Devolver Digital 'mocks' the Game Pass in a grotesque fresco of the video game: all the announcements of the event!

Devolver Digital 'mocks' the Game Pass in a grotesque fresco of the video game

"Enjoy these Premium Purchases as part of your Devolver MaxPass + subscription that you have already signed up for without having a clue." This surreal description of the video of the event organized by Devolver Digital on the occasion of this E3 2021 is enough to inaugurate a new appointment with what is now, by right, a cinematic universe. The vicissitudes of the madly charismatic executive Nina Struthers continue this time grappling with other distortions of our favorite passion grotesquely exasperated to the nth degree.

What was born as an event that made the verse at E3 itself, at conferences and the culture of hype has grown into an increasingly sprawling creature capable of touching aspects of a medium and of the whole industry that surrounds it that are very current and varied. And it does so, for example, by talking about a subscription service that transforms what was a single purchase into a "prison", a ball and chain that will put us in front of a flood of games that ultimately do not entertain us from. years and years.

The Devolver MaxPass + thus becomes a distorted, absurd and zero-cost version of subscription services that offers no advantage other than the label of a top-level user and that will allow players to spend money in the shadow of a totally useless but splendidly reassuring subscription. Games as a Service is replaced by Monetization as a Service and still digital becomes the fictional one to fight with a video game that no, will never come out outside its physical cartridge. All this to create an NFT in the form of a VHS, a non-fuckwithable tape of the event itself that was immediately sold for $ 1000 even before it was actually announced on the air.

Watch on YouTube. Devolver jokes, makes a joke and takes it to extremes by tearing smiles but with madness and apparent lightness he makes us reflect on the practices of an entire industry, on its small, large contradictions built on the foundations of our very personal contradictions, on the nonsense that erratically guide us paying public. And fortunately it does so with an entire universe but also with many interesting games.

Shadow Warrior 3

Devolver immediately raises the adrenaline levels with a gameplay trailer of the third chapter of what is an essential series for those who love FPS all spectacular, gore and dynamism. Shadow Warrior 3 is coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One and promises to evolve and improve every aspect of this IP. It will do so above all with even more fluid "free-running" movement abilities, with a tide of gadgets and crazy weapons but also with powerful spells and above all with a refinement of the highest level in the level design field.

Each playing area seems extremely more complex than in the past and capable of marrying a continuous movement to the skills of a Lo Wang who is many things but is certainly not a hero. But when an ancient dragon suddenly finds himself free because of our protagonist well, someone will have to take care of it and at least it will be the excuse for a new surreal and incredible carnage.

Watch on YouTube.

Trek to Yomi

There is a bit of Italy and a bit of Ghost of Tsushima in Trek To Yomi. The game is developed in collaboration by Flying Wild, the team behind Shadow Warrior, and by Leonard Menchiari, an Italian developer who in the past has given us interesting (but imperfect) projects such as Riot: Civil Unrest and The Eternal Castle Remastered. Trek to Yomi, however, seems a much more ambitious project both stylistically and in terms of gameplay. The black and white filter, the Japanese imagery and the tone of the announcement certainly give us hope.

The young Hiroki has sworn to the dying master to protect the town he loves and its citizens from any threat, a promise that will lead him to a lone samurai destiny facing seemingly insurmountable challenges and dangers. A highly cinematic 2D action that wants to give a spectacular and stylish experience both in terms of gameplay and in terms of pure presentation also thanks to a soundtrack with attention to the smallest details.

A sort of Ghost of Tsushima 2D? It could be a good simplification but we will know more only as we get closer to the release for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X / S for now set at a generic 2022.

Watch on YouTube.

Phantom Abyss

Exactly like Shadow Warrior 3, Phantom Abyss is not an absolute novelty but the Devolver event has allowed us to take another look at the gameplay and the central concept of this project which will debut very soon, on June 22, in early access on Steam. What is Phantom Abyss? Surely it is a strange creature that with a first-person action-platform aspect transforms us into explorers and adventurers inside procedurally generated temples and full of traps, threats and guardians of various kinds ready to skin us.

Each player has only one attempt to reach the final temple treasure and to take home a unique and priceless relic as once they reach the temple it will no longer be available and will only live in the finish line of a lucky adventurer. A very peculiar aspect of the experience is that around us there will be the ghosts of all the players who tried to complete the temple but who failed miserably.

These ghosts could prove to be great allies and reveal dangers or solutions that we would never have believed possible in a mix of gameplay that with the right variety of situations and levels could give life to an atypically unique multiplayer experience also thanks to many power-ups and "blessings of the gods" capable of changing in unexpected ways our alter ego and its abilities.

Watch on YouTube.

Wizard with a Gun

A visually striking trailer and a perfectly fitting song introduce us to the curious Wizard with a Gun, a sandbox adventure with survival elements that can be played in the company of three other friends for up to four players and that will put us in front of a curious universe made up of biomes generated randomly and rich in threats but also resources. In many respects the style is reminiscent of Don't Starve but with a decidedly more action drift thanks to the very nature of our character as a true gunslinger magician.

We will be able to build workbenches capable of significantly expanding our a chance to survive or to spawn weapons and bullets loaded with devastating magical effects in an explosive, variety-packed mix of magic and gunpowder. The very idea of ​​a Don't Starve decidedly more action and shooter to play with friends fascinates us not a little because the visual style of the project by Galvanic Games, authors of the peculiar Some Distant Memory, is nothing short of delightful.

For now we don't have a precise release date but Wizard with a Gun is expected in 2022 on PC and Switch.

Watch on YouTube.

Death's Door

This writer admits that this is one of the most anticipated games coming out soon and the fact that there is finally a release date is absolutely splendid. Death's Door will debut on PC, Xbox Series X / S and Xbox One on July 20, finally allowing us to control a Raven reaper of souls who is grappling with a soul stolen by a mysterious thief who has escaped into a world without. of death and inhabited by creatures that have definitely passed their "expiration date", growing out of all proportion in power and avarice.

Acid Nerve, already creators of the excellent Titan Souls, raise the bar by proposing an imaginary artistically very rich and inspired and a gameplay with fast isometric view and studied in detail between puzzles, traps, mysterious gadgets and gadgets to be mastered even before being able to eliminate monsters and threats of various kinds. All the trailers and gameplay videos have been able to amaze us thanks to a captivating visual style but above all to a varied and complex gameplay at the right point where dynamism, constant movements and melee or ranged weapons are also perfectly combined with a progression system between skills and power ups.

In case you were wondering what the next big indie gem could be well, maybe you have your answer.

Watch on YouTube.

Inscryption

A little card game, a little puzzle game, a little horror game and a little escape room experience. And then who knows what else! When dealing with Daniel Mullins, creator of Pony Island and The Hex, you really have to be ready for anything, especially to be surprised again and again. A journey, an odyssey full of mysteries in which to survive we will inevitably have to be willing to sacrifice something.

Clear information is relatively few but we are sure that this game will be available later this year and that for the moment it is confirmed only for PC it will surprise us again and again, just like every other project of that madman of Mullins.

Watch on YouTube.

Devolver Tumble Time

With Devolver you are never 100% sure: is what we are watching a real game or is it a sharp satire to one of the many aspects of the gaming industry and the consumers themselves? Really good question, especially in the face of Devolver Tumble Time, a mobile game coming in 2021 which apparently is the future of physics-based puzzles and which proposes an "elegant" monetization and a finely studied brand integration.

Crazy and colorful characters from Devolver games to combine in matching game mechanics and unleash with unique special abilities for chaotic and devastating chain reactions. All with lots of delicious advertising, just like any good self-respecting free-to-play mobile game, right? Microtransactions, advertisements and a healthy dose of madness for what perhaps, probably, is really a video game but could easily be a simple satirical sketch.

Watch on YouTube.

Demon Throttle

Digital is synonymous with fictional has bored us says Devolver (obviously joking) and good Nina Struthers cannot miss the opportunity to launch an attack on this ineffable world made up of subscriptions to something that actually we cannot touch it like in the beautiful old days. Subscription services are relics of the past that we have inappropriately slipped into the digital world and this has to stop. That's why not, Demon Throttle will NEVER come out digitally and that's a promise. Maybe.

The creators of the curious Gato Roboto are the minds behind this exclusive Switch physics-only, which looks like a sort of rather old school vertical scrolling shooter but characterized by at least unusual narrative premises. A gunslinger and a vampire team up to face a demon who has stolen an ancient vampire goblet and who has ... well violated the gunslinger's wife. The game is already available for pre-order and will be officially released in 2022. Only on cartridge!

Watch on YouTube. From subscription services to free-to-play for mobile up to the "clash" between physical and digital. The Devolver Digital Cinematic Universe continues to give us videogame pearls and pure satire to reflect on our passion and on ourselves, but also to have fun with excellent titles. And we like this combo a lot.