefield. There are three classes in total:
The Main Damage is the regular attacks, which can be carried out once every 3 seconds. A certain number of these attacks activates a combo, and all heroes can use it. Each has its own combo, but the assassin class does the most damage. Also, all heroes are divided into three levels of rareness:
There are three types of hero skins in the game: normal, rare, and mythical. This is the appearance of the hero. The level of rareness and type of skins determines the cost of the hero.
The reward depends not only on the results of the match but also on the rareness of the hero and his skin. You can get a maximum of 23.55 bonus THC tokens for winning a hero of legendary rareness and a mythical skin.
Heroes can be bought in the marketplace Thetan Arena or in the game under the tab "Shop". You can only sell a hero on the in-game marketplace.
The game has two of its own BEP-20 tokens - THG (TheTan Gem) and THC (TheTan Coin). Just like the game, they run on the Binance Smart Chain blockchain.
In the game, you earn and exchange THC. You can get them by participating in battles, quests, and in-game tournaments. When you complete quest tasks, you get Quest Points, in-game points that can be exchanged for THC.
The earned tokens can also be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies or simply sold.
You can also use THC to buy heroes and various items in the game. All heroes are NFT, which can be sold in the marketplace of the game.
Thetan Arena is gaining its popularity among the Play-To-Earn games. In our Adello Magazine, we will continue to observe the development of other metaverse games such as Thetan Arena and review them.
