Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – is there a secret or not? (pic: Nintendo)
The Wednesday letters page likes the look of Aliens: Dark Descent, as one reader has trouble imagining Exoprimal being a hit.
Secrets of Zelda
That article about Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom having some kind of secret feature that hasn’t been revealed yet is the most Nintendo story ever. Not only is it incredibly vague but it could literally be a genre-defining innovation or someone failing to carry a one when doing the translation.
I have no idea which it is, but it’s always fun to imagine there’s some great revelation just around the corner that’s going to kick the doors off, so let’s go with that. One interpretation is that he’s talking about some kind of randomised, procedurally generated content. Maybe the islands in the sky? But he does say world though, which kind of implies everything changing.
We’ll have to wait and see but I really hope that another secret is that Zelda is playable. Bad voiceover or not it’s high time. It doesn’t matter though; a 0/10 score wouldn’t keep me away. Although given that I’m not sure I’d even watch another Nintendo Direct if there was one. Big secrets, or even just medium-sized ones, I’d rather find out about them in the game.
Coulthard
Old Vice
Am I the only one that doesn’t really like the idea of GTA 6 being set in Vice City? Not that I have anything against the place or the original game but how long is it since we’ve had a GTA game set in a completely new area? San Andreas in 2004?
It just feels like they’re cycling round the locations every time and at this rate GTA 7 is virtually guaranteed to be set in Liberty City. I’m sure there’ll be some other areas that we haven’t seen before but it does seem a bit limiting.
I’m guessing Rockstar think it’s all in the name or realism and you can’t just invent a new New York City style location out of the blue but… can’t you? Who would care if it was a choice between having the same city yet again and a completely new location.
Focus
As seen on TV
I’m curious to know if Star Wars: Survivor is going to have any serious connection to the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. I’m sure there’ll be little Easter eggs but would they go further and have a cameo and a voice over from Ewan McGregor, and put Cal into one of the shows?
Despite all the talk over the years we’ve never seen this sort of thing in games and it’s definitely not happening with Marvel, where everything is very definitely not the MCU.
You could argue it wouldn’t change much but I think it could help to make the word seem more consistent. The question is though what’s going to happen to Cal? Is he going to die? Will his big TV appearance be him turning up and dying in the first five minutes? I could see that happen.
Angus
Check those corners
Aliens: Dark Descent looks really good. I loved the XCOM games, but I’m glad they’ve gone with real-time action – which should help with its appeal. It’s a shame strategy games don’t do too well on console. Obviously, the lack of a mouse and keyboard doesn’t help. Good games based on the Alien IP are few and far between, with the last one being Alien Isolation, which was nine years ago now (I can’t believe it’s that long ago, I still have that game installed).
The last Aliens game was very disappointing, just another cookie cutter squad-based shooter. Aliens: Dark Descent however, looks right up my street. Hopefully I’m not in the minority because I’d like to see more of these type of games being made.
Anon
Zelda esque
I know I’m really late to the party, but I’ve recently started playing Genshin Impact on my PlaySation5 and I’m really pleasantly surprised by how good it is. I’m waiting patiently for the new Zelda game and remembered reading that Genshin shared some similarities. Since it’s free to play I thought I’d give it a try.
I’ve put about 20 hours in now and the content in the game is astounding. Huge game world, fun mechanics and a lot of similarities to Breath Of the Wild. It’s not in your face about buying content either. If you’ve not tried it and you’re desperate for new Zelda then give it a go.
Neil
Solid suggestion
I think most fans would agree that Resident Evil Code: Veronica is the best choice for a remake but I think we’ve got to face the fact that they’re just not going to get it. It’s not nearly as popular as the numbered games, it’s got a weird name, and they’ve already remade the game that came out after it. It’s just not happening.
I’d be up for something leftfield like a remake of Resident Evil Gaiden but I agree that the best thing is just to stop the remakes and carry on with new games. There’s no reason you can’t have spin-offs and smaller games as well, so really, it’s best to just carry on.
What is really past time needing a remake is Metal Gear Solid and I do not understand why it hasn’t happened yet. Especially as they did Silent Hill 2 first. If they’re worried about making changes that don’t come across as authentic just keep the dialogue exactly as it is. It was always the best translated entry anyway.
Bogart
Or your money back
To the reader from yesterday, asking about whether they should get Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in the Steam sale. I’d say go for it and if you don’t like it, you can refund it so long as you don’t play more than… I think it’s 2 hours, no questions asked by Valve.
Angry_Kurt (Twitter)
Now playing: God Of War Ragnarök (PS5) and Zelda: A Link To The Past (Switch)
Big ideas
Personally I hope the talk of a F-Zero remaster and the success of the Metroid Prime one means we will see a GameCube mini-console. I don’t know why Nintendo hasn’t done an N64, could’ve been something to do with the pandemic but I would much rather buy a mini GameCube than a bunch of separate games to download. Especially as you really need the weird controller to get the full effect.
I know the GameCube isn’t Nintendo’s best console, thanks to the bad Zelda and Mario games, but I think that allowed a lot of other franchises to shine. There’s Metroid Prime and F-Zero, obviously, but Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Resident Evil 4 (and the remake of 1), Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, Viewtiful Joe, Super Monkey Ball, Pikmin… there’s a really big list of forgotten but awesome games that mostly aren’t available on other formats.
I’m sure some people would be just as happy to play them on the Switch but a mini-console would just seem like more of a celebration for a console that fluffed it on the big names but managed to do great with less obvious stuff.
At the very least I’m glad to see so many remasters at the moment. The little purple lunchbox deserves more respect!
Mcreddie
Inbox also-rans
I can exclusively reveal that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has a story involving a war that is fought amongst the stars. Please be excited.
Camber
I didn’t play the beta, and I want to love Exoprimal, but really, it doesn’t look great does it? I’m all for dinosaurs and what looks like a next gen Dreamcast game but I just don’t see it finding an audience, which is bad if you want other companies to have more dinosaurs too.
Leaster
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Grant, who asks whether you’ve ever dreamt about video games?
That doesn’t mean daydreaming about an imagined sequel or remake but a game that has had such an effect on you that it’s ended up in your dreams. It doesn’t have to be a nightmare but what games have you dreamt about and why do you think they made it through to your subconscious?
Was it because you were playing them a lot or because their story or gameplay had a profound effect on you? Or do you find it inexplicable that they turned up that way?
The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
The Wednesday letters page likes the look of Aliens: Dark Descent, as one reader has trouble imagining Exoprimal being a hit.