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Moon Knight Debuts in Fortnite Today
Get a victory royale as the star of Marvel's newest show
The star of Marvel’s newest show, Moon Knight drops onto Fortnite starting today. Included in the list of items players can grab is the Moon Knight and Mr. Knight costume, Moon Knight’s Cloak, and the Crescent Darts Pickaxe. You can find all of these items in the Fortnite Item Shop today, so be sure to get them when you can if you’re interested.
The Hyperdimension Neptunia and Senran Kagura franchises are both long-running series’ by Compile Heart/Idea Factory and Marvelous respectively. While Neptunia has comfortably settled itself in the JRPG genre, Senran Kagura has jumped across several genres. Now, the two combine for the first time in an all-new experience: Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars.
Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is an action RPG combined with hack-and-slash elements. The game tells the story of the people of Gamninjustri (a ninja-themed play on the usual setting of Neptunia, Gamindustri) and a war that has been going on for years. Unlike most crossover games that feature two worlds suddenly merging and the confusion that results, in the setting of this game, the Neptunia and Senran Kagura worlds have coexisted for a long time.
The major lands of Gamninjustri, Heartland and Marveland, have been at war with each other for longer than most people can remember. Each of them vying to destroy the other nation’s Share Crystal to turn the war in their favor. Leading the charge are the 4 Ninja Goddesses of Heartland, each trained in the Compa Style Ninja Arts, and the 4 Honeypa Shinobi of Marveland, experts in the Honeypa Style Ninja Arts.
Suddenly, the tides of war change as Gamninjustri is invaded by the Steeme (pronounced Steam) Legion. Led by Yoh Gamer and her self-proclaimed manager, Tetsuko, the Steeme Legion seeks to extend the war between Heartland and Marveland to include the entirety of Gamninjustri, all to determine which nation has the strongest ninja. Deciding to band together against this common enemy, the 4 Ninja Goddesses and the 4 Honeypa Shinobi set out to protect the people of Gamninjustri from the Steeme Legion, and drive these intruders out of their home for good.
As mentioned before, Ninja Wars is an action RPG/hack-and-slash game, feeling somewhat like the Dynasty Warriors series. Every character has a basic combo to their name, along with a series of “Ninja Arts” they can activate via a menu to augment their combos. While you’re never fighting more than a handful of enemies at a time, the action can still get hectic at times. Enemies don’t tend to wait for their allies to finish attacks before beginning theirs, so you’ll have to deal with barrages of attacks quite often.
The combat is well-executed, but as usual with these games, it’s all too easy to fall into a gameplay loop. You run to the next group of enemies, spam the same combo, and then repeat. Since enemies in the early/mid-game are rarely a threat, you’ll hardly ever feel challenged by them, so there’s no need to switch up your plan of attack.
Outside of the main hack-and-slash action, the game tells its story via visual novel segments. There’s not much to say about them, as they’re just cutscenes used to break up the action. That said, the writing is funny and charming, with every character filling their own niche within the group. There are even moments where the game pokes fun at its own premise, including Neptune addressing the player themselves to ask if they’re surprised to see her and her friends as ninjas.
It’s certainly easy to see the writing in this game as too trope-y or generic, but personally, I enjoyed watching the visual novel scenes play out. As someone only vaguely familiar with both Neptunia and Senran Kagura, it was nice to get to know these characters over the course of the story.
The main playable characters aren’t the only major players in the story either. There are plenty of appearances from other characters, including Histore, Compa, and IF from Neptunia. Also joining the roster is Goh the Crow, the protagonist of co-developer Acquire’s oft-forgotten game Shinobido. Though he looks a bit different in this game…
While the visual novel segments take up a lot of moments in the gameplay, that’s not to say there’s nothing to do outside of the main story missions. Plenty of sidequests are included, and there are opportunities to talk with your party and other residents of Gamninjustri to get information, items, and more.
A feature unlocked about halfway into the game is P&C Meditation, where you use gyro controls to keep yourself balanced on a giant peach. Completing the meditation offers you various buffs that last for the next few story missions, along with items. It’s easy to overlook this feature after the tutorial that introduces the concept, but meditating can be well worth it before going off on your next mission.
For a game like this, you might expect performance issues when running on Switch, but thankfully, the game runs smoothly the whole way through. In my playthrough, lasting about 12 hours, I didn’t notice any performance hiccups that hampered my enjoyment of the game.
Ninja Wars is a short-but-sweet game. As mentioned, you could beat the story in about 12 hours, and from there, you can choose to tackle side content. While it’s not the longest game out there, and some people may not like the overly cutesy anime style, I never saw those as downsides.
I think those who give this game a shot will find a rather enjoyable hack-and-slash adventure that keeps your attention start to finish.
Nintendo Switch Has Folders: Switch 14.0.0 Firmware Update Out Now!
The childhood dream has come true
The Nintendo Switch 14.0.0 firmware update just dropped, and with it comes a big new feature; folders! Now you can separate your games into folders however you see fit. Put all your Mario games in one folder, and Zelda games in another. First-party folder and third-party folder? No problem! With this new update, it should be easier than ever to keep the games you enjoy playing the most right at the front of your Switch’s home menu.
Full patch notes:
Ver. 14.0.0 (Released March 21, 2022)
“Groups” feature was added to the All Software menu.
You can now create groups of software to help organize your software titles.
Making groups for different game genres, developers, or whatever you’d like to organize by may make it easier to find the application you want.
Up to 100 groups can be created with a max of 200 titles per group.
The button to proceed to the “All Software” screen is displayed only when there are 13 or more software title icons on the system.
For more information, see How to Create Groups of Software.
Bluetooth® Audio volume behavior was changed.
You can now adjust the volume of Bluetooth audio devices using either the Nintendo Switch™ console or through volume control buttons on the Bluetooth audio device.
The Bluetooth audio device must support AVRCP profiles for these changes to work.
The volume displayed on the console will reflect the Bluetooth audio volume when using the device’s control buttons.
The maximum volume output for some Bluetooth audio devices has been increased.
When first connecting a device, volume will be reduced to avoid sudden loudness.
For more information, see How to Pair and Manage Bluetooth Audio Devices.
Easter Eggs Discovered in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's DLC Tracks
Plenty of hidden details for everyone to find!
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Booster Course Pass DLC dropped recently, and people are already finding plenty of hidden Easter Eggs scattered around the new tracks. From new signs and wallpaper in Coconut Mall, to ads in Paris Promenade that even pay homage to the year the original Super Mario Kart released!
The video above from GameXplain shows off all the Easter Eggs that have been found so far. More could very well be on the way as people play through these courses more and discover hidden details. Looks like Nintendo put more work into these courses than we initially thought! We can only hope that the other courses coming later down the line have this same level of thought put into the backgrounds.
REVIEW: Atelier Sophie 2 Is A Finely-Crafted Experience
Years of alchemy shine through in this title
The Atelier series has a long and storied history, and has been going on for a lot longer than most people realize. Gust Corporation’s shining jewel of an IP, it began in 1997 and only started making its way to the west with the 6th entry in the series in 2004. Certainly, Gust Co. has had a long time to refine the Atelier franchise and its mechanics, and this shines through with the wonder and beauty that is Atelier Sophie 2.
If you never played the first Atelier Sophie, worry not. This game comes equipped with a quick recap you can watch before playing a new game to get caught up on the story of the first. It only goes over the broad strokes, but it’s enough of a recap that you won’t be lost coming into this one.
Nintendo Switch Online Gets Updated With Custom Profile Icons
So, when are we getting Xenoblade icons?
Nintendo Switch Online recently got updated with a feature to customize your profile icons with borders, exclusive pictures, backgrounds, and more. The feature wasn’t advertised much by Nintendo, which meant that for a lot of people, it fell by the wayside.
The current offers include two sets of Super Mario Odyssey icons, and one set of Animal Crossing: New Horizons icons. The page to customize icons mentions that the selection will rotate monthly, so if you want to rep your favorite villager in your profile icon with a nice backdrop of the green grass of your island, now’s the time to hop on it.
Of note is that these customizations cost Platinum Points, which any Nintendo Account holder can get rather easily by completing daily missions on the My Nintendo website. The most expensive options cost 10 Platinum Points, so it won’t take too long to get as much as you need to get the icon of your dreams.
Let us know if you’ve purchased any of these custom icons, and if so, what you think of the feature in the comments.
Monster Hunter Rise: Defender Armor and More Update
Catch up with your friends with none of the work
Monster Hunter Rise received a new update a few weeks ago, adding Defender Armor and Weapons to the game. For those not in the know, Defender Armor and Defender Weapons are equipment capable of rivaling endgame equipment that take dozens upon dozens of materials to fully craft, all set in the Item Box for players to use at any time.
With this update, people who are late to the Monster Hunter Rise train, perhaps in anticipation of the new Sunbreak update dropping later this year, will be able to play with their friends at the endgame without worrying about holding them back with poor equipment.
In addition, the update added new layered armor for hunters to craft, in a collaboration with Universal Studios Japan. The collaboration adds layered armor for the Hunter, the Palico, and the Palamute, along with new layered weapon skins to match the bright blue of the armor.
Will you be using the Defender Armor and Weapons to catch up with your friends who have already hunted the toughest beasts around, or will you commit yourself to the grind and build yourself up over the course of the game? Let us know in the comments.
Death end re;Quest 2 Review
Corpse Party and Neptunia have a very horrifying child
This review is spoiler-free, and only covers story events that happen within the first hour or so of gameplay.
Horror games are a very hit-or-miss genre for me. I find many of them to be too much to handle, thanks to the constant jump scares, and an emphasis on “loud noise = scary.” It’s the tense, atmospheric horror games that are more my speed. Give me something where your terror stems from not knowing what’s lurking around the corner, rather than from a giant scary monster chasing you.
Death end re;Quest 2, a collaboration between Compile Heart (Hyperdimension Neptunia) and Makoto Kedouin (writer and creator of the Corpse Party series), fits nicely into the former category of horror games. A mix between visual novel and JRPG, Death end re;Quest 2 tells a somewhat macabre story throughout the roughly 12 hour adventure.