Forge Report – Gearbox Indexes VR as Bethesda releases Classics of Fallen Heroes

written by Fyren

 

Gearbox shows off at PAX

Gearbox held a press conference this week at the popular convention PAX East. During this show, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford put on a bit of his own show. The audience waiting with baited breath for any news about the upcoming Borderlands 3 was instead treated to a nearly 20 minutes long magic trick from Pitchford. While the magic was at least a little impressive, it was very drawn out and doubled as the announcement of a Borderlands themed card game that from what I could gather from what little they shared about it, sounded pretty lame. Risk of Rain 2 was released on stage during the show from Gearbox’s publishing arm, and since it’s release a few days ago has enjoyed quite a big success. At last the show ended with the trailer for Borderlands 3 and some technical difficulties.

 

Valve’s VR project is teased out

Valve teased its upcoming VR project this week, calling it the Index. The headset is finally in production after years of pictured prototypes being leaked to the internet. It looks pretty slick, but nothing else is really known about the newest VR headset to enter that niche market. The only other info we have is ‘May 2019’. This could either be a conference when they plan to announce a launch date for the hardware alongside revealing the details for it or it could just be the launch window. Only way to find out, wait and see.

 

Bethesda takes a side

In the ongoing struggle between Steam and the Epic Games Store, Bethesda has picked a side and made their allegiances clear. While Bethesda does have its own launcher that it uses for its games, they typically aren’t exclusive to that platform. This week, following the building hatred of the Epic Games Store, Bethesda decided now was the time to announce that all of their upcoming games will be available on Steam. This includes Rage 2, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Doom: Eternal, and the big flop that was Fallout 76 as well. Good marketing move Bethesda. The message sent here is “Hey, ya know how those other guys suck. Look, we don’t suck.” Your games are still buggy Bethesda, but well played.

 

More Blizzard classics hit GOG

The original Diablo made its way onto the GOG store a few weeks ago. This week, the Blizzard classic was joined by its brothers, Warcraft 1 and Warcraft 2. You can get both of the strategy games in a bundle for only $15. While I have played both of these games a long time ago, I’m not sure I want to pick them up again. It has been so long since I have touched either of these games that my memory of them is, I’m sure, almost entirely nostalgia and brain trickery. They are are good memories and I’m not sure I want to pop that nostalgia bubble. If you want to though, the option is now available. Perhaps you never played the first Warcraft games that went on to inspire a multi-decade spanning franchise that still continues to kick ass and take names today.

 

Divinity: Fallen Heroes announced

The combat in Divinity: Original Sin 2 is good. Like, really really good. So why not make a whole game out of just the combat mechanics? Great idea! Enter Divinity: Fallen Heroes which is aiming to do just that. Larian Studios, the developers behind the wildly successful and instant classic Original Sin 2, will not be working on Fallen Heroes. Wait, what? They are outsourcing to another development studio for this project. Logic Artists, who have made a few games that I’ve never heard of, will be taking up the project. I can only hope that this means Larian is busy working on something even greater. Despite that, I’m excited for Fallen Heroes, which has a working demo but no release date yet. The game will feature some familiar faces from Original Sin 2 like Fane, Beast and The Red Prince. All aboard the hype train!