Currently available in early access on Steam and Xbox Game Pass, He Is Coming begins with a picturesque cut scenes depicting the first savage war against the Night King, an unfortunately basic villain who’s only purpose is to serve as an intimidating antagonist.

Afterwards, prepare to be launched into the game with a “first-game buff”, in which you receive several temporary benefits to your character, such as doubled health that makes onboarding much less stressful; despite my first impressions, He Is Coming seems to cater towards a somewhat cozy audience. As an auto-battler, fights don’t seem to be the main focus of each run. Your build, which accumulates from treasure chests, hero graves, and shop keepers, ultimately decide how deep of an attempt you can make. Skill is determined not from mechanical ability but rather your knowledge of the complex interactions items have.

To be frank, the beginning items that you receive during the early hours of your playtime will seem a bit rudimentary at first, but the intricacies multiply the longer you play. He Is Coming has succeeded in creating the feeling every roguelike strives to accomplish: the “one more run” addiction. After every failure, I understood how the routes I chose pushed me into unwinnable positions and how my item decisions may seem beneficial in the short-term but can tank my win percentage after more day/night cycles.

Limited item slots force you to critically think about item combinations and the bosses that show up every few days require you to somewhat alter your build – like abusing their shield count or investing in thorn armor - to target their weaknesses. This really does allow the player to plan multiple days in advance which complicates how every run plays out; routes are reset every time and bosses are chosen by random from bins that scale with your progression.

Given that development is still in early access, this game has an extremely solid foundation but still has a lot more potential. For example, items can appear to be lacking in diversity and there are so many more possible effects that are nonexistent in the game. I can easily imagine mechanics such as poison or sleep affecting your run, and to add even more strategy, items that rely entirely on the day/night cycle (for example, swords that deal 2x damage during the nighttime). If more depth can be introduced to fully flesh out He Is Coming’s run variety beyond what currently exists, this game will absolutely be a fantastic buy for anyone even remotely interested in the genre.

He Is Coming can currently can be found on Steam and Xbox PC Game Pass.

Weekly Round-up

• Splitgate 2, a Halo-like arena shooter, announced this morning that they are reverting back to an open beta after their full 1.0 release in June.

  • This comes after several weeks of declining player counts and general quality-of-life issues, which is surprising if you realize their budget of $100 million.

• Radical Fish Games, the developers of the fantastic CrossCode, released the demo trailer for their upcoming game Alabaster Dawn. It looks very promising.

  

• Saber Interactive announced their partnership with Boss Team Games to develop Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, and subsequently dropped a beautiful trailer filled with an appropriate amount of gore.

  • I’m cautiously optimistic about this one. Love the Hellraiser franchise but Boss Team Games doesn’t have much experience with producing well-regarded games; hopefully Saber’s history with Space Marine 2 can help alleviate some of that pressure.

• Abiotic Factor has launched into 1.0! This is a highly anticipated title, by critics and gamers, that provides a superb co-op survival experience.

• Wildgate, a multiplayer shooter set in space, has also just released. Long story short, a gang of ex-Blizzard developers interwoven themselves into a Lovecraftian entity named Moonshot Games and gave birth to this live-service wonder. Take a look!

• In film news, three major movies opened last Friday:

  • I Know What You Did Last Summer has not had the best reception. At all. Critics and general audience members pointed out the lack of pacing and unimaginative plot, questioning whether it was worth it to revive a dormant slasher franchise that had already had its time in the spotlight.

  • Smurfs is equally as divisive; I’m sure it would serve well as a children’s movie but its chaotic energy may not match the film’s storyline.

  • I’m beyond excited to watch Eddington soon, Ari Aster’s 4th directorial project! He has an unprecedented track record in generating conversation and planting doubt into societal norms, which I think (and hope) is the primary aim of many arthouse filmmakers.

• Ari Aster just held a Reddit AMA yesterday and I’ve compiled some of his most interesting answers:

  • For important emotional scenes with Phoenix, Aster prefers to rehearse in the set space before finalizing on a shot. He points out that Phoenix relies heavily on rehearsal during the production process.

  • Aster claims he mostly listens to “slamming/clanging music”.

  • His favorite films of the year so far include Afternoons of Solitude and Misericordia.

Is Superman really that super?

Yes, he is. James Gunn has once again brought his A-game to a comic book universe – at this point, we need to have a serious conversation about his cinematic impact and directorial ability. He seems to perfectly weave emotional moments with the action required to sustain a superhero film while still providing comedic relief that seems genuinely original and deserving of the quick, succinct exhales you all refer to as laughing.

Before heading into the theatre, I initially doubted his casting decisions, specifically with Nathan Fillion and Nicholas Hoult, but I ended up leaving pleasantly surprised. For the most part. Fillion absolutely shined in his debut as a member of the Green Lanterns and Hoult delivers on a phenomenal performance, as always.

The only issue I had with Superman was that Lex Luther needed to be fleshed out as a character, much more than what was shown. While Gunn presented this feature as a “comic book in movie form”, Luther seemed extremely superficial and didn’t seem to exist beyond his opinion of Superman.

Additional endeavors I’ve persevered through with a relentless mentality like a lion chasing after an antelope

Clown in a Cornfield. Yes, you heard that right. Released to streaming just a few days ago, this horror flick directed by Eli Craig (the visionary behind Tucker and Dale vs. Evil) is certainly a special one.

I’ve heard from friends and commentators alike that they’ve watched movies so bad to the point that they’re good, as in they’re successful in providing fleeting entertainment as a result of their poor quality. Unfortunately, I’ve never experienced those dreadfully fascinating moments. Until now. Combine mind-blowingly horrible decision-making with nonsensical plot points and you have Mr. Craig’s newest blockbuster slasher: the clown that is in the cornfield.

There are so many moments in here where I legitimately have no idea why a character would engage in either dialogue or action to the point where it’s actually entertaining to guess what a character would dedicate their measly life to next. To be frank, despite its crippling predictability, it’s fun to shut your brain off for 2 hours and enjoy a group of teenagers dying in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Hmmm, I swear I’ve heard this premise before…

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I know, I know, you can question my credibility all you want after knowing I’ve never touched the Zelda games. In my defense, I haven’t had a Switch until now, and after an addicting few weeks with the mainline Pokemon adventures, I’ve decided to lose myself and all my free time in Hyrule. At least I think that’s the setting, so far at least.

The graphics are surprisingly beautiful, capturing the soft beauty of the land’s rolling hills and distant landmarks while still adding that dangerous sharpness to the enemies I’ve come across. My inner Marco Polo really shines through as BotK calls out for my curiosity to explore; I just can’t shake the innate desire to check every tree for those coveted eggs that snuggle themselves at the very top. Not sure if they’re even important but goddamn I love those dopamine hits.

I’m only a few hours in so I’m sure I have a lot of puzzling and combat to experience but this game feels exactly like the opening hours of Elden Ring, not in the sense of difficulty or mechanical similarity, but rather that wonderful calling to explore an unknown land.

The Phoenician Scheme. A tad bit late to Paul W.S. Anderson’s most recent feature but I’m very glad I indulged. With a mind-boggling cast list, Anderson has once again brought his tendency for perfection to an amusing story, led by the ever-reliable Benicio del Toro. My favorite scene by far (and I’m sure many others as well) occurs a quarter into the runtime, depicting Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston absolutely murdering our beloved main characters in a strikingly humorous game of HORSE.

Here’s a sneak peak into my most recent watches, accompanied with their respective ratings – this is a list I update frequently to keep my head in the game:

Diving into the bowels of the dirty internet

Not entirely sure what encouraged me to write that heading but we will optimistically take it in stride. Here are some of the strangest and coolest pieces of media I’ve interacted with in this past week!

• Prison of Husks / an indie game reminiscent of low-poly Dark Souls

• The Weirdest Noise I Can Make / the theorizer once again reminding people who’s king

• Joaquin Phoenix + Theo Von Interview / his pr team has brought him into foreign lands

• Batman Arkham Subreddit / hit once again with my monthly reminder that this sub exists

For this week’s Birds Eye View, I haven’t been able to prepare a more comprehensive list since this is my first post, but expect next week to have a ton more interesting content for this section, especially in terms of showing off indie games.

Looking towards the future

The last section for every Birds Eye View is a showcase of everything happening in the next few weeks, or in some cases, news about upcoming content that may be years away.

• Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, a souls-like set in China, launches on July 23rd.

• Killing Floor 3, a co-op shooter, launches on July 24th.

  • Hint: This one may not be very good.

• 2XKO, the Riot Games fighting game, announced their closed beta that kicks off on September 9th.

• My most anticipated film of the year, Weapons, opens on August 8th.

• IN THE HAND OF DANTE (starring Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, and Al Pacino) just released the first look for the crime/art-focused thriller.

• Cristin Milioti, of The Penguin and Palm Springs fame, is set to star in a horror film called Buddy, directed by the same person who did the bizarre Too Many Cooks for Adult Swim.

• Look out for Fantastic Four: First Steps, Together, and The Naked Gun to open in theatres this weekend! Together is a festival favorite.

Thanks for sticking with me for this week’s Birds Eye View, see you all next week!

Why settle for Steam’s algorithmic RNG to roll in your favor when you can find indie gaming showcases and events dedicated to highlighting fantastic new developers looking to redefine your entire life and force you to revolve your personality around their creation?

Well, look no further! We’ve put together a list of events that you absolutely must tune into if you’re still looking for an indie game to call yours.

Indie Quest - May 29
Curated by Taylor Hoyt from The Gaming Shelf, Indie Quest is premiering its first-ever showcase near the end of this month on YouTube with a special focus on JRPGS.

Summer Game Fest - June 6
This one may be a bit less focused on indie titles, but the Keighley-hosted event is bound to announce a few shadowdrops (praying for Arc Raiders) and a few trailers from notable indie publishers such as Devolver Digital.

Day of the Devs - June 6
Directly after Summer Game Fest, Day of the Devs is another game showcase intending to host underrepresented talent and to celebrate game development, especially for smaller studios!

Future Games Show - June 7
The following day, FGS is presented with an array of triple-A games along with many indie titles with a heavy focus on world premieres and demo announcements. Look forward to a ton of new indie announcements here!

PC Gaming Show - June 8
Presented by PCGamer, the PC Gaming Show has a diverse history of promoting indie titles, and with this year’s partnership with Devolver Digital, be excited for a bunch of new indie announcements – one of our current favorites, Mycopunk, is going to be featured.

These five events are the main highlight for the summer, but expect another similar post for fall and winter showcases in a few months.